#symbionts

[loneberry]

As biologist Scott Gilbert and his colleagues write, “Almost all development may be codevelopment. By codevelopment we refer to the ability of the cells of one species to assist the normal construction of the body of another species.” This insight changes the unit of evolution. Some biologists have begun to speak of the “hologenome theory of evolution,” referring to the complex of organisms and their symbionts as an evolutionary unit: the “holobiont.” They find, for example, that associations between particular bacteria and fruit flies influence fruit fly mating choice, thus shaping the road to the development of a new species. To add the importance of development, Gilbert and his colleagues use the term “symbiopoiesis,” the codevelopment of the holobiont. The term contrasts their findings with an earlier focus on life as internally self-organizing systems, self-formed through “autopoiesis.” “More and more,” they write, “symbiosis appears to be the ‘rule,’ not the exception…. Nature may be selecting ‘relationships’ rather than individuals or genomes.”  —Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins

[meushell]

Symbiosis

Teen • F/M, M/M • 16,800 Words • Crossover • Fluff • Action/Adventure

Yes, I put the tel’tak behind DS9, while making it much larger than it should be.

Photos • Sam Carter • Martouf • Jacob Carter • Malek • Aldwin • Phaser Rifle and Staff Weapon crossed over each other • Ben Sisko • Julian Bashir • Worf • Jadzia Dax • Stars from Unsplash • Deep Space Nine and a tel’tac

Symbiosis (16800 words) by Meushell Chapters: 14/14 Fandom: Stargate SG-1, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Sam Carter/Martouf/Lantash, Malek/Aldwin, Jadzia Dax/Worf Characters: Sam Carter, Jacob Carter | Selmak, Martouf | Lantash, Malek, Aldwin, Ben Sisko, Jadzia Dax, Worf, Julian Bashir, Background & Cameo Characters, The Tok’ra Additional Tags: AU, Crossover, Fluff, Action/Adventure, Married Couple, Alien Cultural Differences, Two Minds One Body, Symbiotic Relationship, Tok’ra, Tok’ra Sam, International Fanworks Day 2023 Summary: “Sir, a ship just crashed into the Defiant,” Dax reported. “Jem’hadar?” Sisko asked. “Why crash into an empty ship?” Kira asked. “The ship is unknown. I think it’s a shuttle craft.” Dax shook her head. “I don’t think it was intentional. Sir, I’m picking up five life signs…or is it ten? Human and unknown. They are all weak.” ~~ A few Tok’ra crash near Deep Space Nine. From there, they and the DS9 staff discover a potential threat to both universes.

[babsbabbles]

also i feel like I know nothing about your original wip and would love to hear about it

I am Vibrating in my seat. you are so kind dear thank you! okay okay so-

I never know where to start talking about this stuff dhdjdkd-

my original wip is a worldbuilding project I have been working on for over 10 years now. It started as a way to create cool cultures and build languages and play with my science knowledge, and then I made One character, and that character spiralled into a story that now has no less than five major arcs.

the wip has been called "isolation" the whole time its had a name, at first that was because I didn't know what to call it and then because I realized that every arc I've written about it is just a series of people (and people ajacent sentient beings) dealing with feeling or being isolated in some way and how they respond to it (and what they did to escape it).

I have talked about it here before! most of the excerpts from my writings in the and the sparrow has a pen tag are taken from the master wip doc, and if you wanna read those they're here for your viewing pleasure. I'm at that stage unfortunately where the current fic is not progressing forward necessarily because I need to edit portions of it and smooth out edges to build off of again - it's slow but I am making progress! gotta sure up foundations before you build more house!

for now, I will leave you with this exerpt from one of my lore docs:

The succurus (pl. succurusies) is a small, isopod type creature. They have a hard, segmented outter shell and soft underbellies which they can protect somewhat by rolling up into a ball. Magnetic sensors run dorsally along their bodies from the tips of their antenae to the false ones at their rear. These sensors can be used to detect severe magnetic storms brewing even at considerable distance. This, alongside others skills such as a modular metabolism and telepathy, are what endeared them to the early people of the planet Tzelam - and it became the foundation for a mutualistic relationship of protection and resource location which has persisted since the stars were new.

[ihasafandom]

Amazing

VENOM: THE LAST DANCE (2024) dir. Kelly Marcel

[xeno-bio-sociology]

Venom by SchneeKatze09

[sabeedraws]

One of me is cute, but two though?

was drawing pregnant Eddie Brock fanart on my 2024 to do list? no!! it’s just what happened ok? I wholeheartedly blame V3 for being so symbrock baby coded

[quarkfancam]

dearly departed!

[botanyshitposts]

Sign i saw recently had a bunch of paint worn away with lichen in its place, however i unfortunately did not have my phone on me 😔😔

in an alternate universe where science funding is stable and abundant regardless of monetary gain we have already gotten to the complex root of which lichens enjoy signs but only the letters or only the sign and what about the letters or sign they prefer and this haunts me

[hollywoodbabylondean]

My absolutely nuclear take is that Worf didn't love Jadzia. He loved Curzon.

[horrorfilmlesbian]

I've said it before and I'll say it again Dax's (symbiont) fatal flaw & defining trait is always sentimentality.

It's why Jadzia even comes to deep space nine probably, and it's ABSOLUTELY why Ezri is dragged around like a ghost in her own life, falling into patterns simply because they're familiar And she's desperately uncertain but Dax knows what it wants. Ezri is a mess because she can't reconcile those two halves and honestly it's probably a good reason why she decided she had to be in love with Julian too.

And even Rejoined Jadzia Dax genuinely contemplates giving up the entire Dax future (their whole purpose as a symbiont/joined Trill) for their ex wife they want back from a life that got cut short.

Not to mention Yedrin Dax basically plotting to doom everyone because he can't let go of the gult he feels about not spotting the danger in the quantum field around the planet they crash land on.

[vagun1ka]

"a world without us"

[xeno-bio-sociology]

#so fond of op's eddie and venom's tendency to just have teeth poking out of them Jun 22, 2023

its HOT

[brynthatalien]

Soooo no one’s gonna mention the Dax symbiont is actually Trill gen alpha or..

[the-starboy-symbiont]

Thinking about creating a small 18+ system discord community

Not like 100% sure right now; doing a test run with some IRL system friends...

Would anybody be interested?

I really don't care to be involved with the syscourse, as I don't even really know how we feel about endos (there's a lot of conflicting feelings in here); however, this community would be specifically traumagenic-only (suspected and self-diagnosis friendly - we are suspected polyfrag and currently seeking a diagnosis but fighting with symptoms to get a psych lined up) for one reason.

That reason is that those of us who are traumagenic need a safe place to talk about their trauma; to have others who understand what they're going through, for solidarity and companionship; and to find friends who understand their experience. I know there are probably other discords like this, but I've been having trouble finding a community that meets my needs, so I might just build one.

It can feel really heavy and burdensome to be a system with no sense of belonging. I want everybody to feel like they belong, but especially those of us who feel especially alone 🫶

[spockvarietyhour]

beta canon explained it as a minority that was also afflicted with the Augment virus, which I thought was interesting. And those Goa'uld like parasites from Conspiracy, aka the bluegills? Distant cousins of the Trill Symbionts, once engineered millennia ago on a colony to adapt to the environment.

Forever thinking about how Terry Farrell literally offered a canon explanation for why the DS9 Trills look so different to the TNG ones, and the writers just... didn't take it? (Basically it was that they were two different races; the spotty Trills are from a northern continent and the bumpy forehead Trills are from a southern continent. That's so fascinating!)

It also raises SO many questions about the other inconsistencies between the two shows, such as why the spotty Trills seem common-knowledge throughout the galaxy (for decades, if Ben and Curzon's friendship is any indication, plus Dax's nostalgia for the Kirk era), yet the TNG crew acts like they've never seen anybody like Odan before. I mean the Trill were supposedly in Starfleet for centuries!

So I have this headcanon that the bumpy forehead Trills are actually a minority? And they're barely adequately represented on the Trill home planet, let alone outside. Maybe they're less capable of hosting symbionts. (Maybe they're just as capable, but it's a widely spread myth that they aren't, so that they'd get fewer symbionts! The Trill Symbiosis Commission has been known to lie to the population lol.) I also like to think at least one of Dax's previous hosts was a bumpy forehead Trill, just because it makes things interesting