"How Do The 15mm.co Ion Age Prang Procreate?" Topic

I ordered a few of Eli Arndt's awesome Prang Raiders figures from 15mm.co.uk (Ion Age) on Black Friday and, I have to say, I am really loving those figures!

On the 15mm.co.uk blog I found the following background note for the species:

"The Prang are a proud warrior race who side with the galactic authority in an effort to bring stability to the star lanes … There are also many millions of Prang Raiders who instead choose the path of self service rather than to keep the peace. These Prang Raiders often make use of females and youths in their formations."
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That last line made me take a much closer look at the individual figures in the two sets I ordered … and the silliest question came to my mind:

Do the Prang lay eggs or bear live young?

I kinda wanted to come up with a nursery or sorts and have no clue how to begin if that question isn't cleared up first.

Is there anyone out there who can explain to me "the birds and the bees" of this intriguing alien species?

By the way, here are some inspiring photos I've found of how awesome the figures can look once painted:

Thanks,

Dan
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TMP link
15mm.co.uk/search?q=Prang
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You need to take your meds.

Anyway the figures appear to be descended from amphibians. Take it from there. (love in a bathtub perhaps?)

Lol.

Hmm. So maybe I ought to think more in terms of a pool full of little tadpoles.

D

Oh, good. I was afraid this was going to descend into prang porn.
Use tadpoles if it makes you happy, but all the bipeds I know pair off, have fewer offspring, and spend more time on nurturing them. No reason they can't be oviparous and have hatcheries, Barsoom style, though. And I bet it's easier to find suitable eggs than a kindergarten's worth of underscale weaponless prang figures.

Man this thread is a hoot! Excellent thinking.

Only their creator Eli can answer this properly.

Prang are now on The Ion Age.

Merry Christmas!

GBS
theionage.com
15mm.co.uk

Well, if there are millions of Prang raiders, that implies that there are billions of other Prang running around. So a male/female pairing with a few offspring might not work. And the fish-y looking faces leads me to think that they work like fish. Females lay eggs somewhere (in the wild during their early days, in hatcheries in 'modern' times). The males then fight or compete for the right to…finish the job. The competition might be economic (you can buy his right), or intellectual (The best chess player gets fifteen minutes in the tank!), etc. And yeah, I probably need to look into my meds, too.

Thanks Gavin!

Yes, I would sure love to hear what Eli thinks of my silly question.

I just wasn't sure if the back story I quoted from at the top was yours, or if that mixed sexes concept went all the way back to when Eli was designing and sculpting them.

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Stryderg, now you have me thinking of this Futurama episode:

YouTube link

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Dan

In the dark, I feel it is better not to pry into it.

Hey all,

So, the important thing to remember about the Prang is they have evolved over time. There was a lot of development that was done for them when they were elevated from passing lark to official denizens of the Ion Age universe. However, many of the details of the Prang anatomy and society have been pretty set from their origins.

I am not the sort of designer who can create something without having though, to some some degree or another, about what they are and who they are.

The Prang lifespan is a strange one. Prang are born in spawning groups from family matriarchs. These matriarch are behemoth creatures that dwarf most humanoids and even most Prang. But the matriarch is really the most extreme leg of a Prang's potential life journey.

I will not go into all the details of Prang reproduction but it does involve collection of genetic material from multiple males through no specific selection process other than an instinctual drive. Prang do not marry or form sex-based partnerships with others of their kind. Male Prang are almost literally "married" to their work and their primary drives are to survive and improve their lots in life through performance of their duties. Most Prang raiders are created by a drive for true self-determination and independence from the matriarchal society that binds most Prang.

Most Prang hatchlings are male (Kruug) with a few females (Druun) born to each spawning. Kruug mature quickly and soon take on roles in society as functionaries – workers, laborers, and crewmen. Druun remain close to the matriarch and begin to learn the art of governing a clan.

At a certain point in every Prang's life they go through a metamorphosis into their mature stage of life. For most Kruug they become the bulky, powerful aliens most are used to encountering (and the ones currently represented in the miniatures). Other Kruug will transform into Sherag, their development continues along a more cerebral path and makes them best suited to higher level functions such as advisers, tacticians, diplomats and scholars. The Sherag comprise the majority of "professional" careers among the Prang.

Females (Druun) develop into cunning, often devious individuals and begin to vi for position among their kind as the inheritors for the right to start their own family unit. Those that survive and continue on this path will eventually go through a massive metamorphosis and transform into a matriarch and will either replace their mother as matriarch or set out to start their own family in some other place.

Some Druun, however, are able to channel the transformative process into something different and a rare few game a strange polymorphic ability. This ability allows them to control their bodies enough to take on the appearance of other humanoid creatures and often leads them on a path as assassins, agents and operatives.

One other odd form of Prang is the Hruug. Hruugs are brought about by a genetic abnormality that occurs during the transformation process. This robs the Prang of most of his higher reasoning and makes him feral and savage. Most Hruug are disposed of, but there are some clans that hold on to what they consider a valuable asset and utilize the Hruug as shock troops. There is even a legend of a world where an entire society of Hruug exist, having spawned from some sort of genetically unstable matriarch.

Okay….there you have it.

Merry Christmas,

-Eli

Well, obviously, if the race is under copyright, what the inventor says goes. But I'd like to protest Stryderg's logic, to wit:

Well, if there are millions of Prang raiders, that implies that there are billions of other Prang running around. So a male/female pairing with a few offspring might not work.

First, millions does not imply billions. Not even our NATO "allies" have a thousand civilians for every soldier. The quick rule of thumb is 20% of a barbarian horde fights, 10% of civilized people in wartime, and about 1% in peacetime.You don't find huge variance.

The US had in excess of ten million under arms for WWII, and well over three million for Vietnam, and--give or take a few drill instructors, first sergeants and navy chiefs--NONE of them were spawned in a hatchery. They all came from male/female pairings--drunken and brief pairings, sometimes, but to the best of my knowledge and belief, no military person in my family was hatched in a swamp.

(Of course, none of them were Marines, either. Probably best check separately.)

Eli, that's amazing stuff. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it all.

Would the Prang travel with unhatched young, like some of the Xindi seem to do in Star Trek Enterprise?

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I could easily make something like that for my Prang Raiders, using some "hexagonal" beads I bought, plus some wire and green stuff:

auction

auction

auction

Thoughts? Thanks.

Dan

Dan,

Your Prang are what you want them to be :)

-Eli

In that case, I think mine will be rogue colonists … and going where no Prang has gone before. :)

D

Asexual reproduction in a very dark and secret place. They aren't called the prickly Prang for no reason you know.

I thought they were based off the Sheyang from Farscape

farscape.wikia.com/wiki/Sheyang

Haywire,

You are correct. They were inspired by those same aliens.

-Eli

Haywire,

Here's some of the original concept art for the Sheyang:

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Check this out also:

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Dan

Just curious, but what if they need a host, something many have not seen YET!!!

Just a what if, but what if you needed a male and female Prang to for a better term "Infect" their host.

Their either great warriors or raiders either way makes for great cover stories.

The Species of Nerne in "The Time Mercenaries" by Philip E High might provide a fun model to use. They reproduced too fast even for their ability to gain more territory.

Well, my main disappointment is they don't turn out to be mouthbrooders…

Doug

@ Eli, Dan and all the others: What a tremendously funny thread! I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and am now very tempted to add some Prang to my collection.

Please, please give us more of this strangeness. It really feels like reading Rogue Trader again for the first time (or watching TNG, B5 etc.), amazed, astonished and surprised!

Merry Christmas to you all from Berlin!

I am astonished no one has said it yet:
"When a Daddy Prang and a Mommy Prang love each other a WHOlE LOT…."

Mommy? Daddy? What's all this stinky slimy stuff all over you and your room?

Well, Sweety when a mommy and daddy really like each other…….

There fell better now

Oh that's gross I'll never do that when I grow up girls have cuddies!

You guys are awfully hilarious! And I mean awfully. :)

Dan

Great stuff Eli!

Thanks!

"How Do The 15mm.co Ion Age Prang Procreate?"

It usually starts with

"Drink gloog, make sleemoth!"

The answer should be "very, very carefully"

Lol. You guys are priceless!

Dan