#like are all the animals who evolved to become human like dragons

[lava-8888]

Spoilers for Ochkanatlan Quest!!

I haven't researched too deep into this topic, but I will go off of what was said to us directly in the Ochkanatlan World Quest.

So, the part about some humans evolving from dragons...

My focus is on Tighnari. His race to be more specific.

This is what the Tighnaris were originally supposed to be like. They were huge dessert dogs. Hermanubis was a Tighnari.

But after what happened happened, they moved to live in the forest. And centuries after, they slowly evolved to suit their new home.

So could it be possible that the Tighnaris were originally dragons? First they changed form to suit Deshret's civilization. As the age of humans came, they shifted form again to be human like.

Humans cannot evolve, only dragons can.

Ok this guy is a dragon. Silly theory.

[whereserpentswalk]

Select an alternate universe to study abroad in for a semester. You'll be sent there with a new body that matches inhabitants of that realm. Little to no time will pass in your world, as time between dimension is entirely diffeent. Wherever you choose to go you won't be known to be from another dimension unless you tell people.

1- an endless forest made of massive trees, so tall no mortal soul has seen the ground or the unobstructed sky. The sentient races of this world consist of slender owl like humanoids, various insectoid races, short squat mushroom people, and a minority of rodent like creatures who live further down the trees. Technology in this world is as advanced as ours, but the aesthetics are more similar to our Victorian age. They say this world's heaven is deep above the trees, and this world's hell is deep below it, with each culture's religion having its own version of God/gods above an devils in the forest floor (outside of the mushroom people, who worship gods below.)

2- an endless system of volcanic caves and tunnels that demons and fallen angels come from. This realm is vast, and is ruled over by countless lords and kings, some truly evil, some merely strange. Demons and fallen angels come is countless forms, most looking somewhat humanoid, though with strange and unnatural distortions, from animal like parts to things humans would find much more horrifying. This is one of the few realms listed where they know what earth is, but they don't know much about it outside of myth.

3- an alternate earth where mythical creatures such as vampires, werewolves, deep ones, dragons, and witches exist. It also has a population of demons and faeries who came over generations ago. While they were in hiding for many millennium, they've now taken over most of earth, with humans being removed or conquered in some regions, and peacefully integrated into others. Though in both cases they are now a minority.

4- a version of earth that's both flat and entirely endless, with many sun's carving safe warm zones in the ice. Even with 21st century technology new lands are still being explored. Most social problems still exist, but things are looking a bit more hopeful, and the world's slightly nicer to live in. Cryptids, gods, magic and the afterlife are all proven to exist, even if humanity doesn't know much about them. Human bodies here naturally trend twords looking however the person inside them wants to look, and sexual attraction and pleasure don't exist.

5- an alternate earth where the kpg mass extinction never occurred. Dinosaurs remained dominant but kept evolving, leading to a sapient race eventually emerging from raptors. The raptors are currently at a similar technology level as us, though due to how they're mind works they've spent more time developing computers and mathematics than they have any other field of technology. Also don't mind the obelisk in the pacific ocean, nobody there knows what it does or who put it there either, and we won't put you anywhere near it.

6- a world filled with giant monsters of all kinds, some looking like massive dragons or Chimeras, others looking like more strange and colorful creatures. Though some animals are smaller, the smallest intelligent creatures are the size of bears, and the largest are much bigger than blue whales. Technology is limited in some regards, mostly as the inhabitants don't always need it.

7- the world of the faeries, strange and complex, and both terrifying and beautiful. Very little is known about this realm other than the strange and often dangerous creatures who come from this place. If you go here it's likely you will remember very little and enjoy very much.

8- a universe where humanity is completely isolated to spaceships and space stations, most of them the size of cities. Humans here are grown artificially, and have completely androgynous bodies that lack biological sex, and most of them combine their bodies with mechanical upgrades becoming cyborgs. Most humans never touch a planet, and those who do don't stay there for long. There are a few alien species with planetary civilizations, but almost all of them are strange and eldrich. Technology is incredibly advanced compared to ours, and quality is life is better. Most humans consider AI taboo, though normal computers are fine and commonplace.

9- a world where humans are entirely missing, but every species of mammal is sapient and humanoid. Birds and reptiles pick up the pace of animals in the ecosystem, as the mammals have created a global civilization. Though magic doesn't exist here, and technology is around a 21st century level, the quirks of each species have created a lot of situations impossible in our world. Though several nations exist, the main powers of the world consist of a group of powerful corporations, an ancient secret society, and the church of the dead gods, all of whom are locked in a cold war, that luckily keeps the nations of this world at peace.

10- a massive city, floating in the void, surrounded by eldritch horrors. Countless humanoids have made their homes in the city, most hailing from diffrent dimensions themselves, but permanently stuck here. Though many races here could pass for humans, none of them truly are, from the sirenia who have wings for arms and hands for feet, to the modutal who can take parts of their bodies off and swap them with other members of their race, to the subterranean vamire who eat raw meat and have albino skin, to the hyven whose minds are each split between two to five bodies. It's estimated between fifty to a hundred humanoids call the city home.

11- the abyss. Do not attempt to enter the abyss. We cannot assure your safety.

[cafiffle]

ok it's time to be cringe on main (like I ever wasn't)

in honor of the new game finally maybe happening, here is a collection of the Dragon Age OCs I've developed over the last decade or so. only two of them were my actual video game protags and have evolved a lot from there, SEE IF YOU CAN GUESS WHO (or don't, I'm not your dad)

(L to R, top to bottom)

Sina, Keeper's First of Clan Dahlasanor and baby lesbian who had to leave her clan in search of healing for the anime wasting sickness that claimed her life in her early twenties. She was all about that good good Dalish nature magic and thought of it as a sort of healing. A gentle soul with strong convictions, she spent her last months securing the union of her (small, decimated) clan with a larger, thriving one by marrying their male First.

Cade Harimann of Starkhaven, the second son of a noble family who gave him to the Chantry at a young age. He endured Some Bullshit at the monastery, leaving him already somewhat unhinged before he served in Kirkwall prior to the Mage-Templar war. He was kicked out of the Templars "for his own good" due to his massive PTSD-induced emotional problems, and now lives in the woods with his chill elf gf who doms him when he needs it.

Teren von Skraedder*, from a po-dunk town on the border of Nevarra and Orlais, is every bit the Grey Warden stereotype: a liar, a convict, and just generally kind of an asshole. She was recruited in her early 40's as an alternative to being executed for treason against the Nevarran crown, and has settled into Wardening over the last twenty or so years. She loves her younger siblings-in-arms, even if she's mean to them, and she gets a little more deranged every time one of them gets their Calling or dies in combat while she continues to grow older.

Benedict Quintus Artemaeus is an Altus mage from Minrathous who preferred to spend his days getting high and fooling around with other rich boys, shirking his studies and the politics of his Magister mother, nearly into his twenties. He finally had to get serious when his tutor aligned with the Venatori and got them both captured by The Enemy (the canon good guys), leading to a rocky but gradual ascent from hedonistic fuckup to Sort of Competent Guy Who Cares Occasionally. he's been compared to Emperor Kuzco and that's not inaccurate ok

Josephine "Fifi" Mariette* is a regular ol elf from Val Royeaux who, after failing to make it in the city ballet/opera/ye olde whatever, made her way as a cabaret dancer and prostitute until her marriage to a human accountant, Jacques. His family never accepted her, so when he was drafted and killed in the War of the Lions, she left town to briefly join the Freemen of the Dales. Finding that she was as invisible there as anywhere else, she opted to put her status to use and become a spy for (and on) the Good Guys while working as their housekeeper.

Obeisance "Just Barrow Please" Barrow*, a farmer's son from Crestwood, went off to join the Templar Order as a means of finding adventure, leaving home, and making his extremely religious parents happy without having to take over the farm. He served in the Jainen Circle for many years without incident, but very casually deserted when the Mage-Templar war began (hit da bricks, just walk out etc). He spent some time afterward as a mercenary, and his MO is to bop around being helpful where he can while also absolutely never talking about what he used to do. it's none of your business

*if you think you know her/him from somewhere else: you do, I recycle these shitheads constantly

there have been a few more but they didn't Take in the same way, so just these for now. ok byyyeee

[flame-shadow]

being a kid obsessed with dinosaurs while being raised christian fundamentalist (i think?) made for some very interesting moments.

books would say that dinosaurs lived hundreds of millions of years ago. my parents would say the earth was created 6000 years ago. so for a while, i thought dinosaurs were fake like dragons. and for a long while after that, i never paid attention to the estimated years because they were all clearly false.

books would say that dinosaurs evolved over their millions of years of existence, at some point some developed feathers, and that birds probably came from dinosaurs. the pastors and sunday school teachers would say that evolution wasn't real and that god created the birds as they are. i was confused and disappointed, because evolution made a lot of sense and sounded really cool to boot.

documentaries would show fossil sites and talk about how the rock can be dated. one time, i heard that god left dinosaur fossils for us to find as enrichment. another time, i was told that satan planted the fossils to sow doubt among god's followers. i thought it odd that some people thought god would want to trick his people with such an elaborate hoax.

years later, i heard someone say that god created the universe to look like it had always existed even though it was created relatively recently, and that's why the light from stars further than 6,000 light years have already reached us. i was reminded of the explanation of god putting apparently millions of years old fossils in the ground.

more recently (within the past decade and therefore i was no longer a kid nor a christian), i've heard the people who raised me to believe the things above reciting new "facts" that people have since come up with to explain away more recent scientific discoveries and conclusions. a few years ago, my grandmother had someone speak at her church, and afterwards she bought some of the books they were selling and shipped them to me. whereas twenty years ago, she'd have told me dinosaurs couldn't have existed, now she had sent me books about how actually dinosaurs were created 6000 years ago along with humans and all the other animals. these "facts" were corroborated by some other relatives next time i shared a meal with them.

they can't even keep their false facts straight because the old stories don't make sense anymore, even though the new stories aren't any better!

and i keep coming back to my early interest in dinosaurs.

the one that my mom was reluctant to allow me to pursue because of the perceived falseness of their existence. the one that i felt i had to carefully regulate what facts i expressed interest in lest my mom decide that dinosaurs were banned from being talked about the way pokemon was. and i was so so deliberate to pepper in the occasional qualifiers like "even though the bible says that's not possible, 150 millions years is a long time ago!" or "i know they're not actually going to turn into birds and this is just a drawing, but this one with the feathers does really look like it could become a bird someday."

thank god for dinosaurs (haha), because im not sure how long i would've been mired in such a closed-minded worldview otherwise. even though satan didn't sow the fossils in the earth, they did cause me to doubt the veracity of what i was taught.

[genopaint]

Week 41 off the presses, more or less. A day late.

As always you can follow me on twitter where they’re posted daily

And read more info on each of them below the cut

Daily Dragon #280 - Cake Wyrm

These odd little creatures take on the forms of cakes! You can find them in many varieties ranging from chocolate to birthday! If you find a cake in the woods and think it's too good to be true, it probably is!

Daily Dragon #281 - Buggodon

These dragons lay dozens of eggs at a time, they start as small lizards but eventually will grow into large Buggodons. When mating season is around, you can hear them sing a lovely song to attract mates!

This is a redesign of THIS dragon from 2016! Called the Bug Dragon, I tried to make sure I didn't redesign it to look too much like Flygon lol

Daily Dragon #282 - Terrasaur

Large mountain dwelling dragons that are covered in thick stone-like scales. They're incredibly strong, able to move massive stones with their large horns and throw them long distances by grabbing them with their powerful jaws.

This is another redraw for you today! These are from all the way back in 2011 and were originally fan monsters I made by editing Pokemon sprites! Neat! These 3 were originally named Rocktile, Bouldermeleon, Stonasaur! THIS redesign is based more on my 2016-ish redo of it, though

Actually I didn't have the 2016 redesigns of Rocktile and Bouldermeleon in their original colors so I had to guestimate them based on the properly colored Terrasaur. I only had their shiny color schemes. So... Here are those!

Daily Dragon #283 - Sunrise Beast

Only coming out in the morning to hunt, this monster is known by people who live near it as the Sunrise Beast. It's scales brilliantly reflect the early morning light, making it easy to know when it's out flying. Don't get blinded by the glare!

Yessir this is another alt medium dragon! This time it was done in chalk at the public park! I got up nice and early so I wouldn't be in anyone's way. Here's some closeups!

Aaaaand here's some behind the scenes :)

Daily Dragon #284 - Feral Knife-Wing

These small wyverns are scavenger monsters. They're almost blind but have incredible hearing and smell to make up for it. Scientists believe they evolved their helmet-like armor because their head was a weakspot.

You can see some more info on the construction of this creature by clicking its name above! It'll take you to the post about it. But here's an alt color and the sprites before I put them together and colored them :)

I LOVE how this one came out SO much it's not even funny!! I will confess though, I made this one a few days ago. I tried to make other splices to use for the daily dragon instead but didn't like any of them nearly as much. So I cheated and saved this for today.

You'll have to forgive me but also it's my challenge and we're almost 300 days in, cut me some slack

And I suppose you could consider this another alt. media dragon! Neat!

Daily Dragon #285 - Punished Dragon

A demonic dragon from a realm of torment. Unfortunately for many adventurers, it gets stronger the more damage it takes. When it's about to die, it'll release a vile miasma to disintegrate attackers.

Yeah it's Halloween season it's time for some freaky dragons I think

Daily Dragon #286 - Weredragon

These folktales describe Weredragons as being hyper violent, hunting any meat without a care. Wild animals, cattle, and humans. If they can sink their teeth into something they will. Even the calmest human will become a crazed beast under the curse

[winvyre]

[Valerie's Story] World Timeline

Dead Era

Everything before White Comet. Comparable to the Bronze Age in our history.

White Comet

The origin of Magic. In comparison to before the event, the world now seems alive with this new energy, imbued and weaving in everything. People discover new powers due to Affinity, animals and plants evolve into magical creatures, and portals to other worlds open up.

Chaos Era

Catalysted by the White Comet event. The world has almost literally been reformed so nobody really knows what's going on and they're trying to figure it all out while being hunted by demons that came through one of the portals. Demons gain power by eating magical humans and the powerful are highly sought after delicacies but they won't say no to non-magical humans if starving. After all, magic is in everything. Dragons are also an other-worldly problem, causing mass destruction because they're wild beasts and not intelligent unfortunately. The Six Immortals are born towards the end of this period.

Demon's Lock

2000 years of chaos ends with this event. The six regions decided to work together for the good of humanity by doing something about the demon problem. The rulers hold a conference and each brings along a champion mage to contribute the effort. They quickly realize that they are in way over their heads and the only ones who can do anything against the Demon Queen and her ranks are their champions. Long story short, the six champions drive the demons back into their realm by using themselves as bait (the demons had never seen such powerful humans before, they were rabid) and Gail sealed the portal. The world is finally safe.

"But what happened to the dragons?"

Part of their plan was to seal the Dragon Realm portal first then tame some dragons to make the fight easier since some demons can fly and humans are decidedly flightless. Also the Demon Realm portal was thousands of meters tall and floating over the ocean.

Academic Era

Now that people don't have to worry about being devoured by demons and having their villages burned or otherwise destroyed, humanity progresses! The champions move on to new adventures. Ved studies magic and founds Hellebore Magic Academy, Omie helps struggling villages, Alvaro breeds dragons, etc. (They do reincarnate during this time with varying frequencies except for Omie who has never reincarnated) Old explanations for magic are combined with Immortals lore over time; this will eventually become full-blown religions. The peace and prosperity lasts 1000 years.

The White War

Bellona regretted reincarnating that one time because she misses her girlfriend. She couldn't give less of a fuck about anyone other than Omie. Omie cares very deeply about the world and its people. Bellona's like "I only want you and for your attention to be only on me!" And Omie's like "But I want to help the world!" So Bellona's all "Well you can't care about the world if there is no world to care about!" And thus the White War begins.

Bellona uses her Blight Magic to send plagues and raise undead armies, truly and catastrophicly damaging the world. She's able to combat the other five because they're not only fighting her and her army, they're also doing damage control for the rest of the world.

When the five finally corner Bellona, Gail opens the portal to the Demon Realm and they shove Bellona inside. Thus ends the 1000 year White War. (Yes, this counts as an Era)

The Silent Era

The White War is a technological setback and much is lost in the way of knowledge. The Silent Era warps the stories of the war because of how mangled the aftermath was and because the Immortals disappear. The once just-powerful-mages become gods in the eyes of the people. Worship grows and Bellona's image in particular is that of a queen of the underworld. She's not so much the one who destroyed everything and more of an object of superstition.

The Current Era

Nobody knows they aren't in the Silent Era anymore but in the future the thinning of the veil between worlds and the re-emergence of the hoary will be considered the mark of the beginning of another Era.

[salora-rainriver]

The Sympathy Problem, or "Why I'm Too Much of a Monsterfucker to Get Into Horror"

I don't know what the fuck this is, but I'm writing an essay about a problem that, as far as I know, only applies to me (but i might be totally wrong, who knows).

I think the title speaks for itself, but lemme just elaborate on what the fuck happens inside my brain, and how that fundamentally affects the way I handle horror media, to the point where I cannot truly appreciate it as horror on the same level as everyone else.

now lemme post a cute bat here so that there'll be an appropriate image to represent the whole essay when its link is shared on stuff like Discord:

trust me this was important. Okay, let's keep going.

Part 1: Why I'm a Monsterfucker

Let's start at age 4. I'm a dinosaur kid, like roughly 1/3rd of all autistic bitches. I'm a dinosaur kid to the point of owning multiple Land Before Time movies, and tie-in games, and I think I even had like two plushies at one point.

you know it's serious when this is your childhood.

I also had miscellaneous dinosaur plushies, and dinosaur toys, and a dinosaur book I frequently read front-to-back, and you get the idea.

dinosaur love evolves into dragon love, evolves into "funky monster creatures and animals of all kinds" love. I become a freakish savant of the wonderful world of the animal kingdom really quickly, to the point where my child-brain career prospects include "vet" as a pretty high finalist.

And then I find Starcraft, a game in a genre I otherwise wouldn't have given a shit about... but guess what? it has bug dinos.

it's all over for me.

But like, why? why do I like dinosaur so much?

... because I am dinosaur.

Look. LOOK. I can't give a good comprehensive list on the connections between my particular strand of autism and the state of Being A Dinosaur, because by this point, me being autistic and me being a dinosaur are so completely intertwined that it's often a chicken-egg situation. But the point is,

I make weird noises instead of using my words. I toe-walk. I don't like shoes. Sometimes I like to not wear clothes at all, even. I like to hide in small crevices when spooked. When I'm in a meltdown, I scare people.

Me dinosaur. Or at least, me some type of feral.

So is it any fucken surprise that when I go into an RPG, I latch onto the animal shapeshifter, the furry species, or the person who fights unarmed and/or uses a claw weapon?

Is it any fucking surprise that I am the opposite of spooked by snakes and spiders and other such creepy crawlies?

is it any fucking surprise that I have a fursona?????

is it any fucking surprise that I picked Pokemon Scarlet without the slightest HINT of remorse?!

Part 2: Wait, That's not the Intended Response

now let's talk about horror. Let's talk about the elements that make horror into horror: the fear part.

So what scares people? Well... people scare us. A serial killer, a mad scientist, a cult leader, a corrupt government entity, maybe? or maybe even society itself, its darker side full of atrocities and danger and problems where there's no easy solution and things can often seem hopeless?

... lmao who are we kidding that's not the vast majority of what scares people in horror. IT'S MONSTERS! Monsters scare people!

From Xenomorphs to Jean Jacket to The Babadook, it's monsters! Shit that ain't human and never could be human, and maybe it's pretending to be human, maybe it used to be human, but now it ain't, and it's gonna getcha!

And it just.

I'm a monsterfucker.

I'm not scared of ghosts. Sure he's fucked up and wailing in endless pain and lashing out at everything, but that just makes me feel sad. Like, poor ghost dude. We should help him.

I'm not scared of vampires or werewolves. They're people like anyone else, and sure, there's an inherent danger from being around them, but there's also an inherent danger from being close to an alligator, and I'm sure as fuck not scared of an alligator chilling on the side of the road. Cautious, maybe, but not scared.

I'm not scared of zombies. I mean, if they were real, I'd be a bit spooked, cause I have no combat expertise and would definitely be Fucked. But the same would apply if my hometown became a war zone. And... a war movie won't scare me. So a zombie movie wouldn't, either.

I'm not scared of xenomorphs. I mean I don't want to die, but that just means I should be entering alien environments with all proper safety procedures. TBH I'm more pissed at Weyland-Yutani than anything else.

I'm not scared of the Babadook. I'm worried for the well-being of the family as they try to come to terms with grief, and the monstrous shape that grief has taken. But it seems like they're coping in the end, so that's good.

I'm not scared of Jean Jacket - okay no. I'll be honest. It makes me uncomfortable. I will not be going into detail on the difference between this discomfort and actual fear. That is not a Salora Lore I want to disclose here. If you Know, you Know.

Part 3: Horror ceases to be a genre for me

So the monsters in horror movies don't scare me. And yet... I've watched some horror movies. And I've liked them. From this one list I've been using as quick reference to remind myself of What Horror Movies Exist out there, I've watched a few of these, or am at least familiar with them. You know, I've seen some classic horrors like "The Shining" because I went to film class in high school, and I've watched some installments of classic franchises like "Scream", or oddball picks like "Warm Bodies" and "The Relic", because I was having watch parties with friends.

Even beyond film, I read some Lovecraft once, and I've played plenty of spookier-themed videogames, like... well, like Silent Hill 2. Didn't finish that one. Bcs I'm bad at puzzles. But I loved the atmosphere.

And even when I'm not directly experiencing the horror media, I often look it up, read the synopsis, and watch video essays about it.

I know way too much about Hereditary, Midsommar, Get Out, the Slasher Genre in general, Creepypasta, Resident Evil, and mascot horror, for someone who's supposedly not able to properly engage with horror as a medium.

And I like some of that shit! But uh...

... not. as horror.

I just. Don't engage with them as horror films. I engage with them as whatever other genre you could slot them into. Hereditary is a tragedy. Get Out is political allegory. The Babadook is psychological allegory. Ghost stories are dark fantasy. Alien is sci fi. Slasher films go back and forth between mystery, action, and dark comedy. Warm Bodies is a rom-com. (like. that's not even a weird hot take. I don't know why this Rotten Tomatoes editorial decided it was horror, but I'm not gonna dispute their assertion, Bcs like. this entire essay is about why I'm not a good judge on that sort of thing) Silent Hill is a puzzle-adventure game with light action. Five Nights at Freddys is a time-management simulation game that would stress me the fuck out if I ever played it. Amnesia: the Dark Descent is a stealth game.

You get the idea.

So I'm just... in this really weird position. I'm a huge fan of spooky monsters, strange happenings, stories that engage seriously with the anxieties of mankind through allegory,

but I can't. truly enter the horror genre community as an insider.

Cause I ain't scared.

And honestly, it gets even worse when I start to imagine myself maybe, idk, *writing* a horror story of my own. Because... since I don't get scared by them, how am I supposed to know what scares others? Apologies to my fellow disabled folk for this clumsy analogy, but... it feels like trying to paint while visually impaired. I mean... you can do it. You can do it super well if you push yourself. but it's a strong disadvantage, and it might result in an artwork that could baffle the seeing people in your audience.

And maybe there could be merit in that. In writing my attempt at a horror story from the perspective of someone who doesn't find any of it scary. Maybe it's be intriguing, even surreal or dreamlike or alien to the audience who doesn't engage with this subject matter in the same way I do.

Or maybe it'd just end up similar to that one phase of the creepypasta fad where folks were going "wooo! hyperrealistic blood! isn't it spoopy n fuked up????" and it'll be garbage idfk

Bonus Round: ...Okay I Might've Lied a Bit

There is one movie that for me, truly could be considered "horror".

It genuinely terrified me as I watched it. It shook me to my core and opened my eyes to how other people feel when they see some shadowy monster figure with too many teeth reach out and eviscerate a poor bitch. I fucking get it now, to some extent. I don't know *how* the spiky boy elicits that response in you, but now I understand how it feels.

Because I watched FUCKING M3GAN

[SPOILER WARNING: I'm not saying the exact plot beats of the movie but I AM going into detail about its themes and the character development of the protagonist. It's massive spoilers but they're all vague spoilers.]

Me and my friends didn't pick this movie thinking we'd get spooked. this is the movie where the doll does some sort of modern dance routine while carrying a katana. It's goofy shit! We figured this was goofy ass modern trash and we were gonna laugh.

MOTHERFUCKERS I WASN'T LAUGHING????

Is the premise unrealistic and goofy? yeah. are the characters exaggerated and cartoonish? yes. are there like, numerous jokes throughout this film, that are portrayed as jokes? yes. was the dancing robot doll chase sequence goofy as shit? yes*

*ok but the context of That Scene made my brain gloss right the fuck over how goofy it was bcs I was too fucked up over everything else that already happened!

So like. What? How? How is goofy robot doll horrifying? Salora, you know how many stories about rogue AIs and killer robots there are? Why doesn't skynet scare you?

It's not about the doll. It's about the humans who created her.

This film is as subtle as a fucking anvil when it comes to it's social commentary. Like, "opening sequence is a kids commercial for Deranged Knockoff Furby" and "a therapist character explains attachment theory for a whole scene" levels of unsubtle. and honestly that makes the horror fucking worse. in this bizarre cartoonish parody of society, we're seeing a laid-bare and raw allegory for the real harm we are inadvertently delivering upon real fucking people. Weirdly enough, the exaggeration just makes it feel more real.

and what's "It"? Not the uncanny valley of a too-perfect silicon face, the gruesome deaths, the murderous AI,

No, "it" is the commodification of childhood, the degradation of familial ties and human connection through overwork, the way we try to patch these broken ties with product, the outsourcing of parenting to toys and machines, the disastrous consequences of allowing an orphan to vanish into wish fulfillment fantasy instead of being given space to work through her grief,

the exploitation of her grief in order to market the very thing that's spiraling her further into an unhealthy dependency, to do the exact same thing to children worldwide, all because of profit.

Look. Monsters, ghosts, demons, serial killers, zombies, predatory animals, rogue AI, they're not scary to me, because I know them. and if I don't know them, I want to know them. The solution to the threats things like that pose are simple. Keep your distance from the crocodile. Punch the shark's sensitive nose to make it back off. Invest in security measures so your house doesn't get broken into. Don't anger the ghost. Exorcise the demon. Shoot the zombie's head.

How do you, an overworked engineer for a toy company, find the time to connect with your orphaned niece on a human level?

How do you take away said niece's beloved doll when you slowly come to realize that her attachment to it has become unhealthy?

What the fuck are you supposed to even do when you realize that you might have created a murderous monster and marketed it to hundreds of kids, and your overzealous boss is in your ear pressuring you to get it ready for launch?

WHAT A FUCKING NIGHTMARE.

Conclusion: But fr am I like the Only One

so uh. yeah.

My fear response is mucked around by an unusually high level of sympathy for the monsters that tend to populate horror media. I'm Too Kinky To be Tortured, and it puts me in an awkward relationship with the horror genre, where the only things that can well and truly terrify me are unhealthy relationships and capitalism, and even then, only if those topics are presented in just the right way to make me feel like this shit is Real.

And like you know how there's a whole language of like, scares and signifiers and shit that's been well-researched, all these tiny tips and tricks to exploit primal fears in humans? (I dont know if language is the right word but im just gonna call it that until further notice)

well, a lot of that Language of Horror doesn't quite work on me, because it's all related to monsters and physical threats, and I love the monsters too much,

and I imagine there is a whole different Language out there of the shit that can be exploited to scare me,

but fuck if i know what it is. I only got a single movie as my frame of reference. How the fuck would you even find a movie that handles social anxiety like that?

Like idk, do y'all think Carrie would spook me? Carrie's about societal ills, right?

[shraqsmuses]

Top ten fictional crushes?

#10.

I've always found Aigis's design to be really appealing to me with how robotic her body is combined with how adorable and round her face is. What I found to be more appealing than that is her personality. Before she becomes human, I found her adherence to her principles at the confusion of others to be amusing as well as the emotionless tone she uses to say sentences that are occasionally absurd.

However, as she grows to become more sentient through attempting to process her failure to keep the protagonist safe and the emotions she feels for them, her love for life and the people who supported her despite her "odd" traits becomes really apparent. That could be the part about her I love the most. She evolves to become a really caring and patient person who maintains her composure when other people would've expressed how they feel at the moment. However, she doesn't let that prevent her from expressing her emotions when she's particularly distressed. All of that makes me appreciate exactly how she developed a conscience more.

#9.

Serena is possibly my favorite Dragon Quest character in the series. She's really kind and laid-back, rarely feeling perturbed by minor annoyances that would disturb others. I'm also fond of her optimism and how she's able to endure a lot of pain and sorrow with it. When she finds herself feeling the worst she has felt in her life, she chooses to accept the pain she feels and allow it to strengthen her mind and abilities. I find that to be really admirable. She's a character I admittedly aspired to be at a certain time. I still feel like she's a good person to aspire to be. When I'm in a bad mood, I've thought about how she would handle it.

#8.

The earliest history I have with Alice is a bit personal so I'm not sure if I feel comfortable about sharing it with anyone. With that said, Alice felt like a good fit for me by the time I started looking deeper into Touhou for the first time. She's blonde, is heavily associated with dolls, and her outfit looks similar to the Doll's. Her theme is pretty good too. I find it interesting that she's one of the few magician yokai in Touhou, which occurred as a result of her learning magic that eliminates her need to consume food. I also like the concept of her being a social recluse, living in an isolated shack within a magical forest and choosing to spend her time crafting enough dolls to obscure all of its walls with them and studying magic. I think it would be really nice to visit her shack and see what she's doing. It sounds like a pleasant lifestyle to live and I want to see all of the dolls she created, although I imagine she would think it's odd that someone traveled to her shack just to see them.

#7.

I played as Lola Pop in an ARMS demo at a kiosk once and the cold I had when I went to the store that had it suddenly went away when I left it. That aside, ARMS in general has a terrific roster with a lot of creative designs. Lola stood out the most to me because I love the concept of a Italian clown who sells confectioneries and entered the tournament just so she can attract more customers to it. I also like her abilities the most out of any ARMS character. It makes her a surprisingly agile fighter and really fun to control. I also like cheerful, playful women like her.

#6.

My love for women in formal outfits culminated in me discovering King. I love how her voice sounds throughout the games and her playstyle makes her perfect character for me to play as since she's mostly been a zoner in most of the games she's playable in. Her animations and taunts are great, as well, displaying her confident, elegant personality.

#5.

While I haven't figured out what my ideal hero would be like, Kat is pretty close to it. Gravity Rush does a fantastic job at endearing you to her from the start. Her scarf is a really clever aspect of her design. It not only reinforces how her abilities are focused on gliding her through the air but it also serves as a way for the player to tell which direction they're standing on based on how gravity is dragging it down. Also, I just realised she's themed after a cat because she always lands on her feet. That alone is enough to solidify her spot in the list. She's an optimistic character who finds herself getting into unfortunate situations despite how good her intentions are. Because of that, I found myself relating to her a lot. She also isn't afraid to help anyone she comes across who asks for her help, regardless of how much they annoy her, although most of the people she helps don't annoy her.

#4.

Before I watched Monogatari, I was wondering what my favorite vampire was. I once considered Alcina Dimitrescu as a muse in my muse list for Halloween last year but I couldn't dedicate myself to do so. As much as I wanted to add a vampire to my muse list, she didn't feel like the best choice at the time. She had traits I really liked but I didn't find her to be a vampire I would want to write: she somehow lacked the overwhelming presence and viciousness I would expect from one despite the fact that she clearly did. I suppose her being the first of the Four Lords you kill in Resident Evil Village made me think that. I wanted a vampire that would take a monumental amount of effort to eradicate from the world: one that could truly be called a queen of the supernatural.

When I watched Kizumonogatari, I realized that I found a vampire I could call my favorite. Shinobu Oshino, formerly known as Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade, surpassed any expectations I had for vampires. She was supremely confident about her position in the world and the power she possesses over everyone around her. Despite that, she can ocassionally be crude because of the fact she believes herself to be above everyone. She didn't think anyone would be capable of restraining her. She's completely willing to demonstrate her power to other people, which often comes in the form of her engaging in achievements barely anyone in her world is capable of: creating an entire shrine dedicated to her, excessively slaughtering the supposed "strongest" vampire hunter she knew, traveling the world with jumps that across an incredible amount of distance, etc.

Despite all of that, it doesn't take a while to learn what her largest weakness is: her humanity. She wasn't born as a vampire. She was made into one. As much as she claims to be superior to everyone, her fondness for humans drew her close to them to the point she was willing to accept having them treat her as a goddess. That was a mistake that culminated in her creating a memory that would scare her away from them: the sight of her servant intetionally burning himself in sunlight after he blamed her for the deaths of the people who chose to treat her like a goddess despite the fact she was actually a vampire. She has since spent the entirety of her life attempting to find a way to die so she could "re-unite" with him. However, her true emotions betray what she believed she wanted, leading to her begging a human to come closer to her so she can stay alive for a bit longer. That's when it's revealed that she's an emotional monster, blatantly expressing how she feels and letting them control her actions more than she wants to. Regardless of everything she wants to believe and who she has become, she still wishes to interact with humans in a way that doesn't involve constantly frightening them away from her and hiding away from them.

That's what made me realize she was my absolute favorite vampire.

#3.

Charlotte is the first character in this list who really tapped into my depraved desires. She's such a perversion of the kind of people I usually love that it enamored me in a way I've never felt until I saw her. I tend to like characters that are kind and gentle like my top 2 fictional crushes because I find them to be comforting to think about and I think they're good examples to aspire to be. However, when I first saw Bad Girl, I experienced a kind of love that I didn't know how to comprehend because of the fact that I never found myself liking characters like her before.

After a while, I realized why I loved someone as cruel and violent as she is: I find it cathartic to see a woman relentlessly indulge in what they love. The way Bad Girl shamelessly reveled in her killing and fondness for beer enthralled me since I've never seen a character as degenerate and somehow adorable as she is before I played No More Heroes. It felt like seeing a sweet woman being corrupted to give into what she truly desired: what makes the happiest out of anything that she has ever experienced. That thought would've not appealed to me before but it's something I've come to appreciate when it comes to fictional characters. I want to see people engage in what they love the most without anyone interrupting them and the sight of seeing a cruel character doing that with immoral acts such as killing, torture, cannibalism, etc. fulfills that desire in an unorthodox way. I would say more but I'm not sure if I should say what I want to in a public setting. I just want to clarify that I purely enjoy seeing that in fiction, not in reality.

I love the concept of one of the strongest assassins in No More Heroes being a young woman who loves killing so much that she's become incredibly effecient at doing so. I find her voice to be adorable with how raspy yet bubbly it is. Her disheveled appearance combined with her effeminate outfit made her really appealing to me, especially with how ragged her hair is.

#2.

Peach is my first ever fictional crush. Peach fostered my love for kind, compassionate women, blonde hair (which I believe is just a coincidence), and the color pink. I also like how joyous and loving she sounds and how she's associated with hearts often. Her immense kindness and gentle mannerisms always appealed to me since I was a child. They drew me toward her during a time where I haven't really thought about which female characters I liked. Since I explored the reasons I liked Peach, I became more open-minded toward female characters and find myself loving them as much as I like male ones. I think it's really cool that a character as kind as Peach exists in video games along with a lot of other ones that share that trait with her.

#1.

Whereas Peach pushed me to open-minded about the kind of characters I might love, the Doll was the first one I formed a bond with. She taught me that stoic people are also capable of expressing love during a time where I tried to emulate them, which pushed me into being more emotional. The ethereal aura that surrounded her combined with her genuine, loving personality awed me the first time I saw her. I love how brown her outfit is and how warm and nurturing it makes her look with her thick cloak. The way her face appears to be forlorn with weary eyes and a dour frown managed to compliment her inviting appearance combined with her delicate, soothing voice. It made me find her to be one of the most beautiful fictional characters I've seen.

A part of me didn't register that she was merely an animated doll when I realized that I love her. The fact that she was a doll only made me love her more. I love the thought of an artifical being capable of compassion and kindness as much as an organic one. The Doll made me love dolls because of how fond I was of her. I still love her as much as I did in the past. She'll always be the fictional character I love the most out of anyone I've ever known.

______________________________________________________________

This was really fun to answer. Thank you for sending that question to me~

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I've been pondering if I should send this question in for a while now but I just gotta know.

Did they evolve to be anime? Now I know what ur thinking "Anon wtf do you mean?" let me explain.

So, we see all the statues of the great 7, right? And all of the statues and portraits of them are just them. they look exactly the same as they do in their movies, all cartoony like. But don't you think it's weird how no one has commented on their appearance being all cartoonish? The twst universe is filled with handsome anime men. they're around every corner. And you can probably tell that they look nothing like the great 7, all considerably different.

So the theory I purpose is: What if, way back when, everyone DID look cartoonish back in the olden days, but as time went on, things changed about their appearance to look more anime. Why? idk man.

How do beastmen fit into this since evolution takes a while especially if it's an animal becoming more human-like? Maybe beastmen evolved after the anime switch-up.

This is worded really badly so I'm sorry if you don't understand what I'm saying, this is just my crack theory. Have a nice day!

Well, it’s definitely the first time I’ve heard of such a theory, even if it’s just a crack (not meant to be taken seriously) theory 🤔 (Us TWST fans really will analyze anything down to the smallest detail or atom, lol)

It’s an interesting concept, but that’s not really how evolution works. Random traits don’t evolve and appear in a large population “just because”. The environment “selects” for the traits which are best suited for survival in particular conditions, and then those surviving organisms are able to pass that beneficial trait onto their offspring. I… don’t see the evolutionary advantages to characters “turning anime” over time. (I’m not counting the point “more physically attractive people have a leg up in finding a partner(s)” because 1) humans are capable of non-physical attraction, and 2) the variation among anime traits is too high (example: all the bright colored hair despite environments in Twisted Wonderland highly varying) for everyone to coincidentally all converge in the same style; there would theoretically still be a handful of people walking around in the “old” style).

For such drastic changes to occur, it would probably also take an extraordinary amount of time, which doesn’t line up with the technological advances we see in the Disney classics versus modern Twisted Wonderland. All of the stories of the G7 took place at least at a time with primitive inventions like wheels and fire, which were used estimated to have first been discovered ~5000 and 200,000-50,000 years ago, respectively. Assuming the course of history is similar to our world, the earliest possible time for the G7 stories to have been set is around then (and that’s being very generous). But then consider that some traits take millions of years to appear and/or disappear. Many people, for example, get appendicitis because the appendix, which has been estimated to have been in various animals for ~80 million years, is still in their bodies despite no longer serving a clear function (at least not in humans). Modern TWST has tech like smartphones and touch screen tables, so that’d be similar to the 21st century for us irl; in the (relatively) short time span of thousands of years to 2023ish, I don’t think that would be nearly enough time to essentially completely change an entire race’s look (ie their “style”). Major changes take millions and millions of years to come into fruition. It’s true that mutations can occur! However, they are rarely so largely noticed (most of them end up getting corrected by the genes themselves) or are so atomically beneficial that it ends up dominating an entire group. (Note: it is stated in canon that beastmen evolved from actual animals and that Malleus has ancestors who were actual dragons, but that’s basically all the lore we have in regards to evolution.)

The G7 looking different from the TWST characters is the result of the classic Disney style differing greatly from Yana Toboso’s style (ie meta outside of the actual world of the game). No characters find this discrepancy odd because, in all likelihood, the styles don’t appear different to them in-universe. The G7 probably just have a variety of facial features and body types that differentiate them from the average student or staff member at NRC. For example, the Beautiful Queen and Thorn Witch have slender bodies (which are most anatomically similar to the TWST characters) but sharper eyes, the Sea Witch is plump, the Queen of Hearts has a rotund body and nose, the King of Beasts and Sorcerer of the Sands are lanky, and the Lord of the Underworld has more angular facial features. Variation like this also exists in real life.

We the players only notice the cartoonishness vs the anime look because we are omniscient third parties. Our stand-in for the TWST world, Yuu, does not take note of, nor ever comment on, this style difference that the irl players do. If the G7 did look very weirdly different from everyone else, you’d think Grim would make a cheeky comment about it or Yuu would point it out—but they don’t. Therefore, I can only come to the conclusion that in the eyes of everyone in TWST, the G7 are just regular ass looking people rather than individuals who look stylistically out of place. If you think about it, Mickey Mouse also appears to have an extremely differently style than the TWST characters and is actually a character we meet face-to-face; he has no shading at all and looks flat to us (the players), yet Yuu, Grim, and others still never comment about that or why he can stand and walk despite lookin 2D. They are focused on his relation to Yuu rather than on his appearance. This supports the idea that, in the eyes of the characters IN Twisted Wonderland, Disney characters may not be registered in that stylistic difference. They must look like they “belong” in that world, and thus in the same style as the TWST characters (from their perspective, NOT the players’ perspective).

Something else to consider is that we haven’t (or rather, can’t) met the G7 in person. All the instances of them we’ve seen are portraits in Crowley’s office and the statues on Main Street—in other words, works of art. Who is to say that these legendary historical figures are accurately depicted? Even if they consistently look the same across depictions, it could just be that most artists collectively agreed “yup, based on what we know of history… they must look like this”. Alternatively, these (“Disney style”) depictions of the G7 could be the result of a popular artist movement or style present at the time period(s) in which the seven were at their prime. Again, these points are all also true of real life instances of artworks featuring important figures.

[transman-badass]

WIP Questionnaire

Tagged by @bee-barnes-author, thank you!

Gently tagging: @slenders1ckn3ss @kmlaney @bardicbeetle @astras-rambles @meerawrites @musingsbycaitlin @andromedaexists @dyrewrites and an open tag! Blank questions below the cut

For "Farewell Vesperos":

1. What is the first part of your WIP that you created? For the Runner Owen series as a whole, it was all spawned by a single image of a gothic city floating in the sky. It's changed a lot since then, over five years ago I think. I don't remember the first part I came up with for Farewell Vesperos itself, but it was probably the Vesperos family it's named after.

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be? For Runner Owen? Instrumental, for sure. Owen, my protagonist, walking through the foggy, crystal-lit streets of Theris. Being watched by people in brighter windows, or following him in the darkness. He turns around and lifts his lantern to see... Cut to the title screen.

3. What are your favorite characters that you made? Why? I adore Owen and his two enemies/LIs, Aurum and the Scarred Man. Explaining why is hard, but they and their chemistry just make me happy. There's also Locke and Nora, who are dear to my heart - I think some people I've talked about this with like Locke a little too much, but I don't blame them. For Farewell Vesperos in particular, GOD, I am loving how Lawrence Rhyne is shaping up. He's such a charming fuck.

4. What other pieces of media do you think your fan base would share? Kind of a confusing question. But uh, I've been told [combining the comments of different people] that Farewell Vesperos reads like Jane Eyre with an Agatha Christie type plot, so if you like either of that, you might like Farewell Vesperos. People who like darker fiction - hell, maybe even dark romance specifically! - might enjoy the dynamics between Owen and his two LIs. We'll see how that shapes up though.

5. What has been your biggest struggle with your WIP? Settling on the plot. This is the third edition of this story I'm writing and if it evolves on me again I might just scrap the whole fucking thing.

6. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them! Not at this point, but the vampires in it can turn into animals. The Scarred Man in particular can become a raven.

7. How do your characters get around? (Ex. Trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.) There are trains, powered by crystals, a la Victorian steam trains. Most people get around with the draconics that humans have allied with, those being small dragons that cooperate with humans for their own reasons. They function like horses, except some of them can fly.

8. What part of your WIP are you working on right now? Right now, I'm trying to figure out the villain's motivations. I have a terrible habit of imagining awesome things happening and then going 'but wait - I know this character would do this, but why?' Kind of annoying at this point.

9. What aspects (tropes, maybe) of your WIP do you think will draw people in? Well, there's the murder mystery! Lost heirs, arranged marriages, malicious vampires with dreams of conquest, wicked vampire hunters led by callous royalty who will do whatever ruthlessness needed protect humanity, enemies to lovers extreme slow burn [I'm talking over several books], spooky Victorian houses, lots of racially diverse characters, a transmasc protagonist navigating a society with specific gender roles for trans people... And just. Gothic fantasy in general.

10. What are your hopes for your WIP? I don't expect to get a lot of money writing this lmao, but I'm not writing it just for the money. I'm writing it because I know there's guys like me out there who want and need to see themselves as wanted - both as men, and as romantic and sexual partners. I want transmascs like me to feel desired. And I want people that aren't transmasc to really get that we are desirable, and attractive, as any other person. Ultimately though? I just hope people enjoy reading the damn thing and don't rip it to shreds over some stupid plot hole I missed pffft

1. What is the first part of your WIP that you created?

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

3. What are your favorite characters that you made? Why?

4. What other pieces of media do you think your fan base would share?

5. What has been your biggest struggle with your WIP?

6. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

7. How do your characters get around? (Ex. Trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

8. What part of your WIP are you working on right now?

9. What aspects (tropes, maybe) of your WIP do you think will draw people in?

10. What are your hopes for your WIP?

[kingbyx]

The Snowfury

Im writing a bsd Httyd au, because I have an inescapable obsession with both series.

To summarize without many spoilers (incase I ever do finish any fic in the series instead of just planning to write them), ADA are dragon riders, they love dragons, dragons love them, basically the main riders from Httyd in RTTE. Their island is just covered in rescued dragons. PM are dragon hunters who, under Moris guidance, have learned to ‘tame’ dragons through fear and abuse. Chuuya is not in the PM, he’s off being awesome and thinking everybody he loved is dead you know how it is. Atsushi (since Chuuya is not the main charcter even if I love him in this au) is a guy, who, through a series of unfortunate events, ends up with the ADA. His dragon, his bestest friend (Named Byakko, after his ability), is a lightfury (and Akutagawa had a Nightfury names Rashomon of course)

The problem with this is that I have a bit of a problem with the Lightfury. Her concept was cool, and some fanart of her is so nice! But her canon animation was just, eh, and overall I feel like her design could have been better. Some parts just don’t make sense, and really I think they could have done the ´sleek, feminine Fury species that is similar but very different than the nightfury’ idea without having her look,,,, squished. And oddly fem for a DRAGON. I always thought she felt out of place in the world of HTTYD.

So, in my efforts to slightly change her design so I could have a lightfury in my au without using the full canon design, I got carried away and now here we are, I made an entire species, for some reason.

Allow me to explain.

Lore/General Info

The ‘Lightfury’, actually known as the ‘SnowFury’ by the groups that live around them. Though even they don’t see them much. ´Lightfury’ is a term used by cultures who do not naturally have these dragons, as they mistook them for ´daytime NightFurys’ instead of arctic dragons. The dragon eye lists them as SnowFurys, but as artwork of them was limited due to their stealth, few have made the connection between the ‘two species’.

Snowfury’s share a common ancestor with the Nightfury, but evolved in an entirely different environment. While NightFurys are known to prefer forested habitats, preferable near lakes, beaches, rivers, etc, Snowfurys are found only in the snowy wastelands far to the north and far to the south. Though they are now nearly extinct in the south, that is where they were originally named aswell, and no humans are known to inhabit the north.

Just like NightFurys, they are few and far between. In the south, hunted to near extinction (perhaps they truly are gone?) and no one knows if they live in the north. Perhaps they fled there, perhaps they all died in the journey across the ocean, perhaps they have existed there forever and we will never know. Perhaps we are wrong entirely, and they have simply become even better at hiding? Some have heard they can turn invisible, not just blend in, but truly invisible

This will be explained further in the design details, but Snowfurys are larger and bulkier than NightFurys, and though still one of the fastest dragons, they fall just slightly short of the Nightfury. They have a layer of not-quite-blubber, it keeps them warmer but isn’t quite as squishy or heavy, as they still need to be sleek to fly at such high speeds. They can swim in freezing water and walk through blizzards barely noticing the cold.

Their shiny white scales make them nearly impossible to make out within the snow and ice, during a blizzard they are even more deadly. They are known to dig burrows in snow, both as nests/dens and for hunting/stealth purposes.

Changes I made and why/ cool design element of the species

No blue/pink undertones, their stark white but slightly sparkly coulouring is an amazing camoflauge, they are deadly in the snow. Though I couldn’t portray it well (can you tell ive never edited something before and am not at all an artist?), similar to the NightFurys faint stripes, they have a faint rosette pattern, almost like a snow leopard.

Not sure how visible it is, but head is less squished. Proper muzzle for fishing! And carrying babies! All those good things!

Their tail fins do not split at the end, they are known to use it almost like a shovel at times

Their claws are longer thicker and sharper than a NightFurys, they use them to grip onto ice and climb mountains with minimal effort.

Their eyes range from various blues, light teals and pale purples, nothing too vibrant though, they have very pale eyes (while nightfurys have more vibrant eyes, in bright greens and yellows and organes, even red perhaps)

Again, they are bulkier and stronger. Sacrificing a tiny bit of speed for higher strength. Still the second fastest dragon though, just slightly behind NughtFury. This extra bulk not only keeps them warmer but allows them to power through blizzards and scale icy mountains without blinking, they can swim in freezing water without getting cold and walk through deep snow. I made the Snowfurys legs a bit propertionally thicker, aswell as their neck.

Still less ear nubs, but i added a third set. They are shorter but wider than Nightfurys, it’s cold!

Back fin is rufflier and there is a smaller one on head, I mostly just liked the look. The fins on legs and back/head/tail help with aerodynamics, and swimming. They are surprisingly durable, as they need to hold up against freezing temperatures and crazy wind.

More scale definition, though not as muh as a NightFury. They have thick protective scales, but retain a smoother look, not only are they better swimmers than NightFurys but it makes them even harder to spot against the smooth shiny snow.

I made the other two tail fins larger to match the main one

Other little bits

Female Snowfurys are larger than males, and male Snowfurys are about the same as Female Nightfurys if a bit larger and male night fury’s are smaller than female nightfury’s

They have all the same ability’s as Lightfurys, retractable teeth, plasma blast, invisibility, you get it.

You could just say the Lightfruys don’t exist in this au, and Snowfurys are an unique species, but they are still called Lightfurys in most places (Americas, Yokohama seas, United Kingdom’s, etc. Only the southern frozen islands (where Fyodor and Nikolai are from in this au btw) call them Snowfurys, but they found them first so it’s the ‘true name’. It is also what’s in the dragon eye.

Do canon Lightfurys exist? Maybe, how am I supposed to know?

They swim very well as I think I mentioned, better than Nightfurys but not quite like a true tidal class dragon. They eat a lot of fish like Nightfurys, though they will eat basically anything, this would have one day perhaps included humans, but any living ones are sure to avoid humans now

They’re basically cold proof, on land and in water. They can do it but aren’t usually fans of extreme heat, since they have a natural layer of fat (not quite blubber but close) meant to keep them warm. They get hot quick and retain that heat well, they have never been seen in a warm place, though who knows if they go there or not. You rarely see them anyways,

They basically have the same reputation as Nightfurys, but since they don’t live most places even more mysterious. Nobody really knows anything about either species, even the Dragon Eye has rather vague drawings, though it’s still more info than anywhere else. It’s believed that more detailed records exists, but either nobody has found those lenses or the information wasn’t put on a lense

I’ll probably make a more detailed ref sheet with wings (same as canon LF,smoother than Nightfurys and a bit shorter and broader) and eye colours and stuff someday

Pack orientated species, just like Nightfurys. Though adults almost always hunt alone for stealthyness, they always live in groups, it’s important. They are social!

No I will not tell you what is in the north, that is a SECRET! Yes it is awesome and plot relevant and angsty but fluffy at the same time and I will make my readers cry when I write it!

I Hope this was at least somewhat coherent, I’m tired but brain won’t sleep until it gets to share its thoughts.

Will i ever actually write this? Yes probably but like, I’m currently on my avian au, Ranpo bad things happen bingo (I’m on prompt 15/25 now, whoo!) and that unfinished SKK au I’m writing (it’s like, 10k and I’m not even at the main plot what am I doing?? It’s based on a one of my favorite movies ever and includes wolves and feral woods child Chuuya btw). Someday, I will write Httyd au, eventually.

Any ideas for rider dragons are lovely,,,, you know incase you want to. I have most but there’s a few that I’m just, aaaaaah

Goodnight

[felikatze]

Hey, regarding the if fire emblem humans and dragons are evolutionarily close:

I'm very sure it's mentioned in at least one fire emblem game or manual or something that the wyverns evolved from dragons who didn't get the sickness or choose to become manaketes so either where i got that from is wrong or the in-game history books have it wrong or something.

Also, wouldn't that mean that the beast races are in the same boat?

(Please don't interpret this as me saying you're wrong or being accusatory im not sure how to word this but i'm just curious)

according to the good wiki, it MAYYY be the case that some archanean wyverns are actually degenerated dragons that refused to become manaketes, though i can't judge the certainty of that statement without playing the archanea games myself (which i seriously should do, goddamn), but in lore of games after that, you don't really see any relation at all

like games taking place in other worlds have manaketes and degeneration to some extent, but the relation between manaketes and wyverns in those is not specified iirc? like elibe, fates, lythos, magvel, tellius, you get it. lore is the same for a lot of things but old archanea lore isn't the be all end all of everything.

tldr i cant really judge that without going through every single game ever. probably shadow dragon and mystery.

¯_(ツ)_/¯

i would say the beast races are in the same boat, yeah! there's no reason for them not to be, after all. somebody also brought them up in the tags, and it's a good thought.

if ye olde humans were capable of shifting their forms to become dragons, who's to say they didn't shift to look like other animals, too? the wolfskin make the most sense here, as wolves and humans developed symbiosis pretty early, but the other species like taguel and kitsune also amount to "turn into a Huge Thing to punch your enemies dead."

it's funny to think that ye olde humans were just like. predisposed. to change into other stuff. maybe like four different human settlements all figured out the magic shapeshifting trick independantly and just kinda winged it. looking at the laguz specifically here lmao

it's cool to think abt for sure.

now i'm thinking abt how the various beastpeople tend to keep animal features in human form as well. maybe some features got "stuck", so to speak. or we go to ro-botany's theory of sexual selection that if u turn into a huge beast whenever, the more animal your human features the sexier you are. maybe shapeshifting affects gene expression. who knows. (the feli speculative biology special: bring up epigenetics again)

....i mean. just look at monsterfuckers.

all around i am integrating this into my headcanons bcuz it's generally just funny as hell. those dragons are apes.

[frxshblood]

Sorta selective independent roleplay blog for Senketsu from Kill la Kill. Headcanoned post-canon and canon anime timelines.

Written by Alex who doesn't know when to stop. Follows and interacts from @vagabondfromkanto

Muse, mun, verses and rules are all under the cut:

THE MUSE

Name: Senketsu (Senketsu Matoi for whenever someone demands a surname in a human form)

Age: Technically, as a science experiment, less than a decade. Mentally a young adult.

Gender: Again, technically an alien life form and sometimes a walking skirt, but leans male for convenience. He/him.

Orientation: Ryukosexual Something that includes women, he didn't exactly have time to figure that one out.

Canon storyline (Kill la Kill): A kamui (godrobe) created by Isshin Matoi with the explicit purpose of being worn by Isshin's daughter Ryuko Matoi. Which Senketsu very much did, doing his best to aid her in battles and protect her to the best of his (considerable) abilities. Became her friend (and something more) in the process, evolved, learned to have emotions, free will and decide his own appearance. Fell apart because of power overload in the finale and spent his last remaining strength to get Ryuko back into the atmosphere, in which his physical body burned to ashes. Some part of his consciousness, however, is implied to maybe still be up there.

Abilities per canon: Life-Fiber synchronization, morphing parts of his synchronized form as he evolves (blades, flying).

Non-canon storyline for this blog only: Suspend your disbelief entirely and just believe me when I say that having nothing better to do and missing his time on Earth (and his partner in particular) terribly, he spent a few years (Earth time) collecting stray life fibers drifting in space after their defeat. Upon gathering just enough to fashion himself a new body which will survive the impact, he returned on Earth, having no idea how much time has passed, but determined to either find Ryuko or at least learn what's become of her. It doesn't help that he has never in his life been outside of the few areas they've visited, let alone on his own... or that he doesn't fully know what passing as a human is like.

Here's a literary, fanfic-y description of all that.

Abilities per this storyline: Can morph his body in whatever he wishes. Usually he 'wishes' to either pass as a human to avoid problems and navigate the world better, or to make up outfits for his wearer. That said, if the situation calls,then blades, flying, big teeth and other fun stuff aren't off the table. And this time he can do it on his own.

Icon art is all mine.

How life-fiber synchronization works in this form: Well, either he just transforms into a big dragon-like energy form and carefully chomps the person (see: canonical transformation sequence), or, for special cases, this.

Still needs blood instead of food?: Yes. Though he can attempt to consume human food, it won't bring him much energy or the full taste spectrum like blood does.

VERSES:

Verse: "I will find you"

Generally reserved for all the interactions where he has not yet found his way home or Ryuko.

Verse: "Home"

With @/vindicta-reliquiae and her boys over at @/zantedeschia-praesul. After traveling for a while Senketsu finally made it back to Kanto and got reunited with Ryuko. Now they definitely have a lot to catch up on, issues to work through and things to figure out, but the most important part is that both of them are finally home.

Verse: "Sync and learn what we can do"

Canonical anime timeline interactions.

Verse: "Mix and match"

For interacting with people within vagabondofkanto's verse even though technically this Senketsu does not exist in her verse. Mostly reserved for Karma, who we already headcanoned being friendly with Sen at Honno.

More verses TBA.

THE MUN:

Alex/Tarr, any/all

Very late twenties, therefore of age, been playing for 15+ years

GMT +3, English isn't my first language but I do work with it professionally.

RULES:

I follow from @vagabondfromkanto, but we DON'T have to be mutuals to interact. If I don't get to you it might be for any other reason.

18+ only regardless of the subject or character.

Crossovers, OCs, multiverses, all good.

Multiship: potentially, Ryuko players take highest priority.

NSFW topics will likely get discussed. As for full roleplays - if they do happen, will be tagged and put under read more. Mun's relationship with writing sex is that one Spiderverse gif. "Can't do it on command". (But can do it. We'll see. Altho keep in mind that Senketsu lived among humans for less than a year and there likely wasn't any sex ed in Honnouji. There's a journey to be had for sure >:3 )

No godmodding or powerplaying. Canon does not limit me much in terms of what Senketsu could be capable of if you piss him AND his mun off. So let's both be reasonable.

There is a possibility I'll suddenly start writing replies longer than what we started with. I get carried away. If that annoys you or god forbid makes you feel bad, please do tell.

Magic anons, cracks, crossovers, yes. Angst, violence, canon-typical bloodshed, darker plots, also yes. Fluff and hurt/comfort absolutely yes as well.

I may answer rapid fire, I may disappear for days, I do not control the life or the work or even this brain of mine. Sadly.

If at any point I seem intimidating or like I know what I'm doing rest assured I do everything that I do through anxious screeching (but I DO it).

[vore-scientist]

Hi! I stumbled upon your tumblr thanks to Google. Can you give me good resources for hard vore ideas? I want to get inspiration for my work. Thanks in advance!!!

content warning for talk of hard vore obviously but the first stuff will be more general and not specific to hard vore. Also most of what I say will actually be in reference to the consumption of animals in one of my favorite book series.

EDIT: i realize you didnt ask specifically for writing advice but other stories are where i get my main inspiration. Both other vore stories from a select list of writers who write what i like to read and published works.

It sounds so basic to say this but you gotta read read read. But the question then becomes what do you read? Reading other vore stories can be a crap shoot. Not in terms of quality (im not judging) but in terms of what you personally like/are comfortable with reading. I myself like vore that is very non-sexual, fairly plot driven, and in well built fantasy or science fiction worlds, that must also be GT and oral only. thats a tall order aint it, and the best source for finding stuff to fit your tastes used to be devianart but that site is not really navigable right now. It used to be pretty easy to look through deviantart groups art galleries for stuff you like.

when i first started writing vore I took a lot of inspiration from other vore stories i loved. For vore specifically I paid attention to how vore scenes/scenarios were described. The sensations of the participating characters, the narrative descriptions. I picked up on the ways I liked things done and would take those and re-worked them. Not directly copying (however there really are only so many ways to describe the same thing over and over again...), but basically went "oh i really like how that was phrased/described but if i was writing it with MY characters i would want it done slightly differently" and wrote it differently. Writing vore is writing for what you specifically want from it. No one else is going to put out content that is perfect for you but it may be close enough to give you inspiration/an example.

HOWEVER!!! for hard vore SPECIFICALLY i take a LOT of inspiration from the T*m*rair* series (replace the * with the letter e). with over half the characters being enormous dragons which eat a lot of raw meat (not humans. they dont eat humans), there are a LOT of descriptions (both from the perspective of the main human and main dragon characters, though you dont get the dragon perspective until book 5 out of NINE TOTAL BOOKS) of the hunting/consuming of large animals (mostly cattle). Sometimes pre-killed but often not. Descriptions involving the crunching of bones, the particular favorite organs ("slupring up intestines" comes to mind, especially seeing which art i saw you liked which involved some spaghetti guts, and sucking out "the excellent brains"), the blood, all of that. Plus there are some instances of draconic monsters eating humans and those scenes get GRAPHIC. (a draconic monster is not a dragon. Dragons are a sapient race of people that evolved alongside humans in this alternate version of earth. But like other great apes such as gorillas and chimpanzes exist, this world has a few dragon-like animals, that are not people like humans and dragons are people).

It's ESPECIALLY good for multiple characters interacting with this kind of thing. With characters having to clean up after dragons eating things, even cleaning their teeth of the gore. The series is a gift i swear.

I will say the series is not a vore series. It just happens to have main characters who are giant predators.

[duhragonball]

Was rereading your liveblogs of the Uub vs Baby fight, and one thing I noted was the part about how all the merger of Uub and Buu accomplished was giving him the Candy Beam, and I felt such a sense of disappointment all over again. Of all Buu's powers, they gave him the one that ends the fight immediately if it hits (with the exception of Vegito I guess) so he can never successfully use it because the story can't allow it.

And that especially sucks because Buu, particularly Kid Buu, had so many cool applications of other abilities. His stretching and shapeshifting make him unpredictable and allow for unique approaches to combat, which could've helped Uub stand out more from the other fighters. Obviously GT's "Goku Time" philosophy means there's not that much competition, and they don't have a great track record for creative or well-animated choreography, but I can't help but think of how awesome it would've been to have a Dragon Ball character with the cartoonish, rubbery fighting style of Luffy.

I've got some time to kill, so I'll start going through my backlog of asks. This one is about Dragon Ball GT 33, which we talked about at the beginning of the year. Yeah, I really shouldn't have let these pile up so much.

Anyway, I get what you're saying, in that Uub could have gotten more interesting powers from combining with Buu, but the thing to keep in mind is that GT wouldn't have made good use of stretchy limbs or shapeshifting or anything else. Remember, they already had a character who could do all of that: Majin Buu, and they basically wrote him out of the story.

Now, a GT fanficcer could still do a lot with the idea of Uub discovering new abilities from the merger. He may not have known about them during the Baby fight, but he could continue training and find out he can do other stuff that Buu could do. But GT was never going to put that kind of focus on Uub. They lost interest in Trunks partway through, and he was one of the three main characters.

I'll go a step further, though, and submit that merging Buu with Uub defeats the point of Uub's introduction to the story. Kid Buu absorbed all those other characters to transform, becoming a more defined personality, but it wasn't authentic because Fat Buu and Super Buu weren't really him. They were Buu with other people's personalities stacked on top. But without those other people, Kid Buu is just a hollow killing machine, he could never grow or evolve on his own... until he got killed and reincarnated as a human. Than Goku could train him and make him into a greater fighter than he ever was before.

Recombining him with Fat Buu undermines that whole idea. That just takes them back where they started, when they were all one character as the Fat Buu we first saw hatch out of that magic ball. GT presents it as a reunification, sort of like Kami and Piccolo fusing back into their original self. But Majin Buu doesn't work that way. Kid Buu was the pure version of the character, and the other versions were dilutions of that. The whole point of Uub is that he can become greater and stronger than he ever could by absorbing other people as Kid Buu.

I suppose I can give GT some credit and suggest that they may have understood this perfectly well. After all, "Majuub" never really got very far, so one could argue that the merger was a mistake all along. But Fat Buu couldn't have understood that, and Uub didn't even know what was going on, so they had to find out the hard way. That could be a good subplot for a supporting character, but they never gave Uub enough screentime to learn his lesson. More grist for the fanfic mill, I suppose.

[jujurose222]

Climate change is real but it’s because the earth will die, just like our bodies. You have to be initiated into the next sphere, when the earth separates into two again. If you do not, you’ll devolve with the technological abuse. That’s why all the spiritual people are like, “oh the new earth, we are going to ascend.” It’s already happened in periods before and it will happen again during future Jupiter. The soul/spirit of our earth will shed its material form. The earth will be left as a corpse. Matter is dead, it’s not alive. Our spirit is what animates this earth. So we have to “enlighten” and take off the devils chains, the illusion of the 5 senses. We have to take the veil off and come back to our higher senses, so we can evolve with the earth. We have to realize our soul is what’s animating the corpse, your human body. You will shed your skin, and so will the earth.

The sun gets “hotter” because it is the initiating force.

Matter is “dead”, it cannot animate itself, it needs an outside force to animate it. The fall after Eden, the 7 headed dragon gained some dominion in the realm of matter.

Before, in Lemuria, it was Eden. Matter was only controlled by the light. But after the fall, many devolved into the animal kingdom, the ape form. So the earth was split into two again, the spirit/soul of those who succeeded, humans who were properly initiated into the higher world. And those who didnt pass, who stayed on the corpse of the earth.

Matter became corrupted. Before it was animated by light spirit, in Eden. But now, matter is being fought over by dark and light forces. The pillars of polarity were destroyed, so we think everything is contradictory.

In Eden, everything made sense, there was no need to question it. This is because the dark and light stayed in their respective lanes, they didn’t intermingle. But then the fight between the dragon and the archangels happened, and this is how the devil gained dominion over Malkuth.

The tree fell. Perfection was no longer natural. You would now have to strive to rebuild the tree within. It’s a formula to follow.

We eat from the tree, so we can know what God knows. So we can first recognize contradiction, and then reconcile it like God.

This is how you will be initiated into the next sphere.

You have to be crucified like Jesus, descend to Hell, gain dominion, and then ascend to Heaven. You have to reconcile your differences.

The devil has dominion in matter, the dark force tries to distract you by telling you that matter is all that’s real. When truly, matter is dead. This is why we are living an illusion of only 5 senses. The devil wants to defy God. The devil wants control, when you must surrender it.

Gain dominion over your 5 senses, yes. But do not become greedy, using those 5 senses to control everything else. Instead surrender to the flow of spirit, it naturally animates matter. It’s not your job. “Live and let be.”

Your only job is to use your 5 senses to your advantage, use them to awaken the other 7 senses you’ve forgotten. Use them to awaken your soul.

In doing this, you’ll begin to interact with higher beings who animate the earth.

It’s not your job to animate matter. It’s your job to animate your body. Don’t let them fool you into thinking you’re the only being who controls earth, that’s the furthest thing from the truth.

So many beings are in charge of the earth and its natural flow.

If you come to know your higher senses, you can interact with these beings.

You know, “plant gods” and what not.

In the illusion of the 5 senses we completely ignore these beings. We think we control things that we have no control over. This is disrespectful to the beings who are responsible for the natural laws.

We make up rules and laws, when we already have beings governing us. Beings who are actually suited for the job.

Our only job is to learn. So don’t sink into matter with the ones living a lie. Don’t live the illusion that you can actually control another human being. You cannot.

This is exactly why our government is going to fail, same with every other government. We are playing god. These human beings are trying to pretend to be beings they are not.

THERE ARE BEINGS IN CONTROL OF KARMA. IT IS NOT OUR JOB TO GOVERN.

This is why there is the 7 headed beast that gets its power from the 7 headed dragon. We are not supposed to be governed.

Don’t be fooled.

“Matter [gave birth to] a passion (mádos) which has no image, which proceeded from (something) contrary to nature (napáduos). Then (Tóe) there arises a disturbance (Tapaxn) in the whole body (opa). That is why I said to you, be obedient and if you are not obedient still (Mév) be obedient in the presence of the different forms of nature (ovoís). He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Gospel of Mary Magdalene 8

Jesus Christ

Be obedient to the higher forms. Not to the illusion that matter births. The illusion of Maya.