#sapient-axolotl

[artechoceneexplorer]

Remember that wheel I posted like half a month ago? I finally finished it!!

Now here's some close-ups with the characters that are featured in it :>

Red section!! Featuring Garnet from Steven Universe, Red from The Sea Beast, Hornet from Hollow knight, the Scarlet Caviearer from Bivaltopia and a pointy creature by Equiëtum ❤️🍄❤️

Orange section!! Featuring Calcifer from Howl's Moving Castle, Enoch from Over the Garden Wall, The Core from Amphibia, Rahang Besar from Project Temere and the Pomegranate King by Miguel11to.

Yellow section!! Featuring Bill Cipher from Gravity Falls, Jake the Dog from Adventure Time, the Plasm Wraith from Pikmin 3, the protagonist of Abzū, the Pangaloon from The New Dinosaurs and Amphinatans mirabilis from Polinices 💛🌟💛

Green section!! Featuring Kermit the Frog, Diamondhead from Ben 10, Link from Skyward Sword, Tighnari from Genshin Impact, the Emerald Bombardier from the Dragonslayer Codex and a Samara Fairy by samuelele_draws 💚🍀💚

Cyan section!! Featuring Rika from Pokémon, a Na'vi from Avatar, the Flish from The Future is Wild, the Giant Severateel from Sinedey and Furcagnathodon from the Kiatra project 🩵🐬🩵

Blue section!! Featuring Stitch, Modecai from Regular Show, Shiver from Splatoon 3, Dory from Finding Nemo, the Inkilatura from Tales of Kaimere and an aquatic sapient from Scylios 💙🌀💙

Purple section!! Featuring Amity Blight from The Owl House, Chameleos from Monster Hunter, Double King by Felix Colgrave, Thanos, the Amoebic Sea from Darwin IV and the Violet Bunting from the Birds of Novasola 💜👾💜

Pink section!! Featuring Nimona, Al-An from Subnautica: Below Zero, Kanroji Mitsuri from Demon Slayer, Perfuma from She-ra, an Axolotl from Minecraft and Apocleavis magnifica from the The Future is Far project 🩷🌸🩷

The B/W and final section!! Featuring Tui and La from Avatar: The Last Airbender, Spiderman Noir from Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse and Umbragrus huxlwyi from the Dragons of the World project 🖤🐧🤍

Hope you like it, took me like a month to finish :")

#art #illustration #speculative evolution #clip studio paint #creature design #pokemon #genshin impact #steven universe #hollow knight #amphibia #over the garden wall #studio ghibli #gravity falls #abzu #pikmin #the legend of zelda #avatar #splatoon #monster hunter #the future is wild #the owl house #demon slayer #she ra and the princesses of power #subnautica #nimona #minecraft #the sea beast #avatar the last airbender #across the spiderverse

[ckret2]

So, I'm asking under the assumption that you a) have an answer and b) the answer isn't narratively important: what ARE the little axolotls to the bit AXOLOTL? Are they spawn/followers of some sort? An extension of its being? A byproduct of its existence, like shed skin cells are for us? Are they alive? Sapient? Individual?

A sample from the next chapter:

"... And the smaller axolotls, what are they—heralds, worshipers? Children?"

Bill scoffed in disgust, "I don't know, I've never asked him. I see them like the flies orbiting a cow's tail. They migrate with him, that's all I know."

I imagine them as 1/3 visual/physical echoes of the Axolotl's existence & presence, 1/3 dead skin cells, and 1/3 clones budding off from him. They're part of him/a projection from him and they're not independently alive, but they could flake off and become their own individual creatures. Ghosts of unborn axolotls future.

But more importantly than that: what they are is something really fucked up to see in the water when your triangle prisoner is saying ominous things about an eclipse.

Caveat to the above: I might change my answer if I think of something cool to do with them later that requires them to be something different.

#ecruvian #ask #bill goldilocks cipher

[gravityflops]

words: 2086

pov: 2nd

warnings: n/a (lmk)

“You did WHAT?!”

The liminal space shook with the force of the screech. 

“You SPLIT ME?!”

“Correction, you split you. This is all part of the arrangement that you and I had all those eons ago.” “SO WHAT IS THIS BODY THEN? A-A SENTIENT FRAGMENT?”

“Indeed, you may say so. You are one of three, in fact. As for the other two… Well , one, I have hidden in plain sight. The other, I have hidden far away…” The Axolotl’s voice grows amused. “Two of the three are demons. Two of the three are scoundrels. Two of the three are mortal. It is an even split, I assure you.” “You… YOU-” “I had promised that you would live again. You are now given the opportunity to live three extra lives. I would say that I have gone above and beyond your request.” Bill cried, with the demeanor akin to that of a whiny child.

“I CAN’T LIVE LIKE THIS! YOU TRICKED ME, YOU SLIMY CHEATING-” 

“Now now, Cipher,” the God spoke gently. “None of that. I may be a brother but I do not do name-calling.” 

“--BACK-STABBING DOUBLE-CROSSING LYING--!!”

The Axolotl leaned in real close, the smile on their face persisting. Their words were stern, but not unkind as they told Bill, “Including your very first… the life that you are currently experiencing… is your FOURTH. I recommend that you stop complaining. Especially when considering that this one is the only one in which your memories still currently persist. Waste this, and they will be lost, meaningless. You have them for a reason. Make them count, Cipher.”

Angry triangle noises. Bill was just grumbling to himself at this point.

“Oh. One more thing.” “WHAAT.”

The Axolotl lowered themself to look Cipher in the eye. “You rule on borrowed energy.” 

“UGH. THIS AGAIN.”

“Your trade is that of bargaining, you know how this works. I am a generous being, and I have given you much expecting nothing in return. But you cannot hold onto my power forever.” “WHY NOT?”

There was a deafening rumble that put a shake in the knee of even the chaos lord himself. 

“Because all energy is borrowed. Sooner or later - namely, when you expire, once and for all…”

More angry grumbling.

“...That energy has to go somewhere.”

“What, like a lightning-to-the-ground situation?”

“I was thinking more along the lines of… a lightning rod.”

“What.” 

“Find an outlet. A concentrated one.” 

“What, like a battery?” Bill belted out a laugh. “This type of energy could power a civilization for eons. I actively avoid being that noble, you know.” 

“Whichever you choose. In any case, you may as well do this for me. You cannot use the full extent of your power anymore anyways.” “I can’t WHAT? EXCUSE ME??” “You are not the full extent of Bill Cipher.” 

The Axolotl looked amused. Beady black eyes, sweet smile, almost mocking him. He glared.

“WELL then, wise guy, what outlet do you have in mind? You have a plot for everything, let’s just hear it and get it over with.”

“Well, there are many species in the multiverse that could handle such power--”

“You want me to give it to a SAPIENT??”

“--but I was thinking more along the lines of.. A human.” “HUMANS?” Bill looked outraged. “AFTER WHAT THOSE THINGS PUT ME THROUGH? THOUSANDS OF YEARS OF INCOMPETENCE AND INADEQUACY? THAT RACE IS MORONIC.”

“Is this going to be an issue?” 

Bill stared up. He seethed silently to himself, calculating. Then, he exhaled.

“...At least give me someone who’s pathetic so I can have fun breaking them.”

“I will give you someone who matches you.”

The demon’s eyes lit up. “Chaotic? RUTHLESS? FUN???”

“Empathic. Kind. Easy-going.”

“Pitiful,” Bill spat.

“Exactly.” The Axolotl smiled. “Your definition of the word. They will match you.”

Bill never understood this frilly bastard’s logic. 

“And how am I supposed to find this dumb human?”

“Fear not, they will find you.” 

.

.

.

The time change was really kicking your butt.

Dragging yourself out of bed at what felt like an ungodly hour of the morning after a long night of research was an agonizing process. It was so cold… Your bed was calling you. You longed to answer. But alas, for some reason you had a “responsibility” to “be at work” or whatever. Apparently gaining phenomenal cosmic powers did not exclude you from the clutches of a capitalist society. Sighh. Personally, that seemed like a ripoff to you. 

After dragging your ass away from the sweet nirvana that was under your blankets, haphazardly throwing on a clean set of clothes and stuffing a half-assed breakfast down your gullet, you stood with the door open, jaw incredulously agape, staring at the snow-covered everything. It was spring yesterday. You couldn’t believe it. You let out an irritated scoff. Damn you, March.

Muttering under your breath, you retrieved your ice scraper. 

You cursed under your breath as it billowed out in puffs of white. “Cold.. It’s so, so cold. It’s March, why’s it gotta be s-so damn c-cold--”

“HEY I HAVE AN IDEA!”

“WAH--”

The demon’s sudden appearance startled you, and the ice scraper was promptly flying out of your hands. It landed with a clatter somewhere on the driveway. “JESUS, BILL, STOP DOING THAT!”

“Oh, you’ll get used to it!” He cackled. 

You groaned. “What do you waaaant, it’s earlyyyyyy.”

“Is that any way to greet your mentor?” You gave him a look. He just laughed. “I would argue that bright and early is the PERFECT time for me to appear! You’re all huffy because your meat robot’s circadian rhythm is all thrown off,--”

“You just want to be annoying.”

“I want to train you to be your best! And to do that, we have to start at your very worst! Or something along those lines. And I wanted to be annoying.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t have time for this right now, I’ve gotta go to work.” As you reached down to pick up the ice scraper, Bill suddenly appeared in front of you at a speed so jarring it felt violent. You nearly jumped out of your skin.

“Hold it! You don’t need that.”

“What?”

“You don’t need it!” Bill repeated. There was a prideful sparkle in his eye. “You’re going to lift the snow off the car without it.”

“What.” You stared at him. “You want me to use my hands?”

“I want you to use your mind!” The triangle demon tapped his side where his temple should be.

You sighed, reiterating, “Bill, I don’t have time for this.”

“Yes you do!”

“I really do not.” You reached for the scraper. It dissolved before your eyes and appeared in Bill’s hand. “BILL.”

You swiped at the demon. He easily dodged out of the way. 

“Come on, just let me-” Another unsuccessful swipe.

He scolded. “NO. BAD.”

“Bill I swear to god I am going to be late because of you-”

“No you’re nooot!~” the demon singsonged. Still gripping the scraper, he showed his wrist, where a watch had apparently materialized. He tapped the glass. There was an absence of ticking, the clock was completely still.

“...You stopped time.” It was a deadpan statement, not a question.

“Slowed it, actually, but in human perception, what’s the difference?”

“Bi-i-i-illlll,” you groaned. 

“Now you have plenty of time because time is relative! Haha!”

“This is stupid. I could be done in five minutes if you just give me the damn ice scraper-”

“TOOLS ARE FOR SAVAGES!”

“Tools are what aided the evolution of mankind.”

“EVEN MONKEYS USE TOOLS. Actually, it’s the ability to write history that makes you guys so ‘special’. You gave up your long-term memory for more brain-power,” Bill cackled out. “You became reliant on outside sources of information in order to discover more complicated forms of the scientific method a few millennia earlier! You could have had both but nOoOo, you had to rUsH iT!”

He stopped laughing rather suddenly, and stared at you.

He said your name. “I know you can do this.” 

…

  “I gave you half of my power as a god, isn’t that a tool enough?”

…You sighed. “Fine. As long as this is quick. The world might wait but I won’t.”

“Excellent! Now stand up straight, my pupil! It’s reality-bending time!”

“Yippie.” 

You would have been more excited if you weren’t up an hour earlier than usual. 

“That’s the spirit! Now, imagination comes naturally to me so I need to pinpoint where you’re lacking.” You shot him a fiery look. He continued unbothered as though he didn’t notice. “Just try to remove the snow with your mind. Make it disappear, any way you see fit.”

…Well, nothing that was coming to mind seemed to be working. You willed it, but nothing happened.

“Hm… I think you have a concentration problem. Try holding out your hand at it. That helps humans focus, right?” 

You stared at the car, arm outstretched. Almost like a superhero. You were amused by the thought. Or a supervillain. 

The car suddenly crumpled in on itself, crushed into a sad lump of useless metal by an unseen force. In other words: beyond totalled. Your hands flew up to your head in panic. “FUCK.”

“Well that’s not it.” Bill was stroking the space above his tie, as though there was a chin there. He snapped his fingers and the car reformed, easing your panic a little. That’s right, he can do that..

“Give it another shot. On the snow this time.”

Biting back a remark, you tried again, clenching your hand so intensely that it shook. 

To your astonishment.. particle by particle, the snow lifted, until nothing remained but white mass hovering above your car.

Bill whistled. “Nice, kid!” 

You parted your jaws to tell him to let you focus, but the tiny distraction was all it took. The snow dropped back onto the vehicle. And an additional four feet fell all around you as well. You were nearly buried, only your shoulders and your raised hand remained above the snow. 

Cold. Cold cold cold holy baby Jesus that’s cold-- Also did I do that??

The demon laughed out, grabbed your hand and pulled you up. You stood atop the powder snow, shivering too much to think about how you weren’t sinking. None of this makes sense, that’s the only thing that DOES make sense.

“You’ve got some kickback to ya! No worries, I’m sure that’ll go away in time.” He waved his hand to clear the new layer of snow away, returning it all to the sky. “Probably.” 

“Can you please just let me go to work now.”

“You would really rather go to work than spend time with me?” Bill clasped his hands together, feigning an innocent expression. At the look you gave him, he just laughed, clearing the snow off your car as well. “Fiiine, I’ll pretend I’m not hurt.”

“Thank you.” Bill watched you slip into the driver’s seat, reach to turn the car on (having completely forgotten that you’d done that already) and…. “Oh my god.”

Curious, the demon pops into the passenger’s seat. “What?”

You were leaning back, head against the headrest, staring in disbelief. “I’m out of gas. I meant to fill it yesterday, I totally forgot.. Was I really running on empty when I got home…?”

“Oh, easy! My apprentice, you forget too often that you have the world’s most powerful being as your mentor!” Bill cracked his knuckles and snapped his fingers. The engine roared to life, and the dial read a miraculously full tank.

“O..oh. Forgot.. you could do that. Again.”

“It’s no problem, hotshot!” He sounded smug. “Well- maybe problem for your neighbors, but I’m sure they won’t notice.”

You sat up. “You took my neighbors’ gas??”

“Yeah? It had to come from somewhere. Can’t make something out of nothing, you know!”

“Bill, that’s stealing!”

“Hey, you needed it more than they do! Sheesh kid, ya try to do something nice for once..”

You stared at the demon. He stared back. 

“....Fine, okay, just this once. But don’t do it again.”

“As long as you don’t forget to refill it again!” Bill laughs at your grumbling. You mumbled something, and a smug look flashed in the demon’s eye. “Sorry, whassat?”

“I said thank you.”

“Why, you are very welcome.” Even without a mouth, the shit-eating grin was there. He ruffled your hair and tipped his hat. “Enjoy licking capitalism’s boot, Humie!” 

“Gee. Thanks Bill.”

“And hey. Drive safe.” With that, the demon vanished. 

#my writing #gravity falls #bill cipher #the axolotl #reader insert #gravity falls fanfiction #i don’t know if i wanna tag this as an x reader it’s p platonic #i mean it could be. in a slow burn context i guess #if i flesh out a full fic it would probably be a slow burn but on its own it’s just a platonic drabble

[deathenfield]

I feel like something has been lost with Minecraft over the years and I do not know if it's the nostalgia talking. I don't mean any gameplay features or anything, there was a vibe about that I felt was lost by the time they started adding more and more content to the game.

Before villagers and endermen and hunger bars, back when Minecraft was still in beta, there was this loneliness out there you couldn't articulate, but expressed itself in many ways. You were alone, this meant the entire world was in your hands to create. You were alone, and outside of zombies and pigs there was no sapient being other than you, building only for yourself. You were alone, and while you're building your fort, the music chimes in - not exciting or motivating, but calm, almost sad - as if emphasizing and recognizing your solitude. You were alone, but you swear there's something peeking at you from the edge of the fog, making you unsure if you were really alone. You were alone, you were home, but at the same time it feels like whatever was your home is lost and you have to start anew.

It was calming, saddening, scary at times. I've seen people say that old Minecraft has a liminal aspect to it. The old chunky lighting, the dark winding gray tunnels that generated odd noises at rare moments, the low render distance fog that envelops everything in a blue haze. But it was also the old terrain generation that created weird spikes and cliffs and grottos and floating islands amidst of the smooth landscape. The random quirks that made you question if something other than you was in the game. The vibe was almost fantastical even though on it's surface everything was so simple. Is it any wonder that people saw fantasy elements in that game, or urban legends like Herobrine?

But now there's hunger and experience points, villagers and pillagers, endermen and piglins, ancient temples underground and underwater, bastions and mansions and end cities. There's traders and llamas, polar bears and axolotls, telescopes and archeology. Overpowered enchantments and farms for everything. A billion different blocks and building techniques. Final bosses and hidden lore. 50 different types of biomes and terrain generation that tries more and more to emulate reality. The calm, Ghibli-esque serenity of old Minecraft has faded and has been replaced with endless content.

I'll admit this is an "old man yelling at clouds" moment for me, I recognize that the liminal, fantastic elements of old Minecraft mainly come from nostalgia. However, it's so difficult to get into the current version of Minecraft for me. There's too much to do, too much set out for you, yet somehow none of it feels exciting. What was once a homestead turned into an endless sprawling landscape of two billion features that don't really seem to enhance anything about the game. It's like coming back to your childhood house and seeing it turned into mansion. It's bigger and better in every way but the core of what made it feel like home was destroyed in the process.

I might just be talking out my ass, but Minecraft just doesn't feel the same anymore, it hasn't for a long time. There's a community of people who play Beta 1.7.3 and yeah, they get what I mean. That's when the vibe was the strongest. That's when it felt most like Minecraft to me.

#minecraft #old minecraft #beta minecraft #text post

[spawnofdeath]

The Codfather's Backstory

The young Cod Prince of the Ocean Empire grew up a normal, quite curious and adventurous child, frequently getting into some trouble on his often both lengthy and daring trips.

One day he claimed to, on one such trip, have found a hidden cave full of ancient art and iconography he couldn't quite explain or describe. This of course led others to go looking, but noone else could find the cave, nor could the prince lead anyone back to it, so it was assumed the place had simply sprung up from the mind of an imaginative child, and the boy's insistence about the reality of the cave was dismissed. Perhaps he'd fallen asleep somewhere and dreamt it, if he was so sure he wasn't lying.

It was shortly after this that the young prince developed a strange aversion to salmon. When pressed, he could not, or would not elaborate beyond: "The cave says they're bad." But without any actual salmon folk living anywhere in or around the Ocean Kingdom at the time, only non sapient fish which were even allowed to be hunted as food, and the prince having never shown his disdain in violent ways, this, too, was dismissed.

When the prince grew older, and eventually did start killing or tormenting salmon for no reason, this of course worried his older sister, but she thought it could perhaps be managed, that with some help he could get over his hatred and stop his awful actions. She loved her little brother, and wanted to see him as a good person.

Then, one day, mere weeks before the Cod Prince's Coming of Age Ceremony, the unspeakable happened. A group of salmon folk travellers, who had come into a small town on the outskirts of the Kingdom some days prior, were found brutally slain, and when a small party of guards, who'd been alerted to the scene, followed a scent trail of their blood, it led them, at last, to the discovery of what had to be the cave the Cod Prince had described as a young boy. And clearly, somewhere within this cave had to be whatever beast had killed the travellers. The guards briefly considered that they might be insufficiently armed, but decided it would be enough to find and dispatch some crazed animal.

In the deepest part of the cave, they found no dangerous animal, which could have killed the travellers with such ferocity, nor even a group of bandits, who could have done the same, but just a single young merman. Although, they certainly thought at first glance that he was an animal, as he was changed, twisted, outright bestial to the point of being barely recognisable as the young Cod Prince.

In the confrontation that followed, the young prince killed one of the guards, and badly injured another, and the party decided to retreat. The prince seemed to have no mind to leave the cave, and they would need to get some reinforcements, and more weapons, in order to capture or, if necessary, kill him.

When word came to the Axolotl Heiress of the Ocean Empire about her darling baby brother's deeds, she insisted to be coming along back to the cave. Surely, this wasn't quite correct, was it? Surely, there was some terrible misunderstanding? Surely, whatever had happened to her dearest brother, a familiar face would be able talk him down, right?

She was wrong, of course, but all the same she certainly was right to come.

As soon as he noticed his older sister's presence, the young prince viciously attacked her, but as he did, she found herself possessed of a strength she'd never felt before, and a strong determination about what to do.

And as the guards watched, too stunned in shock to interfere, the Axolotl Queen subdued the Cod Prince with surprising ease.

After the battle, he was taken prisoner without a problem, and put on trial the very next day.

Being not yet of age, not to mention royalty, the prince was not sentenced to death, but, based on the severity of his crime, to exile. He was to be sent to live in an uninhabited coastal swamp region, far from the borders of the Ocean Kingdom, but close enough to the sea for him to not lose his connection and his memories, though letting him remember was a heavily disputed decision. Some members of the court argued that letting him forget would be more merciful, others argued it would be too merciful, and some of them argued it would actually be a necessity in order to eliminate any risk of him ever attempting to return.

But it was decided that the most fitting punishment would be for him to live the rest of his time far from his home, with all the memories of what he did, and what he lost through doing it. And so it was ruled. And half a week later he was shipped off, and the guards around the kingdom's borders were tripled.

Find The Twin Kings' Backstory here or through Recollections of the Past or read the story on AO3

#jimmy solidarity #ldshadowlady #empires smp #empires s1 #two sons of rivendell au #two sons of rivendell au writing #tsorau

[ruthlesslistener]

Hey Aren got any cool Shadelord headcanons

Like, Ghost's ascention to the Lord of Shades, or the OG? Because I'm not picky so have both

The original Void Entity:

-Was the very first god of Hallownest, though 'god' is a loose definition for an entity that was the nothingness itself. It was more a force of nature that had a sort of uncanny intellegence to it sometimes and was completely unaware of everything around it on other days

-And by more a force of nature, I mean that this thing was sapient in the same way we argue about viruses being alive. It was right on that border between living and not living, for its very reason for existance was centered around nonexistance

-Physical shapes were not something it assumed often. When they were, they were often nenbulous and changed constantly, but it generally took the shape of a weird cross between a firefly and an axolotl 

-It was only vaguely aware of the offerings given to it, and was rarely summoned by outsiders. Drawing its attention was also heavily discouraged- not because it was malevolant, but because it was so vast and powerful that the echoes

-The Void Sea was its home and the tides were its breath. The caverns of Hallownest were created from the ocean before they retreated and condensed, with the first life that sprung up from it being the snail and slugfolk, long after it mostly went to sleep

-Worship generally consisted of finding reasons to find beauty in the emptiness and to focus on and release old regrets. The practice of giving shape to that which was not was nearly stamped out completely by the Radiance and Unn, who each demanded that the world worked as she dreamed, but the magical practice of pulling out the old dead parts of oneself that festered away in the soul were tactics that survived the genocide wrought by the Radiance as she cleared land for her moths (who weren't made yet and are thus innocent of her sins)

-Clung to a raw instinctual desire for life after 'death' on the account of never really being alive in the first place, which is why it readily fused with the embryos the Pale King offered in an attempt to be reborn

-You know the vibes that the Forest Spirit/Nightwalker give off from Princess Mononoke? Its basically that

The Lord of Shades (Ghost, ascended):

-Is basically a god-mech built of all the shades in the Abyss and then some. Ghost is the brain, with the lingering traces of all the other shades also tuning in. Think of a Twitch streamer and chat. That's Ghost and their siblings

-Basically, those that died immidiatly or in the egg are pretty much as sapiant or alive as cells, while those who lived for some period of time outside of it are able to chime in if they wish. Many of them merely want to see the world before they fade into the background, which makes for some unpredictable behavior in post-ascention Ghost. Ghost is always in control, but they'll let up on the reins a little if their siblings request it. There's one main mind and many smaller minds behind those eight eyes

-Shape is still nebulous, but the form generally sticks to what we see in canon, with some of the old Void Entity's memories offering an influence. Their overall shape is still mostly aquatic

-Much more active and alive than the original Void Entity on account of, well...actually having a mind. Many, in fact. Despite this, the LOS has no desire to engage with mortals the way that other gods do, and generally sticks to the Abyss when they can, because they are Still Baby when it comes to this whole ordeal and have no interest in harming others. For the most part.

-Their whole goal is to cleanse Hallownest of old regrets so that something new can be created, and they can lay dormant. Or, well, it's not so much a desire as an instinctive NEED to do so, but that's why they're there

-Doesn't really need followers on account of the Void being the entity of nothingness/regret/death. Everything returns to them eventually. They know this by instinct. And so the peacocking for followers is kind of nonexistant in them, though the protectiveness is still there

-Misses their old form sometimes for the ease of travel and the fact that they weren't NEARLY as terrifying then as they are now, but they haven't quite figured out how to cram back in yet

#hollow knight #the lord of shades #hollow knight headcanon #wynnibee #reply #i love the thought of ascended ghost being so much more deadly by accidenr #but not realizing it #mostly bc they now have far more power and mass than they used to and really aren't sure what to do with it

[thesumlax]

On Deviantart I titled this Dream Sketches page "A New Record" because 21 is the largest number of entries yet, and also because I spent the longest time procrastinating on posting them...

Also, I decided that the grid format with six drawings to a page makes them way too small for my liking. On the other hand, I tried a new method of cleaning them up, by meticulously painting the sketches with a selection brush so I can leave all of the dirt behind when I move them... and it does produce great result, but the time waste is crazy.

Anyway:

1) Something like a living cavern monster, with a rock shell and jelly-like flesh. It`s basically hollow inside, and its organs are semi-autonomous entities crawling among those giant papillae on the floor. The bubble-backed thing crawling out is a reproductive one, it produces some strange reproductive bodies that look like either fried eggs or sausages crossed with some unicellular organisms (2). They`re not sex cells, hovewer, but still multicellular structures more like gametophytes.

3) Giant sand-swimming dragon with a bunny face and some fucked-up sand-ship glued to its back.

4) Just a trio of little guys! May have been video game characters who have to escape some sort of bad place by using their abilities (umbrella, spinning hand, and a fucking gun) in combinations. They`re colored red, blue and green.

5) Some sort of sea creature calles something like "trychnotus" or "trychaetus".

6) Another sea monster that kinda looks like a rubber toy.

7) Ghostly transparent axolotl-creature.

8) An erect-limbed toad. For some reason it`s important to note that it is exactly 12 cm tall.

9) A gliding, stinger-tailed draconic creature.

10) A bear-like omnivorous therizinosaurid survivng to the modern day. Started as spec evo but suddenly tranformed into horror movie monster for some reason.

11) Tiny-headed deer-o-saurus.

12-13) Two weird pitch-black horses from two unrelated dreams. Number 13 had its eyes and those weird cracks glowing bright neon green.

14) Bizarre elephantoids. The pitcher-trunk is especially fun.

15) Allegedly some sort of early pterosaur.

16) Don`t really know what that is... Seems to be made of brown rock?

17) Now this was a dream about some superhero who could shrink down do bug size and interact with sapient bugs (of the freakishly human-faced cartoon variety). These bugs had cars, which were also bugs (pictured). Bizarrely, the bug civilization existed in the same exact spaces as human civilization despite the size difference, with human roads having lanes for bug-cars.

18) A giraffe-dragon of some kind?

19) Another thing I don`t even know the context of. The humanoid head does not have a mouth despite the teeth.

20) Something like a gorgon.

21) Pelican dragon. Apparently can spray toxic mist like a crop duster, presumably through pores in its pouch.

#my art #sketches #dreams #creature design

[motheatenscarf]

Okay, gonna wait for the weather in this zone to change bcs I want prettier screenshots, but while I wait, digesting some thoughts.

For all that the ancients deem themselves keepers of the star and steadfastly devoted to the good of their society, it's a relief to see it acknowledged as a false utopia and that like all people hung up on the past, Emet Selch's nostalgia was a liar.

Elidibus already gave me some fucking Omelas vibes being SO SMALL, I really wonder if he was a literal child they sacrificed to serve as the heart of Zodiark.

Emet Selch's dismissal of the "stubby legs" of the axolotl, "testing concepts" and discorporating butterflies for their aether without a second thought. They seem to destroy things as cavalierly as they create them if it's a failed concept or a flawed familiar, these things don't seem real to them.

Add to that, Meteion's FIRST words to Talia were "Like me! You're like me- different!" before she asked to be friends. That's heartbreaking.

She can clearly think and feel and want but they talk about her like she's not there. They call their familiars "it." What if she doesn't meet official approval? What will happen to her? I think I can tell and that's, uh, BAD.

They agonized over the decision to kill half their number, but yeah, I stand by my assessment that theme was Alphinaud's mission statement as far back as Heavensward; stop asking who you're willing to sacrifice to achieve a cause and start asking how you can save those who are left. That's why we don't issue a lottery on who lives and dies by summoning a primal or escaping on the moon.

The ancients were already primed to forsake individuality and entire non-Them sapient beings for the sake of the star, the decision to sacrifice people to Zodiark was a natural conclusion for them I guess.

#Caitlin Plays FF14 #FF14 spoilers

[easwan]

Tirade about Capitalization in Star Wars

Sooo… proper nouns, eh? They’re a thing. An important thing. Star Wars has many—especially when it comes to the Jedi religion and philosophy. Let’s start off easy Jedi and Sith We’ve also got the other ranks Initiate Padawan Knight Master All proper nouns. The word youngling isn’t capitalized ‘cause it’s not actually a real rank; younglings are Initiates. “Youngling” can be used for non-Jedi and are, therefore, non-proper nouns. Makes sense. But then we get into this lil' thing that isn’t a big deal but annoys me… Grand Master Sage Master Warrior Master Battlemaster (no space?) ಠ_ಠ

They say, “Master Kenobi,” (specific Jedi with the rank of Master) “Jedi Master,” (a Jedi with the rank of Master) and “Master Jedi.” (Master here is being used as an honorific, not a rank but is still capitalized as it should be) “your master,” “my master,” “the masters,” “some masters,” “rank of Master” ^ this is fine. I understand this. Completely normal, but—

We have other super important words connected to the Jedi faith, such as:

Order Code Way Temple Trials And, of course, Force

Now, it’s Force and Force Adept but Force-sensitive, Force-wielder, and Force-user Bit weird but not too irritating. But hang on, hang on—here it is, folks, the reeeeeally annoying one: light and dark Why is Way a proper noun, but the light of the Force—the most important concept within their religion beyond the Force itself—is not???

The old words for light, dark, and balance are capitalized as proper nouns: Ashla Bogan Bendu But light and dark in Basic are not capitalized—except they are in the High Republic slogan: “For Light and Life.” They should just be capitalized always. light and dark should be treated as proper nouns because they’re religious concepts and distinct from the common use of those words!! (I will die on this hill) “Reach for the Light.” = magical, poetic, sage. “Reach for the light.” = turn on lamp pls. Y’know?

It’s the light side and dark side, but Light-Sider and Dark-Sider (but not consistently? ‘Cause sometimes they write dark sider or dark-sider, and it’s annoying af) It would be the most consistent if it were Light and Dark —> Light Sider and Dark Sider Yeah?

Then we have: clone trooper (space) stormtrooper (no space) paratrooper (no space) snowtrooper (no space, and Grammarly wants a space btw) scout trooper (space) shock trooper (space but not capitalized) Purge Trooper (space + capitalized—why is this capitalized when shock trooper isn’t?) Is it ‘cause The Purge is capitalized?

It’s fiiiiiiine.

Okay, next is an example of actually good consistency! (I'm being really whiny, so let's have some positivity real quick) creatures/species/cultures. Gungan, Wookiee, Ewok, but gundark, bantha, and tooka. ^ This is good. I like this. Sentient species are capitalized as one would capitalize a nationality or ethnicity such as Canadian, Indigenous, or Maori. But non-sapient animals are lowercase, like cat, crow, and axolotl, yeah? Okay, so humans. In Star Wars, human is lowercase despite being a species. This seems inconsistent, but I actually like it. The galaxy is Humanocentrist, as in humans are treated as the norm despite being a ruling minority. Everything is described in comparison to humans

for example: humanoid near-human non-human

Human isn’t capitalized because there is no inherent shared experience among humans as there is among, say, Twi’leks. In our world, “white” is generally only capitalized by white supremacists. This is why we don’t capitalize white but do capitalize Black. We say Zabrak for the species but also say Iridonian or Dathomiri to specify the homeworld. Zabraks could also be called Corellian, Coruscanti, etc, depending on the planet they’re from. In this way, we can specify both species/race and nationality/planetary demonym. Specific distinctions are made among humans in this way, such as Chandrillan, Kenari, and Chalactans. Just as we have nationalities and cultures among white folk, such as Ukrainian, Danish, and Irish.

Lil’ tangent real quick: Naboolians/the Naboo are humans who colonized the Gungan homeworld. The planet was named Nabu by humans after their diety and later became Naboo. The colonizers named themselves accordingly. This is very realistic to the behaviour of colonizers in our world. Similar to Naboo, we also have Mon Cala. Mon Calamari are actually not the only sentient species indigenous to their planet, yet they, and most of the galaxy, call their homeworld “Mon Cala.” The planet is actually called Dac, but the Mon Calamari rule the planet in the form of a monarchy (yup, divine bloodline shit), and the Quarren are second-class citizens. (But almost every Quarren we meet in canon is a baddie?? Bit weird. Bit sus.) The complicated politics of Dac is why there’s the QFD (they built the Dreadnaught starships for the Confederacy of Independent Systems) QFD. As in, Quarren Free Dac. The Free Dac Volunteers Engineering Corps.

Putting my Separatist sympathies aside again (mostly), I’m working on an extensive three-part fanfiction story and approaching it with the same seriousness as I do original work, and these silly lil’ capitalization nitpicks are driving me up the wall.

In fiction, creating your own proper noun has one main rule—CONSISTENCY.

So here I am with a dilemma. Do we, as fanfic writers, stick to the silly pre-established inconsistent capitalization rules, or should we just do what feels right and write Light? I think I kinda wanna just write Light.

If you read through all of this, here’s a prize! Qiang Fan Gali. Jedi Knight. Very devoted to the Code and the Light. (Don’t call Dac Mon Cala around them; they will not be amused.)

Please tell me if this light and dark thing bugs you too?? Maybe I'm just overthinking my hyper-fixation, as I do

#rant post #text post #star wars #creative writing #fanfic writing #fanfic struggles #clone wars fanfiction #It's after midnight and I'm irrationally mad about this rn #just write it as the Light Side

[pandoramusicbox]

Ok! Finally I am introducing the system of the Kins.

The Kins are categories used to differentiate different species and groups of species together

The Kins generally only apply to sentient and sapient creatures. Though some animals fall into another grouping for creatures.

Each kin is categorized by two main factors, Magic and corporealness.

There are some other thing as well, like ability to shape-shift.

Other times it’s things such as what of the two great magical creatures of the past they take after, dragons or Hollis. Chaos or order or sometimes devided along axis of thier alignment with the magic theory of perception placing them in categories of blood,light, and shadow. Though this is not to important for what I’m discussing today as I am covering the basics behind the kin system.

The Kins are broad categories that encompasses a wide variety of creatures who live and have adapted for a number of different environments.

There are six different Kins cattagories.

Spirit kin

Demon kin

Heaven kin

Human kin

Anama kin

Sea kin

Of these categories the majority of creatures fall into part of the middle four. Demon, heaven, human and anima (also spelled anama). These creatures all share some form of corporeal body and some degree of natural hereditary magic.

Sprit kin is made up of highly magical creatures that generally have incorporeal or semi-incorporeal bodies on a regular basis

Sea kin are creatures with bodies that possess little to no magic but have extreme physical abilities. They also tend to be sea dwelling.

- Magic within the four middle cattagories can be visualized as two axis.

Axis X- a scales how organized and predictable the magic is. On one end is highly predictable hereditary magic found among heaven and anima kin. Where if they have magic it is most likely similar, if not exactly the same as anyone else of the species. On the other side is the unpredictable chaotic magic of demon and human kin. If you where to gather ten individuals of the same species in human kin who all where born with magic and asked them to show or tell you what thier powers are you would learn that none of them have power similar to each other. In a group of a similar sample but with 100 individuals you might see three to five individuals with similar (but not the same) abilities. Generally the line drawn for being on the order side is 50% of any given population displaying a similar hereditary ability to one and other.

Axis Y- is representing the prevalence of magic. On top with the most magic of the four are demon and heaven Kin where the majority of their populations are born with some form of natural magic. For heaven kin this takes the form of regular magic abilities while in demon kin this often takes the form of an ability to shape-shift. Shapeshifting is not fully considered a kind of magic in this setting as it is a bit of a natural process like an electric eal’s static or an axolotls ability to regenerate, but shapeshifting is often a natural process facilitated by a bit of magic. The other side of this axis is low magical prevalence with human and anima Kins. Here different species can have as low as one in 200,000 individuals or more having hereditary magic or as common an 32% of a given species population but the number is always below the majority of a given species population.

There are a few species that are Inter-Kin where they fall into more than one kind of kin for any number of reasons. Inter-kin species are not common but they do occur. Most times Inter-kin ocurres in hybrids or species that originally descended from hybrid creatures like the eoutroths.

- physically there are several notable differences among the different Kins but they can also be very similar. Often presenting bilateral semidry

One of the most homogeneous Kins is human kin. Named impart due to their physical homogeneity contrasted to their chaotic magic.

There are two major body-plans among creatures of music box (excluding spirits as they lack proper bodies)

> quadrupedal (four limbed)

> hexapedal (six limbed)

Some species with more or less limbs are generally insects, arachnids or other similar creatures

Hexapedal body plans are common among heaven, anima, and sea kins, with sea kin being near exclusively made up of species with hexapedal body plans.

Quadrupedal body plans are more common in demon, human and anima kin. Human kin exclusively has species with a quadrupedal body plan.

Anima Kin is often divided into subcategories based on body plan and sometimes similarities to human kin.

Sea kin is also distinguished by the presence of multiple blood colors between members of the same species, these colors are often linked to physical abilities and lifespan.

Some legends and religious thought proposed that the different Kins arose from the death of god. Sometimes it’s the god whose body is thought to have created the forest, sometimes it’s the forest’s lover. Other times it’s a different god entirely, and sometimes the Kins came from the dreams of a great god or didn’t kill the god who created them. Often if it is the god of the forest then the different Kins are said to have come from its Eyes, Scales, Flesh, Bones and Blood. Corresponding with heaven, demon, anima, human and sea kin while spirit kin is thought to have come from the god’s mind.

InterKin hybrids exist. They are a tricky thing, generally only able to exist as they do thanks to magic. Intrerkin hybrids often have a slew of health issues and often are infertile. The further away two species have their Kins from each other the more difficult it is for a viable child to be conceived another thing that makes certain types of hybrids difficult is if there is a difference in body plans. Regardless if the parents are interkin or intrakin. Though some creatures (like dragons) seem to ignore this rule.

To summarize: the difference Kins are broad categories these are

-spirit kin: incorporeal highly magical beings and creatures.

-demon kin: corporal shapeshifters with a chaotic relationship to magic

-heaven kin: corporal highly magical beings with ab orderly heretical magic

- human kin: rather homogeneous being with rare but chaotic magic

- anima kin: a diverse aray of creatures with rather rare but orderly magic.

- sea kin: physical being that have little to no natural magic

#worldbuilding #pandoramusicbox #fantasy #worldbuildingculture #fantasy magic #fantasy creature #fantasy species #magic system #fantasy taxonomy

[transdrowned]

i find the idea of sapient animal mobs so entertaining. like this is a sport to me. hobbit rabbits (habbits) and little axolotl cavern societies that're only concerned with having a good time just does it for me

#drownedposts

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

!

You seem both very interested and very knowledgeable about all kinds of things, and I like reading your blog.

#sapient-axolotl

[beastlyanachronism]

Kirk: I just found out that axolotls have bones, and honestly-

Spock, pulling a phaser: Where have they taken him?

#incorrect quotes #star trek tos #james kirk #spock #has this been done before? #i hope not? #yes this was inspired by that post of an axolotl getting an x-ray #. #to be fair to spock #sapient amphibians abducting the cmo #sounds like a pretty typical day on the enterprise

[discordinthediscordorsomething]

#thank you to @sapient-axolotl for giving me this screenshot!

[olioviol]

My pfp doesn't match the "canonical" Axol, because it's hard to find non-pink axolotls, but just an FYI, the canonical Axol is brown

#shitpost #i woke up an decided to change the sapient axolotl canon

[agathaarts]

Kinda older art but there’s enough of it that I feel like it’s worth posting - so my big 80′s Cartoon Universe MotU AU thing that has no good name does, inevitably, involve...ponies. Small horses. Taking cues from @jayrockin‘s Tiny Sapient Ungulate designs, the, uh, horse crew of my universe’s MLP? At least, the ones active when the main story takes place elsewhere in the universe and they eventually run into each other. Equestria is so far removed from most of the cosmos due to Celestia and Luna basically looking at the oncoming Space Lich Horde and going “actually, fuck this” and moving a few solar systems around to hide themselves.

The “main characters” are your pretty standard group of adventuring heroic young adults tho.

Anyways info about the characters and some of the worldbuilding under the cut

Had a lot of fun basing these guys off some of my favorite earlier-gen ponies.

Moonstone - Doesn’t actually go adventuring! Mostly uses her prophetic powers to guide the other ponies to those who need them. Suffers from a curse that causes her to be asleep in sunlight and only awake at night.

Sundance - Incredibly magical “firstborn” (ie created through magical parthenogenesis) with a heroic streak and a knack for leadership. Sort of. She’s getting the hang of it! Learning to be a wizard.

Firefly - Went back to the OG Rainbow Dash and you all know how this works. Hotheaded, too fast for her own good, actually a direct royal descendant but doesn’t want people to know.

Clover - Mild-mannered and chilled-out hippie witch vibes with this one. Has basically druidcraft powers, and is able to communicate with plants and the like. Has flowers perpetually growing in their hair, somehow.

Sweetheart - Ah, the most incredible magic of all. Emotions! Namely, being an empath. And a psychic. Kind of a powerful one, actually. This is probably fine. Sweetheart is stylish and girly and can come across as a bit haughty but she’s fiercely loving and protective of her friends.

Patch - Patch’s vocabulary is about 50% just “yeup” or “nah”, being less inclined towards talking and more inclined towards either stoic quiet or kickin’ ass and eatin’ grass!

-

Also some family groupings! Because I had all these horse templates to mess with.

More on pony phylogeny later, but ponies generally aren’t divided into, like, “Unicorn” or “Pegasus” as species or sub-species, rather all Ponies just...are ponies with various magical morphisms (though like...you’re unlikely to find non-flying ponies living in floating sky cities or non-seaponies underwater for good reason) so most surface populations are pretty varied. enough magic can basically change one type of pony into another type in a pinch, though, even if it’s seldom permanent (unless it’s Ascension to Princehood but becoming a Prince/ss is. A whole different thing and that’s why some of these ponies look more like actual full size horses because if you have enough magic it’s like how axolotls can become salamanders. But it’s like. If Magical axolotl horse wizards could potential become full-grown horse wizards in the right scenario.)

Clover has two little siblings, Milkweed and Tumbleweed. Their mother, Ivy, is a “druid” in the sense of being a sort of nature guardian figure while Minty is a gardener.

Patch was born to dads Buttons and Bow - two tailors who used to be business rivals. You’d be amazed at how successful fashion designers can be even on a world where being naked is considered “casual”.

Sweetheart’s parents fill interesting roles due to their highly skilled and focused magic - Snuzzle (who you may recognize as a Twice As Fancy pony) is a powerful empath and psychic who actually attends to Princesses and Goddesses when needed, and Secret Admirer was presumably some sort of Bond-esque spy. I will not elaborate.

Sundance and her older “sister” Light Heart are both firstborn- aka ponies who don’t actually have parentage! Though whatever Goddess creates them presumably counts to some degree- these two were obviously crafted by Celestia, given their color schemes and solar nature. Ponies have pretty low population growth so occasional spontaneous abiogensis is just. A fact of life.

Firefly has three siblings, a powerfully magic royal mother, and her dad (with whom she shares a name) is a prince and effectively a demigod, being a Nightmare (a rare type of pony with magic that comes directly from the goddess Luna) and also ruling over one of the cloud-kingdoms with a heavy emphasis on moderating the weather. Everyone in this family is a super high achiever.

Also this means that Firefly’s gramma is an immortal ageless goddess of darkness and night but to Firefly she’s just Gam-gams! Sometimes your deity grandma comes to visit you in dreams and when you wake up there’s a butterscotch under your pillow.

There’s a lot of stuff because I went kinda overboard but uhhh making a MLP setting is fun and I highly suggest it if you ever want to combine cute soft little magical horses with thinking way too hard about the implications of a society that runs entirely off of incredible feats of magic where everyone can do at least one bizarre thing.

#my art #motu au #mlp au #my little pony au #mlp redesign #my little pony redesign #80's cartoon universe au #it's horses #tiny sapient ungulates #because i use a lot of that #there's lots of fun facts that sound bizarre out of context for these little horses #but like #where to begin #whatever uh Sundance is ostensibly the main character but patches is my favorite