#Terra Sonalis

[juleteon]

Washing starlight

[juleteon]

Look up!

[juleteon]

Lucid.

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one instinct ahead

[juleteon]

As the whistles of the critters dim, it's a sign that the sun has slowly secured it's position in the wide sky. A dusk that will last longer than it's cycle. Selkouni perched down, shuffling away some rubble and taking a seat to watch the painting of the ever-long rays.

The light stretches lazily, and a breeze blows, as if the valley itself had sighed with relief and exhaustion. Now begins the quiet. A slowing down of time itself. As the inhabitants of the woods and hills prepare for the changes that accompany the resting sun. Measuring time itself - changes.

It no longer speaks in the familiar tongue of cool or warm. The grand elements are taking rest - now, it is for the small, for the crawling, for the growing, to account for their memories and wisdom: Some, count the changing leaves of an orchard. Some, smell the soil. Some, simply know, or remember. Some, sense the ever so slight changes of solar radiation to feel the speed of continuity.

Selkouni simply watches. They enjoy the striking colors appearing on the clouds and the sung melodies of the lively environment around them. When they'll be satisfied with their presence and their thoughts, they'll get up and keep on with their journey.

[juleteon]

CONFRONTATION Grabbing Rust's arm, Aster is pulling water from a nearby spill which happened to be contaminated with machine oil the cult leaders store away. Orion plunges, talons first, to grab her away from his partner. Zeph hurdles a flame towards the barn owl, igniting the oil mid-movement.

[juleteon]

Only a honest facade

Lunarian's body is more of a possessed vessel, if to be described by layman's terms. What Lunarian is - is easily more than meets the eye, or rather, all that is concealed from it. Lunarian is a system, a fungal network, all connected and acting as one. It's tale tells of an awakening, and of the need to yawn from the deep slumber - and thus, a search for an appropriate form was needed.

A form that will proof most efficient and adaptable. A felid specimen was simply convenient for mobility and camouflage. Establishing itself to a body once borrowed - then, mended into a complete, new one. With an eye of great properties acquired and threaded as a core. Everlasting fleshy mushroom extensions tie to it's symmetrical silhouette - shapeshifting by command, and, allowing the sharing of it's spores.

It's communication seems as a telepathic one, by the average impression. But the truth is that what allows those thoughts and sensations to be 'spoken' is a consensual 'infection' of sorts - spores that allow for the translation and transmission of the networks signals.

Both Bug and Selkouni have established a trusty friendship with Lunarian, despite their wide differences. Selk often has a difficult time attempting to introduce their companion, since any ideas of necromancy are highly controversial in the society of their home.

Questions of morality, death, and what it actually means to cross the barrier of an independent living being vs a mere vehicle for another often find their way onto a discussion in such interactions. But the truth remains, and so does their bond.

[juleteon]

Selkouni travels between the realms of the dreaming, but not all of them are as kind as others. A certain entity does not like the idea of it's realm being infiltrated. It retaliates violently. It retaliates in a haunting of it's own.

[juleteon]

some days are just gloomier than others

[juleteon]

Young Selk and the weird, large water plants of the planet they learn to call 'home'. They've always been a very strange and cryptic one

[juleteon]

mycelium whispers --  Lunarian (it/they) is a curious being - an extraterrestrial fungal organism chose to take a form more suitable for travelling. It's eye, however, his a mystery it would like to keep secret...  Ian is not the original owner of the eye that it cleverly possessed and enchanted to function as such a practical sensory organ. It has no meaning to disclose much of it, and it's likely that no one would get the chance to get a look close enough to reveal the webbed textures of mycelial tissue instead of veins that is spread under it's colorful retina.

[juleteon]

A compilation of Rana sketches (she/her) - Rana is a side-character in Terra Sonalis, but it doesn't lessen her importance. She is Selk's first and only caretaker in their childhood. She had taught them a lot about the way the world works (literally, physics, chemistry, etc.)

She had left the towns away to live independently and keep her hands busy with her craft without disturbances. Rana is an alchemical mechanic, or, to adjust the title to something that would make more sense to us; A lot of engineering and construction of mechanical machines that are powered and designed not only with sense of physics in mind but also alchemy - aka chemistry with a magical twist to it. As a base for understanding the way the people of Terra Sonalis see the world: They do not have a separation like we are used to, of STEM fields and other knowledge. Physics, chemistry and biology are all one and interconnected and cannot be isolated - they need to be understood together if one wishes to find the means to create or manipulate anything in a controlled and conscious manner. Studying the /present/ or the rules of those realities by observing a slice at a time, is a different matter. Learning about the world from different angles, like changing colored lenses to focus on different aspects and values of a picture.

[juleteon]

Terra Sonalis Architecture: The Ground Level Dwelling. More often than not these are temporary residential homes for passing merchants and their families. It's a convenient area to stay in that provides proximity to the markets and the stables. The closure to the ground keeps the homes cool at often long hot seasons of the lands. The houses are not precisely 'constructed' as much as they are 'guided' by ropes and molds for the fungus to grow onto, when reached the desired dimensions and figure - it is being 'fed' sturdier minerals than found in the local soil and flora, developing a tough exterior. The finished houses somewhat resemble a glazed pottery from the outside, but retain a porous attribute 'indoors' that helps to balance out humidity and temperature. The additional benefits of having your home being a literal fungus, is that it does a great job at keeping other fungi & molds away! (a territorial house, can you imagine?) The fungus produces spores once every couple of cycles around the sun, the months leading to the spore production are visible in cracks and wrinkling of the walls - which is a good timed warning to pack your stuff - Once the fungus is mature enough to release it's spores, it often weakens and the 'glaze' like exterior becomes fragile and flakes away, to allow for wind and rain to redistribute it's spores on their journey (many, of course, are also manually collected for growth!)

[juleteon]

Wading through

[juleteon]

A demonstration of Ian's fun little trick: transforming its horns to the wide range hat - less of a protection against any sun, mind you, but to protect passerby and strangers from their very peculiar eye with its extremely strange effects on unsuspecting strangers. Lunarian is a sentient fungal organism, the eye it possesses is an exception, to some degree - it was harvested (the origin secret and unknown) but Ian found a way to wield it as its own. Photoreceptors are all neat and cool on their own, but this eye in particular is a tad more interesting: Ian is able to witness time-space distortions. To a person unfamiliar with Ian's glance, just being it it's presence can bring an uneasy effect on one's body: Dizziness, loss of orientation, forgetfulness, the symptoms might get worse when staring directly onto Ian's eye without being used and developing a resistance to it's influence. And thus, the creature mostly travels covered and shaded

[juleteon]

A local Terra Sonalis Beetle Farmer bringing a young one, decorated with colorful flowers around it's leash, for a seasonal fare - The people of the planet have long since domesticated the wild, slow, ground-dwelling species and have selectively bred them to become a completely flightless breed. Breeds of the domesticated beetle come in varied ranges of color, shape and size! These fellas are a keystone in agriculture as they are grown both for the eggs and grubs to be consumed, and, in death, the exoskeleton of adult beetles is harvested for chitin. The chitin serves as a valuable resource - often it is utilized as a sturdy, light and durable building material, and grounded, the powders are used as pigments to be mixed with oily or waxy mediums for iridescent paints, similar to Mica. These animals have inspired many, from engineers to artists, and their influence can be seen in architecture, clothes, jewelry, murals, and more!