@@kitfire.9669 For it is I. Me and my agent will be pitching the book manuscript early 2022, and see if we can get a publisher. I have storyboarded most of the book already.
The meta-human painting is one of the most iconic of all of Ries’s work to me! I still remember when I first saw it on DeviantArt way back when I was just getting into high school! I’m glad to see he’s still building his amazing universe :)
@@KimiHayashi We really don't know the conditions for intelligences, yet alone technological ones but we can guess. "Fingers" for manipulation and probably the physical conditions to generate heat (fire) for metallurgy and tool-making are a start.
I just realized that the reason every animal looks too similar is because they all evolved from the same basic designs. What’s crazy is that the same thing has happened with our animals, we just don’t notice it. Almost every large land creature has four legs, two eyes, and a length based symmetric body. Crazy shit
This is an excellent realisation on your part! You have identified two fundamental things about just about (nearly) every animal you see that is not a fish or an invertebrate: they are all derived from a single basic template of having a head, spine and four limbs in a bilaterally symmetric arrangement (as opposed to the radial symmetry that something like a jellyfish has). This is the superclass _tetrapoda_ which (like all vertebrates) are part of the clade _bilateria_ .
Most mammals look the same now that I realize lol, a dog has similar eyes, pupils, nose and mouth location than a human, there's not that many alien looking life in the planet except in the deep ocean
What is original about it exactly ? I get inspiring but there is tons of story in science fiction where humans are on par with advanced alien civilization. Maybe i've misunderstood what you're trying to say. The birrin world history and design is original though.
@@morgen3369 It's more common for scifi stories to have the "powerful ancient precursor race" being something enigmatic and distant from human comprehension. So the idea of that beyond comprehension alien race being humanity puts a weird spin on the tone it carries which is uncommon.
@@morgen3369 normally in science fiction we are outmatched by whatever alien species we encounter, whereas here Alex Ries has portrayed humanity as some eldritch power well above that of the Birrin
@@Robinxen Oh yeah! Yeah you're right and so he is. It is uncommon and i did misunderstood. I was thinking of the image with the baby birin put with the human.
You know, what I like most about this art is that it depicts non-humanoid species wearing CLOTHES. So much art and fiction always just leaves alien lifeforms with unusual body types completely naked. This is quite refreshing.
Yeah. I also like how their tools and technology makes sense and suit their bodies. It's not some techno-babble crap where everything is floating somehow. It's like if we were there and saw a vehicle though totally reimagined from a human concept, we'd still know what it's for and understand how it might work.
I dislike and like. I like they have it for things like harsh environments or cultural practices. But not say to day use. Who says other species would evolve to wear clothes? That’s weird.
@@magnarcreed3801 Well, seeing how clothing is an environmental adaptation, then yes, every single species would wear clothes. Our African ancestors wore nothing because the heat perfectly suited them. But when they went to colder climates and the harshness of the desert, they adapted accordingly.
@@robertgronewold3326 Exactly. But I doubt another species would wear clothes just because, like many humans do. Lots of people live in climates with comfortable temp and weather that would allow them to go naked. But we have laws prohibiting such a natural thing, which is inherently unnatural feeling. It makes no logical sense and mostly done out of religions made by humans. So aliens would need to have a similar religion or very specific reason to wear clothes in an otherwise comfortable environment.
As a concept artist I can tell you that Ries' work is super legit even for our standards, this kind of imagination, detail and quality gets the highest respect.
@@akromimubarok6626 Creating fictional worlds is a massive thing. Its what forms the backbone of any good sci-fi or fantasy book, film, or game. If you need a hobby, this is certainly a good option.
Even an alien intelligence would be constrained by the same physics as our own species. This means technological developments would mostly follow a similar path to our own, with solutions to problems like flight, rocketry, electric power, etc; arriving at pretty much identical technologies as our own. Aircraft need wings, spacecraft need rockets, power generators need turbines, etc.
@@kirbs0001 It's quite amazing how if you removed the Birrin, one could easily think the vehicles are sci-fi human vehicles. Function by form should lead to convergent developments. Tech doesn't take the shape of its creator. Helicopters don't look like humans.
@@april5054 Just think about how there can easily be some civilization like the Birren out there. Maybe in the far future we'll get to interact with them.
The thing I've always loved about Alex Ries take on alien life is that he get something really important right that a lot of others don't: the Birrin have a truly alien anatomy and physiology reflecting a totally different origin, yet, at the same time they are totally within the rules of evolution and laws of physics. If life on Earth were to have some sort of hard reset that nerfed everything more complex than a protist, you could imagine something like their lineage evolving to refill those higher niches. Perhaps the Metahuman had come to see how the old home world was doing?
One thing that stands out to me is how while the birin have a totally alien look, their bodies aren't inefficient for daily living. They have perfectly functioning bodies that can allow them to live like ordinary creatures while developing advanced technology that perhaps even creatures like humans could operate, assuming that the controls aren't so far off from human controls. It's as if the only thing that truly separates the human species from the birin species is that birin have four legs while humans have two.
There are so many valid body plans for intelligent species (that can develop technology). As long as they have: 1. Sensory Organs to observe their environment. 2. Manipulative Organs to interact / manipulate their environment. 3. A way to communicate with each others. (Be it by sound, pheromones, visual etc.) 4. Of course intelligence they need^^ There are many body plans even on earth that, with minor tweaks, would allow for intelligent beings with the criteria above. Take a crab for example, just the basic form. Tweak it a little to fit the above criteria, and you have a nonhumanoid "Alien" that could create a civilization.
@@prometheus9096 For real. If all “significant” animals had some degree of intelligence, then giraffes would be good power line workers, orcas the exotic dancers and eels the plumbers.
5:45 I love that the one Birrin soldier is actually lighting up what looks to be a cigarette. This is a stark view of where humanity could be heading if we never quite learn how to pool our resources and start expanding our views to space instead of this extremely crowded planet. Phenomenal stuff!
“We can do this the easy way, or the hard way, the choice is yours.....”. But yeah, I love some of the parallels you can find in Birrin history when comparing it to human history
Our planet isn’t remotely overcrowded - the problem is the unequal distribution of wealth and resources and the damage of capitalism, not people existing.
@@ebonyobrien5895 Literally every human system has caused immense ecological damage from feudalism to socialism and capitalism. It's humans and our inherent flaws, not any particular economic system causing the damage to us and the world's resources.
Sapient aliens that aren't just copies of earth animals are always nice to see, Birrin knocks it out of the park in both plausibility and just coolness.
Having a "mockumentary" (documentary on a fictional subject) series on this would be really cool. There are a ton of talented cgi artists, sound designers, etc. that would probably be a great fit for making this sort of thing.
I would like a serialized series where they discover human artifacts and basically humans are in the place of the aliens like in X-Files and other such shows. Imagine the sense of mystery when they discover a human spacecraft buried in the sands on the desert. Maybe have it be reverse Stargate. They discover a way to travel the stars and it was invented by man.
They discover long forgoten human relics and slowly start to uncover their history only to realize that the reason why they are abandoned is not because they went extinct, but because they no longer need them
It is intriguing to see Ries's interpretation of the evolution alien life. Throughout my entire childhood, (and up to this day) I have wondered what aliens look like, how their social interactions occur, and how they might evolve. I cannot wait to read the book!
I really love these aliens man, they're so unique, something I wish we saw more of in Sci-fi instead of the very human-centric view of how aliens would look like in Star trek and Star wars and what not, why would creatures evolve to look like us when they would look like this? They look so fascinating.
@@ExtremeMadnessX Well Im aware of it but sentient ones, I rarely see sentient ones that are non-human in shows or movies of the franchise. I'd pay to see the world of the birrin as a movie or show someday honestly, It'd be so neat to explore this world Ries has concocted up.
In all fairness, there was (and to a degree still is) a limitation in the medium of those stories, in that the "aliens" still have to be played by human actors.
@@bluenightfury4365 True, but any story trying to follow a literary lineage from those well known and expansive works is somewhat bound to the established aesthetic. Or, if there is change it cant be too much at once or one is effectively trying to appeal to an audience from scratch. Yes, it is possible to do a revolutionary story and/or setting but it is difficult and risky, so many iterate on previous works or at least don't try to reach too far beyond their expected parameters. There's also the matter that just because someone is a good storyteller doesn't mean they're as good of a worldbuilder, or vice versa.
I have been as well, I actually found out about him via trying to find the source of that metahuman image, which was (and surprisingly still is) used as a meme base. As a worldbuilder myself, I draw a lot of inspiration from his work. I hope that more amazing worldbuilding projects get attention on this channel too!
Alex Ries' Birrin civilization is *seriously* *impressive* and incredibly inspiring. I aspire to produce something that contains even a fraction of the thoughtfulness he put into his projects! Anyway, I really enjoyed this video - it was really interesting, comprehensive, and (most importantly,) concise.
@@decuno1663 this will never happen. mankind might last maximal 100 or 300 years (if we are lucky, which is also very doubtfull) perhaps we see currently the beginning of the end for humankind?
I found this by accident and I'm SO glad I did! My mind feeds on these SciFi/Fact world-building potentials like a cow to grass! I am definitely going to this artist's website immediately following this comment! Thanks for such a well-presented case study!
Eagerly waiting for the book. He put a lot of thought into this world. Everything is intriguing , not like overly humanized or outright bizarre alien stories you see everywhere. Everything in this world is strange yet familiar at the same time. The world feels natural and not at all forceful like the ones in mainstream media. Gives a similar feeling of a documentary instead of fiction, like Wayne Barlowe's Expedition(should check out, great book).
What makes all tomorrow's popularity is because when we were a kid we used to draw dinosaurs and monster we wish were real based on our imaginations. Even I would like to make a speculative future humans and animals even if it's made up it's still cool.
Y'know what'd be really cool? An open-world, Survival Sandbox based directly off of Alex Rie's 'The World of the Birrin' where players play as a Birrin in perhaps an 'After the Fall' situation, or perhaps during the future when Birrin begin to explore other planets, and you crash land there in an almost 'subnautica' style fashion.
Watched part 1 2 days ago and thinking it might take a while for part 2 to come out since the channel does not have a lot of vids yet but here we are! THANK YOUU!!!
Ok there’s gonna have to be animated or put into a game series in some sorta way in the future because this is just so beautiful and fantastic to go unnoticed
one thing I've always wondered about alien societies is whether or not they have visually distinguishable differences between individuals, much like humans
To me, the most amazing thing about Mr. Ries' hyperdetailed World-Building is that the Birrin were not developed to be 'part' of a story - such as the various intelligent species created to be part of most Science Fiction franchises; these tend to be developed as a general 'outline' and continuously 'retconned' as the bigger story progresses. (Just compare the "Star Trek" Original Series' Klingons to the current iteration.) Instead, the Birrin and their home world and history ARE the story. That said, I'm sure there are a LOT of stories to be told about this intriguing people and their civilization. And I'm looking forward to hearing them! Good Job, Mr. Ries!!! And thank you!
the fact that the author spend so much time detailing and exploring the Birrin species to familiarize us with them, only to then drop future humanity in there for comparison/contrast, it's such a briliant idea and execution
This is actually very realistic. Very few modern civilizations have a linear path to modern prosperity. Regression has been a fundamental cornerstone of humanity’s history.
These 2 episodes are mind blowing! Our neighbours out there could really look something like this, and have history and tech like this too. Im sure they will look far stranger then us, not even bi-pedal and have wonderfull biology and a wonderfull planet.
This level and depth of world building is just so awesome and amazing! I am enthralled by the possibilities that this word building could bring itself, really!
I wonder if the birrin had their own version of twitter. The thought of a bunch of birrin being offended over something trivial is more amusing than it should be.
I actually wish the author would go into more about their culture. What kind of religions do they have? Do they have movies, and video games? What sort of aliens do they imagine?
@@Xetan123 Yes they have a religion , no social media though they only recently got back into space so the only satellites are Government owned and used for piloting drones and mapping geography
This is the same art and story I bookmarked from DeviantArt years ago. It was the best thing I ever had to opportunity to stumble upon. I very much appreciated this video and summary on the subject, it's still so fascinating to me.
The Meta-Human brings to mind the bible accurate angels, all wings and eyes (except Ophaim which is like a flying wheel with eyes...). Great mythos connections, or hints at least! Amazing accuracy and thought in design!
Perhaps the Meta-Humans aren't human descendants but their own species under the "angels were really aliens" angle. Though that distinctive human like shoulder is difficult to work around. So they're gallivanting about the universe taking field notes.
Well I think it was designed to match the Birrin's own aesthetic, rather than our own. It's like humanity's way of saying "Hi, we are here" in a way that the Birrin would fully appreciate.
Metahuman: "Hi we are here to help you! but in return can you pls share your resource with us or we'll destroy you 🦾👽" Birrin : "Bogos binted? 👽" Metahuman : "ok WE going to destroy you now."
Watched part one and was impressed, watched part two and was hooked and subscribed. You have brilliant content which really intrigues me. I'm going to work my way through all your videos. Great stuff. 👍😁
My theory for the final image is just that the Birrin are just little- like 5- 10 cm, and the giants are a couple of feet long- it would explain all their megafauna. Those are just humans in stylish future space suits, and that's why the image of the birrin and human children together is non-canon, it should look more like a toddler playing with a hamster.
i LOVE everything about this. i was always bothered by so called aliens when they were just green humans or humans with fly heads. to see something like this is refreshing.
its so crazy that the guy that helped on subnautica is doing something like this, im giddy as goddamn can be side thought, this went from subnautica to rainworld real fast. the red grass, bioengineered sorta organisms (not really in their case but the bluesticks themselves and the name "raftweed" brings some image across they were made/bred to specifically act as a raft for this system, for instance)
At 5:47 that birin smoking a cigarette kinda goes hard. He doesn't just feel human at that point it feels like I'm looking at someone who actually existed at some point, it's almost sobering.
what I've always wanted to know in these kinds of alien worlds, is how would animals from earth fare there, like if we dropped a few cats there, would they wreak havoc on their ecosystem or would they not be able to compete, and what if we dropped sharks into their oceans ?
They might not have the capacity to survive in their atmosphere. And even if they did, Earth animals probably wouldn't even have the ability to consume alien animals.
Amazing video! Thanks for delivering the second part so quickly! But what about their culture in depth? What about their social standards, art or religion? And I hope you'll let us all know when the promised book comes out! I'd love to watch your overall review!
Tbh I really like how Alex made these advanced aliens as non humanoids. Like movies/games nowadays when it comes to aliens, good or bad, they're always depicted as tiny or gigantic looking humanoids to the point where it's just meh. So yeah props to Alex for this one!
That metahuman picture has details that are almost identical to the Spear spaceship. The long fin-like appendages, specifically. It is perhaps not so much an advanced human, but rather an advanced union of human and birrin.
That was simply amazing. I've always thought about aliens and how they would look, and imagined different worlds and species. Why is this not a regular thing? Showcasing possible alien worlds through speculation, science, and imagination. I would love to see other artists creations on the same subject. Or more for sure from this one. Imagine a series where once a week we get to see alien worlds that are made up from different artists.
I love these creatures, something different, very animal like in appearance but smart as humans and can use tools and have technology and are totally advanced, I’d love to see how they use their arms or hands to build things
this beautiful universe: exists hollywood people: nah we're going to remake spider man 3 times. Discovered this channel yesterday and I'm super happy I did. Amazing I hope we'll see more videos like this!
I am so thankful that you made this video! Otherwise I would have missed out on the whole thing and just scrolled through some pictures somewhere. This is great!