I have a secondary character that is overly bubbly, and possibly a bit too nice. However, what I am most curious about given her species (still sorting that bit out for the story), the females emit a potent pheromone that has a calming effect that can affect an extremely broad range of other alien species. This would be part of her species evolutionary development, due to the males of the species being highly aggressive and dangerous. Think of a new human mother that produces a similar pheromone that is less potent, called HAP (Human Appeasement Pheromone) that is produced in the areolar region of the breast. (Yes I did check to see that this is a real thing.) Which increases after a child is born. Back to my character, which can produce a similar pheromone pretty much whenever she chooses to, which can increase substantially in high stress situations or during arousal. Which makes her kind better suited for jobs that deal with others that have anxiety, such as in various medical fields or tattoo/body modification parlors. (The effect can take anywhere from approx. 5-10 minutes given the other species aggression potential and amygdala size in relation.) Alright, given the information about the character's physiological capability to calm down even the most anxious or angry aliens they may cross paths with, is this too weird a concept? What other thoughts do you have about the concept? Thanks.
Nope, not too weird. Star Wars has a race that does this, I think the Fallan? Prince Xivor or somesuch was a criminal godfather type who worked with Darth Vader and the Empire. He had the ability to sooth people of both genders and all species with his pheromones. Is your character a good guy? Could be a useful asset as a doctor or some other medical professional. A bad guy? Can inspire trust and then use that trust to get the blueprints to the ultra secret bank vault - or the Death Star weapon plans. There are a LOT of possibilities for this character, I think your biggest problem will be narrowing them down to a manageable number, lol! Scott
Too weird? Not remotely. In the lands of M/M erotica - specifically Science Fiction and Fantasy erotica - clouds of pheromones are everywhere doing all sorts of things. I have an omegaverse series (look it up) at which I'm still plugging away where pheromones come into play. The omega goes into heat, dousing the Rocinante with his molecular calling card. The latent alpha onboard isn't latent for much longer.
Thanks @Cdn Writer , @Xoic , and @Wreybies I guess I thought I was stretching things a bit too far, but I am glad to know I am not. Lintalia is good, if not a bit lonely housewife, cause her husband works away for months at a time. My MC is becoming friends with her, slowly, based on the fact they attend a class once a week. And I wanted Lintalia to have some kind of medical education and certification, but unhappy that she chose to get married and abandon her dreams in that aspect. Although she is trying to find a way to get back into it in some capacity.
In the words of Ben Stiller: "Do it. Do it." I love biology based concepts. There is so much weird stuff that goes on in biology which you demonstrated with the HAP pheromone example. Honestly, some of this stuff is too strange to be believed but it's out there. So absolutely run with it. It helps ground the character in an evolutionary lineage which helps give the story world history and weight and context that expands beyond the boundaries of the page. So in short, "Do it."
It's awesome! Not just for aliens, though. My MC has an effect on certain women if they are a good sexual matchup. All he has to do is dance with them and wait. He has no idea, he just likes dancing. He's a hang-out-with-everybody kind of lout, but there's always a few girls in orbit and girls draw in other girls, and guys go along. He's not a player, he just thinks it's great when one finally can't stand it anymore and takes him home. He feels like Plan B, but no complaints. He seems to get passed around a lot. He has a muted effect on non-compatibles, so they'll still dance with him. Consequently, he knows when they have the hots for a particular guy, and with the help of his girls gets them together for better or worse (which is wonderful drama). He doesn't get it, and neither do they, but there's no complaints. He's happy if they're happy. Just one wrinkle. His dearest wish is to get married and have a family, which is not on their minds. Good drama there, too.
Okie dokie. Yeah I figured it would be a nice change of pace from simply just having a mass diverse set of species in the story, but with characters close to the MC, it made sense to add a bit more flavor to spice it up a bit more. That is awesome. Sounds like you have a rich complex story your working on there, and that is cool. Your guy seems to have something the ladies like if they are taking him home, and I like that he has other ideas about the ideal relationship. Good luck with this one.
Maybe this could go wrong somehow. Like some species are allergic, or some people are so sensitive to it that they literally fall asleep in her presence.
