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CTD - Alien Harvest


Guest Azrael Strife

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Guest Azrael

This is the first draft of Alien Harvest, written by ex_Con87, he isn't a recruit yet so I'll throw it to the wolves myself :)

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ALIEN HARVEST

 

“They took my cows, all of them… they took them and… done real nasty things to them. I found two of them this mornin’ cut right up the middle, all their insides missing too.”

 

Billy Bob “Tiny” Taylor, eye witness of the Alien Harvest

 

Alien Harvest was some of the first signs of the Alien activity on Earth, it is assumed that the Aliens have uses for Earth fauna and livestock; the most predominate suggestion is that the Aliens use the fauna and livestock for sustenance, although there are other theories. X-Corp scientists have began to acquire possible evidence of the Aliens sowing these “Seeds” early in the earths history, and now they are back to reap their havest.

 

The first signs of “Alien Harvest” was cattle mutilation in the southern states of the USA and in other areas including Africa and in some parts of the Europe. It seems the Aliens do not need, or have use for all the cattle’s organs. This would explain why the cattle were found with internal organs missing. Questions are still asked as to why the Aliens return the remains of the cattle to where they were found. A possible suggestion to this is that the Aliens return the mutilated cattle to Earth merely to create a sense of panic among the population, although some are so bold as to say that some Aliens do this is a prank.

 

Crop circles also appeared as another large sign of the Alien Harvest, whilst only a small amount of crops were trampled, evidence has found that the symbols made in the crop were used as markers to show harvest ships which crop to reap. But the public discovery of crop circles lead to wide spread denial of all Alien connection with crop circles and members of the public were paid by the government to “confess” making the crop circles as a hoax.

 

As the harvests became more frequent, word governments started to acknowledge the problem with less scepticism and became very concerned as to how to deal with the problem. Various leaks of Alien Harvest news to the word media also started to create a cloud of anxiety amongst the population and growing the call for something to be done about it.

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Very good, but could you elaborate more on 'the other theories'?

 

Is there any pattern to the mutilations? Are there specific organs that the greys prefer to the other races?

 

 

I think that this is a very good start, but maybe a reference to the harvester and a bit more padding wouldn't go amiss? =b

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Guest Azrael

New revision

---------------------------------------------

ALIEN HARVEST

 

“They took my cows, all of them… they took them and… done real nasty things to them. I found two of them this mornin’ cut right up the middle, all their insides missing too.”

 

Billy Bob “Tiny” Taylor, eye witness of the Alien Harvest

 

Alien Harvest was some of the first signs of the Alien activity on Earth, it is assumed that the Aliens have uses for Earth fauna and livestock; the most predominate suggestion is that the flora and fauna harvested is synthesised into medication or perhaps other chemicals, not to dissimilar from the way that drugs companies use some fauna for painkillers, although this is only one of the theories. Many scientists believe that the Aliens use the fauna and livestock for sustenance. Another less credited theory is that the Aliens use flora, fauna and livestock in advancing genetic modification. This is a largely unsupported theory due to the lack of knowledge of Alien genetic experiments.

 

The first signs of “Alien Harvest” were cattle mutilation in the southern states of the USA and in other areas including Africa and in some parts of the Europe. It seems the Aliens do not need, or have use for all the cattle’s organs. This would explain why the cattle were found with internal organs missing. It seems that what is taken from each cattle can differ, but largely if is found that larger muscles in the body are favoured. The most realistic theory for this is that the Aliens require the large amounts mitochondria found in muscle tissues, this could also show why cattle are taken over other forms of livestock. After this the digestive system seems to be favoured, it is thought that the gastric acids may be useful to the Aliens in their research. But on occasion other organs are removed, but there is no obvious pattern to this; maybe for sustenance? Questions are still asked as to why the Aliens return the remains of the cattle to where they were found. A possible suggestion to this is that the Aliens return the mutilated cattle to Earth merely to create a sense of panic among the population, although some are so bold as to say that some Aliens do this is a prank.

 

Crop circles also appeared as another large sign of the Alien Harvest, whilst only a small amount of crops were trampled, evidence has found that the symbols made in the crop were used as markers to show harvest ships which crop to reap. But the public discovery of crop circles lead to wide spread denial of all Alien connection with crop circles and members of the public were paid by the government to “confess” making the crop circles as a hoax.

 

The [Harvester] is the Aliens primary craft for reaping their harvest. From eye witness accounts it is seen that it is a medium craft, which is heavily armed. It can only be estimated that the Alien presence on board the craft is low considering its purpose.*

 

As the harvests became more frequent, world governments started to acknowledge the problem with less scepticism and became very concerned as to how to deal with the problem. Various leaks of Alien Harvest news to the word media also started to create a cloud of anxiety amongst the population and growing the call for something to be done about it. Although this still remains a low priority on X-Corps “to-do-list”.

 

*This is dependent on amount of intelligence gathered on Harvester craft. And also what is decided in other texts.

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Dag nab it, I took too long to post and Az posted your revision already! Geez, I've lost count of how many times that's been the case. I guess there's more to him than meets the eye... :unsure:

 

*goes buzzing in Az's ear for a while*

 

Anyway, the following comments refer to your first draft, ex_Con87.

-Asty

 

 

Hey ex_Con87, that's a good rough draft you've got there!

 

I really like the first fluff (our word for "quote" in these parts :P), it fits well.

 

In your second paragraph, "these Seeds" is a little unclear. I know what you mean, but it could be clarified. Maybe: "X-Corps scientists have begun to acquire (find?) evidence that life on Earth may have actually been 'seeded' (planted?) by Aliens long ago... and now they have returned to reap their harvest."

 

On that note... I'm not sure whether the above-mentioned detail fits in with the backstory... but I don't think it's yet been decided upon. Perhaps someone else could verify this?

 

Paragraph 3: isn't there also the possibility that the Aliens conduct their grisly harvest on-site (they leave their ships to mutilate cows)? At least mention the possibility or explain why the scientists don't think it's the case. Also, since governments have been trying to hide the presence of Aliens, maybe the last part of the final sentence might be better as: although some are so bold as to say that it is a grisly prank"?

 

In paragraph 4, does "crop" refer to the animals the Aliens are harvesting? Or are the Aliens also harvesting agricultural plants? If it's the first case, you might want to distinguish between crop as in "crop circles" (plants) from crop as in the Aliens' animal harvests. If "crops" instead means agricultural plants, you should change the two instances of fauna (meaning animals) in paragraph 2 to flora (meaning plants).

 

There are some places where it could be explanded, as dipstick mentions, but all in all, it's a good start. :)

Edited by Astyanax
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Comments for the second draft, but some comments in my last post still apply (particularly the comments for the original's paragraph 3 and 4), so I haven't repeated them here. :P

 

The first paragraph (after the fluff) is grammatically correct, but there is a lot of passive tense (forms of the verb to be- is and was are predominant in this paragraph), which makes it sound kind of boring. I'm not saying you should never use passive tense, but be aware that its overuse really "slows down" the text. Additionally, this paragraph could be simplified greatly while preserving the same meaning...

Alien Harvest was some of the first signs of the Alien activity on Earth, it is assumed that the Aliens have uses for Earth fauna and livestock; the most predominate suggestion is that the flora and fauna harvested is synthesised into medication or perhaps other chemicals, not to dissimilar from the way that drugs companies use some fauna for painkillers, although this is only one of the theories. Many scientists believe that the Aliens use the fauna and livestock for sustenance. Another less credited theory is that the Aliens use flora, fauna and livestock in advancing genetic modification. This is a largely unsupported theory due to the lack of knowledge of Alien genetic experiments.
Alien Harvest was perhaps the first observed Alien activity on Earth.  Though many scientists believe that the Aliens use the terrestrial (flora and?) fauna for sustenance, some believe the harvested materials are merely ingredients for an Alien (medication or?) concoction, while still others maintain the  (plant and?) animal tissues are used strictly for their (nefarious?) genetic modification experiments. However, there is little evidence for any of these theories.
The last sentence's meaning was changed since there's really no evidence presented for any of the theories in the text- just speculation. Also, be clear whether plants (flora) are being harvested, too; sometimes it's unclear.

 

In the second paragraph after the fluff... aren't mitochondria found in all living animal cells? I'm not aware of any difference in mitochondrial density in various cells (if so, please enlighten me!), so the "most realistic theory" doesn't make a whole lot of sense- and does little to "show why" the Aliens take different organs and tissues in different visits, particularly because there is "no obvious pattern to this".

 

"Although this still remains a low priority on X-Corps “to-do-list”" in the last sentence seems like an assertion that may not be true, since players might like to shoot down the slow craft.

 

Sorry for double-posting, ex_Con87. Although I have written a great deal, your text shows promise. Keep up the good work! :)

Edited by Astyanax
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Woo i post in here now, will say me hasseling Azrael, heh heh.

 

Asty, i think the propsed new paragraph was good, but i was really sure if it felt right (probally just my personal opinion, we'll wait and see what everyone else says), i mean some of the wording change (introduction of large words, wooo) suits it well, but i wasn't sure, i'll combined the two and see.

 

Alien Harvest was perhaps the first observed Alien activity on Earth. Though many scientists believe that the Aliens use the terrestrial fauna for sustenance, some believe the harvested materials are synthesised into medication or perhaps other chemicals (Concoction?), not to dissimilar from the way that drugs companies use some fauna for painkillers. Others maintain the less credited theory that the plant and animal tissues are used strictly for their nefarious genetic modification experiments. This is a largely unsupported theory due to the lack of knowledge of Alien genetic experiments.

 

I'm still reluctant to mention there is little evidence for the theories because i think that kinda makes the (above) paragraph seem a bit usless and turn it into speculation. Even if it is, saying that there is little eveidence reduces the credability (spelling?!) of it, doesn't it?

 

In the second paragraph after the fluff... aren't mitochondria found in all living animal cells?  I'm not aware of any difference in mitochondrial density in various cells (if so, please enlighten me!), so the "most realistic theory" doesn't make a whole lot of sense- and does little to "show why" the Aliens take different organs and tissues in different visits, particularly because there is "no obvious pattern to this".

 

Well yes, but the fact that cattle is classesed as red meat, this is due to the high dencity of Mitochondria in the muscle tissue, i mean i could say something along the lines of that "the aliens (may/could - something like that) use the mictochondria to turn* glucose (presuably taken from Terrestrial Fuana)** into energy..."

 

*Not final wording, LOL

**Will be taken out of brackets and put into contect

 

This passage would hofully explain the significance of the mitochondria and wouls show why the aliens pick cattle (for higher mitchodria dencity) over other animals.

 

"Although this still remains a low priority on X-Corps “to-do-list”" in the last sentence seems like an assertion that may not be true, since players might like to shoot down the slow craft.

 

I think i should change "X-corps" to "The world governments"(?!) so it would read

 

Although this still remains a low priority on the world government's “to-do-list”

 

That would show that the activity of the Alien harvest isn't that much of a big deal (compared to terror attacks or something like that), but it wouldn't stop the player from going and shooting all the harvesters down just because he/she found them annoying.

 

Ok i think thats it

 

p.s. Through out my posts, u'll find bad spellings and poor grammar, i sorry bout that i suck at spelling and well i forget myself when it comes to grammar sometimes.

 

EDIT: Thats strange, quotes aren't working...

EDIT BY AZRAEL: Fixed quotes, you used "

" at the beginning while it had to be just "
"
Edited by Azrael
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Asty, i think the propsed new paragraph was good, but i was really sure if it felt right (probally just my personal opinion, we'll wait and see what everyone else says), i mean some of the wording change (introduction of large words, wooo) suits it well, but i wasn't sure, i'll combined the two and see.

That's fine, ex_Con87- please don't feel obligated to take my corrections as they are. That paragraph is my way of "explaining" things; I'm better at giving examples than articulating what I mean, unfortunately. I also tend to embellish things in my own way, so tweak the text so that it ends up saying what you want to say in the end, ok? :P

 

Your new paragraph is much improved. =b

 

I'm still reluctant to mention there is little evidence for the theories because i think that kinda makes the (above) paragraph seem a bit usless and turn it into speculation. Even if it is, saying that there is little eveidence reduces the credability (spelling?!) of it, doesn't it?

Isn't proposing unsubstantiated theories the same as speculation? To play devil's advocate, showing that all the ideas are speculation could demonstrate exactly how "in the dark" humans are about the Alien menace, instead of making it useless. But whether to include it or not is a style issue.

 

Are you certain that muscle cells have higher densities of mitochondria than other organs/tissues? I don't know myself, but if you are certain, then I'll take your word for it.

 

Although this still remains a low priority on the world government's “to-do-list”

Hm, this might not be a good thing to mention. Since there are no world government forces seen in the game, making a reference to them might lead the player to believe that they might receive military assistance from some world governments- that's not a good thing.

 

Ehhh, quoting myself... how tacky! :Blush:

Paragraph 2: isn't there also the possibility that the Aliens conduct their grisly harvest on-site (they leave their ships to mutilate cows) instead of returning the corpses later? At least mention the possibility and/or explain why the scientists don't think it's the case. Also, since governments have been trying to hide the presence of Aliens, maybe the last part of the final sentence might be better as: although some are so bold as to say that it is a grisly prank"?

 

In paragraph 3, does "crop" refer to the animals the Aliens are harvesting? Or are the Aliens also harvesting agricultural plants? If it's the first case, you might want to distinguish between crop as in "crop circles" (plants) from crop as in the Aliens' animal harvests. If "crops" instead means agricultural plants, you should change the two instances of fauna (meaning animals) in paragraph 2 to flora (meaning plants).

These are a couple of points that I had comments on that were still valid. :P Maybe you should also more clearly list what organs are always taken (like muscle, stomach) and then list some possible reasons why (mitochondria, acids?), and which are only sometimes taken (other organs) and then list the sustenance theory.

 

And don't worry too much about spelling and grammar; the texts will be proofread.

 

p.s. If you're finding yourself overwhelmed by my comments, don't hesitate to tell me to make fewer comments at a time. :)

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Thats cool, i like people who have the balls to critisise, but who have the skill to make it positive. Make all the comments you need, after all, we're after the best possible thing.

 

Isn't proposing unsubstantiated theories the same as speculation? To play devil's advocate, showing that all the ideas are speculation could demonstrate exactly how "in the dark" humans are about the Alien menace, instead of making it useless. But whether to include it or not is a style issue.

 

Yeah, good point.

 

On the Mitochondria thing, i know i remember being tought that the highest quantity of mitochondria is found in your muscles because they are needed to turn glucose into energy and your muscles need more energy than most parts of you're body. Although i'm not completly certain, so if someone could double check with me or something that'd be cool.

 

Right, heres the thrid re-draft...

_________________________________________________________________

 

Alien Harvest

 

“They took my cows, all of them… they took them and… done real nasty things to them. I found two of them this mornin’ cut right up the middle, all their insides missing too.”

 

Billy Bob “Tiny” Taylor, eye witness of the Alien Harvest

 

Alien Harvest was perhaps the first observed Alien activity on Earth. Though many scientists believe that the Aliens use the terrestrial fauna for sustenance, some believe the harvested materials are synthesised into medication or perhaps other chemicals (Concoction?), not to dissimilar from the way that drugs companies use some fauna for painkillers. Others maintain the less credited theory that the plant and animal tissues are used strictly for their nefarious genetic modification experiments. This is a largely unsupported theory due to the lack of knowledge of Alien genetic experiments.

 

The first signs of “Alien Harvest” were cattle mutilation in the southern states of the USA and in other areas including Africa and in some parts of the Europe. It seems the Aliens do not need, or have use for all the cattle’s organs. This would explain why the cattle were found with internal organs missing. It seems that what is taken from each cattle can differ, but largely if is found that larger muscles (such as the heart) in the body are favoured. The most realistic theory for this is that the Aliens require the large amounts mitochondria found in muscle tissues, this could also show why cattle are taken over other forms of livestock. After this the digestive system seems to be favoured, it is thought that the gastric acids may be useful to the Aliens in their research. There is no notable pattern to the organs removed or left. But the main consistencies are; the heart, legs and lower back muscles are removed as well as the stomach and intestines. But the main thing which baffles scientists is that the pancreas is always left; there is no evidence as to why this is the case.

 

Questions are still asked as to why the Aliens return the remains of the cattle to where they were found. At first scientists believed that the Alien’s conducted their “operations” on the ground. However, there have never been any eye witness accounts of this happening, and it is thought that the Aliens would rather minimise the chance of being disturbed by travelling back into orbit until they had finished then returning the remains. A possible suggestion to this is that the Aliens return the mutilated cattle to Earth merely to create a sense of panic among the population, although some are so bold as to say that it is a grisly prank.

 

Crop circles also appeared as another large sign of the Alien Harvest, whilst only a small amount of crops were trampled, evidence has found that the symbols made in the crop (Mainly cereals) were used as markers to show harvest ships which crop to reap. But the public discovery of crop circles lead to wide spread denial of all Alien connection with crop circles and members of the public were paid by the government to “confess” making the crop circles as a hoax.

 

The [Harvester] is the Aliens primary craft for reaping their harvest. From eye witness accounts it is seen that it is a medium craft, which is heavily armed. It can only be estimated that the Alien presence on board the craft is low considering its purpose.*

 

As the harvests became more frequent, world governments started to acknowledge the problem with less scepticism and became very concerned as to how to deal with the problem. Various leaks of Alien Harvest news to the word media also started to create a cloud of anxiety amongst the population and growing the call for something to be done about it. Although this still remains a low priority on X-Corps “to-do-list”.

 

*This is dependent on amount of intelligence gathered on Harvester craft. And also what is decided in other texts.

____________________________________________________________________

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Hey ex_Con87, thanks for your kind comments. :) In return, I looked around for more info regarding mitochondrial density... ;)

 

The abundance of mitochondria varies with cellular energy level and is a function of cell type, cell-cycle stage and proliferative state. For example, brown adipose tissue cells, hepatocytes  and certain renal epithelial cells  tend to be rich in active mitochondria, whereas quiescent immune-system progenitor or precursor cells show little staining with mitochondrion-selective dyes.
Brown adipose tissue = brown fat tissue. It's similar to white fat tissue, but it can generate heat. Often found in newborns and cold-dwelling animals.

Hepatocytes = liver cells. The liver is composed of ~80% hepatocytes.

Renal epithelial cells... "renal" plus "epithelial cells" probably means cells lining the absorbing layers in the kidney.

 

Hm, found a more informative site here.

Type I Fibers

loaded with mitochondria and

depend on cellular respiration for ATP production

resistant to fatigue

rich in myoglobin and hence red in color

activated by small-diameter, thus slow-conducting, motor neurons

also known as "slow-twitch" fibers

dominant in muscles that depend on tonus, e.g., those responsible for posture

 

Type II Fibers

few mitochondria

rich in glycogen and

depend on glycolysis for ATP production

fatigue easily

low in myoglobin hence whitish in color

activated by large-diameter, thus fast-conducting, motor neurons

also known as "fast-twitch" fibers

dominant in muscles used for rapid movement

Type I muscle fibers are more for "endurance", while Type II fibers are more for "speed". It's pretty interesting stuff, actually. Anyway, I hope that helps you out.

 

Now on to the text. :)

Alien Harvest was perhaps the first observed Alien activity on Earth.
I was thinking... maybe Alien Harvest is the first observed alien activity on the ground, since (as far as I know) UFO sightings had been reported earlier?

 

In the rest of paragraph 1, I'm still wondering how the scientists came up with their theories. In science, theories are often made to explain trends in observations. In the text, however, it sounds like the scientists are just guessing- they have little proof, evidence, or observations other than to work off of.

 

From the text, scientists know about animal mutilations and crop signs, as well as which organs/tissues are taken, and that the pancreas is never taken. With this knowledge, how can any scientist theorize the sustenance, the medicine, or the experiment theories?

 

Hm, maybe it's a semantics issue? Maybe replace "theory" with "speculation"? Theory implies some knowledge, whereas speculation implies whole fabric guesses...

 

Interesting tidbit about the pancreas in paragraph 2. :)

 

In paragraph 3, "travelling back into orbit" might be inaccurate. The aliens might instead travel back to one of their terrestrial bases...

 

In paragraph 4, I noticed your efforts to address my previous comment. But maybe:

Crop circles also appeared as another large sign of the Alien Harvest, whilst only a small amount of crops were trampled, evidence has found that the symbols made in the crop (Mainly cereals) were used as markers to show harvest ships which crop to reap.
Consider removing the "Mainly cereals" line and instead better defining the highlighted "crop". As it is, the sentence suggests the Aliens are making crop circles (let's say "wheat" in this instance) to indicate which wheat crop to harvest. The first paragraph no longer mentions flora (plants), so why are the Aliens harvesting agricultural crops? If the Aliens are also harvesting plants, then "flora" should be mentioned in the first paragraph.

 

Um, sorry for the confusing explanation; I can try to elaborate further if you need it. Anyway, I think that's enough comments for one post, wouldn't you say? :P

 

-Asty, reformed proofreader

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Guest Azrael

ALIEN HARVEST

X-Net://Pegasus.net/Alien/Research/Harvest

 

Corrected title and set in the standard form we've been using

 

Alien Harvest was perhaps the first observed Alien activity on Earth. Though many scientists believe that the Aliens use the terrestrial fauna for sustenance, some believe the harvested materials are synthesised into medication or perhaps other chemicals (Concoction?), not to dissimilar from the way that drugs companies use some fauna for painkillers. Others maintain the less credited theory that the plant and animal tissues are used strictly for their nefarious genetic modification experiments. This is a largely unsupported theory due to the lack of knowledge of Alien genetic experiments.

 

Instead of "materials", how about "biological resources"? the word "materials" doesn't seem to fit correctly, doesn't evoke the idea of animal tissue, or animals themselves...

Mentioning medication and chemicals on the same sentence seems a little redundant, as medicals are chemicals (I know it says "and other", but I don't see the need for that distinction, unless there is a theory that supports the likeliness of them being for medical purposes).

I don't like how "dissimilar" sounds up there, it might be just my liking, I know the meaning it's correct, but sounds a bit odd, just an opinion.

"drugs companies use some fauna", is this correct? I don't have any knowledge on this so I'm just asking. And if so, it sounds weird put that way, almost like they put a cow into a grinder and make painkillers, maybe put a bit more scientifically?

Perhaps "supported" would fit better than "credited".

“They took my cows, all of them… they took them and… done real nasty things to them. I found two of them this mornin’ cut right up the middle, all their insides missing too.”

- Billy Bob “Tiny” Taylor, eye witness of the Alien Harvest

 

Moved the fluff here, one fluff after the first paragraph, one at the bottom, as we've been using.

 

The first signs of “Alien Harvest” were cattle mutilation in the southern states of the USA and in other areas including Africa and in some parts of the Europe. It seems the Aliens do not need, or have use for all the cattle’s organs. This would explain why the cattle were found with internal organs missing. It seems that what is taken from each cattle can differ, but largely if is found that larger muscles (such as the heart) in the body are favoured. The most realistic theory for this is that the Aliens require the large amounts mitochondria found in muscle tissues, this could also show why cattle are taken over other forms of livestock. After this the digestive system seems to be favoured, it is thought that the gastric acids may be useful to the Aliens in their research. There is no notable pattern to the organs removed or left. But the main consistencies are; the heart, legs and lower back muscles are removed as well as the stomach and intestines. But the main thing which baffles scientists is that the pancreas is always left; there is no evidence as to why this is the case.

 

If there is a theory, then it should also mention why do they need the mitocondria for.

If there are no notable patterns, there are no main consistencies, I think it's a contradiction there.

 

Questions are still asked as to why the Aliens return the remains of the cattle to where they were found. At first scientists believed that the Alien’s conducted their “operations” on the ground. However, there have never been any eye witness accounts of this happening, and it is thought that the Aliens would rather minimise the chance of being disturbed by travelling back into orbit until they had finished then returning the remains. A possible suggestion to this is that the Aliens return the mutilated cattle to Earth merely to create a sense of panic among the population, although some are so bold as to say that it is a grisly prank.

Instead of that theory, how about simply the Aliens come down, they mutilate the cattle on the land and take whatever they need? Then they load it up and leave. In addition to the panic thing, it'd be good, I think.

 

Crop circles also appeared as another large sign of the Alien Harvest, whilst only a small amount of crops were trampled, evidence has found that the symbols made in the crop (Mainly cereals) were used as markers to show harvest ships which crop to reap. But the public discovery of crop circles lead to wide spread denial of all Alien connection with crop circles and members of the public were paid by the government to “confess” making the crop circles as a hoax.

 

The [Harvester] is the Aliens primary craft for reaping their harvest. From eye witness accounts it is seen that it is a medium craft, which is heavily armed. It can only be estimated that the Alien presence on board the craft is low considering its purpose.*

Name of the harvester vessel is "Reaper". But don't get into that, just if you want, add a general description, armament should not be included here.

 

As the harvests became more frequent, world governments started to acknowledge the problem with less scepticism and became very concerned as to how to deal with the problem. Various leaks of Alien Harvest news to the word media also started to create a cloud of anxiety amongst the population and growing the call for something to be done about it. Although this still remains a low priority on X-Corps “to-do-list”.

 

About the last part, better leave that to the player's judgement, put a suggestion if you want, but don't tell the player what priority it is :)

 

*This is dependent on amount of intelligence gathered on Harvester craft. And also what is decided in other texts.

Edited by Azrael
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I'm just addressing some of the points raised in the last two posts, its in no particular order, so sorry about that. (thanks for the info Asty)

 

Consider removing the "Mainly cereals" line and instead better defining the highlighted "crop". As it is, the sentence suggests the Aliens are making crop circles (let's say "wheat" in this instance) to indicate which wheat crop to harvest. The first paragraph no longer mentions flora (plants), so why are the Aliens harvesting agricultural crops? If the Aliens are also harvesting plants, then "flora" should be mentioned in the first paragraph.

 

If there is a theory, then it should also mention why do they need the mitocondria for.

If there are no notable patterns, there are no main consistencies, I think it's a contradiction there.

 

Yeah, i noitced that (when u mentioned it any way) i corrected to different surgestions but it ended up contradicting each.

 

Instead of that theory, how about simply the Aliens come down, they mutilate the cattle on the land and take whatever they need? Then they load it up and leave. In addition to the panic thing, it'd be good, I think.

 

I really know what the Alien's tactics are (if that makes ne sense), becuase disecting the cattle on the ground would mean that the are very open for attack (even if it is just a farmer with his shot gun), i think somewhere the reaper was mentioned to be heavily armed with a large crew, so would that crew be used to secure the area etc, to make sure they aren't interupted?

 

"drugs companies use some fauna", is this correct?

 

heck no! sorry about that it should be Flora, i think i got a little bit mixed up.

 

So I think i will leave the reason for wanting muscle tissue (type I), if it's stuffed full of Mitochondria. I think the reason why the Alien's need the Mitcohondria is that [pick your own alien for here] does not have or has a different type of mitchondria which cannot break down the glucose (which will have been accquired from the flora (cerals or something)) so the cattle mitochondria is extracted and then used for turning glucose into energy, which then can be used for any number of things. What ya reckon?

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So I think i will leave the reason for wanting muscle tissue (type I), if it's stuffed full of Mitochondria. I think the reason why the Alien's need the Mitcohondria is that [pick your own alien for here] does not have or has a different type of mitchondria which cannot break down the glucose (which will have been accquired from the flora (cerals or something)) so the cattle mitochondria is extracted and then used for turning glucose into energy, which then can be used for any number of things. What ya reckon?
Hm... I don't know about this idea...

 

While I do like the concept of harvesting mitochondria (by the way, plants have mitochondria, too), keep in mind there are ways to break down glucose ("respiration") in the absence of mitochondria. Mitochondria are highly correlated with aerobic (in the presence of oxygen) respiration, but anaerobic respiration can occur without mitochondria, though it is less efficient. The two paths of anaerobic respiration are alcohol fermentation and lactic acid fermentation.

 

Hmmm... how might this be worked out? Perhaps the Aliens do not naturally possess mitochondria, so they respire anaerobically. Upon coming to Earth, they discover the aerobic capabilities of mitochondria and research a method to incorporate them into newly incubated Aliens, which enhance their endurance and their capabilities in the field (which would go far in explaining why the Aliens get tougher as the game progresses).

 

Maybe you could convince kafros to add something to his Alien Breeding CT: something like "mitochondria do not occur naturally in alien biology, but we have found the presence (or high concentrations) of human mitochondria in alien tissues..."?

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No, no... ex_Con87, I actually like the idea of harvesting mitochondria (as long as the text explains how the scientists arrived at this conclusion and/or why they think this is the case), but in my last post, I was trying to get around the some of the scientific/logical issues (e.g., mitochondria aren't necessary for glycolysis, but they do result in more efficient glycolysis) and suggest something that might be plausible. :P

 

In any case, I was just throwing out some ideas-- I'm sure there are other good ones out there, too. :)

Edited by Astyanax
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Ok, i'll start on the re-write soon. I dont have a great deal of time at this current moment, got a large mock-exam tomorrow on editorial writing and coursework for next friday, but i will do it asap.
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No worries. It's always assumed that Real Life takes precedence over Xenocide. Well, maybe I'm the exception, since I'm just a voice in the wires, and I have no life. :Cry:

 

 

:JK:

 

 

Joking aside, good luck on your coursework. We'll still be here when you finish your next draft. :P

Edited by Astyanax
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I like the general flow of this text, but to pick up on the point about the mitochondria - are they merely being harvested to be directly implanted into aliens, in which case cloning would be easier and simpler, or eaten, in which case they would be broken down, and therefore no use in breaking down glucose?

 

I can't see either really working? :blush1:

 

If this horse has already been flogged to death, then please excuse me, but I have only managed to briefly read the thread, as I have to be off...

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Maybe you could convince kafros to add something to his Alien Breeding CT: something like "mitochondria do not occur naturally in alien biology, but we have found the presence (or high concentrations) of human mitochondria in alien tissues..."?

 

Why "convince" me? Aren't we working as a team in order to make some nice texts? :P

Altough I am not sure that we should include that in Alien "BREEDING", a new tet called "Alien Biology" would be better :) :hmmm:

 

Well, alein could collect mitochondria and then put them in mechanical tubes full of a special artificial and "computer-controlled" liquid (that reminds me of something... :P). They sustain the mitochondria, they "feed" them sugar, and they collect ATPs :)

 

Using this together with energy (which will "feed" mechanical parts and artificial organs) , we know how aliens feed themselves... :innocent: :sly:

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It's an interesting idea-- "farming" mitochondria; maybe the Alien Food CT should be updated instead of Alien Breeding?

 

 

EDIT- Hm, on second though, after reading up on the science, it doesn't seem to be entirely feasible after all.

 

First off, NADH is much more potent (1 NADH creates 3 ATP). FADH2 is slightly less potent, but still more than ATP (1 FADH2 creates 2 ATP). But this might be too technical.

 

Secondly, "The citric acid cycle takes place within the mitochondria in eukaryotes, and within the cytoplasm in prokaryotes" from the Citric Acid Cycle wiki entry.

 

(The Citric Acid Cycle is one of three parts of the glucose-to-energy transformations in oxygen breathing organisms, the first part being glycolysis (found in all plants and animals on Earth, iirc) and the last being oxidative phosphorylation. Oxidative phosphorylation always occurs after the Citric Acid Cycle. Incidentally, the reactions inside mitochondria that generate ATP use pyruvate-- an end product of glycolysis-- not pure sugar, as an initial ingredient.)

 

Anyway, this means that ATP can also be created from plant cells, which are much easier to harvest. Why would the Aliens go through all that trouble to get mitochondria when basic plant matter could produce all the ATP they need? There are better ways to get at ATP from what I can tell.

 

 

There are several ways to address these issues, imho. Considering how relatively infrequent Alien Harvest missions are, I feel that making the Aliens dependent on them for something as vital as food seems a little unbelievable. But Aliens targeting farms for their animal harvests does make sense, since the animal density there is high. Some alternatives might be:

 

- The Aliens harvest plant cytoplasm for ATP generation (occasionally, colonies need to be recharged?) and animal organs for scientific experiments. Plants are much more plentiful than animals and more easily harvested; the extra effort to harvest animals must have some other motivation?

 

- The Aliens graft mammalian mitochondria into baby Aliens during their incubation so that the next-generation Aliens have greater endurance. This could explain why Aliens get tougher as the game goes on.

 

- The Aliens use mitochondria for reasons other than ATP synthesis. Mitochondria might serve a purpose for the Aliens instead of/in addition to ATP creation.

 

In any case, sorry for nitpicking so much, ex_Con87, but I'm trying to keep the science plausible. I realize though this must make it tough to write. :( If it interferes too much with your concepts, though, you don't have to incorporate these ideas.

Edited by Astyanax
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S'ok we all want to make this the best it can be, writing can take a long time, its hard to make something perfect first time, if you do it obviosly hasn't been nit-picked enough.

 

The Aliens harvest plant cytoplasm for ATP generation (occasionally, colonies need to be recharged?) and animal organs for scientific experiments. Plants are much more plentiful than animals and more easily harvested; the extra effort to harvest animals must have some other motivation?

 

This one is good, but i think it's giving too much credit to plants (if that makes any sence) because with the Alien Harvest i'd have thought people would like to focus on the mutalated cows slightly more, but that might just be me being weird.

 

The Aliens graft mammalian mitochondria into baby Aliens during their incubation so that the next-generation Aliens have greater endurance. This could explain why Aliens get tougher as the game goes on.

 

I think this theory a lot, it gives a plausable reason for my flawed theory AND explains why/how the aliens get tougher, is good.

 

the Aliens use mitochondria for reasons other than ATP synthesis. Mitochondria might serve a purpose for the Aliens instead of/in addition to ATP creation.

 

This one i will leave if we can't think of any thing else (it was one of me ideas which i didn't really want to use).

 

Any ways thanks for the input, seems like you gone out ur way a bit.

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*Well, have a look at here:

 

http://www.johnkyrk.com/mitochondrion.html

http://www.johnkyrk.com/krebs.html

 

I've got a bird's eye view due to the 11th grade Biology :). Unfortunately, I can describe it only in greek, English seems to be a pain in the neck... :\

 

*I have a question: Why should aliens use glycolysis and not lipid catabolism? You get +20 more ATPs!!!

 

http://www.rpi.edu/dept/bcbp/molbiochem/MB...t1/fatcatab.htm

 

* Well, mitochondria exist for a specific reason. i.e. Blood cells exists in order to transfer oxygen from the lungs to the various cells, they just can't do anything else! And, if the aliens want to use the cells in the mitochondria, they will have to "wake up" the non-functinal genes in the various cells, thus produce the needed proteins etc etc etc... Stupid, as this can do this with any other cell/tissue/organ/organism.

 

* Why should they mutilate cattle and not "human cattle"??? Better organs, "advanced" genome etc. If they need genes, then they should get some corn genome (much more DNA than man's).

 

* I also agree with the baby alien theory :)

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* Well, mitochondria exist for a specific reason. i.e. Blood cells exists in order to transfer oxygen from the lungs to the various cells, they just can't do anything else! And, if the aliens want to use the cells in the mitochondria, they will have to "wake up" the non-functinal genes in the various cells, thus produce the needed proteins etc etc etc... Stupid, as this can do this with any other cell/tissue/organ/organism.

* Why should they mutilate cattle and not "human cattle"??? Better organs, "advanced" genome etc. If they need genes, then they should get some corn genome (much more DNA than man's).

 

Sorry to bump in, so ignore me if it's already said, but don't Aliens harvest cows to incorporate some of their body parts (like uterus) in their cloning (or replicative) devices?

Mitochondria in itself can't do much, it is just the powerplant of the cell, but is not meant to work by itself. Maybe aliens are modifying them to power nanomachines that grow their organic walls, devices, ships, etc.

Have fun reading biochemistry, it's really interesting :)

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No need to be sorry, dan2. If anyone should be sorry for posting, it should be me since I post WAY too much. ^_^ Anyway, biochemistry is indeed fascinating (by the way, thanks for sharing those links, kafros. Thay are AWESOME!). :)

 

Mitochondria in itself can't do much, it is just the powerplant of the cell, but is not meant to work by itself. Maybe aliens are modifying them to power nanomachines that grow their organic walls, devices, ships, etc.
This is a neat idea, but we have to keep in mind that the Aliens do have the organic walls, devices, ships, etc. before they've done their overt harvesting missions. However, it could be said that incorporating mitochondria into, say, Silabrates might improve their Alien Composites production. I'm a little wary of introducing nanomachines, though, since it is absent from every other text. If the Aliens truly possessed such technology, they would likely apply it to many different uses, and changing so many texts to incorporate the idea would likely be frowned upon.

 

Regarding the baby Alien idea... I like it, but that's because I came up with it. :P I first thought that the discovery of human mitochondria in Alien tissues would be a very neat and creepy idea, but Alien Harvest currently focuses on animal mutilations and crop circles. It could be expanded to include humans, though.

 

Oh yeah! All of these ideas should not be necessarily explained in this text. The baby Alien part would fit better in the Alien Breeding CT, while the mitochondria for ATP/food idea would fit in the Alien Food CT. The Alien Harvest should set up the ideas that will be explained later in these other CTs.

 

Imho, the actual Alien Harvest CT should focus on what the Aliens are doing (crop circles, animal mutilations-- taking muscles, organs, but never the pancreas, etc.), how they are doing it (how they harvest plants- by hand, by machine?, how they remove organs- surgical procedures or savage cuts? physical scalpels or laser ones?, how long it takes them, whether they return animal corpses back to the site, etc.), and offer speculations why the Aliens are doing this. No one really knows the true reason, though.

 

Hey, that's it! That's what was bothering me! Make it so the speculations are not from the scientists-- they are from the public! These "popular theories" need no scientific proof; they are nothing more than sensationalized/hysterical reports. After that, then mention how scientists believe animal/human mitochondria are important in some way to the Aliens because of which tissues are removed (they kept the mitochondria-rich ones), and since mitochondria are energy producers, scientists suspect that they might be used for some sort of biological energy-intensive purpose, and/or Alien-animal/human experiments.

 

Whew, I got a little carried away there. :Blush:

Edited by Astyanax
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I agree with the last paragraph :). That way we will be able to solve these "mystery" or "non-rational" issues :)

 

And, have a look at this:

 

 

"The most fascinating feature of the incubator is nanotechnology!"

 

OMG ! NANO TECH!!!!111 ROFLMAO DAD ROXORZ MY BOXERZ! hilarious.gif

 

*ehem*, the X-corps use nanotechnology, so why should it be ' ! ' wothy?

 

Buahahahahaaa! Revenge of the robots :P :NyaNyaNya:

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This is a neat idea, but we have to keep in mind that the Aliens do have the organic walls, devices, ships, etc. before they've done their overt harvesting missions.  However, it could be said that incorporating mitochondria into, say, Silabrates might improve their Alien Composites production.  I'm a little wary of introducing nanomachines, though, since it is absent from every other text.  If the Aliens truly possessed such technology, they would likely apply it to many different uses, and changing so many texts to incorporate the idea would likely be frowned upon.

So Earth is the lucky world number 1? I guess aliens masterminds thought is more energy efficient to harvest from Earth than transporting stuff for huge distances.

You're saying these harvested mitochondria appear in terrorist units only or every alien?

Oh, yeah, you're right, let's keep it less scientific. But the report itself isn't done by scientists? You know how craisy they are with their mumbo-jumbo language :blink:

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So, what have we decided on then? That there isn't much point in going into the mitochondria at the depth that we've been discussing and just saying that they havest that and other organs from the Cattle, or shall we go all out for the scientiifc reason for doing in, in which case the ideas for implanting it into alien clones/ babies (whatever) seems to be the most popular idea. Also which parts of the discussed text are to be left out for other X-net entries to cover?

 

Thanks

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(Dag nab it, I just lost my post! :Rant:)

 

Let's see... in the Tech Tree, the prerequisites of Alien Harvest are:

Item: Tachyon Emissions Detector

Item: Reaper UFO detected

Sorry, ex_Con87, I was confused in my previous posts; I should have consulted the Tech Tree far earlier. :(

 

Since Alien Harvest depends on the above prerequisites, it's safe to say that X-Corps scientists have intercepted and decoded Alien transmissions regarding the nature of the Alien Harvest Mission. The text doesn't need to be so speculative: it can be very specific.

 

The text can describe the results and/or the process of crop circle creation and animal mutilations, and it can also describe in detail why the Aliens are on the Alien Harvest Mission due to the intercepted transmissions. The speculations probably should be downplayed, since there's quite a bit of detailed science to report.

 

Mitochondria for Alien babies or nanotechnology, or another idea entirely... in any case, you get to describe it in the text :) (though people thought mitochondria for food synthesis was not feasible).

 

Once again, sorry for the mixed messages, ex_Con87. :sorry:

 

dan2: I'm not sure I'm understanding you correctly, but I think I misunderstood your original idea. I was trying to point out that Aliens were on Earth before they started their Alien Harvest Missions, and they must've had some means to create their organic walls/devices/ships without mitochondria. I was also operating under the assumption that due to the advanced biotech methods of the Aliens, they would be able to sustain a mitochondrial colony or incorporate them permanently into an individual. However, perhaps my assumption was baseless. Also, nanotechnology isn't so far-fetched as I had thought (see kafros's Alien Breeding CT). I apologize if I have offended.

 

kafros: You got me there on nanotechnology. Dang, I'm getting my butt kicked today. :P

Edited by Astyanax
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Guest Azrael
We don't really have a concept on that, depending on the situation X-Corps may have nanotechnology. As for the Aliens, I think it's possible that they have, I don't clearly remember all texts mentioning them, but I think the Alien Composites one says something about it.
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dan2: I'm not sure I'm understanding you correctly, but I think I misunderstood your original idea.  I was trying to point out that Aliens were on Earth before they started their Alien Harvest Missions, and they must've had some means to create their organic walls/devices/ships without mitochondria.  I was also operating under the assumption that due to the advanced biotech methods of the Aliens, they would be able to sustain a mitochondrial colony or incorporate them permanently into an individual.  However, perhaps my assumption was baseless.  Also, nanotechnology isn't so far-fetched as I had thought (see kafros's Alien Breeding CT).  I apologize if I have offended.

Offended? Who, what, where, why, when? No, I understand your objection that using nanotech in one topic might require a lot of changes in other topics.

But if you plan to use nanotech, you might use words like: Single Wall Nanotubes (SWN), Double Wall Nanotubes, Multiple Wall Nanotubes (onion nanotubes), buckyballs, fullerenes, functionalized... every previous name, DNA engine (they make a 70 nanometers engine, that's just tens of atoms large that keep twisting pretty fast eating ATP), protein screwcorks, nanoassemblies ... I can go on like the Duracell bunny, but I'll stop boring people. Which one seems more entertaining?

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Ok, i have added the details as to why the aliens need the mitochondria, but i haven't gotten rid of the speculation in it yet, i want to get all the details sorted first. here you go...

 

Alien Harvest

 

Alien Harvest was perhaps the first observed Alien activity on Earth. Though many scientists believe that the Aliens use the terrestrial fauna for sustenance, some believe the harvested materials are synthesised into medication or perhaps other chemicals (Concoction?), not to dissimilar from the way that drugs companies use some fauna for painkillers. Others maintain the less credited theory that the plant and animal tissues are used strictly for their nefarious genetic modification experiments. This is a largely unsupported theory due to the lack of knowledge of Alien genetic experiments.

 

“They took my cows, all of them… they took them and… done real nasty things to them. I found two of them this mornin’ cut right up the middle, all their insides missing too.”

 

Billy Bob “Tiny” Taylor, eye witness of the Alien Harvest

 

The first signs of “Alien Harvest” were cattle mutilation in the southern states of the USA and in other areas including Africa and in some parts of the Europe. It seems the Aliens do not need, or have use for all the cattle’s organs. This would explain why the cattle were found with internal organs missing. It seems that what is taken from each cattle can differ, but largely if is found that larger muscles (such as the heart) in the body are favoured. The most realistic theory for this is that the Aliens require the large amounts mitochondria found in muscle the cows tissue, this could also show why cattle are taken over other forms of livestock. Recent research has shown that the Aliens use the mitochondria and graft it into the cells of the Alien young. By doing this, the next generation of Alien possess far greater endurance than the previous. After this the digestive system seems to be favoured, it is thought that the gastric acids may be useful to the Aliens in their research. There is no notable pattern to the organs removed or left. But the main consistencies are; the heart, legs and lower back muscles are removed as well as the stomach and intestines. But the main thing which baffles scientists is that the pancreas is always left; there is no evidence as to why this is the case.

 

Questions are still asked as to why the Aliens return the remains of the cattle to where they were found. At first scientists believed that the Alien’s conducted their “operations” on the ground. However, there have never been any eye witness accounts of this happening, and it is thought that the Aliens would rather minimise the chance of being disturbed by travelling back into orbit until they had finished then returning the remains. A possible suggestion to this is that the Aliens return the mutilated cattle to Earth merely to create a sense of panic among the population, although some are so bold as to say that it is a grisly prank.

 

Crop circles also appeared as another large sign of the Alien Harvest, whilst only a small amount of crops were trampled, evidence has found that the symbols made in the crop (Mainly cereals) were used as markers to show harvest ships which crop to reap. But the public discovery of crop circles lead to wide spread denial of all Alien connection with crop circles and members of the public were paid by the government to “confess” making the crop circles as a hoax.

 

The [Harvester] is the Aliens primary craft for reaping their harvest. From eye witness accounts it is seen that it is a medium craft, which is heavily armed. It can only be estimated that the Alien presence on board the craft is low considering its purpose.*

 

As the harvests became more frequent, world governments started to acknowledge the problem with less scepticism and became very concerned as to how to deal with the problem. Various leaks of Alien Harvest news to the word media also started to create a cloud of anxiety amongst the population and growing the call for something to be done about it. Although this still remains a low priority on X-Corps “to-do-list”.

 

*This is dependent on amount of intelligence gathered on Harvester craft. And also what is decided in other texts.

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ex_Con87, welcome to the joyous land of CTD...we're glad you're here. You're off to a good start.

 

I have a few comments regarding this, any of which you are free to ignore if you don't find it helpful.

 

1) After the ideas are finalized (or before, if you are bored) you'll probably want to go through and eliminate redundancies. I know that when I'm adding to a previous draft, I'll have an idea and I'll just tack it in where it goes, and then worry later about making it read well...I've discovered it can be a bad habit. As an example, paragraph 4 (right after the fluff attribution) states that larger muscles (such as the heart) are favoured, and that "after this the digestive system seems to be favored." That's fine, except that a later sentence in the same paragraph reads " But the main consistencies are; the heart, legs and lower back muscles are removed as well as the stomach and intestines. " All of these fall under either large muscles or digestive system...Super-easy to fix, and the sort of thing that happens when you clarify ideas (believe me, if you look at my plasma cannon CTD you'll see some serious redundancy in earlier drafts).

 

2) A few times, it looks like we've got minor inconsistencies. Stuff like "there's no notable pattern" when we've established that several organs are taken very often, and others are never taken. That's a pattern, it just doesn't necessarily indicate the reasoning behind it. I think this, also, will probably clear up a bit when some ideas are finalized.

 

3) A few comments on the mitochondria bit - I love mitochondria, have since I played parasite eve and read up on them...but we don't have to limit them to being a "good energy processor." I've read at least the grey autopsie, and no one really talks about body chemistry. For all we know, the Aliens could have been using ADP as a cellular energy source (which if I recall correctly is a less efficient source) and ATP is a huge boost...maybe their body chemistry produces the pyruvate that mitochondria use as a by-product of normal metabolism - meaning that mitochrondria allow them to significantly improve efficiency..maybe mitochondria can be used in some obscure manufacturing process to make performance-enhancing or recreational drugs... My point is (for what it is worth) that we don't know that Alien life isn't truly Alien, even on the cellular level. However, I'm a long way from being a biologist, and frankly don't know altogether that much about it, so take it for what it is worth.

 

4) I'm still awaiting word from a recent discussion, but think I also prefer the "how" and "what" being addressed in the CTD as Asty and others mentioned... The reasoning that I currently have is that we're talking about changing the prereqs for this mission to simply intercepting transmissions from a ship on this mission. This discussion is going on in the tech tree thread, so you might want to follow it there, because I think it should significantly impact the way you write this. If you have to interrogate an Alien to get this, you should be able to acquire more information, though perhaps some of it you could mark as "a suspected attempt to mislead us" or whatnot.

 

Overall, it's a good start and I think it'll turn into a good work...just hang in there and remember that we're trying to be helpful and this is a long process. Laters.

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  • 2 months later...

Well, the Astyanax-BORG would like to announce his intentions before assimilating this text. I want to give some warning to ex_Con87 in case he's still around- I don't want to take a text that's still being worked on by the original author.

 

Azrael has told me that this text has been abandoned, so if no one has any objections, I'll begin working on this text shortly. Since I've worked on the Reaper CT, I have some ideas about which direction to take this text- some of them are fairly drastic, however.

 

Proposed changes:

- remove any mention of "crop circles" and "flora"

- strengthen the consistencies with the Alien Reaper CT (allude to specific parts of that UFO, the gravity manipulator, chimeras)

- reduce the significance of mitochondria (it'll still be mentioned, but in conjunction with other cell components) to avoid most of the technical ATP discussion

- alter the reason why Aliens are collecting animal parts; tie in the chimeras mentioned in the Reaper CT to Alien Breeding (the chimeras are modified Ventriculant cells)- no changes are needed in the Alien Breeding CT

 

If it's ok with Az, I'd like to make "cattle mutilations" occur before the first recorded Alien activity (Alien Abduction in 1961), maybe in the 1940's or 1950's? People didn't know "cattle mutilations" were the result of an Alien activity- they were just a mysterious occurrence.

 

This could partially explain why the Aliens were on Earth and didn't attack earlier- they were "upgrading" their genes with Earth DNA. Of course, this will not be mentioned in any text (unless Az wants to add it to his Alien Goal CT)- it's just an unsaid reason that the player can speculate about.

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Now that I've thought about this some more, I don't really need to make cattle mutilations the first recorded Alien activity. I can make it work without any changes to the Alien Goal CT.

 

Note to self: pay attention to the details in the Alien Medical Room CT.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Guest Azrael
Before I forget, it would be good to have the Harvest missions be to gather biological materials to both research and feed the Silabrates, as I recall they need living tissue to grow Alien Composites? Would make Harvest missions more meaningful :)
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actually, I could find no reference telling that silabrates need organic materials to produce alien composites (apart from a little piece in the autopsy report, which I myself inserted a few hours ago, after reading the post above and believing it :P )

 

it does make sense, though, that the silabrate needs organics, now that I think more deeply about it... the silabrate itself is a silicon-based lifeform, but alien composites contain a lot of carbon. it needs a source for that... on the other hand, it could just be fed coal or graphite... this sounds like something you'll have to decide, azrael. :)

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Guest Azrael
Hmmm, no, sorry, my mistake, it was the Ventriculant that they needed to feed with biological resources, like human dead bodies, to make it grow and be useful for cloning.
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Hmmm, no, sorry, my mistake, it was the Ventriculant that they needed to feed with biological resources, like human dead bodies, to make it grow and be useful for cloning.

Nevertheless it's not a bad idea. If they feed silicon (as they have to, 'cause they are a silicon based lifeform) they have to get the carbon from somewhere, so why not let them "eat" it? But I admit, this discussion belongs to the Silibrate Autopsy... :)

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Since it's a silicon based, why not make it consume minerals? maybe only carbon-rich minerals.

*crunch* pretty hard for my taste... :) This sounds like a clear case for oilsands (as they contain carbon and silicates. As an alternative carbon enriched sandstone, which develops on the ground of large seas). But these are pretty hard to harvest. Might be an idea for +v1: offshore Alien Bases to harvest oilsands... This would explain why they need Earth. Mars is not very rich in "high-yield-carbon"

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Many changes have been proposed, and I feel a bit lost :wacko:

 

Az, could you bring up a poll about these? So that we decide for good what we will work on?

 

Edit: And people, these are some nice ideas! =b

Edited by kafros
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  • 1 month later...

Oops. Sorry guys, I forgot I took on this text. I'll work on a draft and have it up within two weeks.

 

Hmmm, no, sorry, my mistake, it was the Ventriculant that they needed to feed with biological resources, like human dead bodies, to make it grow and be useful for cloning.

Do we know which Aliens conduct Harvest missions? For example, if Silabrates or Ventriculants are in the Harvester ship, then the text should mention them. But if they are not on the ship, maybe we should say something like, "biological tissues are gathered and processed, presumably for Alien sustenance."

 

Oh, oh! How about the nutrients are used in Alien Breeding as part of the artificial amniotic fluid? Hm, but that would mean kafros would have to change his text... erm, never mind.

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Do we know which Aliens conduct Harvest missions?  For example, if Silabrates or Ventriculants  are in the Harvester ship, then the text should mention them.  But if they are not on the ship, maybe we should say something like, "biological tissues are gathered and processed, presumably for Alien sustenance."

 

Oh, oh!  How about the nutrients are used in Alien Breeding as part of the artificial amniotic fluid?  Hm, but that would mean kafros would have to change his text... erm, never mind.

Whatever. Just find something with which everyone will be happy :P

Things exist to be changed B) , and laws are to be broken ROFL

Edited by kafros
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  • 2 weeks later...

I also have to, but RL consumes most of my free time, so I can't really contribute to any CTs...

 

What I meant with the post above is that if you want something changed in my text, just tell it. I prefer a complete, almost-flawless work of the whole CTD to a complete text written exclusively by me :P

Edited by kafros
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I also have to, but RL consumes most of my free time, so I can't really contribute to any CTs...

 

What I meant with the post above is that if you want something changed in my text, just tell it. I prefer a complete, near-flawless work in the CTD to a complete text of mine :P

Your texts are fine kafros, I liked what you did with the Alien Breeding :)

We'll wait for you, Astyanax, sadly we all seem to be very busy at the moment :( so there is no rush, don't worry, I'll save this one for you =b

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