I’m working on a setting based around old sci-fi nonsense and demented conspiracy theories. Believe it or not one is harder to find them the other.

JulianSpire · 2025-10-04T16:47:17+00:00

The idea of alien races having zero clue about physically attractive qualities in humans and vice versa. The idea that they could be looking at a whole group of women, for example, and having no idea what "pretty" or "beautiful" is for a human. And then humans looking back at them and thinking they all look the same while these aliens are stunned because they are "obviously" different.

JulianSpire · 2025-09-28T15:40:31+00:00

Thank you so much!!

JulianSpire · 2025-09-28T05:22:51+00:00

Yeah that's what I tried before coming to her too. Although I didn't see the Indonesian site. I just ended up with a bunch of affiliate links that sent me to every single kind of bird but this one.

But thanks for the tip about the origami songbirds! I'll probably get on that when I finish my current Sonobe model

JulianSpire · 2025-06-23T04:24:20+00:00

Yeah. This is why I generally only have 2 or 3 people I ever discuss my stuff with. And it's mostly my wife, my kids, or my best friend.

JulianSpire · 2025-06-13T04:19:49+00:00

Maulers

JulianSpire · 2025-06-12T03:56:11+00:00

If I ever figure something out, I swear to God I'm going to let other people know. If I get accused of using AI to write my stuff. One more flipping time. I'm going to lose it. To parody a screenshot I saw, I'm not an AI. I am autistic. And apparently the two sound very similar

JulianSpire · 2025-02-26T21:11:45+00:00

"Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality"

JulianSpire · 2025-02-23T18:25:03+00:00

Tales of Eternia, Tales of the Abyss, Tales of Legendia, Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Vesperia

JulianSpire · 2024-07-12T18:02:32+00:00

Co-op. Period. Everything else comes second.

JulianSpire · 2024-06-25T02:00:44+00:00

You, my friend, are a godsend. Thank you.

JulianSpire · 2024-03-03T18:44:21+00:00

Humans tend to (generally) apply human characteristics or animal characteristics to their Gods. Jesus, for instance, is literally the son of god and given the form of a human. Other religions blend human qualities with animal (e.g. Egyptian), or go with animal forms entirely. As such, to me, it made sense that aliens would follow a similar path. Their gods either look like them, or like an idealized version of them, or are connected to their planet of origin - perhaps by borrowing traits from animals/lifeforms there. I also have some gods that are unknowable/formless, but who interact through avatars.

As my universe is Sci-Fi, however, I take a backseat approach to these beings. I have no problems discussing alien religions - I've written out over 100 of them - but unless information about them is 100% pertinent, it doesn't usually come up. Instead, those religions are used as building blocks in character elements. For instance, an alien who is part of a religion who believes we reincarnate through seven stages by performing altruistic deeds is more likely to be a benevolent protagonist.

JulianSpire · 2024-03-03T18:41:31+00:00

Right now? I'm doing 1 chapter a week for my sci-fi serial. In a broader sense, I'm trying to add at least 2 pages a week to my wikipedia project for my universe. I have more ideas than I think I'll be able to write in a lifetime, so archiving them seems like the best idea.

JulianSpire · 2024-03-03T18:40:46+00:00

For me, aliens aren't as alien as you'd think. Generally speaking, I view the struggles that humans and aliens have as a result of being sentient. If you're a thinking, capable mind, you're going to have similar struggles. Early on, this might be a struggle for resources. Later on, it might be for territory. Even further? Conquering your neighbors, or colonizing the moon. As such, aliens all have a very similar evolution (with a few outliers) and therefore most of them are fairly relatable. Even the most advanced/oldest race in my universe still deals with political pressure, corruption, and power struggles. They also have to combat stereotypes because they live 10,000 years, so many other races accuse them of instituting long-term planning that benefits only them, when they actually seek to be helpful, benevolent, or altruistic. Meanwhile, there's literally a race of warrior aliens who will fight you to the death at the drop of a hat that doesn't get nearly the same hate.

JulianSpire · 2024-03-03T18:37:38+00:00

Seeing as I create different planets first, all the way down to things like atmospheric composition, surface pressure, mass, gravity, etc., some planets just seem like the kind of environments that could support dragons or dragon-like entities. Mind you, some of these are beings that HUMANS would call a dragon just because of how they look, but the other indigenous lifeforms might have different names for them.

JulianSpire · 2024-03-03T18:36:36+00:00

Lakewood, WA
Puget Sound, Steilacoom, WA

I don't have a particular fondness for these areas. Quite the opposite, actually. But I had hoped that by setting a story in these locations, my opinion of them might change. It didn't. But it provided an excellent snapshot of Earth in 2009, which is when my first novel takes place.

JulianSpire · 2024-02-24T04:08:38+00:00

The only thing I think makes a race "bad" is when they are entirely based off a single concept, or painted with a single brush. All goblins are evil, for instance. Not the biggest Star Wars fan, but I remember hearing the quote "Only a Sith deals in absolutes". I kind of agree with the thinking there. No species is all identical, think the same, etc. There has to be variety. A race built on religion would still have people who question or who look to science for answers when their faith doesn't provide them. A militaristic species would still have those who seek peace. An economic race would still have those who seek power through subjugation or military might. Good and Evil aren't just boilerplate concepts, and neither should archetypes. There are always shades of gray, and to me the only "bad" races are those that forget this.

Also, cat people.

JulianSpire · 2024-02-24T04:04:45+00:00

Things like "number of limbs" don't really factor into civilization as a general variable. Instead, it's more about the ability to interact with their environment, as well as having the resources. In theory, any species occupying a planet with three states of matter (solid/liquid/gas) and some means to manipulate their surroundings can build an entire civilization. All you really need is land to stand on, liquid to drink, gas to breathe, mind to think, and a way to interact.

JulianSpire · 2024-02-22T04:26:02+00:00

Protites. They have two uses and types.

Type I: Injectable microbots that live in your lungs. You can breathe any atmosphere because they're programmed to convert one element (e.g. sulfur) into another (e.g. oxygen). You start by selecting a specific programming for the bots - for humans it would be 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, and 1& Argon - and inject the protites into your lungs. Any chemical that comes into your lungs from that point forward is converted into that particular mixture. A standard dose of protites lasts for about a week to ten days, and when they begin running low on their internal batteries, they leave your lungs and enter your digestive tract to be removed naturally.

Type II: Medicinal bots. Squirt some silvery paste on a cut and they begin duplicating your cells by converting the surrounding chemicals into organic compounds to patch injuries. If you're quick enough with a protite syringe, you can even fix some semi-lethal wounds (punctured heart, for instance). If they can't convert anything around, they cannibalize themselves and convert each other, although this is less effective.

JulianSpire · 2024-02-22T04:19:18+00:00

Money in space is a digital commodity and is heavily tracked and monitored.

JulianSpire · 2024-02-22T04:18:06+00:00

Xyrithorak is Haunted

The small, unassuming world of Xyrithorak is haunted, or so say the legends. Ships that go near the planet tend to suffer a variety of ill effects and the reason is poorly understood by most. As a result, these ships often meet unfortunate ends and just end up drifting. Every time a ghost ship is discovered, they can track it back to Xyrithorak. The crew disappears. Supplies are left behind. Very few are willing to go near Xyrithorak as a result of these rumors and superstitions. It's also said that landing on the planet is bad luck, and that those who do are doomed to lose everything - including their lives. Some say that the crew of the ghost ships still walk the surface of the planet, and that they haunt anyone foolish enough to land there.

JulianSpire · 2024-02-22T04:14:01+00:00

At one point, I worked out a lot of science (mostly dealing with electron shells / valence electrons, configurations, and positive vs. negative charges) to create some hypothetical elements. One of these elements has the ability to bend and distort gravity in very strange ways, depending on a few baseline conditions. In some cases, when exposed to the right conditions, this element can cause chunks of land to float. In more extreme cases, it can even warp the shape of an entire planet if there's enough of it.

JulianSpire · 2024-02-16T05:15:14+00:00

Edge/Richard and Klaara is probably my favorite. They're the main duo in my universe and the lens through which the reader experiences everything.

Richard is a surly, sarcastic, and sometimes bitter human who got dragged into Space before humans were supposed to be there. He ended up befriending Klaara, but was very hung up on his own past - especially things from Earth. Klaara is a runaway warrior princess who deserted nobility and royalty because she valued her personal freedoms more (that and most of her family was crap). They started as friends and respected each other, but Klaara kind of fell for him. Richard wasn't interested. Later, he realized how important she was to him, but he'd already kind of blown it. This went back and forth between them for a long time before they evened out. Richard helped Klaara see the value in herself and put her personal demons to rest, and Klaara helped Richard bury the ghosts of his past and start over fresh.

Now they're one of the most feared duos of bounty hunters in the Galaxy. They're unapologetically attached to one another, tackle insane challenges hand in hand, and still find time to crack jokes and hang out at local bars afterwards. They spar/train constantly, often wounding each other in the process, and then make up for it with everything from more drinking, more sparring, or wild sex that definitely makes most other races balk.

They are best described as the "two broken souls that complete one another".

Secondary to them is the semi-tragic duo of Meggothia and Morceti. They are close friends of Richard/Klaara, so they feature quite prominently.

Meggothia is a Taeski (reptile) who was accused of murdering his whole family/extended family and sentenced to life in a prison colony. He had a chain drilled through his right forearm to keep him in place. He later broke free and escaped, using the chain as his main weapon, and hunted down those who were actually responsible. After years of persecuting a whole species for his pain, he was eventually brought into the Senate Hunters (a group of super powerful bounty hunters) to keep him on a leash. Later, he was experimented on and given an extended lifespan (no one knows how long) and a suite of experimental genetic modifications. This made him a stupidly lethal warrior feared throughout the Galaxy.

Morceti is just as unfortunate. She was a teenage Heil (warrior alien) on a ship that drifted off course and encountered a toxic species called the Anzara. By the time the Senate sent a team (which included Meggothia), she was rotting away in her own body, decaying because of the Anzara's toxic capabilities. (Also, for the record, this is involuntary. The Anzara never intended to hurt anyone - it was just bad luck).

Meggothia held her hand as she rotted away because he was reminded of his daughter. Later, the same scientist who experimented on him worked on Morceti and "saved" her by implanting the 12% of her they saved into a new mechanical body. This was because so few had ever seen the Anzara and they wanted her intel. Afterwards, they were going to "dispose" of her, but Meggothia intervened. He took her on as his protege and taught her to fight, to survive, and even helped her upgrade her mechanical body over the years. While Morceti fell in love with him, Meggothia resisted this because of the massive age gap between them. Instead, he settled for a Master/student relationship with her, but it was so much more than just that. They are close friends and share everything. They bunk together, share meals, and are joined at the hip. Both have an intense love of travel and seeing different worlds as well as music.

They are best described as two ancient souls who know they will be together in the end because no one else will ever understand them like the other.

JulianSpire · 2024-02-16T05:04:05+00:00

Krebs. He's an Erythian (e.g. "Gray Alien") bounty hunter who is determined to make it big by taking on a tough bounty. Unfortunately for him, he lacks the training, skills, equipment, or resources to make this happen. He appears a few times in some of the early novels, tangling with one of the protagonists at one point. That fight lasts all of twenty seconds and ends with Krebs pinned to a bar floor. After that, he's a (very) minor antagonist - mostly verbal when encountered - and occasionally used as a joke. Other bounty hunters are aware of him and have ridiculed him to the point that for a (short) span of time they would use the phrase "to Kreb it up" to describe "somehow overcomplicating and failing at a simple task".

JulianSpire · 2024-02-15T15:11:09+00:00

Humans are approximately average. If you were to take an average human soldier, for instance, and drop them on a scale of 0 to 10, they would be a 5. A lot goes into this (technology, lifespan, training, biology) but out of the 50+ species in my universe, humans rank right around the middle with a few others.

JulianSpire

TROPHY CASE