Just Letting Everyone Know, Please Have A Profile Picture And Tumblr Name In Your Profile So I'm Sure

Just letting everyone know, please have a profile picture and Tumblr name in your profile so I'm sure you're not a bot. If you follow me and you don't have one I'm going to assume you're a bot and I'll have to block you.

Apologies if I've accidentally blocked any non-bots, hopefully this will prevent it from happening in the future.

its so upsetting its funny!

He is using the entire Jeep as a car seat, I—

IS THAT ALLOWED? 💀

"Stop saying 15 year olds with weird interests are cringe, they're 15" this is true however you should also stop saying adults with weird interests are cringe because who gives a shit

Hailing from the harsh planet of Ettera, Knights are the only sophont in the Zhagaviit system made of two consciousnesses. ---

At last, here they are! Nearly finished with redesigning every Vivere 44 species. These guys are retconned werewolves which I posted about some time ago. You might have noticed I brought back some space unicorn aspects as well! They've been through so many design changes but I've finally settled on something solid.

More information below!

I'll try to keep this concise. Most of this info is introductory biology.

Knights are the only sophonts living on Ettera, a mostly barren planet where survival is tough. Their civilisation is the least advanced compared to others in Zhagaviit, such as Arrows and Sea Crawlers. They were the third species to be contacted by the ZGC (Zhagaviit Galactic Community) followed by Post Humanity. Knights are known for being hardy, efficient, and motivated.

If it isn't already clear enough, Knights are two species in a symbiotic relationship acting as one individual. Helmets and Hosts have an evolutionary history so intertwined that one cannot survive without the other.

The Helmet is attached to the head of the Host, and will remain there for the rest of their life (unless separation happens - but we'll get into that later). In the relationship, their role is vision and dexterity. Since the Host is effectively blind, it is the Helmet's job to guide them. Their hands are also important, being the Knight's primary manipulators. They played a large part in early tool use. The Helmet lacks a mouth, and receives all its nutrients from the Host through a specialised organ not unlike an umbilical cord.

The Host is essentially the main body of the Knight. Wolflike and mammalian in nature, the Host is the Helmet's mode of transportation. Because they need to eat for two, Hosts are omnivorous and will eat just about anything. Although majority of their diet is comprised of meat, they are capable of digesting plant matter and bones. They are highly skilled and effective hunters.

It is in both party's best interests to assimilate as soon as possible. The Host cannot see without a Helmet, and within a few weeks bonding will become impossible. The stakes are higher for a newborn Helmet, because they cannot feed by themselves and will starve in under a week without a Host or an artificial feeder tube. Prior to first contact with the ZGC, Knights did not have the technology for artificial feeders, and infant death rates were high.

So how do two beings coordinate one body? The fact is that once assimilation occurs, they become one being. The Helmet's brain and the Host's brain are connected by millions of nerves exchanging signals. It's complicated, but the best way to describe the experience would be a 'mutual trance' in which full body coordination is achieved. They have shared interests and intentions. However, a Knight can mentally separate the Helmet and the Host, gaining back individuality; they do this for many reasons, perhaps to discuss something among themselves or simply for company. Yet on the whole, a Knight will spend 80% of their life in this 'trance'.

Both Helmets and Hosts have noticeable sexual dimorphism. Male Helmets are called Pikes, and females are called Guards. Pikes are distinguished by their horn, bold stripes, and more prominent crest spines. Guards lack a horn and have less contrast in their thinner markings.

Female Hosts are called Forts. They are larger than males and have a mane of fur on the back of their necks. Male Hosts, Spires, lack this mane.

In Knight society, individuals are usually referred to based on their combination of Host and Helmet. Since there are four sexes involved, there are four possible combinations.

Guard-spire [female Helmet, male Host]

Pike-fort [male Helmet, female Host]

Guard-fort [female Helmet, female Host]

Pike-spire [male Helmet, male Host]

(Knight languages have their own version of pronouns for each, but in English all are referred to as they/them by default. Of course, each individual has their own preferences. Usually a Knight will refer to themselves as we/us).

____

I'll get into Knight social structure, cultures and more in another post! For now, if you have any questions, feel free to send an ask. Always happy to answer!

HELLO??

Fully blindsided right now & still processing the situation as I type this

My employer of 4 years, who has always been honest with me (sometimes to a concerning degree) has just let me know quite suddenly that she does not have the money to pay me for my last 2 weeks of work.

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It's not totally out of the blue, I knew the company was struggling in an expand-or-die sort of way, but she's been reassuring me for months that she had investors lined up etc etc and that she'd let me know well ahead of time if I needed to start looking for another job.

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Timesheets for the second half of September were due on the 1st-- mine totaled up to nearly full time at 19/hr. Typically payroll goes through within a couple of days or we at least hear an update. Crickets.

My internet bill was due yesterday; the charge hit my closed bank account and bounced. I was barely expecting to be able to cover my existing overdue and anticipated expenses with the paycheck i believed was coming. I reached out via text to ask for an update:

I have in fact been looking for another job-- at least on the side to make me feel more secure and allow me to live more comfortably-- but no one wants a gardener in the winter, or a gardener who can't drive, for that matter, and I hadn't begun to start looking for the sort of work from home admin job she had me doing.

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She's been like a weird family member to me for ages now, and yet she let me do all that work the last couple weeks, knowing she couldn't pay me for it, without saying a damn word. I have emails from her asking for me to do more for her as recently as yesterday. No mention of oh btw it's gonna be volunteer labor for now. I'm feeling heartbroken and betrayed; she was one of the few 'adult' figures in my life I genuinely felt I could count on.

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I'll double down and figure something out-- but, in the meantime, I'm SO fucked and I really need your help. Please please at least reblog this for a boost, and if you have even an extra dollar I'd be tremendously grateful if you sent it my way.

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Ca$happ/venm* $wanderingivy

Dm for paypal or evidence of debts/bills/expenses and shit if you want it, I can't psychologically tolerate trying to dig it all up right this second