#sorry i just REALLY like evolutionary biology

[anonymous-dentist]

okay so moth asked about breaking dawn werewolf sizes, and so here's a brief explanation as best as i can manage:

The orange wolf represents a dire wolf, or Aenocyon dirus, in comparison to an approximately 6 foot tall human. These fuckers were the biggest wolves to ever live at about 3'9 at the head.

They're also about the same size as a small werewolf. Bigger than normal wolves, but small for their species. Think Quackity Wolf from chapter three. (For reference, a Great Dane dog would be bigger than the biggest real world wolf.)

But BIG wolves? Those can easily reach the same level as the ones from Twilight, especially European werewolves because their bodies evolved to get used to more open plains than forests. You need to be smaller to get through a rainforest, for example, so Forever Wolf is bigger than, say, Missa Wolf. Meanwhile Spreen Wolf would probably be at least bear sized, if not larger (I haven't decided yet) because a lot of Argentina is kinda just. Flat. If that makes sense

(Because I'm a huge biology nerd, I've decided that Darwinian evolution applies to the supernatural.)

^ a Twilight werewolf, which would probably be Forever Wolf sized

I hope that makes sense?

[anna-the-undertaker]

Hi Anna! I always love to read all of your writing because it's so interesting and amazing! especially "Rebirth" is one of my favorites, I like how you explained the environment and relationships with 7 demons that affected the MCs' bodies and changed their bodies or DNA to survive in the environment they live in. And I LOVE that you brought up Nephilim for your MCs. (I wanted to read about Nephilim for a long time🫠) so what I want to ask is if MCs bodies were fully evolved, with both angel and human blood and a pact with demons, would they have enough power to become a Chimera with a body similar to falin from (Dungeon Meshi) and with such great power, would they be able to maintain their sanity and have full control over their power? *I'm really sorry if my question is too long or some words may be wrong* I would love to see you write about this, but if you're not comfortable, that's okay🥹 I wish you good health, both physically and mentally, and get enough rest❤️

Hi! Thank you so much! I'm so happy you have enjoyed my writing. I am seriously psyched to write for this. As I am sure you noticed, I love science/biology/theoretical topics. Especially when combined with fantastical worlds like in Obey Me. Using the topic of human evolution and the influence a demonic and angelic presence would have on MC is just so much fun. This turned into more of an essay or rather a theoretical explanation so if you would like me to turn this into a fic like Rebirth please let me know :) And I wish all the same to you as well.

In the world of Obey Me!, MC's unique heritage as a descendant of Lilith—a former angel reborn as a human—offers a fascinating avenue to explore the intersection of angelic, human, and demonic biology. By integrating the supernatural and evolutionary principles, we can hypothesize the possibility of MC evolving into a Chimera-like being, similar to Falin from Dungeon Meshi, while considering the implications on their sanity and control over their newfound powers.

The Biological and Supernatural Foundation:

Human Evolution and Supernatural Influence Human evolution is defined by adaptability, which has allowed Homo sapiens to survive and thrive under diverse conditions. When considering MC, we must explore how the blending of human, angelic, and demonic elements could influence this adaptability. The human body, already highly malleable in response to environmental stressors, would be the perfect vessel for such an extraordinary transformation, especially if influenced by supernatural forces.

The key lies in the concept of atavism, where ancestral traits resurface due to dormant genes being reactivated. If we accept that some of Lilith’s angelic qualities were passed down genetically, then MC might possess latent angelic traits that could be triggered by their pact with demons, catalyzing a profound physical and metaphysical evolution.

Angelic and Demonic Biology Angelic biology, in this universe, is marked by purity, resilience, and a high affinity for light-based energies. Angels are beings of order and harmony, with their power fundamentally tied to divine will and cosmic balance. Demons, conversely, embody chaos, power, and a deep connection to darker energies. Their biology is designed for survival in hostile environments, and their power is linked to the seven deadly sins, each representing a fundamental aspect of their existence.

MC’s body, already an amalgamation of human and angelic traits, would undergo radical changes when exposed to demonic energy through their pacts. The combination of demonic chaos and angelic order within a human framework could lead to the emergence of a Chimera-like form—one that is not purely one thing or another but an amalgamation of all three.

The Evolution into a Chimera:

Physical Transformation MC’s transformation into a Chimera-like being would likely involve the activation of latent angelic genes combined with the influence of demonic power. This transformation would resemble a form that balances the traits of all three ancestries. Drawing from Dungeon Meshi’s Falin, whose body integrates features of multiple species, MC might develop a form that is both majestic and terrifying—an angelic aura fused with demonic strength and human adaptability.

The physical manifestation could include angelic wings, demonic horns, and a humanoid frame capable of withstanding extreme conditions. The human body’s adaptability would allow for the integration of these features without rejection, with the newfound form being a harmonious blend rather than a patchwork of mismatched parts.

Supernatural Abilities This new form would grant MC a host of abilities: enhanced strength and speed, unparalleled healing, and the ability to wield both light and dark magic with equal proficiency. The angelic heritage might grant powers of purification and protection, while the demonic influence could bestow abilities of destruction and domination. The human element would serve as the bridge, allowing MC to use their powers with a degree of versatility that neither angels nor demons possess.

The Psychological Implications:

Maintaining Sanity The question of whether MC could maintain their sanity hinges on the psychological stress of embodying such divergent forces. The human psyche, while resilient, is vulnerable to fragmentation when exposed to conflicting influences. Here, the role of MC’s human consciousness becomes crucial. Their connection to Lilith—a being who experienced both angelic and human life—may provide a stabilizing influence, enabling them to reconcile the chaotic nature of their powers.

Control Over Power To control such immense power, MC would need to integrate the disparate parts of their nature into a coherent identity. This might involve a deep psychological struggle, as the angelic and demonic aspects vie for dominance. However, if MC can achieve a balance—accepting both the light and dark within them—they could emerge as a being of unparalleled strength and wisdom. This synthesis of power could lead to a state of transcendence, where MC is no longer bound by the limitations of any single nature but instead exists as a new, hybrid entity with full control over their abilities.

The Role of Lilith’s Legacy:

Lilith’s angelic qualities, passed down through her bloodline, would serve as the foundation for MC’s transformation. Her resilience, compassion, and defiance against divine authority could manifest in MC as an indomitable will, allowing them to harness their powers without losing themselves. The presence of these traits suggests that Lilith’s influence has been subtly shaping MC’s evolution all along, preparing them for this moment of transformation.

If MC's body and mind could not adapt to their new Chimera-like form, the consequences would be catastrophic—both psychologically and physically. The delicate balance between their angelic, human, and demonic traits would unravel, leading to a terrifying descent into madness and a grotesque transformation that could make them a monster far worse than the demons themselves.

Psychological Descent into Madness:

The first sign of MC's inability to adapt would manifest in their psyche. The human mind, even one strengthened by supernatural resilience, is not designed to handle the constant clash of divine order and demonic chaos. The angelic part of MC would seek harmony, while the demonic influence would fuel destructive impulses. Trapped between these opposing forces, MC's consciousness would begin to fracture, leading to severe cognitive dissonance. They would experience horrifying hallucinations, hearing the voices of angels and demons screaming in their head, each demanding dominance.

As the pressure mounts, MC would lose their sense of self. The once clear boundaries between their human emotions, angelic virtues, and demonic urges would blur, leaving them in a state of perpetual confusion and torment. Their mind, overwhelmed by the conflicting energies, would spiral into insanity. Rational thought would give way to primal instincts, and MC would become increasingly erratic, lashing out in uncontrollable fits of rage and despair.

Physical Deterioration and Transformation

The failure to adapt would also trigger a nightmarish transformation in MC's body. The once harmonious blend of angelic, demonic, and human traits would turn into a grotesque amalgamation, as their body tries and fails to reconcile these conflicting energies.

Skin and Flesh MC's skin would begin to tear and split at the seams, unable to contain the volatile mix of divine and infernal energy. The angelic light within them would sear their flesh from the inside, while the demonic darkness would corrode it from without. Their skin would blister and crack, revealing raw, pulsating muscle beneath, with patches of radiant white light and inky blackness fighting for dominance. The resulting form would be a horrifying patchwork of angelic brilliance and demonic decay, neither fully one nor the other.

Limbs and Appendages Their limbs would elongate and contort in unnatural ways, as their body struggles to accommodate the conflicting energies. Angelic wings, meant to be symbols of purity and grace, would become twisted and malformed, with feathers falling out in clumps, leaving behind skeletal remains dripping with blood and ichor. Their hands and feet would morph into grotesque claws, sharp and jagged, as the demonic influence asserts itself. These claws would be capable of rending flesh and bone with terrifying ease, a testament to the destructive power coursing through their veins.

Eyes and Face MC’s eyes would change as well, losing any semblance of humanity. One eye might glow with an ethereal, almost blinding light, while the other would burn with a hellish fire, each representing the warring forces within them. Their gaze would become wild and unfocused, filled with a maddening mix of fear, rage, and despair. Their face, once familiar, would warp into something monstrous, with sharp, predatory features emerging as their demonic nature gains ground. Their mouth might elongate, teeth sharpening into fangs meant for tearing flesh, while their voice would become a distorted, guttural growl.

Becoming a Monster Worse Than Demons

With their mind shattered and their body twisted, MC would no longer be recognizable as the person they once were. The final stage of their transformation would be the loss of all human reasoning and morality. They would become a true abomination, a creature driven only by base instincts—hunger, rage, and a need to destroy. Their angelic and demonic traits would no longer be in conflict but would instead fuel a terrifying synergy, creating a being that is both holy and profane, yet utterly devoid of compassion or mercy.

This Chimera-like creature would surpass even the worst of demons in its monstrosity. Where demons are creatures of sin, motivated by vice, this new form would be a vessel of pure, unrestrained chaos. It would hunt and kill indiscriminately, driven by a need to satisfy the conflicting energies within it. The creature would feed on the life force of others, both to sustain itself and to ease the constant agony of its existence.

The Aftermath

The longer MC remained in this monstrous form, the more their body would deteriorate. The conflicting energies would continue to tear them apart from within, causing their flesh to rot and fall away, only to regenerate in a never-ending cycle of decay and renewal. Their body would become a grotesque shell, a prison for their fractured mind, with nothing left of the person they once were.

In the end, this monstrous being would be an embodiment of despair and suffering, a tragic testament to what happens when the balance between light and dark is lost. A creature of nightmares, worse than any demon, and beyond redemption.

In this state, MC would be feared by angels, demons, and humans alike, a cautionary tale of the dangers inherent in wielding power beyond one’s control.

[catboybiologist]

has anyone ever told you that you're perfect as a biological man and you should learn to love yourself as the man that you are????

so cw for discussions of transphobia and all that. So first off, yes, but I'm still trans. End of that discussion.

But anyways, I got this and a similar ask back to back, from either a transphobe or a troll making a weird joke. While the asks themselves are uninteresting, they made me want to talk about something that's been brewing in my head a while. And that's how the phrases "biological man" and "biological woman" make no goddamn sense, as a biologist. So I'm gonna use this ask as starting point to launch into that greater discussion- I'm not really responding to the asks itself, more dumping some thoughts I've had kicking around for a while. (Also sorry this blog is so transfemme language centered sometimes, I'm just writing from my perspective and don't want to exclude anyone I'm sorry. The rest of this post will be from a transfemme perspective but applies to transmascs as well for testosterone and other elements of ftm transition).

The reason it doesn't make sense to me is like, what exactly do you mean by biological? You're describing a massive biological system, and all of its components. So let's dissect what you could mean by "biological".

Obviously you're not talking about the entire human biochemical system, because biology includes our thoughts and behavior. So if someone socially or identity transitions, we're already eliminating some biological factors from what we consider as "biological" here.

Soft tissue secondary sex characteristics are easily acquired by HRT. Shit, I have some breasts growing already, and I'm 4.5 weeks in. So that can't be what you're talking about.

So maybe you're talking functional genetics? Well if we wanna talk that way, we gotta talk about gene regulation. The entire point of taking HRT is the change patterns in gene expression across the body, suppressing genes associated with masculine secondary sex characteristics and promoting genes associated with feminine secondary sex characteristics. Estrogen, like any hormone, is a signalling molecule that is trafficked between cells and across the body. Its job is to kick off a network of downstream signals that carry out a variety of individual functions. So in terms of active genes, a trans person on HRT will functionally be the sex of their target gender.

Okay okay, maybe for some reason you don't care if they're off or on, if you have a gene that has the potential to make you male, you're a man, dammit! Well, as mentioned before, everyone has the genes required to give you secondary sex characteristics of either sex. So under that definition, everyone is biologically both a man and a woman at the same time. And also biologically cancer. Not "biologically has cancer", biologically IS cancer. Also, we're all every organ all at once everywhere on our body. Changing patterns in gene expression are how one organ differentiates from another, and how many visible traits arise. As mentioned earlier, this includes many genes responsible for secondary sex characteristics.

But chromosomes! Y chromosome is a man! The only reason the X and Y chromosomes have relevance to sex determination is due to the Sry gene, which is linked to the Y chromosome. Why is this the case? Well, your chromosomes are paired. Normally, pairs of chromosomes are the same size and have the same genes. This is helpful, because it means you can have two copies of every gene- if one becomes nonfunctional, you have a backup, or you can express multiple spicy variants of the same gene. Somewhere in our evolutionary history, one of these pairs of chromosomes experienced a large scale deletion, causing many of these genes to be missing. It's fine if you have the backup copies on the other chromosome- but some kind of patch needs to be developed to help make sure that, on average, most offspring have at least one copy of the full chromosome. So, the individuals that linked the Sry gene to the Y chromosome, the chopped-up version of the chromosome, passed down some offspring. But there's nothing intrinsic about why it has to be this way- most animals don't have chromosomal sex determination at all. Even in mammals its fairly common for an X chromosome to grab the Sry gene, creating a phenotypic male with an XX karyotype. It's an evolutionary patch, nothing more, and a rule that is frequently broken. And if we want to talk about evolutionary patches being biological determinism… well then let's start talking about how vitamin C deficiency is the "biologically mandated" state of the human. And besides, chromosome structure is really mostly relevant for how it functionally affects gene expression, and we already talked about how gene expression is changed by HRT here.

Alright, alright dammit. I'm talking about the genitals, dammit. If you have a penis you're a man! Okay great. Tell me if you would classify post-SRS women as "biological" women then. Also, we're really starting to reach here.

Fine! I'm talking about bone structure and bone structure alone! I mean yeah, some elements of bone structure will always remain in someone that's had testosterone in their system long enough- its rock deposits in your body after all, its difficult to reverse. But some don't! Even adults on transfemme HRT experience hip widening, changes in height, and other changes in their bones (they just take a LONG time, and I've often ranted about the massive amount of misinformation regarding how long HRT takes to show its full effects). Additionally, there's plenty of surgeries for facial structures- is FFS the true hallmark of a "biological" woman? And also… no matter what metric you start drawing lines on here, you're gonna end up excluding some cis women as well.

To be abundantly clear, NONE of this is to say that you aren't valid if you aren't medically transitioning. What I'm doing here is pointing out that "biological" is a useless, overexpansive, arbitrary adjective that, even using the most transphobic definitions, still includes most trans people. The line is drawn… somewhere in here, to them. And more often than not, it will be drawn wherever excludes the most trans people, which will invariably exclude some cis people, and they'll all eat each other alive.

The reality is that "man" and "woman" are useful conventions that can be generally applied to classify most people into one category or another. And that's not unique to gender, it's literally how language works. As with pretty much any linguistic classification, its observational, not prescriptive. When thinking up of names for animals, we don't think up of a definition first, we see a group of animals that share similar traits and then think up of a name that will represent that species. But then, if we find more edge cases later, or an edge case becomes more prominent, we either adjust the definition or subdivide the group further with accurate terminology. Imagine if, around the time humanity discovered weasels, we made a definition of weasels that only included the European Mink. Then we found the least weasel, and people started crusading about how its "not biologically a weasel" and "defend weaselkind". It's just so… arbitrary. Where it begins and ends is up to us as a society, and linguistics, meaning that "biological" as an adjective here isn't doing much.

What is a woman? Well, some combination of the factors above, and many, many more I didn't talk about here. It's a classification cluster of people exhibiting certain traits that is not easily reducible to a simple adjective. And guess what, so is literally anything we see in the world. What is a race? What is a nationality? What is a species? What is continent? There are useful, simple definitions for each of these things- and those definitions are helpful on a first pass! But once you start to examine it more closely, that utility breaks down, and you have to get more nuanced. Which is exactly what happens for trans people, but for some reason, people aren't willing to have that conversation in the same way we're able to have quirky debates over whether or not Australia counts as a continent or an island.

I want to develop these thoughts further at some point, but I hope this is at least a good summary of my perspective on all this, as a biology grad student, and I hope that some people find utility and comfort in my explanation!

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Ben Appel

Published: Dec 26, 2023

In 2021, Harvard evolutionary biologist Carole Hooven stated on a television news program that there are “two sexes” and that “those sexes are designated by the kinds of gametes we produce.” She added that “understanding facts about biology doesn’t prevent us from treating people with respect” when it comes to “their gender identities and use [of] their preferred pronouns.” Afterward, a Harvard graduate student, in her official capacity as director of the Human Evolutionary Biology Department’s Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Task Force, tweeted that Hooven’s “dangerous” and “transphobic” remarks made the department unsafe for transgender people. The Graduate Student Union took out a petition against Hooven, and, since no one would agree to serve as her teaching assistant, she had to discontinue her popular lecture course. This past January, under duress, Hooven retired from her position at Harvard.

More recently, I heard Hooven speak at a conference in Denver. She talked about academic freedom and her dedication to creating a just society. She said something I believe: that the truth is the way toward true social justice, and that the truth is what ultimately alleviates human suffering. After Hooven left the stage, I tweeted my thoughts about what she said, concluding, “Yep, I’ll die on that hill.” A Twitter user, in a now-deleted series of replies, responded, “Wish you would then. And quickly.” Later, this person elaborated, “Cis white conservative gays can all d*e. Please do, no one likes you.”

This might be the first time I’ve been called “conservative” for voicing my support of the truth and social justice. Right-wing homophobia is nothing new, though the enmity for “cis white gays” like me from the other side of the aisle has sadly also become widespread online. Here’s a very small sampling:

“[C]is white gay men are the weakest links and idc who knows it.” — @ann_forcino.

“ur rave wasn't ‘100% queer joy’ it was a warehouse party full of white cis gay men who want to dance and fuck each other lmfao [...] “that's not queer joy, that's f^g joy.” — @Maxies_back

“Chelsea and Hells Kitchen, more so than other neighborhoods in New York, produce nothing better than prissy, entitled cis White Power pretentious gay men, who don't respect diversity, or the rule of law.” — “LGBT for Change”

“Maybe they were right all along and white cis gays really do go to hell.” — Jerry Falwell @obssdwmlp

“Behind every bad man there is an even worse cis gay white man.” — @ANIMETWTDNI

“We need to realize that gay cis white men are still cis white men.” — @pettypiedpipertake

“Maybe homophobia against cis white gay men is valid.” — @heartIwin

“Noah Schnapp is also evidence that gays will truly go to h£ll. especially a cis white upper class gay like i genuinely, genuinely mean that and i’m sorry if that comes off as problematic.” [Schnapp is a 19-year-old Jewish gay actor who has spoken out in support of Israel in the wake of the October 7 2023 terrorist attacks.] — @brat6z

 “I love it when white gays erase the trans and black side of this flag [...] You faggots deserve to get hatecrimed to death.” — @daredevilshill_

Writing for The Nation in 1994, the gay playwright Tony Kushner argued that homosexuality and socialism are intrinsically linked. Homosexuals, he wrote, “like most everyone else, are and will continue to be oppressed by the depredations of capital until some better way of living together can be arrived at.” Kushner lamented the growing number of gay activists, like Andrew Sullivan and Bruce Bawer, who advocated a more pragmatic approach to equal rights. The radical contingent of the LGBT community has long pejoratively described these types of gay and bi people — those who prioritize marriage equality, the right to serve openly in the military, and peaceful inclusion in Western society — as “assimilationist.” Real gay liberation, the radicals argue, will result from razing Western civilization and its capitalist, cisheteropatriarchal system and rebuilding it in their utopian vision. Like the gay journalist Donna Minkowitz once said to Charlie Rose, “We don’t want a place at the table — we want to turn the table over.”

The thing is, the pragmatic approach won. Today, gay, lesbian, and bi people get married, serve proudly, have jobs, own homes, and raise families. Like black civil rights leaders who preached nonviolent protest and a politics of respectability, discerning LGBT activists took the long view. We don’t want to exist on the margins of society, they insisted, we want to participate in it. LGBT people, just like black Americans, are a vital part of the fabric of this nation.

But the radicals haven’t taken this defeat lying down. After the 2015 Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which made marriage equality the law of the land, the radicals pounced. “You got what you want,” they seemed to say. “Now it’s our turn.” LGBT rights organizations, either under the influence of impatient extremists or in an attempt to stay relevant (i.e., donor-worthy), refocused their missions to a form of revolutionary activism that purports to fight on behalf of trans people but in practice agitates for a revolt against Enlightenment ideals, liberalism, capitalism, and even basic biology.

Every LGBT organization seemingly became an extension of a university Gender Studies department, whose purpose was not to produce new knowledge but to interrogate — or, in their academic lingo, queer — existing knowledge which they spuriously associate with “whiteness”, colonialism, and Western patriarchy. Alongside this, a new social hierarchy of disadvantage was erected, where everyone was in competition to be the most “marginalized” — and therefore deserving of resources, a voice, and power in the revolutionaries’ value system. According to that value system, being gay or bi seemed to matter far less if one were also white, cis, and male, and therefore deemed to be in cahoots with the oppressors.

In 2017, while I was a student at Columbia University, I interned for GLAAD, one of the largest LGBT organizations in the US. Not only had their mission absorbed this new orthodoxy, it had filtered down to the interpersonal level. On campus and at GLAAD’s offices, I was regularly called “cis” in a kind of sneering, vitriolic tone that reminded me more than a little of the bullies who called me “fag” in middle school. The oddest thing was that much of the vitriol was coming from people who didn’t seem to be LGB, or even T, but who identified only as nonbinary or “queer.” Many of the people I encountered seemed to be profoundly homophobic. Any gay or bi man that didn’t at least adopt he/they pronouns, especially if they were white, was considered assimilationist, right-wing, traitorous upholders of the evil sex binary.

I never quite got used to being eyed with suspicion by other activists for my normative, gender-conforming appearance, or the constant bad-faith interpretations of anything I said. The only cis white gays spared this unfairly cold treatment were the ones who made a public show of being self-hating — the ones who renounced their “cis white gayness” and frequently apologized for their white privilege.

It was alarming to be on the receiving end of such vitriol simply for being myself — for not shaving one side of my head, painting my nails, piercing my septum, and adopting plural pronouns. It was alarming especially because so much of the hate I received when I was young came precisely because I was way too sex-nonconforming (in fact, in middle school, my classmates would often ask me if I was a boy or a girl). I wondered if my peers cared that I had been mercilessly bullied as a gay kid, or that I had worked on a trans rights anti-discrimination campaign when they were barely teenagers. I knew that my volunteering for marriage equality wouldn’t earn me any points, since marriage was to them an antiquated Western institution and part of an “assimilationist” agenda. This attitude has become so entrenched in LGBT activist spaces, I suspect it partially explains why support for same-sex marriage among Gen Z Americans has dropped from 80% in 2021 to only 69% in 2023.

Last year, I got a little more clarity about this issue when I came across an article, also written in 1994, by Stephen H. Miller. The publishing journal, Heterodoxy, titled it “Gay-Bashing by Homosexuals,” although Miller’s original title was “Gay White Males: PC’s Unseen Target.” In the late 1980s and early 90s, Miller chaired the media committee of GLAAD’s New York chapter. In fact, Miller came up with GLAAD’s mission statement, which was to “fight for fair, accurate and inclusive representations of gay and lesbian lives in the media and elsewhere.” In the article, Miller wrote that he was “purged” from GLAAD in 1992 because he objected to the rising political correctness and censoriousness in the gay, lesbian, and bisexual movement. Similar to the cultural shifts of the past decade, Miller recounts how activist organizations began prioritizing race and gender (and of course, the Correct political views) over individual merit. New staff members had to attend “endless sensitivity sessions” which “identified white men (whatever their sexual orientation) as the oppressor class.” Suddenly, it seemed like there was more antagonism towards the “white males” within the LGBT rights movement than without. Miller, who described himself as a “political moderate who believed in dialogue with the straight world and a good-faith search for common ground,” found himself “shunned.”

The race and gender quotas that LGBT rights organizations began adopting, Miller wrote, included weighted voting that favored women and people of color. For example, after regional delegations of organizers for the 1993 March on Washington for LGB rights failed to achieve their quotas, it was decided that women’s votes would count for three votes apiece and non-white votes would count for two votes apiece. That decision — and the many others that have since followed in LGBT activist spaces — calls to mind some dark and creepy moments from American history best learned from rather than imitated.

Of course, this also raises the question: Who decides who is a person of color and who is white, and how? Will they apply the one-drop rule, the early 20th-century legal principle that deemed any American with even one black ancestor (“one drop of black blood”) as black? I suppose that would be illegal since the Supreme Court outlawed the one-drop rule in its 1967 Loving v. Virginia decision. And yet, I’m not surprised by these backward tactics. It was Ibram X. Kendi who recently wrote, “The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.” Around and around we go.

Then as now, as Miller wrote, anyone who challenged this illiberal orthodoxy was “deemed racist and sexist” and accused of harboring the belief that “white men are the main victims of discrimination.” Naturally, Miller notes, such accusations serve to discourage people who sense this hostility toward gay white men from voicing their dissent.

Then after AIDS decimated gay and bi male activist communities, lesbian radical feminists moved in, and a “critical attitude toward men, male sexuality, and ‘the patriarchy’” became the norm. “Male solidarity, once a hallmark of gay liberation, is now anathema.”

A direct line can be drawn from this upheaval in the early 1990s and the divisiveness in today’s LGBT activist spaces, where “cis gays” — and, in particular, “cis white gays” — are seen as upholders of villainous Western cisheteropatriarchy and its henchman capitalism. These modern activists are sure to include “white” not only out of an animus against white people, but because they assume that all people of color are helpless victims of Western capitalism who, because of their oppression, invariably hold the “correct” far-left politics. In his aforementioned article, Kushner invoked Oscar Wilde, quoting “A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at.” He added that he is “always suspicious of the glacier-paced patience of the right.” Writing for The Advocate, the gay writer Bruce Bawer responded that he and so many others are “impatient with models of activism that involve playing at revolution instead of focusing on the serious work of reform.”

This anti-“cis white gay” attitude proliferates in LGBT media as well. “White Gay Men Are Hindering Our Progress as a Queer Community” was the title of an article published in the magazine Them. “You had your time — now, we have other things to fight for,” read the subhead. “Let's Talk About People That Aren't Young Cis White Gay Men,” a HuffPost article was titled.

I could go on and on.

A few years ago, I attended a conference for LGBT journalists. There, I met a young, white, gay writer who would go on to work for a progressive news outlet in New York. He said his upbringing in a Southern state had made him racist, but since then, he has “trained” himself to be attracted to black and brown people, and now black and brown people are the only types of people he wants to sleep with.

If this is the “progressive” strategy for combating racism, I want no part of it. And any liberal cis white gay person who opposes racism won’t either. This is racism, operating under the guise of “anti-racism”, plain and simple. It attempts to end inequality by inverting it and, in the process, is attacking the foundations of the principles that have enabled the remarkable progress our society has made in transcending bigotry and prejudice. I only wish more people who saw this dogma for what it is were unafraid to voice the truth about it.

==

Homophobia and anti-gay hate are alive and well as progressive virtues.

[asshole-rebel-psycho]

Forcing myself to like other lesbians a memoir.

That awkward moment when you swipe right on a similar type of masc lesbian as you on a dating app. You are only marginally attracted to them because they are the only normal looking profile within 15 miles of your location and you'd feel bad to pass a fellow lesbian bro up.

They swipe right too and match!

The next day you half reluctantly message them on Bumble with 4 hrs left keeping in the back of ur mind that they indeed did not bother to message you at all too so that's your first hint of suspicion.

You ignore the subtle red flag because why not give it a go!?

You answer her pre set opener asking

" what is one thing that I wouldn't know about you from your profile"

In a friendly, light, charismatic way with interesting details about yourself she can pull from...

You end your personal pitch by asking her

"what about you?"

And your fellow lesbian then responds with

" I drive a Tanker Truck".

.... that's it. With no questions 😆

I then respond ( because I'm nice and I don't want took like I'm ghosting her for her job lol)

By saying " oh cool, that's a good job. My dad is a trucker, He's looking into other trucking jobs like that one."

You decide to end it after that by not asking a question thinking their dull ass will unmatch but...

They ask you another question 🤣 🤣

So then you continue on asking questions to carry the convo because you think they are interested and were just being boring but they end up not asking any more questions further into the chat after several days of them keeping the convo light and about the weather but still somehow moving it along...wasting both of our times.

U end up wondering 🤔 if they weren't into me why did they even respond to begin with?

And what makes things worse is that you two are both the only lesbians within miles of rural land and you weren't even that attracted to her to begin with but because you don't have much lesbian or non poly queer girl options you decided to give her a chance.

Only to find out that just because you two are both normal, stem lesbians in the same area doesn't mean you can force chemistry or attraction.

Ten years of technology cannot erase 10,000 yrs of evolutionary biology!

But what really sucks is that as a fellow lesbian I know her single ass ain't matching with too many eligible Bachelorettes in the area. 😂 because I look similar to her and I'm not. Only a few a month.

So it makes you feel like shit because even when this lesbian is thirsty in the 🏜 desert she refuses the only bottle of water within 30 miles. All because you aren't more femme looking with baby girl energy. That's it. We need balance and the vibes need to be different, not same.

Kinda fucked up but that's the way it is.

To my fellow soft butch and masculine lesbros out there! I will probably swipe left but hopefully we can be pals down the line. We are lonely, tired, hated and need eachother's support. Just because we aren't attracted doesn't mean we can't love eachother as lesbian bros.

This was long winded sorry!

Yours truly,

The lesbo Carrie Bradshaw lol 😆 🏳️‍🌈

[mangora]

Sorry for party Jaking. Anyways here are some Jake hcs:

•He mentioned in a greeting that he would’ve majored biology in college? I think? Or that he did major in it? Heard this through the grapevine idk I don’t watch most of the greetings but I like that idea, I think he likes all types of biology, from biochemistry and cellular biology to evolutionary biology and taxonomy. I feel like he’d enjoy being a professor honestly, he seems like a research paper kind of guy. I could also see him being into archaeology and paleontology, he’s a dinosaur enjoyer

•His favorite music genres are indie pop, bedroom pop, and Midwest emo; I could also see him enjoying 80s and 90s electronica, pop, and new wave. He kinda enjoys a little bit of everything emotional and/or pop-adjacent tbh. His favorite artists are Clairo, Blondie, The Front Bottoms, Modern Baseball, Paramore, Hot Freaks, Roar, Devo, Mitski, Marina, Car Seat Headrest, Mom Jeans, Duran Duran, Madonna, Tears for Fears, The Smiths, TV Girl, The Police, and I hate to admit it but he’d also love Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey

•He has snake bites. Idk why I just feel like he’d look good with them

•He’s Japanese & White, maybe like northern Italian. He also grew up Catholic but doesn’t consider himself religious anymore

•Growing up his parents were pretty neglectful and distant emotionally, which is why he got so close with his grandparents

•Generic one but he has BPD, as well as autism and ADHD

•He fidgets with his hands and hair a lot when he’s nervous. When he and Tom were dating, Tom used to braid his hair

•He collects beanie babies. He and his grandmother used to bond over them. Miriam thinks it’s a little silly but will go beanie baby hunting with him anyways

•I feel like he’s a picky eater, like he’s very particular about texture with fruits and vegetables, and he doesn’t like most sauces/condiments, and he’s not a big fan of when his food touches, and he like very rarely likes meat, and he doesn’t like soda because of the bubbles. But perchance I am just projecting a smidge

•I think he’d enjoy basketball. He wanted to play in high school but no one really liked him so he didn’t try out for the team

•He looooves Pinterest

•He gets such bad road rage. Like he never brake checks or follows people or anything but he yells at people the whole time he’s driving and he will honk if you’re going slow in front of him

•He paints his nails. Mostly black but sometimes he does different colors

•He unfortunately uses Twitter a lot. He doesn’t really get into discourse too much, he’s just constantly updating people on what’s going on in his life, which usually isn’t much. “Just ran out of eggs :/” shut up

•He really liked Twilight as a teenager. He also liked One Direction and 5SOS. He was just like that. While you studied the blade he was busy being y/n

•He’s double-jointed

•He wears contact lenses because he’s slightly farsighted. He has a backup pair of glasses just in case but doesn’t really like how they look on him

•He hugs a pillow when he sleeps

[burnwater13]

Concept art by Christian Alzmann, from The Book of Boba Fett, Season 1, Episode 1, Stranger in a Strange Land. Boba Fett is depicted as strangling a sand-beast with the heavy chain he wore while being held by the Sand People. The Sand-Beast is a six-limbed lizard, with humanoid body structures.

Grogu had heard of sand-beasts, but he never thought he’d ever meet anyone who had actually seen one, up close and personal. They had been a topic of hot discussion in the Evolutionary Biology of Humans course that he’d taken as an elective one summer. Since he wasn’t a human, he was very curious about how they had evolved, what they had evolved from and what their future might hold for them. 

Master Chobin taught the course to the first and third forms of younglings. At the time he took it, Grogu had been part of the third form, while Ian, for reasons Grogu never quite understood, was part of the first form. Master Chobin claimed it was because Ian’s records had been lost and she just had to treat the youngling like he was brand new to the Temple. Grogu remembered kind of huffing at the kindly master when that was explained because he’d never heard of any records ever being lost at the Jedi Temple. Ian, on the other hand, hadn’t cared at all. Which Grogu found confusing. But enough of that. 

Master Chobin was a Mirialan with deep, deep, faded purple skin and the most amazing yellow hair Grogu had ever seen. She was very soft spoken and taught all the biology courses for the younglings and padawans. She had tiny diamond tattoos all over her skin and he sometimes wondered what they meant. Ian, on the other hand, wondered if she ever played ‘connect the dots’ when she was bored. 

“For many years, scientists on Tatooine, have traced, studied, measured, and observed the ‘sand-beast�� at all its various points of maturity. One thing that we can say for certain about the creature is that it is not-closely related to humans, but it is related to a distant human off-shoot species that no longer exists.”

She continued to drone on and on in her gentle voice, while Ian quizzed Grogu on whether or not he’d ever seen one, what they smelled like, if they were really stronger than a bantha, and other such nonsense. Grogu had advised Ian to listen to the lecture, but found that he also hadn’t actually heard their instructor provide any meaningful information about the critter. 

For example. Did it eat sitting down or standing up? Could you tell which way it was going based on which exterminates it used to walk? However it did eat, what did it eat to get so gosh darned big? If you asked it politely enough would it give you a ride on it’s first or second set of shoulders? 

He wasn’t sorry Ian was asking these questions, but he was sorry that he couldn’t write them down before Master Chobin stared at them both and asked them if they had something they wanted to share with the class? 

Grogu politely shook his head and tried to memorize the questions that Ian had just rattled off, while Ian stood up and said, “Ya. Did you say whether or not these critters show up in all sand piles or just sand piles on Tatooine?”

“I indicated that while they are located and evolved on Tatooine and prefer to soak in the sand of that planet, there has been little to no research on their introduction to other planets possessing the requisite climate.”

Master Chobin actually seemed pleased by Ian’s question, which had surprised Grogu. 

“Sure. But what does that mean? For example, I happen to know where there is a really big pile of sand here on Coruscant. If that pile of sand had originally come from say, a planet with twin suns and a lot of spare sand, what’s the likelihood that I’d find a sand-beast in it?”

Grogu never heard what Master Chobin replied because the other younglings became very engaged in the conversation. Apparently they had heard a rumor that a huge pile of sand had been deposited in one of the back gardens of the Temple, somewhere near the base level of the structure, but none of them had seen it and they certainly hadn’t been told that it was a hive of sand beasts. Grogu didn’t know that you called more than one sand beast a ‘hive’.

Know, all these years later, he knew Boba Fett. The Daimyo of Mos Espa and essentially the unofficial/official leader of Tatooine. The Daimyo had just told him how he’d saved a child of the Sandpeople from a rampaging sand-beast. That’s how the mysterious desert nomads began to view him as trustworthy. He could finally get all of those questions answered. It was almost too exciting. 

“Young one, you’re hopping up and down like you have sand in your first layer! What is vexing you?” The Daimyo asked, studying him with an experienced eye.

Grogu blurted out the first question he could think of and then hoped it wasn’t possible to actually perish from embarrassment. 

“Where? The same place as all the other critters that live in the desert. The privy.” The Daimyo replied with a laugh. 

Grogu buried his face in his hands. This was not the Way! He was just glad that Ian wasn’t around to hear the answer to his favorite question. He’d never believe it. 

[walpu]

Do you think Halovians lay eggs....? Cuz lately I've been thinking about Sunday and Robin who go into nesting mode during spring, just collecting some sentimental items and decorating their bed and inviting you to check it out and see if it's to your liking and it's such a cute concept to think about, but also, nest = eggs right? So....

I know logically no since they look mammalian and obviously they still have breasts so breastfeeding must be a thing so there's really no need for an egg. BUT everything is kinda magic anyway. Also where tf do the halos come from? Are they born with it? Is it small and squishy for easy birth and hardens and sharpens as they age cuz otherwise I feel really bad for the parents...

BUT ALSO what if that's exactly why they might come out of eggs? Due to the halos?? To make the birthing easier so higher uhhh living rate (forgot the word for it sorry)

OR MAYBE the breasts are purely for decoration? Or maybe their entire appearance is some sort of evolutionary thing to make them look humanoid and better mingle with other species (their whole 'looks like angels and adores by the universe' is kinda sketchy if you ask me) since the siblings are highly symbolized to be in the first triad of the 9 choirs of angels who historically have been depicted as just a bunch of wings wheels and fire. (I have a theory on this regarding their positions actually, but ig it's more speculation lol, i'll share later if that's ok?)

ik the explanation is most likely just Aeon magic or whatever but I love comparing the Halovians with birds because then I can confidently headcanon Sunday as having a cloaca. 

I actually love this a lot 👀

It's kinda boring when all characters are considered having human-like biology and being mammals, hoyo really needs to expand the lore of different species' biology (vidyadharas pleaseee)

Also I would love to hear the theory you mentioned 👀

[nerves-nebula]

hi hi hi i saw your ask about embarrassment and if it'd help i might have an explanation for why being embarrassed feels like the world's ending:

it's an evolutionary thing! at some point in human evolution it ended up that an isolated human was a dead human! this is cause we're exceptionally well at communication and tools and specialization, so we work super well in communities, but we couldn't survive in the wild on our own. plus, if you're alone, you can't really make babies (and even if you bring a baby or have one with a partner while alone, that baby will probably die one way or another), meaning that the whole "survival of the most reproductively fit" aspect of natural selection won't really like you very much.

this resulted in our brains evolving in ways to ensure we'd regulate our behavior to both keep other humans in our community (empathy/sympathy, compassion, forgiveness, etc.) and to ensure we'd STAY in communities. for the latter, we evolved things like shame, guilt, kindness, patience with others, sharing, and *drumroll*... embarrassment!

our brains would much rather sacrifice our own mental health than risk being cast out from communities, because there was no point in being happy if you were gonna die from isolation anyway. this is why stuff like peer pressure and social conformity can manifest—it's a survival instinct.

so if being embarrassed feels more horrible than your actual trauma, that's probably a result of your trauma! your brain's been taught that it can't trust others not to reject you for who you are, so it's desperate to do whatever it can to ensure you don't get kicked out of your community. that's why it feels like it's the end of the world.

TL;DR: our brains evolved to do whatever it takes to keep us in good social standing with our communities, so your embarrassment feels more scary than your actual trauma because your trauma made that process even more intense.

sorry for the super long rant!! it's just that i'm a evolution-focused biology major and growing up i had tons of social anxiety and a terrible fear of embarrassment (which was always being triggered cause of all my undiagnosed neurodivergencies 💀💀) and learning why i felt that way in detail helped me understand myself better and deal with the embarrassment in a much more healthy way because i knew how it worked.

thanks for coming to my TEDtalk :) hope this helped a little!

as fascinating as this is (and it is fascinating, i love to learn shit like this) it doesn't really help my situation. i am still daily ATTACKED by anxiety. my ptsd havin ass WILL have trouble breathing due to an emotional flashback once ever few hours. idk how to fix it and im very tireddd.

[anonymous-dentist]

Hi hi hi!

So ok I saw your post on the evolutionary biology of the lycanthropes(?) On the island and just wanted to say that that s really cool!

Especially thinking of different habitual gene conditions and thinking of where they live and the terrain because no one normally talks about that!!!

Really neat

Was wondering what different species you had in the au and if they were all lycanthropes, or if you had different species in it too

Also what would Philza and jaiden be in your Au?

Just wondering

Thanks!

-Rook

Tbh I’m hesitant to call them species because they aren’t natural but like okay so. They’re just werewolves, unless they’re lobisomem, which have legends so different from European werewolves that I decided they’re their own thing. (Sorry I’m sleepy lol) Those are the relevant brands in this fic ig. But like if a culture has a kind of lycanthrope-adjacent legend, that creature exists in this setting.

And Phil is… something! Idk, I wanna say he’s just deadass an angel working in a morgue with Missa, but I think Moth has him down as a harpy

And Jaiden Is A Vampire

[selfdiagnosedeyemotif]

Chapter One (Tyrri):

Short prologue with 19-year-old Tyrri showing her concept for her dissertation to her professor: A Study on the Interactions of Ecology and Magic in the Farlands

“Tyrri… this is a lot. Are you sure that you can -” “YES I CAN PROFESSOR”

Might include a real actual smash cut just for this scene because that would be HILARIOUS

The ship is mostly populated by ordinary cargo workers, with a small quarters belowdecks for the handful of scholars from the University of Cunningsworth that are heading over

Scrutinise tutorial introduces our main cast of characters: Elias and Lia Aegir, Sebastian Ararius, and Catena Novi

Elias is like. The stereotypical rich one. I know I’m so creative but most of these guys aren’t gonna show up much save for one.

He’s not a bad guy though, just a little disconnected from the others

He’s headed to the Farlands with his research partner and sister, Lia, to study a specific group of local birds that they believe may share an evolutionary ancestor with common Howlers back on the mainland but had diverged from them long ago

Lia is a lot more grounded than her brother but still has that very rich girl feel to her

They’re both nice people just a little… eccentric

Might give them a postgame side quest

Sebastian is a geologist looking to study the bluffs on the northwest of the Farlands (across the Sea Unsundered from the Fjordlands)

A bit more of your classic looking in a book and is surprised when you talk to him because didn’t notice you kinda guy

Not a lot of notes on him

Catena is sitting on the bunk above where Tyrri sleeps and is constantly scrawling in a notebook

Tyrri also notably is a notebook girlie and tries to strike up conversation with her about that and gets shut down HARD

Catena (Tyrri quickly starts calling her “Cat”, with no response still) fully does not talk to anyone throughout the entire trip

Her bunk is also covered in papers. Like so many.

She’s the only other scholar of magic besides Tyrri but isn’t talking to people so she can’t swap ideas and by ALEPHAN please talk to me I want to know your RESEARCH

CAT. CAT PLEASE TALK TO ME.

Sorry about that Tyrri got a hold of the keyboard there

After making landfall in the exploratory colony of Seekersgate (the only town in the Farlands), Tyrri quickly starts moving to get out into the vast world and collect some SAMPLES. Let’s GO. (Okay apparently slipping slightly into character is gonna be like. my new thing for this outline. fun stuff)

Synergise tutorial with just chatting with townsfolk that night. Most of the residents are scholars so after a lively discussion (represented by a fight) a lot of them will just say “this kid’s got some really cool ideas” and join you in your endeavours

Poke around on some forest paths for a while before happening upon a spring over and over (seems like a lot of the paths lead to it)

Jump back into cutscene mode for a research timelapse (lesgo)

Tyrri gradually comes to the conclusion that not only are many of the island’s magical creatures concentrated in this area, many of them also trace back to this one particular spring (this conclusion is made with some help from the siblings Aegir, who are more than happy to do some cool biology stuff with you)

With the help of Sebastian, who pinpoints the source of the spring as being a certain underground cavern, Tyrri is able to go on a little journey underground and find…

The First Dungeon: The Otherworldly Wellspring

This dungeon (which sadly doesn’t exist) is just such a treat for the eyes

Little streams of water lit up by glowing pink-and-purple crystals that stud the walls

It’s… bright, strangely, considering that it’s underground

No ideas for what kind of enemies we’d be fighting here sorry…

Anyways reaching the end of this place, Tyrri and Sebastian find themselves at a lake (he’s your helper for the fight ahead)

The duo start to take samples of the water, but as they start taking samples of the crystals themselves, they find that they lose their shine as soon as they’re chipped off of the walls of the cave

And something doesn’t like that they’re trying to take the crystals.

Emerging from the centre of the lake is a sea serpent that, uncoiled, easily could reach through the entire path to the underground lake out into the daylight (she is SO coiled up)

Tyrri and Sebastian quickly conclude that there is no way to run from them, they’ll just catch up

They refuse to listen to your claims that you were doing this for science and didn’t plan on being invasive, kicking off…

The First Boss: Guardian of the Wellspring

Starting things off with a fun magic snake

It has one bite attack but other than that it’s running magic

Element-wise there’s a focus on fire/ice/lightning (we’ll be seeing a lot of that in this story even outside of Tyrri’s moveset)

Not a ton of notes on this guy sorry

After a certain point: a lot of coils come out of the water, all of them are weak to Lightning, prompts Latent Power

In terms of help Sebastian has mostly skills focused on SP (probably one to restore his own and one to restore Tyrri’s)

Might have Lightning Bolt I haven’t decided yet

After the battle, the serpent calms down enough to listen to reason

Is very conspicuously trying to hide a passage that leads further down into the cave, Tyrri and Sebastian politely don’t mention it until they leave the cave

Says that the crystals draw their magic from the island itself; but the water is steeped with magic and it wouldn’t be too much of a problem to take a little to study

The duo exits the cave, talks a bit about the passage leading deeper, and separates

It isn’t focused on but if you look in the background after this scene concludes Catena is hiding behind a tree, listening in

Tyrri, holding a few test tubes of cave water in her bag, realises that she’ll need a bit of help deciphering its magical secrets and hops on the next ship that could take her back to the mainland, bound for the University of Cunningsworth

[quosterswampdregs]

Been meaning to ask cuz I'm very curious! Are the Swamp dregs ability to consciously and willingly shift their nasal cavity a thing an irl animal can do or is it a thing you came up with your own?

I've been subconsciously doing it with my characters but I doubt I'll be actually making them canon cuz for one thing they're pretty human (which I guess can still work), but most importantly I don't wanna steal someones idea!! D:

Also cuz I'm down for biology stuff, I'd love to know what irl animal does this (if there are) cuz it's such a cool evolutionary adaptation for analyzing scent other than just having bigger with more sensory equipment which I normally find! (I'm sorry if this comes off differently, I'm really bad at setting tone, I don't want to upset anyone ;;)

Woa!! Huge ask, thanks!! I’ll try to answer all of these questions in order:

Biology of Swamp Dregs: For Possum-Nosed Swamp Dragons, they can consciously shift their nasal cavities and such! It’s an adaptation for sniffing out food in a mucky, stuffy area, which is perfect for the swamps. They also use their nose and sensors for moving through sludge and mud. I got the inspiration from moles, seals, etc, but I don’t know if there’s many irl animals that have the same sort of thing going on. (I think there might be a deer that has a similar thing? I saw it in passing but I don’t really like to pay attention to irl mechanics; it’s all fantasy really!).

Content wise, I don’t mind if you use the idea for your own OCs, swamp dregs are an open species and you’re welcome to make one, you know?

Again I don’t really know much about irl animal mechanics, I don’t often pay attention to much nose-related stuff when things get irl. I like the realm of fantasy!

[thedawningofthehour]

Hi, this is a little bit of an infodump.

So I volunteer at an ichthyology lab every Wednesday, and the latest chapter of doth has sent me down the wonderful rabbit hole of evolutionary lineages!! I have been going absolutely feral over them, it's so fascinating!!

I'm writing a little story where I have anthro characters. And obviously I can't just world build like any normal person and just smack the characters in today's society. I am on a mission to backtrack history and evolution to I can find a way to make sense of all of this.

I fully blame you for this (/j /pos), it's interesting, reading about how the earth was built up way before humans. Learning about the early animals and what caused what family to split from the line and branch off into it's own thing.

I asked like, a billion questions to my friends in the lab about lineages and why certain creatures evolved the way they do. Did you know that the sturgeon used to be a boney fish, but then reverted back to it's cartilaginous skeleton!! Those ugly little bastards (affectionate) are even related to bony fish!! The little guys really just said "Fuck your bones, I'm doing my own thing!!" How cool is that!!

I love learning about this stuff!! Thank you for reminding me about it. I'm bugging all my friends about it, it's plagued my mind!!

I love your writing by the way!! I'm not the best with words, but I think it's cool and neat and good and if I could eat it, I would!

Have a nice day!! Sorry for the long ask!

Writing for this fandom has forced me to ask the weirdest, hyper-specific questions to Google. Like, when did primates diverge from turtles? turns out way, way, way before they even slightly resembled either of those things. And it's not like you can really hide that you're researching ninja turtles lore because there's absolutely no reason to otherwise ask that question.

I haven't even gone down the fish evolutionary rabbithole. I did it a bit to figure out Xever's biology and I was very confused a lot.

Wasn't it dolphins that evolved to crawl out of the ocean, then decided that land sucked and went back? I mean, mood, but what the fuck guys? What even is evolution? This is some clown shit.

[sea-salted-wolverine]

hey man sorry to send you an ask out of nowhere but you made a comment on a post about enjoying meandering discussions speculative biology. i do not understand science but i have been trying to give minor scientific justification werewolves in my personal canon. you got any thoughts? sorry if this is a weird ask to send i'm really sleep deprived and it's making me act weird

Werewolves I feel are better off in the hardcore magic category but we'll give it a shot.

So, the real life beasties that have physical cyc to the moon are pretty much all mating cycles so we are going down a very specific path. Coral reefs have multitudes of species that all time their breeding to the full moon to take advantage of both seasonal currents and overwhelmed predators. If the water is absolutely chock full of larve and funky lil fertilized eggs things that want to eat them are spoiled for choice and the individual eggs have a better shot. Bugs do something similar.

Sea turtles lay eggs on the beach and when those babies hatch they find the water by finding the reflection of the moon and following the light. This leads to very sad sea turtle babies who are born on beaches next to cities and wind up following headlights into traffic.

So for werewolves, the moon is less of the driving force behind the transformation and more of a way to sync everyone's transformation to the same night. Figuring out who is a werewolf while the werewolves are all people is nearly impossible and sorting through is a terrible evolutionary strategy especially if revealing yourself as a werewolf to a human gets you chased with pitchforks and torches. From simply an evolutionary standpoint, the way to make more werewolves is to put 2 wolves together and hope they breed. The full moon is just a convenient date for scheduling sexytimes.

So let's think about the transmission of lycanthropy.

In dogs there is a transmisible cancer. Very sad, major bummer, but, the point is that its viral. Or at least acts like a virus. The canine cancer cells (virophages? I'm also operating on less than ideal sleep, bear with me) infect healthy canine cells and then do what cancer does. but the DNA of the cancer cells, while it is still canine, is Not the mutated DNA of the infected dog. It's basically bits of a different dog growing inside the sick dog. Which, in real life is very bad and kills the dog, and if we are going the hard science route only works in one direction. One insane physical transformation is possible, changing back is way harder. Butterflies don't go back in cocoons, salmon don't come back from a spawn.

So imagine lycanthropy to be more like zombification. You get bit and you won't know till the full moon if its infected you. Once you turn, there is no turning back, the wolf overtakes your cells from the inside to use for its own purposes. Once a month the world lives in fear as the beast claims the night, ravening and hungry.

The full moon acts as a spawning schedule for the virus, such a violent transformation is an all or nothing event. Either the infected individual passes on the sickness to lie dormant for another month or their over wrought body gives out under the strain. Like a rabid animal, doomed to die and only a vehicle for the thing that kills them. The full moon is a time for making more werewolves after all.

[these-detestable-hands]

suddenly, tyrri

Chapter One:

Short prologue with 19-year-old Tyrri showing her concept for her dissertation to her professor: A Study on the Interactions of Ecology and Magic in the Farlands

“Tyrri… this is a lot. Are you sure that you can -” “YES I CAN PROFESSOR”

Might include a real actual smash cut just for this scene because that would be HILARIOUS

The ship is mostly populated by ordinary cargo workers, with a small quarters belowdecks for the handful of scholars from the University of Cunningsworth that are heading over

Scrutinise tutorial introduces our main cast of characters: Elias and Lia Aegir, Sebastian Ararius, and Catena Novi

Elias is like. The stereotypical rich one. I know I’m so creative but most of these guys aren’t gonna show up much save for one.

He’s not a bad guy though, just a little disconnected from the others

He’s headed to the Farlands with his research partner and sister, Lia, to study a specific group of local birds that they believe may share an evolutionary ancestor with common Howlers back on the mainland but had diverged from them long ago

Lia is a lot more grounded than her brother but still has that very rich girl feel to her

They’re both nice people just a little… eccentric

Might give them a postgame side quest

Sebastian is a geologist looking to study the bluffs on the northwest of the Farlands (across the Sea Unsundered from the Fjordlands)

A bit more of your classic looking in a book and is surprised when you talk to him because didn’t notice you kinda guy

Not a lot of notes on him

Catena is sitting on the bunk above where Tyrri sleeps and is constantly scrawling in a notebook

Tyrri also notably is a notebook girlie and tries to strike up conversation with her about that and gets shut down HARD

Catena (Tyrri quickly starts calling her “Cat”, with no response still) fully does not talk to anyone throughout the entire trip

Her bunk is also covered in papers. Like so many.

She’s the only other scholar of magic besides Tyrri but isn’t talking to people so she can’t swap ideas and by ALEPHAN please talk to me I want to know your RESEARCH

CAT. CAT PLEASE TALK TO ME.

Sorry about that Tyrri got a hold of the keyboard there

After making landfall in the exploratory colony of Seekersgate (the only town in the Farlands), Tyrri quickly starts moving to get out into the vast world and collect some SAMPLES. Let’s GO. (okay apparently slipping slightly into character is gonna be like. my new thing for this outline. fun stuff)

Synergise tutorial with just chatting with townsfolk that night. Most of the residents are scholars so after a lively discussion (represented by a fight) a lot of them will just say “this kid’s got some really cool ideas” and join you in your endeavours

Poke around on some forest paths for a while before happening upon a spring over and over (seems like a lot of the paths lead to it)

Jump back into cutscene mode for a research timelapse (lesgo)

Tyrri gradually comes to the conclusion that not only are many of the island’s magical creatures concentrated in this area, many of them also trace back to this one particular spring (this conclusion is made with some help from the siblings Aegir, who are more than happy to do some cool biology stuff with you)

With the help of Sebastian, who pinpoints the source of the spring as being a certain underground cavern, Tyrri is able to go on a little journey underground and find…

The First Dungeon: The Otherworldly Wellspring

This dungeon (which sadly doesn’t exist) is just such a treat for the eyes

Little streams of water lit up by glowing pink-and-purple crystals that stud the walls

It’s… bright, strangely, considering that it’s underground

No ideas for what kind of enemies we’d be fighting here sorry…

Anyways reaching the end of this place, Tyrri and Sebastian find themselves at a lake (he’s your helper for the fight ahead)

The duo start to take samples of the water, but as they start taking samples of the crystals themselves, they find that they lose their shine as soon as they’re chipped off of the walls of the cave

And something doesn’t like that they’re trying to take the crystals.

Emerging from the centre of the lake is a sea serpent that, uncoiled, easily could reach through the entire path to the underground lake out into the daylight (she is SO coiled up)

Tyrri and Sebastian quickly conclude that there is no way to run from them, they’ll just catch up

They refuse to listen to your claims that you were doing this for science and didn’t plan on being invasive, kicking off…

The First Boss: Guardian of the Wellspring

Starting things off with a fun magic snake

It has one bite attack but other than that it’s running magic

Element-wise there’s a focus on fire/ice/lightning (we’ll be seeing a lot of that in this story even outside of Tyrri’s moveset)

Not a ton of notes on this guy sorry

After a certain point: a lot of coils come out of the water, all of them are weak to Lightning, prompts Latent Power

In terms of help Sebastian has mostly skills focused on SP (probably one to restore his own and one to restore Tyrri’s)

Might have Lightning Bolt I haven’t decided yet

After the battle, the serpent calms down enough to listen to reason

Is very conspicuously trying to hide a passage that leads further down into the cave, Tyrri and Sebastian politely don’t mention it until they leave the cave

Says that the crystals draw their magic from the island itself; but the water is steeped with magic and it wouldn’t be too much of a problem to take a little to study

The duo exits the cave, talks a bit about the passage leading deeper, and separates

It isn’t focused on but if you look in the background after this scene concludes Catena is hiding behind a tree, listening in

Tyrri, holding a few test tubes of cave water in her bag, realises that she’ll need a bit of help deciphering its magical secrets and hops on the next ship that could take her back to the mainland, bound for the University of Cunningsworth

I like Tyrri a lot! Cat is also extremely sus, don't like her. Sorry no big brain things to say just yet, I've been having a hard time consuming info lately

[qrovidcore]

YES HI THANK YOU FOR ASKING. very sorry that my sources on all of this is that I covered it in anatomy/evolution in undergrad several years ago and cannot link class notes of a class I haven't been in in several years, but it's not terribly hard to go looking for further information on this subject!!

what this post and everyone on it is missing is that we're not talking about light refraction in the sense of how colors are made - yes light bounces off of everything and everything reflects back the wavelength you see it as - but the fact that bird feather structures are incredibly complex and varied, and that different bird colors are derived from very different sources!!! ultimately anatomy wasn't the area into which I concentrated, but as we broadly covered it, the distinctions between sources of feather color work something like this:

so one way that bird feathers can obtain color is via production of pigments by the bird itself. brown and black hues, for example, are derived from melanin in the feather, much the same way that they are in human skin! the key thing to note here is that melanins are pigments. they are molecules produced by the bird's body to color the feather, which, yes those molecules refract light, but that light refraction is the result of pigmentation. remember that.

the other way to acquire color via pigmentation is via absorption though the diet. for example, you've got your bright reds, yellows, and oranges: all of that is carotenoids! the key difference between these and melanins is that these hues are not being produced by the bird itself. pigment granules in these bird feather are designed to absorb pigmentation from plants that these birds eat, which is what gives these feathers their coloration. and as i said - these are also pigments!!! they may be made by plants and not by birds, but they are nonetheless pigments that result in feather coloration.

okay now onto the fun stuff: when we say that blue feathers are just light refraction, what is meant by that is that there is no blue pigmentation in feathers. it's not produced by melanins, or by carotenoids, or any other kind of pigment granule, but rather by the physical structure of the bird feather itself. it's the structures of the proteins within the feather that refracts the light resulting in the hue we see rather than pigmentation!! and the structures in question are different from that of feathers that don't feature those hues, and are in fact different for the different colors produced in this way!! while flat colors like blues are produced by a spongy cortex that refracts light in one direction, iridescent feathers are given their iridescence by their slatted, prismatic cortices!! if i recall correctly, the brilliant iridescence of hummingbird feathers is a result of a unique, particularly complex prismatic feather structure.

anyhow!!!!!! this is about the sum of my firsthand knowledge on this, and i went on to do cellular/molecular biology, and so didn't delve into any further complexities here, but it's stuck with me and i always thought it was super cool!!!!!!!! but yeah, the idea that something isn't ~really~ a color because there's no pigmentation is kind of a misnomer, and is very much caused by people completely missing the structure-function relationships in how color is produced!!!

my bonus fun fact here is that feathers are, evolutionarily speaking, highly specialized scales! they arose from the same place, in an evolutionary development sense of the phrase - the fancy bio term for this is homology!! to clarify though, bird feathers are homologous to the scales of reptiles - fish scales are a completely unrelated case of convergent evolution, and work differently altogether.

hope this was interesting!!!!!!! thank you for asking!!!!!!!!!