Reverse Terraforming?

[Astro Pen]

Stuck looking for a word that may or may not exist.
If an alien race is converting earth to their own ecosystem. Temperature, atmospheric composition etc. you can't call it terraforming because, as I understand it, terra is earth. So what do you call the process?
(ps We don't know the name of the aliens home planet. That would be too easy.)

 

[goldhawk]

Terra is a Latin word that means dry land. terra - Wiktionary

 

[Astro Pen]

Thanks goldhawk. Useful but terraform still appears to be a unidirectional process. Toward earthlike only.

terraform - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

en.wiktionary.org

 

[Valtharius]

In some of the later Star Wars novels, there is an enemy species called the Yuuzhan Vong that does this. It's called vongforming.

 

[Valtharius]

Terra is a Latin word that means dry land. terra - Wiktionary

Terra could mean land or earth, depending on the context

 

[WSDuffy]

I agree that terraforming is perfectly acceptable in this context, but if you don't like it the term "environmental engineering" could work similarly

 

[Wayne Mack]

Perhaps the answer is in your question. Why not call it planetary conversion?

 

[paranoid marvin]

If you told me that aliens were terraforming the planet in preparation for colonisation I would know what you meant; but the term terra-forming does suggest making it look like Earth

If you wanted something a little different how about 'processing' , 'preparing' , 'transforming' , 'converting', 'reforming', 'repurposing' or 'naturalising'? I also like WSDuffy's 'environmental engineering'.

 

[Biskit]

How about xenoforming? I know that literally means pretty much the opposite of turning a world into something desirable, but in context it would probably make sense to a reader, particularly it it's a human-centric term for what the aliens are doing.

 

[Dave]

I wondered if HG Wells had coined some word for the growth of Red Weed in War of the Worlds, but sadly he doesn't.

How about xenoforming?

This sounds like the best choice.

 

[farntfar]

It depends where they come from surely.

Raxacoricofallapatoriusforming is all the rage in some galactic sectors, or so I hear.
Or just exhaust-fuming if you're a Sontarian.

 

[Toby Frost]

I quite like "planetscaping".

 

[Fiberglass Cyborg]

Xenoforming?

[edit- already suggested, I see. Consider this a "Seconded!"]

 

[Aknot]

From whose perspective are you looking for a term? The people on Earth or the Aliens?

For people on Earth an alien enemy transforming the planet could perhaps be called something that sounds ominous. It could perhaps be a slang term that many uses. Examples could be:
The Burning, The Churn, Worldplague, Erasing, Scouring, Devouring, The Rot, The Stink, The Grind etc

An alien name could be whatever fits the race. Are the antagonists humanoid beings that speak “English”? Do they have a language that translates if they are Galactic hive mind jellyfish? Self aware machines? Light-surfing crawling space bacteria? ;p

If they are “English” speaking then perhaps not base it on terraforming as that is a human term. Planetscaping, as suggested, could work. Remaking? Reshaping? Bio engineering? Alternating?

 

[Ursa major]

If you told me that aliens were terraforming the planet in preparation for colonisation I would know what you meant; but the term terra-forming does suggest making it look like Earth

But that's because you're spelling it wrong: it's "terror-forming".


As to what various aliens might call the process, I don't know, but one group might call the outcome a smorgasborg....

 

[Dave]

Planetary Refactoring
Geoshuffling
Geoengineering

 

[DLCroix]

Well, since what your aliens do is a way to control or adapt the terrestrial environment to their needs, I think you can perfectly use the term colonization, as this does not only apply to its political or military sense.