Tunmu

[Plank of Wood]

I'd just like to point out that I never had any problem with these guys.

[Razonatair]

I know that. It's for people like Neo.

[fallingwhale]

Apr 30, 2010 22:17:28 GMT Razonatair said:

As much as you guys moan and groan, you obviously don't have a clue just what I could make the Tunmu do. I could make them the perfect biological weapon; let them build warships.

You did; and as a technicality this isn't fundamental: they couldn't hear each other, if they had unlimited range, over the drone of a goggle thoughts.

[Razonatair]

A Rogue "Homeworld"

Note: This perspective is from an explorer/scientist who happened upon the Tunmu "Homeworld." Again, it is an alternate universe.

The Tunmu maintain no defined Homeworld, nor have they ever evolved on any singular world. This fact we have known for many years, as tracking the Tunmu doesn't lead one to any central world. However, it is obvious that the Tunmu did not evolve in our galaxy, or they would likely have spread across our galaxy eons ago.

I believe I have discovered the source of the first Tunmu world in our galaxy; namely a rogue planet that has apparently drifted between our galaxy and another. It is the most developed of their worlds, utterly covered in the black of the ultra-photosynthetic Tunmu. It is less a planet and more a black hole. Trust me, observing it is rather boring. Solid black, everywhere.

If it weren't for the planet's gravity and the wispy blue atmosphere around it, it's quite possible a starship could slam right into it without noticing that they were approaching anything. It took our own surveillance people days to check the data enough times to make sure the thing was actually even there, when we were at the visual distance where not even the atmosphere appeared on screen.

Apparently the entire surface is utilized to produce as much energy as possible from the surrounding, constant starlight, and everything interesting is beneath the surface. Scans of the underground show a crust that is literally artificially larger than it should be, simply because the Tunmu have removed so much material from the underground and placed it on the surface, to the point that they've actually increased the planet's circumference and diameter by noticeable amounts.

From what we can tell, they've mined the planet for every last available metal ore in order to fashion all the transports that they've built. However, it seems much of the ore was gone before they even arrived here, apparently used up in the other galaxy, as the number of known transports just doesn't even begin to match up with what deposits existed.

Nothing ever goes from this world, and nothing ever comes to it, now. Once they'd launched all their transports, it's as if they realized the planet was totally worthless. For instance, there are no Bodily Colonies anywhere on or in the world. The only inhabitants of the world are the forgotten Cellular Colonies strewn across the surface and through the crust.

There aren't any defense platforms, nor are there any interesting features on the surface, making it seem like the Tunmu took the time to level out the surface, though our scans did indicate that there are great glaciers in various places beneath the ultra-photosynthetic Tunmu and additional dirt, stone, etc just thrown on the ice.

The world itself is consistently cold, hovering just a few degrees below freezing on the surface. It actually gets colder the farther one descends, until the heat of the mantle begins to cancel out the icy air that floats down into the tunnels. The mantle itself is not particularly active, and it seems most, if not all, of the volcanoes that were once on this rogue world have died out.

The only thing I can say this world is useful for, is obtaining as many samples of the Tunmu as we wish. Other than that, there's nothing really of interest.

Note - The world they arrive on becomes like this once the transports have all left.

[KrakowSAM]

So your response to people's well founded concerns is just
"Lalalalala you're not criticising me correctly I'll never back down I'm not listening any more"

An RP is a collaborative process Raz, you can't just ignore the fact that a lot of people have concerns about your creature for multiple different reasons.
Also, you say they have all these weaknesses, but from what you've told us about the fundamentals of this organism, those weaknesses could be overcome almost instantly.
So they have no resistance to telepathy (which doesn't even have a pretense at explanation, they're just telepathic "for no real raisin") but you've also claimed they are THE MOST ADAPTABLE RACE IN THE UNIVERSE^TM. So how long should we expect this weakness to last? The first half of the RP where the weakness is exploited?

What it boils down to is that you're setting up yourself to be the victim here by your own admission. People are disliking your race in the OOC, you're intentionally building them up to be the bad guys in character, so everyone will continue to be hostile to your creature. You'll get frustrated and feel like you're constantly under attack, you won't be willing to allow your creature to be destroyed, as villains generally are at the conclusion of a narrative arc, and I don't think you'll be able to resist the temptation exploit the Tunmu's incredible inborn capacity for godmodey bull to try and stave off everyone's wrath.

Just think about it. It won't be any fun for anyone, least of all you, if you don't take people's concerns into account.

[yuu]

Reminds me a lot of those stone that are so thick of moss you could pry it off like a carpet.

So...

They're like one of those races that suck everything of value from a planet before moving on and repeating the cycle? Space nomads, basically?

[Razonatair]

They stripped most of their world in the war they had so long ago, in fighting it. The rest was taken to build a few transports to find new planets to survive on, and they will have mostly abandoned that world because it doesn't receive a lot of energy from the starlight. Other worlds, if the Tunmu take everything useful, will become agricultural centers to produce the special food that many Tunmu, who don't live entirely on the surface or who have higher energy concerns, eat.

As for Krakow, I've already stated that their vulnerability to telepathic espionage can't be fixed, because it's part of their central organism or what have you. Maybe I should create a depiction of a Tunmu Cell to illustrate how it all works. And I see no other race that modifies themselves without technology.

[fallingwhale]

May 1, 2010 18:14:48 GMT Razonatair said:

And I see no other race that modifies themselves without technology.

Evolution.

[Razonatair]

Stop being a smart ass. You know what I mean. Modifies their genetic code directly, without technology.

[Kitkat]

May 1, 2010 18:14:48 GMT Razonatair said:

Maybe I should create a depiction of a Tunmu Cell to illustrate how it all works.

I'd actually be very interested in seeing this.

[Razonatair]

Fine then. I've already got a pretty good idea of how it works, and it seems I'm better at drawing cells than complete creatures.

[Razonatair]

The Tunmu Nucleus, And Adaption

A Simplistic Depiction of a Tunmu Nucleus

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The Tunmu Nucleus is, for the most part, very similar to many other eukaryotic cells' nuclei.

"A" labels the nucleus, and "B" labels the nucleolus. However, "C" labels the two special Tunmu organelles which are unique to them.

The outer "coating" could be called a gene modification factory, receiving orders from the inner sphere. The outer coating deploys various means to bring in genes that to be modified, as well as deploying smaller versions of itself to make necessary modifications to the nucleolus.

The inner "sphere" is the connection to all other Cells, housing the mechanisms necessary to establish and maintain contact, as well as sending orders to the outer coating for modifications as required by the Hive.

In truth, removal of the additional two organelles in the nucleus renders a Tunmu cell inert and unable to adapt, or able to remain connected to the rest of the Hive.

For most gene modifications, the changes are not great. However, when a Cell needs to change its role or makeup, it begins to divide. Two separate nuclei are created, but the Cell then ceases to divide. One nuclei remains untouched, giving orders to the Cell, while the second undergoes drastic genetic change, and specifically does not give orders to the rest of the Cell. Once the changes are complete, the first nuclei ceases giving orders, and the second begins giving orders. At this point, any unnecessary organelles will be recycled for as much material as possible, and new organelles will be created as necessary to adjust to the new requirements. Adaption takes varying amounts of time depending on the ordered changes.

---

Cellular Biology isn't a huge interest of mine, so I've tried to make everything as basic as possible, to give the rough outline.

[fallingwhale]

May 1, 2010 18:20:05 GMT Razonatair said:

Stop being a smart ass. You know what I mean. Modifies their genetic code directly, without technology.

Actually, even humans do that, the fact that people near the equator have darker skin isn't by chance, it just takes 100,000 years.

And although you can in theory get aluminum, how do they get into space, let alone obtain the antimatter to run the space distortion.

[Razonatair]

Maybe they use different fuel. I don't care and I'm not explaining it. There are many ways to get to space, and they do have technology, even though they directly modify, intentionally, (which is not evolution or humans making their skin darker over 100,000 years) their genes without technology. Recall my smart ass comment, because you're still being a smart ass.

[Kitkat]

Who said that antimatter has to power everything? You can use fission, fusion, etc. Hell, if you had enough fuel, you could run a FTL drive on STEAM. hey, it's power all the same.