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Incubator Q&A

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Comments on What would be the best way to breathe for a creature that shoots fire from its mouth?

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What would be the best way to breathe for a creature that shoots fire from its mouth? Question

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I've had an idea where there's this humanoid based life-form that has no real origin other than being found on some remote island. Kind of like skull island and seems be a complete anomaly in the natural world, supposedly being the only one of his kind.

Among his traits is that through complex systems of specialized organs that produce acetylene gas that gets pumped through a valve pipe in his throat with a bone like lighting mechanism to produce fire. Along with this he also has a little organ that is strictly used to produce oxygen that when pushed through another pipe valve in his throat generates a oxy-acetelyne (this is like the fuel for the fire) based stream and can't be used for additional breathing.

The problem while I was designing this creature is while I initially wanted him to have a set of standard nostrils above his mouth like any other life form, it occurred to me one day that the amount of fire and heat he'd be producing would definitely burn a good chunk of oxygen molecules in his path.

So now the problem I'm facing is would he be able to breathe properly with how much heat his fire is producing?

I have a few ideas on how to fix this issue, but that's only if the level of heat he produces actually has negative effects to the air he's breathing.

Now he does travel about from jungles to cities to open plains so I'm barring variables like ashes and embers and such, I'm really just looking to see if I need to fix the way he breathes when he does his fire attacks or if just having standard nostrils will be fine since even though biologically speaking he is an entity that requires suspension of disbelief he's still bound by basic physics.

In short:

  • Known world physics
  • Humanoid creature but a one-of-a-kind anomaly
  • Able to create fire from organs
  • What about the breathing process through nostrils?
  • Asking for biological or conceptual inputs
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2 comment threads

Welcome! (6 comments)
Clarifications on shape, size and heat-resistence (2 comments)
Clarifications on shape, size and heat-resistence
Antares‭ wrote 3 months ago

Can you please give additional details to the appearence?

What is the form of this creature like? You said humanoid. I think more of a "dragon" maybe? Can you describe it a little (only a few sentences or bullet points, not a full backstory)?

Also the size please. Is it large like KingKong (because you mentioned Skull Island)?

Is it supposed to be fire-resistent? Like, does it have scales (like a dragon?). Is it adapted well to its fire breathing capabilities in terms of withstanding heat?

Melchizadek ‭ wrote 3 months ago

Yeah I moved this question from stack exchange and I edited it because I noticed some stuff was irrelevant and plus it was too long, but to answer your question yes he is fire resistant and to that extent has high body temperature regulation, between his having specialized platelets, dense muscles that act as insulators, and specialized blood cells that either cool down his blood when shoots fire or warms it up when in colder environments.

As for appearance his frame is that of a basic humanoid; two arms, two legs, no extra appendages like wings or tails, though he does have a horn that can emit and receive radio waves so I dont know if that counts (though it is irrelevant to the question). As far as size goes I have fully pegged that detail yet but I do know I want him to bigger than a human, but for sake of the question let's say he's about maybe 12 to 14 ft tall. Also I should mention that his fire is so hot the pressure can blow cars away and shatter glass before melting.