Hometree
Beginning of Hometree
Hometree Bio's
Hometree rp
Hometree Info
Life on Pandora



If this wiki is hard to understand, here's where I got it from. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na%27vi Also if you have yet to see a movie, I have found a very good quality one. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na%27vi ENJOY!!!


Astronomy and geology

In the film, Pandora is depicted as being located in the Alpha Centauri system approximately 4.37 light years away from Earth. It is one of the many natural satellites orbiting the gas giant Polyphemus, named for the Polyphemus of Greek mythology. Pandora's atmosphere is a mix of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, xenon, ammonia, methane and hydrogen cyanide. This is an unbreathable chemical composition for humans, forcing visitors to wear Exo-Packs at all times.

Leri Greer, a designer at Weta Workshop, explained the unusual day/night cycle experienced by the Na'vi, who inhabit a moon orbiting a planet, that in turn orbits around a star.

  I actually wrote about how it causes a particular sky coloration across the visible spectrum at moments of pure dusk. And the Na'vi, depending on what elevation they live at (sea level versus higher altitudes), perceive a distinct color in narrow band at the horizon at that moment. They identify themselves, and signify in their markings, with this color. Which helps other Na'vi quickly discern at a distance what/where they are from, or what they are likely to be like (fishermen, high plains, skyriders, etc..). That pure dusk "color," combined with their other predominant color markings lets you also know how they relate to Eywa as a "religion" versus Eywa as a physical reality. And during ceremonial gatherings you can "read" a Na'vi by how they mark themselves with dyes, muds, and paints. And the environment and day/night cycle is directly responsible for the development of this social expression behavior. Again, this was an internal idea to help us design things at Weta Workshop, it's hard to say how much filtered upward to the larger production.

Pandora is covered in lush, tropical rain forests that cover much of its continents. Pandora also possesses a lesser gravitational force than Earth does. The geology of Pandora is strongly affected by the presence of Unobtanium, a mineral whose superconductive properties allow it to float in magnetic fields. This property makes it highly valued by humans, who mine it for transport back to Earth. Pandora's levitating Hallelujah Mountains contain significant quantities of Unobtanium, which allows them to ride the strong magnetic fields in their region.

Pandoran biosphere

The Na’vi

The Na'vi (English: The People) are a race of sentient extraterrestrial humanoids who inhabit the lush jungle moon of Pandora. Humans are known to refer to them as "blues," "savages," "the locals," or "the natives." Parker Selfridge at one point in the movie refers to them as "blue monkeys."

Description

The indigenous Na'vi are, on average, approximately 3 meters (~ 10 feet) tall, with smooth, striped cyan-colored skin, large amber eyes, and long, sweeping tails. They are the only known extraterrestrial species discovered to have human-like consciousness and intelligence. Although the Na'vi are hunter-gatherers with technology equivalent of Earth's paleolithic era, they have developed a sophisticated culture based on a profound spiritual connection to other life on their moon, each other, and an encompassing "spirit" they call Eywa.

Habitat and Range

Various biomes of Pandora. Population concentrated in rainforest regions. Outlying clans have been detected on each continent and in subarctic, swampland, and mountainous regions.

Some Na'vi clans, including the Omaticaya, live in tremendously large ancient trees they call Kelutral, or "Hometree."

Physiology

• Navi skin is smooth, iridescent, and cyan in color accentuated with slightly darker cyan stripes. Their bodies have feline-like features such as long sweeping tails, pointed ears and triangular faces with flat bifuracated noses, all framed with large, almost hypnotically golden eyes.

Bioluminescent markings that seem to follow the path of the circulatory or nervous system aid in identification and mood display. Average life span is similar to that of a human.

• Despite cyan skin color, Na'vi have red blood.

• Navi have hair on their heads including the long braid protruding from the base of their skulls protecting their neural "queue." The Navi appear to have no other body hair, including eyelashes, with the exception of a small "bob" of fur on the end of their tails.

• Waist is narrow and elongated. The shoulders are very wide, creating a V-shaped upper back. The neck is long and body slender. Musculature sharply defined, giving no sense of emaciation despite thin proportions.

• Skeleton is reinforced with naturally occurring carbon fiber. Average male is approximately 3 meters (~ 10 feet) tall; females slightly smaller due possibly to evolutionary 'size' dimorphism.

• Tail that can be moved and controlled like any other appendage and is used primarily for balance. It is frequently used to express emotion and is the basis for the Na'vi saying: "Watch your tail, Child!"

• Average male has a mass around 162 kg (approximately 356 pounds). In Pandoran gravity (0.8 Earth g) they weigh 1271.38 N or 286 lb (compared to 1589.22 N or 357 lb in Earth's gravity.) Female mass slightly less due to lighter build and slightly shorter stature.

• Na’vi have four fingers on each hand including opposable thumbs and four toes on each foot including opposable big toes; unlike the Human created Avatars which have five fingers on each hand including opposable thumbs and five toes on each foot with non-opposable big toes due to the influence of human DNA during Avatar genetic sequencing.

• Highly evolved nervous system includes a "Queue" which resembles a long, rather ostentatious hair braid. This seemingly conventional braid actually sheathes a remarkably intricate system of neural tendrils that can be connected to similar structures of other life-forms.

• They have roughly four times the strength of the average human.

• Reproduction mechanics (e.g. physical coupling) are similar to humans and other Terran mammals. However, it should be noted that although female Na'vi have breasts like that on a human woman, they are not placental mammals and, as such, the actual internal reproductive biology is quite different from Terran mammals.

The Na'vi are fundamentally different from all other large Pandoran animals:

• Na'vi have four limbs and use two legs for locomotion (bipedal tetrapod), while most medium-to-large-bodied Pandoran animals have a total of six limbs (or wings) for locomotion (hexapod).

• Na'vi have only a single pair of eyes while almost all other medium-to-large bodied Pandoran animals have two pairs of eyes; one primary set and another slighty smaller set.

• Most medium-to-large bodied Pandoran animals have two nerve clusters (antennae) extending backward from the head, while the Na'vi only have a single nerve cluster located in their queue.

• Most medium-to-large bodied Pandoran animals possess twin air intakes near the shoulder/breast bone which supplies air for both respiration as well as internal body temperature regulation, while the Na'vi possess no such structures.

From the evidence, one may conclude that the Na'vi either diverged a long time ago from the common Pandoran phylogenetic or evolutionary tree, or they may be outsiders to this world. The latter theory supported by the fact that Avatars were created by fusing Human and Na'vi DNA/transcriptase, as well as the many shared cultural aspects, such as physical intimacy (e.g. kissing/hugging) and the covering of the genital areas. The presence of the single Na'vi queue would appear to indicate an adaptive evolutionary process which would contradict the "outsider" theory as this queue is compatible with other Pandoran lifeforms.

Language

The language was created by Paul Frommer, a professor at USC with a doctorate in linguistics. There are about 1000 words in the Na'vi language, some of which were created by the simple concept of compounding, which is simply joining the words together to create a definition of a noun. This is a common concept in American aboriginal languages and is likely why it was adapted for Na'vi.

Diet

The Na'vi are an Omnivorous species. They eat meat as demonstrated by their hunting practices and pronounced canines but have also been seen to forage, demonstrating their consumption of plants and other producers. Their society includes hunters and gatherers with incipient agriculture.

Clothing

Little apparel is worn by the Na'vi. Cloth, most likely woven from native flora of the planet is the basic garment worn by all Na'vi. It is possible that very little clothing is worn by the Na'vi because it is simply what is needed for the Na'vi to work and live taking minimally from the environment. Clothes appear to also show the ranking of one in the hierarchy of a clan.

For example, the Omaticaya clan leader, Eytukan, wore a garment made of brilliant or precious materials in comparison to a simple clothing piece worn by a other clan members. Accessories are added to a Na'vi's attire as he or she moves up in the clan hierarchy. For example, Jake Sully, as an apprentice clan member, wore only an undecorated loincloth; as he learned more about the Na'vi culture, however, he wore armbands and necklaces to display his ranking.

Society & Culture

The Na'vi are humanoid creatures that live in various territorial clans across Pandora. Though their culture is essentially paleolithic, they have an egalitarian social organization, unusual in a society at such a stage in their development. A premium is placed upon young men and women growing up to become exceptional hunters and possibly warriors, as is necessary due to the nature of the Pandoran environment and the level of Na'vi technological advancement. The populations of the Na'vi and other species may be controlled by the sentient intelligence they worship as "Eywa". They choose to live in harmony and natural equilibrium with their surroundings. If they become too numerous, Eywa may devise a way to limit their numbers before they cause an ecological imbalance, for she maintains the balance of life.

Over the millenia, the Na'vi have developed a healthy respect and reverence for their surrounding environment. In return, Eywa may have affected the environment to provide them with sufficient food and shelter, creatures to ride for ground and air transportation, and an ambient, comfortable temperature throughout the different biomes of Pandora. Oddly, there do not seem to be many harmful or irritating insects and disease organisms, but whether or not this is intentional will require further research. Small, flying creatures (insects?) are shown in various scenes. The Na'vi have failed to develop tools and weapons for purposes beyond possible primitive warfare with the surrounding clans and hunting/survival, an anomaly stemming perhaps from the fertility of the planet. For a race that is so connected to all other creatures, warfare would seem unlikely, but not unheard of, as indicated by numerous references to the term "warrior." However, there was no hesitation to go to the many other clans to ask for help, so if there is interclan conflict,it is probably the rare exception vice the rule. They do, however, have a rich handicraft tradition and engage in extensive body decoration signifying both rank, activity, and individual tastes. With the caution that it is perhaps spurious to make cross cultural comparisons across star systems, the Na'vi are comparable to now extinct pre-bronze age hunter-gatherer societies that formed in some pre-colonial African, American aboriginal, and Australian indigenous tribes with trace similarities to the Norse culture of northern Europe. Lacking any tradition of formal science as Earth people know it, they experience Eywa as an all-knowing, all-powerful entity, and have possibly developed a complex animistic religion based upon their interactions with Eywa, and centered around the "Tree of Souls" and the "Tree of Voices", two of many sacred spiritual locations found across Pandora that provide access to the Pandoran neural network.

Commentary and Additional Info

Queue


Na'vi have a queue, originating at the back of the head and hanging down to or below the waist. Braided inside hair for added protection the queue is an external bundle of nerve endings that allows them to tap into the collective, planetary psionic emanations of Eywa, enabling them to "commune" with the planet's flora and fauna.

While not adding to intelligence, it enables them to share a deep connection and even communicate telepathically with the tree of souls, and any animals with a similar nerve cluster. The Na'vi call it Tsahaylu, or "the bond".

When two Pandoran organisms with nerve clusters similar to this engage in Tsahaylu, they gain the ability to share memories and information, and the Na'vi have a special trait that allows them to use the mind-meld to feel as/what their mount does, and as well enables them to move as one under the control of the Na'vi, be it a Banshee/Ikran or Direhorse/Pal'i. This trait is only negated during mating (see below).

Mating

Jake Sully and Neytiri mating under the Tree of Voices.

The Na'vi are monogamous creatures who mate for life. The mechanics of reproduction are similar to that of humans and other Terran mammals.

However, their unique physiology provides the Na'vi with a level of intimacy unknown on Earth. Cultural anthropologists believe that when an appropriate mate has been selected (which can take many years), the male and female Na'vi will connect queues (called Tsahaylu) to create an emotional bond that lasts a lifetime. The intertwining of queues is both highly erotic and profoundly spiritual, but does not in itself lead to reproduction.

Traditionally, once a Na'vi male has passed the tests on the path to manhood and has been accepted into the clan as an adult, he is not only allowed to make his bow from the wood of the Hometree, but he is also allowed to choose his woman. After the woman has been chosen, the new couple are mated before Eywa.

Jake Sully chooses Neytiri to become his mate, and she accepts and mates with him under the Tree of Voices following his acceptance into the Omaticaya clan as 'One of the People'.

Once Tsahaylu is made between the couple, the ultimate in intimacy, pleasure that is unfathomable to humans, causes the somewhat unwilling sharing of the couple's good memories, and is a sign of Eywa's acceptance. If a couple can be foreseen to not have a pleasant or happy future, Eywa has been known to reverse the feeling produced by making Tsahaylu, a sign to the couple that mating would only, in simple words, ruin their lives together. Therefore, this process prevents the what would become an unsuccessful lifelong mating.

After the resulting embracing and kissing, the couple is sent to sleep by Eywa, and the two dream of hints of what their future will be together. The couple will experience the pleasure of Tsahaylu from the moment of connection until they awaken and have completed mating. When they disconnect and return to the clan, they are mated for life.

Known Clans

The Na'vi have no far-reaching political structures on the scale of nation-states, but are organized into relatively structured clans. Occasionally different clans from far-reaching areas will cooperate in times of great crisis. The only known event that has caused all clans to join together is when they are led by a "Toruk Makto", a Na'vi that has managed to ride and control a Great Leonopteryx, uniting all clans under him. By the events of the Avatar film in 2154, this has only ever happened five times, and the last Toruk Makto lived four generations ago.

Pandora is largely a jungle world, and thus many Na'vi tribes are similar to the Omaticaya clan that lives near the RDA mining operations at Hell's Gate. Evidence on other clans is sketchy, however, and it is vaguely implied that clans from other biomes may display some regional variation in culture.

• Omaticaya Clan - the jungle-dwelling clan that lives in Hometree, nearest the RDA's mining operations.

• Tipani Clan - similar to the Omaticaya, featured in the video game.

• Horse Clan of the Plains - live in the plains which are beyond the
jungles, within traveling distance of the Omaticaya. While the Omaticaya ride Direhorses when necessary, the Plains Riders have heavily based their way of life around riding them. They seem to favor facial piercing with bone somewhat more than the Omaticaya.

• Ikran People of the Eastern Sea - live at coastal cliffs, within traveling distance of the Omaticaya. While the Plain Clans are more reliant on direhorses than the Omaticaya, the Ikran (banshee) People are more dependent on banshees, who make it possible to reach otherwise inaccessible cliffs. The female lead warrior of this people was decorated in large patches of red body paint in complex shapes.

When Jake Sully, as the sixth Toruk Makto, rallied "all the clans" to aid the Omaticaya in driving off the RDA and protecting the Tree of Souls, fourteen clans were said to answer the call (since Jake mentions fifteen clans, counting the Omaticaya in).

Reunion of clans

Jake, now Toruk Makto, gathers the clans for war Toruk Makto has the ability to unite the clans in times of great sorrow. Including Jake, only 6 Na'vi have become Toruk Makto in history, but it is unknown how many reunions there have been.

Fauna

James Cameron's core idea for the Avatar's fictional creatures was for them to be "superslick and aerodynamic, and be like a race car with racing stripes". Neville Page worked on Avatar as the lead creature designer. He adapted Cameron's conceptions of the fauna into design that served three purposes: look expressive, function with animation technology, and be believable enough for audiences. He and creature designer Wayne Barlowe sought to base the design of Pandora's creatures on race cars, but they struggled to adapt the concept. Page drew on his education in automotive design, recognizing the irony that race cars were based on real-life animals in having "bone lines". Existing automotive designs drew from seashells, turtle shells, and insects, and the creature designers returned the design to the fictional creatures. They found the biggest challenge in designing most creatures to give them organic appearances since they lacked excessive skin texturing. Some creatures were also designed to have special breathing holes located in the trachea, copying how cars have intakes. Challenges that the creatures posed for visual effects technicians were to create believable "walk and run" cycles for six-legged creatures and believable flying for creatures that had four wings.

The fictional creatures are not connected telepathically according to Cameron and the designers. However, even though they discussed the idea of the creatures being part of Pandora's "Worldmind", they preferred to interpret the creatures as having heightened instincts. Page explained, "Animals are hooked up to this planet. We're the ones who are detached.... The way I dealt with it was, We have so much rich material here to reference, that we don't have to dream up a whole new process of animal awareness."

The fictional moon has less gravity than Earth, so the creatures' larger sizes match their environment. Most Pandoran wildlife are hexapodal, or six-legged. The fauna and the flora are also bioluminescent, which is seen in creatures on Earth, such as fireflies and algae. The aforementioned breathing holes, located on multiple parts of a creature's body other than the mouth, are similar to spiracles in some of Earth's animals. Flying reptiles have been linked to old flying reptiles and to modern Draco sumatranus.

List of fauna

  * Direhorse (Pa'li in Na'vi) is a bioluminescent hexapodal equine-like animal. It is scientifically known as Equidirus hoplites. The Na'vi use the Direhorse to hunt. The Direhorse was conceived and designed by Cameron and Stan Winston Studios. The Direhorse is grey with blue stripes and stands thirteen feet tall, fourteen feet long. The Na'vi "break" a Direhorse by connecting the fleshy tip of their hair to the animal's antennae. Xenobiologists call this a neural whip. Once intertwined, the Na'vi rider can communicate motor commands instantly through the neural interface; however, this connection does not lead to a life-long, exclusive bond, as it does with the Mountain Banshee. Cameron described the creature as a "six-legged alien Clydesdale with moth-like antennae". The Direhorse uses its long tongue to eat the sap out of Pitcher Plants.

  * Mountain Banshee (Ikran in Na'vi) is an airborne predator who lives in mountainous territory on Pandora. Na'vi warriors attempt to bond with a Banshee, a dangerous and required rite of passage. They are cousins to the Great Leonopteryx and they are scientifically known by Xenobiologists as Pterodactylus giganteus. A Banshee bonds to a Na'vi warrior for life. They are four-winged creatures that, like the Leonopteryx and Direhorse, have a biologically produced carbon fiber flexing on the skin. Neytiri had a Banshee named Seze. Page spent the most time designing the Banshee for the film so it would be convincing when it flew or perched. The designer said, "The hardest thing of all was having a Na'vi on top of it and flying it. You had to backwards engineer it. It was like designing and engineering an aircraft." Barlowe, who contributed to the Banshee's design, was influenced by manta rays and skates as well as relatively little-known pterosaurs and plesiosaurs that had "many, unique aerodynamic and hydrodynamic" characteristics. Like the color scheme for the Great Leonopteryx, color schemes based on Earth animals were used for various Banshees, though Page was inspired by Art Nouveau prints to warp the schemes so they would not look familiar to film audiences.

  * Great Leonopteryx (Toruk in Na'vi, meaning last shadow) is an airborne predator native to Pandora. It is scientifically known as Gavilandora maxima. The fierce beauty and nobility of the Leonopteryx gave the species a place in central Na'vi lore and culture. Leonopteryx are scarlet with black stripes and a midnight blue crest on top of the head and on the lower jaw. It is celebrated in dance, song, and with elaborate totems that symbolizes both the fear and respect accorded to the creature. The Leonopteryx is considered crucial to the Na'vi sense of destiny and interconnectedness. Prior to the events of the film, it had only been tamed five times, and Neytiri tells Jake that the riders (Toruk Makto) brought peace among the Pandoran tribes. This makes Jake the sixth Toruk Makto. The Great Leonopteryx and the Banshee were designed with bright colors. Page based the colors on Earth's birds, poison dart frogs, and Monarch butterflies, though he altered the patterns so that their inspirations would not be so obvious to moviegoers. The skull and crest shapes appear to be derived from pterosaurs from the genus Tapejara.

  * Hammerhead Titanothere (’Angtsìk in Na'vi) is a large hexapodal herbivore whose massive, low-slung head features bony projections on either side of the skull, similar to Terran hammerhead sharks. These protrusions are often used to push and destroy objects: a single sideways thrust of the neck being sufficient to down a significantly-sized tree. It has exceedingly thick, gray skin. There is a small "fan" feather structure on the head that it flares up as a warning symbol seen in the film and in the video game. The creature, which resembles a cross between a rhinoceros and a hammerhead shark, is angered easily. Its hide is impervious to human ammunition, though firing on it is known to anger it. This massive, grazing creature travels in moderately large herds or packs of 10-20 animals. Avatar creature designer Yuri Bartoli explained to io9.com about the creature's colorful threat display: "Originally, the Hammerhead just had to be a huge creature, big enough that even a Thanator would think twice about attacking one. A threat display is meant to be seen, so it required bright colors that would stand out against its more muted body". It is moderately social, but also extremely territorial and hierarchical. A soft ungulate mouth is protected by a rigid, beak-like jaw structure. It is scientifically known as Rhinoquadruculus hammercephali.

  * Hexapede (Yerik in Na'vi) are hexapodal deerlike creatures. They are dark blue herbivores, with white and yellow stripes. Twin horn structures sheathe a thin, patterned membrane structure. Their small, sloped skull is topped by this light-colored fan structure. This fan has an eye pattern on it similar to those found in Terran insects. A skin membrane hangs under the jaw and runs the length of the neck. Twin lines of dark hairlike bristles run down the Hexapede's back. The antennae are at the back at the head. As a threat display, the Hexapede flares up its twin membrane structure like a satellite dish and retracts both lips.

  *Prolemuris are blue, hexapodal creatures based on Earth's lemurs. They have two eyes, small nostrils, and their two upper arms are partially fused. Like most Pandoran creatures, it has a queue on the back of its head. They have lateral skin membranes on each side of the body. They are hexapods by the fact that they have four arms and two legs, but unlike any other creature seen, its four upper limbs are fused together. They have large eyes and grow 1.5 meters tall.

  * Thanator (Palulukan in Na'vi) is a large hexapodal land predator. It is scientifically known as Bestiapanthera ferox. Cameron personally designed the creature. The Thanator is first seen when Jake wanders off into the jungle, and touches multiple Helicoradian leaves, and they retract to reveal a family of Hammerhead Titanotheres behind. Jakes scares off the Titanotheres, revealing the Thanator behind. Neytiri later tames the Thanator. It is black with white fleshy skin under each hand. Its appearance is similar to a panther; Cameron describes the Thanator as "the panther from hell". The Thanator has ten sensory quills connected to six pads at the rear of the skull that flare up before it attacks the prey. The director explained how the Thanator is the most fearsome creature on Pandora, "The Thanator could eat a T-Rex and have the Alien for dessert."

  * Viperwolf (Nantang in Na'vi) is a hexapodal nocturnal carnivore. They are scientifically known as Caniferratus costatus. Bioluminescence for pack identification. Cameron described the Viperwolves, "They are hairless with shiny skin that looks like overlapped armor. Most disturbing are its paws, which are like leathery hands." They are vicious in combat but treat their babies in a loving, nurturing way. They are seen in the daytime caring for their babies and have green eyes. Like most Pandoran creatures, they have antennae. They have opposable thumbs allowing it to climb trees as well as stalk from the ground, thereby are able to create a three-dimensional hunting field.

Flora

The Helicoradian plants in Avatar were based on Spirobranchus giganteus, a species of tube worm common to many seas on Earth. These worms quickly withdraw into their tubes when disturbed.

Flora on Pandora are of a tropical type several times taller than that existing on Earth. Many, if not all plant and animal species have bioluminescent properties. The flora specimens seen in the film were all designed by Jodie Holt, a professor of botany at the University of California, Riverside. According to Holt, Pandoran flora are able to communicate with each other through signal transduction and are larger in size than Earth flora due to a combination of factors such as the atmosphere on Pandora being thicker, gravity weaker and due to the fact that there is a strong magnetic field.

List of flora

  * Helicoradian (Loreyu in Na'vi) is a carnivorous plant that has red spiral-leaves. The plants are up to 3–4 metres (9.8–13 ft) tall and, when touched, they curl and collapse into themselves instantly. They are zooplantae, part animal, part plant. They are first seen when Jake wanders off into a forest of Helicoradia, touches multiple leaves, and they retract and coil up to reveal a Hammerhead Titanothere behind. According to Avatar designer Craig Shoji, the behavior and design of the Helicoradian was based on the Christmas tree worms, tube worms that live on coral reefs.

  * Obesus rotundus (Rumut in Na'vi) is a tree that looks like a puffball tree.

  * Pseudocycas altissima (Tsyorina'wll in Na'vi) is a plant that looks like a tall Earth cycad.

  * The Hometrees (Kelutrel in Na'vi) are great enough to house hundreds of clan members. The trees are honeycombed with natural hollows and alcoves in which the Na'vi sleep, eat, weave, dance, and celebrate their connection to Eywa. Adult Hometrees are more than 150 meters tall, and roughly 30 meters in diameter. The Omaticaya inhabit a Giant Hometree, standing roughly 460 meters tall. A distinguishable feature of the movie landscape, the tree itself is central to the movie story arc. Like many sacred sites on Pandora, the Giant Hometree sits above a large deposit of Unobtanium. It is destroyed by the humans using rockets and missiles, which leads to the Na'vi clans' alliance against the humans.

  * The Tree of Souls (Ayvitrayä Ramunong in Na'vi Cameron: Vitraya Ramunong) is a tree where the Na'vi are able to communicate with the biological network that exists throughout Pandora. Cameron described the Tree of Souls as "a big input-output station" and was inspired to design it by bioluminescence that he encountered during night diving. The tree is capable of transferring souls to other bodies.

  * The Tree of Voices (Utral Aymokriyä in Na'vi Cameron: Utraya Mokri) is the most important tree to the Na'vi after the Tree of Souls. It is smaller but its appearance is similar and it too is illuminated. Neytiri tells Jake that it allows the Na'vi to hear the voices of their ancestors. It is destroyed in the bulldozer attack by the humans. This was where Jake and Neytiri chose each other as mates and mated before Eywa.

  * Woodsprites (Atokirina’ in Na'vi) are seeds of the "holy tree", appearing similar to airborne jellyfish. Neytiri describes them as very pure spirits, and scolds Jake for slapping one away when it touches him. The Omaticaya Clan plants one of these seeds with the body of a deceased Na'vi, so the Na'vi's consciousness will become part of Eywa.

  * Various plants and trees that look like Earth's ferns, palm trees, mosses, grasses, bamboo, and succulents. Several forest plants of Pandora resemble the earth's zoanthid soft corals, which can be bioluminescent as in the movie.

Humans

Of interest to the humans is Pandora's reserves of unobtanium, a valuable room-temperature superconductor mineral valued at "20 million a kilo". The name is a reference to mythical materials used in engineering which are scarce but have better properties than real materials.

In the Avatar universe (set in the year 2154), humans have achieved a highly advanced post-industrial/technologically advanced society dominated by powerful corporations and industries. One of Earth's most powerful corporations is the Resources Development Administration (RDA), a quasi-governmental organization that possesses a monopoly over all resources in the Alpha Centauri system. Known RDA personnel on Pandora include head administrator Parker Selfridge, Colonel Miles Quaritch, Private Sean Fike, Corporal Lyle Wainfleet, Dr. Max Patel, Dr. Grace Augustine, Dr. Norm Spellman, and Samson 16 pilot Trudy Chacon.

Cameron developed Earth as a dystopian global urban slum in the context of cyberpunk and corrupt, nature-destroying industrialism (a reoccuring theme in his work). According to Jake, the planet is "a dying world" where humans have "destroyed all the green," suggesting that there is very little, if any, plant life left. By the film's timeframe, Earth faces a worldwide energy crisis (having overdeveloped its natural resources). Earth is also apparently so politically unstable that the services of Private Military Contractors PMC are in high demand thus drawing regularly on former armed services personnel from branches such as the United States Marine Corps, United States Army, Mexican Army, Canadian Army, Royal Marines, Russian Army, South African Army, Australian Army and the People's Liberation Army; Colonel Quaritch brags about serving three tours of duty in Nigeria, and notes that Jake is a veteran of an operation in Venezuela.

Technology

Technologically, humans have achieved monumental advancements by 2154: interplanetary and interstellar space travel and colonization; virtual 3D printing and holography mapping; and advanced methods of cryonics and psionics are employed. Using their capability of advanced genetic engineering, humans develop "Avatar" hybrid bodies from genetically distinct modified-human DNA and Na'vi alien genetic material. Through psionics, genetically-matched humans are then mind-linked to these "Avatars" for remote control operation. In the area of medicine, humans have developed advanced neuroregeneration technology that can "fix" Jake's paralysis. However, by 2154, it is still extremely expensive and is not covered by Veterans Affairs benefits. Thus, RDA is initially able to use Jake's desire to regain the use of his legs as leverage against him.

As with many science fiction films, many space vehicles, aircraft, ground vehicles, weapons and technologies were created to fit the story. Many were patterned after historical or contemporary technologies to give the film a sense of futuristic realism.[33] Concept artist Ryan Church based many drawings on aerodynamic research from previously classified NASA and DARPA technical papers. Unlike the movie Aliens which employed one drop ship from de-orbit to ground combat, several vehicles cover specific roles of utility transport, gunship, and base resupply. This is similar to the specialization of aircraft and helicopters in the United States military since the Vietnam war.

  * Aerospatiale SA-2 Samson is a twin-rotored, ducted fan VTOL utility aircraft similar in appearance and role to the Vietnam-era UH-1 Huey or contemporary UH-60 Blackhawk. The tilting ducted fan arrangement it uses for propulsion also has similarities to the tiltrotor V-22 Osprey. It is armed with two door mounted machine guns and two pylons near the cockpit with missile pods mounted on them. The Samson uses a pair of ducted fans with coaxial propellers, increasing the lift efficiency. Both fans are capable of rotating independently backwards and forwards. Samsons move forward by rotating their fans horizontally.

  * Amplified Mobility Platform suit is a MK-6 class combat vehicle that is worn and controlled as a large "mech" motorized suit. They are sixteen foot tall exoskeletons powered by ceramic turbines. Soldiers at Hell's Gate use these for patrol and for battle. AMP suits are controlled via a semi-master-slave system - with the AMP's arm motion slaved to the pilot's arm motion. Motion-sensing gloves worn by the pilot are used to control the AMP arms - the result being that the AMP's arm movements exactly match the pilot's movement. AMP's are armed with 30mm GAU-90 autocannons, which the suit deploys as a soldier or Marine would hold and use a rifle. There is an ammo belt that extends into the gun, into an ammo canister on the shoulder, over the arm, into a socket at the back. The GAU-90 fires 350 rounds per minute. The AMP suit has GPS, thermal imaging display, FLIR, and radar. Stan Winston Studios animator and Avatar Design Supervisor John Rosengrant described the AMP suit as "An Apache helicopter with legs". It also has a ceramic knife that is three feet long. Quaritch owns an AMP suit and has named it "Iron Lady". Its GAU-90 has a dragon painted on the ammo tube.

  * AT-99 Scorpion Gunship is the heavily armed gunship counterpart to Samson and is similar in role and appearance to the AH-64 Apache or Hind gunships. Dual co-axial ducted-fan rotor systems with a total of four prop-rotors each with three blades lead as the aircraft's primary proplusion. It drives on redundant fuel cells. Twin turbine generators driving counter-rotating annular ceramic motors. It is equipped with radar and sonar generators. It is armed with hex-cluster pylon-mounted .50 caliber rotary chain gun systems that can rotate a full 360 degrees with 700 rounds per minute cyclic rate of fire as close range primary weapons. The Scorpion has two pair of stub-wing pylons to carry its armament. Scorpions carry 190 TK-411 WAFAR (Wrap-Around Fin Aerial Rocket) rockets in ten 19-tube rocket launchers. The use of the rocket varies according to the warhead that can range from tactical applications to impact-based sensor systems. Eight Hawkeye NPB-9 Hellfire (Helicopter Launched Fire-and-forget) missiles are used to engage air-to-air targets in conjunction with the nose-mounted sensor suite. The tail doubles as a rear stabilizer.

  * C-21 Dragon Assault Ship is a large four-post ducted-fan VTOL heavily armed transport and gunship which can deliver AMP suits through drop doors. Quaritch led RDA forces with one of these. Its myriad arsenal of heavy machine guns, dozens upon dozens of rocket and missile pods, and door-gunners makes it the RDA's largest ship so far. Quad turbine generators drive the four-posted ceramic propellers. The Dragon is heavily armed with multiple weapons systems included grenades, rockets, missiles and point-defense Gatling cannons. Ability to deploy many troops and AMP suits, variety of medium automatic guns, ATG and ATA missiles, incendiary rockets, grenades, door gunners, plus dual and quad Gatling gun systems. All gun and missile systems are constrained by friendly fire avoidance codes (IFF Lockout). It has twin cockpits, dual gatling guns mounted near each. Its propellers counter-rotate to navigate, plus the nose-mounted radar suite.

  * G.A.V. Swan is a six wheeled terrain assault vehicle. Its full name is the Ground Assault Vehicle JL-723. It has a gyrostabilized platform so when it travels over rough terrain, the gunner platform is stabilized. The extended gunner's chair can rise up 3.6 meters above the vehicle to see over obstructions between the gun and the target, like the long neck of a swan, hence the name. This 6x6 is built for all terrain, and its permalloy armor and four turret-mounted sixty-millimeter rotary autocannons provide protection from the Pandoran environment. The wheels have little armor and are designed with a thick polymeter alloy. Swans have a gyrostabilized system that rotates a full 360 degrees. Swans also have a roll bar and four rear headlights. Swans have redundant fuel cells in the rear. When the chair extends, the ammunition storage canister is located at the back.

  * Hell's Gate is a secure forward operating base with airfield, comparable to Khe Sanh. Slightly more than a third of the site is taken up by the shuttle runway, VTOL pads, hangars, equipment storage areas, and garage structures. The armor bay is where vehicles come to get stored, repaired or refitted. This building is the main storage area of all AMP suits. There is also a small weight room inside a weapons locker that Quaritch uses. Designed for security and rapid force deployment, the Armor Bay is the core of Hell’s Gate’s defenses. Housed inside its large, fortified hanger and at the ready are Dragon Assault Ships configured for battle domination, Scorpion Gunships, Samson Helicopters, heavy duty, Model 10 Slash-Cutters, and an array of AMP Suits, among other attack craft, support vehicles, and assorted battle-ready machinery.

  * ISV Venture Star or Interstellar Vehicle Venture Star is an interstellar bulk carrier that uses antimatter propulsion systems to enable interstellar travel. It transports supplies, equipment, personnel, refined ore, and data between Earth and Pandora. The Venture Star does not land on the planetary surface, but stations itself in orbit and rendezvouses with operations on Earth and Pandora via Valkyrie shuttlecraft that dock with it. The Venture Star is one of twelve RDA ISV mineral carriers, continuously travelling between the Sol and Alpha Centauri A systems. According to film designer Ben Proctor:

  The huge glowing radiators mounted to the engines dissipate their heat, and the enormously long central truss, with its own protective coolers and reflectors, protects the cargo and crew modules from the engines' heat and radiation using the simple rule of r-squared attenuation rather than heavy shielding. (Yes, James Cameron really thinks about this kind of stuff and explains it very clearly in text and in person.) The ship has a pair of centrifugal-gravity-gen modules for the crew who remain awake for the duration, which has become a pretty typical feature of quasi-realistic ship designs in movies. But one unique feature it has which directly relates to the sub-light realistic travel is a cascade-style shield stack to protect the speeding craft from interstellar debris. Jim's Brief Disaster completely explains this technology, apparently based on current NASA research, and how it obliterates potentially catastrophic particles by letting them slam through a series of thin, light shield surfaces.

  The ship was based on designs by scientist and author Charles Pellegrino, who served as science advisor on the film, and deceased scientist and author Robert L. Forward.

  * Valkyrie TAV is a delta-wing space vehicle/aircraft used to transport equipment and personnel between ISV Venture Star and Hell's Gate on Pandora and its chief purpose is to bring Unobtanium to the spacecraft. The Valkyrie's official name is SSTO-TAV-37 B-class shuttlecraft. The Valkyrie has a payload of up to 60 armed troops, 25 AMP suits, 25 tonnes of refined Unobtanium and/or supplies. Two Valkyries carried by the ISV Venture Star are used for transfer of personnel and cargo between the orbiting ISV and the surface of Pandora. It has VTOL capability by swiveling its fusion engines, and like the C-130 Hercules was adapted as a bomber to drop daisy cutter bombs out of the rear cargo ramp.