Search the Community

Retrofuture Mars is a cold world, a dry, harsh world--but not quite a dead world, yet. Survival is tough, and most of the remaining fauna is gaunt and quick. The Martian Ravener has an ecological niche approaching that of our Earth coyote or tiger. Here, one stalks a pelgrane. It must be stealthy, for the pelgrane is easily startled and can fly. A pounce, and a clean kill! The ravener will first drain the corpse of precious liquids before consuming it, bones and all. This meal will last it for Earth-months to come. The Ravener is not a tool-user, but it is cunning, and has been known to mimic the calls of other species, and even Martian words, to lure prey closer. Humans were surprised to find that such a predator in a resource-scarce world would need--and could afford--horns! The Martians could have told them, but the Weinbaum expedition found out on their own. Weinbaum's Cloaker! (the Martian name cannot be properly pronounced without the telepathic emphasis). A flying apex predator that haunts sandstorms and windswept canyons. Ingenious countershading means it appears like the dark, starry sky from below, and a cratered field from above. Martian children, sporelings, and buds are taught from early age to watch for sourceless shadows. Humans and their Space Ape pals are learning the same lesson! **** The Ravener is a Hound of Tindalos, 50289 with the head removed and swapped out for a GW demon skull and Ork mandible from their Skullz box, glued onto a neck made out of sprue. That body is lean and athirst all right, perfect for Mars!

Been doing some butchery, some Frankensteining lately. Particularly for my sci-fi setting. And has it produced results! First, the ingredients. A while ago, I ordered a Reaper Burrowing Behemoth (44058) and it was a fantastic sculpt. But I got two left feet, to match my own. Customer service quickly replaced it, because Reaper is THE BEST--but now I had some leftover insectile CLAWS! Then, Nolzur's came out with an Ankheg. Segmented, metameric abdomen, mantid-like foreclaws, two pairs of limbs, shield-like, many-eyed spiky head. And also with a set of hideous ...Quori? Never heard of, maybe a Pathfinder thing apparently an Eberron aberration. One of them is a grotesque tailed many-limbed squirmer with big ol' pincers. And with an Alhoon with many spell-effect tentacles. Now, I have a few factions of spacemonsters. One is insectile, and I gave a Burrowing Horror a third set of ankheg limbs to bring us to six total... ...while giving the burly Horror claws to an Umber Hulk: Now everyone has six limbs and I can rest easy! BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE Another faction is the horrid Crawlers. These I have posted before, and are mostly Bathalians. Shield-like heads, mouth tentacles, squirmy bodies, appendages made to mutilate and maul. The Tsucora Quori are warty and rugose and squirmy and pincered, but lack the characteristic head and tentacles. But a Chronoscope Hound of Tindalos (50289) has just the right kind of head on a lean and easily repurposed body! A little green stuff to fill in the Quori's unmistakable eyes and nostrils, and a little work with some wire cutters, and behold! Oh yeah, that's a Bathalian! I also snipped some tentacles from the Nolzur's Alhoon to give our Craboid Black Cat Alien (see link to Crawlers, above) the mouth-tendrils it deserves. Wait, but what of the mutilated Ankheg? Oh, it fits in with the Crawlers just fine now. Happy crafting, folks!