Otherworlders: 25 aliens that will each redefine what alien means

This list of worldbuilding writing prompts should help flesh out your lore and make your concepts and speculative aliens shine.

My goal is to set your mind adrift with each entry. To challenge what you believe to be possible human thoughts and potential lives we could find in this universe. Some of these feel dark and horrible, but this is not a list of horror monsters. We naturally fear and are unsettled by the unknown and the different, but I challenge you to cast this feeling aside. As you read, allow yourself to dive in without comforting thoughts of Earth. Dare yourself to find peace in each entry. See each one as a life that works and is worthy of respect and to be learned from even when they are horrible. Good luck and enjoy the first three for free.

Stisars
In the clouded vortex of a moon that dips into a gas giant there is a towering city that seems bolted to nothing but itself. The moon syphons its atmosphere from the gas giant and trades it with the other moons as it orbits. There's a complex play of different gasses passing from moon to moon and in the hellish storm of chemicals a single line of life evolved. The stisars have no concept of prey or hunter, plant or animal. They know only themselves and the looming gas giant that rips their lives apart and delivers them the gasses they need to live with no rhythm that has been experienced in their history. The stisars empire has expanded past their home moon, but their relationship with the gas giant has not. It has no name because it is the focus of all thoughts for the stisars.

They stand tall on their four legs with thin fluttering fabric like folds of skin made to shield and leach gasses, but if you look close, they are always ready to run. They now seek to impose the law that has helped them survive across the universe. Their rules of living amount to repetitively checking for “signs” of the gas giant at all times. Refusal to adopt these rules is a sign that you are part of the gas giant. There's no certainty in their voices as they tell you this is exactly how the world works, but there is terror. Join them, or for this is all part of an elaborate ruse.

Deklons
The deklons have something like human baby teeth, but for all of their body parts across all of their lives. Any minor injury or sometimes just by chance they will grow a new heart or bone or finger. Then when it's ready they experience a pain that causes them to rip out the old part. The Deklons are eternally and constantly at war with themselves. There are no reasons for the wars. It's simply a matter of fact for them to cause conflict to spur growth. When a nation is too large to be a match for others, it will turn on itself just to make a target of war. These wars actually have a shockingly low death rate and often use over 80% non-lethal weapons. They don't seek to dominate, simply fight for the fight itself.

The Deklons, therefore, are driven by hate and fear. Rarely will one of them experience joy. Death is a shame that they bring on their family and they will be punished if they fail to be successful and productive. Food is eaten for fear of hunger and lovers are chosen strategically to fight off the world and rise to better circumstances with, or even as rivals to force growth. Some aliens have vowed to save them such a horrible life by killing them all. In these times, children are conceived, schools are opened, jobs and businesses boom and art is made to strengthen the Deklon population for the impending threat. Ironically, these wars are one of the few times they don't just feel emotionally relieved from the pain, fear and suffering that they live in. A war with a powerful and willing community is a source of real true joy for them.

Pomperands
These colorful aliens have a skin that can mimic all kinds of images and keep a huge selection memorized. Their thoughts are made of these images and the feelings they invoke. They are incapable of highly level thinking or communication until they have seen a fairly large selection of artwork. They call this the awakening. Adults use technology to enhance this by playing music, delivering smells and in many other ways. Most of them are thinking, but still slaves to basic urges and primal needs without ever considering why they think these things.

Every once in a while, a pomperand will make a kind of structure in their mind from artwork. They call it the second awakening. Those that have taken this step will casually manipulate the room with quick rotations of artwork. They are actors of the highest skill and understanding why others say what they do and not just what they are saying. They are masters of invoking feelings and use these snapshots of emotional tone to tell a very specific story and give meaning. For this reason they are always on the hunt for new artwork and stories. Anything to expand their own unique lexicon of “words”.

Hope you enjoyed this sample. I’m open for commissions and believe I can deliver work at a much higher level of quality than this quick list so feel free to reach out. You can also let me know what kind of list I should make next. I’m thinking of doing a few more like this with different concepts beyond just aliens.