#altean culture

[hibiscusseaart]

Altean families hcs

Heya! I'm not stopping. Twi thread

Warnings: 18+ (mostly cuz biology talk), Half-altean Lance.

I am gonna start with alteans and their structure. I believe that alteans are quite matriarchal. We don’t have enough clues about it in canon, but from what I see, mothers are quite the leading power.

Honerva was unstoppable and she stopped only when SHE wanted (tho destroying realities, like she got what she wanted) and Allura talked to her. Plus she got Zarkon wrapped around her finger before going mad and even a lil after that. Imagine her not being evil. Jeez what a woman she’d be.

I believe that Melenor might be the Queen by blood and Alfor entering the family by marriage and becoming a consort. Why? One of the main reasons is that Alfor never ever wears any kind of crown, while Melenor and Allura always do. Also you can see in this screenshot, Melenor sitting next to Zarkon - the sole emperor of Daibazaal - closer than her husband, who is friends with said emperor, meaning Melenor has higher status than her husband.

Though, here, she’s standing on the side. But he is not a King for nothing right?

But it can say nothing about alteans being matriarchal. I hcs them like that, cuz it seems fitting for them to put mothers and families on a pedestal.

So, now I’ll start to explain altean process to start a family. I already explained their courting process here (вставить ссылку).

Alteans can only get pregnant when both partners want it and it can not happen by accident. Conception is actually considered a very special process and even a ritual in Altean culture and is not considered like something dirty or full of lust. It’s usually something very-very gentle. Though usual sex is kinda stigmatized and they mostly don’t talk about it. Yeah you have really slow social progress, when you live in monarchy and your population lives for more than 600 years (that’s around Coran’s age and he considered as middle aged man).

Getting back to pregnancies. At conception, a portion of quintessence from each partner is fused to form child’s. It’s a big strain for future parents cuz it’s literally part of their life force is gone to their child. Because of this, they rarely have more than 2-3 children.

This ritual is counted as the 1st day of child’s existence. So birthday counts from the conception date. Also, because of their huge life spawn, they count their age as centuries. For example, “I am 17” means that the child is 170 years old. They’re considered as a minor till their 250 birthday. Modern alteans can, basically, live forever until they’re killed (im pretty sure that they have tech to change DNA (also this shit is controversial as hell, but i will talk about it when i get to write about politics). But they can look old, like Alfor did, because of stress. Stress is their kryptonite in that case.

(also i suspect that Altea has a shorter year, being closer to it’s sun)

Oh, also, a little biology: alteans deffinetly have different sexes, looking at their bodies, they have pretty obvious sexual dimorphism. Though, knowing how advanced they are (thanks for changing DNA tech) and their abilities for shapeshifting, they probably can easily change how they like it and have a child. They might be like some kinds of fish or lizards, which can change their sex when needed. Like they’re born as hermaphrodites. but for some alteans male hormones are stronger, for some female are (and i’m pretty sure that they have their own hormones, they’re aliens after all, i’m just using this terminology for better understanding).

Anyway, mothers for alteans are the ones who bear the child and feed them later (and they def feed some kind of milk, why else would alteans have boobs? to store quintessence there?). And they are quite the heroes/heroines, cuz babies take a lot from alteans, mostly quintessence, I think. But physically too. I think that they can have longer pregnancies. The reason humans have their babies for 9 months and even then the baby is helpless and can’t even hold their head, it’s cuz the head is so big and if it’d grow more it’d be a big problem for mothers in the stretching department. But alteans don’t have that problem with shapeshifting so the babies are bigger. Maybe a lil smaller than Allura on the screenshot.

So because pregnancy is really taxing, it’s exactly why they prefer to have multiple partners, so they can help each other (looking at you, Coran). Also I think alteans could have little traditions, like giving a pregnant lady some presents or flowers, even if you don’t know her well. Pregnant one is a really precious one. Alteans if stress (kryptonite!) can easily have a miscarriage and it’s always devastating for them. So they try to avoid any bad news during pregnancies.

sidenote: it’s weird to refer to a pregnant altean solely as she/her, cuz alteans can literally alter their biology. who knows, maybe it’s alfor who gave birth to allura. we will never know.

(but, according to my hcs, we know, cuz allura calls melenor mother and that means that she was the one who was pregnant with her.)

So the next thing is really important for alteans and their families. As you well know, alteans have a deep connection with quintessence and can kind of control it. Each family has its own little “lake” of quintessence. This lake keep them all connected to each other, mostly emotionally. They can’t read each other’s minds, but it’s easy for them to sense a mood and feelings in general. I think, it’s the same how the Lions communicate and connect.

This connection is really important, because it can help all members of this lake to feel needs of altean mother and then children’s needs. It also helps them to feel their quintessence more clearly and develop empathy.

A child is accepted into family’s lake when their quintessence grows stronger and detaches from their mother’s completely (at first it’s really intertwined and helps mother to take care of their kid). They have a traditional ritual for that and it’s held by the most magically talented member of the family. But it can also happen naturally, if the kid is close with everyone in the family, tho connection will be a bit weaker, because no one leads kid’s quintessence in the right place.

The acceptance ritual usually happens at their 5-10 year (it’s really early for alteans if you remember their lifespan). If not accepted, then the child will feel unwanted, abandoned and in general will be very restless and prone to stress and depression.

If someone is not accepted, they’re not considered a real family. The marriage is all about future spouses to get this connection with each other.

This connection can weaken though, it’s not permanent and needs refreshing. Usually it’s enough to just spend time with each other. But it’s highly emotional and if someone doesn’t want to be connected, they link will break.

Now let’s talk about my baby half-altean Lance >:)

So, Luis and the others are not full siblings. Luis was born from the human, when the others were born from an altean who happened to get on Earth somehow (i know how, but i wanna save something for my long ass fic which MAY be translated if I could find a beta). That altean and Lance’s mom have had Marco and Veronica. But the altean didn’t expect that Lance’s mom would have 2 eggs. Alteans do not have that at all. A little later after Lance and Rachel were conceived, he died of the quintessence strain. On Earth no one really knew why.

But well, these two were never accepted in the lake with his father, Marco and Veronica (these two didn’t even know about being part-alien), so they grew up with diagnosed ADHD and self worth issues.

There we step into more of the AU territory, cuz Lance is known as altean much earlier, maybe before s 2. Coran and Allura are estatic. They were so used to their big families always buzzing lake, so felling only each other was really lonely. So Allura accept Lance as her own brother (yeah, Allura was that much uninterested). She did use a little too much magic because of her inexperience, so Lance got his marks and his ears started to change (cartilage are softer and can be bend easier).

He started to become more altean in general. Like he isn’t disgusted by food goo anymore for example and gets stronger easier. He can’t shapeshift, bc human bones, but he can change his skin color. It was weird af for him to feel Allura and Coran as he feels his lion, but it did helped him a lot with his ADHD and worries. Plus he got a new sister and, kind of, a new dad? Or Uncle? He’s not sure. But it’s the closest to his family he ever had since they got into space.

Thank you for reading! Hope you like it! Please let me know what hcs do you have about altean or maybe galra families!

[star-racing]

I think having all the alteans be dead at the start of Voltron was a missed opportunity tbh, I know they were going for a sole survivor thing but I think it would've been so interesting to actually see Allura as a leader of her people for literally any amount of time

[sockdooe]

Might be a weird question but would alien planets have their own flags? Like how earth does with all its different countries?

In Voltron galra has a symbol not a flag and alteans have nothing symbol that is uniquely theirs

Are only those who colonize have identifying markers ?

[klanced]

people like to joke that keith is a mcr girlie. but i think allura would have a religious experience if she listened to ‘three cheers for sweet revenge’

[queengeni]

Am I the only one who kinda felt some similarities between Lotor's speech while he was fighting the white lion X the blade of marmora mindset?

[imhereformysciencefriends]

Day 6: Galra Allura

Tags: @loturaweek2024 Species swap, alien culture, Galran Empire, helping someone you dislike and hating it the whole time, deep seated propaganda/brainwashing, touch starvation

Read on AO3

Prince Lotor was an embarrassment to the Galra name and species. Everyone knew that. To even touch him was to risk being polluted by the filth that tainted his bloodline and made him soft, pathetic, vulnerable. To associate with him? Was to practically volunteer to join him at the bottom of the pecking order. He was alive only because he had half-inherited his father’s martial prowess (and how powerful was the mighty Emperor Zarkon, that even half his strength should best any Galra that challenged Lotor!) and because Galran custom forbade even Zarkon from ridding the universe of his own child.

Allura knew that.

Allura was a good, dutiful, honorable, hardworking Galra. She was proud, as all Galra were proud, she was fearsome, as all Galra were fearsome. She was cutthroat and coldhearted—and maybe that was a lie.

The smell of blood was not foreign to her. She’d spilled plenty of it, herself. His shouldn’t move her. It was good, she justified to herself, that she concerned herself with the wounds and wellbeings of other Galra, for Galra were all as one, united under their glorious emperor, and to uphold and uplift the Galra around her was to uphold the empire as a whole, she self-rationalized. But Lotor was only half Galra, his blood tainted with Altean genetics, she shouldn’t care if he bled, if he ached, if he hurt, if he gasped as he rolled himself onto his knees and hand, the other wrist too damaged to put his weight on.

Really, she would be doing him a favor just for walking by. If she just strode past him and the unconscious bodies strewn around him, hell, she should be concerned about them, not the one left standing (or, well, kneeling. Getting there).

…Maybe, since he was half Galra, it would be alright if she half-cared?

She didn’t ask or offer, simply walked up to him, got his good arm slung over her shoulders, and lifted. He growled at her, and she growled back, not exactly happy about this either (damn her soft heart! A Galra should be better!), but his anger settled into confusion when she merely pulled him to his feet.

“...To what do I owe the honor?”

“Can it,” she snarled. “Let’s just get you out of here before any of these fools wake up and try for a round two.”

Because yes, that was it, they were the fools. Everyone knew Prince Lotor inherited half the emperor’s strength, it was their fault for thinking that they could best even that.

As a group.

Against one man.

She grit her fangs. Life wasn’t fair. Of course Galra didn’t play fair. It wasn’t honorable, exactly, but she doubted this was an official challenge for anything. And how did a prince get picked on this much anyway!? It was embarrassing for him.

“I rather must admit, I had thought when you approached me you intended to finish what they’d started.”

“If you keep chatting so much, I just might,” she snapped, with less heat than she’d intended. The line of his arm across her armor was distracting (it was always distracting) (she had yet to shake off the childish need to be touched outside of battle. Shameful). It was distracting her. This was a distracting situation.

“...Thank you.”

“Please,” she muttered quietly, “don’t ever mention it.”

And, see, again, Allura was distracted, it was a distracting situation, she wasn’t thinking about where she was going, because she’d just finished her shift and had been heading back to her apartment, and in lieu of actually taking Lotor somewhere her body just. Finished the trek home.

She stopped in front of the door to her room, very clearly in one of the residential halls, very clearly embarrassed with herself, even with her downturned ears hidden by her helmet and her blush underneath her fur.

He laughed, damn him, a soft, breathy, barely-there sound. “And where, precisely, has my valiant savior taken me?” Lotor asked, teasing and very knowing and sounding quite amused, the bastard. She shoved him off of her into the wall.

“You know I’ve had about enough of your sass!” she snarled, fangs bared, and he laughed again, louder, though his eyes were sharp on her, treating her like a threat. Good. She was one.

“Forgive me,” Lotor said, still sounding amused, if cautious, “I’m afraid my mouth has played the culprit in many of my altercations. I just can’t seem to control it.”

“Perhaps you should learn.”

“Perhaps.”

She crossed her arms and huffed, then. Well. Conceded in looking away first. It bristled, to be the one to look away from Lotor, embarrassment of the Empire, but she could admit she was being just slightly ridiculous (she’d been the one to bring him here, after all), and even if he did take advantage of the deliberate show of weakness, she doubted he could do much against her, down a wrist and limping like that.

“Your breath seems caught enough,” she muttered, still turned away. “You can make your own way from here. I’m going to rest.”

She slammed her hand down on the ID pad and her door slid open for her, allowing her to storm in.

“Wait!” Lotor called, soft but urgent, and she stilled in the doorway, cocking her head to look at him and her lip lifted just enough to snarl with one fang.

“Please, at least tell me your name.”

“...Allura. Now go away.”

The door didn’t slam behind her, just neatly closed like it always did, and she found herself resenting the emotionless metal for its lack of force. Good riddance. She was supposed to be enjoying a varga or two of personal time before she slept and went back to work the next day. Not dealing with stupid princes and their stupid faces and their stupid injuries and their stupid, breathy, lilting laughs that sounded so soft and inviting and their stupid smug faces and stupid, stupid, stupid!!!

Her face burned as she stripped off her armor, flinging it roughly at the armor stand. Whatever! She hoped she never saw him again!!!

(Except she did, she did, she wanted to see him. Stupid. Pathetic. Weak Allura).

[lilflowerpot]

Hey there Flower! I hope all is well with you and that you’re having a wonderful day💜 I wanted to send in an ask because I recently had this realization and did some research and found out that the act of crying is a “uniquely human trait”. This got me thinking if the galra cry too? Let me explain a bit, so as far as I know other animals are capable of shedding tears but it’s not an emotional response so much as there might be something wrong/in their eyes.

We’ve seen that alteans can cry! But I wonder about the galra because I don’t believe we’ve seen any of them cry (not even Krolia).

I wasn’t sure if you’ve been asked this before or not and I tried my best looking to see if you have but the only post I saw relating was about the differences in galra/human anatomy and it did mention their eyes!

So with this information…can galra cry as an emotional response? If they can’t, what’s their reaction to humans doing it?

(Also please correct me if I’m wrong for any of the statements I made! I’m also aware that you’ve mentioned before that we will be seeing “Lotor tears” in the future of LB but we could say that he’s able to cry because of his altean half?)

Okay so first of all I love you for diligently scouring my blog to see if I'd already answered this question (I have not) your consideration is greatly appreciated ♡

Secondly, while I was aware than humans are the only known organism that cry from emotion, and we do indeed know that Alteans can cry as proven by s1ep09, I hadn't really considered whether or not the galra are a species were in the same boat,,, only that Lotor himself has to be because not only did I have him become teary-eyed in the most recent chapter—

“Is that enough?” the question scrapes ragged and ruinous against the silence that surrounds them. “Truthfully,” the prince admits, “I do not know.” and, with a start, Keith realises that summer-sky eyes are near as glassy as his own, “Though, if anything is to be your downfall, would you not rather it be love?” - Little Blade, chapter 24

—but I have Plans™ for his future that demand it.

That being said, when I think about it, it really doesn't make an awful lot of sense for the galra to cry from emotion due to Daibazaal having been such an arid planet that any unnecessary loss of fluid would have been a distinct evolutionary weakness for them, and so would likely have been evolved out (if ever it was something they were capable of in the first place). This, of course, begs the question: what displays of sorrow/emotional distress do the galra have?

As a direct result of this ask, I've once again expanded upon my galra body language post, adding to the "bad noises" bullet point:

Though they cannot cry tears as humans do, the galra expression of grief is—according to those who've heard it—one of the most harrowing sounds in the known universe; the drehvi is a distinctly mournful vocalisation unique to the galra people, taking the form of a raw, guttural, bellowing wail that stems from deep within the chest cavity and can be heard from up to half a league away.

If you can imagine the noise a bear might make upon suffering a sudden but mortal wound, and that sound echoing across an otherwise silent valley devoid of all life,,, that would be the drehvi.

So........... on that not-at-all-heartbreaking note, you also asked for the galra reaction to humans crying, which I am going to keep much lighter (because I am internally weeping now goddammit) so I'd have to say it's likely a mixture of confused and alarmed, because the human is,,, leaking?? Are humans supposed to do that?? Their breathing has also become remarkably erratic and hiccupy which is almost certainly Not Good if they do not regulate their oxygen intake they will DIE because humans are SMALL and FRAGILE, but they are also not currently in a state to explain themselves nor how to help??

[im-smart-i-swear]

BITCH ASS MOTHERFUCKER!!!

oh yeah have i ever mentioned that buddy is an artist? and that its a pretty imoprtrant part of their character?? yeah sorry i kinda forgot to say anything about it

this is them like 5-6 years after ‘the black paladins’ btw. hes doing ok! definetly not stellar and its gonna take a lot more time for all of them to adjust to, yknow, not livng in a fuckin cave. theyre all staying on eenek’s dad’s ship for now. its a bit crowded but it could be worse!

my loser child who works at a space walmart or somewhere like that<3

[evi-anxiety]

I wish we got an episode of Allura's life back on Altea.

Did she have any friends her age? What were her royal duties like? Did she learn from a private tutor or in a public school? Was there anything unique about Altean culture?

How did Allura think of the Galra before the war? Did she have any Galra friends that she looks back at now, missing them but also feeling utterly betrayed by them?

[jimiscribif]

Do you guys ever think about how in Altean culture pink symbolises honouring fallen soldiers, so Allura being born with pink markings meant she always doomed to become a fallen solider??? cause I do and I don't like it

[hibiscusseaart]

Galra courting and relationships

Hey, I decided to make a whole article about it to get everything in one place and not just a twitter thread.

Warnings: 18+. Mentions of ruts, heats, a/b/o dynamics. Mention of almost non-con (nothing happens, but if that triggers you, I put a warning before that paragraph). Includes some of half-altean Lance hcs.

Galra counting in the nutshell: Klance relationships at the start (s. 1-2). Really competitive, rival-like, fighting all the time. Galra believe that every strong relationships starts with a hint of hate at first (kismesis *cough*)

A bit biology for the start: I consider galra, like humans, have two different sexes. One which can fertilize, one which bears kits. But it's okay for them to have same sex relationships. Couples like that considered to be one of the best nannies and every pack with kits wants at least one same sex couple with them. They're the best nannies cuz they usually don't have their own kits (if they didn't find or stole one (yeah that happens)), so have more time on them, but have all the urges to care for a kit. Unmated galra usually don't have interest in kits much.

For galra it's important that their mate would be able to protect them and their kits. And it's not only "males should protect", no, females also strive for their own strength. They need to be strong in case something happens to their mate and they need to tend them and take care of their kits. But it's hard so that's why they prefer to have a pack before having kits.

So ideally both galra should be equally strong for each other. If they are, they're considered as perfect mates. If one mate is much stronger than the other, then they're can be seen like they're using the weak one. Also the weaker one can be seen as lazy or shady.

In general, out of courting, galra fight each other a lot. It's the way they build their status and hierarchy in society (like alpha, omega and that shit, but without mpreg lol). Tho, being just strong isn't enough, they also have to be smart too, but it's a bit less important. No one listens to you if you’re weak, but smart. So weak galra search for some stronger friends or a pack (but not mates as I mentioned before) who can help them to make others listen.

Yeah, talking about a/b/o things. Galra aren't very emotional species. But they can understand other's mood with body language and scents. Keith got that part in him. He may be considered as an autistic human, but perfectly normal and even really emphatic galra.

Unmated galra show off their scent any way they can, so they can find someone who likes it and they try to start courting. Though, don’t be mistaken with abo pheromones and their sweet scents. Galra sweat and stink like humans. For some this scent would be too strong and disgusting, for others it’s sexy as hell.

When two galra like each other’s scents, they start to fight a lot, mostly physically, but a good banter is welcome, cuz it keeps relationships interesting. If one of them is weaker, the other can offer to help them. It's part of their flirt to ask to spar together and help with training.

So when they satisfied with each other they can have their final battle, sometimes with their family watching. Galra don't have weddings, though this battle can be considered as one. It's important for them to get a tie, but to show their best and not to hold back.

But it's not a must and not most of galra follow that tradition. The battle is mostly for warriors or high-status commanders. Usually galra satisfied with play-fights and just get closer as romantic partners with time.

When it's done, the pair is starting a serious relationship. And it's final. Galra mate for life and won't look at anyone else until their partner dies.

So, galra romance. They bite. A lot. They can kiss, cuddle at later stages of courting, but bites are saved only for mates. Also, they fall in love only when they are close to be mates and for them love at fist sight doesn't exist. But crush at the first fight? Hell yeah.

When they're mates, galra start to scent each other. They have big gland at the nape of hair (yeah, where the mullet is), lil glands near ear and jaw, armpits, between fingers and at their groin. So yeah a lof of places. It's important for them to smell as their mate. Scenting each other can bring them a lof of comfort and helps to de-stress.

If one is known to be mated, but doesn't smell like their mate (like after the shower or just sweated a lot) and just smell like themselves, they can be considered as a whore, who's trying to lure others with their scent.

It's mostly social thing, they don't have any instincts about it, but bc of that mated galra prefer to smell like their mate, perfume or not to smell like anything at all. Close analogy would be our rings after a wedding. Better to be there, but if not then sheesh, why are you trying to hide that you’re married?

So yeah, if you're mated galra, you better not to be smelly. But bc of that they're quite neat and thoughtful about their hygiene.

After galra mate and start regularly to scent each other, they go into the 2d puberty. Before that their body considered as a teen one. That means: not yet fully developed at their full potential and really low libido. But don't not mistake them as human teens, galra brain is almost done developing and they act adult. Though galra prefer to be mated sooner than later.

2d puberty is about starting to even have a libido and have it high, being with their mate a lot and growing larger and stronger. Also they start to have regular cycles of heats and ruts (3-5 days per 2-3 months). That's the only time when they can have a kit. Cycles are usually synchronized but if not, it can be helped with meds.

The first heats and ruts are really like in the messiest a/b/o fics, but with time and when the puberty ends, it's mellowing down and they're quite ok to control themselves and even go to work at this time (but it mostly depends on their own biology. Halves don’t have it that strong like pure-bloods). They're attracted only to their mate after all so no one really cares. The only problem is not to smell around much.

So yeah the first few years are the "honeymoon" years, when the pair have much more higher chance to have a kit if they’re common male/female pair. Same sex couples would get an urge to care for children of their pack or any baby they find.

Though even with that they're quite okay to leave their mate for long periods of time. It's caused by their evolution. Ancient galra would separate with their mate to find food for quite long time. But they are still okay with being around a lot and living together, they just don't miss each other much, don't long to be together all the time. They're quite fine knowing that the mate is alive and maybe some text messages or video calls would be good.

So separation anxiety can be ok only for kits and their parents. And openly missing your mate after like 1 week of separation would get you strange looks from galra.

That's why Krolia left her mate so easily. But it was harder for her to leave her kit (plus Keith was MUCH weaker than usual galra kit and Krolia had a lot of anxiety bc of that). Parents are much more hesitant to leave their kit even with other parent or members of their pack. Galra are very caring parents and prefer to have their kits with them most of the time. Zarkon is quite a deviant here.

So Keith and Lance would deffinetly get strange looks and Krolia would be concerned cuz "It's unhealthy to depend on each other so much". For galra their relationships would look like that annoying couple who shares accounts and goes EVERYWHERE together and are miserable and check their phone 100 times per second to see if they send them a new message.

Oh, about jealousy and cheating. Galra usually don't cheat at all, they don't have hook ups or something like that, they're extremely loyal. The problem lays with the other species who don't mate for life. If they do, galra can easily be turned into crazy yanderes and would try to remove "the problem" and get their mate back to them. Or if the mate tries to "break up", heartbroken, they can kill them and end their relationships once and for all. Yeah, they are dramatic.

Getting back to Klance.

Basically Keith and Lance already married and Keith is a REALLY jealous partner. But, we’re gonna start from the beginning.

Keith was fucking SURE that Lance was flirting with him from the day 1, but he didn't really done much with it because:

a) Lance should prove himself first;

b) Keith's shy. It's the first time when a cute boy flirts with him just in the right way after all! But that what he thinks, on Earth people were constantly flirting with him, but it went right over his head.

So when they got together, oh boy, they are fucking inseparable. Keith would cling to Lance like his life depends on it, but would be really shy at first. But when he got over it, Keith would start to bite Lance A LOT and to scent him like a mad man. Keith have smaller glands, he doesn't have a big gland oh his nape, but a few smaller ones there and near jaw, also usual ones everywhere else. But because his glands are smaller, his scent is weaker and it takes more time to build up his scent on Lance.

He always cuddles Lance when they have time and rub his face all over him. Lance is like "ok that's prob some keitn/galra (depends when they started dating) thing" and just reading something or play with his phone while Keith rubbing his face on his neck, biting it and purring the whole time.

i've got a fanart of Keith scenting Lance! thank you!!

One time Lance went to breakfast with almost fully purple-blue neck.

The team obviously panics.

"WTF DID SOMETHING BITE YOU ON THE LAST PLANET??"

"Nah, the 'thing' that bit me is hiding in his room"

"What"

"Well, Keith BETTER be sorry and embarrassed, it fucking hurts!"

Coran let Lance use a pod for 10 mins. Keith was hiding for the rest of the day.

Also Keith’s possessive af and jealous of every alien who looks at Lance the wrong way. Keith doesn't really know why he acts like that and he almost thinks that he's going crazy. But once they meet some friendly galra (or maybe Krolia) they explain to him that he's going through 2d puberty and it's only starting.

(Non-con mention here)

Yeah, Keith is actually starting to go crazy with his high ass libido and first ruts. At first, Lance is amused and quite horny too so it's perfect for him. Though, it wasn't really fun, when Keith tried to get into Lance’s pants with force once cuz his dumb hormone brain thought that Lance is playing and not trying to get Keith off. But Lance is quite capable to wrestle him down. If he didn't Keith wouldn't even got interested at the first place.

(Okay you're good now)

They talk and discuss their limits and it's quite okay next. Though Keith would deffinetly get this "I’m a monster" mindset for some time after what happened. It would take time to get comfortable with this kind of thing, cuz first ruts are quite brutal.

I won't go into any details with galra anatomy here, but Keith deffinetly have a knot (though it's not big due to human half of his biology). Lance sure is scared of that, cuz they don't have anything for this kind of sex in space, plus Lance didn't do anal before. So they stick with other activities for some time. Though who knows what they'd do next. In his rut Keith doesn't care if he's the one giving or receiving, the important thing is orgasms.

With his mate and time Keith starts growing a bit faster than in canon. He got grizzled much faster and Lance's LOVING it. Before Keith had a "teen" body, like almost none body hair. Guess what now. He can grow purple beard (he doesn't cuz it looks dumb) and has hairy legs, arms, chest. For him it's uncomfortable, just he lived without it quite fine, thank you. He prob would like to get it removed lol (Lance's against it cuz hairy bf hot and sexy).

In contrast Lance doesn't have hair on his body at all cuz of his altean heritage. Alteans, like an advanced race, just removed that shit from their DNA.

Oh, funny thing: Galran word for "mate" translates on altean as "life-partner" and that thing translates on english as "husband/wife".

Imagine the team surprise when on some meeting with Blades Keith just casually says "Oh, Lance's my husband" when they ask him about it. (For galra Keith is quite young one and marmorites are like "What? You're already mated? Isn't it a bit too soon?" so that's why the asked Keith why Lance smells so much like mated galra.)

"Wow, babe, at least give me the ring first"

"Huh? Isn't it a bit too fast?.."

"You just said that I'm your husband!"

“I said that you're my mate!"

"Well, you see, number 4, galra mate for life, so you can say, that you're already married"

"..."

"Say what now"

"Okay… but we still need a wedding for my family, they'd kill me if we don't! And I want a pretty ring! I have size 9!"

And Keith after his first embarrassment is just like "Well, I did wanted to marry you anyway..."

"JGUHGUJSHUF KEITH"

Krolia would have lose her mind (internally cuz she has a reputation) about it and def go to threaten Lance and give him a shovel talk. Not-galra mates can be not really loyal after all.

"You, human, threat him well"

"You, the mother that left him, threat him well yourself!"

Krolia thinks that she likes her son's mate.

Well, that's it, don't have anything to wrap it up. Though, I could talk about Klance and kids. Keith would def have an urge to steal some galra baby to take care of. Sometimes it'd be hard to convince him to give the baby back to their parents. Plus they're at war and Lance is like really not ready for that kind of shit.

But if this is all after s8... They could start a family with baby galra on their hands.

Thank you for reading this long text! Please don't be shy to let me know your own thoughts and hcs!

[alluraaaa]

allura and coran are in a unique position of being a living reference point for altean evolution. the alteans of romelle’s age are able to shapeshift way more than allura and coran can because alteans evolved better shapeshifting to hide among other cultures. allura and coran can change their height/weight and hair/skin/eye color but that’s about it. romelle could shift from a bipedal altean to a straight up dog if she wanted. coran is fascinated and allura isn’t at all jealous of romelle for this (she’s so jealous)

[urzannia]

I've always wished that voltron would've explored the idea of different species of Galra/Alteans. like, humans are really rare in the fact that we only have one species in the Homo genus and I think it'd be cool if allura or Coran heard that and just *shocked Pikachu*. on one side, the idea of humans having something rare, bcuz we view aliens as different but nvr consider what weirdness humans have, is the BEST thing ever and it would've been so cool to see more of the og vld team looked at as insane instead of the aliens. but on the other side of the coin, we should've got different "species"(quotes cuz I'm mainly saying that their culture would be so different that their societies can barely be compared) of galra/evrything. planets with super "evolved" galrans bcuz instead of joining the war, small factions fucked off to a far away galaxy, settled down for 10,000 yrs, and mixed with wtv intelligent life forms there were.

the alteans should've showed speciation too bcuz of Lotors colony being kept away for however long. they should've also been wayyyyyy different than allura & Coran. and yea, they sorta showed the difference thru romelle "not saying quiznak right"(I put it into quotes bcuz they had their own developed slang & language which shouldn't be considered as right or wrong) but they could've shown "speciation" in a more intriguing way. or, and ik this is a kids show, the inbreeding of the altean colony cuz.....there HAD to be that with such a small amount surviving, right????

also, the portrayal of galrans being bad could've been told thru the discrimination between the "war galrans" and the "settled down galrans". kinda like those spanish hierarchies they had in Latin America when the Spaniards colonized. like, just imagine voltron arriving on one of those planets and having to see the galrans either hate & segregate their own or contradict the whole "evry galran bad" bcuz they also get treated shitty and get systemically oppressed.

omg someone make a fic with these concepts PLSSSSS

[rizavii]

me personally I think the galra Keith reveal should have led to relentless commentary from allura but not in the way you think

have you ever been around a black friend during bhm or on juneteenth? yk how everything is lightheartedly met with "really? during black history month?" can you imagine the leverage allura has to get what she wants?

"wow keith... I can't belive you would deny me this...." [places hand against forehead dramatically] "it reminds me of how..." [heavy sigh]

"allura :("

"goodness, it just reminds me of how I'm denied my home by the empire...."

"allura please :("

"you know, this phoeb actually used to be a celebration of altean culture? you'd do this to me? during Bullshit Fake Space Holiday Month?"

"allura it was a pastry please im sorry :("

trust it's all in good fun dkdjdl. but also allura totally gets everything she wants because who is Keith to deny the prettiest princess in the universe.

[atla-what-is-this-site]

Fixing Voltron's magic system FT. Sanderson's Laws of Magic (and examples from various famous media)

Firstly, let's begin with what the Alteans canonically can do. As seen throughout the series, two alteans shown actually manipulate quintessence. Another has super strength but no magic. A final is shown to have none. (poor Coran). It is implied the majority (if not all,) have these abilities. 

Quintessence manipulation seems to have one small limit:  When Allura uses the magic too much, she passes out. But remember: shes powering a giant ship. We never see Team Voltron going and getting gas or whatever, which means Allura is probably the sole supplier of power for the Castle. Which is an example of how OP this ability is, even with the limit.

Then we have super strength and shapeshifting, two other abilities that all (or i guess most, since Coran never shows any signs of having them) Alteans seem to have. These abilities seem to have little plot importance besides a few certain episodes. There is nothing inherently wrong with these abilities. However, when you pile them on top of (if I'm being completely honest,) a character who's already quite over-powered, I think you can understand why I'm not the biggest fan. 

We know quite a bit about Alteans. They're one of the most important species in the series. According to Allura, they're super-ambassadors, and they use their shapeshifting to better blend in. Their culture seems very intellectual-based, with Alchemists holding high places. They mixed magic and tech to make incredible ships like The Castle. 

This is where things tend to taper off. We get brief glimpses of what could be rules: Allura always places her hands on whatever shes infusing. Clearly, you must be Altean or of Altean Heritage. 

Now, let's take a look at Brandon Sanderson's laws of magic. 

Number One: "An author’s ability to solve conflict with magic is DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL to how well the reader understands said magic." 

This means that if we want to solve problems with magic, we need to explain how that magic can solve our problems. So, for example, Harry Potter. Every spell that Harry uses is explained beforehand so that the audience knows what he's doing. It just wouldn't work if Harry went around Lumos-ing away, making the reader guess what the spell does. 

However, in The Lord of The Rings, Gandalf doesn't need to tell us anything, because he barely ever uses his magic for plot important things. Readers don't want to read three paragraphs explaining how he made his fireworks, when the story isn't about his fireworks.

Number Two: Limitations are more important than power.

What your magic system can do doesn't make it interesting. There's no power that hasn't been thought of. Infinite power makes it impossible to come up with a plot. The character could solve anything, meaning there's no point in telling about the solution to their problem. However, when you throw in weaknesses, costs and other limitations, you get a much more original and interesting idea. 

Picture that one scene from Aladdin, where Genie tells Aladdin about the three rules. (No playing with free will, no raising the dead, no wishing for more wishes.) It's a simple and easy to follow system, with limitations that make the plot more interesting. Aladdin can't make Jasmine fall in love with him magically, so he's forced to come up with other ways. 

Rule Three: Expand what you already have before you add something new. 

This one leans more on general worldbuilding, but what he's saying here is don't shove new ideas in your reader's face. Don't create new magics out of nowhere. Build on what you already have. 

There aren't many examples of this, luckily Voltron isn't really guilty of this, so elaboration isn't really needed.

Now, we'll take these and begin perfecting the magic system. 

First, what is Quintessence? Quintessence is, essentially, the animating factor. It's what makes living things alive. It's a form of energy. 

This isn't to say nonliving objects can't have it, but most don't, unless it's given to them. 

Quintessence is energy. It can't be created, nor destroyed. However, you can transfer it from one container to another. 

There are a few things you can do with it. Firstly, giving a living being quintessence can make them stronger. This is what Haggar does with Zarkon throughout the first two seasons.

Next, taking too much quintessence from someone will "de-animate" them. A.k.a. They die from lack of life. 

There is one third thing you can do with quintessence. It takes a lot of training and a bit of energy. But I imagine you could also make these huge shockwaves that just fucken decimate everything in a 300 foot radius. However this is more after-we-get-ridiculously-good type material.

Our limits are these: 1. You must draw energy from something, whether that be your own energy or someone else's. If you use too much of your own, you could pass out and die. 2. You must maintain contact with whatever you're imbuing with energy/drawing energy from. (The only exception is the shockwave. But the shockwave comes from your hands so..?) 3. Too much quintessence can become an addiction. Specific examples can be Zarkon and Haggar. 

A little interjection: While Alteans have a lot of quintessence, it can only power a small ship for a few hours. However, Altean ships have evolved to collect quintessence from bacteria that gathers on the ship's metal. This keeps the ships sanitary and also helps with efficiency. As well, ships often use Balmera crystals as a secondary source of power. Balmera crystals hold high levels of residual quintessence.

We can construct so many different plotlines that can't be solved with quintessence, or the limits can prevent solution. What if the person who needs healing is out of Allura's reach? What if she doesn't have enough energy?

That wasn't so hard, was it, VLD team?

[kickis-conan-king]

I want a Voltron fanfic that uses the ideas of the “humans are space orcs” thing. Like why were humans of all creatures mystically chosen by the universe to be the paladins this time around when last time a different species entirely were assigned to each lion? Oh, I’ll tell you why. Humans are pursuit predators-they have perfected the kind of stamina required to hunt down a 10,000 yr old empire. As a species they managed to stick around long enough to evolve sentience not because of any particular advantage they hold over the rest of the beings on earth but bc of their sheer ability to survive. Good luck killing these guys, Zarkon. Humans are naturally primed to pack bond which is why these paladins are able to form Voltron immediately and it’s part of what makes them so dangerous. Earth is a planet of many cultures, unlike most of the planets seen in the show which for simplicity’s sake seem to have one planet wide culture. This exposure to so many different cultures makes them exceptionally good at forming alliances-perfect skill when leading a war effort. They are inventive, able to digest most anything, able to live through broken bones, and come from a hell planet. Evolution basically made the perfect kind of creatures to pilot the lions. The Alteans are also from a hell world but they developed things like shape shifting and super strength and quintessence sensitivity to beat it-humans didn’t do that. They did something else and it’s far more terrifying.