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Maegwyn -> Issue 28 - The Physics of Bugs (Aelthai) (7/23/2008 11:03:52)
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The Physics of Bugs
By Aelthai
Your common, everyday bug enemies cannot exist -- at least, not if they are built the same way as the ones which do not grow to such outrageous proportions. The root cause is fairly simple to state; they're proportioned approximately the same as their smaller relatives, yet are much larger.
Let's look at the Tarantula as an example. It's an arachnid, not an insect, but the same problems will also apply to insects -- with the added problem that many of the insects can fly!
Your everyday Tarantula enemy is about half as tall as you are, and about as long as you are tall. It is shaped very similarly to the smaller, roughly hand-sized tarantula. This means that the Tarantula enemy is about 10 times as tall, long, and wide as the hand-sized tarantula. The Tarantula enemy should be about 1000 times as heavy as the small tarantula, due to the size increase. The strength of its legs, however, is proportional to the diameter of the legs -- so its leg strength is only 100 times that of the small tarantula. It shouldn't even be able to stand up, much less attack you.
Another odd piece of evidence is that the huge Tarantulas should be very heavy, based on their size ... and yet they leave very little trace behind them, as if they weigh much less than it seems they should.
In ancient legends, the problem is even more extreme. These tales speak of spiders as large as the Guardian Tower is today. I would prefer to dismiss these as myths, but since they also speak of lost knowledge and of machines that have been recreated, it seems like folly to simply dismiss the legends. These spiders are not found in the world today, but they seem like a likely source for the extraordinary modern spiders. Perhaps the stories are simply exaggerated and the spiders were no larger than those we see today -- but in any case, huge spiders have been around for a long time.
The huge Tarantula cannot be just a scaled-up version of the small tarantula. If the even larger spider did truly once exist, it must be stronger than the huge modern tarantula. So what is it?
It could just be less dense than its small cousin; that would take care of the weight problem. This doesn't seem likely, since if it weighed a tenth what it should for its size, it should be blown around by the wind, and I have not yet seen a man-sized Tarantula fly. This could contribute to the solution, but it cannot be the entire answer.
If density cannot account for it, perhaps it is simply made of stronger materials than its smaller cousins. In that case, where did it get them, and why do other creatures not use them?
These two possibilities together could potentially explain how a spider can be as large as a man. Without evidence, however, it is folly to say that the explanation is true. We should therefore look at the world around us, and see if there is evidence to support the conclusion that large spiders are both less dense than they should be, and made of stronger materials than their smaller cousins.
The first evidence can be found deep in Lymcrest Dungeon, where some of the bugs create ghost images of themselves. Some are even able to walk through walls, as if the wall (or perhaps the bug?) is not there. Clearly, there is something about these bugs -- at least, the bugs in Lymcrest -- that is not found in their smaller cousins.
This could be the needed evidence that the bugs are not as dense as they should be. Indeed, I have seen a bug that has just walked through a wall fight an adventurer. This seems more along the lines of a ghost than simply lower density, however. It seems we need to change our theory, and assume that -- instead of a simple lowered density -- the bugs can do something more exotic, such as simply not be solid if they do not need to be. If they can do it selectively, this would certainly explain why they can hit as hard as they do, and yet not collapse of their own weight, or leave much impression in the earth when they travel.
Whatever their method of reducing their weight is, it apparently does not always work properly. This seems a likely explanation for the ghosts of bugs that sometimes appear in Lymcrest, which struggle to move -- but do not go anywhere.
For the improved material strength, the evidence is even scantier. However, it is well known among adventurers that you do not attack a bug's legs; your weapon will merely bounce, even off the joints. I have been informed that on a small bug, a sideways pressure on a leg joint will often collapse the leg, and can disable the bug. This obviously does not match, and does seem to indicate that the material of the man-sized bugs' legs is quite different than that of the normal small bugs.
How they came to be so much more than the small bugs is a matter of ongoing research. However, I will say that I plan to look into these ancient legends further; perhaps the lost knowledge contains an explanation.
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For a more in-depth explanation of how significant changes in scale affect creatures, see http://fathom.lib.uchicago.edu/2/21701757/
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