The Darkinati concept

Today in Z-Brush, the class was divided in two, there was Team You Guys and Team Wikipedia, I was in Team Wikipedia with Justin, Maria and Mike. Our assignment was to create a race of hybrid humans with animals. Together as a team we created a backstory of human dragonfly/mantis creatures called the Darinati, the dark ones. Justin modeled the creature, Mike modeled accessories, Maria did texturing and I set up the scene background and wrote up this back story (with input from the other team members), enjoy:

For years the tropical regions of Earth have hid many secrets, the missing temples of the Mayans, never before seen plants, and legends of gods living deep in the jungles. The Chupacabra is the most well known of these legends, but because of the climate change and man’s ever approaching grasp on the forest, another legend has been seen more and more often. Once thought to be a ghost and called the living shadow, the Darkinati are a race of humanoid bugs descendant from a cross species of dragonfly and praying mantis. Scientist have now classified them as part of the Odanata-Bipedious. The first hand sightings say that the Darkinati stand approximately 5’6” crouched and 6’2” fully extended. They range in color from light green to dark brown depending on their surroundings and age.

Once only seen in shadow and blamed for mysterious disappearances of lost villagers and missing farm animals. Now they are breaking into buildings close to the jungle and using the technology in their own world. A curious race, the Darkinati will venture closer to human buildings to obverse and learn from humans, there are several cases of Darkinati have locked people in their homes while the Darkinati pillage their yard.

The Darkinati are considered to be elite scouters for the Hive. They usually hunt and scout alone, but when the hive is threaten then they will attack under the darkness of night. The Darkinati only think of the safety of the hive and will protect the hive with its life. If a Darkinati falls the others will retrieve the body and dispose of it. There are rumors of Darkinati graveyards, or that the bodies are eaten by the larva of the hive when they pass away. Not much is known of the hive, scientists speculate if there is one major hive with branches across the world or if each one of the Odanata-Bipedious hives are independent and if hives fight against each other for land and resources. The Darkinati are one of 3 roles of the Odanata-Bipedious group, while they may be weaker then the Hive Soldiers, they are considered to be faster and smarter. The Hive Soldiers rarely leave the Hive; it is not known how exactly how the hierarchy of the hive works, it is known that Queens rules the Hive, there has been sightings of Darkinati and Hive Soldiers fighting, it is not known which one is higher up on the hierarchy. The fighting also fuels the idea of different hives. The Darkinati communicate to each other and other members of the hive through pheromones, which are detected through it’s antennas, it’s nose is just for respiratory reasons. It’s wings are not used for long flight, but merely to use to extend their jumping abilities and communicate long distances, some consider the song of the Darkinati to be a sign of good luck.



Together, we as a team earned an extra mark, good for us.