#there are plenty of ways to design wolves. even the most literal down to earth wolf

[echoesofdusk]

some more thoughts regarding Palworld

I'm actually beginning to wonder if the Pals that are so similar to Pokemon can be traced back to a freelancer or two. lots of freelancers were hired for the development of Palworld. while some Pals heavily resemble already existing Pokemon, they are kinda in the minority of the overall Pal designs, it has plenty of original designs

also wrt plagiarism accusations, I honestly think it's just best left to courts to decide in any potential lawsuits. not that tipping copyright holders for possible plagiarism is bad, but that's all it is. a tip. best to just let actual lawyers who study these laws to judge (and even actual copyright and IP lawyers will tell you just how freaking tangled copyright laws are) in the even of a possible lawsuit

[tomsandal]

The one where Tom went "can I just make stuff up?" and didn't wait for an answer

a/n: incredibly terrible title brought to you by you yes you who couldn't give me better one heart

characters: červená kapota, tom sandál

warnings: teensy weensy cosmic horror/death depiction at the start (because i am a moron and a fool and forgot what genre im writing), alcohol mention

words: 1,8k

To truly start at the story’s beginning, we’ll need to go many pages back in history books.

It was millennia ago, when something very strange took place and changed the world from how it was known.

It so happened that, for some mysterious reason, a meteorite crashed down on earth and landed in a crater in some frankly unnoteworthy forest.

This incident did not go without notice of course, and not too long after it had fallen were there already parties of plenty that were eager to find out what strangeness took place the night before. Many ventured into the forest, allured by the mystery or driven by their responsibility to protect their village, but not a single one of those brave souls has ever made the journey back. And so the number of volunteers and explorers thinned over time, for the prospect of being lost to those woods without a seeming trace was enough to ward off even the bravest of the brave.

However all those who did go, did not disappear in an equal way.

Some of those who ventured started to feel effects of a mysterious force soon after the start of their journey. Those ones met their end lying down on the forest floor, feverish and plagued by visions indescribable. No man’s willpower to follow common sense and go back home could win over the pull of the compelling presence.

But some of them pulled through. The strongest and greatest of them all did get to see what their end goal was this whole time.

There in the clearing lay the mystery. Patches of brilliant blue were shining among the dark stone, twinkling not unlike the stars that hung above them.

And standing there, in this crushing magical presence, humans did what humans tend to do and moved to touch the shiny stone.

It was no easy feat, bracing against the sheer force of the meteorite this close to the source of all this madness, but some of them managed to do so.

Finally, with their goal at their literal fingertips, they laid their hands at the glittering surface. And their hands melted right off.

The lucky ones died from the immediate shock from the pain. The rest bled out among the grass, suffocating in the stone’s heavy aura.

And some of them leaned even closer... for the call had won over.

For some time has the stone been left undisturbed, lying unmoved while its surroundings changed as the years went by. No wise enough soul dared to enter the haunted forest. And so the years passed in hundreds and the celestial body had started to merge with the surrounding environment. Many years has it been since then, when it was finally fully covered and sunken deep into the ground and its power dimmed to a hum.

If you were to walk by that place at that moment, you wouldn't think there to be anything out of the ordinary. And so didn't the people that had settled there.

Who might know why they chose this secluded woodland place for their settlement but they did and surprisingly prospered without any casualties.

The stone's powers have dulled over the centuries but they were still there nonetheless, even if only in a shadow of its former self, and the construction and disturbance of the ground was bound to wake it up.

And so the energy started seeping out, warping the unaware residence in the process. With each generation grew the changes more profound, until the place was almost unrecognizable. Plants grew wild and high, displaying colours very uncommon to vegetation anywhere, the roaming animals wouldn't be recognized even by the highest of scholars, trees grew twisted with leaves of gold and humans were born with features never seen before. Their hair was bright and shining in arrays of blues, purples and greens, just like the lights in the sky that could be seen from time to time. But since no negative effect seemed to take place, this magical village of star-touched people lived in-

“Star-touched...really.”

“Yes and no interruptions please.”

-lived in peace. But time was not kind to them.

The year was 1610, the witchcraft craze was at its peak and it didn’t take long until the hunt was brought to them as well. Their clearly otherworldly appearance couldn't be excused and many fell on the trials, under the hands of men driven by fear and hatred. The rest left their homeland, which ended promptly burned to the ground. From then on, they lived as hermits far, far from the human eye.

They lay in hiding for long, until their time has finally come, when people started walking among themselves with wild bright coloured hair and-

“wait, wait what about the magical wolves”

“That is tied to my own personal upbringing and no, was not in fact universal for everyone, stop messing up the timeline”

“oh I am messing up the timeline and not you making something different every ti-”

“As i was saying-” “and when do the glow squids come in” “My glow squid ancestry is clearly the reason for my eyes not the hair ”

“yes, of course, the eyes that are obviously not coloured contacts”

“Keep that tone to yourself and shush.”

///

It was a pleasant summer night, the air was crisp and the streets were quiet. And there, in a certain bar, sat two peculiar people.

Kapota sighed and let her friend-but not friend-associate from work-but not wanting to kill each other right now-buddy ramble on as she took a sip from her glass. She had ordered something called the Hanky Panky Cocktail Supreme and deemed it as decent enough, if a bit overpriced for a glorified gin and fernet.

Still, she would rather be holding a pint of good old fashioned beer, but finding a place around these parts with a half decent beer is near impossible. She will not be drinking that dishwater no thank you.

Good thing that she’s a skilled fancy drinker. A life skill which she picked up from her business bar outings, such as now, which maybe wasn't actually the most objective of examples since most of those were with Tom.

Not that the aforementioned was any help in the drink picking department, that maniac of a man just sashays to the bar and orders a literal colour and when no further explanation is given the bemused barkeep has to pick themselves from their array of colourful drinks.

Seems that they picked well today, because the current “pink” already sat empty before Tom.

She continued to mull over this and that, all the while enjoying the bar’s comfortable atmosphere, when something caught her attention.

“wait wait roll that back”

“Why, could it be that you weren’t paying attention?”

“Yes I was, but what were you saying about pointed ears?”

“Oh, just that the star-touched had pointy ears alongside the wild hair.”

“well, please do pray tell me Sandál dearest how could it be that your ears are rounded”

“As I said, a long time ago in the times most desperate, riddled with fear, pain and terror, food was scarce and from the terrible hunger they gnawed on their ears until they were completely rounded and from then on this feature was lost to them.”

“ok see now i know you're just making fun of me because thats just from that dumb movie you like”

“should have been listening.

Honestly why do i even bother, I am so generously sharing the long lost history of my kind and yet this audience is so ungrateful”

“noo i like your lore, don’t worry it's much more entertaining than ‘I went to the aisle 12 in Kaufland and picked the gaudiest shade of purple they had’”

Tom just grumbled to that and moved to take a demonstrative swig of his drink, but then he realized he didn't have any left anymore so he instead picked up the little paper umbrella and pointed it accusatively at Kapota.

“Never, have I been more disrespected, as I am right now.” He complained, while accentuating every word with a swish of the tiny umbrella.

“It's nothing personal pal, but you can’t exactly expect people to believe you with a name like yours.”

“Oh that's rich coming from you!”

“I'll let you know that the Kapota name is very ancient and regal, thank you very much. Passed down only by the generations of the clan McKap”

“Absolutely not.”

“It’s true look it up”

“Not happening, if i did that you would just laugh at me that i fell for it.”

“Well in that case I guess you’ll never know”

“oh shut up!”

“you shut up!”

…

It was a pleasant summer night, the air was crisp and the streets were quiet. And there, in a certain bar, bickered two peculiar people.

///

All in all Tom would consider this a successful night. He left the bar on his own two feet, had all his belongings still with him, including both of his important trademark sandals still on, and head somewhat clear.

About ten minutes back, they had been politely ushered out of the bar, because it was apparently closing. The shiny sign with the numbers 24 and 7 would beg to differ but sure.

Yeah, ‘always open’ my arse, people can't even trust bars these days.

He wasn’t really upset though, couldn’t blame the poor bloke either, because anyone who had to listen to their nonsense for the past -who knows how long- had all the right to kick them out. It didn’t matter anyway, tonight really was quite nice.

So now they were just lounging together on the sidewalk, enjoying the chilly air.

A lone car sped by somewhere in the distance.

Tom gently thunked his head on the wall behind him and let out a content sigh, next to him Kapota finally broke the silence.

“So...who’s the designated driver, hahh”

A good question indeed, since neither of them even closely qualify to anything akin to sober. Not that it would have changed much, given the fact that Tom does not in fact have a driving licence anyway. His most beloved, bless their heart, is incredibly awesome and does have one of those and drives him around in times of need. This would seem like a time of need and it wouldn't even be the first time Kap would hitch a ride with them, but this hour, other than time of need, is also time commonly known as ‘very late’.

“I guess I can try to give Tobi a call, but I dunno it's pretty late...”

“Nah, let ‘em sleep”

“So whats the battle plan Kaptn’? ”

“Where's the uhhh friggin closest bus stop.”

“Few damn blocks away at least that's for sure”

“Awesome... lets go its field trip time”

And so they went onto the grand adventure of getting safely home.

Some would deem it highly unwise to blunder around dark alleyways in the middle of the night, but honestly, unfortunate are those street rats who shall foolheartedly decide to pick those two fools as their next victims.

[themothyards]

Moths in Destiny: Logos, Worms, and the Hive

Since Destiny 1, we’ve read about sporadic links between moths and the design of the game. You may remember, from back in the day, a fairly excellent post on the hidden lore of the Hive, in which we learned that, in the concept stage of D1, the Hive were initially modeled on moths.

You may also have read the follow up, which details the extent to which the design of the Hive is influenced by the appearance and biology of moths. If you haven’t, both offer good background on the visuals in Destiny, as well as what the Hive could have been.

There have been many, many other posts discussing the tangential design-based links between moths and the Hive. However, while Reddit user /u/electriccartilage’s post offers a fantastically well thought out and ultimately prescient examination of the links between the Hive, worms, and moths, the symbol of the moth is tied to Destiny through more than just one alien race. It is woven into the imagery that defines the story, even into the metaphorical framework that supports the entirety of the known Destiny universe.

Section 1: The Destiny Logo

Moths (and butterflies) are a recurring symbol in many cultures worldwide, ranging from that of Ancient Egypt and Greece to Ireland, China, and Native America. In most cases, the meaning is shared: butterflies and moths represent the souls of the departed. In Greek myth, butterflies are able to pass over to Hades’ domain, and cross the river Styx. In Irish myth, they’re souls stuck in purgatory, waiting for their turn to cross to the other side. In Chinese legend, moths are the souls of deceased loved ones.

If you’re like me, this sounds immediately similar to Destiny’s Guardians. Many of us have made the connection to Valhalla’s warriors, endlessly resurrected by Valkyries (Ghosts), but in this reading Guardians are instead the re-born souls of the departed, waiting in a post-lapsarian purgatory for the day they finally achieve their purpose - whatever it may be.

The meaning of the Destiny logo has been an ongoing source of argument and speculation since well before the original Destiny (D1) released. It resembles a person, arms upraise din praise. It resembles jaws, devouring something. Perhaps the three points of the triangular object represent the three classes of Guardian, with the Traveler at the center. Most simply, it is an inverted triangle or a Y-shape.

What seems certain is that the object in the center is of some importance: our eyes are drawn to it, it hovers above the triad, it is somehow contained by the triad. In my mind, there is no doubt that the ovoid orb is the Traveler, but with a little bit of image manipulation we can plumb the depths of meaning even further.

Next, let’s turn it upside-down:

One immediate association that comes to mind is that of a spaceship or space shuttle. We see plenty of these delta-winged shuttles in the Cosmodrome, still attached to colony ships, and when the logo is examined in this way it evokes science fiction and exploration through a shape familiar to anyone who’s ever dreamed of heading into space. In fact, the logo, when rotated, looks very similar to the colony ships themselves [image: TombstoneTV on Imgur]:

It’s worth noting that the Arcadia, the first jump-ship unlocked in the original story, is of a similar delta-winged shape, as is the ship first shown in the advertisement for the Destiny Beta:

Now move the orb in Destiny logo so that it hovers above the point of the triad. Not only does the entire Colony Ship shown above mirror the shape of the inverted Destiny logo, but as you can see, it now looks almost exactly like an individual space shuttle heading towards the orb. If the orb is the Traveler, manipulating the logo in this way suggests a journey and a reaching out both to other planets, and to the Traveler itself.

However, I propose that, in addition to representing space travel, the Destiny logo references the shape of a moth, with the Traveler placed above it:

This image of the moth clasping at the Traveler is repeated elsewhere in the game. The first, and most obvious example, is the logo for the Taken King update, released in September of  2015. The most immediately evident reference made in this image is to  Oryx’s head, which has been pointed out in many outlets to resemble almost exactly the body of a moth when inverted. In addition, we know from Bungie’s art stream on Twitch that Oryx is based on a moth, or at least that his wings are.

The Taken King graphic logo also mirrors the Destiny logo - a triad, encompassing an orb. In addition, the lines placed atop the upsilon reference both a crown and a cathedral, the symbol of kingship and the inspiration for the design of Oryx’s Dreadnaught, respectively. 

In its entirety, it once more resembles the shape of a moth, albeit less literally. In the Taken King logo, the up-swept arms are equally evocative of a moth’s antennae, which are, incidentally, what appears when you apply an ornament to the newly-updated Hunter cloak, the Shroud of Flies, received from Crota’s End:

The first image shoes a macro view of a moth’s antennae; the second shows the effect of the ornament when applied to the Shroud of Flies.

It makes a certain amount of sense to link the Hive directly to moths, being that moths are symbolically close to death and the afterlife, just as the Hive are. And, as has already been stated, Guardians themselves are metaphorically similar to moths in myth and legend - lost souls, of a kind, risen from the ground and searching for meaning or purpose.

However, t’s not just the Taken King logo in which we find further traces of the moth-shape. In the second expansion, House of Wolves, the logo again mirrors the Destiny logo. Of course, given the title of the expansion, we assume the logo is meant to represent the stylized skull of a wolf. However, when we look at the negative space (the white in the image below), in addition to seeing the Destiny logo, we see the antennae, abdomen, and wings of yet another moth:

When looking at the images above, we see that based on both visual similarity and metaphorical pertinence, one very logical interpretation of the Destiny logo itself is either that of a moth embracing the Traveler with wings upswept, or that of a macro-level image of moth antennae embracing the Traveler.

Finally, although I am wary of shoehorning every image in the game into that of a moth-shaped box, let us briefly discuss the logo for both The Dark Below and Rise of Iron. At that although at first glance, although the Rise of Iron logo appears to be absent of any moth imagery, the twining branches on the axe head (also representing what appears to be an Yggdrasil-like tree) suggest the same general upswept silhouette, suggesting wings, antennae, and abdomen similar in shape to those that I have illustrated above.  

This could, of course, be construed simply as well-applied design principles adopted by a well-designed brand. However, given the constant appearance of moths elsewhere in the game and Bungie’s propensity for inserting meaning into hidden places, it seems to me that these similarities are intentional.

In the case of the logos for the House of Wolves and The Taken King, the symbolism of the moth is apt: in both of these expansions, a new threat (Skolas, followed by Oryx) has risen to attack us in order to claim the our light/Traveler - metaphorically, a moth seeking the light. By contrast, The Dark Below is the opposite, and is concerned with guardians bringing the Light to Crota to destroy him, hence the absence of moth-imagery.

Specific to House of Wolves is the link between Skolas, would-be Kell of Kells, and Sköll, a wolf from Norse mythology who chases the sun across the sky. I touched on this link in much more depth here. However, this is the pertinent excerpt from Grímnismál:

Skoll is the wolf | that to Ironwood

Follows the glittering god,

And the son of Hrothvitnir, | Hati, awaits

The burning bride of heaven.

Here, we see the doubled connection between the wolf that chases a luminescent object and a moth that chases and orb of light, just as the logo for the House of Wolves is both a wolf’s head and the silhouette of a moth.

Rise of Iron lies somewhere in between. As a story arc that is more concerned with righting the wrongs of the past, with nostalgia and, to an extent, with redemption for Lord Saladin, it is relatively free from the constraints of moth-symbolism - except in that the image of the axe in its entirety, shown below, suggests a moth rising (a key aspect) from the “roots” of a tree. That is, a moth rises from the dead and makes its way towards the light, an image which will take on added importance in the next section. In this case, the upswept ‘wings’ suggest hope and redemption, both of which are features of the Rise of Iron campaign. Furthermore, the image of the moth or tree is once again superimposed upon a background that appears to be casting some sort of illumination.

Finally, the upsilon itself - the Y -  is also the symbol for the mass-to-light ratio in astrophysics. Although my knowledge of higher mathematics is non-existent, Wikipedia tells me that the mass-to-light ratio is “The quotient between the total mass of a spatial volume...and its luminosity."

Again, this means that the shape of the logo itself references luminescence. The speaker wears Destiny’s tricorn logo on his hood, and if nothing else its prominence as Destiny’s logo indicates it should be considered as more than a simple visual asset, and that instead it is tied to Light - to the power that literally and figuratively underpins all of our achievements in Destiny 1.

Extending this moth-metaphor across all of the graphics we see above provides further contextual support for the importance of the moth-as-symbol to the world of Destiny: both the Fallen and the Hive have come to earth to claim the Traveler. We know from the Books of Sorrow that the Hive are driven to devour light; similarly, the Fallen chase after the Traveler to reclaim its power for themselves. In both cases, these enemy races fit the metaphor of a moth chasing after a source of illumination (the Traveler), which is then represented in the visual representation of the campaign. All moths, after all, chase after light.

This brings to mind a major implication, as Guardians themselves are not exempt from this draw. Consider the many theories of the Traveler’s purpose and identity, proposed in-game and out. Consider also another meaning of the upsilon: known as Pythagoras’ letter, Y represents the trajectory of life splitting into paths of virtue and vice. In the case of the Destiny logo, the path splits around the Traveler itself - we don’t know which side is virtue, and which is vice.

Many Destiny players have already suggested that the Traveler is not an entirely beneficent presence, and the metaphor of a moth chasing a light lends credence to this: the source of light is not a kind god or necessarily a being at all, but an unfeeling presence against which all of the insects in the system (the Hive, the Fallen, the Vex, the Guardians) are vainly beating their tiny wings. And, as is true of all sources of heat, if any of those insects get too close, they are likely to be immolated.

Section 2: Moths and the Hive Worms

If you’ve made it this far, you may have made the connection that moths have a larval stage, just as Hive Worms are shown to. Moth larvae come in many shapes and sizes, from the small and smooth to the large and hairy. Perhaps one of the best-known types of moth larvae is the wax moth larvae, which looks very similar to another type of larvae that appears on Oryx’s Dreadnaught:  

Moreover, if you initiate a Ghost scan of these worms while on the Dreadnaught, your Ghost tells you the following: “According to the World's Grave, the Hive ingest those worms. Not for sustenance but survival. Spores, moths and worms. All things Earth's ancestors believed grew from the dead. Just a thought.”

[video source: Ishtar Collective]

As a further piece of interesting symbolism, the wax moth larvae, also known as a waxworm (commonly found in pet stores as lizard food), is a pest very familiar to beekeepers. These worms feed on the bee’s honey, which can result in the destruction of the comb. Here is a fascinating piece of information, taken directly from Wikipedia:

“Populations of these moths take over the honeycombs of bee colonies, usually when the bees are in a weakened state. Lesser Wax Moths can often be seen in bee colonies trying to lay their eggs, but in most cases the worker bees will eliminate them and keep the moths from over-running the colony. When the colony is going through a period of stress, such as after the loss of its queen bee or under starvation conditions, the moths may completely take over the honeycombs.”

In other words, waxworms feed on the Hive from the inside out - just as is threatened in the Books of Sorrow (“If you do, your worm will consume you”), and just as happens to Oryx.

Early in D1, we learn that the moon is honeycombed with tunnels that have been bored - rather than dug - into the ground, as though something has chewed its way through the center of Luna. You’ll also note that, when traversing the labyrinth on the Dreadnaught that we enter after defeating Golgoroth, we encounter moths fluttering along the way, often over the pits into which careless Guardians can fall to their death.

As a metaphor for the Hive, the symbol of the moth is an ideal fit. It is a creature born from the dead who knows the secrets of the dead, and who - in Destiny - can then whisper those secrets to Oryx and his royal siblings. If all that we have seen of Hive Worms so far are the larvae, you may wonder what that a fully-grown creature would look like, just as /u/electriccartilege once wondered and just as I wonder now. 

If you’ve really stretched, you may have come to the conclusion, as I have, that a Hive worm, and perhaps even the Ahamkara - the mysterious wish-dragons referenced in the Grimoire - may not be an entirely reptilian creature, but one similar in appearance to a moth. Consider the following passage from the Books of Sorrow IX:

“I am Yul, the Honest Worm.

Behold my passage. Behold my vast displacement, my ponderous strength, my great and coiling length, my folded jaws and curled wings.”

Initially, that does not sound like the description of a moth - it sounds much more like a dragon, as many have pointed out. However, if you give an animal that looks like a worm ‘folded jaws and scales,’ you end up with an apt descriptor of a caterpillar and its mandibles, which look like this:

If you’ve ever had a tomato garden, you may have seen firsthand the massive destruction these tiny chompers can wreak. Imagine if something such as this were as large as the larval worms we meet on the Dreadnaught, or even as large as, say, the skeleton found inside Crota’s Crystal Room. 

There’s also this description of what appear to be Hive worms, from the Grimoire card “Ghost Fragment: Ocean of Storms 2”:

“The living creatures themselves, we found a hundred meters down. They might have been worms, if worms had scales and teeth and moved more quickly than a man could run.” 

Again, that sounds an awful lot like a cross between caterpillars and serpents. Particularly since Lepidoptera, the order to which moths and butterflies belong, means “scaled wings.” Perhaps most horrifying, whatever the journal keeper from the above note found, it appears to not be the complete form of a Hive worm. For one thing, if the Dreadnaught is created from a single bone of Akka, these worms - even scaled and toothed as they are - are far too small. For another, they lack wings. This is further suggested in the Books of Sorrow VII: The Dive, which says this:

“Behind them, Xi Ro thought of the birthing-room, where ancient explorers had labored over surgeries and administrations, peeling back the chrysalis and the caul of that which they had made from the deep, whose birth none of them would survive…”

Now, moths generally spin cocoons as opposed to butterflies, which form chrysalises, the idea is similar. And although this is not the occasion to discuss the Needle Ship piloted by the Osmium Sisters into the depths of Fundament, the presence of a chrysalis further suggests a link between moths or Lepidoptera and the Hive. Ultimately, all of these links tell us one thing: a fully grown Hive Worm must be a terrifying sight indeed.

I have an idea, although it is pure speculation: googling ‘dragon moth’ takes you to the Spotted Apatelodes, which looks like this:

Not only does this little creature resemble the Destiny logo, with its delta-shaped body, but it also really does look like a dragon. If we ever meet a fully-grown Hive worm, I imagine that it will appear similar to Oryx taken to his logical conclusion - a combination between the insectoid aspect of the Hive’s moth predecessors, and the serpent-dragon aspect referenced in the Grimoire.

It’s important to remember that not everything in Destiny can or should be shoehorned into a moth-shape box. This is, after all, a video game - and Bungie has full license to blend myths as they see fit. The narrative and Grimoire is a tangle of threads, but that does not mean that it is not worth pulling at the occasional individual strand, if only to see which other parts of the weave move in response.

Beyond being simply a visual inspiration for what we now know as the Hive, moths and moth-smybolism permeate the entirety of Destiny’s narrative and metaphorical structures. From the overarching metaphor of lost souls seeking the light, to the possible design of the Hive worms, the moth is a powerful symbol of death, change, and even rebirth. While we must, as always, wait to see how Destiny’s story develops in the future, it seems likely that moths will continue to feature in both the visual and narrative elements of the game.