Somewhere in the vast unknown of space, alien life may be waiting for us. But these beings,
even if they’re carbon-based like we are, probably won’t be the familiar humanoids
present in many stories — but organisms which are truly, well, alien. The surreal
designs you see before you are the work of Alex Ries: an artist who strives to imagine
aliens with genuinely unique appearances. He also worked behind the scenes on the various
aliens of the video game Subnautica. Alex Ries is an awesome artist and worldbuilder,
and I have links to where you can follow and support him in this video’s description.
And Alex Ries’s magnum opus of worldbuilding is his ‘Birrin Project’ — a saga exploring
the world of an intelligent species called the Birrin. So much of this world has been
fleshed out — from the geography, to the history, to biology, to the culture — and
it’s all so inventive and so detailed, that it’s going to be a challenge to explore
everything in just one video. So, I’ll be splitting this entry into the archive into
two full parts, with this part covering the early stages of Birrin civilization. So, let’s
get started, and begin our deep dive into an incredible alien world. The saga takes
place on the planet Chriirah. The planet is earth-like in size and density, and features
a similar gaseous mixture in the atmosphere. Planet Chriirah is more oceanic than our world,
however, with a higher relative ratio of water to land-mass. The planet is orbited by Kah-irah
— a moon much like the one which revolves around earth. The planet Chriirah is also
orbited by male, a smaller stellar object — which is essentially an asteroid caught
in the gravitational pull of the planet’s moon. Alex Reis imagines Chriirah as a dry
hothouse, much warmer across the globe than the average temperatures on earth. Those red
spots on the planet might look like harsh environments, that color is actually coming
from this world’s equivalent of plant life — just like how our green plants change
the appearance of earth when viewed from space. The predominantly-red plants of suggest the
star it orbits gives off more green and blue light than our own, and the plants have adapted
colors to better absorb that light. The planet’s temperature also means it lacks polar ice-caps
like Earth has. This has a strong effect on the planet’s Jetstream and oceanic currents.
Our storms are small in comparison to the meteorological surges that occur on Chriirah,
which is frequently ravaged by tsunamis and tropical cyclones. If you look closely at
the map, you’ll see all landmasses, oceans, and even smaller geographical features have
their own individual names — an awesome level of detailed worldbuilding. Due to Birrin
activity, much of the planet’s middle region eventually becomes a superheated wasteland…
although we’ll talk more about this disaster later in the video. For now, let’s discuss
the birrin themselves, and how they first evolved. Alex Ries breaks down how the long-extinct
basket worms are an early predecessor to the birrin, featuring a primitive version of their
four-lobed mouth, and simple eyes that eventually became the complex birrin eyestalks. An impressive
level of worldbuilding. And modern Birrin bodies are insanely complicated. The biology
of the species is so different from our own, it might be difficult at a glance to determine
where a Birrin starts and where it ends. The birrin are hexapods, or six limbed species:
four limbs used for movement, and two used for manipulation. In size they are roughly
comparable to deer, although their brain power is analogous to a human’s. Here, you can
see further details of a Birrin’s head. Birrin have four eyes at the end of stalks,
which allow them to perceive four distinct visual fields. Birrin can also retract their
eyestalks for protection while under threat. You can also see Birrin mainly breathe through
apertures near their eye called spiracles, which is analogous to the openings which lead
to the respiratory system of Earth organisms like Manta Rays. Birrin mouths are also quite
shocking at a glance: possessing four ‘lobes’ like all of the quadrilaterians on the planet,
and a menacing internal beak-like structure that fits their carnivorous diet. Birrin also
have body parts called ‘wings’ — although they aren’t for the purpose of flight, but
are in fact specialized organs to shed heat, and communicate with one another. Going into
greater detail with Birrin biology, Alex Ries has even mapped out how the Birrin run, with
a complete cycle showing the biomechanics of their locomotion. As a side note, this
visual reminds me of the famous 19th century photo-series ‘The Horse in Motion.’ Here,
we also get a glimpse of baby Birrin, which are small and covered in a layer of fuzz like
newborn birds. Unlike baby birds, however, this fuzz won’t ever form into feathers.
Instead, the short hair on baby Birrin is to protect them from parasites in the tropical
climate where their species evolved. The plate-like growths around the base of each eye stalk
serve a similar protective purpose. While these adaptations are not as useful after
the Birrin industrialize, they were vital when the Birrin — which are an egg laying
species — lived in vulnerable nesting units before the dawn of civilization. The dynamics
of prehistoric Birrin social groups were highly complex, and something Alex Ries breaks down
in various infographics. Inventive stuff. Beyond the Birrin, there’s a whole ecosystem
of unique lifeforms which have evolved alongside them. Most of the complex lifeforms on Planet
Chriirah have a similar four-sided mouth and eye structure due to the widespread success
of early species like the basket worms. The Wavedancer is a mid-sized flying predator
not unlike a bird on Earth. The species hunts by gliding over the water searching for prey
with their lower eyes, then pitching up and diving down quickly into the water to catch
aquatic animals: a strategy similar to some sea birds on our planet. Under the waves,
various organisms propagate — including the enormous Sardu, dolphin like creatures
that can stun prey with powerful electric shocks from organs housed in their elongated
horizontal jaws. Aside from these giants of the sea, in deeper waters lurks the Cloakmouth
— a terrifying predator from deep in Chriirah's oceans. This species draws in prey with the
luminescent lure in the center of its mouth, then clamps its massive jaws around them.
Another frightening animal within the oceans of Planet Chriirah is the Reef Antlerworm,
a marine predator that hides within marine debris while waiting for prey, then lunges
out and lashes onto the unlucky victim, pulling it into its massive jaws. Certainly not a
species you’d want to encounter. On land, one predator which evolved from the same stock
as the Birrin is the Pseudoraptor, a species that lives on arid plains and brings down
grazing creatures by latching onto their hides with those deadly looking curved claws at
the tips of its four arms. Another intimidating species. And finally, there are also the giants:
a second sentient species on planet Chriirah, who are distant relatives of the smaller,
more intelligent Birrin. The Giant’s intelligence is somewhere between that of a parrot (which,
for the record, are quite smart) and a human. In sheer size, the Giants are close to an
earth Hadrosaurus in overall bulk. While you can probably imagine the two species have
a long and often complicated history, the giants are relatively peaceful and mostly
prefer to be left alone. Here, Alex Ries imagines a young Birrin observing a giant: holding
their wings flat to their body as a sign of awe, and the giant seems to accept this gesture
of goodwill. As the dominant species on Planet Chriirah, the Birrin have a long and detailed
history. These ruins of an ancient gate represent the height of pre-industrial Birrin civilization.
The massive twin statues showcase the might of a Birrin empire now lost to time. As time
passed, Birrin culture would become more complex. Here’s an image of Birrin from the Southern
Chey nations in a relaxing inner sanctum, with the walls painted a calming blue to create
an air of tranquility. In particular, I really like the seats present in this image, as they’re
well adapted for the comfort of something shaped like a Birrin. Eventually Birrin society
would industrialize, learning that the masses of dead plants which make up the planet’s
coastal floatforest regions could be made into a fuel. The birrin used this fuel to
power seafaring vessels like the one you see here, designed to cut through the mat of vegetation
of the floatforest. And like our own history, as Birrin civilization becomes more complex
and modern, crises and clashes between different groups arise. Here, a group of displaced Birrin
battle against the armored warrior Birrin forcing them out of the region where they
live. Yet beyond the suffering on the ground, at the height of the first age of Birrin technological
complexity, the species created this unique vessel — called ‘the spear’ — to venture
out beyond their solar system. This incredible, complex machine took a half century to complete.
Yet as the spear drifted among the outer planets, back on Chriirah, Birrin civilization was
collapsing. Chriirah, already hotter than Earth before the Birrin industrialized, is
eventually pushed over the edge into an apocalyptic collapse called ‘The Fall.’ Much of the
planet became too hot to inhabit — with the region in red, called ‘the Kiln,’
becoming an impassable barrier. In this new world, technology is forgotten by the surviving
north and south Birrin populations: which are completely cut off from one another. Vast
ships are left to rust on dried seas within the Kiln, leaving a desolate, ruined landscape.
At this point in time, it was unclear whether the Birrin would ever recover… And that’s
all we have time for in this video, although I’ll be back with a Part II on Birrin civilization
after ‘The Fall,’ In the meantime, I’d encourage you to check out more of the Birrin
on Alex Ries’s outstanding work. Once again, links are in the description. Alex Ries is
also planning to release a full book about this incredible world sometime in the future,
so stay tuned for that! Also, thanks for watching. If you enjoyed this entry, please lend your
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See you in the next video.