Do You Ever Think About The Fact That If Zim Had Never Arrived On Earth (or Had Been Compromised Before

Do you ever think about the fact that if Zim had never arrived on Earth (or had been compromised before a certain point) the Planetjackers would have 1000% wiped it, along with the entire human race, off the starmaps without a whiff of resistance or notice? Like that’s where the timeline defaults without him in the picture.

Because I don’t see it being brought up enough

lol exactly you get it.

And even from the less charitable angle… you know how those silly developing middle schoolers can be. All Membrane is sure of is that by some cosmic boon of chance Dib actually made even a single friend at his school and what kind of parental figure would he be to start lecturing and butting into whatever weird ways the kids these days joke around with their buddies? I’d cut Memebrane slack honestly even just for the explanation of being more distracted with the discovery of a shred of hope Dib can in fact have other social connections in his life outside of the family.

Growing up is noticing the infinitely hilarious possibility that Professor Membrane doesn’t challenge specifically Dib’s accusations of Zim because what he perceives is that his son is casually throwing a slur at his immigrant friend, and for some reason is just, letting that happen I guess cause the two seem cool with each other

Wanted to give them some fancier robes :3c

Just a hardy albino single mother of two taking her kids on a field trip to meet God, nothing to see here.

Iterator POV:

Every Dredge Aberration (2024), Part 4

And when the whispers and the first tastes weren’t enough, the flotsam took up their metal and their lies and they lanced the very primordial core, and up from it had spilled phantoms from our own past- no longer in long slumber, glimpsing the light once more. ₊˚.༄

Plated Osteostracan ༄.°

Encyclopedia #123

Aberrant form of Osteostracan

Description:

A shell of bone, pierced by spurs of something stronger. A horned mitre shielding eyeless sockets.

Comment: The true osteostracans (the powers below only know how much I have struggled to spell that word right with every use) would, among many of the ooze’s surprises, already have been a discovery defying of all reason. Here from the drill’s disturbance is an individual not only of a kind thought to have vanished from our world some hundreds of millions of years ago, but changed and reshapen anew where evolution did not touch its brethren. On a sidenote, a mitre is the actual name of the headwear iconically worn by the upper clergy of the Catholic hierarchy, most famously associated with the pope. Could this creature’s helm also be a symbol of importance? Regarding the mystery of the shell’s makeup, I personally speculate it to be a form of enamel, as found in teeth. It would certainly be stronger than mere bone, and suit some of the Deep’s penchant for the sardonic: a jawless fish, gilded in teeth.

How to catch: Though they rose from the darkest, inky depths below the Marrows, the osteostraci prefer to gather in the shallows beneath pollutants’ gleam. The unique “habitat” they spawn from however, requires the aid of specialized equipment to harvest these fish.

Axial Matron ༄.°

Encyclopedia #124

Aberrant form of tullimonstrum

Description:

Mouths within mouths. Chambers within chambers. The matron's grip is terminal.

Comment: In a spectacular twist, the bastardization of the living fossil has actually… produced a creature much less monstrous, if only in appearance. The retraction of stalk eyes and the repurposed proboscis-like organ of the corrupted specimen has brought its visage closer to that of a fish than the enigmatic, impossible to class Tully Monster.

How to catch: This will be the last I repeat of what I already gestured to before. Learn quickly the recurrent pattern of the sludge’s offerings, no regular rod or reel will be able to drag ANY of these ancient wretches out of their favored home- of course being the newly spotted oil slicks released by the seabed’s running wound. A lucid mind, armed with steady hand and advanced tools, is best to send to those unsightly lesions. Take your pick of the Marrow’s coastal scabs, and then you may try your luck with old Tully.

Anvilfish ༄.°

Encyclopedia #125

Aberrant form of paddlefish

Description:

A head hammered flat against the alluvium of the world. Every shaper needs a surface.

Comment: Definition of alluvium: a deposit of clay, silt, sand, and gravel left by flowing streams in a river valley or delta, typically producing fertile soil. Behold here as well the rarity of a rarity. There isn’t much to this victim’s purpose easily concluded. What I have noticed, though, is that this fish and the next proceeding entry compliment each other and the nature of the Iron Rig itself- an extraction and transformation of the deep’s bed, bringing out the evolution of our tools.

How to catch: With infused reel aboard, feel around for the Marrow’s costal waters, where and while the oil still flows.

Ivory Impaler ༄.°

Encyclopedia #126

Aberrant form of swordfish

Description:

Strips of flensed flesh course around a spike of impossible metal. Underneath roped tendons, it bears a name unremembered.

Comment: Spear-fisherman beware… the quarry that finally stands (really swims) on an even playing field. The savage beauty of this one appeals to me greatly, the grisly paleness of its flesh, rended asunder. The permanent grin beneath so evil a gaze. A predator that no longer lunges for the meal, simply for the satiation of even more bloodletting.

How to catch: Strangely, though neither returned fossils nor commonly seen in the Marrows before, the seismic anomaly has brought in the first sightings of swordfish gathering in the region, specifically in the same stained waters as other new findings. To begin catching them, one will need oceanic suitable fishing equipment also fitted with improved modifications.

Cerebral Crab

Encyclopedia #127

Aberrant form of common crab

Description:

A turquoise mass swells from within this small crab. The growth pulses, quickening in the light of the sun.

Comment: Would it be to awry of me to say that there's something almost... cute about the look of this scuttler? I find it difficult to not think there would be strange beauty in the sight of the island sands at night, pulsing and peppered with a gathering of these crabs' light, like jewels beneath the foam. I can at least be sure that their hue is enamoring once smeared across the hull of my boat. This is one of two mutants you must bring to the painter in Little Marrow to unlock the sharp mint pigments to customize with.

How to catch: As the name would suggest, this animal can only be harvested with patience and the use of a crab pot. Aim for a depth below 25 meters, such as close to, or even within the Greater Marrow harbor.

Malignant Pincer

Encyclopedia #128

Aberrant form of fiddler crab

Description:

Teal tumours secrete a slimy substance over cracks and joints. Its massive claw shudders as it fights for control.

Comment: Now THIS victim's predicament actually lends some fascinating implications about what ails the previous. These pustules look so alike to the same as the common crab's infection in both shape and color that I will go on a limb and decide that the same entity finds a host in either species. The "cerebral" part of the former's name indicates that this mass is in fact a brain of its own, with its own imperatives and will that overrides the poor vessel's. Because the infection has decided to root within the fiddler crab's claw, rather than its head, the animal's original brain has remained intact, despite everything. The body survives to stage a losing battle between nature and another's unknowable plan.

How to catch: They generally share roaming space with the common crabs of The Marrows, albeit preferring slightly shallower water, under a mere 10 meters to be exact. Due to their size, the basic crab pot can only hold one of them at a time, so, barring a speedrun to acquire the maw of the Deep, check the traps frequently if you are looking to snag one of these in the early game. I never found error in placing the pots right next to the Marrow docks for convenience. Bring one of these to the painter along with the cerebral crab to unlock the sharp mint paint for your ship.

Inverted Husk༄.°

Encyclopedia #129

Aberrant form of sea cucumber

Description:

Flesh, prolapsed and shed to the seafloor. A moult discarded, ready to envelop another.

Comment: Most horrid thing among the Iron Rig additions I have examined so far. Finally, the long missed taste again of utter revulsion and bewilderment that this grand sea had inspired in me from the beginning. With new novelties will come even more unsettling revelations.

How to catch: Unlike the other slick-swimming things we have encountered, this aberration requires no fancy or new tools at all to find. Any crab pot will do, placed directly into the tar-blackness at a depth between 25 meters and the surface. Depths from 10-25 meters are advised to prevent the space-demanding fiddler crab from turning up in the traps instead.