#deep sea lore!

[qdkdraws]

Merm designs that I made for unexpected collaboration with @mistystarshine :3 (and that's not all the designs *sigh*)

You can find the first fic in the series (yes, it's a series) here!

[rexscanonwife]

Some Sea Beast self ship stuff!! I've always wanted to draw a rly pretty underwater kiss scene and I was kinda winging it with lighting in this one but I overall like how it turned out! 🥺💖

Plus some simple ref of my s/i + my s/i doing whale eye cause I thought that would be funny hehe

Taglist♡: @me-myself-and-my-fos @tiny-cloud-of-flowers @sunstar-of-the-north @dearly-beeloved @adoredbyalatus @changeling-selfship @crushes-georg @miutonium @cherry-bomb-ships @rosieaurora @rejaytionships @sunflawyer @in-true-blue-love @tropicalgothships @cupiidzbow

[ghost-bxrd]

— last image captured by drone315 seconds before disaster, image recovered by accessing sunken servers via diving team, incident referenced: Odyssey’s Sinking, access file J16T for further information, section: confirmed incidents

“-obviously the radar’s hung up. There’s no rock field in the area big enough to-

Did you hear that?

… No, I don’t know.

It sounded like we might have hit something. Go look… then turn on the lights. Jesus, it’s like we’re short on tech or something…

Huh? What do you mean the anchor’s gone? How can it be gone-?

Shit! Turn on the lights! Hurry! The radar’s going crazy!

Wh- No it’s not whales you dumbass! Now turn on the goddamn lights! Maybe we can see what’s out there with-

Oh holy mother of- are you seeing this? The hell is that thing? No it’s not a squid- where the fuck did you get your degree, Harold? Squid don’t have scales. Start the drone, we need to get an idea of how large it is. This is phenomenal. I’m estimating a good twenty meters with that scale size. We could be looking at an undiscovered species of sea snake here, if we bring this back to the- ha! Got it! Drone’s up and about! Harold, tell Jess to flip the beamers up to a hundred. Maybe we can spot the thing’s head—

Hold on, hey, Ed, are you seeing this-?

Oh- oh my god. Oh, Jesus Christ, oh fuck, no, fuck- Everyone, abandon ship! Get off the ship! Get off the ship right now! I repeat, get off-!”

— Voyage Data Recorder, audio transcript, recovered from ship wrecked remains of “The Oddyssey”, time stamp: 01:32, no survivors

File Notes:

Second notable incident with Subject J16T (category class: Leviathan) responsible. For first notable incident, access file: [REDACTED] Research Facility

[3gremlins]

me: i care less about dragon age now, it's been almost decade, i am tired.

*a few crumbs of dragon age news*

THE BEACONS ARE LIT! GONDOR THEDAS CALLS FOR AID DISCOURSE!

[nin3kyuu]

THE MOTHER OF THE SEA

"I was once young and powerful, the ocean my strength, thriving with the pod I led. The ocean gave us plenty, its bounty endless. Yet, I did not foresee that it would also take from me everything I knew. The ocean became unwelcoming, slowing my breath and sapping my strength. In taking my life, it gave me a son—a son who would lead the next era to a homeland of their own, where they will thrive and prosper."

— Meyridäìn

Deep sea na'vi and Meyridäìn belongs to @villainsimpqueen

Meyridäín is where it all began for the Kalivu people... mother of Kavu.

[crow-n-tell]

What kind of octopus is Kraken!Moon?

Between the pictures I'm definitely going to be talking about some facts on the octopi, and also how I incorporate certain aspects of them into Moon's overall design. Cause I'm a nerd and I want to.

Oops, I meant "they are adept at using tools to-" sorry, m a bit tired.

Many of the shelters that are made by coconut octopi are made using coconuts (hence their moniker), shells, and anything around they feel they could pull over their heads or curl up into! A really interesting aspect about that is also that when it comes time to move their shelters for whatever reason they may need to, they WALK. Thats right. THEY ARE BIPEDAL YA'LL.

There isn't really a lot known about Bioluminescent octopi. Most of what I saw discussed was how they are deep sea creatures, and how the glow could mean all sorts of things. Maybe for hunting like angler fish, maybe to scare off predators (or perhaps to distract like the Vampire squid does when it uses a cloud of bioluminescent mucous to escape), its also possible its for attracting a mate.

What it is to moon hasn't really been decided yet? I kind of like the idea that it tunes you into his emotions. The more heightened his emotions, the brighter he gets. Sort of like blushing. I don't know, I'm thinking on it.

Also yes, the little bit hanging off the side of Moon's head is actually fins. Fins like you might find on the ever adorable:

Dumbo octopus! But his are incredibly small and do very lil flapping unless he's embarrassed or something. Honestly I see them mostly as vestigial.

There are a lot of interesting facts about the Blanket Octopus. Just off the top of my head, the female blanket octopus is HUGE. The girlies can stretch up to 6 feet. The guys... welp, hahaha. They are like an inch. Very similar to a height difference you guys have already seen with y/n, sun and moon, right?

However whats really interesting is that they are immune to the potent and painful sting of a man-o-war jellyfish. And whats even MORE interesting is what they do with that little bit of immunity. You see they have a tendency to rip off the man-o-war's stingers and use them for defense. How cool is that? also, kinda crazy fucked up. Imagine someone just snatched up your arm and started beating people to death with it?

OKAY I'M OUT

[ironicsoap]

kind of went insane and made a pressure self insert. she likes to lounge out in pools a lot. her poor hair is a damaged mess

[wanderingmausoleum]

My latest Shadow of the Erdtree theory:

Could Messmer the Impaler have been partially inspired by Cú Chulainn and his spear, the Gáe Bulg, from Irish mythology?

This will be a long post with a lot of heavy speculation so buckle up!

According to the Táin Bó Cúailnge via Wikipedia (which I apologize for using as a source; I don't know much about this topic and other results seemed untrustworthy or were behind paywalls), the spear Gáe Bulg was made from a sea monster's bone, and it "entered a man's body with a single wound, like a javelin, then opened into thirty barbs. Only by cutting away the flesh could it be taken from that man's body."

Which brings me to this iconic moment in the trailer:

Although the thing impaling this person doesn't look like Messmer's spear, it looks like it may have impaled them similarly to how the Gáe Bulg is described: spear-style, with extra barbs erupting out of it afterwards. I'm not sure how the living corpse in the trailer would have kept their head and body somewhat intact unless the barbs extended from the central spike after the impaling happened. Although it doesn't look like this was done with Messmer's spear, this gruesome injury's similarity to what the Gáe Bulg was said to do makes me think it's worth mentioning.

In some versions of the legend, the Gáe Bulg had seven heads with seven barbs each. Thus it may be worth noting that Messmer's spear has 6-7 metal barbs (depending on the angle and whether you count the spear point as one) formed by its fire design:

And, right after the trailer's scene of the impaled corpse, Messmer is shown to have an attack where he stabs the floor with his spear and a bunch of identical spears erupt from the ground around it, which is another slight similarity to the Gáe Bulg's multiplicity.

Now onto the even more speculative part of this theory...

Messmer and Shadows

We know Empyreans in Elden Ring are given guard dog-like Shadows to be their guardians: Ranni has Blaidd, and Marika has Maliketh. However, Malenia and Miquella are both Empyreans, and we are given no information about their Shadow(s), a significant absence in the lore and a topic which has been given much discussion in Elden Ring spaces I've participated in.

There has also been extensive theorizing about Messmer's place in the lore, with his red hair and M initial leading many to believe he may be another of Marika and Radagon's children, alongside Malenia and Miquella.

While learning about the Gáe Bulg spear, I learned its owner, the mythical warrior hero Cú Chulainn, "gained his better-known name as a child, after killing Culann's fierce guard dog in self defence and offering to take its place until a replacement could be reared," after which he obtained his well-known spear (Wikipedia).

With this and my prior speculation about Messmer's spear and lineage in mind, this makes me wonder: did Messmer kill Malenia and Miquella's Shadow(s), and possibly become their replacement himself (whether he later defected from that position or not)?

It may be notable to mention again here that the DLC's title is "Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree" and Messmer features prominently on its cover. Considering Shadow characters are an important part of Elden Ring's lore, with Blaidd being crucial to the game's most popular ending and Maliketh being necessary to defeat to complete the game, I wouldn't put it past the Elden Ring team to give the word a double meaning here: shadows meaning literal darkness as shown in the trailer, and Shadow meaning an Empyrean's guardian.

On the other hand, of course, Messmer with all his various heretical symbolism (fire, snakes, etc.) seems to exist in opposition to the Erdtree, so if the DLC title is referring to him, him being called the Shadow of the Erdtree doesn't make much sense lore-wise.

In conclusion:

There are no conclusions yet, really! Everything I'm theorizing here is based on a lot of speculation and vague connections. There are contradictions in the Gáe Bulg's lore itself, too (such as how it "had to be made ready for use on a stream and cast from the fork of the toes" [Wikipedia], something Messmer is definitely not doing in the trailer—although, since Fromsoft decided to give so many of their character models toe articulation and Messmer's toes are out, this could be a very funny way to make use of that). On the other hand, since Fromsoft very rarely takes inspiration 1:1 from existing mythology, I still think it's possible Messmer was influenced by it even if it doesn't fit his known lore with 100% accuracy.

I welcome thoughts/theories expanding on or contradicting this, especially from anyone who knows more about Irish mythology than me! I do not know too much about Cú Chulainn's story or this mythos in general, so I'm sure there's a lot of notable information I missed.

[dogtoling]

so i noticed on engel’s toyhouse that the heart shaped suckers are some sort of modification, and i was curious if you had a specific way in mind that this is achieved? (obsessed with splat body mod logistics)

(i'll do it)

(If you're broke, you can also use metal wire to do whatever shape you want, but if you particularly don't like the taste of metal or blood or dont want to scratch your suckers up you did NOT hear it from him.)

[mossymandibles]

At the Mouth of Tartarus

Understood to be the deepest part of Hellmouth, Tartarus is unexplored and untouched by those on the surface. It’s believed that the first celestial body to have fallen resides there, presumably dead and feeding those willing to partake. Others believe the depths are so immeasurable that Tartarus is simply an opening into the cosmos. Leviathan lurk at the gaping mouth of this abyss as they guard the communion of the deep, having already received their blessings.

[arabian-batboy]

Why are 99% of all shows/movies about Merfolk just "pretty Mermaid girl learns about the world on land and fall in love with a human boy"? Come on now it been 35 years since Disney dropped The Little Mermaid, we can't just keep making the same exact knock-off while ignoring all the potentials of interesting stories you can make with Merfolks......

[cephalopodyuri]

Three of Hearts!

the freshest first-wave Octopunk band!! they only made music for 5 years but have had decades long impacts on both music and the world around them. shaping the Octopunk subculture, and the way octolings approach protesting against oppression.

Pacifica is the eldest sister, she is the heart of the band. she plays bass and does the community work.

Calypso is the second oldest, she is the body of the band. she sings, plays tambourine, dances, and hypes the crowd up

Abyssa is the youngest sister, she is the mind of the band. she write lyrics, plays drums, and manages finances/promotion.

aside from their high energy punk sound that makes you want to get up and jump around, their most famous or infamous legacy came from the way they would organize music festivals with fellow bands to educate the masses. they had ton of these Octopunk festivals and they were a massive success, unfortunately the most well known festivals ended in tragedy when the venue was raided by octarian army. no more festivals, just safe basement shows where nothing on that scale could ever happen again.

their lasting influence is the new wave of Octopunk, lead by the generation who was raised on the first wave. they now live in a better world that the OG Octopunks worked hard for, and still there is much room for improvement. the new wave has influences from other alternative genres such as Batfish and Seamo for a new generation with new problems

rock on as always

[rexscanonwife]

Hello lovelies!! As you may know I'm on vacation in Puerto Rico right now with my amazing partner and having an absolute BLAST 🥺🥺💘💗💘💗💘 it's been so much fun hanging out with ruby and their family and feeling like part of it!

At the same time tho (and I've been talking about this with them)...being on a tropical island and hanging out at the beach has got me thinking about Jacob again 😳😳

[ghost-bxrd]

There’s no time. I don’t know when they want to harvest the- god, fuck, I don’t even—

I won’t let them do it.

I don’t care what [REDACTED] says. Waiting isn’t an option anymore.

I’m getting him out of that tank. No matter what it takes.

It’s not like I didn’t see this coming. It’s kind of a miracle it took this long at all. At least… I hope [REDACTED] lets them know I wasn’t like them.

I just hope it’s quick. All I need to do is short circuit the locking mechanism, allow him that one opening…

I wish I’d gotten to see [REDACTED] one last time. But maybe it’s better like this.

[REDACTED], when you read this… don’t tell him, please.

And thank you.

For everything.

— [REDACTED]

File Notes:

Personal file, recovered from the sunken remains of the [REDACTED] research facility, ner the residency of [REDACTED] — status: missing

Researcher: [REDACTED], Researcher status: deceased

[silent-moons-camp]

I love space SO much. And it absolutely terrifies me too. If I wasn't terrified of space, and I was good at math, I'd be working at NASA. But even then I won't ever get to explore the galaxy in my lifetime, because we are nowhere near travel that equals the speed of light, and even then, lightspeed is still painfully slow on the cosmic scale.

Did you know that, no matter where we are in humanity, our sun will begin to die billions of years from now? We may all be dead and gone, or we may have evolved into something unrecognizable, or we may still be around. But one day, the Earth will be engulfed by the sun. Or it'll be thrown out of orbit. It'll be the end for Earth. We may have figured out how to go beyond the speed of light by then. We could have discovered that the Einstein-Rosen Bridge theory - wormholes - is real, and we could have used that to bend spacetime to our will and find somewhere new to call home, potentially even new universes.

But we don't know. Earth will likely become uninhabitable before the natural lifespan of our sun can engulf it, as a result of our very human mistakes and actions and impacts.

And... this is just a longwinded way of me saying, that's what Starfield is about.

It's about being human in the face of the divine, in the face of being so so so small in the universe. It's about conflict, the tragedy of it, how it can so easily destroy our humanity before time itself has the chance to. It's about looking at the petty wars between the UC and the Collective and going, "what are they doing? There is plenty of space for us all. This is only our galaxy, what about beyond?" It's about humanity pushing forward for answers about the universe and how they will always resort to the same petty violence over those answers. It's about how you can decide what you do with those answers. It's about looking in the eye of sure destruction that will certainly come one day, and say, "I will live and love in spite of it."

You can certainly become like the Hunter. You can continuously perpetuate the cycle of very human violence because that is all that is left to you, because you have embraced the uselessness of it all. Or you can become like the Pilgrim. You can settle down and bring love and kindness to others, and bring them knowledge, despite the fact that everything is pointless.

We are just starstuff. We come from the stars, and back to the stars we will eventually go, one way or another. And it's up to you to decide if you will embrace that as the only meaning in the universe, or if you will reject the simplicity of that, and embrace humanity, embrace love, embrace compassion, embrace meaning in spite of it all.

That is what Starfield is about. That's what it is about to me. And I love it.

[katyspersonal]

Not me detecting tropes again lol

Speaking of, I know I joked that they've learned what worked with Shabriri from Mico (themes of eyes and insanity + "ascending" by mass sacrifice), but actually Navlaan too, if not even more so?

Navlaan says that the sorcerer was looking for new forms of magic but instead "created" him, which does have the vibe of accidentally ending with split personality during experiments (Jekyll and Hyde vibe), however, description of Scraps of Life says this:

An esoteric spell created by Navlaan, the infamous exiled sorcerer. Awakens the souls of the long-buried dead. The heretic Navlaan was executed along with his entire village, and the mere utterance of his name became a crime. Some say it was because he sought to restore the banned art of resurrection.

Basically bro used to be his own person, existing probably long before this sorcerer or at least independently, and was another victim of cancel culture dshfdshjfsd So, the line "But instead, he created me" would mean sort of rebirth by possessing this sorcerer. It is not direct possession as in, controlling the body as a puppet, but neither a personality born from within the 'original' person (typically from dark and repressed emotions). But it is a secret third thing; say, he barely had recollection and semblance of his original self after death, so completing the otherwise almost-blank state and filling the gaps from what was lost with the memories and feelings of the host is as good as being born as a new person.

And it IS kind of like Shabriri, too! Except, Yura is certainly no longer present in the body, whereas the original sorcerer still appears when the player is in the human state to beg them to stay away for their own sake. But Shabriri also 'adapted' to what Yura used to be, like suddenly being able to fight the same way as him (with the only addition of Frenzy incantations), and Ronin Set is described as "armour of man that calls himself Shabriri".

As for Navlaan, some of his grudges seem like they came from the sorcerer rather than his existence within this vessel, and he unknowingly carries them out. He also describes the sorcerer as "naive" when he is pretty much naive himself now; he simply trusts that we killed people just because we bring their things! Also description of Chaos Set says "Robe worn by a chaos sorcerer. He calls himself Navlaan, now", so whereas original sorcerer's name is never learned, it is probably now abandoned and not relevant as Navlaan 'overrode' the original. Again, really interesting concept of two people that become an amalgamation upon merging (that I tooooootaly didn't use for what happened with Logarius and the King, and that is toooootaly not what likely happened with Aldrich after he ate Gwyndolin.......)

+ Also cool thing that Shabriri and Navlaan both messed with something forbidden and forbidden for a good reason, and both were incredibly hated! Shabriri is "the most reviled man in history" and Navlaan was so hated that you could not even mention him! I am sorry for bringing this topic often but I just really like to analyse how Fromsoft invents 'a type of a guy' and reuses blueprints later without being unoriginal about it, it is just fascinating