[ID: The Image Shows Lyhyt, The Ephemeral And Vartija, The Quotidian. They Are 20 Foot Swans Wrapped

[ID: The image shows Lyhyt, The Ephemeral and Vartija, The Quotidian. They are 20 foot swans wrapped in ribbon with glowing eyes. Lyhyt is a white swan with a blue ribbon covered in bells and blue eyes. Vartija is a black swan with an orange ribbon covered in medallions and orange eyes. :END ID]

[ID: The image shows Lyhyt, The Ephemeral and Vartija, The Quotidian. They are both large Tengu/Sirin hybrids wrapped in ribbon with glowing eyes. Lyhyt has white feathers with a blue ribbon covered in bells and blue eyes. Vartija has black feathers with an orange ribbon with a few medallions and orange eyes. :END ID] The twin pact gods Lyhyt and Vartija, granters of wishes, scourge of the Sarvipöllö-Hollolas. For the @halfstack-smp

[Images described in Alt Text]

Astraoimh. Also called Lights In The Void and Star Archer. God of Stars, Space, and the Void. Astraoimh Took their position shortly after their arrival from the end. Widely regarded as a comforting figure, Astraoimh swims and space swims around them, letting loose shooting stars from their quiver. Astraoimh appears as either a large akero patterned like the event horizon of a black hole, or a humanoid archer, typically with starry limbs and lapis eyes, dressed in some sort of flowing, lacy ensemble. Will respond to Aoimh (aiv) if called.

Astraoimh is considered to be responsible for most modern star showers and is a popular figure in children's books. They occasionally manifest in places other than the void but are most commonly spotted there.

Astraoimh dislikes shrines, considering the open sky to be a shrine all of its own. Astraoimh is for the @halfstack-smp

A consideration

Selkie molting season

im sorry seals molt? my association with that word is insects so i am confused and intrigued

They do! I’d say most species of animals sloughs off “old” parts of their bodies at some point of their lives in some capacity. The word “molting” is used as a catch-all term for this process, although exactly what body part they shed and how they do it varies from animal to animal. Arthropods grow an entire new exoskeleton and shed the old one, but for most other animals, this process only involves shedding the outermost layer of their bodies, the pelage and/or their first layer of skin. Reptiles are quite famous for this because they sometimes manage to come out of their old skins and leave them almost fully intact as if they were kigurumi pajamas:

Mammals tend to mostly only shed fur or hair, growing thicker fur during colder months and losing it in favor of shorter fur during warmer months. How obvious this is depends on the climate, though. It’s quite perceptible in mammals that live in the arctic whose fur changes color depending on the season:

But even the difference between the summer coats and winter coats of domestic dogs can be palpable if you live in places with colder climates!

(I’m quite fascinated by this because I was born and raised in a tropical country and my dogs look the same all year round heh)

But back to the seals. Pinnipeds don’t really use their fur to keep warm like other mammals do, but they still have it, and they have to shed their old coats and grow new ones accordingly, which they do once a year!

In elephant seals, this process is so sudden and so extreme it’s called catastrophic molting. They don’t only lose their fur, but also a layer of dead skin all at once and this forces them to stay on land for a full month without swimming (and therefore, without hunting and eating) until the process is fully done. Because molting requires redirecting blood flow towards the skin instead of to their vital organs as usual, if they swam in the cold waters they’re usually accustomed to while molting, they’d freeze!

Bonus fun fact: despite having lost their fur during the evolution process, cetaceans like whales and dolphins also go through a molting process where they lose a layer of dead skin, which they scrape off by rubbing against rocks and rolling on sand banks.

It’s been recently discovered (as of 2020!) that the reason whales migrate annually from arctic waters to tropical waters is the exact same reason elephant seals spend a month on land: to molt! It’s much easier for a whale to keep warm while shedding its skin in warm waters than it is in cold waters.

Orcs my large chunky beloveds. Had a few ideas regarding the appearance and culture of orcs, so I finally took the time to draw them out and jot them down.

I have more thoughts, namely that the 'orcs are aggressive' misconception comes from a deeply ingrained cultural focus on protecting those you love to preserve community. That and they have stripes as babies kinda like wild hogs but lose them later in life, but I didn't quite have enough of them solidified to make a whole third sheet.

Also I wanted them to look more like pigs and wild boars because those are cute.

I just discovered foodtimeline.org, which is exactly what it sounds like: centuries worth of information about FOOD.  If you are writing something historical and you want a starting point for figuring out what people should be eating, this might be a good place?

[ID: Talc is a nearly pure-white Daystone with golden filigree all over their Tapir shaped head. His golden eyes are framed by ruby red inlay into his stone skin. It wears a red, gold, and blue outfit ensemble. :END ID] Talc is for the @halfstack-smp and is Juha's Husband (Neutral).

Talc made all the art for Juha's books, earning some of the money from the published and sold copies. Additionally, it creates and sells filigrees, inlays, prints, and sculptures of its own so others may have its art in their homes. Of course, His and Juha's home is full of projects and art pieces as well as several rough drafts written by Juha.

Talc still hasn't quite grasped the fact that fleshier origins cannot have inlays or filigrees but has been introduced to the concept of tattoos.