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* Green Behaviour * Special Abilities *
* Green Limitations * The Care and Feeding of Your Green *
* Love and You-Know-What *
If I Don't Say It, You Will
Okay - let's get all the jokes out of our system right now, shall we? "So much for 'little' green men from Mars . . ."
"It's not easy, being green."
"Notice how well he blends into his surroundings on a RED planet."
"Finally, an alien that can entertain six women at once." (think about it)
No, this website should NOT have been called "Green Acres", "GreenPeace", "How Green is My Valley" or "I Dream of Greenie".
There. Now, that's better, isn't it?
I bet Green Lantern doesn't have to put up with this. |
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Green BehaviorGreens were a gentle, peaceful race by and large -their telepathy made them too aware of the suffering of others to be anything less. They tended to be deep and abstract thinkers, more philosophers than scientists, and had a great love for art, music and other creative displays.They were highly social beings. Much of their "drama" involved linking minds and attempting to work as a single unit. Even when they lived "in the country" they tended to stay within sight of another Green's house. Large cities were common.
As with all telepaths (I should think) privacy was a matter of good manners. A Green shouldn't enter the mind of another without permission. Eavesdropping on another's thoughts was probably forbidden as well. A Green would typically walk down the street, his mind gently shielded away to avoid disturbing others, "brushing minds" casually with friends and relatives - an informal greeting of sorts. Spoken language was used for most common conversations (there's no need to share your most intimate thoughts with a stranger just to buy vegetables). Verbal and mental communication combined was reserved for more familiar settings, such as between family members. Purely telepathic communication was exclusively used in emergencies (where time was short and the message urgent) or for more intimate situations.
They seemed to be a pretty egalitarian bunch. Males and females likely took an equal role in their society (even if that's just DC Comics being PC about it, it's a nice thought).
The terms "ceremony" and "ritual" are used a great deal when talking about Greens. Their religion was an integral part of their society. For a once technologically advanced people, they seem to have believed in hosts of angels, devils, demigods and legendary figures. Tradition, taboo and superstition, belief rather than written fact, formed the core of their laws and culture.
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Special AbilitiesFlightAll Greens fly. As I understand it, they manage this trick by literally changing themselves into a sort of living lodestone - a magnet - and use this to push away from the ground. It has something to do with their ability to direct the iron in their bodies, flipping and directed the polarity within themselves. I presume that baby Greens can't fly from birth - not only would this make them difficult to look after, but no avian flies right away. The skill is probably both learned and instinctive, just as walking or speech is to us.
Martian Strength
Martian "Vision"
Not unlike Superman's "Heat Vision", these beams are used more as a weapon of last resort. All Greens dislike fire, and heat vision of any sort would ignite anything flammable in the area, including other Greens.
Mental Powers
Greens can also use their mental abilities to manipulate the thoughts of others, by inserting their own thoughts carefully into the target mind. If done properly, the "victim" will assume that the stray ideas in his head are his own, and will act accordingly. Forcing another to act in a way against his very nature, or against his wishes was probably a high crime amongst Greens, unless it was the only way to stop someone from injuring themselves or others.
Shape-Shifting
Greens who loose the ability to shape-shift, however, or are prevented from doing so for long periods will suffer from something called "Morphological Shock", a mental disorder not unlike "shock" from physical injury. So, it seems that while Greens like to maintain a connection to their "true" selves, they also need to change shape from time to time.
I would like to compare this to the behavior of the common housecat. Every now and then, your quiet domestic feline goes berserk, ripping around the house, hunting things that aren't there, and so on. Cats have to hunt, or they go a little crazy. So it is with Greens - they need to change form as we'd need to stretch out a tired or cramped muscle.
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Green LimitationsFireFire can seriously injure and even kill a Green. They burn as easily as a human does, and receive similar injuries. A burning Green is also vulnerable to damage that he would normally be immune to, such as cuts from sharp objects. Most Greens fear fire to a certain extent. Some have a positive phobia about it. Others respect it and give it a wide berth. Close contact with open flame however will reduce the bravest Green to a weakened state. Instinctual fear of the flames will blot out rational thought, and depending upon the individual, can cause them to do everything from panicking and fleeing, to lashing out weakly at anyone or anything in their way, or even curling up into a fetal position. Their other abilities are weakened or even blotted out entirely.
Extreme heat also affects Greens to a lesser extent, and in similar ways, to fire.
Air
Disease
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The Care and Feeding of a Green MartianWhat Does a Green Martian Eat?Given how strong he is: anything he wants to. But seriously, like all "higher" animals (well, with yellow sun-fed Kryptonians excepted), Greens need to eat. I suspect they're omnivores, like us humans. Being from a water-poor world, they probably didn't need to drink much, or as often, as a human would (some terrestrial animals, such as kangaroo rats, never need to find a drink of water in their lives. They get all they need from the dry looking seeds and plants they eat. So could a Green, I'll bet).
J'onn J'onzz (partly because of a long-standing joke in the writer's department at DC Comics) seems to live on a diet of Oreo cookies, and the occasional glass of mundane terrestrial cow's milk. There have been a few hints that he might be addicted to them. 'Course he might just like them, too.
I personally believe that the Greens were a walking biochemical factory, which could produce pretty much everything they needed from a few basic materials. If you think this sounds far-fetched, "us humans" do it all the time ----just walk out into the sunlight, and your skin produces Vitamin D for you.
'S true.
So why couldn't the Greens do something similar?
Sleep
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Love and You-Know-WhatGreens apparently had some sort of marriage ceremony, and obviously were capable of love and commitment, and all things being as they are, probably had their fair share of divorce and betrayal. Being telepaths, with an intimate knowledge of their mates (in a way a human couldn't possibly understand unless he'd tangled with a Green romantically), I suppose they had all sorts of, ah, interesting situations and relationships.From the sound of it, Greens (intended to) mate for life.
Yep, they came in two varieties: girls and boys. Yep, it took two to make one more. Yep, it probably involved some interesting contortions, given all those pointy heads and spikey backs and what-not. Yep, I'm sure some of them, er, "danced to the beat of a different drum".
Personally, I think the "process" was probably a pretty mundane affair ----- that didn't require then to both turn into a melded pile of goo!
And that's all I'm going to say ---CHANGE THE SUBJECT, PLEASE!
Apparently "singletons" were the norm - that is to say, Greens generally gave birth to only one baby at a time. Twins were pretty rare, much more rare than with humans, and I get the feeling they were mostly identical and not fraternal pairs. According to the "new series" (which, I have said before, I don't like much) multiple births were subject to much superstition - each baby growing up to become the exact mirror opposite of it's brother/sister. I've never liked "good twin/bad twin" movies myself. Maybe the Greens had good reason to think this way. Or else not. (I'd love to hear from some actual twins out there on what they think about this issue).
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