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nova-dracomon · 2 years

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What Vaguetypes Mean to Me: Ga'Hoole Owl Edition

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I've been thinking more and more about how there's not nearly enough othervague content. So! Here's my contribution on why I personally love othervague and call my Ga'Hoole owl 'type a vaguetype vs a fictotype.

Why Othervague?

The easiest answer is a dislike for labels. Having the freedom to exist in-between gives me more breathing room to explore my identity. There's no pressure to "conform" if the label is inherently, well, vague. Ha ha. I don't have to worry I'm pushing myself into feeling a certain way to fit--or stress about having to change labels or whatever if my experiences change. Hell, even created knowledge would be fair game here. But we'll talk more about that later.

To clarify, this is not a temporary label for me to use until I sort everything out later. Vaguetype is the final stop. No matter where my self-discovery takes me, the label is reliable and works.

Below I'll pick-apart my various feelings and connections to these owls and how I experience the in-between.

Intrinsic and Integral

I'm avianheated and I don't think it's a mistake that I identify as one too. Which came first is kinda a chicken or the egg scenario. I've heard it spun both ways before and it really comes down to the individual's interpretation of their experiences. Would I feel so drawn to these owls if I wasn't so attached to birds? Or, did I attach to birds because I innately knew they were similar to myself?

I don't know and I don't really mind either way.

I am an owl, but my owl-ness competes internally with dracomon (another vaguetype I'll discuss in a part 2) and human. Even if my feelings wane, I know they'll eventually begin to wax again like the moon. It's like they're tied in with my default settings. I could probably take actions to suppress them and test how true that is, but wtf that sounds awful. Existing this way makes me happy, I feel like myself and I'm certainly not hurting anyone else.

Archetype of the Guardian

What separates archetrope from otherkin?

Sometimes it's easy to see. Like someone identifying with a role totally detached from being explicitly nonhuman. However, when I think about this, archetropes come off as more action-focused to me. They're more concerned with doing things, what actions they're going to take next or at the least concerned with living in alignment to a set of values/role/code. At least, that's the vibe I get.

A big part of my identity is the role of being a guardian, upholding their oath and extending a helping talon to others. For example, few things make me feel more like an owl than working on archival duties (besides maybe being out in a storm!) It's a way to live one of the core values of the tree which is to grow our collective knowledge and share it with all.

The act of continuing the legacy and upholding the tree's standards is a very present ideal for me.

Created Knowledge

Straddling the line between noemata and otherlink, knowledge we acquire and stitch together is probably one of the more contentious areas.

How can you tell noemata from headcanon?

I don't feel it matters to my personal experience. Stories and legends are true in their own way. They're feelings we get in our gizzards that over time become true in our hearts. Thinking about how I was a hireclaw before coming to the Great Tree emboldens me to try harder to be patient and compassionate to others. To be a better owl.

I don't want to concern myself rigorously picking apart what is voluntary or involuntary--100% true kin memory or a fabrication of my mind. I rather spend my time living and being an owl. These feelings are true in my reality, they affect my behavior and drive me to new heights. Even the bits of knowledge about my vaguetype that border more on the headcanon side have important messages about my life and journey. I don't choose things at random, there's something resonating with me that draws me there.

As another piece of this is my kinsona representation. I don't have strong feelings towards a certain owl species, but I feel drawn to long-earred owls at the moment so I represent myself as one. (That's me on the right in the top photo!) The colors and markings are just stylized natural looking ones.

I am an owl of the Great Tree, I long for flight and freedom, knowledge and understanding -- my species is secondary to my actions and words.

The Heart of the Matter

Could I call myself something different and be taken seriously in the community? Of course! But at the end of the day, after all this talking, it comes down to what I want. My desire is to have a nebulous label. If I was forced to pick something else, I think I would simply call myself "unlabelled" or perhaps only "fictionfolk."

-Hortense

#othervague #Ga'Hoole Owl #vaguetype #Ga'Hoole Owl Vaguetype #otherkin #otherkind #alterhuman #fictionkin #fictionkind #archetrope #fictionfolk #nova squawks

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gahooliganspod · 1 year

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I think there is a point from episode 1 that's been dropped a little bit over time that's worth digging into more, and that's the influences of religious Judaism on a lot of the societal and religious views in the series.

Notably, ryb bears a resemblance to rebbe/rabbi, with both primarily serving the role of teachers/guides in their communities. Rabbis teach the Torah while rybs seem more secular, although you could argue that tending the Ga'hoole tree and teaching its history/environment/being the protectors of it (and, by extension, the origin of one source of the world's heroism and justice) has a common thread with Judaism as well.

There is also the contrast between St. Aggie's "questions are forbidden" stance versus the Ga'Hoole tree encouraging and celebrating learning. Judaism encourages questions, education, and religous debate in a way few major religions do - rather than just explaining practices as "well it is this way because God/religious text/your spiritual leader says so".

In episode 7, also - while they appear similar to a Christian abbey or other secluded society, the ideals that Simon and the Glauxian Brothers represent are also key features of Judaism: not to proselytize or convert, and to provide tzedakah (ethically obligated charity/aid) for those in need. While Judaism doesn't encourage monastic piety, in light of the other Jewish influences on the story I wanted to point it out nonetheless.

I'm sure there are more instances than just this, but I'd have to re-read/re-listen to catch them. TL;DR a lot of these owls seem Jewish, and I love that.

I absolutely ADORE these connections, and I'd love to quote you as we go into episode 10 -- failing that, I want our followers here to see it! These are the kind of wonderful observations that make *total sense,* but both PB and I lack the background to notice.

I know you've chosen to remain anonymous, but if you're alright being quoted, feel free to reach out to us privately at [email protected]!

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popculturebuffet · 1 year

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Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole Review (Comission for Rewandemontay)

Hello all you happy owlet's and it's a happy day as I got another new comission person. Welcome Rewandemontay, sorry this took so long as a back injury, stomach issues and other things have taken a hammer to my productivity. Thankfully we're finally here for another look at a creator I think is talented with a fanbase I think is

It's Zack Snyder's Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hool

Guardians comes to us from Animal Logic, a studio I haven't talked about yet. Their a big time effects studio, first hitting it big with babe, who eventually branched into animation, mostly focusing on photorealistic stuff with the occasinal branch out like the lego movie (which still fit to a degree since they wanted it close to stop motion as possible). As you can see by the ENTIRELY ill fitting poster's tagline, this came on the heels of Happy Feet: that film had been a massive success for Warner Bros and they wanted more, aquiring the ya book series legend of the guardians.

Now picking these books.. wasn't a bad idea. I didn't get a chance to read them before this review, so sadly I can't fully evaluate how this works as an adaptation apart from what I could glean from tv tropes and wikipedia, but the basic concept, an epic fantasy story in an owlcentric world that has the owls still function like owls, use owl terms, and fight like them that dosen't sugarcoat the violence.. is an awesome concept. It was also a noble stab to try and make a film that was just straight up an epic fantasy in animation. There's comedy here and a few bits we'll get to that REALLY smack of 2000's animation, but as far as I can remember it'd been a while since someone had done a full on attempt at an epic fantasy story.

Even Zack Snyder was a good choice. As I said in my watchmen review last year he's not a bad director.. he was just a very bad fit for the DCEU, where he just flat out didn't give a shit about the source material. Here while he changed a lot of shit like dc, it's clear that he at least liked the core idea and really showed some reverance to it.

So why didn't we get an epic lord of the rings style trilogy but with owls? Well simple really: from what I can gleam just from an image search and my own memories.. the film was marketed terribly. Besides the very misleading posters for a film that's main plot kicks off with a child kidnapping and quickly gets into child slavery, facisim, race suprmacists, indocrination, the realities and cost of war and death. There are a lot of deaths.

Advertising wise I remember, as I watched all the cartoon channels back then, it being just kind vauge "It's magical, it has owls and some shit, it's from the people who made happy feet". And as someone who really never liked happy feet, I stayed far away.

So the film didn't do great and while a sequel was hinted at in the film and by Animal Logic, it never happened. What's left is a curious piece of a director's filmography and what might of been a hit with better marketing. So come fly with me under the cut as we swoop in and see what this film is.

The film STARTS well. In a land of owls, and a few other critters, a father tells his children Soren, a kind owl and your standard "hero who dreams of something grand" type, played by Jim Sturgess who also did well with a deconscrution of this sort of roll in across the universe, his jealous , bitter and angry brother Kludd played by Ryan Kwanten and his sweet baby sister Eglatine, of the guardians, great protectors who long ago fought a war against the "Ice Claws", who are never really elaborated on but who the guardians beat. But by this time the guardians are a myth: Soren and his dad (played by HUGO FREAKING WEAVING), believie as does his sister.. but Kludd is steadfast it's not true.

Really the family interplay in this first 15 minutes is well done: Noctus soren's dad is fair, kind and patient with soren and kludd. But we also see WHY Kludd is so resentful: Soren naturally takes to flight better and gets his dad's praise.. while Kludd gets gentle reremands for his overconfidence. His dad means well but in Kludd's eye's he's non supportive and his brother being a natural only widens the gap between the two brothers and sets the stage for the tragedy to come. It's also a nice deconstruction of our main hero having natural talent: ti's great and doe shappen and Soren's inexperince and navitie keep him from being TOO sueish, but to someone who struggles to do the same thing it's easy to resent them even if they did nothing wrong. Soren even tries to help Kludd by using a visulasation trick (I.e. thinking of where your going to land. )

The boys lives are changed forever when they acccidently fall out of their tree and nearly die at some wild animals before being saved/kidnapped by Jatt and Jutt, our standard comic relief villians.. who work a little for me. Their banter is fun, yet it dosen't undercut their menance: in fact the fact they are so goofy while being genuinely threatning and kidnapping children makes them more unsettling. The problem is they just don't really fit into the orginzation their in, the Pure Ones. The Pure Ones are our main antagonists, an owl supremacist group who seek to conquer the world and gladly kidnap children to either indocrinate into soldiers or brainwash into soldiers by "Moonblinking" them (forcing them to stare at the moon till their mind blanks out), which trust me is way more horrific than it sounds. The dead eyes it leaves.. truly haunting.

The Pure Ones were the main antagonists of the books, but are given elments of St Aurelious, another villian faction and the ones who kidnapped Soren and had the whole child kidnapping ring int he book. Honestly this change at least makes sense. If it's a good one I can't say but it seems like st auarelious eventually gets overtaken by the pure ones anyway and the children are never rescued. Combining them if your going to try and make three books into one narrative just makes sense.

IT also allows for them to do the other big change and the one I truly love. Again I can't PURLEY judge it as I haven't read the books but apparentlyt here while eventually the big bad, more on that later, Kludd is also just.. evil. He started evil, he sold soren out to the pure ones outright, he's just bad. THat's it. And that's.. boring. You CAN have a character whose just pure evil, but in this context it's just "okay this guy was just always an asshole. "

Here... we actually see Kludd transform from Raph from the tmnt, angry and feeling his father has favioritism but not being a bad sort, to a throughly loyal solider of a facist and racist movement. The film does a really good job showing HOW these movements slowly indoctrinate people: It starts slowly with them encouraging him to not throw his lot in with Soren with soren bravely defends a fellow prisoner.. and gets sent to pick pelets. They then pit the recurits for the pure ones against each other, both feeding into the pure one's apocalypse-esque survivial of the fittest philosphy and into how these sorts of movements breed obidence rather than unity. The focus is on impressing the leader rather than helping each other. The praise gives him what he wanted, while leaving him blind to the fact he's being brainwashed. It's far more compelling ot see clud slowly slide into an all too familiar sort of trap than just be bad

On the opposite ends the owls dig in pellet. Pellets are one of the few things the film goes out of it's way to explain about owls, the rest left to context clues which can be a touch disorenting at first but honestly the film does such a good job using those clues over time you get what this thing is. With pellet's it'd be a bit harder to do that but they simply had Soren and Klud's sister have her first. For the record their basically hard things owls cough up consiting of the exoskeltons and what have you of whatever they ate. It's as gross ass it sounds. And these pellets contain little magnetic bits, which are used for a giant magnet pit that's used for.. something. What that something is I either miss or simply isn't explained in the film version. It IS used for a trap later, but otherwise there's no clear reason for it. THey just have a spooky magical magnetic vortex.

They use moonblinking as mentioned before, but SOren is able to resist simply by closing his eyes when the guards aren't looking. He helps his new friend, the owl he stood up for, Gylfie (Emily Barclay) also avoid it and promises to break them out.

The two eventually get help from Grimble, one of the guards.. who turns out is working with the pure ones under duress. Their allegedly holding his family hostage but they subtly hint he knows by this point their likely dead or brainwashed, and the pure ones are lying to him. So he helps the two young owls learn to fly so they can escape.

This leads to the climax of our first act: Nyra the queen of the pure ones and their real leader (Her husband Metal Beak, while fierce and horrifying, comes off more as a figure head and battle commander while Nyra does all the actual day to day work), played by of all people HELEN FUCKING MEREN. Who does a phnemominal job, of course she does but in a cast that's mostly mid 2000's stars or unknowns, it's weird to see such a huge name plopped in their. Nyra catches them so Grimble bravely holds her and her soldiers off while the kids escape.. and in a heartbreaking momement Soren and Kludd come to a parting of ways as Kludd refuses to leave with him. It's a tense scene that really pays off all the expert build off: Soren is free and can go get help .. but has lost his brother while Kludd's actions prove him to Nyra.. and she manipulates him into falling futher, pointing out his sister to them. What I like though is while what Kludd's doing at this point is horrible.. in his mind.. he thinks it's a GOOD thing. That his sister will be able to grow stronger find the purpose he did... that he dosen't even realize he's handing his baby sister to a CULT.

So our heroes barely escape and soon meet your usual misfits TM , Digger and Twilight, two rapscalions. They also reunite soren with his nursemade whose also a snake, Mrs. Pthiler.. she sure is in this film. Seroiusly she has no real purpose in the plot after this. She facilitates a chase when some ravens snatch her and waste a good two minutes of film but otherwise she contributes not a lot. And that's a problem the film picks up in the middle stretch: it just starts adding characters. I mean the first act had PLENTY sure, but each had a good purpose and reason for existing. After this point they just keep piling characters in like a clowncar who have little to do but fight some bitches later. Digger himself is more there to play off twilgiht's constant love of making songs by dreading it every time. It works. Twilight gets a pass since he DOES contribute. Also he's awesome, adding a lot of fun and helping the heroes simply because he and his friend are lonely and figure why not come along on a grand adventure.

But after a neat sequence of our heroes actually getting to the great tree of Ga'houl and finding the guardians are entirely real, the film just kinda.. stutters It's pacing isn't bad and there's a really good scene with klud after he took his sister, with her wanting their brothe rback.. and klud later being revealed to have moonblinked her in revenge and as bait.

And that stuttering is due to introducing a LOT of characters at once who were likely either filtered in better in the book or simply got introduced in big scenes like this but got fleshed out. It's a problem with the last act of the film: it tries to cram three books woth of stories (going by the outline) into the film and make it one coherent narrative. It dosen't TOTALLY fail at that, the film is still fun to watch.. but it's biggest weakness is one many adaptations before and after it have: it tries to cram in TOO much into one movie. The film would've worked better had it either been JUST the slave camp, which I admit is a hard sell so I get why, or they'd just adapted two books, having it focus on our heroes trying to get to the guaridans. You coudl've even had kludd and some other goons sent after them, so you stil lget that final battle, just with less clutter. You have to pace yourself.

For a contrast I've been reading Pirates: An adventure with scientests, the book that lead to the movie. And while this book is rather short, the movie simply .. worked with what it had: it shuffles things around a bit to give it a more coherent narrative then ADDS some stuff to make it stronger. You can ADD shit. Or you can take shit from later books and put it front and center. Instead it just feels rushed. Like a complete film but still like a film trying to do too much. As such the guardians leaders feel REALLY underedevleoped> Their a king and queen.. for reasons we never get to. Why are they hiding? Why are they just a myth despite existing in large numbers? It's never actualyl explained. The guardians just.. still exist. We also get sam neil wasted as allomere, a traitirous owl whose sent ot investigate soren's claims. And the scene of Soren presenting his case is really well done, and I like how he makes a good case why this isn't a lie: the guardians were a myth. There's also the fact four owls flew all this way to something they didn't know existed. If soren just wanted to join.. that alone would've been enough to get him enrolled as a trainee. He has no reason to concoct an elaborate, easily disproven lie. I mean he's also supposed to be a kid but he sounds like he's 20.

What also drags it is we just get a LOT of compression: we get a montage set to an owl city song which.. just dosen't work. I do like what i've heard of the band, when can I see you again worked great in wreck it ralph. But a pop song. .just.. dosen't fit into this films world at all. IT'd be like if the battle of helms deep suddenly had the simpsons go calypso kick in

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They also introduce a love intrest for soren. She sure does exist.

What keeps the film from falling apart and makes the bits at g'ahoul itself work is one man. My faviorite part of the film and a truly awesome character, Lyze, played maginifacantly by geoffery rush. Lyze is a beat up barn owl, our heroes mentor. We get the only real training bit of the film, again it's mostly done in montage, and one I really like. Shonen Anime quailty training exercise. Lyze takes the cadets (our heroes plus love intrest) flying in the rain. Besides building stamina, a good reason in of itself, it's also to help the cadets trust their gut and get used to flying in conditions where they can't see. We get a beautiful sequence where he has soren fly in a current and soren really makes it work. I tonly fails when he can't figure out wether to trust his gizard, a part of bird anatomy tha tI assume helps with flight and navigation, the latter due to later events, and Lyze explains he needs to trust it. We also find out Lyze, who'd been using another name i'm. .just not bothering with, is Soren's hero.. and Soren finds out from his writings the wars his dad told him as fairy tails were bloodier, rougher and less glorious. Lyze himself gives the best line of the film on the subject as he berates the boy for thinking it was that black and white.

"Well fancy it must be hard meeting your hero and seeing he's real and not a myth. What did you expect, some tyto owl with gleaming armor and battle claws with the moon behind him? Well this is what it looks like when you've actually fought in battle. It's not glorious, it's not beautiful, it's not even heroic. It's merely doing what's right and doing it again and again, even if you someday end up looking like this. " That speech. .is so fucking awesome. It's Lyze making it clear what the reality of Soren's dream is, what fighting the Pure Ones, who turn out to have been one of the guardians enemies, REALLY costs... and making sure the boys knows he has that sacrifice in him. Lyze is harsh with the boy sure.. but it's a harshness that's clearly simply to prevent a young idealistic owl from dying needlessly in battle trying to live up to a person who never existed. He has faith in Soren, he belivies in him, as shown with the training.. he's simply being honest. I also like how they explain why lyze has a diffrent name and why no one else needed this told to them: for the former he simply got tired of his old reputation, and for the latter.. everyone at the tree KNOWS who he is, or like Soren find out eventually. The people who NEED to know so he can add in his expertise or fight when needed know. Lyze is a truly awesome character and a large part of why I want to now read the books to see more of him. It's a shame such a great mentor character is packed into such a dense film but he makes the most of it.

So right after Traitor Mc traitorpants returns with two owletts, including Soren's sister. With the threat now clear and totally not a bad guy leading them back the guardians all head back. Soren WANTS to go to free his brother and get revenge but I like how Lyze handles it: he throws soren a weapon, a claw clove that both sides use as their weapon of choice, and not only does the boy not really manage to lift it but Lyze makes a VERY valid if , unsuprisingly, curt point: Soren is better off here watching his sister than dying needlessly as canon fodder.

Of course as I haven't remotely attempted to hide this is all a trap: an earlier scene showed ja'cuse leading two other owls and the other two were implicitly died at the end of that scene. Nyra just has him killed and the guardians are trapped in the magnet thing Thankfully Eglatine comes out of her moonblink int ime to tell the others she wasn't rescued.. they gave her to him, and our heroes head out. It's here where Twilight shows how awesome he is as , being the older and more experinced oneof the group he holds the fucking line while soren risks life and limb to save the guardians. IT's a really awesome sequence. Soren barely manages to save them, their gizzards fucked up by the machine thing but soon fine enough and our epic final battle ensues. I REALLY love how combat is done in this film: tense, brutal and entirely how an owl presumibly WOULD fight.

So while Lyze and Metal Beak scrap we get the REAL main event, the fight this whole film has built toward: Soren, on his way back from the trap vs an intercepting Klud. Soren is horrified to see what his brother's become and tries in vain to talk some sense into him leading to a tense heartbreaking battle that ends with Soren trying to save Klud's life.. only for Klud to pull a frieza (or anakin given all the fire and the fact that if the series had continued he'd likely be the new metal beak as he picked up the mantle in the books) and try to attack his brother rather than accept help and possible redemption. Klud falls into the flames, though given no body is found he's likely still out there.

Soren then joins the final battle, defeating metal beak in one of the weaker parts of the film. I mean thea ctual defeat, impaling the guy, is fucking horrifying and mostly accidental, and Soren's horror after as Lyze tries to assure him, knowing the boys first kill likely weighs on the poor kid despite being self defense, is well done. I just feel metal beak is only here in this film at all because they felt we needed a final boss.. depsite the fact Klud.. REALLY fits the bill better. We see metal beak once or twice scowling and grimacing and what not , but Kludd is the real emotinal throughline and his tragic turn from gruff owl teen to child soldier is fucking horrifying, while it was never in doubt Nyra was the true force behind both. Not having hER die or be truly defeated, as she retreats after her husband metal beak's death,makes sense as they wanted sequels. But you still coudl've had a final fight with her. I guess it's a reason fo rher to retreat but it just dosen't quite land for me. The ending dosen't either as it's all happy and joyful and I like PARTS OF IT, I like sorent elling his tale to new owlets, just as his father had done for him.. but it feels a bit .. happy given Soren just had to kill for the first time and his brother is either dead or out for his blood. HORAY WE'RE ALL SAFE NO WORRIES EVEN THOUGH EVIL IS OUT THERE AND SOREN JUST KILLED AN OWL. YAYYY.

Overall Legend of the Guardians.. is good. It's not amazing, it has the bits I mentioned holding it back, trying to do way too much in one film instead of pacing itself, which CAN work (see scott pilgrim vs the world which while not a perfecta daptation is still pretty great), it just dosen't for an epic fantasy like this where details are important and build up is key. But there's enough great character stuff, breathtaking animation and top notch voice acting to make the film still a joy to watch and an underated classic. It's the best Zack Snyder film i've seen, and while granted that's a small pool (I've seen watchmen, man of steel , batman v superman and the theatrical cut of justice league) where two of them are infamously terrible and one is just.. eh, it's still a really fantastic film that shows off the man's talent. It makes me optimstic for his film Rebel Moon this year.

For now thought his was a treat. Thanks for reading.

#zack snyder #legend of the guardians the owls of ga'houl #legend of the guardians #jim sturgess #helen mirren #animal logic #Geoffrey rush #sam neil

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birdyverdie · 8 months

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What is your favourite bird?

Oh my !! What a loaded question to wake up to!!

The truth is that I genuinely don't have a single favorite, I have so many that I adore! I ended up rambling, so here's a looong list ;;

I think, if I must choose a single favorite bird, it would be a red-headed woodpecker. Only because I had a childhood plushie of one. I loved it to bits. Her name was "Arbolita" (little tree in Spanish) and I'd carry her everywhere. But I have so many favorites that I have because they're cool as hell or because of sentimentality.

(Fun fact! Did yall know that woodpecker's tongue wrap around their skull when they're hammering into the tree to prevent them getting a concussion? Imagine that.)

Barn Owls! As a kid I watched Legend of the Guardians: Owls of Ga'hoole and adored barn owls so much, my first research project was about them!

Also they're not as pretty sounding as you think they may be. I got to visit a pair when I volunteered at a Raptor center, scared me half to death!

But fuuuckkk I adore Quetzals! My dad told me a story about them and it stuck with me all these years. How the Mayans and Aztecs coveted the acquisition of Quetzal feathers! It was like a source of prestige and importance for them, because they believed that their God, Quetzalcoatl, had some sort of connection to the Quetzal. (I don't remember if these birds were Quetzalcoatl's manifestation or messengers. I last heard this story about 7 years ago.) Anyways, these feathers were so important that it was illegal to kill the birds, they were only to be collected through natural shedding, or else the punishment was death. From what I also remember, it was thought that Montezuma's treasure--treasure that the Spanish conquistadors were after--was believed to not be gold, like the Spanish thought, but rather these feathers!

I don't know how much of it is historically accurate, but that bird is very important culturally to me as both a connection to Mexico and as a bond with my dad.

But oh!! I'm such a fan of Emperor Penguins! Especially the chicks! They're so cute I wanna squeeze them so much! There's a playlist that I've collected that's mostly the BBC: Snow Chick segment of a nature documentary, but also includes other random penguin videos. My favorite video about the baby emperor penguins is the one where a tiny Adelie penguin protects a group of Emperor chicks from a Giant Petrel.

(Btw do you guys remember Happy Feet? What the hell even was that bit of psychological-torture-through-boredom segment of the movie?? It feels like a fever dream.)

Cedar Waxwings! Goofy birds, don't drink and fly!

These birds don't really migrate, so sometimes they eat berries that have been left over on the tree from a long time ago, to the point that the berries ferment! And since these birds love berries...well sometimes they get drunk

!The concept is silly, i mean, imagine drunk birds! But it is dangerous for them because sometimes they pass out and predators get to them, or alternatively they bonk themselves on buildings. So while goofy, I always keep an eye out for them in my area. I've already had to house 3 of them for an afternoon until they're better ahah ;;;

Bearded Vultures! (Alternatively called Bone Vultures) they're super cool. Their diet consists mostly of animal bones. They grab the larger bones, fly hiiiigh up into the sky, and drop them down below on rocks to help crack them open to eat the bone marrow inside. Their feathers are also white, and contrary to popular belief, no they do not dye their feathers red with blood, just with iron-rich clay or red dust from their environment :P

The redder the feathers, the sexier for their mates!

The Kakapo! A species of parrots found in New Zealand! They're mostly terrestrial birds, and can't really fly, they mostly just use their wings to balance themselves on trees when they're eating berries. They're also endangered and there's current conservation efforts to protect them so that's cool as hell! They're also the largest parrots in the world. Kinda the size of your forearm (and much much thicker) :D!

Shrikes! They're the equivalent of a lot of rage in a tiny little body. They're known as butcherbirds, for the brutal way they store and showcase their kills. They ambush their prey and then impale them in branches or sometimes barbed wire. It's meant to store their food and also be a territorial display for other males. Though for females, it showcases their powress and attracts them!

(This one is a Southern Grey Shrike, which is part of the shrike family except that "grey shrikes" kinda became a subspecies.)

I'm a huge lover of cocktails! One of my pet birds, her name is Maggie, is a cinnamon cockatiel that I adore so much!! She has such a strong personality, all my other pet birds follow her lead because she's been with us the longest (over 12 years! She's an old lady! I love her sm <3!!)

(Terrible picture quality! Can't take one rn since I'm not at home. asdfghjkl)

I also have another pet bird whose name is Avalon and he's a little beast of a menace. He's a Quaker Parrot and is as loud and destructive as you can imagine! But he's adorable, and I hold him like a little plushie sometimes. He can say a few words! Like "pollito" (little chicken) "Avalon", "good boy", "pajarraco" (funny Spanish way of saying parrot), and unfortunately, by my dad's consistency: "pinche pájaro", which means 'fucking bird'. I'm currently in the process of teaching him recall, as in, he flies around and then comes to me when I stick my finger out and tell him to come. All of my birds are allowed to fly around the house, so that means that unfortunately I get wacked in the face when a bird tries to land on me and inevitably misses my shoulder.

(Eepy birdy....)

Honorable mentions because I belatedly realized that you can't post more than 10 pictures on tumblr:

Harpy Eagle (please look up a picture of them they're HUGE.)

Red Cardinal and Blue Jays ( the original red vs. blue).

Mourning doves.

Eurasian magpies.

Long-tailed tit. (They're so cute! Snowball bird!)

Bleeding heart dove.

Great eared nightjar. (Dragon looking bird....)

Painted Bunting (my dream is to see one of these in the wild! They live where I'm at but I've never seen one!)

Grackles.

Rock pigeons.

Crows and Ravens (of course! I have a flock of crows I'm currently befriending heehee)

And so so many more. Honestly, I genuinely don't think there's a single bird out there that I'd dislike. I think they're all awesome and cool and AAAAA <3333

Thanks for the ask! Hope you don't mind I rambled sjkahdhaja

#this bird speaks #what do you mean only one bird? i love so many of them!#as a general disclaimer: i am not an ornithologist. just a random guy who really likes birds since i was like 5 years old #birds #this bird responds

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everdenss · 8 months

Text

The lively tapestry of Alderheart's marketplace weaves through the exposed roots of the Great Tree with ease, the rich and colorful awnings of storefronts blending in naturally. Here, the Humblefolk appear to be doing business as usual. Among the gaggle of anthropomorphic animals: a gecko dons their spectacles and bends low to consider the price tag of a turquoise suit on display, a fox in a flower patterned dress attempts to haggle a pigeon shopkeep (and from the wrinkle of her snout, it doesn't appear to be going well), a cat on all fours leisurely stalks the street searching for the source of the smell of baked goods wafting through the air, and a frog and hedgehog child are racing each other to their favorite toyshop. One figure, however, seems to be far away from the boisterous and spice-fragranced streets. They stand with their eyes towards the sky, considering the light filtering through the leaves of the Great Tree. Somewhere in the upper boughs, King Cyrus and the Council are meeting, perhaps debriefing about the escalation of The Bandit Coalition. The figure's eyes snap towards some swift movement - the children racing each other, weaving in and out of the crowd with glee, laughter dancing on the wind. A paw drifts up towards the strap holding the cylindrical container on their back, and they detachedly wonder what it would sound like to see the streets of Alderheart ablaze. They shake themselves awake, and proceed down the street. Not yet, but soon.

Hi there! I'm Alice (she/they; 25), and I'm going to be running a new campaign spanning level 1-20 soon - a modified Humblewood inspired by Guardians of Ga'hoole, Redwall, Warriorcats, Watership Down, D20's Burrow's End, and Animorphs (kind of)! I have a handful of friends lined up as players, but I'm looking for 1-2 more to add in before we start.

🌳 Setting:

Everden isn't like your typical fantasy world; devoid of the presence of humans, elves, dwarves, or other typical fantasy races, Everden is entirely populated with anthropomorphic animal people called Humblefolk. Cats, bats, rabbits, birds, hedgehogs, frogs, foxes, coyotes, owls, snakes, eagles, ravens, otters, you name it! These creatures can speak, walk upright, wear clothes, use magic, and utilize medieval technology.

They also retain some of their animalistic charm and abilities. Birdfolk can fly, and therefore rely on their nimble feet in lieu of hands. Nonflying birdfolk, such as chickens, have evolved to have hands at the end of their wings. Additionally, being 3 feet tall in Everden is roughly the equivalent of 5 feet tall here - meaning there is a slightly realistic approach to animal sizes relative to each other. There are some exceptions, for the purpose of D&D rules and proportions; the mice in Everden might be particularly tall, and the herons might be particularly short, for instance. However, due to this, animals that are taller than a fox are not playable (i.e. no deer, wolves, goats, tigers, lions, etc.).

🌟 Campaign Premise:

It's been 20 years since the end of The War of Iron and Claw threatened to cause another Great Calamity; since then, Everden has returned to normalcy. However, as Humblefolk prepare to celebrate the anniversary of this peace, something restless stirs in the shadows. An evil power is soon to emerge, threatening the fate of Everden itself.

This game is a modified version of Humblewood from Hit Point Press - homebrewed and modified to fit a larger scale and campaign.

Ideally this will have the vibe of a YA novel that's surprisingly deeper than what you were anticipating. You know those books from elementary or middle school that you picked up because there was a cool animal on the cover and so you read it, only to find out it was about the horrors of war? That's what I'm trying to go for!

While we'll have moments of lighthearted fun, I'm hoping for an overall serious tone and good story to be told in this campaign.

⚔️ The Game:

I'm intending for a level 1 - 20 adventure lasting at least several years.

5e D&D, with homebrew races (based on animals); no druids (since I think wildshape will take away from the fun of being critters already), but will have alternative homebrewed subclasses.

We use Roll20 as the VTT and Discord for voice chat.

Time negotiable currently, but most of us live in PST.

Ideally, this game is a weekly commitment, with us picking a day and time to meet and playing then once a week. While we get things happen, if you are unable to reliably meet once a week this might not be the game for you.

The game is anticipated to start sometime late March or April.

🍃 About Your Tale-Weaver and Their Table:

Hiya! I've been playing D&D for 10 years now, and DMing for 8 of those. This campaign has been a bit of a pet project for me in the past few years, and as my current campaign wraps up, we're looking to move forward with this one (which I'm very excited about :3).

I'm pretty dedicated to the campaigns I'm in - making playlists, Pinterest boards, things like that. I'll read poetry and be like "that reminds me of one of my PCs" like that's a normal thing to do. My players and I also like to goof around about the campaign by sending and making memes and stuff outside of session.

I plan (a lot), but improv is the name of the game. I love working with players to incorporate things from their backstory / the story they want to tell through their character into the world I have already. I also love the party leaving their mark on the world. The setting is dynamic, and your actions as the players will have consequences - for better or for worse.

I'm a firm believer that the players are the main characters of the campaign - and that means all members of the party! While I have no qualms with (and love!) making character arcs or character-specific quests or story moments, I try to do so with everyone.

The table is also beginner friendly.

🐾 The Ideal Adventurer:

18+. We are all adults (specifically 21+), and would like to play with our age range!

Respectful & Kind. All of my players and I are some manner of LGBT, and any kind of bigotry or hated will not be tolerated at this table. Additionally, we'd ideally find someone chill to hang with even outside of sessions from time to time. We also are friendly to BIPOC, people with disabilities, and women. Yeehaw!

Lovers of Roleplay and Story. We're here to forge a great tale first and foremost (well, and have fun - but that's interchangeable for us!). We're looking for players who try to get in their character's mindset, love character development, and are also able to differentiate between in-character thoughts and feelings from out-of-character ones!

Active & Curious Explorers. We want people who get involved! Chase down plot threads! Be determined to solve that puzzle! Make those conspiracy theories! Take those detailed notes! Ask questions of the NPCs! So on and so forth.

Collaborative Team Players. You are not the only main character here - involve everyone else as well! Be mindful of the spotlight. Sometimes your PC will be the focus, sometimes they'll be supporting cast members as another PC gets time in the limelight.

Dedicated. We are looking to play this game once a week for at least the next few years. This campaign is intended to be a level 1 to 20 adventure, so that will take a while to tell! We want people who think this premise is cool, who are excited about playing this campaign, who want to have fun playing D&D with us, and are interested in their character and others'.

Know that D&D is a Dice Game. You roll dice in D&D. Sometimes your character will fail, as is the nature of probability. That's okay! If you're not a huge fan of the possibility that rolls will not always be in your favor, this is not the game for you.

🌱 Application:

Here is the link to apply!

My players and I will read over applications slowly over the course of the next few weeks. Then, if we decide to move forward with your application, I'll be contacting you on Discord to set up an interview. Please make sure you are accepting friend requests and that your Discord username is accurate! Additionally, if you'd like to apply as partners, apply separately please!

Thank you for reading! Have a great day! :>

#humblewood #dnd lfg #ttrpg lfg #d&d lfg #don't look too closely at this blog. it's still wip kind of

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