#not to mention unusual humanoid species

[goblinbeetle]

[kiame-sama]

Can we get Headcannons for the next three Monster guys you've drawn for your Monster AU? (Vil, Rook, and Leona look so cool)

Ask and ye shall receive (so long as my ADHD riddled brain plays nicely).

Warnings: yandere behavior, yanderes, my monster AU, Humans Are Extinct TWST AU, Drider Rook, Harpy Vil, Nemean Lion Leona, stalking, web building, venom, display dances, mention of Humans being food,

- Rook's spider fur is extremely soft and comfortable to the touch. Vil makes Rook deep condition the fluff which has resulted in it being softer than kitten fur and Rook is extremely proud about this fact, especially whenever his darling Human pets the fur. Where he would have teased them for their act of petting his spider body, he is enjoying the gentle affection far too much to make a sassy comment.

- Rook is a Drider and will often spin webs in various locations so he can watch others mostly undisturbed. He never uses his webs to hunt because that just removes the fun from hunting for him. Usually his webs are clear or a very faint white, but Vil can still see them with ease and will often berate Rook for yet another web on the Pomefiore ballroom ceiling. Sometimes Rook is so busy building his web he doesn't even realize he has been caught before Vil nails him in the head with the heel of his shoe.

- Rook sleeps either face down or on his back given he has to accommodate the spider body. He can lay forward over his fangs and when he sleeps like that, he leaves his legs splayed out in whatever direction feels the most comfortable. When Rook sleeps on his back, the spider legs curl up like many spiders do when they die. Sleeping on his back has frightened Vil once or twice as the Harpy is not keen to lose his best friend and the curled legs make it look like Rook has died.

- Rook is venomous and Vil will frequently use Rook's venom in his various potions and poisons. He often gathers his own silk and milks his venom for Vil to use as he sees fit. In Rook's mind, anything he can do to aid his Roi du Poison is worth the struggle and hassle of collecting. Rook likes that he can assist the Harpy with his venom and he thinks the clothes the Harpy makes out of his silk is nothing short of divine. It would drive Rook into a state of pure euphoria to see his Human dressed in clothes made from his personal spider silk.

- Rook is fascinated by his Human's hands and feet, as most species don't have Humanoid feet the way his Human does. He himself has spider paws with small claws on the ends of them for web walking and clinging purposes, so the delicate feet of a human are just adorable to him. Rook will offer to paint his Human's nails just so he can hold and marvel over their hands and feet without coming across as extremely weird or unusual given his fascination with them. (Most think he is still weird as hell for this, but he is shameless in his interests)

- Rook has built a web on the ceiling of Ramshackle's common area and has yet to be caught any time he is occupying that web. Most of the time he is just silently observing his little Human bustle around and go about their daily life, smiling whenever they do something particularly cute. Naturally, Rook thinks that almost everything they do is cute so he will be smiling rather wistfully as he watches them move around, oblivious to the monster that is observing their every move. He will try to flee or conceal himself if it ever seems like his Human is going to look up, wanting to continue this act of stalking the endangered species without his Human realizing it.

- Vil is extremely proud of his feathers- wing feathers, crown feathers, tail feathers, ect- to the point he takes long hours out of his time just to preen them to perfection. Given he is so serious about making his feathers look perfect, he is very selective for who he decides to display them for. Vil has gone as far as refusing to display on command for movies he has acted in, meaning the few times he does give his feathers a shake, he means it whole heartedly. He will display and even begin to dance to gain the attention of the few he feels are worth showing off for, his Human taking first place on his list of those he will actually display his train feathers for.

- Vil refuses to let anyone see him or get near him while he is molting. The only one who he will allow into his room is Rook as the Drider has always been a good friend and support for the prideful peacock. He will gather up the shed feathers and will even gift the prettier ones to those he cares about- his Human and Rook, primarily- or he will use them in his next ensemble. He needs to look pristine and even one feather missing is a tragedy to him. His crown feathers are the only ones he will flat out cry over when he sheds them and he is very particular about having only seven of them as his own way to honor and respect The Seven founders of NRC.

- Vil's wings and feathers keep him nice and warm so he typically doesn't need to wear jackets or coats even on snowy days. He is actually very fond of snow as the white background is perfect for him to show his many colors off even when he isn't trying. He can use his wings as blankets due to the insulation they provide and will be so bold as to wrap his Human in his wings should he ever witness them shiver.

- He is an extremely proud Harpy- more so than most due to his peacock lineage- and he doesn't really care who knows it. Those he tends to be in conflict with are other Harpies- especially the mourning dove Harpy Neige- and those with strong personalities- such as Leona- due to his prideful nature. Neige is actually very fond of Vil but Vil despises the drab mourning dove and will go out of his way to oil his feathers and give them that shine that overshadows the boring grays and browns of Neige's feathers. Vil would come completely unglued if his Human ever showed the other Harpy preferential treatment or affection in his presence.

- Vil is either extremely gentle or harsh when it comes to his favorites and will not pull any punches when it comes to making them improve themselves. He is not above throwing things, slinging insults, and generally being unkind in order to push others to be a better version of themselves. The only one he isn't overly rough towards is his Human because he likes the fact his Human is weaker than him and it gives him a huge stroke to his pride to know he is in a position of power over them.

- Vil will fight and get messy when it comes to others trying to win over HIS Human. Not only is he a brilliant mage but his physical ability in a fight is nothing to scoff at either. Graceful practiced moves and poses almost make him look like he is dancing while he fights and it absolutely pleases him if his Human is watching the fight. Can't you see how perfect he is? He is not only soundly beating his enemies but he is so beautiful while doing it, there is no question he wouldn't be the most ideal mate for anyone to possibly have. Praise him after a fight, he will display his feathers and dance for you.

- Leona comes from a Kingdom that suffers every day from the actions of their ancestors. Sunset Savana is a large Kingdom but it is also colloquially known as the Kingdom of Savages due to the rather large Human meat market that drove Humans to extinction. Most other sentient species adored Humans, so the crimes of Sunset Savana have put a clear strain on the goodwill of these other species and other Kingdoms in regards to allying themselves with them. Leona in particular has been a thorn in the Kingdom's side due to his natural aggression and dislike for how others treat him. Falena has been one of the few Kings to start pulling Sunset Savana away from the 'Kingdom of Savages' title but Leona has rarely made a similar attempt.

- In many ways, Leona both adores and resents the little Human he now has to deal with. He resents that such a weak species dying out still has a negative impact on his Kingdom, but he also sees how good this Human can be for the Kingdom as a whole. He has considered telling Falena there is a Human in NRC, wondering if getting that Human on his side and in the Sunset Savana Kingdom would make other Kingdoms/Queendoms change their view of the Savage Kingdom. It would be a genuine Godsend for either Leona or Falena to befriend this Human as it would help the Kingdom prove they are not as savage as the others view them. Though Sunset Savana is in no way a starving Kingdom, there is still the clear resentment others treat them with- Fae ruled Kingdoms/Queendoms especially given the long lives and even longer memories of the Fae- and bringing a Human safely into the Kingdom could help break down those societal walls for generations to come.

- Leona will be gruff and have a poor attitude in an attempt to scare his little Human away, knowing that few others would ever trust him to be alone with the soft species. He doesn't like the fear his Human has when he does this aggressive act and it does lead to him being particularly gentle towards the soft Human- especially if the Human is female gendered- when he realizes how much he hates the fear they attribute to him. From making himself be a pillow to covering his Human with his scent, he will try to make up for his aggression and behavior so that Human doesn't resent him. Where Leona will be patient with those younger than him- an adult Lion has no need to harm cubs, even if they are annoying as hell- he will extend that unusual patience and even temper to his Human.

- Leona is 'King' of Savanaclaw and will ensure his subjects don't lay a single fang, claw, or paw on the soft Human because he knows how the other species will react to such an act. He even threatens the other Savanaclaw students so effectively that most will flee upon any physical contact or close proximity with the Human in question despite their usual readiness to fight others. Ruggie does not heed these warnings- despite being a Gnoll- and Leona is actually somewhat pleased the quick to submit Hyena-man has managed to extend an olive-branch of peace to the Human. He won't be thrilled Ruggie is so close with the Human when Leona would rather be in his place, but he will take the offered boon of befriending the Human through Ruggie.

[filurig]

decided to go fawk it and make it so that nattramn and basilisks are able to hybridise in pareidolia yay!!! more info under cut

as for how its possible, irl clearly these species would be too distant from eachother to hybridise but ok its fantasy and also. i think part of it might be that as basilisk ancestors evolved their odd trait of picking up aspects of other fauna around them during fetal development, it just resulted in their genes being really wack and spontaneous and for some reason that made it so that they can procreate with nattramn again. i think the ancestors shown in the last image for example could not concieve together bcs the basilisk ancestor species had not evolved the wacky genes thing yet.

societally i think it varies on how they're treated. generally hybrids are accepted as parts of their societies, but depending on several factors they can be somewhat alienated. in nattramn society, "basramn" hybrids are generally more well accepted due to a combination of societal and religious reasons. "nattlisks" usually mingle with basilisk communities much easier for similar reasons. the kind of folklore that sprung up surrounding them in these communities may depend on the fact that basramns have an easier time fitting into nattramn society (due to nattramn putting a lot of importance on flight) while nattlisks have an easier time shapeshifting and can usually fit in basilisk communities easier because of it (basilisks celebrate their shapeshifting ability culturally quite strongly), and the folklore sprung up as sort of a "post hoc" justification for potential alienation/embracing of hybrids. because of this this means that union between a basilisk and a nattramn and whether or not its accepted depends on the context bcs of what hybrid it produces. thinking this may be further reinforced with old legends about mythical (or real, potentially) historical figures in their cultures. (have to think more about this)

also i dont think ive mentioned it here but the reason why these hybrids arent TOO uncommon to see is that nattramn and basilisks are closely intertwined, and while its unusual to see a nattramn mingling with basilisk communities, its quite common for basilisk communities to exist within nattramn settlements and their attitudes towards one another are generally amicable/positive.

"nattlisk" and "basramn" are not canon terms for them, and in universe theyre generally referred to either as basilisk, nattramn or harpy depending on what the observer/local culture thinks they are lol. humans especially dont really know the difference - i think maybe nattlisks may be interpreted as some sort of other vätte like a rå or a troll due to their more humanoid look

generally have similar lifespans to nattramn/basilisks, overall they do rather well for being hybrids other than miscarriages (or, well, since theyre egg layers, failed/unhatched eggs) and nattlisks being more susceptible to illness early in life.

[vulpecular-draconic]

so… i think i finally consciously figured out something.

this lull that i’m experiencing, that i’ve mentioned in previous posts? i know where it began. or, the two things that i think began it. i don’t remember which order they happened in? so i’ll just describe them.

incident one: i tried to talk about alterhumanity with my mom and sister. not just in vague, this-is-a-thing way — they already knew it existed and thought it was weird — but i tried to explain phantom limbs to them. i asked them if they experienced phantom limbs, and kinda told them about mine. which was a mistake. they didn’t make fun of me exactly, but my sister gave me weird looks (and thought i was confusing it for imagination, which i didn’t have the energy to correct at that point), and my mom just said she thought i had a strong imagination (in a less-frustrating way than my sister). but i left the whole interaction feeling VERY much like i’d shared too much of myself. i still feel that way about it. i noticed afterwards that it was harder to feel connected to my ‘types.

incident two: i filled out an alterhuman survey. i’m not sure why, but something about one of the questions — or rather, something in the way i answered it — left me feeling… empty, in regards to alterhumanity? i closed the app and got up from my chair suddenly feeling like i’d broken something. i don’t really know why it made me feel that way. the question had been asking about how much i viewed myself as human. my answer was that i felt like “human” was more of a job title, a purpose, than something i was. it was the first time i’d contextualized it that way — outside of my head, at least? — and… idk. but everything felt Different after that. 

these both happened around the beginning of 2024, i think. for a few weeks afterwards, i clung on to posting about alterhuman stuff, trying to get that feeling back. eventually though, i accepted the lull and stopped trying to wring connection to myself out of tumblr.

i didn’t fully accept the reasons for the lull, though. it’s true that i’ve had natural lulls before even knowing i was alterhuman, but i pretended that was all it was.

since the lull began there’s been a few spotty days where my connection feels stronger, but hardly ever to the strength i felt it before, and hardly for longer than a day or two.

what really worries me is that the only kintype i feel consistently connected to now is being a pearl fox (and avian-humanoid, but that’s less of a species and more just limbs that almost always feel comfortable to me. and dragons, which feel more like otherheartedness, but i always get shifty about those whenever i interact with dragon content). but even being a pearl fox feels more distant than it did. all my types felt very real as i was feeling them, but i worry that they won’t come back. what if they were hyperfixation-induced identities, and now that the hyperfixation has abated, i’ll never feel like them again? 

because i am a psychological alterhuman. i’m at the whims of my own subconscious. i think i definitely was everything i said i was back then at the time i said it, but i don’t feel like i am anymore, not in the same way. i tried, but i can’t force it to come back. i’m still not quite sure why it left.

to be honest, the only thing that’s keeping me from completely doubting if i’m alterhuman at all is remembering how i found out i was alterhuman in the first place.

i acted nonhuman (specifically, cat-like) since i was eight, until i was shamed out of it.

i constantly pictured myself as a dragon and had dragon phantom limbs around the ages of eleven-thirteenish.

right before finding out about alterhumanity in 2023, i realized i was placing an unusual amount of weight on the question “what is your favorite animal.” my answer had been cats as long as i could remember, but that had become increasingly uncomfortable to say in recent years (dysphoric, in hindsight). i felt that my favorite animal had to encapsulate my personality, and for some reason, cats no longer did. i realized i was drawn more to foxes the same week i learned about alterhumanity. 

i kind of wish i had learned about alterhumanity a bit later than i did. a couple months later maybe, that would’ve been ideal. give myself more time to learn about foxes and i connect to them on my own, without getting it tangled up in preconceptions, yknow?

because red foxes? the species that pearl foxes are a color morph of? i initially discarded them too quickly, because i didn’t feel connected to the classic red fox color morph. so i went searching for a whole different fox species, and found bat-eared foxes. it’s hard to describe in with words, but think that made everything a lot messier in the months afterward.

i’ve always had a fascination and connection with dragons, which hasn’t faded in the same way my connection with cats did, but i’m wondering if i was too eager to call it a kintype. i’m definitely at least dragonhearted, that’s for sure. i’ve definitely been a dragon before. i think i’ve been all the kintypes i list in my intro post, but i don’t know if that being was something that was ever meant to last.

i’m thinking about the list of animals i wrote down before discovering alterhumanity, when i was trying to figure out which creature was my favorite. i think i want to go back to before i found out about bat-eared foxes, and i want to start from scratch. make absolutely sure i’m not tying myself to an exceptionally long, hyperfixation-induced cameo shift. they have all been very important to me, and still are in many ways, and i’ve been scared that admitting to myself that things might have Changed and that it would mean they could never be important to me again. but that’s silly. they can be important again if that happens to happen.

i’ve only been awakened for what, a little over year now? compared to so many other alterhumans, i’m just a kit. i’ve barely started my journey with nonhumanity.

so i’m tentatively starting with a new status quo; i am a pearl fox.

i think i’m comfortable saying that, but i need to parse what exactly that means to me. i’m less so a pearl fox in a real-world all-fours fox kinda way (though it feels like that some rare occasions). i’m more so a fox in fable-trickster-figure kinda way, creative and clever and skulking around. (i think that may be where my fae/changeling kintype came from — it melds with my pearl fox ‘type in a way that may mean it’s not entirely its own thing. i don’t feel comfortable calling myself a fae anymore, not in a literal way. changeling i still have to think about.) sometimes i feel more like a pearl fox in a grungy way; less whimsical, more grounded, listening to rough music and wanting more from life. sometimes being a pearl fox feels more like a metaphor: a metaphor for how various parts of my identity has been dehumanized, and a channel to express the parts of me that snuck around to stay safe.

but it always, in some way, feels like me. it feels like it fits my pre-awakening criteria for a favorite animal: an animal that can encompass my personality completely.

i should probably make a new intro post with this info soon, but i’m not quite sure how to explain it in that format yet. but i’m happier now that i’ve figured this out. all my other kintypes, and even my hearttype and hearthome, i want to put away for now. not necessarily abandon forever; if the connection is still there in some form, they’ll come back. but i want to make sure i’m not forcing myself to make them stick around.

so yeah, reintroduction, i guess! i’m vuldra, i’m a pearl fox, and i don’t know if that’s ‘heartedness or ‘kinity or both in fluctuation.

[pearlypairings]

I wish you’d write a fic where Trip finds out T’Pol is ticklish

your wish is my command! so much so, that I also posted this ficlet on ao3 as my first ever fic for Enterprise<3

trip x t'pol || fluff, humor, banter || ~1k wc

“You know, when I got the pitch to join Starfleet, I was promised unimaginable adventure, opportunity for technological innovation, a chance to advance mankind in the unchartered territory of space,” Trip lamented, shimmying his upper body to lay flat on his back. “No one mentioned the hours I’d spend trapped in a cargo box with our First Officer.”

T’Pol did not budge; she laid extremely still. In fact, if Trip’s eyes hadn’t adjusted from the past few hours of being held here in the pitch black, he would have been more concerned she’d passed out or fell into some weird Vulcan stasis. But he could see her chest inflate and shrink ever so slightly with what could be made out in the darkness of their snug crate.

They had been sent on an exploration mission for discreet observation only, no contact allowed with the vulnerable, primitive species on the newly discovered M-class Planet. But when their transport had been unintentionally found by the native humanoid species during a windstorm, they’d set it aflame along with most of their medical and survival supplies. Their comms were able to reach the Enterprise, but the transporter pads had already been halted for routine maintenance and would take hours to be put back online.

Instructed to hide safely away from the paranoid populace, Trip and T’pol followed orders and snuck into a storage lot, quickly picking an inconspicuous box to stow away in when the lot was inundated by workers. They had to wait inside, even after the area mostly cleared for midday meals, until their transporter pads or a rescue team would be dispatched. Armed with only phase pistols and communicators, they were hardly enjoying the hours cramped together without any breaks or provisions.

Trip tried to stretch his neck out, but the top of his head met resistance with the scrap wood surrounding them. A bead of disappointed sweat slipped down his spine. He sighed.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were dead. Anybody home?”

She stirred, just a little, near his left side. Her voice kept unusually quiet despite how close they were to each other.

“I would not call this a ‘home,’ Commander Tucker. I also find our predicament exceedingly unpleasant and am trying to meditate until we are free to return to Enterprise.”

“Meditate? Is that all you Vulcans do, meditate? Can you meditate this box to be bigger—because my legs….even my arms….are killin’ me.” Trip said with biting sarcasm, gradually uncurling his elbows maneuvering within the confines of their temporary prison.

“Vulcans do meditate regularly to control our emotions. Something you would likely greatly benefit from, it seems.” T’pol said coolly. “Here, allow me to move so you can have more space for your limbs and your untempered feelings.”

As the slender Vulcan acquiesced to her side allowing him to press his hands out and down, something peculiar happened. His fingers grazed T’pol’s side with the motion—they’d both moved simultaneously, getting in each other’s way as a result. Despite the heat and humid climate, her suit was fairly dry and cooler than his palm, a relief actually from the suffocating heat. Trip could feel the gentle curve of her rib, and for a moment, he wondered if Vulcan women had the same number of ribs as the human counterpart.  His musing didn’t last long as his fingers found the dip of her waist and with it, a hard knee in his thigh and the galaxy’s tiniest squeak. Luckily, his pistol was hitched to his other side, outside of where T’pol could flinch into him.

“Commander, please remove your hand—” T’pol pressed out, squirming uncomfortably and still deeply puncturing his leg with her knee. She sucked in a deep breath. “My side is….sensitive. I am afraid I will hurt you or worse, ruin the mission by being located.”

His hand retreated with the bend of his elbow, letting the rough surface of the wood scratch at his skin. Trip’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you tellin’ me you’re ticklish?”

Her pinned effort to drill a hole into his leg relaxed with the absence of his stretch. T’pol shifted beside him to move onto her back once more, stiffening her arms across her chest.

“I am saying that sensation is extremely…discomforting.”

“I didn’t know Vulcans, with all their peace and control nonsense, could be tickled.” Trip said in awe. A chuckle tumbled out as he turned to face her and at the same time, allow more space for her.

“I assure you this is not typical.”

“Still, I’m keeping note of that for a later date.”

“Hmm,” she murmured. Even in the dark haze of their box, her profile looked pointed and pretty. There was no denying that.

“You know, I was thinkin’—”

Trip’s offer was cut off by the sound of his communicator's incoming signal beeping. Archer’s voice filled the hollow of their box.

“Commander Tucker, T’pol. We’re ready to extract you from the location designated by your communicators. Hold tight a little longer and we’ll have you back on board in no time.”

Trip clicked his receiver. “Message received, sir. Get the mess hall ready for us, ‘cause I’m starving.”

“I’ll turn that request into an order, Trip. See you sooner than later. Archer Out.”

T’pol turned back on her side, slowly this time to look at him. He could barely see the faint reflection of her eyes as she stared at him in the restored silence.

“If you make anyone aware on the Enterprise, Commander Tucker—” “Alright, alright. I know a threat when I hear one. I swear on my dear mother I won’t say a word to anyone else…..” He smirked. “For now. You’ll owe me one.”

[torchship-rpg]

Dev Diary 8 - Identities: Terrans & Lunars

Happy International Moon Day! Torchship is set 200 years after Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon, with history diverging when Alexei Leonov followed him a few days later, keeping the space race hot through moon bases, Mars, and beyond. A bit like For All Mankind, if everyone was a bit less of a complete drama queen.

In celebration of the incredibly cool feat of somehow putting boots on another world, we’re going to be focusing today’s Dev Diary on the two human Identities which descend directly from the event; the Terrans who went there and the Lunars who stayed.

Terrans

We touched on Terrans in Dev Diary 2, as an example for how even the most ‘standard’ of human identities still has a lot of interesting Traits to draw from. Still, Terrans are very much the ‘default’ human identity, being the most populous human group. They’re called Terrans because they got upset about everyone calling them Earthlings, and it had a nice symmetry with Lunars.

Even before we get into the specific sub-Identities, each Identity is divided into a bunch of subsections which dive into various details about the group; where they live, what the environment is like, and what specific biological or genetic details you might need to know. Any of these can come with Traits; the Biology one is where aliens get their signature features, and humans get the developmental and genetic distinctions that set them apart.

(As an aside, these Identity entries are big. They’re not just a couple of paragraphs, they’re thousands of words about history, culture, and biology. Sometimes I get distracted and go on for four paragraphs about the Zinovian biological and cultural concept of sex and gender. Sorry not sorry.)

For Terrans, our Biology section includes our first two Traits. As mentioned last time, 1g is unusually high for humanoid life in the setting; most other species evolved at around half to maybe three quarters of that, and the various spacers will have grown up under even less.

This means that Terrans are a great fit for the Heavyworlder trait, which is one of the Gravity traits. This gives you better tolerance for high Gs (important when you’ve got to work on your spacecraft while under thrust) in exchange for worse penalties in 0g. Compared to a spacer who could spacewalk before they could normal-walk, you’re going to come off clumsy in freefall. You also get a bonus to Physical Instrument, the cert used for basic physical strength and endurance, and do more damage in melee.

The other Terran biological Trait is Baseliner. An assumption underlying every biological Identity is that unless we say otherwise, there’s genetic engineering afoot, either ongoing or in the species' past. While some of this is awful Gattaca-style eugenics nonsense, for Torchship’s humanity this has mostly been just some tidying up. Evolution settles for a lot of ‘good-enough’ solutions, so with a little bit of targeted editing we can do stuff like prevent cells from hoarding molecules they’ll never use, or use a chemical that’s actually good at the job instead of one that the body just had lying around.

Baseliner is the Trait where we say otherwise. You pretty much can’t survive off Earth without some genetic engineering; turns out even a pretty small reduction in gravity long-term is going to be bad for your heart, nerves, muscles, bones… your everything, basically. But if you and your family have always lived on Earth, you could well have gone the last hundred years without genetic editing. 

The downside is that it costs more XP to upgrade Physical Instrument and you take extra consequences from different levels of gravity, but on the upside you have an extra ten minutes in low Oxygen before consequences start setting in, and you have a higher tolerance for drugs and poisons. You might not be peak human performance, but all those redundancies can come in handy.

Once we’re done with biology, we move into the sub-Identities, which are specific regions or subcultures. Right now Terrans only have two; rural and urban. (I’ve played around with some others but I haven’t been happy with anything yet, send in your suggestions!). Urban Terrans live in the dense, futuristic megacities that dot future Earth, in communal archeologies that are like self-contained villages. Theirs is a life of beautiful buildings, abundant greenery, a different kind of library for everything, and a joyous excess of monorails. It’s everything you could have wanted from Usborne’s Book of Future Cities (1979) come to life.

Urban Terrans get recommended the following Traits; Polyglot (to get across the cosmopolitan nature of the cities), Well-Connected (to show your closeness to the Star Union’s bureaucracy), Divergent (because urban Terrans are exactly the sort of people who do recreational genetic modifications), and Communal Spirit, a trait which boosts the effectiveness of working together. This is a common Trait for many Human identities; it’s pretty much the one that models prosocial production practices in action. 

The Rural Terran trait represents a much smaller proportion of the population. These are the mix of farmers, ecologists, and indigenous groups piecing the planet back together after a close brush with climate change. Outside of lithium, there’s not a lot of on-world mining anymore (space mining has made it uneconomical) so this is mostly agriculture. These communities are relatively isolated, bypassed by the high-speed trains connecting Earth’s cities; the saying goes that Mars is closer to the cities than the farms are.

Rural Terrans get these Traits suggested: Biome Specialist (representing a familiarity in whatever regional ecology you grew up in), Stiff Upper Lip (farm work tends to toughen you up), Natural Esper (a lot of psychics try to get away from the crowded cities), and Trusting, a trait that rewards you for helping others, but makes you more vulnerable to manipulation and makes it stressful to initiate violence.

Finally, at the end of each Identity is a section dedicated to how this group fits into Star Patrol, and how their presence can result in extra Traits through social interaction with other groups. Here, the privileged, ‘default’, often somewhat thoughtless Terrans are recommended the Imposing trait, which gives you some bonuses for being intimidating, but makes it a little harder to get people’s trust. It also does a decent job representing how Terrans are simply more heavily built than anyone else in the Sol system; when you’re comparing to tiny Martians and spindly Spacers, Terrans are collectively a bunch of Conans the Barbarian. 

You grew up somewhere where air is free and water falls from the sky, and people are understandably sometimes hesitant to correct your ignorance because you’re three times stronger than they are. Terrans often have some growing up to do as they realise how they come off to others.

Lunars

In Torchship’s world, there have been moon bases since the early 70s, and people have lived on the moon full-time since the early 2000s. The Soviet moon base program eventually withdrew due to budget problems, leaving the ever-increasing network of American bases the sole full-time real estate on the moon. In the 2040s, Armstrong City took one look at the unfolding disaster that was the collapse of American capitalism and seceded. Playing up its neutrality, it eventually became the de jure capital of the Solar Union and, now, the Star Union, though in actuality this is mostly symbolic.

This is because living on the moon is genuinely very difficult. The gravity is just 16% of what it is on Earth, it’s airless, and there’s no atmosphere to stop the radiation. When people started living there, its only selling point at all was being closer to Earth than Mars was.

Now that people do live there, though, in a vast underground city, there turns out to be a second advantage. The Moon is very rich in mineral resources and very poor in biospheres you might destroy by aggressively mining them, and it’s incredibly cheap to get things to lunar orbit. This has ended up making the moon the industrial powerhouse of the Star Union.

Lunars are living in the most extreme conditions of any of the human Identities, which is reflected in their Biology Traits. Like Spacers, they get Freefaller, a gravity trait that is in most ways an inverse of the Heavyworlder trait. They might not actually be living in freefall, but the gravity is so low it might not make a difference. The very low gravity also means they are recommended Medical Dependency; humans simply were not meant to grow up in these conditions. Even with genetic modifications, some ongoing medical treatment for bone density or nerve issues, arising from being seven feet tall and effectively 30 pounds, is to be expected. Finally, Lunars are recommended the Wireless Brain Uplink Trait, an extension of the implanted medical monitors which were once standard on US moon bases for long-term survival.

Lunars also only have two sub-identities. The first are the Mazedwellers, those who live in Armstrong City itself. Armstrong City is built out of the subterranean mines of Luna, using the thick crust of the planet to protect against solar radiation. This makes the city a twisting, sprawling web deep under the surface, where space is at an absolute premium even beyond what Spacers experience. To live in these conditions but still contribute your industrial might to the Union, your town doubles as a factory floor, converting back and forth every day.

This gives Lunars a distinct identity in their work ethic; while everyone else can be more content working at their own pace, on Luna the faster you get the job done the faster you get your living room back. Your recommended Traits are Claustrophile (giving you a bonus in a space suit but mild agoraphobia), Driven (representing this unusual work ethic), and Shifting Gears, a trait which lets you have two sets of Personality Impulses, in this case representing the strict work-life divide that is at the centre of Lunar culture.

The other Lunar sub-identity is being a Yardworker. The Lunar Yards are the reason that humanity won the big space war; turns out running a slower-than-light multiplanetary civilisation requires an absolutely ludicrous number of spacecraft, so Lunars built an absolutely enormous and ever-expanding space station to do that with, using a giant railgun to shoot raw materials up to it and commuting every day with short-hop shuttles. In the post-FTL era, the sheer scale of the Lunar Yards means humanity can produce an almost comedic surplus. During the war, Lunars couldn’t serve in Star Patrol (see the end of the dev diary for why), so people started living on the Yards to make as many rockets as possible instead as a way of contributing.

Being a Yardworker is a prestigious job for a Lunar, and also a competitive one. Work never slows down, six shifts twenty-four hours a day. For this reason, Yardworkers share the Driven and Claustrophile Traits with their Mazedweller counterparts, as they aren’t that divergent. They gain the Voidborn trait (which gives bonuses for making repairs, cheaper upgrades to the Cosmonaut cert, and stress when your rocket is experiencing shortages) and the Cultural Tool trait, which gives you a bonus 4d6-era item you can carry atop the normal inventory. For Lunars, that’s your Yarkworker’s Marker, the thick-nibbed, vacuum-writing pen workers carry to leave each other vital notes about problems that could potentially kill them and/or draw dicks on the spaceship. The Yardworker’s Marker and all the little notes that crews would find in their spacecraft developed a mythology, which is why now it’s as much a badge of honour as a practical tool.

Finally, the Lunars in Star Patrol section touches on an important consequence of Lunar biology; being a Lunar was for life up until shockingly recently. They couldn’t even survive something as tame as Martian gravity even a few decades ago, which meant they could never visit Earth and couldn’t serve in Solar Patrol because their hearts couldn’t take the acceleration. This only changed in the past few decades in the form of an intense, and often rather painful, two-year series of treatments and acclimation.

This comes with two suggested Traits. The first is Augment, the trait we use to represent attempts at genetic engineering that go above and beyond the normal evolutionary cleanup, which can represent some of the extreme intervention and above-average effects it might have had. The other is Stiff Upper Lip, as per Rural Terrans, representing the adjusted pain tolerances you’re going to develop after undergoing something like that.

As you can see, Trait overlap is pretty common in these things, and of course these are just suggested Traits. Despite all the differences, everyone is a lot alike in most ways.

[murmiss]

Side story

Pairing-Neteyam/Reader

Warning on this chapter - Unreliable data, mention of blood, minor change to the original story, tears, mention of death mention of injury. Summary - This story will tell you about a planet destroyed by humans even before the events of Pandora, about a girl who was captured and survived the loss of wings - an important attribute of their species, about survival, first love and human cruelty.

Pt1, Pt2, Pt3, Pt4 , Pt5, Pt6, Pt7-1

Part Four

Grace was still a young girl who had just graduated from university when the RDA offered her a job. Of course, like any other person, she was insanely happy to get a lucrative job and finally move on to practice. Miss Augustine studied at the Department of Xenobotany, a science that studies the flora of other planets. She was always attracted by these mysterious, previously unknown plants. At university, she was an excellent student in all subjects, Miss "no hangouts, Ellis has a new book on Xenobotany." She didn't have any friends, who wants to be friends with such a "bore"? She was lonely, lost in her studies and books.

At the beginning of her career at RDA, she was assigned as an assistant in charge of all writing work, but later took Mr. Walsen's place. What happened to him?- You're asking. And the answer is simple - money. It was a stupid mistake, an unsuccessful attempt to deceive his boss for a large sum by providing fake research that could cause irreparable damage to the boss's reputation, so after his prank, Mr. Alfred was thrown out of the laboratory by the scruff of his neck. I remember that day, unsuspecting Alfred Walsen, as usual, sat in his office until he was called "on the carpet" to the chief. After a very long conversation, the man flew out of the office with wild screams. He shouted, insulted everyone he saw, overturned tables. Walsen was so not in an adequate condition that a couple of muscular soldiers had to be dragged away to conduct a "preventive conversation", and how do soldiers solve problems? That's right, with fists.

Then Grace was over the moon with happiness, now she occupied the place of the chief scientific officer, and here, believe me, there was a place to roam. Augustine knew firsthand about the "Sixth", but she had never personally seen him. "A humanoid woman from the planet Elea; aggressive, rushes at scientists and disables technology. She used to have wings characteristic of their kind, but they were amputated due to an escape attempt." "all the information Miss Augustine had. "Elea is a poor planet destroyed by humans, she had a deeper connection with everything that surrounded her. It seemed as if a single mind controlled everything, and when he died, everything around him died" - this thought haunted the woman. Just imagine, the whole world disappeared in an instant. After arriving at the base, Grace, of course, wanted to start studying the preserved samples from Elea, but the priority was to meet with her ward.She knew about the ilis, but she had not yet met them, and this is a wonderful moment to consider an unusual creature. It was extremely exciting, the woman made her way through the crowd of scientists, straight to the cherished room, located at the end of the laboratory. Surprisingly, the room is immersed in darkness, the light is turned off, as if the child has long been forgotten, only the cat's eyes shine somewhere in the corner. The creature, hearing someone approaching, began to crawl around the cage, whispering and periodically emitting a guttural growl, trying to scare away the uninvited guest. "Like a cat," the woman thought to herself, not yet realizing that she was hiding in this all-consuming darkness. Grace groped for the switch, blinding light flooded the room, finally allowing her to see the fairy in the cage.

- Hello, honey, I'm.... Grace, Grace Augustine

Across from Grace, there was a child huddled in a corner. The baby looked very bad, she was skinny, her bones were sticking out, she herself was shaking like a wasp leaf, either from the cold, or from fear. She was dressed in a huge worn shirt, on the back of which there were dried blood stains. After the operation, the stitches bled for a long time, no one changed the child's clothes. The spots on her skin were dull, tinged with purple, and there were bruises under her eyes, noticeable on her pale skin. According to the general condition of the girl, it was clear that she had been in this position for quite a long time. As if she had been completely forgotten, this was all confirmed by the view of the room, which was a dusty, stuffy space, in which a metal cot with a thin mattress stood against the wall. The blanket was crumpled up somewhere in the corner, and dried food was smeared all over the floor and walls, or to be more precise, what was meant as "food".Grace was terrified, she was silent, did not show it, while somewhere inside a tornado was raging. She was angry, angry at everyone, at Walsen, at the authorities, at indifferent people. She wanted to scream, cry, hug the poor child, hold him to her and never let him go again. Grace was silent for a long time, not taking her eyes off the restless child. Then the woman acted automatically, she opened the cage and approached the trembling girl, covering her head with her hands, and hugged her tightly, hugging her to herself. The girl hissed and tried to pull away, but Grace hugged her tightly. After a couple of seconds, feeling safe, the fairy calmed down. Miss Augustine closed her eyes, sighing softly. There were thousands of thoughts in her head: "What should I do now?", "So, first of all, feed or wash?"....The same evening, when the baby was fed, Grace learned from one of the researchers that the ilis feed on pollen. Fortunately, they managed to find a similar one. It's certainly not Mtuon pollen, but it's also a good substitute, especially if you add another vitamin in the form of a fruit mixture. And judging by the behavior of the child, she definitely liked the sweet "porridge", not like the "gruel" that Wonsen offered her. Where did the fruits on the spaceship come from? It's very simple, the laboratory had a department completely dedicated to the artificial cultivation of vegetables and fruits for RDA employees. After all, as they say, a well–fed soldier is a productive soldier, isn't it? Although most of the crops grown on the ship were hybrids, they did not lose their properties. For example, Onra fruits were very similar to the familiar apple and were an elongated fruit of bright yellow color, and many similar species were recreated in the laboratory.In fact, they were all created with the aim of getting fast and high-quality food in the conditions of a spaceship

....

The sixth for the first time ate something so delicious that she didn't even know there was anything else besides slime, which she was always offered. The teenager greedily grabbed the porridge, scooping it up with his hands and shoving it into his mouth, ignoring the curious glances of the woman sitting next to him. Of course Grace was surprised: "For 10 years, no one has even touched this child, she doesn't even know what cutlery is!" - the woman thought to herself, looking at the child greedily absorbing the fruit mixture, the stripes on her body shimmered with mother-of-pearl, attracting the attention of the scientist's gaze.So the kid definitely liked the food. "Where to start her upbringing? Math? It's too early, her knowledge of English is not enough... we should definitely start with a general assessment of her abilities.." Looking at his ward, the scientist did not notice how she had already finished. So far, the only thing that pleased me was that the girl did not show aggressiveness and did not hide.

"Mr. Wonsen?"The girl hugged her legs, pulling her knees to her chest. She did not understand where this nasty uncle had gone, although, however, she did not deny that deep down she was glad that he was gone.

- He was fired, now I'm responsible for you, you don't have to worry anymore, dear.. �� Miss Augustine stretched out her hand to the child, wanting to pat her on the head, but the baby recoiled in fright, then the woman pulled her hand away, it looks like she crossed the border..The little girl noticed the drooping look of the scientist and was upset, she did not want to offend the new owner.. Especially when it was such a good woman who fed her delicious porridge. The sixth grabbed the scientist by the hand and put it on his head. She didn't know why it was necessary, but she often saw some workers beating local children in this way.

- Grace is good, I feel it, - the girl spoke with a strong accent, she did not speak English very well, although she understood it very well, yet years of living with people bear fruit.A slight smile blossomed on the woman's face, she stroked the teenager's head and couldn't help laughing when she saw the white-haired puppy's eyes. – Six was surprised, it turns out it's so nice when someone pats you on the head.

…….

The Great Mother united two wounded souls.. A child deprived of a mother, and a girl that no one has ever noticed

......

From that day on, Grace decided to seriously engage in the upbringing of a teenager. What was not included in this plan: teaching grammar, writing, elementary mathematics, reading and even eating, she learned anew, already using cutlery. At first it was difficult, the Sixth was nervous, and sometimes it took more than one attempt to figure it out, but the girl took her tenacity..

- Look, honey, it's a spoon, take it in your right hand, see how I'm holding it? Hold it between your thumb and forefinger, yes, like this," the woman repeated several times, showing herself how to hold the spoon correctly.

– It's so hard! Can we eat already? – The girl groaned and leaned back in her chair, dropping the spoon. Since then, her English has improved, but, as strange as it may sound, the cutlery was still terrifying. Do you know when you first pick up sushi sticks and don't know what to do with them? It seems that you perceive everything correctly, but still something is wrong. Here is the same situation, the Sixth gets her fingers confused, forgets how to hold a fork or spoon.

- Well, no, let's try again, – the woman covered her hand with a striped one and again showed how to hold a spoon, after which the girl repeated several times, and finally it turned out.- Grace, Grace, Grace, Look!- The girl squealed joyfully, raising her hand with the cutlery up in order to show her mentor.

- Well done! – Miss Augustine patted the white-haired woman on the head again, with a bright smile, to which she replied with a gentle rumble .

.......

The day turned out to be extremely difficult. All day Grace did not visit the Sixth, and she, in turn, waited like a faithful dog for her mentor. Unfortunately, the RDA has discovered Pandora..Grace couldn't hide her frustration.

Heck! Why don't you all understand! – How Grace wanted to scream, punch this disgusting man, in the person of the boss, and all the others who supported him. One destroyed planet is not enough for them.Human greed has no limits, and Grace already guessed what would happen next. The ships will land on the planet, kill the entire population, rob, and the "lucky ones" will fly away to conquer the next planets. How disgusting it is. Grace has always been close to "space creatures" or "space plants". From time to time, she even had thoughts: "why was I born a human being and right here?". As long as she can remember, she has always been drawn somewhere there, where the stars shine. All this comes from childhood. Her father was a Xenobotany teacher at one of the universities in the city where they lived. Grace loved to read her father's books, reference books on intergalactic cultures, various fiction. Books replaced her friends, saved her from the overwhelming feeling of loneliness.

- Dad, Dad! And what is there? – A little girl was sitting on a wide windowsill, and pointed to the sky. Night. A man is standing next to her, and gently embraces his daughter.

- No one knows…Space, other planets hidden from our eyes and much, much more that we still have to discover - the Father sighed, his gaze was filled with sadness when he looked at the starry sky. The earth is dying, and there is no telling how much more it will have left. But Grace is still too young to know about it.

…...

- The woman was all on nerves, her only desire was to see her little fairy. With all these meetings, she had completely forgotten about the girl, and now she was very worried.As soon as the door opened, the Sixth jumped out of her bed and rushed to the scientist entering the room, hugging her with a wild cry: "Mom!"- it was the first time when the white-haired woman called Grace her mother, and the woman again could not hold back the tears that came out, hugging the fairy even tighter, she did not understand whether these were tears of joy or despair. Of course, she was happy, anxiety was growing in her chest and, despite everything, the woman wanted to hope that Pandora would not repeat the infamous story of Elea ...

....

However, everything was not so bad. Grace devoted herself entirely to studying the flora and fauna of Pandora, was able to find contact with the local population, open her own school, and even got her avatar. All this time, the Sixth actively supported her foster mother, helping her with experiments.When Grace first transferred the avatar's body to the little Ilis was next to her, she tightly squeezed the scientist's hand, her blue eyes shone with interest. Grace was worried, it was unusual to feel in another body, in a bigger, tall and... blue one. But you could get used to everything. Grace's research was in full swing, she even wrote a whole book – a handbook of Pandora botany .

.....

The sixth followed her mother in everything. Her knowledge of English has improved significantly, and mathematics was at an average level, although the girl did not change outwardly in any way. If she were on her own planet, she would be about a thousand years old–a very young age for Ilis. But by human standards, she is still about 13 years old. However, spending time with Grace became more and more difficult, as soon as the authorities found out that their chief scientist was close to an "Alien Being", they reprimanded her, limiting her time and other rights concerning the fairy.Of course, she didn't like it when Grace had to lock her in a room, but there was nothing to do, such a decree of the "evil uncle" Of course, it didn't stop them, and meetings and walks were secret, mostly at late hours when the laboratory was empty. But after they recruited new people, walking became even rarer. It seemed to Grace that a little more and steam would come out of her ears, the load was simply enormous, the avatar project was squeezing all the strength out of her. Some of the new recruits were Norm Spellman, Max Patell and Jake Sully, all of whom arrived on Pandora, someone as a Xenoanthropologist, scientist, or, ultimately, a future avatar. They didn't know about their neighbor yet. The only thing they knew was that they were not allowed to enter the furthest room. And among the newcomers there was a rumor that at night you can hear girlish laughter.One day Jake couldn't stand it and decided to look into the room, it was dark, and a pair of blue eyes were looking at him from the corner, glowing in the dark, before Grace pulled him out almost by the scruff of the neck and did not sing the room with a key. Room Six was off-limits, Grace even threatened the newcomers that if they went into this "pantry", they would grab the most no-no, and judging by the expression on her face, she wasn't joking. Of course, Jake did not listen to the account, the Marine waited until the boss called her and quietly slipped into the pantry. Grace always kept her keys on her desktop, so it wasn't difficult to get them. The door was open, and the light was on this time. A very strange girl appeared before the marine, tall, fair-skinned, with long curly hair, sitting in the middle of the room in the lotus position. She was weaving something, not noticing the uninvited guest, sitting with her back to the doorway. She looked like a little pearl, and I could have sworn I saw the Marine's jaw drop.

"So that's what Grace was hiding," the Marine said, clearing his throat. Hearing the stranger, the girl abruptly jumped up from her seat, standing in a fighting stance and uttering a guttural growl. But this did not frighten the man, he only drove his wheelchair closer to the cage, examining this unusual girl.

– Where are you from? Are you from Pandora?But you are not like other avatars – the man showered the confused girl with a lot of questions.

– Jake! – behind him came the howl of an angry woman slamming the door

– Stupid Marine! What did I tell you?!Oh my god.. A complete disappointment.. The woman came up to Sally with quick steps, grumbling loudly

- Grace! – The girl immediately stood up straight and pressed herself against the protective glass, her eyes glittered when she began to show the scientist her work, somewhat resembling modern baubles..

....

- Grace! Damn, Grace, wait! – the man tried to keep up with the scientist, but it was much more difficult in a wheelchair.

– Jake, how many times have I told none of you to come into my room?Of course, Marines don't know how to use their brains, which is what I was hoping for.. You don't know how to strain your convolutions!

– Grace! But who is she? Is this a resident of Pandora? What is she doing here, and stop.. Why isn't she blue like the others?

– Damn it.. Curiosity ruined the devil-the woman turned on her heel to face the infantryman : "She's not from Pandora. Have you heard anything about Elea? The very first planet discovered by humans? Haven't you heard? This is understandable, Elea was irretrievably destroyed..They've mowed down the whole planet, Jake! There was only one fairy left from the multimillion population!"

- I didn't know..- The man was taken aback by the words of the scientist.

..

After that day, many of the newcomers learned about the last ilis.Grace just couldn't help it when Jake told everyone about the Sixth. At first, the fairy was frightened by these curious people. Two of them just wouldn't let her rest. One was skinny, with simple facial features, and the other was mossy and on some kind of incomprehensible thing. The fairy was very interested, and why isn't he coming? so when he got closer to her, she grabbed his legs and started shaking him. "Why don't you use your legs?"

"Darling, don't shake so much," the scientist's fervent laughter rang out from the next room, hearing which the Little Girl instantly let go of the Marine's leg. The man couldn't help laughing as he looked at this curious child.- It's all right, let her play. His laughter grew louder as he turned his attention to Norm, who was standing next to him with his jaw hanging open, clearly envious of his acquaintance who was getting so much attention.

The girl waved her tail, and her skin shimmered with different shades and shone, she was wearing a huge T-shirt that looked more like a dress.

- Hey, what about me?- Norm could not calmly look at this laughing couple .

....

The days passed one after another, everything was fine, and the sixth was really happy. During all this time, she found a lot of new acquaintances, learned various interesting things. But, in the end, all good things come to an end. Today she will have to leave her home. The evil man locked Grace and Jake with Norm in a glass "box". The sixth was nervous, walking from side to side until Trudy opened the cage with . – Trudy? Where's Grace? – the girl was familiar with Trudy Chacon and was close with her, as well as with Jake.- Firefly, listen to me carefully, we need to get out of here. – Stop it!No! I'm not leaving without Grace! – Please, we have to leave, do you hear me?That evening, Max and Trudy helped the group escape. However, it was not without problems. Quaritch seriously injured Grace, he was on the tail, not letting them get away. Grace just couldn't let her little firefly get hurt.

.....

- go away, go away now! Run into the forest and don't turn around," Grace shouted, pushing the girl towards the forest with the last of her strength

- Don't listen to anyone and avoid people... War was coming-Six didn't quite understand what war was, but the only thing she knew was that it was something bad, "death," as Grace said. She couldn't leave her mother. – Mom! No! We can escape together! Norm will come up with something, everything will be fine.. – No, my girl, it's late, go away!

There was a rustle of leaves behind. Quaritch and his gang of thugs were already close. Unfortunately, during the flight, an emergency landing had to be made, Grace and Six separated from the group, and now they were cornered. The woman understood that she didn't have long left .

....

The feeling of loneliness seized her again, and fear, like quicksand, consumed her whole body. The girl ran for a long time until she found herself in a flower meadow. Her lungs were burning, and her heart was beating at a furious pace. From impotence, she fell on the soft grass and sobbed. The tears did not stop, the sobs turned into anguished screams. She was haunted by a feeling of pain, a feeling as if cats were scratching somewhere inside, as if someone had dug sharp claws right under her skin. This feeling was familiar to her, the same thing she felt when her wings were taken away. The girl sobbed for a long time until she passed out from fatigue..When she came to, it was already dark, and the only light source was a bioluminescent glow emanating from some plants. he lifted her up on his elbows, looking around. Somewhere nearby there was a hiss, the girl jumped up and began to frantically turn around, trying to figure out the source of the sound.

- Grace?

But, unfortunately, Grace will not come anymore.

.....

So a new chapter of her life began.

[cooking-with-hailstones]

I was seized with this text for my Zelda Trek crossover au while showering so here you go. If this gets more than 5 notes maybe I'll actually write the whole thing one day

Captain's log, stardate (something in DS9 S3) We have been picking up on unusual energy readings from a planet just outside of the Wormhole. An equivalent distance away from the wormhole as Bajor is on our side of the alpha quadrant. These energy readings are highly unusual and might indicate an intelligent pre-warp civilization. Starfleet command has requested that we investigate the activity on this planet as soon as possible.

In order to find out more about their technological capabilities, peoples, what stage of technical and political development they are at, and how close they are to warp travel, I have sent a small investigation team to the planet, consisting of Lieutenant Dax and Dr. Elizabeth Kamatic, a first contact specialist from Starfleet command. 

...

Captain's log, stardate (a little while later). Lieutenant Dax has reported some particularly interesting findings. Apparently, this planet is made up of several isolated geographical regions populated by four major sentient species. There is some kind of silicone based, rocklike life form, who appear to be inhabiting warm volcanic regions. There is a race of bird-like people who occupy the higher altitudes and more frigid climates. There are some semi-aquatic beings, akin to fish or cetaceans, reminiscent of the old Earth myth of mermaids. Lieutenant dex has been unable to confirm.

Finally, there is a race of humanoids similar in appearance to humans or vulcans. Lieutenant Dax made mention of their elongated pointed ears, but in all other respects they seem to resemble humans. Lieutenant Dax stated that there appear to be several separate ethnic groups of these humanoids, though more research is needed to determine what these differences are.

The incompatibility of each species within each other's habitats seems to have made for relatively peaceful coexistence, fostering rich trading networks. Dr. Kamatic has found very little evidence for any kind of armed conflict between the races and they seem to get along amicably with minimal xenophobic prejudice.

[ghirahimbo]

i was rereading pinesong recently, only fic i will ever need the fic i hope to be reading as i shuffle off this mortal coil etc etc, and it got me thinking. how accepted do you think relationships such as link/revali are? obviously in botw there is mention of link/mipha and gerudo women leave to find hylian husbands and by the children running around gerudo town some are clearly successful, so canonically it is at least not unheard of; but are interracial relationships (are they all just different races idek maybe they're different species) seen as normal do you think?

are there little zora/hylian babies running around that you just don't get to see? obviously whether they are biologically compatible is a completely different question though.

is it only accepted from more humanoid races such as the gerudo perhaps? would link be seen as unusual for his relationship with a rito, or could he just be like this is my husband he is a bird and nobody thinks twice about it? sorry for the random question it was just a question that occured to me as i was reading 😭 can't help but be obsessed with the little universe you've created in pinesong all these years later it still captivates me

Ahhh thank you so much!! 💖 Dang, I don't know if I have a fic picked out that I would prefer to be reading when the end finally comes, but that feels like a high honor 😆

You're right, we definitely aren't shown anything in the game other than a bit of Hylian/Zora and Hylian/Gerudo (the last of which are both basically human and don't really count in my mind). The interracial aspect of Link/Mipha isn't treated as strange, but also isn't depicted as common? I do highly doubt that Hylian/any non-human would result in any offspring—not that this makes a relationship impossible, of course, but I don't think there are little Zora- or Rito-Hylian kids running around to normalize the concept.

My general assumption is that it's probably not taboo or anything, but definitely gossip-worthy, which is how I wrote it in Pinesong 😂 There's enough missing information for someone else to draw a different conclusion, of course, and I'm sure there's an interesting forbidden love story to be told there, but I kind of thought the relationship had enough stumbling blocks already to not need societal disapproval thrown into the mix 😅

[poke-scientist]

Hello. What are your opinions on Hosuian Zoroark, and do you have any theories on why they look the way they do? I study history too, and I'm curious in other historians perspectives

OOOOOOH I HAVE A COUPLE THEORIES ON THIS ONE.

First, let’s establish some background knowledge.

1. The first modern discovery of zoroark was in Unova.

2. The location of hisuian zoroark lies around modern day sinnoh (no remains found in other regions, doesn’t mean they’re NOT out there, hence theories)

3. Zoroark’s current type is dark, hisuian type is historically documented to be ghost.

So, let’s crack into it.

Theory 1: blending in with their surroundings.

We all know Sinnoh is unbearably snowy, year round in most of the region, and zoroark are very defensive and territorial. An important thing to remember here is yes, they can use illusions, but they cannot actually alter their own physical form. This could be their natural camouflage, as to not need to constantly upkeep illusions.

Theory 2: those b*tches dead.

There are a handful of Pokémon species that have been proved to be the lingering souls of those passed- obviously altering their form into something new.

Although, zoroark already possess the power to mimic humans to the point you couldn’t tell the difference between a person and a zoroark, and being such a humanoid pokemon, there’s no saying these weren’t the remaining souls of zoroark that passed due to the harsh weather conditions, or from human injury.

Fossils found of hisuian zoroark also seem to have no difference to a modern zoroark skeleton, which is unusual given their hisuian form appears to be so vastly different. This would also explain them being a ghost type.

Theory 3: they didn’t actually look like that.

As long as we’ve been documenting things as a society, there’s been many tales of ghosts and haunted things in the forest. As mentioned before, zoroark are EXTREMELY protective of their communities. As they possess the ability to mimic human speech and appearance, it’s possible they might have heard these folktales and used the information to their advantage, scaring away anyone about to unknowingly set foot into their territory. At this point historically VERY FEW Pokémon lived alongside humans, so it’s very possible the hisuian scientists of the past never saw a zoroark illusion free.

Again, all speculation, as you know, hard to prove things from hundreds of years ago. Let me know what you think!

[redrosesartcabin]

The Meeting

Megatron x reader fanficition ( can be found here as well https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redrosessoulcabin)

Previous chapter + explanation to the fanfic: https://www.tumblr.com/redrosesartcabin/722529797578833920/double-posting-my-fanfic-now?source=share

Link to the next chapter: https://www.tumblr.com/redrosesartcabin/722530473830678528/beginning-of-scenarios-1-scenario-hands

—

You lived and loved to live far outside of societies reaches, up in a little cabin within a mountain range in a small forest. You owned a flock of sheep that resided in a valley just five hundred meters away from your house where your Border-Collie took care of them most of the day. You also had a couple of chickens and two cats called Ying and Yang because one of them was completely black and the other white. That had been complete coincidence, you had just wanted two of the cats of a litter by the cat of a friend of yours and they had suggested taking these two and with utter delight you had agreed.

In spring and summer during certain holidays you also hosted an activity center for children. There, you taught them to live in nature and how to build your own garden with vegetables that’ll grow right as well as how to take care of animals and have them be providers to you and you to them. And in their free time they could explore the forest. It brought joy to you to be part of a movement that brought children back to being free instead of enslaved by technology. Here they could unfold their little personalities and become grounded.

All in all, one could say life was good, although sometimes you felt there was something missing. Work became dull at times and the responsibilities of your animals became too much. It wasn’t enough to convince you to return to the city or go to an office job, never again! Fulfillment was still there or almost within reach and somehow you knew, when one day you walked upon a giant robot, that perhaps that’s where that journey would finally end.

 You didn’t know why that feeling had flourished rapidly in your heart.

You had just been out, collecting mushrooms in a little woven basket. For that you always travelled the same path because after a couple of years you noticed that’s where they grew best and healthiest. Walking through a particular part of the woods, that you knew to be pretty dark at all times of day, revealed an unusual change, because now thick rays of light shone through the cracks of splintered trees.

“What in the world happened here?”, you asked yourself in a soft, quiet tone, following the destruction to its source until there was a big, broad patch of burned stumps and flattened moss and grass that reached for what you guessed was about one kilometer towards the highest mountain range. You followed that trail for five minutes until a big machine came into view. Or at least it seemed to be a machine at first, but the closer you came, the more obvious it became it was, as previously mentioned, a giant robot. Although quite an unusual one. It had something very human as what you perceived as its ribcage heaved up and down in heavy breaths. You slowly and carefully walked towards its side until you arrived, with considerable distance to it, at its head. Shockingly enough there was an entire face and red, dangerous looking eyes, eyes, that weren’t closed but staring contemplatively up at the sky.

Your breath hitched and you stayed frozen. A part of you told you to run but the other couldn’t. There was a fascination with this being inside of you and you couldn’t leave.

 “Who are you?”, you heard your voice speak after a while. ‘What’ was perhaps more appropriate, you thought within nanoseconds of asking but this humanoid form the robot had and the way it stared and breathed gave it a familiarity you had with your species that your subconsciousness couldn’t ignore. When a couple of moments passed with silence, you began to think that perhaps it couldn’t understand, be it because it had its own language or perhaps it wasn’t so human and intelligent after all. But as you began to carefully move towards it to try and ask again it suddenly said, “I… I am a monster”.

The voice was masculine, deep, and raspy. There was something terrifying and gentle at the same time about it and made your entire body shiver neither pleasantly nor unpleasantly.

 “I don’t believe that”, you said kindly, suddenly feeling the urge to comfort him (it was a ‘him’ and not an It without a doubt to you now).

“You should”, he answered, deep sadness wavering in his voice, “You don’t know who I am”, he stated.

“Well then let’s start introducing ourselves-“, you began but he interrupted you.

“For what purpose? I am here to die.”, he explained matter-of-factly as if it was something one could just say like that.

“Are you that badly hurt?”, you asked, concern very present in your voice.

“No”, he answered, deeply touched by your worrying, “And I might even know where to get nourishment in these parts of your world, but I shouldn’t. I should be left to rust. I do not wish to return to the life I have led for eons ever again, but I also cannot become anything else. There is no life for me to lead anymore”.

 You now moved even closer to him, at first still carefully, not knowing if he would mind but he didn’t seem to care much. He still hadn’t even looked at you, gaze still fixed on the feathery clouds that adorned the sky today. You gently placed a hand on the side of one of the spikes on his shoulders. You felt him softly shudder under your touch.

“One can always find something better than death in life”, you said, “Not my quote by the way. I heard it in an interview with a man much wiser than I, but I agree…

So, tell me”, you insisted, “Who are you?”

He sighed, “You will never stop insisting, will you?”

“No”, you smiled.

“No silent decay for me if I shall not answer?”, he asked.

“Never”, you confirmed.

He sighed again, “My name”, he breathed out, “is Megatron. I was the leader of the Deceptions. I am the destroyer of my home planet; I am the lord of destruction, I-“

“I remember”, you suddenly said, “A few years ago there was talk that some alien being called Megatron wanted to take over our world. I remember the catastrophes, the terrible phenomenon all over the world of tornados and all of that-“

“-And precisely that, no being could ever forgive. There is no way to redeem what I have done to your people and to my people”, he stated, interrupting you as you recounted the events.

“Perhaps not”, you agreed, “But maybe it’s also not my place to forgive. But finding you here, I feel this responsibility now to have faith in you.”

“Why?”, he asked, genuinely surprised.

“Because Death comes soon enough, even for beings like you. And perhaps exactly because you live so long, there are even more chances to become something else. That does not mean you should ever be completely forgiven for your crimes, but I think you are punished enough, and karma will find even more ways to do so. But when it comes to my role to play now in your life, then it’s to give you a chance to redeem yourself as I know you to want… I don’t know why I trust this feeling so much, why I’m so sure, but I just am.”

 And finally, Megatron looks at you. His wine-colored eyes meet your white eye-apples and comparatively to him and his species dull yet colorful irises. Your body wears such a kind nature, his spark seems to break in half. And suddenly he, as well, feels this certainty, though he doesn’t know if he deserves this.

He stretches out his hand to yours and you take it with a smile, “I feel this is a gift, that I do not intend to waste”, he says, “Though I should never have received it.”

“That’s not for you to judge”, you say and don’t elaborate who it is that should judge it, though perhaps, Megatron thinks, you do not know either. Neither of you, both of you think, know if this is right or wrong, deserved, or undeserved, the start of something beautiful or fated in disaster. All you know is that you met and that you are now to be in each other’s lives and maybe… maybe that’s all that matters.

[kiame-sama]

wait, you already said what you think the twst cast is as monsters, but what do they look like?

Warnings: my twst monster au, almost all characters with names (other than Yuu and Grim) in monster forms, mythical creatures, deer rack point system, measurements given in ft and cm, animal traits, various animal and plant species mentioned, usually I would say to use your imagination to think it up but I have thought about this way too much myself so I may as well share ideas of what they would look like, feel free to draw these monster men and if you do please share with me because I want to see these goobers drawn, some spoilers for Rollo's backstory,

Divus is a Harp Seal Selkie;

- Divus has a black and white fur coat of a Harp Seal with slight spotting pattern similar to Leopard Seals. His coat is always shiny, clean, and wrapped around his shoulders. Divus appears fairly humanoid and close to his canon appearance other than the sharper than normal canines that are closer to the cone teeth of seals. Selkies do not part with their coats lightly so it is very rare to see one without their pelts on their shoulders. His coat is more natural Harp Seal patterning than the clear black and white lines he has in canon.

Sam is a Shadow man;

- White skull markings along his face with burning purple eyes. He has several black tattoos on his skin that move and can even detach into actual shadow to ensnare his prey. There is constantly a darkness around him that seemed to repulse light, making him appear to be surrounded in constant shadow.

Vargas is a Texas-Longhorn Minotaur;

He has very long and large bull horns with the minotaur expression on his lower half making his upper body appear human other than his horns. His lower half is the same shade as his hair with white speckling on the left leg. His tail is often lazily swinging back and forth as he talks.

Trein is a Mountain Lion Sphinx;

- Lower-half is the body of a Mountain Lion with wings, upper half is Trein's usual upper body. He does have a lot of grey and white furs/feathers due to his age in his coat and it is clear he favors his right back leg as it usually sits at an angle. He can often be seen lounging with Lucius in a sunny spot in his classroom when not teaching.

Crowley is a Crow Fae;

- Similar to his appearance in canon TWST, but his large black wings are more prominent as are the iridescent colors in them and his hair. He actually has talons on his hands and not just the golden talons. He does wear golden caps on his talons however and has a medium length train of black tail-feathers.

Ace is a Saanen Satyr;

- He has short twisted horns and his orange hair is also the same color on his goat half- just a bit darker shade. His hooves are an off-white ivory. He does have the little billy-goat scruff of a goatee due to his Satyr heritage.

Deuce is a Rocky Mountain Faun;

- Deuce has large spiral horns and his blue hair is the same color on his goat half- just a shade darker as well with white speckles around his hooves and tail. His hooves are black. Deuce does not have the goatee often seen on Satyrs and Fauns.

Note; it is part of my AU that Satyrs usually have shorter horns and are closer to farm goats in their animal halves. Fauns are closer to mountain goats and therefore have longer more curved horns often seen on rocky mountain rams. Females of both Fauns and Satyrs grow the same large horns, but their horns are often thinner around than the males of their species.

Cater is a Lake Water Nymph;

- Cater is considered unusual among Water Nymphs because of his hair's coloration being a bright red instead of a more blue or green which is more common for Water Nymphs. Cater's hair is closer in color to a red Ludwigia as he is a lake Water Nymph and the flora of lakes tend to have a fair variation of green to red color hues. Cater's bright green eyes are closer to the usual colors of Water Nymphs and he accredits this to his mother who is a river Water Nymph. In the water Cater gets fins more adapted to lake swimming so he is not as strong in currents.

Che'nya is a Bakeneko;

- He is similar to his canon appearance, but the purple and pink of his hair is also visible on the skin of his arms, legs, and back. He also now has a two pronged fluffy tail similarly striped that is often seen waving mischievously behind him.

Trey is a Kelpie Centaur;

- When out of the water, Trey's Centaur half is that of a white horse with a long tail of the same green hair that Trey's human half has. His horse half is closer muscular build to Scottish Draft horses. When in the water, the white fur of his horse half becomes a lake green with fading blue hues. His tail hair becomes more stringy like lake reeds and his fur takes a more prickly quality. His back legs become a large fin when he is submerged completely in deep water, making him more of a Hippocampus in physiology while swimming.

Riddle is a Unicorn Centaur;

- His horse half has a pure white coat with a long tail closer to that of a lion than a horse, but long bright red hair for his tail. Riddle's hooves are a rather lovely golden color that shine like metal, same with the tight spiral horn that sits in the center of his forehead. There is a faded blue star shape at the base of his horn that seems to tattoo his fair skin, he often covers this up with his bangs. His horse half is similar in musculature to that of an Arabian Horse making him appear more dainty than Trey.

Note; Cater is often seen lounging on Trey's back while Trey swims in the Heartslabyul lake with Riddle laying in the grass on the shore. They often spend their afternoons doing this and Cater will frequently try to get Riddle to swim. Thus far, he has been unsuccessful.

Jack is a Gray Wolf Werewolf;

- Unlike his canon appearance, Jack constantly has that wolf-head and white fur all over his body. He can shift between being bipedal or a quadruped with little issue between the two forms of locomotion, meaning his limbs are closer in length than human limbs. He has fur similar in length to wolves and even has paw-like hands. His tail is frequently wagging whenever he is with friends or those he is fond of.

Ruggie is a Spotted Hyena Gnoll;

- Similar to Jack, Ruggie now has a Hyena head and pelt instead of just the ears and tail. He is still somewhat humanoid, but he is still shorter than Leona or Jack. His back legs are more like a Hyena and he has that same muscular ridge on his shoulders that Hyenas do. He still has his bright blue eyes despite how odd it is for Gnolls, but his coat is the same sandy light-brown as his hair usually is with dark brown spots.

Leona is a Nemean Lion;

- Nemean Lions are golden furred beasts much larger and stronger than any regular lion on top of being impervious to damage from mortal weapons. This translates into Leona's skin having a more golden sheen to it, always seeming to look like he has been dusted with fine powder gold sparkles. His dark hair has several bright gold strands woven in that makes it shiny as well. The fur on Leona's tail and ears is also that glittering golden color which only makes the tuft of fur at the end of his tail look darker. He is a little taller than in cannon and slightly more defined in musculature due to the natural strength of Nemean lions.

Azul is a Coconut Octopus Cecaelia;

- He is very similar to how he appears in canon, but now he has several black marks along his arms and body similar to how he looks in his merman form. Even in a human form, it is clear Azul is still not human due to these dark markings that wrap around his body. A few of these black tendrils frame his cheekbones and make those brightly colored eyes of his only seem brighter.

Jade and Floyd are Moray Eel Mermen;

- Similar to Azul, Floyd and Jade look similar to how they do in cannon, but their merman features are more visible even in their human forms. The fins they have alongside their faces are now present in their human forms as are the colorations of their merman forms on their shoulders and faintly around their faces. Their gills are still visible in their human forms.

Kalim is a Genie;

- Kalim is the closest out of everyone to his canon appearance as his identity as a Genie changes very little. He will likely wear clothes akin to his dorm clothes appearance but have the addition of golden bands around his wrists and ankles. He can form legs to walk on, but often chooses to fly instead, where his legs become more smoke-like in the typical Genie 'tail' that many Genies are often seen with. Kalim now has a golden aura around him that makes him glow slightly with a golden color due to his high-magic Genie nature.

Note; Kalim sleeps in his lamp and keeps many of his treasures in his lamp as his magic allows the lamp to be more like a hotel suite than a prison cell despite the size on the outside. Only Kalim and those he invites into his lamp can enter.

Jamil is a Sand Viper Naga;

- Jamil's upper half is similar to how it is in canon, but his lower half is that of a rather large snake. His shake half is 22ft (670cm) comprised of black and maroon scales. His maroon scales are closer to the color of dried blood and often get dark enough shades that they mix with the black diamond and striping patterns his black scales make. The scales on the stomach side of his snake body are a slightly more red tone than his skin tone. He does have golden scales that line his stomach scales and are in the center of the diamond patterns on his back.

Note; Jamil often sleeps with Kalim's lamp in the coils of his Naga tail. Having come from a long line of Naga that are usually the guards and guardians of the wealth and well-being Kalim's Genie family has amassed through the years. Wherever a Genie from Kalim's family lives, so too lives a Sand Viper Naga from Jamil's family to guard them.

Vil is a Peacock Harpy;

- Vil still has his flawless skin and purple ombre hair even as a peacock harpy, but he does have hair-like cobalt blue and emerald green feathers that often get woven into braids. He also has seven pristine head feathers that are the same 'eye' patterns as his tial feathers that often lay back against his hair unless he is feeling particularly proud, in which his crest will rise up like a crown atop his head. Vill has feathering along his shoulders, upper back and neck that are the bright cobalt blue of male Indian peacocks. Along his shoulder blades are his wings which have a full span of 8ft (244cm) but are often tucked neatly against his back and folded so the flight feathers don't drag when he walks. Vil has the full peacock train of tail-feathers and spends quite a bit of time preening and grooming them to maximum shine. He will only fully display his tail-feathers when being prideful or showing off to a prospective mate.

Rook is an Australian Golden Huntsman-Spider Drider;

- Rook's legs are a long spindly gold that are many times the length of his thorax and abdomen. The thorax of his spider body is larger than the abdomen of the body due to the typical shape of Huntsman-Spiders. The thorax area on Rook's spider body has a large black mark among the back hairs trailing down to where the abdomen part of his body is more narrow and the marks become black lines making their way down. His human half is attached at the top of the thorax where the spider's eyes are usually located. His spider legs are as thick as a Human's legs, his mandibles and pedipalps being similar in thickness. His fangs are to scale and are extremely long as well as being like blacked curved knives, he often keeps them tucked away to not unsettle others.

Note; Rook and Vil have a very mutually beneficial relationship just as they do in regular TWST. Rook helps Vil preen and take care of his feathers, often being the one getting the pin feathers Vil can't reach on his back and shoulders. Rook uses the silk he creates as a Drider to make fabrics for Vil as they are of high quality, and even higher thread count. Both are content to be the others boon companion and will often be seen working together outside of class as well.

Neige is a Mourning Dove Harpy;

- Neige has the same dark black hair and big brown doe eyes he does in cannon but he also has grey-brown feathers throughout his black hair. His cheeks, neck, shoulders, and upper back have the same gray-brown feathers with speckles of dark brown, white, black, and gray feathers throughout giving a light speckling pattern. His wings are that same gray brown color and are 6.5ft (200cm) in length. The ends of his flight feathers are often trailing over the ground beneath him when he is relaxed and he rarely opens his wings fully. Like most mourning doves, he has a lovely soothing voice and his unassuming species of Harpy makes him all the more charming.

Note: I was going to make Neige a Willow Grouse Harpy due to the coloration match with Neige and his RSA uniform, but I have a childhood fondness for the call of a mourning dove and Neige is supposed to have a beautiful voice, so I figured sweet Neige can be a mourning dove and not the goofy sounding Willow Grouse.

Epel is a Beliy Naliv Apple Wood Nymph;

- Epel has white tree bark as skin, occasionally having the slight dark mark or blemish where Epel had gotten into fights despite being a more peaceful species of Wood Nymph. His hair is made up of pale green leaves that are often covered in powder lavender blooms that are the same color as his canon hair color. Epel has the same large blue eyes as he does in canon. Occasionally the blooms on his head will grow into small apples that are white due to his species of Wood Nymph being the White Cloud Apple. His skin is rougher in texture and closer to the texture of bark.

Idia is a Shinigami;

- He still has his blue flaming hair and blue tinted lips and gold eyes. His skin is closer to a light gray in tone now, his nails a natural black. He now has these scraggly black wings that are kind of like bird wings but more haggard in appearance. The feathers are more slick and almost oily in texture and have some traces of blues in them similar to Idia's hair. He can use them to fly, but they make a very loud wooshing sound that he isn't overly fond of so he doesn't often use them. His limbs are just a bit longer than they are in canon giving him a more skeletal and gaunt appearance.

Ortho is also a Shinigami;

- Similar to Idia, Ortho still has his blue flaming hair and golden eyes. He will have the same light gray skin tone Idia does, but his wings are now cybernetic due to an unfortunate accident when Ortho was much younger that caused him to lose his Shinigami wings. Ortho also has several cybernetic limbs as a result of that same accident, making monster AU ortho closer in appearance to canon Ortho, but still able to eat/sleep/behave like a living being. Ortho is not AI but does have several augments to allow his brain to function with the aid of AI due to his unfortunate incident when he was younger.

Silver is a Reindeer Cervitaur;

- Silver is a leucistic deer cervitaur. This means his deer half has white fur as well with light gray spots along his back similar to the spots fawns have for camouflage purposes. His antlers are also an ivory white, and only have three points. From burr to tip of the beam, Silver has two points at the end of the beam and one point near the burr of his antlers. Lilia throws a party any time Silver gets another point on his antlers. Silver's deer half has the musculature type closer to reindeer than whitetail deer.

Lilia is a Vampire Bat Fae;

- Similar to his canon appearance, Lilia looks almost the same in his monster AU form, but his monster AU form has bat wings and a little tail. Most bats have tails and delicate wings, so I decided Lilia should also have bat wings and a little tail. His wings are sturdier than most bats and have several holes in them from past battles he has endured. He is still the Fae variation so he has the same pointed ears, sharp teeth, and slit pupils other Fae type have. His wings are black with Light pink highlights near the tips just like his hair.

Note; Lilia likes to sleep upsidedown in this AU and will often settle himself in the cafeteria chandeliers or even the rafters of various buildings to take naps throughout the downtimes of the day. Lilia is more nocturnal in this AU as well with increased sensitivity to sounds/lights.

Malleus is Dragon Fae.

- Malleus in the monster AU is similar to his canon appearance but has his dragon wings, tail, and various clusters of black scales along his body. His nails are decent length black talons and he has black scales along the backs of his hands and up his arms. His neck and upper back/shoulders have more black scales. His wings are the same deep black with a slight purple tint to them anywhere the skin is exposed. His tail is about as thick as a leg and tapers off to a wickedly sharp point that Malleus could use to impale someone if he wanted to. Black scales frame his eyes like their own kind of makeup and are more colorful around the eyes in purples and green sheens that highlight the obsidian base color of the scales.

Note; Malleus is more in touch with his dragon instincts in this AU due to being more outwardly dragon. He does make a nest out of his bed and is much more inclined to hoard things he is fond of, including but not limited to Gargoyles, unusual stones, and various creatures he takes interest in. Once he considers someone to be part of his hoard, he will be possessive of them and fiercely protective. Only creatures part of his hoard are allowed to enter his nest. Lilia, Silver, and Sebek are three of his living hoard.

Sebek is a Raiju Fae;

- His hair is a bit more wild and fur-like compared to his canon appearance with yellows mixed in to the sage green color. His teeth are much sharper and he actually has more dog-like qualities similar to Jack's canon appearance. Raiju are lightning dog mythical creatures, so Sebek's appearance will be similarly dog-like with the beastman ears and spiky furred tail that has a rougher texture compared to most fur. His tail and ear positioning will often be a dead giveaway for what emotions Sebek is feeling at the time.

Rollo is an Inferno Fire Nymph.

- Rollo's eyes are an ashen gray as is his skin and hair when he is not in his active inferno flame form. Much like a burned log, his flesh will bare the same ashen faded look to it. Rollo is usually in this form as he is not overly fond of the fire he creates and he can keep himself mostly calm despite the constant annoyance of others around him. When in his active inferno fire form, his ashen hair will ignite into flames, his gray eyes turning a bright fire red. Similarly, his skin will take a redder tone and embers will float off of his hair.

Note: Rollo's fire can burn others, but he can also consciously change the temperature of his flames to only warm and not harm if he felt so inclined. He would only willingly do this for someone he deeply loved and cared for as his full flame form reminds him far too much of his deceased brother, hence why he uses it sparingly. There are many types of Fire Nymphs, but Inferno Fire Nymphs are considered the most deadly as their flames get the hotest. Young Fire Nymphs cannot control their fire and can burn themselves out if they get too hot internally.

[altairtalisman]

Adríana's Bio

"Raging currents! Bróðir, what did you do this time?!"

More details on Adríana is under the cut

Name: Adríana Jökulfroða

Age: 247

Height: 251 cm (155 cm in humanoid form)

Birthday: 31 Dia'ae 1775 (Arjanit)

Orientation: Cisgender Polysexual Female

Pronouns: She/Her

Species: Merfolk

Country of Birth: Friganus Kingdom

Likes: Alena, summer, all kinds of shellfish (especially lobsters), tsukemen

Dislikes: Cabbage, avians

Hobbies: Playing the violin, sunbathing, chess, collecting sea glass

Personality: Even though she gets exasperated whenever Ragnar gets into trouble with the law, she'll always be there to bail him out. Like said brother, she enjoys being free and is an optimist. However unlike him, she tends to avoid being seen as unusual. Is also a huge romantic, much to Alena's dismay

Style: Usually wears clothes in varying shades of blue that accommodate her fins, otherwise she doesn't wear anything when in her true form. Regardless of form, she'll always wear her dice bracelet that Alena gave her

Status: Alive

Abilities: Able to breathe underwater and shapeshift, also has a high tolerance to freezing temperatures. Due to genetics, she's considered blind but refuses to use visual aids for as it causes her physical discomfort. Is also proficient in water magic

Background: Born sixth in line to the throne in Friganus Kingdom, Adríana grew up with seven other siblings. Due to her position in the line of succession, she was granted huge amounts of social mobility that her older siblings didn't get to enjoy. Even so, she knew better than to abuse her freedom after learning about why Ragnar was locked up in his room from her oldest sister

Due to the royal part of kingdom being situated in the abyssal zone, Adríana hasn't seen sunlight before and yearned to see it for herself after her second oldest brother kept mentioning it while being grounded. As she was the only family member who visited Ragnar, they became extremely close and she eventually sided with her brother

Wanting her brother to see sunlight once more, she plotted with the servant in charge of Ragnar's wellbeing and obtained the hosting order among the five kingdoms from their oldest brother. Adríana then distracted her siblings who didn't attend the meeting hosted by the Calidus Kingdom, allowing her brother to escape when she was 41 years old

A month later, Ragnar returned to the kingdom with bleeding wounds. Adríana was worried that this would reveal that she had helped him to escape from his room, but thankfully, her family assumed that he had somehow managed to escape on his own

A few months later, he announced that he was abdicating from the throne which displeased their parents. This worried Adríana as while their oldest brother was heir to the throne and Ragnar was only third in line, he was still seen as a backup for their oldest sister, who was the backup for their oldest brother and thus, it was unlikely for their parents to let Ragnar go

Adríana was surprised when their parents agreed, but was horrified to learn during a family meeting sans Ragnar that the family would effectively be disowning him and no one was allowed to have any contact with him else they would suffer the consequences. In Vierum 1817, Ragnar formally abdicated from the throne and left the kingdom, unaware that he was forbidden from having any contact with his family in exchange for his freedom

In 1818, Adríana was in Porto'ok for a meeting with Vetuns when news of a foreign merman captured in Asanoku for illegal busking arrived. Fearing for the worst, she quickly researched the identity of the merman and learnt that it was indeed her brother. Ignoring the ban, she pulled some strings by using her family's influence to get Ragnar released from Asanokian jail

While her brother was released, her parents soon learnt about Adríana's actions and sent her a cryptic message. Aware that her parents were immensely displeased with her as well as the Vetuns informing her that the Jökulfroðas would personally bring her back to Friganus Kingdom, she realised that her parents were planning to assassinate her

This realisation confused her as she couldn't imagine her parents killing a backup, especially one who could actually use water magic, let alone proficiently. With the Vetuns allowing her to leave, she decided to flee to Surolop. However, on her way there she was caught by Frigan soldiers sent to capture her in the event that she had discovered her parents' plans and was forcibly brought back to the kingdom

After getting locked up in the dungeons, Adríana was informed that while the initial plan was to assassinate her overseas, they couldn't do so as she was on a diplomatic mission then. Her parents then informed her that she would instead be sold to a fish market after being injected with a lethal dose of poison, which would hide the fact that her death was due to an assassination

As the servant who helped to break Ragnar out was in charge of administering the dose, Adríana managed to convince them to reduce the dosage such that she would at most be unconscious for an extended period of time. She eventually woke up on a table in Alena's house, shocking the latter who was washing knives that would be used to cut the mermaid up

As the Lyuharrnese approached her, Adríana was able to make out that Alena was extremely attractive and fell in love with her almost instantly. She proceeded to introduce herself and, in a fit of desperation, declared that since Alena had bought her, she technically belonged to the Lyuharrnese and therefore would live with her

Stunned by the mermaid, Alena had trouble explaining that she had bought her with the intent to turn her into a celebratory feast that also served to be her birthday meal and blankly agreed to Adríana's ludicrous declaration. Once the Lyuharrnese calmed down, she informed her that the mermaid would be tossed back into the sea. Afraid that her family would be far more ruthless once they learnt that she wasn't actually dead, she admitted that she would most definitely be killed if caught in Frigan-ruled waters and had nowhere else apart from Alena's place to seek refuge in

Alena, who didn't want to be responsible for Adríana's death at the hands of her family, reluctantly allowed her to stay. Thrilled, Adríana added that she would also return back to Alena even if she was tossed back into Friganus Ocean as she had fallen in love with her, much to Alena's confusion due to the mermaid’s near-blindness. Even so, Alena did warm up to the mermaid overtime...

Humanoid Form:

[dracoria-nebulae]

Sorry if this was mentioned in Abyssal Lights but do you have a compilation of the physical description of the reader in your fic?? Or maybe photo references if you can??? I keep on imagining them differently every time I lovingly reread your fic (this is more of a me thing tho lol, i promise it's not your writing!)

Hi hi! So, while bits of the siren's appearance is directly mentioned, it's not entirely set in stone. I'm sadly not an artist, else I'd make her reference myself! There's some room for interpretation in there for her. I do apologize for her description being slightly vague, it's a little harder for me too without a proper reference hehe. I would definitely advise checking out @caycanteven 's interpretation of the siren! I know I love looking at it heh.

I'll try and put it together here to a degree from what I've mentioned. The siren is huge, though I've not fully settled on a total length. Her torso/upper half alone is larger than the skeletons, even the taller ones. Her tail would be easily more than 3x the length of her upper half, probably even more due to being a deep sea eel species! Oh and her torso is mostly androgynous, only vaguely feminine heh. Her tail is shaped like an eel of course, however unlike actual eels she has a lot more variety of fins, most flowing and when healthy quite attractive. For a species like sirens, their appearance is important too for mating. She has more than one set of gills, some on her humanoid half and some on her tail due to the size of her body. Facially she is a lot flatter than a human. She has a slight nasal ridge with somewhat hidden nostrils. I'd almost think a lot like some Undyne fanart. Her mouth is unusually wide, it almost makes it look like she's smiling all the time and towards the ends there's bands of fibrous tissue that's more of her teal-y glow color, giving her a look almost like she's blushing. This is all part of her ability to open her mouth incredibly wide and eat things a lot larger than you'd expect. She has large eyes that have vertical pupils, with two sets of eyelids. One like normal and secondary clear ones. She doesn't usually blink or close her eyes unless sleeping so it gives her an eerie intensity and sort of innocence. She has no brows hah. Like a lot of mers or sirens, she has ear fins, helps her emote where her face lacks a lot of motion. There are the exit holes for her nostrils hidden behind her ear fins too! Since fish don't exactly use nostrils for anything other than smelling, they aren't connected to other parts of her internals. This is the more important one, where humans have hair, she has a 'hair' like growth of something between jellyfish lappets/tentacles and barbels. They are prehensile and work as sensory organs and more. (Though at the current time of the fic they are short and dirtied as she hasn't cared for them at all. Much like her fins.) Her scales when healthy are a black+purple so dark that it becomes iridescent, though right now they are closer to an ashy black/grey. Her body, fins, hair, face, are covered in markings that are capable of glowing a bright teal, having usually a blue-ish tint to them when not lit up. Patterns are up to interpretation but I imagine a mixture of stripes and spots. Her whole body is mostly scaled actually, even though eels typically aren't scaled hahaha.

[writeraven]

[S]INS OF ORIGIN — ver.1.1c

CHAPTERS: [ 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 ]

CODAS: [ 1.1a | 1.1b | 1.1c | 1.2a | 1.2b ]

TAGS: [ isorawrites. » YoRHa: Dark Aftermath ]

LINKS: [ Tumblr » Story, Project | AO3 » Work, Series ]

SHIPS: None. MUSES: None.

NPC: ???; (mentions only) 2B, 9S.

XXXX REPORT NO. 0003.37 SECURITY LEVEL : DECLASSIFIED

The intelligence gathered by 2B and 9S so far have been extremely valuable and intriguing: 01. This new world, called ‘Norvrandt,’ is populated by humanoid species with various animalistic traits. Each race has specific strengths and weaknesses that set them apart from ordinary humans. Further study on each kind is highly recommended to update our database. 02. For 100 years, these people have lived and survived the harsh environment caused by eternal sunlight. This unusual phenomenon appears to be related to the unknown energy signals we have picked up ever since we came to this world—‘aether,’ as they called it. We are already looking into methods to harness this readily available source of power to further aid in our cause. 03. Similar to the black boxes we use as a core in our prototype YoRHa models, some people of Norvrandt possess crystalline artifacts that contain immense powers stored within them. These crystals are capable of many feats, ranging from supporting abilities to forces of pure destruction. These preliminary results have shown promising potential to achieve our goal. While we will continue to send 2B and 9S to collect further data, we shall initiate the first step of Project Noah to bring us one step closer to the salvation of humanity. For the Glory of Mankind.

Support me on Ko-fi — https://ko-fi.com/whyraven. Thank you very much for your continuous support☕

[the-wolfbats]

Thoughts about Loamhedge*

*I have spotify premium for a time, so I listened to the audiobook! **Until my premium ended with like 8 chapters left and had to go get the book.

It's easy to say every book after, well, the first I guess, is a repetitive slog but I think there are a lot of good ideas here;

The rare return of an actual seer character in Lonna. Ever realize how the real seers are the goodbeasts (him and Pollekin) and the fakes are the foxes?

I think Martha and Horty are the first - and maybe only - hares to just live at the Abbey from the start of the novel. We get their backstory but we don't see it. Hon Rosie and Tarquin Woodsorrel technically came from other places first.

Having a small band of vermin terrorize Redwall efficiently (but not too efficiently they only kill one resident) before the big guy shows up. They're trapped in the building, not the abbey, but the actual building.

Martha talking so differently from Horty shows that the way hares have famously talked throughout this entire franchise is a learned thing. It's not inherent. (I was going to say 'like moles', but there was that one mole in Bellmaker who talked without the dialect).

There was the occasional hare that talked a bit more reserved than the others (I think he was in Mossflower or Salamandastron), but definitely not enough to make an impact. Martha was raised by Abbeydwellers, not a community of hares, so she doesn't have that chirpy talk and melodic mannerisms.

I mentioned in one of the other posts that there were 3 art styles I distinctly remember - the overly humanoid one, a very sketchy one, and one kind of in the middle. This is one I forgot about and I tink it comes in later in the series (or it may be that middle one I just forgot. I didn't realize it until I saw the chapter art for the third act)

So the societies in this world are so isolated, you get hit with a stock way of talking unless you're EXTREMELY isolated from your species!

But the northern hares have a different dialect (See Bucko and Bowlaynee McScutta) that Horty didn't have , as he was old enough to walk and talk when he arrived at Redwall, but Martha wasn't.

oh it's 'cor-dee-al', not 'corjul'.

Is Martha the last Redwall characters a normal name?

OH THEY MADE SONGS FOR THE MUSIC the first one Martha sings is great on 1.5x, it's so cute 🥺🥺

There should have been an album with one song from each book.

when you have been putting the emphasis on Salamandastron wrong for 21 years.

Also I think Horty talks the least out of most of the main characters, which is unusual for a story with a prominent hare.

They mention Tim Churchmouse and Mattimeo, which is a huge callback. I wonder if it's the last callbck to so far back. Even in story they're like "wow that's really, really, really long ago."

I just remembered Doomwyte - The Gonflets or w/e can trace their lineage to Gonff, and he predates Redwall.

Martin doesn't count he's basically entered the realm of legend and sainthood.

When you have been pronouncing Eulalia wrong for 21 years

there's a rabbit :o I thought the last time we saw a rabbit was Martin the Warrior (?).

Speaking of, there's something on the Fridge Horror section of TV tropes that says bc Bragoon and Saro got a vermin killed when they arrived back in Mossflower, Martin arranged their suicide mission to find the cure at Loamhedge and be killed by vermin which,

out of my re-read, the only book I really didn't enjoy was Bellmaker, and even then I only disliked Mariel an Dandin's parts. This is better than that.