BroodLord / Ling Concept & Theorycraft

[XSOLDIER]

Ok, so with the anatomy that we see with the Corruptor, they've got a membrane on top that contains ton of "'lil maggots" that they use for attacking. The bubbles at the bottom appear to be their source of buoyancy that allows them to hover in the air. With this general concept, I decided to see if I could make the BroodLord & Brood/Manta/Whatever-lings a little more closely related.




My first idea was that the Corruptors reproduce asexually, the 'lil maggots being gestating Corruptors that are capable of dividing, and the fluid within the membrane allowing them to develop & giving them needed nutrients, etc. Thus, when they attack, the tiny things are dividing & spreading through the target, and attacking everything around it before they die, from the lack of nutrients (Lore for the corruption). Going from this, I wanted to take the design of the Corruptor & merge it with the Broodlord, and Broodlings to make them fit a little bit better.

BroodLing




I thought that since the Corruptors could already be using the developing brood to attack targets directly, I took that concept, and up'd the size. The little 'Lings don't have the swollen body that allows them to remain airborne, and the enhanced carapace means that they're much heavier, and only viable for attacks against ground targets. The claws in the front are placed together, and locked in place against the carapace, allowing them to be shot into targets.

Once they hit the target, they open up their claws, exposing their mouths, and upper two mandible-claws. The bottom two claws are used to help them crawl along with the 3 tentacles, that worm them forward, giving them a slightly similar appearance to the original Broodlings. The top claw is primarily for attacking, but as an alternate animation, they could stand with their tentacles, and use all 3 front claws to rip at their targets.
Again, like the previous lore, their limited lifespan is due to the fact that they're not fully developed, and the hard carapace now prevents them from rapidly dividing.


BroodLord




For the BroodLord's anatomy, the top claw was pulled back and fused with the back spike, giving the creature a spine, thus dividing the membrane and splitting the brood to either side of the body. This caused the attack mechanism to move from the mouth to either side of the face. The two claw-mandibles moved down to guard the mouth from them, and gives it a Guardian-like face. The other two large claws were spread open to give it the backwards triangle/manta ray-like look.
As the Broodlings develop a firm carapace, the heavier Broodlings drop from the main pool, down into the tube-like structures in the BroodLord's body. Cilia inside the tubes slip into the spaces between the carapace barbs, and along with mucsular action, hurl the Broodlings forward, and fire them out from either side of the BroodLord's face.

Most of the swollen sacs that allow the Broodlord to fly are located below the body, along with the smaller tentacles that dangle below. Most of the specifics are still in rough concept sketches, cause I wanted to see some feedback & opinions & then do revisions.




Overall, lemme know what you think of the concept / designs. Thanks for waiting.


X

[ArcherofAiur]

The Corruptling (broodling) is great. But the Broodlord needs more kraken.

Personallly. I dont think it should look like a Chordate (animals that have notocord/vertabra/spinal cord)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chordate


Instead it should look more like a Molusca or Cephalopod (One large "foot" or shell)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalopod




Actually on the subject I noticed that the multisegmented body of the old Broodlord almost looks like the diamond shaped main body and fins of the squid. Perhaps we can keep most of that model and add huge tentacles on the back.

[ArcherofAiur]

Something more like this

[Pandonetho]

Heh, that looks kind of neat.

[ArcherofAiur]

Heh, that looks kind of neat.

Thank you

[XSOLDIER]

My issue when concepting ones with the tentacles before was that I thought that they were looking a little bit too much like the Corruptor, and wasn't sure how that would translate into an in-game model, and I wanted them to feel a bit more unique.

I've got a couple other things in mind, with the latest suggestions, so I'll see if I can sketch a few of them out, an put them up for some more opinions & then I'll run with the designs from there.


X

[ArcherofAiur]

My issue when concepting ones with the tentacles before was that I thought that they were looking a little bit too much like the Corruptor, and wasn't sure how that would translate into an in-game model, and I wanted them to feel a bit more unique.

I've got a couple other things in mind, with the latest suggestions, so I'll see if I can sketch a few of them out, an put them up for some more opinions & then I'll run with the designs from there.


X

I would make the tentacles different and longer. Maybe give them three claws on the end (like the corruptors head). On thing I liked about your sketch was the upturned horns like on the corruptors body. Im debating whether that would look good on the old broodlord model.

[ArcherofAiur]

Does this look better or worse? Does it look like something the Corruptor would evolve into?

[PsiWarp]

@Archer: Perhaps you could cut off the last 2 segments of the Swarm Guardian then fuse the tentacles to the second segment. I think it would look more like an evolved Corruptor then, with more sacs and all.


-Psi

[newcomplex]

The tentacles should be draping down instead of flowing directly back, that would make the unit look much better as a whole.