Garden Nagas

Garden Nagas, sometimes referred to as “Micro Nagas”, are miniature nagas. Most only reach a maximum length of 8 inches. They have varying scale color much like their larger cousins, but most tend to be a drab green color better suited to blending in with the grass.

They mostly eat small seeds and bugs, but will glad catch a Nerra or a Tombthumb if they can catch one. Garden Nagas tend to like aesthetics of a well tended garden, and they will gladly take residence in one, because of this Garden Nagas are quite common in Negva although they are not as accepted by the humans that live there as other tinys are.

When confronted with a threat, the Garden Naga will try to pretend that it is a giant Naga, often warning the threat that it will eat them up, or squish it with its massive tail. Since most people realize the Garden Naga is not in fact a giant, this tactic rarely works. As such, the Garden Naga is generally considered harmless.

I just just about to suggest something similar, but I was finishing up the concept image... I guess it'd be too similar to this now... T___T

Concept Doodle (Compared to 2 human fingers)

Although a similar species was suggested almost as soon as I finished this drawing, I'll propose it anyway since I spent too much time working this out for it to go to waste.

Thread Naga

Size: 14 inches long and 5 inches head to ground

A Thread Naga is a tiny naga that lives in wooded areas around Felarya. They have onyx-colored tails, usually, and dark hair and eyes. Their small size makes them very low on the food chain, but they do still prey upon small insect, tinies, and berries.
For their size, they are quite strong. Carelessly picking one up may lead to a couple broken fingers. They can move incredibly fast on the ground and can hide well in dark areas. Their tails are also much longer than their human half, giving them much coil and constriction ability.
As mentioned, their size doesn't let them share the same throne that giant nagas do. Nekos enjoy the taste of these very much, along with many other carnivorous lifeforms on Felarya. Even humans eat them sometimes, but more often than not cook them instead of swallowing them alive, usually by slicing their tails up into stews.


Will be improved soon, hopefully.

((Merged into thread by /Fish/ because it's a contesting design for the same thing))

I really like this idea. My first thought was "D'awww, I want one ^_^"

I think these are a pretty cool micro-hybrid race...right up there with cobweb dridders in terms of cuteness ^^ Now we need micro-harpies =D If they haven't been made yet...and micro-mermaids.

rcs619 wrote:

Now we need micro-harpies =D If they haven't been made yet...

ಠ_ಠ

I think this boils down to if we just want to make tiny versions of everything.

Grouped 'tiny' races: Neeras, efrii, tomthumbs, and ariformids. Trochili are under harpies.

Dridders are essentially alluded to having tiny-ish scaled types.

We keep going back to the ideas of 'micro-nagas' or 'guppy mermaids' . Why not just decide whether we want tiny versions of which ones or not, and build off of those from there if they make sense.

needed or not its great, actually I have thought of this idea before (i even thought of them as garden snakes too) , but the guppy mermaid I had not.

Well, I based my version on this snake here. Really tiny compared to other snakes. o__o

zalzas wrote:

Garden Nagas, sometimes referred to as “Micro Nagas”, are miniature nagas. Most only reach a maximum length of 8 inches. They have varying scale color much like their larger cousins, but most tend to be a drab green color better suited to blending in with the grass.

Their colouring pattern would be the same as human-sized grass nagas, then. Makes sense.

Quote :

They mostly eat small seeds and bugs, but will glad catch a Nerra or a Tombthumb if they can catch one.

That would be same-size vore, then. Since they're only twice as big as a neera or a tomthumb. Or much less, if 8 inches is indeed their length rather than height. They must have a hugely expandable jaw, neck, stomach...

Quote :

Garden Nagas tend to like aesthetics of a well tended garden, and they will gladly take residence in one, because of this Garden Nagas are quite common in Negva although they are not as accepted by the humans that live there as other tinys are.

Why not?

Quote :

When confronted with a threat, the Garden Naga will try to pretend that it is a giant Naga, often warning the threat that it will eat them up, or squish it with its massive tail. Since most people realize the Garden Naga is not in fact a giant, this tactic rarely works.

Um... Leaving aside the fact that nagas are individual, and that each therefore behaves in his or her own way, I don't see the logic in this unconvincing "defence tactic".

Other than that, though, they sound very cute.

(And they're probably a good source of food for some human-sized nagas!)

AisuKaiko wrote:

Thread Naga

Size: 6 inches long

A Thread Naga is a tiny naga that lives in wooded areas around Felarya. They have onyx-colored tails, usually, and dark hair and eyes. Their small size makes them very low on the food chain, but they do still prey upon small insect, tinies, and berries.
For their size, they are quite strong. Carelessly picking one up may lead to a couple broken fingers. They can move incredibly fast on the ground and can hide well in dark areas. Their tails are also much longer than their human half, giving them much coil and constriction ability.
As mentioned, their size doesn't let them share the same throne that giant nagas do. Nekos enjoy the taste of these very much, along with many other carnivorous lifeforms on Felarya. Even humans eat them sometimes, but more often than not cook them instead of swallowing them alive, usually by slicing their tails up into stews.

At six inches long, they're much shorter (head to ground) than other tinies. It would make it nigh on impossible for a thread naga to eat a tomthumb, even with tremendous stretching. I like the idea of them slithering around very quickly, though; it makes sense as a survival trait.

I guess I could increase their size. Six inches does seem a tad off.

Hmmm, seems I am going to have to rethinkanate on this idea a little more to meet my high standered of quality of half-bakededness.


Well I think I kind of low balled it with the length, having it be eight inches. Since the wiki said that most Tinies where around 3 inches tall I figured about 8 inches would be appropriate, but maybe a full foot would be better.

I figure they would be less except in Negva, and specifically in the Tinies community, because they have been know to eat Tinies on occasion and eating people is no way to make friends. while their dietary habits might set them at odds with the larger population because they, sort of, don't condone the consumption of Tinies. although they would be useful guard nagas against tiny infiltrators, but then again you could always just hire a neko to exterminate you Tiny problem for you.

The reason for their odd defensive tactic is far from individual choice, its compulsorily. like how nekos have a tendency to puff out the fur on their tails when angry, or how some Chlaenas have been know to "ink themselves" when scared. Garden Nagas do not tend to think well in stressful situation, so they respond instinctively, and in this case that instinct is based on the assumption that if it looks like a giant naga, talks like a giant naga, and slithers like a giant naga, then people will assume it IS a giant naga. They have been know to resort to this instinctual response when ever ever placed under sufficient stress, not just as a response from a threat. many an attempt to ask a person out has been ruined when a Garden Naga, faced with the stress of talking to person she really likes and fearing his rejection, shouts that she is a giant and will eat him so he should run away RAWR!

/Fish/ wrote:

I think this boils down to if we just want to make tiny versions of everything.

Hey! that a GREAT idea! Lets just make a tiny version of everything on Felarya! Then we all could have a miniature chibi monster girl we can cuddle! oh, but if we make EVERYTHING miniature on Felarya then that means we would need to make miniature Tinies too, There could be a whole ecosystem in Felarya under foot, one that only the smallest ones know about. The Tinies might be small to us, but they are giants to the mini-Felarya inhabitants.

But then we would need to make mini versions of the Mini-Tiny world. and then THAT Mini-mini-tiny world would need mini versions of themselves and then those mini-mini-tiny Tinies could get in to my blood stream and invade my mind AND THEIR IN MY MIND EATING MY THOUGHTS HELP ME AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

zalzas wrote:

The reason for their odd defensive tactic is far from individual choice, its compulsorily. like how nekos have a tendency to puff out the fur on their tails when angry, or how some Chlaenas have been know to "ink themselves" when scared. Garden Nagas do not tend to think well in stressful situation, so they respond instinctively, and in this case that instinct is based on the assumption that if it looks like a giant naga, talks like a giant naga, and slithers like a giant naga, then people will assume it IS a giant naga. They have been know to resort to this instinctual response when ever ever placed under sufficient stress, not just as a response from a threat. many an attempt to ask a person out has been ruined when a Garden Naga, faced with the stress of talking to person she really likes and fearing his rejection, shouts that she is a giant and will eat him so he should run away RAWR!

Maybe it's just me (and I'm sorry to harp on about this), but I don't see it. How can they possibly hope to pass themselves off as giant nagas?

Quote :

Hey! that a GREAT idea! Lets just make a tiny version of everything on Felarya! Then we all could have a miniature chibi monster girl we can cuddle! oh, but if we make EVERYTHING miniature on Felarya then that means we would need to make miniature Tinies too, There could be a whole ecosystem in Felarya under foot, one that only the smallest ones know about. The Tinies might be small to us, but they are giants to the mini-Felarya inhabitants.

And then let's make giant tomthumbs! We could call them humans, and make them into a really unique species!

French snack wrote:

Maybe it's just me (and I'm sorry to harp on about this), but I don't see it. How can they possibly hope to pass themselves off as giant nagas?

Its not that the HOPE to pass them self off as giant nagas, this tactic has only worked a handful of times. No, they are genetically compelled to act this way, sort of like threatening Tourette's, or as I like to call it, Threatte's. Most garden Nagas are mortified when this happens to them, and I think it is quite rude of you make fun of them. they are fully aware of how silly and stupid they look, you don't have to rub it in. oh, no they are CRYING! poor little things, look what you did French snack! No they are threating to eat me though their tears and sobs, they cant control it no mater how hard they try. and they try so hard. so very, very hard.

French snack wrote:

zalzas wrote:

The reason for their odd defensive tactic is far from individual choice, its compulsorily. like how nekos have a tendency to puff out the fur on their tails when angry, or how some Chlaenas have been know to "ink themselves" when scared. Garden Nagas do not tend to think well in stressful situation, so they respond instinctively, and in this case that instinct is based on the assumption that if it looks like a giant naga, talks like a giant naga, and slithers like a giant naga, then people will assume it IS a giant naga. They have been know to resort to this instinctual response when ever ever placed under sufficient stress, not just as a response from a threat. many an attempt to ask a person out has been ruined when a Garden Naga, faced with the stress of talking to person she really likes and fearing his rejection, shouts that she is a giant and will eat him so he should run away RAWR!

Maybe it's just me (and I'm sorry to harp on about this), but I don't see it. How can they possibly hope to pass themselves off as giant nagas?

Maybe a natural skill at sound and/or illusion magic? The sound magic would let them amplify their voices or make it seem to come from higher up...and the illusion magic, while likely not able to make them seem giant, or make the other person see a giant naga...it could probably make some shadows, or make the person they're trying to scare off think they see movement out of the corner of their eyes. Sound magic could combine with it to make them think they hear something huge moving around nearby.

Kind of like Oz, really. A small, weak person hiding behind a huge booming voice.
*the human pushes aside a leaf to reveal the tiny naga*
Naga: "Umm....err.....please ignore the small naga behind the leaf!!! Ignore him and leave now, and I might find it in my heart to spare you, pathetic human snack....person!!!!"

lol

That makes sense. They need SOME reason to have that as a defense mechanism. Come to think of it, if they could control that they'd make great public announcers for the streets of Negav, should people who have the same ability be absent.

So, how could I improve my version, since it seems that no one's really paying much mind to it...

I have to admit the sight of tiny naga threatening to eat someone would be hilarious to watch.

rcs619 wrote:

Maybe a natural skill at sound and/or illusion magic? The sound magic would let them amplify their voices or make it seem to come from higher up...and the illusion magic, while likely not able to make them seem giant, or make the other person see a giant naga...it could probably make some shadows, or make the person they're trying to scare off think they see movement out of the corner of their eyes. Sound magic could combine with it to make them think they hear something huge moving around nearby.

Kind of like Oz, really. A small, weak person hiding behind a huge booming voice.
*the human pushes aside a leaf to reveal the tiny naga*
Naga: "Umm....err.....please ignore the small naga behind the leaf!!! Ignore him and leave now, and I might find it in my heart to spare you, pathetic human snack....person!!!!"

Well, when it's put like that...

AisuKaiko wrote:

Size: 14 inches long and 5 inches head to ground

So they would be, on average, twice as tall as tomthumbs or neeras - sometimes less. Just so we're clear about this, you do intend for them to be able to massively dislocate their jaw, then, and hugely expand their throat and chest as the meal goes down? Presumably, they have a stomach in their tail.

To picture it, if you're 1m80 tall (5'11''), it would look like you trying to swallow a human dwarf (2'11'').

(It's not criticism; I'm just trying to be sure you do intend it to be essentially "same-size" vore. I think it's potentially quite interesting.)

Well to be honnest I find the idea of tinies naga very cute, but.. like Fish, I'm a bit concerned of having every race with their miniature versions ^^; I beleive whe should really find particular and unique traits to such races, and not being too systematic.

French snack wrote:

So they would be, on average, twice as tall as tomthumbs or neeras - sometimes less...

AisuKaiko wrote:

Size: 14 inches long and 5 inches head to ground

I personally think that they need to be a little bit bigger, maybe 20 inches long, in order for the pred-prey size differential to be more "natural"... but that's just me. Actually, I changed my mind.


So, I started this post thinking that they were still too small, and should be enlarged some, and I was going to helpfully suggest that you do a simple drawing to compare different sizes... but then I realized that I can do simple drawings and don't mind forcing everyone to look at them, so I did a simple set of comparisons myself. Both of the "nagas" are roughly proportional to having a 5 inch height, 15 inch tail length, 20 inches total (head to tail-tip) length... I don't know exactly what you meant when you said "14 inches long and 5 inches head to ground", so I went with a meaning that gave them more overall length.

The top image is when both naga and tinies are of roughly the same height, the bottom image is when the naga are roughly twice the height of the tinies. The before pictures are them standing side by side, the after pictures are... them *not* standing side by side. (But included so you can see roughly how distorted things would be, in my opinion.)

WTF, stick person/naga vore?
...
...

...
We will never speak of this again!



As I said above, when I first started posting this reply I thought that being twice the height of the tiny was too small. After seeing the above, I think that twice height nagas might actually be too big! If you replaced the tiny with a mouse, and the naga with a snake, I don't think it would be odd at all for a snake to prey on mice of that size.

Awww, happy tiny stick naga!

Assuming a greatly extendable jaw and throat, and shiftable bones and internal organs, a naga five or six inches tall (and 15 to 20 inches long?) seems plausible, then. Able to feed on a 3 inch tiny.

Don't worry, I made this knowing very well that samesize vore will happen.

And as far as "tinies for every race" goes, there are very tiny snakes in real life. I think if anything, we'd need tiny harpies (which we do) tiny mermaids, tiny nagas, and tiny bugtaurs, we'd be set, since those animals are usually, in fact, tiny.

I think more what we need to do is make these tiny races unique, if we do so make them. The Trochili harpies are not only small but very unique from their larger cousins in many ways, just as these garden nagas aren't just mini-nagas and cobweb dridders are unique themselves. Most of the animals the hybrids are based off have real world counterparts that are tiny so it's not too unreasonable.

We already have the tiny bug people-the ariformids.

Just a suggestion, but I think worms should be at least a part of these nagas' diet-worms should be large enough to provide a filling meal, be very easy to catch, and potentially "farmable", with tiny nagas setting aside small plots where they stash some live worms and bringing detritus to them. A number of smaller snakes do feed on worms, after all. It might be a good idea to have them hide under rocks and/or live in burrows, which they emerge from at night to look for food (which might cut down on the chances of getting eaten themselves!). You also might want to broaden their diet to include slugs, (small) insects in general and spiders, since these should be fairly abundant sources of food for them and are high in protein as I understand (and snakes do eat them).

And on a side note, perhaps playing dead could also be a defensive behavior? Just bluffing isn't the only defense small snakes have to try and avoid getting eaten.

yeah, studying snake behavior is a good way to figure out how to model nagas.

Hey,

AisuKaiko wrote:

And as far as "tinies for every race" goes, there are very tiny snakes in real life. I think if anything, we'd need tiny harpies (which we do) tiny mermaids, tiny nagas, and tiny bugtaurs, we'd be set, since those animals are usually, in fact, tiny.

...this, I think, is broadly correct...

Karbo wrote:

Well to be honnest I find the idea of tinies naga very cute, but.. like Fish, I'm a bit concerned of having every race with their miniature versions ^^; I beleive whe should really find particular and unique traits to such races, and not being too systematic.

...despite this, because...

...Nagas, at least, are half-human snakes. Which are a suborder, not a species. We should; however, ensure that the different species are suitably unique. The largest snakes are extinct, but were 50ft long or so. 30ft for modern examples. The smallest snake is 4inches long, so a factor x150 or so. By that logic we have 500ft nagas so we could have 40inch nagas. Personally, I think tiny-sized nagas make a lot of sense though:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leptotyphlops_carlae

is thought to be the minimum size for snakes, and has some at least one interesting elements which we might want to include: They lay a single egg, and the offspring which emerges from it is half the size of the mother.

Yours,

Ambrose,