#tom zhao

[flittlocke]

Master and value studies of Tom Zhao and N. C. Wyeth!

[elderscrollsconceptart]

Trebuchet

Concept art for The Elder Scrolls: Online

Art by Tom Zhao

[sapphoandpindar-blog]

For practice I tried painting a piece of concept art.

[vos-videmus]

Rip Ichiban, you would have loved MySpace

[roseshavethoughts]

United Tastes: My Top 5 Movies From Modern America

United Tastes: My Top 5 Movies From Modern America #Cinema

Modern American cinema has undergone significant transformations in recent years, reflecting the ever-evolving cultural and technological landscape. This era has witnessed a diverse range of films that push boundaries, challenge conventions, and explore a multitude of themes. One notable aspect of modern American cinema is the increased representation and inclusivity across various demographics,…

[luckyorchid]

The sun’s up

Comic 1 (PT. 1)

(Lore + Context is below!)

Hoo boy here we go (SPOILERS for anyone who wants to experience sky by themselves!)

Sky lore for Non-players (Feel free to skip, just added this since the story is a bit tied to the lore in game)

Some of the basics:

Core / Flame = Life source.

The ancestors are the original “humanoid” inhabitants of the world. Light creatures (animals) were the first inhabitants though. Sky beings were the last creations to solidify the inhabitants.

Light creatures & Sky beings all have a “core” which means they’re all connected and living off of light as their life source.

Sky beings are essentially just stars that fell on the world and decided to exist LMAO. You can't make one, so you just have to pray really hard for a shooting star.

Realms & Elders:

ignoring the middle one for now, there are 6 realms. Each realm has different climates (But it wasn’t always like that), and settings.

Isle of Dawn - Sandy terrain

Daylight prairie - Hills, grass, oceans and flowers.

Hidden forest - A forest where it rains non-stop

Valley of Triumph - A valley / mountainside that snows non-stop

Golden wasteland - Hell (/j) / Sandy terrain with toxic water.

Vault of Knowledge - Massive tower stored with history and knowledge

In the comic, they’re in “Hidden Forest.” Each realm has an Elder, who is essentially someone who governs the realm. They’re just here to make sure everything is stable.

History (This is all based off of my own observation + Tom Zhao's concept art!):

For that middle realm, it's called "Eye of Eden" and or where the "Storm" originated from. It also has an elder, but he's more or less "King of all kings" sort of thing. He had the say in most things. Eye of Eden never had a clear vision on what it was before the storm, but I'd imagine it would be a sort of sanctuary.

Speaking of before the storm, some realms weren't how they are right now, like how Isle of dawn used to be like Daylight prairie.

Moving on, at first every one was pretty chill, until the king found something called Dark stone. Dark stone is like...the opposite of light? It's like if you shoved a rock into gasoline and something radioactive. Despite it, the elders find out dark stone can be used to make advanced technology, so of course they take the chance to overuse it.

The light creatures and sky beings suffer from the effects of this. While sky beings were taken to areas with less dark stone, light creatures were treated with more hostility. This causes the ancestors and light creatures to go to war with each other.

Long story short; Dark stone corrupted the ancestors and started destroying the environment, because it literally uses light / fire as its power. The creatures said "Nuh-uh" and started fighting back. The final fight (that transpired in Eden) gets so bad that most of the dark stone explodes and creates a massive storm that affects all the realms, and most of the people die including the elders and king 😭

This is where "Dark creatures" start to thrive. These silly little guys are similar to dark stone, they love eating light.

Ratio & Kakavasha Lore

Ratio was born before the storm, while Kakavasha was born when the storm had already happened.

Veritas Ratio Lore:

Ratio was a smart kid, and a lot of people noticed it. That's it/j In fact, a lot of people noticed it, so he was dragged into the Sky version of the intelligentsia guild- in training, of course. He's too young to start running stuff, even if he insists on it.

It got to the point where even the elders acknowledged him, and some wanted him to be their advisor when he reached the right age. Veritas is (internally) ecstatic about this. He still holds the ideals of OG ratio, universal knowledge, and as an advisor he can further be of influence for good.

He was never close to his peers, in fact they couldn't count on their fingers just how many times he's called them idiots and other remarks, but he'd never go as far as to say he hated them. Fond? Maybe, just a teensy bit. A silent room is nice, but after a prolonged period, he may seek out that background noise of chatter. (Or not)

(Ref used: S1 arcane poster) Then the storm came. The storm pretty much threw all of his dreams to the abyss, and not only that- he had to witness the things he loved and cared for either die or go into shambles. He's one of the few survivors, but he's harboring a lot of guilt and contempt towards most things. (aka everything. He always thinks of "Why's" Why did the elders let it get this far? Why were the ancestors so selfish? Why couldn't he do anything to stop his friends from being eaten by those dark creatures?)

He stays with other survivors in safe realms (Daylight prairie), and he tries his best to be of help. Specifically: hunting. (Haha get it cause the hunt *cough*) He likes to join in hunting squads to kill dark creatures in the Hidden Forest, and if he can; study the body. It's morbid, but he wants to find ways to mitigate attacks.

Kakavasha Lore

The Avgin clan are all semi-dark creatures. Their landing spot is always within an area full of dark stone, so it's like their core merges with it. They can all turn into "Krills" (Sky version of dragon). Despite this, most of them have a kind nature and wouldn't go out of their way to hurt Sky beings. They settle on eating fruits, birds, and fish.

They live in Wasteland, which is littered with dark creatures. Despite sharing the same origins, even they have to be careful. Hungry creatures aren't picky after all.

But due to their advantage, they can usually freely travel through the Valley and Hidden Forest to scavenge for food and other materials.

Kakavasha loves to join his sister for scavenging, and he loves finding out about things in general, so much so his sister always has to look behind her shoulder to make sure he isn't doing anything risky. "High risk, high reward!" He still can't turn into a krill, but he can make his hands sharp! Other than that, he's pretty happy. The storm hasn't affected them much- in fact, it's an advantage. Though, he always wonders what's beyond the forest, snow and sands.

Post-storm Kakavasha happens when the storm starts to calm down and the sky beings start to regain their footing. This is how his clan gets found out and gets hunted down, until he and a few were the only survivors. He's used as a test subject to better understand dark creatures, but of course there was no consideration of his well-being. As long as he isn't dead. Similar to the OG hsr lore, he ended up killing the people who 'owned' him. But this time, he was freed with pardon because damn look at all that trauma. In this AU he's free to do whatever without someone shackling him down, but it doesn't make him feel any better to what happened to his clan and himself. He feels a bit of spite towards Sky beings, but he doesn't outright act on it...much.

This ended up having more lore than it's supposed to have 😭 I'll make a continuation comic of their first meeting, and some other random shenanigans these two end up getting into LMAO. Thanks for reading and have a good day <33

[venussaidso]

Me watching a Chinese drama with a Sun-Saturn lead pair and they're yoni consorts (Pushya-Krittika) and I hate the dynamic but I'm staying because Zhao Lusi is a Cancer Moon and because I sense Pushya themes, I'm gonna have to stick it out to better understand the nakshatra because the story is so, so very Saturnian.

The drama is called The Story of Pearl Girl. Also through the male lead, I'm understanding Krittika better. I'm seeing Sun nakshatra natives in roles in which they're involved in trade, commerce (sometimes illegal), having the ability to find authentic minerals, strategically gathering wealth (how they're also in heist films such as Ocean's Eleven starring Sun dominant actors). And, interestingly, Saturn nakshatra natives quite literally embody the diamond in the rough, which makes me better understand their intertwining stories.

Jafar from Aladdin being voiced by Uttara Phalguni Moon Jonathan Freeman.

The metaphorical (and literal) jewel to riches in the story is the genie voiced by Pushya Sun Robin Williams.

(A film starring two Solar nakshatra natives, called Blood Diamonds.)

Will re-make a Sun Dominant Themes post soon based on Solar characters discovering/wanting to possess gems or being a part of some kind of big trade, it's just so interesting to me. These nakshatras are quite adventurous like that. I'll be exploring this some day soon.

In The Story of Pearl Girl, the Pushya Moon native escapes slavery in a pearl farm after enduring hardships. A powerful intelligent merchant, who is played by a Krittika Moon native, crosses paths with her as he gains possession of a particularly special pearl she tried to sell. In the story, we see how she was scrubbing floors of his ship to building her own identity (and business). The whole rising from ashes Saturnian theme.

It is interesting how, because she was a pearl diver, her taught ability to search for pearls in the ocean had her compared to a mermaid.

Uttarabhadrapada is commonly known as the mermaid nakshatra but as it trines other Saturn nakshatras, such scenes had me considering the actress being a Pushya Moon. Which she honestly is. There is also a theme, though brief, with her mother who was initially cruel until her last moments. I find this particularly outstanding in Pushya nakshatra. Plus the actress is leading the story with a Solar native. Sun-Solar people stay away from each challenge: IMPOSSIBLE.

Also, seeing this theme of seeing the value in goods and minerals and treasures in Pushya nakshatra. Trining Pushya, Uttarabhadrapada's deity Ahirbudhnya lies in the deepest pits of the ocean guarding the greatest treasures in the world, too. And Pushya is the Star of Nourishment. Treasures and wealth lead to proper nourishment and comfort.

In Pirates of the Caribbean, the character Jack Sparrow is portrayed by a Pushya ASC native. Jack Sparrow is a savvy trickster pirate who has a keen sense of valuable goods and treasures. A character mirroring him is Hector Barbossa, who is portrayed by a Pushya Moon native.

Being Jack Sparrow's rival, Hector Barbossa has a great understanding of treasures and how to exploit them for his own gain.

As expected, we see Anuradha expressing itself this way as well. Such as the character Nathan Drake in the film Uncharted (2022), who is a treasure hunter and finder of legendary artifacts. Portrayed by Anuradha Moon Tom Holland.

In the video game series, Nathan Drake is voiced by a likely Anuradha Moon native Nolan North.

as i said, sun nakshatras are also seen in such themes. especially krittika!!! will be exploring more medias of this sometime soon.

[the-genius-az]

Epic x Atla?

Obviously Odysseus is Azula (because I love them both).

Penelope is Mai.

Telemachus is Tom-Tom.

Eurylochus is Zuko.

Polites is Ty Lee.

Zeus is Ozai.

Poseidon is Katara.

Hermes is Sokka.

Athena is Lo and/or Li?

Aeolus is Aang.

Circe is Suki.

Calypso is Yue.

Antinous is Zhao.

Or I don't know, I just want to read something about Epic x Atla.

[yipyipallyall]

ATLA AU writing prompt:

Aang is not the avatar tasked with ending Fire Lord Sozin's war (or at least not the current one). Someone else (not already represented in the fics I've read) has the job! Do you choose slapstick, horror, or the traditional angst? Your options:

Hama (Who knows if she'd invent bloodbending with the Avatar State right there?)

Kanna (Pakku inadvertently saves the world by driving her off with his misogyny!)

Aunt Wu (Her powers truly are remarkable! 😂)

The herbalist who lives in Taku (Miyuki is clearly her animal companion!)

Appa (think Freaky Friday-style body-switching)

Bumi's kid

Iroh

Jeong Jeong (who now gets to know about how every other kind of bending is cursed! neat!)

Zhao

Fong (that Earth Kingdom general who had a thing about the Avatar State)

Tyro (Haru's dad)

Lao or Poppy Beifong (one of Toph's parents)

One of the "Secret Tunnel"-singing musical nomads (Chong, Moku, Lily)

The cabbage merchant ("MY CABBAGES!" he screams in a thousand voices, as he rises and his eyes begin to glow…)

Hakoda

Fat (Piandao's butler)

Kya

Piandao

Bato

Fire Nation Man (he's totally shooting fire at the Earth Rumble as a gimmick, yeah, that's it…)

Ursa

Ming (that guard who was nice to Iroh when he was in prison)

Ikem (Ursa's former boyfriend/second husband)

Jee (armor creaks to indicate that you're going down)

Ghashiun (punk sandbender who muzzled Appa while kidnapping him in the Si Wong Desert)

Lu Ten (possibly the easiest to convince Zuko to defect!)

Aang's best buddy Kuzon's kid or grandkid

San Su or Lee (from that nice Earth Kingdom family in "Zuko Alone")

Sokka

Suki (every kid on her island has dreams about Avatar Kyoshi; surely they mean nothing…)

Teo

Haru

Song

Jet

Longshot

Kori Morishita (sometime assassin from Yu Dao from the comics)

Kei Lo (Mai's boyfriend from the comics)

Mai (so. many. projectiles.)

Ruon-Jian or Chan (the self-declared most important teenagers on Ember Island)

Ty Lee

Kiyi (Zuko & Azula's younger half-sister from the comics)

Tom-Tom (Mai's baby brother)

If you want, you can roll for your champion.

As an added bonus, you could consider the "there is a second avatar thanks to Vaatu" option, especially for some of the more cursed options above that might need some balancing. I don't think I've found a single Chaos Avatar fic that didn't pick Zuko, and while those are fantastic fics, we are missing the scope & breadth of chaotic energy coming from the characters of ATLA. No Chaos Avatar Sokka? No Chaos Avatar Toph?

See also past writing prompts: Zuko adoption

[compneuropapers]

Interesting Papers for Week 3, 2025

Synaptic weight dynamics underlying memory consolidation: Implications for learning rules, circuit organization, and circuit function. Bhasin, B. J., Raymond, J. L., & Goldman, M. S. (2024). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(41), e2406010121.

Characterization of the temporal stability of ToM and pain functional brain networks carry distinct developmental signatures during naturalistic viewing. Bhavna, K., Ghosh, N., Banerjee, R., & Roy, D. (2024). Scientific Reports, 14, 22479.

Connectomic reconstruction predicts visual features used for navigation. Garner, D., Kind, E., Lai, J. Y. H., Nern, A., Zhao, A., Houghton, L., … Kim, S. S. (2024). Nature, 634(8032), 181–190.

Socialization causes long-lasting behavioral changes. Gil-Martí, B., Isidro-Mézcua, J., Poza-Rodriguez, A., Asti Tello, G. S., Treves, G., Turiégano, E., … Martin, F. A. (2024). Scientific Reports, 14, 22302.

Neural pathways and computations that achieve stable contrast processing tuned to natural scenes. Gür, B., Ramirez, L., Cornean, J., Thurn, F., Molina-Obando, S., Ramos-Traslosheros, G., & Silies, M. (2024). Nature Communications, 15, 8580.

Lack of optimistic bias during social evaluation learning reflects reduced positive self-beliefs in depression and social anxiety, but via distinct mechanisms. Hoffmann, J. A., Hobbs, C., Moutoussis, M., & Button, K. S. (2024). Scientific Reports, 14, 22471.

Causal involvement of dorsomedial prefrontal cortex in learning the predictability of observable actions. Kang, P., Moisa, M., Lindström, B., Soutschek, A., Ruff, C. C., & Tobler, P. N. (2024). Nature Communications, 15, 8305.

A transient high-dimensional geometry affords stable conjunctive subspaces for efficient action selection. Kikumoto, A., Bhandari, A., Shibata, K., & Badre, D. (2024). Nature Communications, 15, 8513.

Presaccadic Attention Enhances and Reshapes the Contrast Sensitivity Function Differentially around the Visual Field. Kwak, Y., Zhao, Y., Lu, Z.-L., Hanning, N. M., & Carrasco, M. (2024). eNeuro, 11(9), ENEURO.0243-24.2024.

Transformation of neural coding for vibrotactile stimuli along the ascending somatosensory pathway. Lee, K.-S., Loutit, A. J., de Thomas Wagner, D., Sanders, M., Prsa, M., & Huber, D. (2024). Neuron, 112(19), 3343-3353.e7.

Inhibitory plasticity supports replay generalization in the hippocampus. Liao, Z., Terada, S., Raikov, I. G., Hadjiabadi, D., Szoboszlay, M., Soltesz, I., & Losonczy, A. (2024). Nature Neuroscience, 27(10), 1987–1998.

Third-party punishment-like behavior in a rat model. Mikami, K., Kigami, Y., Doi, T., Choudhury, M. E., Nishikawa, Y., Takahashi, R., … Tanaka, J. (2024). Scientific Reports, 14, 22310.

The morphospace of the brain-cognition organisation. Pacella, V., Nozais, V., Talozzi, L., Abdallah, M., Wassermann, D., Forkel, S. J., & Thiebaut de Schotten, M. (2024). Nature Communications, 15, 8452.

A Drosophila computational brain model reveals sensorimotor processing. Shiu, P. K., Sterne, G. R., Spiller, N., Franconville, R., Sandoval, A., Zhou, J., … Scott, K. (2024). Nature, 634(8032), 210–219.

Decision-making shapes dynamic inter-areal communication within macaque ventral frontal cortex. Stoll, F. M., & Rudebeck, P. H. (2024). Current Biology, 34(19), 4526-4538.e5.

Intrinsic Motivation in Dynamical Control Systems. Tiomkin, S., Nemenman, I., Polani, D., & Tishby, N. (2024). PRX Life, 2(3), 033009.

Coding of self and environment by Pacinian neurons in freely moving animals. Turecek, J., & Ginty, D. D. (2024). Neuron, 112(19), 3267-3277.e6.

The role of training variability for model-based and model-free learning of an arbitrary visuomotor mapping. Velázquez-Vargas, C. A., Daw, N. D., & Taylor, J. A. (2024). PLOS Computational Biology, 20(9), e1012471.

Rejecting unfairness enhances the implicit sense of agency in the human brain. Wang, Y., & Zhou, J. (2024). Scientific Reports, 14, 22822.

Impaired motor-to-sensory transformation mediates auditory hallucinations. Yang, F., Zhu, H., Cao, X., Li, H., Fang, X., Yu, L., … Tian, X. (2024). PLOS Biology, 22(10), e3002836.

[aldanrae]

A NOITE DO INCÊNDIO: revelações.

𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐀 𝐃𝐀 𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐊

No mês passado postamos nossa primeira task e como dito, haveria uma recompensa para todos aqueles que fizessem! Essa recompensa está especialmente entrelaçada com o plot central do rpg e vai ser uma surpresa para vocês e para os personagens. Então abaixo está a descrição do prêmio tanto para changelings como para os khajols.

𝐈. 𝐀 𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐈𝐑𝐀 𝐀𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐃𝐀

Eldrathor guarda muitos lugares, mas especialmente uma imensa clareira próxima a um bosque, um círculo irregular cujo centro possui uma grande estátua de um homem desconhecido. Corroída pelo tempo e coberta de musgo, não é possível identificar de quem se trata, e os changelings sempre assumiram ser um antigo general esquecido pelo tempo. Os anos quase varreram por completo as runas entalhadas na estátua… algo que ninguém nunca percebeu… e que tampouco saberiam ler. Os símbolos parecem pertencer a um idioma esquecido, runas que ninguém é capaz de identificar.

𝐈𝐈. 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒

Em um dia, durante o voo, o dragão subitamente muda de direção. Seu personagem é capaz de sentir o vento desarrumar os cabelos enquanto a criatura dá uma guinada drástica em outra direção, levando-o até um local conhecido: a ilha de Eldrathor. Ver Wülfhere destruída dá um aperto no coração, mas a ilha ainda resiste de pé, especialmente uma clareira próxima a um bosque úmido com uma antiga e desconhecida estátua. O dragão pousa ali, quase expulsando seu personagem da cela, que rola confuso pela relva fria. Ao se levantar, está ainda mais desorientado porque uma voz se faz presente no fundo de sua cabeça.

É como escutar alguém falar do fundo de um poço. O tom então vai se tornando mais alto e mais forte, subindo aos limites do consciente e de repente seu personagem é capaz de entender e ouvir tudo: um timbre claro e majestoso, carregado de um sotaque desconhecido e que combina perfeitamente com o dragão à frente, que pisca de forma ansiosa porém determinada.

O dragão está falando. Pela primeira vez, o dragão está literalmente falando, projetando sentenças completas na cabeça de seu personagem. Ele o levou para a clareira com dois objetivos: para que a estátua seja observada, e para contar que o roubo do cálice está além da compreensão e conhecimento de todos. Não foram os khajols.

𝐈𝐈𝐈. 𝐊𝐇𝐀𝐉𝐎𝐋𝐒 

Durante uma noite, seu personagem sonha com o deus que hospeda. É um espaço estranho, de pouca cor e iluminação. A princípio há a surpresa por achar que a divindade que hospeda está tentando se comunicar. Os passos lentos aproximam a figura do deus, a curiosidade falando mais alto. O deus fala e as palavras soam estranhas, quase afogadas, mas ainda assim o personagem é capaz de entender a mensagem: o roubo da pira não foi obra dos changelings.

A confusão toma conta do lugar, mas antes que perguntas possam ser feitas, o rosto do deus começa a mudar e assumindo outra forma, mudando do deus para uma figura desconhecida. Quando a divindade abre a boca, runas estranhas parecem tomar conta do lugar. Não são como os aons ou qualquer coisa que os khajols tenham visto antes. Então, como apenas um passe de mágica, a paisagem muda.

Seu personagem está em uma clareira, encarando uma estátua corroída pelo tempo. De alguma maneira eles sabem que pertence a Eldrathor, embora não conheçam nada mais a respeito. O rosto da estátua parece familiar, mas há muito está devastado pela passagem do tempo, com grama e musgo cobrindo tudo. A visão é apenas um mero segundo, rápida e confusa antes do despertar da manhã.

𝐈𝐕. 𝐀 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐑:

Essa é a recompensa para todos que fizeram a nossa primeira task, muito importante ao plot central, dentro do prazo de duas semanas desde o ingresso do rp.

Os recompensados são: Saija Havilliard, Morrigan Norrgard, Dahlia Dufour-Lapointe, Freyja Aksel Hrafnkel, Minah Zhao Slivka, Brianna Hirai, Gale Eilonwy-Walsh, Vincent Osíris Essaex, Kieran Aethor Essaex, Deirdre de Colmain, Kyrell Tsillah Vortirgern, Aleera Orianna Essaex, Aeolian Finarfin, Viserion Azad, Cillian Methusael, Tadhg Rami Barakat, Cadeyrn Zale Yilmaz, Zoya Mannerheim-Vyrkhandor.

Os personagens podem e devem compartilhar essa informação com amigos para que todos saibam, não há necessidade de segredo.

POVs são bem-vindos, mas não são obrigatórios; também seria interessante abordar as descobertas em interações. Esta recompensa é um novo conhecimento essencial sobre quem está por trás destes roubos.

Os dragões não passam a falar a partir de agora. É por apenas um dia. Changelings, o dragão de vocês vai repassar essa mensagem e então pode falar outras coisas. Hora de papear com os bichinhos se quiserem, porque depois disso eles vão se calar novamente!

Khajols, não vai ser possível reconhecer as runas do sonho ou da estátua caso seu personagem decida afastar a grama e musgo, mas está liberado fazer pesquisas a respeito para descobrir mais!

[elderscrollsconceptart]

Undead Legionary

Concept art for The Elder Scrolls: Online

Art by Tom Zhao

[skykidsam]

Forest Temple and Darkstone Production:

How this elaborate door may tell us more about the process than we originally realized

Yesterday, I believe I had an epiphany. When I was watching this door activate, I realized that it quite literally might be giving us the recipe for darkstone production.

Let's outline what we're seeing.

First, the major structure on the door seems to represent the inside of the Temple and the machinery within. We see two people on boats above with jars full of golden-white light - the signature color for regular, non-colored light. We also see two cyan-colored lights below, not in jars, but seemingly in some mechanism in the machinery. This light must first be retrieved before it is taken by boat to the center of the machine.

Let's look at some concept art from Tom Zhao to compare.

Here we can see a little bit of what they imagined the darkstone refinery process would look like. We see raw material goes in the center golden chamber, it gets stamped into a diamond shape, the refined "artificial star" gets imbued with energy while still in the chamber, and then it rolls out the troughs, presumably ready to use.

Something that stands out to me is that the cyan-colored light in this concept art matches the cyan-colored stones on the temple doors, making me wonder if those stones represent the energy that is used to fill the darkstones. That energy, as seen in this next concept and also in the Abyss murals, comes from trapped light creatures.

It's important to note that these are concepts, not the final design, so things likely won't add up 1 to 1. However, we can at least try to glean some of the core ideas that were being captured.

These concepts appear to be:

Collect raw darkstone

Shape raw darkstone into diamond shape, creating refined darkstone

Imbue darkstone with light, creating charged darkstone

Whether or not all darkstones required the light of light creatures is up for interpretation, but we do know basically for certain that creatures have been used for that purpose at some point in Sky's history.

So let's look at the door again.

Two cyan-colored lights from below

And two golden-white lights from above

To make one singular darkstone

So what are these ingredients?

I have two theories.

The first theory is that the golden-white light represents natural, regular light (like the light that the Prairie Elder hoarded in jars), and that the cyan color, in this instance, represents light drained from light creatures. Combining these ingredients creates a charged, refined darkstone, ready for use.

The second theory is that the golden-white light represents any light used to charge the stones (including light from light creatures), and that the cyan-colored stones represent uncharged darkstones. Combining them, you once again get a charged, refined darkstone.

What brought me to these conclusions? Why do I think the colors represent certain things over others?

Well, let's look at some more concept pictures.

The color scheme in Sky is very important - we can see how orange and white represent the closest things to pure Light and when we start getting into blues and greys, it represents a lack of connection to The Light.

So, I think the golden-white lights speak for themselves - they are natural light in some form or another.

The cyan ones are more ambiguous. I think it's relatively safe to rule out Cyan Light itself, the element associated with wind and Valley (although, I guess you could go that route and maybe assume the cyan light is meant for the stones to be able levitate or something, idk).

I'm more inclined to believe this represents something with distance from The Light, whether that be the refined stones themselves, which are often represented with a similar color in the concept art, or the light from drained light creatures, which may also be represented with a similar color scheme.

What this really pokes at is the fact that we genuinely have no idea what the extraction process of light creatures looks like - the only thing we can compare the process to is ourselves as skykids and the way we react to losing light (which is not foolproof because skykids and light creatures are pretty different in a lot of ways).

We could also maybe look at things like manta projections/spirit mantas, as well as the eel from Treasure Reef to take note of the other unusual ways light creatures can present so we can try to discern whether they are that way due to light extraction or other factors.

Ultimately, though, we know so much and still so painfully little about this process, so please enjoy these crumbs lol

[atlasas45]

My not-really-old early concept of a place that I have been thinking about the concept for a long time now, and is supposed to be only exists in my Sky AU, but then the more I think of the concepts, it also made me realize that it gets some relations with the current Sky gameplay especially in economies with the Ancestors. So I decided to make it as a fan-Season too!! [Season of Trading(?)]

Some infos abt it that I might add more soon:

In my AU, this place is only for Sky Kids who wants to be a Guide for the newborn Children of Light for each Realms, as there were some spirits and Adult Sky "Kids" that can taught them about Martial Arts, Archery, Swords, Spears, and other weapons, and even Magic, Flight (including riding Light Creatures like Manta!), even other languages and secret codes!! And while this place is hidden, there are still some sly and tricky hunters or maybe scavengers that stealing some stuffs from the village and will do anything to get something that got their interests, no matter what.

The location is either reaaalllyyyy hidden in Hidden Forest, or far far away from Prairie Peaks or Aviary, or even in an undiscovered island! The only way to get there is to warp from the guide while the Season is active as the usual, OR riding a manta instead of a boat!! *

This place actually prohibited the usage of Diamonds, knowing what it was made from, so that's why it didn't use boat, and most of the stuffs there are probably traditional / handmade. (This may also explains why the place is really far / hidden, so that it can be far from the others that has been using the diamonds.)

^ Like this one from the Sky: The Two Embers hahasehhase ^

New experience for arriving in the new Season location hell yeah,,,,,, yes you can tell that I got bored with using boats to bring us into the new Season location /jk

I kinda think of the spirits to be 6 but with no expressions (yet, or maybe no-) and each of them has their own jobs! I am still thinking of the job for the spirits and I will pick some from these; woodchopper, miner, farmer, crafter, chef, herdsman(?), book archiver, and even a tailor too like in Aviary maybe?

The guide is either an old-ish Spirit that looked like an archiver, or the Spirit that helps with the delivery to the other Realms.

*(Though there IS a boat- or more likely a ship-, somewhere near the sea after the Forest, and it's a WOODEN BIG AHH SHIP THAT HELPS TO DELIVER STUFFS FOR FARAWAY ISLANDS....)

The inspirations I took for this are from a lot of possible medias that I know, such us Zelda, DND, Genshin, Spiritfarer, HTTYD, Lara Croft / Tomb Raider, Princess Mononoke, The Chronicles of Narnia, Avatar (both Avatar with the blue creature one (Na'vi) and Avatar with the Aang boi), and PROBABLY MANY MORE BUT I FORGOT WHAT I SHOULD PUT AUGH-

Also inspired by some of Tom Zhao's Sky concept arts, and some of the existing concept such as Aviary Village, Wind Paths, and the treehouses in Sky like the one with the Assembly Spirits and the one with the Belonging Grandma that give us breads :3c

[spiribia]

(sky cotl concept art by tom zhao) i love glimpses into things that did not materialize. your whole unrealized intricate world

[skysunnymq]

Tom N Artie #7 cover

Writer: Robert Livingston https://bsky.app/profile/hazeamaze.bsky.social

Artist: David Monge Bautista https://x.com/bautista_monge

Colorist: Zhao Chunlin (meeeeee) https://www.deviantart.com/skysunnymq

TomNArtie