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AedenSolus — Field Guide: Svyati
Published: 2011-03-03 02:38:18 +0000 UTC; Views: 467; Favourites: 1; Downloads: 0
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#6 in the Federation: the svyati.About time I got back to these, hm? Here are some that are pretty badly neglected, art-wise. I think I've done...one? completed picture of them. They're harder to draw, and have been undergoing a major over-haul lately.
So, I have this deep-seated dislike of very humanoid aliens. Vulcans, Klingons and Na'vi all seriously annoy me (cool though they may be). I look at alien life as an evolutionary biologist. The statistical odds of getting an even remotely humanoid alien are just absurd and as close to impossible as you can get. That said, look at the humanoid alien. I lowered my standards here essentially for the sake of just freaking out humans. I think it would be terribly unnerving to encounter a species that so resembles humans, and yet is undeniably alien. But maybe that's just me. Rant over
As always, more info can be found on my website .
#1 - Sunifee
#2 - Erda
#3 and 4 - Sri and Ta'an
#5 - Chaedan'kai
#7 - Umishi
Svyati, art and all related info (c) myself *JigokuInu
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Comments: 8
RANT ON, GIRL.
I happen to greatly dislike humanoid aliens myself. My problem is the psychology. 80% of the time their minds work just like ours, and that pisses me off. I think that, if one is going to have a race that looks humanoid, it's ideal to distinguish them biologically, socially, AND behaviorally/psychologically. I hate it when people just tack on some bells-and-whistles, give them some weird culture, and call it alien. Those three that you listed are perfect examples of this. Underwhelming. 
(Sorry aboot that. Ahem. Hmm. Where was I?)
Ah yes, the Svyati. The race that I keep wanting to call "Syvati", nyahaha. The Svyati are very interesting-- not nearly as defined as the other races, I feel, but this is probably because we've seen so little of them! I'm liking their designs. As *ArchdemonYami stated, their design straddles nicely between human and lion, not too similar to either.
Their culture seems pretty nice. Their fascination/devotion/fear of the spirits and demons is pretty neat, and I'd imagine that it brings a lot of fear into a clan-- especially when one of those sacrifices has to go down. I can imagine a shaman trying to pick out the weakest clan member. Everybody run! How strict is their society as far as daily life goes? I'd imagine that, as utterly important as their castes are and how commandeering they seem to be, there's a lot of strictness in Svyati life.
(and I'm certain that they aren't the most positively-viewed species in the Federation. PIRATES?!)
Ahaaa. Definitely nicely done race, Inu. I hope that in the future we'll get to see more of these guys and their ways.
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That always bothered me about Star trek. Love the series, but the aliens disappointed me badly. You're right that the svyati aren't as well-developed as some of the others (though they do have a nice section in the real field guide). I tend to work things out via drawing, and I don't draw them much. They've been needing a major over-haul for some time now. They were originally even more humanoid . I'm still not 100% sure they don't have a tail of some type, but I'm going with no for now. Messing with their body shape was easier, but I'm still tweaking their faces to get the look I want. I want them to look mostly human from straight ahead, but still definitely Not. And when they're in profile it's very obvious. Humanoid, but no way to mistake them for human, ya know? (ignoring coloring and such) Still needs some work I'm sure, but getting there.
The svyati are almost more superstitious than religious. Ward off evil and invite good luck, more than worship and pie in the sky when you die. But they're dead serious about it. 'Human' sacrifice isn't that common a thing. Animals are pretty common-place (especially if the clan is named after a particular animal). I tend to think of their shamans as somewhere between druids and voodoo priests. They tend to make people very uncomfortable just by being around.
Daily life is...strict but not? Each class has its specific duties, and there are some things that aren't supposed to cross between classes (ex: in the past, the warrior class didn't learn to read and write). A lot of their society is fairly ritualistic. Not as bad as the chaedan'kai, but things are supposed to be done a certain way, that's how it always has been and always will be, etc. Really, the strictness is within the classes instead of between. Each has a definite pecking order and way they do things.
Weeeell, yes they were living as pirates until they ran into the Federation fleet. They then proceeded to get their butts kicked and opted to join the alliance rather than be wiped off the map. So now they're mostly out exploring the edges of known space.
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I'm certain you'll get there eventually. For now they're at least defined enough to be different from humans.
Thank you for answering my questions! That makes a lot more sense now, with them being superstitious and ritualistic. Haha! So far I think I would be comfortable with many of the Federation races, and the Svyati are definitely not one of them.
Ah I've got another (broader) question for ya. You definitely seem to consider these races' languages a lot, so I was wondering if you'd ever full-developed a language for one of them? That would be very interesting to see, I think!
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The svyati are a lot of fun, going by the few individuals I know. Not necessarily easy to comfortable around, as you pointed out, but really no more than the sunifee or chaedan'kai. They're very adaptable and fit themselves into the Federation society quite well. And hey, they're a lot more tolerable when they have something better to do than pirate their way through the universe.
Ahh, yes, the languages. I'd love to develop a full, working language. Really, it'd make more sense for me to focus on Lyric, the Federation common language. But I have no clue at all what that language is like yet >_> I get ideas for the specific languages in fits and starts and try to write down everything so I can work it out later. I've got some bare-bones structure for them, but I'm still trying to work out specifics. Languages are such complex things, it's extremely hard to build one from the ground up. Having to consider the social and cultural impact and evolution it took to get a language, and all the words and phrases and slang etc etc. In short, I'd love to, but it'll take awhile
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That's sort of what I was going for. Felines are pretty easy to warp around into a more humanoid shape. It's just been done so much, the trick is making it different and interesting.
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These guys are new ^^ Very interesting. Their ears are so cool. They're human-like without being human. I think it works fine
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They've been around for quite some time, just very badly neglected. Hoping to fix that now that I've gotten them worked out better.
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