Peridots-ocs - Blog Posts

them

(plus a wingless Angler under the cut because.)

Recent post made me think about giving my three HK dudes some new icons

nerds. what are they talking about

It started off as a joke, I doodled it so I wouldn't forget, then I wanted to elaborate on their designs a bit so I spent like six hours doing that, and finally I decided some parts looked too blank so I spent another >6 hours with that: My characters Carmine and Kalanchoe as Runaway to the Stars aliens (species of @jayrockin !!)

Misunderstood the anatomy of a drawing so bad I had to make a character about it

Peach Tea!

A 28-year-old human...cat...centaur...thing who lives sometime in the 23rd century on Earth. She likes the 1980s and fabrics and consequently neon-level bright colors, though ancient fashion generally wasn't made for hexapods so she's had to make a few personal changes. She's a tailor for people with unconventional body plans, whether they need more sleeves for extra limbs or can't fit into gloves or their torso isn't the right size or shape for a shirt.

Tea's 6'8"/178cm when bipedal (though usually isn't very comfortable standing/walking upright, mostly owing to her short limbs), 5'1"/155cm when in her default quadrupedal position, and about 2'6"/76cm at the shoulder when hexapodal. She's probably around 180lb/82kg? All of her feet are hands. The fingers of said hands aren't particularly suited to bending backwards, so she walks on her knuckles most of the time.

She looks sort of startled/uncomfortable here but her resting face is somewhere between the ones in the upper left and lower right. She's usually pretty content and laid-back, if moderately blunt.

thinking about Them

Crassie was originally a D&D character from around seven months ago who was significantly based off of Hollow Knight (specifically the Hunter), and used to exist in this strange AU I'd made where most creatures were bugs but humans also were a thing, before I decided to make her an actual world. I have an old sketchpage of her not shown here

Heathrow has existed for a week and a half

Attempted to draw some Nosks, but ended up getting sidetracked drawing Caramel's sisters instead so that's the post now

Gave my somewhat-old Hollow Knight OCs a new ref

Since all the text on that is annoying to list in alt text, or if my handwriting is too hard to read, here it is below instead (paraphrased/edited a bit):

To the right of Hawksbeard reads “Hawksbeard, he/him, Grasshopper, Mosskin”, text to the right of Molini is “Molini, she/her, Millipede”, and to the left of Caramel reads “Caramel, she/her, Carpenter Bee”. Hawksbeard’s section notes that both his fluff and mask are removable though he never takes off his mask, he can jump absurdly high (around eight times his height), he always spends his time alone by experimenting, recording, or collecting, and he lives in Kingdom’s Edge. Molini’s section notes that her face is in fact an actual face and not a mask, her eyes glow, she lost the left arm on her third non-head segment down, and she lives in the Ancient Basin. Caramel’s section notes that her wings are frayed, she can take her mask off but also usually doesn’t, she earned the mantis claw from a Traitor Hunt with her sisters and has been fighting with it since, and she lives in the Queen’s Gardens.

Drew this with the eight true gods of Myrialore (the area which MM/Mostly Mollusk takes place in, encompassing Taranoake, Citadell, Kelsik, Renin and Anemone Reef among others) to figure out their personalities and relationships a bit more

(It is Very Messy but I don't care :D)

Interestingly, the new flower god (Solif) is the only one not native to Myrialore and was instead created through the collective belief mostly of bees, wasps, beetles and assorted colonies further inland.

Both of my mad scientist characters, but drawn as the video game characters they were most inspired by (Ne'Mon as Monomon and Tawny-Buzzard as Doctor H.B)

The last three currently (also tags cropped from the previous post) (also I forgot to actually label them lol so here are Descriptions)

Part 6A :

-Ven (with and without mask)

-The OG Drawing (currently Lumi is the only one with a character description, however short it is. Also features pretty much Monomon and the White Lady but as cnidarians)

-Tan

-Pando*

-the Cast Shell Pit/Pando's Tree*

-The Agora*

-Just some lettuce slugs*

-Kritto, Gorge, Rantan, and Lidii (clockwise from top)

-Those four again and Ceras

Part 6B :

-Sketchpage of mostly Rantan but also featuring Lidii, Kritto, Gorge and the Arbiter

-Azent, Monti and Kee (featuring Ceras and Machula)

-Ghost (hm wonder what two characters I could have possibly based them on)

-Ne'Mon

-Left-to-right in top-down rows, Bidibi, Pard, Cranton, Claws, Machula, Nell, Quinn, Carmine and Kalanchoe (but in bug form), Blue-Gills, Tawny-Buzzard, Dune, Allibel

-Ganellak

-Left to right, the Champions Tenaram, Amarmallus and Magtauran

-Allibel and Sepinti

Part 6C :

-Cren, Terret, and Aphids (x2)

-Body language (mostly shown using antennae and mandibles and sometimes the white pseudo-pupils)

Part 5 - Part 6A Here - Part 7

Gallery.

Keep reading

The second 10 below

Part 5 - Part 6A Here - Part 7

Gallery.

Keep reading

Reblog because there were too many tags/characters for Tumblr to handle

~Mostly Mollusk~

Part 4 - Part 5 Here - Part 6

Characters. (Mortals anyway.)

Keep reading

~Mostly Mollusk~

Part 6 - Part 7 Here

Extras. (Including some of the “meta” stuff I mentioned--much shorter than the other posts)

Extras/Misc

i want to add him…

---Quirrel

He/him

Iridoviral Armadillidium vulgare

Traveller, Terrestrial 

A pillbug. He's just Quirrel, a friendly adventurer who's good with a nail.

...Maybe keep him away from the bay. And the jellyfish.

Service: None

(jk that's ✨intellectual property✨ and i'll ✨have to ask permission✨)

--History...?

So far, the only known lore regarding this subject is that most vertebrates (currently, Grek and Genni being the only exceptions, as Tan’s host has been dead since the frog went into hiding. The bodies of most other dead organisms have been reduced to bones) have gone extinct some undescribed quantity of time, and many terrestrial bugs have moved to the shores during this (giving a chance to finally reconcile with their amphibious crustacean kin), though nowadays life further inland is no longer uninhabitable. The vertebrate die-off is possibly due to radiation caused by humans inland, as insects such as cockroaches seem to be less negatively affected by it--or this is simply the reason for the invertebrates' migration towards the sea.

--Quests

Reunion (Main Quest, Ceras)

A Meal of Great Elegance (Genni)

Prosthetics (Bem)

Ballad of Copi, which shall go unnamed (i can't think of a real name lol)

Sisters Estranged (Allibel and Sepinti) 

Track Down the Beast (Beowi) (the Beast being Genni)

--Dialogue

Fess: Ceras!

F: Come back in soon or else I'm eating all the anemone without you!

Ceras: You wouldn't!

(... (Ceras doesn't come back inside and continues doing Whatever They Doing.))

F (after some time passes): Ceras, I'm serious! The rip current's coming back soon and I don't want you to be caught in it!

C: Alright, fine, in a second!

()

C: ...Did it just get quieter?

: Wait.

: Oh no.

(~rip current time~)

(...)

Lidii: What even is that?

Rantan: Obviously a sea slug, Lidii.

Gorge: Yeah, it's an aeolid nudibranch, Lidii.

Rantan: How--

Lidii: Well, I'm gonna eat it. It's obviously dead, and doesn't seem like either of you want to.

(Ceras arises.)

Lidii: Oh!

Rantan: 'Obviously dead', huh?

(Ceras looks around, the two insects look at them.)

Lidii: ...Is it sentient?

--Soundtrack

(Taranoake Theme)

(Citadell Theme)

Turn Up the Tymbals, Bring On The Beat! (One of Sepinti's themes)

Renin (Renin flashbacks, much more jovial than WfR)

Waiting for Rain (current Renin theme, has Renin's leitmotif, but slower/more melancholy)

Part 5 - Part 6A Here - Part 6B (Reblog) - Part 6C (Double Reblog) - Part 7

Gallery.

Apparently this will have Several Parts Then

~Mostly Mollusk~

Part 4 - Part 5 Here - Part 6

Characters. (Mortals anyway.)

-Known Characters

A list of notable travelling parties, vendors, and fighters.

Travellers move between settlements, Path-dwellers are constantly travelling but don't actually enter towns, as opposed to Outsiders who take up residence in a specific place outside of settlements instead of travelling, and Explorers travel often and sometimes enter towns but are mostly focused on finding new places. a 

---Kritto

She/her

Coenagrion puella (color/gender difference intentional)

Citadell Citizen/Explorer, Aerial/Terrestrial

A blue dragonfly cartographer who enjoys mapping the world around her free of cost, her excellent vision adding an eye for detail and near-perfect recreations of the surrounding views.

Service: Map (Kritto's Stall, Citadell)

---Lidii, Gorge, and Rantan

She/her, he/him but it's whatever really, he/they

Myrmecocystus mexicanus, ??????, Strategus aloeus

Traveller(s), Terrestrial

An explorer trio, the ox beetle Rantan carries Gorge, the clam archivist, to see the sights (or not--Gorge doesn't have eyes) while upbeat ant fighter Lidii wanders ahead. Lidii enjoys beating Gorge at Rainbow Shell while the latter wonders why she always wins, and Rantan exasperatedly goes along with their antics. 

Lidii- *trying to get Rantan's attention* Rantan- "What were you saying? I'm busy trying to pretend I'm literally anywhere else."

Lidii has definitely attempted to name the group. The others haven’t actually accepted this moniker, but whenever needed she uses “Team Taranoake”.

She has also made the trio friendship bracelets out of bits of shell. 

Service: None? Introductions? Travel?

---Bidibi 

They/them

Mortal form is a horned Dynastes tityus

Path-Dweller, Terrestrial

A large rhinoceros beetle who carries a pack of supplies twice their size on their back to trade while on the road (that, somehow, doesn't seem to burden them at all), appearing wherever needed. Secretly the god of the Path, though their reverence is much more informal than that of a patron god like Ven, for their truth as a God is little-known. Their large backpack contains the anchors of several other gods and they function as a sort of bridge between the mortal realm and more fantastical beings.

Service: ???

---Pard

They/them 

Polydrusus impressifrons

Outsider, Terrestrial 

An arrogant, self-proclaimed noble, who only survived for the fact they were a grub when the rest were exiled and killed. Oof.

Service: Lore

---Arbiter Len

All pronouns

Homarus americanus

Taranoake Citizen, Aquatic/Terrestrial

The figurehead of Taranoake, friendly and well-known among its citizens. See "Current Leaders''.

Service: (Facilitating discussions and resolving disputes between residents, a figurehead of the town. Unknown what their service to the player would be.)

---Drop

They/them

Pleurobrachia pileus

Taranoake Citizen, Aquatic

A sea gooseberry who frequents the Bay. Take care when around them, especially if you're any sort of tiny, delicious crustacean. (Laws don't apply to them obviously.) 

Service: None

---Cranton

He/they

Heterocarpus ensifer

Outsider, Aquatic

Not confined to a town, Cranton is a shrimp and excellent chef living close to the shore.

Service: Food (Cranton's Shed)

---Ceras

They/them 

Babakina festiva

Explorer/Traveller (former Outsider), Aquatic/Terrestrial 

An aeolid nudibranch with an older sibling Fess, who became stranded away from them after being caught in a rip current and washing up on Taranoake's shore. Unlike other sea slugs, they have the ability to survive on land, for unknown and currently-being-explored reasons

Service: They don't have a service they're the player character

---Tan

They/it

Cordyceps militaris (hosted by Felis catus, a vertebrate)

Outsider, Aquatic/Terrestrial

A strange, almost cheerful fungus inhabiting the body of the only intact towering, black-furred, long-dead organism they could find.

Service: Lore?, Mycelium translator (if they can get over their mutual hatred for the rest of their literal kingdom)

---Claws

She/her

Coccinella septempunctata

Taranoake Citizen, Terrestrial

A retired fighter ladybug who sells weapons at the Agora, some much larger than she is. If you start up a conversation with her, just be ready to stay and listen until dusk sets. Oh, and you ARE going home with a lighter glass-pouch…

Service: Weapons (The Agora, Taranoake)

---Azent, Monti, and Kee

He/him, she/her, ???

Sphecius convallis, Parides montezuma, Sphecius convallis

Taranoake Citizens, Aerial/Terrestrial

Azent the wasp, his child Kee, and butterfly partner Monti. Monti's brood didn't live long enough to truly see the world, so she raises Kee as her own (alongside the larva's actual father). Azent is missing an antenna, which does provide benefit in tolerating the oversaturated salt-smell of the sea.

Service: None (?)

---Machula

She/her

Vespula maculifrons 

Taranoake Citizen/Traveller, Aerial/Terrestrial 

An exile from her hive for attempting to overthrow her mother, who's taken up residence in Taranoake due to the fact that they were the only city who'd have her. Has a sort of rivalry with Azent.

Service: None

---Ghost

They/them (plural)

Danaus plexippus

Taranoake Citizen, Aerial/Terrestrial 

A pale and rather antisocial monarch who speaks rarely, but always using plural pronouns for themselves.

Service: None

---Nell

She/her

Acheta domesticus

Taranoake Citizen, Terrestrial

A cricket nymph, who may not be well-known among most of the adult citizens, but is renowned by her fellow children in being the only to reach the Acorn (the only wingless, that is).

Service: None

---Quinn

He/they

Smerinthus cerisyi

Taranoake Citizen, Terrestrial

An older moth missing an eye. While he was once a traveller, now he's settled in Taranoake as a storyteller.

Service: Lore

---Carmine and Kalanchoe

She/her, she/they

Tachypompilus ferrugineus, Cotinis mutabilis

Taranoake Citizens, Aerial/Terrestrial

A bright spider wasp with a love for cooking (and her partner Kalanchoe), and the latter coleopteran target of affection. Both insects have a color mutation to their wings, in which Carmine's are a more fiery blue and Kalanchoe's hindwings are pink.

Service: Food (The Agora, Taranoake)

---Blue-Gills

They/he

Porcellio hoffmannseggi

Citadell Citizen, Terrestrial

A sowbug cuisineur.

Service: Food (Noctiluca Cafe, Citadell)

---Tawny-Buzzard

She/her

Apis mellifera

Citadell Citizen, Terrestrial

A honeybee scientist appreciating the more experimental side of her city's God. Wingless for, ahem, completely unrelated reasons and is on thin ice to be banished.

Service: ???? (H.C. Labs, Citadell)

---Dune

He/they

Centruroides vittatus

Taranoake Citizen, Terrestrial

A scorpion diligently guarding Taranoake from any perceived threats, despite not being asked to. They almost always let others go, though.

Service: None?

---Allibel

They/she 

Magicicada septendecim

Taranoake Citizen/Traveller, Terrestrial

A travelling musician who wields a free-reed instrument made from a full, delicate pill-millipede corpse. It's unknown how exactly she acquired it.

She's actually a 17-year nymph, who emerged with a mutation that either delayed her maturity or stopped it entirely, and found a love of music--and a way to make the most of her time without wings.

Service: The Vibes™ (Anywhere)

---Tenaram, Amarmallus, and Magtauran

He/him, they/he, they/them

Menippe mercenaria, Sphodromantis viridis, Scolopendra cingulata

Taranoake Citizens, Aquatic/Terrestrial, Terrestrial x2

Champions of the Colosseum! An imposing stone crab, who's actually pretty boastful, loud and charismatic, much to the annoyance of everyone else in the Barracks. A quiet and cold mantis who is quick to anger and avoids any non-fight interaction with anyone. An almost downright terrifying centipede that doesn't really seem to care much about anything.

Service: Entertainment (Colosseum of Ven, Taranoake)

---Flicken

They/she

Phausis reticulata

Taranoake Citizen, Aerial/Terrestrial 

A small, energetic and stealthy firefly with a tendency to appear out of shadows at random times and startle those around them. Friend to many of the ghost crabs but best friend to Bem.

Service: ...Jump scares

---Grek

He/him

Breviceps macrops

Renin Citizen, Terrestrial

An old, grouchy desert rain frog with a missing eye and a tendency to scream at the top of his lungs at the slightest inconvenience. The sole survivor of whatever wiped out all the frogs. He has been living in solitude for 10 years waiting for rain to tell him it's time to leave.

Service: Lore (...?)

---Bem 

They/them

Ocypode quadrata

Taranoake Citizen, Aquatic/Terrestrial

A joyful ghost crab child with a dream to fight in the Colosseum. They were born with two missing legs and use prosthetics fashioned from driftwood and seaweed, which help them walk but aren’t very fast or mobile, so they settled on helping Claws make and sell weapons. Best friends with Flicken.

Service: Quest (to get a Citadell scientist for better prosthetics)

---Cren and Terret

She/her x2

Camponotus pennsylvanicus, Reticulitermes flavipes

Citadell Citizens, Terrestrial and Aerial/Terrestrial

A carpenter ant and termite alate (and of course, their 27 aphids, per Cren’s obsession). While the former is something of an artist, and very much a carpenter as her species dictates, Terret is a wood-eating scientist who keeps completely to herself, besides living with her partner.

Service: ? (Woodworker’s Association, Citadell) (possibly fulfilling Copi's and/or Bem's quest, as well as one of their own) (I no longer remember what those last seven words meant)

---Sepinti

She/her

Magicicada septendecim

Traveller, Aerial/Terrestrial

A cicada singer, Allibel's sister--though she's not any older, makes fun of her for her immaturity mutation, while keeping herself in the spotlight. Only competitive, though, not a complete jerk.

Service: The Vibes™ (in set areas)

---Lumi

They/them

Goniobranchus kuniei

Kelsik Citizen, Aquatic

The sea slug merchant of Kelsik, a bit mischievously enthusiastic about their goods.

Service: ...Sells Things? Food maybe?

---Copi

She/they

Xylocopa virginica

Explorer, Aerial/Terrestrial 

A young carpenter bee who lost her nest and is yearning for any feeling of community. (Has already been kicked out of several Andrena and Colletes burrows, for lack of knowing they're actually solitary.)

Service: Quest (read above. may become adopted by Cren)

---Eken

He/she

???

Outsider, Aquatic

An extremely confused vendor eel who only works in trades, he’s well known for his vast array of strange items and for having no idea how to price anything. Her main logic is “if it looks cool it's probably a fair trade” and especially favors shiny things.

Service: Strange things and stranger prices.

---Genni

???

Chroicocephalus philadelphia

???, Aerial/Terrestrial

A strange sky-creature. It shows no sign of intelligence, and speaks in loud squawks, though Ceras has chosen to imprint on and name it.

Service: Quest (A Meal Of Great Elegance)

---Beowi 

They/them

Dytiscidae species

Explorer, Terrestrial (technically not aquatic as they only skim the surface)

A “ship” captain and self proclaimed pirate, this diving beetle has a fierce love of the water and an even fiercer hate of actually being in it, so they constructed a floatation device of sorts cobbled out of driftwood, seaweed, and countless strange buoyant objects. 

Service: Quest (Track Down the Beast)

~Mostly Mollusk~

Part 3 - Part 4 Here - Part 5

Daily Life (and Language, as it’s not officially included) and Veneration.

-Daily Life

The daily life of bugs in and out of Taranoake and Citadell.

---Diet

In seaside settlements, varies based on species, individual and city but tends to consist of other bugs, and plants, including species of seaweed and algae. Frequent travellers like wasps or ants often bring back food from other places as a semi-permanent source. The former will occasionally bring a chunk of stolen honeycomb from a far-off honeybee hive, or a cap of sugar-water (alternately, a cap of dried sugar to mix with strained seawater, though this is not preferred as many non-marine creatures tend to hate the taste of salt.) Larvae and aphids are sometimes used as sweet "kegs" for adult wasps.

An experimental substance has been produced in Citadell for use mostly in battle, made up of digestive enzymes to greatly reduce time spent digesting food, and antibiotics to quicken the rate of wounds closing, to use as a sort of literal "quick-heal".

---Housing

Taranoake

Most terrestrial bugs in the city live in the Fort but some prefer to live elsewhere, such as the ants who have forged small hills of sand nearby the outskirts. Aquatic species make homes in the sand of the bay, or simply lay or float around in the general area without protection.

While there are no rules in the Outpost, Fort Taranoake is generally diurnal. Those citizens who are most active during the night actually sometimes take up residence in the former. As most of the city is asleep at night, the ones who aren't are meant to either be quiet or congregate in areas away from the Fort and Outpost.

Citadell

Unlike in Taranoake, residential areas are scattered throughout the town in rooms along the basins, though certain types of buildings such as these are often localized to one area. The city is noticeably less welcoming to outsiders, having no free place to stay (unless of course you want to camp on the floors of the craters, in which case be ready to wake up early or be washed out to sea by morning). The homes of aquatic citizens are located on the lowest levels, along the permanently-flooded alleyways connecting each basin. The city is naturally dark and peaceful (excluding the scientists, of course), with the dim bioluminescent algae used for food and lighting lining the waterways, so the times most sleep isn’t an issue.

Nocturnal and diurnal residents still get much interaction, as most bugs sleep for only a third to a quarter of the day.

---Games

Bored children and even adults must have something to do, especially those who don't appreciate the violence of Taranoake’s Colosseum, so many games have been developed. The list goes roughly in order of more simple games, often played by children or travellers, to the more advanced.

Tick Tacks

Both bugs get a type of shell and a 3 by 3 grid, with the first to put three in a line being a winner. Normally, different colors of shell will be collected for the two players, however some will simply be marked with notches or paints.

Stick Kick

As the name implies this is simply a game of kicking a piece of driftwood. No objective, only kick

Clammy

A rather idiotic pastime typically engaged in by children who have nothing better to do and no sense of self preservation. This game involves sticking one hand into the mouth of a clam and seeing who can remove their hand before the clam removes it first. A slightly less dangerous alternative is who can annoy a clam the most without getting bitten. Sometimes this is done with horrendous puns, including the common phrases “don’t clam up!” or “don't be so shellfish!” Clams, of course, do not appreciate this game at all.

Victims of this game will often say they lost the limb in a battle of some sort to hide their idiotic childhood. However, due to the fact that many arthropods regenerate parts of their limbs after each molt, it can be obvious just exactly how long ago the injury was sustained...

(One attempt to play tag was made, before it was concluded the game gave an unfair advantage to creatures not bound to land or sea.)

Rainbow Shell

A simple game, yet almost always played by explorer parties. The first person to find a complete rainbow in order of shell colors wins. The same shell can not be used by multiple players. This game may be more difficult for those of us with fewer cones.

Driftshell

A board game played with bits of shell and driftwood dice. An attack or defense would be labeled on the dice, and these would be used to take down an opponent's health (around ten pieces of shimmering shell) or defend against their attacks. Last one to lose all ten health tokens wins. Alternative, more complex versions can be played but this is most agreed upon.

---Economy

Sea glass is used as currency in marine/coastal settlements with differing colors being worth different amounts based on rarity.

In order of worth:

Clear/white - 2

Brown - 3

Green - 4

Amber - 7

Blue - 8

Purple - 10

Black/gray - 12

Yellow/orange - 15

Red - 17

Mixes in between are simply rated based on their alikeness to each color--for example, even on the official color chart as shown here, amber is rated midway between brown and orange. Occasional barters modifying the exact worth based on the color of seaglass, and the value of the goods they’re paying for, do occur relatively often.

---Causes of Death

It wouldn't be a Life section without death! This world can be treacherous, most especially out of the law-bound Cities, so there are a wide variety of ways to die. However, some of the most common are listed below.

Taranoake

-Colosseum

-Dehydration

-Sickness

Citadell

-Old age

Outside the Cities

-Being eaten

-Ironically, starvation

--Government

Laws, leaders, and enforcement in the Cities.

---Laws

-Those alive will not be considered as a food source until they have died of their own accord.

-Resources should not be removed from the care of the owner unless permission is given.

-(Taranoake Exclusive) Children are not allowed to participate in the Colosseum.

--Taranoake Leaders

(Citadell has not had any leaders, in its present or past.)

Current

Arbiter Len

Facilitates discussions and resolves conflicts between groups or individuals in the city. Not an official leader exactly, more of an ambassador.

Past

The Nobles

A family of tyrants and fake rulers who dubbed themselves royal, living in the Fort once a grand castle and leaving all its other citizens to rest in crudely made sand-huts, tunnels and Outpost rooms. All were exiled after this true glory was discovered, and were told they would not be harmed within Taranoake--but the moment they left the city limits, they were killed by mobs of angry citizens, as laws don't apply outside the bounds. >:)

One exile did survive however, see “Pard”.

-Language

Most bugs use three languages, though some only have the first two: audible language (spoken through mandibles, wing buzzing, and sometimes tymbals, covering of the spiracles, etc.), written language (carved into things, much more complex than the audible language and resembling hieroglyphics) and species language (spoken through pheromones, and is mostly only understood by those of the same species or sometimes related ones).

Additionally, some terrestrial bugs have learned to understand the language of fungi. 

A subgrouping of the words in the audible and written languages are universal “basic phrases”: while in audible speech most words or phrases are spoken using one “letter” at a time and may include more complex actions, these are simpler and designed to be recognisable with the most basic information (e.g. holding sounds for longer by putting more space in between each one).

-zt zt zzt (pronounced “ze-ta ze-ta! zehhta”) “Come” or “Come here”. Zs are long while Ts are short.

-tttt tKtt (pronounced “tetetete teKEtete”) “Hello”, can be shortened to “tKtt” for an informal “hi”. Ts are short while the K is long and/or loud.

-t trr rr (pronounced “te te-rrr rrr?”) “Eat”, such as “Where’s food/when we eating?” Rrs are usually vibrations, the longer sound, while Ts are short clicks.

-ktktkk (pronounced “ketekete krr krr”) “Danger” or “Stay back”, such as “danger up ahead” or “I’m dangerous, stay back”. The first two Ks and both Ts are alternating short taps/clicks while the latter Ks are long.

-ttkttt (pronounced “tete-kr-tetete”) “Travel”, “Go” or “Traveller”. The Ts are short but the K might be a bit longer and/or a different sound (such as scraping).

-ztzz (pronounced “ze-te-zehh”) “Yes”. The Zs may be longer than the short T (especially the latter Zs).

-tK (pronounced “te-KA”) “No.” T is short while K is longer and/or louder.

Basic phrases can also be easily converted to written, with each noise having a respective counterpart:

-“Z” is made up of a vertical line, with two dots vertically positioned on the right.

-“T” is made up of a horizontal line with one smaller vertical line positioned beneath each third of the large line.

-”K” is made up of a vertical line with a short horizontal line/dot positioned to the left of its top half.

-”R” is made up of two parallel horizontal lines, the top having a short vertical line connecting to the top side of the right edge.

One dot will be shown above the letter for each time it’s repeated.

--Telecommunication

Just found a cool looking rock and need to tell your friend immediately? Why not ask your local mushroom to send the message for you! Almost every grounded mushroom around you is connected to the mycelium network running through town and beyond, so all you have to do is tell them the message and where to send it (oh, and also learn an entire language). Just make sure you can trust your messenger--mushrooms can be quite the pranksters, and I’m sure you don’t want your message being sent to the wrong person or “accidentally”, ahem, “mistranslated” to tell the recipient how much you hate them.

--Actual Communication (With Bugs)

Without speaking or writing, there are still a myriad of ways invertebrates communicate.

In insects and many other arthropods, antennae make up a large part of body language. Held straight up in the air the bug could be considered surprised or alert, and one holding them straight frontally usually conveys anger, frustration or boredom (depending how far above the eyes they’re held, and the position of the mandibles). More relaxed positions (of varying degrees) like the resting arch of ant antennae signify positive and neutral emotions, like calmness or enthusiasm.

-Veneration

Traditions and lore regarding the Gods.

---Ven

Associated with the dead and living, Ven is a god of verdant groves and seeping blood, the patron god of Taranoake. While they don't inherently demand death as a part of their worship, they consider the Colosseum enough sacrifice.

They are said to look plant-like while still retaining arthropod aspects, having six legs like an insect but with four claws on each end. This may or may not be an accurate depiction as only those close to death through battle have claimed to see them--those and, interestingly enough, travellers who have not learned of Ven’s nature and have seen them as a distant mirage near the settlement’s gates.

Only those on the brink of death, who cannot return, have seen them under their mask, and even bugs who have seen Ven before are unable to dream of the god unless they are visited intentionally.

Those who are not from the City still pay respects to the deity, as is custom.

---The Kindle of Souls

A celebration of life and death, of those who made it and those lost along the way, The Kindle of Souls is this town's way of honoring the dead and their god Ven, encouraging them to guide the souls of the dead to whatever lies in wait.

The festival is an ancient and time honored tradition, and has many accompanying customs including the hanging of green banners painted with yellow through blue all throughout town, the displaying of lights on the tree that has come to be known as The Guardian of the Dead, the traditional food of the red lantern jellyfish that tend to wash ashore around the time of the festival, and the painting of stripes on one’s face to resemble the aspen-God Pando. Overall, the celebration is not as gloomy as one might expect a festival of death to be, but instead more a time for stories and rememberance of those passed.

---Pando

This twisted -- and rather creepy-looking -- tree-god is actually quite benevolent despite their appearance, and is known as the Deputy or Second-Hand of Ven. As the entity formed from such fierce belief in the tree known as The Guardian of The Dead, Pando guides and cares for the spirits of the deceased and has also taken on this epithet. Don’t forget to thank your local tree, because the message will surely travel back to Pando, through the complex system of roots and mycelium this wisdom god uses to spread and obtain knowledge.

---Beforgers

Those who were claimed to have built Taranoake and Citadell long before any inhabited them. Also called The Ones Cloaked In Shadow, rumored by old clams to be dark titans with their heads scraping the clouds. The mite-crabs were some of the only to witness them, though it's said the mole crabs know more and refuse to share.

---God of the Path

See “Bidibi”.

---Hearth

A welcoming god to all wanderers, floating freely amongst the other jellyfish.

---Tydin 

Ever noticed how the ocean is at different places at different times? Well, you can thank this giant sea god for that! Rumor has it that Tydin has been stuck in an eternal state of sleep since… well, only Gods know for sure. Most assume since the beginning of time, but none can back this claim up. Tydin’s breaths and snores create the changes in the tide named after them. No one has actually laid eyes on this ocean god and therefore their appearance remains mystery (though they're depicted as a sea slug), but their existence is generally agreed upon, as no one has a better answer.

---Ne'Mon

Ne'Mon is the god of knowledge and archivists, the patron god of the quiet Citadell. The lower half of their true form resembles that of a jellyfish, with uncountable tendrils used as arms for unending research. However, while Ven more or less follows mortal anatomy Ne'Mon is largely cryptid, with floating appendages and a face resembling a golden bell.

---The Blighted One

Referred to by those of Taranoake only in epithet for fear of invoking their wrath, the deity called Truth of Pestilence or Dreaded God, among other names, is the god of illness and therefore considered by mortals to be the sacred enemy of Ven. Feared more than death itself, for what good are you if you will only spread your darkness?

(Their true name is Ganellak, though only the other Gods are confident and powerful enough to use it lightly.)

---Lemar

The creator and inventor of the Anchors carried by Bidibi, this god was born as a mortal mite crab. But instead of opting for a life of violence in the Colosseum, they dedicated their life to anchoring the gods to this mortal plane, in a time when everyone was just becoming aware of The Drift. Ven granted them godship immediately after all the gods were successfully pulled back to the world.

---The Drift

A period of time in history when the gods began to involuntarily drift away from the mortal plane, causing strange events such as a still, waveless ocean, travelers mysteriously disappearing, and even a pause to death.

Some believe a second wave of The Drift may be coming in the near future, or is perhaps upon us now.

An updated design for my main sona because Things

Presenting: Shiny Dragons

(It's kinda long [though not nearly as long as my other worldbuilding projects], so I'll put it under a readmore just incase)

Description:

Springdragons -- Polyceros jubatus

Origin: World with Earth biology

Mammalian dragons descended from carnivorans whose caste system favors perceived beauty.

---

The main factors:

-Shiny, bright(ly colored) scales / matte or dull, brown or otherwise colorless scales (most important)

-Multiple long and smooth, spirally curled horns / one or less pairs of short, straight or bent horns

-Long, bright or rich manes / short and very dull manes

-Striking patches of differently colored fur or skin / monochromatic fuzz

-Long top canines (usually visible when mouth is closed) / short teeth

--

Minor beauty traits in Springdragons:

-Multicolored scales, horns, and/or manes

-Long eyelashes

-More scales (e.g. extra scales in places they aren't usually, and the scale-border pushing farther down the head, neck and stomach)

-Longer and thinner ears and general face shapes

-Shiny horns

-Brightly colored irises

--

Families of Springdragons are very large and those of dulls can consist of up to around a hundred members (though most are closer to 80). Bright families are smaller, with around 50 each, and the Queenscrown family is the only long-existing family with under 20 members. Families are grouped based on characteristics, such as Aryxes and Jakenses having six or four horns, respectively, Valenses having the characteristic heart-shaped scale above their snout, and Markhors having rough curled horns, though some do not possess these traits as they are not directly related, sometimes partners or adoptive children of ones in the family. The major traits of different families are often not mutually exclusive, allowing many dragons the choice to join either/any of their parent families.

--

(The following lists the characteristics of the pictured families.)

-Brights-

Queenscrowns: Green scales and mane. Exceed all the primary four Bright characteristics and have most of the minor traits expected of the upper castes.

Aryxes: Six horns and checkered scales.

Banis: Long feather-like scales, curled horns, and longer-than-average canines.

Stellenes: Pastel scales and four horns.

Razzes: Bright electric manes, very pale fur and six horns (though the first pair is greatly reduced).

Willohs: Long, thinly striped manes, light fur and relatively straight horns.

Valenses: Dark fur with the first scale on the snout being heart-shaped, banded horns.

Theriises: Short horns and long curled canines.

Jakenses: Fiery colored with four horns and longer-than-average front teeth.

Markhors: Relatively dull, with rough, curled horns and extra scales above the ears.

-Dulls-

Trias: No horns, stripelike scales and skin pattern.

Silzens: Pale fur, long straight horns, dull purplish scales.

Taruses: Horns bent upwards at the end, dark fur with white patches and dark scales.

Plintis: Thin horns pointing straight up, short faces.

Fenzis: Colorless scales and fur, short horns.

Ineshias: Long manes and horns, warmly colored scales.

Vesvens: Long, fluffy, fur and manes, small horns.

Choccens: Branched horns, dark scales.

Mowsens: Dull scales speckled with brighter colors.

Siufals: Fur between bluish-green scales, flat heads.

Cennis: No manes, large teeth.

Bovsis: Horns bent sideways, short curled manes.

Enkels: Short and dark horns, with paler fur and scales.

Edited/redrew some of my oldest HK art recently

I stand by the Cloaks are Wings headcanon for both the Pale King and vessels :>

I made an animation :>

(Featuring three Gods, in the world shared between me and one of my friends, in order:

Ven, deity of life and death, patron god of Taranoake

Ganellak, deity of pestilence, considered by those of Taranoake to be the sacred enemy of Ven

Ne'Mon, deity of knowledge, patron god of Citadell)

I will post more information on said world...someday?

I also did this,,, it's not colored and yet I like it enough to post here anyway

Recently finished another drawing of Mosa!

The original template is by iguanentapioca on Twitter and edited by cereovo!

Worth noting, they are generally associated with stained glass, rainbows, crystals, light, silver, flowers, music, butterflies, longbows, order and battle.

Lotus!

Whether she counts as my character is kind of...unclear, as I designed her appearance, her parent, and the AU they live in, yet I didn't play the character and develop her personality.

Whatever.

^^also featuring that one "When Mama Isn't Home" meme

Lotus is the god of Chaos, child of the gods of light and dark, daughter of Mosaïkó. She takes her title seriously, but her power not so much.

cordycat! cordycat!

I was looking through a lot of the posts of @lagt-duck because (hollow knight! undertale! spiritfarer! slime rancher!) and noticed they had, on several occasions, drawn and designed mushrooms. so I thought. mushrooms!

They had designed sort of humanoid fungal creatures, but I, in my love of biology and interestingly, entomology, realized there was an actual way fungi locomote. and that's by infecting bugs and using their undead bodies as hosts! Luckily, fungi like cordyceps can't actually control larger beings/vertebrates like humans and cats (though I'm not sure where the line blurs?)

The cat host is very much dead and Tan is the cordyceps within--not usually smug, but who wouldn't boast after finding a new body to move around in that's like, 28154x the size of your friends?

(They haven't...really...figured out expressions yet)

This is actually the first piece so far that's recent, since I have a lot of art to catch up to!

Blight and Herring.

Both these guys have several different descriptions that still all get the main gist of their characters!

Blight

The main feature defining his appearance gave him his namesake. Splattered thoughtlessly across his pale, otherwise nondescript, variously gradient lime scales, are splotches of purple-brown ringed in yellow, most notably dotting his wings, snout and talons.

A pensive, mildly arrogant LeafWing professor with a painless but harmful disorder, typically lethal to males, that leaves brown stains on his scales and chips away at his membranes, shooting his wings through with pinpricks and holes, is Blight. A biology nerd specializing in entomology and botany, he works at the LeafWing Institute of Education, likes tea, salads, philosophy and spending time in dark libraries, and owns a loyal pet sun beetle named Pachnoda (whom he carries around daily on his shoulders or horns). He can be described as thoughtful, a bit melancholy, leaning sometimes off to the indifferent side and sometimes rather haughty.

While he isn't particularly friendly, he sees no time wasted in teaching someone about something he loves.

Herring

His scales are a light gray-blue, with dark overscales and dapples across his back. His horns are a dull gradient, from blue at the base to green to orange, shimmering like washed rainbow shells and bearing a resemblance to his similarly-blended wings and webs, offering many positive comments from those who stare into them. He has conch-pink underscales, and pale peach bioluminescent stripes.

A writer and a minor noble, Herring is a melancholy SeaWing honing his craft in a studio on the coastline of Pyrrhia. He enjoys long walks, hot water, serene days at the beach, and fancy gatherings (in which he, sometimes, may or may not have a bit too much to drink). His preference for air rather than sea does set him apart from the other ocean-dwelling dragons, but made pursuing his current career quite a bit easier. While living above-water, he travels to spend much of his time at events in the rebuilt Summer and Island Palaces and long-standing Deep Palace, partying amongst the other aristocrats.

He makes a good partner for conversation whatever his mood.

They met through a strange (and beautiful, they both agreed) dragon, somehow-mutual friend, Nephrite, suggesting they find each other.

*claps hands together, accidentally smushing a mosquito but it's ok because the mosquito was a jerk anyway* gay dragons

Angler and Magma are, too, some of my older and closer-to-my-heart OCs and here they are!

Anglerfish is a SilkWing/SeaWing whose mother kindofdrownedherfatherandleftheratthebottomoftheocean. Not too strange for Wings of Fire parents, though, amiright?

She roamed the depths of the seafloor figuring herself out for a while before deciding to take a risk and find purpose in her life, discovering the surface is super hot and weird and bright, not helping much that she stumbled onto a volcano isle with a stranger who didn't understand her at all.

Magmacore was aptly named for her seething bright insides. After her parents both, collectively, abandoned her, no murder involved, for seeing her winglessness as a mistake, Magma survived only a few days before she found herself heavily wounded in what she thought would be an anti climactic end to her lifetime. There is strange magic in the isle though, and blood spilled incited, interestingly enough, the life-fluids in her core to transmute into boiling lava.

She spent the rest of her life living alone on the sands, hostile to any who wandered near, until a strange pale dragon swept to shore.

There's another fullbody image of Magma, but it's disproportionate and I'll fix it later

Starting off with my basically-main-character, Mosaïkó! They're a dragon god, sometimes going by the mortal guise of Nephrite, eldest and most powerful but oftentimes a calm and kind figure who has experienced...pretty much everything and is good to go to for guidance.

They live with their demigod partner and child in the God Hall, an Olympus-like place with white marble, blue, and gold architecture heavily inspired by the Isu in AC Odyssey, along with the ten other Gods, one of which they might be crushing on oops

They are very much aware of alternate universes and exist canonically in pretty much every world I've made.

^^Dragon and human(oid) refs, in no particular order. The first image is part of my header (cause! I love them enough for that), and the second-to-last was actually drawn by NovaArora on Art Fight, or @mother-of-monsters-verse on this (@ isn't working??? but that's their user), many thanks to them!