The Vasari eat by inhalation. They have a complex membrane that filters and extracts nutrients from fine particles, vapours, gases. 

Ooh! An official answer!

... Although we still don't know how they throw up.

And we still don't know how they go the bathroom to relieve themselves.

How is that little mass of nutrients gained through inhalation supposed to sustain a human sized lifeform, unless they submerge themselves in there meal and eat like fish breath or something. It would definitely give a whole new meaning to don't inhale your food, well the inhale part anyways, of course how would such a species evolve. Now on to more pressing and more fascinating questions... what is hunting them down, whatever it is I was kinda hoping to figure out in a campaign.

Do you know how much of a "meal" we actually use as humans ?? About 3 oz out of 12 oz on average foods. Convert 3 oz of a solid into a inhalation your basically looking at breathing for a 5 hours.

I remember in a a star trek next generation episode or 2 that some life forms can eat that way through breathing.

We compare things always to how we live as organisms on earth. Anything is possiable out there through evolutionary process. There was no such thing as "eating" in the basic starting points of general simple life.

Anyways I wont do science theories on these forums =P

Lets put this out there. Take Pollen or Fungus/Mold that is in the air. What if our body was made up in a way that it could digest it? We could breathe it in in small amounts like 200 parts per million add in the oxygen blah blah you get the idea lol.

I like that bit about eating through gas exchange. Very unique. And since they're a genetically engineered species, I bet that was an election. The legs, those backwards looking ones, are actually feet. It's called digitigrade, lots of Earth animals have them. Only the first joint is a knee, the second one is an ankle. I bet they're related to humans in some way - the anatomy of the two species is just far too similar to ignore. Everything about them screams "distant cousin." What's chasing them? From the introduction it looked to me like a physics experiment gone awry. "Viturska Experimental Transport Lab" I'll bet it was something like in Schild's Ladder (the science fiction novel by Greg Egan), where they perform an experiment that accidentally destabilises spacetime. That sounds much more interesting (to me) than, "a bigger, badder monster got them."

You might be able to sustain energy through various things in the air, but what about nutrients? Some things such as minerals and metals aren't so easily vaporized. At least, not by any of our common natural processes.

Awesome.

Ironclad, yet again - you guys win. Thank you very much Craig, I appreciate the answer, and I thank you for actually taking the time out of your likely very busy day to do so!

Come to think of it, that answer could certainly explain how they know how to alter people to thrive in Volcanic worlds. They must have some tripped out biology going on.

Thanks again, and I look forward to following this series for years to come (I do hope you all intend to make expansions)!

Plants in Space!

Then I was justified in thinking there was none, especially as the story as released to us plebs makes no hints at depth or subtlety; particularly in regards to the advent. Some very strong words are used to describe their transgressions but are so deliberately vague that I'm left with the impression that even the author had no clue what they were doing.

They are more like whales in space. Filter feeders. Then why are they aggressive? Filter feeders are usually quite benign. Think sponges and baleen whales

I think maybe we should take stuff with a pinch of salt. I don't think the mouth will have to do anything with backstory, expect if, :gasp:, it does.

I'm assuming this "official" explanation also applies to the Protoss and those things from Independence Day.

LoL.

I just like to have as much information as possible... I like to make stories concerning the factions I play with, and I like them to be as detailed and personal as possible.

Advent and TEC are both essentially Human in nature... even if the Advent are far flung mutant psionicists who can tap into a societal consciousness... It's still easy enough to understand them, their hopes, dreams, and motivations. It's easy to create a society on the fly for them (Human conflict can be a lovely thing), or fall into the ones IC has provided for us. I for one like to pretend my factions are splinter factions probably 95% of the time, because it makes them mine   

The Vasari are so different though, that I need more information on them to make a more involved, personal story about them. Which is why I love to get my hands on every little tidbit out there that's about them (and not just their exodus) that I can!

The ability to give one's imagination a proper exercise is one of the best things about this genre of game (MOO, GalCiv, SoaSE, etc)... it's almost like a "choose your own adventure" book, but way more open ended and complex. It gets a bit of role-playing involved in it; if you want it.

need more be said?

no, the official lore for the Protoss is that they do photosynthesize. They get energy from the sun and smell through their skin. i have no idea about the independance day aliens though.