Renowned fantasy artist Larry Elmore has created some exciting new art for Iron GM Games' upcoming Grimmerspace setting (co-authored by Sean Astin) for the Starfinder RPG. This art is of a Zyrag, a vast silicon lifeform from the edge of space.
Rone Barton sent me along the photos of the art piece, along with a description of the Zyrag.
"On the edge of known space, within the shattered graveyards of planets – asteroid belts – the titanic equipment of a vanished alien race grinds on; but those who think in terms of machinery run afoul of their all too human assumptions. Zyrags are vast silicon life forms engineered to hunt, collect, and by devouring, process rare minerals, mere cogs in the industrial complex of their vanished creators. They require neither food, nor water, nor air to survive; deriving all their sustenance from the raw material their ancient masters programmed them to devour.
Buoyed on multiple sets of wide solar-sail membranes that burn with collected light, the Zyrag’s serpentine bodies writhe across the stony landscape—chewing, ingesting, seemingly immortal. Their heads are wide, lengthy apertures filled with needle-like fangs thought to be formed of the strongest nano-material in the known universe. Soulless eyes stare unblinking at the world, enormous elliptical voids of obsidian that inspire terror in the minds of mere mortals.
Zyrags ignore any humans who stumble across them, mindless eating machines unaware of their surroundings until inexplicably they cease to consume; instead, burrowing down and sealing themselves inside an asteroid, not unlike a lungworm in mud. After which, by some unknown propulsion method, they hurtle themselves and their rocky shells through empty space until they unerringly reach the next asteroid field.
Woe betides any colony or mining outposts occupying the area upon a Zyrag’s arrival. After bursting forth from their stony vehicles, what was before a peaceful consumption mode transitions to arrival mode and their first action is to clear all competing life from their new hunting grounds.
During this purge, their digestive systems processes metal, plastic, stone, radioactive waste, and even flesh with equal abandon.
Yet some things remain a continual mystery to those who encounter these dangerous dragon like creatures.
Who created the Zyrag? What do they do with the material they collect?
Can you answer them? Do you know what goes on in the mind of these seemingly soulless devourers?"
The Zyrag were created by game designers Brendan Victorson and James MackKenzie, with collaboration from Larry Elmore.
Rone Barton sent me along the photos of the art piece, along with a description of the Zyrag.
"On the edge of known space, within the shattered graveyards of planets – asteroid belts – the titanic equipment of a vanished alien race grinds on; but those who think in terms of machinery run afoul of their all too human assumptions. Zyrags are vast silicon life forms engineered to hunt, collect, and by devouring, process rare minerals, mere cogs in the industrial complex of their vanished creators. They require neither food, nor water, nor air to survive; deriving all their sustenance from the raw material their ancient masters programmed them to devour.
Buoyed on multiple sets of wide solar-sail membranes that burn with collected light, the Zyrag’s serpentine bodies writhe across the stony landscape—chewing, ingesting, seemingly immortal. Their heads are wide, lengthy apertures filled with needle-like fangs thought to be formed of the strongest nano-material in the known universe. Soulless eyes stare unblinking at the world, enormous elliptical voids of obsidian that inspire terror in the minds of mere mortals.
Zyrags ignore any humans who stumble across them, mindless eating machines unaware of their surroundings until inexplicably they cease to consume; instead, burrowing down and sealing themselves inside an asteroid, not unlike a lungworm in mud. After which, by some unknown propulsion method, they hurtle themselves and their rocky shells through empty space until they unerringly reach the next asteroid field.
Woe betides any colony or mining outposts occupying the area upon a Zyrag’s arrival. After bursting forth from their stony vehicles, what was before a peaceful consumption mode transitions to arrival mode and their first action is to clear all competing life from their new hunting grounds.
During this purge, their digestive systems processes metal, plastic, stone, radioactive waste, and even flesh with equal abandon.
Yet some things remain a continual mystery to those who encounter these dangerous dragon like creatures.
Who created the Zyrag? What do they do with the material they collect?
Can you answer them? Do you know what goes on in the mind of these seemingly soulless devourers?"
The Zyrag were created by game designers Brendan Victorson and James MackKenzie, with collaboration from Larry Elmore.
