#fish scale gecko

[a-random-goblin]

EVERYONE LOOK AT THIS IT'S A LITTLE FRIEND

[magp1e-starl1ght]

OH HERE COMES A FISH SCALED GECKO

Full of crickets n bugs

o no he’s scared

I KNOW HES GONNA DO ANOTHER

STRIP TEASE

[artsyaxolotl]

Meet November's Pal of the Month... the Fish-Scaled Gecko!

Fish-scale geckos are small, plump reptiles with the largest scales of any known gecko! These scales are boney deposits known as osteoderms, similar armor to that of crocodilian skin.

But their most stunning trick comes in their escape. Unlike other lizards that shed their tails when caught by predators, the fish-scale gecko simply sheds its scales, leaving behind a pink, vulnerable skin! This adaptation has proved challenging for researchers, who struggle to capture specimens without losing a few layers of scales. No worries! Once lost, these scales will regrow within a few weeks!

The conservation status of fish-scale geckos is unknown, but considered to be of low concern. Any species can be impacted by environmental changes and habitat loss so it is important to continue monitoring their populations.

Members of the Ko-fi Club will get a 3in sticker and a collectible trading card!

[meowuff]

Let's do a proper introduction!

☽ Udon ☽

Leaf tailed Gecko Yokai

Assassin with passion ~

I already info dumped a lot about him in my last post so could be that some of the info is gonna be repeated.

Lots of words below!

Let’s start from the very beginning.

It is not 100% clear where exactly Udon came from but somehow, they ended up at the ceiling of an old traditional assassin company in the hidden city. They haven’t been bigger than a common chicken egg, barely a week old, and had just been crawling around with no real goal in mind. As chance would have it, his tiny baby gecko feet lost their hold above the company’s headmaster, who had been eating his dinner in peace, and landed in his bowl of soup and udon noodles.

Quite confused by the sudden child in his food, the headmaster fished them out of it and, shortly after, decided to keep them as his new apprentice. Finding new members for an assassin business was harder than it used to be, so he welcomed the chance for a “blank slate” to be formed into a perfect replacement to take over his business one day.

Udon was a pretty easy child to raise. Surely, their habit of climbing up the walls or hiding at weird notches had been quite stressful and annoying in the beginning, but they were a quick learner and knew in just a few months how to behave like a good child in the presence of other people and to obey when being told to. They still enjoyed scaling the walls and ceilings, but it only needed a single word to get them down again.

As soon as they were able to stand safely on their legs, the headmaster let them be trained in the various methods of martial arts and archery. With only 3 years old, they witnessed someone being killed for the first time. One year later and they did the act of killing themself.

They enjoyed the praise they got for doing a good job, so they set it as their goal to become the best assassin of the company as quickly as possible. Most of their time was focused to perfect their skills, being most comfortable with the bow and arrow, but also putting a lot of focus to master the close combat with a knife.

With 6 years old, their telekinesis like mystic abilities awakened. A lot of training was poured to get them to control these powers to perfection in the shortest time possible, which they didn’t mind due to the fact how well it harmonized with his archery. Two years later they had a hit rate of 99%. Around that time, they started to accompany some of their supervisors on their missions, to get used to the job of an assassin and learn things first hand.

Through an accident, where another member of the company accidentally drunk out of Udons cup, they found out that their saliva is venomous. Luckily, small dosages, are not lethal but rather paralyzing. They never truly figured out how much would be needed to kill someone, but they started to lace their arrows with it, to keep their victims from getting up and running away after being shot.

Over the years they started to develop a very strong sense for when they need to be serious and when it’s okay to cut loose. For other people it could come over as two completely different people. If not being on a job, Udon enjoys chatting and talking a lot, even being up for some shenanigans. But if they are hired to eliminate or retrieve a target, there is nothing that could distract them from that. All their time and focus will be directed at their job and fulfilling it to the clients liking.

The payment for their work doesn’t even reach Udon, but instead lands in the headmasters’ hands, due to him being the closest to their guardian there is. But they are not interested in the money anyway but more in the approval and praise of their superiors, so they don’t really mind it.

At just 17 years of age, they are already one of the most outstanding assassins to have been seen in years and they hold that title with a lot of pride.

Apart from training or working, they don´t have any specific hobbies to enjoy, other than watching the people of the streets from high up, being plastered to house walls, or following with big amazement the fights in the battle nexus, often playing with the idea to maybe join one day but knowing better than to actually consider it. They have been at the upside world a few times, following a target trying to hide among the humans together with one of their teachers, but they weren’t a big fan of all the noise and blinking lights of New York.

Even if everyone in the company calls them by he/him pronounce, they never particularly felt quite male nor female. Gender never played a role to them or their performance as assassin so they decided for themself to let everyone choose how they would see them without being bothered by it.

First Background info rant with lots of additional doodles~

[chaobunnyarts]

Tiny geckos [4/4] + Phylogenetic Tree

25 - Lined Gecko (Gekko vittatus) 26 - Northern spiny-tailed gecko (Strophurus ciliaris) 27 - Three-lined knob-tailed gecko (Nephrurus levis) 28 - Common flat-tail gecko (Uroplatus fimbriatus) 29 - Geckolepis megalepis, a species of fish-scale gecko 30 - Virgin Islands dwarf sphaero (Sphaerodactylus parthenopion) 31 - Delcourt's giant gecko (Hoplodactylus delcourti)

[lizardywizard]

Long story short, but my friend is gonna be sick for a while and can't care for their pet leopard gecko and betta fish anymore. I am not surprised lol but I do wanna find homes for these babies and they've asked me to take care of it. Do you have any suggestions on places I could post pictures to find someone who can adopt them? They would come with the tanks and lights and all that jazz. I thought of you right away because of your own scale kids haha

Oof, sorry, only just saw this... mobile tumblr doesn't like telling us when we have messages :/

Honestly I would suggest Reddit? I know it doesn't sound like the obvious option, but it's the place you'll find a bunch of people collected who are knowledgeable and passionate about any given animal. /r/leopardgeckos and /r/bettafish might be helpful - I don't use them personally, but /r/beardeddragons is a solid community that sees some rehoming posts, and these ones look good too. They could probably also direct you to more local resources for your area.

Only problem with Reddit is that to post on a lot of subs you need to meet a karma requirement, which means having already had an account for a certain amount of time. Neither of those subs seem to have a karma minimum, though, so you should be good.

[ezlo-x]

It’s been ages since I haven’t done this but lately I’ve been thinking abt gorons again yippie wahoo!!! 💥💥💥💥 I got some world build to share not only abt the gorons but for the rito and zora for my au! :] wish I could draw it but for now it is in written form

I wanna talk abt variants! Let’s start w the Gorons

Gorons have three types of “scale” variants the croco-goro, gecko-goro, and the sala-goro

Croco-goro have

Spiky scales; back shell looks heavy armored

Horns are typically longer

Tails are long could be excellent use for swimming

Daruk, Tarú, and Yunobo are croco-goros

Gecko-goro

Lot more rounder scales; back shell is more smoother but still armored

Tail is shorter and pudgier

Horns are smaller than a croco-goro’s

Their in-betweens of fingers and toes have webbing

Sala-goro

Very smooth/to no scales; back shell is very soft and is not armored aside from the spinal scales

Tail is long but is flat

Horns are small nubs

Some areas of their skin can be wrinkly

Now to the Zora :] Zoras have four categories Mammalian, Apex, Tropical, and Mantas

Mammalians are Zoras whose aspects follow similarly to a sea animal like a whale, dolphins, or orca

Apex are Zoras whose aspects are close to an apex fish predator like sharks, barracuda, salmon, or piranha

Tropical are Zoras whose aspects are close to a tropical fish

Mantas seems pretty self explanatory it Zoras that have manta traits

Finally the Rito 💥💥💥

Separating in three categories Tabantha, Hebra, and Faron

Tabantha Rito

There the Falcon and Owl rito in this region

Owl rito are less common than the Falcon rito

Hebra Rito

Hebra rito are Eagle rito

Their aspects look very similar to a Kargaroc (WW) and a Helmaroc

They are the tallest group of Rito

Faron Rito

The Parrot and Seagull rito

Feathers are either monochromatic or full with color (forgor the word for it </3)

Feet are webbed

[pkmnherpetology]

are there any groups of reptile/specific species you personally would really like to see show up in a future game? personally speaking, the one that first comes to mind is sandfish skinks, because I think recent games showed that they could do some really fun stuff vis a vis: reflecting their irl movements

[oh, yes, i've got quite a list. i'm sure i'm missing some, because i really do love a great many species and i cannot list them all off the top of my head, but here's the ones i've written down and a few new additions i just came up with:

-the side-blotched lizard (common, i think? i've had a migraine today, forgive me if this is the wrong species). their fascinating rock-paper-scissors mating strategy opens up a possibility for a pokémon species with three morphs for males and two for females (there is overlap between the morphs, i think females are orange and yellow). please, if you look up anything on this list, let it be these. i am so fascinated by this mating strategy. it would make a great fire-water-grass trio.

-the fish-scale gecko. this gecko genus has the hilarious and slightly disturbing defense mechanism of just…getting naked when it’s upset. it drops its scales and turns into what looks like a raw piece of chicken. a signature ability for this pokémon could be one that causes it to change forms when hit by a physical attack in battle. apparently, they get naked very readily, which is kinda funny to me.

-blunthead tree snakes. reason:

-horned lizards. reason:

fuck you i cast eyeball blood.

-bush vipers (genus atheris). look, they’re just really fucking pretty and pokémon doesn’t have enough snakes and i really like these ones so please put them in the game. look them up, but be wary of photoshopped images. for some reason people really like to alter their colors online, which i don't understand because they're beautiful as is.

-moloch. it just looks cool and i like it.

-a proper whiptail lizard or mourning gecko pokémon. like salazzle, but instead of being a weird femdom mind-control fetish pokémon it’s a normal all-female lizard pokémon species.

-basilisk lizard. come on, don’t tell me you’ve never thought the water-walking lizard wouldn’t make a cool water type. inteleon doesn’t count because he sucks and also i think is mostly based on a veiled chameleon. which are a right pain to work with, by the way. they're very fragile and the one at my previous job irl was rather ill-tempered, he didn't trust any of us younger workers, so my boss did most of his care. he was like, "we're never getting another chameleon, this guy's exhausting."

-komodo dragon. out of all the monitor lizards, this is the most impressive to me. their venom, enormous stature, and cute paws have me enraptured, and i think they could make for a good poison-fighting or poison-dark type pokémon.

-snake-necked turtles. reason:

-boomslangs. one of very few rear-fanged snakes with potent enough venom to kill a human, a juvenile boomslang is responsible for one of my favorite pieces of herpetological history: the death of karl p. schmidt. schmidt was a renowned herpetologist who was sent the live juvenile for identification, i think it was. because boomslang venom wasn't as widely known in the west as it is now, and due to the fact that it was a juvenile (some stories also say that his mistake was due to it being a rear-fanged snake, which are almost all harmless), schmidt did not believe that the snake posed a threat. it bit him, and he recorded his symptoms over the next day before he collapsed and died. allegedly, he also refused treatment for his symptoms because it would interfere with his recordings, but i haven't found a source for this. i have, however, read his notes. they are very matter of fact and awfully calm considering they're all basically like "i pissed blood!" rip karl p. schmidt, you died a fucking insane death.

-bitis genus snakes. they're all so beautiful!

-hognose snakes (genus heterodon, to be clear). these cute, sassy snakes are very clear about their boundaries and are best known for their extremely dramatic fake death display (which btw you should never trigger on purpose) and their cute, upturned noses, but did you know they're also slightly venomous? hognoses are another rear-fanged colubrid, though their venom is so mild its existence was debated for a long time. my boss once allowed one to envenomate him after a mistaken feeding bite just to see what would happen (the answer is not much, even after being envenomated five times all that happened was his finger swelled up and was kind of numb). he did note the similarities between himself and schmidt afterwards. the eastern hognose's venom was apparently once thought to be a result of their diet of toxic toads, which they consume in a rather gruesome manner i won't relate here.

-bighead turtles. reason:

-softshell turtles. they're kind of douchebags, especially the spiny softshell, but i really like them!

-titanoboa. fossil pokémon idea. come on.

thank you for giving me the chance to share this list. i hope you all enjoy these animals.]

[snackssaviour]

are you still handing out fun reptile facts? I’d love to hear more from you!!

I recently learned about a fish scales gecko! They’re called that because they have scales like fish scales, and whenever a predator grabs the gecko, it can detach its scales so it can escape!

((also can you guys send me a bunch of asks. i really need to get my mind off of. obvious things.))

[machinafulmen]

Trick or treat :3c

YOU GOT: A HANDFUL OF FISH SCALE GECKOS :D HAPPY HALLOWEEN

[tabswrites]

Happy WBW!!

Can I hear about some of the magical critters in Silver Sentinels? [grabby hands] flora and fauna are my favorite parts of worldbuilding Are any of them domesticated as companions or working animals? (And, of course, do you have a favorite?)

*cracks knuckles* Did you want an info dump? You’re getting an info dump.

YAY someone finally asked me about the critters!!! I only have descriptions of them right now, I’m currently trying to find an artist so I can commission some artwork.

These creatures will serve as spiritual guides and mentors for the main characters. I won’t reveal a whole lot because spoilers, but there are lots of cool flora and fauna coming soon!!!!

The Divine Forest (placeholder name blah) is home to many mysterious beings, but there are 5 that will be somewhat relevant to the plot. I left some clues in the character intros I posted a bit ago 😈 I have some ideas for their names but for now they’ll just be referred to in simple terms until I decide.

1. Cat/reptile hybrid

From a distance, it looks like a normal hairless cat. Upon closer examination you will notice instead of skin it is covered in soft scales that change color at random (sometimes it has to do with mood, sometimes it just wants to be blue). Instead of paws it has feet like a gecko (reference pics below) with grapple-like claws and sticky toe pads to allow to climb. Its ears and tail are still cat-like. The eyes I’ve imagined to be like a leopard gecko (reference pic below as well) Basically I just love my geckos and my cats and wanted to make them part of my story? This one has to be my favorite.

2. Sparkly Spirit Bear

One of my first ideas for this story came from reading folklore surrounding spirit bears in British Columbia, because they’re my favorite bear and I find them super interesting. I wanted to be very careful to avoid including any of that lore in my writing because I believe Native American folklore should stay within its own culture, so I created my own bear and my own lore. She will still be cream-colored and resemble spirit bears in every way, but will be covered in amethyst and quartz kind of like a turtle shell. Her fur will also sparkle because she only eats fruits and fish from the Divine Forest (I’ll have a whole post about flora soon, I promise!) Ref pic of a spirit bear below!

3. Hummingbird/beetle hybrid

Looks exactly like a hummingbird, but instead of feathers it has a metallic blue and green exoskeleton and insect-like wings. (This one is a lot easier to picture in my head than it is to describe.) I specifically pictured the Dogbane Leaf Beetle as reference:

4. Shadow Owl

Inspired by a barn owl, this creature is black as night with iridescent feathers and can morph into shadow at will. As a being that is without a purely physical form, it can only communicate through thoughts.

5. Bat/squirrel hybrid shapeshifter

Its main form is a cute little squirrel with the wings and ears of a bat and the ability to echolocate, but as a shapeshifting creature it takes many forms. (This idea came mostly from trying to find an animal that I find adorable to torture Oliver with later.)

[the-leachie]

Reptile based races that are just too cool for your table

(For when dragonborn and lizard folk aren't enough). OR: original race.

Naga

Like a mermaid, but instead of half fish you're half snake. That's it.

Serpe (OR)

Humanoid lizard friend. Picture a dragonborn, but slimmer and more elegant, almost fragile looking and with no/few spikes or horns. No tails either if you don't want to. Their movements remember those of a snake, as do their physical characteristics.

Argonian

Yeah, like the one from Skyrim. Or Oblivion. Preferably Morrowind. They have great resistance against diseases and poison, and are great swimmers too (they breath underwater, so it gets a little easier).

Kobold

Small angry bite.

Shimmer Folk (OR)

Their scales can change colors. Not really just a race, you can apply this effect to other races so they can be unique too! My take on those guys are that they remember a lot monitor lizards on their physiology and can easily climb with their long claws. Not necessarily bipedal, even if humanoid-looking.

Gecko folk (OR)

Why stick to boring and scary lizard people when you can have a wide variety of colorful subraces? Fat tailed, leachies, crested, little guys. The possibilities of culture and world building are endless.

Crocodilians

Crocodiles hehe.

Iguana Folk (OR)

Some overlook them as slow due to their bulky structure and inherently calm disposition. Don't be fooled, though. They are as strong as they look.

Thorny Dwellers (OR)

Their body is spiky and adapted to the harsh life in deserts (see thorny devils). Some clans employ tactics of burrowing in the sand to ambush, hunt or guard, as they have great resistance to the temperature variation common in their biome. Their bite can be venomous.

Wyvernlings (OR)

Like dragonborn, but their arms have attached wings. Strong tail.

Feathered Lizards

I don't have a name for those. They have a mix of feathers and scales, although not winged. You can make cool combinations and visuals with other races too. Their feathers can also serve practical purposes.

[herpsandbirds]

Fish-scaled Gecko (Geckolepis megalepis), family Gekkonidae, northern Madagascar

photograph by Arthur Anker

[eyeballtank]

* Added a Password system in case i never get a proper Save/Load system (Pay attention to the pop ups when you get to the green door).

* Resized some props though for some reason i had some trouble with the green metal fence.

* Added “prefabs”, which applies to certain objects that are like a middle ground between “prop” and “level object”.

* Prefab: A food van that the Player can open and “drive” where the vehicle just moves really fast (This might be something used once and not a common level feature).

* New: Floor switch scene that requires the vase to be on top of and the barrier that opens up if said switch is pressed.

* New: Rotating water wheel with wooden platforms attached.

* New: “Peeking�� platform that shows up at times, requiring you to time jumps.

* New: Green walls that show up/disappear depending on which green switches are activated. Even had to make sure the characters don’t get stuck if the walls spawn on their location.

* New: Bell that acts as a stomping hazard (And the first time i implement an instakill “DeathHitbox” scene).

* New: Fish enemy that moves up/down and shoots projectiles (Unlike the Gecko, the damage comes from the projectiles and not the fish itself which you can also kill).

* Rearranged NPC organization in case i add more characters and add some interactions.

* Main characters can be NPC’s when not playable.

* Fixed an issue where if the Player kills an enemy too soon while on the pain animation, the game could crash (Something to do with the Area2D enter signal and the source of the interaction disappearing too soon).

As for things in the game files but not used in current levels:

* Prefabs: A giant straw split into 3 parts where if any character gets in, the sprites change to reveal its inside.

* Prefab: A large piano key with a customizable pitch scale, so you can have characters walk on it and play some music.

* Added new props, each representing a different world from that of Nortubel. If you recall the “world title animation” scene with stylized fonts for each world, you may get the idea of what worlds i want to include.

On the next update, i (HOPEFULLY) should focus on actual visual stuff such as:

* Character sprites

* Backgrounds

* Tiles

* Actual use of some props

* The first cutscene

* Maybe the gecko too

* And i guess some HUD icons for keys and the ball

[a-mole-of-iron]

Duchowiesen stories: Liftoff

Alright, so, update. Due to diminishing resources and abilities, I was unable to post anything for a while - and now, I’ll be starting to publish a series of very unpretentious short stories in the urban fantasy genre. And I don’t mean modern-day real-world with fantasy trappings; I mean a fantasy world with big cities and elaborate technology. There will be train journeys through magic forests, and visits to taverns with televisions and telephones placed therein; bureaucrats cataloguing ancient relics, and dragons doing aerial photography; elaborate underground cities lit by electric lanterns and overgrown by moss and mushrooms, and mystical deserts with towns raised on concrete pillars above the shifting dunes; welfare provisions for werebeasts and changelings, and vast industries supplying the people with affordable goods; and more besides, all in the setting that me and my friends have developed together.

Without further ado, I present to you: the fantasy world of Duchowiesen, and all of its many unusual and wonderful things, places, and people.

Story genre: comfy urban fantasy

Liftoff

At the Electric Lamplight Inn, it was an hour past lunchtime. The sun crept across the wooden tables covered with checkered tablecloth, with colorful mass-manufacture metal-and-cloth dining chairs around them and salt and pepper shakers with folded-up napkins close by on every table, along the bar and its selection of bottles of varying colors, shapes, and sizes that held alcohol as well as soft drinks, up the wooden beams that helped hold up the second floor, over the walls covered by vanilla-colored plaster and decorated with landscape photographs of meadows, mountains, boreal woods, and glaciers, and towards the clock and the nearby refrigerator with its curved outer surfaces and a glass door displaying cold foods and drinks. The barkeep was absent, and only a couple of people were there, eating their mid-day meal a little late. A big beast-folk guy with striped grey fur, wearing a jacket loaded up with carpentry tools and overalls that seemed sturdy as a cliff face, was treating himself to a good serving of meat and potatoes the inn sourced from the local farmer's market; two businesswomen in rumpled suits discussed trade as they helped themselves to fish with rice that they've systematically drowned in lots and lots of tartar sauce, and an occultist professional from the Southern Lands, with his hawk-like features alongside a fancy coat and pants covered in rune embroidery, was eating alone - or so it seemed if you didn't notice him having a one-sided conversation while looking into a mirror he had standing on his dinner table. The television standing next to one of the walls was set on mute, and even if it wasn't, at the moment it was displaying "The Wondrous World of Duchowiesen Dragons" - one of the most boring offerings among all the niche-subject documentary shows available on TV across the entire Federation, which was saying a lot. The time dragged out a little, flowing like a calm river - but then, another prospective patron walked through the door, a diminutive kobold engineer with their bright green scales and hemispheric sunglasses on their wide, gecko-like face, who was for some reason also wearing a labcoat far outside of any lab.

The kobold walked up to the bar, perched the sunglasses on their forehead, and said: "Excuse me, innkeeper? INNKEEPER?" in their high-pitched voice.

The innkeeper, a middle-aged woman wearing somewhat outdated and yet eternally cool clothing from the jazz era - a flapper look adapted for the everydays of the modern age - walked out to the bar to meet them. "Hello there. Would you like to order a full lunch, or book lodgings?" she asked.

"Neither, actually." the kobold answered. "I just want two deli sandwiches, a glass of mineral water, and a TV broadcast."

"Broadcast...?" the innkeeper asked, somewhat confused.

"Yes!" the kobold squeaked. "Could you tune your particle accelerator... sorry, TV set, to Science Channel One? Yours was the only place in town with a TV I could find on short notice!"

"Alright then." the innkeeper said.

She turned the dial on the wired TV controller, and the picture changed to show a sunlit desert, and in the midst of its sands, the Cosmodrome launch site with a rocket set up on the launch pad. The sound went back on, and the people eating dinner turned their heads to the TV, as they heard the ever so slightly portentous announcer read the text. The announcer went: "...seems that all of the pre-launch checks have been cleared, and the computers monitoring the site all read green. And now we're being told, the Cosmodrome is ready for launch, T-minus five minutes."

"Hey, what's with the broadcast? Is this live?" one of the businesswomen asked the kobold.

"Yes, it is live!" the kobold said. "They're putting the first-ever photo camera into orbit with this rocket! To think we're going to have all-encompassing pictures of the World at last!"

"Now I'm interested." the occultist said, still looking into the mirror on his table. "Sorry, my friend, we'll have to continue another time. What? Okay, that's good in my books. Bye." He folded the mirror's stand, closed up the small decorated shutters over it, and turned around to look at the television as well.

The voice behind the broadcast kept on talking. In the deadpan shared only by the most composed of Railway Commanders and emergency broadcasters, she said: "I am being informed the rocket's fuel pumps are completing their warm-up cycle, and the Skyguard shields with their EM plus Flux ward properties are ready to go. In a minute, we should have the hand-over of controls and telemetry to the radio channels..."

The people in the inn were interested but slightly flabbergasted; none of them really understood the technical terms involved, even as the announcer explained the rocket's systems in more detail. The kobold engineer was geeking out, however, their eyes transfixed by the picture on the screen. Minutes tensed like the strings of a violin as the launch approached, and finally, the announcer has proclaimed: "And now, we have the clearance for launch. T-minus ten... nine... eight... seven... main engines ignition... five... four... three... two... one!"

The broadcast picture showed plumes of steam, and then fire, blast from the lowest stage of the rocket, and just like that, it started ascending, leaving behind the launch tower with its cabling and pipes. "We have liftoff!" the announcer called, the broadcast switching to another camera that showed the rocket blast off into the sky, and disappear into the clear blue above the desert lands surrounding the Cosmodrome.

The kobold engineer looked at the broadcast as the announcer started describing the photography satellite the rocket was loaded with, then slammed their cutesy hands on the table and yelled: "That... WAS SO COOL!" Everyone else around them was in agreement, even though they weren't the same level of enthusiastic. The occultist looked at the screen with an unspoken wisdom, thinking about the sheer possibilities for new esoteric understanding that a view perch to see the entire world could open. The businesswomen wondered just how the world would change once the satellites get flying in earnest. The beast-folk carpenter was impressed by the engineering involved; many orders of complexity above what he did, but hey, he knew an impressive build when he saw one. Even the innkeeper was interested; the whole scene was dramatic and inspiring, and stirred emotions in all who were there to see it. Finally, the kobold picked up their deli sandwich and started chewing on it. One of the businesswomen asked them:

"Hey, you said you were looking for a TV. Are you just passing through like we are?"

"Yes, but I might become a regular commuter here, it seems!" the kobold replied. "I'm doing engineer consulting around the region."

"Odd! We're kind of in the same boat; our firm sells machinery parts all around the Four Cities area!" the other businesswoman said. "Mechanismus-Magiker GmbH, at your service."

"What about you, friend?" the kobold asked the beast-folk carpenter.

"Well, I'm on my way to the Inland Sea for the weekend." he said. "Funny you are from Mechanismus-Magiker." he said to the businesswomen. "I did renovations in one of your company's trade offices just a month ago."

"Oooh..." the occultist said, turning towards the others with an enigmatic smile. "Serendipity."

"Very much serendipity!" the kobold engineer noted with a goofy grin. "Who knows, maybe this is a sign that we should be here for the next rocket launch!"

"When is that?" the occultist asked, laying a pocketbook of solar and lunar calendars on the table.

"In 16 days, 8 PM for our current timezone." the kobold replied. "They're going to launch a radio amplifier satellite next!"

The occultist looked through the book, then smiled enigmatically again and said: "I have not found anything major, but... perhaps something interesting will happen if we join again at that day and hour. Who's with me to try and test this... small hypothesis?" There were a few seconds of indecisive silence, and then, one after the other, everyone else present responded with a variation of "I'm in!"

[harpagornis]

Caecilians of Lemuria

Where in most landmasses squamates thrive, on Lemuria they are only represented by geckoes (which boast an impressive diversity of 60 known species), two snakes, a monitor lizard and a few oplurids. Many niches are taken by their sphenodont relatives, whose fortunes have favoured them on this island, but the majority of squamate niches are instead taken by caecilians.

Caecilians in Lemuria are represented by two clades: Chikilidae and Ichthyophiidae. Having a presence in mainland Asia – which is speculated to be a result of India colliding with Asia – chikilids thrived in former Maldivia and ichthyophiids in former Marama. The former, finding themselves with few squamatan competitors, wasted no time expanding into niches taken by squamates elsewhere, while the latter found themselves in an environment with few competing fishes.

Thus, when the two landmasses collided and formed Lemuria, neither competed with one another: chikilids took the land, while ichthyophiids took the water.

Phytophis fatamara or Palavify, a herbivorous chikilid demonstrating the long facial tentacles, large eyes and scale-derived spikes often present in non-subterranean species. It grazes slowly on the open pastures, eyes constantly watching and tentacles constantly feeling the texture and taste of vegetation. By Dave Garcia.

Represented in mainland Asia by only a single genus, here there are 70 known species and probably far more, occuring in all manner of environments from wetlands to montane meadows to even semi desert. Unlike snakes, caecilians cannot unhinge their jaws, but their flexible and robust skulls more than make up not just in terms of prey capture (many species are venomous like snakes too) but also in grazing: some chikilids are among the few herbivorous adult amphibians out there.

Some species took to life in the trees; while the eyes increased somewhat, it was the tentacles present on all caecilians that engorged the most, becoming full on analogous to a mammal’s vibrissae or a serpent’s tongue, allowing them to feel for prey branches away. Others took like to open spaces; some are burrowers, while others took the fish scales present within the caecilian skin to develop long and unique spikes, looking like massive catterpilars as they graze.

Due to the sheer diversity of this group – small species barely interact with humans, for instance – there is all manner of folklore regarding these impressive creatures, from symbols of longevity like snakes to garden pests like snails. Many are part of Lemurian cuisine, and indeed many species are threatened by overhunting as well as habitat loss, pollution and fungi that target amphibians.

Pisciserpens sammangali or Pitava, demonstrating the fusiform fish-like body of the more aquatic members of this group. It forms large schools that migrate between the Great Lakes and the Sammangal, and is often called the “Lemurian sardine”. By Dave Garcia.

Also Lemuria has fishes, they’re most represented by a few families shared with Madagascar. The dominant force in Lemurian freshwater habitats are ichthyophiid caecilians. Some are still semi-aquatic terrestrial burrowers in wetlands and tropical rainforests, but several clades have taken to the water, developing a caudal fin (similar to that of ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs and metriorhynchids) and an oval, fish-like body shape with a dorsal and anal fin (they do not have fins/flippers, like fish-like molluscs, and do just fine without them). Like most amphibians they breathe through their skin – the dorsal and anal fins partcularly well suited for this due to the increased surface area – but the more metabolically active species regularly surface for air. Unlike aquatic salamanders, they lose the larval gills for hydrodynamic efficiency.

The vast majority of the aquatic species occurs in the Great Lakes region, where 80 species are known, occupying all manner of niches from sardine like filter-feeders to durophagists feeding on hard clams and snails to macropredators competing with the local crocodiles. At least 40 species migrate to the Sammangal during the monsoon season, taking advantage of the sunken forest to graze on the underwater saplings or adult leaves or hunt the myriad of prey availiable.