#alien rpg

by Eren ARIK

Been working on a campaign for my roleplaying group for the Alien TTRPG. The setting is an aquatic mining colony on an icy Europa-like moon orbiting a gas giant. The moon also hosts the ruins of an ancient space jockey city and I’ve previously posted some of my jockey designs. But I’ve also been designing new xenomorph variations inspired by all those cool, weird hybrid aliens from the 90s Kenner toy line.

The colonists come primarily from Mexico and Central America, where Indigenous culture and art has seen a major resurgence, so much of the colony’s aesthetic is based on Aztec, Mayan, and other Mesoamerican peoples. The mining colony hangs from the bottom of the moon’s icy crust, facing into the miles-deep ocean underlying it.

Las Lloronas are a massive siphonophore-like colonial animals from this subterranean sea. Their name comes from the fact that they were first encountered as unearthly wailing shrieks heard over radios and other electronic devices. When one of the creatures was finally seen and studied, researchers discovered that they communicate via radio waves emitted in a narrow bandwidth that can penetrate several hundred feet through saltwater. These sounds, combined with the creatures’ ghostly white color, led to comparisons to the Weeping Woman of Latino folklore. Las lloronas regularly visit the thick acrylic windows of the colony where the city’s light drawn swarms of plankton. The creatures have become mascots for the colony and an annual La Llorona festival is held in their honor.

Recently, a creature resembling a twisted nightmare version of La Llorona has started to appear. In place of la llorona’s feeding gastrozoids, the new creature has clusters of xenomorph-like heads with grasping tongues that rip to shreds any marine life that comes near. The colonists have dubbed these monsters Las Malinches since they are seen as a “betrayal” of the beauty and etherealness of the original las llornas. Las Malinches have begun attacking mining subs leaving the colony, and even hurl themselves at the colony’s windows, leading to fear and dread throughout the colony.

Also, here’s a link to my space jockey designs: