#branchiae

[theresattrpgforthat]

THEME: Mermaids

This week’s games are all about swimming, stabbing, and sinking ships as creatures of the open ocean - or at least, a local body of water.

Siren Silk, by DOCTOR_dev.

Players take the roles of journeyfolk, the umbrella term for travelers that spread word and wares under the waters of the Swiften Sea, home of the branchia and their kingdom Ornata. Trade is done through any number of means: you can barter goods, harvest and deliver natural resources, craft at your traveling workshop, spin stories, or deliver news to the fringe settlements of Ornata.

Siren Silk is still a work in progress, but it has more than just mermaids on offer. You can play as various kinds of undersea folk, including sirens, krakens and sea serpents. Siren Silk is built on the Passkey System, which offers a diceless way to play, using something called EP. You have stat pools with various amounts of EP, which you can spend in order to gain a success; spend more EP, get a more effective success. You can also gain advantage or disadvantage in certain situations, which gives you discounts or higher EP costs. Your PCs might also take on conditions throughout their adventures that help or hinder them in mechanical ways, such as granting disadvantage, giving you extra EP, etc.

If you want to play this game with dice, there’s also a dice-rolling set of rules that correspond to the spending of EP, so I think Siren Silk has the potential to be flexible to your table.

Siren Squad, by Jennafiggers.

The Cerulean Sea needs your help! Join the Siren Squad, where you and your friends are rainbow mermaid secret agents. Summon adorable sea creatures, solve puzzles and explore for clues until you complete your Mission to keep the sea safe. This is a world where magic and technology intertwine, all sorts of fantastic sea creatures thrive, and friendship is the most powerful force of all.

Siren Squad is a cinematic game reminiscent of American Saturday morning cartoons where the heroes win and everything goes back to normal at the end of the episode. If you love the puny, light action of Totally Spies or Powerpuff Girls, the thematic characters of Streetsharks or Skylanders, or the off-the-wall adventures of Chalkzone and Ruby Gloom, you'll probably love this game.

This game is currently in play testing form, but the designers certainly seem to have high hopes for it! You appear to construct your character from a playbook, that is heavily themed to make each PC feel unique, powerful and dynamic. Right now there appears to be google sheet versions of the playbooks, which hold Quickstart characters for people who want to get a bit of a peek into the game before committing to purchasing. One of the cutest things in this game is the existence of buddy beasts! I have no idea how they work but the art for them is very very cute.

Storm Drain Mermaids, by Papertigress.

You are a feral mermaid. You and your sister sirens (the other players) live in the local city/urban waterways, each having a territory and rallying together in flood/drought/calamity situations for survival as needed…

Now is one of those times.

This is a simple one-page game that can be printed off and double as a character sheet for each player. Your mermaid has 5 stats, and a territory that “belongs” to you and therefore gives you an advantage when you act while within it. Each player also has a pool of “scales” that can be used to improve their chances with every roll, or to inflict penalties on an opposing force. The game feels balanced between chance and the spending of resources to ensure your character succeeds a healthy amount of the time. There’s also roll tables a-plenty here, to help the GM come up with ideas as the players swim through the world.

Under the Sea, by rzut-na-angielski

Over the years the story of The Little Mermaid and her horrid end was a cautionary tale for young merfolk. But you - a group of teenage friends - think that Ariel was right. Humans are sexy. Especially the one you’ve been stalking for the past month. If you can’t go up there, then you’ll have to make sure that your human gets to live under the sea with all of you. Play to hatch a polyglamorous plan to get your human some gills AND MAKE THEM FALL HEAD OVER FINS FOR ALL OF YOU!

A goofy game about falling in love and trying to get your crush to like you back, Under the Sea is 2 pages long and grants your character three simple stats: Fins, Heart and Mind. You also carry with you some kind of magic, although how you wield that magic appears to be up to player interpretation.

The game has a very clear endgame scenario: your Human mast have gills and/or be in love with you by the end of the game, or they will die / return to the surface world, never to be wooed again. The course of the game runs over three stages: finding your human, approaching them, and bringing them to the sea (where hopefully, they will fall in love).

Guardians of the Sea, by Ezra Tellington.

"Mermaids used to live in harmony with nature and, for the most parts, humans. Sure, homo sapiens sapiens was both nutritious and easy to charm, but mermaids held no animosity towards their prey. In the last century, though, everything changed: oil spills, plastics, whole species of plants and animals eradicated, what was one day an underwater paradise began to look like a wet wasteland. Mermaid population began to shrink and the remaining ones moved to further removed regions, where humans and their trash could not find them.

In the anarchist society of mermaids emerged harsh discussions: should they wage an actual war against humanity to defend their ecosystem? Some individuals insist that not all humans are at fault, but this opinion is getting less and less popular as the marine animals die out."

Guardians of the Sea looks to be a short game, approximately 9 pages long. The character skills appear to exist as rows of pips, similar to World of Darkness, which might be easy to manage visually. The game itself is mostly about capitalism and ecology; a war rising from the ocean as the onset of climate change makes your characters’ homes uninhabitable. If you like stories that have a little bit of revenge in them, you might like this game.

A Salt Kiss Remains by Whimsy Machine.

A Salt Kiss Remains is game of mermaids, magic, and monsters in the great open sea and the land it crashes upon. We play as denizens of the ocean or other aquatic environments, exploring and protecting this world. These adventures can be lighthearted and fun, exploring sunken ruins of ancient humans, falling in love, and building families, and they can reach like the sea ever deeper. In these dark depths, we explore the damage humans cause to the oceans, what it means to be predator and prey, and the unfathomable mysteries of this vast world.

A Salt Kiss Remains may still be in alpha, but it is FULL of moves, in a way that feels slightly reminiscent of Apocalypse World. Each move references a specific situation in the game, and some of them specifically use a resource called corruption in order to help your mermaids to magical things. This includes (but is not limited to), sapping all life from a location, reading the entrails of dead creatures as a form of augury, and warping the forms of other creatures to your will.

The game also comes with a set of introductory adventures, which may be helpful for GM’s who want a solid place to start, or even just some inspiration for the kinds of stories you can tell with A Salt Kiss Remains.

Radioactive Mermaids of the Burning Sargasso, by kumada1.

In the year 2020, the world was veiled in darkness. The wind stopped. The sea was wild. The earth began to rot. And humanity went into decline. Five thousand and fifty three years have passed since then. It is now the year 2021. Life clings desperately to the ocean.

Two things are true: you are a mermaid, and you are rad.

Specifically, you are a radiotrophic being, feeding on the hazardous background noise of the universe to fuel your cool powers.

In the oceanic zone where you live, the Burning Sargasso, you are unique among lifeforms. Most creatures here are radiation-resistant, but you actively absorb and neutralize it. This makes you something of a keystone species. It also gives you potent science-magic powers, and one heck of an obligation.

Radioactive Mermaids of the Sargasso revolves around building an enclave in the sargasso and improving it, for both your sake and the sake of the wildlife around you. You’ll collaboratively define the elements of your enclave, and work together to make it flourish. Tending to the garden doles out Tedium to the caretakers, which can force your mermaid to leave the enclave if they accrue too much - eventually freedom becomes too alluring to resist. Your character might also accrue something called Rads, which don’t harm you, but can be used to fuel your science-magic powers.

If you want a unique take on mermaids and a collective, clear goal, you might want to check out Radioactive Mermaids of the Sargasso.

Seven Deadly Sirens by Litza Bronwyn.

In this game, you play one of seven types of mermaids and roll with seven deadly sins to power your basic and special moves in order to summon ships, lure men to you, devour their hearts, and collect their treasures.

Previously released, this second version of the game contains updated information based on playtesting feedback, beautiful stock imagery, and new formatting.

Each of the seven playbooks comes with a section for describing your character, filling out the bonuses for your seven sins (used as stats), relationship questions, special moves, and a place to keep track of your wounds, experience, how much treasure you've collected, and how many hearts you've devoured (which you can use to enhance more powerful moves).

Seven Deadly Sirens feels the most gritty on this list, with bonuses and negatives for various moves being determined by your Sins, which measure things such as your desire for sex, food, possessions, etc. You are all different kinds of mermaids, inspired by various sea creatures, granting you unique moves that match your playbook - such as the mer-eel, who is slippery and has a unique relationship with lightning.

This game also highlights relationships, both between the PCs and the men they will encounter. Men are cruel and lovely; they are potential lovers, victims, opponents, and so much more. Will you consume them? Or will they consume you? Play to find out.

[doctor-dev]

Siren Silk (v.0.2) -- Game Jam Release

Siren Silk​ v.0.2​ is the demo build for ​Siren Silk​, a map building TTRPG. Within this document, you will be able to create undersea characters, chart sprawling hex-maps, and work your charisma. This game can be played with or without a GM.

Players take the roles of journeyfolk, the umbrella term for travelers that spread word and wares under the waters of the Swiften Sea, home of the branchia and their kingdom Ornata. Trade is done through any number of means: you can barter goods, harvest and deliver natural resources, craft at your traveling workshop, spin stories, or deliver news to the fringe settlements of Ornata.

[dingodad]

Actually wait can Anū even breathe underwater properly anymore after what happened to her gills? because I’m thinking about it for more than two seconds and it sounds like she was forced by a sick industry to cut off half an organ. 

great question! this is why her procedure has just been called "gill minimisation", rather than a branchiectomy.

the prominent most outwardly visible part of Buwai'i gills is actually a thin membrane protecting the highly delicate organs inside. Anū's "minimised" gills are really just her bare branchiae, unsightly frills removed so they more closely resemble the kinds of thin gill slits trolls are most comfortable seeing.

even though Anū's management would not comment in response to questioning whether she had undergone alterations to her branchiae, she does at least seem publicly to be capable of underwater respiration. but this isn't necessarily to say the cosmetic removal of her gill labella is without any effects on her health. the frills are after all there for a reason - Buwai'i gills are especially sensitive to airborne contaminants, so it's quite possible baring them has more of an impact on her outside of the water than it does under it.

you will also notice most Buwai'i gill slits stretch a lot further down across the chest than Anū's do, Anū having had most of the length of these slits tightened up and removed. these extremities of the gills contain labella but not branchiae, so again, as far as her surgeons can tell us, these are not life-altering operations - but the truth is the current science does not really fully understand the purpose of these slit extensions. while a popular theory posits that the extraneous frills are a display that plays some part in sexual selection (as is the case with some distant relatives of the Buwai'i) there is really no way of knowing in advance what long-term effects all of these procedures will have on Anū, basically being the first ever of her kind.

[metastablephysicist]

okay thinking more about the creature that can see gamma rays. if radiation is that abundant then it's gotta have some sort of shielding. that or have a lot of redundancy.

maybe it's like a feather duster worm with a tube made out of Pb or Bi or something. and its branchiae have some sort of scintillator lining so it can poke them out and see the gammas. imagine a little colony of them lining a defunct reactor. but how do they eat? maybe there's radiotrophic microorganisms there too. hmm

[zoeysdamn]

Snippet tag - Bark, Bite & Break Bones sneek peak 

the adorable @chaosheadspace tagged me, and since I’m very slow at writing these days due to personnal things to take care of, here’s a sneak peek of the next chapter of the Tyler x Van Helsing! reader fic 

---

You weren’t even halfway through your drink when a bitter voice spoke up behind you, “Careful with who you’re cheering, Enid. Wouldn’t want her to poison you.” 

Whipping around you glared at the newly arrived Bianca, in a short gold dress with long sleeves. No matter how gorgeous she looked, the venom in her eyes was enough to make you snare at her. Next to her, a very handsome yet uncomfortable looking Xavier was standing but surely he’d wished to be anywhere but here at the moment, looking for his best friend in the crowd. 

“What about minding your own fucking business, Bianca?” you spat at her, grumpy that she ruined your for one joyful mood. 

“I’m just saying,” she said, ignoring you completely, “you seem to be pretty great at suppressing students from this school, maybe Enid should start to worry.”

Glaring even harder at her you took a menacing step in her direction, “I am good at killing monsters, don’t you fucking forget that before you throw threats at me, princess.”

“You think you can impress me after the shit you pulled with Yoko?” she growled at you, standing tall and getting closer. It was a game of asserting dominance, and you knew it. 

“I have nothing to do with what Yoko brought on herself and you know it,” you said bitterly, trying to control yourself to not tear her branchias out of her throat. “So get the fuck off my back.”

“Don’t you really?”

“Piss. off.” 

“What’s going on here?” 

Both of you turned to Tyler and Ajax who had just arrived, having noticed the tense atmosphere at the bar. The Gorgon gave Enid and Xavier confused glances, trying to understand what the fuss was about. Obviously he didn’t dare to ask you or Bianca, he knew better than to interfere in this hissing game. Tyler on the other hand already had more or less an idea of what was going on. 

“None of your business, murderer,” snapped Bianca to Tyler, “if anything I’ll be doing you a favor by getting the Van Helsing bitch out of Nevermore so back off.” 

“What the fuck did you just call me?” you growled again, knuckles turning white around your cup. 

“You heard me. Didn’t know torturing vampires made you deaf.” 

If things were tense before, now they were downright electric. And if it wasn’t for the whole school around you you would have beaten the shit out the siren already; at least as a revenge for the Poe cup. “Yoko asked for what happened to her,” you spat at the siren, “trust me if I had anything to do with it, she would have a spike through her heart right now.”

Bianca only snarled, “Guess you lost your touch since Jeremiah then. How are you sleeping at night?”

“Jesus fucking Christ Bianca, that was three years ago, drop it for fuck’s sake!” you roared, finally losing patience. 

Anger boiling, you didn’t notice the few pairs of eyes that had turned in your direction at your outburst. But it didn’t seem to frighten the siren the slightest, and she only snared in disdain. 

“You can try all you want to pretend that you’re friendly and redeeming, but no one here is willing to be your friend, Van Helsing. You’re just a bitter, sad, miserable lonely bitch.”

Sensing you were ready to lose it again, Tyler put himself slightly in front of you and put a hand on your forearm to prevent you from gouging Bianca’s eyes out. “Okay, that’s enough.”

---

Hope it’ll make you wait until I finish the chapter uhuh 👀

Whoever wants to join can be considerated as tagged, take care of you ♥

[smolbreads]

i should have wing , its would be so practical to fly (maybe tail for balance purpose) i should also have branchia branchia or whatever it is spelled in english so i can go see fish i want the extra feature

[aneddoticamagazinestuff]

Alpi Apuane: la sua storia industriale e le sue vecchie fabbriche

New Post has been published on https://www.aneddoticamagazine.com/it/alpi-apuane-la-sua-storia-industriale-e-le-sue-vecchie-fabbriche/

Alpi Apuane: la sua storia industriale e le sue vecchie fabbriche

Sembrerà strano e a molti suonerà come un termine incompatibile ma esiste anche l’archeologia industriale. Ci siamo sempre immaginati l’archeologia come una materia che studia e raccoglie documentazioni e materiali di tempi lontanissimi, risalenti a migliaia e migliaia di anni fa, ma come detto l’archeologia non è solo quella. Sono passati oramai oltre due secoli e mezzo dalla prima rivoluzione industriale e da quando verso la seconda metà del ‘700 la macchina a vapore prese il sopravvento. La rivoluzione industriale comportò una profonda ed irreversibile trasformazione della società, tanto da sviluppare lo studio di questa branchia dell’archeologia, meglio nota come archeologia industriale. L’archeologia industriale studia tutte le testimonianze inerenti al processo di industrializzazione, allo scopo di approfondire la conoscenza della storia e del passato industriale. Le testimonianze a cui fare riferimento sono molteplici: i luoghi dove sorgevano questi stabilimenti, lo studio delle vecchie macchine, i processi di lavorazione e le fonti fotografiche e orali. La prima volta che si sentì parlare di questa branchia di studi archeologici risaliva agli anni cinquanta del ‘900, in Inghilterra e tale espressione venne usata nel 1955 da Michael Rix professore dell’università di Birningham, in un suo articolo pubblicato nella rivista “The amateur historian”.

L’ingresso della SMI a Fornaci di Barga

Ma questa disciplina si può anche applicare in Garfagnana? La nostra è stata terra prevalentemente agricola o dedita alla pastorizia, eppure anche noi abbiamo la nostra storia industriale di tutto rispetto. Faremo quindi un viaggio nelle vecchie industrie della Garfagnana, naturalmente questo articolo non vuole essere un saggio di archeologia industriale (nemmeno ci si avvicina) però per chi è curioso da queste poche righe può prendere ispirazione per qualche sua personale e più approfondita ricerca.

  “…Mentre vedevasi l’Italia tutta camminare a gran passi per la via del progresso nelle associazioni e nelle industrie al fine di rendersi indipendente dagli stranieri ai quali fummo fin qui indirettamente tributari: nel mentre fuori di questa regione, sorgono ovunque società che fondano stabilimenti, opifici e stabiliscono nuove industrie; addolora il mirare questa bella parte della nostra terra italiana, fornita dalla natura di tanti doni per i quali altri sacrificherebbero ingenti tesori onde goderne, starsene neghittosa (n.d.r: pigra,negligente), non curante del presente e del bene che per l’avvenire può derivarle dall’uso di questi tesori. Non vi sarà alcuno che vorrà porre in dubbio essere la Garfagnana in generale un paese ricco d’ogni sorta di prodotti agricoli, di tesori nascosti nelle viscere dei suoi monti e sotto i letti dei fiumi e torrenti: ma nessuno vorrà poi niegare che questa Garfagnana sia la parte d’Italia che men siasi slanciata nella via del progresso rispetto all’agricoltura, al commercio ed all’industria…”

Prima dell’avvento dell’industria in Garfagnana si viveva così

Questa impietosa analisi di fine’800 di Paolo Stella (maggiore del regio esercito che prese residenza nella nostra valle)non lascia scampo, descrive la Garfagnana come una regione ricca di risorse naturali che non riesce a sfruttare, per favorire la nascita di nuove industrie che porterebbero ricchezza e benessere. L’Italia ha intrapreso la via dell’industrializzazione e la Valle del Serchio è ancora indietro e non ne vuole sapere di uscire dal suo torpore. Eppure le sue acque e il suo marmo sarebbero veramente da sfruttare per favorire nuove industrie, come già fanno nel versante opposto della Apuane.

Già delle cave infatti erano state aperte verso la metà dell’800 nella zona di Arni, addirittura i cavatori garfagnini andavano a lavorare nelle cave versiliesi e massesi. Ma perchè tutto questo? Mancanza di strade? Di capitali? O di spirito d’iniziativa? Non di meno la situazione era la medesima per lo sfruttamento delle acque del Serchio e dei suoi affluenti, possibile che in un momento in cui stava prendendo piede l’industria idroelettrica a nessuno fosse venuto in mente di sfruttare una zona ricca di acque come la Garfagnana? Volevamo forse rimanere una regione dedita ancora all’agricoltura? e coltivare il nostro orticello per il fabbisogno personale?

Operaie all’interno della SMI

D’altronde noi garfagnini siamo sempre stati un po’ allergici alle novità, per indole siamo abitudinari, ma il progresso non si ferma e non si fermò nemmeno (e a maggior ragione)nel nascere del nuovo secolo, quando agli inizi dell’900 un fremito di rinnovamento scosse dall’apatia tutta la valle. Fu così che proprio nel 1900 i comuni di Vagli e di Minucciano dettero il via alla prima e vera propria industria nostrana, quando due contratti di concessione per lo sfruttamento del marmo locale furono dati ad altrettante società di estrazione, dove dietro di esse c’erano prestanome e capitali esterni di banche. Nell’anno successivo la “Società anonima marmifera di Minucciano” cambiò nome in “Società marmifera Nord Carrara” acquisendo anche le concessioni sul bacino marmifero di Vagli (dal 1921 la Nord Carrara entrerà a far parte del Gruppo Montecatini).

Gorfigliano il trenino che trasporta il marmo

L’industria infatti non portò solo posti di lavoro per i garfagnini ma favori anche l’arrivo della ferrovia, la costruzione di nuove strade e cosa altrettanto importante la gente prese coscienza della propria posizione sociale, nacque così una classe operaia che ben presto diede luogo alla nascita di associazione ed enti per la tutela dei propri interessi, del resto l’incremento di questa nuova classe sociale (nel settore marmi)non era da trascurare dato che nel 1906 gli occupati erano circa 800 arrivando poi ai 3000 del 1920. Anche lo sfruttamento delle acque prese vita, quando fu operante la “Società idroelettrica garfagnina” che costruì gli impianti nel comune di Sillano, sorsero poi altre industrie idroelettriche “foraggiate” queste da capitali esterni, ecco allora nascere nel 1913 la diga di Corfino-Villa Collemandina e poi nel tempo gli impianti di Castelnuovo, Gallicano e Pontecosi. La diga di Vagli nascerà per ultima, nel secondo dopoguerra. Questa attività fu indubbiamente fonte di lavoro, ma ben presto nacquero disservizi, la gente protestava con l’impresa distributrice di energia, la S.E.L.T (SOCIETà ELETTRICA LIGURE.TOSCANA), paradossalmente molti paesi non erano raggiunti dall’elettricità…e ciò continuò fino agli 60 del 1900.

Centrale elettrica Gallicano

Non mancarono naturalmente le industrie manifatturiere, anzi queste furono la maggior parte. Già nel 1880 a Castelnuovo esisteva “la Fabbrica dei Tessuti”(nel tempo prenderà il nome di Valserchio tessuti) fondata dal Conte Carli, per molti e molti anni fra vicende alterne questa azienda darà occupazione a molte donne della valle. Sempre nel settore tessile a Gallicano nel 1904 nascerà anche la Cucirini che produrrà filati, ancora a Gallicano nei soliti anni la “S.I.P.E Nobel” porterà un suo stabilimento di polvere da sparo. Dall’altra parte del fiume, a Fornaci di Barga, ecco nascere la fabbrica per eccellenza della valle.

Operaie e operai della Cucirini di Gallicano

Era il 1916 quando la S.M.I (SOCIETA’ METALLURGICA ITALIANA) nacque per incrementare lo sforzo bellico producendo munizioni per la “Grande Guerra” che era in corso. Questa fabbrica cambierà per sempre il modo di vivere dei garfagnini, fu il più grande stabilimento industriale di sempre, presente in zona, arriverà ad occupare migliaia e migliaia di persone (fra le quali moltissime donne). Sembrerà strano ma proprio in quegli anni si comincerà a prendere coscienza che la Garfagnana poteva essere sfruttata anche da un  punto di vista turistico e sviluppare quindi una nuova risorsa economica. Sul finire dell’800 erano già presenti dei villeggianti e sui giornali locali si affittano case per vacanze. Nel 1904 proprio per sviluppare questo settore fu pubblicata una guida corredata da molte fotografie e da carte topografiche. La questione turistica cominciò anche ad essere dibattuta sui giornali locali, si cercò di dare linfa vitale a questa nuova “industria”, proprio come dovrebbe succedere oggi, dove ancora questa risorsa non viene ancora messa a profitto come si deve. Questo stralcio di articolo del 1927 tratto dalle colonne de “La Garfagnana” sembra essere stato scritto ieri data la sua corrente attualità:

1946 “La domenica del Corriere” pubblicizza la Garfagnana turisticamente

“…l’industria principale, che parrebbe la più possibile ad essere sfruttata, quella turistica, è purtroppo da scartarsi. Per varie ragioni…Mancano poi gli alberghi e i pochi esistenti non offrono il cosiddetto comfort moderno, che per i nuovi ricchi culmina nei divertimenti di ogni genere, leciti ed illeciti. La borghesia e la classe sociale più eletta inoltre hanno le loro ville altrove. Il ceto professionista trova la Garfagnana fuori mano a causa delle poco agevoli comunicazioni. Chi può dunque venire preso da noi? Non resta che il modesto impiegato”. Fu un cambiamento epocale quello dell’avvento dell’industria in Garfagnana, c’è chi ebbe a dire che i problemi per valle fossero finiti e che la povertà che ci affliggeva da secoli fosse definitivamente sconfitta, in parte fu vero…uno stipendio sicuro, la certezza di una continuità lavorativa…ma non era oro tutto quello che luccicava, ed in risposta a chi faceva notare la tanto decantata ricchezza metteva in evidenza che per il momento serviva “a due cose soltanto, a formare i dividendi delle imprese forestiere e versar quattrini nelle tasche dell’erario”.

  Bibliografia

“Dal fascismo alla resistenza. La Garfagnana fra le due guerre mondiali” di Oscar Guidi. Banca dell’identità e della memoria anno 2014

“La Garfagnana” articolo pagina 2 anno 1927

[xprojectrpg]

Moment of Awesome - Namor the Submariner:Namor was just wanting to restore himself in the lake. He didn't reckon on a purple cat-girl and the Queen of Limbo.

Anatomically impossible or not, Sharon discovered Namor's wings had one unambiguously effective quality: speed. Falling she had been prepared for. She'd fallen many times, and from many things. This, she quickly discovered, was an entirely different experience than plunging into a lake at high speed while hanging from the waist of a stranger like a complaining fanny pack. Sharon let go.

The ability to twist your own skin to get all four feet aligned with the ground had limited utility when there was no ground to land on. The end result was Sharon's first experience with both a large body of water and performing the feline equivalent of a belly flop.

Illyana, on the other hand, wasn't going to take a chance with missing her own portal. Or worse, ending up falling from some height into the dust of Limbo because she wasn't focused enough. Water, at this point, was probably inevitable. "Will not yield," she finally replied. Her voice was resolute, and she hooked her legs and arms more securely around Namor. "Will take you down with me, Majesty."

"Wrahhhh," Namor elegantly bellowed as the other two hit the water. If anyone was paying close attention, they might notice that his neck flexed to expose a set of gills that sighed with their own relieved breath of air. The water immediately moisturized his skin, whitened his teeth, and cleared Namor's cloudy disposition in an instant.

There were, of course, other things going on.

Illyana shrieked into Namor's ear just before they hit the water, clinging to him like a limpet as the water surrounded them. It was partially fear, since she couldn't swim at all, but that just meant she wasn't shy about digging fingers and nails into flesh as her hair floated out of the very loose ponytail she'd thrown it into.

Sharon's head broke the surface of the lake, her yowl of outrage already fully loaded.

"Wet!" Sharon shrieked, arms flailing as she speedran the process of discovering the mechanics of the dog paddle. "You have made me wet!" Her hindlegs got the memo and engaged, leaving her tail to thrash to and fro, arcing lakewater across the sky.

Namor emerged, bright and refreshed, flipping his hair back behind him in a glorious, cinematic spray of water. "Wet," he concurred.

"Wet," Illyana groused. "You okay, Sharon? That did not look like fun fall." Funny, and the only reason she hadn't ended up laughing was the speed at which she ended up in the water herself. Speaking of... she poked Namor in the abs. "Cannot swim, please take to shallow area," she requested politely. "Will get you back for this, one day."

There was a burbling wrrrowllll from Sharon, who had managed to synchronize all four legs and was paddling for the shore as they spoke. She was using her tail as a rudder in a way that somehow managed to convey deep personal offense. Soaked and stinking with lake-water, Sharon crawled to shore and glared at Namor as he came stroking up behind her with Illyana in tow.

"I am a cat," she said in the same accusing tones one might say 'you punched a baby'. Sharon started to shake, then did a double-take as she noticed the gill slits around Namor's neck.

"You have branchiae also?" she squawked. "Avian and aquatic adaptations? That is it. Jail! Jail for illogical fish man! Jail for one thousand years!"

Turns out it is remarkably easy to beat a cat to shore when one has wings. Illyana was deposited extremely gently on the shore, having been fished out of the water quickly upon her request. Those illogical, fluttering wings continued beating in soft, rhythmic mockery as the fish man landed nimbly near Sharon.

"We were in suspended animation in near five thousand of your years, Cat." Namor, completely nonplused by any of Sharon's accusations, ran a hand through his hair to shake off any water. "No human jail would be able to hold me."

[pastorigloss]

ATTUTIRE TIMORI  Suonavano campane dentro la neve dei nostri segreti innamorati  tu mi facevi infusi di timore  con te ogni annata sarà vecchia  l’alito di branchia delle tue labbra costruisce futuri da colore primario. #stefipastorigloss #sillogependula #poesia #poesiaitaliana #poesiadelcactus https://www.instagram.com/p/Coktwjktt3v/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[rosybetta]

Voting for Spionids bc that's my lab tech's favorite clade of marine annelid <3 they may not look like much compared to the sabellids, but they're very important for bioturbation (mixing sediments and making nutrients available for life)!! Some of them even live around hydrothermal vents!!

Many of them build little tube houses out of sand!! And others will bore into the shells of oysters - but they aren't actually hurting the oyster, the oyster protects itself just fine :) The Spionids just kinda hang out! Filter feeding!

My lab tech thinks their palps look like bunny ears, which is why he thinks they're so cute :) This is a meiofaunal species, meaning they live between grains of sand on the seafloor! I know a PhD student who studied their navigation patterns for his dissertation, it's actually quite fascinating! (I just took a picture of my annelid ID book)

Plus, get a load of those branchiae (respiratory organs)! So pretty!

They're just little sand bunnies, give them a chance!

Taxonomy Tournament: Annelids

Sabellida. This order of marine worms is made up of filter feeders with feeding tentacles, such as the feather duster worm

Spionida. Marine worms of this order live in soft substrates near the shore

[animalids]

Camel spider (Branchia sp.)

Photo by Mark Moffett

[typhlonectes]

A new species of giant Eunice (Eunicidae, Polychaeta, Annelida) from the east coast of Australia

Joana Zanol, Pat Hutchings

Abstract

A new giant species is described from New South Wales, Australia. Eunice dharastii sp. nov. differs from described Australian species and is most similar to E. aphroditois (Pallas, 1788), E. flavopicta Izuka, 1912, and E. kinbergi Ehlers, 1868. 

The unique combination of features that characterizes the new species is irregular articulated prostomial appendages; antennae reaching back beyond chaetiger 4; branchiae starting at chaetiger 10, initially button-shaped and distinctly longer than notopodial cirri where best developed; dorsal fleshy knobs on anterior chaetal lobes; notopodial cirri pendulous, abrupt tapering from inflated bases; bidentate compound falcigerous chaetae with both teeth directed laterally, distal tooth much shorter than proximal tooth in median and posterior chaetigers; and dark bidentate subacicular hooks starting at chaetiger 58, tapering to a small head with both teeth directed distally, and proximal tooth much larger than minute and spur-like distal tooth. 

This new species lives in sandy sediments in coastal waters 1–8 m deep. It is highly mobile and not easy to collect, which may explain why it was not described before.

Read the paper here: https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/86448/

[marineexplorer]

Okenia atkinsonorum nudibranch #marineexplorer by John Turnbull Via Flickr: These tiny invertebrates are found on their red food bryozoan. Can you tell the front from the back? The front has the pair of rhinophores and the back has the plume of branchiae. The other spiky bits are cerata. www.seaslug.org.uk/nudibranchs/anatomy.html Bare Island

[goniobranchus-gleniei]

While I probably won’t remember to consistently post my art here :((, I will be posting writings and short comics about mine and other ocs at @dumbo-branchia !

It’s very hard to consistently remember on here to post for me so more likely than not I’ll only use it just for uploading works or having a place to store my stuff!

[bittybattybunny]

OwO ☕

Have some “The Sun in the Sea”! It’s part of the revisied version of the TLC chapter “Four Eyes”! I decided to add onto it!

 A cycloptic nurse smiled.

“Can I help you today, Your majesty?” He asked as Kaya shuddered at the name.

“I told you guys. Kaya is fine…” she grumbled, “Um I need a physical to finish some paperwork for registration, do we have anyone free today? Preferably someone who’s not prone to over touching.”

“Let me check who’s on staff. But I warn… Stein is on.” He chuckled and turned to his computer to work.

Shade screamed when cold hands went up his shirt.

“Fascinating!” Came a accented voice, “Very Interesting! Branchia on a human form.” her stitched fingers grabbed his face to his distress, forcing his head to look at the tall woman who’s body was covered in stitches, her milky yellow eyes sparkling as she grinned. “Those are sharp,” she noted his teeth and forced his mouth open, “Oh i see excretion sacks, venomous? So gills and venom, you must be a water snake?”

“Leviathan.” Kaya corrected. She frowned and moved to get the woman’s hands off, “No touchy touchy.”

“Sorry, he was new.” The woman pulled some hand sanitizer from her pocket and rubbed it over her hands. 

Shade gave a shudder before moving to hide behind Kaya who crossed her arms.

“Don’t be so afraid, I’m a doctor~!” The woman laughed.

“And it seems the only one without any appointments.” the nurse apologized.

“Ugh. The touchiest doctor. Of course. I bet my aunt set this up.” Kaya pinched the bridge of her nose.

“I do not know, but I just dealt with my morning meetings. So what do you need?” The stitched woman gave a laugh, holding a hand to Shade, “I suppose I should introduce myself, I’m Doctor Chelsea Stein.”

“Um.. Shade.” he shook her hand loosely but scowled while doing some .

“So what’s the danger?” She asked with a grin, “I don’t really see you around the office much.”

“Oh, this is a family matter.” Kaya admitted, “He needs a physical to finish his forms. However he is touch averse.” Kaya handed the folder over to the doctor who began to flip through the clipped papers.

“Oh a leviathan curse… over 500 years old… You eat greenland sharks?” She raised a brow, “Can’t imagine that’s great on your system.”

“I don’t eat them now.” he mumbled, “Look the ocean sucks, you eat what you can! I eat normal food these days!”

“He’s a pretty good cook.” Kaya grinned as the man took a flushed tone, “My cousin talks about it a lot.”

“Ah?” he blinked, “Ah I guess he’s been over a few times.”

“I’m talking about Eclipse.” Kaya blinked as she stared at him, “Ammy gushes about your food all the time.”

He felt his face burning and looked at the floor, “O-Oh. Well… I’m glad.”

Kaya laughed as Chelsea tilted her head. 

“The Grim Wolf?” She asked as Shade rubbed a cheek. “What’s the connection?”

“They live together!” Kaya beamed with a laugh, “Harriet is the one who bribed him out of the ocean, now he lives with them and he’s got a crusshhhhh~!” She sneered as he gasped.

“I-I Do not! It’s… it’s not like that! Look just because she has gorgeous silver eye lashes that frame those doey eyes of hers and makes really cute half smiles and the way her dimples come out when she laughs--- It- it doesn’t mean I like her!” he defended, “So what if she smells great and gives great hugs and makes me---” 

Chelsea burst out laughing as he turned a deep red and huffed to look away with his arms crossed. Kaya’s second mouth opened as she grinned.

“Ain’t it bad? Ammy is just as bad in private.” She admitted and watched the merman perk up to listen, “Says he’s so unfair, tho she’s still pissed he kissed her drunk.”

He hid his face in his hands to scream.

[corallorosso]

Quando ho letto "branchia" ho sputato l'acqua che stavo bevendo. Comunque, a 'sto giro, non censuro nemmeno nome e cognome. Pazzi criminali. Daniele Sica