#Rinkalla

[ntls-24722]

It's about time I made new refs for these 3 c:

They're this polyamorous trio of Debu who I love dearly. Lepit fled to Lewes, their village, to escape his death sentence, Rinkalla fled to Lewes to escape her fame and adoring fans, and Sindeer's... always been here. Now they're all dating eachother, under the scrutiny of everyone, making stupid bank as an iron trio with Sindeer bringing in lionfleas, Lepit making never-before seen dye out of them, and Rinkalla using them in her artwork that would become prized artifacts of the modern world.

Breakdown of designs and general loredump below the cut:

*rated on how easy they are to acquire, not how common they are in Debu art/fashion

So, a big thing with these 3 is that they've gotten famous for dealing with their last competent predators - the lionfleas (bottom of post), these bipedal pack-hunting bugs that take advantage of their enourmous size, and their dye isn't just desired because it's made from lions but also because the color is valuable in general, similar to how purple was prized and usually reserved for royalty because of how difficult it was to get.

The first 2 sections of colors are really common with the first one being found constantly in the rocks they're constantly quarrying to make their caves, and the second one being a really prominent color in their plants' "flowers." Yellows, greens, and cyans aren't usual plant/organic colors, so they're very hard to get as pigments, at least for Debu who need a lot more of it. Usually they can only get it through trading Zebrapeople who can create these pigments much more efficiently than Debu, as zebrapeople have domesticated bugs who create them. But these lionfleas' shells produce a surprising golden yellow hue from the vesigial wings that got incorporated into their elytras, and this dye is used in the fabric Sindeer makes as a huge moneymaker and a giant ass flex in their stoles.

Speaking of which, Valley Debu have 3 big ideals - heritage, your in-group, and history/recordkeeping. The second of which I'm about to show off rn:

*The right side is the right side of all of their stoles to show they're all a part of the same group, and each of their left sides show their role in it.

Also, the fertility symbol - I went over this in the first try of this post, but the debu fertility symbol is kinda universally known as this centermost circle within the object it's on, since it's supposed to resemble a yolk from an egg. A lot of societies have a specific sigil but it's very easily recognized from the aforementioned center circle thing. The damn thing is everywhere on account of fertility being a very big ideal for Debu - their environment is harsh, arid, and susceptible to frequent famine, and prospering crops and other Debu is something they look forward to.

Valley Debu really like grouping themselves, establishing and aligning themselves with communities, on the broader and individual scale. Yes they're very nationalistic, but they're also extremely proud of even just friendgroups, they love to show the pride and demonstrate their exclusivity within groups as niche as possible(which leads to a LOT of polarization and wars within Valley Debu). These 3 are no different and when they're out and around other Debu they wear a stole around their hump+shoulders showing off how they're the freaks who keep surviving their equivalent to lions and live to make them into dye. Usually though, around the house they're just naked :P

Also, Extra notes on some of the stuff I added as their professions!

Sindeer is a huntress but she's specifically a whistleblower one, and also carves whistles, and here's why. On Bolur, all 3 species domesticated cloes instead of something like a dog, these bird-like creatures who originally were domesticated to keep bugs off them and their crops, who can often be trained to respond to specific whistles that mimic the ones they use naturally. The cloes Debu domesticated act a lot like hunting hounds for Debu, they can locate and kill game. So basically, she hunts with flying dogs and makes dogwhistles.

Then there's Rinkalla, who among other things, makes cement?

On Bolur, they have have land coral, these photosynthetic things with a soft, marrow-y pith and a hard limestone outside. The homo mousike (3 sapient species) really like using it in their cement and concrete since it's really widespread, and Rinkalla... does that! The original reason was because Bolur didn't have wood, but I'm realizing that wood as a concept for plants is so incredibly simple that I don't think I can make it Not canon, even though it was a fun design constraint.

Also, last names: Valley Debu societies are generally patriarchal, but their love of recordkeeping extends past this - they prefer the mother's last name to be passed down since the mother is the most reliable parent. If someone gives birth, no matter what they say who's the father, you can never be sure. But whoever gave birth is DEFINITELY the parent, you know? Their last name also doesn't change even with marital status.

Lepit made his last name up

[ntls-24722]

HELP I WAS JUST ABOUT TO POST ABOUT THIS

POV you are trying to go on artfight

[monty-glasses-roxy]

@ntls-24722

I love Rinkalla. Your design of her gives her such little old lady vibes and I love that for her. A favourite for sure! Was gonna draw her more but it didn't all go to plan unfortunately :(

[ntls-24722]

the bride and the ugly ass other bride and groom

fashion breakdown below cut

So, I've decided that Serendipolis debu, or at least the founding ones, were actually badlands debu! Their culture rapidly changed in this one city where they had all these new resources (the mountainous, harsh area may be good for mines) and this whole new cultural exchange with the two species that they usually don't really meaningfully come into contact with. Now I'm thinking that serendipolis's very grand body mods are an extrapolation of badlands debu body mod goals, where they're trying to mimic the badassery of a bunch of scars and piercings by having these big sweeping ones, and how the saddle-caparisons could be used as actual saddles for passing zebramen and zebraelves like how in beastars, larger animals let smaller ones hitch a ride on them in hallways!

I could go on but the important part is that the entire dress has the template of Badlands wedding dress, but the designs within are very reminiscent of Valley debu.

So, the dress is actually really skimpy, it's just about the equivalent to Debu lingerie with the placement of the cutouts, and the reason is is sort of the message to highlight the back hairs and behind area to be like "now that you're a part of the family, here's the goods." The back hairs in particular also have the message of both the impending motherhood since that's where baby Debu latch on, and also the highlight of the closeness between the newlyweds, since resting your head on the back hairs/back area is a form of affection that isn't... intimate but it establishes that you're very close to the person to have the same tenderness and vulnerability with them the same way a child does when it hangs on to those hairs.

The blue, and the frills on the edges of the caparison is a very Serendipolis part of the design, but the actual design on the caparison is very curvy, floral, it's geometric but very wavy which are generally the designs that Valley debu create. The bracelets are the opposite, though, they have very hard, straight edges and Badlands Debu love that stuff. The floral element next to her hump is both representative of Lepit and general growth and those light-colored thingies around the back are supposed to be whistles that represent Sindeer c:

I just have to make a reason for every damn little thing, huh

[ntls-24722]

so debu have an issue with their design

their shoulders are paralell with eachother and they're all at the same width on the torso - their arms are constantly in eachothers' way

I ignored it really hard during the run animation where I just magically layered all of the legs on top of eachother, but it bugged me real bad, so i fixed it!

Now they're super wide, their middle pair of arms comes wider out than the other pairs. I remember saying that Debu were wider than they were tall in order to make them better at climbing cliffs, and I think this makes them better at doing so. Also it's inherently the funniest front view on Bolur. 🛸

Also, Debu shoes. It's Drohnen shoes - socks and sandals edition. Their hooves are uncovered, their fingers are gloved, and the palm of their hand is padded, and sandal'd.

Also, zebramen!

Unnamed bald guy stands out when he's out in public, but mostly for his "overdressing." Most societies around the area that I focus on don't wear much of any clothing, and this is across all species. It's too hot to be doing that! But it's fun to wear some jewlery and bracelets, decorative wear that doesn't cover much. He wears this big cloak - not because he's self-concious, he doesn't give a shit - but because sunburn is much more of a problem when you don't have fur.

He does boast being able to keep cooler than everyone else though

this unfortunate fellow's steed has broken right through its reigns.

This Creature actually has the same leg problem as Debu, but it's on purpose - @/portalfire gave me the idea of an animal with this really cool locomotion where at any given time during its "gallop", it's practically bipedal by cycling really quickly through its legs in a circular motion. In media, even in ancient times, it's depicted with a sonic "leg swirl" from how it appears to everyone else.

It's herbivorous, but it's very social, and competitive within its in-group at that, which is why they evolved such gnarly beaks.

misc zebras:

[ntls-24722]

Ah, my favorite part of speculative biology... the flying Thingmajigs!!!

Instead of domesticating wolves, the Music Men's best friend is birds. "Cloes," specifically. Many of them are insectivores because they're an alliance over their crops (music men get their crops free of pests, cloes get snacking) but they do have "raptors" that help them locate and catch prey and game that I should also design.

The Debu have domesticated the Homo Mousike equivalent of bats. Nocturnal, communal, cavedwelling cloes that even sleep upside-down! Though that last part isn't special, most cloes sleep/roost upside-down - have slight prongs on the ends of their muscular tails to help them hook on to a branch they're hanging on.

Originally they were the pests but now they keep pests out, not just bugs but any small animal. They're also communal much like most domesticated cloes, and by mimicking their calls you can command an entire flock, which is an especially potent ability when the only thing stopping these guys from going after bigger prey is numbers.

The gap between their front and back teeth are especially large so they can have a gap for Grip. They use their long middle finger to stab insects.

The Zebraelves have their insectivores, but they actually have clohe mounts! Diving, powerful flyers the size of our storks that they ride. They're not as communal as most domesticated clohes, and they sleep/roost on the ground, unlike most cloes. They actually can use their tail like a fish's, and swim like one beneath the water.

They're almost a bit too water friendly, and oftentimes, if you fly over water with them, there's a half chance they'll dive for a snack... It's best to keep them extra-fed but there's no cure for impulsivity.

Behold... the cloe equivalent to a crusty white dog. This one is a basic clohe domesticated for the purpose of keeping pests off your garden but the wealthy have begun breeding fancier cloes from the already curly-furred, cute, insectivores in nature.

Wouldn't be a true "dog" without the unethical breeding for cuteness

They have a version of fetch (aka some game universally played with cloes) where they toss them up in the air and let them glide/fly down into their hands. Once they industrialize/modernize I imagine cloe movies will have someone reluctantly adopt a cloe after literally tossing it away and having it fly right back over and over.

That one picture of the zebraelf holding her laughter in inspired me to make these 3 characters - these 2 mailmen who ride their cloes to far-out cities and deliver things and their kinda uptight boss who always catches them on stupid tomfoolery. Mordecai, Rigby, and Benson dynamic.

They actually do know Sindeer, Rinkalla, and Lepit, but the first one (fanny pack, "Mauli") is seen as a treat to have in the house and the 2nd one (mohawk, "Pua") is seen as a PEST by specifically Sindeer because she caught her stealing from her farm Only Once

Also, Rinkalla's petroglyphs.

The first one is set mostly in the past. shows the nigh-falling out between Sindeer and Lepit that led them searching for someone new, Lepit making his seperate burrow now that Rinkalla is there to sleep beside Sindeer, something she made to comfort Sindeer on her infertility woes, and Rinkalla offering Lepit a razor to shave off his back fur, alongside making fur extensions from them. Surprise! i forgot to mention that in their introduction post but Rinkalla and Lepit are trans and they have a sick trade deal

This one is mainly set in the now with just very domestic scenes for the most part of Rinkalla offering Sindeer handmade blades, Lepit caring for her when she got stupid sick, but that one gruesome, blood-covered scene was how this series of skirmishes with a group of Zebraelves ended, where a group of exiled, unwillingly nomadic raiders were attempting to drive the 3 out from their homes so they could take it. The first time Lepit got stabbed badly when they came, they got away and stole a big chunk of their food, but the 2nd time, Sindeer literally picked up one of them, chucked them into the air, and called their cloes to feast on the fucker midair.

That ended that issue very quickly! It was the scariest thing Rinkalla had ever seen and she commemorated it

[ntls-24722]

go make cave art today

[ntls-24722]

SO

Artastic's reblog with the pierced neck sails was truly inspirational because I've just decided to focus on body mods for Debu regions and their neck-sail piercing specialties. I'm realizing a lot of things that I've kept from Debu for their percieved (by me) tediousness and material cost are not half tedious or expensive as I thought, so... also expect Debu clothes soon (though, clothes are purely decorative and aren't around for actual cover)

Going off of the groups I named in this general makeup chart;

Coastal Debu have the benefit of being in reach of all sorts of shiny, pretty "bug" parts from their beach living. Shells, paddles, decorative mouthparts, along with dried fish parts and bones, it's all in their reach and by god do the coastal Debu use em, slapping those things right onto studs made of bone with the decorative side pointing outwards. Coastal Debu are not known for one specific reoccurring feature in their piercings, but the beach theme is very specific to them.

Valley Debu are mostly known for beads. Clay, bone, stone, "wood", glass (glass in particular, since they invented it!), into cubes, ovals, little squares, stars even - they love the damn things and they will put it anywhere and everywhere. In this case, the most popular style for piercings is on the string that hangs interwoven between their gauge. There's also little flags of cloth they hang on the string to denote families or in-groups within tribes.

Other than that, they hang pycnofibers and lines of scales from these strings as well.

Also, it was at this point where I finally changed how the sails are.

There's now 2 of them! They start way higher up on the neck (yellow area is base) so there's more surface area and they're better at their thermoregulative job

Badlands Debu are known for their art using a specific type of plant sap that they dry out in the sun to create a hard, amber-like resins. There's a lot of art they have where they pour it into casts or over certain things, and the most popular thing they like dipping in the resin for their neck piercings are the fluffy seedpods of a flower most similar to Earth's dandelions.

Badlands Debu also have a focus on body modifications making one look powerful, so there's scarification and mouth cutouts, which are painful but make the Debu be seen as hardcore or look very menacing. Or both! There actually is a specific mouth cutout that are reserved only for leaders where the entire cheek is cut for a wider gape of the mouth. Other Debu are required to have a little strip of skin connecting the top and bottom jaw.

Serendipolis! I used to think the debu from this society would be the only ones able to get piercings, and yet I stalled like crazy trying to think up body mods for them. HMM

Anyways. They're obviously known for metal, and along with rings, Debu are also known to have these tusk caps (think a horseshoe but for your teeth). But a special accessory of theirs is a stream of cloth on a string that connects to the lips to the back gauge on the sail. That damn thing gets caught on everything but I'll be damned if it doesn't look cool. They also use diver Cloe jawbones (now that they're in access to zebraelves) and bug heads/eyes (now that they're in access to the other bugs that Zebrapeople have domesticated.) There's also colorful shells they have from trading with coastal Debu.

Rinkalla used to have a nose ring but when she moved out of Serendipolis, she didn't want to stand out (since that was the point of her moving), so she took it out and now she has the valley beads as well.

[ntls-24722]

a good way to keep your morale up while you go on long journeys into the wilderness completely nude to get attacked by lions

i love this post

[ntls-24722]

half a sketch dump bc I've had these on the backburner for like... a week at this point 💀

The holy trinity. What I was trying to play with was Rinkalla having a weirder beard - the original concept for her hairstyle was that she's always wanting to do stuff with it. What I thought would be fun is if she had one of those giant, detailed, decorated beards you see in a lot of mesopotamian art. That and it'd make sense for the time period that homo mousike's in.

Solidifying Bugs + the lionflea redesign where I bit the bullet and went straight up dromaeosaur.

Bugs are 8 legged "mollusks" rather than being fully hardshelled, and due to not having a full carapace weighing them down, bugs got huuuuuuge, from being as small as our insects to being as big as elephants. They're pretty much nautiluses that got up on land and evolved to walk on their tentacles with concentric muscles rimming their muscle groups to add support, and they retained their shells as a beetle-like carapace on their backs. Wings are extremely common just like they are in our insects, coming from a derived antennae - The edges of wings are covered in the chemosensory hairs that allow them to smell and taste, and bug ear canals are at the wing-armpits, allowing them to create an external ear when their wings fold up around them.

The ancestors of lionfleas are these occasionally bipedal, beetle-mantis-ospreys that evolved their back limbs to become tails. Lionfleas began to lose more of their limbs as they became more and more bipedal, and during their "ground owl" period they doubled up on the chemosensing hairs both to smell better, but to muffle their flight, just like how owl feathers are fuzzy at the edges, too! Lionfleas can fly, but not for very long, but wings make them stupid scary jumpers.

Speaking of these osprey-beetle things, here's the development of another member of their clade...

Here's this post. I included this whole page because I find it so funny that you can literally SEE the progression happen. I even wrote out "holy shit" when it clicked bc i was losing my mind.

Anyways, the first half is the hypothetical birdguy-DJMM fanchild and the bottom of this page, along with this next picture, is the djmm alien I've been looking for.

Finally, I figured out a design that made a chin and nose necessary, and made the teeth-plates possible. It's only a bonus this guy turned out to be a cutie patootie.

It's a parrot! It's a squid parrot! It came from the same ancestral beetle that the beetle-osprey did, and it evolved wiggly teeth for dexterity and facial expressions. There's a GIANT socket where its teeth sit in, where it can be pulled up into the DJMM "teeth-plate" position, and down into an awful hooked beak position for tearing into prey. Originally it was a modest joint like it is in parrots to better hold things and pull in prey, but it got exaggerated to the point the two hooks can sit vertically just for the sake of seeming demure to other squid-parrots (and to exaggerate when they push their teeth out when they want to look scary).

Their skulls are actually super narrow and only comprise of their jaw, and can actually be pushed out of their face like a goblin shark! Deeply awful! Demonic little thing! however they're very cute. I dont think I'll make these ones sapient, I like them more as fun little animals (and an easter egg DJMM in the, yknow, DJMM alien setting)

Dirt skeleton!!! dirt skeleton yayyy dirt skeleton!!!!! I put these two seperately because I didn't want these two to be cropped. these are so nice doodles.

The dirt skeleton is completely devoid of romantic or sexual desire but he still enjoys being kissed by Comet because he sees it as her bonding with him and he is quite attached to her as well. He fundamentally doesn't understand romantic attraction and doesn't get it, but he does get that there's a bit of social weight to being kissed that he's fine with recieving.

Second doodle is him being stuck in the same position for 5 years to allow his bone to heal. The times the dirt skeleton has fractured bone above ground, his crying eventually becomes this constant, irritable frequency that pretty much gets everything to evacuate within its mile-wide earshot, which is quite convenient. People who get near his site of healing literally get annoyed by this unhearable, yet deeply uncomfortable frequency playing and leave. During this, he also stops percieving the world, blinding and deafening himself, as percieving the world as he experiences the worst pain he can feel becomes overstimulating.

[ntls-24722]

DEBU THROUPLE!!

I remade the claws to be sort of hoof-like to show their ungulate-like ancestors. They are plantigrade now, but the vestigial hooves are still VERY useful for digging.

The Left one is Lepit, the center is Sindeer, and the right one is Rinkalla. named literally bc of their placements ("left", "center", "right") bc when i was explaining some of their dynamics for the first time I called them as such

Lepit is king of the farm, Sindeer is queen of the meats, and Rinkalla is queen of the rocks. together they will rule the world.

Lepit is monotonous and awkward, not shy, but he's blunt about things and cannot read social cues. He's the most private and solitary of the two (which isn't saying a lot considering Sindeer and Rinkalla are insufferably all over eachother, but he also doesn't even sleeping in the same chamber as them) but he does show that he cares in his own way. Get you a man who offers you yummy tubers as a declaration of his love at inconvenient and private times.

Sindeer is the most anxious and scared of everything out of the 3, which is ironic considering she's also the scariest. As queen of the meats she knows how and can skin you but with the way she acts, it appears she's convinced you can do the same. She is always expecting the worst which has culminated in many eccentric behaviors and superstitions. She is one interesting little critter

Rinkalla is by far the most chill out of the 3. She is charmingly absurd, she is great at boosting morale, and she is very loyal. She is not the most level-headed. She will speak her mind and that is... not always the best thing - she's impulsive, both in her own actions and her advice to others. She will be on your side, and talking to her will make you feel better, but she'll also accidentally get you to start a war. That and she is often an instigator and she will get you into ridiculous situations. She keeps you on your fingers, for better or for worse.

[ntls-24722]

Humanized cavepeople!!!

In the first+second pic, it's specifically the version where the beards are treated the way that debu treat them - Debu happen to have the exact same gender standards and stylization for beards the way we do with hair. Longer beards are seen as more feminine, shorter beards are more masculine, and accessorizing your beard the same way you would accessorize your hair is extremely common. So, it makes sense that a human Debu might rock their beard as a regular hairdo.

I personally like the bearded look on them, it's more true to themselves, but I can't deny a Not Bald Sindeer is very cute (what if i make it BOTH their hair AND beard...)

1manband doodles, featuring a certain Glamrock Springbonnie made by @gazing-into-infinity! He's contemplating... he's lost in thought... and is a technician in this case!

There's also some stuff with the nervous system I drew with 1manband in response to listening Turin Trk1.

Below the cut: Nudity and Blood/Gore

So, specifically "the nervous system," I thought it would be a cool visual if Nullguy's nervous system flashed inside of 1manband during a concert or something like that?? showing that he's just kind of in there

Then there was the completelt different (in source) thought of 1manband eventually destroying all barriers of becoming 1 person, all except for their minds - physically, Nullguy's body atrophies and digests into nothing inside Music Man to become completely inseperable, leaving nothing but his nervous system to become Music Man's. This is definitely not canon, but they would swoon a little at the thought of doing it (though, they'd think it'd be too much irl), esp when in this scenario Music Man cracks open his spinal column, paralyzing him from the neck down and integrates his nervous system into his own, via slurping that shit right out of the back of his neck like it's ramen noodles.

I was going to add chopsticks but I felt like it was more fitting for Music Man to be shoveling it all into his mouth instead. There's only like 4 intact dissected nervous systems, and all of them took days of delicate but intense surgery to complete extraction, yet this motherfucker is having a nervous system mukbang and getting every last nerve ending.

Nullguy isn't in pain, he can't feel any part of his body at this point, but he is still panicking and scared.

As for nudity:

(sindeer personally finds the fact she's being paid quite well for almost dying of being attacked by lions in the wilderness very surprising)

[ntls-24722]

hEllO sAilor

The inevitable reunion because the mf was over 90 years old

Also: something something the guilt that Comet can and has shapeshifted for him while he's still stuck in the body he's always been and he's only physically changing for her now that she's dead. Not taking into accout the change he's gone through as a person . is this anything

Hello Cole Notapplicable, I love you so much

Very interesting that these two evolved from DJMMS that were very similar to eachother. Also the fact it was specifically their human designs

Bighand's story is completely irrelevant as a human but I love this design........

[ntls-24722]

Debu clothes!!! This one's kinda quick but basically, Debu really only wear clothes for decorative purposes and their clothes don't really cover up much at all.

Most cultures have these blankets over the back, held partially by the hump, kind like the clothes you often find on elephants. Some cultures have modesty expectations where the back hairs on women are covered up either by this blanket or by a dedicated hair covering that's ceremoniously taken off at marriage (sometimes to the women's dismay - it's usually highly decorated better than what i could do and quite frankly Looks Real Good on them). Though, other cultures encourage an open back to show the hairs as the hair is seen as beautiful/attractive.

They also have arm braces! Bracelets as we have them would sometimes get in the way of their movement if they aren't tight enough, and stepping on them would be a pain. So, they rather have braces that stay on quite neatly.

Also: hat.

Sindeer is terrified of piercing, partially because the sail is actually full of blood vessels and piercings are actually a very bloody process - which is no good for mrs. hemophilia here

disorganized post. bc my brain is

[ntls-24722]

ok i know i havent gone in depth with debu beauty standards but i love that rinkalla, sindeer, and lepit being together is really funny

like if we are going off of just idealized unrealistic beauty standards Rinkalla litearlly looks like a barbie doll. she was fucking loaded and famous in the Big City and she proceeded to move to Nowhereville with these 2 hicks who look below average at best

redraw of this impending. also i get to make debu wedding attire

[ntls-24722]

I thought about episode 9 so therefore. Obligatory gospel music post 👍👍 (sorry for not posting)

Weird cartoon hijinks (possibly from scudworth??) leads to snow in the middle of April and they have a ball about it because everything's closed and DJMM, who's cooled by the random chill, is super hyperactive about it

Bonus closeup of this one face because I enjoyed it greatly

Also!! Modern AU with these guys. In the modern age they have sunscreen so they actually show their skintone, but they do have whiteface and decorations specifically for the face (and hump).

Sindeer is a physical therapist, Rinkalla is a retired popstar, and Lepit is an arborist. He also smiles more since their homes have lights now and closing his mouth to hide your glow doesn't really do anything