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#i love alien worldbuilding

brella-boi · 2 years

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Connection - Short Story

A soft introduction to two aliens and their dragon inhabiting Earth after a war in homeworld. It takes them a lot to confide in each other and spill their secrets. And especially to participate in their culture's old traditions of Soul Touch that one has never experienced before.

Words: ~4000

Tags: DJ, Finnick, Zaphix, comfort, mentor, war mention, death mention, cultural differences, bonding, feel good story.

!!Link!!

#i have worked so hard to write this story and connected all the dots and create unique cultural things so!!! i hope yall enjoy it!!!#i love alien worldbuilding #aliens #xenobiology #writing #short story #myart #dj #finnick #zaphix #it took me a month to draw this lmao i was not motivated but i still really want to share the story so!!#jaywrites

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extrajigs · 7 months

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Whorls Reproduction Explanation Post! And most kinds of pentapods, think of it as like a base line. Nothing graphic below the cut, unless organ diagrams are graphic!

The first thing to note is the SETTUP!

You can kind of cut up the area of the body housing the reproductive system into three parts. The first is the spine/core of the pentapod which both cradles the vital organs, anchors the limbs, and allows for the anchoring of the reproductive organs as well! Anchored to the core is the musculature involved with the usage of the spearing portion of their anatomy. And then the vast majority of the actual organs are surrounded by a thick coat of fat and connective tissue, mostly to stop spearing damage to internal structures. But this is also where excess fat will be stored, there and around the neck but that's a whole other post. Lets get more in detail about the exact organs going on!

The Spear - This is the part dedicated to stabbing into their partner for insemination. It's made of the same material as their shells but may also be reinforced with copper during their younger years.

Palpal Bulb/Prostate/Fluid Sack?- Not sure for the name on this one yet but it functions as where the fluid housing sperm is made, but with a bonus. This also is a cocktail of various hormones to induce ovulation of their partner as well as reduce the immune response.

Vas Deferens- The tubes to move the sperm up from the testes, they're just placed on the outside rather than in. Slight design flaw there.

Testes- You know what these are.

Ovaries- These too.

Spermatheca- These are where sperm is stored after it is pulled from the blood stream, all the bloodflow from the fat runs through here. It is also where eggs will be released into to allow fertilization, most Whorls will have their children in sets of 8ish because of the settup there.

Tough Fat- The fat here protects the gonads, so it is a lot firmer than in other places. Honestly it's mostly sinew. With the texture of like.. those big novelty pencil erasers.

Soft Fat- The name is a little misleading because this fat still has the consistency of rubber! It is pierced easily but seals back up quickly, stopping much bloodloss.

The Womb- Whorls are ovoviviparous, so while the babies hatch from their eggs within the mother, there is no other nutrient exchange going on there. Once they hatch they are soon after birthed to begin their aquatic larval stage.

The Birth Canal- Where babies come out! And exit only! Whorls have a one direction reproductive tract.

Now the optimum stabbing strats.

Not all stab wounds are created equal in the world of Hypodermic Insemination, a Whorls anatomy is built to favor some spots over others when it comes to mating. The most 'fertile' places to stab into are going to be the fat surrounding the baby making bits. Here the sperm is most easily acquired from the bloodstream. Nearby is the next best place as the blood can still carry it over. Pink areas may work rarely but the immune system is generally too fast in getting at the foreign material for it to get where it needs to go intact. Trying to stab the shell will result in just a awkward situation.

That's the main physical side of things! Other important things to note is that while Whorls can take on either role once they reach sexual maturity, they generally don't start being impregnated until later on in life. There are societal implications surrounding the stabber and stabbee, but typically the older or more dominate partner is expected to take on the duty of pregnancy.

Also important to note is that gender for Whorls is more closely akin to marital/familial status. Children/teens are not divided up at all, but once hitting adulthood Whorls will progress through several different genders and their roles within their lifetime. This is the way rough of the idea.

None- Prepubescent individuals still with their birth family.

Preened- Those who physically can breed but socially don't, and have also left their birth family.

Courting- Looking for a marriage/family to either start or join.

Tender- Has married into a family and is helping to raise children. But does not actively help make the children.

Piercer- Those who actively impregnate.

Vessel- The one who becomes preggo.

Dull- No longer breeding but have in the past.

But this is just the rough idea and not everyone follows the same path in life! Some may never be pregnant themselves, but father children or vice versa. Some may never breed at all to focus on their spouses other children. Some live solo lives! Varied experiences out here. That's all I gotta say about that for now though.

#whorls #pentapods #spec bio #speculative biology #speculative anatomy #yay this was fun #i love organ explainations #aliens #art #worldbuilding #anatomy

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thatonebirdwrites · 3 months

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DEO: Department of Extra-normal Operations

This will be an essay that looks into the ethical problems of the DEO. For the purpose of this essay, I am not concerned about the showrunners reasons for their decisions for how the show presents the DEO. I care only about examining the worldbuilding and stories inherent within the world created. So let's dig into some philosophy and theory. Whee! [Minor spoilers]

To start, this department was first created within the Superman/Supergirl universe in order to analyze alien activities after Superman reveals himself on Earth. It's made in retaliation to the appearance of powerful aliens that those in power deem possible threats. Already, the DEO's beginnings are rooted not in true protection but in stopping and eradicating what those in power deem a threat. It's roots start with dubious ethics.

Let's examine it's history:

It was led by Hank Henshaw, who is vehemently anti-alien. Henshaw is also slated to have ties to Cadmus, which experimented on aliens and attempted several rather horrific and genocidal attacks on aliens. (Note that in Supergirl: Season 2, Kara and Lena thwart Cadmus' activities. Lena Luthor saves the day by modifying an alien killing virus to be harmless to all living creatures. Bits and pieces of the worldbuilding around Cadmus showed that the aliens experimented on came from DEO facilities.)

Henshaw dies when Jeremiah Danvers "kills" him when saving J'onn J'ozz, who then takes Henshaw's place until exposed. He recruits Alex sometime before his exposure (Season 1). After J'onn is exposed in Season 1, Lucy Lane takes control. Then after J'onn helps Supergirl defeat the murderous Kryptonian Non, J'onn received a presidential pardon and was reinstated as director. He kept Henshaw's guise for publicity sake.

The show makes it clear that J'onn choses to be the Director to change the DEO. Yet, what evidence is there that this actually happens?

So that's the basic history.

We have a clandestine agency that has unethical procedures that doesn't change under a new director.

The DEO picks up aliens and throws them in a cell to never be seen or heard from again. This would likely terrorize the alien neighborhoods. This is never truly address in any meaningful manner by the Superfriends or Kara.

In fact, if anything, the show positions the DEO as being Good if Alex, J'onn, or Lucy are in charge (Kara, ironically is not in charge of the DEO at any point). However, the DEO becomes Bad if Lex Luthor or Lauren Haley or the real Hank Henshaw are in charge.

This creates a rather large ethical problem.

First of all, the worldbuilding builds up the argument that certain people are good and certain people are bad. The person we see skirting between those two extremes, and living in a morally grey area the most, is Lena Luhor. For the purposes of this essay, I'll put a pin into Lena's characterization and focus only on the DEO.

Secondly, we are told again and again what Kara/Supergirl's ethics are: justice and truth. Yet when we examine Kara's actions within the context of her DEO Supergirl duties, we are confronted with the following:

She must hide her identity, even from her best friend Lena, and thus deceives regularly. Her reasons for not telling Lena are rooted in the pressure from those at the DEO to not tell Lena but also in Kara's intense fear of loss. However, Kara will demand truth from others despite her hypocritical actions. This doesn't seem to fit solidly in the "good" category.

Her "justice" is defeating criminals. Humans go to the police to eventually have a fair trial. However, aliens are not afforded that same right. Her justice for aliens becomes judge and jury. Since she professes to "not kill," she at least doesn't extend that to executioner. This again doesn't fit solidly in the "good" category.

Thus, by examining Kara/Supergirl's actions, we see a disconnect with what the show claims is "good:" truth and justice. Yet, there is no true justice for the aliens fought and captured; their rights are rescinded (if they had any at all).

This is why the show must tell us who is "good" and who is "bad," because people's actions do not fit the show's claims of what "goodness" is versus what "badness" is. Thus the worldbuilding ends up defining Kara's actions as always "good" even if those actions cause harm to those around her.

[Side note: This isn't to say that Kara is "bad." It is to say that the binary within the show's worldbuilding lacks nuance for the complexity within Kara's understanding of the world and how she acts within that understanding. This binary simply cannot allow for such a complex examination as there is no room for it.

Because of this binary, the show actually butchers Kara's character to make her past "not good" actions as somehow "right" and "good" in the end. We see this with how Kara's harmful actions toward Lena (the lying, duplicity, deception etc) is turned into "I did just one mistake" when it wasn't one mistake. It was years of harm, but because the show paints Kara as "good," Kara is not allowed growth.

This binary of good versus bad is already nonsensical in the worldbuilding since Lena Luthor's very existence throws this entire frame out the window. Her actions, always with the intention to do the least harm and try to improve the world, don't fit neatly into the binary. The story often punishes her for this. (She breaks the binary too much I suppose.)

Yet when other people's actions fail to fit neatly into the binary, the show whispers: "Hush, don't look or think, believe us when we say this person is good and this person is bad.']

To reiterate: It's okay to capture aliens and disappear them without any right to trial If the Superfriends are doing it. This good/bad definition collapses ethics into meaningless words since the activities and procedures of both the "good" people and "bad" people don't differ in terms of impact on alien communities. This lack of differentiation is why we must be told who is good. Otherwise, how would we know?

To dig a little deeper, in Season 4, when Kara is on the most wanted list, she learns very little about the true plight of aliens. During this time, the DEO becomes "bad" under the control of Lauren Haley. Lena Luthor and Alex Danvers, who are both working with the DEO still, also work against the DEO but only to clear Kara's name. So justice is done for Kara's sake but not for the other impacted alien communities.

Once Kara's reputation is restored and she's no longer deemed an "enemy of the state," Kara returns to working with the DEO, as it is now labeled as "good" again because Alex is back in charge.

Ironically, the only person in Kara's friendgroup that questions the DEO is Lena Luthor. (Who in Season 5 will have her 'villain arc' only to be redeemed to the good side again at the end of Season 5. She's the only character, who is labeled a villain at one point, that is allowed true redemption.)

We learn very little about what alien communities actually think about the DEO and about Supergirl in particular. The most we get is the Children of Liberty plot line of Season 4; however, this plot line doesn't ever give us a solid viewpoint from impacted alien communities. Instead, we are confronted with:

We are told what alien communities are like and how lacking in rights they are. Very little of this is shown directly outside of "criminal aliens." Or the brief glimpses within Manchester's arc. However, Manchester is viewed as 'in need of redemption' despite having very real grievances with the state of things. The show then tells us that Manchester is 'bad' and the 'good' J'onn and friends must stop him.

The second time we see alien daily lives is Nia's return to her hometown, which is attacked by supercharged humans. This blended town of aliens and humans serve as an outlier. Nia actually admits that the town is unique and not representative to most aliens' experiences. So again, we don't see a direct experience of alien life in National City or other major cities.

Aliens either have significant powers that humans can justifiably find scary or they are human-like with little to no powers. Both are treated the same for the sake of the Children of Liberty plot line, which serves as an immigrant allegory. @fazedlight and @sideguitars did excellent analysis on this and the problems of these allegories based on the worldbuilding and story itself. (Note: thank you to fazedlight for finding the post in question! Click here o read their analysis.)

This makes it easier for the show to pretend that the DEO is "good" when the Superfriends are in charge. Since we don't meet alien families harmed by the DEO's actions, we never truly get an alternate perspective. Even Lena Luthor's critique of DEO is spat upon by the story, where her alien friends fail to truly counter her valid points. Instead, it's presented in the good/bad binary, which erases all nuance and ethical considerations.

Let's also consider the start of the Supergirl career. Kara is captured by the DEO 12 years after her initial appearance on Earth. However, prior to this moment, we had learned that Kara had nearly been taken by the government -- specifically Henshaw's control of the DEO. Jeremiah Danvers agrees to work for the government in exchange for Kara's freedom from being a government asset.

However, her saving Alex's flight puts her in the crosshairs of DEO, and eventually she is captured. Upon which she learns J'onn is in charge (not the original Henshaw), and J'onn's goals are revealed. He allows Kara to fight her first alien fights as Supergirl. Here we see that J'onn's methods have not actually changed anything about the DEO. The alien fight results in that alien being captured. Supergirl/Kara never hears what happens to the alien she fought and captured. No thought is given to the rights of that alien or if a fair trial will be given. Instead, we are told the alien is a "criminal' as if that somehow justifies the brutal treatment.

After Alex reveals she's an agent with the DEO, Kara fully trusts the agency.

So Jeremiah gave up his life to make sure Kara wasn't being used by the government, only for Kara later on working for the DEO, which is part of the government. Thus Kara ends up used by the government after all. The irony here.

Kara's blind spot here is:

she's privileged. A white-passing, human-passing alien. It's easier for her to hide as a human and not be clocked as an alien. Also, she's white, so less likely to deal with the complications of racism. The most she has to deal with is sexism and the DEO's procedures. This means she doesn't experience the worst the DEO and the systems that uphold it dish out to aliens.

Kara hasn't really interacted with aliens outside her friend group. She's relatively sheltered since coming to Earth due to Kal placing her with the Danvers and having to hide herself. She has no real knowledge of how aliens survive on Earth. This means she has nothing in which to compare the DEO's claims.

She blindly trusts Alex when it comes to DEO.

We don't see Kara questioning what happens to aliens until Season 3 (if it happens in season 1, I apologize as that season is a bit hazy for me). Here Psi saves Kara's life during a perilous mission. Kara then asks about her accommodations and finds out she has no window in her cell. She then demands Psi be given a cell with a window.

However, notice who Kara takes with her on that Season 3 mission: LiveWire (human but due to an accident became Livewire, so she's not an alien but a meta-human) and Psi (who is labeled a meta-human). So the two incarcerated people that Kara chooses are meta-humans and not actual aliens.

So again, we never see Kara interact with aliens outside her friend group unless she is interrogating them. Once the DEO is done with interrogations and the case "closed," those aliens disappear into these windowless cells. Which, need I remind that solitary confinement is labeled as torture for a reason?

Yet that is where aliens that are dubbed "too dangerous" end up by those with power. No rights given; left trapped in solitary confinement with (likely) no windows to never see the light of day again. Of course, because we are told the "good" people do this, it is thus "okay," despite it not differing in methodology with what the "bad" people did.

2. DEO's procedures don't match law. This is especially true when alien amnesty is put into law.

DEO changes NOTHING about their procedures after alien amnesty is put into law. This means that although aliens now have a legal right to a trial, the DEO does not provide this for them. No captured alien is given this right.

This means the DEO doesn't operate within the law.

So if the DEO can disregard laws if they so desire, then what is to stop them from terrorizing any citizen regardless of whether that citizen or alien or human?

What exactly is the ethics of the DEO?

Is the ethics dependent on who is in charge? But if one compares the tenure of the directors: Henshaw, J'onn, Lucy, Alex, Lauren, and Lex -- we see no difference in how the DEO acts.

They all target aliens and give them no rights. The aliens vanish into the cells never to be seen again. This includes some meta-aliens.

Some will claim that while the Superfriends are in charge only criminal aliens are thrown into solitary cells with no hope of release.

But that begs the question: Why do the Superfriends get to be judge and jury and/or executioner? What makes their decisions good but Lauren Haley's or Lex's or the original Hank Henshaw's decisions bad?

Why do the Superfriends get to decide that criminals get no right to a fair trial? Why do they not interrogate what is causing the criminal behaviors in order to change the conditions to avoid aliens resorting to "criminality" as defined by them?

In the end, it does not matter why an alien or meta-human engages in what the state has deemed "criminal" behavior; the methods used in capture and the end result is the same regardless.

The families of captured aliens see the same results regardless of whether "good" people or "bad" people are in charge of the DEO.

While alien amnesty is in law, the DEO, who is under Superfriend control at the time, does not alter their procedures to give the aliens they capture any rights. We never see the aliens or meta-humans captured ever given a fair trial. Nor do we see any programs to reform "criminals" or give them any chance at parole or redemption.

The only method for dealing with aliens and meta-humans uses a carceral prison system that is based in solitary confinement torture. Even the interrogation procedures used have elements of torture to them. In fact, many of the "interrogation" procedures use leading questions to entrap and force a confession under duress. None of these methods are conducive toward reform or fixing a system that deprives those captured of all rights.

Alternate systems for dealing with criminals are never explored. We never see transformative or restorative justice utilized. Both systems would require extensive dialogue with the communities harmed by the "criminals," and if there is one thing the DEO fail at consistently is dialogue with the impacted communities. Instead, their approach is top down, where their ideas of what is right and best is pushed down upon the communities they claim to serve.

Part of this lies with the fact the Superfriends can't engage in dialogue as long as they adhere to the oppressive methodology and practices of the DEO. Reform has failed to alter the ethical violations within the DEO. Alex Vidale wrote an excellent book called The End of Policing, which digs into the attempted reforms for police and how they have consistently failed. Vidale writes:

“At root, they [reformers] fail to appreciate that the basic nature of the law and the police, since its earliest origins, is to be a tool for managing inequality and maintaining the status quo. Police reforms that fail to directly address this reality are doomed to reproduce it.”

The DEO at its root was created to manage the inequality inherent between human rights and the lack of any rights for aliens. It was also created to control aliens and maintain a human status quo. The Superfriends attempt at reform fails to address this reality, and thus were doomed to repeat it.

Vidale continues:

“Police argue that residents in high-crime communities often demand police action. What is left out is that these communities also ask for better schools, parks, libraries, and jobs, but these services are rarely provided.”

Services to better the conditions of so-called "high-crime" communities are not shown to be rendered in the Supergirl world, while the Superfriends are in control of the DEO. It is not more policing that is needed, but more services which do not get provided for most of the show's story and worldbuilding. Thus, the communities that struggle with survival, who often must resort to "illegal" or "criminal" ways end up with only punitive measures that continue the cycle.

It's only in Season 6 when the Superfriends are no longer with the DEO that we start to see them engage in dialogue with the community in general (Kelly's arcs in particular touch on this for the lower income area that she tries to help, which is shown to be a mixture of nonwhite humans and some aliens).

If J'onn and others truly are seeking to reform the DEO, then that requires them to be in dialogue with the affected communities and to put forth new procedures that provide rights to those impacted. This is never done.

3. The DEO suffers no consequences for its actions.

The "Bad things" that happen under the "Bad" directors -- original Henshaw, Lauren Haley, Lex -- aren't ever addressed. Nothing really changes; instead the "Good" guys get back in control and things continue.

Was any reparations made for those harmed by the bad actors? Are the families impacted ever given compensation? We see some aliens rescued from Cadmus in Season 2 and Lex's Power Plant in Season 4, but what of the families of those murdered by Lex and Henshaw? The show fails to address this.

Instead, we are told that the "good" people are now in charge again and only "criminals" are being taken and incarcerated with no rights.

The concept of "criminality" depends entirely on who is in a position of power to dictate what constitutes "criminal" acts. One of the biggest problems with "criminality" as a concept is that it fails to interrogate the why these behaviors happen. What led to the "criminal act?" Are the people engaging in the act just "bad" people?

Often when basic needs are not being met, people may engage in acts of desperation to meet those needs. These actions may fall under what that society deems as "criminal." However, if the people's needs were met, then they wouldn't need to engage in desperate acts to meet their needs.

Another reason for "criminal" behavior stems from people who lack rights in a society. The oppressed will often fight against their oppressors using a mixture of methods (sometimes nonviolent, sometimes violent) in order to win their rights and transform society for the better. Until they win that fight, their actions are labeled as "criminal" by those in power.

Some rarer individuals may engage in acts of harm because they enjoy it such as Lex. However, this is actually very rare. Property crime and burglary is far, far more common. Yet, even those engaging in horrific violent crimes are still afforded a fair trial. Something aliens in the Supergirl universe are never given.

There's quite a few scenes where the aliens fought by Supergirl are engaging in robberies/burglaries or other property crimes. Those that seek to violently mass murder is actually rarer, and often the big villain of the season. At no point does anyone in the show reckon with the reasons someone may choose to engage in "criminal" behavior. Instead, all "criminals" are painted as "bad" regardless.

J'onn professes to be "reforming" the DEO to stop its reign of terror among alien communities. Yet, the most crucial components in changing an oppressive system? We don't really see him utilize them until Season 4, but by then the DEO is in the hands of Alex, who continues the procedures put into place by J'onn,

Paulo Freire writes in Pedagogy of the Oppressed concerning the "radical" as in the person seeking to end an oppressive system:

"The radical, committed to [human] liberation, does not become the prisoner of a 'circle of certainty' within which reality is also imprisoned. On the contrary, the more radical the person is, the more fully he or she enters into reality so that, knowing it better, he or she can transform it. This individual is not afraid to confront, to listen, to see the world unveiled. This person is not afraid to meet the people or to enter into a dialogue with them."

J'onn recognizes that the DEO's methods are wrong and unethical. When he takes over and poses as Henshaw, he wishes to transform the system. Except, this is where he fails, because he justifies his changes by claiming that now the DEO only locks away forever criminal aliens.

No thought is given as to why these aliens are making these decisions. What pushed them to rob a store? What pushed them to attack? Did they feel like they had no other choice? Was there no opportunities other than to rob for what they needed? Or to fight against a system that they deem is harming them and their communities?

These questions are not analyzed at all by J'onn or the Superfriends. They do not listen to those most impacted by the DEO. The only time we see J'onn seem to listen is when he is trying to work with Manchester in Season 4, but that results in Manchester being presented as bad in the end, while J'onn is shown to be good. Where he tried to redeem Manchester.

Yet Manchester had valid points about the treatment of aliens. His methodology in fighting back against what he saw as oppressive system is problematic, but he listens far more than Kara and the Superfriends to those being harmed by the systems that created the DEO.

So J'onn and the other Superfriends are failing to engage in dialogue with those harmed by the DEO. They fail to unveil what is truly horrifying with the DEO: incarcerating aliens in solitary confinement with no fair trial and no hope of ever seeing the light of day again.

The justification that because they are "criminals" this is somehow okay erases all the contributing factors that may make up the circumstances that lead to the "criminal" behavior. Nothing is truly done to remedy the situations that may drive someone to what the state labels as "criminal" behavior. It also unveils a horrible truth. Any alien (or meta-human or even human) can be marked an "enemy of the state" and thus a "criminal," where all rights they had prior be rescinded. We see this happen to Supergirl in Season 4. The only reason she isn't locked away in a cell with no windows is because Alex and Lena don't allow it. Unlike most aliens the DEO fights to find and capture, Kara has people fighting for her. But what about every other alien? Who is actually fighting for them?

J'onn's attempt to reform the DEO falls into the biggest trap for all radical liberators: it is all too easy to become complicit with the system at be and justify this than it is to actually change it from within.

As Paulo Freire puts so succinctly:

“Oppression is domesticating. The gravest obstacle to the achievement of liberation is that oppressive reality absorbs those within it, and thereby acts to submerge human beings' consciousness.”

Thus the DEO fails to be reformed. It's reign of terror in alien communities is not truly diminished. Nor does those fighting to "reform" the DEO engage in any dialogue with those communities to determine their needs or ways to improve conditions to decrease the need to resort to "criminal" activities.

In the end, the DEO stays an oppressive, clandestine agency that has no transparency, answers to apparently no one, takes away the rights of those they catch, and disregards laws as they please.

What the Superfriends have failed to learn and understand is that oppression cannot be defeated by reforming the system that causes the oppression. In other words, liberation cannot be achieved be reform alone.

This is why the destruction of the DEO in Season 6 is perhaps the best result at least within the rules of the Supergirl world. The Superfriends could not reform it from the inside, and by trying to do so, they ended up complicit to a harmful system. As long as they were tied to the DEO, the Superfriends would never be able to live out justice and uplift the rights of aliens and humans alike.

ADDENDUM: However, the Superfriends decision to go full vigilante is a whole other can of worms. They do attempt to be transparent in their actions for the communities they serve, but is there a way for people to hold them accountable? That isn't fully addressed. However, that would require a full essay, and this essay is only about the DEO.

#I know it's CW who failed to ever think about these topics #I wanted to get philosophical about this #if I had more energy I'd give the good/bad problem further depth as it deserves more examination than I gave #The simplification of ethics to good/bad based on who the show labels as 'good' and 'bad' is a bastardization of ethics #I love me some paulo freire #trying to reform a corrupt system from within runs the danger of becoming part of that system #Liberation cannot be achieved by reform alone #I wrote this mostly as an exercise in examining worldbuilding within a liberatory framework #I'm solidly in the DEO cannot be redeemed or reformed camp and needs to be completely taken down #A new method for dealing with dangerous aliens that respect their rights is needed #Restorative or transformative justice is my jam

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castformation · 1 month

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Question for my Pokémon IRL/Rotomblr peers as I consider rebooting this blog in the wake of Pokémon Hyperfixation(tm)

Bonus points for elaborating as to whether another user's in-character location influences how you interact with them! Do you find it harder to interact with users from or based in non-canon regions, or do you find it fun?

Thanks for your input! Feel free to reblog for a larger sample size etc etc :D

#asking bc i really want this soft rebooted ver of the character to live #in a pokemon-ified version of chicago #because *i* live in chicago #and local history is sort of. my degree my profession etc and i love worldbuilding #and it seems fun #but i dont want to alienate other accounts i might wanna interact with in the future!!! and all that.#rotomblr #pkmn irl #polls #pokemon irl #pkmn rp #pokemon roleplay #edit: i forgot abt chararacters who might travel frequently/live out of their suitcase #and might not have a set “home” region #so feel free to pop ur i dont know/im bald/some other infinitely nuanced answer answers in the comments #:D

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definitelynotshouting · 1 year

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MMMMMMM SPACE AU IS GOING TO MAKE ME BRAINROT ABOUT THE LANGAUCW BARRIERS AAAAAAAAAAAA

thinking about the fucking ✨I n t i m a c y✨ of learning each other’s body languages and routines/habits and slowly falling in love with the more subtle parts of each other rather than through simply getting to know each other. ALSO ALSO ALSO WITH ALIENS!!!!!! I cannot fucking BEGIN to stress the importance of physical touch. Coming from someone who grew up shipping spirk, PHYSICAL TOUCH IS LITERALLY EVERYTHING. The small gestures, learning each other’s cultural and personal boundaries and adjusting to that even if it’s smth small like, avoiding touching direct skin. Showing that they care, and are considerate at the same time. Other things like trying each other’s native foods that they love, or watching the stars in complete silence together. Just UGH, language barriers are so fucking important to me bc it literally leaves them to fall in love with ALL of each other. Not just their upfront personality, or sense of humor, or manner of speaking, but EVERYTHINNGG. GOD IM GOING TO GO INSANE BC OF THIS WAYAGGGHHHHH.

ANON NO JOKE THIS IS SUCH A HUGE REASON WHY I INCORPORATED A LANGUAGE BARRIER INTO THE INITIAL IDEA OF THIS AU. You are SO right for this its about everything you said and also the expression of love to learn someone else's language even imperfectly just so you can communicate with them. Im so ill in the brain abt it like oh my GODS i love space aus that really lean into the cultural differences and cultural exchange of it all

Also anon you will LOVE that fact that glossy and i were talking the other day about the concept in your other ask-- we've determined that Scar and Jellie's species (now officially called Tsabii) has a huge thing about colours. Ive been picturing their planet to have a lot of deserts and warmer climates with only a few extreme cold ones, as well as a lot of underground cave systems, so colour is something very important and traditional to their people. We decided Tsabii actually translates roughly to "spectrum/all colours/all spirits" and is basically their own word for people as a collective. And instead of saying something like "you make me incredibly happy" you'd say something along the lines of "you have bright colours"

Scar, at some point down the line, tells Grian almost offhandedly that he's the "most colourful person [he's] ever seen." Which is like. Probably one of the most smitten and romantic things a Tsabii can ever say to someone else. A bit like saying aishiteru in Japanese. It's not something you'd ever say in public because it's practically verbal pda, incredibly intimate, and basically declaring this person the center of your world and happiness. And Scar just. Says it to him. With perfect, calculated casualness.

Of course Grian doesn't understand the connotations of that. He's out here assuming Scar just really likes the colour red. And ohhhh my gods the fun we've been having turning that concept around, its been making me insane

Anyway tldr; anon u are so right for everything and i am solemnly shaking your hand

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flareguncalamity · 2 years

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Lt. Commander Killian: So what was your name again?

Nevularxi: I have not already told you. I’m afraid my name may not translate into your language.

Lt. Commander Killian: Oh yeah?

Nevularxi: I am named for a period of time on my home planet that surrounds the immediate aftermath of the second yearly equinox of our planet’s solar star. It’s the period following our fertile rainy season, and marked the beginning of the harvest in years of antiquity, as well as the coming of the colder, darker season which our species typically spends in isolation or hibernation. The period is considered to be a time of great liminality and spiritual importance in our ancient religions, although since the dawn of the modern technological age it has lost some of its transient meaning.

Lt. Commander Killian: …Okay, but i meant more like. how do I say your name.

Nevularxi: Oh, it’s nev-you-LARK-zee.

Lt. Commander Killian: Gotcha. by the way, your name in english is October.

#oc #humans are space orcs #these are original characters of mine btw #Killian Weir is a human scientist whose dad got them a high ranking official job through nepotism #and they’re very out of their depth since all of their credentials are academic and not in leadership #so they’re overqualified for the scientific and technological aspect of their job. and vastly under qualified for every other part of it #Nev is an alien who had to fight tooth and nail to claw her way up through the ranks. so she resents Killian a bit #but later in their story arc they fall in love and go against the hypercapitalist intergalactic regime together #so it’s ok #i don’t have a design for Nev quite yet #i know i want her to be blues and purples mostly #but i want there to be a little bit of a speculative biology aspect to her design #so i have to do some worldbuilding first before i settle on anything #i just know that i want her to be bipedal but with 4 arms #and i’m also imagining her with a bob haircut. whether it’s gonna be hair or feathers or something else remains to be seen #Killian is like. 6’3 ish red haired irish american. built like a jock sort of but unfortunately lacking the swag to be sexy #They’re a xenogeologist btw. <3 i love geology

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aroaceleovaldez · 8 months

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i need to know everything about your pjo voltron au

okay so basic plot premise: Thalia, Luke, Jason, Percy, Maria di Angelo, and Bianca all work at the Garrison and get sent on 3 separate missions (Thalia & Luke, Jason & ??? or maybe he's just by himself, then Percy & Maria & Bianca) which are all "lost" and they're declared dead by the Garrison.

Of course they were actually all abducted by aliens. Maria probably dies pretty early on in that whole situation. Thalia gets separated from Luke and ends up escaping and becoming a rebel. Luke, Jason, and Percy & Bianca all separately (except for Percy & Bianca) end up gladiators. Luke becomes The Champion and basically ends up a Kuron/Sendak-type character situation. Is he being mind-controlled? Unclear. He has a giant alien scythe-sword though. Bianca probably dies buying Percy time in the arena. At some point Percy and Jason find each other and decide to try and stick together.

Hazel is a human raised by her galra dad in space with the Blade of Marmora. She knows she has a half-brother through her dad out there somewhere but not anything else about him. She ends up running into Jason and Percy on a mission and helps them escape cause they're humans too.

Back on Earth, Piper, Leo, and Annabeth are all Garrison students. Or Annabeth is possibly in a Keith-type situation where she used to be a student but got Kinda Pissed Off about all her loved ones disappearing into space and ended up getting kicked out. Nico is in a Pidge-type situation where he snuck in as a student under a false name to figure out what happened to his family's mission. Percy and Jason crash on earth, the gang finds them, they find the Blue Lion, and Percy pilots it to the Altean castleship where they meet Reyna and Frank. Reyna is the Altean Princess, because her sister Hylla was queen. Frank is the son of a high-ranking general or something and he and Reyna are a duo.

Rest going under a cut cause this got long -

Lion adventures happen - Annabeth pilots the Green Lion, Jason pilots the Black Lion. Nico finds the Red Lion and meets Hazel when he does and brings her back to the castle. Hazel pilots the Yellow Lion. Nico very quickly realizes he's half-Galra and Hazel's brother and joins the Blade of Marmora. Percy swaps from Blue to the Red Lion. Piper starts piloting the Blue Lion. Leo, Frank, Reyna, and Nico end up the home-base support team. Percy probably keeps the blue paladin armor and Piper gets the spare pink armor for color association reasons and also cause that's usually the format for every iteration of Voltron anyways. It works out nicely. Everybody has extra lion compatibilities too/every Lion has a back-up basically cause I'm still mad vld canon dropped the lion lore/sentience plotlines and we never got cool dynamic lion swapping instead of just the usual single switch. We're having fun here.

Then everything else I don't have much for other than Annabeth and Nico basically swap Keith and Pidge roles once they join Voltron so Nico goes and has his galra identity crisis adventures and Annabeth reunites with Thalia at some point, who is basically in a Matt-type role. And Luke functions as the Sendak-level antagonist who Annabeth probably gets to fight with a swap back to Keith's role in a whole Keith & Kuron emotional situation. Kronos and Gaea are probably analogous to Zarkon and Haggar/Honerva here but not necessarily in that order, and obviously it's more of an either "Emperor and his advisor mom" or "Empress and her prince son" but in either one somebody's doing magic and people are probably getting possessed. Hades, Persephone, Iaepatus/Bob, and Damasen are all with the BoM. The Titans/Giants are probably all Empire generals. Who's Lotor? Octavian? Calypso? I don't know. Who are all the gods? I dunno. We'll workshop it.

#pjo #riordanverse #ask #dreamyzworldlove #vld pjo au #long post //#i think a normal about about the BoM and galra lore okay #i am a simple being. i like worldbuilding. show me funky fluffy purple aliens and i will be invested #i made a whole translation of their alphabet so i could write with it #as for the rest -#Annabeth & Luke with the "You're like a brother to me - I love you'' probably constitutes as psychological violence on a meta level #it maps hilariously well though in terms of both narrative function in the au canon #AND meta level comparisons of fandom reactions re: Luke's death / the Kuron fight and relevant quotes in both. the bloodshed...#anyways its too perfect though and im amused by the parallels of meta baggage there so it stays #i am also now rapidly rotating all lotor options in my brain #also Nico joing the BoM is essentially analogous to him running away in TTC #except he's not 10 here so he probably does it with a bit more grace #he probably finds out about his mom and sister. gets real sad. then meets Hazel #and finds out she's his sister and their dad is around and he goes ''...okay. im okay now.''

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furious-blueberry0 · 6 months

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Togrutas' pigmentation

A random togruta headcanon I’ve been thinking about for a while and finally decided to write down!

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The original and most common pigmentation combinations for togrutas are as follows:

Blue lekku and red skin

Light blue lekku and orange skin

Green lekku and yellow skin

Yellow lekku and brown skin

These were the only colours that the togrutas could have, and sometimes these combinations would mix, but in the end they were always the same 4 skin colours and the same 4 lekku colours.

These remain the most common combinations on the planet of Shili, but it is very common now to find togrutas with completely different colours from the originals ones around the galaxy.

These changes occurred thanks to the encounter with other alien species. It is in fact not uncommon for togrutas who do not live on Shili to have human, twi'lek, mirialian, pantoran or any near-human mammalian species as partners.

Togruta genes are very dominant, so the only difference the second parent's genes can bring is a change in the offspring's coloration. Precisely for this reason new combinations have begun to be exist, some examples:

Pink lekku and red skin

Blue lekku and purple skin

Yellow lekku and blue skin

Gray lekku and green skin

and many others.

As mentioned these combinations can be found around the galaxy, but they’re uncommon on Shili, where the main 4 combinations are still the most common, but the more new pigmentations can still be encountered in the larger cities.

#i love worldbuilding #especially when it comes to this kind of alien species #I also just really love togrutas #and I can never find a lot informations about them #so I guess I'll just randomly create some for my own enjoyment #star wars #togruta #togruta headcannons #star wars worldbuilding

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la-nute · 9 months

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Thinking about a bit of biology for the alien plant people. Plus a bit of cape/mask thoughts, I don't think it's worth bothering with though. It's too complex for a daily use item.

They have arms a bit longer than a human and shorter strong legs. No need for a large digestive system, and so the lungs take up the exyra space. I was thinking about bird lungs and respiration for the people. They live in thin air so why not have the most efficient lungs. There is always air circulating within their lungs, perfect for efficient oxygenation.

I mean, it's way more complex than that, I'll throw an animation from google as an example of how the system works. Basically the exhale moves to a holding space before being exhaled.