#stories from the understory

[cedarbones]

stories from the understory 🍄

(i am no mycologist so all of these IDs are tentative and based on iNaturalist but here are my best guesses:)

viscid violet cort (cortinarius iodes)

orange jelly spot (dacrymyces chrysospermus)

white coral fungus (clavulina coralloides)

blood red russula (russula rosacea)

conifercone cap (baespora myosura)

eastern north american destroying angel (amanita bisporigera)

frost's amanita (amanita frostiana)

lactifluus spp.

upright coral fungus (ramaria stricta)

weathersfield, vt

12 september 2023

(all photos taken by me)

[theresattrpgforthat]

THEME: The Locked Tomb

I’m in love with The Locked Tomb Series by Tamsyn Muir, and I know I’m not the only one! For that I am extremely grateful, because there’s quite a few ttrpg designers who also love The Locked Tomb, and have designed games meant to evoke the themes or setting of the novels. Here’s a few of my favourites!

The Serpent and the Spider, by Junk Food Games.

The Serpent and The Spider is a tiny ttrpg for 2 players. One player takes the role of The Serpent, a charismatic sword-wielder. The other player takes the role of The Spider, a highly intelligent necromancer.

Your souls are bonded together. You will fight against corrupt corporations and explore your relationship.

Note that this game has references to violence, death, combat, and implied self-harm. To play the game, you need something to write with, two 4-sided dice, and two 8-sided dice.

I’ve talked about this game before as a duet game. This is probably the best game for exploring the relationship between a necromancer and their cavalier, because it’s designed to be played just between two people. It includes 9 session prompts (again, a tribute to the Nine Houses), and presents you with a setting that is inspired by The Locked Tomb while still allowing you as a pair to fill in details that will make the game work for you.

Thirsty Space Necromancers, by Understory Games.

Thirsty Space Necromancers is a Thirsty Sword Lesbians supplement based on The Locked Tomb books by Tamsyn Muir. It's Gideon the Ninth as a Powered by the Apocalypse RPG.

You play as Necromancers and Cavaliers in a space-faring culture. Paired and trained to fight together, you will solve mysteries and fight ghosts, and probably other necromancers, as you explore new planets. 

This is a game that requires another game to run, but considering the tagline of Gideon the Ninth as “Lesbian Necromancers in Space”, Thirsty Sword Lesbians sounds like another great match for this kind of game. TSL focuses on love and relationships, and is also great for telling grand, epic stories. I’m interested in the additional rules to add the Dead to your game, as well as how the game plays when each player has a counterpart that they’re responsible for and/or devoted to, especially since multiple players can choose The Cavalier, while each Necromancer playbook is separate.

(Understory Games also has a collection of Locked Tomb fan rpgs, where I got most of my recommendations from!)

Heart of the Emperor, by deathmeetauthor.

Heart of the Emperor is a hack of Monsterhearts 2, centred in Tamsyn Muir's The Locked Tomb series. Rather than playing a cohort of teenagers who are secretly monsters, you may be playing a soldier of the Cohort, a teenager, or openly be a monster—perhaps even all three!

The characters of Gideon the Ninth etc. are lonely, brokenhearted, and struggle to communicate their needs and feelings, all of which are perfect for a Monsterhearts game. As with many Powered by the Apocalypse games, the focus is on how the characters relate to each-other, whether that means getting into fights, horribly misinterpreting what your crush/rival says, or uncovering deliciously horrifying secrets that will fundamentally change how you see the world. The scope of this game will be more personal than Thirsty Sword Lesbians - the future of the world isn't quite as important as your future with the the people around you.

The Empire Undying, by Glaive Guisarme Games.

You climb aboard the shuttle which is intended to convey you off this dingy planet. Embedded in the metal walls of the shuttle are bones, sun-bleached and carved with innumerable runes of protection. The only seats in the shuttle seem comfortable enough, although they have the familiar texture of human-flesh leather, tattooed over and over in a crabbed, spiky hand.

It fucking sucks. Just an abysmal experience, and the chairs make your ass hurt after like ten minutes. But if you’re going to be a necromancer there’s a whole, like, aesthetic to deal with. 

Hope you like skulls, fucker.

There are two sorts of people that matter in the decrepit star empire: the necromancers who create the undead abominations upon whose skeletal backs civilization rests, and the knights whose sword duty is to defend the necromancers from undead abominations which aren't behaving right now. 

In this game, you will play a group of necromancers and knights, stuck in some corner of the vast empire, attempting to solve a mystery that is, in turn, attempting to kill you all. The bad kind of "kill," the sort you don't bounce back from. Explore ancient sites and forgotten ruins, unravel conspiracies which have endured for millennia, and make out with one another, because you are hot and hurt and surrounded by bones so you have to get that tension out somehow. 

Tone-wise, this game slaps. Mechanically, I like that it’s not too complex (it borrows from Lasers and Feelings) while still leaning into the number 9, which is heavily significant in The Locked Tomb. It has players explore relationships, while not necessarily expecting them to pair up - instead, you have to decide how another person’s character has power over you, which also feel so much like The Locked Tomb (think about Dulcinea’s relationship to Gideon, or the relationship between the Fifth House and the Fourth House). There’s so much to this game and it’s not even that big! If you want something that feels like it was written by Gideon herself, I’d definitely recommend checking this out.

In Extremis, by Keganexe.

In Extremis is a tabletop roleplaying game designed for 2-6 players, about fighting back the man using necromancy, that uses the LUMEN system by Spencer Campbell. Inspired by The Locked Tomb trilogy, players take on the role of exceptionally powerful witches who use their mastery of life, death, and the human condition to keep them and their own safe from other planetary invaders who want to steal their land.

As a Necromancer, you are one of a handful of hideously powerful death witches that protect the planet Hecate, the final holdout for The Coven, from the ever encroaching war of the Corvus Dominion. 

In Extremis differs greatly from some of the games on this list because it focuses on combat, rather than on relationships. The game is inspired by the Locked Tomb, but doesn’t seek to replicate it. All of the players are necromancers, and all of the players are built for combat. You will go up against a terrible, powerful foe, while you yourselves are small in number, although extremely powerful. I appreciate the attempt to make this legally distinct from The Locked Tomb - there’s enough here to absolutely appeal to fans of the series, but the creator has given themselves enough license to focus on the themes of this series that appeals to theme - particularly the theme of kicking ass.

Games I’ve Recommended in the Past

Tomb Candles, by deecity. (A hack of Ten Candles)

[theinstagrahame]

Red Herrings: A Game of Planting Clues

Hot off the presses at Understory Games (which is what I'm calling my games now): my reverse Clue game.

I had the idea initially after watching Clue with some friends and my partner last year. I started writing, got it like 90% of the way done, and then just ADHD-ed onto something else (I also wanted to do some playtesting, but never got around to it, and that could also be related).

I wanted to create a game that used the original Clue board and cards, and some of the pieces if possible. The game I came up with has players moving from room to room to try and get their Victim, Weapon, and Opportunity (or the Room).

But, because I've made a lot of story games, I also wanted to add some RPG-flavor, and that's where the Motive questions come in. Each time you enter a room, you narrate, play out, and attempt to answer a question. There's a bank of questions for each room, plus a bank of extra questions if none of the room ones grab you.

As you play, you figure out why exactly you want to kill the person you've set out to kill.

Because it's multiplayer, you also want to do this before your opponents. Last player standing takes the fall.

The design is built to be a little solitary, because players are discussing their motive but also trying to keep the identity of their target a secret (so that people can't sabotage their plans), but I think the PVP angle adds a lot.

The PDF version also includes two (untested) play modes. One for solo play, and one where a player is a detective, trying to prevent the murders.

The Print-and-play version includes a foldable zine, which you can open to view all the questions. I wanted the small form factor so that it could slip into your existing Clue set. Perhaps next time you play, someone will ask what Red Herrings is, and you'll give it a whirl instead?

[willtheweaver]

A writer’s guide to forests: from the poles to the tropics, part 8

We’ve made it to the tropics. I hope you enjoyed this, and found it useful in your writing.

Tropical rainforest

Probably the most recognizable of forest environment, and among the most threatened.

Location-Latin America, Africa, Australia, Indonesia, and the Pacific islands in between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Many forests have been felled or heavily altered by human activity.

Climate-Subtropical to tropical, with conditions being wet year round. Rain does not fall all the time, with a defined rainy and dry season. (What’s the difference? Rainy season has rain almost daily while in the dry season you will have to make do with high humidity and morning fog) At higher elevations, nights are cooler, though still well above freezing, and mist and rain are more common(this is why mountainous RF are called cloud forests)

Plant life- This is a tree dominated environment. The understory and forest floor are dark, unless trees have recently fallen. Many small plants are arboreal, nestled in the upper branches of trees. Vines and other climbers use larger plants as scaffolding. In areas of poor soil, tropical pitcher plants (Nepenthes spp.) and bladderworts (Utricularia spp.) get much needed nutrients from animal sources.

Animal life- Rainforests are the most biodiverse environments on Earth. Insects are everywhere, as are the animals that eat them. Birds and primates can be found from the canopy to the forest floor. The moist conditions make for an ideal habitat for frogs and toads. Apex predators are the big cats-think jaguars, tigers and leopards. Some species of herbivores can be quite large; Africa is home to gorillas and forest elephants, while the island of Borneo, Sumatra, and Java support rhinos and orangutans (though the further of these species is uncertain)Waterways are home to all sorts of fish(there are more species in the Amazon river than in the Atlantic Ocean), and larger animals, such as otters, crocodilians, and even river dolphins. Isolated islands have far fewer mammal species, with bats being the only ones, but hardy insects, reptiles, and birds making up the majority of the biomass. Deforestation and the introduction of invasive species have caused the extinction of many animal species, with island forests being the hardest hit.

How the forest affects the story- When one thinks of societies in the tropics, it usually is through the lens of western stereotypes designed to shock audiences and give ‘civilization’ something to conquer. Avoid this at all cost! There is more to the forest. Before the Spanish conquest, the Amazon was home to cities, and the agricultural societies of New Guinea are believed to be contemporaries with the farmers of Mesopotamia.

Grain does not do well in the tropics, so farming will be based around plants such as açaí, coconuts, taro, breadfruit, bananas, and manioc. These can be supplemented by hunting and fishing, but long term storage will have to be addressed. High humidity is a breeding ground for bacteria and fungi, so organic material will have to be kept dry so they don’t rot. The concentration of microorganisms also means that good hygiene is needed to avoid disease.

Settlement will always cause disruption, and the extent of your character’s activities can have a big impact on the forest, and your story. And remember, the activity of a small village will be different to that of large scale logging. Management, use, and abuse of the rainforest can be a driving factor in the plot. How will your characters react? Is the threat from outside or from within? The destruction of the rainforest is one of the main factors, along with unmitigated greenhouse gas emissions that is causing the current climate crisis. Can your characters do better? Or will you create a cautionary tale that shows us the grim future we are currently barreling towards? (That choice, my dear writers, is completely up to you)

[niibaataa]

Some Indigenous Poets to Read

Disclaimer: Some of these poems deal with pregnancy, colonialism, substance abuse, murder, death, and historical wrongs. Exercise caution.

Tacey M. Atsitty [Diné] : Anasazi, Lady Birds' Evening Meetings, Things to Do With a Monster.

Billy-Ray Belcourt [Cree] : NDN Homopoetics, If Our Bodies Could Rust, We Would Be Falling Apart, Love is a Moontime Teaching.

CooXooEii Black [Arapaho] : On Mindfulness, Some Notes on Vision, With Scraps We Made Sacred Food.

Trevino L. Brings Plenty [Lakota] : Unpack Poetic, Will, Massacre Song Foundation.

Julian Talamantez Brolaski [Apache] : Nobaude, murder on the gowanus, What To Say Upon Being Asked To Be Friends.

Gladys Cardiff [Cherokee] : Combing, Prayer to Fix The Affections, To Frighten a Storm.

Freddy Chicangana [Yanacuna] : Of Rivers, Footprints, We Still Have Life on This Earth.

Laura Da' [Shawnee] : Bead Workers, The Meadow Views: Sword and Symbolic History, A Mighty Pulverizing Machine.

Natalie Diaz [Mojave] : It Was The Animals, My Brother My Wound, The Facts of Art.

Heid E. Erdrich [Anishinaabe] : De'an, Elemental Conception, Ghost Prisoner.

Jennifer Elise Foerster [Mvskoke] : From "Coosa", Leaving Tulsa, The Other Side.

Eric Gansworth [Onondaga] : Bee, Eel, A Half-Life of Cardio-Pulmonary Function.

Joy Harjo [Muscogee] : An American Sunrise, Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings, A Map to The Next World.

Gordon Henry Jr. [Anishinaabe] : How Soon, On the Verve of Verbs, It Was Snowing on The Monuments.

Sy Hoahwah [Comanche/Arapaho] : Colors of The Comanche Nation Flag, Definitive Bright Morning, Typhoni.

LeAnne Howe [Choctaw] : A Duck's Tune, 1918, Iva Describes Her Deathbed.

Hugo Jamioy [Kamentsá] : PUNCTUAL, If You Don't Eat Anything, The Story of My People.

Layli Long Soldier [Lakota] : 38, WHEREAS, Obligations 2.

Janet McAdams [Muscogee] : Flood, The Hands of The Taino, Hunters, Gatherers.

Brandy Nālani McDougall [Kānaka Maoli] : He Mele Aloha no ka Niu, On Finding my Father's First Essay, The Island on Which I Love You.

dg nanouk okpik [Inupiaq-Inuit] : Cell Block on Chena River, Found, If Oil Is Drilled In Bristol Bay.

Simon J. Ortiz [Acoma Pueblo] : Becoming Human, Blind Curse, Busted Boy.

Sara Marie Ortiz [Acoma Pueblo] : Iyáani (Spirit, Breath, Life), Language (part of a compilation), Rush.

Alan Pelaez Lopez [Zapotec] : the afterlife of illegality, A Daily Prayer, Zapotec Crossers.

Tommy Pico [Kumeyaay] : From "Feed", from Junk, You Can't be an NDN Person in Today's World.

Craig Santos Perez [Chamorro] : (First Trimester), from Lisiensan Ga'lago, from "understory".

Cedar Sigo [Suquamish] : Cold Valley, Expensive Magic, Secrets of The Inner Mind.

M. L. Smoker [Assiniboine/Sioux] : Crosscurrent, Heart Butte, Montana, Another Attempt at Rescue.

Laura Tohe [Diné] : For Kathryn, Female Rain, Returning.

Gwen Nell Westerman [Cherokee/Dakota] : Dakota Homecoming, Covalent Bonds, Undivided Interest.

Karenne Wood [Monacan] : Apologies, Abracadabra, an Abecedarian, Chief Totopotamoi, 1654.

Lightning Round! Writers with poetry available on their sites:

Shonda Buchanan [Coharie, Cherokee, Choctaw].

Leonel Lienlaf [Mapuche].

Asani Charles [Choctaw/Chickasaw].

[polutrope]

And Love Grew: Chapter 4

Rating: T | Violence, Character Death Words: 5.3k (Chapter), 17k (WiP) Relationships: Elrond & Elros & Maglor, Caranthir's Wife & Maglor Characters: Maglor, Elrond, Elros, Caranthir's Wife, Original Characters Genre: Tragedy

As a host of survivors makes the journey from Sirion to Amon Ereb under Maglor’s leadership, old bonds unravel and loyalties crumble. But from the scraps and ruins, new and unlikely bonds take shape. A story of perseverance through suffering.

Chapter 4: The host pauses for rest on the eaves of Taur-im-Duinath. Dornil learns some disturbing truths about Maglor. Gwereth does her best to care for Elros and Elrond while struggling against her own grief and anger.

On AO3

Chapter excerpt:

Taur-im-Duinath was a strange forest. So dense with vegetation, pressing out to its very edges, as to seem untouched by any creature that fed upon things that grow. Indeed, besides small stream-dwellers and the occasional bird flitting in and out of the crowns of ancient trees, they had seen no animals. Strangest was that much of what lived here was unknown elsewhere in Beleriand. The forest, vast and deep and verdant, was a world unto its own. Silent, some called it, and by day it lay quiet indeed, its thick growth swallowing the chatter, the whinnying of horses, the scrape of the whetstone, the fall of water from wrung textile. The sounds, too, of children laughing. Glancing up from her work, Dornil noticed the berry-gatherers’ baskets had been forgotten in favour of a game of hiding and chasing through the understory. Dornil’s eyes rose to the darkening underbelly of the clouds. Dusk was coming on. At night, Taur-im-Duinath was not silent. At night, the forest threw back echoes of the day’s noises in strained, shrill tones. Noises that swirled and churned in the mind long after they had died, turning, turning until out of the confusion of sounds voices rose. Voices speaking, shouting, singing.

[silmarillionwritersguild]

In his lecture "On Fairy-stories," Tolkien spoke of the Tree of Tales. As a metaphor, this functions on multiple levels, implying that stories don't just draw from the store of myth and history at their roots but constantly grow and branch from each other. Building on Tolkien's metaphor, this month's challenge considers the understory: that foliage that grows in the shade of larger branches, or the smaller characters and plots that give dimension to a tale and tantalize the reader into wondering where they'd go, were they allowed to grow.

This month's challenge is a remix challenge, meaning that you will use another person's fanwork as your inspiration. You will choose a minor character or minor plot point and develop it into its own story. Note that this is a two-month challenge. Make sure you review the schedule and expectations for using another fan's work! (Both are listed on the challenge page.)

"Understory" implies written fanworks, but non-written fanworks can serve as inspiration for this challenge, and responses can be in any form that you choose. In fact, non-written fanworks like artwork and playlists can be especially suitable for this challenge.

The fanwork (or fanworks!) that inspires your response to this challenge does not need to be archived on the SWG. However, the rules for contacting the original creator (or following their permission statement, if they have one) apply regardless.

In order to receive a stamp for your fanwork, your response must be posted to the archive on or before 15 January 2024. For complete challenge guidelines, see the Challenges page on our website.

Many thanks to Cuarthol for this month's beautiful banner and stamps!

[meabh-mcinness]

Hide and Seek

Main Masterlist

Living anywhere was dangerous.  Natural disasters, man or demon-made catastrophes, or something bigger and stronger than you comes along and decides you would make the perfect meal. A good enough meal that they are more than willing to chase, hunt down, and devour you whole.

TW! If you don't like feeling like prey, then this is not the story for you! Almost the entirety of it is written as if you're being hunted by a random demon and not *spoiler* your already well-known and consenting lover, as it's intended to be. So if you don't like predator/prey role-play, maybe skip this one, yeah? There's also a bit of blood-play towards the end! So if blood consumption grosses you out, maybe skip this as well.

To live at all is to live in danger.

Whether you're the smallest single cell in the human world or the demon king himself in the netherworld, as long as you were alive, there was always a danger of dying to a predator.

For some, this led to a life of anxiety that they could never fully enjoy. Others, whether subconsciously or not, ignore this fact, pretending that they were safe always in these modern worlds.  And others still, like you, thrive on this knowledge. Especially in this situation.

As you ran through the forest, vines curling at you, thorns and branches scraping, you felt a sense of thrill. You could hear the near-silent whooshing of large wings above and behind you. Circling and searing with well-trained eyes. A true predator's gaze.

Beneath such a thick canopy, you held an advantage. Even strong demonic eyesight was tempered by the large amount of foliage and flowers that blocked you from their sight. In the human world, you probably would have been able to lose them completely quite easily. After all, the plants there weren't alive in the same way the ones here were. Here, despite not having eyes, the trees and other plants couldn't help but lean after you, attracted by the sweet smell of your sweat. And inadvertently giving away your general position.

Had this been a regular earth predator, they wouldn't have been able to cut through such a dense canopy either, their wings far too large and precious to risk. But even without magic, demonic claws sliced through easily, giving a hole big enough to dive through and glide across the understory layer, expertly tucking and spreading wings when needed. You weren't running from an inexperienced child after all, but rather a full-grown hunter.

The second you heard the crashing of the broken branches, you changed directions. They would be expecting the straight line of a panicked creature, but you had been to this forest plenty of times and knew of a burrow not too far off. If you packed enough speed and kept changing course at just the right time, there was every chance you could throw them off just long enough to hide.

You heard the tell-tale sign of the wind being forcefully changed and turned again right at the last second. You felt the breeze rush by as claws swiped right where your head had been before a large crash followed by muttered curses. A grin swept across your face as you kept on your new path. They had most likely flown too close to the ground to get that swipe in and would need a few seconds before they could be on your trail again.

Precious seconds that you would not waste.

There! Just ahead, you could see thick bramble woven together and beneath it, hidden to the naked eye of those who didn't know, was the burrow you had been targeting. It had originally been a gorgon snake's nesting burrow before it got chased off by something else. Or that's what you had assumed, judging by the broken eggshells and shed skin of all sizes that you had found when you first discovered it. Now it was yours, your perfect little home away from home.

It hadn't been easy to convince Sullivan and Opera to let you have it. While not far from the mansion, it was still in the wild wilderness with all sorts of demonic beasts and plants who would love nothing more than to gobble you up. You had compromised, a whole slew of protection and barrier runes and spells had been slathered all over it, and you weren't allowed to go near it till you either grew stronger or had a companion with you. Sullivan had even been going to dump his pheromone perfume all over it to deter things away until you had stood your ground. It was your spot, and you wanted it to smell like you.

And smell like you, it did. While the area smelled like stereotypical forest scents to your weak human nose, both your family and your lover could confirm that the entire area, not just the burrow, smelled of you. This would hopefully throw your chaser off.

'Had you hidden here, or there, or had you perhaps continued on?' would hopefully be their thoughts.

You slid underneath the bramble, careful to not nick your skin on the thick thorns, and fell down the entrance hole. Logically, you knew to get far away from the entrance and continue toward the path that led to the back emergency door, which opened up right before the Sullivan property line. Just in case they did follow you in, it wouldn't be game over. Instead, you laid on your back and did your best to control your breathing.  You didn't want to hyperventilate now, that wouldn't be fun. No, the fun part came next.

One of two things would happen. Either you win, they lose your trail, and you get to gloat to everyone about your skills, earning a warm bath and a massage from your lover, or they win and find you down here. Flat on your back before them, glistening in sweat as your chest heaved quietly. A rather compromising position, if you said so yourself.

You heard the beating of the wings as they landed close to your burrow. You clamped your hand over your mouth to silence your breath and then froze. Using every ounce of your human instinct, you lay perfectly still.  Not a peep or even a wheeze from your battered lungs makes an appearance to play. You listened carefully as the footsteps lightly glided among the grass towards your hidey-hole.  They paused by what you knew was where the bramble started, and your brain raced.

Had you not been quick enough and been seen? Were you not being quiet enough, could they hear your pounding heartbeat? Or had you left a mark when you came barrelling in, like players sliding to home base? Any of these things could have given you away, and you would have no one to blame but yourself. Or, as the footsteps moved on and their wings started beating again, perhaps they had simply smelt you in the area and not hearing anything decided you had moved on.

Your hopes for this were quickly dashed when you heard the wings get louder before disappearing entirely, and a body barrelled through the tunnel and landed right above you, barely missing but still caging your soft body. Landing so harshly, you just knew their hands and knee prints were moulded into the soft ground beneath you, and yet you couldn't seem to care as a fanged mouth pressed just as harshly against yours. Stealing what little breath you had away, before pulling away again.

"So close, little rabbit. I'll admit, you almost fooled me. But you made one tiny mistake." To emphasize this, they lowered their head and trailed said nose down your throat, following your life-giving arteries easily before swiping their tongue right back up them. You heard them lick their lips before swallowing down the sweat they had managed to gather. A deep appreciative grumble rose from their chest, and you couldn't help but close your eyes and flush at the sound.

You knew from others that humans were supposed to be a delicacy, but to be honest you always thought it was an exaggeration. A story made up by a demon that ended up gaining traction through the centuries.  You suppose you had been quickly proven wrong by being in this particular demon's presence.

A fang lightly nips at your ear, bringing your focus back to what was happening. As your eyes opened once more and focused on the domineering being above you, you couldn't stop the pulses running through your body even if you wanted to. The moment they had found your hiding spot, the game had been won, and not by you.

As one of your arms was lifted to their mouth, you caught sight of the blood trailing from tiny cuts. Likely from the low-hanging branches while you had been running, judging from the scratches positions. That was probably how they found you, you realized. Even if the thorns of the brambles had been avoided, your already bled blood had still been rubbed into the ground right outside and likely running down the tunnel you had slid into. While not much, it had been enough to give away your position.

Technically, you could still fight back. A well-aimed kick would certainly distract them. Instead, you lay there and accepted that escape was not a thing that would be happening anytime soon. As their tongue lazily lapped up the blood and dirt from your wounds, you felt their other hand slowly graze your side as sharp claws left little cuts through your shirt behind them. A moan left your throat before you could stop it when one claw trailed directly over your nipple.

You felt them give the slightest pause when the noise left your mouth before they continued on their cleaning spree. Making sure not even the smallest drop of blood escaped them. Their hand runs back up over your breast before circling around your areola, keeping a careful distance from your nipple even as your back arches into the touch. Whines leave your mouth, hoping they will move just that little bit closer. Instead, they pressed you down again, your back flush with the ground.

"Stay down, love, and let me gobble you up how you deserve it." 

You may have lost the game, but as their eyes stared down at you with the heat of promises, you already knew you would be reaping the rewards anyway. 

I tried to write this so that you could picture any of your favourite demons as the chaser. Do you want Opera? It's Opera. Do you want Momonoki-sensei? It's Momonoki-sensei. Do you want Sullivan? It's Sullivan. Not sure how well it came across though ^^;

[evolutionsvoid]

So you find yourself trudging through the jungle, perhaps looking for a rare specimen or maybe duped into searching for some "lost temple" or whatnot. It is hard work navigating this labyrinth of trees and fighting your way through the understory. The sheer heat and humidity ain't helping much either! So you stop in a clearing to catch your breath and drink some water, when suddenly rain starts to fall. If this journey couldn't get any worse! Sadly, it isn't even a refreshing rain, cool and clear, but a warm suffocating one. And it seems....a bit sticky too. As you see these thick gooey droplets fall upon your shoulder, you realize it isn't raining anywhere else around you, and this stuff is coming down in awkward globs. You touch this goop with your fingers, as apparently that is the only way to confirm if it is water or something else, and indeed find it to be warm and sticky. At this point you immediately drop everything and make a break for it, knowing full well that something is lurking up above you. No time should be wasted in getting away from that spot, only investigating further when you are somewhere more secure. Well, that is what you would do if you weren't an idiot, but if the stories and pulp novels were directing this scene, you would somehow find no need for haste.

You would instead fondle this odd goop in your fingers, and maybe take a whiff because why not. Certainly gathering critical information by doing this! And then once more falls down around you and you finally come to the conclusion it isn't just water (probably because you stuck it in your mouth), you decide to look up. But slowly! Wouldn't want to ruin the tension! Just stand locked in place and very slowly tilt your head upward, just in time to see a massive slug drop down from the branches and ruin your day (and probably life). What a load of rot! Do people seriously read these things? The pulp novels, I mean, not my journal entries. The sheer stupidity that some of those characters display is mind boggling! Why aren't you getting away from the saliva shower? Why do you have to touch blood to determine that it is indeed blood? It's ridiculous! Am I the only one irritated by this kind of writing?! I thought Eucella would find it all dumb too, but whenever I am in her office and talking about it, she always puts her head in her hands and makes a comment about how she has work to do. Really likes avoiding that subject, so she probably secretly likes that stuff. After all, she did write some pretty pulpy mushy stuff back in the day, so that might actually be her bread and butter. Oh, I am rambling again! Right! Back to the entry!

So why did I make this tale about someone getting dropped on by a giant slug? Because this entry is talking about a giant slug! The Spotted Keelback, to be exact! The Spotted Keelback is a species of, well, giant slug (doing great, Chlora), but it would be better to say that they are actually related to Carcolhs! Now do note, I did not say that they are Carcolhs, rather that they are related. As you can probably see, one group has a big ol shell on their back, while the Spotted Keelback very obviously doesn't. It seems they once shared a common ancestor, but eventually split and became the two different groups we see today. The Spotted Keelback does share some similarities in size and general anatomy, especially with that fierce radula of theirs! Developed into a very toothy mandible that can easily shred through skin and flesh. The main difference you can see is that they do not have the oral tendrils that Carcolhs have, rather their snout ends in stubby orifices or nozzles. These are why I talked about the warm sticky saliva up above (is it weird if I keep writing that? Not sure), as from these orifices come large amounts of gooey mucus. This stuff is similar to what coats the Lou Carcolh's oral tendrils, as it is like a fast acting adhesive once it makes contact with a surface. The difference here, though, is that this mucus is capable of forming long strands and webs, with incredible strength that can support the weight of the Spotted Keelback or human sized prey! Of course, it depends on the thickness of this gooey rope, as thin ones do more to entangle than actually lift up its food. This glue slime doesn't just come from their oral tubes, but from their foot and breathing pore too! It should be noted that while this mucus can grip prey and surfaces tightly, the Spotted Keelback can slither through this stuff effortlessly! It wouldn't be effective if they could get caught in their own trap!

From my earlier tale and talk of the glue snot, you can probably already guess how the Spotted Keelback hunts. Their mucus is used to snare and entangle prey, slowing them down or trapping them for the slug to come in and finish them off. They choose to hunt by ambush, typically waiting up in the thick branches above for prey to pass by down below. Their actual techniques in trapping prey can vary, as they have a few tricks. One is to find a clearing and drop thick puddles of this mucus on the ground, perfect for catching the legs of those who step in it. Another is to hang long strands of mucus down from the branches, often coated in leaves and detritus to look like random vines. Those who blunder through them will find these "vines" holding them fast, and their confusion and struggling is often enough to tie them up more and give the Keelback time to slink in. There is also the tactic of waiting in the branches and then shooting out a wide spray of mucus to shower down on prey like a gooey net. All very valid strategies! In most cases, the Spotted Keelback has created itself a long thick strand of mucus that it uses to hang itself from, suspending it in the air right above the target. When victims get tripped up, the Keelback will release its grip on this mucus rope and plunge down onto its meal. Its boneless nature means nothing gets broken from such a fall, but the same typically cannot be said for their prey. The sheer weight of a Keelback dropping on you can knock the wind out of you, break bones and leave you in a very bad situation. Its coating of mucus from its foot will affix them to prey, and their muscly body won't wait to coil around the victim and hold them tight. From there, fangs filled with paralytic venom will be jabbed in to fully stop their food from fighting back. And once they are rendered immobile, the fang-filled radula will be used to shred them into easy to eat chunks. 

Since the jungle and rainforests are active places with a lot of hungry mouths, the Spotted Keelback will typically take its kill somewhere else to enjoy. They will coat it in mucus then slither up a tree carrying a long strand still connected to the carcass. Once up in the branches, the food is then pulled up and suspended mid-air. Now the slug can slither down and enjoy its meal in peace, as no large predators or scavengers can reach them in this position, and smaller ones risk getting caught in their glue trap! Kind of a beautiful way to eat, hanging in the air like that! Though elegance is far from the mind once they start digging in, as blood and meaty bits start flying and raining the ground down below. Smaller critters do love that part, darting into this meat shower for free scraps.  

The slime strands they create and rappel from play a large part in their lifestyle. Obviously, it is big for hunting, but it is also how they escape predators, hold onto kills they cannot finish in one sitting and also do their whole reproduction thing. Like Carcolhs, Keelbacks are hermaphrodites, so any two of their species will do when it comes to mating! When the breeding season is on, the Keelbacks will lay down pheromone laced trails of slime wherever they go, as others can use it to follow them when they catch the scent. The individual as well will be looking for goo trails to track down mates, following it until they run into the secretor! Once two slugs meet, it is time for mating, which I must say is an incredibly beautiful display! It is truly a show you have to see to believe! Hopefully I am not sounding too weird about this. Actually, am I allowed to go into detail on this subject? Ah whatever, full speed ahead! Eucella will cut it out if she finds it inappropriate, but that is nature! Animals have sex, how do you think we get more animals?! So the two Keelbacks will create a long thick strand of mucus that hangs from high up in the trees. The two shall dangle from this strand and intertwine their bodies. Once they are suspend and wrapped around one another, they will evert their large, long and surprisingly colorful penises to inject the other with sperm. I would include a drawing of that, but I feel like I am already testing my luck with this description (I can already feel Eucella's red inked quill hanging above this whole section)! Like I said though, it is shockingly beautiful, and the end result is hundreds of eggs laid by each slug. These egg clusters are hung from sticky strands where predators cannot reach them. When the young hatch, it is up to them to fend for themselves. 

Spotted Keelbacks are opportunistic predators that will happily try to eat anything that enters their trap, so that means humans are on the menu! Dryads are technically in danger too, as they will drop on any moving thing down below but won't know it tastes awful til they have their radula buried in our neck. With this, the species is feared by both locales and outsiders. Some folks call them "Jaguar Slugs" due to their large size, spotted pattern and carnivorous diet. Their glue slime is collected by some to serve as an adhesive, good for fusing two things together or repairing damage to homes, canoes and other things. Their meat is considered to be incredibly tender and delicious, and their hide is worn for ceremonial garbs or just straight up bragging rights. Hunting them typically calls for offering them a sacrifice, driving another animal into their trap so the Keelback descends upon them. Once it is distracted by this bait, the hunters rush in with spears and drive them in deep. Whatever weapons are used for this hunt should be ones you aren't afraid of losing, as when you plunge them in, good luck ever getting them out. One of the dangers of eating Spotted Keelback is finding a spear head or arrow tip in the middle of your meal. Some say finding one that was lost in a failed hunt is a sign of bad luck, which I find to be an understatement when you suddenly find yourself chewing on a spearhead.

Chlora Myron

Dryad Natural Historian

--------------------------------------------------------

"Spotted Keelback"

What else we need for Halloween? Snails and Slugs! Or more so just slugs!

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Earth Island Journal:

KOCHKOR KALDARBAEV REMEMBERS the forest of his childhood. It’s dense, with thickets of tall grass and brambles that make walking in a straight line impossible. Trees come in all shapes and sizes: spindly youngsters, stately elders, tiny seedlings peeking up through the forest floor. They come in all varieties, too, from hawthorn and maple to fruit-bearing trees like apple, pistachio, and plum. And everywhere you look, there’s the walnut: wide, smooth trunks branching off into bushy green canopies, with clusters of round fruits waiting to be cracked open to get at the creamy nut inside.

Kaldarbaev was born and raised in the village of Arslanbob in the mountains of southern Kyrgyzstan, a Central Asian nation home to the world’s largest natural-growth walnut forest. Today the forest covers some 50 square miles of a fertile valley of the Tian Shan Mountain range, which stretches from Uzbekistan in the west to China and Mongolia in the east.

His father spent 40 years working for the then-Soviet government as a forestry officer tasked with keeping the forest healthy and managing how people used it — which then, as now, mostly involved harvesting walnuts, the region’s main source of income and a key ingredient of the local culture and traditions.

For centuries, every fall, the residents of Arslanbob and other villages dotting these mountains have left their homes and camped out in the dense forest, spending weeks shaking down the ripe nuts from the trees and collecting them by hand. Usually, this is an all-hands-on-deck job for entire families, including children. During harvest season, the walnuts make their way from local markets in the nearby city of Jalal-Abad to Europe and Asia, mostly along trade routes that once comprised the Silk Road.

But by 2012, Kaldarbaev could walk through the forest understory with relative ease. The thick undergrowth was mostly gone, as were the smaller, more immature trees, says the 51-year-old who followed in his father’s footsteps and became a government forester. Only the tall trunks of mature walnuts remained standing, spaced oddly far apart.

A similar fate afflicts much of Kyrgyzstan’s forests, which make up only about 6.2 percent of the country’s land area but are rich in biodiversity. Between 2001 and 2022, the mountainous nation lost 2,470 hectares (6,100 acres) of forest cover, mainly to deforestation, overgrazing, and desertification. In recent years, climate change and development have added to the pressures facing these forests, putting rare species like Malus niedzwetzkyana, or Niedzwetzky’s apple, and Pyrus korshinskyi, or Kazak plum, and Arslanbob’s iconic walnuts at risk.

This is bad news, not only for the villagers who depend on these natural fruit forests, but for the rest of the world as well. Many of the widely- loved varieties of fruits and nuts that we enjoy today — including apples, almonds, pistachios, pomegranates, plums, apricots, cherries, peaches, pears, and, walnuts — originated from the wild species found in Arslanbob and other temperate montane forests of this region of Central Asia. At a time when domesticated strains of many of these trees are becoming increasingly susceptible to disease, these forests of crop wild relatives are a valuable genetic resource that could be critical for food security in the future.

[xenomorphee3]

Flashback to Spider's early days with the Recoms

Another flashback snippet from my Avatar story, A New Mission on Ao3 (link below) : ) This is from Chapter 24. Intermission.

[Flashback to the recoms with Spider, only a few days before they got their Ikrans]

The recoms were learning how to be Na’vi. How to live in the forest, hunt, speak the language, and how to survive. All while patiently waiting for an indication of where Jake Sully was. They were hopeful something would be revealed, that Sully would make a mistake, but in the meantime, their mission was stalled in a sense. Nothing more for these recoms to do than just… live on Pandora.

Their next big planned mission step was to make their way up to the Hallelujah Mountains to get some banshees, but they wanted to be a little bit more comfortable as Na’vi first. In just a few days their bare feet had adapted to the ground beneath them, the thought of putting boots on eliciting feelings of absolutely not. They were also learning the ins and outs of the forest—its floor, understory, and canopy. Learning that certain foods to eat and certain animals tended to exist within these stratifications. 

They were walking through a chunk of forest with a very high canopy when Miles looked up at a tall tree. A very tall tree. Miles then looked back to ask Spider, “Hey kid, Na’vi utilize trees at all?”

Spider replied, “What?” but he heard him. Of course they use trees, you asshole. You destroyed their Hometree.

The other recoms looked up into the canopy while they walked and Miles looked down at Spider and caught his drift in the sour expression on his face. Miles smirked, then clarified, “Do N’avi use trees when they fight?”

He asked because he remembered that Sully’s woman and daughter escaped by utilizing branches in the canopy. Spider tried to as well but fell from the pulse of his launched grenade. Miles also knew that when they went to get their banshees, climbing was going to be a significant part of that task. So he was wondering if it was worth practicing for a significant climb—for combat and mountain prep reasons.

Spider looked up and answered, “I guess,” with a shrug and a short snap.

Miles, ignoring Spider’s attitude, then stopped and turned around to face his recoms and voiced, “Alright Marines. Today’s Na’vi lesson is tree climbing.”

Lyle, Mansk, Prager, Z-Dog, Ja, and Lopez all looked up at the incredible height of the tree their Colonel was indicating to, mild expressions of, ugh, really? 

“Good skill to learn,” Miles continued, sensing their trepidation. “But let’s make this interesting…”

The recoms squinted and smiled with intrigue.

“First one up avoids night watch duty for three days. Last one up… picks up their slack,” Miles declared with a big grin on his face.

The recoms grew excited, smiles and competitive spirit breaking out amongst the six. Now these were terms they could get behind. Miles looked at Spider, who appeared intrigued by Miles turning this into a lighter, playful… fun moment. Miles winked at Spider and he quickly looked down, taking his eyes away from Miles, trying to remain indifferent.

“I’ll see you at the top, kid,” Miles said, then he looked at his recoms. “On go, Marines...”

They all readied themselves, eyeing the tree, slinging their weapons to their backs. At this moment Mansk was regretful of the heavy Hydra machine gun he chose for the field, but he readied himself the best he could.

Miles went to stand alongside his recoms and began counting down. “Three… two… one…… GO!” 

As soon as he said "Go," Ja pushed Lopez to the ground and Z-Dog playfully shoved Prager aside.

Lopez screamed, “What the fuck, dude??” as he got up.

Spider couldn’t help his chuckle and the recoms quickly moved up the tree, grabbing vines that grew on it, areas of exposed bark, whatever they could to get up. Spider watched their competitive spirit with interest and was surprised they just left him down there, but he knew the tracker was in his mask. He sighed at his brief idea of trying to escape and started to climb.

The recoms climbed and climbed, Miles was in the lead, Z-Dog shortly behind him. Prager and Lyle neck and neck making competitive glances at one another, then Ja, then Mansk, then Lopez. Mansk was incredibly thankful at this moment that Ja shoved Lopez down as he would definitely lose with his big ass gun.

In the last moment, Z-Dog passed Miles and made it to the highest branch, the brightness of the sun through the canopy shining on her joyed face. Miles made it up next and Prager just barely beat Lyle, Lyle exclaiming, “Son of a bitch,” as he pulled himself over the long, wide branch. Prager smirked at Lyle. Ja and Mansk made it next, and Lopez was last. He just couldn’t reclaim the lost ground from Ja's shove and he was pissed.

As soon as Lopez got to the top he looked at Ja and said, “Fuck you, dude.”

Ja gave him the finger and laughed in his face.

Mansk was quiet, standing there in his sunglasses, his gloved hands resting against the stock of his machine gun, relieved at not losing. All were breathing heavily, the adrenaline of competition dying down and it settling in how truly hard that was.

Miles said, “Lopez, congrats on the double night-shift duty. Zdinarsk, congrats on the extra rack.”

Lopez frustratingly flapped his arms against his thighs and Z-Dog smiled and popped a bubblegum bubble. Prager, standing next to her, playfully nudged her with his elbow and she smiled at him.

Spider then made it up shortly after, impressing the recoms. When he got to them, he actually asked, “So who won?” with a forced neutral voice. Miles appreciated this curious, invested question and he grinned.

Z-dog answered, “I did,” with pride.

Ja humorously said, “Lopez lost,” mockingly biting his stuck-out tongue, and Lopez flipped him double birds.

Miles remarked, “Great work, Marines.” 

They decided to start walking a little bit down the long wide branch, the top of the canopy not too far above them. They took some time to traverse this new layer of the forest which was different and interesting. It was brighter with different biological sights, smells, and even sounds.

Eventually, Miles said, “Alright, Marines, guessin’ we should head back down.”

Spider looked down over the edge and noticed they were above a part of the understory with big broad green leaves. He then looked at Miles and surprised him by saying, “I bet I can get down faster than all of you. I’ll even give you a head start.”

Miles and all the recoms turned to look at Spider with curious and suspicious expressions, Lyle and Ja even snickered. But Miles saw that Spider had on a competitive smirk. This kid was serious. He reminded him of himself in that moment. Miles didn’t know what Spider was planning or thinking, but he was willing to oblige his confidence. 

“You’re on, kid… Any terms?” Miles asked.

“Let me go?” Spider replied only half joking.

The recoms laughed and Miles said, “Nice try. But tell you what. You actually beat us down there first with giving us a head start and you’ll have a favor from me.”

“Fine.”

Miles nodded and maneuvered his lips in a mildly impressed expression. “Would you like to count us down?”

Spider shrugged and said, “Just go.”

Miles and the recoms narrowed their eyes at him, then started to descend from the canopy, moving between branches, and sliding down tree trunks. After a moment of headstart, Miles looked up at Spider with intrigue, which briefly turned to shock and terror when he saw Spider leap from the branch and down into the forest until he grabbed and landed on one big leaf, then slid off that one onto another, and another, and another. Passing by the baffled and astonished, slowly descending recoms one by one until he made it to the ground.

Spider then yelled up at them, “Beat you, losers.”

Miles smirked and shook his head. He couldn't believe it.

The recoms all eventually made it down, Spider smugly sitting on a log waiting for them. They all, except for Ja, gave Spider genuinely impressed faces. Miles came down last, jumping from the tree trunk about twelve feet up and landed in front of Spider.

With a big grin, Miles then asked, “Now where'd you learn to do that, kid?” 

Spider looked him dead in the eyes and said, “Jake Sully taught me.” 

Miles’ smile disappeared.

[Flashforward to the Marines and Zu at their camp in the Hallelujah Mountains]

[charmwasjess]

Can't resist: 7, 13, 24 and 64 for the fic-writer ask. 😁

YOU PICKED SOME FUN ONES!! :D

7 How do you choose which POV to write from? 

I think it depends on the needs of the scene. I use Dooku most often because I “know” him best and am the most comfortable with him - we’ve been together for such a long time and his stern-wry-humorous-earnest combination is closest to the mood of most of my fics. Qui-Gon is a fantastic walking camera because he’s got such an eye for seeing little details. Rael is good for seeing the emotional understory of a scene. Sifo-Dyas is incomprehensible but VERY funny. 13 what’s a common writing tip that you almost always follow?

When I feel like things are stale or I’m having trouble writing myself into the scene, I think about the silly little “write from the senses” tip a lot. What does it smell like? How does it feel? What are the characters hearing? It’s elementary, but hey, it works! 

24 Worst writing advice anyone ever gave you?

I won’t use his name because you never know, but an author of some national fame once told me something like “I’m begging you not to write fiction” after reading a story I wrote (I was in an MFA program for poetry, but it was required that I do a course with the artist in residence and he happened to be a fiction author.) :’D He creepily petted my thigh as he said this to me. :’D 

Sometimes, I still picture his lil’ weasel face when I’m happily writing my old man yaoi and think “this one’s for you!” 

64 Something you love to see in smut.

:D Hell yeah, girl. Orgasm control, edging, overstimulation. Been going through an oral sex phase lately - something both vulnerable and hot there and I like putting Dooku on his stupid knees.

-- 

This is a fun one! :D If you feel like it, send me an ask and I will kick my little feet in glee!

[vivianwrite]

the kelp forest

Florence takes Taryn to her mother’s hometown of Acropora, a seamount settlement of semi-aquatic humans. Takes place after the main story.

“Are you ready?” Florence asked, holding on to the ladder with one hand.

“Yeah,” Taryn said. With a bit of tooth-gritting, it would be true. She didn’t want to leave her girlfriend waiting a second longer; problem was, the early June water was chilly. Bracing herself, she bit the mouthpiece of her snorkel, hopped off the ladder, and plunged into the sea.

The water enveloped her almost completely. Even though she had goggles on, she’d reflexively closed her eyes, and the darkness combined with the cold was unnerving. She bobbed fully underwater for a moment before she reopened them.

Wrong moment. Her head was above water now. She couldn’t see the kelp ahead of her in crisp detail, only the wave-distorted shape of Florence darting around her.

Time to join her properly.

Taryn dunked her head back under the water. Down the slope of the sea-hill, an expanse of greenery opened up to her. Neotree kelp grew from the sand, covered in slick gold bark with thick green banners of leaves unfurling from their branches. A bit of swimming, and she’d be right over the canopy.

Florence led the way, of course. She had to slow herself down for Taryn to be able to keep up. (Taryn wished she’d also been born with webbed toes, or had the experience of swimming every day of her childhood.) Still, they both reached the forest before long.

The green ribbons waved with the currents, their tips brushing against Taryn’s limbs. (She was lucky she wasn’t ticklish.) When she looked down, she could see fish and large shrimp darting between the branches.

The shrimp were particularly interesting. They had thick legs that splayed to the side, making them look more like lobsters than shrimp, with broad plates of chitin projecting off of them. They crawled on the branches and trunks of the trees, occasionally leaping off and beating their legs like wings to flutter to another tree.

Taryn remembered there existed legitimately winged shrimp in other corners of the world. She wished she could see one of them in the flesh (in the exoskeleton?), then shook off the thought. All forms of life were beautiful enough, interesting enough. These fluttering shrimp were just as impressive a sight as the flying ones.

Florence popped to the surface to take a breath. Then she dove down through the canopy, leaves rippling and warping in her stead. Taryn stopped swimming and waited for her to return.

A school of tiny black fish swarmed curiously around her. A few particularly brave ones nudged at her legs with their heads. Taryn stayed as still as she could, not wanting to ruin the encounter. Then Florence emerged from between two kelp-trees, and they scattered.

Florence reached out a hand towards her. Sitting in her palm was a flower… no, a clump of yellow moss roughly shaped like one.

Taryn took it. It was soft and slightly sticky. She turned it around a little, wondering about its anatomy. Did it feed on the dimmer light that got through to the understory, or was it a parasite that sucked nutrients from the kelp? She couldn’t see any roots, so probably not the latter.

Then Florence motioned for her to ascend so they could speak. She lifted her head out of the water.

“I’m going to put it back,” Florence said as soon as she was in the air. “I just wanted to show you one of those. They grow on the tree trunks a bit deeper down. Pretty cool, right?”

“Yeah.” Taryn smiled. “Thanks for showing it to me. They’re photosynthetic, I’m guessing?”

“I think so. I don’t know how they’d eat otherwise.”

“You can take it back now.” Taryn handed the moss back to her. “I wish I could swim through the understory, too.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll find you a diving suit somewhere.”

With that, Florence took another deep breath and vanished again. Taryn was left looking at the bubbles where she’d kicked back under the waves, wondering what beauty she would show her next.

[wildwren]

wip wednesday

none of my mutuals even do wip wednesday anymore but i don't care, i am back on my bullshit with this ridiculous tom x sophia x oc x oc gay polycule fic and i want to yell about it

this is set several months post-canon and takes place just before the drama of the story really gets going

Tom looked very fine upon his horse, even more so because he wore a new riding jacket of pale forest green. It blended just so with the veil of foliage around them, so that he appeared almost as a creature from a children’s story — a sprite, or a fairy, or a very handsome troll. His beauty was always set to best advantage in nature, Sophia thought. Whether he was dressed in simple finery like this or stripped down to his shirtsleeves, it didn’t matter. She always liked him best in such a state.

He played the fool for most of the ride, pretending to be guide but stating everything wrong or backwards or only half-true, so that Sophia might act the playful scold. They left the coach road early and moved through the understory, both well accustomed to the hidden paths of the wood. When they reached the bluebell grove, Tom jumped from his horse and plucked one of the blooms, offering it to her with a flourish. “This, my lady,” he said. “Is one of the rarest wildflowers to be found in these parts. But!” He tossed it away before she could take it from his hand. “I fear it is deadly poisonous even to breathe upon, so for your own safety, I must recommend you stay atop your horse.”

“Hmm,” she said, staring down her nose at him. “Perhaps you are right to urge caution. But, sir, I believe there is something wrong with my saddle. Will you check it for me?”

“Of course, my lady. I shan't have any accident befalling thee whilst thou art in my care.”

Sophia snorted, losing her composure at his overly serious manner. He smiled up at her, guileless, then trained his expression back into a look of studious concern. His face hovered close to her leg as he inspected the tack.

“I cannot find anything wrong, madam.”

“Look closer,” she commanded.

Tom leaned in. “I beg your pardon, but I believe your skirts are in the way.”

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form:

I want my world to have massive trees. Trees like sequoia would be commonplace with the largest trees at least 4 times taller. There would be other trees that don't have to be that tall, maybe half the height, with multiple trunks that would be very wide, like half a kilometer. What would these trees need? What climate would they fit? Hopefully I can make adaptions for multiple climates so these trees are widespread. How about society? I suppose their culture would include trees as being the utmost important? Plenty of rituals and rules when deciding which trees to cut for use? Maybe they have 100 tree gods? How about the rest of the ecosystem, especially other plant life? Or animals? I don't plan to have any massive animals any larger than what's on earth though.

Tex: Your trees would need a lack of competition for resources, a lot of resources to grow, and quite a lot of sunlight or whatever else your world uses for starting the photosynthesis process.

Anything that big is going to be difficult to fell, and would probably need hundreds of years to attain the size of something like a sequoia. Trees that big would either need to be close together or widespread, but a lot of that depends on the other flora and fauna on your world. Any sentient species that might mimic the human degree of forming societies that contain hierarchicalism and a coordinated belief system about one’s environment is going to grow around the trees, so would become a symbiotic relationship.

(Probably they’re not cutting the trees down.)

In an ecosystem, every species interacts with and has a relationship with the other species in the local environment. What do the trees offer, in terms of mutualism, commensalism, or parasitism, to your POV species and other, potentially background, species? This is going to guide how whomever narrates your story is going to incorporate these trees into their worldview and how they navigate their environment.

Your question appears to have a conflict in terms of who - or what - you’re focusing on. Under what conditions would both your giant trees and your narrating species evolve? It would need to be identical or else very similar phenomena (read: evolutions under different geological epochs), because they’re occupying the same space.

Utuabzu: There's a couple things that could help here. Firstly, this isn't Earth, so you can cheat a little by having lower gravity, which can help you to get water and nutrients up the trunk and prevent the giant trees collapsing under their own weight. It might also require a high number of stomata to be able to absorb enough CO² to photosynthesise enough sugars to sustain itself.

These trees are going to have a massive impact on their ecosystems, just by dint of their vast size. They'll cast enormous shadows, and their root systems will be enormous. The entire ecosystem will have to exist in some form of symbiosis with the tree, because the tree is in a very real sense the landscape. Understory plants might have little choice but to either become parasites or specialise as symbionts, providing the Tree with nutrients or some other benefit in exchange for sugars, or simply breaching the bark and stealing them. Some might produce fruits or some other food source that attracts animals, providing that benefit to the Tree, others might give some protection against parasites, others might be nitrogen fixers. Yet others might evolve from parasites into symbionts, using their roots tapped into the tree to help move water and nutrients in exchange for a share of the sugars. Some might become carnivorous, and thence also form a symbiotic relationship with the Tree, exchanging nutrients from their prey for sugars. Some others might give up on photosynthesis and instead engage in some form of chemosynthesis (using a non-photosynthetic reaction to produce sugars), and some of these might also enter a symbiotic relationship, exchanging their sugars with the tree when they have a surplus in exchange for sugars when they have a shortage. This is also another route by which parasites could evolve. Yet other understory plants might evolve to tap root deeper than the Tree can manage and exchange water for sugars, while others in arid climates might evolve like cacti or baobabs to store vast quantities of water for their Tree.

There's also going to be a variety of symbiotic fungi. Much like real-world trees, these Trees are likely to have an extensive mycorrhizal biome among their roots, massively assisting in the acquisition of nutrients. Nearer the surface, other fungi will be breaking down fallen leaves and dead animals, making those resources available once more. Lichens and mosses might colonise the bark, providing benefits as extra photosynthetic surfaces, an extra layer of protection against attack and a food source for more animals.

Up in the branches, there's likely to be a wide array of orchid-like plants growing without soil. Some may be parasites or symbionts, others might rely on fallen leaves, others might be carnivorous. They are likely to be a major food source for animals. And the whole system is going to need animal assistance, especially with reproduction, because these Trees are going to have to be a long way apart. Much too far for wind pollination to be practical. They will be reliant on animals to pollinate and to disperse their seeds far enough to ensure that the new Trees aren't trying to grow in the already overcrowded space beneath their parent. They'll also need animals to disperse their symbionts to their offspring. Down on the ground, they'll want herbivores to keep parasitic plants and even the symbionts under control, carnivores to keep parasitic animals and the herbivores under control, flying animals to pollinate and disperse, and detritivores to recycle dead matter into convenient fertiliser.

These Trees are so huge that they are going to have to be territorial. They have to monopolise the soil in their immediate area just to have a root system big enough to keep them standing, and then an even more extensive one to gather the resources they would need to survive. This opens up another area for symbiosis, as smaller plants can colonise the edges of the territory and exude poisons into the soil to deter competitors, like eucalypts do, and in turn the Tree can give them sugars. Others might evolve to burn, having symbionts that accumulate flammable substances and ignite periodically to clear away any juvenile competitors or parasites, while the Tree itself has bark thick enough to withstand the flames and the understory symbionts evolve to thrive in the freshly burned environment.

The end of these Trees lives also marks a major alteration in the ecosystem, because something that massive is very unlikely to die all at once, and even when it does it could take decades or even centuries for its corpse to rot away. There's several routes by which a Tree might die. They might be struck by lightning, a serious threat given their size and likely something they have evolved some counter to - perhaps accumulating metals from the soil like Pycnandra acuminata and depositing them in tissues to act as a kind of lightning rod. They might be overtaken by a parasite like a strangler fig, and when they die the parasite simply takes their place. Or an internal parasite like a fungus might overtake them, slowly eating the Tree from the inside, until at the end it transforms into a vast fruiting body spraying spores in every direction. No matter how they die, their death wouldn't represent a sudden change to the environment but rather a shift into a different stage in the ecosystem's long cycle. Once rotted away sufficiently, a new Tree could colonise the area, perhaps assisted by pioneer species that help clean up from the detritivorous plants and animals.

The upshot here is that each Tree represents a vast interconnected web of symbiotic relationships, a vertical forest in its own right. These will be big enough that groups of them would have a noticeable impact on the local climate, creating their own weather systems much like the Amazon does. Different regions will have had their Trees evolve to suit local conditions, and to exist with different symbionts.

Wootzel: To elaborate on Utubazu’s chemosynthesis mention, what if the atmosphere on this planet has a significant atmospheric layering thing going on, and there are molecules that are common around the crowns of these trees which aren’t very prevalent lower down, and once some species of trees get tall enough, they convert some or all of their metabolic processes away from CO2-based photosynthesis and into something else? If they switch away from photosynthesis, they might even lose quite a lot of their leaves, thus benefiting shorter symbionts they’re no longer shading out. (I don’t know what kind of process this could be; you’ll probably need to make something up, but unless you’re doing hard scifi, I think readers wouldn’t think twice about something like this.)

One more quick thought that I’ll drop for you to play with if you want to: Are these massive trunks solid? If they aren't and there’s space inside… what could live in there?

[violentdelightsproductions]

"It makes you feel responsible, but you don't know what you're responsible for. Saving the world, maybe. Or at least keeping everything okay until dawn. Of course, there was a problem from the start. Our true stories were lousy. Our stories were slick black things that we spit out of our mouths onto the table in front of us. We were trying to sell something. We were trying to sell our loneliness, and no one was buying. And we were getting tired of dark looming things. We were getting tired of trying to glue words onto doom. I suppose, in hindsight, we were being ulterior, everyone wants the understory, everyone is always searching for a human moment, but we asked people to lie to us, we asked for stories, big fabulous stories, and we wrote them down and saved them. Now, there is the story that must be told, and there is the story that can't be told, and sometimes they are the same story." - Richard Siken, Love from a Distance

"So, what's it all add up to? It's hard to say. But me, I'd say this was a test...for Sam and Dean. And I think they did alright. Up against good, evil, angels, devils destiny and God himself. They made their own choice. They chose family. And, well, isn't that kind of the whole point? No doubt, endings are hard. But then again....nothing ever really ends, does it?"

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