In one of my earlier blogs I wrote about writing alien characters in science fiction, with the following seven rules.
- Introduce them first through other characters discussing them – that’s how we often get to hear about interesting people
- Don’t over-describe, let the reader’s imagination have a light work-out
- Make their dialogue different in its lexicon and rhythms
- Show how their society works (e.g. hierarchy, dominant sex, etc.)
- Show their value structure through cultural references (‘Giver’ instead of 'sun', etc.)
- Make the reader care about the aliens, rather than them just being there as a prop (this can include making the reader hate the aliens)
- Remind the reader that these beings are not human, they really are alien
Since then, in Eden's Revenge (book 3 of the Eden Paradox series) I gave a list of the aliens occurring in the first three books, as below (mainly in Eden's Trial and Eden's Revenge):
Eden’s
Aliens & Artifacts
Alicians – a neo-human race genetically-altered
by the Q’Roth to increase intelligence, resilience and longevity. Alicians are
named after Alessia, their founder,
who brokered a deal with the Q’Roth in 1053 AD to prepare humanity for culling,
and to eradicate Earth-based nuclear and nano-based weaponry, in exchange for
genetic advancement and patronage.
Dark Worms – leviathan-like creatures who live in
the space between galaxies, feeding off both dark and normal energy sources.
They are almost impossible to kill. Normally they are kept outside by the Galactic
Barrier, which was breached by Qorall’s
forces.
Finchikta – Level Nine bird-like creatures who
administrate judicial affairs for the Tla Beth, e.g. during the Trial of
humanity in 2063.
Genners – following the Trial of humanity, prosecuted by the
Alicians and the Q’Roth, mankind was quarantined on Esperia for its own protection
and all children genetically upgraded to Level Four (with Level Five potential)
by the Ossyrians. ‘Genners’ surpass their parents intellectually by the age of
nine.
Grid – a ring-shaped transport hub that runs around the inner
third of the galaxy, for ease of commerce. Grid
Society – established by the Kalarash ten million years ago, based on a
scale of levels of intelligence running from one to nineteen, with Kalarash at
the top. Mankind was initially graded Level Three.
Hohash – intelligent artifacts resembling upright oval mirrors,
designed by the Kalarash, known as ‘omnipaths’ due to their powerful
perception, communication and recording abilities. True function unknown.
Kalarash – Level Nineteen beings believed to have
left our galaxy. Only seven remain in the universe. Little is known about them.
They are called ‘the Progenitors’ by many Grid species, as the Kalarash
fostered civilisation in the galaxy, based on a strictly hierarchical
intelligence-ranking system.
Mannekhi – human-looking alien race except for
their all-black eyes. Level Five. Sided with Qorall in the ongoing galactic
war, due to millennia of oppression under Grid rule.
Nganks – full name Ngankfushtora – squid-like Level Twelve
cosmetic surgeons usually reserved for higher species.
Ossyrians – dog-like Level Eight medical race,
charged as humanity’s custodians after the Trial, their eighteen-year long stay
on Esperia led by Chahat-Me.
Qorall [kwo-rahl] –
ancient enemy of the Kalarash and invader of the galaxy.
Q’Roth [kyu-roth] – Level Six nomadic warrior race currently engaged as soldiers trying to stop the progress of Qorall’s forces across the galaxy. The
Q’Roth are formal Patrons of the Alicians.
Rangers – Level Fifteen taciturn reptilian
creatures working for the Tla Beth.
Ranger Shatrall crash-landed
in Tibet in the twelfth century and realized the Q’Roth had targeted humanity
for culling. He was unsure the Level Three assessment was correct, and so
unofficially warned a local tribe who became the Alicians’ principal adversary,
the Sentinels.
Resident – internal alien-designed symbiote
implanted in Micah’s head prior to
the Trial of humanity, which acts as a semi-intelligent Level Five translator,
with various additional survival-based functions.
Scintarelli – Level Twelve legendary master
shipbuilders, whose shipyards dwell in gas giants. Their star-ship designs
include the Starpiercer and the Scythe.
Sclarese [skla-ray-zee] Nova Stormers – Level Nine semi-intelligent stealth
missiles based on energy amplification technology, aimed at turning stars nova.
Built by the Sclarese.
Sentinels – blood enemies of the Alicians,
involved in a silent war over a period of centuries. Last remaining Sentinel
alive is Ramires. Sentinels were
famous for their nano-swords, able to slice through a Q’Roth warrior’s armoured
flesh.
Shrell – Level Nine matriarchal ray-like creatures who live in deep
space, guardians and ‘gardeners’ of the space-environment, invisible to most
other species. As well as protecting and ‘fixing’ spatial tears, they can also
‘poison’ space. They work for the Tla
Beth.
Spiders – Level Four race harvested by the Q’Roth one thousand
years prior to the culling on Earth. Homeworld called Ourshiwann, renamed
Esperia. Visual-oriented race, otherwise deaf and mute. Now live in Shimsha,
near Esperantia.
Tla Beth – Level Seventeen energy creatures,
rulers of the Grid in the absence of the Kalarash. Homeworld location unknown.
Wagramanians – Level Seven forest-dwelling tripeds famed
for art, but also used as shock-troops during times of inter-stellar war
Generally I've stuck to my seven principles, and there are a few more alien races to be introduced for the final book in the series, Eden's Endgame. This makes for a pretty complex 'tapestry' onto which I'm superimposing the final installment, particularly as most of these races are meant to be more intelligent than humanity. However, taking a leaf out of David Brin's Sundiver and Uplift series, even though humanity are 'wildlings', they have a few tricks up their sleeves.
Is there any inter-species sex? Er, yes, though nothing graphic. Do some readers care more for the aliens than the human characters? Oddly enough, what most people comment on is the Hohash (e.g. "I'd like one please"), and the Ossyrians get far more interesting in Eden's Revenge, so that some readers do care when a bunch of them get killed. The Mannekhi, Kalarash, the Tla Beth and the Rangers also seem to have caught readers' curiosity, and they will all feature large in Eden's Endgame. But the focus stays on the human characters most of the time, though several of them have been 'augmented'. However, the Prologue to Eden's Endgame, which will focus on what happened two billion years ago in a distant galaxy, an event that was the antecedent of the 'current' galactic war, will have no human characters in it whatsoever. That's going to challenge me...
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