Collaboration: The Ctholinian Bioship

Some of you might recognize this from my Tumblr; it's the Ctholinian Bioship concept I came up with. Jasmo coloured it for me.  Thank you, dear!  

A bioship is a type of spacecraft or starship. Bioships differ from other types of spacecraft in that they are composed, either predominantly or totally, of biological components, rather than being constructed from manufactured materials. Because of this, they nearly always have a distinctively organic look.

Bioships are usually quite powerful, and can often regenerate or heal damaged parts. Some bioships are intelligent or sentient, and some are considered to be lifeforms. Like most organic beings, many bioships contain large amounts of "scaffolding" materials to keep their shape, such as the xylem in trees or bone and chitin in animals.

 Ctholinian bioships are oviparous, space-born creatures, showing distinctive sexual dimorphism; the female (as is shown above) is about fifteen times larger than the average male. Considering the vastness of the universe, individuals are locally very rare, and therefore encounters are equally as rare. Finding a mate can be problematic. Evolution found a solution to this problem, though - it had developed sexual parasitism in males, which means a male, once it found a potential mate, bites into her skin and attaches himself to her and, over time, fuses with her, becoming dependent on the female host for survival by receiving nutrients via their shared circulatory system, and provides sperm to the female in return.

 Ctholinian bioships possess a natural camouflage reflex; their ectodermal layer is covered in what is known as iridophores (reflective/iridescent cells) which allow them to basically "hide in plain sight". A very useful ability, especially considering the universal status of the Ctholina. Much like the Kanjaari, they've become a target for rarity collectors and slavers. Their biosuits are available at nearly impossible prices at the intergalactic black market. Not many Ctholina are left after these massive hunts, and those still alive use their ships to travel incognito.

 Ctholinian bioships feed off of materials mainly found within protoplanetary disks forming around newly "born" stars; they are equipped with sensitive filter organs at the very ends of their pair of antennae that not only lead them to the places where stars and planets are made (usually within dense nebulas), but also help them filter out minerals and other matter that they need to survive. (This was a suggestion Jasmo made, and I liked it quite a bit, as you can tell.)

 The Ctholinian bioship is neurologically connected to its Ctholina pilots (via their biosuits); in other words, the ship's mind fuses with the pilot's, and together they travel through time and space. Usually, a small group of Ctholina is chosen to become pilots but they never "steer" all at once. Only one at a time out of the group connects with the ship. As a matter of fact, the ship chooses its pilots and in doing so, develops a special bond of sorts with each individual it connects with. One could say they live in a symbiotic relationship.

This is all I have for now, sadly. I might add more information when I get new ideas, or good suggestions from you guys.  


 Related artworks:

     


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The bioship and the Ctholina species are © me (Fiji-Fujii)
Thanks to the wonderful Jasmo for colouring this piece for me!

^{Media used: Adobe Photoshop CS6 (for the lines) & GIMP (for the colours)
No references used.}