Slug girls and Slimeoids.

Taken from the Slug Girl page:
"Slug girls are one of the main predators for oozes, blobs and slimoids, slurping them up with ease."
Taken from Slimeoids on Minor Races page:
Slug Girls pose a deadly threat to slimoids, as they do to oozes.

I've never understood how this works. What makes Slug girls so much of a threat to slimeoids? as far as I know they can't exert any more suction than other species. (Especially considering rock harpies' vacuum mouth technique).
Slug girls, being a slug taur have slime similar to slug slime. This means it's viscous and very sticky. This is quite good for trapping humans and other animals, but it would do nothing to a slimeoid. They simply would not stick to it due to their nature as liquid or liquid with a semi-liquid 'skin.' In the same vein, due to the viscosity of slug girl slime and a slimeoids' control over their body, the slug girl slime isn't going to mix with the slimeoid unless they want it to. Even if it did, they'd just break it down.

It's even possible that a slimeoid of similar size to a slug girl is more of a threat to the slug girl than the slug girl is to it. A slug girls' main defence and means of catching prey is their slime, but slimeoids are immune to slug girl slime and can even consume it. Slimoids are quite agile due to their liquid nature. A slug girl would be unable to escape.
However, the only real edge is the immunity to slime as pretty much anything is faster than a slug girl.

So in conclusion I believe that the indicated parts should be changed.

This thread has actually really caused me to wonder how such a thing would work as well.

I mean, it could be theorized that the inherent slime of Slug girls and the like causes some sort of reaction akin to digestion or absorption when coming into contact with slimeoids, thus adding them into the whole of the Slug's slime, or taking them in entirely for nutrients. However, that's a theory of course and would require much in the ways of explanation to tell why the same would not happen when contact between the slime and more solid creatures occurs, and such a trait as that which functions against a singular species seems like it's not the sort of thing that would evolve normally.

In any case it just seems to me that the bit could do with some revision.

good point. Although the slimegirl/oid could have layers of different kinds of slime, each serving a different function; that and/or the material that makes up the slime might just react to other objects differently (based on molecular construction most likely).

We way I see it is that slimeoids are a complex, homogeneous fluid. Except for their nucleus and outer membrane.

mhh what I had in mind when I wrote that is that slug girls are much less sensible to the effects of oozes/slimes/blobs, and also mostly immune to poisons or toxic taste that some of them could use as defense. And slug girls happens to love how they taste too ^^

How do you think it should be reformulated then ?

I don't really know. AJ has a point though, the way I see it, Slug Girls mostly rely on their slime to catch preys since they are slow as molasses. Logically, it wouldn't affect something made of slime, so a Slug Girl would have to be very lucky or very creative to catch a slimoid.

At best I could only see Slug Girls being a threat to slimeoids when the latter are small enough that simply slurping them up like jelly will do the job. Now with a slimoid that was just as big, or even larger than your average slug girl the tables would definitely be turned

Slimetoad wrote:

At best I could only see Slug Girls being a threat to slimeoids when the latter are small enough that simply slurping them up like jelly will do the job.

Indeed, however I'm pretty sure that applies to anything that likes the taste of non-toxic slimeoids.

Karbo wrote:

mhh what I had in mind when I wrote that is that slug girls are much less sensible to the effects of oozes/slimes/blobs, and also mostly immune to poisons or toxic taste that some of them could use as defense. And slug girls happens to love how they taste too ^^

Indeed. However I'm sure that a reasonably sized slimeoid could either run away or a bigger one could form tentacles and drive the slug girl off.

One other defence is that if by some unlikely chance a slug girl did start slurping a slimeoid up, the slimeoid could asphyxiate the slug girl by causing themselves to become far more viscous, blocking the nose and throat while preventing the slug girl from sucking the slimeoid down their throat. The slimeoid in question would have to be above a certain size though.

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How do you think it should be reformulated then ?

I'm not entirely sure. It's possible for a slug girl to consume a slimeoid. However as I've explained the chances of a slug girl actually catching a slimeoid are virtually nil, therefore it's a moot point really.

It seems to me that the biggest thread to slimeoids are other slimeoids.
Another possibility bloom dryads since they could cause their body to rise from the ground, pierce and them rapidly absorb the slimeoid. This would require the slimeoid to wander on the the area of ground that the bloom dryad was currently inhabiting. The larger the bloom dryad is relative to the slimeoid, the less likely the slimeoid is to survive.

Of course, that's not an instant win for the Bloom dryad. Slimeoids can and will escape, abet depleted in mass. Due to the magical nature of Bloom dryads and the semi-magical nature of slimeoids, any that survive an attack by a bloom dryad may come to recognise the magical effect that a bloom dryad has on the ground or the magical signature of the bloom dryad spirit. If that happens then that particular slimeoid will be able to avoid or mitigate future attacks.

tl;dr Bloom dryads can prey on young and inexperienced slimeoids.

Oh, and if the bloom dryad tries to consume a slimeoid that is larger than she is then the bloom dryad would end up being consumed.

If anything I think Slimeoids preying on Slug Girls would be a great way of balancing them and give the race a weakness as a whole. Because let's face it, something that is usually gargantuan in size, leaves super-sticky slime (and can spit it to boot) everywhere and in general being something not many things would find appetizing makes them a little bit overpowered

The general weakness of slug girls is that they're supposed to be slow, but from what I've read, it's a rather moot weakness since they can leave slime that immobilize almost anything. If anything, the thing about slug girls loving slimoids would probably be a rare delicacy since not many would manage to catch one. But now, which would be the slimoid's biggest predator?

Slimeoid's predator: Some earth elementals could just easily absorb the slimeoid's semi liquid body if it were formed from any type of sandy soil, I suppose some plants and dyrads could leach off them via their root system.

Well, I think AJ mentioned that if slimoids can make their body thicker and more viscous, they won't be able to absorb them easily.

Viscosity is a physical property of a liquid and would require either a change in temperature or a change of either the chemical mixture or structure to change the viscosity. I highly doubt an empty simeoid will be chainging their viscosity any time soon.

CauldronBorn24 wrote:

I suppose some plants and dryads could leach off them via their root system.

When writing about how bloom dryads (which are flora elementals) could prey on slimeoids, I considered the possibility of Dryads doing the same. I don't believe that they would be able to prey on slimeoids quite as well as bloom dyads could, as while they cannot cause a massive root system to rise from the ground to absorb the slimeoid quite like how I believe a bloom dryad could.

Sean Okotami wrote:

Well, I think AJ mentioned that if slimoids can make their body thicker and more viscous, they won't be able to absorb them easily.

That is another reason while I think that bloom dryads would be much better at preying on slimeoids. Much of a bloom dryad's body mass is underground in the form of roots. That is not the case with dryads. Since they can 'uproot' in the way they do they can not have extensive root systems like bloom dryads can. A slimeoid won't be able to do much except run when the very ground around them suddenly erupts with multiudes of roots as the bloom dryad simply raises a portion of her body above ground.

Therefore, it doesn't matter how viscous the slimeoid is, there are roots everywhere, absorbing their body.

Well the only way I can see them become more viscous and stay at the same size would be to absorb extra liquid, or else they simply condense themselves more. Also, I don't really see the bloom dryads because elementals as a whole are pretty rare.

Just because they're rare doesn't mean they can't prey on them.

As for the viscosity, I'd have thought that slimeoids have some degree of control over their chemical makeup, it's one of their key abilities. they can't do much at all without that ability. With that ability they can change their consistency, becoming more gel like or more liquid, more or less viscous.

Anime-Junkie wrote:

Just because they're rare doesn't mean they can't prey on them.

As for the viscosity, I'd have thought that slimeoids have some degree of control over their chemical makeup, it's one of their key abilities. they can't do much at all without that ability. With that ability they can change their consistency, becoming more gel like or more liquid, more or less viscous.

That is an awful ammount of physical contro;l that and most chemical reactions are irreversible. The way I see it though is that a slimeoid will need to keep well fed inorder to have acess to all these different chemicals it needs to change its form or viscosity otherwise its body pushes to an equilibrium over time to where it is just a thick liquid.

CauldronBorn24 wrote:

Anime-Junkie wrote:

Just because they're rare doesn't mean they can't prey on them.

As for the viscosity, I'd have thought that slimeoids have some degree of control over their chemical makeup, it's one of their key abilities. they can't do much at all without that ability. With that ability they can change their consistency, becoming more gel like or more liquid, more or less viscous.

That is an awful ammount of physical contro;l that and most chemical reactions are irreversible.

It is indeed.
I also think that suspended within the slime are complex molecules that can be assembled into different configurations, aiding in viscosity changes and movement.

CauldronBorn24 wrote:

The way I see it though is that a slimeoid will need to keep well fed inorder to have acess to all these different chemicals it needs to change its form or viscosity otherwise its body pushes to an equilibrium over time to where it is just a thick liquid.

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a slimeoid will need to keep well fed inorder to have acess to all these different chemicals it needs to change its form or viscosity

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a slimeoid will need to keep well fed

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keep well fed

Exactly

Slimoids can consume a variety of different things, but some are more desirable than others. They have to keep eating in order to be able to live, even move.
That's one of the reasons they inhabit humid places. Apart from the humidity preventing them evaporating, humid environments are usually have an abundance of all kinds of life.

A slimeoid's sense of taste would be different to complex animal life. They would evaluate the tastiness of something by what useful chemicals it contains. As such, something like algae would have a really bland taste to a slimeoid since it's a very basic form of life. Plants would be more desirable, fruit too as it contains sugar which I'm sure would be useful for the energy it provides.
I propose that a slimeoid can only consume animal life when they have sufficient energy and enzymes to break down the more complex animal body. This means that a weak slimeoid couldn't just gulp down a duiker and get back to strength. She'd have to go back to plants and then eventually work her way back up to being able to consume animal life.

Without putting much thought into it, I had figured that a Slug Girl's slime is simply impervious to slimeoid penetration. Like viscous oil and water. Because of that, they can freely touch, imprison, and if they find one large enough, enter a slimeoid without any personal risk.

Interesting point their Dante, if the slimoid was smaller then that would negate the slug girl's main hunting method: Getting things stuck in slime. That's what I was saying earlier.

If it was a smaller slug girl then the no-mix wouldn't last long for the slug girl as many slimoids would be able to modify their slime to be able to penetrate or mix with the slug girl's slime.

Ah, but the slug girl doesn't need to trap slimeoids in her slime to eat them. She just can't passively capture them, but is still notable as one of their main predators.

And how rapidly and drastically can a slimeoid alter its configuration, anyway? I figure it's not a slight tweak to bypass the slime layer...

That's the reason for this thread, I'm saying that they can't be one of their main predators. Slimoids are faster than slug girls, so they can't simply outrun them. They can't capture them in their slime so their main method is also out.
Containing a slimeoid is an extremely difficult task. Either a fluid tight container or a hold on their nucleus is required. A slug girl can't just grab them with their hands.

As for how fast they change, that's something you'll see when I post my slimoid idea/thesis/whatever.

Since no action has been taken on this, I'm reviving this thread.

Karbo wrote:

How do you think it should be reformulated then ?

I think that it should be removed entirely, at least for now. As I've pointed out earlier in this thread, Slug girls wouldn't really be able to catch slimeoids.
Maybe they could catch a severely weakened one but that doesn't constitute a "main predator."

I'm not very keen on that honestly. And I don't really see the problem.

Slug girls have great tools agaisnt slimes and oozes A slime-like beings is slow, not very agile, but their contact is dangerous if they wish for it and their taste would be absolutely foul or even poisonous. Well slug girls happens to totally bypass that defense.. they are mostly totally unaffected by their corrosive nature or venom, and absolutely adore their taste.
Plus slug girls possess a stomach that can extend quite a bit to accomodate them. Morover slimes are rather slow themselves so not that hard of a prey to catch and slurp-up.

Well, I've talked to Asaenvolk about this and he said that slugs can exert a considerable amount of suction by exploiting their soft body structure.
As you should ahve noted in my original post, I said:

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What makes Slug girls so much of a threat to slimeoids? as far as I know they can't exert any more suction than other species.

My problem with this whole thing was that it seemed so arbitrary. There was no reason or mechanism. (A defence is not an offence. Being immune to something doesn't give one a means to attack.)
If this slug trait (suction) is also found in slug girls, it should be stated in the wiki as the means by which they consume smaller slimoids.