In the vastness of a dozen alternate universes, there are bound to be all sorts of strange coincidences. The odds are pretty high that a species would evolve that would just happen to look like a cross between jack o’lanterns and spiders, but with that many universes, even the unlikeliest events can be realized. Which is convenient because it allows me the chance to present this Halloween-themed alien species:

Jack O’Spiders

The planet has been called “Hellcaveworld” by other species, since the natives don’t have a spoken language. The caves of this world are home to the Jack O’Spiders.

Facebiter is a fairly typical example of the species. Hellcaveworld is also home to numerous items that are useful in mystical rituals, so adventurers from other worlds often come here to plunder these goods (not to mention all the weapons and treasures dropped by other fallen adventurers). Jack O’Spiders like Facebiter hunt and kill these invaders.

Scarecrawler is another typical Jack O’Spider, but who is less likely to actively hunt the invaders. Scarecrawler will fight if cornered, but prefers to try to scare invaders away from caves where eggs have been laid.

Corpsestealer is too scared of the invaders to actually attack and kill them, but is perfectly happy to scavenge their remains. In this way, Corpsestealer has amassed a great collection of wealth in a deep cave, enough treasure that any adventurer who found it would be set for life.

A Fact About Jack O’Spiders: The glowing mouths of the Jack O’Spiders evolved as a way for the species to illuminate their way in the darkest of caves. Their eyes do not emit a glow, but do reflect the glow of the mouth, thus completing the resemblance to our jack o’lanterns. In spite of this evolved trait, the Jack O’Spiders can actually see in the dark, so the cause for illuminating the cave may actually be to shock their prey who are confronted with the sudden appearance of a scary glowing face in the dark. I guess prey doesn’t like that.

Universe: Brown

The Collaborators with Gkethargg

On the fog-choked planet Ukkasiak, the shineless spirit Gkethargg has established a nest. The lifeforms of that planet, have chosen, not that they had any true choice, to serve the Coming Shatterer of Flame. Perhaps, had the powerful entity not chosen its home there, they would have been different, but their history and existence as it is now is based fully around their collaboration with this extra-planar intelligence thing. Life has no meaning for them beyond serving the Power That Rumbles.

The Collaborators with Gkethargg have nothing that even comes close to human language, so I have just arbitrarily assigned random human dude names to this batch of individuals.

Phil dutifully mars the landscape of Ukkasiak. The Collaborators believe that is only for Grand Nightform to decide what can make its home on this planet. Phil, like all the Collaborators, needs not sleep and needs only drink in the otherworldly energies of the master for nourishment. So instead, Phil spends all its time crawling the planet’s surface making sure nothing grows without permission.

Jeff is a Gkethargg dancer, and so ever circles and writhes, gasping out a tuneless song that allows the dimensional barriers to remain in synch with the Voidborn Ruler of the Mists. Jeff never does anything but dances and sings, dances and sings, and never wants for more than that.

Ron comes up with new things to call Gkethargg.

A Fact About the Collaborators with Gkethargg: In addition to not needing to eat or sleep, the energies of their otherworldly benefactor also keep the Collaborators from aging and heal their physical wounds. Other species might see their lives and think the Collaborators are more like slaves than allies to their god-like being, but the Collaborators themselves certainly feel like they get a good deal out of the setup.

Universe: Grey

I was trying to come up with some sort of “monster-y” theme for some aliens, since it is late October, when I noticed that I had completely neglected making any aliens in the Universe Grey so far during the Alien Sunday year. Oops. But now that is remedied.

Jertiffs

Jertiffs are a species that look like a head with two arm/legs and a tail. They are able to manipulate things with their hands, but can only really do it with any skill if they are resting on their tail. The mouth of a Jertiff is positioned at the bottom of their “head” and extends out when it takes in food. Their sense of smell is more significant to them than their sight, but they still really like decorative hats.

Living on a planet they call Varitow, Jertiff’s build cities around farming grounds, often with walls around them. In most Jertiff cultures, a council of elders governs the city. They have a barter system that offers goods for services. Pretty standard stuff.

Libriver is a disaster responder. The planet Varitow is struck by small meteors with alarming regularity, and occasionally they hit populated areas. Libriver and fellow responders are not affiliated with any particular city, but travel where they are needed and help repair the damage.

Maubell dwells in the planet’s largest and oldest city, but has no appreciation of the history there. Working as a builder, Maubell looks only toward building new things and replacing the old ones. Maubell also feels this way about the city elders, and wants nothing more than for them to die of so it’ll be Maubell’s time to shine.

Phoado is a farmer in a small, wall-less city. Travellers on the roads near the city will frequently come into the farms and steal food, which angers Phoado to no end.

A Fact About Jertiffs: Jertiff society is based around health. You know how human societyis based around money? How they will do incredibly stupid things that turn a profit but don’t otherwise help society at large in any way? Jertiffs are like that with health. For example, they prioritize physical fitness over intellectual education. They also treat the physically unfit the way we treat the homeless, like scum.

Universe: Green

Vobavians

The Vobavians are a tiny species by human standards, standing only a foot tall on their hind legs, but there are over twenty billion of them on their home planet of Vobav. In several ways they resemble Earthly rodents, they are a burrowing species with mammal-like traits. Vobavians live in colonies with castes that determine what job they will perform. They have no permanent gender and can change their nature as needed for reproductive purposes.

Blepdorp is a worker, which is to say that they do whatever physical labour it needed to be done at any time. That can include digging tunnels, carrying heavy loads, or building walls but almost never involves leaving the colony’s tunnel system. Blepdorp has only been outside the colony tunnels to work twice, and the second time was very nearly struck by lightning (and is still deaf as a result). Blepdorp is perfectly happy with not going outside anymore.

Wooploop is an unassigned worker, which means that most of the time they get to lounge around and play games with other unassigned workers. It may seem like that sort of thing would be a drain on a colony’s resources, supporting lazy slackers, but the idea is that, should an emergency arise, the colony will have a contingent of well-rested replacements ready a moments notice. So far Wooploop has had to serve as a worker when a bunch of the colony’s worker’s were killed by a rival colony, a garment maker when a disease left most of the colony sick in bed, and a firekeeper when a season of flooding left the colony’s fire supplies running low. So Wooploop has seen a lot, but gets to enjoy downtime most of the time. It’s a pretty good life. Wooploop’s favorite pastime is racing. This colony, and many others, has a system of tunnels designed just for unassigned workers to race. Though Vobavians with assigned jobs don’t get nearly as much relaxation time, there are those who enjoy spending what they do get as spectators for the races.

Nublobb works on the surface around their colony’s tunnels, mostly foraging for the berry-like things that make up a large part of the Vobavian diet, but also serving as a lookout for trouble from other colonies. Vobavians are quite territorial and violence will often break out between colonies just for being near one another. Nublobb particularly enjoys that aspect of the job and has been known to forage closer to other colonies than is wise, just in the hopes of getting a chance to beat up rivals.

A Fact About Vobavians: Vobavians are not willing to have any relationship with the other animals on their planet. As vegetarians, they have never needed to breed them for food. They don’t keep them as pets or workers either. When a swarm of Vobavians wants to create a new colony, the first thing they do is chase off all the animals in the area and creates walls and fences to keep them gone.

Universe: White

Grunoferons

The Grunoferons are a species that are comparable in size to Earth’s rhinoceros or hippopotamus. They are bipedal, though their legs are positioned with one in front and one in back, rather than side by side. Their primary senses are based around magnetic fields, and at the front of their heads they have long trunk-like appendages with a ball that has generate electrical charges and generate electromagnetic waves.

The species live in nomadic herds, travelling with the seasons. The planet is large and their population is small, so there are not a lot of territorial conflicts. When a Grunoferon goes off on its own to start a new herd, it will send out pulses that tell its location to other solo individuals.

Etranzorry is a young Grunoferon, part of a sizeable herd in the planet’s tropical regions. Etranzorry is a curious sort that enjoys wandering off from the herd to seek out nooks and crannies that others may have never seen.

Mowndomy is an older Grunoferon, who has laid eggs seventeen times and successfully raised five children, which is well above the average, which is only one or two in a lifetime. Mowndomy attributes this reproductive success to the three rivers near the herds egg-laying fields, which create a natural barrier against egg-stealing creatures, which seems like a pretty reasonable assumption.

Dipdoplo is a solo Grunoferon currently seeking a new herd after having grown annoyed by the company of the last herd. Dipdoplo won’t admit it yet, but would be much happier alone than with a herd, but still seeks a new one because that’s what one is “supposed” to do.

A Fact About Grunoferons: Although there are no natural predators of grown Grunoferons on their planet, the eyes of Grunoferons have mystical properties that make them very handy in the occult sciences. This means that wizards from other planets, even other dimensions, will occasionally raid their homeworld and poach Grunoferons for their eyes, sometimes even leaving their living victims eyeless and forced to try to survive without their vision. Naturally, this has left the Grunoferons very wary of strange species.

Universe: Brown