Biological Lore of the Species.

[Jboy2000000]

Basically, how deep is the lore for where everything came from in playable species we have. Obviously the Skrell, Unathi, Tajarans had to evolve from something on their planet. I don't expect an entire evolutionary tree, but I was wondering if any thought was put into it. I was also wondering about how evolved these guys are, in a sense. As an example, there weren't always humans with black skin pigmentation, rather it evolved in humans where they were under a lot of stress of the sun, and in doing so, people with black skin became less susceptible to skin cancer. Now, Adhomai has two suns orbiting around it, has there been an evolutionary changed to the Tajarans because they have two suns giving off harmful rays, and thus have become less susceptible to certain cancers as well?

tl;dr How biologically different are these things from humans, in terms of evolutionary traits?

[MagnificentMelkior]

Tagging for interest. I play a Biologist most of the time and it would be good to have something official to go on. I'd also like to add: what are the racial average IQs for all the races? I know that its skrell>human>other xenos with IPC being rather useless to measure this way, but numbers might be nice.

[Killerhurtz]

As far as Dionaea go, I've put a LOT of thought about evolution in it (to the dismay of many people - I'm not sure it's ever going to be fully released).

And evolutionarily? I've grown quite affectionate of my evolution branch, and let me tell you: the Epsilon Eridani shell's statement of "their creation was nothing short of a miracle" is actually an understatement.

IQ-wise, it depends on the stage. Nymphs are 80-90, Workers are 100-130. Other forms defy classification.

[Frances]

Tagging for interest. I play a Biologist most of the time and it would be good to have something official to go on. I'd also like to add: what are the racial average IQs for all the races? I know that its skrell>human>other xenos with IPC being rather useless to measure this way, but numbers might be nice.

For Skrell.

IQ analyses various capacities of human intelligence. I do not necessarily wish for Skrell to be outright superior to humans, but rather differently-abled. Skrells would perform better than humans on an IQ test (assuming the human median stays at 100 IQ), but surprisingly not that high. The superiority of Skrell technology can be attributed in part to their longer lifespan, ability to amass greater knowledge over their lifetime, and to the high organization of Skrellian government which allows them to put a lot more energy into scientific progress as fewer of their efforts are drained through social issues. They also have a headstart over other species but it is hinted that humans would eventually be capable of surpassing them within a few decades to centuries of development. Skrells are better than humans at analytical thinking, but humans have a greater drive and ambition, while the Skrell are very conservative in their mindsets.

If you absolutely wanted a hard number, you could place the median of Skrell IQ at around 140 (which would make the average Skrell be considered intellectually gifted by human standards, and above roughly 98-98% of the human population .) This does not necessarily makes them superior to humans in all aspects, as quantitative intelligence is just part of what makes a particular species prevail... or not.

 

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For biology, Skrells (I think, or at least hope) evolved from amphibians. I believe the only reasonable justification why they'd develop in an anthropomorphic fashion (other than through divine intervention) would be because they faced the same evolutionary challenges as humans. This means things such as upward posture to maximize field of vision, reliance on tools leading to the development of better fine-motor skill but partial loss of brute physical prowess, and so on. Maybe some of those things don't make as much sense in the context of frogs evolving, but we're trying to justify the existence of big anthropomorphic frogs, so bear with us.

[MagnificentMelkior]

Thanks Frances, but you threw me for a loop when you said that the average skrell would have 140 iq. 140 iq is definitely beyond what I would consider "not that high" for a race's median.