On Xenobiological Considerations
Vanyalosswen of Runetotem wrote this morning to let me know that Zorigan (also of Runetotem) has graced the world with a speculative essay that uses creatures, and hunter pets in particular, to examine the laws of physics and biology in the World of Warcraft.
It’s a bit dense, but exceedingly interesting if you dig through it. Here’s a snippet to entice you:
Materials seems to exist which are much stronger than our own, and metabolisms can be pushed to much higher levels. Some things, like the silithids, are explainable with these two precepts. Note that there is a strict size cap on anything with an exoskeleton in our world, because of the efficiency (or lack thereof) inherent to insect respiration and the strength/weight ratio of increasingly large chitin structures.
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Funny, this relates a little bit, I was just drawing and evaluating animal combinations.. (start with bones, add muscles/organ space, skin, etc. etc.) Okay, not THAT related, but it’s fun. Probubly wouldn’t work out in a real world though, something would be wrong.
Anyway, I will have to read that.
There’s magic. I usually write it off as physics’ dark energy, which is akin to dark matter. Basically, it just means there’s more energy available somehow and this energy powers the extra strength and durability. It also explains why our WoW characters seem to eat a lot more than we normally do yet never get fat. :-)
Has anyone ever heard of the Flight of Dragons? I mean the book, not the cartoon movie. That’s what this reminds me of.
So is he saying that ravagers can’t exist?
Ge – It is currently technically impossible for anything with an exoskeleton (bugs, spiders etc) to evolve to the size of a ravager on Earth, so in our REAL world , no , ravagers could not exist presently. However, he is trying to explain what kind of circumstances must exist in the Warcraft universe that allow ravagers and all manner of other wondrous exotic, magical creatures to exist there.
Seidouyumi – I know the book you mean (shame about the artwork in it), did you ever see a documentary that came out a few years back that had cgi dragons in it , I think it was called The Last Dragon, look it up it was really quite goodd and had a similar theme to the book.
Mania – Thanks for posting that up, great read, I’d love to see him develop the idea. I’ve always held a theory that spore bats and nether rays are some kind of fungoid based life but I think one problem that exists with comparing WoW the game is that scales are often out of proportion in the game compared to a real life version, I mean hell on an epic mount its a fairly short ride from The Mor’shan ramparts to Thousand Needles and thats the full length of the Barrens, a zone I can imagine spanning a good few hundred miles. Anyway I’m rambling now, thanks again for bringing such am interesting article to our attention. :D
Ravagers are Aliens. Not bugs. Different rule sets apply. *Grins*
Well an exosleleton is an exoskeleton, although I’ve never been entirely convinced that ravagers are completely exoskeletal animals.
Dvalin-
I remember the show you’re talking about. It gets rerun every so often too.
anything with an exoskeleton could grow to what ever size they wanted in our real world if they had lungs and the abundant food supply that humans do. so fingers crossed on mad scientests creating spiders with lungs, then humans would be on the menu… Muhahahahaha.
also ravagers need an attack animation, mine just stands next to the mob doing the gore aniamtion. kinda boring. think i might get me a raptor that jumps on your ass as you flee. >:)tigers still rock, will never give mine up!
Exoskeleton or armoured body? I always saw Ravagers as the later — the xenobiology of WoW is an interesting idea to think on. Not useful, but interesting :)
I know of the limitations of insect size (I did a bit of study in entomology), the limitation is due to the circulatory and respiratory systems being unable to cope with larger sizes. If the theoretical large insectoids in WoW evolved different (or modified/strengthened) systems to those on earth, they could perhaps overcome the size limitation.
Or as an alternative line of thought, perhaps the Ravagers’ chitin could be explained away not as an insectoid material, but more in the line of a turtle’s shell. If you combine some of the hardier traits of both insects and reptiles, you can get a shell-strong exoskeleton with a bone structure supporting it and the vital organs within, leaving room, protection, and support against gravity. Possibly a sort of chambered skeleton, probably with a high ratio of cartilage to bone.
I love drawing up new creatures, and the anatomy brings up fun questions for your mind to wrestle with. Ah, intelligent gaming conversation. Refreshing! ^_^
Insects and for the matter all arthropods back in the Carboniforous period were enormous. That was a time when 10-foot millipedes, hawk-sized dragonflies and 2-foot spiders were among the dominant lifeforms. Food was very plentiful. This was mainly because the huge oxygen content in Earth’s air back then was able to fuel and supply their relatively ineffective respiratory systems. So if Azeroth (and Outland) were to exist scientifically, that world would need an massive oxygen to allow those creature to reach such a size.
And I think Herne is right about ravagers not being entirely exoskeleton animals. They have hindged, chomping jaws after all and most insect IRL have mandables.
Dvalin, the Barrens is probably only 4-6 miles long since Blizzard said that STV is roughly 2.
Yossir – did you read the article or come to that conclusion independently? Because I spent a lot of time discussing that very fact (I even quoted the 35% oxygen content of the atmosphere)
Thanks all for the comments both positive and WTFlike.
A non-bug like ravager is certainly possible.
Turtles in dinosaur times were car-sized. Armored dinosaurs (Ankylosaurs of various sorts) are quite large, and multi-ton in mass.
The modern armadillo and some of the larger sea turtles are quite big. South america had HUGE armadillo type creatures (and real life Tallstriders and sabertooth kitties!) 15+ million years ago. Thats just yesterday in geological time.
google “gastornis” for the strider clutchmother. These guys munched on our ancestors!
All of the above are non-insect forms, with lungs, bones and a spine.
Yossir, the size of a zone in the “real World” would be considerably larger I would have thought than their in game size. I mean the density of life in STv is far too great to be encompassed in a zone that is 2 miles long, plus the predator – prey dynamic there would be interesting to examine since there seems to be very little in the way of prey species for the majority of the predators to feed on as the majority of creatures you seem to encounter in STv are predominantly carnivores with the exception of the gorillas.
All I have to say to the author is, ITS FANTASY QUIT TRYING TO ANILIZE IT AND ENJOY IT FOR PEATS SAKES! I dont know about any of you guys but I play wow to get AWAY from reality.
Zorigan, I haven’t even read the article. I just know all that from all the books on prehistoric life that I’ve read over the years.
Sorry about the double post, but I understand what you’re saying Dvalin. The first time I ever went to Thousand Needles and Tanaris I thought “How come there aren’t any prey animals?” Excluding the turtles, everything was a carnivore. A lot of zone on Azeroth are like this.
Mongolia was probably the only place IRL that ever had an eco-system like that. Around 80 million years back, most of the animals in the environment were predators and only a handful of prey species existed. Its not proven but the larger predators probably ate some of the smaller ones to get by.
Heh– it all reminds me a bit of what my wife had mentioned to me while playing; She’s a field scientist for the Gov’t, mapping out plants, geology, and soils on FS Land. Not 5 minutes pass after she picks up herbalism and loads up cartographer that she mentions she’s impressed how much Blizz has paid attention to thier plants; some are riparian, others are in forests, mountains, and grasslands. Further, I think she’s made mention that many of the herbs you find have real-life versions, looking both similar, and growing in similar kinds of areas :D. So, I suppose, someone, somewhere in Blizz thinks about these kinds of things, too.
Anyway, always love a fascinating post on the metagame!
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