#axioms end

[sajirah]

Ampersand, Cora, Kaveh, and Nikola from Truth of the Divine.

I started this forever ago and have finally accepted that I’ll likely never finish it. So if you see any unfinished parts, no you didn’t.

[genuflectx]

The Metaphor (with flat version)

[starwarspissorgy]

Me at the start of Axiom's End: she set this series in the Bush administration to critique post 9/11 American politics

Me most of the way through Truth of the Divine: she set this series in the oughts to justify Cora having custom song ringtones for everyone in her contacts

[squishy-lombax]

Went feral and drew this all in one sitting. Here is a full reference sheet with my refined drawings of my personal Ampersand head-canons (From the book Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis).

I'm not the type of person to highlight or make notes in my books. So trying to remember every detail of how the author described Ampersand's appearance was difficult. Especially since this book isn't wide-spread enough to have the characteristics listed anywhere online from what I could find.

What I remembered and how my brain interpreted it:

A face like a mask, large enough for a hand to spread on. Since I had "gray aliens" in my head when this was brought up, a triangle shape came to my mind.

Large amber/orange eyes with multiple red pupils like "stars". When closed, the eyes have a membrane like film that slides over top. I envisioned it to be slightly transparent based on that description.

Frills like feathers on the head that spread out into a flower-like appearance. Since he was described as robotic, I went with something that looked akin to blades or scales but still inspired by birds and placed in a crown.

Openings on the side of the neck that admitted sound (while reading, I envisioned them as flaps, almost skin like, that vibrated). Since the sounds were described as dolphin or whale-like, I felt this could be the one thing on the body more "organic" and not rigid.

The body itself is said to have the posture like a dinosaur or velociraptor with a rough exoskeleton shell. My feet were also inspired by this dinosaur/bird theme since the amygdala are described as plantigrades, and Cora described his footprints as "bird-like".

The arms are described as always being in a "mantis pose" or, as I like to call it, the "autism t-rex pose." The length of these arms changed in my mind a lot, but in the end, considering how much they use their arms, I went with long instead of short like a t-rex.

The hands were directly inspired by @deanu's drawing here. I loved their design, because it kept in mind the "spider" aspects the hands are described to have, without them being literal scissor fingers like I see in a lot of other fanart. Since that is not how I envisioned them while reading but wasn't exactly sure how I felt before seeing @deanu's fanart.

The fact this raptor body didn't have a tail was jarring for me to envision upon first reading, but a shell casing on his back that ever so slightly curved past the rear quickly formed in my mind. This made him feel less naked in my head and I don't know why.

Edit: I have no concept for how tall 8ft but this is the generally the height i envisioned.

I hope you enjoyed my ramblings and my head-canons <3

[stimpry]

axioms end inspired alien AU!!!! :D

basically sniper is cora and scout is ampersand

[mintmentos]

Ampersand saying communication is never easy and always painful and therefore shouldn’t be pursued vs Cora undergoing the intrusive and painful high language experiments in order for them to be able to understand each other fully

[whatthesquids]

I can’t believe i spent so much time thinking of this meme art AND made it AND THEN forgot to post it

[noumena-ramblings]

I swear I’m gonna be normal I’m gonna be so so normal about this

[secretsofthewilde]

Just finished reading Apostles of Mercy by Lindsay Ellis and uh...

[the-enterprising-bookworm]

Axiom's End got me yearning more than any romance book...like oof I didn't know I rly want a large alien who cuddles up to me in bed and pets my hair and asks about my emotions in a soothing androgynous computer voice. that's all!

[cutekitten6]

As a durian loving malaysian named Isabel (who was 21 when Cora started this journey also at 21), I am being FED by Apostles of Mercy my god Lindsay Ellis I love you

[voidignitia]

As with the last book, Sol’s scenes are the most hilarious and necessary comedy

[genuflectx]

Aight forget my vent comic this just arrived

We ball

[squishy-lombax]

It's actually really exciting to me that the design I drew looks very similar to these! I still like mine more 👉👈

Lindsay Ellis posted some commissioned character design on instagram by fablepaint. I couldn't find any high res images posted by fablepaint themself, but in the event they do get posted I'll take this down and reblog from the artist.

[squishy-lombax]

So, of course I couldn't draw Ampersand without drawing Cora too! (From the book Axiom's End)

Now, when it comes to human characters, I suck at remembering specific details about their appearance. A mental image usually pops into my head after the first description and it refuses to change. However, I hope my version isn't too off-base.

I know Cora has dyed hair because she mentions the fade out being bad at the beginning. As for the color, I remember her stating something about wheat, but I thought that was the dyed part and not her natural color. Especially considering her dad is from Span(?) and has black hair. I also imaged her mom with black hair, but I can't remember if that was actually mentioned. Although her last name is also heard in the Hispanic community. After reading the whole story and seeing artwork depicting her as blonde and white was jarring. But it is probably closer to canon.

The outfits presented were pretty self explanatory. The only thing I had a little fun with was the iconic maxi dress. While reading, I didn't really know what a 70s style maxi dress looked like, so I envisioned it very plain. But after getting some Google inspiration, I decided to jazz it up a bit.

Ngl, I don't remember any mention about shoes. Except for one sentence I think towards the beginning mentioning sneakers. Since I don't remember shoes ever mentioned again, I figured she never changed them throughout the story. Which took place over 3 or so weeks, so I guess it's believable.

Anyways, this is roughly what my Cora looks like! I say "my" Cora because I doubt this fits canon, but as I said before, I suck at envisioning human characters accurately and instead just insert a random actor or cartoon character to play the part.

I hope you like it!

[fe-noumenal]

My problematic OPT is plotting world domination.