Ooh, the smoke thing seems so cool. Makes sense too, if you can make smoke at will, its visibility from a distance means it is very plausible that itll be used similar to how we humans shout and wave our arms around to alert others and call for help.
In my sci-fantasy world where things are similar to our irl modern tech level and civilisational structure, i have this sentient dinosaur species that are two legged, slightly shorter than humans, with whiskers, fuzzy feathers and more usable 4 fingered trex arms. Ive been trying to get their appearance right and might post abt them here later.
But basically they are pure carnivores and domesticated humans thousands of years ago when they had their own biopunk interstellar civilisation and when their civilisation fell, partially due to humans, the ones stuck on the main Earth analogue planet, Enia, just did their own thing until they merged with the rising human civilisation. Nowadays they just live among the humans in parallel societies.
For unique quirks, they are fully carnivorous like i said and like humans have a lot of quirks from being once arboreal endurance predators built for the savannah, these guys are once snow leopard type alpine hunters turned steppe endurance predators. They very rarely get motion or altitude sickness or vertigo and their sense of balance and navigation is insane, plus they can see in the UV spectrum. They also have this intense need to be in open spaces and cold areas, not necessarily claustrophobia or extreme heat sensitivity but a type of depression when these requirements arent met for years on end. They also sometimes feel the need during certain stages in their life related to what used to be signals for ancient breeding seasons, to abandon their friends and family, travel and settle down in a new place as soon as possible and find entirely new friends.
They also have intense bouts of mania and obsession around completing tasks associated with lack of nutrients from living in omnivorous human societies. They need more iron, calcium, and stuff like that and cant eat too much of spicy or acidic foods like fruits. When these dietary needs arent met, they get these manias that can quickly lead to delusions and violent outbursts. Basically modern life sucks for them but ig it does for everyone else too…
Ooh this is a really intresting idea. Id say perfumes are kinda humans communicating with odours right? The natural gas thing tho i think is the better direction, using smell to make something previously unoticed, noticeable. Heres the only way i can make sense of this concept, other animals generally view baring their teeth as a threat display but somehow humans see a subdued version of this as inviting. So imo maybe, strong, chemical smells would be associated with anger and emotional extremes and subtle natural scents may be more inviting?