Re: Jadebrain’s Creations

One of the interesting things about beetle carapaces is that they don’t look tough–but you can step on some of them without damaging them. Several exobiologists (tho they weren’t called that back then) went on record as saying human-sized exoskeletons would never work. Two obvious objections are that materials engineering has made progress since then and that unknown chemical and gravitational conditions might MAKE such things possible.

To make it look obvious without a context like a broken axe in the picture, I would have to suggest texturing it. Patterns of fissures and ‘chipped’ areas might make it look tough the way heavy scars make human fighters look like they have stamina. If you’re trying to appeal to an audience who loves contrasts and surprise, make that proboscis look exceptionally weak and thin–they grind their food just getting it to the mouth, right? They would claw a giant tortoise once and slurp up the turtle soup from the resulting puddle. Good luck.