Entry tags:
QUICK AND DIRTY INFODUMP/IMPRESSIONS POST
Amdiranifani is a character from the book A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge. He is a hive mind intelligence made up of eight separate, individual creatures that all look vaguely like very sleek and long-necked dogs. He is from an alien race called the Tines who live in a medieval-level society and whose planet gets, plot twist, accidentally invaded by human space travelers in the far distant future.
Here's some excerpts from his canon describing several Tines. His icons are currently various groups of cute greyhound-type dogs because that's the best I could manage on short notice, but do keep in mind that they are not meant to be totally visually accurate. All of him are very young for Tines, so he's a bit smaller than the adults described, about the size of whippets but with much longer necks.
Hive minds are completely typical among Tines. Each group is called a "Pack" and is made up of four to eight "members". Members individually are only about as smart as a chimp or a very clever parrot, and not capable of "true" sentience until they sync up with other compatible members to form a human-level Pack intelligence. There is a hell of a lot going on with this whole concept and worldbuild which would be completely infeasible to dive into in this post so if you want the deets hit me up.
Amdi is unusual in that he is made up entirely of puppy members, an arrangement which usually doesn't work out very well. However, he met his future best friend Jefri, an 8-year-old human, at a very important developmental juncture, and so he kind of ended up growing up with a more human than Tinish personality and outlook. I mean, he's still eight fricking alien dogs, but he's eight dogs who definitely talk and act like a young human boy in a lot of ways.
The actual mechanics his hive-mindedness are related to the little bare patches of skin on his foreheads and flanks: his Tympana. Tines produce what they call "mindsound", a continuous peel of high-ultrasonic audio frequencies which effectively act as an external nervous system, synchronizing the thoughts and sensations of their members. Anyone who's petted Amdi has probably felt this as a subtle buzzing sensation, and some younger characters can probably even hear the very lowest tones occasionally as a faint, impossibly high pitched buzzing noise. Because his coordination is sound-based, his ability to function is directly related to whether and how well all his members can hear each other.
Got any other specific (or not-so-specific) questions about these eight puppers? Ask below! Or hit me up on Discord at Spinel#3440.
Here's some excerpts from his canon describing several Tines. His icons are currently various groups of cute greyhound-type dogs because that's the best I could manage on short notice, but do keep in mind that they are not meant to be totally visually accurate. All of him are very young for Tines, so he's a bit smaller than the adults described, about the size of whippets but with much longer necks.
Hive minds are completely typical among Tines. Each group is called a "Pack" and is made up of four to eight "members". Members individually are only about as smart as a chimp or a very clever parrot, and not capable of "true" sentience until they sync up with other compatible members to form a human-level Pack intelligence. There is a hell of a lot going on with this whole concept and worldbuild which would be completely infeasible to dive into in this post so if you want the deets hit me up.
Amdi is unusual in that he is made up entirely of puppy members, an arrangement which usually doesn't work out very well. However, he met his future best friend Jefri, an 8-year-old human, at a very important developmental juncture, and so he kind of ended up growing up with a more human than Tinish personality and outlook. I mean, he's still eight fricking alien dogs, but he's eight dogs who definitely talk and act like a young human boy in a lot of ways.
The actual mechanics his hive-mindedness are related to the little bare patches of skin on his foreheads and flanks: his Tympana. Tines produce what they call "mindsound", a continuous peel of high-ultrasonic audio frequencies which effectively act as an external nervous system, synchronizing the thoughts and sensations of their members. Anyone who's petted Amdi has probably felt this as a subtle buzzing sensation, and some younger characters can probably even hear the very lowest tones occasionally as a faint, impossibly high pitched buzzing noise. Because his coordination is sound-based, his ability to function is directly related to whether and how well all his members can hear each other.
Got any other specific (or not-so-specific) questions about these eight puppers? Ask below! Or hit me up on Discord at Spinel#3440.
