CONTEST TIME!

I haven't designed ANY intelligent Pegasian species. I'm opening Pegasia up to YOU. Invent a species! Pegasia is prime real estate--not a mere playpen for games but a fully worked-out planet (well, moon). Come up with a good species, plausible for a world with low gravity and dense air. Pick any niche--reefs, rift zones, jungle, prairie, desert, forest, ice, whatever you like. Describe your species's nature and origin, suggest a range as well as a habitat (it doesn't have to fill a niche all OVER Pegasia and probably won't), describe psychology and culture if any. Take up to a few pages--you'll notice from my sample that each short listing goes to a dedicated page with a couple of illustrations and more details than can fit on a chart. Draw pictures too if you like. Email the whole mess to me, Chris Wayan, at wdreamb@yahoo.com... like it says on the navbar below.

What kind of species? Hmm. Required: intelligent. Doesn't HAVE to be as smart as humans, but at least smart enough to relate to others interestingly and have some self-awareness. Recommended: make it someone who'd get a report card that says "plays well with others" or at least "doesn't sting others to death then eat them" since your species will have to coexist with a lot of others, and I think any race that preys on other intelligent life would get allied against and either defanged or wiped out... I admit to a certain prejudice against vampires, predators, slavers, religious nuts and savage barbarian warriors. I read about a certain species like that in the news every morning. I'm more interested in alternative societies that WORK than further dysfunctional ones, however dramatic.

My judgments are final (since there's no one else helping maintain this site, hint hint). Of course my judgments are also laughably bad (consider some of the anatomical howlers I've perpetrated in previous studies) but hey, editorial prerogative! The best dozen or so will end up on Pegasia. That's about it for rules so far. Hmm. Let me frame it as a list...

1. Intelligent species preferred.
2. Describe fully. Clearly. Wittily. NOT webspeak, OK?
3. illustrations if you can. Someone else's picture is fine if they don't mind.
4. A species capable of fitting into a multispecies world
5. Read the description of Pegasia.
6. Read the description of Pegasia.
7. Read the description of Pegasia.
8. Did I mention to read the damn description of Pegasia? Oh, good.
9. But was your brain in gear? You can't just read, you have to explore the IMPLICATIONS of the differences. Pegasian gravity's low and the air's dense--gliders, jumpers and fliers will be more common, and long delicate legs are quite adequate--no need for beefy Earth muscles. Organic blimps or passive gliders might work. Pegasia has extensive, rich reefs--how about a semi-aquatic reefdwelling people? Pegasia spins slowly--stronger daily temperature swings. Is your critter OK with that? This is a moon, folks! How will big old Zeus in the sky affect native psychology? You tell me. Zeus's strong magnetic field probably means a lot of critters will have either electrical or magnetic senses--inner compasses. But how will brilliant, perpetual auroras on the leading side affect life? Beats me. What will evolve in those mid-oceanic vent-communities on the surface instead of miles down like on Earth? You tell me!
10. Does your species fit a particular region; do you have a home in mind?
11. Could your species plausibly speak a language that fits any of the lists of placenames in the gazetteer? If not, can you invent a good language for them, and supply some placenames for their homeland that are consistent, pronounceable and unambiguous? (The spelling guidelines at the end of the gazetteer may help.) You may get to name a continent! That's why they're only numbered now.
12. email your species to wdreamb@yahoo.com

Here's a reference chart of Pegasia's currently defined peoples. Each species' picture and name link to a page with fuller descriptions, a range- or habitat-map and some larger pictures. The first entry frolcons, is our first winner; the second, gryphons, is a sample from an earlier planet, Lyr.

SPECIES	DESCRIPTION	HABITAT	BEHAVIOR
FROLCONS	Six-limbed, scaly froglike creatures with batlike wing-membranes on the hind and mid-pairs. The forepaws are handlike. They mass up to 40 kg but weigh only 25 kg in Pegasia's weak gravity (55 lbs).	Rainforest canopy in southern Continent 6. A subspecies adapted for fishing is spreading along nearby island chains toward Continent 9.	Playful, social people lacking vocal speech--their language is signed. They also lack a regular sleep cycle. Originally carnivores, but increasingly omnivorous, they tend treetop gardens.
GRYPHONS	Winged lions with hawklike beaks, very close to the heraldic griffins, though their forelegs are more leonine than avian. The digits are more separate than in any Terran cat--not as deft as human hands, but able to manipulate large objects. They're the biggest fliers on Lyr, and the biggest predators.	Native to forests and steppes in the Roland Group--the coldest of the major landmasses. They've spread to the cool rainy uplands of Li, in Oronesia. Gryphons are probably so big partly for heat conservation.	Impressive, dignified, slow and thoughtful, Gryphons are the purest, most austere intellects on Lyr. However, do not do lunch with gryphons, unless you like splatter films. You never miss lips until you see how messy things get without them...

The gazetteer: will have a full index of native placenames, with descriptions--once the contests's over and we have natives to name them.

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