#skillya

[vykker]

Oddworld Headcanon 2/?: Where do new Queens come from?

In Soulstorm we're introduced to the Keeper, a female mudokon who is a little old granny with an awesome and cute design. I was so delighted by her!! This got me thinking about 2 of my favorite things, Oddworld and Girls. We've known about the existence of queens for a long time, but where do they come from, and is/was the Keeper a queen?

When you start learning about irl animals and their queen systems you end up with a ton of interesting possibilities. For instance, you have queen bees, who are just regular female bees who were fed a special jelly [royal jelly] and put in a special, roomy honeycomb to turn into queen bees. However, hives may have more than one queen at a time, in which case the two young queens instinctively fight to the death.

Soulstorm leans heavily on the bee aesthetic for the keeper & the Sanctum where she resides. It could be that mudokon tribes produce multiple queens, but only the one with the strongest will/chosen by fate gets to become queen. Even though becoming queen doesn't seem so great to me as a human, to mudokons it's probably the highest honor one can earn. I imagine it would be crushing for a female to NOT become a queen, especially if it's something you've been hyped up about your entire life, have presented as being the highest possible achievement and so on.

But getting back to the bee thing- mudokons don't make honey, by which I mean, they probably don't have a chemical way of ensuring an individual is able to become a queen, in the way that bees can choose who gets to eat the royal jelly. [Though, if they could, you KNOW the industrialists would be selling it. I used to work at a store that sold royal jelly for like 50 bucks in a little jar. It was weird.] Thus, I feel it's probably random chance if a mudokon is born a "princess" or not.

Being born a princess does not ensure one will become a queen. The transformation into a queen is probably tied to ritual in mudokon culture regardless of whether it's pure biological randomness or not, and although it would be healthy for a tribe to have a few princesses as insurance rather than one, I also believe NOT being "picked" to be queen can be very depressing and alienating for them. This could be a possible backstory for the Keeper; either 1. she was not chosen to be queen, which she took as a personal failure for many years before devoting herself to becoming the Keeper; or 2. she fled from her tribe in order to NOT become a queen, and suffers from guilt now that her species' only surviving queen is being kept captive & she's way too old to become queen now.

Anyway, I believe you could apply similar logic to the other queen-centric races, HOWEVER, I think things are a little different depending on each queen's species and role in society. For instance, I imagine mudokon queens born of Sam would be highly sought after and prized. However, it would not surprise me if they all fail to become queens, just due to the industrialists failing at meeting their needs in captivity. Even if a princess were kept in relative luxury, being separated from the land and nature would prevent them from ever becoming queens.

I would imagine things as being similar for sligs- however, I personally imagine slig eggs being produced at a much higher rate, since it's mentioned that queen Skillya has 5 ovipositors, so maybe there's less stress around trying to find the next slig queen. Or maybe she can recognize what they are and keeps crushing them on purpose. I think Skillya would feel very threatened by another girl being called "cute" in her presence.

Now glukkons, I believe, actually have it worse out of all options. Lady Margaret is just one glukkon queen- there's implied to be more & its further implied that there are queen glukkons higher up the chain than her. However, I cannot imagine a glukkon queen choosing to share power with an incompetent daughter. Glukkons don't like to share power even in the best of times!

Thus, I believe that when glukkon princesses are born, the queen's in-house surgeons sterilize them temporarily, putting their reproductive organs on ice to completely eliminate the possibility of them starting their own lineages or hijacking the company. Competition between glukkon princesses is UNFATHOMABLY brutal. Whereas their brothers are just competing to become glockstars or whatever, the princesses are competing to become dynasty builders. Thus, a glukkon princess has to bust her ass from the day she's born to impress her mother & torpedo her sisters' efforts. Then, finally, when the current queen is too old to keep working, her favorite daughter is promoted to queen, uterus privilege no longer revoked, the vykkers thaw out her reproductive parts & put her back together again.

This would make Lady Margaret even scarier in my opinion- if her position as queen was not just pure happenstance, if she had to do absolutely atrocious things to her fellow princesses to get where she is today- you'd understand why she grasps on to power so tightly, why she refuses to forgive even the slightest weaknesses in her sons, considering all she has been through to get to where she is today. It would be rather boring if Lady Margaret became a queen just from a biological dice roll, right? Instead, imagine her as a vicious, power-hungry monster who FOUGHT to be queen, with a line of glukkon princesses below her, anxious for her to retire or die already so they can have the ultimate promotion- and she KNOWS it.

Anyway, these are just my thoughts. Since we met the Keeper in Soulstorm I am INCREDIBLY hopeful we will get to meet more girls in future games. I would especially like to meet a no-nonsense 80's style glukkon business woman with shoulder pads, I think I would die of happiness. What are your headcanons for Oddworld's queens? I really wanna hear them!!!

[ask-alf-oddworld]

I only chose Sam for the significance with her and Abe. But I’m really excited for the other two. Lady Margaret sounds scary, but I’m actually really excited for Skillya. She has a really cute design yet the idea of her eating her babies makes for an interesting and weirdly terrifying contrast.

For me it's a huge tie between Sam and lady Margaret, I wanna see abe happily reunite with his mom but I also wanna see what Margaret's deal was especially in relation to her trial with molluck

But what do you guys think?

[glenglam324]

Cw: A bit of blood

This is why Ms Maggie doesn’t visit Skillya anymore

[phantomtoff]

Is Skillya Renee's mom? Or is she from another sliggy lineage? Does she have siblings?

Yes, Skillya is Renée's mom.

Renée came from a batch of 50 slig hatchlings, out of all of them she only kept in touch with two who are close to her. Which are her brothers Olly and Lennart.

Olly is a Pilot, he likes being up in the air seeing everything from above. He has a bad case of thalassophobia, he refuse to be anywhere near the sea.

Lennart is a Journalist writing for the Daily Deception, he just as nosy as his sister and likes to overshare. He has better writing skills, but he have Difficulty picking up on social cues.

Despite being apart, the three would call each other during their down time and if they are free they'll try and make plans to meet up, if they can.

[a-table-of-fics]

Oddworld: Conar’s Ambition, Chapter 13, Draft 1, Part 8

“You’re sayin’ getting a time-out is like getting smacked around and shot?!”

“You ever hear of Slig Soup?”

“Slig Sou— what?”

“Yeah, why do ya think you only get the badass Sligs watchin’ over ya? They make sure the rest get the can pretty quick. Well, after the firing, of course.”

Conar made a sound somewhere between a grunt and a laugh.

“Mama always said we’d either be useful or tasty.”

“Oh my Odd,” Slim gasped.

“Yeah… it’s not great.”

“So, what now?” Slim asked. “I can’t imagine you’d be able to go back after all this.”

Conar said nothing, taking an intense interest in his Pime. His shaking hand went across Chairman’s side. What could he say? Mama Skillya was probably pissed, and he had nothing left to prove her wrong. Hell, what chance did he have to even reach Zeb, let alone rob him?

“What kind of question is that?” he finally demanded. “Once we’re… Once I’m rich enough, Mama’ll have to welcome me back! Especially once I get the best gun out there with my funds!”

“And… what about me?”

Conar finally looked up from his meal. Slim’s face was hard to read, with his large eyes remaining neutral.

“Well, I figured freedom was a great bit of payment,” Conar said, “but… would you wanna cut when we finally get Zeb?”

[ask-alf-oddworld]

That all sounds great! I would definitely love to see all three queens we know of (Sam, Margaret, and Skillya). Seeing Molluck again would be good since it can’t just be left at him escaping to the Yayman’s, and I do remember reading somewhere this idea of him and Abe (reluctantly) teaming up which could bring about some very interesting interactions, and his knowledge would be very useful in a place like Nolybab, which from what we know the population is very Glukkon-heavy.

Things I would love to see in the Soulstorm sequel:

-Abe meeting Sam and it’s emotional

-Baby Abe

-Munch

-Buddy, he’s a Khanzumer so he’d be perfect in the next game (also in dear Alfs Buddy seemed to be really good friends with Alf so I’d love to see that bond)

What would you guys like to see?

[cecil-mudokon-defunct]

((I KNEW I had seen a design like that somewhere before!))

[vykker]

Oddworld Headcanon 4/?: The Tragedy of Queen Sam

It's often suggested that if you want to write a good story, you should imagine the worst thing that could happen to a character, then write it. But what if one idea could be the worst thing that could happen for EVERY character? It's well known that Abe's mother Sam was supposed to be in Munch's Oddysee. She would have been held captive in Vykker's Labs, before the story pivoted just to Abe rescuing Labor Eggs. They even got as far as rendering Sam. However, it's never explained where the story would have gone after she'd been introduced. With this in mind, here's my theory/headcanon/wild speculation that Queen Sam was supposed to die at the end of M.O.

1.Sam is ancient and severely depressed. Sam has a ton of concept art, and each piece emphasizes the fact she is not doing well. Here she is smiling, but her eyes are exhausted and pained. Here she is with a hair piece resembling a halo, but imo, it also looks like a noose being lowered over her head. The official Art Of Oddworld Inhabitant books says this about Sam: "We got to portray a likeable earthy grandma quality". Abe is an adult, sure, but not so old that you'd expect his mother to be a grandma already- her elderly status seems to be the earliest design element they wanted to emphasize.

She's also shown to be exhausted and depressed, which is why we have so much cool art of the Shrinks, which are AI's designed by Vykkers Labs to serve as therapists and companions to treat her depression. Also, while looking for more info about the Shrinks, I learned that apparently they were originally called Angels. So Sam was to be surrounded by angels? Of course, this could've just been to make her seem more saintly. But aren't a lot of saints martyrs? Anyway, back on topic...

2. Sam is trapped. I find it interesting that in every piece of art, Sam is deliberately shown sitting on a raised, immobile platform. Often times, she's even in chains. Some of the concept art includes the scenery around her platform, but there's never any sign of a trolley or crane or something that the player might use to save her [or the characters could use in a cut scene to save her]. If the intention was for the player to move her, you'd think there would be concepts for how this might be done, but from what I can tell, there aren't.

Her immobility is NOT a result of her status as a queen, either. The other queens we have been shown- Skillya and Lady Margaret- have concept art displaying how they may be able to move, albeit with extreme difficulty. But still- some thought was put into these queens being able to move somewhat. Sam deliberately cannot.

So she's immobile. But couldn't this mean that Abe wasn't going to save her in Munch's Oddysee, but just meet her instead? While this is a possibility, I think it would be an Odd™ choice. For one thing, it seems like a waste of time and assets to put a complicated character like Sam in a game and not have her do anything. They could have had Abe learn about Sam through some other means, then vow to save her. Like maybe he can relay a few messages to her through the Shrinks? Or something else? But no, clearly, he was meant to meet her in the flesh. So would he have met her in person, left, THEN come back to save her? Would it have been a race against the clock for Abe, considering her advanced age and declining health? Maybe! But I don't think so, and here's why:

3.Sam has accepted her inevitable death. You'll notice that in each piece of concept art, Sam is never shown to be sad. Her eyes are kind and her expression is soft. Not only that, but in most depictions, she's shown with her arms outstretched. She is made to look placating and serene.

I think Sam knows that the end is near for her, and has made peace with this fact. Why? Because she met Abe. She knows that Abe will save their species. She knows that, by sewing his mouth shut as a baby, she succeeded in keeping him alive long enough to reach adulthood and fufill his role as savior. I think finally getting to meet Abe is a massive comfort to Sam; not only because of her believing that her species will be saved, but knowing that she has done her job and can finally pass on and rest. And I think she even tells Abe this, too. She sends him on his way warning him that she knows her time is short- but that she has accepted this- and this is the catalyst for his next adventure: Find a new queen!

4.Sam dying would be the worst thing that could happen to every character. And because of this, it would make for some incredible storytelling potential.

Abe would lose his mom. It would be absolutely devastating not being able to save her. To meet her ONCE and have her pass away shortly after? ABSOLUTELY heartbreaking. Furthermore, if her dying wish were for him to find a way to save their species- that would be some powerful incentive for him, not that I think he really needs it, but still.

The surviving mudokon scrubs would suddenly be a finite resource. It would be harder than ever for them to run away.

Some factory owners might even try to kidnap wild mudokons.

Munch would not be assisted in traveling to Ma'Spa, because his Mudokon allies have their own problems to deal with. He would have to take the gabbiar there by himself.

Vykker's Labs failed to keep Queen Sam alive... oops! This would bring to question everything else about how they operate, and I do NOT imagine vykkers take kindly to being scrutinized.

The industrialists are now cut off from their labor supply. Their ENTIRE ECONOMY is based on an endless supply of easily replaced labor. Imagine the panic. Imagine what lengths they would go to find a replacement. They would tear the whole continent apart!!! They would tear EACH OTHER apart!

Lady Margaret- who is dying herself! - now has to deal with THIS shit!!?? And since it's been said that Margaret's own grandmother is currently frozen and is only thawed out for emergencies- well, this would be one hell of an emergency! Can you imagine her fury?

As the population of worker mudokons stagnates, who would have to step in to fill the gaps? Where would the glukkons get new workers from in the mean time? Would it be the sligs? Would Queen Skillya be put into overtime laying eggs? We know she already hates doing that. Would it be some other easily exploited species? Would THEY grow to resent the mudokons?

And who would the Industrialists blame for Sam's death? Well... who do you think?

So anyway, that's my theory. It doesn't really mean anything and with Lorne being on twitter and all it's possible there's been some lore shared that would disprove this theory. But still, I figured i'd share it and see if anyone else had reached the same conclusion or had any ideas. At the very least it's an interesting What-If. It would have made an incredible cliff hanger ending for Munch's Oddysee if it had happened, that's for sure!

[lair-of-the-white-worm]

Skillya and Maggie are bitter ex wives btw

[magog-on-the-march]

SKILLYA

WHO SHE IS

She might look cute here but her appearance is deceiving.

Gigantic and extremely ferocious, she spends a majority of her time suspended in a special pool that helps her give birth more easily. She is a sharp contrast to Sam - Skillya sells her babies knowing exactly what kind of lives they’ll lead. While on the surface they’re less oppressed than the Mudokons they torment, no reasonable Mother would allow her children to live in such conditions.

Gluttonous and cruel, she loves to be surrounded by her favorite foods and adorns herself with flashy jewelry.

SELFISH MOTIVATIONS

Skillya sells the Sligs as security workers and directly benefits from it. The explanation for her behaviour is simple - she hates her children.

The birthing process is so painful for her that it fills her with a deep hatred towards those she considers responsible. Her anger surfaces in other, even more unusual ways, too - it isn’t uncommon for her to eat her children as soon as they’re born, just as pay back for the suffering they cause her during delivery.

NATURE OR NURTURE?

Maybe the Sligs inherit their Mother’s mean streak, or perhaps this goes some way to explaining their sadistic behaviour. On top of never having known any love or affection, the Sligs also have to deal with the fact that if they don’t scramble away fast enough when they’re born their Mother might just eat them alive.

Everything in Skillya’s lair is tacky, from the mismatched pillows she demands be constantly fluffed to the ugly lamp shades and the general mess. She isn’t known for her elegance. She’s always at risk of being crushed by her own weight and, like the Mudokon Queen, she can’t move unaided. She also spends her days surrounded by television screens, a huge tray of food in front of her, but the only pain she has to numb is the physical one.

(x)

[ask-alf-oddworld]

She probably spotted some delicious newborns!

After Oddworld released some concepts for Skillya the Slig Queen I had to draw her <3 She probably sees a really tasty dish or something

[i-am-worm]

Inktober 52 2023 - Week 7 - ‘Odd’  D-D-D-DOUBLE BONUS

Slig chauffeur from Soul Storm.

That's him officer. that's the slig that stole the people’s hearts and minds.

EXTRA SLIG TIME

This is kind of a fan character, ‘Stu’. An albino slig from the scrapped bonus game that would have followed an albino slig escaping the birthing pool before being killed because of his abnormalities. YEEEEEARS ago me and @scifer​ did a few concepts and ideas for what this game would have been like and hoped to make a mock-up of what the game would have been like. But this was before the inviable tides of work and moving took away our precious time to work on such a project. We got more time now, but we usually do our own stuff, but I do sometimes wonder if it be worth us going back to doing more art.

You can see some of what we did here:

https://www.deviantart.com/sligstorm

and I recently realized we never uploaded the last of what we did or the start of our opening animatic either. It featured sligs sending their beloved queen Skillya fan mail (mostly bout their new guns, beating up Mukodons and how they hope she’s proud).

...mail of which would go down a chute into an incinerator to keep her butt warm. I need to get off my arse and put the sound and stills together and upload what little we started because I still think it’s very funny and worth sharing.

[alienguardian]

Bless Farzad for giving us this beautiful lady

[ask-alf-oddworld]

MOTHERS

[oddclan-askblog]

28 for the Oddworld ask game!

Which character from the lore do you hope shows up in the games?

Queen Skillya of the Sligs. Seems like she'd be a very sassy and mean character. I'd love to see how Abe and Alf interact with her. Especially if the got to do so after meeting Queen Sam (just to slam down how much worse the Slig queen is lol.) Also 3D modeled baby sligs would be cute af.

[a-table-of-fics]

21 and 22

Oddworld Ask Game

Do you have any headcanons?

My main one is actually going to come into play in my fic, or so I hope!

You see, the official story is that the Sligs were useless pond scum until they made a deal with Glukkons for cybernetic parts. Given how many of them are sold off by Skillya at birth, I don't think this is the whole story, if it's really true at all. I think this is propaganda to make Sligs grateful for their place.

Do you have any AU ideas?

Unfortunately, I do not have any, per se, but alternate scenarios would be fun to witness. What would happen if the Glukkons never retreated to dark magic, or attempted to reconcile with the Mudokons today? What if the Wolvarks started trying to find jobs in East Mudos? What if Munch never met Abe?

All of these are fun ideas, but I haven't gotten around to really thinking about this, I'm afraid.