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nellasbookplanet · 1 year ago

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Book recs: the evil fungi did it

We all know of The Last of Us, but that franchise isn't the only example of fungal invasions. We've got zombies and apocalypses, we've got gothic horror, we've got fantasy, we've got romance, we've got space - no genre is safe from having their characters become the home of fungal organisms.

For more details on the books, continue under the readmore. Titles marked with * are my personal favorites. And as always, feel free to share your own recs in the notes!

If you want more book recs, check out my masterpost of rec lists!

The Girl with all the Gifts (The Girl with All the Gifts series) by M.R. Carey

Want another fungal zombie apocalypse? Then I come bearing great news! The Girl with All the Gifts is a post apocalyptic novel following a group of characters fleeing across an infested wasteland, trying to stay alive and hoping to find a cure. One of the characters is Melanie, a young girl who carries the contagion inside of her and hungers for flesh, but like many children of the apocalypse has kept her humanity. Is she and children like her the answer to the cure we are looking for? Or are they the start of something entirely new? This book has also been adapted as a movie!

Cold Storage by David Koepp*

Years ago, a quickly growing fungal organism capable of wiping out humanity came dangerously close to spreading. It was contained and kept in cold storage underneath a military repository. Since then, a larger storage facility has been built on top, the dangers on the lower floor being largely forgotten. That is, until it makes a new attempt at escape. Now, two unsuspecting security guards might be all that stands in the way of complete extermination. This book is both funny and genuine in its characters, and genuinely creepy in its portrayal of body horror.

Salvaged by Madeline Roux

Rosalyn Devar is on the run from her famous family, and has run so far she ended up in space. Now she works as a "space janitor", being sent off to clean up the remains of failed research expeditions. But in trying to cope with her problems, she has fucked up on her job multiple times, and is now close to losing her position. Her last chance is the Brigantine: a research vessel gone silent, all crew presumed dead. But when she arrives to salvage it, Rosalyn discovers the crew isn't as dead as presumed. But are they still human - and will Rosalyn be able to keep her own humanity?

The Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed

Novella. Reid is a young woman living in a small community after a climate collapse. Resources are scarce, but Reid's biggest problem is Cad, a mind-altering fungal parasite that lives inside her body. When she is offered a rare chance at attending a far-away university in a secluded dome community, Reid must decide whether to leave or stay to help support her community.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia*

Noemí Taboada is a glamorous and well-off young woman, but when she receives a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin, Noemí must leave her glamorous life and travel to find out what is wrong. As she arrives at High Place, a mansion on the Mexican countryside, Noemí is met with mysteries and her cousin's new English family. As she tries to find out the truth behind High Place and its inhabitants, Noemí's only ally is the youngest son of the family. But will she be able to find out what so scared her cousin before it's too late for all of them?

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon

A young pregnant woman flees a cult that left her body strange and changing in terrifying ways. Hiding from both a world wanting to oppress her and the cult seeking to force her back, she does her best to raise her children while trying to find out the truth of the cult and being pursued by a hunter in a dangerous game of cat and mouse. Bleak and scary, Sorrowland is a book that will creep under your skin with horrors both fantastical and very, very real.

What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier duology) by T. Kingfisher

Novella. Alex Easton, retired soldier, travels to visit their childhood friends, siblings Madeline and Roderick Usher, after finding out that Madeline is dying. In the siblings' rural, ancestral home, Madeline walks in her sleep and looks to be fading away, while around it wildlife seems to be possessed by a strange force. With the help of a mycologist and an American doctor, Alex attempts to save Madeline and reveal the truth of her illness.

Wanderers (Wanderers duology) by Chuck Wendig

A strange illness has struck the United States: with no warning, random people with seemingly no connection simply get up and start walking. They do not eat, do not sleep, do not communicate, and they do not stop - and if you try to force them, they literally explode from the inside. Teenaged Shana isn't one of these sleepwalkers, but her little sister is. Unwilling to leave her sister on her own, Shana accompanies the growing flock of walkers, protecting them as one of many "shepherds". And this protection proves necessary, as the sleepwalkers is only the first step toward what might very well be the extinction of the human race. An 800 page epic, Wanderers is a slowburn apocalypse story with a multitude pov characters and plot threads, from fungal pandemics and all-knowing AI to the all too real portrayal of radicalization and bigotry.

The Dawnhounds (The Endsong series) by Sascha Stronach

The Dawnhounds is a book where you just kind of have to let the story and the world wash over you. It skirts the line of scifi and fantasy, with a futuristic world of environmentally friendly mushroom houses and deadly fungi bio weapons next to literally god-given superpowers and near-immortality. It’s really cool and unlike anything else I’ve ever read, but also a bit confusing. Bonus: it’s also sapphic!

Agents of Dreamland (Tinfoil Dossier trilogy) by Caitlín R. Kiernan

Novella. A government agent known only as the Signalman; a cult preying on the young and vulnerable, promising to usher in a new age; a woman who exists outside of time, searching for a way to save humanity. Agents of Dreamland is short, but includes many spooky elements, among them an alien and possibly world-ending fungi. The narrative is non-linear and a bit strange, but also fascinating.

The Genius Plague by David Walton

Soon after landing his dream job at the NSA, things get weird for Neil Johns. His brother Paul, a mycologist, returns from a trip to the Amazon, carrying a nearly lethal fungal infection and a strangely sharpened mind. At work, Neil starts picking up mysterious messages originating out of South America, where cases similar to that of Paul starts occurring. And strangest of all: all the infected seem to be working towards the same goal. Recommended with the caveat that, while the fungal stuff is really cool, The Genius Plague is also happy to idolize American intelligent agencies and demonize environmentalism and anti-imperialism.

Little Mushroom: Judgement Day (Little Mushroom duology) by Shisi

An Zhe isn’t human. He’s a mushroom who absorbed the DNA of a dying man, allowing him to take on human guise and leave the wilderness. Entering one of the last human bases, a place struggling to keep out the mutated and dangerous creatures of the wilds, An Zhe must keep his identity secret as he searches for something which was taken from him. While not my cup of tea (frankly, I need more female characters), Little Mushroom is an undeniably unique m/m romance novel.

Bonus AKA these don't technically involve any fungi but have similar vibes of parasites and nature corrupting the human

Parasite (Parasitology trilogy) by Mira Grant*

In the near future, a great leap in medical science has improved human health by leaps and bounds: a genetically engineered tape worm. Within a few years, almost every human has their own personal parasite implanted. But now, something is happening to the parasites - they want more, whether their hosts want to share or not.

Annihilation (Southern Reach trilogy) by Jeff Vandermeer

For decades, Area X has been completely cut off from humanity. The only ones to enter are small organized expeditions, many of which never return, or return... wrong. We follow the latest expedition, its participants known only as the anthropologist, the psychologist, the surveyor, and our narrator, the biologist. As they enter into Area X to try to find out its secrets, only one thing is for sure: they will never be the same again.

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

Young adult. Over a year ago, the Raxter School for Girls was hit by the Tox, a strange disease that killed off many and left the survivors' bodies slowly changing in terrifying ways. The island the school is on has been in quarantine since then, and the girls dare not leave the school grounds lest they become victims of wild animals changed by the Tox. But as they wait for the promised cure, one of the girls goes missing, and her friends are willing to do anything to find her. Unsettling, spooky, and sapphic, this is a unique read featuring body horror and messy, dangerous girls.

(Second) Bonus AKA I haven't read these yet but they seem really cool

City of Saints and Madmen (Ambergris trilogy) by Jeff Vandermeer

Ambergris, a city created by a mushroom-like people, is now the home of humans, but the original inhabitants are still there, residing beneath the city.

Creatures of Want and Ruin (Diabolist's Library series) by Molly Tanzer

It’s the prohibition era, and while Ellie does fishing during the day, at night she bootlegs moonshine in Long Island. But unbeknownst to Ellie, some of the booze she smuggles has a strange source: distilled from mushrooms by a cult, it causes those who drink it to see terrible things, such as the the destruction of Long Island.

Bloom by Wil McCarthy

The inner solar system has been overtaken by fast-reproducing, fast-mutating technogenic life. Humanity has fled to the outer solar system, hiding beneath the ice of Jupiter's moon, but even here they aren't safe from possible incursion of mycospores, which lead to deadly blooms. Now a group of astronauts venture back to an infected Earth.

#the girl with all the gifts #cold storage #salvaged #the annual migration of clouds #mexican gothic #sorrowland #what moves the dead #wanderers #the dawnhounds #agents of dreamland #the genius plague #little mushroom #parasitology #annihilation #wilder girls #nella talks books

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jayrockin · 11 months ago

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With tube plants, I’m really curious if any are edible, and if so what’re they like, and how avian culture sees them. While Taxonomically they’re animals, does avian culture consider them plants? For a random example, let’s say the avians, like us, had a religious period where they can’t eat meat. Would worm plants be considered off limits, or the same as anything else? Not saying that religion or whatever exists, it’s just the first frame of reference I could think of. Another example might be how fungi are considered vegetables, but are an entirely different kingdom.

As for eating, I’m curious if they have a more meat-like texture and taste, or a more plant-like one. I’m assuming the former. If they’re eaten, what are the parts that are eaten and how are they usually prepared? Do the avians have any traditions or culture regarding the tube, like we do with wishbone breaking or bone carving? Is it possible to farm them, and are they?

Avian cultures usually classify plantworms in the same group of food as shellfish, which they resemble the most nutritionally. They are more like a clam than a plant. Many are toxic as a defense against being eaten, but the ones avians can consume are usually cooked whole (in or out of shell) unless a specific body part is unpalatable (usually the gut or frond tentacles). For larger worms, they may be trimmed down to the tastiest part, the retractor muscle. It's very possible to farm them, and many are also cultivated for their beauty as landscaping plants. Their tubes are most commonly used to make plaster for building, or beads.

Vegetarianism is overall more rare in avian cultures than ours because they have a higher calorie-per-pound requirement than humans and many live on small islands where grain agriculture is more difficult to live off exclusively than fishing. There are several grades of culturally distinct pescetarian diets in modern avian cultures though, some of which view eating large "vertebrates" as unacceptable, land animals as unacceptable, vertebrates in general as unacceptable, only plantworms are acceptable, or hardline only plant matter and eggs (which may or may not include plant worm "leaves and flowers"... which can grow back). Hardline vegetarianism or veganism is more common among flightless avian cultures, who historically have had the most arable land.

#avians #runaway to the stars #jayart #speculative biology

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theresattrpgforthat · 7 months ago

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Do you have any recommendations for TTRPGs where Body Horror is a central theme or mechanic? Preferably ones where themes like loss of agency or control over one's body are the focus. Thank you!!

THEME: Body Horror (Part 2!)

Hello there, I’m going to start by providing a link to the Body Horror recommendation post I put up back in 2022, before I move on to new recommendations!

Mutant Monster Machine Girls, by babblegumsam.

In MUTANT MONSTER MACHINE GIRLS, you play as a member of "The Girls", a group of queer misfits fighting against an oppressive anarcho-capitalist state ruled by The Corporation.

Each of you fights against them because all your lives have been ruined by The Man Responsible, a dangerous and cruel servant of The Corporation. Because of his actions and the nature of your evolutions, you can no longer return to your previous lives and the people you love.

Your only solution? Exact your ultraviolent revenge on him and bring peace to the city by force!

The Mutant part of Mutant Monster Machine Girls is pretty heavy on the body horror, although I think the other character options certainly have possibilities. Babblegumsam has a fondness for weaving trauma and emotion into many of their works, so you’ll likely find a lot of feelings about exploration and loss in this one. The game system uses a modified PbtA system, which gives you tokens that you can spend to add modifiers to your roll. (This same mechanic can be found in Apocalypse Keys!)

Soul Burner, by World Champ Game Co.

Soul Burner is a standalone tabletop role-playing game of adventuring ashen corpses wandering a volcanic ghostland in service of the gods of fate, protecting the timeline from imminent disaster by manifesting fractured memories to shape the world to their will.

Compatible with Mork Borg and inspired by Necronautilus, this game acts as a bridge between worlds of violent dark fantasy and stoner metal science fantasy.

Soul Burner embeds body horror both into the characters you play and the creatures you come across, using MORK BORG rules and depicting your characters as merely remnants of who they used to be. You will find creatures overgrown by fungi, desperate cannibals, and lava-worshipping cultists in this book, evoking a grim and gritty fantasy setting. Your own characters are ever-changing, morphing and distorting whenever you gain a Reminder - pieces of who you are that give you mechanical advantages in the game.

FLËSHMØG, by Freak Flag Games.

FLËSHMØG: THE FLESH BEGINS TO EXERT ITS WILL UPON ITSELF

mäw of hëck: flëshmøg is a pen & paper body horror character creator. draw your hand, discover your body, and mutate your form.

This isn’t so much a game as it is a character-creation exercise. Using a deck of playing cards, you assemble cards as you randomly draw them to give yourself body parts, strengths, and adaptations according to the world around you. This might be an interesting exercise if you want to come up with a wretched home-brew character for MORK BORG, or if you want to design some kind of horror to pit against your players in another game.

Do Not Fear: In Death We Bloom, by Hella Big Claws.

Do Not Fear is a Forged In the Dark Tabletop Roleplaying game, about accepting the fleetingness of life; and using the strength that gives you in order to combat a growing stagnation.

Fight as a Hunter, a person who has been given a Gift of Bloom; a fungus like infection that allows for incredible strength and regenerative ability; in exchange for subsuming your flesh as you die.

Combat or save the Rusted; living creatures infected by a growing viral stagnation; marbling their bones and rusting their flesh; sculpting them into horrifyingly beautiful creations. Ascend the Tower; a large, multilayered structure which you call home. Interact with the factions and people within, as you set down roots.

As a fungus-infested person, the characters for Do Not Fear feel like prime candidates for body horror. Your characters have accepted that their fate will likely end in death, but only because they must if they are to save the world from a horrible plague. The game is built off of the same system as Blades in the Dark, but I think there’s been some tweaks here and there, because there are teasers to creatures and weapons that indicate hit-points and stats. The character abilities however, look really powerful and exciting. If you are a fan of Bloodborne, Hunter X Hunter, or Technoir, you might like this game.

Mutagenic Hive Swarm, by Atelier Hwei.

Waking up as a transdimensional insectoid reptilian has never been more fun!You are a stone age psychonaut apparently occupying the body of a Transdimensional Insectoid Reptile, a bug.

But who you were is less important than where you are: you must navigate the bloody, alien meatscape of the MUTAGENIC HIVE SWARM and find a way back to the Here & Now… before memories of who or what you fade completely.

Mutagenic Hive Swarm is all about playing bugs who are not really bugs - your characters have found themselves in the bodies of alien creatures, and will need to fight in order to hold onto their sense of self. Much of your character’s skills and effort will be directed towards trying to resist certain influences and changes, so I think the theme of loss of agency really shines through in this game. What you might really like is the d20 table of mutations that can threaten you every time your body changes. If you want a game where your character is more likely going to succumb to their changes than find a way out, you might want to check out Mutagenic Hive Swarm.

Other Games to Check Out

Wasted, by World Champ Game Co.

Bio-Drones & Cryo0Clones, by ChrisAir (for Mothership).

#tabletop games #indie ttrpgs #game recommendations #dnd #asks #indie ttrpg #body horror

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rs-hawk · 10 months ago

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You know fallout? 👀

Because I wouldn't say no to a deathclaw type monster dominating a little human that stumbled into his territory

I do not but I did a bit of Googling. Sorry this request has taken so long and sorry if I’m not lore accurate! The picture I’m basing most of this off is this one. Hope you enjoy.

Gen! Reader

It had been years, but finally you were able to leave the bunker you and your family had been hiding in. The radio said that it was safe enough. Sure, they had been saying that for weeks, but you wanted to be safe. Supplies and rations were running low, and you wanted to see what you could find.

You didn’t expect to find a herd of mutated monsters tearing into what looked like a giant mushroom, snapping at each other and the enormous fungi. One of the creatures seemed to catch your scent as you stood shocked, frozen in place. It turned towards you, eyeing you curiously before lumbering away from the group. The rest of them don’t seem to notice as it wandered over to you.

Your throat felt tight as you started to back up, then bolted. It was an attempt made in vain, of course, because the creature didn’t even have to break a sweat before it caught you.

“My… territory,” it muttered as it wrapped a clawed hand around you, lifting you to look at you closer up.

“What?” you squeaked out, confused and surprised. While you had heard of some mutated creatures, Deathclaws?, being able to mimic human speech, you hadn’t expected to really experience anything.

“My territory… not for humans,” it grunted, looking at you with a look of what you can only describe as contempt tinged with curiosity.

You winced as one of those long claws break the fabric of your shirt, dragging down and ripping it nearly off of you. Your chest was barely covered, though the creature did seem to find that interesting. It continued to drag the thumb claw down your body, cutting away your pants, then your underwear.

You protested, wiggling in its large hand, hitting and biting at the scaley creature’s hand to try to get away. Or just move it’s attention. Anything to get it to stop. However, it only seemed to find that amusing. It set you on the ground, face down and tugging your bare hips up as it mounted you, holding your small frame down with its large hands.

“No, no wait please,” you cried, trying to pull yourself out from under it.

To your surprise, it did stop. Even though now you could feel a large cock grinding against your exposed ass, the beast didn’t make another move to push into you. You took a shaky breath, blinking away tears at the corner of your eyes. What you really didn’t expect though, was it to lift one of its claws off of you, biting it down to a nub.

You were confused until it was pushed into your mouth, making you gag on it, wetting it with your spit. After you had gagged and choked on it, it pulled back just enough to slowly begin to push it into your ass, giving you time to slowly stretch around it. You cried out, feeling your hole stretch around this things finger. Your brain felt foggy, and that was before it suddenly sank into you.

You whimpered and moans started falling from your lips. It was merciless, cracking its fat cock inside of you, bottoming out with every thrust. It wrapped its long claws around your arms, keeping you pinned to the ground as it fucked you into the dirt. With each thrust, you were moaning more and more, your pleasure echoing in the wasteland. The others from the herd had gathered to watch, some of them even palming their own cocks as they watched their leader show you why humans don’t wander into their territory lightly.

After you were good and stretched, the creature now easily sliding in and out of your ass, it pinned you even more to the ground with its body as it unloaded a huge load inside of you.

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bestanimal · 3 months ago

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Round 2 - Arthropoda - Insecta

(Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

Our last athropods, the hexapod crustacean class Insecta, is one of the most successful groups of animal on earth. They are the most diverse, with over a million known species, comprising more than half of all eukaryote (animals, plants, fungi, etc) species, making them the “Default Animal.” They are comprised of three main groups: Archaeognatha (“Jumping Bristletails”), Zygentoma (“Silverfish” and “Firebrats”), and Pterygota (winged or secondarily wingless insects).

As hexapods, insects have a three-part body plan: head, thorax with 6 legs, and abdomen. They have compound eyes (some in addition to ocelli) and a pair of antennae. Many groups have 1-2 pairs of wings as adults. Insects have many means of perceiving the world: compound eyes and ocelli for seeing, tympanal organs for hearing, and receptors on the antennae and mouthparts for smelling. They live in almost every environment and occupy almost every niche. Many are aquatic, or have aquatic larvae. They are the first animals to have evolved flight. Some are solitary, some are social, some live in large, well-organized colonies. Some communicate with pheromones, some with sounds, some with bioluminescence. Some are venomous, some are poisonous. Most insects hatch from eggs, though some are birthed live. Some hatch as miniature adults, some go through a partial metamorphosis in which the larval stage looks vastly different from the adults, and some go through a complete metamorphosis in which a nearly immobile pupa is formed. Some insects provide maternal care. Some are carnivores, some herbivores, some omnivores, some parasites. Some spend most of their lives in their larval stage, and don’t even feed as adults. Due to the high diversity of insects, it would be impossible for me to summarize them further!

Fossil insects are known from the Paleozoic Era, during which they achieved large sizes, such as the giant dragonfly-like Meganeuropsis permiana, with an estimated wingspan of up to 710 millimetres (28 in), and a body length from head to tail of almost 430 millimetres (17 in).

Propaganda under the cut:

Insects are absolutely critical in all ecosystems, forming the base of the food chain, turning and aerating soil, controlling pests, encouraging or controlling the growth of plants, scavenging and recycling biological materials, and creating topsoil. Without insects, our planet would die.

There are many contenders for “largest insect.” The Giant Stick Insect (Phobaeticus serratipes) is the longest insect in the world, with specimens recorded at over 56 cm (22 inches), including their legs. The Giant Weta (Deinacrida heteracantha) is the heaviest, with a record of 2.5 ounces. Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing (Ornithoptera alexandrae) has the largest wingspan, which reaches up to 30 cm (1 foot) wide.

Meanwhile, the smallest known adult insect is a parasitic wasp, Dicopomorpha echmepterygis, commonly called “Fairyflies”. Males are wingless, blind and measure only 0.127 mm long.

Many insects are popular pets, including various species of mantis, cockroach, beetle, moth, and ant! Some are even domesticated, including silk moths and honeybees.

Many insects are eaten by humans, and farming insects for food is considered more sustainable than farming large chordates. These farmed arthropods are referred to as “minilivestock.”

Shellac is a resin secreted by the female Lac Bug (Kerria lacca) on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. It is used as a brush-on colorant, food glaze, natural primer, sanding sealant, tannin-blocker, odour-blocker, stain, and high-gloss varnish. It was once used in electrical applications as an insulator, and was used to make phonograph and gramophone records until it was replaced by vinyl.

One of the biggest ecosystem services insects provide for humans is pollination. Crops where pollinator insects are essential include brazil nuts, cocoa beans, and fruits including kiwi, melons, and pumpkins. Crops where pollinator insects provide 40-90% of pollination include avocados, nuts like cashews and almonds, and fruits like apples, apricots, blueberries, cherries, mangoes, peaches, plums, pears, and raspberries. In crops where pollinators are not essential they still increase production and yield. Important pollinators include bees, flies, wasps, butterflies, and moths.

Many insects are sacred to humans. In Ancient Egypt, scarab beetles were used in art, religious ceremonies, and funerary practices, and were represented by the god Khepri. Bees supposedly grew from the tears of the sun god Ra, spilled across the desert sand. The Kalahari Desert's San People tell of a legendary hero, Mantis, who asked a bee to guide him to find the purpose of life. When the bee became weary from their search, he left the mantis on a floating flower, and planted a seed within him before passing from his exhaustion. The first human was born from this seed. Dragonflies symbolize pure water in Navajo tradition. In an Ancient Greek hymn, Eos, the goddess of the dawn, requests of Zeus to let her lover Tithonus live forever as an immortal. Tithonus became immortal, but not ageless, and eventually became so small, old, and shriveled that he turned into the first cicada. Another hymn sings of the Thriae, a trinity of Aegean bee nymphs. Native Athenians wore golden grasshopper brooches to symbolize that they were of pure, Athenian lineage. In an Ancient Sumerian poem, a fly helps the goddess Inanna when her husband Dumuzid is being chased by galla demons. In Japanese culture, butterflies carry many meanings, from being the souls of humans to symbols of youth to guides into the afterlife. Ancient Romans also believed that butterflies were the souls of the dead. Some of the Nagas of Manipur claim ancestry from a butterfly. Many cultures use the butterfly as a symbol of rebirth. And the list goes on…

#sorry I had to copy paste some propaganda from the Arthropoda poll I’m tired and it’s A Lot #anyway Chordata tomorrow!#round 2 #arthropoda #animal polls #insecta

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literaryvein-reblogs · 5 months ago

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Some Ecology Vocabulary

for your next poem/story

Autotroph - Any organism that is able to manufacture its own food; derive energy from inorganic sources (light or inorganic chemical reactions)

Benthic - Organisms that live on the bottom of the ocean

Biome - A community of plants & animals that occupy a distinct region; defined by climate and dominant vegetation: tundra, desert, grassland & forest; can be subdivided, i.e. boreal, temperate, tropical forests

Boreal forest - (also called Taiga) Largest terrestrial biome, characterized by having very cold winters and coniferous forests

Dessication - Mummification

Detritus - Accumulated organic debris from dead organisms

Detrivore - Any organism which obtains most of its nutrients from the detritus in an ecosystem

Disturbance - An event that alters the ecosystem, i.e. the plant community and possibly the physical environment; natural disturbances include fire, landslides, windthrow, insects, disease, etc. Levels of Disturbance:

Tree-level: affects single trees or small groups of trees

Stand-level: affecting large groups (many hectares) of trees (insect epidemic, hurricane, logging, wildfire)

Site-level: affecting the physical environment is a dramatic way that all life is lost and a new soil environment is created (lavaflow, glacier, landslide)

Planet-level: affecting the planet as a whole (big meteor, death star...)

Frugivore - Animal which primarily eats fruit

Groundwater - Water found underground as a result of rainfall, ice and snow melt, submerged rivers, lakes, and springs. This water often carries minerals. These minerals can accumulate in the remains of buried organisms and eventually cause fossilization.

Halophile - Organism which lives in areas of high salt concentration. These organisms must have special adaptations to permit them to survive under these conditions.

Limnology - The study of river system ecology and life

Orographic Lift - Occurs when an air mass moves over a mountain range, air cools, drops precipitation, then as air moves down the lee side it warms and creates a rain shadow

Pelagic - Organisms that swim through the ocean, and may rise to the surface, or sink to the bottom

Rain shadow - The dry region on the leeward side of a mountain range, where rainfall is noticeably less than on the windward side

Riparian - Having to do with the edges of streams or rivers

Saprophyte - Organism which feeds on dead and decaying organisms, allowing the nutrients to be recycled into the ecosystem. Fungi and bacteria are two groups with many important saprophytes.

Silvics - The study of the life history, characteristics and ecology of forest trees

Tolerance - The capacity/ability of an organism to endure (survive, withstand) adverse effects from unfavourable environmental conditions; the opposite of sensitivity

Upwelling - The raising of benthic nutrients to the surface waters. This occurs in regions where the flow of water brings currents of differing temperatures together, and increases productivity of the ecosystem.

Xeric - Describes an environment or habitat with little moisture; dry to very dry

Sources: 1 2 ⚜ More: Word Lists

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artechoceneexplorer · 4 months ago

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Hello! Sorry for the inactivity, posting the same drawings on 5 different platforms with different limitations is quite exhausting, so I'll be posting my Spectember drawings in batches until I finish it :>

So without further ado, here's the second week of Spectember:

Day 8: Ambush Predator

Featuring the Titan Låtmimik (Venatoramus longus), a giant carnivorous katydid from the northern forests of Antarctica, which can imitate the calls of certain bird species to attract them closer to their lethal grasp

Day 9: Producer

Featuring the Ggulu Orchid (Caelorchis divinitus), an orchid common in the Muraanad forests of the Somalian subcontinent, where it grows from the fungi growing chambers of the termite nests, taking advantage of the fungi until it bursts out of the nest, finally able to photosynthesize and flower.

Day 10: Filter Feeder

Featuring the Wandering Dumingo (Pinnatocetus celer), a seafaring member of the dumingos, a family of filter feeding mallard descendants, which embark on incredibly long migrations across oceans, from pole to pole, in the search of summer plankton booms.

Day 11: Semi-aquatic

Featuring the Beringian Selkie (Sennapithecoides polaris), an aquatic rodent from the Arctic region, which spends most of its life diving and digging around the coastal mudflats in search of invertebrates to feed on, including clams and crustaceans.

Day 12: Megafaunal

Featuring the Transoceanic Navalodile (Galleonosuchus imperator), the largest of a group of seagoing crocodiles, which patrols the equatorial waters of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, constantly searching for fish, rarely encountering others of its kind.

Day 13: Grazer

Featuring the Rugose-browed Pricklyhog (Hoplohippus rugosus), a large porcupine descendant that lives in the African grasslands, protected from predators by its thick skin, and large keratinous plaques and spines that cover it.

And day 14, some fanart of one of the OG spec books, After Man. One of my favourite creatures from its incredible roster, the Night Stalker!

#art #illustration #clip studio paint #speculative evolution #speculative biology #fanart #art challenge #spectember 2024 #spectember

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vickysaurus-art · 1 year ago

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One paleoart for each period since the Cryogenian

Thanks to the timeline on my walls that I've been trying to fill in with my art, I have now reached the point where I've done paleoart for every single period of the Phanerozoic, plus the Ediacaran and Cryogenian! That is to say, every period of the last 700 million years. So with that milestone, I thought it'd be fun to go through those periods in order and show off one paleoart of mine for each!

Cryogenian

In the Cryogenian, the Earth completely froze over. Twice! Life wasn't much to look at yet, but I enjoyed drawing what our planet might have looked like at the time. The girdle of lakes at the left is the equator, which may have had ice-free patches.

Ediacaran

When the ice retreated, animals first began to blossom into their endless forms most beautiful. Ediacaran life was strange and quite unlike the creatures that would come later, but it was nonetheless an incredibly important chapter in life's history. Here we see the Ediacaran weirdos washing up on shore after a storm.

Cambrian

The Cambrian explosion brought much more recognisable creatures. But one thing that's easy to miss is that they were all tiny! All of them? No, Anomalocaris was, with a length of about 40 cm, the dragon of the Cambrian.

Ordovician

Life continued to diversify in the Ordovician, and among this diversity were the cephalopods. They produced the largest animals yet to exist, the orthocones, who hung vertically in the water column and decended upon their prey like a claw game.

Silurian

Although fungi and bacteria had already made forays onto the land deep in the past, things began to get busier there in the Silurian. But these horseshoe crabs, and their larger cousins the sea scorpions, have not come to the shore to stay, but to mate and lay eggs. Unfortunately for the horseshoe crabs, they have come to the very same shore.

Devonian

Our own vertebrate ancestors, like Tiktaalik, were pretty late to the party, only taking their first steps on land in the late Devonian. That's no knock against them - there was plenty to do underwater! This Tiktaalik is busy guarding his eggs while his mate is busy hunting, for example. Who has time to step on land?

Carboniferous

The end of the Carboniferous saw some quite large bugs, like these two Mazothairos chasing off an interloping Meganeura. They're representatives of a pretty interesting group of basal insects called the Palaeodictyoptera, who have a set of weird little extra wings on their thorax.

Permian

Among the many fantastic creatures of the Permian were our own cousins, the synapsids, like these lovey-dovey Moschops. As you can see, this picture and the previous one are done in coloured pencils instead of watercolour, because they're the oldest images I'm including in this post. I only very rarely used watercolours before this year. I think it means I should do some more Permian art, it's such a cool and underexposed period.

Triassic

One mass extinction later, the archosaurs are diversifying all over Triassic Pangaea. Here we have the three main groups of them: Paratypothorax, a pseudosuchian in the background; Peteinosaurus, a pterosaur on top of the cliff; and Procompsognathus, a dinosaur climbing the cliff.

Jurassic

I had three different option for Jurassic paleoart to showcase, so I picked the most experimental one. These backlit insects are not butterflies, but kalligrammatids, a group of large-winged neuroptera, some of which even mimicked maniraptoran dinosaurs like this iridescent Caihong with their patterns.

Cretaceous

The Cretaceous featured some of life's most gorgeous crescendos of diversity, like the Yixian formation, where a Psitaccosaurus wants to visit the favourite tree of a group of Sinosauropteryxes, who are having none of it. This is still one of my favourite pieces I've ever drawn.

Paleogene

The Paleogene featured some of the highest global temperatures of all time, leading to tropical climates all over the planet, including at this lake in what will one day be Messel, Germany. Darwinius, a close cousin to our own ancestors, is having a staredown with the lizard Geiseltaliellus.

Neogene

The world turned colder and dryer in the Neogene, leading to the spread of large grasslands, like these South American ones. Phorusracos, a large terror bird, has caught a Thoatherium on the edge of the forest they both live in. South America was an isolated continent for the duration of the Neogene, leading to a quite unique fauna.

Quaternary

The Quaternary, our current period, is marked by the cycle of ice ages regularly freezing the northern hemisphere. But even during the ice ages, spring would come to the mammoth steppes, and these steppe mammoths are happy to celebrate its coming with a bath in the river.

#paleoart #my art #palaeoblr #timeline #no i am not gonna tag everything in it #the pictures should all work as links to the individual posts of these pieces #cw: animal death #cw: bugs #cw: parasites #cw: blood

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ink-flavored · 8 months ago

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Urban Fantasy Culture World-Building

There are a lot of different creatures in my anthologies, each with a unique culture. I thought I would take the time to outline them all here, both as a reference for myself, but also as a fun guide to how I might be able to make my characters defy their culture in the anthology stories I write. You can also find this and more on my Neocities site! Unnamed Urban Fantasy Anthology Taglist (Check out my Google Form to get added): @foxys-fantasy-tales @auroblaze @thelaughingstag @auntdarth @damageinkorporated

Human

Can be born with or without the ability to use magic

We’re those! Nice! 👍

Culturally, most humans value variety in life and social groups, making the most of their adaptive qualities. They’re some of the most likely to mingle in other creatures’ cultures, whether it’s to learn, or just to try the food.

Elf

Always born with the ability to use magic

Pointy-eared, long-lived humanoids with strong connections to magic

Culturally, most elves encourage an interest in study, invention, and creation to make the most of their long lives. Education is highly prized and encouraged, in anything from science to art to history. Their birth rates are some of the lowest among all creatures, so the rare biological family unit tends to be close-knit and cultural expectations are high for the few children that are born.

Dwarf

Can be born with or without the ability to use magic

Short, bearded, subterranean humanoids

Culturally, most dwarves enjoy showing off their prowess in working metals, stone, and gems, or otherwise focus on perfecting a specific craft. Making a trade into a career is highly prioritized, and competition in various dwarf markets is fierce. Still, some prefer to keep their crafts as private hobbies, not feeling a need to prove themselves in business—their skill is self-evident, after all.

Orc

Can be born with or without the ability to use magic

Large, tusked humanoids

Culturally, most orcs foster strong social bonds, value strength of character, and individual deeds. They put a large emphasis on community and family, and many orc social groups have regular family reunions with “talent shows” that allow each orc to show off something they’ve mastered since the last reunion.

Dragonfolk

Always born with the ability to use magic

Large humanoids with draconic features and fire breath

Culturally, most dragonfolk enjoy building collections of personally valuable objects and boast of their exploits as a form of social bonding. Those collections can range from the traditional gold and jewelry to a hoard of tourist trap knick-knacks, and the larger collection the better. Similarly, social boasting can range from personal achievement to the achievements of those close to you. Some dragonfolk like to boast that they hoard things to boast about. This usually gets an eyeroll.

Gnome

Can be born with or without the ability to use magic

Short, subterranean humanoids with a close relationship to nature

Culturally, most gnomes carefully craft gardens of fungi or flowers, and tend to live their lives slow and unbothered. They’re another creature commonly found scattered among the cultures of others, glad to share and eager to befriend any who cross their path.

Halfling

Can be born with or without the ability to use magic

Short, ground-dwelling humanoids

Culturally, most halflings value food and entertainment in extravagant fashion. Social propriety is also highly valued in many halfling spaces, and declining invitations to social events is gossip-worthy news. Each of those social events aims to be bigger and more bombastic than the last, taking any excuse to celebrate something.

Satyr

Can be born with or without the ability to use magic

Humanoid creatures with goat legs, ears, horns, and other features

Culturally, most satyrs value a “fast life” full of partying and constant recreation. From the outside, it seems as though many satyrs simply don’t care about taking life seriously, but those who party argue an emphasis on amusement is taking it seriously. Life is tough, so satyrs make joy whenever and however they can. Even comparatively more buttoned-up satyrs have at least one area they can completely let loose in.

Centaur

Can be born with or without the ability to use magic

Horse from the waist down and human from the waist up

Culturally, most centaurs emphasize close herd ties, community leadership, and helping your own. Commonly, centaur herds move nomadically around a few central locations, where trust and mutual aid is vital. Leadership roles are taken extremely seriously, and knowing when to step down into a follower’s role is applauded, not shamed.

Shapeshifter

Always born with the ability to use magic

Can be literally any of these things and more

Shapeshifters tend to assimilate with whichever culture they grow up nearest to, but in shapeshifter-only communities, they tend to value spontaneity and philosophy—they exist in both a solid and fluid state of self. Many shapeshifters find themselves unable to relate to the solidity of other creatures, or have been shamed for their abilities and refusal to just “pick something.” Cultures that value transience, like naiads, gnomes, and satyrs, tend to be more welcoming to shapeshifters than others.

Naga

Always born with the ability to use magic

Giant snake-people with arms and other humanoid features

Culturally, most naga are solitary with carefully curated routines. Their families can be very large, but naga children are encouraged to seek independence at a very early age, depending on their upbringing. Because many nagas enter brumation in the winter, the dedication to routine includes making space for rest and recuperation. Many consider it a necessary isolation, to recoup the energy to go on.

Minotaur

Can be born with or without the ability to use magic

Bull from the chest up, human from the chest down, and a bull’s tail

Culturally, most minotaur value privacy and not speaking unless they have something “valuable” to add to a conversation. This “value” is dependent on the individual, and can extend to career paths and decisions in life as well. Some minotaurs will (very subtly) bicker over which values in life are most important, both to strengthen their own arguments and to challenge others’.

Vampire

Nobody is born a vampire, they’re created from bites or curses

An undead creature that subsists off the blood of living creatures

Magic ability is based on which creature they were born as

Most vampires continue to practice the cultural values they had in their lives, but vampire-only communities tend to organize around supporting each other in undeath, and how blood-sucking might be a downside of a second chance at life, but a “living” life has consequences too. In a way, an undeath is a second chance, and many vampires aim to make the most of it, despite their circumstances.

Werewolf

Nobody is born a werewolf, they’re created from bites or curses

Look exactly like themselves until the full moon, upon which they mutate into a large wolf creature that is compelled to rampage until the next day

Magic ability is based on which creature they were born as

Most werewolves continue to practice the cultural values they had before they were turned, but werewolf-only communities tend to emphasize “necessary rage” and never holding back emotion. To some, becoming a werewolf is freeing, giving them an excuse to express “unsightly” emotions their cultures might encourage them to suppress.

Catfolk

Can be born with or without the ability to use magic

Humanoid cat creatures; can share the patterns and qualities of domestic or wild cats

Culturally, most catfolk encourage pride and self-indulgence. Walking away from situations you find unpleasant, or even unstimulating, is encouraged. Taking entire days for yourself to do something you enjoy or simply lounge around is a common pastime. There’s less pressure among catfolk to “give back” their communities, and more communal cultures can clash with catfolk because of this.

Dryad

Always have the ability to use magic

Humanoid tree creatures; can share qualities from any one type of tree

They aren’t “born,” they’re grown from other dryad seeds

Culturally, most dryads emphasize a slow, cautious life and meditation on any big decision. Impulsivity and recklessness is frowned upon, but as some of the longest-lived creatures in the world, doing something “impulsive” can vary wildly from other cultures’ expectations. Many dryads who spend time with other cultures are often shocked when creatures spend hours—not weeks or months—contemplating their choices. Others are unsurprised—other creatures simply don’t have the time to be as contemplative as a tree. Whether this is sympathy or pity can vary.

Naiad

Always have the ability to use magic

Humanoid water creatures

They aren’t “born,” they’re created through rituals with enchanted water

Culturally, most naiads value transience in relationships and transparency in emotions—never sticking too closely to one thing, but never lying about their intentions. Because they’re inherently magical, naiads use magic for everything from practicality to play. Magic puzzles and illusions are common forms of entertainment, and even as forms of education. And, of course, many naiads find it amusing to toy with other creatures who try to find their communities, distracting them with said puzzles until they prove themselves or give up.

Fairy

Always born with the ability to use magic

Humanoid creatures with thin, butterfly-adjacent wings and colorful hair and eyes

Culturally, most fairies value politeness and gift-giving, especially if the gift is handmade or somehow personal. Their communities are very close-knit, but have often near-inscrutable social constraints to outsiders. Even between different communities of fairies, the social code is practically a different language and impacts everything from terms of address to which spells may be cast in public vs private spaces.

Harpy

Can be born with or without the ability to use magic

Humanoids with wings for arms and a bird’s legs; can share patterns and qualities of any bird

Culturally, most harpies encourage freedom and independence from a young age and throughout life. The ability to fly allows them to travel much farther and with greater ease than most other creatures, so travel is a very big “rite of passage” in lots of harpy societies. Social dances are also given great importance, most often for romance, but there are plenty of dances for friendship, formal events, apologies, celebration, and even sympathy for another’s grief.

Merfolk

Always born with the ability to use magic

Human from the waist up and a sea creature from the waist down; can share qualities with any one sea creature

Culturally, most merfolk value community connections, mutual aid, and teamwork. Merfolk that share traits with fish tend to live in schools, traveling around the sea nomadically. Others that share traits with sharks or octopi tend to be solitary, staying in one area of the sea, with close ties to other merfolk that live near them, or schools that pass by. Their vocal hypnosis is used to hunt, and schools that hunt often use simultaneous hypnosis to disorient their prey before going in for the kill. In schools, the young and the elderly always eat first, followed by the rest.

Aetheridum (pl) / Aetherid (s)

Regular people (of any creature type) can have Aetheridum children if they’re blessed by whatever gods exist in this world, or if the kid is a gift they prayed for, or as a reward for devotion. No matter what their parents are, the magic kids have metallic skin, will eventually grow wings (even if they already have them), and have an intense penchant for magic

They aren’t literally “angels come to earth” but people speculate that they’re earthly incarnations of aether-creatures, or even fragments of gods themselves

The intensity of that magic gift varies between individuals, but they are the only creature that doesn’t experience the magical “atrophy” that every other creature does. They have an intense magical capacity from birth, to the point where they may warp the magic energies around them without realizing, and cause it to fire off without actually casting any spells

This can be both positive and negative. One the one hand, having a high magical capacity means a much easier time learning spells, casting them, and managing the energy output. On the other, choosing not to pursue any magical training means that any Aetherid can potentially be setting off magic flashbangs, wherever they go, by complete accident, for the rest of their lives. Most parents put their Aetheridum kids in magical training as early as possible due to this outcome, but not all of them do, and not all of the children stay in training.

Despite being a literal godly blessing, the magical capability can be somewhat of a curse too. Recruitment for their magical gifts is extremely high in scientific and medical fields, and many are pushed into high-skill, high-stress jobs for the sake of “not wasting their gifts.” There has been plenty of literature and study on the subject of just how much more beneficial an Aetherid is to any particular work environment, if at all—a high magical capacity doesn’t mean anything about how well you use it. Most find that the same jobs can be easily done with non-Aetheridum workers with standard or even low magical capacities, just not to the same degree of power. Unfortunately, these unfavorable results are often swept under the rug for the sake of maintaining the “usefulness�� of this blessed class of creature.

D’infernyssh (pl) / D’infern (s)

In the same way some children can be blessed, some can be cursed. If the parents make a foul pact, corrupt themselves with forbidden magic, or anger a vengeful deity, they can give birth to a D’infern. These children are almost a direct inverse of Aetheridum, born with metallic skin, eventually growing batlike wings, and always have a curse to bear

Similar to the speculation about Aetheridum, the D’infernyssh aren’t literally demons, but could possibly be incarnations of godly rage or corrupted godlike creatures

The curses placed on the D’infernyssh are always related to the siphoning of emotions or sensations from those around them to survive. “Real” food doesn’t nourish them in the slightest, though they do experience hunger. They describe cravings for feelings the same way any other might describe a craving for soup or fancy steak.

The types of curses known to the world are: pleasure, rest, anger, sadness, joy, envy, pain, affection, fear, pride, disgust, and curiosity.

For any non-D’infernyssh, simply being in the presence of a hungry D’infern who eats the emotion or sensation you’re feeling is all it takes for it to be slowly drained away. For example, if you feel curious about something around a D’infern that eats curiosity, you’ll slowly become less interested in it until you find it altogether uninteresting. Once the D’infern isn’t hungry, the draining stops, and your emotions become your own again. However, eating feelings doesn’t work like gaining nutrients from food, and unless the D’infern gets a big “meal” from either an intense emotional state or multiple people experiencing the same emotion at once, they often need to “eat” more than 3 times a day.

Most parents with D’infernyssh children can’t tell if they have a D’infern or an Aetherid at the beginning of the child’s life. Because they both have metallic skin and their wings don’t sprout until puberty, it’s very easy to confuse one for the other unless you know why your child was born with platinum skin. Due to this confusion, many D’infernyssh are malnourished until they can communicate what they need to survive.

There are tests that can be given to potential Aetheridum or D’infernyssh children to pick out which one is which, but it does require the parents to acknowledge the potential that their child may be cursed. Unless they know already, many are reluctant to do this, and a few are even insulted by the insinuation.

Doctors that specialize in curses are working on ways to determine from birth, and even from an ultrasound, what kind of metallic child they’re working with, but it’s a work-in-progress, and nowhere near as reliable as many D’infernyssh, their parents, and potential parents would like it to be.

Having a very obvious curse that drains the emotions of those around them, whether they like it or not, makes D’infernyssh obvious targets of ostracization from many cultures, save for those that hold overcoming personal strengths in high reverence, like orcs, dragonfolk, and dwarves. Still, there’s a lot that needs to be done for acceptance of the D’infernyssh, and places like Athendrolyn are breeding grounds for social movements.

Obviously this ostracization is more intense for some D’infernyssh and not others. For example, a D’infern that eats pain might have wildly different experiences from a D’infern that eats joy.

Goblin

Can be born with or without the ability to use magic

Small, cave-dwelling, mischievous humanoids

Culturally, most goblins encourage community sharing, barter, and near-constant play. In many goblin societies, there is no concept of “private property.” Everything in the community belongs to everybody in it, with shared resources considered the default with individual items belonging to individuals a very distant concept. Trading extra resources or favors is more common than money when it comes to trade, and even a good joke can count as “payment” in some goblin societies. Entertainment is important for the good of the community, after all, and coming up with new and exciting games is taken very seriously.

Sphinx

Always born with the ability to use magic

Large creature with a human’s face, a lion’s body, and an eagle’s wings that tells riddles

Culturally, most sphinxes value intelligence, creativity, and interrogating rules. In many sphinx communities, their riddles are less important than why the riddles are asked. Knowing when and why to test someone with a riddle is one of the first lessons taught to the rare young sphinx, though the precise reason varies. Tradition, respect for the asker, earning the asker’s attention or friendship, testing another’s creativity, gaining wisdom from their answer, all of these and more are considered valid reasons for a sphinx to ask a riddle. Good luck ever getting them to reveal which one they were thinking of when they asked you, though.

Selkie

Always born with the ability to use magic

A seal creature that transforms into a human on land, keeping its seal skin as a coat

Culturally, most selkies value boundaries, slow-moving relationships, and taking time to put down firm roots. Second only to dryads in their community emphasis on deliberation, selkies never put their coats down in places they wouldn’t be willing to risk their lives in. As slow-moving as selkie friendships and relationships can be, when a selkie is comfortable enough to leave their coats at the door, it’s a sign they’ve become a loyal companion for life. In the same vein, trying to rush a relationship can cause a selkie to snap it like a twig, never to flourish.

Gorgon

Always born with the ability to use magic

A humanoid with snakes for hair that can turn others to stone with a single glance

The snakes are most often non-venomous, but there are exceptions

Culturally, most gorgons value self-defense, privacy, and “not judging books by the cover.” As frightening as gorgons can seem, and as truly dangerous as their powers can be, the vanishingly rare cases of intentional petrification prove that many fears are unfounded. Many gorgons that value privacy also value the privacy of others, and won’t pry about topics if they aren’t brought up first. By this same principle, many gorgons have very short tolerances for others prying, especially if it involves invasive questions about “how far the snakes go” or their “statue count.”

#original writing #original fiction #spilled ink #fantasy worldbuilding #fantasy world #world building #fantasy writing #urban fantasy #writers on tumblr #writeblr #writeblr community #annika talks #Anthology World-Building #Tales from Athendrolyn

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ask-the-dunmeshi-biologists · 7 months ago

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What are y'alls favorite ecosystems?

Laios: The Australian Outback is full of some of the most amazing and deadly species on the planet, with unique adaptations that are rare to find anywhere else on earth. It has some of the most incredible views, and the arid environment is always persevering and thriving in the most unexpected ways. The outback is a place of constant wonder and nostalgia for me. Ever since I was a kid, and up until recently really, I always struggled to find a place where I could fit in and be myself. Me and Falin grew up on a small Emu farm in the bush, so I spent a lot of time on the outskirts of the outback, sticking to the same paths so that I wouldn't get lost, and despite it being dangerous, as long as I was careful, it ended up providing a safe haven for me until I saved up enough to leave the country and forge my own path in the world.

Falin: Definitely Tropical Rainforests, they hold the largest number of insect species on the planet (2.5 million in the Amazon Rainforest alone!) and are endless in their importance. There are so many things left to discover in them, from hundreds of hidden cave systems, around 80,000 plant species and, along with the ocean, they act almost as the lungs of the earth, providing most of the oxygen we need to survive. Last year, Marcille and I worked with SPUN trying to map as many mychorrzial fungi as possible, in several tropical forests of South America, Africa and Australia. After a year spent buried in the undergrowth, among the ferns, moss and mulch, it's like you can feel Earth's beating heart. I would love to return to one of them soon.

Marcille: Archipelagos. Groups of islands, both tropical and temperate are my favourite places of study. Every island has it's own unique ecosystem and these multitudes of them contain the secrets of evolution, genetics and cultural changes throughout history. From animals adapting to each island and forming new species, to ethnobotany and traditions that change and adapt, stemming from when people first took to the sea, and the legacies they leave behind to this day.

Chilchuck: The Irish Countryside. Valleys, Vales or Dales, whatever you wanna call them, there's nowhere I like being more. Despite having travelled the world with Laios, Falin, Marcille, and later Senshi, there isn't much that compares to the rolling hills of home.

Senshi: Microbiomes of all habitats. People often overlook the importance of the little things, and all the good they do for us in return for leaving them be. Macrophotography has always been a large passion of mine, and I'm fortunate enough to have landed a career in capturing the beauty of it all.

#dungeon meshi #dunmeshi biosci au #laios #laios touden #falin touden #marcille donato #chilchuck tims #senshi #dunmeshi #laios answers #falin answers #marcille answers #chilchuck answers #senshi answers

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theconstitutionisgayculture · 1 month ago

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Excerpt from the unpublished essay:

In the Freethought Now article “What is a woman?” author Kat Grant struggles at length to define the word, rejecting one definition after another as flawed or incomplete. Grant finally settles on a definition based on self-identity: “A woman is whoever she says she is.” This of course is a tautology, and still leaves open the question of what a woman really is. And the remarkable redefinition of a term with a long biological history can be seen only as an attempt to force ideology onto nature. Because some nonbinary people—or men who identify as women (“transwomen”)—feel that their identity is not adequately recognized by biology, they choose to impose ideology onto biology and concoct a new definition of “woman.” Further, there are plenty of problems with the claim that self-identification maps directly onto empirical reality. You are not always fat if you feel fat (the problem with anorexia), not a horse if you feel you’re a horse (a class of people called “therians” psychologically identify as animals), and do not become Asian simply become you feel Asian (the issue of “transracialism”). But sex, Grant tells us, is different: It is the one biological feature of humans that can be changed solely by psychology. But why should sex be changeable while other physical traits cannot? Feelings don’t create reality. Instead, in biology “sex” is traditionally defined by the size and mobility of reproductive cells (“gametes”). Males have small, mobile gametes (sperm in animals and pollen in plants); females have large, immobile gametes (ova in plants and eggs in animals). In all animals and vascular plants there are exactly two sexes and no more. Though a fair number of plants and a few species of animals combine both functions in a single individual (“hermaphrodites”), these are not a third sex because they produce the typical two gametes. It’s important to recognize that, although this gametic idea is called a “definition” of sex, it is really a generalization—and thus a concept—based on a vast number of observations of diverse organisms. We know that, except for a few algae and fungi, all multicellular organisms and vertebrates, including us, adhere to this generalization. It is, then, nearly universal... Yes, there is a tiny fraction of exceptions, including intersex individuals, who defy classification (estimates range between 1/5,600 and 1/20,000). These exceptions to the gametic view are surely interesting, but do not undermine the generality of the sex binary. Nowhere else in biology would deviations this rare undermine a fundamental concept. To illustrate, as many as 1 in 300 people are born with some form of polydactyly—without the normal number of ten fingers. Nevertheless, nobody talks about a “spectrum of digit number.” (It’s important to recognize that only a very few nonbinary and transgender people are “intersex,” for nearly all are biologically male or female.)

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succubusstarlight · 11 months ago

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By The Grace of The Moon || Astarion x Werewolf!Selunite!Reader || PT5

A/N: I’ve explained in an update (see here) but I’ll say again to those who didn’t see. This story was originally going to be one or two parts so I’ve been pulling a lot of this out of my ass. But, with encouragement, I’ve tried my best to write some of the underdark but have skipped the creche. I’ve also tried my best to write in Wyll, Karlach and Lae’zel but since I totally forgot about them, I’ve struggled for days to write them in. Because of this, I have ultimately decided to leave them out of this series. I love them and have even become a Wyll girly (have a fic idea that i've started) but I just can’t get them in properly. I’ve drained my writing trying to get them in, but nothing is fitting. I'm so sorry for that and I’m so sorry for the wait but FINALLY here is part 5 <3

Warnings: typical BG3 violence | made up lore about Lycans and Selune | kind of filler/fast paced

Masterlist || Word Count:4065

PT1 || PT2 || PT3 || PT4

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The bright sun once again woke you up. Its rays pierced your closed eyes as you struggled to open them. For a second, you couldn’t remember what you were doing the night before. But then you remembered. You could still feel the touch of your mate’s cold hands as you sat up to look around for him. And you didn’t have to look far. He stood in front of you, arms stretched as he embraced the sun’s warmth for all it had to offer. On his back was a large scar. Carved into his porcelain flesh.

His scent lingered in the air as you drank in his beautiful body. “Not staying for a cuddle?” Your confidence had skyrocketed overnight. No longer as shy around the one who you were bound too.

“You sleep light.” He turned his head, looking at you from his peripheral. “I thought you’d be exhausted after last night.” His voice was light, and his arms lowered as he turned to look at you.

“I could always go again.” You were quick to pull your knees up and hug them to you. The confidence was quickly gone as he turned to your still naked body.

He smirked. “Tempting. But this might not be the time or place.” He reaches down and grabs something from the forest floor. Your shirt. He held it out to you. “Now, shall we go on? I want to go before anyone else thanks me for saving their tails.” You stood and completely dressed, finding your pants not too far from where he grabbed your shirt. “Oh. And don’t feel the need to brag to the other about our little tryst. Given the noise you made last night, I’m sure they already know.” With that, your walk back to camp was silent and your face once again a dark shade of ruby.

---

No one had said much when you arrived back at camp. Gale was once again cooking, though this time it was a smaller pot, and Shadowheart was ushering out the rest of the hung-over Tieflings that had crashed in your camp. So after eating and gathering your things, you approached Halsin, who had made earlier promises to explain the next step in removing your tadpole.

“I trust you enjoyed your evening. After all your efforts, it was well deserved. And it may be some time before you’re awarded another such night.” He told you about the cursed lands that surrounded the towers and two ways to get to it. An overpass through the mountains or a path through the underdark. Either way, your group would be faced with plenty of monsters and conflicts.

So over the next few days, the four of you accidentally blew up an old temple of Lathander and then turned right back around to descend into the underdark through the now empty goblin camp. You had been trampled by a Bulette, been recruited by large fungi sovereign to kill nearby Duergar and then blessed by said fungi sovereign after fulfilling their request. The next thing they asked for was the head of a Drow, Nere. In their ‘camp’ you had helped a poisoned deepgnome and traveled across a large, dark lake to find and free her people. A large forge, the Lost Adamantine Forge, greeted your party when you docked, as well as some more angry duergar.

They too had a request for you. Help free your ‘fellow true soul’. The True Soul being the same one that the Sovereign had requested the head of. Nere. So with a bomb you picked up a while ago, you cleared the rocks he had caused to fall and easily defeated him and the rest of the Duergar that were around. It was an exhausting couple of days but after many sidetracks of requests, you and the others had finally made it out of the Underdark and into the Shadow Cursed Lands.

---

The door creaked open and the light from your torch barley lit the way in front of you. It felt cold as you stepped out from Sharran building, a shiver running through your spin. Everything about this place set your senses to eleven and your grip on the torch tightened.

“Halsin wasn’t lying. This place really is….” You couldn’t even find the words as you walked deeper into the shadows. You made sure to go slow and stick close to the others. If you had the confidence, you’d make sure to hold Astarion close to ensure his ultimate safety.

As you walked deeper, Shadowheart’s whispers echoed through the whispering dark. “I can feel the shadow’s power here… but they don’t seem to be harming me. The Dark Lady shields me. I can feel her.”

You quickly stop and turn towards her. You had of course already concluded that she was a worshipper of Shar. Her distaste for your Selune worship and the attempt to rebuild an altar of hers in the Goblin Camp had given it away. And her words of ‘the lady of sorrows guide us.’

“Did you say something, Shadowheart?”

“The Shadow Curse… it doesn’t seem to affect me like others. Not as badly, at least.” She stepped forward, a smile on her face. “Do you know what this means? I must be blessed. Lady Shar is protecting me where others are left to her wrath. She loves me. She must do.”

In a spit of your own disgust towards her goddess, your words seemed harsher than you wished for them to. “Your mistress rewards you with survival against her own corrupt power? That’s not love, Shadowheart.” You too felt protected from the curse. You could still feel it, but it wasn’t overwhelming. Just as if the shadows were itching to get to you. Your own blessing from Selune protecting you. You hoped it protected your mate as well.

Her brows furrowed and you immediately felt awful. You were never one to judge other’s beliefs, but Shadowheart’s adoration of your goddess’ enemy irked you more than you wished. “The darkness is the truth, Selunite. In the end, there with only be endless black. And those that Lady Shar has embraced.”

Yous sighed and tried to wave it off. “I apologies, Shadowheart. I truly did not mean to offend you or your goddess. It seems my own blessing has secured me from these lands as well. Please, continue.” You nodded and her face softened. It was the harshest you had ever been to someone else and didn’t want to lose a close friend to something as petty as this.

She nodded back before speaking once more. “Lady Shar wouldn’t bless me like this for no reason. There must be something she wants of me.” And with an agreement to try your best to help, your group continued through the lands.

---

It didn’t take long to face the creatures in the dark. Not far from where you emerged, you had run into a group of people. One was quickly taken by the curse and attacked with more shadows. It took a little effort but after defeating them, you followed the group back to where they hid. Last Light Inn. Protected from the curse by a beautiful white dome. When you passed through the barrier, it felt warm. Familiar. Selunite magic.

You didn’t get far before your feet were anchored into the ground with vines. A druid, Jaheira, had stopped you in your tracks and held a mindflayer parasite to you. She spouted about how ‘you shouldn’t have come here true-soul’ before you could even try and defend yourself. Luckily, you didn’t really have to since a small voice rang out from behind her.

“Stop! What are you doing?! They’re the one that saved us!” A young Tiefling sprinted up beside Jaheira, panting and waving her arms around.

“This is the one that saved the Emerald Grove?”

“Yep! Saved one of my friends from a mean snake to.” And with that, Jaheira released you with an apology and a request to join her for a drink. She had spoken about how her and her harpers were also after Ketheric Thorm who was hidden in Moonrise Towers. She had fought him before, ultimately failing due to his immortality. She had also tried to lace the wine she wanted to share with you, questioning you about the tadpoles in your head.

After deeming you and your group trustful, she pointed you upstairs. There was a cleric that had cast the barrier around the in, keeping it and its residents safe from the lesser affects of the shadow curse. And with a nod and a promise to scout out the towers, you all made your way upstairs. You recognized many of the Tieflings from the Grove but there seemed to be less, and Zevlor was nowhere to be found.

Reaching the double doors of a room, you lightly knock and when you hear no response, you peek inside. There was no one in sight but your ears picked up sound coming from the door on the other side of the room. Your soft footsteps creaked the floorboards along with the door you opened. On the other side was a white-haired woman in silver robes. You watched in awe as she summoned a magic orb and let it fly to the barrier, adding to the shield. The magic felt familiar, Selunite no doubt, and you felt warm.

The women coughed and turned, slightly jumping. “Oh, pardon me. I didn’t realize I had an audience. Let me guess, you’re the true soul who’s going to save us all?” She walked past you and into the room, stopping in the middle. “Did Jaheira’s sent you to beg a protection spell of her favorite cleric?” She barely gave you a chance to speak before raising her arms, her body glowing as she sent a beam of light towards your group. The magic that flowed through you felt nice and almost like home.

From her point of view, the symbol of Isobel’s goddess flashed on your skin and small ears of light appeared above your head before disappearing. “Ahh. A hunter of the night, I see. I’m sure our Lady has already blessed you with some protection, but now your group is alright as well. It will only keep you safe from the lesser effects of the curse, you’ll need to find a much stronger solution of you wish to make it to Moonrise. “

Behind you, Shadowheart growled. “Selunite magic. Dark Lady forgive me.” The wound on her hand flashed and she winced. She continued to glare at Isobel, crossing her arms.

“Good nose. Like a nasty little terrier.” Isobel retorted.

Before Shadowheart could fire back, you stepped in front of her. “Thank you, very much. But, what did you mean hunter of the night? Are you talking about…” You trailed off, still nervous to reveal your nature even if she might already know.

“Your Lycanthropy? I can sense it in you, and it was revealed when I blessed you. Lycans blessed by Selune are her ‘Hunters of The Night.’ They served has protecters, much like familiars. It seems she’s blessed you with full control of your abilities.” She held her hand up, an illusion of Selune appearing in her palm with a few wolves around her, standing protectively with her symbol on their snout just like yours.

“Lycans are much different than werewolves. Werewolves can’t control their shift and are led by anger. They are no longer human, too lost in their animal side to return. Lycans though, are blessed to keep their humanity. Selune protects them and allows them to shift between shapes. I suppose you’re like a druid, in a way.”

You nodded in awe. You and your parents still hadn’t discovered a lot about your blessing, your village too small to hold any information. “I see. Thank you. We should probably take our leave though, much to do.” You chuckled and stepped back, awkwardly pointed to the door.

“Wait. Please be careful. Ketheric is a frightening man. But you have something that he doesn’t: allies worth having. While you’re busy in the towers, I’ll be sure to…” She stopped, turning to look up and around. “Did you hear that? Somethings wrong.”

Everything suddenly went to the hells. A corrupted and winged Flaming Fist, Marcus, had crashed into the room. He was ranting about the absolute and used his own tadpole to connect to yours. He thought you were on his side and demanded your help to capture Isobel for Ketheric Throm. When he realized you wouldn’t be of help, he let out a roar and winged ghoul descended onto the Inn.

Magic and arrows were flying, and you tried your best to protect Isobel from the man. In the chaos though, a yell of pain caught your attention. Behind you, a ghoul slipped through and swiped for Astarion, slicing his porcelain skin, and knocking him to the ground, paralyzed. Your vision went red, and you let out a roar of your own, growling and sprinting towards the monster.

You weren’t exactly sure want happened. You swiped your hand at the monster, and it let out a screech, trying to swipe back but you shoved into it. Your hand bones cracked, and it felt like they were extending as claw took the place of your fingernails. You continues to slice at the monster, it’s blood coating your arms and body. When you realized it was dead, you were breathing hard and had already set your sights on your old target.

The True-Soul finally died after a long battle, as well as the rest of his winged ghouls. Blood scented the air and stained the wooden floors. Your breaths were still hard, and your heart was pounding in your ears. Your vision was blurry, and you could make out Isobel’s shape walking towards you.

She placed her hand on your shoulder, calling your name and pulling you aside. “Are you alright? You lost it there. I-I’ve never seen someone so angry.” You looked down at your hands, blood staining your soft skin and armor, and looked back at Astarion. He had gotten back up in the fight and was now being looked over by Shadowheart.

“I saw him go down and I… I just lost it, I guess. I’ve never felt so angry.” A look a realization came across her face and you avoided her gaze. If you yourself had thought that having a vampire mate was a curse from your goddess, you weren’t sure what a cleric of hers would think.

“I see.” She didn’t say much and before she could, Jaheira had busted into the room.

“Isobel! Are you alright?” Isobel nodded. “Marcus has been with us from the start- they’ve been tracking us this whole time. This wasn’t a random attack. You were the target, Isobel. They know how important you are.” Jaheira paused and turned to you. “But they don’t know about you. Ketheric will strike again. We need you to strike first. Discover the source of his invulnerability. Make him mortal, so that we may make him bleed. Good luck.”

With a determined nod, your group set out. You met a group of Harpers at the Inn’s bridge. They had a plan to steal a source of protection from the curse in an ambush of Absolute cultists that should be making they way to the towers. After gathering extra supplies and making sure everyone was good to go, your group set out with the harpers.

The Harpers were correct in their ambush. A Drider led a group of cultists with a Moon Lantern, its aura shielding them from the cursed. The fight that insinuated wasn’t too difficult. The goblins went down fast and the Drider soon after. You were luckily able to keep all the Harpers safe, everyone only receiving some cuts and bruises. The moon lantern you looted from the Drider held a fairy and her muffled voice cried out for help. In return, she blessed your party, keeping you safe from even the darkest part of the curse. So after bidding farewell to the Harpers, you all made your way to moonrise towers.

---

The trail to the Towers was long and your party had run into many shadow-cursed enemies, but after hours, you had crossed the bridge into the towers. The guards at the entry questioned you, but it wasn’t too hard to trick them. The walls of the towers stood high above you. The stone walls and darkness made the place feel cold and you grimaced as you walked through it. The smell that lingered in the air was rancid and it made your hair stand up.

It seems you weren’t the only one who could smell it as Astarion grimaced behind you, holding the back of his hand to his nose. The closest scent in the air was coming from a door to your left, and as your curiosity got the best of you, you made your way towards it. On the other side, a drow woman stood in front of a table, bottles and vials of blood scattered around its surface.

Her attention turned to you as the door creaked open and she made her introduction. “Araj Oblodra. Trader in blood and the sanguineous arts. It’s a pleasure to stand before a true soul. And your pale companion.” The way her eyes raked over Astarion’s form made your own twitch and your fists curl. “I’d like to offer my services, if you’re willing?” She offered a potion in exchange for some of your blood, and since it was only a bit, you held your hand out. It didn’t take her long at all to brew you a strong potion, gladly giving it to you.

“Before you go, tough, there might be one more thing we could discuss?” Her eyes once again drifted to Astarion. “Your friend. He’s a vampire, no? Or at least a spawn?” Her tone made your blood boil and the look in her eye made you want to rip out her throat. How dare she look at your mate that way? Use that tone to him?

“Oh don’t worry,” Astarion began, “We’re all friends under the Absolute. I won’t bite.”

She smirked and let out a soft chuckle. “Oh, I prefer if you did.” She turned to you with a raised brow. “I assume he belongs to you?”

Your eyes widened and you stood agog. “Excuse me? He doesn’t belong to anyone.” You growled out and your nails began to dig into your palm.

She let out a scoff. “Oh, I’m sure he believes that. Do you have a name, Spawn?”

Astarion took a step back, “Astarion, b-but hold on-“

Araj immediately cut him off, a smile on her face. “Good. Now, Astarion, I’ve always dreamed of being bitten by a vampire. Ever since I was a young girl.” Your ears started ringing and your body grew hot. The voices around you became muffled as she attempted to push herself onto him. It was only when she raised her voice at you that you snapped. “Ugh! Can’t you talk some sense into your obstinate charge?!”

Your eyes glowed a pale yellow and your hand wrapped around your throat, claws sprouting from your fingernails and digging into her skin. You shoved her body against her desk with a loud growl. “How DARE you speak to him like that? Do you not know the meaning of the word ‘no’?!” You companion behind you stepped back as fur peaked from beneath your armor. Beneath you, Araj struggled and attempted to speak. You leaned down, bringing your growing fangs to her ear. “If you so as much glance or even think about my mate,” you tightened your grip, “I’ll tear your gods damned throat out. Do you understand?”

She frantically nodded, and with one last shove, she fell to the ground, holding her throat and coughing. You took a deep breath and glanced down at your hands, watching as your claws retreated into your bones. Whatever has been happening to you recently, it was starting to scare you. You shuddered and shook your head, turning back to your group who was all looking at you concerned and with slight fear.

You cleared your throat and pushed past them. “L-Let’s go find somewhere to camp, I’m exhausted and this place reeks.”

---

The fire roared in front of you as you hugged your knees close to your chest. Your friends had kept their distance from you ever since making camp and you figured they were still nervous after your outburst earlier. You had been sitting alone for a while when soft footsteps reached your ears, and the scent of your mate met your nose.

Turning your head, he sent a small wave to you. “Do you have a moment. I think we need to talk.” Your heart clenched and you stood, following him back to his tent. He turned to you, a look of nervousness in his eyes. “I uum, I want to thank you.” His voice was soft, keeping in mind the others in their own tents.

You raised a brow. “For what?”

“For what you said, when I was in front of that vile drow. I spent two hundred years using my body to lure pretty things back for my master. What I wanted, how I felt about what I was doing, it never mattered. You could have asked me to do the same- to throw myself at her, what I wanted be damned.” His voice raised and he threw his arms out, but quickly brought them back in, his eyes softening. “But you didn’t. And I’m grateful.”

You smiled. “Astarion, I would never make you do something you don’t want to do. And I’ll hurt anyone who tries to force you to.” You clenched your fists again, the thought of that drow heating up your blood again.

“It’s a novel concept, I admit. And a little intimidating.” He looked down and sighed. “Look. I had a plan. A nice, simple plan- seduce you, sleep with you, manipulate your feelings so that you’d never turn on me.” He let out a chuckle, and in your chest your heart pounded. So he didn’t feel the pull. He had been using you this whole time? “It was easy, instinctive. Habits from two hundred years of charming people kicked in.”

You took a small step back, holding your hand over your heart. “Astarion, I…I…” You couldn’t even speak; no words came to your mind as he continued talking.

“All you had to do… was fall for it.” He let out another sigh. “And all I had to do, was not fall for you. And that is where my nice, simple plan… falls apart.” His eyes bore into yours, and you could see no deceit. He truly meant it. “You… you’re incredible. But you deserve something real. I want us to be something real.” He stepped forward, grasping your hand in between his own.

Your heart pounded in your ears and sparks shot through your skin beneath his. Minutes passed, and without your response, he stepped back and sighed. It snapped you out of your gaze and you reached back out to him, stepping forward and wrapping your arms around his waist softly. It stunned him for a second, but he slowly lowered his arms around you in return.

His scent was all you could smell as you nuzzled into his chest with a smile. “I want us to be something real too. More than anything.” You stepped back, moving to hold his hands in yours.

He let out a breath. “You… you’re full of surprises, aren’t you?” A smile broke out on his face, and he leaned forward. “Honestly, I have no idea what we’re doing. Or what comes next.” The grip on your hands tightened. “But I know that this… this is nice.” His smile was soft, and he brought up one of your hands, placing a soft kiss on your knuckles. “I- I do have one question though. I couldn’t help but overhear what you told that drow.”

Your brow raised and you tilted your head. You hoped it didn’t show on your face, but you were worried.

“What did you mean, when you said, ‘my mate?’” Your blood ran cold, and all you heard was the pounding on your heartbeat.

---

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