#ghoul taxonomy

[ghoulish-activities]

Ghoul taxonomy:

Domain: Eukanya

Kingdom: Anomalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Daemonium

Family: Daemonion

Genus: Infernide

Species: I. vulgaris

Sub-species: I. vulgaris vocare

Other members of the genus:

I. via lactea

I. via lactea vocare*

I. infirmus

I. primus solaris maior*

I. primus solaris

* - sub-species

Bonus info:

Ghoul mostly refers to members of I. vulgaris, especially domesticated sub-species, called I. vulgaris vecare that are the majority of the ghouls working in the ministry.

I. vulgaris vecare has four main breeds: Fire, water, air and earth.

Multi ghouls usually are used as an umbrella term for ghouls without clear classification, but is mostly a descriptive than a valid scientific term. It can refer to wild members of genus Infernide, most often I. vulgaris or even feral I. vulgaris vecare that are too mixed to have one clear dominant element.

Wild members of the genus lack the clear deviate of the base elements.

Quintessence ghouls however are I. via lactea vocare and lack as diverse breeds as I. vulgaris vecare. Mostly we have quint, nether, aether and void breeds. But they mostly have an diverse aesthetic and magical differences. It's much rarer to summon a purebred one.

All members of genus Infernide can interbreed, with (usually) offsprings with ability to further reproduce. However many ghouls have clear preference towards their species, sometimes even breed due to some species/breeds being not the most compatible for natural breeding.

[taxonomicon-idiot-edition]

Fallout Taxonomy 2: Ghouls, Super Mutants, and You!

FIGURE 1: Illustrations of the Capitoline Super Mutants of Washington, DC. [Adamowicz, c. 2005]

If any species is synonymous with the Earth of the Black Isles, it is the mutant human varieties known, locally, as the 'super mutant' and the 'ghoul'. Below the cut, the Universal Pedants taxonomize the varieties of Super Mutant and Ghoul known to the Wasteland. Feast upon latin binomials, my children! Feast!

THE SUPER MUTANT

The Super Mutants, as a whole, satisfy two of the three limbs of the speciation test. They are stable mutants - that is, they do not continue to transform - and they are plural rather than singular. They are, however, universally sterile. This lack of reproductive capacity has proven to be a very sore spot in the Earth of the Black Isles, and further sexological ethnographic research is not recommended after the unfortunate dismemberment of Soror Klikkik, who we are told is recovering well but mourns her lost pedipalp rings. Due to the consistency in mutation and prevalence of the Super Mutant family, we are prepared to offer them taxa.

Our starting point is a shared divergence point between the ordinary Homo sapiens and the Super Mutant clades - immersion in, or other massive infection by, FEV of strains FEV-2, 2b, 2-Huntersville, 2-Boston, or 2-Washington. Cladistically, all Super Mutants are simply a clade of Homo sapiens.

FIGURE 2: A cladogram of the Super Mutants, including the closely related Centaurs.

From a descriptive position, however, this is unsatisfying. All super mutants have substantially diverged from human norms in physiology - from the towering height of the Mariposan to the complete sexlessness of the Eastern Strains. Accordingly, we propose they are members of a subgenus of Homo - Homo|radiomutandis (robusta) - divided into three species, detailed below.

THE MARIPOSAN SPECIES

FIGURE 3: Marcus, a standard specimen of Homo|radiomutandis (robusta) unitas

First described Cain et al, 1997. The classical super mutant and type species of the subgenus, the Mariposan Super Mutants stand around three meters tall, have grey-green hide, and are sterile but retain genitalia. Intelligence is highly variable and dependent on the exact mutation process and precise strain of FEV-2 used for their transformation - it is suggested, though it remains unproven, that the Master's lack of sterile technique lead to his FEV-2b strain being in a state of constant flux, creating new variables in his attempts to perfect the Mariposans. Attempts by the Mutants to overcome sterility have so far failed, and while they are the dominant strain on the West Coast through to the Mid-West of the Post-Nuclear Americas, extinction looms. The anti-extinctionist lobby of the Temple is currently accepting donations for the preservation of this rare and beautiful (opinions vary) creature.

The Mariposan mutant is taxonomized thus: (robusta) unitas Niche taxa: Robustohomid radiodurans Mythotaxa: Neo-orcoi fauxorc cainus

THE CAPITOLINE SPECIES

FIGURE 4: A typical specimen of the (robusta) barbarus. [Adamowics, circa 2006]

First described by Pagliarulo et al, 2007. The Capitoline species is the product of a distinct lineage of FEV-2 - one shared as cognate lines with those of Huntersville and Boston - that is capable of producing enormous gigantism. Despite this, the species as a whole is smaller than the Mariposan variety, and this is a key distinguishing feature. The genetic alterations of this lineage appear to be more marked than others, with all Capitoline Supermutants sharing a near-identical phenotype and far less variability in intelligence and stature even without the influence of radiation and prior FEV exposure. They are markedly more hostile to unmutated Homo sapiens than any other species, and are notorious for cannibalism and extreme territoriality even by the standards of the East Coast clades.

The Capitoline Mutant, like the Mariposan, is facing extinction, but the anti-extinctionist lobby is not currently accepting donations for their preservation. It is taxonomized as: (robusta) barbarus Niche taxa: Robustohomid radioferocitas Mythotaxa: Neo-orcoi fauxorc genericusbaddus

THE SWAN SPECIES

FIGURE 5: A typical specimen of the Swan Species of Mutant.

First described by Pagliarulo et al, 2015

The FEV experiments of the Institute and Appalachian West-Tek appear to utilize closely linked strains of FEV - so closely linked, in fact, that the resulting mutants constitute a shared species despite their geographical isolation from one another. This 'Swan' species - so named for its namesake, the behemoth known as Swan - is a midpoint between the comparatively sociable and intelligent Mariposan species and the unreasonably hostile Capitoline species. Swan Mutants are highly social within their species, retain a high degree of their intelligence, and are notorious for their attempts at industry. They are the smallest of the three species, with a tan-green hide and a markedly less divergent physiognomy from the baseline human stock they are produced from.

As with all supermutant species, the Swan species is facing extinction in both Appalachia and Boston. Donations are accepted. They are nominated as: (robusta) vindicta Niche taxa: Robustohomid radiofaber Mythotaxa: Neo-orcoi fauxorc genericusbaddus-minutus

THE GHOUL

FIGURE 6: A typical Ghoul of the West Coast/Necrotic Phenotype.

Where the Super Mutant is straight forward to categorize, the Ghoul is rather more difficult. The catch-all term 'Ghoul' appears to refer to several distinct types of mutant within even the mainline Black Isles, with varying phenotypical and metabolic mutations further complicating the taxonomization of these zombie-adjacent creatures. Like the supermutant, the Ghoul is sterile, but its variant forms appear to be both stable and frequently occur, and so we will proceed on the assumption they constitute a species.

Unlike the Super Mutant, attempts have been made by local scientists to explore and taxonomize the Ghoul condition(s). Dr. Barrows of Underworld suggests the identifier of 'necrotic post-human', which we find acceptable for the localized strain of Washington D.C. and those of the West Coast, but less applicable to those of Appalachia, Boston, and other areas for whom tissue necrosis is not a marked signifier.

This presents our first juncture to try to identify what, precisely, a 'ghoul' is. Barrows' definition suggests that the defining characteristics of the Ghoul are that they are: a, 'post-human' (and by definition, no longer Homo sapiens); and, b, 'necrotic', or rotting. But this definition is immediately falsified for all known strains of Ghoul. While they resemble rotting corpses - and thus, their namesake 'zombies' - they are not in fact rotting: they are not being actively broken down by uncontrolled cell destruction, with attendant organelle dysfunction and subsequent decomposition processes. To the degree that they seem to exhibit heightened necrosis, this tissue death and decomposition is literally skin deep, and paired with a level of heightened tissue repair that prevents it from cascading.

From this, we may deduce that the Ghoul is not, in fact, a 'necrotic' organism - it is not exvitus, as the common Zombie is, but is still a member of the vitus superkingdom. Indeed, Barrows' own research affirms that they are alive - his findings that it is continual nerve regeneration in those parts of the nervous system that sustain the basics of life can hold no meaning for a 'necrotic' entity, even if he is under the seemingly mistaken belief that the rapid tissue death of the dermal layers is purely necrotic and not a product of an extremely aggressive apoptotic response to minor epidermal stress.

The designation of the 'Luminous Necrotic Post-Human', or commonly, 'Glowing One', is equally dubious. While they are indeed luminous, they are luminous only due to the sheer level of radioactive contamination within their tissue. They are not a subspecies, but merely highly irradiated and contaminated Ghouls. The same is, unfortunately, true of the 'Feral Necrotic Post-Human' - there is no subspecies distinction to be drawn, only a malady (for which the label of 'Ferocious Post-Necrotic Dystrophy' is inadequate.)

It is not entirely clear whether the Ghoul is a mutant species per-se or merely a class of persons suffering from a radiation-induced syndrome. We suggest that the answer is 'yes' - that the specific syndrome that Ghouls experience is associated with sufficient physiological alterations to locate them as a new sibling species to Homo sapiens. We tentatively nominate this condition 'Human Radiocicatrix Syndrome', identifying the following symptom clusters:

Exaggerated and extreme epidermal and dermal apoptosis in response to ordinary irritation and inflammation Aggressive scar formation in all tissues Prolonged life spans High radiation tolerance Sterility Impaired uptake and response to a wide variety of agonists and antagonists Hair loss and skin deformities, to varying degrees Elevated risk of soft tissue loss An elevated risk of irreversible and aggressive dementia

Human Radiocicatrix Syndrome has a strong causative link to high levels of irradiation, with acute and chronic exposures resulting in differing degrees of scarification and deformity. FEV exposure - presumably to the airborne strain of FEV-2a that dispersed after the War - may play a role in developing Human Radiocicatrix Syndrome, presumably by correcting for genetic damage incurred during the intense radiation usually required for the Syndrome to manifest, and may explain the prevalence of 'Zombi-form' Ghouls (that is, those that most closely resemble their undead namesakes) on the West Coast and in Washington, where FEV research was prominent.

We instead nominate the following taxa for the Human Ghoul - a distinction that will shortly become relevant: Homo|radiomutandis cicatrixa Niche: Mortemhuman nucleogenesis Mythotaxa: Neo-zombie fauxzombie radiophilia-cain While Feral ghouls are not a distinct species - rather, they are the product of late-stage Human Radiocicatrix Syndrome - they do merit Niche and Mythotaxa: Niche: Mortemhuman nucleogenesis hostilis Mythotaxa: Neo-zombie fauxzombie anthropophagus radiophilius

We reject the notion that the different phenotypes of Ghoul constitute distinct species or subspecies. The phenotypical distinctions in diverse Ghoul populations appear to be primarily a response to different levels of environmental hazard, with little underlying distinction. At most, a subspecies distinction between those Ghouls who appear to be leathery and those who appear to be rotting might be made, but this seems primarily to be a difference in the stability of scar tissue between those who experienced extreme trauma during transformation and those who did not.

We referred immediately prior to the distinction of the Human Ghoul. This is because Ghoulification is as much syndrome as speciation - a mutation process that produces convergent results across species. All known examples have afflicted members of the Animalia (and indeed, the Chordata), and in a number of cases, the sterility associated with Human Radiocicatrix Syndrome is not present. [Apocryphal evidence of 'born ghouls' in New Mexico has not been corroborated, but would suggest a divergent form of the syndrome among the local Ghoul population.] Accordingly, we may locate many potential cicatrixa species, many with stronger claims to full speciation than the Human Ghoul - whether they are canis cicatrixa or ursa cicatrixa.

Concluding this entry, we provide the first steps of the newly expanded Homo genus:

FIGURE 7: The Genus Homo, incorporating the Ghoul and the Super Mutant.

In the next installment, we will explore some of the stranger mutants of the Black Isle Earth.

[selkiechild4998]

Ive always wanted to try touching taxonomy for ghouls. For those who dont know, taxonomy is the scientific categorization of organisms! Like the latin and common names of animals and plants!

[aubreyplazababy]

💀 What Kind of Undead is Beth from Life After Beth?

Beth Slocum from Life After Beth (2014) isn’t a typical zombie, the film makes it clear. She’s more like a narrative corpse, animated by unresolved love, codependency, and the rotting weight of denial. First of all, let's quickly remember some classes on the undead taxonomy:

🧛 Vampires Elegant parasites. Dead but immortal, animated by bloodlust and libido. Often retain full consciousness and charm. They seduce death.

👻 Ghosts Intangible echoes. Souls without bodies, lingering due to trauma, regret, or unfinished business. They haunt memory.

🧟 Zombies Reanimated flesh. Often mindless, driven by hunger (usually brains or flesh). Variants can include:

Slow zombies (the classic Romero-style)

Fast zombies (like in World War Z)

Conscious zombies (examples like Sankarea, Warm Bodies)

Cruel/plague zombies (think in The Sadness)

Blind zombies (example is Highschool of the Dead)

🦴 Skeletons Bones with purpose. Typically animated by magic, often comic or uncanny. Minimal personality, maximal creak.

👁️ Revenants Dead returned with intent. Fueled by vengeance, grief, or longing. They usually have a personal reason to be back, and it’s never good.

🧌 Ghouls Corpse-eaters. Live in graveyards, lurk in folklore. Less about resurrection, more about perverse appetite.

🌫️ Liches Undead sorcerers. High-level necromancers who choose undeath for power. They have will, intellect, and a phylactery anchoring their soul.

⚰️ Mummies Preserved dead, often cursed, common on Egypt tradition. Bound to tombs, rituals, or revenge. Think: eternal rest rudely interrupted.

🪨 Golems Not undead, but often mistaken. Constructs made from clay, stone, or ash, brought to life by sacred words, common on Jewish tradition. They don’t live, they serve.

➜ And Beth Slocum?

Beth undeniably carries markers of the zombie archetype. She physically rises from the grave, not as spirit or shadow, but as reanimated flesh. Over time, she begins to decompose, loses control, becomes erratic and violent, and ultimately craves human flesh.

But she also talks, and remembers. She can gets jealous. She doesn’t spread contagion, but she's the plague: to memory, and forward motion. She isn’t the monster, she’s her lover's symptom.

Like a revenant, Beth returns not at random, but with emotional residue. But, where most revenants come for revenge, Beth comes back to keep being the girlfriend. Like Sankarea, it's a love story.

🪦 In conclusion:

Beth isn’t just a zombie. She’s a revenant born of grief, turning slowly into a zombie the longer she’s denied peace. And that final scene, Zach literally chains her to the oven, it's domestic grief in grotesquely literality. It's not just that she's dangerous, what she is, like any avoidance can be. It’s that he can’t let her go, and literally combusting under the weight of it.

[reqs-refs]

Tagging catalogue

Tags are nested. Any post tagged with a nested tag is also tagged with the tags it's nested within. Idk it's like taxonomy. (ex if #hands is species, then #body is genus and #drawing ref is family, and the post will be tagged with all three.)

Just because a tag has other tags within it doesn't mean all things in that tag are also tagged as one of the subcategories. (like, not all #dalish stuff is tagged #vallaslin). The sum of posts in the subcategories doesn't necessarily equal the total amount of posts in the category.

#drawing ref

#pose and expression

#body - the body itself. often overlaps with p&e, but also includes body size comparisons and specific body parts

.....#hands

.....#skin

#fashion

.....#clothing

.....#accessories

.....#hair

#disability aids

#items - props/non-attached bits

#background

#animal

#da ref - dragon age things (everybody say thank you @dragonagegallery)

games (#dao, #da2, #dai, and #datv)

#characters (companions and major notables), are also tagged by their full names

#music - contains normal musicians and bards (the bard-y looking ones)

#tattoo

#bestiary

.....#demon

.....#dragon

.....#mabari

.....#blight

.............#ghoul

#clothes

.....#noble

.....#commoner

.....#servant

.....#textiles

#mage, #rogue, #warrior - armor/garments/whatever non-casual wear, sorted by class

#weapons

.....#bow

.....#staff

.....#shield

.....#blade

.............#dagger

.............#longsword

.............#greatsword

.....#blunt

.............#mace

.............#maul

.....#axe

.............#handaxe

.............#greataxe

.....#misc - weird weapons that don't fall in any of the typical weapon types above

#elven

.....#dalish - referring to MODERN dalish

.............#vallaslin - (this is also always co-tagged with #tattoo)

.....#city elf

.....#elvhenan

.............#eluvian

.............#evanuris

#chantry

.....#templar

.....#clergy

#circle of magi

#seekers of truth

#tevinter

#ferelden

#grey warden

#dwarven

.....#golem

#orlais

.....#masque

#kirkwall

#chasind

#qunari

#the inquisition - referring to the order itself and its style, not the game

[cnestus]

i should also add that all of my misgivings about molecular taxonomy go 100000x for anything to do with AI-based identification. seeing entomologists participate in any kind of initiative to train AI identification feels like watching someone dig their own grave. and i don't care what anyone says, AI will never approach the taxonomic capabilities of an even half-bright undergrad but that won't stop every agency that employs flesh and blood identifiers from replacing them with robotic ones the second some nasty little mckinsey consultant ghoul convinces them it's Good Enough and it'll save them a few bucks per year or whatever.

re: your last post about career options in entomology, consider this an invitation to talk about what you think about molecular systematics and its role in taxonomy/phylogeny. i'm an undergrad currently in a lab focused on the phylogeny of benthic marine inverts, and the vast bulk of our work is based on molecular data. i'm interested in hearing your thoughts on the topic!

i should be clear and say that i have no inherent problems with molecular systematics as an approach to taxonomy, and in many cases it can be a tremendous boon to the field and pretty much the only way to untangle some particularly gnarly taxonomic knots.

i guess my problem arises from how the ascendancy of molecular systematics is crowding out traditional morphological taxonomy, to the point where, like i was complaining in my last post, many subdisciplines are disappearing because nobody is replacing the aging and dying experts on many groups of insects and other organisms. i think that very few people who do molecular systematics would themselves argue that they should replace traditional taxonomists, but i also think that academic administrators and funding agency bureaucrats see the difference in "efficiency" between one scientist who needs years if not decades to publish a comprehensive monograph on their study group, and another who can slam a bunch of samples through a machine and describe a hundred new species in a semester, and would prefer to fund the latter. i'm being unfairly reductive here of course, but my point is that in the publish-or-perish culture of academia, being able to churn out papers faster will always be rewarded and tilts the game way towards molecular taxonomists. even incoming grad students who want to study to become morphological taxonomists are having a harder time securing the funds to do so.

i just worry about what things are going to look like in even 10 or 20 years from now when the last of the old-timers have died off and very few have been replaced. even if you can technically identify an organism of interest through sequencing it's CO1 gene or whatever, that's no replacement for having an actual expert who can way more quickly and authoritatively tell you what it is without having to be connected to Genbank.

(far more minor, but i also think that molecular work places far too great of an emphasis on dogmatic phylogenetic taxonomizing over more practical groupings. this is pure old man grumbling but i absolutely can't stand how every few years someone recategorizes some group of insects based on their genetic sequences and suddenly i gotta relearn a bunch of new taxonomies and relabel a bunch of shit because every group's just gotta be 100% monophyletic. fuck monophyly! i will not elaborate on this!)

anyway back to my main point, again i'm sure i'm being reductive and unfair and there are absolutely labs that make use of both morphological and molecular taxonomic methods, but it's just a worrying trend to me. i just can't help but feel like the ascendancy of molecular systematics is of a piece with the inexorable automation of so many other jobs and disciplines, like a robot replacing the craftsman it was ostensibly designed to assist.

[huggablefiresquid]

What would the taxonomical classifications of ghouls and Supermutants from fallout be?

[creekfiend]

"Taxonomy is a disease" Y'know, I get so mad thinking about the non-European vampire folklore page on Wikipedia for similar reasons, mainly because they put anything there as long as it's vaguely human-consuming and supernatural. I don't have a better taxonomy to offer but like. I'm pretty sure that ghouls, lilim, and manananggal aren't vampires. Yes I have written an urban fantasy story with a scene of someone complaining about a cryptozoology book that decided to class them as such precisely because it made me so mad. Like I know taxonomy is useful but difficult, but that page is so bad. 😡

YEAH LIKE I know it's necessary and we can't NOT do it but I wish there were more taxonomical disclaimers lmao

[emiko-talks83]

Foreword of the Fittes Manuals fifth edition

in the many years since my mother invented the modern science of psychical investigation, the techniques she pioneered have become the bedrock of Agency work across our belea guered nation. We live by her insights; her rules have become second nature to us, And this bock that you hold in your Hand is the heart of her legacy.

It is hard to remember now, in a world with so many excellent agencies, with so many dedicated, talented individuals working night and day to defeat the Problem, that when Marissa started out, the rules for tackling Visitors were Nothing but bearsay and folklore. Yes, iron and salt and silver were said to be useful against evil spirits, but who before my mother had attempted to develop these clues, into a coherent system to tackle the superatural! Nobody had tried, and it was fortunate that, as the Problem began to stir, Marissa and her friend Tom Rotwell were on band to risk their lives and experiment with defences of various kinds; If the investiveness they displayed in those early years is common knowledge, perhaps their sheer plack is sometimes forgotten. During many of their early cases - the Highgate Terror and the Mud Lane Phantom are two famos examples - they were still improvising with their weapoos, using little more than garden tools and farmyard implements to keep the ghouls at bay. Incredible to think of, Yet the torch and rapier you have at your belt are the direct descendants of the rake and lantern with which the young marissa went first into battle.

The first edition of The Fittes Manual for Ghost-hunters was my mother attempt to coalesce all the discoveries she had made into an accessible format for others who might wish to follow her. For this Fifth Edition I have updated it in places, including a revised taxonomy of ghosts to take into account recent discoveries. But it is still Marissas' book,. It is her gift across time, her gift in defiance of the forces of darkness that swirl around us all. My mother has been gone these many years - but her words remain, To those happy few who have the courage and talent and willpower to strap on a blade and venture out into the night, she speaks calmly to us still

[ghoulish-activities]

Really random question, but...

┌────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────┐

Assumption is:

Ghouls are in:

Domain: Eukaryota

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

└────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────┘

now are ghouls are an:

Order/Family/Genus/Species?

─────────────────────────── ★´ˎ˗

Example:

Order: Carnivora

Domestic Cat

Family: Felidae

Genus: Felis

Species: Felis catus

── ── ── ── ── ── ── ── ── ── ── ──

Shares an order with:

Brown Bear

Order: Carnivora

Genus: Ursus

Family: Ursidae

Species: Ursus arctos

─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ★

Shares family with:

Tiger

Order: Carnivora

Family: Felidae

Species: Panthera tigris

Genus: Panthera

─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ★

Shares a genus with:

European wildcat

Order: Carnivora

Family: Felidae

Genus: Felis

Species: Felis silvestris

─────────────────────────── ★´ˎ˗

[postcardsfrompluto]

Spook Therapy

I'm gonna start this with a pic of me and my friends on 31st Oct in a country where no one celebrates Halloween.

The reason I have been sleeping with lights on these days is too much "Horror" content consumption. I have reached a point where ghouls, goblins, monsters don't scare me, they excite me.

I'm the skeptic kind, by the way, I don't believe in the paranormal but I sure as heck wish they were true. Nevertheless, I have plenty of spooky stuff to keep me contented.

Recently I have been binging Buzzfeed Unsolved episodes (I highly recommend the Sallie house one) and I came to a realization that nightmare fuel is actually therapeutic (at least for me). They somehow make me feel "better".So I did what any other Gen Z teenager would do, I took to the internet and things got real complicated(I'll try to keep it simple).

It's a controlled environment, the story is fictional, the people aren't actually dying and the screen is separating me from all the chaos going behind it. Bird's eye view of an adrenaline-inducing world. All this explains why it's fun to watch but why has it become my antidote against melancholy.

Now I'm not an expert but I have a theory- It's a distraction.

Distraction from the "dullness" of the real world. I'm not saying my life is sad but it is sure as hell monotonous. If I look back to what was the last exciting thing I did it would be writing my previous blog post last week. Ghoul and demon stuff diffuses the mundanity temporarily. Wouldn't you wanna know about the woman in white after doing thermal physics (of course you want to because physics was mind-numbing and you want to feel human again!).

Ironically I was a "won't watch horror movies because I can't sleep for days" kid. Plus I was afraid of the dark and couldn't sleep with lights off for years. My 13-year-old self wondered what miraculous force would I require to rid me of my fears. That force is a simple realization- Real-life problems are more terrifying than demons rearranging your furniture. I would rather have a vampire feed off my jugular than to have to see my ex-bo....ahem ahem..... friend again. I would gladly play paddy cake with Annabelle if I don't have to attend botany lectures (taxonomy is worse than death). I would love to have a full-scale demonic possession than to have to undergo this two-year-long exile for prepping for a test that's due in two months.

I'm gonna end this with the immortal words of Shane Madej to justify my horror stuff-watching spree.

[selkiechild4998]

✧°˖────———- ・・・・・ . ☽ ‧₊˚ ···╮

Inferna Terra

╰┈ ‧₊˚ ☾. ⋅ ・・・・———-────°˖✧

The first part of a series of both Ghoul Taxonomy and Murder Ghouls! I hope ya'll enjoy it!

TW- Mentions of violence, ghouls hunting a man down

Genre: Light Horror

Word Count- 1,994 Words

AO3 Link- Here

⭑･ﾟﾟ･*:༅｡.｡༅:*ﾟ:*:✼✿　⛧⃝　✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

"This is wonderful," The voice of a man whined in a sarcastic manner within the woods, " 'Go on a hunting trip,' They said, 'It'll be good for you, ' they said," He grumbled, "Now I'm stuck in a tree during a fucking storm!" He yelled at the treetops, the only response he got being the rustling of the branches of the mixture of pine and oak around him. As the man listened to the sounds of nature around him from within his tree stand, he sighed, bumping his head back against the tree trunk and mumbling, "Oh, Kert...How do you get yourself into these messes..."

Kert frowned as he looked up at the swirling dark clouds above. He knew his friends meant well, setting him up at their hunting cabin. He's been stuck in the city for years, and his friends insisted he spend a week in one of their old hunting cabins. The first day in the cabin wasn't so bad; the drive up was beautiful, and the cabin was cozy and warm. On his second day at the cabin, he had neglected to check the weather before walking to the tree stand. And now he's stuck in a random tree in the middle of a storm.

Sighing, Kert made his way down the ladder of the deer stand, his rifle slung over his back. "Just got to follow the trail back," He mumbled, "Then I can get out of this stupid storm." The trail was supposed to be a short walk, just barely over a fifteen-minute walk, but the longer Kert walked, the more the forest looked unfamiliar. "No...No, come on," Kert groaned, digging through his pocket and grabbing his phone, hoping to pull up a map, only to see he had no signal.

"Great... just great!" He grumbled, shoving his phone back into his pocket as he continued down the trail. He knew this trail had to lead somewhere, which was very clearly made by people. If he's lucky, it would lead to another cabin or maybe a small town nestled within the dark mountains.

He was soaked by the rain as it fell hard around him, soaking through the forest camouflage clothes he wore. He could feel the rain seep into his boots, causing them to squeak and squelch with each step. He kept walking down the trail, boots squishing and puddles splashed with each step. After he had walked for a while, Kert paused and listened. Other than the rain, the forest was quiet. That was never a good sign.

Kert stopped in the middle of the trail, looking around with paranoia. He could feel eyes on him, even as the storm raged around him. Nothing should be out in this weather; not even the birds flew from their perches or squirrels scampered from their knot holes. Something still told him to leave the area, something primal within him. So he walked forward, now at a faster pace.

He tried to keep his footfall as silent as possible, adjusting the rifle balanced on his shoulder. He felt eyes on him. He tried to ignore the feeling of being watched, reminding himself to stay calm. Panic will only lead to disaster, especially if something is stalking him. He could hear something beyond the brush around him, matching his footsteps.  

He was about to yell out before jumping when he heard melodic beeping and short vibrations coming from his pocket. Cell service! Kert fumbled as he grabbed his phone, looking at the message he had received.

CrypidBoi428: You still on your trip? The police found something up there last night, K-Man.

Followed by a link to an article that proclaims,

"Body of Missing Hiker Found in Mountains. Cult or Wildlife to Blame?"

Kert winced reading that headline, but he wasn't surprised. Tim has always been an oddball, even when they were kids. He was obsessed with the idea that some blood cult was up in the mountains, even making a conspiracy corkboard of the evidence he'd collected. He never believed that sort of stuff. The mountain range is home to bears, lynxes, and wolves, all of whom are shy around humans.

He was about to text Tim back before hearing a twig snap, his gaze snapping up, and met with green eyes staring back at him just twenty feet away.

He couldn't believe what he was seeing. It looked human but mixed with a deer or maybe a fawn. They were small, white spots decorating their dark, earth-colored skin. Atop his head sat a pair of small forked antlers, and his light apple-green eyes stayed locked on him. They reminded Kert of the satyrs he'd seen at Ren-Fairs Tim would drag him to.

"Umm...H-Hi?" Kert awkwardly waved, reasoning that he must have stumbled across some strange LARP session and this was just a person who was really in character, "Did I interrupt something?"

The person in front of him didn't respond, only continuing to stare at him with rectangular pupils.

"That's a neat costume," Kert awkwardly complimented. That's when the strange person smiled at him, but that smile was wrong. It reminded him of how some animals grin as a show of aggression. It was enough to make him take a step back. With each step he took back, the creature took two steps forward, stalking him.

"Come on, back it up," Kert tried intimidating them, grabbing his rifle. But the creature suddenly charged forward, forcing Kert to stumble back. That's when he turned and ran, fumbling with his rifle as the creature chased after him, the creature's cloven hooves hardly making a sound on the forest floor.

Kert cursed at himself as he fumbled to load his rifle as he ran while also trying not to trip. What is that creature; they definitely aren't human! He nearly dropped the round of ammunition as he struggled to load it into the rifle's chamber. When he got the shell into the chamber, he ran into something solid, letting out a pained grunt as he fell back to the ground. When he looked up, he didn't want to believe what he saw.

Another one of those cloven-hooved monsters stared down at him. The creature was shaggy, with long brown fur covering their eyes, but the deep green glow underneath those locks still shined through. There was pale, almost blonde hair around its neck despite most of the creature's fur being brown. It reminded him of caribou, especially with those antlers atop his head that were covered in vines of ivy. He hardly had time to react as he rolled to the side, the creature letting out a horrid noise as he turned, a spiked-tipped tail swinging to hit the human.

He moved just in time to avoid those sharp spikes, letting out a strangled yell when he saw those spikes pirce his rifle, rendering it useless. "Oh fuck!" He yelled, scrambling to get up, nearly falling over himself as he fled. He could hear that monster chasing after him, hooves thundering against the ground as he ran, trying to take random turns through the forest.

It was with one turn that Kert's eyes landed on the glint of glass. A building! Where there are buildings, there are people! He's saved! "Help! Someone! There's something chasing m-" He yelled before being cut off when something suddenly smashed into his side, sending him flying to the ground, gasping like a fish out of water for air. His vision swam as he clutched his side, rolling to lay on his back as he wheezed.

He saw a third creature approach him or, more accurately, felt him step closer. Their footfall was heavy, causing the ground to tremble slightly as the biggest of the creatures prowled forward. Their antlers were so big they blocked out the very little sunlight that peeked through the rain clouds, curving like a moose's antlers but with much larger tines, and the main palms didn't curve as dramatically to create the paddle-like shape of the moose.

Kert could hardly make out the creature's face, the edges of his vision fading to black as the creature loomed over him. The last thing he saw was the creature's clubbed tail rising off the ground, the human closing his eyes and accepting his fate.  

He waited for that club to make contact, his ears ringing slightly before hearing a voice, muffled and echoey in his ears.

"Hello?... Hellooo?" The voice called.

"Wakey wakey, gotta get up, buddy!"

A soft groan escaped Kert as he squinted his eyes open, wincing at the deep ache in his side. His vision was still blurred, but he looked at the source of the voice, seeing a man in a black cassock and what looked like black eye shadow messily smeared around his eyes. He also has the curliest black hair Kert had seen, the curled locks covering his eyes.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Bud!" He chirped cheerfully, his smile revealing he has a little tooth gap, "I was starting to think Mountain sent you to god, same-day shipping!"

"Wha? Who's..." Kert mumbled before his eyes scanned the room, freezing. He saw that massive creature standing nearby, looking at him without a hint of the aggression he had shown earlier. He could see his face clearly this time, his fur a deep, rich maroon color with a white blaze on his nose.

"What the fuck is that!?" Kert yelled, moving to sit up before gasping at the sharp pain in his side, falling back against the bed.

The man was hardly bothered, answering with a, "Thats Mountain! Your pretty lucky man, Mounty is a beast when it comes to trespassers."

Mountain perked up, stepping closer to Kert before another voice stopped him.

"Mountain, give him from space," another man said as he entered the room, looking almost exactly like the man who had woken him up.

"I just wanted to apologize," Mountain started with a nervous smile.

"I know, big guy, but give him some space. Mikey, you're not bothering him, are you?"

"No, I'm not Micheal," The man who must be Mikey replied with a groan, "I was just checking on him! We never get visitors."

"Sorry, but who are you guys? Where am I? W-What is 'Mountain'? And those other things?" Kert interrupted the two.

"I'm Mikey, and that's my brother Micheal. We're twins!"

"You're in the Ministry. And Mountain is one of our Earth Ghouls. You probably saw Pebble and Ivy earlier."

"Ghoul? Ministry?" Kert tried to wrap his head around the information given to him.

"We can explain more when you recover. Mountain gave you a nasty bruise on your ribs. Surprised he didn't break anything." Micheal stated as he let Mountain step out of the Infirmary.

Kert frowned as he looked at his side, moving the blanket draped over him to see the bandages wrapped around his waist. "No, No, I can't stay here. I need to get back home," He insisted, trying to push himself up, but the ache in his ribs forced him back down.

"Hey! Careful! Don't worry, once your all better, we can talk to Papa and see if we can't get you home," Mikey reassured.

"Papa? Who's Papa?"

"He leads our Abby," Micheal answered, "He's been pretty busy though, he's recently gotten promoted from Cardinal to Papa."

Kert winced as he ran his hands through his messy blond hair, slumping against the bed.

"Don't worry too much about it. We'll get you patched up in no time. I can even show you around!" Mikey offered.

Kert frowned, glancing over at Mikey, "I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

"No, not really. But right now, you need some rest. Come on, Mikey."

"Comin'!" Mikey chirped, following his much calmer brother and leaving Kert in the Infirmary, wondering just how he got himself into this mess and how he can get himself out of it.

[sargassostories]

Any pairing: “What did I do to deserve you?”

It was dawn before he realized he’d ruined everything.

Here they were, villa to themselves, with the softest mattresses, finest sheets, the best oils, and one evening with his lover to tempt and tease each other, to sate their desires over and over again until they’d had their fill.

And he realized he was still talking about types of ghouls.

It took several seconds before Regis remembered the conversation hadn’t been one-sided. That Geralt still looked flushed, delighted, indignant, and even shy about his taxonomy suggestions. Regis swooned.

“What did I do to deserve you?”

Geralt kissed him, laughing.

[pinerwo]

Scavengers animal

SCAVENGERS ANIMAL FREE

In The Island of Doctor Moreau, the nastiest of the Beast Folk was created from a hyena and a pig, both animals that will scavenge.However, when a human that they abduct for information castigates them and compares them to carrion-eaters, they become horrified at the idea of what they're about to do and leave Earth to its own devices. Then they'll come to "rescue" the survivors. Isaac Asimov's " The Gentle Vultures": The aliens consider unbalancing the Cold War so that one side is ready to devastate the world through nuclear weapons.Subverted by Loiosh, an actual jhereg who can be quite courageous when acting on behalf of Vlad, who raised Loiosh as his companion and familiar. In Steven Brust's Dragaera, House Jhereg is named for a species of scavenging venomous reptile, and is the House associated with criminals.At the end of Hogfather, the Death of Rats locates a dead sheep for Quoth to scavenge, and it's portrayed as a touching Hogswatch gesture on the Grim Squeaker's part. Although completely open and unashamed about his love of scavenging (eyeballs especially), he's quite helpful and sympathetic, at least when he's not being a Deadpan Snarker. Subverted in Discworld with Quoth, the Death of Rats's raven associate.This doesn't mean all scavengers are noble, however. Scavengers, vultures in particular, are considered borderline sacred. Unlike in previous Erin Hunter books, scavenging is noted to be a natural and even vital part of life for animals. The cats refuse to scavenge no matter how hungry they are. "Crowfood" is the term that characters in Warrior Cats use to refer to rotting food.Lusa is seen as less of a bear for trying to eat flatface food (garbage) in Seeker Bears.Alpha, a wolf-dog raised amongst wolves, outright refuses to.

SCAVENGERS ANIMAL FREE

In Survivor Dogs, very few of the dogs are okay with scavenging off of longpaw trash or eating dog food after becoming Free Dogs.Erin Hunter works usually present scavenging as demeaning, especially if the animals scavenge from humans (though many of the animals are actually scavengers in real life):.No relation to Disaster Scavengers, which are the (mostly human) scavengers in the post-apocalyptic worlds. Compare Predation Is Natural, which often goes hand-in-hand with this trope: hunting is part of nature, but scavenging is less so. Related to You Dirty Rat!, Creepy Cockroach, Messy Maggots, and (if humanoid carrion-eaters are included) Our Ghouls Are Creepier. Often related to Super-Persistent Predator and What Measure Is a Non-Cute?. Sister trope to Predators Are Mean, which one would think would result in scavengers being depicted as nicer, since they at least don't need to kill for food. This has a level of Truth in Television to it, as scavengers in real-life generally stay out of conflicts between larger, stronger meat-eaters (but are not Mooks in real-life, obviously). Oddly enough, they won't always be depicted as actually scavenging, instead conspiring to eat the still-living protagonists, which kind of defeats the purpose of them being called scavengers to begin with.Ī Post-Apocalyptic Dog may also end up as this.Ĭuriously, scavengers are rarely depicted as the Big Bad of a story more commonly, they're depicted as Mooks or secondary antagonists-you're more likely to see them as Big Bads if no other carnivores are filling the role. They will often be depicted as Villainous Gluttons and Dirty Cowards, due to their preference for easy meals that are either lying dead on the ground or too weak to fight back, as well as their habit of mooching off of the hard-working predators who, in our eyes, truly "earn" their own sustenance. Usually applied to creatures like hyenas, corvids, jackals, and vultures, probably due to Small Taxonomy Pools. Or, in other words, a scavenger.Ī very specific form of Carnivore Confusion, this trope presents scavengers as ugly, dirty, greedy, and all around unpleasant creatures who would gleefuly feast on equally rotten meals that nobody in their right mind would touch. Simple: make the villain a "lesser" carnivore. But what happens when a carnivore is a hero? In fiction (especially xenofiction), a carnivorous animal is very commonly the villain facing off against a bunch of heroic herbivores.

[andromacheflints]

metaphor on the impossibility of clear-cut taxonomies of the queer community using the thin distinctions between folkloric vampires, ghouls, werewolves, and other assorted creatures is that anything

[shmosnet2]

What is Cryptozoology? A Guide to Legendary Creatures

What is Cryptozoology? A Guide to Legendary Creatures

CRYPTOZOOLOGY CREATURES PROVEN REAL Paradoxically, this is an actual science based on rumor and hearsay, a legitimate discipline dedicated to proving the stuff of local legends and cultural myths to be true. This might be easy to dismiss if it weren’t for the large and growing catalog of cryptozoology creatures proven real. THE PONGO One of the most famous examples was known as the Pongo. In African folklore, according to The Cryptid Zoo, “the Pongo was a wild man of the jungle. Looking like a cross between a human and a monkey, he was a violent creature with magical powers” and a penchant for shape-shifting and an appetite for human flesh. In 1847, the world was shocked by the announcement that the Pongo truly exists. Of course we now know that gorillas are vegetarians, gentle giants who neither capture, consume nor reproduce with humans. Nonetheless, their long-standing cultural association with such terrifying qualities survives in their very name, as “gorilla” is derived from the Arabic word for “ghoul.” THE COELACANTH Another success story concerns the Coelacanth (SEEL-uh-kanth) — a prehistoric fish thought to be extinct for 65 million years. That is, until 1938, when this strange “living fossil fish” showed up in a South African fish market. (https://ift.tt/2JHsxrI) The Cryptid Zoo tells us that “After being identified as a coelacanth and stuffed as a taxidermic specimen to preserve it, doubts were expressed about whether it was genuine. Scientists brought out all the arguments that they typically use to explain away cryptids, including that it was a misidentified normal animal… it was accused of being a common grouper, even though the remains did not resemble that fish. A second coelacanth was not captured until 1952.” Since then, many live coelacanths have been captured and two subspecies have been identified, with the potential for more to come. Thus, despite deeply-seeded initial skepticism, the persistent existence of this prehistoric fish is now indisputable scientific fact. According to the International Society of Cryptozoology, the coelacanth is considered a cryptid even though the fossil record proved its previous existence because “what makes an animal of interest to cryptology is that it is unexpected.” The coelacanth is also significant in that it’s unique anatomical structures may demonstrate one link in the evolutionary chain that led animals out of the sea and onto land. These are but two of the many stories out there of animals whose contemporary existence was purely speculative but later, through diligence and luck, was proven to be as real as the common squirrel. For more such examples, The Cryptid Zoo has an extensive archive of information about various cryptids from around the world. Want to be a Cryptozoologist? A skilled cryptozoologist has mastered a wide range of disciplines, including but by no means limited to physical anthropology, mythology, linguistics, archaeology and history. Given the range and depth of research required to be a successful cryptozoologist, it’s no surprise that there are several Ph.D programs focused on the science. One example is the Institute of Metaphysical Humanistic Science (IMHS), an online program where “students will learn about… taxonomy and classification, research techniques, conducting field investigations, equipment, and working with other researchers. Evidence analysis is also covered, equipping students to analyze photos, videos, and other items that might assist in scientifically describing a reported animal. As an alternative, students may choose to specialize in “Hominology,” a branch of Cryptozoology focused on the study of primates or hominids such as Bigfoot, as opposed to all types of cryptids.” However, an online degree is only worth the energy you personally apply to your studies. If you’ve got a true passion for cryptozoology, you must be first and foremost self-taught and self-motivated. A great place to start your research is by studying myths, legends and folklore from your geographical area of interest. Are you planning a trip to a place with excellent cryptozoological potentials? Or are you curious about what might be found lurking in the woods just beyond your backyard? START YOUR OWN RESEARCH Either way, Theresa Bane’s “Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore” is a valuable resource. As the author writes in the preface, she believes this volume “to be unique in its completeness and in the breadth of its sources. I was determined to include every possible creature, leaving no culture, religion or time period untouched.” For further inspiration, turn to George Noory’s Beyond Belief episode titled “The CryptoHunter with John Rhodes,” wherein they explore Rhodes obsession with seeking out the 85% of unknown creatures that currently share our planet. For even more esoteric theories and applications, I recommend Max Igan’s ebook “Earth’s Forbidden History” wherein he discusses “Out-of-Place Parts” (OOPARTS), like a swiss watch discovered inside a piece of coal) as well as significant evidence that dinosaurs and humans may have at one time coexisted. There are countless more extraordinary examples where concrete evidence points towards the living existence of creatures otherwise unthinkable. The hope is that the small sampling presented here will serve as inspiration for further inquiry. In closing, we return to Borges waxing poetic about dragons. He writes, “We do not know what the dragon means, just as we do not know the meaning of the universe, but there is something about the dragon that is congenial to man’s imagination, thus the dragon arises in many latitudes and ages. It is, one might say, a necessary monster…” How many monsters are still out there waiting to be found? Why are certain myths and mythological animals so pervasive throughout time and space? Are these creatures simply necessary aspects of our imagination? Or are they really real? WHAT TO BRING WHEN SEARCHING FOR CRYPTOZOOLOGY CREATURES The only way to find out is for yourself. Therefore, if you are going out in search of cryptids, be it in your backyard, a national park or in a foreign land, here are some items that will be of benefit to your hunt:

https://ift.tt/2WvFdqS . Foreign Articles November 01, 2019 at 01:26PM