I am confused about the art for Contemplative Ancestry

[Christopher#2411504]

I have two issues with all the Contemplative Art I could find:

1. Where are their eyes?
In SF2 they are supposed to have eyes with low light vision:

Quote:

A contemplative often hovers over a curiosity to analyze it with an array of senses, including the eyes that jut out a short distance from beneath the brain.

But I can't find those anywhere in the art. Not even the one that literally has a holographic targeting reticule for his giant gun, on Galaxy Guide Page 138.

2. Why are they running around mostly Unarmored/Naked?
Their brain is supposed to be 70% of their body weight

Quote:

The immense brain is roughly 70 pounds of a typical contemplative’s 100-pound weight.

The brain is literally always center mass, since it is most of the mass. That is the point everyone is taught to aim.

Yet it is always uncovered. Not as much as a environmental protection suit covering it in any of the art. Their atrophied bodies are armored - but that will be about as effective as a chainmail bikini.
My best guess is that artist don't know where to put the visor where they can show the eyes and surface folds - because there aren't any eyes.

[kaid]

Christopher#2411504 wrote:

I have two issues with all the Contemplative Art I could find:

1. Where are their eyes?
In SF2 they are supposed to have eyes with low light vision:

Quote:

A contemplative often hovers over a curiosity to analyze it with an array of senses, including the eyes that jut out a short distance from beneath the brain.

But I can't find those anywhere in the art. Not even the one that literally has a holographic targeting reticule for his giant gun, on Galaxy Guide Page 138.

2. Why are they running around mostly Unarmored/Naked?
Their brain is supposed to be 70% of their body weight

Quote:

The immense brain is roughly 70 pounds of a typical contemplative’s 100-pound weight.

The brain is literally always center mass, since it is most of the mass. That is the point everyone is taught to aim.

Yet it is always uncovered. Not as much as a environmental protection suit covering it in any of the art. Their atrophied bodies are armored - but that will be about as effective as a chainmail bikini.
My best guess is that artist don't know where to put the visor where they can show the eyes and surface folds - because there aren't any eyes.

I am guessing it is because they didn't want to do art where it basically looks like a flying helmet or a big armored egg. In the setting though a lot of the armors talk about using built in force fields to provide protections so for a contemplative you can just hand wave it as their body armor uses a force field "helmet". They got big brains and they like showing the world how big their brains are.

[Justnobodyfqwl]

They're exposed because they're the "giant floating brain" ancestry. That's a whole genre trope in of itself, and it makes them incredibly visually distinct. Covering that up would just kinda not look like anything.

Also, you just put the mental image of a Contemplative in a chainmail bikini in my head, which I'll never be able to un-see. That's legitimately a great gag: If Akiton already lends itself to Pulp Planetary Fantasy and Sandals & Sorcery, then you just straight up have a Red Sonja pastiche with the sword and chainmail bikini...be a Contemplative.

[Christopher#2411504]

kaid wrote:

I am guessing it is because they didn't want to do art where it basically looks like a flying helmet or a big armored egg. In the setting though a lot of the armors talk about using built in force fields to provide protections so for a contemplative you can just hand wave it as their body armor uses a force field "helmet". They got big brains and they like showing the world how big their brains are.

Keeping characters visually distinct in armor is quite possible. Schlock Mercenary had to do that with a dozen species.

It seems like a core issues is keeping the face visible.
Which seems defined by where you put the eyes. Which is why question 1 comes in - no eyes visible.

[QuidEst]

2. I believe that contemplative generally use forcefield-based armor to protect their brains. Stuff like lashunta mind mail. Source: Era of the Eclipse.

[Christopher#2411504]

Justnobodyfqwl wrote:

Also, you just put the mental image of a Contemplative in a chainmail bikini in my head, which I'll never be able to un-see. That's legitimately a great gag: If Akiton already lends itself to Pulp Planetary Fantasy and Sandals & Sorcery, then you just straight up have a Red Sonja pastiche with the sword and chainmail bikini...be a Contemplative.

"Unbeknownst to most, makers of Bikini Armor did not vanish over time. They just shifted to improperly armoring aliens."

But yes, technically the Chainmail Bikini could be fully functional(can't find a better comic dub) using force fields.

[Zoken44]

It's artistic choice made to keep the characters on model and visually distinct, which given this is a drawing of a fictional species justifies their eyes always being in the shadow of their brains.

[WatersLethe]

The contemplative is all about the brain. The tiny eyestalks that should hang out somewhere around the neck do not equate to a face, and shouldn't be were you would default to focusing for characterization. Doing so kind of misses the point. This is likely why the art neglects adding the eyes from the description.

Most other characters aren't depicted with their head gear active. I think it's fine to just assume a hardlight shield covers their brains.

[Perpdepog]

While I can't see the art I've always imagined contemplatives to be basically just a brain with a bit dangling underneath that you could mistake for a brainstem instead of a body. Them not being all brain, all the time would make me want an ancestry who was more brain. I'm glad the art sounds like it's leaning in a brainward direction.

[Driftbourne]

The SF1e contemplatives had an ability called Psychic Senses that combined blindsense (thought) out to 30 feet and darkvision to a range of 60 feet. The SF2e contemplative has Psychic Senses split up into two separate abilities Low-Light Vision and Thoughtsense.

So in SF1e, with all of their vision listed under Psychic Senses, I've always just assumed all of their vision was some kind of Psychic Sense.

I can't find it online, but somewhere I remember seeing one picture of a contemplative that has two black dots near its upper body or lower brain stem that kind of looked like it was part of a vague face, but was hard to tell if it wasn't just part of its clothing. I've started looking through a few books but haven't found it yet.

[Christopher#2411504]

Driftbourne wrote:

The SF1e contemplatives had an ability called Psychic Senses that combined blindsense (thought) out to 30 feet and darkvision to a range of 60 feet. The SF2e contemplative has Psychic Senses split up into two separate abilities Low-Light Vision and Thoughtsense.

So in SF1e, with all of their vision listed under Psychic Senses, I've always just assumed all of their vision was some kind of Psychic Sense.

I can't find it online, but somewhere I remember seeing one picture of a contemplative that has two black dots near its upper body or lower brain stem that kind of looked like it was part of a vague face, but was hard to tell if it wasn't just part of its clothing. I've started looking through a few books but haven't found it yet.

Interesting that they have actually psychic senses. That makes a lot more sense (pun partially intended. Just need to be put into their description.

As for the "one with black eye spots", do you mean the left one on Galaxy Guide Page 136? I thought that might be eyes too, but it doesn't fit the description. Plus, they are the only one with those.