#very similar coat for very similar climate

[fjordfolk]

is Troj very soft to the touch? is Ms. Spart? Troj in particular has a spritely, cloud appearance and I just am curious if she is so soft as a cloud

sheltie coat should be wiry to the touch and troj's back, tail, and skirts are a little like thin horse mane hairs. legs, knees, and shoulders are like your average domestic shorthaired cat. but the softest fur on troj is at the top of her empty, empty head

[extrajigs]

NEW WORLDBUILDING PROJECT BABYYY!!!

Concept: World covered entirely in microbial mat and whose macrofauna are pentapods. One of which is a sophont. 

1. The world itself is a little smaller than Earth, but is also the third planet from it’s star and has two moons. It has a pretty even climate with no icecaps due to it’s very thick hothouse atmosphere, even despite it’s p crazy axial tilt. It’s atmosphere is similar to Earths but contains a lot more water vapor and methane and less nitrogen. The surface of the planet is covered almost entirely in microbial mat, to the point where actual ground is buried miles deep and the world would be entirely covered in ocean if not for the mats. The only ‘land’ comes from mounds of organic material built up from the sea floor that have grown large enough to finally breach the surface.  Names Planet: Backera  Bigger Moon: Milcer Smaller Moon: Daunverr Sun: Sentil 

As for the macrobiology I’m still working it out but right now there are two basic groupings of terrestrial pentapods. Subject to very likely change. 

First are the Eyebacks. Who are most known for uh, having eyes on their back. They also have their gills open on their neck and need to submerge time and again in water to breathe correctly.

2. That group includes this lil beastie, the Foxtrot, who lives up to their namesake being a crafty lil ankle biter. They are a fast lil critter who prowls the coast for small fast moving prey. They are also quite capable swimmers and swap between land and sea whenever they need to grab a snack or avoid becoming one. 

3. Another Eyeback is the aquatic Mynar, who uses their big ass nose horn to scrape away at the mats and stir up fresh food. Generally they stay in water only a few feet deep, moving on to find the freshest growth. Their life style leaves them with a coating of their own though, stained by the food they stir up. 

Second group are the now tripodial Elytra’s, who have badass lil beetle backs, and have lifted their front two limbs up to use for object manipulation. They are terrestrial but still rely on water for their tadpole larval stage. 

4. This is called a Thwap, because they are very aggressive and use those first set of limbs for smacking anything that makes them even slightly uncomfortable. These are predators that focus on terrorizing smaller prey, loosely associating in groups of 3-10 individuals.  

5. The SOPHONT!! I have no idea what to name these guys, so ideas are welcome! I just knew I wanted to give ‘em big ole eyes. They are a omnivorous people descended from hypercarnivorous ancestors. Their culture is centered around large families, usually a ‘wife’ and their many ‘husbands’, but the main thing to set them apart from the rest is the amount of care put into raising their offspring. They will have large pools dedicated to their lil babies until they’re ready to be walking around. Not super advanced technologically since y’know, iron and other metals is somewhat inaccessible. But maybe that’ll change, still thinking of how I want to set up the planet. 

More to come, I want to develop the biology of the mats a lot more. I got hella good ideas for some biomes I want. 

[collaredkittyboy]

Tips for getting a bf:

1. Bite boys more. Boys love to feel like prey, its the same as camping. And it's a cute way to show affection.

2. Let boys feed you by hand. When a boy plays the mommy bird and puts little treats into your mouth it activates his maternal instincts and makes him form attachments to you.

3. Let boys play with your hair. Boys love to bury their face in hair and play with it because it reminds them of the nest they hatched in.

4. Play with boys' hair. Preening boys nurtures pack bonds and leaves their coats shiny, and it's a relaxing experience.

5. Manhandle the boys. Boys love feeling like a fragile little limp bird caught in the mouth of a violent predator. Expressions of your strength will also encourage him to see you as a viable mate.

6. Feed the boy. Boys love little treats and drinks, it's their main food source. Boys are natural scavengers, similar to crows following wolves to eat their leftovers.

7. Give boys your clothes to wear. Not only is it a means of protection for the fragile boys similar to a hermit crab, it also allows them to become used to your scent and become less skittish in your company.

8. Let boys put you on a leash. It's their natural instinct to give cute things collars and leashes, so a boy wanting to pull you around on a leash is a sign of attraction.

9. Let boys use you as a heat source. Boys are naturally frail and not fit to survive in most climates, that's why they require your tummy and neck as places to warm their hands.

10. Give them plenty of rest. Boys are notoriously eepy and will need to sleep very often, and often on top of you. While stuffies can make temporary substitutes, for long term happiness a boy will need to cuddle with you for comfort.

[asktheritochampion]

Hey Revali. How hard is it to clean your feathers. It must be tedious or do you have a trick to it or do you get someone else to do it.

Preening is of course a time-consuming activity, especially since we Rito are very particular about our appearence and cleanliness.

Thanfully, bathing is a largely communal activity in Rito Village. The task is much more efficiently done by multiple people. Each morning and evening the soldiers preen one another - personally I am such an idol and beloved hero that it's practically a fight every day for who gets the honour of preening the great Champion of the Rito.

Of course, preening alone is not enough to keep ones feathers in ship-shape. Rito traditionally do not work on Sundays because Sundays are bathing day where we all flock to the Hebra hotsprings. Unfortunatly bathing is a full day event for Rito as it takes a great deal of time for feathers to dry out, which would be dangerous in such icy climates, so we must dry off in our sauna for several hours before painstakingly re-coating our feathers with preening oils. Which is why we only partake in this ritual once a week.

Unlike Hylians however, Rito do not sweat, and our feathers are coated in preening oils which stop dirt from gathering in them. We also constantly shed our feathers in a similar way to you Hylians sheding skin cells, and undergo a catastrophic moult a few times a year to replace any damaged feathers.

Cleaning ones feathers is simply a part of Rito lifestyle. While the social aspect of it isn't to my personal preference, there is something to be said for the efficiency of community effort.

[solemnv0id]

Gigan design for a Godzilla au im working on !!

Ramblings about him below cut

OK SO Gigan in this au is a member of a species of Giant bird things called Quetgarons that hunt the M space hunter nebula aliens (but in my au they’re just called the Star Bugs).

The climate Gigan’s specific subspecies lived was a more desert-y climate full of sand. So they were very good at digging since the Star Bugs usually dig their cities underground. Their long beaks and tongues also help to snatch up whatever they can get. Quetgarons are far from picky eaters, they perfer organic food, but they’ll eat whatever they can swallow, and recently have even been seen eating metal. They need whatever nutrition they can to keep their massive (generally 60m+ tall) bodies going. And the appendage on their tail is meant to look like their beaks and is used both to fool prey and to grab things.

With the help of a certain other group of Aliens, the Star Bugs created Gigan by capturing a nearly dead Quetgaron and bringing it back to life using certain modifications. A lot of modifications were added to him, like his entire skeleton being reinforced with metal and other materials due to the gravity on earth being greater than their own planet (and also made him a bit taller for shits and giggles). All parts of him that originally had structures made of cartilage (or the similar material they use) are now also coated in metal to make them resistant to Earth’s weapons since originally, they were weak points. Quetgarons have eyelids that cover most of their eyes in order to avoid sand and other gunk getting into them, but these were removed on Gigan and was given a long red visor to protect his eyes instead.

Before Gigan was sent to Earth, he was purposefully starved for a while in order to make sure he’d fuck up as much stuff as possible on Earth. He is the 40th kaiju this earth has ever documented, followed by 41st being Megalon who popped up shortly after Gigan’s arrival. They fucked a LOT of stuff before Jet Jaguar and Mothra were able to take them both down. Gigan now primarily resides in Earth’s deserts reminiscent of his home, waiting for the day where he can fuck shit up again.

He’s just a funny dude that causes destruction on a mass scale and eats people. We love him for that

[thekingofwinterblog]

There is no established way that elves dressed.

Don't know why you feel this strongly about it, but as it happens, you are wrong, we know pletora of ways Tolkien's elves dressed.

Tolkien himself drew a picture of Beleg Strongbow from the first age, and from it we can see that the Elves of Doriath dressed in pointed shoes with what seems to be long white socks, knee length pants, and what looks like a black doublet.

In other words, the male Elves of Doriath dressed in a style clearly inspired by Tudor england, only a bit toned down, and seemingly withouth it's more outlandish/silly features(Codpieces and those frilly necks for example).

We also know that elves seems to have prefered shoes over boots, though some elves(The ones of rivendell at the very least) used boots, though wheter it was the prefered footwear even then is another question.

Many elves also were clearly described as "Robed" in the sense of wearing actual robes, though what sort of robes and how fanciful they might be is not specified.

Famously they are also known to use enchanted cloaks, which we can presume looked pretty similar to the movie version.

Overall though, Tolkien made it clear that all of his various people dressed in a variety of styles, depending on their climate and their ancestral heritage. An elf from Doriath would probably not much resemble an elf from Mirkwood for example.

As for war, there would be a bit more overlap(though some differences as i'll go over below), as all elves dressed the same way for war, given Plate armor is not a thing in the book legendarium.

Namely iron/steel hauberks of interlocked metal rings, aka Mail/Chainmail.

All elves wore these though there is some question wheter they wore a surcoat above it as well.

It is possible that the elves did wear coats of arms above their mail shirts, but there is nothing in text as far as i can tell that auggests this, and all description of family crests and symbols suggests they carried such on their shields, not their armor.

As for their helmets, we dont know the exact style, but from what i can tell, there doesnt seem to have been any mentions of a full helmets amongst them, so there seems to have been a tradition of helmets with open faces, with fully closed off helmets being more of a dwarf thing.

Finally, there is one bit of Armor speciffically noted to be unique to Earendil, so there is a question wheter this was from his elven side, or his Human heritage, so this style would either have been the style of Gondolin, or the house of hador.

That of course being what Bilbo describes as "Panoply of ancient kings".

Now a Panoply has several meanings, as it can be used to describe "a full suit of armor", but this is a later meaning, speciffically refering to a suit of full plate armor. The older meaning, and far and away the more obvious one when you take into consideration thst Earendil's son would found numenor, which was inspired by ancienct Greece and Rome, is the the breast armor worn back during antiquity.

Now, as Tolkien made clear there was never any true plate armor in the legendarium, this rules out the early breastplates from the bronze age and the greek golden age, and instead means that Earendil either wore a greek suit of scale armor around his chest(and some form of band armor over his shoulder, be it scales, or boiled leather), or Linothorax, the kind of paper armor that Alexander the great used to conquer the known world.

While the latter is possible, there is no mention of such kind of armor anywhere in the legendarium, but plenty of references to scale armor, so i find the first much more likely.

Which means that the Elves of Gondolin(or if we're being completely literal, only it's kings) may or may not have had breast armor similar to the kind of scale armor sometimes used by the hoplites of ancienct greece.

[outofangband]

Possible medicinal plants in Beleriand part one /?

This is a resource I created upon commission for @creativity-of-death regarding medicinal plants that do have more evidence behind them with the treatment of wounds. Thank you again for the commission! Commission information in the bottom of my pinned post

I am also very interested in both botany and herblore so I really enjoyed doing this. This post is heavy on plant information and light on world building but I absolutely plan on writing more detailed world building!

This is going to focus primarily on the plant thyme which are primarily used to treat superficial wounds.

Some notes first!

Elves do not suffer full body infection under most circumstances however, wounds can still worsen, become inflamed, and there are factors that can prevent healing which herbs like these can aid in in. I’m going to make a longer post about my thoughts on immunology and elves and the differences between them and humans going through different aspects of human immune systems and the similarities and differences with elven ones but essentially, while I do believe there are microbial infections in the middle earth, elves are largely immune to communicable diseases that affect humans! however, they are not immune to all poisons, venoms and toxins, as we know from certain examples in canon, for example Aredhel’s death

Ethnobotany is notoriously difficult to research as there are so many conflicted sources and it is often difficult to tell what species have been studied, tested, and proved to have medicinal value, which have been proven to not have significant use in this regard and which have simply not been the subject of much research. Especially when it comes to traditional medicinal practices from marginalized cultures and peoples, information is often dismissed, buried or lost. Oral histories or works in translation are often not included in English literature research.

Second note: understanding of the body and of medicine varies tremendously in my opinion throughout the timeline of middle earth. The information included here is largely the information that we know from modern studies, and the language will not necessarily be the same terms of understanding the characters have, for example boards, like “anti-microbial properties” Would largely be understood by first age, elves, and humans to mean plants that assist in the healing of wounds, prevent them from worsening and prevent illness from falling as a result. Throughout history, we see terms like contamination, blood poisoning, and corruption in place of infection before germ theory was widely understood.

OK now for the plants!

Thyme has been proven in some forms to have significant microbial properties. They are some of the best well antimicrobial properties. Thymol a name for oil of thyme* is and has been used in pesticides and medical disinfectants.

Historically, bandages would be coated in oil of thyme to prevent infection, even before the processes of infection were understood. Thyme contains several different subspecies and tends to grow in Mediterranean climates however has been widely naturalized elsewhere.

In Beleriand it likely grew primarily in Ossiriand and Dorthonion but could easy be naturalized in other temperate regions.

* this compound is also found in other plants to varying degrees, but was named after the substance that was first extracted from common thyme

Wormwood, or Artemisia absinthium has also been studied fairly extensively and has been proven to have antimicrobial properties. I know you mentioned spiders and though it has never been tested on spider venoms, it is proven to have anti parasitic properties and has been used to kill other arachnids such as mites and ticks. Interestingly, it has been examined to have neuroprotective properties which might make it useful in antivenoms. These have not been studied as extensively as its antimicrobial properties however.

In Beleriand this is plant that can be easily naturalized throughout temperate regions, especially in fields and foothills. Dimbar, the region of Nargothrond, and the southern hills are some examples.

Calendula (common marigold)

Evidence has shown that topical application can aid in the healing of wounds and in preventing or treating infection. Tinctures and ointments are the most common forms. These flowers grow throughout the temperate world. Overuse could lead to endangerment/extinction easily. Mount Sinai Hospital’s online medical library discusses these properties as does the National Institute of Health. The properties seem to be well proven, especially by ethnobotanical standards!

Marigold primarily grows in warm regions, including warm temperate ones. In Beleriand it probably grew primarily in the west and central regions.

Common tormentil has mild astringent properties which can aid in blood stopping. Creeping jenny or field balm also has similar properties. These both grow throughout temperate climates though tend towards colder regions.

In Beleriand common tormetil could likely grow in Hithlum and in the plains of Eastern Beleriand. Creeping Jenny would likely be found near ponds such as near the Fen of Serech or Twilit Meres.

[yellowjacketsfashion]

hi hi !! i think the stuff that you do is so impressive i can’t find anything for the life of me and it’s just uber cool :)

anyway, i was wondering if you could try to find the winter coat that lottie, natalie and travis wear? i believe it’s plaid and yellow/brownish, picture below (the only one i could find, sorry 😔)

thank you in advance !!

Hi, thanks so much for your kind words! Your picture was very helpful!

I haven’t found the coat just yet but I’m theorizing a couple of possibilities. The coat has a retro silhouette so it might be vintage, I would normally discredit it but I can’t be sure. The costume department would ideally want multiples of it (especially as it is worn by multiple characters and gets dirty throughout the course of the season) but because it does resemble the look of a vintage coat I’m open to that possibility. The costume department has also made different articles of clothing specifically for the show (notably a couple of other jackets in season 2) so that might also be an option. If it’s actually vintage or custom made it will be hard to find something that matches it exactly. That being said, it would make the most sense for the coat to be modern (as they could’ve just bought multiples in a store) so an exact match could still be out there. I’ll keep searching but in the meantime here are some close matches.

The coat from the show is definitly in the style of 1960-70s wool “car coats” which are usually lined in a sherpa, shearling, or a similar fabric. Because of that, I’d consider vintage jackets from that timeframe to be close matches. If you’re in a colder climate you can probably find jackets similar to these in thrift stores but I’ve seen different ones online as well on sites like ebay or etsy. The coat in the show has pretty bright colors (blue, yellow, red, etc.) so I like these two coats I’ve included pictures of above because they have similar bright coloring. The one on the left is a 60s Towncraft wool men’s coat and the other Sackville Windbreaker coat from the 70s.

If you’re looking for something more modern the coat above is the Black Bear Brand “Harris Tweed HIGHLANDER Coat.” I’m not gonna lie it’s pretty pricey but I think overall it’s one of the closer modern alternatives. The main difference is the collar shape and button color as the pattern is fairly similar.

I tried to find other modern coats but because it’s summer they’re out of season and mostly out of stock. In the winter I’ll probably have better luck finding other alternatives (if I can’t find the original coat by then). But if you want to do some more research on your own you could try looking up variations of “plaid wool sherpa lined coat.”

When I was doing research I found some websites apparently selling the “Lottie Yellowjackets coat” but I don’t know how legit any of them are and they don’t have actual product pictures which seems sketchy to me (red flag vibes). That being said, if anyone has experience with them being legit (or sketchy) please reach out and share your thoughts.

Hopefully this was helpful and sorry if I rambled too much!

[jrwi-headcanons]

cough cough fantasy biology i love u. time to make my interests about The Character

anyway! elves (in prime defenders specifically). what are they? depends on what they evolved from.

my current headcanon is that elves kinda convergently evolved alongside humans, filling a similar niche in their environment as social persistence hunters. they're still mammals, but more specifically they're something similar to marsupials, mostly just cause i think that's fun :). but unlike humans, they took the persistence thing to the max, evolving to have slow metabolisms and therefore incredibly long lifespans. they also have a more innate connection to magic (which i also have many thoughts about) which further increases their lifespan and allows them to begin casting at a young age. energy based magic comes easy to them, like fire and healing magics. (fire is energy just like life energy is. many thoughts about this too!!!)

okay back 2 biology!! elves are particularly suited towards climbing and have incredible balance, as they tend to live on or near mountains. faunaean elves in particular have special lungs that allow them to breathe easily in the high elevations of fauna where the air is thinner. they also have semi-prehensile tails for balance! their large ears are for heat regulation,left over from when they lived in much hotter areas. (like fennec foxes)....elves used to live in more rainforest like biomes where the climate was much much warmer than in fauna! elves that still live there are slightly different from the faunaean ones, with more prehensile tails are larger ears. that's also where the unique bright hair coloring comes from! they're like birds :)

their hands + feet are longer for better grip and have slight paw pads. for funsies. (better grip also? dunno how paw pads work) also have tougher claw-like nails also for climbing. elves also have a very fine layer of fur over most of their bodies, but it's not particularly noticeable. they do shed tho. lol. (gotta have a warmer coat for the incredibly cold fauna winters!!)

but that's mostly it!!! i love speculating on the biology of fantasy races..(im normal i swear) might send another one of these about triton .....lots of thoughts about them too

!

[minecraftbookshelf]

hello this is an invitation/request to ramble about textile production in rivendell vs the swamp in the arranged marriages au I am very curious about this thank you

Most of this is going under a cut because it is going to get a bit long and rambly and is 100% as much an info-dump as it is a worldbuilding post.

the TLDR is Wool VS Linen

MOSTLY INFO DUMP PORTION

Rivendell:

The majority of Rivendell textiles are wool-based.

They do import some silk from the Overgrown but that is reserved for special occasions and items. Mostly silk threads are used for magical stitching and silk fabric as a center lining for leather and chain armor.

Almost everything else is wool.

Most of their wool comes from sheep but they also have llamas, rabbits, and goats that all are domesticated for this purpose. (Wool as a term refers to any fiber obtained from an animal, even if some of it is technically hair, for textile purposes it is wool)

Most of their export is sheep wool, they have, in fact, increased their sheep herds specifically to accommodate export in the recent decade or so as they open their borders and form alliances beyond the Overgrown.

Wool is an incredibly versatile fiber. It's water resistant and thermal properties make it ideal for the snowy mountain terrain of Rivendell's territory. It can also be made into fabric so fine it is literal gauze. It can be felted it can be knitted it can be woven. Saying Rivendell's textiles are almost 95% wool does not accurately convey how varied those textiles are. Generations of Rivendell elves have spent their ~500 year long lifespans coming up with new things to do with wool.

And its not just from sheep.

Rabbit wool is most commonly used for items like underclothes or baby clothes and blankets.

Llama wool actually comes in two distinct forms, because Llamas have layered coats. Originally they were used as beasts of burden but were also, over the generations, bred for fleece as well. Their rougher outer coats are used more for things like rope and cordage, the inner fleece is similar to rabbit.

Llama is also the least common wool, since it takes about two years for a llama to regrow its coat after shearing and they aren't exactly the most space efficient of livestock. The fleece is one of the luxury exports sold mostly to foreign nobility who want to feel fancy and brag about their "exotic [insert item here]". The outer coat fibers are mostly sold as cordage, which is excellent quality and in high demand in the seafaring nations. (This is also due to elvish craft-magic, more on that later in the worldbuilding-focused section)

Goats are a full range from coarser fibers to fine soft ones. It functions much the same as sheep fiber, just with a lower yield. Goats are primarily used in the outer villages of Rivendell in the highest, sheerest cliffs where they are more suited to the terrain than their moor wool-laden cousins.

The Swamp:

Most Swamp-made textiles are linen.

Mostly made from flax and/or hemp. (Yes, that kind of hemp, go ahead, make the jokes.)

(Hemp grown for fiber is a different variety than hemp grown for more recreational reasons. It has a much lower THC and the plant itself is a lot larger. I'm not saying they don't grow the other kind, and use it medicinally, but it isn't relevant to anything I will be writing. If that's your wheelhouse you are welcome to take this and run with it.)

Linen is a lightweight and absorbent fabric that is ideal for hotter climates so it is very common to see in the Northern kingdoms. It's absorbency does mean it dirties and starts smelling fairly quickly but it is also a very resilient fabric that takes washing well. It also has the default state of "wrinkled" which, to someone accustomed to other types of fabric, does lend itself to looking rather unkempt. (You see where I'm going with this.)

Like wool there is a wide range of fabrics, ranging from the ultra fine and soft to coarser, more Textured pieces. (basically, the underclothes to sail canvas range) both flax and hemp, especially the latter, are also used to make cordage and hemp in particular is often used to make macrame and beaded jewelry, irl and in the Swamp. Fishing nets are also a common product.

Textiles are not a notable export of the Swamp so there is less to say there.

IRL flax linen makes up some of the oldest surviving fabric and clothing samples, dating back thousands of years.

Flax fibers are not elastic, they don't stretch and shrink while worked with and don't have a lot of give. This does make working with it in the process of fabric making somewhat difficult and requiring a lot of skill. The resulting fabric though is incredibly durable so its a trade off.

The Mostly Worldbuilding Portion

This is just going to be a bunch of disorganized bullet points really

A significant portion of the flax used by the Swamp from linen production is grown and harvested in Helianthia and brought to the swamp for manufacture. This is actually the primary threat Mythland represents, (you know, besides rampant destruction and harassment along the border) is interrupting that trade route. They do also grow their own but do not enough for what is needed.

Elvish magic is almost entirely based around fiber arts. Embroidery, knot-work, charms stitched into seams and knitted into the very makeup of a garment. Wool and Gold. (gold-thread embroidery is powerful stuff) A side effect of all of this is that when small Xornoth started setting things on fire and small Scott sneezed frost it was a pretty solid indication that their magic was a bit more directly divinely sourced.

Related, elvish rope is reliable. It doesn't degrade or break or even cut easily. (This is straight from Tolkein but it works too well not to poach)

Elves build things to last, a single elf-made garment can last for several human generations. At least.

Net making/repair in the Swamp is one of those community tasks that a lot of people sit down together and do while socializing. Almost everyone has at least the basic skills required.

Generations worth of irreplaceable historical tapestries were lost when Xornoth burned down the Rivendell palace during their coup and every time the weavers and artisans and historians of the kingdom remember that they come very close to being assassinated.

[leggerefiore]

Snowy

cw: fluff, short

pairing: Cyrus/Reader

Snow coated everywhere around Veilstone. What had started yesterday as a light dusting soon became more than the usual expected around the mountainous town. Sure, Sinnoh was more than known for its heavy snowfall and chilly climate, but that did not mean that it had odd days. You sighed as you watched the snow pile up more and more. The Houndoom at your feet snuggled just closer in an attempt to keep you warm as you brought a hand down to pet the pokemon.

The snow was so heavy. That most places had opted to close. Of course, your seemingly workaholic boyfriend had not deemed the weather a reason to distract him from whatever it was that he was working on. Cyrus sat on the couch beside you, but he felt worlds away with how he stared at his tablet, tapping away. You felt frustrated. The room was slightly chilly despite the lovely heating system working its hardest and the sweet Houndoom who provided as much of his warmth that he could. It would better if you snuggled up with your lovely blue-haired man, but his attention was elsewhere.

You let out a sigh as you slid off the couch and down onto the floor. Houndoom eagerly crawled into your lap to receive more pets and attention. The canine's warmth felt much strong despite his unfortunate scent. You cooed at the sweet pokemon. Cyrus had tried to claim his pokemon were unfeeling or something similar. In retrospect, you wished you had shown the picture of his then Sneasel curled up in his lap, purring. Weavile certainly looked like he wanted that, too. Poor thing also wanted to go run amok in the wintery streets as well. Too bad that would decimate the local Starly population.

“My, aren't you a handsome guy,” you complimented the Houndoom sweetly, “Big and warm and so willing to share that heat. Who wouldn't love you?” You scratched behind his horns as you did that, and he tapped his foot against the rug. A giggle left you. “Maybe we can run off together,” you continued, “Hm? Where to? Ah, a big city like Jubilife. You'd protect me, right?” Houndoom let out a quiet bark at that, careful not to bother Cyrus.

Said man seemed to break his eyesight from the tablet to stare down at you. “... And why would you do that?” he questioned, “Jubilife would be a pain to live in. We are much better off here.”

“Oh, who said you were coming?” you teased him. His gaze narrowed dangerously. The tablet was placed down on an end table.

“... Do you intend to take my pokemon with you and live alone?” he questioned with a certain edge in his voice. You wanted to giggle at that.

“Mmm, maybe,” you replied. He seemed to have enough and ordered Houndoom away before pulling you up onto the couch. His gaze was surprisingly harsh. It seemed your relationship was desired, at the very least. “You're too cute… This is unfair!” you hugged him suddenly. He flinched for a moment as he stared into space. Your odd behaviour sometimes made no sense to him. Awkwardly bringing his arms around you, he returned the affection. Your face was buried into his chest as you hummed. He was not as warm as you had hoped, but you supposed he would do.

“Beloved…?” he finally questioned.

“It's a romantic snowy day,” you whined, “Spend it with me, not your work.” He froze again. Incomprehensible, he wanted to claim. You felt strangely warm in his embrace as he sighed. Maybe, he should. It was obvious his plans for doing footwork in Eterna would be delayed, anyway.

“Fine,” he related, wanting to distract himself from the frustration of his work issues. You suddenly let out another giggle as you positioned yourself to look up into his eyes. Cyrus felt nervous at the glint in them.

“… You know, there's one good way to stay warm, right?”

“I am not stripping to entertain your delusions.”

[whywishesarehorses]

In relation to the curly horses. I've always wondered something about them. I personally live in a very very harsh climate in winter, -50s, high winds, heavy snow fall, ect for most of the winter months.

Is the mutation purely a cosmetic thing or does it affect any of the insulation properties of a normal coat if you know by any chance? The idea that it might affect their ability to bear one of my winters has kinda always turned me away from the idea of wanting to own one. Pretty to look at, but not a horse for me type of thing.

Supposedly, the American Curly Breed was founded after a rancher, Damele, watched all the horses on winter pasture die in 1932 except the mustangs with curly coats. He and his sons got to breeding for that trait deliberately. Decent readup on that here, but I have seen it elsewhere as well!

Additionally, the curly mutation has been found in at least three distinct horse populations: North America, Russia, and South America. Shen Thomas, director of the CS Fund, says "We suspect that in these three separate groups of horses, the mutation was instigated or supported by severe environmental conditions. There is good anecdotal evidence that curly-coated horses can survive cold better than those with straight hair. And interestingly, the regions where these three curly-haired groups developed are all similar in environment, being high-altitude plains."

So! Doable! Maybe even better suited to your climate than most.

[butterfrogmantis]

So before I get into the backstory I'm going to do a little species bg since this a brand new species! Ironically yeti's have always been super low on my 'fave mythical creatures list' but here we are, some Butterverse specific lore;

Greater yeti's, usually just referred to as 'yetis' or occasionally 'abominable snowman' are the artic cousins of their warm temperate cousins the sasquatches. Both are large ape-like creatures, roughly 7-8ft tall and known well by humans. One such greater Yeti is known to the Smurfs as the guardian of the snowflowers.

Pygmy yeti's, by contrast, are much more elusive and rarely documented by anyone, not even Smurfs. They're similar sizes to small size fae, though many are much larger than Smurfs (This guy is not but he's on the smaller size for a pygmy yeti). They more closely resemble something between a polar bear and a deer. Interestingly, they often use the identifying names of both too - with children all being 'cubs' and adults separated into 'bucks' and 'does' (since they're a sentient species I suppose any nonbinary pygmy yeti's would just go by a 'yeti' instead). Both biological male and female pygmy yeti's grow antlers, although only the males grow 'manes'.

Both greater and pygmy yeti's are largely solitary, although occasionally groups of females in particular may raise several young communally, or yeti couples might live nomadically as a pair. Diets are largely scavenger/carnivore based since they live in cold climates and you take what food you get. They don't change fur colour in summer but do shed like crazy and tend to have shorter, lighter coats in warmer seasons that may occasionally have some brown whilst still being mostly white coated, similar to polar bears.

Right now that the biology stuff is out the way, on with the backstory of this particular guy!

So Yukio was actually found by Explorer - he'd been up a few of the northern mountain passes looking to mark off previously uncharted territory up there and see if there was anything worth taking for himself. Whilst exploring a particular cave, he found a small … thing. Stuck in corner, arm bleeding, and hissing at him like a spicy kitten. It was totally unexpected and honestly mostly a coincidence he even found it. Now Explorer has his faults but he's not evil, and even he wasn't about to leave this bear-cub looking thing, especially since it was injured. He's not very paternal but he does his best to try and get some story out of the creature, and when the cub refuses and says he's fine on his own, Explorer takes matters into his own hands and smurfhandles the child back to the village because he'd rather do that than leave it to die, nice guy /lh.

Whilst in the village, Sorcerer does his best to attend to the child, whilst Papa researches (the cub was particularly stubborn and refusing to admit to anything about himself). So now they had a bit of an issue - at this point there were two other non smurf infants in the village, but both were babies and it had only been at the kindness of Blacksmith that the village Goblin had been adopted, so there wasn't anyone really willing to take on an ?? especially one so stubborn. So it ends up being Sorcerer that just sort of looks after him, and starts to develop a sort of older-brother bond, whilst Papa EVENTUALLY finds some rough notes about Pygmy Yeti's and realises Smurfs know nothing about them. The cub does eventually give his name; Yukio, and explains he'd been travelling with his group who were attacked by a stoat on the mountain - he'd been bitten first but his father had jumped in to save him, leaving Yukio just enough time to escape, but he got lost and decided to hide out. As of current, their fate remains unknown, since despite the Smurf's best efforts, they were never able to track down his family either.

Yukio ends up growing up in the village, though he's initially very mistrusting of most of the other's, despite anyone's best efforts. For this reason he's never officially adopted by anyone, and by the time he is warming up to others he's pretty self reliant for a kid.

Yukio does however quickly become well known for demonstrating his caving abilities - it's a natural habitat of pygmy yeti's so he feels quite at home in the mines and caves that members of the dirt boi committee frequent. I think my original Spelunker can stay as a Smurf, he just becomes one of the guys Yukio does end up taking a liking to. He sort of views a lot of the DBC as uncle-ish figures eventually. He even takes a liking to Skelly - perhaps more specifically, Skelly's bones. Poor Skelly he already had to deal with Puppy jkgdk. Unfortunately wherever you find Skelly you usually find Archie, and Archie tends to defend him bcuz look at that face how can you be mad at that cute little bear-deer face. And since Archie also frequently needs help navigating ruins and tombs, Yukio is a big help. In the way that Nova is closer to Pal as an uncle-figure bcuz they share an interest in fossils, Yukio is closer to Archie.

Yukio also gets on well with Miner, since again, caves. And being a similar age to Miner's daughter Lapidary means the two often work in tandem, with her being more knowledgeable about the actual things they're looking for, and Yukio being the muscle, so they're good friends.

So … there he is! Part of the older-mid ng age range but not actually A next gen, just looks up to a bunch of not-uncles :)

Archaeologist (c) The Smurfs

Yukio and Skelly are mine

[shalomniscient]

Pass that servchino lore I want it all don’t hold back

DGKSHKDKHGKHVD i am about to be so annoying on main…………… since this is a little vague (i still appreciate it though !! very much !!) i’ll just be writing some sevchino trivia 👉👈

arle proposed one night while we were in bed together, just cuddling. she kind of just said it, a quiet “marry me” whispered into my shoulder, but i still said yes. the wedding itself also wasn’t anything grand—if anything, it was entirely a formality. we couldn’t have a typical wedding because of arlecchino’s position and how it would paint an absolutely grand target on my back, so in the end it was just a short ceremony with no guests besides the officiant. just arle and i, and honestly? it’s more than enough for us, as long as we have each other.

we have a home in fontaine city, which is where we stay most of the time. we do have another house in snezhnaya, but after arle retires from her position, we don’t go back to that house that often. it’s way too cold for me, and the kiddos also inherited my poor cold tolerance 😔😔😔 but staying in fontaine means we bump into the fontaine cast often, which includes furina sometimes… arle still likes to mess with her a little so i have to lightly smack her shoulder to get her to behave

our favourite place to go on holiday is mondstadt. the climate is most similar to fontaine’s, so there’s not much need to acclimate. we have picnics in springvale and go stargazing at starsnatcher cliff. but funnily enough neither i nor arle drink, so we don’t indulge in mondstadt’s alcohol scene. we go to angel’s share for the food and the cat’s tail for non-alcoholic drinks (diona loves us).

a close second for favourite holiday destinations is liyue, but we frequent chenyu vale more than liyue harbour. arle and i are both massive tea enjoyers, so we visit yilong wharf and qiaoying village often (one of my irl friends selfships with a certain duke, so whenever arle and i visit qiaoying i buy a big batch of tea to pass to her. if you’re reading this, baby, i love you). whenever we go into the city, it’s 100% for the food. my spice tolerance is goated if i do say so myself, and so are the kiddos’, but arle……… she needs a glass of milk on standby.

though whenever we go on holiday to these nations, we’re always watched, and understandably so given the fatui’s reputation. in mondstadt we run into a certain cavalry captain quite often, and in liyue we both always catch a glimpse of blue-hair and a white fur coat as we walk around. it doesn’t bother us much, as long as they keep their distance from our family.

our first child, estelle, was born a year after the events of fontaine. her brother, noé, is born three years later.

estelle studies law once she comes of age, and she’s a force to be reckoned with. she wants to work under the iudex, and holds neuvilette in high regard. if estelle ever gets a vision, it’ll be hydro, and if she ever had a favourite movie, it’d be legally blonde. estelle has big popular girl energy but she is very nice and generally cordial to everyone until you cross her, at which point she will ruin your life.

noé, on the other hand, becomes a ballet dancer! he is the polar opposite of his sister and he is mean. he’s good at what he does and he knows it, which makes him a bit of an arrogant little brat. he has 1 (one) soft spot and that’s me, because for all his posturing and perfectionism he is a mother’s boy at heart, like how estelle is a complete daddy’s girl. unlike estelle, however, he will ruin your life as a warning. the regina george to her elle woods. if noé ever gets a vision, it’ll be electro. the kids inherit their viciousness from both of us, honestly.

arle does her best to be present in estelle’s early years, but since she’s not fully retired yet, it’s a little difficult. elle’s first few years are mostly spent with me and her other siblings, but even then it’s mostly lynette and freminet because lyney is busy with arle. nonetheless, they all make sure estelle knows that she’s loved.

arle retires around the time we find out we’re expecting noé, which is about 3 to 4 years post canon. for both kids, arle doesn’t cry when she finds out, but she always gets incredibly physically affectionate for the next week or so, more than usual. she also gets progressively more protective as time passes, and it spikes for the first few months after the kiddos are born, because that’s when her family is most vulnerable and it sends her instincts into overdrive.

this devolved into sevchino family lore towards the end, but that just how it be ‘round here 😔😔😔 loved doing this sm, feel free to send more sevchino asks to the inbox uwu

[mcnotok]

okay so i live in a place where it's cold very like 80% of the year, including now and because it was really freakin cold today, it got me thinking about how the climates of undertale really work and that in turn got me thinking about how the bad sans gang™ would react to the cold.

so like first off, do monsters even react to the temperature changing. i mean undyne overheats in her armour when you enter hotland so presumably she does react to changes in her surrounding temperatures. but undyne isn't made entirely out of magic and bones and she likely is a little bit more human than other monsters since a really popular theory about her eye is that she got injected with determination.

but sans and papyrus are skeletons and live in snowdin and that place is constantly covered in snow. (side note: HOW THE FUCK IS THERE SNOW UNDER THE MOUNTAIN. like it could be magic but that's just weird especially considering the fact that waterfall which is right next to snowdin is a marshy grassland which if you know anything about that type of environment you know that snow doesn't really work, okay rant over back to the skeletons).

i've seen a few pieces of art and fanfiction that basically make it so the skeletons react to the cold like a human would; frostbite, hypothermia, ect... but thought is always like would they react that way. most versions of sans are wearing hoodies and shorts and slippers out in the cold and they seem just fine.

cross is wearing like sixty different layers but it's made pretty clear that his outfit is supposed to be a really embellished royal guard uniform so jury's out on him actually being hot underneath all the fluff.

my conclusion is that skeleton monsters are pretty resilient to the cold in general and that it takes a lot to get any of them uncomfortable when it comes to the weather.

so onto the headcanons.

i think that horror, killer, and dust would react to the cold in a similar way because they all lived in snowdin for most of their lives prior to getting hired/adopted into nightmares gang. i think all three of them would really enjoy the snow and the cold in general

horror would be a little more adverse to it because of the hole in his skull and getting water out of there seems kinda annoying to deal with. killer starts a snowball fight and immediately gets his ass handed to him by everyone else. dust just would sorta starfish into the snow and stay there for the whole day. he's like those huskies who just stay outside for as long as possible and when someone drags him back inside he's just laying on his back, covered in snow.

cross is interesting because he also technically grew up in snowdin but most of the universes that x-gaster put him into were on the surface and along with his fluffy coat and scarf i think he's less hyped about the cold. like with all the layers he'll be fine but if you take that from him and he's just outside with a turtleneck and shorts, he'll be shivering after like 15 minutes.

nightmare hates the cold. i've seen a few headcanons that involve his slime/sludge freezing and i think that's really fucking cool. nightmare would rather eat like (idk what nightmare doesn't like to eat but assume something icky) than go outside. if it's under like 35 degrees he's just going to stay inside. he also fucking hates the snow with a burning passion because if it melts on him it'll hurt (i'm actually not sure if the whole, nightmare is hurt by water thing is canon to dreamtale lore, but i think it's cool so i'm sticking with it)

anyways sorry for the long ask, but i got thinking a bit too hard and your blog is probably the thing that got me back into utmv

anyways i hope you have a lovely day!!

I hope this is how you pictured it :)

Ice/slushie consistency when cold nm my beloved

[m1d-45]

Midas, are melusines fluffy?

-🥘Stew

FANTASTIC QUESTION !

i’ve given… peripheral thought to this before, but never a full conversation. for my own benefit and for those in the crowd not as familiar, let’s review a few facts about melusines:

- hair, and general proportions. even excluding sigewinne, they’re very humanoid. bipedal, front-facing eyes, and while their models don’t have mouths they are capable of m/n distinction, so they clearly have lips of some kind, as well as nose. most importantly, they have opposable thumbs.

- climate. melusines primarily live underwater, however are demonstrably capable of surviving and thriving above ground. this technically makes them amphibians, so.. there’s that. more importantly, fontaine is presumably rather temperate, and the water warm. see: general fashion (large, layered, with fashionable parisols) and specifically freminet’s diving suit (not a full suit, with shorts and fingerless gloves. he’s only rated for roughly 60f/15.5c degree diving waters. note that he specifically dives in deep ocean, so these are bottom of the sea temperatures.)

- likewise, markings. the markings on a melusine somewhat imply they live primarily in shallow waters, however considering merusea village’s location—and the fact that they’re predators—i’m just gonna flag that as an aesthetic choice. the lines on a melusines body are smooth, and capable of very thin, clean lines, and intricate patterns.

onto the actual point of your ask. they have elbows, knees, curled “antennae,” and are capable of both gripping a paintbrush (mamere) and fine motor skills (painting, repairing seymour (mechanical dog) and being described as “well-practiced” at it). they possess fine markings, which automatically rule out armor or large scales. their feet can grip the stone walkways of the city even when wet, and can easily walk along the smooth tile in the palais. though their tails are clearly furred, i do not believe melusines are fluffy.

this is not to say that furred creatures wouldn’t be capable of these tasks, as i’m sure somewhere there’s some example proving that wrong. instead, i draw attention once again to their markings. this is an immensely fine level of detail, impossible for fur. as an example, see a jaguar’s coat. they live in a warm, humid climate, so it’s a feasible equivalent to fontaine. however, the lines of their fur are uneven and mottled, as a result of having fur to begin with. fur is uneven and jagged, and simply doesn’t allow for the patterns we see on melusines.

alright, back to square one. what if they had feathers instead? not exactly what one thinks of when the word “fluffy” is said, but it’s close enough to consider. in order to achieve this level of detail, their feathers would have to be tightly packed together, perhaps like a penguin’s. however, penguins live in subzero waters, and need these dense feathers to survive blizzards.

minor note: yes, some penguins live in “tropical or temperate areas,” such as these. however, note the dappled roughness to their coat, and the fact that emperor penguins (who live in the antarctic) have the highest feather density, and hence the highest possible level of detail. we move on.

should a melusine wish to have these markings on feathers, they would most likely die of heat exhaustion, not to mention any potential unevenness ruining their smooth markings. and so, what is left?

what if we went a little crazy with it. what if, by some unholy miracle, melusines had human skin?

they resemble one close enough. bipedal, opposable thumbs, humanoid proportions, the right facial structure, and humans even have stripes! it wouldn’t be too far of a logical leap, right?

…well…

human blaschko lines are thought to trace the patterns of cell movement during development. i think it’s fairly intuitive to say that were melusines to have human skin, they’d need a similar developmental process. there’s a bit of leeway, of course—they’re blue and have mittens for hands, for starters—but going this route means sticking as close to human biology as possible… and blaschko lines simply do not look like the markings on a melusines skin. for starters, they’re most often visible as a result of hyperpigmentation, and melusine marks are white.

minor note: the exception actualy just statistical error. average melusine has white markings. pahsiv, who lives in erinnyes forest and is a vishap in disguise, is an outlier adn should not be counted.

continuing on, blaschko lines—to grossly oversimplify—resemble topography maps more than they do melusine marks, and notably do not form stars or clovers on the skin.

so, we’re saved from the terror of melusines having human skin… and are again lost. not fur, not feathers, not armor, not scales, and not skin.

i suppose this means melusines can be anything you want. this is, after all, a fantasy game. if people can turn into fungi and wind spirits to gods, then melusines can be fluffy. who’s to say otherwise?

(oh, and for me: their skin most closely resembles a dolphin.)