Something I Think About A Lot Is What If Alien Species Have Less Biodiversity On Their Planets. Like

oh my god two words in that just UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

I’ll be honest, whenever a work of speculative fiction (fanmade or otherwise) goes out of its way to describe an intelligent species with bizarre and complicated reproductive biology, the first question that invariably pops into my head is: “How do these critters masturbate?”

*raises hand* I think it depends on the Pokemon in question?

Like, if it’s a mainline-game mon of questionable sapience then FUCK NO THAT IS MADE OF DISGUSTING but a lot of the anime mons and all of the Mystery Dungeon mons are of human-level intelligence and able to give consent, so I don’t have any issues if it’s one of them? (PMD2 protagonist/PMD2 partner is cute as hell, for example, and that’s human-turned-into-a-Pokemon/sapient Pokemon)

It’s not any weirder than interspecies relationships between humans and other sci-fi/fantasy races like, I dunno, half the pairings in Mass Effect or Ruto crushing on Ocarina Link.

That said I haven’t seen the Lucario movie so I don’t know if Lucario is intelligent enough to not be squicky, so carry on.

I've been watching some videos about xenofiction for... reasons... *glances at my recent writing projects* AHEM yeah and this guy mentioned something that... vaguely got me to understand my friends more.

I'm (unfortunately) friends with lots of people who think a lot of the things I'm interested in are "too weird" for them. They can't watch The Last Unicorn because they find the unicorn as well as the art style creepy. They can't watch Watership Down because they can't wrap their head around talking rabbits who haven't advanced to Wind in the Willows levels of society yet. Or maybe they can't watch or read animal xenofiction or consume anthro art whatsoever because animals don't talk or do those things and they think that it could have been as good with human characters. It's like their brain does all of these gymnastics that I haven't in all my life considered. I just liked these pieces of media as a kid because I thought they were... cool... I've never found it hard to understand that the rabbits in this story talk, even though they don't in real life. That objective/subjective concept has never crossed my mind whatsoever.

This guy talked about verisimilitude and suspension of disbelief. Verisimilitude is pretty much just continuity and rules in a story. Firebenders in The Last Airbender cannot bend water. Rabbits in Watership down can talk to each other, vaguely understand other animals, and cannot understand humans. They're fabricated rules of reality that exist within a narrative.

Suspension of disbelief is basically your capacity to understand and believe those fabricated rules. This can swing wildly in two directions. You can either be just wholely unconvinced of anything that doesn't follow normal rules of life or be totally gullible to the point of disregarding plot holes and crappy deux ex machina. I feel like I lean more toward disregarding plot holes lmao.

Not sure where I was going with this post but it felt sorta nice to hear another fan of xenofiction describe this... weird thing when you read a book or watch a movie that changes your life and you recommend it to a friend and their first reaction is "uh... how is she able to understand the wolf?" and that stuff is too weird for them to even consider picking up a masterpiece of art. I guess it makes me feel less like my friends are intentionally withholding understanding to be mean to me and more that this is just... how some people are and some people just seem incapable of understanding certain stories and media.

Onondaga Nation

Clan Mothers

The Clan Mother is very important in the role of Haudenosaunee culture. When the Peacemaker came to the warring people, it was a woman who f

Haudenosaunee Clan Mothers

The Clan Mother is very important in the role of Haudenosaunee culture. When the Peacemaker came to the warring people, it was a woman who first accepted Peacemaker’s vision of peace. Because of her vision the Peacemaker gave woman important duties in the Haudenosaunee, the Clan Mother

The Clan Mother is a leader not only of her clan, but of the nation as well. The Clan Mother selects their spokesman (Hoyane or Chief) to represent them in council. If their Hoyane doesn’t represent their clan, the Clan Mother has the authority to remove their leader as well after warnings. The Hoyane and the Clan Mother work together to best represent the people of her clan.

Haudenosaunee Confederacy

Family Structure

The family structure of the Haudenosaunee is primarily based on the clan system. Families start with a female ancestor with all those dwelli

Haudenosaunee Traditional Family Structure

The family structure of the Haudenosaunee is primarily based on the clan system. Families start with a female ancestor with all those dwelling in her long house linking back to her. Each family was called the long house family with the Clan Mother as the head. All female descendents including her sisters, her sisters’ daughters, and their daughters would live in the long house their entire lives bringing their husbands to live with them.

Sons stayed in the same house with her until they married and moved into their wife’s house, though they would still be members of their mother’s long house and their loyalty would always go there first. Children all lived in the long house where they were surrounded by their family and could be taught by their elders. Every child was welcomed and cared for by its mother, mother’s sisters and their husbands.

Family structure today is more like the common nuclear family consisting of a mother, father and children. However, the Haudenosaunee still follow the traditional matriarchal structure with clans being passed down through their mother.

Haudenosaunee Confederacy

Current Clan Mothers and Chiefs

Approver: Chief Title Clan Chief (English Name) Clan Mother Dyoninho’ga’we’ Wolf Kenny Jonathan Evelyn Jonathan Gan

Current Clan Mothers and Chiefs

This is insane