#evolutionary development

[er-cryptid]

Biceps Femoris Long Head

Runs from ischial tuberosity to upper fibula

Extends hip

Flexes knee

Innervated by tibial division of the sciatic nerve

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[serpentface]

Do psychotropic drugs and/or ritual play a role in any of the blightseed cultures? A pretty broad question, lol

Yeah that’s a very broad question, the answer is about as much as it tends to play roles in real history. Alcohol is pretty ubiquitous (outside of cultures that abstain from intoxicants) and used for a variety of purposes, opioids are commonly used in some parts for pain relief or recreational purposes, stimulants (usually in mild, natural forms) are used to provide extra energy, and hallucinogens are most commonly used as part of a larger religious framework (rather than for recreational purposes). Any more elaborate answer kinda has to be case by case in a certain culture or part of the setting.

I'll just take this as an opportunity to talk about the one established sect that pretty much REVOLVES around psychoactive use. This is the Scholarly Order of the Root, which is a sort of mystery religion + elite community of scholars who currently occupy the Ur-Tree and its forest in the far southern Lowlands (southeast of Imperial Wardin, on the same land mass).

The Ur-Tree is the obligatory Huge Fucking Fantasy Tree (and its surrounding forest). It’s a mass of vegetation about a mile tall and almost as old as Plant Life Itself, its upper branches are primeval plants, which become more modern the nearer they get to the ground (and each 'level' holds tiny ecosystems, some containing descendants of LONG-extinct arthropods/other small animals). Its lowest branches and the surrounding forest are contemporary plant life, and all is connected and protected by an incomparably MASSIVE fungal mycelium network (which is itself a living god).

A lot of the Scholars' more secretive practices revolve around experimentation with substance use with the goal of expanding the Mind and transcending the body to fully connect to the Dreamlands, and they have a supply chain of traders and mercenaries called Rootrunners who traffic substances into the Lowlands. Most of their psychoactive use is in a very intentional capacity and not just like, for fun, but a LOT of them are just straight up addicted to cocaine (in the form of alchemically refined bruljenum, which is used for practical purposes of its stimulant effect during long hours of work).

All known psychoactives are desirable for experimentation (particularly hallucinogens), with each having properties that either allow expansion of the Mind, transcendence of the body, or outright divine communion. Their effects are logged in great detail and interpreted to form the basis of the Scholars' understanding of the natural world and reality itself.

The most important substance is Ur-Root, which is root matter from subterranean levels of the Ur-Tree that have both their own intrinsic psychoactive substances and a very, very high concentration of living god mycelium. The tree root contains DMT and the mycelium has its own wholly unique effects (being an actual living god). They alchemically refine it into a purer, more potent form, and use it to expand beyond the body and directly commune with the Giants, a group of entities they have identified as the only true gods.

An Ur-Root trip starts off with minor visual distortion, which turns into shifting fractals that slowly obscure the vision. Eventually the senses are entirely taken over by a 'tunnel' of rapidly shifting fractals and geometries. In a complete trip, the experiencer gets a sense that they have been pushed through a membrane and entered another realm, finding themselves in a distinct experiential Space.

At this point they may encounter entities which communicate to them in a language impossible to describe but wholly understood. These beings are understood to be the Giants, or at least aspects of the Giants that mortals are capable of comprehending (they often take familiar tutelary forms of the Mantis or the Snake, or appear resembling the same type of sophont that the experiencer is, all composed of ever-shifting geometries). The experiencer often feels a sense of unconditional and endless love from these beings, though the Giants may be more hostile and may appear in the form of the Trickster (usually a cultural figure regarded as malicious, be it an animal or otherwise) in a bad trip.

(^Up until this point, this has mostly just been a DMT 'breakthrough' experience ft. 'machine elves' and the like).

They are then removed from this space and returned to something that feels like the real world, but is nearly unrecognizable. They have a sense of rapidly moving through time, and will usually see 'the spires' towards the beginning, which just so happen to look like this:

(source + some context via Implication- the spires are exactly what this art is depicting)

The experiencer continues to move across an unfathomable amount of time, occasionally 'seeing' other such flashes of unfamiliar landscapes and creatures, and yet also being devoid of all their senses, the 'seeing' is pure, unfiltered experience. There is a sense of interconnectedness with all life, and that one has become the forest (or even Life) itself. The sense of time is wildly distorted, the trip lasts only about 5 minutes but feels like an eternity and is understood as literal hundreds of millions of years.

The experiencer has usually lost any remaining sense of Self and individual consciousness during this phase (in which case this time distortion is usually a neutral or even peaceful experience), but some retain a fraction of their identity, and find themselves trapped and conscious while experiencing what feels like eternity (which can be LIFE-CHANGINGLY distressing, even after the fact).

(^This latter part of the trip is the effects of the Ur-Tree fungus).

The trip ends with a sense of rushing through the ground and back up into one's body, at which point they will abruptly return to their senses and consciousness. The details are then immediately retrieved via interview and recorded in immense detail. The whole experience is understood as having been full comprehension of the Dreamlands, communion with the Giants, and then a tour through the act of creation.

This is done as part of the initiatory practice into the inner mystery-religion of the scholars, and as needed for study by high scholar-priests. It is not taken lightly, both as it is absolute communion with the gods and reality, and in that it can be a very, very difficult experience. People who have gone through this often walk away with a permanently shifted perspective, often in a positive and/or comforting way- a sense of interconnectedness with all life, a peace with the concept of death, seeing less of a point in individual ego and the concept of Self, and comfort in the sense of divine love they (may have) experienced. This heavily influences the philosophy of the Scholars and has had effects by proxy in the religious worldviews of the region.

Details of this experience are closely guarded, and initiates are given absolutely no prior knowledge and expectations for their trip. This is seen as a necessity- their naivety will allow for a true, unfiltered experience, and can be used to gauge whether they should or should not be accepted. Those that have a distinctly bad trip upon initiation may be assumed to have been 'rejected' by the giants and thus denied full priesthood, though this largely depends on How they interpret their distressing trip- those who identify this as a test and harsh lesson in a journey to enlightenment may be accepted (as this is how fully initiated scholar-priests interpret and handle their bad trips).

This inner priesthood is only a small fraction of the Scholarly Order, and its greater function is as a hub of education and repository of knowledge, and Scholar-trained doctors can provide some of the best medical care available in the setting ('best medical care in this setting' only means so much but it's pretty solid, relatively speaking). Only a chosen few Scholars ever get to commune with the Ur-Root, and most of the divine secrets revealed in the process are kept hidden (though they indirectly influence the politics and worldview of the entire order).

[chasing-faith-and-fate]

is Falcon the only cat with powers or do a few of the others have them

About half the clan has them.

Silk, Beetle: sensitive to the afterlife

Dew, unnamed kit: can see the dead

Valley: impossibly strong

Crane: can only see the world of the Takers

Rattle: cannot freeze

Jay: impressive bursts of speed

Epilogue: can hold his breath for an obscenely long time

Falcon: fearless

Unnamed kit2: huger than natural stamina

Unnamed kit3: darken

[thornestar]

My biological sex is double switchback.

The man determines the sex of the child. My dad contributed an X and I will be a girl….but WAIT!

My mother has something nifty she can do! My little bundle of cells was bathed in testosterone during development. Now I will be a boy! The ultrasound showed Wolfian structures, my body started developing as a boy… but WAIT!

My dad has a nifty trick, too! He stuck me with PAIS (androgen insensitivity) and the testosterone became inert.

I surprised everyone by being born a girl despite the ultrasound. Came out weighing ten pounds and looking like I lost a fight. I had two black eyes and a shock of black tousled hair. My shoulders were so wide people said, “He’s gonna be a football player when he grows up!”

They were WRONG! I made it all the way to adulthood with only the vaguest understanding of football. I grew up to be a sensitive artist and gender tourist.

[cozystars]

been thinking abt pikmin dudes (ty for the inspo @krizkrozapplesoz!)

[image desc in alt]

[incorrectgotgquotes]

The High Evolutionary: Why should I go to jail for a crime someone else noticed?

[er-cryptid]

Obturator Nerve Muscles

Adductors of thigh

Gracilis

Obturator externus

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[dahppled]

why can the brain want to die

[clouds-soup]

They should invent a brain that doesn't make you hate yourself

[swagging-back-to]

i love when the weed makes you so extestential it makes you think of how many times the universe has started and died and restarted again, and how many other universes there actually are

and i dont mean multiverse theory. i mean entirely separate universes. from a far enough distance, our own universe really would be a cell.

just like how you have billions of separate cells in your body, there must be separate universes existing right now that do not actually mirror our own.

[face-breaker]

fighting the urge to mix a lil' honey badger into sett —

[rxttenfish]

also yeah if anyone's curious miranda has mottling around where the color shifts and gets darker/lighter on the top/bottom

i liked it and felt it looked more natural and evocative of her color getting more red as a sign of aging

[er-cryptid]

Foot Flexor Digiti Minimi Brevis

Runs from fifth metatarsal base to the proximal phalanx of little toe

Innervated by the lateral plantar nerve

Flexes the little toe

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[maretriarch]

barely an artist im just a pervert who likes looking at the planes of womens faces and musculature lines. well at least im drawing and not murdering people in my basement bcs thats the other outlet for the fascination

[cinnabargirl]

I hate having dry skin ;_; if i wash my hands too much i literally develop the devil's rash like whyyyyy whats the poinnttt

[writerfae]

Fae that have above average magic have successfully tricked the system because normally they are not supposed to have that talent