Infinite Realms Science - Tumblr Posts
Okay, so I´ve had a bit more time to think about this. The deep sea is full of strange creatures. And also full of HUGE creatures. Deep sea gigantism is a full on phenomenon and it´s quite interesting on how it came to be. For this prupose the reasons are unimportant though. Well. Except for one. That is: Food scarcity as well as cold lead to gigantic sea creatures (the poles have a few interesting specimen).
What is important to understand is how deep sea creatures often have relatives in the shallower waters. As in: Crabs? HUGE down there. Sea spiders? a few millimetres on the surface, on the bottom of the ocean? Try a metre or two. Isopods? Cute, many-leggend smol friends? Well, try football size.
So. You see a pattern? Now. Blob ghosts. Tiny little, harmless blob ghosts. I headcanon that they feed on excess ectoplasm and maybe also the few ghosts that are Ended. Like Isopods - they are the ground feeders. But what if the Realms had pockets of differing ectoplasm levels?
If the part of the realms that Danny knows are the 'shallow' water equivalent with many resources available, then how the 'deep' water or ectoplasm zones look? Would they be harder to move in? Harder to breathe? Would the blob ghosts there go after prey like a ghost that has wandered in? Do the ancients maybe 'rule' some of these zones? Is that the reason they´re so huge?
Or do the more eldritch creatures dwell int hose parts. Because they need less ectoplasm? But if so would they try to prey on the weaker, smaller ghosts if they hadn´t had enough ectoplasm for a while or are they able to overcome their need for ectoplasm after they reach a certain size / age? Would THEY try to prey on the ancients? And what does that do to the different ghost species? Because, sure, there are 'human' ghosts. But not all human ghosts are the same and I think there´s probably a classification apart from strenghth. i mean, would a halfa be a species or would be like .... a trait that can be found between species? Like albinism or melanism?
And the neverborn? Are they just like the dolphins or the realms? As in: they share the same living space as ghosts (fish in this metaphor), but are of an entirely different genus (mammalia)?
Deep Sea Camouflage for ghosts?
So we all know that animals use differing kinds of camouflage to hide from predators - sometimes they even use parts of this camouflage for communication or courting behaviour.
Interestingly enough: deep sea creatures have mainly three such camouflaging patterns - transparency, silvering (which has the same effect as transparency) as well as counter illumination. All of that in an effort to better hide in the dark waters, when there´s still some kind of light to be seen coming from above. And then there´s the bioluminescense. Which is sometimes used for camouflage, but most often than not for communication or hunting purposes. And do you know what some of these remind me of? You got it - ghosts.
Now the big question is: do the infinite realms have predators? Do ghosts predate each other, do neverborn predate on ghosts? How does it all work? And if there are predators. What kind of additional camouflaging or hunting adaptions do ghosts have?
Does the eldritch form we often headcanon for them have any such purpose or is it just there as a sort of ... secondary form? Do they communicate differently when they look like this? Are there different base instincts? Like - junveniles of any species often times have different instincts or reactions to certain instincts than the adult members and just. I have sooo many questions.
And if we go by this comparison. What does that mean for a halfa like Danny? Because let´s face it. All ghosts are at least kind of bioluminescent. But in the IR? That bioluminescense is hardly seen, as such it seems more like counter illumination. And even though the realms ghosts have seldomly been transparent (except when they want to - i.e. invisibility), it still an ability they possess. Now I don´t have an example for silvering, but since it basically does the same as the invisibility it´s not really important. So.
Why.
I mean there´s many, MANY more abilities all of them possess, though they are very often abilities that are individual. ARE there any predators in the realms? And what does it mean for the ghosts? Because, yes, dangerous animals and also other more humanoid as well as the ancients exist. But I´d hardly call them actual predators. So. Am I just overthinking this?