#sirpaverse

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Saw a dream where there was this three-dorsal finned species of dolphin. Mistook it for both an orca and a southern right whale dolphin, until I saw those fins poking out and had to go, "yeah uhh.. I'll google this species later."

The species was very friendly, two older dolphins let some young offspring of theirs (parental care from both parents? Maybe, more likely two sisters with their children) play and interact with me.

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Ohoho prev! Your blorbo sounds awesome!!! She must be one amazing and tough fighter! Who is it!?

Alas, you did eventually figure out who I was talking about (it’s okay, I always speak of the Man very cryptically ;)), but Pigeon Washing Machine Man who you guessed first…. He uh, I’m not sure if he can be won in battle. He wields absolutely zero weapons, but what makes him dangerous is the everything else he does! He is able to rewind time and delete physical space to his liking, for cod’s sake. I imagine that he would not get into battles, but that is simply because he would not create a situation that ends up in a battle. If a battle was initiated on him he would not be there, that’s not a world where that’s possible. In my mind I imagine that if I ever made a comic where someone tried to attack him he would exit the panel and walk several pages away to a point in the comic his opponent has fucking vanished.

My sister has previously asked me the question of “who of your characters would win in battle?” and I think the answer (at least excluding the idea people ones) is indeed Pigeon Man, but we like, never learn in any way how he wins, we just cut to six months later from the start of the battle and he’s there, alone, standing.

….Also yeah your blorbo would obliterate the Man he stands no chance at all

This request was sent to us and we made a poll in response to it. Send any Blorbo-related question you want to our inbox and we’ll make a poll on which people can vote with their own Blorbos in minds

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Ahti II redraw

I took a break from artfighting to do some personal art. Behold: I redrew my profile picture image! I added more fish and Ahti's pet pike Kultakutri :)

Here's the old one in full, made in 2021:

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

You know that art trend that was like “draw your OC before and after the trauma” with the Undertale quote? I did a version of that with Karleeen in April! Although with her it’s less of a “before and after” and more like…. during? Well, in any case. It gets a lot better :)

Still images:

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

I want it to be known that merfolk and other taurs with an invertebrate half, though their skin may be tough and jointed like an exoskeleton or alternatively very soft, all have internal skeletons on account of being humans. They unironically have skeletons that look like this:

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Ah, so many things!!! I am being treated, indeed!!

I like the idea of aquatic people having floaty toys :) We have kites. Underwater if something is less dense it's like a forever-kite! It makes perfect sense. Also mosasaurs I miss you :''(

Trick or treat!!

you get: floatie toy!

while more common in communities closer to the surface, floating toys or pull toys are small, usually animal- or merfolk-shaped toys, that have a light inner core made of a material less dense than water, an outer core that's denser and more resistant to wear, and a string or rope attachment at the bottom, usually with a handle or weights at the end. the general idea is that a merfolk can hold onto one and it will float up in the water above them, being pulled along by the merfolk and controlled by them, with some fancier versions having multiple articulating points to make them look like they're swimming. adding bells and chimes and other noise-makers is also popular, though these are limited by how much can be added before they start to weigh the toy down.

ideally, the weights at the end of the string are there to prevent it from floating up and away from the child, but this isn't always the case, and plenty of toys like this have been lost because their owner let go of them and didn't catch them again in time. most of the time they're created with this in mind, favoring less complex and time-consuming methods of creation, making those with weights usually on the more expensive and permanent side of things. risk of loss is also higher in communities closer to the surface, because a favorite pasttime is dragging them through waves from below, which increases the risk of them getting pulled out of someone's hands.

as ever, with all merfolk toys, they usually have a few tooth marks in them, where someone started to chew on the ends. even moreso if they were passed down a generation or two.

also because i was doing this last year as well, have a common descent episode and globidens phosphaticus:

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Tried something new :)

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Karleeen gets crushes very easily

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Happy May Day, and the now beginning Mermay as well! Remember this concept of a seahorse merson I showed?

Of course you do.

I decided to go on ahead and try to get a bit of a feel for how a seahorse merson would work! Perhaps a bit less awkward than just the option above..

In an upright pose the "seahorse head" is twisted far back like so, but an actual more natural pose for them would be somewhat or fully bent. It looks more natural in their environment, I swear!

Similarly to how seahorses are some of the only fish that have necks and can bend them, seahorse merfolk would be among the only ones who can actually sit like a human. Scandalous!

Hmm, still workshopping this a bit. I'm not sure if this is too much of a "normal" mermaid or still a bit too "strange"?

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Karleeen’s room, during day- and nighttime! I think drawings of environments can really help with showing how a character is like, a window into their life.

Close ups of some details:

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Hair guide (and overall style guide) for Karleeen so I don't forget how she's meant to look at each point in her tween-to-early-adulthood life stages. I’ve seldom drawn her as an adult but look at her :) She’s so grown!!

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Daily mermaid fact #742

Certain merfolk can go into a state of dormancy when temperatures become too cold to bear! When faced with freezing temperatures, a merson's movements first become sluggish and clumsy, and their thoughts become foggy. Their heart rate and bodily functions begin slowing down, and soon they will fall into a deep sleep. They tend to sleep for periods of a few days at a time, waking up for brief moments. Once temperatures warm up again, their metabolism picks up and they go back to normal living and a normal sleep cycle.

Hibernation was an important factor in the survival of the first cold climate merfolk. It allowed them to survive the hostile aquatic environment they were forced into, though nowadays hibernation is not recommended for health reasons if one can help it. Hibernation takes a toll on the body, causing stunted growth and weakened immune system function, and may even lead to a shorter lifespan in the long run.

While merfolk of colder climates with icy winters tend to be able to hibernate, others… may not. Merfolk that originate from warmer climates tend to die from hypothermia if exposed to freezing cold for too long, just like "normal" humans.

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

I felt like drawing my character Bertta Romero so I did !! Bertta is a white-tailed deer centaur :] (cervitaur?)

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

One of my fave things in the Sirpaverse is that spells are “invented”. Magic or applied physics is a STEM subject and highly skilled magicians are constantly trying to invent new spells, taking inspiration or studying the genes of real-world organisms and their magical properties or going for something new entirely. Several teams around the world are trying to crack the mystery of teleportation, for example, but much like time travel it may prove to be impossible — we don’t know though! Not all limits of magic have been found quite yet. Many spells were only invented in recent years, like how “mind reading” was invented in the early 1980’s!!

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Comic for Mermay and May, in general :)

Much like cold climate aquatic mammals, merfolk lose their old dead skin in big chunks when temperatures get warmer in the spring and their bodies can divert blood flow into the skin more. The skin doesn't flake off during winter even though Ahti and his sister mostly live on land now, where they don't have to save precious warmth as much ;P

Good to mention, Ahti II has a sister! Her name is Hienohelma and she's better about not dressing almost exactly like back home (unlike a certain other...). She's a pike mermaid just like Ahti II but I've yet to draw her tail!

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Fun fact: Karleeen can skii 👍 I drew several images to show just how she does it, too! For all your many-legged needs.

Despite what you might think, having eight legs fastened onto four skis actually improves Karleeen's skiing maneuverability, as her feet naturally point "sideways" from her body and her “ankles” aren't particularly twisty. Having two points of contact in each ski (akin to a snowboard) lends her more fine-tuned movement and more kick! She can't quite ski in her normal standing pose, but let's be honest, no one should, you'll fall. To ski, she must simply keep her four middle legs closer to her body, with "bent knees" (patellas)

Normal cross-country skiing works just about the same as on any other person, her skis alternating in kicking back and moving forwards to glide. The biggest difference here is perhaps that her ski poles touch the ground between her legs as opposed to the ground on her sides, which is simply because her stance is very wide. Her arms have a lesser arch of movement because her legs get in the way, but the propulsion from having four legs push back on each kick as opposed to just one means you wouldn't really realise there's any hindrance of any kind. To turn, she simply extends one of the legs on her second frontmost pair of legs, and to slow down she’ll extend both.

Skate skiing is a little bit different, instead of kicking back on both skis of one side she only uses the back skis for kicking, and does a slithering motion on her front skis to keep up momentum, as if on ice skates. Nifty!

Here's some more detailed drawings of her skis and ski boots, for cross-country and downhill skiing! Karleeen's feet are rather small and so are her boots, the material is bendy like on ski boots for normal feet. Since cross-country skiing doesn't require any crazy tricks, her boots are held in place on cross-country skis with velcro straps. Her downhill skiing boots and the skis themselves are bigger and more robust!

So that's it! I’m not sure how Karleeen would manage ice skating for the aforementioned sideways-pointing feet reasons, but as a Finn and avid cross-country skiing enthusiast it’s of most importance to me that many-legged taurs of the Sirpaverse can enjoy the joys of skiing :)