Speculative Biology - Tumblr Posts

While the world has its beauties, it also has its monstrosities.

Iterators are faults, created by unstable conditions, and exist in the form of creatures who physically, by all means, are impossible. Their shapes vary, but they often are mesmerising in nature, with three reoccurring ‘types’ of them displayed above.

These faults have tendencies to create ‘realms’, territories that they establish in random areas that they find suitable. The primary issue with these realms, however, is that from the outside looking in, there is nearly no sign that something is off - at least to the untrained eye. This means that a person that can secrecy them in the first place can stumble into one of these realms and interact with the iterator, bringing out their fatality.

It’s a debate whether or not iterators intend to kill, but no matter the intention, upon entering a realm and interacting with an iterator, your body begins to break down over the course of three hours. It’s theorised their energy produces a certain signal that triggers this effect. Strangely enough, the brain is always the one that dissolves last, leaving the victim looking more akin to a puddle of biomass than a person.

However, like everything else, they too can die. An anti-matter gun will destroy them and their realm…just make sure you’re quite a ways back. It’s pretty, but deadly.

Umbrellas

In UTb, there are actually a lot of species you can find, sentient and not. In order to properly encapsulate them, sentient life is called ‘denizens’, while non sentient life is generally referred to as fauna.

Umbrellas are the secondary form of assignment. For example, denizens vary wildly, sporting heights of 4ft to ~20ft, many shapes, textures and colours, but generally, they have certain traits that they have in common with other denizens, thus leading to the creation of umbrellas. There are three major umbrellas;

Humanoids (sheet needed)

Wilderbeest

Mythocureta (Sheet needed)

Humanoids

Humanoids are fairly self explanatory. They largely commit to the ‘human outline’ (ie: upright stance, two of everything with few exceptions, etc.) and the human ‘attitude’. They tend to be extremely social and exploratory, having been the forefathers of most of the cataloguing of their planet.

Wilderbeest

Wilderbeest (Wildebeast, Wilydebeest, lyndwirm, depends on your dialect) are creatures known for having a snout and a sensing extremity. These extremities are complex (as shown below), and severing or shattering one could be fatal to the wilderbeest. The extremities are amazing for picking up air waves and frequencies the other two umbrellas cannot sense, but this is a double edged sword, as a painfully high frequency could be used to stun, harm, or even kill them. Because of this, many places have outlawed devices capable of this, as it’s seen as a rights violation, but not all.

Mythocuerta

Commonly referred to as Mythos or Misc., Mythocureta are perhaps the more secretive of the three. They vary even more wildly than the other umbrellas, looking to be creatures of myth with a touch of surrealism to them. They prefer to keep their distance away from the other two umbrellas, as a history of war has discouraged them from reaching out and mending ties. Despite many of them being taught this from childhood, some leave their closed communities and venture off to live in ‘open umbrella’ communities, where they find friends, jobs, and new lives.

The corragon (rough Hai’st translation meaning little solider) is a creature very well adapted to most environments. From deserts, to thick fungal forests, to humid jungles, corragon are one of the most widespread creatures one can find; even making headway as pets and livestock.

Was talking to my collaborator about one of the defined species (Diomorphs, Mythocureta umbrella) and started thinking about their crowns.

Babies generally don’t have down, but this other type of velvety plumage (that I poorly drew) that vets parasites and bacteria away from their breathing airways (behind wings), as they don’t yet have a way to filter it out like nosehairs.

Children have the ‘nosehairs’, but sort of like baby elephants, are still figuring out motor functions with their crowns, meaning they usually flap them erratically, providing for something very amusing to say the least

The planet Capricorn-77 is covered in seas of varying depth and sea life, but nearly all of it is much too harsh for the life depicted within. To remedy this, life forms long since lost in records have found a way to construct a structure under the surface; The Sanctum.

Each ‘cube’ in this massive, deceivingly simplistic machine is called a capsule, and within, they hold a biome or two, mimicking biomes seemingly from other biomes or universes altogether. Some biomes are actually abiotic, however, exposing the mechanic skeleton and shell of these capsules.

The In-Betweens (a very thought out name for the area between the capsules) is where the deception of simplicity ends, as there are countless platforms, beams, and various machines at work to feed the life of the Sanctum. There is an ‘exit point’ at every capsule that leads to the In-Betweens, though it’s noted that they cannot work as entrance points. There have been cases where someone had found the exit point, left the capsule, and with the lack of clean air, had their physical state rapidly deteriorate over the course of hours and needed to be extracted by artificial life…though not all of them are this lucky.

Blacksommar is meant to be a story that encapsulates multiple ages over billions of years and yet I need to find a way to properly slice it. So far, I have this;

Most of my lore and time is spent in Modern Apocalyptia, mostly so I can throw in as much sci-fi elements as possible to satisfy myself. I’ve written out some of A Murmur and even Garden, but I’d say it needs some more work and concept art before I consider it done. But generally it’s;

Gods create world

World thrives for a bit

First signs of majour civilisation

Beginning of the end?

Widespread civilisation

Beginning of the end pt. II

Massive population decline

Actually the end of the world

I’ll get around to making concept art for all the ages…someday.

Diomorphs and Attraction

Diomorphs are largely attracted to perfect symmetry when it comes to the concept of beauty. A diomorph with a perfectly symmetrical crown would more often than not be considered beautiful in their society, whereas humanoids and wilderbeest would be unable to see the difference. Diomorphs also work symmetry into their architecture, logos, and even home interiors in order to look more appealing. They’ve been seen using non symmetrical things in artwork to display “ugliness”, and things that are close to symmetrical but not as traitors, monsters, and things to be afraid of.

Internal anatomy, Norn-White.

The appendix ribbon is essentially most human organs and their functions (stomach, liver, diaphragm, pancreas, etc) into one intestine-like organ. The appendix ribbon extends to form the mouth and other orifices with their own functions.

The neural network of a denizen is somewhat skewed, as instead of a central brain, denizens tend to just have bundles of nerves. Norn, being a wilderbeest with her extremity located on her head, has her nerve bundle located where her brain would be.

A state of being

Couldn't resist drawing @arkelyon's melanistic maanul :)c

Neurology of Denizens

Let’s kick of the end of the year with some UTb lore, yeah?

This image is a ‘bloomage scan’ of a denizen. Denizens lack central brains, and instead function based off of a network of nerves that eventually form bundles called ‘bloomages’. This bloomage, though it serves the same purpose of a brain, does not always reside within the head, as shown by bloomage being in the chest of the depicted subject. This means that denizens can suffer massive damage to / lose their head entirely, yet live / be intact enough to reattach it and recover.

✦ Filaorse; Creature Feature

The filaorse is a five-legged creature that roams any biotic capsule in the Sanctum. They are roughly the size of a large dog, and travel in 'troupes' of 3-7. Filaerse (plural) are nature's janitors, only eating dead / waste matter. Their specialised plumage (as pictured coming out of this one's front and rear ends) is what they use to consume, and can be sucked back into their bodies, as they are sensitive organs.

✦ LIVING HELMS, PILOTS

Living helms are pseudo-denizens, only made up of a head structure. They typically have large mouth structures as well as eyes lacking pigment. The caruncles of a LH is black, and typically the origins of long, prehensile ‘whiskers’, ranging from 2 mm to 16 mm thick. Along their underside is an orifice capable of accepting the head of a person, with the mouth structure being spacious enough to allow a person’s head to be seated inside comfortably. Speech, the contents of which show that the majority are intelligent enough to be considered sentient, is conducted by a form of telepathy.

A living helm’s reproduction is generally unknown given the fact that the species has low enough numbers to be considered at a concern for extinction consistently since their first documentation, dating back to the Forefathers Era. Most pilots, however, report either skewed memories of first getting them, or no memories pertaining to finding them whatsoever.

Pilots, on the other hand, are denizens that seem to have been specifically brought up alongside them. They have neural ports in their necks, small orifices that lead directly to their bloomage so that a living helm can insert its nerve cords to meet it. Pilots and Helms tend to form strong bonds to one another, both socially and physically, the living helm sending boost of hormones (adrenaline, dopamine, etc) as well as numbing pain receptors in some cases in order to benefit the pilot, as aided by the nerve cords.

✦ Update / Species notes

Okay, my writings have been sort of on an 'unintentional hiatus', and I promise to continue them! I'm working on Blacksommar's general story that spans over multiple 'eras', and I'm a little under halfway through.

Manticores (Kreyati, Mythos), as displayed in Ultrablue, are felid creatures that have insect traits (stingers, mandibles, carapaces, compound eyes, etc). Due to their typically headstrong, explorative natures, many of them tend to be adventurers or alchemists, generally fitting into jobs in which they are free to explore their own ventures, without the possible opinions of others.

Manticores most notably have a speaking quirk, that being speaking in the third person. This speaking quirk emerges naturally in manticore kits, and is extremely hard for them to unlearn. That being said, when manticores tend to switch to the first person when speaking to themselves / others, that is a sign of deception. Of course, there are a few who naturally speak in the first person, so this shouldn't be taken as a solid rule.

✦ Kyle mini reference

I meant to include more details on this, but burnout disagrees. Hold abomination like burger.

✦ Anchors and denizens

An anchor is identified as floating, fist sized pseduostructure floating around the head region of a person. Many denizens have floaters, but what are they really? When do they appear? Can someone gain a floater, and if so, how?

Anchors are actually the more stable, 'native' form of 'wrigglers', which are identified as a form of light manipulation that appears as patterns of light in various shape, displayed as different colours. Anchors themselves, however, are a type of 'holograph' projected by the pineal gland of the denizen in question. This means that while an anchor can be touched, it will distort quickly.

An example of a wriggler, taking the shape of a star that splits off.

A denizen's anchor, if naturally occurring, is hereditary, though the shape and colour of it seems unique to the individual. Anchors are projected usually at the same time that speech is learned, starting by fissing in and out of sight during times of great bloomage activity.

Due to the nature of bodymod-centric of certain civilisations, 'anchoring' is a practice in which an individual can be crowned with an anchor, whether or not they display an anchor by default. Anchoring is done by wearing an armband / ingesting SUNDIAL INC. anchoring tablets, which will display a predetermined anchor, the latter being company-themed.

Red Wonder's 'Real Bod'

Saw something earlier that made me want to sketch out this concept, and then I got carried away with his anatomy. Oops! Supporting character is @svnkssr's Domingo!

Here we have a bristleback artificer, located near the outer stretches of Temoine. While they seem to have sanctified the poles, the steam from their sceptre is causing them to break a sweat...

✦ SALV(A/O) + EATR SPECIE

Hi! This is Salva/Salvo, an EATR! She is a drag king, and is my first attempt at drawing a larger character. He loves fashion, the colour white, and loud parties. Don't ask him to turn the music down, he'll make you a party animal overnight with her killer charm.

EATRs are denizens (MYTHOCUERTA), fauna, flora, and catabolics categorised as having a large head - commonly sans any type of lips, with an extended, broad face. EATRs are the species known for being the most 'malleable', their cells, DNA, and other biological samples most commonly used in laboratories alongside the common humanoid's.

EATR stands for 'Environmental Assimilation, Terrifically Rosy'. The beginning parts of the acronym comes from the initial fears due to how widespread their DNA is and how readily adaptable they are, it was thought that EATRs could potentially destroy entire ecosystems, if not replace all species within with offshoots of their own species. The rest of the acronym comes from the initial research team (including a few EATRs themselves) having an inside joke, because 95% of EATRs have a natural red/ginger colouration. An EATR's biological makeup has been described as 'nothing short of amazing', given that their species alone has such a wide grasp on both plant and animals. EATRs are the direct common ancestors for TRAVEL WHALES, LIVING HELMS, and most interestingly, the modern bristleback!

✦ DIOMORPH HEAD CHART

Hey strangers! It's been a while since I've posted - sorry! I've been working quite a bit (did you know I'm a real estate salesperson now? Funny that!) I've actually drawn some in the past few days, I'll be uploading that piece by piece!

✦ SENTIENTS OF THE SANCTUM

I think I did a good job at diversifying the depicted characters!