Exchange of Realities

When I first started creating species for my world, I took the idea rather literally, and invented a created species. Two, actually. Both were varieties of arthropod, and both were created mostly around their purpose.

Amusingly enough, what got me started on the little guys was an experiment in my molecular biology class. We’d been testing RNA interference in C. elegans, a tiny near-transparent nematode that looked like nothing more than a glass worm. And… well, leaving aside the problems with the experiment as it was, on Monday I showed up to count the worms and discovered that they were in—I kid you not—veins. Lines of worms, all piled up on top of each other so you couldn’t tell where one ended and the next began, and all wriggling constantly.

This gave me ideas. I took the design and made it bigger, because really, who’s going to be impressed or intimidated by microscopic worms? About six inches long, by the end. Then made them actual crystal worms, so anyone who saw a vein would also be hearing this dry scratching, scraping sound, and speciated them a bit, by giving them their own little veins of magical ore in different types, and creating their powers based on those types. Then I made them feed off of magic. And, in case it turned into a fight, gave them ways to team up with other worms (when your group is as powerful is mine is, you need to give your worms all the help they can get).

Their diet? Power. Their design purpose? The ability to detect the materials they have streaks of due to magical resonance. Their creator? A life-crafter with a bit of an arthropod obsession, name of Pemba—designing her to fit her creations was fun. And that in turn led me to her other creations—also magic-eaters, these hive-minded beetles were designed to create a sort of purified honey-analogue the way bees did. And had a couple other side effects, but…. well, my players read this blog, so I’ll have to be a little vague for now.

Purpose-first species design: You never know when it’s going to come in handy.