#portiids

[twogeeseinatrenchcoat]

Only in Children of Time would you ever find a space battle between hyper-intelligent spiders and octopi with an AI stored in a shit ton of ants with a god complex controlling the spider's ship.

Gonna go on a small rant here.

Adrian Tchaikovsky writes other species/alien species so well. Like, so well. He has ideas that are so out there I would never even think of them, let alone know how to incorporate it. He's just so good at writing something so entirely different from anything people are used to, and I love that. It makes everything in the books 100x better, and much more intriguing.

He also does a great job with the science-y side of it. He manages to fit in all of this random information about cell structures and DNA and technology and how the different species think, and it's seamlessly incorporated with the rest of the story. Nothing gets bogged down by a random bunch of information about how different the cells of the animals on this new planet are, because it fits. He's not just putting it there for "oh hey, it's a sci-fi book, gotta have some science-y mumbo jumbo in there," no, it actually adds to the story. It serves to show just how different, how alien everything is.

Go read the books, I'd recommend them for anyone who enjoys sci-fi and can get through fairly wordy books. They're around 500-600 pages each.

[notgyro]

Has anyone made a Portiid OC yet? Like as in an OC of one of the sentient spiders from Children of Time.

If not....should *I* do that?

[approximateknowledge]

im aware the portiid society in children of time is supposed to be this exploration of an alien way to approach technology and the universe but umm

my troll ass just kind of felt at home in it? especially after they figured out the ant-symbiosis

like the whole symbiotic web of biotech, the lack of the concept of family (units) or parental care, even some overlap between schoolfeeding/osmosis and the portiid concept of Understandings, it's all oddly comforting and familiar. and of course the use of ants as both drones and apiary systems

like both use eusocial hymenopterans for computation!

i like the spiders, they know what's up

portiids 🤝 trolls

biotech and symbiosis ftw

[acid-vanir]

To answer OP's statement. This is exactly what Children of Ruin is about and it is fucking masterful there. Self aware translation software literally stops the destruction and assimalation (idk if thats spelt right) of all earthborn life and the two (thats right two!) first contact species are built around language and the compatibility problem with communicating with aliens. Also Senkovi is so well written i knew he was neurodivergent the first paragraph he appears, highly recommend it and its prequel Children of Time as well as just most everything written by Adrian Tchaikovsky, guys a sci fi powerhouse

theres lots of first contact stories, and usually they mostly gloss over the establishment of a pidgin, like theyll mention it but its not the main focus, and thats fine, not every first contact story should be about linguistics, but it fills me with a longing for more stories about trying to bridge a communication gap like that, especially ones that question the ability for advanced abstract translation at all

[shadowpeople]

I hope Adrian Tchaikovsky doesn't feel like he can't write any more books about sentient spiders just because he's done it multiple times already. Because I don't think I have a limit in all honesty. There's no point at which I'd be like "ok Adrian, that's enough sentient spiders!" He could keep writing books about sentient spiders indefinitely and I would just keep reading them.

[phantomoftheshoppera]

how am I supposed to take your review seriously when you so obviously missed the point of the book

[podcastgirlsweek]

I think you reblogged that to the wrong blog but the spiders can be podcasters honorarily

Oh god not again. Thanks for the heads up!

But yeah if you like AIs and lossy copies and space and horror (all audio drama staples) you should read Children of Time! It's great.

[flyingbooks42]

When I was reading Children of Ruin, I wondered what trans Portiid experiences might be like, so I wrote a short little fic about it.

[gammaraydeath]

actually speaking of the children of time series i know that the rights for a film adaptation have been bought (? or at least they're available to be bought) but i'm gonna be real i think that it's gonna be incredibly difficult to translate a book like that into a movie. like for example you will NEED subtitles for the portiids and having long stretches of the film be silent and subtitled AND focusing on spiders no less (a thing most people hate)... it's gonna be a tough sell. that being said they should hire me when they want this movie made i know my vision for it is leagues above any hollywood suit

[twogeeseinatrenchcoat]

Children of Time Rant

Tldr: Read Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, it's very good. Also sentient spiders have five names apparently, and there are personalities associated with said names.

Just read through Children of Time (by Adrian Tchaikovsky), started reading Children of Memory, and promptly realised it was the third book and not the second. So now I'm waiting for Children of Ruin (book 2) to arrive on Amazon. Did I start CoT about three days ago? Yes. But I need more spider content. Gimme the spider-Human interactions.

I love how we get five names for those spiders, and one is only used once, but I still remember it because we get five names and they are: Portia (always our PoV), Bianca (always Portia's friend), Fabian (male), Viola (important side character), and Osric. Osric is mentioned once and it is to tell us that he died.

But like I love how we get around 2000 years worth of spiders and still we have four names in use. Going into the characters (traits associated with names) in more depth: (oh and when I refer to anything relating to gender, the Portiids basically have "reverse sexism: cannibalism edition")

They're always powerful and always smart, the leaders of their society. Fabian is often very outspoken for a male, and he's smart, often a pioneer of technology, which is notable because---again---he's male. Bianca and Portia sometimes switch up, but they swap between scientist and warrior, and are close friends. Fabian is often one of their assistants. Viola is always a high-ranking spider, influential, but a side character. These are basically just their roles and not personalities because those do flip-flop.

Anyways, little rant over. Read the book(s). They're good. Or at least the first one, haven't read the second yet.

[unsavory-melon]

Jumping spiders....portiids

God! children of time vibes anyone?

absolutely enraptured rn

[approximateknowledge]

actually i think jumping spiders *should* be portiid-sized (like a basketball in circumference with their legs curled up), and about as intelligent as a cat, and i should be able to have one as a pet

^i want a cat-sized one of these in my house being a lovable little mischief-maker that can tapdance on my bed to wake me up in the morning so i can give her food and skritches and attention

pedipalps doing the little flappy thing like cat ears do

every couple months i could go to the vet for assistance with moulting

need big spooder to bother me in weird ways and leave hairs and webbing in weird places

i can see her make a little web-nest in the upper corner of the room

but alas it's not to be

[thechurn]

Reading children of ruin now and i could honestly read about human-portiid communication all day

[pheonix199]

Probably yeah.

The Portiids are so cool!

[phantomoftheshoppera]

Haha just like Portiid

[nekoprankster218]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who reblogged something from you. learn to know your mutuals and followers. <3

This is a bit delayed, apologies!

Halo and all its alien characters

Touhou Project and all its music and characters

Adrian Tchaikovsky's Portiid alien species and the books they feature in (so far finished Children of Time and in the middle of Children of Ruin)

Genshin Impact and all its characters (esp Nahida rn!) and world design and music

Cat Cafe Manager and its cozy vibes and easy, non-punishing gameplay