#half-worlder biology?

[crownpriceofthekeystonequadrant]

just going to put this here

[mortallyclearwonderland]

Star Wars Alien Species - Ergesh

Ergeshui was a planet located in the Expansion Region, and the Ergesh homeworld. It was the only planet of the Agash system.

Ergesh were highly intelligent, curious, and gentle beings. Their native language was said to sound like thick mud coming out of a rapid boil, though most members of the species preferred to speak Basic. Ergesh personal names were long affairs, with many odd bubbling noises included. Fortunately for other species, they tolerated being given nicknames by off-worlders they interacted with.

Once every year, on Ergeshui, came a day when both moons were aligned in a certain way, with devastating effect upon the Ergesh. During this period, they acted irrational, violent, or even insane.

Ergesh were divided into clans, which had formed a federation that ruled their planet. There were a total of 80 clans, each with about 10,000 members. The eldest Ergesh from each clan was a part of the governing body. This government met monthly in the Communal Pool. The Ergesh federation kept in regular contact with the leaders of the New Republic.

As a reflection of their biology, Ergesh culture had no concept of gender. In their dealings with each other, Ergesh were honest and fair. They were a society with no classes, no discrimination, and no wants. There was no crime among the species.

The Ergesh possessed amazing bio-technology which included living starships called Starjumpers. Their weapons were small plant buds that could be thrown at a target and would deliver an electrical shock on contact. Their buildings were all organic, and semi-sentient enough to recognize residents and block intruders from entering.

The Ergesh were one of the few sentient species in the galaxy that evolved from plant-based organisms on their swampy homeworld. They resembled shambling mounds made up of plant materials and had droopy slimy appendages of various lengths and sizes. A fully grown Ergesh could weigh up to a half of a metric ton. Their coloration consisted of green, brown, and gray. The younger Ergesh had more green, the elders more brown. A strong smell of ammonia and rotting vegetation followed an Ergesh wherever the being went.

Reproduction was accomplished asexually through two Ergesh each planting a seed from their bodies in a swamp called the Shoolbloorp, the "Land of Beginnings," during a special mating ceremony. Twenty days later, a young Ergesh rose up from the ground, self-aware and ready to join the society. Each Ergesh could produce one seed every two Ergeshui years.

Despite their bulk and weight, they could float on water. Due to their physiology, they could breathe underwater, though they preferred "dry" land. Their wet, thick skin also acted as a strong protective layer against weapons.

Ergesh did not have faces in the accepted sense of the word. A number of the smaller tentacles were actually opticstalks, the Ergesh equivalent of eyes, while others were sensitive to sound waves. They could not become intoxicated, drugged, or poisoned by most substances. Their immune systems broke down such substances quickly, and their natural secretions carried out the harmful or waste elements. The Ergesh could consume Kaloob in order to cleanse themselves from harmful microorganisms.

Ergesh were not fast and were poor combatants, with their most effective attack being simply trampling over their opponents.

Ergesh age at the following stages:

1 - 10 Child

11 - 29 Young Adult

30 - 129 Adult

130 - 169 Middle Age

170 - 199 Old

Examples of Names: Ergesh personal names are long affairs, with many odd bubbling noises included. The Ergesh tolerate being given nicknames by offworlders that they are dealing with.

Languages: Ergesh communicate using sound-based speech. Their voices sound like thick mud coming to a rapid boil. In fact, many Ergesh- especially those that deal most with offworlders- speak rather good Basic, though it sounds as if the speaker is talking underwater. Due to how they perceive and understand the world around them, they often omit personal pronouns (I, Me) and articles (A, The). Most small words in the Ergesh tongue are represented by vocal inflections.

[sebeth]

Young Justice: Denial, Cold Case, Hot Case

Episode 7: “Denial”

July 27th: Kent Nelson enters the parlor of Madame Xanadu. Madame offers to make contact with Kent’s deceased wife, Inza, if “fate be so kind”.

Kent responds: “But he so rarely is.”

Kent laughs at Xanadu’s attempt to contact his wife: “That was supposed to be my wife? Heck, my little spitfire would have kicked my can for throwing away good money on you.”

Kent criticizes Madame Xanadu for her fakery: “A shame, too.  You have the perfect aura for the work.”

An interesting choice on the writers’ parts to make Madame Xanadu a charlatan.  She would be tied with Dream Girl as the most famous pre-cog in the DC Universe.  They did allow themselves room to re-introduce her as a genuine pre-cog with the “you have the perfect aura for the work” comment.

Kent is kidnapped from the parlor.

We return to the comic book series for the 9th and 10th issue, “Cold Case” and “Hot Case”, a spotlight on the origin of Captain Atom.

August 13:

School is in session for the team as Captain Atom gives a lecture on subterfuge and infiltration. Kaldur is the only member actively taking notes.  Robin’s rolling his eyes, Superboy’s yawning and stretching, Wally’s stuffing his face, and the girls are polite in their expressions of boredom.

The team’s reactions ring true.  Conner and Wally are self-aware enough to realize subterfuge will never be one of their strengths.  Dick’s heard the same lecture a million times from the Batman. Kaldur is serious and a former military man – he knows the value of training and intel.  M’gann is most likely thinking to herself “telepathing, shape-shifting, can turn invisible Martian here – we wrote the book on subterfuge”, and Artemis is wondering why she signed up for the team if it involves more schoolwork.

Captain Atom, a man encased in shiny metal, may seem like an odd choice for a lecture on subterfuge and infiltration, until you realize his pre-hero background in military intelligence.

Atom stops his lecture: “This is boring, isn’t it?”

Megan attempts to reassure the Captain but the always blunt Conner interrupts with “Yeah, boring”.

Captain Atom proposes a field exercise: “This is a cold case. Vietnam era. Captain Nathaniel Adams, United States Air Force. Convicted in 1968 of murdering Air Force General Clement Lemar. Adams died in prison. But I’ve received a reliable tip he was framed. Your assignment: investigate. Prove Adams’ innocence or reconfirm his guilt and report back to me.”

Conner interjects: “Really? You need super-powered operatives for this?”

Atom offers to resume the lecture but the team decides on the field exercise.

The team doesn’t realize it but Captain Atom has revealed his secret identity and part of his origin story.  Nathaniel Adam was part of a secret experiment that transformed him into Captain Atom and catapulted him decades into the future.  The frame-up/died in prison was used as a way to explain Nathanial’s presumed death.

DC Comics purchased several comic book publishers during the 1970s and 1980s.  The most famous companies were Fawcett, Charlatan, and Quality. The purchases caused DC cast of characters to rapidly expand.  Notable characters from the purchases included the Captain Marvel Family, Plastic Man, Blue Beetle, the Blackhawks, the Question, and many others.

DC assigned the various companies’ characters their own earths in the multiverse: Earth-F, etc. Their villains, supporting characters, and continuing adventures each happened on their own earth.  The new to the DC Universe characters would occasionally interact with the mainstream DC earth.

DC decided the DC multiverse had become too complex by the mid-1980s.  I’m not sure why as I was between 6 to 8 years old during this time and I had no trouble following along with the various worlds. Sorry, reboots make me bitter.  We lose more than we gain in every time.  Any characters created in the reboots – Tim, Conner, Bart, Kyle – could have still been created without half-assed reboots.

Back on point, DC created the “Crisis On Infinite Earths”. Despite my dislike of reboots, “Crisis” is an excellent story and a must read for any DC fan.  Great writing, gorgeous art, and fabulous character moments.  

Post-Crisis, there was only one earth.  Captain Atom was re-launched into his own solo title.  He had notable romances with Nightshade and Plastique. Atom’s main foe was Major Force whose later actions would later name the “Women in Refrigerators” trope.  Captain Atom also served as the long-suffering leader of Justice League Europe. Atom was the inspiration for the “Doctor Manhattan” character in the Watchmen

Atom’s downfall would be known as “Armageddon”. He was intended to be the villain behind it. The plot reveal was leaked and the writers hastily changed the villain’s identity to Hawk (Hank Hall) – which made less sense than the choice of Captain Atom.

I dislike “hero goes bad” or “villain goes good” stories.  They are rarely done well.  In hero cases, the writers go to extremes – downfall of Hal Jordan, anyone? In villain cases, the bad guy has become popular, so the writers change him into a good guy and ignore the atrocities they’ve committed – I’m looking at you, Harley Quinn. Particularly the Harley in the Injustice universe.

Captain Atom never recovered from the “Armageddon” debacle.  He would make sporadic appearances but nothing too memorable until the “Captain Atom: Armageddon” mini-series that led to the decimation of the Wildstorm universe.

A disguised Megan enters the Pentagon to interview General Wade Eiling, the judge at Nathanial’s court martial. Wade sums up Adams as a “malcontent” who blamed his “victim Lemar for a Viet Cong ambush” and Adams “was caught in the act by an M.P. Sergeant Polk”. Eiling, a Colonel at the time, found Adams guilty and sentenced him to life in prison.  Adams “took his own life before a year was out”.

Robin easedrops from the ceiling.

Wally and Conner pose as journalism students in order to interview a Lieutenant Yarrow at a casino in Las Vegas.  Conner clearly doesn’t care about subterfuge – at all – as he is still wearing the Superboy shirt.  Wally is in his civilian attire.

The dealer reminds the boys “no one under twenty-one” is allowed in the casino.  Conner questions if “under 21” counts “in weeks or months”.

Wally’s excited by the “$4.95 all-you-can-eat buffet”: “My kind of town!”  Buffets are a true blessing for speedsters, their metabolisms, and their budgets.  Not so much for the owners of said buffets.

Lt. Yarrow was Adams’ defense council: “His friend too. Served together in ‘Nam. The only survivors of Hill 409.”

Yarrow continues “Nate worked Air Force Intelligence. He suspected a weapons smuggling ring and confided as much to General Lemar. Lemar claimed to have heard rumors too. Ordered Nate to take a squad to Hill 409. It was an ambush. Nate saved my life. The rest of Nate’s men weren’t so lucky. Nate became convinced Lemar was part of the smuggling ring and had sent us into the ambush. I tried to talk him out of it but Nate insisted on confronting Lemar only to black out moments later. Later, Nate would insist he had been drugged. And I believed him. Cuz there’s no way the Nathianel Adams I knew would murder a man in cold blood!”

“I took on Nate’s defense but the prosecutor Lieutenant Kevin Blankly proved Nate’s service knife was the murder weapon.  And the medical examiner, Major Shirley Mason testified there were no drugs in Nate’s system. So the judge found Nate guilty and sentenced him to life in prison. And that’s where Nate died. But get this…that judge, Colonel Wade Eiling, he married Nate’s widow and raised Nate’s two kids as his own!”

Wade Eiling would be a thorn in Nathaniel’s side throughout the Captain Atom series.  Wade didn’t transform into a full-fledged villain until the Morrison Era JLA where he merged with the Shaggy Man and ran amuck as the “General”.

Robin decides the next step is to interview Shirley Mason. Dick and Megan arrive at the Arlington home of Mason only to discover her corpse.

Dick notes: “She’s got something in her hand. I don’t want to disturb the crime scene, but we need to see what it is.”

Trained protégé of Batman speaking!

Megan levitates the corpse so Robin can view the picture in Mason’s hand. The photo is a group shot of military personnel.

Kaldur and Artemis meet with Nathaniel’s children in Honolulu.

Peggy firmly believes in her father’s innocence, as did her mother, but Randy does not: “Wade Eiling is our father. He raised us. Adams gave up any parental rights the day he betrayed our country and murdered his superior officer.”

It should be noted Randy has joined a military branch – possibly the Air Force.

Peggy was born after her father’s death so she must have learned her firm belief in her father’s innocence from her mother.

Angela Adams, Nathaniel’s wife, firmly believed in Nathaniel’s innocence but went on to marry the man that sentenced him to prison? Weird.

Artemis doesn’t empathize with Peggy’s belief in her father: “Biology hardly guarantees parental skills or even basic honesty.”

Kaldur tells Artemis of his parents: “My mother, Sha’lain’a, is a native of the Atlantean city-state of Shayeris. Her skin is nearly as golden as her hair and her gills are quite large and gorgeous. My father, Calvin Durham, is a surface-worlder like you, genetically altered by Black Manta to infiltrate Atlantis as a water-breather.”

“Your dad works for Black Manta?”

“He did. But his love for my mother caused him to switch sides.”

Kaldur doesn’t realize it but there are a few important details he hasn’t been told about his parents’ romance.

If you only watched the cartoon and never read the comic books, you missed the foreshadowing that justified Kaldur’s villainous role in season two.

Dick, Megan, Wally, and Conner are in Annapolis.

Dick has identified the people in the photo.

Megan has a question: “I know my grasp of Earth history is largely based on Earth sitcoms but why would a North Vietnamese General be in a 1968 photograph with U.S. personnel?”

Someone needs to hand Megan some history books!

The group is outside General Tang’s mansion. Conner realizes another man is in the mansion and he is carrying a sword.

Conner and Wally are ready to rush in but Dick holds the duo back: “This is a covert op. We keep to the shadows. We don’t take the offensive. Like in Captain Atom’s lecture.”

Wally is shocked that Dick was actually listening to the lecture.

An invisible Megan enters the home.

Trang converses with the man: “I know why you are here. I still have my sources. I know about Mason, and I know your work. But I am disappointed, Rako. I have protected you since you were a child. Have you no loyalty?”

Rako goes for the kill but is stopped by Megan.

Conner storms in and is shocked when Rako’s sword cuts him: “I’m…I’m bleeding?”

The group battle Rako but are unable to prevent Trang’s murder. Rako escapes in the confusion.

August 14, Metropolis: The reunited team meet in a Metropolis diner.

Superboy is still shocked over his wound but insists “It’s a scratch. I’m fine. Move on.”

Facial recognition software has identified the individuals in the photograph:

1)      Lt. Kevin Blankly, USAF

2)      Lt. Henry Yarrow, USAF

3)      Alec Rois, CIA

4)      General Clement Lemar, USAF

5)      Major Shirley Mason, USAF

6)      General Duk Trang, NVA

7)      Sgt. Ends Polk, USAF

8)      Unknown child

The group theorizes the “unknown child” is Rako and that’s he been sent to tie up the “loose ends” in the Adams case.

Kaldur divides the team in half – Dick, Conner, and Wally will head to Las Vegas to protect Yarrow while the rest remain in Metropolis to investigate Polk.

The trio arrive in Las Vegas only to witness Yarrow’s house explode. Yarrow was killed in the explosion. The boys identify Yarrow by a tattoo on his arm.

The team reunites in St. George to confront the trio behind the recent deaths: Rois, Rako, and a not dead Henry Yarrow. The team quickly captures the trio. Yarrow dies – for real this time – in the fight.

The team returns to Mount Justice to report their findings: The accusations and resulting frame-up of Admas was to cover a weapons smuggling ring. Wade Eiling was the only one involved in the trial who wasn’t a member of the smuggling ring.

Kaldur and Artemis fly to Honolulu to inform the Adams kids of their father’s innocence.

Nathan and Wade mend fences over their preconceived notions of the other’s guilt. Wade informs Nathan: “Let me reintroduce you to your kids”.

The issue ends with Rois and Rako escaping from prison and meeting up with Wade. Turns out, Wade was in charge of the entire smuggling ring. He wasn’t in the picture because he took the picture!

Wade: “Captain Atom is my new best friend. Which should serve us well in the days ahead.”

An intriguing plotline that never received any follow up.

We return to “Denial”:

August 19th: The team participates in combat training.  More to the point, Kaldur and a shirtless Conner spar.  Artemis tries to persuade M’gann to ask Kaldur out.  Good Luck, Artemis, Megan has her obsession locked in and she is not veering from the course.

Megan attempts to veer Artemis towards Wally: “You’re so full of passion, and he’s so full of..”

Artemis interjects with “It?”

I enjoy the competition between the girls over Conner and mostly for the fact that the ladies don’t let it interfere with their friendship.  

Why is Conner shirtless? Is he showing off for the ladies? Kaldur kept his shirt on!

Poor Dick, as the youngest, is left out of the hormone competition.  Don’t worry, Dick, you will grow up to become DC’s premier knockout.

Conner wins the round: “Black Canary taught me that.” Conner must be taking his training seriously as Kaldur would be one of the more experienced members in hand-to-hand combat due to his Atlantean military background.

Red Tornado enters. Wally wants a mission assignment. He mentions that Robin and Batman are in Gotham City doing the “Dynamic Duo thing”.

We’ll put “Denial” on pause as the next two issues of the Young Justice comic start at this point.

Up next: Batman, Robin, Ras’s al Ghul, Clayface and the most multi-faceted portrayal of Talia ever!

[fountainpenguin]

If "A Mile In My Shoes" let Timmy "scrape the surface of what it means to be a fairy," does that mean he was only half-fairy? Is Danny Phantom thus only scraping the surface of what it means to be a ghost? Are there things that ghosts have which half-ghosts don't have? What about the Wonder World people, who are just human beings contaminated by fairy dust? Are they half-fairy too?

Timmy Going Fairy (Cnt’d)

Timmy is a human boy. He made a wish to “be a fairy for a day”.

Rewiring someone’s entire biological structure is not a simple task. It’s always been my headcanon that when Timmy wishes to change shape, Cosmo and Wanda give him a fagiggly gland that, over the years, he’s become better at using. Even creating one organ and carefully placing it in a human’s body among all their other organs isn’t an easy job.

So in “A Mile In My Shoes”, Timmy did not truly become a fairy. We know male fairies give birth, but Cosmo and Wanda didn’t give him a uterus or anything. That wasn’t the point of his wish. They gave him wings. And they gave him the ability to tap into their magic. 

So in a sense, Timmy thought he had turned into a fairy, when really Cosmo and Wanda just made him look like a fairy. Rebuilding his entire body structure to make him an actual fairy would have been very dangerous and probably killed him in the process. That’s something Norm would have done if Timmy had wished to become a fairy. But Cosmo and Wanda know that Timmy wouldn’t want any wish to kill him, so they did the best they could.

This Timmy had no fairy biology. Remember, in my headcanon, fairies need both capable wings and internal pink magic in order to fly. Cosmo and Wanda didn’t give “Mile”!Timmy wings that required internal magic to fly. They gave him enormous wings that could support a lot of his body weight, and then they gave him a bit of their magic so he could float and use magic.

He was a human that looked like a fairy and temporarily had fairy powers.

Humans have always been able to use fairy wands to grant wishes. We’ve seen this several times throughout the series. As early as Season 0, with “Where’s the Wand?”, it was confirmed that if a human holds a wand and hears someone say the word “wish”, they will grant that wish unconsciously. No training required. Just. It’s as instant as a thought.

Humans have a great deal of power in their souls. That’s why Fairies enjoy tapping into this power. Fairykind with godkids have access to more powerful magic than Fairykind without godkids. This is why the war over godchildren from “Balance of Flour” is such a huge deal.

“Fairly Odd Summer” Timmy was in contact with the Abracadabrium when he died. All the power in his soul got sucked into the Abracadabrium instantly.

But Wanda said that “The heat from the lava” turned Timmy into a fairy. I imagine it was a defense mechanism. When threatened, the Abracadabrium released its power, so that Fairy magic would not be lost forever. So it did. It threw all its power into the two beings who were in direct contact with it when it hit the lava-Timmy and Foop. 

The magic flow was intense. This was plenty of magic to rewire Timmy’s entire biology, including things like having a uterus just like a male fairy. He has his own fagiggly gland, his own core, his own forehead chamber, his own everything. He became, absolutely, a fairy.

The rock that contained the power of the Abracadabrium is gone now. The magic found a new host. Two, in fact. Timmy and Foop now hold all the powers of the Abracadabrium. If one of them dies, then they too will release power to anyone or anything in direct contact with them. Like, if Timmy dies on his bed, then that power might go into his pillow or something.

I’m not sure what this means as far as the Big Wand is concerned. The Big Wand had twelve hours of energy reserves in the movie, though the source of this power was never explained. My guess is that once a day or something, Timmy will have to swing by the Big Wand in order to supply it with energy. Or someone in Fairy World will restructure the magic system so that Timmy can give power to his little wand, and all Fairy power can be drawn from his little wand. Something like that.

… I assume Fairy World loses half its power post this movie, since half of it went into Foop. People in Fairy World learn that they can’t just poof things up willy-nilly anymore. They start making cuts. They walk instead of teleporting all the time. They learn to actually sew clothes. It’s very humbling.

Or, Foop was already a magical being, as well as “a being of pure evil” who “can’t touch it” anyway, so the Abracadabrium ignored him and released all its power into Timmy alone. Dunno! I don’t treat the movie as canon, so I’m not going to try working all that out.

Danny Going Ghost (Cnt’d)

My interpretation of Danny is that he technically died when he switched on his parents’ machine. If his parents’ machine had not actually made it through to the Ghost Zone, he’d have died completely then and there.

But it did.

In the Ghost Zone, “humans are the ghosts”. In the Ghost Zone, Ghosts can reproduce, but humans can’t. In the Living Realm “Human World”, humans can reproduce, but Ghosts can’t. Humans are “dead” in the Ghost Zone. They don’t even need to breathe. They’re dead.

This is Danny .5 seconds before being electrocuted- Alive in the Human World, but “dead” in the Ghost Zone:

Basically, when Danny was halfway through the portal, the portal said, “Okay, that half of you is dead now, and the other half is alive.” The universe was in the process of flipping him over when the electricity killed him.

Both his halves died, and reverted to their respective “dead” states.

It’s okay guys he’s half-alive he’s fine

Danny then stepped out of the portal, back into the Human World- taking his Ghost half with him.

Humans in the Ghost Zone are dead. So his human self can survive in the Ghost Zone indefinitely without food, the same way a Ghost can survive in the Human World without food. But as a human in the Human World, and as a Ghost in the Ghost Zone, Danny will age / require food / etc. He’s “alive” in those worlds.

This plays into my headcanon that Danny continues aging physically, but even as an adult, he always acts more childish and reckless when he goes ghost, as Danny’s days tend to be split 95% Human World and 5% Ghost Zone. Phantom doesn’t age nearly as quickly as Danny does.

He’s just kind of stuck like this. If he’d have been my character, I would’ve given him tons of limitations as a result of this, such as “all the weaknesses of both species but very few of the strengths”, but instead we got “all the strengths of both species and one obscure weakness” which is, y’know… fine.

To answer your question, no. There is nothing a full Ghost can do that Danny can’t also do. Unless we wanted to get into politics, where we could probably take away some of his legal rights. If being a halfa wasn’t rare and if society hadn’t collapsed with Pariah, I mean.

There are more things Danny can do as a half-ghost than he could as a full.

…

It’s very fine.

Wonder World (Cnt’d)

Turbo Thunder’s society is just kinda…

… Humans contaminated with fairy dust breeding with other contaminated humans and spreading contamination until it’s like-

“Half-fairy” would be an inaccurate term. “Mutated humans” would fit them better. The Wonder Worlders are basically the fish swimming around in lakes filled with radiation, developing third eyes or weird colors or whatever.

If the people of Wonder World reach “100% contamination”, that doesn’t mean they’re going to turn into fairies. They’re not going to grow wings or anything. It just means the 100% contaminated kids’ powers are stronger than the powers of people with less than 100% fairy dust contamination.

By default, I mean. The amount of effort you put into developing your powers matters too.