Carmine Ts - Tumblr Posts
~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)
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 !!)
