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  1. #21
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    OP

    Out of curiosity, have you seen harpy nipples? If so, where? The fact that they wear bikini tops (or whatever they are) could simply be an attempt to imitate the more advanced species of azeroth, a way to show that they are not just primitive bird people. Or something. Also, the 'breasts' that you see could also be composed of dense and powerful muscle tissue to enable the harpies to fly but, coincidentally, look like boobies.

    Other possibles are the fact that they are simply oviparous and then breast feed their young afterwards like the platypus. Laying eggs does not preclude breast feeding, it just makes it unlikely. On earth. On Azeroth, however, it was probably more beneficial for these harpies to develop oviparity because trying to fly around whilst preggers would be highly inefficient and dangerous and therefore laying an egg would make more sense. Assuming they evolved in a cliffy, mountainous environment.

    Your biological observations are all based on what you know of earth's physics and biology and is therefore flawed. You are assuming that the chitinous material that make up crab and nerubian exoskeletons are composed of the same material and is therefore subjected to the same limitations. The nerubians would still be classified as arthopods, based on external appearance, but silithids would no longer be classified as such due to the genetic tampering of c'thunn. I guess they would have their own phylum now as they are no longer restricted to merely being jointed creatures (if memory serves, and it sometimes doesn't). However, having evolved from the same species as the nerubians they would have originally been classified as arthopods as well (based solely on external appearances).

  2. #22
    I'm sorry, in a world where beasts can be magic'd in at any time, not only by gods, but by most trained humanoids, you are unable to apply classic evolutionary understanding. In the past harpies could have been magic'd up with nipples and instinct. This instinct could lead to Harpies having nipples as a sign of health, and thus a worthy mate. In other words, harpies with nipples are more likely to have kids than harpies without nipples.

    Long story short, before deeming something in wow as evolutionarily implausible, you must first prove they are not created like this by deity or otherwise. A graph of harpy nipple sizes in relation to time may elucidate us, perhaps someone should graph it.

  3. #23
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Sissyfoo View Post
    OP

    Out of curiosity, have you seen harpy nipples? If so, where? The fact that they wear bikini tops (or whatever they are) could simply be an attempt to imitate the more advanced species of azeroth, a way to show that they are not just primitive bird people. Or something. Also, the 'breasts' that you see could also be composed of dense and powerful muscle tissue to enable the harpies to fly but, coincidentally, look like boobies.
    that's what I tried to explain
    And I never saw one, therefore I wanted to prove thatthey don't exist^^


    Quote Originally Posted by Sissyfoo View Post
    Your biological observations are all based on what you know of earth's physics and biology and is therefore flawed. You are assuming that the chitinous material that make up crab and nerubian exoskeletons are composed of the same material and is therefore subjected to the same limitations. The nerubians would still be classified as arthopods, based on external appearance, but silithids would no longer be classified as such due to the genetic tampering of c'thunn. I guess they would have their own phylum now as they are no longer restricted to merely being jointed creatures (if memory serves, and it sometimes doesn't). However, having evolved from the same species as the nerubians they would have originally been classified as arthopods as well (based solely on external appearances).
    I had as target to try to prove WoW with our common physics laws. I could easily have invented a material which isn't heavy at all to make the exoskeleton of them probable, but it would have been too easy and before all, not what I try to do.

    Using our general evolutionary laws on them should be ok, since natural selection and fitting the environment should be the same everywhere, regardless of the planet.

  4. #24
    Titan Kalyyn's Avatar
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    All magic in the warcraft universe is scientifically sound when you assume 3 things.
    1: The entire universe is made of energy.
    2: Energy directs the behavior of matter.
    3: Souls exist.

    Once those three things are established, warcraft magic no longer conflicts with any of our scientific laws. And as the first two are generally accepted theories, and the third is believed by most human religions, then magic doesn't seem all that unbelievable.

    For those who don't know all that much about magic, there are 3 basic kinds of magic afaik.

    Arcane: The simplest form, this is done by pure manipulation of space and time. The user attunes his mind's frequency to the frequency of the matter around him, allowing him to manipulate his surroundings.

    Holy: Holy magic is produced when the most potent energy of the universe, light, is reflected by a soul. A dark soul will absorb most light, but the purer a soul, the more it can reflect. When the light is reflected back upon itself, it produces what we know as Holy Light.

    Necromancy: An extension of arcane magic, combined with the ability to manipulate souls. Souls can be placed into corpses, thus reanimating them. For warlocks, the method is the same, but rather than using mortal souls, they use demon souls. "Unholy" magic, such as that shared by warlocks, shadow priests, and death knights, is simply arcane magic in a different form. Rather than using energy, they use fel energy, which we would know as anti-matter.

  5. #25
    This is extremely relevant to my interests!

    I have a habit of taking what Blizzard has done and either improving/innovating, or making things anatomically correct.

    About the harpy-nipple-breast-mammalian-oviparity issue: It's perfectly possible and makes sense for them to have breasts. First thing you need to know, is that it is strongly speculated that the harpies came from Night elves in a similar way that dryads, and keepers of the grove did. It's speculated that they were females that gave themselves over to Aviana, the demigoddess of flight and mistress of the great tree, G'hanir. Because they come from Night elves, they're going to retain some of their mammalian traits. Breasts would seem a good thing to keep since they are both sensual and nutritive, therefore 'bonding' organs. Breastfeeding is not only good for nutrition, but for the strong bond it creates between mother and child. Also, there are mammals that lay eggs, they are called monotremes. The slight difference is that they 'sweat' milk. It's also possible to have those strong pectoral muscles that enable flight, and to have the fatty tissue of breasts on top.

    (PS: the harpies fly forever in game because of game mechanics, and a lack of a sitting or standing animation. Hippogryphs used to do the same thing. The only reason they were fixed was because they are mounts.)

    A Harpy sketch showing what I mean, (no nipples drawn since I'm pretty sure this site doesn't want full nudity), and a Chimera (without fur in order to show structure) that could actually gain lift and fly. ;P


    A redesign of the Outland Chimera. If he were coloured he'd have bioluminescent patches, but I'm lazy and don't feel like colouring him.


    A redesign of the Wyvern (Horde flying mount) heavily based off of the Greater Bulldog Fishing Bat. It's not really done or finalized so you may see a couple of minor differences between the two sketches.


    A very old couple of sketches of a Netherdrake's skull (heavily based off of a great white and some other predators) and a quick gesture of the body.

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