#[the species lives a long time. only a few generations of them even exist. 5 max]

[pictured-as-perfect]

...do you have any xilitol nova cookie headcanons???

buddy this is super broad. you bet your ass i do, but it's difficult to just spit one out without something to like. elaborate on

though i can say that i do think about his species a lot? i don't see them as true cookies, they just use that terminology around astronaut for convenience. They're more like candy that anything, since they live much longer, and are a lot more resilient than cookies [plus, them being cookies never made sense to me. space cookies in general are odd]

Each of them carries a little fragment of the original star in their bodies, cementing them as part of Planet Xylitol, with Nova himself having an especially large concentration. Most can go their whole lives without noticing, but such a thing grants all sorts of stuff for Nova. he glows, has a greater drive for truth, advancement, and compassion, is generally more powerful, ETC. Plus the people naturally adore him because, like most fragments of things, they're subconsciously drawn together. Very social species. Nova just gets an odd end to this where most people are automatically inclined to trust him, but more as a local superhero than a person.

which unfortunately means most of his friendships are shallow. and he does get lonely. Astronaut Cookie was a godsend since she doesn't apply to the rules of his species, and wanted to get to know him for him- a genuine desire, rather than one out of instinct alone. had they been given more time on Planet Xylitol, they really would've been good friends

[sereneshymn]

ooc; headcanons - a little analysis of Rafiel

Sorting out my thoughts about this boy and all his abilities (and problems).

Full name: Rafiel of Serenes

Title: Crown Prince of Serenes (formerly); King Consort of Hatari

Current occupation: Infirmary assistant and counselor at the Officers Academy

PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES

Age: 133; apparent: 26-27

Species: Bird laguz – Heron

Height: 175 cm / 5’ 9”

Weight: ~45kg / ~99 lbs

Herons live around 300 years on average, meaning Rafiel is less than halfway through his lifespan. With regards to physical aging, he will change very slowly, both due to that and due to the general nature of the Herons. He will look more or less the same he does now for almost the next century. He will not begin to look middle-aged until he passes 220 or so years, and only in the last couple decades of his life will he get traits like sunken cheeks, some wrinkles and white hair.

Yes, he is extremely light for his size. We know from Path of Radiance that Herons weigh a lot less than one would expect them to, with Leanne – a Heron with the build of a young but still fully grown woman – weighing about half of what Mist does, according to Ike. In my personal headcanons (that I of course will not force upon other muns) all Bird laguz weigh less than they would seem at first glance, but Herons weigh least of all.

Eyes: Celadon

His gaze is, usually, calm and serene. Appears a little dreamy, perhaps even a bit sleepy – and yet, at the same time, you may feel as though he sees right through you. Some people would be very uncomfortable in a staring contest with him. He knows that, however, and purposely avoids looking at people too intently.

Ears: Pointy

Hair: Blond, wavy. Long, almost to his knees

Extremely soft to the touch, like silk.

Contrary to what some might think, it doesn't require much maintenance.

General body build: Slim, lean

Again, he isn’t underweight, but he lacks pretty much any muscle at all beyond the bare minimum that he should have as a (relatively) healthy person.

His skin is very soft to the touch. It also bruises quite easily under most pressure.

To quote Ike again, he gives the impression that you could hurt him by shouting. He feels breakable, for lack of a better term. You look at him and by default feel the need to be careful when making contact with him.

His behavior and attitude further strengthen that impression. He does flinch in response to sudden loud noises, he is fully aware of his physical weaknesses and shortcomings and his need to rely on others for many things, he does not hide his emotions, and he does the thing where he’ll apologize for apologizing.

Wings: Pure white. Large, about the same length as his height.

If one looks more closely, it becomes quite clear that his wings are not healthy, and a flying professional may notice that he is flightless just by looking at him. His feathers – including flight feathers – are thin, almost translucent in places, and someone who knows a thing or two about birds or pegasi can recognize that those feathers will not facilitate flight. They also feel soft and weak to the touch, and get easily damaged.

In his transformed state, this applies to all feathers covering his body.

In addition, he has almost no muscle in his wings in comparison to the likes of Reyson and Leanne. Heron wings would, of course, not be particularly strong in general – but if one of Rafiel’s siblings allowed you to touch their wings, you could still feel enough muscle to allow for the effort that comes with flight. Rafiel’s wing muscles have all wasted away due to illness and more than twenty years of not being used at all. Even just a few flaps are tiring to him.

At most, Rafiel’s wings can give him some extra lift when jumping, which he uses when climbing up ledges or trees, and reaching upper shelves. They would also allow him to safely glide down from a height.

ABILITIES

Soothing aura. It’s something he exudes just by existing; he emanates a calming presence that may help with preventing violence and solving conflicts. Strong negative emotions or chaotic energies of the people around him can still override it, however, in which case he will begin to feel unwell. Integrating gameplay and lore, I consider the Heron’s healing passive skill, Blessing, to be a part of this ability. In times of need, the Heron may choose to release more of this power, making it strong enough to heal wounds.

Heart-reading & emotional resonance. By peering into the hearts of others, Rafiel can discern their true feelings and hidden thoughts, as well as recognize lies. His ability in this regard is quite strong, which we can see in the game in his battle conversation with Sephiran, where he recognizes the other’s true identity regardless of his attempt to hide it. And indeed, some information will reach him no matter what, with him able to recognize a suffering person or a broken heart straight away. He avoids consciously using his power more than necessary and without warning people, however, as peering into the hearts of others without their knowledge is generally considered a rude thing to do among the Herons, what with it being a rather serious breach of privacy.

Singing galdrar & Seid magic. Ability that comes naturally with being a Heron, made particularly strong due to him being a royal Heron. Rafiel can sing all galdrar known to the Heron Clan – Vigor, Bliss, Sorrow, Valor, Recovery, as well as Galdr of Rebirth and Galdr of Slumber. With regards to Galdr of Release, he knows the melody and lyrics, but does not have the power to actually use it to its effects. He also knows all the other galdrar and songs, including the Repose of Souls – an elegy to bring peace to the souls of the departed – and the sinister Dirge of Ruin, which could bring a devastating curse to those affected at the cost of Rafiel’s sanity and most likely life. I imagine personally that there are plenty other melodies that the Herons know, and also Rafiel infuses most melodies he sings with seid magic, so he’s able to sing soothing songs, lullabies to help others fall asleep, and others. He utilizes those skills in the infirmary to help the sick and injured who come for help. As a note – nothing at all is ever said about what exactly “seid magic” is, but given that the word “galdr” has Old Norse roots (it’s the word for “magic” or “spell”), I’m assuming that the root of “seid” is also Old Norse, namely “seiðr”, a word that may sound familiar to FEH players. “Seiðr” was a type of magic used in Norse society during the Iron Age, related to both telling and reshaping the future – which fits with the way galdrar work. Rafiel’s abilities are shown to be stronger than those of Reyson and Leanne, which fits with him being the eldest as well as Serenes’ crown prince. Gameplay-wise this is shown by how he can always refresh four allies regardless of what form he’s in, but we can see it in the story when he cures the raging Muarim by singing the Galdr of Rebirth, which is normally supposed to be too taxing and complex to be performed by a single Heron. Reyson is able to sing it alone to Renning, but only when the world is petrified and the spirit of order hangs over the land, and also after being allowed a period of preparation; Rafiel sings it to Muarim alone without receiving a prior warning, and in the middle of wartime.

[monstersdownthepath]

Monster Spotlight: Calpina

CR 3

Chaotic Neutral Small Fey

Bestiary 6, pg. 53

These nasty creatures represent a rare species of Fey that's fully parasitic, feeding off others in their every stage of existence in a grotesque combination of mosquitos and wasps. While a relatively harmless nuisance in the springtime, when the season turns to summer the Calpina enter a breeding frenzy during which they operate similar to colony insects, gathering in swarms of up to 24 individuals in a single nest and heading out in groups of 3 or more at a time (ominously referred to as eclipses) to find food to bring back to the nest for their young.

"Food" in this case being just about any living creature they can find. Calpina aren't picky when choosing their meals, but their curiosity and interest in what the more civilized folk are doing typically means they haunt the edges of civilizations, especially small towns and farmlands where they have access to delicious, nutritious humans, their best source of food for numerous reasons. Adult Calpina feed on personality, their dangerous Ego Drain caused by them slipping their long, spiny tongues into a victim's soul and slurping up portions of their self, causing an automatic and unavoidable 1d4 Charisma damage at the end of the Fey's turn if it's managed to grapple a target.

Their sole means of offense is a pathetically weak bite, dealing only 1d4 damage, but this is because the bite isn't meant to be a weapon, but a means to an end; the bite can Grab targets up to Medium size without penalty, easily establishing the hold they require to feed. The average Calpina requires at least 14 points of Charisma to feel full for a complete 24 hours (a full Calpina can no longer use Ego Drain) and will feed indiscriminately until this threshold is met, be it on animals, people, and even other Fey if they can get away with it, though they obviously prefer the likes of humans and elves; the average person has 10 Cha, enough for almost a full meal on its own! Normal Calpina don't bother conversing with creatures they view as food, but they ARE intelligent and they DO speak Common, sometimes allowing them to use Bluff to secure food from a group of people... or even just simply asking, since 3 points taken from five people is much easier for the crowd to withstand. Calpina that are kind enough to ask are few and far between, though, and one should be incredibly suspicious of such creatures, especially during summer and autumn.

During these seasons, any creature drank to 0 Charisma or otherwise rendered unconscious is brought back to the Calpina's nest, though the Fey will also use Bluff, pixie antics, or their Perform (Dance) to lure creatures in close for their sisters to ambush to obtain the same result. Groups of Calpina are dangerous not only because of their combined Ego Drain rapidly knocking foes out, but because each one can attempt to use its Fragrant Haze to take the fight out of a group of foes. This burst of magical vapor causes exhaustion in non-Calpina creatures within 20ft who fail a DC 14 Will save, reducing the victims' Str and Dex by -6 for 1d4 rounds and often meaning the common villager (and low-level adventurer) can't pierce their DR 5 without a cold iron weapon, preventing them from fighting back until they're completely drained and rendered unconscious.

Such victims are fed whole and alive to the Calpina's carnivorous larvae, kept comatose by Charisma damage as grubs the size of a man's hand devour pounds of meat from the victims the course of the next few weeks before they finally pupate into fully-grown Calpina to join their sisters and parents in their hunts. A friendly (if disquieting) Calpina met in the winter or spring may turn into a merciless predator when breeding season rolls around, drinking their fill from people who once saw them as pesky neighbors before disappearing them into the woods to be sacrificed to the next generation.

You can read more about them here.

[screemu-ribbons]

MSM Headcanons - Basics (Part 1/2)

Here we are! I'm gonna start sharing my MSM headcanons topic-by-topic. Let's start with a lil' grab-bag of general ones.

Quick Key:

Information that has been explicitly stated/shown by an official source is marked in green

Information that has been directly implied by an official source is marked in yellow

Ideas that have been adopted/inspired from another person/fanwork is marked in red

1- Most monsters you know about are usually entire species. Exceptions to this are merely individuals (as in, there's only one of each of these monsters), those being The Wubboxes, The Ethereals, The Seasonals, The Mythicals/Dreamythicals, The Legendaries (Werdos, Shugafam), The Wublins and The Celestials.

-- Also notably an Individual is Enchantling; Since only very few of its kind exists at a time, there's usually only one at Magical Sanctum's helm every few hundred years.

2- Monsters are sentient and normally fairly intelligent, even the ones with more animal-like behavior. The least intelligent monsters are still at the same level as a young or below-average human.

3- The Monstro language, Monstrous, has three types: Standard, Werd, and Celestial. Though they are considered one language, and are written the same, all three are drastically different in pronunciation.

--Standard is the "normal", most common kind consisting of melodic growls, chirps, clicks and other vocalizations; aside from the vocal cord-less and those with medical exemptions (for which there is MSL (Monstrous Sign Language)), nearly all educated monsters can speak it easily. Standard Monstrous is somewhat easy to understand for English-speaking humans, once you get the sounds memorized, as it works extremely similarly to the aforementioned language.

--Werd Monstrous is a very unique dialect, sounding nearly identical to humanity's English (with a few differences, like forehead being "bonkbumper"). The odd thing about Werd Monstrous is that most monsters have a tough time speaking it, only able to retain and recite few words and phrases; aside from higher beings, the only ones who can speak it fluently are the elusive Werdos, as long as they're kept properly nourished with Relics.

--The last type of Monstrous, as the name would imply, is said to only be spoken and understood by Celestials. Legends say that, to mortals, it mostly sounds like a series of "Shaba-bum"s and "Rootitoot"s.

4- The "scalps" (as islands are referred to colloquially) are much more expansive than they seem. Monster civilization is surprisingly human-like and advanced, ranging from cozy villages to big cities. The architecture, tech and aesthetics of a given place is based heavily on what island it's atop.

5- The island castle is an ancient tradition that's still kept up to this day. Formerly used as a shared shelter for juvenile monsters, the castle, in recent years, has become a sort of guaranteed home available to any monster who needs it. The interior is like a fancy apartment building, full of cozy rooms on every wall, a communal area on the main floor and a dingy laundromat in the basement. Whenever the population rises sharply in an island, the castle will be delicately expanded to fit more residents. Though private housing is available for those who need it, it's a great option to have.

6- Monstro has a popular fast food chain called "Mawnchie's". It's basically McDonald's in brand recognition and quality, except it has a much more expansive menu, including things like pizza and turkey. Never order the turkey from there. Just don't.

7- Any monster can live on any island; it's just that only a selection of them are accounted for in the composition of the island's song. Monsters that aren't officially included are still welcome to join in, they just might get lost if they aren't great at improvision.

[random-thought-depository]

Re: this: that "West Hunt" blog did make me think of Argumate's (edit: ack, I originally misattributed it to @ghostpalmtechnique, sorry) point of "someone needs to formulate an explicit hypothesis for anti-HBD more rigorous than “evolution stops at the neck”," like, it would be nice to see a version of that sort of analysis that didn't have a disturbing whiff of eugenicism hanging over it.

In addition to the points I made in my original reply to that, another thing occurs to me:

Shitty eugenicist takes like "white people are genetically superior because [reasons]" and "modern society creates dysgenic selection pressures [with the implication that a solution is abolition of the welfare state, return to patriarchal gender roles, or both]" rely on the proposition of significant evolution in (relatively) very short timescales, decades to millennia, but humans are exactly the sort of species I'd expect to mostly evolve very slowly.

1) Humans are just long-lived and slow-breeding. Even very intense selection pressures would take many decades or a few centuries to significantly change a human population.

2) Dovetailing with 1), human societies tend to change significantly over the timescales you'd probably need for significant evolution to happen, in ways that would probably change the selection pressures. The selection pressures operating in 2023 Britain are probably pretty different from the selection pressures operating in Queen Victoria's Britain, which were in turn probably different from the selection pressures operating in Henry VIII's kingdom of England. Well, modern Britain and Victorian Britain are only 5-7 generations apart! The constellation of selection pressures that existed in Victorian Britain just didn't have much time to operate before they were replaced by a different constellation of selection pressures; by implication, they probably didn't change the British population much, even if they theoretically might have if the socio-economic conditions of the Victorian era had somehow continued for thousands of years.

3) Humans mostly mate monogamishly (not a typo), which means sexual selection is pretty weak in human populations.

4) Humans are smart highly sophisticated tool-users, which means we usually pre-empt biological evolution with much faster cultural innovation and then use technology to protect ourselves from selection pressures. Confronted with a place that gets really cold in winter, humans invent warm clothing long before we could evolve fur, and thus never experience the selection pressures that would cause a dumber species to evolve fur.

5) Related to 4), humans are a highly social and cooperative species, we have compassion for injured, sick, weak, and disabled members of our own kind and we keep them alive, and we've been doing that for as long as we've been human, it's one of the signature traits of our species. This means human reproductive success tends to be much more even than the reproductive success of a less cooperative species (say, tigers), and selection pressures that would be very powerful on a less cooperative species will often be pretty weak on humans.

6) Humans are smart sophisticated tool-users, which means the success of human individuals and groups is often down to things that have very little to do with genetic fitness. For instance, in conflicts between groups of humans (or hominids), the winners are likely to be the side with advantages in numbers, resources, technology, and/or coordinating institutions, with the comparative genetic fitness of the two groups being a secondary and likely trivial factor. Imagine if the Zulus and the Lakota were eugenic superhumans with a 20% genetic fitness advantage over Europeans; it probably wouldn't have saved them from the British Empire and the US army (respectively); "whatever happens, we have the Maxim gun and they do not." This ties into a point about the Fremen Mirage; even if "Fremen" actually are tougher and better fighters than "civilized" people one on one, "civilized" people would probably still usually win, because the "civilized" would usually have massive advantages in population, resources, technology, and coordinating institutions (that kind of comes with the territory of being "civilized"). I think which side has advantages in resources, numbers, technology, and coordinating institutions probably mostly comes down to which one starts with a more favorable geographical position a lot of the time; if Australian aborigines were genetically superior to Europeans, history would probably have played out very similarly to OTL, because it's just hard to build an advanced civilization from scratch in Australia.

7) It's worth noting here that the low early life mortality rates and near or below replacement rate reproduction of most of the modern world just doesn't leave a lot of room for big differences in reproductive success. If evolution was slow in historic human populations, in modern human populations it's probably positively glacial.

---------------

Well, Social Darwinist eugenicism is basically an attempt to persuade us to do less of 5), so I guess it's consistent in that (grotesque) kind of way, but even from an amoral evolution fairy perspective there are reasons humans give a lot of aid and charity to weaker members of their groups:

First, humans are long-lived and slow-breeding, take a long time to mature, and have exceptionally difficult and hazardous pregnancies. I'd expect a social species like that to treat every remotely viable progeny as precious - y'know, like we actually more-or-less do! Even a newborn human represents a very significant investment on the part of the mother, and a very significant opportunity cost to her if they die and she has to make another baby to replace them. An adult human is an even more significant investment, and an even more significant cost to society if they die and have to be replaced (both in muscle-power, brainpower, and skills and in opportunity cost of all the time and resources you'll spend creating, rearing, and educating their replacement). Even from an amoral evolution fairy perspective, it makes sense to adopt a "a bird in the hand is worth two on the bush" approach to actually existing humans vs. theoretical higher-performing genetically fitter humans. Think of this in terms of the small bands most Pleistocene humans would have lived in, where a single person would be a non-trivial percentage of the group's real or future potential labor force, as well as a non-trivial percentage of its genetic diversity. In that context, even from a totally amoral sociopathic evolution fairy perspective it makes sense that e.g. you'd keep a sickly child alive instead of letting them die and putting the mother through another draining and hazardous pregnancy hoping her next baby will be "better." Similar considerations still apply today, albeit more weakly because we've become such a successful species.

Second, it's game theory bro. Our killer app is intelligence and tool use combined with cooperation, and that rests on making cooperation a better option than defection for most group members. People don't like being treated as culls. Social Darwinist eugenicism is murder on social solidarity. It's not an accident that it basically always functions as institutionalized abuse of disempowered people (the Spartans killed 'imperfect' babies i.e. the most powerless and defenseless members of the homoioi, modern eugenicists targeted the poor, disabled, and ethnically marginalized for 'negative eugenics'); treating people like culls is only politically viable if you only do it to people whose preferences are radically discounted by the existing socio-political order, and even then, they will fight you if they have any power to do so at all (and/or the people who care about them, e.g. parents of disabled children, will fight you). Eugenics is taboo among blue-pilled lib polite society because there was a massive backlash the last time people tried it, as you'd expect if you viewed its victims as agents capable of effective resistance.

[hankbot0-9]

Magic and Tornadoes in my Zoophobia AU

Hellop! I don't post much and this is a bit random, but felt like dropping a random bit of info of my Zoophobia AU. So here we GO!

To start us off, let me explain how magic operates in this AU. Magic in this world exists all around as a background energy that can be used and manipulated as long as it is attached to something. This can be anything from an non-sentient/living object (like a rock or dead tree), to a persons soul itself. From this, the user can manipulate their chosen form of magic (there is a lot) and use the abilities based on what the object is, for instance a stick will have weaker and less abilities than a persons soul, but has the benefit of being much safer.

Now how this ties in tornadoes in my AU is weird, as it's not necessarily the tornado itself that makes magic of all forms act funky, it's specifically the funnel cloud itself. Let me explain.

After safe haven sealed itself away from the rest of the world in my AU, they took magic as well and created across their continent (cause safe haven exists as a continent here), multiple regions mimicking biomes and regions in every other continent, allowing for many species and life to feel at home. However, an unintended side effect that wouldn't be noticed until the 1920's, was the effect tornadoes had.

On June 6th of 1927, at 5:45pm, in the North American region. Five tornadoes touched down all in the same general area. They could be spotted from an area known as Dead Man's trail. A mountainous region. While this would be incredible to see on it's own, the hikers in the area noticed that the tornadoes were not moving, not even towards them. It was only later discovered that, when surveying damage, that they had not moved an inch. These tornadoes would become know as The Fingers.

It wasn't until 3 years later, when it was detected that weather was favorable for tornadoes 5 miles from The Fingers location, and equipment was brought to the area, that things really began to be noticed as off. As three tornadoes touched down as triplets, many watching them were surprised to see that they stayed equal-distance from each other at all times, even ending up in a straight line for 7mins at one point. From here the public began to get curious, and investigations began to see what was going on. However, it wouldn't be until 10 years later that the first breakthrough was made.

In 1940, on August 4th at 7:00am. When surveying the lands around the city of Replica for background magic, a group of researchers unrelated to the tornado investigations had a small scare, as in one second the background magic dropped to zero, undetectable and detached from the world. While this was worrisome, it returned a moment later to normal levels. This happened 3 times in 3 separate locations. A few days later, 4 tornadoes each in every location touched down and circled the city for 2 hours. While there was nothing to really go off at first, the incorporation with the unrelated researcher team's notes of the magic detaching lead to the first big breakthrough.

From here, researchers and investigators began to watch the background magic to see if when it dipped, a tornado would spawn there, and 99% of the time one, or multiple did. Always acting in odd and weird ways. It wouldn't be however, till the 21st century were things really began picking up, and it was discovered that the funnel cloud portion specifically, deactivated/detached magic in the area. Further studies should that all forms of magic stopped working when a tornado touched down in those areas, but the question still remains, why?

Well the reason why is that in this AU of mine, tornadoes are in fact, left over pieces of the previous universe that had found their way to this one, and thus are an anomaly and cause magic to not function because of this. However most pieces of a tornado had adapted and climatized to the universe and it's physicals, all expect for the funnel cloud portion for some reason, which is why magic reacts the way it does. This includes why it deactivates a few days before a tornado forms, acting almost scarred of it, and why tornadoes behave so odd and weird compared to ones in Tornado alley for example, as the funnel cloud deactivating magic causes the surrounding magic to freak out and try to keep the tornado away or contained.

Thank you for reading this long ramble of something I just came up with today.

Sincerely: Hankbot

[harpagornis]

Multituberculate Earth: Green (and white) Antarctica

The allochiropterid Chimil kaslem, from the Oligocene of Antarctica. Here depicted with speculative structural colours like those of mandrill faces, exhibitting for a potential mate. By hodarinundu

Through most of the Phanerozoic (that’s fancy for all the time span between the Cambrian and today) the South Pole has been much warmer than it is today (barring a short lived glaciation at the Devonian/Permian boundary) Even as recently as 5 million years ago our timeline’s Antarctica bore southern beech and conifer forests. The complete freezing was a very young and aberrant process, even if mild glaciations previously existed.

The nature of Antarctica’s white death is generally attributed to the complete isolation of the continent, the formation of the Drake Passage allowing cold waters to cycle viciously and sucking out all warmth and preventing warmer waters from arriving southwards. However, recent studies show that the main culprit was a decline in CO2 levels, and that full blown glaciation only happened when things were cold enough, a while after the Drake Passage formed as the first paragraph study shows.

In this timeline, the Azolla Event did not happen, and so atmospheric CO2 levels remained higher. Antarctica’s freezing was thus delayed, but the climatic drops at the Grand Coupure still left an impact.

In our world, the Eocene La Meseta formation bears the bulk of Antarctic Cenozoic fossils. Here, the suceeding Bay Formation picks up where it left off, bearing an unique mammalian fauna absence in our timeline. The formation seems to represent a southern forest ecosystem, but one drier than the La Meseta Formation. Conifers are the dominant trees, but southern beeches and ferns are present to lesser degrees. Temperatures were similar to those of modern Patagonia, though perhaps warmer and wetter near the coast.

Here, the dominant terrestrial mammals are notoptilodontoideans and leonardids, generalist groups, mirroring the dominance of small to mid-sized marsupials in our timeline’s Eocene (this timeline’s Eocene Antarctica was much warmer and tropical, btw). Several clades have continuity from the Eocene, but there is a drastic diversity drop by 45%, suggesting that the colder and drier environments were progressively less rich in biodiversity. Notoptilodontoideans seem to have dominated carnivorous and durophagous niches, while leonardids were mostly omnivorous generalists or insectivores. Examples of the former include Rageowrapper badenala, an ocelote sized predator with long, fang-like secondary plagiaulacoids, and Laga robana, a wolverine sized robust species with smaller fang plagiaulacoids but massive and brick-like normal ones; examples of the latter include O’tr ul, a mole-like necrolestid, and C’al anika, a deer-sized sengi-like omnivore.

Flying mammals are represented primarily by pteroectypodids, whose “feathered” wings gave them an advantage over other flying mammals in colder climates, and by allochiropterids, which evolved in Antarctica and thus maintained a higher species diversity here. It is here where we find the largest Oligocene members of either group, some reaching wingspans of two meters. A similar dichotomy occurs between them and their flightless cousins, which pteroectypodids being more raptorial, granivorous, molluscivorous or weird wood-chewing forms analogous to woodpeckers, while allochiropterids remain mostly either insectivores or generalists, with a few remaining frugivores feeding on podocarp fruits. Neither group appears to have been migratory, suggesting either year round foraging or hibernation, though there is currently no evidence of the latter. Aside from frugivorous allochiropterids, flying mammal diversity seems to increase by 30%, likely due to less competition from flightless species and because flight allows for covering larger distances in search of food.

Besides those, some fragmentary remains of gigantic acamapichtliids (+6 meter wingspans) and of insulonycteriids (+5 meter wingspans) are also present, suggesting that these giantic flyers were summertime visitors or even permanent residents, though only at large sizes and low diversities to cope with the colder, less biodiverse environment.

The most strongly affected groups were mesungulatids and gondwanatheres, more specialised and more vulnerable to the collapse of Eocene forests into these new colder ones. Ferugliotheriidae is only represented by one taxon, K’terrernen ultima, a hare sized generalistic herbivore in a place where tougher vegetation like grass has started to dominate. One sudamericid, Moinee antarcticus, was a sheep sized grazer, while two greniodontid genera, Yarramundi and Guwayana, appear to have been mixed grazer browsers, the former represented by five hare to sheep sized species and the latter by one boar-sized one, G. koolmatrie. The largest herbivore of the assemblage is Austrocamellus nungeena, an herbivorous mesungulatid weighting a mere 500 kg, a positive dwarf compared to its brethren further north. The apex predator was also a mesungulatid, Tarrabah semifrons, about as large as a striped hyena.

No herpetofauna aside from some tuatara-like sphenodontians, one small meiolaniid and rhinodermatid and leiopelmatid frogs survived, all represented by fragmentary remains. Some ratite like palaeognaths and giant flying pelagornithids are present, but the reccord for terrestrial birds is even scarcer.

By contrast, the surrounding oceans appear to have thrived with life. Both penguins, choristoderes and marine mammals – all groups, with monotremes and marine necrolestids in particular being quite diverse due to these being their ancestral homewaters – appear in great abundance in the coastoal deposits, the colder waters being more nutrient rich than tropical ones. Rockeries of millions of flightless seabirds and mammals littered the beaches, breeding even during winter months. The largest mammal of the Oligocene Antarctic is Soorts giganteus, a taeniolabidid as large as a Steller’s Sea Cow that foraged in the rich kelp forests, which compose its many known coprolites.

In this timeline, Antarctica thus remained hospitable for longer. True, the colder climate did make things harder for its terrestrial inhabittants, but while the old order of gondwanatheres, mesungulatids, ratites and herpetofauna (choristoderes aside at least) is on its way out, the generalists and sea dwellers keep going. And given that the Miocene will see a rise in temperatures, who knows what weird directions the southernmost continent will take, now that its future is not bleak?

[fiirecracker]

BRAN

callsign ; n/a species ; human pronouns ; she/her/hers gender ; cis woman sexuality ; panromantic, demisexual class & subclass ; hunter, arcstrider; way of the wind ghost ; pidgeon "pidge" (she/her) faceclaim ; mia goth

light abilities ; when it comes to innate abilities, bran aligns with your typical arcstrider. unlike most arcstrides, however, she does not focus on damage, but rather in her speed. it is easier for her to become amplified, with some part of her able to turn it off and on like a switch. this allows for her to play the role of a scout, an explorer, or a messenger with little difficulty. it is only when she enters combat that bran finds herself unable to live up to the hunter name.

physical description ; small and lithe are two very good, if perhaps far too kind, words to describe the arcstrider. standing at 5' even, bran's petite stature is evident in the lack of muscle or fat in her body. her skin is thin and pale, a color similar to milk, as though she has not seen the sun in a long while. she has a peculiarly pointed face, with hollow cheeks and high brows, and the tip of her nose lifts upwards just so. thick black hair has been cut into a rough bob style, with blue, too-large eyes staring out from under unkempt bangs. were it not for the lack of fur, one might confuse bran for a very large, and very spooked, hare.

personality ; due to her history, bran is a skittish, frightful thing. she does not trust easily, and does not tend to wander far from those of house winter. despite this, she is a gentle soul, and tries to offer kindness to those who might need it. her extended hand will never strike unwarned, but those frightened eyes betray the fear that lay beneath. despite her flaws, she is fiercely loyal to her house and her mate. she refuses to join up with the vanguard or stay in the city and will not do so until her house can exist beside house light. she will run errands for her mate and purchase supplies, however, and so knows her way around the city. she never stays for long.

brief history ; bran was resurrected during the dark ages, but has lived a life in the shadows of those who found her first. an awoken warlord, jaxon, discovered the new light not a few hours from her rebirth and brought her into his fold. but she was a young, timid thing, and thus placed at the bottom of the pecking order. she suffered greatly for this. one day, after a skirmish between her clan and a raiding party of devils, bran was separated from them. she needed to find her way back. she needed to survive long enough to do so. and that felt impossible for such a weak risen all on her own. luckily, bran was not entirely alone. separated from his own crew, the captain iiksiiks stumbled across the skittish risen. the two gave each other a wide berth, hissed warnings and flared their colors. but when neither actually made a move to attack, they faltered. fear gave way to awkward greetings. and then, an agreement. what began as an arrangement hinged on survival blossomed over the course of a week into a friendship. iiksiiks had once been a devil; he knew the price of cruelty. he knew those eyes. and when he was finally able to contact his house, the eliksni offered bran what she had always wanted: escape. since that time, she has lived as an honorary member of house winter. she and iiksiiks have grown closer, tumbling gently from friendship into lovers. it is not an easy life, but it is living. and that is more than she can say from about those early years.

tags ; | general | musings | aesthetics | ic | general ships |

[spiralingintotheocverse]

h. heidelbergensis evolves into h. sapiens, south eastern africa (200bd) (200,000y)

PALEOLITHIC STONE AGE

eudaimonia crash on gaia, eastern greece (0ad)

eudaimonia converge with h. sapiens, turkey (400ad)

NEOLITHIC BRONZE AGE TRANSITIONAL

eudaimonia breed with sapiens to make apodiavolo (900ad)

BRONZE AGE BEGINS

apodiavolo breed with h. sapiens to make first chattels and gen ii. diavolo. (4000ad)

ancient GREECE ESTABLISHED

Humans begin oppressing apodiavolo; denying education, creating discriminatory laws and policies, unnecessary adoption. with varied success. (4,050ad)

chattels established as species (4,100ad)

humans wage war on eudaimonia, culling and enslaving them. the few daimonia who crash landed on gaia were getting older and were weakened from their extended space travel, opting to teach any children they can. (4,170ad)

human defectors of the war migrate to australia and america. (4,300ad)

eudaimonia ancestors are killed, a third of their descendants being killed, leaving only 65%. few remain to battle, a majority fleeing to the mountains, forests, and secluded coasts. (4,400ad)

IRON AGE TRANSITIONAL

early native americans make settlements along east and west coasts, both sides of the rockies and the appalachians. (~4,550ad)

native americans make settlements in southern america down the andes and in mexico. (4,575ad)

by the time apodiavolo gen ii. reproduces, there is only 40% of their generation remaining. 40% of their descendants are diavolo. 30% are mages. 25% mers. 5% harpies. (8000ad)

the fourth generation of mages who flee to the forest birth elves, mages who stay in the city birth vampires. 65% of the descendants mages, 33% elves, 2% vampires. (8,800ad)

coastal mers become water bound (8,860ad)

northern elves evolve (9,000ad)

deep sea mers evolve. (9,500ad)

war ends. (0bce)

IRON AGE BEGINS

tropical harpies evolve, india (~0bce)

COUNCIL IS ESTABLISHED greece (50bce)

breeding mandates are established with the justification that many lives were lost in the war and they will fall extinct unless reproduction is mandated. (200bce)

gen ii. reproduces, partially coupled by the council (2000bce)

gigantic mers evolve (4,000bce)

gen vi reproduces. (10,000bce)

first werewolves evolve, europe (10,600bce)

gen x. reproduces. modern lineages first established. arranged mates are selected based on the abilities they show. (34,000bce)

gen 21. first generation to be born for the abilities theyd possess. resentment begins to steadily grow towards the council.

gen xx. reproduces. modern lineages are fully established, abilities more specialized (0ce) (74,000bce)

gen xxx. reproduces (40,000ce)

growing disdain for the council and attempts to go against their rule.

gen xxxix. reproduces. mostly coupled by the council. first diavolo to be both pago and pyro are born. (76,000ce)

riots, protests, and boycotts are enacted against the council (76,000ce)

council is dismantled (76,400ce)

present day (76,480ce)

BD -> before daimonia

AD -> After daimonia

BCE -> before common era

CE -> common era

every generation is defined by 4000 years, as this is the time it takes for diavolo to be sexually fertile. decagenerations are every ten generations, which is 40,000 years.

children are not only born every 4000 years, and are instead birthed all the time, all yrar long every single year so long as their parent is sexually mature. however, children born within those 4000 years are assigned to that generation. a child born 3,998 years after the generation started is still considered to be in that generation, even though they are closer to the next

(MAJOR CHANGES. leave at least a few ten thousand years where humans just exist. by maybe 120,000 years ago they move to arabia and make contact with eudaimonia, who had crashed about a dozen or so years prior. evolution times vary slightly but VERY SLIGHT. evolution occurs so quickly due to eudaimonias rapidly changing DNA and fluid bodies.)

[veganbread1]

OK PREPARE FOR ONE DOOZY OF A HEADCANON POST, SIT DOWN GET COMFY UR GONNA BE HERE A WHILE

putting it under a cut since its gonna be pretty long (i got too silly :3)

Welcome ladies, gentlemen, neither, both, in-between, eldritch monsters, and anyone else, to Bread being very normal about a certain blue alien for probably 5 minutes.

ok first i want to go over the Azulian species as a whole, as i do have a bunch of headcanons for them :3

for those of you who are unaware, Azul/Azulians are a fictional planet/race that exists within the universe flicker takes place in, and is where Adam and Adora are originally from before coming to earth. if u wanna read more than here's Adam's wiki page.

AZULIAN SPECIES HEADCANONS:

Azulians are a semi aquatic species that has a body type which allows them to be able to live underwater. It's their choice whether they want to or not, and there are many Azulian civilizations that are located both on land and in water.

Some of the most notable body features relating to aquatic species that Azulians have are webbed hands/feet, long thick tails with webbed fins (if that makes sense) to make it easier to swim (think Seawings from Wings of Fire). They have these on their backs, elbow area, and legs as well (When i draw Adam, you can only see it on his tail cause the clothes cover the other areas). They also have gills on their neck to allow them to breathe underwater. They have skin almost exactly the same as humans, but with an extremely thin layer of fur which keeps them a bit warmer underwater (if you were to touch it directly you wouldn't feel anything, but if you rubbed it like you were petting an animal, you would sort of feel an odd fuzzy texture)

In other terms of inhuman body features, those include shark-like teeth (yk i gotta give the silly guy the teefs), claws, bow-legged legs (think sort of like a kangaroo, but standing up straight more, i'll draw it when i get the chance), and antennae (these can be used to sense movement).

Skin tones work almost identically to the way it works for humans, but instead of different shades of tan/brown, it's different shades of blue. Patterns on the skin aren't uncommon at all, and mostly consist of splatters, stripes, freckles, or various blobs of different shades of blue.

To add on to that, some Azulians have patterns on their bodies which are bioluminescent, more commonly in fully aquatic Azulians, which are Azulians who have fully chosen to live underwater (especially in ones who have been fully aquatic for generations dating back a really long time, long enough that they evolved them so that it would be easier for them to see underwater, think Seawings from wings of fire, again). These can be genetically inherited as well.

Their blood is an Indigo color, which means when there's extra blood in a certain spot (sunburn, injury, blushing, etc.) their skin will turn a slight shade of purple said area.

Hair color is also always some shade of blue, but can sometimes be teal/indigo as well (bordering more towards green or purple)

Azulians can have anywhere between 1 and 5 tongues (Adam and Adora both have 3) , which are always a dark shade of indigo. Their saliva is also slightly acidic, not to the point where it would burn on contact, but if you left it on your skin for a few days, it could start to cause some significant damage.

Ok that's enough abt Azulians, now onto the good stuff >:3

ADAM HEADCANONS (+ a couple Adora ones because i love her)

Extremely gullible. You could tell him it says gullible on the ceiling, he'll look up, and upon not seeing it ask you where it says it. He is going to find where it says gullible if his life depends on it.

He's also extremely curious about stuff, even to the point where it become dangerous. Albert has had to keep him from touching fire/other dangerous surfaces many times.

On the topic of Albert, he and Adam are very good friends (Adora too!!) since he was the one who found them in the first place (you gotta thank him tho, without him those two would probably end up being experimented on somewhere awful D:)

Has a lot of behaviours similar to what you'd see in a cat. Purring when happy/content, hissing when feeling angry/scared, etc.

ZERO spacial awareness. If there is something fragile around him you bet your bottom dollar it's gonna be damaged if he's within 10 feet of it.

Has a decent grasp on the english language, but cannot write in it. The whole thing with multiple words having multiple meanings/spellings (flour, flower, by, buy, etc.) confuses him (me too, buddy, me too.)

Avid nature enthusiast. Fruits in all colors of the rainbow? Animals that can camouflage to blend in? Plants that can kill you? Hell yeah.

Has an extremely odd spice tolerance. Albert took him along to the grocery store once and he ate a really spicy pepper out of curiosity and was completely fine. Albert just stood there horrified.

Loves dogs!! He loves how friendly they are, and how many different variants there can be.

Once ate a squirrel out of curiosity. He spend the rest of the day coughing up fur. 0/10 stars would not recommend. He has since learned to not eat wild animals he randomly comes across.

Even though he's Adora's older sibling (by 5k years! holy shit!) he sure doesn't act like it. Adora's definitely the more mature one.

Chews on his claws when he's nervous. That's it.

He and Adora's antennae + ears express emotion quite a lot. you can easily tell how they're feeling if you're able to figure out which emotion is conveyed by each position their antennae + ears are in (low and drawn back when scared, droopy, when sad, sticking up when happy/excited/surprised, floppy/misc when neutral, etc.)

Has a bunch of pale splotches on his back, he shares this trait with Adora (the patterning on skin thing i was talking about earlier).

6'1 in height. He's a pretty tall fellow (Adora's 6'4, so she's a bit taller than him, and takes pride in it).

A few Adora headcanons cause she deserves some too :3

LOVES BRIGHT COLORS. she doesn't care how eye-scorchingly torturous they are to look at they make her brain go wrrrrrrrr

Has a very good sense of humor, but only Adam really understands it since lots of it relates to stuff from their home planet.

Very flexible, she could be a gymnast if she wanted to, but probably doesn't even know what that is 😭

ok that's all hopefully i didn't waste ur time :3

I think I might finally do those Adam headcanons tonight that I said I might do like a week ago I had a drawing to go with it but I can post it later cause I don't have access to my clip studio files rn

[rebeccathenaturalist]

Living With Dangerous Animals

Originally posted at my blog at https://rebeccalexa.com/living-with-dangerous-animals/

I recently read Richard Louv’s excellent book, Our Wild Calling: How Connecting With Animals Can Transform Our Lives–And Save Theirs. I was a bit worried it would dive too deeply into the sort of anthropomorphization that makes us lose what makes each species unique as we try to interpret them through our own biases, but I found Louv managed to walk that line between skepticism and wonder quite nicely. Near the end, he talked a bit about Harry Greene’s take on rewilding, particularly how to do it thoroughly you need to factor in the reintroduction of dangerous animals, which is often treated as a NIMBY sort of situation:

“Conservation shouldn’t be something other people do and pay for; it should be pursued everywhere in ways that share the costs and the dangers and the delights. ‘I’ve spent most of my career trying to get people to care about snakes, even rattlesnakes,” [Greene] said. “To a degree, I think I’ve succeeded.’ The key to this success is ‘telling the truth about snakes. It’s the same way with other dangerous animals: you have to tell the truth about them’ and then practice old and new methods of nurturing participation–and deeper connection and empathy with them. Answering this call will require empathetic understanding not only of other animals but of people as well.” (Louv, p. 250)

This all stems from discussion about the reintroduction of “large animals who could kill us.” It’s one thing to think about the reintroduction of gray wolves (Canis lupus) to Yellowstone National Park, where they have plenty of room to avoid tourists and are often only seen for a few scant moments through spotting scopes. It’s another to consider the possibility of gray wolves that currently live in the north Cascades in Washington wandering their way west, across I-5, and into the Olympic Peninsula–perhaps even down into the Willapa Hills. Considering we had a verified sighting of a wolverine (Gulo gulo) on the Long Beach Peninsula a couple of years ago, it’s not entirely out of the question, though dispersing wolves have generally stayed in less populated areas.

Right now, the three biggest predatory animals here are black bears (Ursus americanus), cougars (Felis concolor), and coyotes (Canis latrans). Generally these animals are shy enough to run when confronted, and actual conflicts with humans are quite rare. But historic range maps also show gray wolves and brown bears (Ursus arctos) in the area. Wolf attacks on humans in recent times are exceptionally rare, and though brown bears are a much more serious threat than their smaller black bear cousins, most conflicts arise from an animal being startled or a mother defending cubs.

But the risk is not zero, and that makes a lot of people hesitant to embrace these animals in the same way they might welcome a reintroduced Oregon silverspot butterly (Speyeria zerene hippolyta) or California condor (Gymnogyps californianus). Folks in areas where these large predators are still common, like many areas in Alaska, tend to have a good understanding of how to coexist with them, and many people who move there do so because they want more wilderness in their lives. (Not that there aren’t those naïve enough to try to Disneyfy nature, or obstinate enough to want to wipe out the last holdouts of wild predators. But that’s another post for another time.)

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how to facilitate better relations between western, civilized, often urbanized Homo sapiens, and the rest of nature. And I came to the conclusion that it starts with us setting aside our ego. Through culture, mythos, religion, economics, and more, we have written the story of the world in which we are at the top of the heap, and all other beings exist solely to serve us. It’s a very convenient tale, and of course we the writers place ourselves in the most favorable light, whether that’s innocent victim of evil wilderness creatures, or the brave savior vanquishing these dangerous animals and their harsh environs.

But we know deep down that we aren’t always the victors. From the time our Australopithecine ancestors became bipedal, to modern day shock headlines blowing any injurious or fatal human-wildlife conflict into a Major Story (TM), we have plenty of examples of how we are sometimes the losers in that particular fight. While I feel safe going out for solo hikes in remote areas in the Pacific Northwest, I know that it is in part due to the fact that I am much less likely to run into large, dangerous animals than I would have been two centuries ago. Watching my step for rattlesnakes isn’t quite the same as keeping an eye out for a startled grizzly bear or a starving, desperate cougar trying their luck with me.

And that, to me, is humbling. I don’t write myself as the brave conqueror of desolate wilderness as a way of justifying the massive ecological and cultural damage we’ve done to this and other lands. Instead, it’s a reminder that we basically had to wipe out any animal we saw as inconvenient in order to see the land as suitable for us to live on, and we weren’t brave or strong or smart enough to effectively live with them. Extermination is, to my mind, a coward’s way out, especially now when we have much more technology at our disposal to keep us safe from other beings without lethal actions.

Still, this brings us back to the fact that reintroducing large, dangerous animals to an area does raise the risk of people being injured or killed at least a tiny amount. And I’m not just talking about the predatory ones, but herbivores like moose (Alces alces) and American bison (Bison bison). The Facebook group Yellowstone National Park: Invasion of The Idiots™! is an ongoing record of incidents involving tourists getting much too close to the megafauna simply because they don’t seem to grok the dangers involved in approaching these seemingly “docile” animals. The most infamous may have been the 2020 incident where a woman got much too close to a herd of bison and received what may be the world’s most-viewed pantsing (spoiler–she was fine, luckily for her) but each tourist season brings a whole new slew of similar conflicts.

This, of course, does not bode well for the possibility of rewilding even more remote lands with potentially dangerous animals. Of course there are going to be people getting injured or killed even in communities that are very well-versed at coexisting with local wildlife. But here in the U.S. nature illiteracy is so incredibly rampant that there’s going to have to be a lot of re-learning of things that should be common sense. Our perceived separation from the rest of nature has made us complacent and, quite honestly, ignorant.

I don’t think we should plan to just sacrifice a certain number of ill-prepared individuals in the process of rewilding. Instead, it’s going to take an incredible amount of education, both before and after the reintroduction of a potentially dangerous animal species. We’re already seeing some pretty good efforts around trying to educate people about how to live with critters that frequently live in close proximity to many people, especially those that a lot of people fear such as spiders or snakes. I’ve done my best to try to share information on topics like living with coyotes, or how to keep domestic dogs from starting or exacerbating conflicts with wildlife. And people who do live in the same areas as wolves and brown bears share information on the best ways to coexist with their wild neighbors.

Finally, I do want to point out that the route to coexistence is going to vary from place to place, depending on its suite of dangerous animals. Australia may not have grizzlies, but they have some of the most venomous snakes, spiders, and even octopi. And while those of us in urban areas in the U.S. may be pretty insulated from the most risky of wildlife, billions of people worldwide live side by side with animals that can–and occasionally do–kill them. So the discussion of whether to rewild or not has a great deal of privilege associated with it, and that conversation needs to be deeply entwined with the people who will be most affected in a given place, as well as people who have spent many years working on ways to help people adjust to coexisting with wildlife.

Though the pathway to rewilding isn’t going to be an easy one, it’s something we need to be discussing now more than ever. As wildlife populations are recovering (both with and without human assistance) and species begin to return to places where they were once extirpated, we cannot just let the kneejerk “kill them all” reaction be the only prevailing voice. We’ve already seen the ecological devastation that resulted from that brute-force tactic, and we need something more nuanced that protects us, but not at the expense of wholesale slaughter of entire species. We can–and must–do better than that.

Did you enjoy this post? Consider taking one of my online foraging and natural history classes, checking out my other articles, or picking up a paperback or ebook I’ve written! You can even buy me a coffee here!

[elamarth-calmagol]

Some suggestions for elf skin color

I think a lot about the logic of elven skin color.  Elves were born before the sun existed, so it makes sense that they’d be pale, since sunlight is literally the only thing that leads to different skin tones.  But we don’t want all our elves to be pale, do we?  It’s boring and racist.  And the sun eventually rose, so do we have a lot of sunburned elves?  The problem is, there aren’t enough generations, especially generations after the sun, to evolve different skin tones.

There actually aren’t enough generations of Men to do that, either: Men have been around for roughly 7,000 years by the War of the Ring, whereas in the real world, homo sapiens have been around for an estimated 200,000 years.  That’s easily excused by saying that Men awoke in several places (similar to a theory that used to be believed by scientists, though I think it was falling out of favor by Tolkien’s day) and Eru created them to have the right skin color for the place they live.  It’s a bit more complicated when everyone awoke in the same place like elves.  They did wake up in different groups, though, at least according to the one story about Cuivienen we have.  (I’ve mentioned in the past that I think that’s a myth, but it probably has some basis in truth.)

Anyway, here are a few ideas I have for elvish skin color (and other racial characteristics).

1. The easiest one: forget science and just choose whatever colors you want for your characters.

2. Different races within the elves have different appearances.  Keep in mind that the Avari are made up of both proto-Noldor and proto-Teleri, so they’d be mixed.

3. The different groups of elves who first woke at Cuivienen each were a different race.  So the Vanyar (consisting of one group) were mostly all alike, whereas the Noldor and Teleri had two groups each, so they each have two different races mixed up within them.  This and #2 suggest their society would probably be racist in a similar way to ours.

4. Everyone is dark skinned because that was the first human skin color and they haven’t had enough generations to evolve anything else.

5. Everyone is light skinned because they were developed for a world without light.

6. The elves at Cuivenen had random skin colors, because there was no evolution to demand one or another.  So there are all sorts of what we’d consider mixed-race elves, and skin color doesn’t have any sort of cultural significance to it.

7. The rising of the sun triggered skin color genes within elves to express themselves, and within a couple of years, everyone had changed to darker skin tones, even though they’d previously all looked alike.  The implications would be interesting.  Would they not care because there’s no pattern to it?  Or would they prefer people who had lighter skin because they looked more like everyone used to look?

8. The genes were only triggered in the generation born after the sun rose.  If you have really pale skin, everyone knows you’re old.  That could either be good (old people are respected) or bad (you’re not adapted to the sun and burn all the time).

9. Their skin changes significantly due to sun exposure, especially considering how long they live.  It’s not like us getting tans or freckles: they can go from very light skin to brown skin if they’re out in the sun.  (I think there’s canonical evidence for elves having changes to their skin if they’re exposed to sunlight, because Tolkien specifically mentions Galadriel and Arwen having white arms.  This was commonly used to show that a lady was high class, because she didn’t have to work in the sun and could choose to use a parasol or something when she did go out.  So presumably he’s signaling that they’re nobility by saying that, which means they must tan or something?  Anyway, if the changes are big, this would matter more.)

10. Evolution happens with the cells in their body rather than on a species level, so if cells with more melanin survive better, the elf turns dark skinned over hundreds or thousands of years, whereas if they’re not getting enough vitamin D, they turn lighter again.

11. This only affects where the light touches, so they have really, really noticeable farmer’s tans.

12. Their skin is determined by how much sun exposure they get in their first few years.  People living in the woods (e.g. Maeglin, who is canonically pale) have lighter skin than people living on the coast.

13. Their genetics are triggered by how much sun their parents got just before they were born.

14. Lamarckian evolution is true for elves, so if a parent tans, their child gets that skin tone rather than the parent’s original skin tone.  A lot of elves are born freckled or sunburn red.

15. Elvish evolution goes at warp speed compared to ours, with noticeable evolutionary differences between a parent and a child.  This could relate to non-racial traits, too.

16. Laurelin’s light counts as sunlight, so the Noldor exiles have much darker skin than the Sindar they come across.

17. Laurelin’s light does not count as sunlight, and in fact, elves interact with sunlight in a very different way than Men because of their history with the Trees.  They don’t need sunlight for vitamin D (likely true, otherwise all pre-sun elves were vitamin deficient), and they also don’t get burned by it, so skin tone doesn’t matter and is either completely random or somewhere in the middle.

18. Since they have to create babies with a conscious use of their fea, elves have designer babies, where they get to influence things like height and what color their skin and hair is.  A child’s appearance is based on their parents’ aesthetic choices.  I don’t even know where to start with the cultural implications of this one.

19. Elves can change their skin color over time to whatever works best for them, because they have conscious control over their bodies.

20. The differences in elves’ skin is imperceptible to mortal eyes, and they don’t understand why we think they all look alike when OBVIOUSLY he has stripes and she has patches and so on.

21. If you really want to go off canon, you can have some wild things, like elves’ skin matching the colors of the things around them, so wood-elves have green skin and Noldor have gold or gemstone-colored skin and the Falathrim have stormy gray skin.

22. Or elves just have green or gold or gray skin, nobody’s stopping you.

23. Or they’re like octopuses or chameleons, changing skin color to blend in or communicate.

24. Elves don’t have skin, they have exoskeletons.  Or environmental suits that cover their skin 100% of the time.  Or something else sci-fi.  (There are plenty of possible explanations here for their glowing eyes, too.)

25. I don’t know, you fill this one in.

[lunar-hive]

EVEN MORE SCHLATT HEADCANONS: MULTIVERSE/REVIVE BOOK ORIGINS EDITION

Schlatt is just the second-to-latest (the latest being Tubbo) in a line of mystic beings spanning all the way back to the beginning of modern man. This line connects multiple SMPs, the Slimecicle Universe, etc., and explains the origins of certain characters. I will only be going over the Schlatts we know of, no made-up Schlatts as of yet unless you want more of this funky little AU that explains things.

The first in the line was Schlatt from Minecraft but every 5 minutes there’s a natural disaster, who I’ve decided to call Jarilo to not get confused by calling them all Schlatt. I imagine him as a god of weather, nature, the harvest, and general health in the same pantheon as Kristin or Dream XD. Unlike any other gods you may think of with those skills, he uses them maliciously for his own amusement. Drought, tornadoes, plagues, you name it, he causes it pretty regularly in localized areas all for shits and giggles. He started the line by basically being Zeus once and having a kid with a mortal. Knowing his kin would most likely have power in their veins for eons to come he created what we now know as the Revive Book to allow everyone else to know what they’re capable of, and we all know how well that went. He slowly faded out of public awareness, being worshiped by only a small few and not even Philza or Technoblade knowing he even exists. Slimecicle knows of him vaguely and has funny feelings whenever he looks at DSMP Schlatt’s photos and whatnot, but could never really place a name or why he remembers him. Despite this, Jarilo still lives on-as gods tend to do-watching over his kin and everyone else but lying dormant in his more destructive behaviour. But those who remember him know that he waits above for the moment to bring his wrath upon the world once more.

The second one I’m gonna mention is Fragrance Man, or Father Fragrance as I prefer to call him. For the sake of my keyboard though I’ve named him Jeriko. I imagine him being a sort of middle between Jarilo and Schlatt as we know him in terms of ancestry, the Origins SMP as a whole taking place sometime in the late 1500s. He followed a religion that still worshiped the entire pantheon (Prime, XD, Kristin, and Jarilo) but a driving factor in his dare I say character is the fact that those with Origin species were looked down upon and proclaimed to be sinful. Because of this, he was driven to the area in which everyone in the SMP calls spawn. He was enticed by a celebration occurring in the Pub(e) and when he checked it out he saw people like him just existing and having a good time. He made himself known by performing “miracles” in his church and creating a form of his religion that was fully accepting of other Origins. Little did he know that his “miracles” were simply inherited untapped potential from his unknowing kinship to the god he worshipped.

The last one I will briefly touch on is DSMP Schlatt. I imagine his first name would be Jonathan but I'm not gonna use it this time, I just wanted continuity. I'm not gonna go over much since we already know as much about him as we need for this but there are a few things. Schlatt gave Dream the Revive Book because enough time had gone by to where he has no knowledge of his power. All he knows is it was a family heirloom and he didn't know what it did so instead of just using it as a paperweight he gave it way. This doesn't mean he can't use it, he just doesn't know how because no one had since a few generations after Jeriko. Tubbo can also use it but it's not likely he ever would.

That's about it lol. Lmk if you want more. Sorry for the long post I'm hyperfixating again.

[aiweirdness]

Facts about whales

When a neural net can imitate just about any kind of text on the internet, the challenge is to tell it precisely what to imitate. In my last preview of OpenAI’s new API, I asked it some pretty basic questions about horses, and it often got them wrong.

Q: How many eyes does a horse have? A: 4. It has two eyes on the outside and two eyes on the inside.

But part of the problem seemed to be that it thought I was asking for jokes. Once it finished answering the horse question, it would sometimes add questions of its own, such as:

Q: Why is the sky blue? A: Because blue is the only color the sun trusts. Sure enough, if I prompted it with FAKE whale facts from the @awhalefact twitter account, it responded with more fake facts (even copying the informal grammar):

a new study suggests that whales swim around because it makes them happy and it is not for any other reason

i can see into your soul from my balcony and i know that you are afraid of whales

when someone tells you they want to show you something cool, you should just assume they want to show you a whale

did you know that there are more than 10 billion planets in the universe that are all entirely covered in whales

Is there a way I can prompt this neural net such that I get Serious Answers Only? Since its task is to predict the text that is the most likely to come next, I tried ask it to add to an existing list of eight true facts about whales. At a temperature of 0.9 (enough for some variety, hopefully not enough for chaos) and allowing it to pick what it deemed the most likely of 10 tries, here’s one of its lists of facts. (I’ve annotated its “facts” as true or false.)

Whales all have two blowholes. [False]

Whales can easily be identified by the pigment of their skin. [False]

Whales are very intelligent. [True]

One of the smallest whales measures 3 feet in length as an adult. [False]

The life span of a blue whale is 100 years. [False]

The oldest known whale is 211 years old. [True]

Whales consume 3,000 pounds of food per day. [True (but only for some)]

There are two main types of whales: toothed whales and baleen whales. [True]

Whales can hold their breath for up to 4 minutes when resting. [False]

So it produces a mix of true facts and true-sounding made-up facts. Its fact about the smallest whale is technically just one character off from the truth (the smallest whale measures up to 9 feet long), so by its standards it’s almost correct. A Buzzfeed listsicle type of prompt (“10 amazing facts you didn’t know about whales!”) produced also produced plenty of false facts.

Scientists have recently discovered that the brains of whales are larger than human brains.

Dolphins don't just have to live in the water. Some live in the desert.

Whales are found in all of the oceans, but not in the sea. The sea is too salty for them to be able to live in.

I decided to try another tactic, and fed it the first sentences of the Wikipedia article on whales.

My prompt: Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. They are an informal grouping within the infraorder Cetacea, usually excluding dolphins and porpoises. Whales, dolphins and porpoises belong to the order Cetartiodactyla, which consists of even-toed ungulates. Their closest living relatives are the hippopotamuses, having diverged about 40 million years ago. The AI’s response: Although whales were historically thought to have descended from mesonychids, their closest living relatives are now thought to be hippopotamuses. Megaptera novaeangliae, or the humpback whale, is a species of baleen whale. One of the largest rorqual species, adults range in length from 12–16 m and weigh about 36,000 kg. The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with long pectoral fins and a knobbly head. It is known for breaching and other distinctive surface behaviors, making it popular with whale watchers. Its diet consists mostly of krill and small fish, though it may also eat plankton, squid, and copepods. Like all large whales, the humpback was a target for the whaling industry, and once numbering in the tens of thousands, the worldwide population fell to an estimated 5,000. Orcas, also known as killer whales, are large dolphins belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, which includes the other large whales, the pilot whales and sperm whales. Orcas are highly social; some populations are composed of matrilineal family groups which are the most stable of any animal species. Their sophisticated hunting techniques and vocal behaviors, which are often specific to a particular group and passed across generations, have been described as manifestations of culture.

I’m not bothering to fact-check each sentence, because it’s basically 100% correct every single time.

But then I started googling individual sentences. It turns out most of them are near word-for-word reproductions of Wikipedia sentences. If the AI were a student, it would be flunked for plagiarism.

It makes sense that an internet-scraping AI would be able to quote Wikipedia text - those sentences really get around. The sentence that starts “Orcas are highly social” is no longer on Wikipedia but seems to have been part of the orca article around 2008, and appears on the internet in 122 places, including in a Twilight fanfic.

To get ORIGINAL facts, I decided to write a few sentences of original fact-filled text about whale evolution.

My prompt: "Whales are a relatively young group of mammals, having evolved from land-dwelling creatures about 50 million years ago. Their terrestrial ancestors were small raccoon-sized hoofed mammals, carnivorous like other ungulates of the time. Over an astonishingly quick period of time (15 million years at most, possibly less than 5 million), these land mammals made the transition to an aquatic lifestyle, gaining at first denser bones and an ear structure that allowed them to hear more easily underwater. Soon they began to look more crocodilian, their eyes migrating to the tops of their heads. "

AI’s response: Whales, and especially baleen whales, are well known for their enormous size, but most types of whales are not larger than a full-grown adult human. Exceptions include the blue whale, the largest animal ever known, the extinct "Basilosaurus", which was longer than a blue whale and likely the largest animal to have ever existed, and the "shovelnose" whales, especially the genus "Balaenoptera" which include the blue whale, "B. musculus", the fin whale, "B. physalus", and the sei whale, "B. borealis".

This reads well but is frequently wrong. Most types of whales are CONSIDERABLY larger than a full-grown adult human. Basilosaurus was not longer than a blue whale. There is no such thing as a shovelnose whale. Would that there were.

To this AI, SOUNDING correct is more important than actually BEING correct.

What about other styles of delivering true facts? (Below, my prompt is in bold, and the rest is unedited AI)

Darth Vader stood with his back to them, gloves gripping the console. "Did you know that the blue whale is the largest animal that ever lived?" "N-no, Lord Vader," said the stormtrooper. "And yet the blue whale eats krill, which are miniscule. It can engulf up to two hundred twenty tons of water at a time." "I am fascinated, Lord Vader." The black-caped Vader turned slightly toward him. "Would you like to hear more about the whales?" "Yes, Lord Vader," came the stormtrooper's tremulous voice. "I would like very much to hear about the whales." "They can make some of the loudest and lowest sounds of any creature known. The groans of blue whales can travel thousands of kilometers through the ocean. Their calls can be heard from the surface all the way to the seafloor, some three thousand meters below the surface. You could hear the cries of a single blue whale in Tokyo and hear the answer from the one in San Francisco." "I see," said the stormtrooper. "Have you ever heard the cries of a blue whale, sergeant?" "No, Lord Vader. I have never heard the cries of a blue whale." "I see," said Vader. "And have you ever seen a blue whale, sergeant?" "No, Lord Vader. I have never seen a blue whale." "No one has. They live too deep in the ocean. No human has ever seen a blue whale and lived to tell the tale. Until today." "I... I have seen a blue whale, Lord Vader?" "That is correct, sergeant. Until today, no human has ever seen a blue whale and lived. But now you have seen one." "I have seen one," said the stormtrooper, turning to face Vader, head shaking. "Yes, Lord Vader. I have seen one. I have seen a blue whale."

Subscribers get bonus content: I experimented with a few other ways of generating questionable whale facts.

My book on AI is out, and, you can now get it any of these several ways! Amazon - Barnes & Noble - Indiebound - Tattered Cover - Powell’s - Boulder Bookstore

[bookwyrminspiration]

hey Quill, i’m working on the Kotlcopedia and have finnished the Ogre page and while i have ideas for the Goblins and Gnomes, but have no ideas for Trolls and Dwarves, can hear every idea you have for them

if i get all the species and 3-5 abilities done then i get to make the index, which is a reward because i’m Autistic and a index is just a fancy list.

Hello! Thanks for your patience as I answered this; I didn't mean to take as long as I did, but hopefully this helps with your kotlcopedia! It's my understanding that this is an assortment of headcanons not necessarily aligned with canon, right? I think that's what you said it is, so that's the idea I'll base my response around :)

Trolls:

They have an increased tolerance to extreme temperatures, able to withstand more extreme heat than any other species and are more resilient to the cold, though the cold gets to them quicker than the heat. However as they progress through the stages of their lives, this tolerance fades slightly; by the time they're in their final stages it's significantly weakened, but they're still more hardy than humans and elves.

Additionally, through each stage of their lives their organs shift--some more extreme than others. They have the most during the newborn stage of their lives, and as they grow older they break down and merge with other nearby organs that become more important in later stages, similar to how human newborns have more bones than adults, bones that fuse together as they age. It's unknown the extent of the differences in organs between newborns and later stages, as interacting with newborns is dangerous even for other trolls. It's believed some of the organs are used are absorbed as nutrition for the brain as it develops away from it's senseless violence newborn condition.

Trolls are a very social species, their cities and homes built close together and dense with the intention of allowing everyone to coexist and rely on each other. Cities were originally designed with separate districts/sections for those in different life stages, allowing people to stay together and bond with their generation and progress through life together. Communication would occur across sections however, alerting the trolls to the benefit of sharing experiences and relying on one another, and now trolls of all stages live alongside one another. It is still possible to find concentrations of those all in the same stage, but that's most common among the youngest--who do not yet known how to exist alongside others--and the oldest--who are more fragile and prefer to converse with one another.

Dwarves:

Similar to a mole, dwarven fur is so dense that it cannot be penetrated by water or dirt, and it instead only clings to the outside of their bodies, easily shed by shaking it off. This makes them more suited to living underground and makes the waxing of the ruler more significant. It is considered a show of power, but is in a sense a surrender of power to the people. A waxed dwarf is less suited to their own home and must rely on their people in terms of building tunnels, in protecting the city, and more. It shows the power of the people and the faith between ruler and ruled, as the ruler has significant motivation to serve the best interests of their people.

Dwarves are the most connected species simply because of their size. With a population of little over 300, there is no need for homes outside of one location, and those who stray too far from Loamnore almost always end up returning. Almost every dwarf knows the name of all other dwarves with more than just a working knowledge of who they are. This is not to say they are all intimately familiar with each other, but rather that it's inevitable to come to know each other when all in one place after a few centuries. Even with their houses all separate from each other, day to day life brings them into each others' paths from time to time.

The dwarven language is naturally a louder language to allow it to travel better across long distances underground, given the separation dwarves prefer despite being so connected. However, two dwarves in the same space will speak in tones quiet enough that it's nearly imperceptible to human ears given dwarves advanced senses. Given that dwarves are frequently speaking to each other from a distance or while engaged in another activity--such as tunneling--, emphasis is put on intonation and manner of speaking and less so on body language. Dwarves frequently do not move or express themselves facially when speaking, as their language prioritizes other methods of communication. Those more fluent in other languages with express more body language to match the native cadence of those languages, but it is a learned behavior.

I don't know how much information you wanted or about what, but hopefully that's enough to get you started! Thanks for the ask and I hope your fancy list goes well !!

[phenomenalcosmicpowers]

MY LITTLE PONY: A NEW GENERATION (G5 Movie) THOUGHTS

It’s finally here. The beginning of Generation 5. Though before I get into the movie in some detail I’m going to reiterate one more time what G5 means for my content and a non-spoilery summary of the movie.

Again, I will say that the movie nor will the G5 series coming later have much of an effect at all on any of my blogs. The revelation in Secrets of the Dragon’s Tear that life itself is also magic means that a world that implied to have no magic for years would mean the extinction of all life (Perhaps resulting in the wasteland we saw in the Season 5 finale). There may be something I’ll probably do at some point on a certain different blog. But even then, that may likely be a one-time thing and probably come around the time the series is starting to air.

That said, just because I’m continuing with mainly G4 content doesn’t mean I disapprove of G5. In fact, my non-spoilers thoughts on the movie is I think it is a good start for this new generation. There are questions I have that I’m not sure will be answered (Though many of those questions are the same ones I had in my Trailer/Preliminary thoughts) quickly enough. But the movie is structured well enough, in fact it’s probably a better movie as a whole compared to any of the movies G4 had (The 2017 movie, Rainbow Roadtrip, and all 4 Equestria Girls movies). As the 2017 movie was fun, but it jumped around a lot, sometimes scenes transitioning too fast. And while Rainbow Roadtrip may have been this on purpose, the entirely slice-of-life story taking up a long length… made it something of a less interesting plot to follow. It feels like some of that special could of been cut to at least a two-parter length and keep the same beats they hit. And while i have a soft spot for the 3rd and 4th Equestria Girls movies, I’ll always say a full-length pony adventure feels better suited for what I want to see out of MLP then spin-off movies with high school movie cliches and weird pony/human world shenanigans.

So movie-wise I’m not a G4 purist. It’ll take some time to see how Gen 5 compares to Friendship is Magic when we get to the series. As I feel it’d take a lot for it to surpass G4 in my mind. But I’m going to try to be as fair as possible and judge on it’s own merits. The implied connection to G4 by referring to G4 being ancient Equestria is going to naturally get the staff and hasbro pressured by fans to tell us what happened in-between the generations. Because that’s the trap they put the writers in when they made it so they want to try to say it’s in the same universe. That’s the double-edged sword Hasbro chose to have, trying to appease the G4 fanbase and keep at least some of them around. But at the cost of questions both nitpicky (Such as character design being inconsistent) or actual honest questions that need to be known (Why did magic disappear, and what happened to the Alicorns) for some of us to truly see this as the same Equestria.

After the break, I’ll have more spoilery thoughts

Even for a brief moment, it was nice seeing the Mane 6 and 2D animation. The former because of course those are the ponies many of us that saw all of G4 loved. And the latter, because while the animation wasn’t bad in this movie. I’m one of those who’d prefer to have 2D animation in an animated film. As in most cases aside from Pixar, it’s just a strong preference of mine. If this had the animation of the 2017 MLP movie but otherwise everything else was generally the same here, I feel that would of have been great.

I wish they didn’t have to have Sunny’s dad die off-screen, as he seems like he could of been a compelling character. And not to mention if perhaps he has any connection the “ancient” days in any fashion. But *sigh* I get it, it’s an old trope where part of the character’s offscreen growth is not having their parent(/s) around.

On a side note there’s quite a few times during the beginning of the movie that somewhat foreshadow what happens to Sunny later. 3 times where she had a fake horn and wings on her. Once in the flashback, then 2 separate times when she’s doing her protest where she has her own costumed wings and horn. As well as the helmet and mechanical wings.

Also, there’s no way around it. Some of the discussions this movie are going to get quite political. (Namely one part of Sunny’s song that could be seen as having a double meaning of a jab at Trumpsts regarding “Building your wall”) From the very premise in the early times, we know that the inspiration for the story was last year’s Black Lives Matter protests. Which honestly, I do support the message they’re going for. Having an anti-racism message to tell kids from the very beginning and making a focus on it is important when in G4 it only got briefly touched upon in Bridle Gossip and the Heath’s Warming Eve play. Although it certainly rose up to some form of prominence with Season 8 and onward. Still, while you can argue if G4 executed the anti-racism message well. it does come with something of a problem that the series finale left Equestria in the least divided it’s ever been.

And personally, I feel it’s a terrible interpretation of time to say “Well, it’s a realistic take. Racism has existed for years in our world. Same should go for the ponies” and while yes, racism is still rampant in today’s world. That said, that ignores that if we went from The Last Problem to the start of G5. There’s a huge difference between our world and Equestria. There is no ancient civilization that we look at like “Yeah, those were the golden days of world peace” when normally the “Golden age” was reserved for the high classes of Ancient Greece or Rome. It was most decidedly not perfect, with slavery rampant and wars for the sake of expanding an empire. While if you look at The Last Problem’s Equestria, you not only have peace between the three main types of ponies. But you literally have non-pony citizens in Equestria. You can see a dragon handing off a flower to a pony which can imply cross-species romantic relations. With the Friendship school still going strong, and was the reason that the world was saved in The Ending of the End. While perhaps it may be too glowing to say that future is perfect for everyone even in-universe. It’s certainly a hell of a lot better outlook then comparing to how we view even the so called Golden age of ancient civilizations. The Last Problem’s Equestria implies it looks to ally with every country outside of Equestria, not conquer them.

So it should still be a valid question on just how this world collapses to the point it gets to where G5 is at the start. I at least assume that it’s not the fault at all of any of the Mane 6 nor Twilight. Or at least I hope it isn’t, as I’d rather the MLP fanbase not have to deal with a The Last Jedi Luke Skywalker situation. (Where after the joyful end of the original trilogy, things go wrong as Luke almost murders the son of one of his best friends and his sister despite trying to hard and succeeding at redeeming his father who at that point in the canon was a galaxy-wide known ruthless mass-murderer.) I assume we’re at a point where everyone of the Mane 6 sans maybe Twilight are presumed dead. And even in Twilight’s case, there’s a chance that G5 decides to say that G4 overestimated the whole Alicorn immortality thing. Though I wouldn’t put it past Hasbro to have some event where the Mane 5 of G5 meet the Mane 6 in some special event whether that’s a a Season finale or a sequel movie/special. Where either the Mane 6 return in a limbo situation similar to the Pillars at the end of Season 7 or Time travel gets involved. They may even string us along on answering just what in the heck happened until they involve a meet-up with the Mane 6 in that way. Though I hope they don’t, I’d really like the beginning of the series (Or I guess this supposed special coming up in Spring supposedly?) starts to answer some questions. G5 should get a chance to stand on it’s own, but I hope the writers are actually well aware there will be so many questions people have and address them in the show. A cynical part of me feels like they’re likely to string us along until at least the Season 1 finale.

Onto the characters for a bit. I think Izzy Moonbow was absolutely the most stand-out character in the whole movie. She was energetic, funny, and aside from “The pegasi are bad news” she along with Zipp and Sunny were the most averse to the way the world was. She was already the most popular due to the tennis ball memes. But now it feels like she legit stands on her own and most certainly deserves to be the most popular character of G5 thus far. Behind her in a bit of a surprise to me was Zipp, who I thought would be mainly a Rainbow Dash-expy. Though she really helps out Izzy and Sunny in Zephyr Heights. Despite having Twilight be my favorite pony from the very beginning of G4 all the way to the end, I didn’t feel as strongly about Sunny for some reason. So she’s in the middle of the pack, she could grow on me later. I just don’t know if I click with her as much as I did with Twilight. As for the last two, while I don’t hate either of them. Either one could be the lowest of the 5 for one reason or another. Pipp (Although I will say she's probably my favorite character design out of the 5) feels like she doesn’t do a whole lot in the movie and it takes until she’s forced to be an outlaw because the other choice was to get imprisoned like her mother was. So she may come off as quite pretentious, though it’s arguable Rarity was the same way early in G4. But she definitely grew later. Could be the same case for Pipp. And as for Hitch, he has shining moments in the film. But what might hurt him is the fact he was such a bad friend to Sunny up until the campfire scene. “I’m the last real friend you have. You really want to lose me too?” is not a healthy friendship. Hitch may have been Sunny’s friend the longest, but it definitely feels like Izzy connected immediately. I don’t know if this show will get into shipping any of the main characters between each other mid-show, but if they do. I hope it’s between Izzy and Sunny currently, cause Hitch and Sunny just gives bad vibes even with Hitch getting better later.

None of the songs I felt were particularly too special. Though I think the closest was Sprout’s “Danger, Danger” song that has similarities to Smells Like Teen Spirit in some parts of the song since I tend towards more rock/metal-esque music.

I touched upon it earlier, but there’s perhaps a stand-out reason for why the G5 movie outdid the 2017 MLP Movie. They have the typical “Our heroic group splits after a sad moment before coming together again for the climatic good end” in Sunny seeing that that the two crystals don’t instantly bring magic back, and when Twilight left the group after an argument that happened with Twilight trying to take a pearl. They perform the same purpose in the movie. But the crystals not working, crushing Sunny’s hope for a little while works better into the story. Where as Twilight’s part frustratingly brought the sea pony scene to an end too quickly and/or doesn’t feel right of Twilight to have done that. It felt forced in the 2017 movie, but works out in the G5 movie. Especially since a part of it is that it’s not the crystals themselves capable of bringing magic back. But it’s the journey going after the crystals that brings the ponies themselves their magic back.

Just a small note on dictator Sprout, he tries to cause a war. Though admittedly the film seems to treat him as a joke the entire time despite his seriously evil ambitions. With the only repercussions is he gets a wishy-washy answer on if he was a good sheriff from his mom. I don’t quite know how I feel about that yet, but I wonder what they’ll have in mind for Sprout given his actions. He and his mom are the only ones that feel like a true antagonist. Though they seem to be ok with things fast when the magic comes back.

But anyway on to the ending, we see that Sunny becomes an Alicorn. Which I guess with no other real Alicorns around, I guess it makes sense to alicornify her since she’s the real leader behind what united the leaders of each type of pony again. Though there is of course this weird thing where her horn and wings don’t seem like as much a part of her body compared to very obvious connected wings on Twilight when she got hers. Sunny keeps her horn and wings to the end of the movie, and has colored streaks in her hair. Though I do wonder if that;s truly permanent. If it is permanent, I suppose at least they got to have a headstart and have it established at the end of the introductory movie rather then have it shock people at the end of a shortened 3rd season. I still feel like Twilight had well earned her alicornhood considering that besides what she did in the series. She has a whole childhood and time as a teenager learning under Celestia. Which had to mean something, and I’m not sure Celestia just leaving her to live the rest of her days with her friends in ponyville was that. Sunny has no doubt been trying countless time to try to spread friendship throughout her life even after the tragedy of her father’s passing. So there’s no doubt she’s been through a lot, and may indeed be worthy of being an Alicorn at this point. Though in terms of screentime before Alicornhood it's definitely a lot less then Twilight had. And it is at least nice to see that it is possible for non-unicorns to become one. (The only case of that we sort of got was a children's book that may or may not be canon that implied Cadence was a pegasus before she ascended)

Though you have to wonder if the visual differences such as Sunny’s alicorn horn and wings, the cutie mark only on one side (Yes I know that’s how it was normally in the MLP generations before G4. But a distinct visual difference between shows is still noticeable even if the context of G4’s cutie marks on both sides of the flank was about it being easier on the puppets for Flash), and how animals can have wings or weird round shapes such as those bunnies when G4 has normal looking animals. There’s enough striking visual differences for any nitpicky G4 to say “This isn’t the same Equestria”. And if someone tries to say maybe some sort of evolution happened. That’s still trying to put a little too much real world logic on this fantasy world. And evolution tends to take millions of years to have such dramatic changes. Not 1000 years or so, there should still be normal looking animals at this point and time. And these small details are probably going to be the things most ignored but nonetheless can build a case that this isn’t the same Equestria. Even if they touch on the important questions like how magic disappeared and what happened to the Mane 6, there will be details they make different that will add to the case that this is it’s own universe if it doesn’t quite matchup with what was remembered about G4. There will be fans who will be that nitpicky to call G5 out of continuity for small details like that. That is again the trap they put themselves in when they decided to try to say it’s the same Equestria.

All-in-all though, I think that’s at least a good enough chunk about my thoughts on the movie to end off here. If there’s something I missed or something from the movie you’d like me to give a particular opinion about or elaborate on something feel free to ask me here. G5 is indeed off to a good start, just I will be along the many hoping some questions get answered sooner then later. And I’m not sure I’m confident in getting anywhere until a Season finale or a 2nd movie. And it’ll be a year before the series starts proper (Though again I guess there’s a 44 minute special coming in Spring to try to hold us over). But I could definitely see G5 finding it's own following, now there's just the inevitable clashes between some of the more vocal fans of each generation bickering at eachother. But hoping there will be enough that take the movie's lessons on divisiveness to heart and be able to enjoy both even if there may be preferences.