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Description
My entry for the latest concept competition at
This round threw me for a loop: "evolved organic aircraft".
Sat there for the longest time puzzling over what that meant, as there are a ton of ways to interpret it- an animal trained to be ridden, a organic-style design inspired by nature, a living creature modified by breeding to make an aircraft, or one that simply evolved that way to begin with...but what I couldn't help coming back to is a favorite scifi/fantasy trope of mine: semi-organic life. This type of entity blurs the line between creature and machine- notable examples include the Phyrexians from Magic the Gathering and overseer technology from Half Life 2.

The idea behind my concept is that these craft are extremely advanced human technology- essentially an artificial life form based on synthetic organic cells. Using directed evolution through breeding a large variety of these craft have been created to fill many roles from civilian transport to military craft. The inspiration for this design came from two seperate types of fish- the betta (aka. Siamese fighting fish) and the Amazonian giant armored catfish(basically a suit of armor with gills).

Like its namesake the betta, this particular strain has been bred for both beauty and aggression. It can be operated as an autonomous drone, but can also be manually piloted, carrying a human crew of between 2 and 5, depending on the size of the specimen. The Bettas are favored in particular by the upper class as escort craft because they combine aesthetic design and elegance with rugged durability, maneuverability, and twin independently swiveling gauss cannons. (only for personal defense purposes, of course...)

Description
My entry for the latest concept competition at
This round threw me for a loop: "evolved organic aircraft".
Sat there for the longest time puzzling over what that meant, as there are a ton of ways to interpret it- an animal trained to be ridden, a organic-style design inspired by nature, a living creature modified by breeding to make an aircraft, or one that simply evolved that way to begin with...but what I couldn't help coming back to is a favorite scifi/fantasy trope of mine: semi-organic life. This type of entity blurs the line between creature and machine- notable examples include the Phyrexians from Magic the Gathering and overseer technology from Half Life 2.

The idea behind my concept is that these craft are extremely advanced human technology- essentially an artificial life form based on synthetic organic cells. Using directed evolution through breeding a large variety of these craft have been created to fill many roles from civilian transport to military craft. The inspiration for this design came from two seperate types of fish- the betta (aka. Siamese fighting fish) and the Amazonian giant armored catfish(basically a suit of armor with gills).

Like its namesake the betta, this particular strain has been bred for both beauty and aggression. It can be operated as an autonomous drone, but can also be manually piloted, carrying a human crew of between 2 and 5, depending on the size of the specimen. The Bettas are favored in particular by the upper class as escort craft because they combine aesthetic design and elegance with rugged durability, maneuverability, and twin independently swiveling gauss cannons. (only for personal defense purposes, of course...)