Snaiad
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Snaiad is a speculative evolution, science fiction, and artistic worldbuilding project by Turkish artist C. M. Kösemen, focused on a fictional exoplanet of the same name. Begun in the early 2000s and inspired by earlier works such as Wayne Barlowe's 1990 book Expedition, Kösemen has produced hundreds of paintings and sketches of creatures of Snaiad, with detailed ecological roles and taxonomic relationships to each other. The sheer number of invented creatures and lineages makes Snaiad one of the most biologically diverse fictional worlds.
Since Snaiad artwork was first published by Kösemen online, the project has garnered a following and international attention, especially online. Fans of Snaiad have produced fan art, not only of Kösemen's own creatures but also of their own imagined Snaiadi creatures, consistent with the biological principles followed by the rest of the project's lifeforms. Kösemen hopes to eventually publish the project in book form.
Snaiad is an exoplanet slightly larger than Earth located outside of the Milky Way.[1] The planet is home to a large variety of fauna, which Kösemen has designed and meticulously documented, along with creating maps and a geopolitical story of Snaiad as it undergoes the process of human colonization about 300 years in the future,[1][2] Snaiad being one of Earth's first interstellar colonies.[3]
According to science writer Darren Naish, Snaiad "might well break the record as goes the number of fictional entities invented so far" due to the sheer number of lineages and lifeforms designed by Kösemen.[4] The equivalents of tetrapods on Snaiad, so-called 'para-tetrapods' have two "heads"; the first head, typically most similar to heads on Earth animals, is a modified set of genitalia which is also used to catch or grab food, and the second head, located below, has only a digestive function.[3][1] The 'para-tetrapods' of Snaiad have hydraulic muscles (i.e., powered by fluids being pumped in and out) and their skeletons are not made of calcium, but a carbon-based mixture more similar to very hard wood. The bones of Snaiad creatures are usually black, brown, or green and can catch fire at high temperatures, as they are composed of a hypercompressed hydrocarbon rather than hydroxyapatite, like those of earth tetrapods. [1]
Just as with Earth animals, the creatures of Snaiad are classified into different taxonomic groupings, such as the "Allotauriformes" (large and armoured herbivores), the "Cardiocetoida" (whale-like aquatic creatures with jet propulsion), and the "Kahydroniformes" (intelligent predators with hooves and claws). One of the most successful and widespread predators of Snaiad is the Kahydron, with forelimbs strengthened with claws and hooves. The hydraulic muscles of the Kahydron stretch to its cheekbones, which gives it an exceptionally strong bite.[1] Other than the human colonists, there are no sapient lifeforms on Snaiad. According to Kösemen: 'intelligence is not a "goal" of the evolutionary process, nothing is.'[5] While there are phyla besides the 'para-tetrapods' of Snaiad, such as the arthropod-like Trilateralans, mollusk-like Mullojiforms, and the Arthrognathans, the website only goes into detail about the tetrapod clades.