literary masochist
One question.
If they haven't even figured out electricity, how did they even manage space travel?
This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...
They haven't. Humans landed on their planet.
Reality is for those who lack imagination.
literary masochist
Oh, my mistake. Carry on.
I suppose one way to go about it would be imagining how we (or at least pre-electricity we) would try to figure out aliens that landed on Earth, and then extrapolating from there.
edited 14th Oct '13 7:02:50 AM by KylerThatch
This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...
That's the problem. I can't come up with good ideas on how to proceed. I got few ideas on aliens figuring out that the strange tubes that contain bad tasting, but not poisonous paste are food that "alien" (Read: Humans) eat and some ideas of aliens trying to figure out what makes the ship operate.
For reason why aliens even have the chance, Humans are mere shadow of their former power and are essentially invading because they are desperate beyond measure of a new place to call home. However, humans lack formal military, which is why pre-electricity natives have been able to survive initial assault (though in the long run, superior tech of humans will win)
edited 14th Oct '13 8:24:43 AM by Mandemo
Lawful neutral
The best place to start would be designing the aliens. Are they mamilian, reptilian, or something we don't have a direct parallel for? How many sexes do they have? What's their social structure? What are their beliefs, if any? Sketch out their basic biological differences from humans (they can't be too dissimilar if they can share an environment with us,) decide how those contribute to their society, and build upwards from there.
They might start with dissection, depending on the culture of the aliens in question.
Other things might be picking up their weapons and trying to use them, applying "alchemy" to their items and bodies, or trying to translate their writing.
Eating them is on the table if this is a REALLY weird species.
Okay, idea is simple: Through few loops and hoops, humans invade a planet. Aliens, having no idea what humans are, are very confused and hard pressed to survive.
Bunch of humans get captured alongside their dropship.
Now, how would aliens try to figure out humans? Humans can't survive outside their suits, which are fully sealed. Humans can't eat the same food as the aliens.
How would aliens, being on lower level of tech-level(Let's say, around the advent of gunpowder, AKA electricity has not yet been harnessed), go on trying to figure out humans and their tech?