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sporelings-au · 1 year ago

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Ok, this is me being bored, so here we go, what I would do as Mother Spore's origin as Grian and how they turned to Mother Spore (based on the original post about Mother's origin here: https://www.tumblr.com/sporelings-au/722568401712791552/mother-spore-mother-spore-is-an-ancient-being?source=share )

In the beginning they were born of the wind, bird song, and the wild magic, a Sylph, a Hyster Sprite. He had once been part of a flock of many protecting children against horrid parents, even to the point of on occasion bringing young ones to fae mounds to be adopted and saved from their horrid homes. Their name back then was Grian, and they were the main voice of their flock, taking the form of a human male sometimes to spoke or tell off humans, though never for long and always keeping some part of their bird form. That was, till those who watched and hunted came. They didn't know in the beginning they would destroy the flock, the purple robed ones only watched them from afar in the beginning, enough so that the flock stopped seeing them as a threat. Then members of the flock started dissapearing and the flock started becoming more cautious, yet more still disappeared till the few who were left realised the truth. The watcheres were fae hunters, and good ones as well. So good in fact that only they got away in the end with the hunters on their tail as they soared through the skies, taking on a more human form eventualy like the elves and other fae as they tried to hide in plain sight within villages. Yet, despite their hard work they were still found and the villages ran them off with the hunters following behind.

Till the day they managed to loose them on a fae island filled with mushrooms and decay. They found the core of the fae relm, a fae of rot and decay who left behind their magic to protect any who were on the run from hunters. And there they stayed, building a large home (a mansion) on the island with wood they carried over from the mainland. The core of the island didn't seem to mind, on occasion it would even touch their mind and magic in inquiry and they would answer. And their mischievous side occasionally led them to scare the creatures on the near by main land, especially the grown humans who eventually came to fear them to the point of putting a bounty on their head.

One day though, the watchers finally caught up, and they had no where else to run.

The watchers injured him, what should have been fatally, but the island core reacted and combined it's self with them. The mycelium of the island pored into their wounds, scealing them in their wake as they and the island became one and for the first time ever they fought back with wild abandon against the humans who had hunted them for ages. The spores they released infected the men and slowly started killing them as they attacked and scared off the men from their island. At which point they went into hiding as they put up barriers of spores circling the island. Those that tried to attack them in their new home in the beginning were attacked mercilessly, till the point it just became a game to them.

As time went on they forgot their name, their beginning, and their fear of humans other then an underlying maliciousness to the adults and a lasting care for the young ones. They started going back out on occasion to toy with humans on the mainland, gaining a new name from the humans in the form of "Mother Spore". Which they were fine with, they had long since forgot their name and a new one was needed, after all names were power. Myths started to spread about them and their island, and that was fine with them.

They may no longer be what they use to be, but they were now the eternal protector of their island, and perhaps one day they could gain new fae or creatures to join them and they could expand their realm and gain recognition as someone/thing not to mess with.

:O Woah thats interesting

love the idea that mother was some sort avian that was in a flock before turning into what he is now.

for the hunters hunting her part, that gave me an idea that they were hunting him for his wings. and the insect, fairy like wings that mother have now are not hers, but a gift from the mushroom island after the hunters injured her and chopped off his wings (would be morbidly cool if they killed him and the island brought her back to "life")

like to think that the wings mother have now cant let her fly very fast and high up into skies like how her old wings would have

and that mother misses that feeling of wind hitting his face as he soars through the sky with ease very much

anyways, tq mx biologist for the delightful insight :>

#sporelings au #asks

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autistrix · 5 months ago

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[https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/111747263] Long-Tailed Sylph || Aglaiocercus kingii Observed in Colombia Least Concern in location of observation

#hummingbird #birds #nature #wildlife #photography #air beast #who cooks for queue? who cooks for queue all?

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beevean · 2 months ago

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Bosses in Harmony of Dissonance

Giant Bat (Marble Corridor A): mandatory for the Worst/Best Endings. The game allows you to skip it very easily, but it turns out that defeating the Giant Bat lowers the drawbridge that leads to the courtyard, in both castles. At the end of the game, you need to go there in Castle B to retrieve the Rib of Vlad: therefore, the Bat is only optional if you are going to defeat Maxim in Castle A, netting you the Normal Ending.

Living Armor (Shrine of the Apostates A): mandatory. It guards the Lizard Tail, which allows to slide.

Skull Knight (Skeleton Cave B): mandatory. It guards the Sylph Feather, which allows to double jump.

Golem (Luminous Cavern B): optional. It guards the Walk Armor (obtainable after getting the Griffin's Wing) and the Yellow Stone, which have limited utility.

Minotaur (Castle Top Floor B): optional, but highly recommended. It guards the Wind Book, which gives you some of the best spells in the game.

Devil (Sky Walkway A): optional, but recommended. It guards the Night Goggles. While it is hard, it's possible to traverse the dark room leading to the Aqueduct of Dragons without them. Speedrunners tend to skip it.

Giant Merman (Aqueduct of Dragons A): mandatory. You need to go through it to connect the Aqueduct of Dragons to the Clock Tower. This is important in Castle B, as you need to go through the unlocked gate to solve the puzzle that leads to the Crushing Stone.

Max Slimer (Clock Tower A): mandatory. You need to go through it to reach Death and progress the plot.

Peeping Big (Clock Tower B): mandatory. You need to go through it to exit the Clock Tower.

Legion (saint) (Sky Walkway B): optional. There is nothing stopping you from taking the long way and go through the Aqueduct of Dragons if you wish to circumvent it. It's inconvenient, though.

Shadow (Sky Walkway B): mandatory. It progresses the plot and gives you Maxim's Bracelet, with which you can access the Castle Top Floor.

Pazuzu (Castle Top Floor A): mandatory. It progresses the plot and allows you to connect the Castle Top Floor with the Chapel of Dissonance from the other side.

Minotaur lv. 2 (Castle Top Floor A): optional. It guards the Steel Tip, which gets soon outclassed by the Platinum Tip.

Legion (corpse) (Skeleton Cave A): optional. It guards the Cipher's Charm, which has limited utility.

Talos (Luminous Cavern A): optional, but recommended. It guards the Skull Key, which unlocks the two doors that connect the right and left sides of the castle (you need the Griffin's Wing to reach it, though). Personally, I found the Skull Key limited in its utility as it comes too late into the game, far less useful than the Lure Key, but it makes exploring easier.

Death (Luminous Cavern A): mandatory. It progresses the plot and he guards the Griffin's Wing, which allows you to high jump.

Cyclops (Shrine of the Apostates B): optional. You don't even need to connect Entrance B with Shrine of the Apostates B. While you need the Crush Boots that are found in the connected Wailing Way B (no matter the ending you want: either you destroy the ceiling of Castle Top Floor A to open the center of that castle, or you destroy the ceiling of the tower in Entrance B to collect the Rib of Vlad), nothing stops you from returning the way you came.

(Related: the areas that can be skipped are Aqueduct of Dragons B, Chapel of Dissonance B, a good chunk of Castle Treasury A, Room of Illusion B, and Shrine of the Apostates B. Marble Corridor B can technically be skipped if one enters the Wailing Way B from the Entrance and progresses backwards until the Crush Boots, but it's inconvenient)

#castlevania #akumajou dracula #harmony of dissonance #a post that is mainly useful to me lol #but i found an interesting low level guide on gamefaqs #in case one wants to speedrun the game or make it more challenging #so there you go. a lot of this game's content is completely optional #kind of like in sotn lol

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birdblues · 2 years ago

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Long-tailed Sylph

#long tailed sylph #hummingbird #Aglaiocercus kingii #bird #upl

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bethanythebogwitch · 1 year ago

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Let’s turn up the heat because I’m going over the real-life inspirations for all the fire-type starter Pokémon. Here are the links for when I covered the inspirations for all grass starters, all fish, and all non-fish aquatic Pokémon.

Gen I gives us quite possibly the most iconic starter line: the Charmander line. Interviews with the design team have revealed that Charizard was the first of the line to be designed and the other two were designed by working backwards from it. Both Charmander’s English and Japanese name (Hitokage) reference the mythical salamander of European folklore. Salamanders have been associated with fire in multiple cultural folklores throughout Europe, often to the point where their depictions have nothing to do with the actual amphibians. Interestingly, the oldest accounts that associate salamanders with fire comes from Pliny the Elder, who repeated an account their bodies were so cold they could extinguish fires. Somewhere along the line of legends being passed down, salamanders got flipped from repelling fire to living in it, possibly as a result of getting conflated with other mythical reptilians like dragons or basilisks. In the renaissance, the alchemist Paracelsus described salamanders as fire elementals, along with a group of other elemental beings (gnomes for earth, sylphs of air, and undines of water).

(image: an artistic depiction of a fiery salamander. Art by Michael Maier)

In addition to salamanders, Charmander and Charmeleon are given the upright poses and dragging tails of outdated reconstructions of theropod dinosaurs. Charizard is a classic depiction of a western dragon: a winged reptile that breathes fire. Western dragons are based heavily on lizards, with some of the earliest depictions being a dead ringer for monitor lizards. Charizard is said to love fighting, which is reminiscent of how western dragons have been depicted as dangerous, destructive, and even demonic monsters. It is only relatively recently that western dragons have been depicted as anything but evil. Charizard doesn’t have the dragon type (unless it mega evolves to X form), but that’s more because back in gen I, dragon was intended to be the special type exclusive to the late-game powerhouses that are the Dratini line. Charizards mega evolutions and gigantamax form don’t really add much to the origin, they’re just exaggerations of Charizard.

(image: art of a western dragon by Friedrich Justin Bertuch)

Cyndaquil is based on an echidna, an Australian monotreme (egg-laying mammal) that has a long snout and quills like a porcupine.

(image: a long-beaked echidna. I don't know why, but its snout makes me very uncomfortable)

Despite being an echidna, its species name is the Fire Mouse Pokémon. This is actually a hint to an additional inspiration for its origin. The Japanese word that got translated to “Fire Mouse” is “Hinezumi”. This is the Japanese name for a monster originating in Chinese legend called the “huǒshǔ”. It’s a flaming mouse that lives in volcanoes. The flaming mammal and volcano association continues through the line. Also, when I googled “hinezumi” the first thing that popped up was the Monster Girl Encyclopedia. If you know, you know (don’t google it). Quilava and Typhlosion completely drop the echidna inspiration, which is a bit disappointing to me. That’s why I made regional variants of them for my Australia/New Zealand fakemon region where they stay as echidnas. While being based on badgers, they retain the quills that are found in many animals, most famously porcupines and hedgehogs. Hisuian Typhlosion is based on Kamuy-huci, the Ainu goddess of the hearth. The Ainu are the indigenous people of Hokkaido, the island that inspired Sinnoh and Hisui. There are multiple Ainu references in Hisui’s design, plot, and regional variants. In the Ainu religion, the hearth was the connection between Earth and the world of spirits and was therefore never allowed to go out. It could also be used to communicate with the kamuy (gods and spirits) and was the passage through which the souls of the dead would leave the world and eventually return for reincarnation. This is why Hisuian Typhlosion is part ghost-type. The fire around H Typhlosion’s neck looks like magatama beads, which are used in the spiritual practices of multiple belief systems. These flames can release 108 ghost lights. 108 is an important number in Buddhism and is the number of beads in a Japamala, another type of beaded necklace used for spiritual practices in (among other religions) certain types of Buddhism.

(image: a japamala with wood beads)

The Torchic line is, I suspect, the place where the trend of basing fire starters on Chinese zodiac animals started. Typhlosion really doesn’t fit the zodiac, though some people say it’s supposed to be the mouse. The line is based on chickens. More specifically, they are based on the basan, a legendary fire-breathing chicken.

(image: art of a basan by Takehara Shunsen)

Torchic is a chick, a hatchling chicken. It being bright orange comes from a tradition of dying chicks bright colors to be sold at festivals. Male Torchics have a tiny black spot on their rear ends that females don’t. This is probably based on vent sexing, a technique for determining the sex of chocks, a notoriously difficult task. It is done by examining the cloaca, looking for a bump that usually only males have. Combusken and Blaziken are based on cockfighting, a form of animal abuse where people force chickens to fight and bet on the winners. The official art for Blaziken’s normal and mega evolved forms have it in poses used in the martial art of Muay Thai. Blaziken is usually depicted as fighting primarily with kicks and Muay Thai emphasizes kicking. Blaziken being an humanoid with a bird head may also reference the bird-headed Egyptian gods Horus and Ra, or off of the karura, a diving being that looks like a human with a bird’s head in Japanese mythology.

(image: a statue of a karura)

The Chimchar line are based on the monkey from the zodiac. Chimchar’s species name is the Chimp Pokémon, and it does bare some resemblance to a young chimpanzee. When Chimchar’s flame goes out, you can see prominent red marking on its butt. Several monkey species have marking on their hindquarters, but the most famous by far is the baboon. Chimchar’s lack of a tail identifies it as an ape, but its evolved from gain tails, making them monkeys. A lot of people think that apes are separate from monkeys, but really apes are a subset of old-world monkeys. Apes are monkeys, you are an ape, therefore you are a monkey and that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Monferno and Infernape both have prominent facial markings heavily reminiscent of those of mandrills.

(image: a male mandrill's face)

Monferno having blue facial marking and orange fur also makes it look like a golden snub-nosed monkey.

(Image: a golden snub-nosed monkey's face)

These are native to China and the line does have some heavy Chinese influence. The martial art that Monferno and Infernape use is most likely Monkey Kung Fu or Hóu Quán, which was inspired by the movements of monkeys. Infernape is based on the character of Son Goku, the Japanese name for the character Sun Wukong from the Chinese epic novel Journey to the West. Sun Wukong is the king of all monkeys, a martial artist, and has several magic powers.

(image: Japanse art of Son Goku/Sun Wukong. Art by Shunman Kubo)

Sun Wukong may be based on the older Hindu god Hanuman, a monkey-like god associated with strength and heroism who was also a member of the varana, a species of monkey people.

(image: a sculpture of Hanuman)

The Tepig line are based on the boar of the zodiac. Ken Sugimori said that the Unova starters were based on different cultures to reflect Unova being a very diverse place. The Tepig line were given Chinese design elements whole the Snivy line were “western” and the Oshawott line were Japanese. Tepig having a dark marking on its head and rear but being light everywhere else comes from the markings of the British Saddleback pig breed.

(image: a British saddleback pig)

The fire and pig combination references how pigs are bad at regulating their body head and need to use external sources like mud to cool off. Pignite takes on more boar traits with its exposed tusks. The markings on its body look like it is dressed in a wrestling singlet, which fits as both Pignite and Emboar are based on wrestlers. The yellow markings on Pignite and Emboar resemble patters found in ancient Chinese cauldrons called dings.

(image: a ding)

Ken Sugimori also stated Emboar was inspired by the character Zhang Fei in the Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In the story, Zhang Fei is betrayed and decapitated by his own men. This could be the purpose of the fire scarf Emboar has, to separate its head from its body. Pignte and Emboar also draw from another Chinese story, the afore-mentioned Journey to the West, specifically the character of Zhu Baije. Zhu Baije is a pig man who joins the titular journey. He is also jealous of Sun Wukong, which kind of fits with how Emboar is a much worse Pokémon than Infernape.

(image: an artists depiction of Zhu Baije. Unknown artist)

The Fennekin like take the place of the fox in the zodiac. Design-wise, their large ears mark them as being based on fennec foxes. They are also based off of the kitsune, magical foxes in Japanese mythology. Among the many powers attributed to kitsune were the ability to breathe fire and perform magic. Kitsune could also take on the form of human women, which is referenced in Fennekin’s evolutions becoming humanoid and having feminine designs.

(image: art of a Kitsune scaring two people by Utagawa Kuniyoshi)

Human could also learn magic form foxes, becoming fox witches or kitsune-mochi/kitsune-tsukai. Braixen and Delphox take quite a bit of their design from these fox witches, they also draw from the classic wester witch, using magic wands and Braixen having a tail that looks like the head of a flying broomstick. The association of witches with fire might be a reference to witch burnings. Delphox is also based on a prophet or seer, with its ability to see the future. Delphox’s English name directly references the ancient Greek oracle at Delphi. The final forms of the Kalos starters are based on the fantasy character archetypes of the fighter, the mage, and the thief. Delphox is very much the mage.

Litten is a black cat with tabby cat features. Tabby cats are defined by the stripes on their faces and legs. The orange and black stripes also identify it as the tiger from the zodiac. Its eyes plus forehead stripes are a dead ringer for the alchemical symbol for brimstone, another name for sulfur. Sulfur is a highly flammable element, fitting the fire type. This is one of several references to alchemy found in gen VII.

(image: the alchemical symbol for brimstone. two horizontal lines crossed by a vertical line that leads down into an infinity symbol)

Torracat doesn’t change much from Litten, just adding more stripes and a fireball that looks like a bell on a cat’s collar. It does change when it evolves to Incineroar, and not for the better. Incineroar is my least favorite final stage starter and easily in my top 10 most hated Pokémon. I could go on for a while about how much I hate it, but this isn’t the post for that. It’s still a tiger, but now it has been combined with a professional wrestler. You can tell they really wanted to do another fire/fighting type but knew there would be backlash. The belt of fire is based on a championship belt and its dark type comes from being a heel. In wrestling language, a heel is a villainous character, someone the audience is supposed to boo (a face is a heroic character). This fits with Incineroar being describes as a violent and egotistical Pokémon. However, Incineroar does have a soft side. This fits with how wrestlers are performers playing characters. A performer playing a heel character may cheat, lie, steal, and generally be an asshole while in character, but when not in character they probably won’t be nearly as unpleasant a person.

Scorbunny is the rabbit of the zodiac. More specifically, it is a white rabbit and like with real rabbits, its feet are considered good luck charms. The yellow patch on its face comes from a Japanese character design trope where a bandage over the nose is supposed to indicate that the character is tough and rambunctious. Maylene from the Sinnoh games shares this design element. Its fire typing could come from the Jataka tales, a collection of Buddhist stories from India. In tale 316, a rabbit is placed in a fire as a burnt offering, but it is unharmed by the flame. Another connection could come from the fact that rabbits have unusually high body temperatures for mammals. If Scorbunny is cheerful child, Raboot is a moody teenager. It’s fur and the stripe on its head look like a tracksuit and headband, giving it a connection to athletics. This continues with Cinderace, who is now an association football (or soccer to Americans) player. Football is a huge deal in England, the basis for Galar. Its fur looks like athlete’s attire and it uses a flaming berry like a football. This is another one where you can tell they wanted to make another fire/fighting type.

The Fuecoco line ditched the zodiac theme to become a crocodile. Its upright posture makes it look like a chibified theropod dinosaur and its silhouette looks like a chili pepper. The white face of both Fuecoco and Crocalor resembles a calavera, skull imagery used in the Mexican Day of the Dead. This is a Mexican holiday which is a celebration of dead loved ones that is typically very spirited and cheerful as opposed to glum and mournful. Folklore says the ghost will return to the world of the living on the Day of the Dead. While Paldea is based on Spain and Portugal, several of the new Pokémon have designs based on elements from central and south America, possibly because of both countries’ history of colonialism in those areas. Crocalor adds several references to mariachi players. The flaming nest and egg on its head is a sombrero while the markings on its abdomen look like a traje cordobés, a type of vest often used in mariachi.

(image: a mariachi band wearing wests and sombreros)

The hat combined with the calavera face makes it look like La Calavera Catrina, a skeleton wearing a wide-brimmed hat that is used as a common symbol in the Day of the Dead.

(image: art of La Calavera Catriana by José Guadalupe Posado)

It could also be a bouquet of Tagetes erects, the Mexican marigold, a flow also used for the Day of the Dead. Skeledirge continues the mariachi and Day of the Dead theme by becoming an undead singing crocodile. Real crocodiles will vocalize during mating and nesting season. There are several stories of ghostly or monstrous crocodiles in Spanish folklore, such as the Cocollona and the Drac de Na Coca, the latter of which is displayed as a taxidermied specimen in a museum in the city of Palma de Mallorca. There is also the Coco or Cuca, a boogieman-like that originated in Spain and Portugal and spread to the Americas that is often depicted as a monstrous crocodile. All three of the Paldea starters are based on entertainers and Skeledirge is based on a singer. Given its typing and English name, it probably single funeral dirges. The fiery bird on its nose could come from the gharial, another type of crocodilian. Male gharials have large bumps on the tips of their snouts in the same spot the bird sits.

(image: a male gharial)

Another, possibly more likely source is the Egyptian plover, a bird that will land on top of Nile crocodiles and eat parasites off of their skin. Skeledirge could also be based off of alebrijes, very colorful statues of mythical creatures in Mexican folk art. This is making me think about how cool a Mexico-based region could be.

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