Fantasy Races and Space Aliens

[Oversquid]

How do I include space aliens in a fantasy world consisting of elves, dragons, orcs, krakens, subterranean horrors, and other fantastical creatures, while keeping the space aliens feeling "alien"?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The only thing that really separates alien species from fantasy ones is the tech they use.

As Arthur C. Clarke tells us, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."* So those aliens may well seem to be a race of wizards, depending on what tech they have at their disposal. Just look at what tech is aailable to yourself and those around you, and contemplate how it might be perceived by the average citizen of the Middle Ages.

Now widen the tech gap by a few centuries.








*And really, vice versa.

 

[Stormonu]

One way might be as "Demons/Wizards from the Dark Sky".

I forget who said it but - "Any advanced enough technology is indistinguishable from magic." Just treat the alien's technology as a form of magic - say as you might psionics. If you really want to make it different, consider making it unaffected by Dispel Magic, Anti-magic and magic resistance (and perhaps the converse - magic might not be stopped by technological means; a lightning bolt might blow through a force field as if it didn't exist, for example)

Imagine Gray aliens. Tales would speak of dead-skinned creatures who decended from the night sky on chariots that ride the wind making sounds like a thousand songbirds in a tornado. Soulless creatures that use wands that can kill or paralyze without a word.

Sure, the grays use space saucers, powered by Fly spells. Their ray guns fire Magic Missiles or Scorching Ray. When they abduct you, they use Detect Thoughts to read your mind, or Baleful Polymorph to perform their alien experiments on you.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Imagine Gray aliens. Tales would speak of dead-skinned creatures who decended from the night sky on chariots that ride the wind making sounds like a thousand songbirds in a tornado. Soulless creatures that use wands that can kill or paralyze without a word.

I'm the guy who had the denizens of Underhill be Greys in a crashed ship waiting for help, using changeling fields to alter their appearance to resemble comparatively pretty humanoids. Their stasis technology accounted for both their long lives and the different passage of time...

And who used Warforged as dwarf-created analogs tonCybermen/Daleks...

And who recast Alternity's Seshayans as the rulers of the Underdark...

And Illithids & Beholders as invaders from space in Urban Fantasy and Supers games.


IOW, just go nuts!

Sure, the grays use space saucers, powered by Fly spells. Their ray guns fire Magic Missiles or Scorching Ray. When they abduct you, they use Detect Thoughts to read your mind, or Baleful Polymorph to perform their alien experiments on you.

I believe they used a Rod of...well...hmmm.

 

[Oversquid]

While I'm getting good responses, I guess what I'm looking for is alien species at the same tech level as, say, the elves or the orcs on the fantasy world.

How then can I make a space alien still seem "alien" in light of all the fantastic creatures on the fantasy world, rather than "Another fantasy race, except on another planet"?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

That's tougher.

Step one would be making them truly alien. In D&D terms, I'd say that means the Aberration creature type. Step two would have their needs be different- think of how elementals and outsiders don't necessarily eat, drink or breathe like we do. Or what we do. Step three might be giving them immunities and vulnerabilities that are different than other creatures. Step four would be to give them a truly alien culture.

But, honestly, without the tech...they'll probably still come across as just other fantasy creatures.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

Some of the creatures from Ctulhu mythos might work, but I cannot offer any more than that because my knowledge of Cthulhu is largely based on reading Deities & Demigods in the 80s.

 

[MasterTrancer]

R: Fantasy Races and Space Aliens

While I'm getting good responses, I guess what I'm looking for is alien species at the same tech level as, say, the elves or the orcs on the fantasy world.

How then can I make a space alien still seem "alien" in light of all the fantastic creatures on the fantasy world, rather than "Another fantasy race, except on another planet"?

How can they be "from another planet" without tech, in the first place? Assuming they have no magic, and that you keep on humanoid forms; failing my last assumption, you can try looking at some Cthulhu Mythos, like for.example the Mi-Go.

 

[Oversquid]

How can they be "from another planet" without tech, in the first place? Assuming they have no magic, and that you keep on humanoid forms; failing my last assumption, you can try looking at some Cthulhu Mythos, like for.example the Mi-Go.

The setting I have justifies space travel without immense technology.

The aliens are also not inherently hostile.

 

[MasterTrancer]

Speaking of the Mi-Go I was actually thinking to their method of space travel (simply flying, like a space faring bird), not their human unfriendliness; also, IIRC, they didn't sport a big technology (faking human voices with 1920 play/record technology and keeping human bodies "intact" using vats of ice)...nonetheless I'd rank them definitely alien, both in outlook and in culture...probably, going back to the OP, these are two elements to work on, otherwise the "yet another fantasy race"-clichè threatens to creep up...

Still my 2 shins