#and of course i also had it shed an antler. i debated having it have shed velvet instead

[tiktaaliker]

won't be your biggest transformation (but itll be the most difficult one yet)

[browzerhistory]

Please do share your scav social behavior headcanons!!!!

OK OK OK i have a Lot so prepare for an Essay beneath the cut

my social headcanons and biology headcanons kind of go hand in hand so i'll be expounding a bit on both in this (and there will probably be things i forget and then add later)...

the first thing i guess is scav biology - i think they're buglike creatures who lack the ability for complex vocal sounds (no 'traditional' mouthparts, limited vocal chords) and instead are mostly visual communicators, which is why their body language in-game is so exaggerated. scavenger dens (which are technically just creature dens in-game but shh) are usually complicated underground structures with different "rooms" for grub care, food/weapon/pearl storage, etc.

yes, you read that right - i refer to baby scavengers as grubs! i think a scavenger's life cycle tends to follow an egg -> grub (like a cicada or fly) -> pupa -> adult cycle. eggs are laid and grubs fed/watched over in special chambers in scavenger dens, and juveniles don't emerge until they've pupated, which is why we never see baby scavs in-game.

many factors such as what they're fed, how many other grubs there are, and even the temperature of the den can effect how a scavenger turns out, but it's generally common knowledge that a grub given special care and food will be more likely to become an elite scavenger, which have physiological differences to normal scavengers. generally, however, all grubs are treated the same due to lack of resources.

scavengers are lifelong carnivores, however, grubs need very small, soft meats to eat, such as vulture grubs. adult scavengers may also just... repeatedly hit lizard meat with rocks to 'tenderize' it if food is scarce.

young/newly-emerged scavengers tend to be more nervous, energetic, and non-dominant due to being less experienced than their older peers. they're also more likely to throw rocks at sudden threats than spears, either because they aren't confident with spears yet or because they haven't figured out how to distinguish between "sound of scary things" and "sound of friend approaching".

a scavenger's antlers and other distinctive facial features are more like horns than antlers, as they grow slowly over time and do not shed. older scavs with longer/tougher antlers tend to be pack leaders (this is reflected in the in-game personality traits changing the way antlers/beards look). there are, of course, exceptions, but these are general trends across the whole population.

elite scavengers, like i said earlier, are different than a normal scav on a physical level. the most obvious are the down turned antlers, which sometimes require filing, and the ability to jump short distances. less obvious, however, are factors like strength and lifespan - elite scavs tend to live shorter lives than normal ones (whether that's from actual biological differences or just the constant fighting is up for debate lol).

when created intentionally (which is almost every time), an elite scavenger is raised to protect the tribe it roams with. extra food, more powerful weapons, etc. are given from pupation so the elite grows up tough.

the masks elites wear are vulture masks. the first time a new elite takes down a vulture, it's demasked, then the mask is carved specially to denote their prowess - think of it like a badge of honor. however, constant usage of the mask and the general anxiety of being the first line of defence can cause elites to lose some vision, which is why older ones tend to be quicker to draw their spear at an unknown sound.

(as for the chieftain... it's biologically just an elite, but it got lucky in that it was born into the most thriving scav population at the time and had the most talent/dedication out of its peers. plus a lot of the others got picked off as it got older, and it managed to pick up a citizen id drone at some point.)

the "sign language" scavs use is so universal and simple as to be practically genetic. there are, of course, regional differences, and a tribe in shaded citadel would need different predator signs than one in farm arrays, but the basics (which is what we see in-game) are basically all the same. scavengers can make noise, however, it's a quiet sort of chittering sound produced by rubbing mouthparts together in a specific way. it's not very handy when communicating something like "there are vultures here let's leave immediately" and more often is used in familial/trusting contexts, sort of like a purr.

jumping around a little, i wanna talk about the significance of pearls. a part of their fascination with them is "cool shiny thing" but there's also significant sort-of-religious connotations to them.

the scavenger chieftain has a mark of communication and a citizen id drone. it met with pebbles (or another iterator but more than likely pebbles) at some point, and he deemed it important enough to talk to instead of just. y'know. killing it. so it comes back to its home in metropolis telling stories about meeting a god (because of course 5P gives his 'godlike in comparison' bit to every bug that enters his chamber) surrounded by a halo of these pearls.

eventually pebbles gets fed up with the visits, and the booming population of scavengers is basically peeling him, so one day he throws the chieftain out of his chamber and tells it to take the scavs and leave (which it doesn't/can't obviously). and then along comes artificer and um. Well You Know.

it brings some more pearls as an offering of sorts and 5P reads what's on them. that gives the scavs the realization that (as far as they know) every pearl in the city has the words of ancient gods written on it. so they start hanging them everywhere as catch-all divine charms; for protection, strength, wealth, etc. and since the chieftain is the only one who can get to pebbles and come back (because of their drone) it's treated as a sort of prophet and venerated by the rest. colored pearls, which 5P likes more and usually keeps with him, are stored in safer locations and considered the most valuable/holy.

after arti commits good old-fashioned regicide (and general mass murder, terrorism, etc) the remaining metropolis scavs flee across the land and warn other tribes of a reddish slugcat with one scarred eye - this is why hunter's rep starts so low.

this turned out really long lol - thanks so much for asking! i really need to get all of this stuff organized in one place at some point but here's the basics/what i've thought about most.

[grishaversecommunityyy]

The Grishaverse Ship Survey Results

So! After all of that, we finally have the results! What is the general opinion on the ships in the Grishaverse? Well, that’s for you to read below! It’s actually pretty interesting and, while some parts make sense, there were definitely some parts which... surprised me... Anyway, onto the results!

Everything in this post can be split into:

The Grisha Trilogy

Six Of Crows Duology

The Nikolai Series

Shadow and Bone: TV Series

Most Enjoyed Ships

Least Enjoyed Ships

Crack Ships and Shipping Discourse

Notes from the Survey 

(note from mod emily: i tried to bold all of fritz’ comments, but i might have missed a few! be aware there are two of us analysing here :))

The Grisha Trilogy

The first book series we asked about was, of course, the first chronologically: the Grisha Trilogy. The most popular ship, with 83% voters for this series selecting this, was Genya/David (Fritz was glad to hear that; Yes I am). This is likely due to the lack of alternate romantic interests in the series, which seems to be a major issue for Alina’s ships. It also seems to be one genuinely enjoyed by most fans, in contrast to Darkling/Alina and Mal/Alina (each around 30%) and Nikolai/Alina (just under 20%), for which I have definitely seen plenty of debate. The second and third most popular ships for this series were Tamar/Nadia (55%) and Nikolai/Zoya (47%). Interestingly, Genya/Alina (43%) and Zoya/Alina (30%) ranked surprisingly high, especially considering how few of my friends and associates I hear talking about them. Good for them!

Honourable mentions:

Alina/Sun (no doubt inspired by that crack fic I wrote a while back) (Still havent read that out of fear)

Alina alone (a common concept among those surveyed, though most mentioned it later)

Zoya/Genya or Alina/Zoya/Genya

Six Of Crows Duology

This series was a little less divided, I would say. Predictably, Kaz/Inej came out on top with a whopping 96% of voters (:relieved:), with Wylan/Jesper next (90%) and Nina/Matthias just after (83%). None of the others really came close, despite Nina/Inej gathering 35% of the votes and Colm/Aditi at 25% (yeah, I’m not sure why that was so popular on AO3 either, but nobody really has objections so I assume that’s why it amassed so many votes). As Six of Crows is decidedly less divisive about ships and doesn’t have such controversial ships (more on that later), it seems the fandom agrees with canon pairings and the votes are... pretty unanimous.

Honourable Mentions:

Jesper/Wylan/Kuwei

Polycrows (platonic or romantic)

Kaz/Inej/Nina

Whoever didn’t read the instruction about this being for only the book series and put Jesper/Milo. I will never escape. 

The Nikolai Series

This one is a little harder for me because I actually haven’t read this... so over to Fritz for analysis! But first, the stats. At 85%, the most popular ship is Genya/David, followed by Zoya/Nikolai at 77%. Tamar/Nadia and Nina/Hanne draw at 61.5% and Nina/Matthias has 56% voters onboard. There’s no real honourable mentions for this one, sadly. Hello Fritz here! Read the books and very glad to see Genya/David as the top ship as it damn well should. Although still a bit surprising since its more of a side-arc of the two and only ties in with the importance of the story at a specific chapter that I feel like I don’t need to elaborate about, if you read Rule of Wolves. (I believe the popularity of the ship also sky-rocketed due to ROW) Following of course Zoya/Nikolai, the high ranking makes sense, it is the main ship and lets be honest they deserve it <3

I think the only really surprising thing about this is the high votes for Nina/Matthias since [SPOILERS CROOKED KINGDOM] he’s dead so I feel like people should move on from that. Nina/“Hanne” having not as high a ranking as I would’ve thought, but with Matthias still being in the frame I guess we shouldn’t be surprised either.

Shadow and Bone: TV Series

This one is really interesting, with the exclusive show watchers now taking part! We have 89% voting for Kaz/Inej, 76% for David/Genya, 71% for Matthias/Nina, 67% for Ivan/Fedyor (that’s a thing???-->Yeah they had a few somewhat sweet interactions in the background-->nvm i watched it you’re right fritz) and 62% for Mal/Alina. What’s really surprising is how high Malina is compared to Darklina, with Darkling/Alina at 36%. Who knows, maybe Fritz’ analysis can shed some light on this?

Yes yes Fritz to the rescue: First of all we have to see their interactions a little different from what we already knew of them by the end of episode 8. I still think it is a surprising number, since the Darkling in the show isn’t as nasty as he was in the books BUT over all his actions are now seen on TV. We all thought the deer antlers were a necklace amirite? Well no apparently not, the darkling used the worst kind of small science to fit Alinas collarbone to the bone and out comes a gruesome sight: a reason why many people might have started thinking: Wow what a disgusting person he is. And on the Malina “ship”: Mal finally has personality!! jkjk :eyes: Mals and Alinas friendship has been portrayed way better in the show and I believe that the people noticed more chemistry between them especially by the end of season 1. So I’m still a little surprised Darklina has such a low ranking (what with him being all sweet and cuddly in the middle of the show) but it makes sense and the Malina ship as well. Their vibes are just *chefs kiss* and thats coming from someone who didnt even like any of these “ships” <3

Loving the quotation marks for the word ‘ships’, Fritz. Over to the honourable mentions!

Honourable Mentions:

Jesper and Milo (isn’t milo a goat? guys, why?)

Nadia/Marie (huh that didn’t appear anywhere else)

One person had several - Kaz/Inej/Jesper, Dubrov/Mikhael, Dubrov/Mikhael/Mal - and yeah, you can really see the show differences in these mentions right? (whose dubrov...and whose mikhael...)

16% actually voted for Inej/Alina which is wild to me because of book context (they did have chemistry in the show tho :cowboi_smirk:)

Another person with several! We have Nina/Inej, Genya/Alina, Zoya/Alina, Zoya/Genya/Alina. Very sapphic. Good for you.

Kaz/Jesper and Nina/Inej all in one

That’s a lot of honour and mentions but it’s so interesting to me and I think you should see too

Most Enjoyed Ships

The most enjoyed ship was Kaz/Inej. This had unparalleled support, being at 35%. Jesper/Wylan, which was next on the list (23.5%) and Nina/Matthias (18%) were also pretty popular. Most of the others were quite low, though interestingly Mal/Alina only had 1 vote (plus one for the show version). Overall, the SoC ships were a lot more popular in this section, which makes sense - this part is really about your favourite ship, and those were more unanimous in the last sections.

Least Enjoyed Ships

Most people said Darkling/Alina, which got 47% of the NOTP votes. A lot more people disliked Darkling/Alina than liked Kaz/Inej. Make of that what you will, but I take it as a somewhat general agreement among many of you guys. Mal/Alina was also strongly disliked at 22%, but around a half or more of these were clarified to be about the book version of the ship specifically. They really must’ve upgraded in the show! Jesper/Kuwei and any other Darkling ships were also voted by a few, but all of these pale in comparison to the anti-Darklina votes. Shoutout to the person who said Apparat/Anyone. I agree, though it’s not something I thought of before seeing this response. Also one person said they didn’t like the poly ships, which I hope meant just the ones mentioned earlier and not all poly relationships in general... Another shoutout to whoever said Kaz/Heleen, because why did I have to read that. A fun question, all in all!

Crack Ships and Shipping Discourse

I love talking about crack ships, so let’s start with that! This time, I really don’t want to have to count and list because... well, let me show you:

I think that sums up the sheer variety, to be honest. Then again, it would be rude not to mention that the most popular were Jesper/Milo, Darkling/Nikolai and Alina/Sun. (If you’re still confused about that last one, I take full responsibility.)

YES KAZ/KRUGE I SUPPORT!!!

Honourable mention to this:

which was a lot to take in, and:

Now for the discourse. Yep, the part you probably came for. 

Actually... maybe you didn’t? Looking at all of these responses, I see a lot of people genuinely don’t care about ship wars and so on, and often enjoyed the books regardless of the romances involved. Quite a few disapproved of the ongoing (though small) wars between Darklina and Malina, and others had a similar line of thinking, saying we should maybe stop focusing so much on it. You guys are right. I know this is a ship survey, and the conclusions should not include that shipping isn’t as important as we make it (Yes it should), but... that’s where it’s at.

And then again, a lot of you guys expressed disapproval for Darkling/Alina, discussing how it is often one-sided and manipulative and overall unhealthy, so I could be completely off with that last one. Some people mentioned that they ship this but as a slightly different version that the one given to us, recognising the flaws of the canon ship.

Someone said they headcanon Tolya as aroace (OMG YES!!). We need more aroace characters, so thank you for that headcanon :) We also have a few gay ships mentioned here, and one person telling us they love Malina. Yes, you’re right - it’s pretty unpopular, it turns out. Someone else said Alina should’ve been single, and I agree, actually!

One person rickrolled me here. Thankfully, Youtube’s ads saved me. *wipes forehead*

I leave you all with this, in the end:

Notes from the Survey

Statistics Stuff:

The top ships were taken from AO3, so some ships may be more focused on in other books and may not provide accurate statistics for an earlier series.

The main circles this was sent around may have had bias as most people are from the same discord server, which has debated these topics in the past. Hence certain ships may have lower-than-average results. In future, this could be improved upon by sending this to other servers and areas of the fandom.

Personal bias may be present in the analysis, though I have tried to minimise this in the more formal sections.

Observations and Notes from Me:

You guys really don’t like Darklina. Or you love it. Usually one or the other. Wow.

Be glad I didn’t talk about any of the cursed ships in this. The things I have seen... (:cowboi_eyes:)

I thought more people would rickroll me, ngl.

What Surprised You Guys:

Kaz/Inej/Jesper

A few of you guys saw some of those cursed ships, and that surprised you. Well, me too!

Nikolai ships being in the TV Show section at all, what with his character not being in the show (yeah what was up with that huh tztz)

Inej/Alina

The existence of The Severed Moon

Darkling/Nikolai(/Alina)

How fun the quiz was :D

Things You Sent Me:

Bee Movie copypasta

“Nobody expects The Spanish Inquisition!”, except via an AO3 link

A fun fact about enzymes! I liked this one

Fic recs for Feriku and Sarai (esp for Wylan/Jesper shippers)

Another rickroll

Nice compliments :) aww you guys

I asked everyone for some kind of placeholder name and never used it. Sorry! But hey, anonymity, right?

Closing Statements

If you got this far (I feel like ive been sitting here for hours), thanks for reading! This was fun to do and I hope you enjoyed all of this too! The survey is still open for anyone who hasn’t done it but wants to. If I get a huge amount of new responses, I might update this post! But for now, adios!

-mod emily (and mod fritz)

[orderoftheavengers]

A Hogwarts Vision 

Summary: A chimera-golem made in a magical lab

House: Ravenclaw

Species: Chimera/golem  

Wand: Apple, 14 inches, phoenix feather

Broom: Custom job, grown from a bristle from Loki's scepter/wand/broom

Patronus: Chameleon

Specialties: Everything except Muggle Studies

Sorting:

Obviously, the one who lifted Thor's hammer with no effort must be a Gryffindor or a Hufflepuff right?

Jaws dropped and Groot shat some acorns when Vision was sorted into Ravenclaw. But his love for all life stems from his innocent curiosity about it, all of his strongest traits are intellectual, and he is literally the Mind Stone. Where else could he be sorted?

Creation:

After a certain legilimens brain-fricked all the Avengers and triggered each of their PTSD, Tony Stark and Bruce BannerBruce got drunk in the lab, and Tony pressured Bruce into helping him create a living gargoyle that would protect the world. A few hours later, neither would even be able to remember everything they'd dumped into the cauldron, but the result was definitely a very bad F-up. Out came Ultron, the most insufferably corny "villain" the Avengers ever faced. Ultron then began to make his own new life-form, that he planned to replace humanity after wiping them out, but his own plan didn't work out either. Tony and Bruce wound up finishing Ultron's project, and gave birth to a chimera/golem/gargoyle named Vision. Vision therefore has three fathers (Tony, Bruce, and Ultron), two of whom are also his grandfather and one of whom is also his brother, as well as two mothers (Wanda Maxmioff, and Helen Cho, who was forced to help Ultron build Vision), one of whom is also his grandmother as well as his girlfriend. Fortunately, Vision is the type of straight-A nerd who's so perfect that his classmates tend to just forget he exists. For this, he and Wanda are extremely grateful, as it is literally the only thing saving them from a storm of incest accusations and jokes. 

Sadly, his time with Wanda ends up being short. But Ravenclaw wisdom helps them both appreciate what they were able to have.  The list of items that contributed to Vision's creation is extensive. But a few highlights are:

The Mind Stone

Scale of a Vibranium Chrometooth Dragon giving him an impenetrable scaled hide

Unicorn Horn giving him his magical and moral purity

Jackalope Antler contributing to his cleverness and shape-shifting abilities

Ectoplasm allowing him to phase through walls like a ghost

Phoenix Tail Feather allowing for magical regeneration

Sphinx Claw contributing also to his intelligence

One Full Boggart (found in the closet; “What do  you do with a Boggart once you catch it, Tony?” “Eh….put it in the cauldron!”) Also contributing to Vision's shape-shifting, as well as his introspective personality

One Facial Hair from Tony Stark granting him all of Tony's knowledge and memories

One Green Wolf Hair from Bruce Banner’s Tail giving him all of Bruce's knowledge and memories

Jarvis’s Shed Snake Skin (the only remains after Jarvis died) Granting him all of Jarvis's knowledge and memories, as well as his actor voice and demeanor

One Talon from an enchanted Gargoyle-Golem (Ultron) contributing to Vision's android-like traits (as golems and gargoyles are the closest wizarding equivalent to artificial life forms)

Wand: 

"Applewood wands are not made in great numbers. They are powerful and best suited to an owner of high aims and ideals, as this wood mixes poorly with Dark magic." ~ Pottermore

The phoenix feather goes with Vision being born out of "ashes" so to speak, his incredible power, regenerative abilities, and self-sacrificing nature.   Patronus:

Chameleons do much more than just bend with their background. They continue to grow their entire lives, shedding skin as they get too big for it, just as Vision is constantly “evolving.” Skin color changes can indicate emotion, particularly stress; Vision loses his human appearance when gravely injured. They can also move their eyes independently, looking in opposite directions at once; fitting for someone named “Vision.”

Ironically, they can not regenerated lost limbs like some other lizards can. Vision of course can do this… mostof the time. Education: Vision is that straight-A star student who quietly excels at everything from the back of the classroom, always stunning everyone when he speaks up, because they forgot he was there. He is a prefect and Head Boy of Ravenclaw House. During ordinary school days he tends to wear his modest Ravenclaw uniform and sweater-vest, saving his fancier robes for Order of the Avengers meetings and illegal Quidditch matches. He excels at literally every subject except for Muggle studies. Though always impeccably polite and mild-mannered, social skills are not Vision's strong point, as he tends to phase through walls without knocking, and jokes fly over his head. Many pureblood students have a hard time understanding concepts discussed in Muggle Studies, but Vision takes it to new levels. He is frequently interrupting the professors with questions like, "Why don't the Muggles just use electricity to give their brooms and photographs motion?" and "Did the radio create the I-Pod with good intentions, or was it planning to wipe out the Muggles and replace them with its own race?" Some of his classmates are beginning to miss Thor. Relationships: Until the Infinity Stone in his head became relevant, everyone frequently tended to forget that Vision existed, despite his incredible powers. Any time the Order of the Avengers debated which "team" had the moral high ground, or what "incredible powers" might aid them in their current missions, they all seemed to forget the purple god floating amongst them. Vision, often interested in observing how much these mortals could figure out on their own, and always modest, never brought up his own abilities unless asked, even in the most dire situations. (Ravenclaws, you see, are not necessarily "smart" in every facet of life.) Vision is a prefect and Head Boy of Ravenclaw House, where things are only marginally better. There, his fellow nerds are proud to have their very own grape-Data or Dr. Manhattan. But even among them,  Vision struggles to maintain order and respect among their short attention spans. Peter Parker and his fellow first years swoon over the main four Avengers, often having heated debates over who the strongest Avenger is, completely forgetting the purple chimera in the Ravenclaw sweater on the sofa behind them.

Despite being Tony and Bruce's high school love child, Vision does not have a close relationship with his dads. Vision's Ravenclaw dad, Bruce Banner, is occupied by his lycanthropy and frequent detentions with the eccentric new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and tends to neglect his creation. Tony is likewise distracted, and in a whole other House anyway. The only person in or out of Ravenclaw Tower to consistently remember that Viz exists is his girlfriend Wanda. A legilimens and the Mind Stone do seem like the epitome of a Ravenclaw couple. It's no small wonder that Vision eventually forgot his selfless nature, and begged Wanda to just run away with him, abandoning their education and obligations to their respective "teams." His self-sacrificing nature and pragmatism swiftly returned however, when he and Wanda learned about Thanos and his plan with the Infinity Stones. Notes: I do not have anything against Vision, but he is a character I have always struggled to come up with something to say anything about. Still, I am grateful to have another genius to add to Ravenclaw to balance things out, with Tony, Strange and Rocket all being Slytherins. "Black Panther" characters, again, are anticipated but slow-coming, because of the detail I want to give to their pictures.