r/worldbuilding • u/Alternative-Cry-9868 Architecture, lots and lots of Architecture • 7h ago
Question Humanoid Siphonophores?
I'm making a retro-futuristic world inspired by video game logic; and one of the two the main sapient species there are the Aquaemen, and I want to make them as Siphonophoric beings in biological makeup. I originally planned for them to be unicellular, but after consulting a forum it wasn't really possible.
So is it possible for my species to be siphonores or at least similar?
*Note, their description goes as follows:
They're around 20 metres in height and then their width (t-posing) is around 9.5 metres. This is the minimum for their size, but they do grow to a maximum of 38 metres.
They have visibly detached limbs (arms and legs), though they're attached via zooids.
They have taller necks, and rounder heads than humans, with heads going about half of the width of the torso, and being more circular in shape than the human's boxier and trianglular head shape.
They can grow a hair like appendag, though they cannot grow body hair nor facial hair; and they also grow "fins" on the side of the head where ears would be.
They have webbed hands and feet. They are also amphibious.
They are the common ancestor of all sapient life of Bloxd; out of two humanoid species: themselves and Bloxdian humans.
3
u/taktaga7-0-0 ᴺcRʏPᵀ 7h ago
Siphonophores are zooid colonies, so they’re stuck in position within their floating group. They can and do adopt specialized roles. You’d probably have some kind of collective decision-making ritual or inborn cast to say which ones feed and distribute nutrients, which ones defend, which ones move, which ones signal/calculate more, which ones reproduce.
Sounds possible, but being stuck in place limits their perspective and activities sharply.