#i made a whole species for this

[meltingchaos]

*makes a witchsona so I can annoy belos*

Meet Charon Fen, a Witch / Swamp Nixie (otherwise known as a 'Swamp Sleeper')! These creatures of the isles, much like their prehistoric ancestors 'Stone Sleepers', spend hundreds of years hibernating in the marshlands, connecting with the magic of the titan and the in-between realm in a spiritual slumber. When hibernating, Nixies will blend into the landscape, simply appearing as logs, moss or mounds of earth to the untrained eye.

Charon did just that. Sleep for a few hundred years before being abruptly awoken. Construction coven scouts rocked his peaceful rest whilst foraging for palistrum wood. The whole world was drastically different. Stepping foot into the modern day from the Deadwardian era would be daunting for anyone. But for Charon, nothing could be more scary than waking up in the distant future and seeing a familiar face. A familiar face he was 'friends' with hundreds of years ago. A familiar face who he knew the truth about. A familiar face who he didn't think would survive this long. The Emperor himself. Or, as Charon knew him, the lost human; Philip Wittebane.

Notes:

Most Nixies are far more daunting than Charon; all over 6 feet and comprised of solid woodland materials. Charon can cover his whole body in a hard wooden shell, matching his hands, feet and tail but that's just a protective exoskeleton he can manifest.

He doesn't have a coven sigil. He struck a deal with Belos that as long as he isn't given one, he won't expose the truth. It's not that Belos thinks anyone will believe him, but he agreed.

His Palisman is called Quag (short for Quagmire). Often gets called Quagington, Quaggle, Quack Quack. Lots of nicknames this one.

Belos wants to keep him in close proximity, just to keep an eye on him. Charon works as a bounty hunter who's also tasked with keeping the Basilisk experiments at bay and recovering escapees. Basilisks and Nixies remained enemies for countless centuries due to their disputes over magic. It's rumoured that their feuds led to the eventual extinction of the species.

I like to think there are other types of Nixies than the swamp ones. Freshwater Nixies and Saltwater Nixies. I will need to design them all one day.

He has gills on his neck and waist to help him breathe underwater.

I tried to condense stuff as much as I could for this post! I have so many IDEASSSSS. Here's his TH page btw! (under construction)

he's so mean and cocky and I cried over accidentally killing a blue bottle fly today. We are not entirely alike but that's okay, I still love him. He's more of an oc than a sona.

[icewindandboringhorror]

I made a few new wax seal stamps out of clay (like the ones I did for my worldbuilding stuff forever ago), this time just of random symbols that I thought might look good done in the style of painting over the raised part of the wax or etc. :0c Some of them aren't carved deep enough to really show up that well, but overall they worked okay for being clay lol

[mammoth-clangen]

you are tempting me so hard to make a sprite mod for clangen i cannot lie

Do it!! (if u want, im not ur dad jhrfbhgf)

For fun, here's everyone's sprites so far uvu

And these two, bc yes that brown Fleet Fang from moon 3 exists in game!

[otiksimr]

My brain decided to randomly pop off and now I've given myself a whole lot more work.

I just made myself a whole species in my attempt to rework wof. Feel free to make a character using one of these I guess.

[hyperactivewhore]

Werewolf lore is so fucked up. Vampires were made thousand of years later than werewolves yet werewolf venom, that shouldn't have even existed by then because there were no vampires, can kill them?

How do you create a weapon against something that doesn't even exist?

[sleep-nurse]

remember null? well after lore progression and violence he regained his true self now

say hi to narrow (or, nicknamed by hana, anguria which means watermelon in italian)

lore rambling in the tags because i'm not assed to write it here

[pilfappreciator]

ATTENTION TROLLS FANDOM!!

This is very important. Mostly to me but maybe you guys have been wondering this too idk but anyways:

How does troll reproduction work exactly?

Cuz I'm genuinely curious. I dont think anyone on the series production team has said anything and so far I've seen absolutely no one touch on this subject but as someone who's always had an interest in the habits of creatures (both fictional or otherwise), I kinda sorta maybe NEED to know this otherwise I'll never be able to sleep peacefully again

Full disclaimer that I'm specifically talking about the whole egg situation, I am NOT ASKING HOW THEY GET IT ON IF I WANTED THAT ANSWER I'D GO TO DEVIANT ART OR TWITTER OR WHATEVER LAWLESS PLATFORM GOD STEERS CLEAR OF. This discussion shall remain STRICTLY educational, thank you very much

But anywho. Let's dive in

So trolls come from eggs. This is basic knowledge. First instance of this phenomenon (as far as I know, I've only seen the movies) is from World Tour.

Egg pops out of Guy Diamond's hair, egg hatches and BOOM, (literal) baby. Now I understand that this whole sequence was probably just a gag and a way for DreamWorks to implement another (merchandisable) addition to the cast HOWEVER this sequence also raises a few questions

First off, as far as I know Guy Diamond has no partner (again: I haven't watched any of the spinoff shows). Either that or maybe the other troll was a sorta one-night-stand/no-longer-in-his-life kinda situation? Which is great either way cuz its shown he obviously cares for his son and we at Tumblr appreciate a loving single father no matter the circumstances, but if my former theory is correct than that would imply that trolls are capable of reproducing asexually. Like onions.

Now if that hypothesis is, as they call it, "cap" then that would mean that some sorta hanky panky has to go down before an egg comes into question. And if that's the case, does this mean that male trolls are traditionally the ones who carry the eggs?

But that can't be right, can it? Afterall, World Tour gave us yet ANOTHER egg scene later on in the movie

In Cooper's flashback, we clearly see Queen Essence being the one carrying the eggs meanwhile King Quincy is eggless. Now, as far as i see it, this could be explained either one of four ways:

1) Quincy was the one who actually produced the eggs and Essence is merely holding them for her husband (since her hair seems more fitting to be a makeshift nest compared to Quincy's)

2) Female trolls are the ones who produce the eggs. Guy Diamond is just a trans icon

3) Troll reproduction differs from genre to genre

4) There is a... *sighs* a/b/o type of dynamic among troll kind where certain trolls are capable of giving birth/siring children depending on a secondary gender

In regards to theory #3, this could also explain why Guy Diamond seems to reproduce and hatch an egg in such a short amount of time (like 5 seconds I'm pretty sure) as opposed to Queen Essence/King Quincy who's eggs presumably went a while longer before actually hatching.

Actually, speaking off eggs, are trolls the only species in their world that reproduce that way?

Because now that Band Together has officially been released, we now know for certain that it's possible for different species to crossbreed. Biggest example? Resident DILF Bruce and his giant muppet wife

(Credit to @captainunderkrupp )

When I saw these two... I swear...

And these two already have a shit ton of kids okay so like... either Brandi was the one giving birth or trollsona Daveed Digs was over here pumpin out eggs, which I mean-

DO YOU SEE HOW BIG THESE THINGS ARE COMPARED TO BRANCH AND POPPY?? Believe me I am PRAYING that Bruce gave himself some serious maternity/paternity leave because my guy is honestly a trooper

But yeah any thoughts? :))

[cordycepsbian]

species swap leif design, now in color

[sysig]

I can't remember if you've done any drawings for this before, sorry, but I have a requestober prompt! Vargas ladyverse snake charmer au? Or ladyverse dryder au Scri, I feel like the potential for pretty spiderweb clothes is high there. I would request both, but I want to respect the rules ^^ Thank you!!

Day 27 - Skillfully spun sheer shawl

[abby-howard]

Part 2 of my 2023 hourlies; Part 1 here!

---CW family death (not sad)---

[smol-bean-boi13]

:)

Main masterpost

[lucksea]

kind of crazy to me that for all intents and purposes the ultras exist in a sort of militaristic state wherein they are born into a people who culturally consider themselves warriors in most cases, raising their children to prepare for battle, but the ultras are warriors of pure heart whose goal is true intergalactic peace, which in a way makes it even more fucked up to me

like we dont know basically anything about their economic processes or even if they have like, currency or something (ive taken to assuming they dont because we never see anything involving that) but most of the prior protagonists are in some way involved with the Intergalactic Defense Force. like father of ultra is the supreme commander and zoffy is the secondary commander. the ultra brothers are all members. zoffy fought in the war against Alien Empara when he was a child. zero spent the latter half of his teenage years into his adulthood being drilled in combat by Leo on a deserted planet. etc

and its technically not even a natural inclination. these are lessons they have to learn, sometimes over and over. theyre constantly getting injured and dying for this cause. leo in particular suffers repeatedly, loss after loss, sometimes to the same foes, experiencing some genuinely horrifying things because Ultras believe their purpose is to protect those who cannot protect themselves. sometimes they dont even come back. like we never see a character on screen die permanently that i can think of so far but we are told that it happens repeatedly. like its always a risk. these characters never know whether they will die for the final time but they give their lives anyway

like idk i find it fascinating that these peoples entire lives revolve around the concept of war but their existence as creatures of love who value trust and camaraderie and life above all else is pretty much always played completely straight. and theyre forbidden from involving themselves in the personal affairs of other creatures because theyre aware that their presence as gigantic powerful beings would be detrimental. which only ends up adding to their perceived identity as gods because to everyone else they are ethereal strangers who only appear in times of dire need and vanish once their foes are defeated. IDK IT FASCINATES MEEEE ULTRAMAN...

[fountainpenguin]

"I was climbing, now I'm falling- I've been pushed off by a man who has made it to the top and now defends it 'cuz he can…" (x)

---

New Dog's Life chapter today! ~ 3rd Life series fan-season

Chapter 38 - “Tuesday: Tango's Long Night”

❤️ Read on AO3

💛 Start from Chapter 1

💚 More Pixels Imperfect fics

---

Tango layers more anti-viruses in Scott's player file. This goes against everything he knows about corrupted code... Should he keep going? ... Or, without consent, do what he knows will actually save this man?

Meanwhile, Pearl balances Rhetoric, Scott, and Grian visiting her unit at the same time. Yeah, this is gonna go well.

# 1 of 7 of our monthly intermission chapters

(First 1,000 words under the cut)

---

Tango

🌕

Location: His studio, West Bailey Wall, Bottom Floor

🖤  🖤  🖤

Tango does not often regret choosing a path of codework. He loves modding. He loves adding pretty details; he loves giving people what they want and polishing the rough edges off blocky faces and backs and butts. His species is classed as avian, though he last respawned under a waxing crescent and lacks the wings and feathers to show for it. He's got tiny talons, blaze rods, and hair that shifts into flames, and that's it. Coding the fluff-tipped tail he wears now was a challenge that captivated his brain since the start. How do add twitchy muscles to lower back? Apply tail to butt, haha. Meld it in. Let the mind control it. Do it beautifully so it's elegant and won't drop frames.

His tail isn't dexterous, but he wears it like a trophy- Adding a mammal tail to a species that’s meant to have feathers there, and not only making it twitch and curl instead of hang, but look natural, is one of the most difficult things you can ever do with aesthetic mods. He's thinking of forcing out the wings he would have under a stronger moon, but never really got around to it. The conversion time takes a kabillion years. You gotta be careful with wings anyway- they release a lot of body heat. Between's a lot cooler than the Nether, so you might fall over and croak. You ever seen strider wings? Yeah, guess how much heat they put out, even if they are tough and resilient around lava. Anyway.

Let's just say it's a good thing his office doesn't have a window. He works with a lot of film in here, so darkness is peak necessity. He's got two copper bulb lights up tonight. The glow's hazy, but at least it keeps his attention on his work, eyes all goggled up and tongue pinned beneath his teeth. Working with player files isn't like working with redstone wiring, with all its tangled tubes of dust and tiny caps that easily get lost and spill all over the stupid floor. Nah.

Code work uses the coding table, and it's a whole lot less messy. You don't need to be super accurate. It's a lot easier to tap a delete key and remove a string of words than it is to rip out a chunk of wires and get all huffy when your machine stops working. They should sell more partly assembled redstone machines in the market- more than, like, comparators. Except all the serious redstoners still won't buy 'em in case corners were cut in the process and because they have to take 'em apart anyway to modify 'em, so there you go. Fiddling and tweaking can really suck you in. It's kind of like making banners you're printing on your soul.

Tango does not often regret choosing a path of codework. But it's a good thing he doesn't have a window. He glances up only on occasion, staring at the chipped, gunpowder-streaked blocks that separate him from the rest of the world.

I should be with the pack right now.

Hey. Little recap for you: Most people aren't going to bed tonight. The hub flower got skadoodley-yoinked. Without its roots hooked in, everyone's comm is black; they're all off the system. There's no way on a server right now. There's no way out of one either. The phantoms are under contract; they can't just log people out right now. Hope they got fed, then.

Eh, they'll be fine. They've got souls in storage. Tango keeps working, checking details on his screen and typing on the table keyboard. What time is it? The sun's officially gone-zo at 14k. That was a while ago.

Do you remember our biology fritter-fratter from before Dog's Life began? 'course not- That was a long time ago. Well, no worries! we'll cover it again. See, the Nether doesn't have a day-night cycle. The heat waves shift. Sometimes the dimension cools. There's never a schedule to it, but when the heat's down, it's down (whether it's been hours, days, or weeks since the last lull). Nether creatures group together for sleepy times. If Tango played on some of those raw servers where traits are turned up to max, he wouldn't even survive the Overworld- Not without a lot of prep from his friends on the other side. Thank goodness for vanilla servers that even out the playing field.

Blaze don't really hang out alone in Between. When they do, they have to keep their internal fires up, and that can really drain the metabolism. The pack is warm. The pack is safety. And Tango's fingers tremble as he blinks his lashes, pushing through the dimension's fading warmth. Nightfall is here. Capture the Flag will be winding down. It's time to go to sleep.

He does his work. He chose this path. Scott's crystal floats on the crying obsidian block beside him, casting a white glow over his workspace. The goggles tune it out a bit. Tango yawns wide (like one of those lions in the emerald savanna biome), then realizes what he did and shakes his head back and forth. "Brrrr! Whatchu doing?" He smacks himself in the cheek. Hard. "Come on, man- He needs you."

He keeps typing. Scott's code is layered in anti-virus protections. Lots of stuff to dig through. Tango's got a book on the edge of his desk, open to a page about data conflicts, and he's still checking and closing loops. Scott didn't want to amputate. He didn't want a graft. "More anti-virus protections," he said, and he was serious.

"Are you sure? That- That probably won't work. If you wait too long, there's no chance a graft will take. That kinda sets you up for like, either being an allay with a prosthetic or just a vex."

"No grafts, please. Just tell me where to sign."

"Okay, buddy… but that's against medical advice. Don't say I didn't warn you."

"He prob'ly would've listened to Etho," he mutters, typing more. "I swear, everybody thinks I just do visuals: slap a little colored fire on this guy, slap some wings on her… Hey, just because I work in the aesthetics department, it doesn't make my license any less legit. I've been doing this almost as long as he has." Who scrubbed in to save Impy? Who helped him and Skizz with the soul-sharing? Who once patched BigB up when he got shot in the neck? That was a Tango original. Just me. Why is he even doing this? All evidence in book and mind is screaming that this isn't going to work.

Fingertips stall. Blank stare. Soft breathing.

Scott would've listened to my medical advice if I was Etho. Should he have tried harder? Should he have done more? He got the signature, Scott confirming exactly what he wanted. He really shouldn't go against that. It'd be medical malpractice at this point.

… Even though the anti-viruses aren't going to stop him from becoming a vex.

Which he's trying to avoid by using stupid anti-viruses.

[Full chapter on AO3 - Link at top]

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

5

(F I V E)

5. What's your controversial marine biology take? Oh, have I been talking about my controversial takes these past few days! Ocean sunfish.... beautiful, so silly but so beautiful.

To name another thing, perhaps this is moreso something that grinds my gears rather than a controversial take but I haaaaate when people say that male seahorses get pregnant. It's what it looks like but it's not the case!!! He just has a pouch where the egg are deposited for safekeeping, it's like mouthbrooding but with a designated pouch!! He does not produce the eggs and all the nutrition the eggs receive was never from him!!! Perhaps I get too hung up on these aquatic animal technicalities, but it still makes me needlessly annoyed whenever in fiction there's like, seahorses, and they imply that the process of seahorse baby development is the exact same as human baby development but.... backwards for sexes..?

[novella-november]

Is this fanfic friendly? I feel like an outlier.

I guess this is my sign it's time to throw together a FAQ post to link to lol.

Yes, every event for this blog is fanfic friendly :D

Though as I mentioned on my Ominous October post, for events that include multiple short stories, I encourage everyone to flex their creativity and take one of their planned short story fanfics, and at least *attempt* to turn one of them into something entirely original; rebuilding a character and story from the ground up to stand on its own two legs is no easy feat, and that is what makes it so fun!

It really gets your creative gears turning, to make an "au of an existing material" to be something entirely original, and you can be pleasantly surprised about the things you come up with!

As a few people say, its not just a matter of "filing the serial numbers off" -- you have to add in just as much *or more* as what you take out when you are turning a fanfiction into something that is original and completely divorced from its original source material / inspiration, and that is a hard, but very rewarding challenge!

Obviously, this is not a requirement (there's no hard requirements for any of the challenges, other than no cheating, including no using AI),

but if you would like an extra challenge for the short story events and you're planning on doing entirely fan-fiction, I highly recommend trying it out at least once, and seeing where it leads you--

you may find yourself pleasantly surprised by what you find down that rabbit hole!

[theshadowrealmitself]

Planet where working with the fiber arts is,,, I can’t think of the word, not revered, but like, really respected?

And there’s different tests and stuff that one can take to show they “mastered” their art, and whatever type they mastered gives them a different honored position in society

I haven’t really thought about what types of roles the other ones get, but just for the purposes of the specific scenario I want, a Human visits that planet because they love learning about the different types of “knitting” (at least whatever’s the closest on different planets), and they quickly decide to take the mastering test because why wouldn’t they? (imagine going to a different planet and your favorite thing to do is really respected by everyone around you)

So every crafter, but especially those actually registered as masters, can sell the stuff they make for a shit ton of money (and this is in a post-scarcity world, guilt free wealth hell yeah), and masters get their positions (still undetermined) as well as apprentices if they want (it also looks really good for the family if someone in it gets to be an apprentice for someone else)

Now, “knitters” specifically, get to also have mentorship roles, meaning that people will come up to them for advice even outside their craft and they’re treated the same as like,,, if a Vulcan Council Member were walking around regular Vulcans

So all of this, other than my love for worldbuilding, is because that Human has that status as a “master” and is a part of Starfleet and has been asked by a family to mentor one of their own because that family member wants to join Starfleet too, and the Human’s like “hell yeah I’ll do that”

(So for this species: apprenticeship = teaching someone else your specific craft, mentorship = just kinda guiding someone through life, especially if it’s a transitional period for them)

And that’s all the long winded set up for the Human’s friends, who don’t know any of this about their personal life because that Human is kind of a private person, seeing them suddenly move someone into their home and being really nice to them and taking them everywhere, and making inaccurate guesses through a Human lens (even their Vulcan friend, who has a crush on them, and is trying to convince themself they aren’t jealous)

(Also it’s important to me that you all know that a huge majority of this species is buff, right under respect for the fiber arts and stuff like that is huge respect for warriors, technically this part isn’t that important to anything other than the mentee maybe being attractive by human standards, but it’s important to me cause it’s connected to the v rough draft I had for this species, which I will gladly go into depth about if there’s even a hint that someone’s interested)