Man-eating tree

[Supa]

I've been meaning to make a man-eating tree for Blue Monkey's Dark Continent for while now. I even started a frankenmodel of the Mkodo sacrificial tree (from C. Raymond's "L'Arbre Anthropophage" - "The Man-Eater Tree", 1878; also see its plagiarism 'Souvenirs de Madacascar,[sic] L'Arbre anthropophage' by B.-H. Révoil, also in 1878) but I lost parts of it when I changed computer.

This is the Ya-te-veo from J. W. Buel's Sea and Land (1889), a rare carnivorous bush from Central America. According to Buel, some varieties live in Africa. This version is slightly different from the book, as it's not waiting its prey with its lianas on the ground but in the air.

Download
Sounds included.

If someone has a sound that could fit a "growing plant" animation, I'm interested.

Ya-te-veo unit for Civilization III
-----------------------------------

Uploaded 5/7/2012.

Animations by Supa
model & texture by ancestorsrelic

Thanks to 
Utahjazz for his setup!
Micaelus for his render script!
Steph for SBB!
Cyber Dreyk for Civ3FLC!
Moeniir for Flicster!

 

[Kyriakos]

Nice

 

[Quinzy]

Excellent. Could make a fun Wood Elf immobile unit.

 

[Takhisis]

Interesting tidbit: 'ya te veo' means 'I see you now'.

 

[Blue Monkey]

Great timing! Just the other day I had come across the description while doing some research in general for African weirdness. Had even dl'd this picture (from Buel's book) for future reference:

Just goes to show that working at a turtle's pace but posting a lot of wips & updated notes has its benefits in unexpected pleasantness. Thanks, Supa!

 

[Blue Monkey]

If someone has a sound that could fit a "growing plant" animation, I'm interested.

I can search around. May be there's some mp3s of Audry or a Triffid lurking out there.

Excellent. Could make a fun Wood Elf immobile unit.

Saw it on the announcements thread first & and before reading thought it was an Old One. May show up in more places than Africa.

 

[Supa]

Thanks guys!

That's highly irregular, but I've already updated this unit. I *had* to make that new animation, an alternative take to the paradrop.

The naked guy is intended to be a Mkodo from Raymond's tale.

@Blue Monkey :

They could be linked to Shub-Niggurath's Dark Young. ;-) In fact, I think one of the Chaosium RPG supplement made that link.

I don't know if your notes gave me the idea for this unit, I think I had it after reading Raymond's short story, but it definitely brought it back when I lost the original.

 

[Mithadan]

Ha ha, that is an awesome idea for a unit! Well executed too.

 

[Blue Monkey]

I don't know if your notes gave me the idea for this unit, I think I had it after reading Raymond's short story, but it definitely brought it back when I lost the original.

Don't think I have posted my thoughts on the topic.

They could be linked to Shub-Niggurath's Dark Young. ;-)

I see what you mean:

There are so many visual interpretations of the Elder Things that any unit maker would have a lot of latitude. The star-shaped foot, the barrel-trunk & the multiple tentacles are what reminded me of one. Some show them with wings extended, some folded. Some with a "natural" color scheme like yours, some a little more psychedelic:

If only there were a free model out there ...

 

[Supa]

Don't think I have posted my thoughts on the topic.

Nowhere ? Then I guess I associated the project with your scenario quite early in my mind.

About the Elder Things, there is a very good but not free Poser model by Sixus1.

 

[Vuldacon]

Very Cool Unit Supa

 

[Gojira54]

Wow, crazy unit beautifully done!

 

[smirnoff]

very cool unit , that "L'Arbre Anthropophage" and very scary.

I make sure i ll bring my flamethrower near that creepy plant

 

[Amadan]

Love it!

 

[Don Pepito]

Another surprising "wild nature" unit coming from U. Thanks!!!!

 

[Blue Monkey]

Buel claims that the tree was on Madagascar. The island does have some strange flora. The illo looks vaguely like some species of Adansonia.

They're just trees. Big ones. They tend to grow in marshy areas -

The Sunland Baobob in South Africa was hollowed by several fires over the centuries. Evidence of both indigenous & colonial settler activity inside it were discovered during the process of installing a pub inside the living tree.

It's just possible that a returning hunter slightly exaggerated while recounting (second-hand) the tale of someone wandering off to relieve themselves (after "celebrating" a big kill) and disappearing into a tree. Having knocked myself silly on the low overhang of a cabin roof while returning from a similar venture on a moonless night I can attest to the likelihood of someone in a less sober frame of mind having extreme difficulty in extricating themselves from predatory flora in the middle of a swamp.

 

[tom2050]

Really awesome tree! Of course it looks like it would be horrible to get eaten by one.

You could possibly use the "bind" sound wav from Heroes III. It is from a tree using it's roots to entangle; so has a definite 'roots moving' sound.

 

[Gary Childress]

Zombies, man-eating plants? I don't feel safe anymore.

 

[smirnoff]

Zombies, man-eating plants? I don't feel safe anymore.

dont worry Gary, im here aka The Punisher as protection with my team

 

[Supa]

Thanks for the comments!

Ah, thanks Tom ! The sound's great and I'll use it.