#Celestial primates

[lululocomo]

Will we ever get to see Chikao and Tongbi in the new past? 🥺👉👈

sadly not in this AU😔 perhaps only as a little cameo, just one of them passing by, says hi and go back doing whatever they were doing. I did make their designs! (I love make characters design-)

Chikao goes from city to city, and exchange a lot with people, whereas Tongbi travel the world as a nomad and only goes in little village. I'm thinking of adding them to another spin-off of "the new past" tho👀

[min0na]

4 celestial primates

About Wukong and Macague is more or less clear, but I depicted Gibbon and Mahou in this way because I have certain Headcanons ✨✨and there is very little information on them:(

Red-Buttocked Horse-Monkey

I read somewhere that he is also called 'Red Baboon' or 'Red-Butt baboon'

Baboons themselves Cruel and belligerent , and it was difficult for him to fit into the group (flock?) Because of his good-natured character

Of all 4, he is the most good-natured, it’s very ironic, because he’s also the scariest, because of this, ordinary people and demons are afraid of him

He is very interested in people and their culture, but as I said because of his appearance they are even afraid to look at him

He’s just a big good-natured guy who can’t even kill butterflies 😭 because of this, it’s just as difficult for him to communicate with his relatives

He is the tallest and most muscular of the 4, as well as the wisest, but it is difficult for him to communicate and command

Don’t try to lie to him, he literally feels yin and yang and knows when he’s being lied to or when the interlocutor is happy with him

100% empath, but doesn’t know what to do with it

Long-Armed Gibbon

In my opinion, she is a girl, although she never clung to her gender, she can literally change her appearance and become a man

Because of her physique and appearance, I often take her for a guy

Always on a tree, she doesn’t like to be looked at from a height and so she feels safe

It’s the lowest almost like Wukung

She has the least muscles and physically she is the weakest, but magically she will be stronger than her brothers (there were a lot of inconveniences about this)

The most tactile of the group, if she liked you, you will definitely be in her long hands

Not eating meat can only fish (and rarely chicken)

Very fast, and climbs trees best of all, It’s also very lucky (don’t sit down to play cards in it)

Quite impulsive and joyful can’t sit in one place, She’s gentle only with children, otherwise she’s just stupid

Acrophobia was afraid of her, And she is afraid of snakes

Unlike her brothers, she was brought up by people since childhood, because of this it was difficult for her to fit into the society of demons and spirits and find a partner,

She couldn’t even communicate with monkeys, no one wanted to accept her and her group, there was no place for her

The first monkey who started talking to her was -Chikao mahou

Their relationship is more like a brother x sister

He was interested in the human environment in which she grew up, and she wanted to understand herself as a demon monkey

I’ve been writing this text 3 times already (kill me 🥹)

Sorry for the mistakes that will definitely be here

I really tried to translate it more or less logically

Please write your head canons for these 4 monkeys, I’ll be interested in reading

[somedorkthatdraws]

"Brothers, not bound by blood but by the bond that holds them together."

I've been wanting to make my own version of the Celestial Primates for a while. I really like the idea of these four having a brotherly bond.

(Their designs are still in the works. These are just some very rough ideas.)

(Well I do believe that the other three monkeys are an aspect of Wukong's mind, that doesn't mean I dislike the idea of these three being their own separate beings. We'll just call this an AU lol)

[journeytothewestresearch]

Hello, may i ask if you have any info on why the four celestial/spiritual primates were translated into english as such? Because the original term buddha used was "hunshi sihou" which im pretty sure literally means "four primates of havoc/chaos"

I can only confidently speak for myself: I often saw people asking for info about the "Four Monkeys" on the internet, and since some of the creatures are described as small apes, I opted to call these powerful beings the "Celestial Primates" in my article. But I do note the correct translation in the first paragraph:

That article gets a lot of views, so perhaps this is why people often call them the Celestial Primates now.

As for actual translations, the W. J. F. Jenner edition translates them as the "four kinds of ape that cause confusion" (page of 809 of this PDF). That's close enough.

The Anthony C. Yu (2012) edition just calls them the "four kinds of monkeys" (Vol. 3, p. 115). I'm not sure why.

[deadlandsqueen]

I did indeed forget to link you guys my latest animatic ^^"

But I do wanna share my dumb little ideas. I was a bit busy but I had this waiting to be done once I finished stuff so pros and cons ^^

If you do wanna see behind the seens I do have a patreon for behind the scenes look on things Patreon

[quitealotofsodapop]

Celestial Water Monkeys

Was discussing in the notes of this post with @silverlycanthropelover about the possibility of Celestial/Stone Monkeys surviving the Great Flood by adapting to the sea.

One of the jokes is that "Sea Monkeys" (the frozen brine shrimp toy), are actually a misunderstanding of sea dragon records talking about the little mer-monkeys that inhabited their seas.

Basically

Ao Guang: "What are those things hiding in your mane?" Ao Shun, surrounded by tiny mermaid-like monkeys: "I dunno man, they just showed up one day, and they won't stop picking through my fur." Ao Guang: "Why haven't you scared them off?" Ao Shun: "Honestly? They are pretty adorable. They clean my body of parasites, and comfort me when I'm feeling unwell." Sea Monkeys: (*happy chirping + porpoise-like squeaks!*) Ao Guang: "They do seem very useful... How do I go about hiring them?" Ao Shun: "I believe you cannot choose them brother, they choose you." (*cut to hundreds of years later when Ao Guang is lying at the bottom of the East Sea, despaired at the loss of his youngest pup Ao Bing*) Sea Monkeys: "Chirrp?" Ao Guang: (*looks up to see a swarm of brightly-coloured mer-monkeys, all swimming around his gigantic body as they pick off the barnacles and parasites that settled in his depression.*) Leading Sea Monkey, petting the king dragon's face with sympathy in their eyes: "Chirrrrp." Ao Guang: (*smiles for the first time in weeks*) :')

Like pilot fish to a great white, the smaller creatures stick to dragons in a symbiotic relationship. The royal dragons are very protective of their monkeys. Ao Guang refuses to acknowledge the irony of a Stone Monkey being one of his greatest annoyances, whilst tending to his beloved servants.

Wukong has no idea that these little spiritual monkeys exist! To think that some Stone/Spiritual Monkeys survived the Great Flood by changing their whole biology, or existed even beforehand, is an amazing discovery!

The Water Monkeys are a lot smaller than Wukong or Macaque, being roughly the size of tamarins. They don't speak "human" languages very well, their vocal cords are more attuned to the calls of dragons and other sea life. They can still chirp and chatter as monkeys do, allowing for some delightful conversation between the Stone Monkey King (they do not recognise Sun Wukong as their king) and the school of excited fairy-like monkeys.

[naughty-nephi]

Celestial Primates x Reader

I have ideas…and I’mma be a problem about it

Some yandere ideas some just normal freakiness

[centuryberry]

Flourish AU

Me, looking back at the Replanted AU after posting the recent Unpaid Babysitting update: Yishan needed better parents. Also, I wish I could incorporate Shanzha and RinRin into the Sundown Era AU without more dimension shenanigans.

Me:

Me: Wait -

And so, this AU came to be. Say hello to Iceflower's Son!Yishan, everyone. He's here to bring Shanzha and RinRin into the Sundown Era AU, grow up better than he could've been, create a myth or two, and - most importantly - father Yue, Louhou, and Jidu so all four Celestial Primates can have grandbabies to spoil.

Background: The Land of Eternal Snow still doesn't exist in the Sundown Era AU. Shanzha and RinRin are also nowhere in China during the Rebellion against Heaven. Why? Because they're in Goryeo (Korea) and Nippon (Japan), respectively, making a name for themselves. After inheriting the powers of the Celestial Primates and shaking up their respective pantheons, they headed over to China to retire together since one of their own ascended as Jade Emperor.

In one another life, Yishan was the firstborn son of a prestigious clan who grew up viewing almost everyone as his enemy. In this one, he was the son of legends posing as common herbalists living in the mountains.

What does a more well adjusted and untraumatized child Yishan look like? Well, he has more friends growing up. And when I mean friends, I mean animals. He likes animals more than people. He also has a habit of bringing home wounded animals for Shanzha to treat. (He begs to keep them every time but his moms keep telling him no.) He’s also incurably blunt and judgy - even to his mothers.

Shanzha makes sure to train her son in healing and martial arts while RinRin teaches him how to socialize and act. These are very necessary lessons since Yishan tends to piss off a lot of people just by being himself.

(Despite being raised by Shanzha and RinRin, there are some things about Yishan that stays the same lmao.)

Yishan ends up being a nerd over medicine and poisons. As for his social skills, he technically knows what to do in theory but doesn’t bother to extend the effort towards those he considers stupid.

As a late teen, Yishan became a traveling doctor so he could leave the nest and explore the world.

While Yishan heals people and battles against stupidity (and make more animal friends), he gains a reputation for being an amazing healer with the worst bedside manner. He also beat up a couple of powerful yaoguai because either 1) they were in the way of a key ingredient of a medical breakthrough or 2) he pissed them off first.

During his travels, Yishan meets and makes his first non-animal friend: a soldier named Mensheng. He turns down the offer to serve the soldier’s Ivory Lady and continues his journey.

Eventually, Yishan is kidnapped invited to the Celestial Realm by some very pushy attendants (one of whom he gives a nasty black eye) so he could become Laozi’s new apprentice.

Despite Yishan kicking and screaming through the entire process, he ends up being Laozi’s favorite. The man wouldn’t let him go.

Yishan frequently conspires with Laozi’s Bull to break out. They fail every time. The only reason why Yishan wasn’t as successful in leaving was because of the cool shiny new medicinal plants Laozi kept waving in front of his face.

Then, Yishan was tasked to assist Laozi in checking up on the health of the Princess of the Celestial Realm and acting ruler of Flower Fruit Mountain.

"Princess?" All of you are probably asking. Yup, Wukong and Macaque did end up having one (1) kid and it's Sangshen. Because of an attempted poisoning incident, she came out weak and sickly. Sangshen is adored by her parents but is seen as a disappointment to the Celestial Court (since she's female, weak, and takes after Macaque), so she prefers to stay in FFM.

Still, because of her poor health, Wukong would frequently send Laozi down to check up on her. At this point, Laozi spends more of his time at FFM than in the Celestial Realm. He even has his own room and lab there.

Laozi's plan was to drop Yishan off to FFM and take over in keeping tabs on Sangshen's health.

When Yishan first laid eyes on Sangshen, he was a complete goner. It was love at first sight. As for Sangshen, she fell slower, but no less harder. Yishan was so considerate and charming and devoted that she couldn't help but develop feelings. (Everyone else who knows him: Are we talking about the same Yishan?!?!)

Yishan being Yishan beings ridiculously rare and hard-to-obtain stuff to shower Sangshen with. With his attention (and daily offering of super rare medicine), her health improves by leagues.

Sangshen eventually breaks it to Yishan that he probably shouldn't be courting her since her parents would kill him where he stands if they caught wind of this. Her parents established pretty early that they wouldn't let anyone marry her unless they lasted 15 min in a battle against both of them.

Instead of being deterred, Yishan takes this challenge and asks for some PTO to visit Shanzha and RinRin.

Yishan: Hey moms, how do I stay alive in a spar against the Emperor and Empress of the Universe? Shanzha: What RinRin: What happened to "hi"? Also, wtf Yishan: I'm in love and it's the only way I can get permission to marry her

*Cue intense training montage*

After training his tail off, Yishan presents himself to the Emperor and Empress as a suitor for their daughter's hand. They are less than pleased and put him through the wringer for daring to ask. They beat him to the ground.

And yet, Yishan lasts for 30 minutes. So, after recovering, Yishan happily accepts the begrudging permission of his future in-laws and heads down to FFM to tell Sangshen the good news.

FFM: You mad bastard, you actually did it. Yishan: Obviously. If I didn't, Sangshen would cry and that's unforgivable.

Yishan wasted no time in proposing and Sangshen wasted no time in accepting. A wedding was then arranged in the Celestial Realm and Yishan's mothers were invited. Shanzha and RinRin come, of course.

An official freaks out at seeing Shanzha since he recognizes her as the Godslayer who wiped out the entire court of Korean Primordial Gods.

Another official flips his lid when he recognizes RinRin as the Trickster who swindled him during his time abroad in Japan.

When Shanzha and RinRin's identities as Celestial Primates come to light, the entire Celestial Court is filled with dread. Oh no, there's FOUR of them now.

Shanzha and RinRin get along with Wukong and Macaque like a house on fire. They trade unhinged stories of their youth and make plans to hang out. Shanzha jokingly offers to take out any Celestial who annoys Wukong too much. Wukong takes this offer very seriously, making many of his ministers sweat.

Yishan and Sangshen get married and spend many years of wedded bliss before Sangshen announces that she's pregnant.

Say hello to Yue~

This cutie pie made Wukong cry. At first, he was a little disappointed to see that she took mostly after Yishan's side of the family. Then, she sneezed and lo and behold, six ears popped out. Yishan had to fight with his father-in-law to get his daughter back.

Wukong wasn't any better when Louhou and Jidu were born. He might've been reluctant to be a father, but he took to being a grandfather like a duck to water.

Shadowpeach would squabble with Iceflower for grandbaby time. In the end, Iceflower simply moved into the Celestial Realm so all of them could have grandbaby time.

Extra Facts about Iceflower:

Shanzha used to be a devotee of the Primordial Korean gods. An event shattered her faith and took away everything she's ever cared about. Eyes opened to their cruelty, Shanzha started her quest in wiping them all out. Shanzha trained under the Long-Armed Gibbon as the Celestial Primate was sympathetic to her circumstances. She's very much inspired by Kratos as she was very unhinged during this period of life.

RinRin, on the other hand, was a pet monkey of a daughter of a samurai who evolved into a yokai after a tragedy. She sowed discord as a shapeshifter until she was killed by an angry god. The Red Buttocked Baboon found her in the Japanese Underworld and found her amusing enough to be his successor. RinRin then proceeded to cheat death, harass Japanese deities, and become a Loki-like figure.

Shanzha, born as “Nari” (Lily), renamed herself after a Chinese Hawthorn fruit usually used for medicine solely to outsmart a god who could cut a life short by calling out their name three times. The new name kept the god guessing long enough for her to shoot them down. Since it helped her keep her life, she ended up keeping the name.

Since RinRin had many names and faces during her time as a trickster spirit/deity, she was much more attached to her true name. Fun fact: Her name means “dignified bell” in Japanese.

[violetjedisylveon]

Older gay monkeys*

*i know one of them is an ape

Tongbei Yuanhou(left) and Chikao Mahou(right) are the first celestial primates.

They are much older than Wukong and Macaque. And they're just a gay but much healthier about it.

When the pillar of creation first broke, all the chaos that flooded into the realm needed to go somewhere so boom, you got a gibbon made from the waters flooding the realm and a mandrill made from fires. They literally popped into the end of the world and had to deal with that on their first day of existing.

They are much less problematic than their youngers, they're still nuisances, but they aren't nearly as destructive about it. And they have more useful powers.

Mahou did a lot of work in the underworld cause they're powers are basically being socially aware and a good judge of people. And not dying.

Has knowledge of yin and yang, Understands human affairs, Is adept in its daily life And able to avoid death and lengthen its life.

Yuanhou did work in the celestial realm as basically a glorified moving man, he just moved shit around.

Seize the sun and the moon, Shorten a thousand mountains, Distinguish the auspicious from the inauspicious, And manipulate planets and stars

They knew each other before they started their respective jobs because they came into existence the same day and immediately clocked that they're a pair. Somewhere along the line they found themselves in a romantic relationship don't ask them how, neither of them know.

They are on good terms with most people, mostly because they aren't nearly as annoying as their disaster gay youngers, and they like to hang with Buddha cause they don't got much to do that often, their nominal bosses would like to have a word about that but never get their attention long enough.

Buddha sent them to oversee Macaque after his fight with Wukong during the journey, they were basically his parole officers guiding him away from revenge and towards self improvement. Cause they ship the disaster monkeys and need them to talk shit out. It worked and they get a niece out it.

They've been chilling since they let their kids take over their duties, their kids are better at it than they are anyway(cause they actually do it). And now they spend their time hanging with their buds, making Mount Everest taller, and watching their favorite gay monkeys be not disasters and functional for once. (they'll be back to disaster gay status soon enough)

They show up in chapter 13 of Little Star, and I finally got character art done before the chapter they first appear in.

I based Mahou's design on a mandrill even though most of what I've seen is him as a baboon, because mandrills have brighter colored face masks in the references I was looking through. Yuanhou's mask is an upside down five points star because of his whole moving celestial bodies thing.

Yuanhou is also the only one who is not a monkey, he's an ape and therefore the reason why they are celestial primates and not just celestial monkeys.

Cracked Family AU Masterpost

[noodlecatt467]

I could not get this interaction out of my head where the baboon would immediately assume Wukong and Macaque are a couple and them just being very confused when Wukong says that’s not the case

You know those two people that obviously love each other and everyone knows it but them,yeah that’s FFM with these guys, and they are over it

This scene is hypothetical and I have yet to decide whether it’s canon to the CelestialPrimatesAU comic

Also the grey monkey is the solder that rides with wukong on the cloud in the AU comic, I named him Wei,he has anxiety and I love him

[peony-flowerking7]

Gibbon time

So, Yuan is actually the tallest ape out of them all! THERE'S NO DENYING IT!!

Even Macaque being the tallest come to wukong and Duzhe, he cannot overtake YUAN THEMSELVES!! She's lanky and pretty chill. Wukong and Macaque had fun time with them, they never touched the floor and always stood on trees, she is not walking on the ground she's walking on top of the trees. Long Armed Gibbon rarely spent time in the floor so here ya go.

Also fun fact in Journey to the West Wukong idea for becoming immortal and going to Master Subodhi to gain immortality was from a Gibbon. So when Wukong was on his days where he was like oh man I don't wanna die and he was afraid of death Yuan was the one to advice Wukong about Master Subodhi. So yeah....says a lot of things.

Fun fact about Yuan they actually don't like the feeling of stone on their feet, so I have this cute idea where Wukong and Macaque built a forest around their palace so Yuan wouldn't be touching the floor. Man...there such great friends I wonder what happened.

[min0na]

Mini version of my babies!! 😭❤️😭❤️ in my au they haven’t known each other since childhood

Wukung appeared in the east

Macaque appeared in the north

Yuanhou appeared in the west

Mahou appeared in the south

The macaque here turned out so sweet and cute😢

[somedorkthatdraws]

Monkey studies

Originally, I was going to go with the Assam Macaque for one of the Celestial Primates, the “Horse-Face Monkey.” However, as I did further research I came to realize that the Tibetan Macaque would be a much better fit. I will be going with this little guy instead.

Currently doing some art studies on the Tibetan (will also be doing this for the others as well)

[thedangoratio]

New drawing style!! (Nearly KILLED ME)

My dad asked if he was strangling himself and I realized that I didn’t think the pose through since I wanted it to be purely stoic and mysterious

Anyways, now the hsr x jttw shadowpeach series will be continuing next week!!!

[quitealotofsodapop]

Wouldn't it be hilarious if stone monkeys actually can give birth or lay stone eggs naturally? Like... if they have a partner it'll be a regular old birth the same as how MK and the twins came into the world... but say a stone monkey didn't have a partner. Stone Monkey are a rare and critically endangered species afterall (even if they don't have the protections of an endangered species).

So what if, as a biological advantage, a stone monkey actually can lay a stone egg and give birth to a little baby stone monkey the same way as how Wukong and Macaque were born. But it's risky since creating life without a partner is beyond dangerous and most don't survive to even see the egg hatch, so most can only have one at a time and have to REALLY want a kid since, well, they'd basically be trading their life for the kids'. A kid that probably wouldn't even be hatched until long after their parent is dead.

I think with Wukong, it'd be a bit different because, well, 7 times over immortal monkey. But he'd still experience the negative effects and basically be completely vulnerable for a long time afterwards if he ever did it.

Just a little headcanon I thought up that I thought you'd be interested in.

Oh like parthenogenesis! Like some reptiles do when theres no available mates. I figure in a similar sense, the baby Stone Monkey would be a near-genetic clone of the parent; with the environment the "womb" is in adding life energy/qi/dao and affecting the appearance/abilities of the developing monkey within. Wukong likely popped out the way he did cus his egg was at the top of a mountain - his egg absorbing the violent life energy of what was once an active volcano over thousands of years.

Considering a certain few lines in Jttw, it's suggested that Wukong and Macaque are the last of their kind (with Six Eared being a variant/subspecies) - or they're just the only ones in that hemisphere. Like ancient human relatives the great Stone Monkeys became lost to time or were drowned in the Great Flood, or in the case of the Gibbon and Baboon; left Earth entirely.

The idea of a Stone Monkey deciding one day "I want a baby" and their body taking from there if there wasn't a viable mating option is really interesting. Their body's becoming like golems, weathered down into boulders if damage comes to them. And also very sad cus they know that theres a really good chance that they will never meet their baby. :(

Though imagine what the potiential "trigger" for it could be...

Guanyin: "The Monkey King is currently held beneath the Five Point Mountain. It will act as his prison for the next five centuries." Gold Star: "Ah. Make sure he's watered frequently and has plenty of oxygen." Guanyin: "But of course, it is only humane. However, doesn't he possess many forms of immortality?" Gold Star: *is so old that he witnessed the first Stone Monkeys, some even developing on his planet* Gold Star: "Not unless you want him to make another of himself." Guanyin: "Pardon?" Gold Star: "In my observations; when a Stone Monkey without a mate wished to reproduce, they would bury themselves and abstain from all biological needs until their bodies returned to the stone from whence they came. A new stone egg formed within their body as if it were a womb. The process is very taxing, and many died if another was not present to "wake" them afterwards. Though even in the case of parental death; the egg within the body would live on to hatch forth an infant to be raised by the familial troop." Guanyin, panicking: "I... I will be back in a moment." Wukong, beneath the mountain: "...why am I thinking about having kids?" Guanyin: *busts in holding molten copper and iron cus it was the only thing next to her at the time*

Of course it is unlikely for Wukong to actually *die* if his body decided to Copy/Paste him into an egg. But the possible way it could occur to him accidentally in any universe would be scary.

Like say... being trapped in a (newly) air-tightened Furnace by spiteful past enemy...

Lets just say I thought of another way that Luzhen is created >:)

Macaque: *pops open the lid to the airless Furnace* "Oh thank Buddha! You're intact. Drink some water dummy." Wukong, "awakened" by the fresh air and water: "...I think I'm pregnant." Macaque: "Uh... congrats?" Wukong: "No, like. Being cooked in there with no air made me pregnant." Macaque, only vaguely familar with their species: "...we should really ask Gold Star about this."

Luzhen in the TMKATI au would be celebrated as an adored, if not odd, new member to the family. His egg pops out after a long time of just sitting in SWK's body like his swallowed a rock. Luzhen "hatched" in a way that triggered something akin to labor. After all, Wukong's egg split open his Rock-mother (possibly the body of his parent) when it was his time to hatch. Wukong decides it is the worst pain he's ever felt in all his immortal life. Luzhen blinks slowly when his shell finally cracked all the way, confused on where he was.

The bit of dao Luzhen absorbed from his enviroment allowed him to develop just a tiny difference to his father; a pair of moon-silver eyes. Macaque smugly declares Luzhen's beautiful eyes are clearly a trait he inherited from him - and likely *did* depending on if any part of Macaque ended up in the Furnace with Wukong too. Like lets say the bones from an arm grapsing deperately before the lid of the Furnace slammed shut...

Hilariously, if Sun Wukong couldn't breath and/or wasn't able to crawl towards the Wind Trigram his first time cooking in the Furnace; there was a good chance that Lao Tzu would have opened the Furnance to a statue-like Monkey King with an egg inside of it. Wukong finally reawakening 500 years later with a heavy stomach and *many* questions.