History Literature / MotherOfDemons

* HumansAreCthulhu / HumansThroughAlienEyes : Humans are initially seen as demons (the title refers to them) by the native inhabitants since they move faster than any local species and their jointed limbs allow them to use hand-thrown projectiles--something which the tentacled locals cannot do. The impression as otherworldly demons generally dissipated as the locals learned more about humans and their origins (although there is still some religious element for them).

A science fiction novel by EricFlint, ''Mother of Demons'' follows the establishment of a human colony on an alien planet... well, more or less. It also follows the native sentients as they reach the tipping point of empire formation, and the linked point of the establishment of a new religion.

** Partially Subverted with humans' reaction to the Gukuy and Owoc. Although they are initially taken aback by their size and appearance, humans quickly see that Gukuyan biology is quite similar to that of molluscs found on Earth early in it's history.
* BizarreSexualDimorphism: In both gukuy and owoc, the females are very large (owoc are about the size of a buffalo, gukuy are a little smaller), while the males are a fraction of the size, with much longer arms. Males usually travel by riding inside the mantle of the female. Go being a Mother, four males can fit into her mantle.

* ExplosiveBreeder: Owoc are reproductive ''r''-strategists: One Mother can produce hundreds if not thousands of babies -- the ecological expectation being that the vast majority of them will die. Once the survivors are old enough to vocalize, the adult owoc abruptly recognise them, and will start to protect them. We don't see gukuy reproduction, but it's almost certain to be identical.

* NoBiochemicalBarriers: Averted ''hard''. Meat from any creature on Ishtar is highly poisonous to humans, and vice versa; one of the first gukuy encountered dies after biting a human colonist. Raw plant food is not poisonous, but passes straight through the guts without being digested. The human colony is therefore dependent on the 'childfood' (partially digested plant material) which the owoc regurgitate.

* BizarreAlienBiology: Gukuy are initially puzzled by a number of traits the humans exhibit, examples being [[BizarreAlienLocomotion the way they move]] and manipulate objects (Gukuy see it as unusually fast and difficult to understand), the means by which humans convey emotion (Gukuy change colours of their mantles to do this, with certain colours indicating certain emotions and initally mistake humans' skin colour as their expression, leading to some misunderstandings) and the fact that all males and females appear to be fertile (Gukuy have four sexes: sterile females, Mothers, sterile males and Truemales).

* FantasticRacism: Many Gukuy see other intelligent species on their planet such as the Owoc as lesser beings, and refer to them as "sub-gukuy".

* FantasticMeasurementSystem: Gukuy mathematics are based on the number eight instead of ten, due to the analogy with squids. When they say "eighty" what they are really saying is "eight times eight" or sixty-four. This is the same as 100 being ten times ten.

A science fiction novel by EricFlint, ''Mother of Demons'' follows the establisment of a human colony on an alien planet... well, more or less. It also follows the native sentients as they reach the tipping point of empire formation, and the linked point of the establishment of a new religion.

* StarfishAliens: The native intelligent species are vaguely equivalent to land-dwelling mollusks, using modified "feet" for movement, having thick mantles as "shells" and squid-like faces. There are absolutely no instances of vertebrates. There are also ''four'' sexes; sterile females, breeding mothers, "truemales" who breed with the mothers, and eumales who are pretty much eunuchs. To top it off, their emotions show clearly in their mantle colour.

* LovableSexManiac: According to Ushulubang, Goloku turned into this when she got drunk. May also intersect with BottleFairy because she was apparently drunk ''a lot''.

* GlassCannon: The humans are this in the setting as they are able to move faster than the gukuy but are a lot more fragile and smaller than the latter.

* StarfishAliens: The native intelligent species are vaguely equivalent to land-dwelling mollusks, using modified "feet" for movement, having thick mantles as "shells" and squid-like faces. There are absolutely no instances of vertebrates. There are also ''four'' sexes; sterile females, breeding mothers, "truemales" who breed with the mothers, and eumales who are pretty much eunuchs.

LovableSexManiac: According to Ushulubang, Goloku turned into this when she got drunk. May also intersect with BottleFairy because she was apparently drunk ''a lot''.
StarfishAliens: The native intelligent species are vaguely equivalent to land-dwelling mollusks, using modified "feet" for movement, having thick mantles as "shells" and squid-like faces. There are absolutely no instances of vertebrates. There are also ''four'' sexes; sterile females, breeding mothers, "truemales" who breed with the mothers, and eumales who are pretty much eunuchs.

----

A science fiction novel by EricFlint, ''Mother of Demons'' follows the establisment of a human colony on an alien planet... well, SortOf. It also follows the native sentients as they reach the tipping point of empire formation, and the linked point of the establishment of a new religion.

Somewhat unusually for an aliens-meet-humans novel, there is almost no effort to establish which species is superior and inferior, and neither is there any immediate humans-versus-aliens conflict. Instead, the book integrates the few surviving adults and the multitude of children with the less-aggressive sentient species.