@Steerpike Here you go: And here's the TV tropes essay that gave me the idea: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/SoYouWantTo/DesignAnAlienMind
I like that @Simpson17866. Using Maslow to structure different hierarchies for different races is a great idea. I've never seen anyone set it out explicitly like that. I like to employ principles of psychology, anthropology, etc. when making races. Insect species are cool. Have you ever read Vernor Vinge and his "pack mind" aliens, where the intelligence of the alien is dependent on the presence of a pack and rises or falls depending on how many are in the pack. A single creature is about as intelligent as a wolf. I wonder what their Maslow's hierarchy would look like.
Thank you, feel free to use this if you like it I've never read Vinge, but that is exactly how I've planned to use the Vashta Nerada in my Doctor Who fanfic, so I have given it some thought: At first glance, members of a telepathic hive mind would appear almost exactly like humans (or, to put it even more cynically humans aspire to be a hive mind and kill each other when it doesn't work). They can't tell the difference between themselves and one another, so Relationships/Contribution/Specialness would be in some order at the bottom of the list, leaving Food/Security would be left in some order at the top. Security-Food-Relationships-Specialness-Contribution Food-Security-Contribution-Specialness-Relationships Food-Security-Specialness-Relationships-Contribution ... However, the fact that they can't tell the difference between themselves and one another means that each unit should be looked at as the person, rather than each member of the unit. If enough creatures get together that the hive mind forms a discernible person, then that person's interactions with other people outside of itself could very well reveal any of the 5!=120 possible Hierarchies.
Characters not dying when they should, when they're in terrible, unescapable danger and they magically making it out okay.
