hello rain world tumblr. in my rain world fic, Taking the High Road, i accidentally created a conlang for scavengers. whoopsie.
that is not what im here to discuss, however. see, as a story about a slugcat and a scavenger traveling together, it was inevitable that the slugcat would start trying to learn 'scavengese.'
so i decided "scavs are basically humans so they can make all the sounds humans can, but scugs are like. cats. so they probably cant make all the sounds. how do i do that."
after about 20 seconds of consideration, i decided to try pronouncing my scavengese words without using my tongue, and just writing the sound that i made. it was quick, it was easy, and hey, it definitely wouldn't come up much (lie).
an innocent comment on my fic asking "hey how do you decide what scugs can and cant say" has sent my into a shower thought-fueled speculative biology session to retroactively justify my decisions. so, i'm gonna put that here, because someone will probably find it as interesting as me. anyway.
(tl;dr, click here for some speculative biology on how slugcat language works)
so, let us start with the basis for scug language, which is two facts: one, scugs are, at their core, moist cats which have evolved to the point of developing culture and language, and two, they go "wawawa." why do they go wawawa? because the entire community agreed on it and also I Said So. so how do we build a language around this?
so as we all know, cat language isn't language as we understand it. cats don't use words, they use stuff like purring and hissing and non-verbal cues. so, if cats suddenly constructed their own society like it was a Thing To Do, their language would probably involve those same things. so basically, natural slugcat language involves mostly non-verbal cues and sounds that humans cant make.
so now we come to the second part: why does rivulet go "wawawa" when they "talk" with moon?
well, my theory is that scugs have very immobile tongues and no teeth. bear with me here.
slugs, yknow, the base of slugcats other than cats, dont have tongues. they have a thing called a radula, which as far as i can tell, is basically a tonguelike thing covered in very small teeth. now, correct me if im wrong, but you probably wouldnt want a spiky meat sack flailing around your mouth, like we do with tongues.
also, look at scugs diet. theyre herbivores and insectivores, most of them being unable to eat meat (i imagine centipede flesh is quite soft once you get past the exoskeleton). the only scugs that can eat meat are hunter, artificer, gourmand, and spearmaster. three of these are genetically modified, hunter being specifically created to be a powerful warrior, spearmaster being... spearmaster, and artificer being the only scug with claws and also being able to Spontaneously Explode For Mobility.
gourmand is a special case, being yknow, a gourmand. they can eat meat from lizards and such, however it gives only half the pips of other meat eaters. this says to me that their system isnt built to handle meat, and they can only eat specific parts of these creatures. this is probably true of all slugcats, its just that gourmand has experience is what parts can and cant be eaten, them being the gourmand.
anyway my point here is, slugcats cant eat hard foods. think about what they eat. blue fruit is a bug chrysalis and therefore full of goo, bubble fruit seem to be made of some kind of gel, popcorn is popcorn, slime mold is slime, ect. ect. in the case of gooieducks, scugs have to rip off the hard casing in order to eat them. scugs are made to eat soft foods and liquids. so, they probably dont have teeth. or, if they do, they are affixed to their tongue, and previously discussed.
so why am i discussing scug diets in this post about scug language? well you see, dear reader, if scugs dont have lips, how do they hold their food in their mouth? their lips. and what is the main part of your mouth you use to go "wawawa?" thats right, your lips. scug lips are probably the most easy to use mouthpart they have
so, imagine youre ruffles. moon has been talking to you in her weird ancients language to you, which seems to consist entirely of mouth sounds (no throat sounds or non-verbal cues at all! how strange!) you love moon very much and want to make her happy, so you try to mimick her language. you arent used to using your mouth to speak very much, so what do you do? you just start making a sound and flapping your lips. and what sound does that make?
"wawawa."
and THAT, dear friends, is why scugs go wawawa.
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It's barely the end of the first day of school, and three faculty members are dead. Nobody knows much yet, but supposedly the six freshman who all managed to get detention on the very first day of school were involved and, if the rumors are to be believed, two of them actually died. In a dumb fight in the cafeteria against some animated corn. Kipperlily rolls her eyes when she hears it. They're clearly a bunch of losers who are going to either drop out or get someone killed before the year is out, but that's not really her problem, is it?
Still, just to be on the safe side, maybe their party should spend some time in the woods behind the school, and get some practice in with rats and things before they find themselves involved in a fight like those dumb detention kids did.
It's a month into the school year, and Kipperlily's starting to get the hang of things. She's feeling comfortable in a fight now, they've been killing rats and twig gremlins in the Far Haven Woods as often as they can manage, and they're getting really good at it. They even have a name now, the High 5 Heroes, chosen by Kipperlily herself, of course.
Meanwhile, Kipperlily's pretty sure the kids from detention actually killed someone, though nobody seems to be talking about it. Kipperlily doesn't care what anyone says, she's heard multiple people say they saw members of their group talking to Penelope Sam and Johnny spells, and then the day after Johnny Spells gets killed in a fucking car chase, the rich kid, who's literally the son of a pirate, has a mysterious new motorcycle? It's all far too suspicious.
It's the week after winter break, and Kipperlily is stuck in the stupid guidance councilor's office, talking about her dumb feelings. Unlike the Bad Kids (and what kind of stupid name is that), who apparently had an adventure dropped in their lap within minutes of the first school day ending, Kipperlily has been waiting months and still nothing has popped up. Plus Oisin and Ivy keep joking about changing their party name to the Rat Grinders.
It's dumb. Who would want a party name that's based on some joke? Besides, she already chose the name. So why on earth would they change it now? At least Lucy seems to agree with her about it.
It's just days after prom, and Kipperlily is sick of everything. The stupid Bad Kids apparently crashed prom and literally defeated Kalvaxus, Emperor of the Red Waste. It's honestly bullshit. A dumb group of kids that couldn't even make it through one day of school without getting one third of their party killed, and they're being credited with saving the entire continent? Kipperlily's been digging into the Bad Kids' history with every moment of her free time, trying to figure out how a bunch of dumb untrained kids managed something so huge. And she thinks she might have cracked it.
Kristen Applebees is literally Helio's Chosen One, and apparently Adaine Abernant is the new Oracle of the Elves. Kipperlily doesn't know what Fig, Fabian, or Gorgug's deals are yet, but if rumors are to be believed, then Riz Gukgak's dad was eaten by the very same Kalvaxus. Clearly the entire reason the Bad Kids are succeeding is because of their personal histories.
And to make matters worse, Oisin and Ivy managed to get the rest of the party to go along with the stupid Rat Grinders name. and Mary Ann didn't even have a reason for it! The only one who voted with her was Lucy. So now they've got a dumb name and no real adventuring prospects, and all the while, a bunch of kids who skip classes and get arrested are somehow getting perfect grades with no effort.
It's sophomore year and everything is terrible. The Rat Grinders meet every day to kill rats in the woods and it's dumb and boring, and not even a little bit difficult anymore, and she has to go to weekly councilor sessions with Jawbone, who's an ally of her rival adventuring party, which. Aguefort already clearly likes them, and even before he was resurrected they had managed to get two of their allies positions in the school. Which has to be an unfair advantage. And now Fig's dad is the vice principal rather than the lunch lad. It's really no wonder they never seem to get in trouble for skipping classes or any of their other bullshit.
At least she can use their connection with Jawbone to her advantage. Every meeting with him, she mines him for new information on the Bad Kids, who have been doing absolutely nothing so far this year.
It's sophomore year and The Rat Grinders are going to finally get their chance! Porter and Jace have approached her with the opportunity of a lifetime! Porter even said she shows a lot of promise! He doesn't even seem to take issue with his anger, and he says that he's going to help her become an amazing adventurer. All she has to do is accept this weird little rage star thing and start worshipping some dead god of rage. Kipperlily honestly isn't that much into religion, but this is the first interesting thing to happen to her all day. She's already working to convince Lucy to change her god.
It's sophomore year and even as Kipperlily is finally making progress, the Bad Kids are still showing her up. Somehow, they ended up fighting the Nightmare King himself, defeating him and somehow in the process, Kristen Applebees managed to ressurect a dead god of her own. It's bullshit and literally the only reason they manage to get back in time for the end of spring break is the direct intervention of the principal again. Plus now Fig has somehow managed to become an Archdevil and start dating Principal Aguefort's daughter. As if she wasn't already a rockstar.
It's sophomore year and Kipperlily's going to make the Rat Grinders the best adventuring party at Aguefort, even if it kills her.
It's junior year and the Bad Kids seemed determined to ruin her life. It's bullshit. They literally didn't even know who she was before this year, and they seem determined to ruin everything she's working towards. On the first day of school, they all collectively decided that Kristen was going to run for school president, seemingly as a bit, the exact second that they find out she's running. And immediately on meeting her they made fun of her fucking name for literally no reason.
It's junior year and everything's going to plan. Kristen's been expelled, and the Bad Kids are taking The Last Stand, and they've got the perfect opportunity to get rid of all the Bad Kids for good. And yet somehow Kristen fucking Applebees manages to ruin their fucking plans perfectly, spotting her out before she can succeed in killing the proctor and Buddy. Instead she has to kill Buddy and let Oisin take her away before the Bad Kids can do anything. So of course the Bad Kids get a literal perfect score on The Last Stand, and now they've all aced their classes for the whole year.
It's junior year and they're summoning a dead god. It's junior year and they find out as they're casting the spell, that the name they'd gotten was fucking wrong. It's junior year and despite all their preparations the Bad Kids have managed to get to the gymnasium with all their stupid fucking votes. It's junior year and Kipperlily is at least going to kill Riz. It's junior year and Riz literally dives into lava.
It's junior year and Kipperlily's going to kill Riz. He thinks he's hiding, but she can see him, and she's going to have to close with him, but this is her opportunity, and then she's in the air, and he's got her in a hold person spell, and she's falling, and she's in the lava, and it's so hot, and it burns, and then it's all gone.
It's junior year and Kipperlily is dead. It's junior year and she's in a world of crystal spines and lava, and in the reflections of the crystals, Kipperlily can see everything. She sees herself in those wretched meetings with jawbone, kicking at the leg of the chair, and she can see Jawbone asking her every fucking time, what can she do to become a better adventurer. As if it was ever in her control. As if she ever could have done anything. As if it wasn't all about her backstory the whole time. As if she weren't the boring daughter of two boring people. As if she had ever had a chance.
"Did you ever try?" She hears a voice ask. And then Ankarna is there. The god that she tried so hard to kill. "Did you ever really try to become a better adventurer, or did you just wait for it to happen to you?"
"I did everything I could!" Kipperlily insists. "It's unfair, why should they get all the advantages?"
"Were they really ever advantages? Or did you just decide they were?"
"You think those idiots deserved their success? All they ever do is screw around!"
"That is not what I have seen of them. Nor have I seen any better of you. Of course, you did your schoolwork and you did it to the letter, but when did you ever challenge yourself? When did you ever take a risk? When did you ever seek out a task that was more than what you felt certain you would succeed at? Would you have even have the courage to take part in Porter's plan if he had not personally trained you, ensured that you were all as powerful as possible? You insist that the Bad Kids are only successful because of their tragic history, but what of Gorgug? There is not one thing in his past that drives him and yet he has succeeded at doing things no one else has ever managed." Ankarna stares long and hard at her, and then she is gone and Kipperlily is alone again. With nothing in her death but her own thoughts to keep her company.
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