#if there are two species they will compete and one will go extinct

[yasmeensh]

Various doodles of my characters from the past couple weeks. Development is reeeeaaaaaaallllyyyyy slow right now. However, I’m getting some ideas from my coursework. Crazy, but this project is making me remember my coursework better. 

(happy!!!)

(annoyed!!!)

kindergarten aged neanderthal

aaand the angsty neanderthal teen.

[bootleg-nessie]

Things that will happen in the future (based on my own experiences with time travel):

***FAQs at the end***

*All of these observations are copied directly from my notes in roughly the order I took them in

*Don’t ask about the interchanging use of past/present/future tense, you know how that stuff is with time travel

Women just started all growing three boobs instead of two. Scientists baffled

Genetically engineered catboys (no literally)

The great pyramid of Giza has been converted into a Bass Pro Shop

The entire state of Rhode Island was bought by some rich tech CEO who promptly dug a 500 foot wide trench around the entire state so that it could in fact be an island. It was soon converted into the world’s largest parking lot

Pollution has gotten so bad that fresh oxygen is now delivered straight to most homes via a subscription service

Basic necessities such as food, water, and housing are now provided for free by the government, but only for the top 1% of wealth holders

Insulin now costs twice as much as rent. “Get fucked,” say pharma companies

92.6% of new electronic appliances now have smartphone integration and require a monthly subscription to use

Most billionaires have real estate on earth’s moon

As an ongoing film experiment, Taika Waititi successfully convinced a Nebraska man that he’s been raptured and is now in heaven. He actually got Truman Show’d and now millions of viewers tune in every week to watch God (played by John DiMaggio) manipulate Robert into confronting his own views, battle cognitive dissonance, and face the realization that he might not have been as good of a person on Earth as he thought he was

Carrots have gone extinct, as have highland cows

Species of extinct animals and plants now are being posthumously renamed after the billionaires and elites most directly responsible for killing then off

Researchers discovered a sentient colony of fungus off the coast of Chile, it prefers to go by Fleebo and appears to have a incredibly complex intelligence far greater than any other observed organic being

Nobody knows where Ireland went. It literally just disappeared off the face of the earth one day and nobody bothered to question it. The story couldn’t compete in the news cycle with the recent news about a company in China that made the first real life pokemon. An entire civilization of people gone and I’m the only one who seems to remember it or even care

Fleebo and its offspring have annexed Madagascar and are threatening any retaliation with nuclear warfare and “making The Last of Us a reality.” Nobody knows if Fleebo actually has the capabilities to do this, but after the Lovecraft incident we’re all TOO goddam scared to fuck around and find out

Large snails have replaced cats and dogs as the most common household pet. Snail culture has largely taken over the world, especially Japan

The president of the United States is now decided with an oiled up twerking competition. Most people were hesitant at first but this has produced vastly more competent leaders so now everyone just kinda goes along with it

With the cost of living crisis only worsening with time, selling tattoo space on your body to advertisers has become common as people struggle to afford rent and pay their bills

North and South Korea have reunited into “Korea 2.0”

Germany has split up into East and West Germany again

Belgium and France have been annexed by West Germany and renamed “Wester Germany” and “Westest Germany” respectively

The entirety of Florida is now underwater. Most of Kansas is too for some reason that scientists refuse to explain because they’ve “sworn an oath to the eldritch gods” and that “much worse things would happen” if they did

The melting ice caps in Antarctica unveiled a lost civilization of intelligent creatures descended from a species of lungfish, predating human civilization by millions of years. They planned on hibernating for another 10-15 million years to observe the course of evolution on Earth and are very very angry at humans for waking them up prematurely and ruining all of that with global warming

The politically correct term for lungfish people is “Dipnoid” but most people refer to them by a variety of slurs, such as “finwalker” and “kelp muncher” (not that they even eat kelp)

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch has now increased to nearly half the size of what was formerly known as Canada and has been colonized entirely by pirates (the flag is actually pretty cool). The pirate nation has the 17th largest economy in the world and is projected to surpass the United States in GDP

Africa is about 2% smaller. Nobody knows why. Most people point to Fleebo, who denies having any involvement

All human-Dipnoid interaction was promptly banned by most world governments, except for the GPGPRP (Great Pacific Garbage Patch Republic of Pirates), whom the Dipnoids rely upon extensively for trade

Scientists have used DNA from fossils to recreate other species of humans. We now live alongside them like we did for thousands of years before everyone besides Homo sapiens went extinct. Racism is at an all time high

Class C and above robots are now legally recognized by most progressive countries as people

The United States government has been exposed for secretly funneling billions of dollars into the GPGPRP and using it to fund terrorist operations all over the world.

A new major religion revolving around Dave Grohl has skyrocketed in popularity. Grohilsm is now the world’s largest religion, second only to Fleeboism

Scientists discovered a new continent in the Pacific Ocean, and then promptly lost it again. Most people are convinced this was just an elaborate practical joke, but scientists “swear it definitely happened”

For a brief period of about 30 years, everything in George Orwell’s 1984 happened almost exactly as written in the book. Literally 1984

It was revealed that Jeff Epstein didn’t kill himself. He actually faked his death and spent the next few years in a drug-fueled episode of psychosis making sock puppets in a cave in Italy and then molesting said sock puppets until he died from a sock puppet related illness

Bigfoot was discovered off the coast of Georgia doing cocaine with a congregation of alligators. When questioned, he said he normally lives in Montana and was only there on vacation. He is now a celebrity, and has been featured in a number of tv shows and films, two of which he won an Oscar for. Last I checked, he was a washed up actor living in Hollywood with a reanimated Neanderthal woman

The GPGPRP raided most of England’s museums with the object of “doing exactly what they did for the last few centuries” England was understandably furious, but the rest of the world found it rather amusing

England declared war on the GPGPRP, which it promptly lost after hackers brought down the entire country’s military overnight. Much like in the 21st century, England is the world’s laughing stock

The entirety of Luxembourg relocated itself to the moon

Russia attempted to take over most of Eurasia. In retaliation to the full global effort to stop them, they launched nukes at the world’s 600 most populous cities outside of its current territory. Most of the warheads were stopped in time, but a few major metropolitan areas got hit pretty badly, including Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Chengdu, Mexico City, and Istanbul. Japan was understandably super pissed that Hiroshima and Nagasaki got nuked for a second time

In the wake of the nuclear holocaust, Canada assumed control over what was formerly Russia and assimilated many of its citizens and leaders into its own society and government. Under the new rule of formerly Russian leaders, Canada became a puppet state for the second coming of Russia. It annexed much of the United States, Mongolia, China, and a handful of other countries, becoming “the world’s first megacountry.” Crungolaska now controls a majority of the northern hemisphere

As part of a practical joke by Adam Sandler, Tom Hanks was actually marooned on a desert island like in Castaway. He lasted less than a week before he died. When I left this era of the future, Adam Sandler was serving a lifetime sentence in prison for murder

Fringe groups of crows with above-average intelligence have started popping up around the world. So far they have been observed forming small communities, crafting relatively complex tools, using rudimentary speech, performing rituals, and creating music

Aliens visited earth and had a formal meeting with many of our world leaders, but decided to leave us alone for a few thousand more years because humanity is “not yet mature enough to handle the responsibilities of interstellar travel.” They have incentivized us with a the blueprints for an Alcubierre Drive and a means to produce the exotic matter to fuel it once they deem us as being ready

The original colony of settlers on Mars has declared independence, officially becoming the first country not on Earth

We sent Tom Cruise back to space but this time we just left him there

The tether for the space elevator broke. The town known as Vatorville, famous for being the location of the takeoff point of the elevator shuttle on Earth, was completely decimated as tens of thousands of miles of steel cable came crashing back down. There were no survivors

Most people in first and second world countries have mandatory microchip implants that serve as a personal ID

Last Thursdayism has been largely denounced by quantum physicists. Current theories now revolve around “Next Thursdayism,” the belief that the entire universe was created in the future and that we all exist as a memory in the past

Synthetic organ farms for transplants and research have become a massive industry worth billions of dollars. However, there is still a huge black market for organically grown human organs, as they’re much cheaper to acquire and aren’t taxed at the exorbitant rates that lab-grown organs are

China dug a hole all the way to the center of the Earth. Turns out it’s hollow and there are people living inside. Who knew?

A university reconstructed the entire city of Rome as it was in its early days during the Roman Empire. It’s actually pretty historically accurate, except for the fact that there’s a lot less sex because it’s run by a bunch of sweaty history nerds

After Rome 2 resulted in the creation of a cult revolving around the Roman god of the dead that gained traction as a minor religion, Pluto was officially reinstated as a planet by NASA when cultists picketed their headquarters every day for nearly 3 years straight. “Fine, we’ll give these fucking virgins what they want so they’ll finally shut the hell up,” said NASA’s administrator in chief

In a display of the biotechnical prowess of Disney’s Imagineers, all the animatronics in Disney’s Hall of Presidents were replaced with clones of the originals, which went about exactly as well as you’d expect. After reports of the presidents hurling a series of racial slurs and other obscenities at the first black family to enter surfaced, the project was shut down almost immediately after it had opened. Minority admission to Magic Kingdom plummeted to 2.3% of its numbers from the previous year, making it the second whitest place on earth after a taylor swift concert

Plastic now makes up about 3% of every organism on earth by weight

Public officials are now required by law to take shrooms before running for office

Trees are considered a rare and highly sought after commodity, and are usually only owned by public institutions and the rich (the vast majority of oxygen farms use algae to produce oxygen)

FAQs:

FAQ: What time period(s) did you go to?

A: I have no fucking clue. The world stopped using the Gregorian calendar in 2063 after a gamma ray burst hit the sun. The GRB led to stellar ablation, which changed the length of a year on Earth. The sun would continue to lose mass at an accelerated rate for several more years, with the length of the year changing slightly from year to year. The world adopted a variety of different calendars which kept being updated frequently and were often super confusing and contradictory. I traveled to about a dozen different points in time, which based on my best estimates spanned within a few millennia of the current date.

FAQ: How did you obtain a time machine?

A: I think it was the 17th or 18th of June, 2055? That night, a large sci-fi looking box thingy roughly the size of a VW Bus appeared a few hundred yards away in the open field in front of my house. I tried to take a picture of the box, but for some reason the closer I got, the more the image on my camera started to become fuzzy, and by the time I got close enough to take a decent picture, the camera had stopped working altogether. I pulled open a door to reveal a corpse inside that was charred beyond recognition, who appeared to have suffocated and/or burned to death during a fire that damaged most of the interior. I also noticed a number of strange tumors and growths on the body. I pressed a random button on the remains of what I believed to be a control panel, expecting nothing to happen, but the door closed automatically and I suddenly lost consciousness. When I came to, I exited the box, expecting to still be in the field in front of my house, but instead found myself a ways outside of a small snowy village that based on my best estimates, was somewhere in northern Asia around 2-3 thousand years ago. The villagers started coming after me with spears, so I quickly ran back to the box and pressed another button, hoping it would return me to from whence I came. This time, the people I found (who were thankfully much nicer and spoke a dialect of English that I could mostly understand) told me that it was the year 506 of the PGRB-Δ4 calendar (the calendar that the United Territories was using at the time). I repeated this maybe a dozen more times trying to get home until I landed in 2023, which as far as I could tell, was the closest I had gotten back to my original time so far. It was at this point that I decided to stay and seek medical attention, as I was rather concerned about some nasty new growths on my arms and legs similar to that which I had seen on the corpse.

FAQ: Where is the time machine now?

A: No idea. It disappeared a few days after I landed in 2023. My best guess is that some poor sap found it and ended up sometime else.

(I never ask for likes/reblogs but I literally spent fucking WEEKS on this one so if you liked it pls show me some love <3)

[tanadrin]

Do you think it's possible there's a planet with multiple stable sentient species who interact? Or would such a situation inevitably end up with one getting wiped out or the two hybridizing

Well, they could only hybridize if they were closely related, like humans and Neanderthals. And IIRC there's some evidence that humans and Neanderthals/Denisovans probably weren't all that interfertile to begin with, with most coding Neanderthal alleles getting weeded out of our genome.

I think it would be very difficult for two sentient species that shared overlapping niches to survive. H. sapiens and Neanderthals were both smart, seem to have both had language and culture, and had similar levels of technological sophistication, but the latter had a much lower population and so couldn't really compete when their cousins invaded their territory. And maybe some of this is a function of the wider human clade's tendency to engage in warfare and ecologically disruptive hunting--there's a big wave of megafauna extinction that seems to have followed the expansion of human populations all over the globe--but I'm not sure how many species of big-brained tool-users any niche could support.

But I do think that species with very different niches could coexist peacefully, at least long enough to work out that species in other niches were sentient, and to develop the ethical frameworks necessary for coexistence. If there were superintelligent squid, they wouldn't ever compete directly with humans for habitat (though we might have eaten a fair few by accident). We have also managed (just!) not to render extinct cetaceans, which are fairly intelligent, or our close cousins the chimpanzee. I could also imagine a science fictional scenario where two intelligent species were in some kind of important symbiotic or commensalist relationship that would stabilize their coexistence.

I think the other tricky thing though would be timing. It took a long time for the genus Homo to develop intelligence. AFAICT the australopithecines were closer to chimpanzees in terms of intelligence than they were to us; H. erectus was a lot smarter, but probably didn't have language; it's not until 700,000 to 200,000 years ago you get human species that are more fully developed in terms of their intelligence, and that feels like a super narrow window in terms of evolution for another intelligence species to also emerge. Because once you do get intelligent tool-users who spread over most of the globe, they seem likely to me to start to modify their environment in profound ways, like we have. So if another intelligent species doesn't already exist, the circumstances in which it is likely to arise after one species comes to prominence are going to be very different--more of an uplift scenario, maybe. Like I think if we discovered a group of chimpanzees with rudimentary language tomorrow, we would do our best not to fuck with them, but we would inevitably have some kind of impact on their existence for better or worse, right?

Maybe your best bet for multiple sentient species would be to have a reason that the first species (singular or plural) that arose didn't come to dominate the entire planet--they were aquatic, and so never mastered fire; or they were otherwise highly restricted in the biomes they could inhabit; or they were small in number like the Neanderthals, but could retreat to refugia in mountains and forests rather than be wiped out; or they were a diverse clade like early humans, but they also spread out very rapidly, and were subsequently isolated by climate conditions. Like, imagine Denisovans (who were already in Asia) had crossed the Bering Strait land bridge to the Americas, and then sea levels rose cutting them off until the Age of Discovery. If you had a planet that didn't effectively have a two supercontinents like Earth, you might have many more opportunities for related-but-geographically-divided species to develop (though that doesn't avoid the problem of what happens when they meet each other and start competing then).

[tribbetherium]

The Early Rodentocene: 5 million years post-establishment

Moderate Success: The Ringtailed Jerboon

Much of the species covered in the Early Rodentocene had been of two types: one being highly-successful pioneers destined for greatness and awe-inspiring diversity, or failed evolutionary experiments truncated from the tree of life before even the coming of the Middle Rodentocene, when the basic members of the main clades became truly established.

Yet this one branch, diverging from the common plains jerma, would be a different story than either, and somewhat in-between. This unassuming animal, known as the ringtailed jerboon (Protoprocyonocricetus minimus), is the first of a lineage that enjoys relative success in the Rodentocene, but stagnates in its form despite its hardiness and ultimately fails to stand the test of time.

Jerboons are omnivorous generalists that feed on a wide variety of food and adapt to a wide range of habitats, ranging from grasslands to forests to even tundras and deserts. Their large ears serve as heat sinks to lose excess heat in tropical climes, yet fold down in colder environments in order to conserve temperature. Their striped tails, not as valuable as balance organs, have become patterned "flags" used in courtship and intraspecies communication, with bold stripes coming in differing colors depending on the jerboons' preferred times of activity: either broad sunlight, faint-Beta-twilight, or nigh-total darkness. They are also not picky eaters, and include seeds, fruit, roots, bark, insects, worms and carrion in their diet, being useful scavengers that play a part in cleaning up the left-overs of other species and denying disease-carrying flies a place to breed. Others would become dedicated insectivores, and still more became small-scale predators comparable to foxes.

Skilled diggers, climbers, foragers and fishers, the jerboons seem like a clade destined for longevity, with generalists favored by the difficult times in the aftermaths of mass extinctions. And unlike most other generalists that expand into relatively more precarious niches in an adaptive radiation following a die-off of competion, the jerboons would, in the end fall victim to their own lack of specialization.

While a few would become more geared to a particular food, be it leaves, fruit, insects or meat, the jerboons, and its descendants the rabbacoons, would never go beyond a few isolated species not too different to that of their precursors. But, as more and more animals experimented with the omnivore lifestyle in the Therocene, with some becoming arboreal herbivores, some being burrowing hunters, and even one, the crass bandipoo, specializing on the undigested plant matter found in badgebears' droppings, they would eventually be crowded out by other generalists: and even worse too with the beginning of the Glaciocene that would wipe out the rabbacoons almost entirely through the long, scarce winters. Some would endure and become tunneling food hoarders adapted for cold climes and long winters, but this motion would at last backfire with the sudden coming of warm weather in the Temperocene. Unable to adapt quickly enough, the last of them, the skragg, would at last put a full stop to this hopeful but ultimately unfateful lineage, with the remnants of this clade being entirely gone as of the Early Temperocene.

------

[council-of-beetroot]

I left this in the tags but the thing to remember is that fandom is like an ecosystem there's lots of niches to fill and many remain empty, different areas with different habitat differences create a fandom ecosystem with greater biodiversity. example of island biogeography. You arrive on the fandom island and you want to make your blorbo or ship known just as a species wants to settle in the new ecosystem. There's a few ways to go about this. One compete with the other established fandom creatures that have occupied a niche for quite a while (this takes a lot of work) , two share the same niche to the benefit of both (this may or may not work), or three if there's an unopen blorbo niche fill it!

Technically the forth would be to drive others into the fandom equivalent of localized extinction but that can topple ecosystems so yeah don't go the whole invasive species route

I need to study for my biogeo final but enjoy this

[magebunkshelf]

Species in the Respawn series

A collection of write-ups about the different kinds of people in the Respawn series from the Bunkshelf lore wiki. I need to go through and expand these in the future, but they work as synopses.

Humans

Humans are amongst the oldest and most common of the sapient creatures, made to fill the world and understand it. Their culture changes and diverges so violently, often by conflict, that they loose their grasp on their history. In the modern age, humans are known to be somewhat reclusive.

Humans are one of the few people capable of magic. While most humans will never manifest the ability, those who show promise can train as mages. Unlike most other magic-capable species, humans aren't limited to only one or two pools of magic.

Fae Folk

The Fae Folk, though they just call themselves the aes (from Aes sídhe), and are colloquially just called the Folk by others. A family of species with great magical power. Typically manifesting as humanoids of adult proportions but shorter, often with insectoid wings though sometimes without, little is known about them. They are ancient, as old as the first humans, loathe change (were friends with the earliest humans) and live apart from the other species in and around woodlands, with a particular fondness of hawthorn trees. They are highly spiritual, with a strong connection with the dead. Among their magical abilities are their penchant for unpleasant debuffs, though they can't do damage directly and are poorly built for physical conflict.

Aes sídhe, pronounced eyz-shee. When shortened to aes it is sometimes pronounced as ieez, though this can be considered incorrect. See this pronunciation key for help.

Dragons

Solitary, territorial creatures, enamoured by shiny things. Dragons come in many forms, including six-limbed fire-breathing dragons and the more rare serpentine longer dragons. One of the few sapient creatures with no qualms about eating other sapients. Very long-lived, and as a result hibernate for long stretches of time. Intelligent, but mainly wise from age, they are mostly ignorant of common society, and mostly don't care; dragons are typically emotion-driven and unsceptical. There are a few subspecies of Lesser Dragons such as the wyverns, but the oldest of the Great Dragon races are nearing extinction. Dragons are sometimes capable of magic, though if a dragon is proficient they generally can only control only one school of magic.

Felis

They are functionally similar to the concept of nekos; a felis is humanoid in shape, albeit with the addition of cat features, such as ears, eyes and a tail, and noticeably sharper canine teeth. They are on average shorter in stature that humans, possessing comparatively greater agility and reflexes, at a cost of lesser endurance and strength. Felis adventurers make for competent rogues.

'Felis' is a more formal name for the species. Typically they refer to themselves simply as 'cats', instead referring to the smaller, non-humanoid felines as 'house cats' or 'domestic cats' to distinguish. They generally don't have a good relationship with lycans.

As they were not amongst the earliest of species the exist on the Place, the felis people arose later, though not be speciation. They are a comparatively younger species, only having existed for the past millennia. They were created by one of the Developers without the knowledge of the others Devs. Originally born as a human, the same Dev then took the form of a felis.

Felis have two ears.

Qoatla

Related to the humans and ediacrids. Qoatla are a species of sapient people that exists on the Plane, the world of the Respawn series. Rhamphor, one of the main characters in the series, is a qoatla. Qoatla are humanoid, with great avian wings, and retractable blades within the forearms. With large enough backpacks they can often pass as human, though many qoatla have unusual eye colours. They don’t mingle in human societies as often as others like the felis.

Golems / Mechanoids

Creatures made of animate clay, rock, metal or other material, with a core made partially of activated argentiferous galena. They were created by the Developers originally to perform simple tasks. A knowledgeable enough being could animate their own golem using spells (changes a data value to assign an AI to the Entity if it matches the criteria). The earliest golems were simple turtles, but over time their intelligence has increased collectively to the degree that all newer-constructed golems have become self-aware. This is an oversight by the Devs, but out of compassion for this accidental species, this has not been fixed. Golems don't have a standard form due to being built rather than born and so can take many forms, but a heart and a mind are necessary, requiring galena.

Ediacrids

Bipedal reptilliomorphs with a carnivore’s teeth and sharp claws, though despite their appearance they are relatively civilised. Their scales can be olive green, a stony brown or a fired clay-red, as well as some other variations. They typically wear loose-fitting clothes to account for their crocodilian tails, and sleeveless shirts due to the feathers that grow along their outer arms along the elbow. Feathers less commonly grow along the back of the neck. On the brow is a coloured crest.

Ediacrids are amongst the oldest races, though were designed by the Developers rather than the Creator and are not as old as the humans, dragons and Fae Folk. Typically reasonably friendly if not too outgoing with regards to other races, ediacrids are stigmatised somewhat by the other races due to their monstrous appearance, and so mostly keep to themselves. Almost exclusively carnivorous, though they can digest most food types like omnivores. They tend not to use melee weapons, as they don't really need them, but do sometimes use bows and crossbows. Insensitively referred to as lizards.

Lycans

Similar to felis, they are predominantly humanoid with wolf ears and tails, with greater strength than the average human. Unlike felis, they are also able to change forms between mostly-human and fully wolf. As a result of the dual-life, lycans typically live amongst themselves away from the other races in groups away from society. Lycans are not like tales of werewolves; the trait is not transferred by bite, it is inherent. The transformation ability can be performed at will, but each switch becomes substantially more trying when attempted in quick succession, to a limit of two or three times per day. Moonlight reduces this cooldown period, and during full moon the cooldown is only a few minutes. Lycans have the ability to get along with just about any other people, but won't necessarily. Their relationship with felis is very mixed. Lycans are an older species, steeped in folklore due to their rarity and little-known history.

Selkies

Aquatic humanoid mammals with more flexible limbs due to slightly thinner bones, webbed digits, and somewhat longer flipper-like feet. They are very resistant to cold, and are natural swimmers. They can’t breathe underwater, despite common belief. Instead they have positively charged oxygen-binding proteins, called myoglobin, in their muscles. This essentially allows they to carry more oxygen for longer, allowing for dives of up to two or three hours. They shift blood flow away from extremities and toward the brain and organs to prioritise oxygen during a dive. However, the extra myoglobin can lead to selkies being generally more absent-minded than with humans of similar age, as well as a slightly greater rate of developing blood sugar problems. They can walk bipedally, but due to their oddly-shaped feet they can be a little ungainly, and so greatly prefer bodies of water for travel, or otherwise can use custom geta-style sandals with ankle straps for walking. Selkies have a penchant for electric and ice magic.

[bethanythebogwitch]

In an effort to get myself used to this site and encourage me to use it more, I'm jumping on the Wet Beast Wednesday trend and posting facts about a different aquatic animal every week.

Starting off cute and sad, I’m going with the vaquita (Phocoena sinus). This dog-sized porpoise is the world’s smallest cetacean and it only lives in one place in the world: the northern end of the gulf of California near Baja. Sadly, they are critically endangered, with an estimated population of less than ten left in the world as of February 2022, making it the most endangered marine mammal (I couldn't find estimates for this year). This is primarily due to them getting tangled in gill nets from illegal fish poaching in their habitat. A study in 2022 indicated that the species may be able to repopulate but they would likely have genetic problems from a severe population bottleneck. Attempts to establish a captive breeding population were unsuccessful. Conservation efforts have generally been ineffective due to the sheer scale of illegal fishing activities, though there is cooperation between the USA and Mexico as well as international pressure on Mexico to crack down on the illegal fishing and protect the vaquitas

Not a lot is known about vaquitas due to how rare they are and because they were only identified as a species in the 50s through bones and scientists didn’t even see an intact specimen until 1985. What we do know is that they are very small, the the larger females reaching a maximum size of about 150 cm (4.9 ft). Males are believed to compete for mates and females usually reproduce once every two years. They are usually found alone or in small groups. Vaquitas have distinctive dark markings around the eyes and mouth.

The vaquita is on the edge of extinction and if rapid, extensive conservation efforts aren’t enacted, they will be gone forever. The vaquita could be a good symbol of why conservation is important and why conservation efforts need to be extensive and properly enforced for them to be effective. I could see them becoming a symbol for endangered species lie polar bears and pandas have become. They are in need of critical help but very well could survive with that help and they are adorable, which is always good for public awareness

[10blue10]

The Evolution of Dragons Pt 1

Okay, so me and @arourallisreborn​ were discussing how the dragons from HTTYD might have evolved, and my research has led me to an exciting discovery. To start off, I am making two assumptions for this. One: HTTYD takes place in an alternate version of Earth. Two: the prehistory of this version of Earth followed a similar path to our own, except for the dragons of course.

Evolution of Flight

Now you might think that dragons evolved from some mutant six limbed ancestor, but arourallis came up with another hypothesis. Namely that the ancestors of dragons were gliding reptiles with wings supported by elongated ribs, similar to modern ‘flying lizards’. If you look at the Bewilderbeast’s wings, for example, you’ll see that the wing-struts run from the wing edge to its torso.

In most dragons, the wing struts all converge at either the ‘shoulder’ or the ‘wrist’ of the wing, depending on how articulated it is. For example, a Thunderdrums wing is like a giant fan that only articulates at the ‘shoulder’, whereas a Rumblehorn’s wing clearly has a ‘shoulder’, ‘elbow’ and ‘wrist’.

So, that exciting discovery I mentioned? It turns out there was a family of flying reptiles called Weigeltisauridae that lived during the Permian period, between 260 to 251 million years ago. Like this little guy, Coelurosauravus:

To quote Wikipedia: “They are characterised by long, hollow rod-shaped bones extending from the torso that probably supported wing-like membranes…These have been proposed to be modified gastralia or otherwise a novel bone ossification.” In other words, these guys had wing bones. They also had lightweight skeletons thanks to air spaces within the bones.

What I’m saying is that these reptiles were already two fifths of the way to a dragon lol. The first major divergence from IRL prehistory is this: instead of going extinct, at least one genus of this family survived the Great Dying and then split in two, with one group staying arboreal and the other becoming aquatic; perhaps to avoid competition with the ancestors of pterosaurs.

As for the arboreal group, a chance mutation might have made their gliding wings more flexible. This would make them a bit more manoeuvrable, just enough to give them an edge. From there they could have evolved true powered flight. I think these proto-dragons would fill out a similar niche to insect eating birds, millions of years before birds evolved from dinosaurs.

Now for millions of years, the draconids as we’ll call them would have stayed relatively small, to avoid competing with all the other reptiles in the Mesozoic era. Perhaps they’d have evolved slightly more articulated wings by the late Jurassic/early Cretaceous, as well as diversified into the main groups of short necked or long necked air dragons or sea dragons. It’s difficult to judge.

As for how more articulated wings would evolve, from what I can tell it would start with the bony rods supporting the wing moving from being at right angles to the spine, to converging at the inner crook of the wing. Or maybe at a point further along the leading wing bone. As their wings got larger, the leading bone would get stronger and more flexible, evolving an ‘elbow’ and ‘wrist’ joint.

I also think the dragons stomachs would be full of symbiotic bacteria that produce lighter than air gases. These, combined with hollowed bones, would allow them to fly even as their bodies got larger. Since we’re using SCIENCE, let’s assume that gravity is slightly less strong on this alternate Earth, to explain how even massive dragons are able to fly with relatively short wings.

If all this seems a bit far-fetched, keep in mind that it would take millions of years. Besides, whales evolved from weird little hoofed deer things in about 8 million years, so evolution can be pretty fast (by geological timescales).

Some of these early dragons might have grown large enough to directly compete with pterosaurs, but those species would likely have gone extinct when the asteroid came along. It’s possible that the remaining species survived by feeding on carrion or even on fish that also survived the impact.

(Arourallis has a theory that dragons took shelter in the Hidden World when the asteroid hit. Whilst I have issues with the ‘hidden world’ cave system existing in the first place, I like the idea of them taking shelter in cave systems.)

As @arourallisreborn​ put it, once the other large reptiles went extinct, dragons would have rapidly diversified and grown larger to refill that niche. I also think they’d mostly be living on what would become Europe and Asia. Thus giving our own ancestors in Africa time to evolve before the huge flying fire breathing reptiles showed up. As for how fire breathing evolved in these dragons…

That will have to wait for part two ;)

[tiofrean]

if i may have two: Cardamom and Semper Augustus?

Of course! Thank you! <3 :D

Cardamon is something I've just started writing, actually! I've had some shit happening in my life that caused my ptsd to ramp up high, and since I know it helps to write such shit out sometimes, I decided to do just that. But, being the silverflint idiot that I am, I immediately thought of putting one of them into a situation where they would have to deal with their own mind (and have the other one help them, of course).

I have written a fic with a similar title (Cinnamon), and it seemed like a good idea to write a sequel. In the previous one, Flint is hurt and Silver takes on the nursing duties, despite his own dislike for Howell that brings his ptsd to light from time to time. I just brushed over the topic in the previous one, because it was Flint who was the focus of the fic. Now I'm shuffling it and having Silver be the one needing help (because our lovely idiot cat didn't take care of his leg, so now someone needs to help him). This time Flint volunteers and helps him through it by being supportive and respecting Silver's wishes while coaxing him on <3 Fair warning for a little bit of a more negative Howell portrayal, however, but that's not because he's a bad guy. Silver and Flint have simply been hurt by him in the process, so their feelings are different.

Snippet:

Silver was curled up at the window seat, backed up into the furthest corner of it, and it seemed that if it hadn’t been for the sturdy glass behind him, he would have climbed outside of the ship. Howell was hovering in front of him, an air of exasperation hanging around him like a dark cloud, visible in the tired grimace he was wearing. 

“Please…” John whimpered, and one look at his wild, panicked eyes was everything one needed to assess the mental state he was in. It rattled something inside James, his own memories surfacing and making his skin crawl. 

“What the fuck is going on here?” He left the door open behind him as he walked across the cabin, his stride purposeful. He had a fleeting thought of wolves and bears, but it was too brief to examine it closely, not when John was still curled up in a tight ball in a fit of blind panic. “Captain,” Howell greeted him with a long-suffering sigh, and Flint was abruptly reminded exactly why he disliked the man. He was a very competent doctor, skilled with his blades and knowledgeable in different medications… 

He was also occasionally dumb as a brick and had the sensitivity of a half-dead eel. 

Semper Augustus on the other hand... Semper Augustus is a species of Tulip (or was, I believe it's extinct now). It was the priciest one in the history of all flowers being sold around that time, and the price of one bulb was enough to buy a house at the prime of Europe's madness, if I recall correctly (it's been two years since I've started writing that, it's on hold currently).

The fic is another part of my series about Jack Sparrow/James Norrington, where they are sorta together, but trying to be inconspicuous. Jack is spiraling down into madness on voyages, and when Gibbs confronts him about it, he tells him that Augustus is dying. Thinking he's talking to ghosts or imaginary friends, Gibbs gets into a quarrel with him (he's worried, alright?), only to have Jack pull out the tulip like here. Augustus. (The tulip is an extravagant gift for his Commodore, which he knows the man will appreciate, since he had seen a painting of them hanging in Norrington's parlor. And yes, that's exactly what people were doing at that time - the tulips were so expensive people couldn't buy them, so a painting of them was cheaper, no matter how pricy it was by itself).

It's a silly little thing, awaiting my return to finish it. I've been slightly fascinated at that time with those tulips, and if I recall correctly, they were so sought out because of their coloring, which was the result of either a mutation or an infection or something. That's why they aren't around anymore :D

Snippet:

“This one looks promising,” Jack announced, looking through his spyglass, eyeing an island not far away from their current position. “Shall we… Let go the anchor?” Gibbs hesitated, frowning when the captain turned on him sharply. “Of course! What am I payin’ ye for, ye lousy scoundrels?” Jack growled. “Drop t’ anchor! Ready t’ longboat!” He shouted across the deck, and the pirates scrambled to obey, not willing to risk any further worsening of their captain’s mood. 

The truth was, ever since they had taken the Dutch ship, Jack’s disposition had been souring while he kept chasing them from one island to another, ordering them to come ashore and dig until they found some actual dirt underneath the sand. They hadn’t always been successful. Afterwards, he usually pushed his own hands into the earth, ran it through his fingers thoughtfully, before he proceeded to blow on it, sniff it and even lick it, trying to determine its quality. What for, none of them could tell, but they had collectively decided to just shut up and let him do whatever he wanted, hoping that the answer would present itself at a later date. 

Before they all went mad, preferably. 

“Is that one good, Capt’n?” Gibbs asked doubtfully, watching as Jack frowned at a lump of earth as dark as the kohl around his eyes. The captain squinted, then shook his head. “Nay,” he muttered. “It needs to be more…” He trailed off, waving his hands in the air, almost hitting Pintel on the nose. “Dirty! More like dirt! With sand!” “...sand?” The quartermaster blinked at him dumbly, then glanced at the beach surrounding them. “Aye! Sand!” And Jack wandered off, heading back to the longboat. With a sigh, the men took their shovels and followed. 

[direwolfrules]

Star Wars As Star Trek AU

Exactly what it says on the tin. Specifically, Star Wars: The Clone Wars as Star Trek.

The Various Political Entities

The Federation- The Republic becomes the Federation, and the Jedi and GAR are now Starfleet. The Jedi in this AU are typically high ranking officers on ships. The Council are all Admirals except for Obi-Wan, who pulls a Picard and declines promotion for as long as he can. There is no Force, but I'm going to make them more sensitive to psychic phenomena, or in the case of some Jedi, just straight up psychic if the species fits.

The Senate is now the Federation Council, the Chancellor President of the Federation.

The clones are still clones, but because of the general good vibes/hope for a better tomorrow thing Trek has, they all got citizenship as soon as they were discovered. The Anti-Augment laws are just going to be thrown out the window for the most part. Because they inconvenience me.

I don't know, the Kaminoians are all Soongs now, because if anything Morally Dubious and Unethical happens, it's typically the work of a Soong.

The Hostile Superpower- The Separatists either replace the Cardassians or the Romulans, or maybe a weird mash up of both. There is a Neutral Zone buffer in the Outer Rim between the two major powers, but unfortunately a Federation starship violated the treaty, so now it's war time. The violation was baited by former Starfleet Admiral Dooku, who defected.

The Mandalorian Empire- Mandalorians replace Klingons, for obvious reasons. I can easily mash up events and stuff to make them work. Like, the Khitomer Massacre can easily be mashed together with Galidraan, the most major change I'd have to make is it's not known House Vizsla was behind the Massacre. Also, I kinda have a specific plot point for the Children of the Watch that would work with a canon Klingon storyline (please, please tell me your guesses. I want to see if anyone can figure it out from the clue(s) in this post).

Also, I can make Korkie/Alexander parallels, because I am a Korkie Kenobi Truther.

The Mandalorians are ruled by the Aii'aliit (closest thing to parliment or meeting of the clans, literally means clan of clans). Noble Houses are all represented on the council, and those Houses all have vassal Clans. Adonai Kryze is alive in this AU for plot reasons, and he's the High Chancellor of the Council (I'll look up or make a Mando'a title later). Satine's the Ambassador to the Federation, and Bo's joined the Mandalorian Protectors.

The Mandos have had a complicated legal debate over the status of the clones for years. After the Galidraan Massacre House Mereel lost a lot of status, so suddenly giving a House with a claim on the Mand’alor title several million soldiers seems...less than prudent. And what's to say the Clones aren't a trap from the Federation, meant to destroy them from the inside out. The memory of the Dral'han and the Taung Extinction Virus (I'm co-opting the Augment Virus) run deep in their people.

The Hutts- The Hutts are the Ferengi. I...don't really think I need to explain that one.

Resistance is Futile- And, because I enjoy breaking my own rules, the Yuuzhan Vong are now the Borg. That's right, I'm bringing the EU into this bitch. Listen, the parallels between the two threats make it too tempting not to do.

The Main Cast

Aboard the USS Resolute, a Venerator-class capital ship and flagship of the Federation fleet we have:

Captain Obi-Wan Kenobi- A man who just wants to putter around the galaxy with his found family and get into wacky space hijinks. He keeps turning down promotions to Admiral, partly because he feels like taking a desk job will be absolute torture and partly because he doesn't think anyone else will be able to keep Anakin from blowing up the warp core.

While on the surface Kenobi looks like a Picard style captain, he's actually closer to a Janeway. No, I will not elaborate on this, it's just how I see him.

Commander Cody Fett- Obi-Wan's second in command. Hyper competent, under caffeinated, and wondering what he did in a past life to deserve serving on the same ship as Skywalker. At least his Captain is a decent sort, even if he is a bit too crazy. And too flirty, but Cody's pointedly not thinking about that.

Thanks to the Kaminoians' fuckery (I'm undecided on how willingly involved Jango is in this timeline) Cody has trouble connecting with his Mandalorian heritage. He tries to study the writings of Tarre the Unforgettable and participate in the ceremonies and culture, but it's hard. The Mandalorian Alii'aliit hasn't been able to come to a consensus on whether or not the Clones are actually Mandalorian, and House Mereel's disgrace after Galidraan doesn't help matters.

Lieutenant Commander Anakin Skywalker- Head of Engineering. Captain Kenobi's unoffical/official little brother, who got assigned to the Resolute partly because he's such a brilliant engineer, and partly because there's genuine worry that without Obi-Wan there to serve as a functioning brain-cell, Anakin will blow up the warp core.

He's married to Naboo's Representative on the Federation Council, Padme Amidala. Their marriage isn't a secret here, which just means they're insufferable everywhere. Anakin has more demerits from outlandish PDA than from almost-blew-up-the-warp-core incidents, which is saying a lot, because there have been quite a few incidents.

Lieutenant Commander Rex Fett- Head of Security. This poor man. This poor, foolish man, made the horrible mistake of befriending Anakin Skywalker at the Academy and now he gets dragged into all the man's crazy schemes. Said schemes usually involve Rex eventually getting thrown through the air, because of course they do.

He's the designated Ahsoka and Anakin wrangler. Jokes on Captain Kenobi, if the idea doesn't involve potentially blowing up the warp core Rex just might join in with the chaos.

Ensign Ahsoka Tano- I wanna say she's the helmsman. She graduated from the Academy at a young age, and has kinda latched on to Admiral Plo Koon as a father figure. Plo Koon is thrilled by this, because it's Plo Koon. The man once stopped a civil war through pure dad vibes.

She's everyone's unofficial little sister and somehow always manages to finagle her way onto away missions. Her and Anakin aren't allowed to be alone together because they'll probably blow up the warp core.

She programs the best holodeck simulations; a large portion of them are dedicated to combat and hunting (she needs to fulfill the Togruta instincts somehow and it's very hard to do so in space). Some of them though, are just silly things like a traditional Barolian amusement park or Starfleet Academy but everything is a musical (Say, you know the usual "trapped in the holodeck" episode?).

Also she may or may not have a crush on the cute Mirialan junior Lieutenant in Astrometrics. The one that Lieutenant Commander Unduli has taken to personally mentoring.

C-3PO and R2-D2- Honestly, almost the same as canon, but the Trek "what makes a sentient" episodes focus on them. "The Measure Of A Man" is C-3PO fighting for rights not just for himself but for all droids.

Commander Kix Gilamar- CMO of the Resolute. A lot of clone doctors took Gilamar's name, because the man looked at all these sad, small children and decided to care. The clones with the Gilamar name are still under House Mereel, so it's not an added complication legally. (Listen, the whole reason Gilamar exists is because the initial Kal Skirata toy design looked too young, so I'm giving him Skirata's adoption instincts)

This guy has the dubious pleasure of serving with some self sacrificial weirdos. Like, Kenobi's diligent about going to medical, but in a crisis he won't let Kix treat him until everyone else gets checked and treated and Kix is very annoyed by this, because triage. Kix logs the most hypospray sedative usage out of any CMO in Starfleet.

[sepublic]

So I rambled in a previous post about how the KSI sentries turning on their creators is almost like the dead rising from the grave to take vengeance; After all, the KSI sentries are made from the harvested material of dead Cybertronians, many of them Decepticon. They're basically reanimated corpses, Frankenstein's monsters, and Galvatron is another example of a ghost possessing a new body.

With that in mind, I realized there's something that could be done with the Dinobots; Age of Extinction begins with dinosaurs specifically being turned into the metal that makes Transformers... We have Transformers who turn into Dinosaurs. And nothing is made from this connection, surprisingly.

I think there's a fun theme we could play with here; The Decepticons are not the only ones coming back from the dead, reborn as KSI sentries. There's also the dinosaurs themselves; All that's left of them are their fossils, transmuted into metal, which I like to think are scanned by/fused with the Dinobots to make them become Dinobots by granting them their famous alt-modes to begin with.

This would explain why they transform into prehistoric earth creatures, and the almost skeletal appearance of their beast bits; There's an almost demonic hellfire vibe to them, like demons coming from beneath the earth to punish sinners in retribution. They've burned and suffered and now they want to spread that searing pain to those responsible for landing them there.

In a way, it's the dinosaurs, the first inhabitants of Earth, who are coming back from the grave through the Dinobots to take their revenge upon the Decepticons; They were sacrificed for Cybertronian purposes, recycled to make new Cybertronians, just like the Decepticons who became KSI sentries. The Dinobots carry the spirit of the deceased and their anger upon those who wish to continue those same evils that contributed to their and others’ extinction.

The Decepticons are trying to prevent what they believe is an oncoming extinction of their race; Meanwhile, the remains of those who WERE rendered extinct by them are coming back to haunt them, just as the KSI sentries haunt their human/Autobot creators. It's ghosts fighting ghosts. It's the perfect thing to counter Galvatron's new army.

...There's just one problem; I mentioned in an even earlier post that I'm removing the constant retcons of Cybertronians having been on Earth since the beginning; Their first contact was the Allspark crash-landing on Earth, shortly followed by Megatron, and then other Cybertronians showing up later down the line to scout Earth for Energon.

This creates a dilemma for me, as there's no room for dinosaurs to have been transmuted into alien metal, if they were already long dead by this point. I did consider the idea of a seed detonating and transmuting some nearby fossils into metal, which provides the basis for Grimlock and co. to scan them and become Dinobots. But there isn't that same meaningful vengeance from beyond the grave if the dinosaurs weren't actually killed off by Cybertronians; I guess there's some anger about their graves being desecrated, but that's about it.

Maybe I'll roll with the idea; These fossils are underground. They're detected via sonar imaging, but somebody detonates the first seed in that area anyway, and sabotages an archaeological discovery of the past to pave the future. You could of course compare it to corporations destroying the environment and who knows how many fossils for the sake of industry.

And that also ties into the idea of Extinction in this arc, because the Decepticons are worrying so much about THEIR extinction... But can they keep up this current form of existence, without wiping out other species in the process? So who is going to become extinct here? Does anybody have to be? Two species, humans and Cybertronians, competing; One by arming themselves, the other by reformatting. What does it mean to be extinct if there are survivors? Some argue the dinosaurs didn't actually go extinct, they merely evolved to adapt and survive...

The same could be said for how Cybertronians are reformatting themselves with the Maximal program. They still live on, maybe it's the spirit that matters; You could even say the KSI sentries ironically embody that. Most of them are made from Decepticon metal, but there's plenty of Autobot in there too... Yet they nevertheless carry the Decepticon 'spirit' by being Galvatron's soldiers and serving his goals, and integrating with the remnants of previous generations.

The Dinobots carry the 'spirit' of their fossils, that animalistic will to survive that Earth's species have always had, and defend humanity after Optimus proves he’s the strongest; It’s Survival of the Fittest and these animalistic Dinobots have followed that rule since the beginning. They’ve got more in common with Earth’s creatures than they may initially realize or care.

By realizing that some things remain the same, people can accept what does change; Some, like Drift, have managed to find peace in this. Others are digging their feet in, trying to maintain the past. And now the past, another world's at least, is coming up to punish those people. Are we moving on too quickly from the past to embrace the future? Is it right to completely sacrifice the past, like the fossils, for the future of humanity's innovation through KSI?

Maybe when the Allspark landed on Earth, it did so during dinosaur times, and the fallout of its impact is what transmuted live dinosaurs into metallic fossils. I intended upon shortening the timeline quite a bit, but this might actually reconcile some things, and it does tie into how G1 began in dinosaur times, too. This does go a bit against the lore of the Chimera Cube containing power, but maybe the crash-landing jostled it a bit. I guess Sector 7 found the fossils near the Allspark, but didn't really do anything with them until by the time of Age of Extinction, and might not have intended to...

But because of somebody, possibly Shockwave (in reference to the Aligned continuity), the Knights of Kaon -led by the brutal Grimlock- ended up scanning and fusing with these metallic fossils, who are now compatible with their biology thanks to transmutation, causing them to be reborn as the Dinobots!

I suppose there are benefits to setting up the Dinobots as early as the first arc, with a brief mention of the surrounding environment, lifeforms included, being transmuted by the Allspark's crash landing. I'm not sure if I really want to stretch the time scale out that far though, but there's also the other suggestion I came up with; KSI does a test run with a seed and sacrifices a lush environment, and whatever's below, for their metal.

[harpagornis]

Multituberculate Earth: Meniscoessidae

Meniscoessus is probably one of the most referenced multituberculates, if only because it occurs in the well known Hell Creek Formation where T. rex roamed. It is at times placed in the clade Cimolomyidae, but this seems to be a weakly supported clade with its alleged members cropping up in Ptilodontoidea and Djadochtatheroida (Meniscoessus itself seems to be just outside the clade containing these two groups). As such, animals closely related to Meniscoessus are referred here with the less ambiguous Meniscoessidae.

Meniscoessus crops up in the earliest Paleocene deposits, suggesting it crossed the KT boundary. It was a herbivore, albeit not as specialised as taeniolabidoids for instance, retaining a mid-sized plagiaulacoid. In this timeline its descendents dispersed across North America, Asia and Europe in a pattern much akin to “condylarth” grade ungulates like phenacodontids, but barring a few places like the Iberian Peninsula these animals were never particularly common, nor did they grow much larger than a dog. The Asian radiation of lambdopsalids, the spread of boffiids across Europe and the arrival of ferugliotheriids to North America all produced successful radiations of small to mid-sized herbivores, leaving meniscoessids as a group rather unspeciose, with usually only one taxon per site if any at all.

Thus, when the PETM hit, it was no surprise that they pratically perished. What is surprising, however, is that they didn’t go completely extinct: against all odds, they made it into Balkanatolia just as it became an island continent once more.

Here, they thrived across the Eocene, and in the absence of competitors they underwent an explosive radiation of species, for the first and last time in their existence. Some underwent insular dwarfism and became small mouse analogues; others became arboreal frugivores and folivores, like multituberculate sloths (with spider monkey prehensile tails), others still became gracile animals like clumsy attempts at making a multituberculate answer to a horse or a tapir. Their situation mirrors that of pleuraspidotheriid ungulates in our timeline, another clade found across Europe in the Paleocene but reduced to Balkanatolia in the Eocene, where they too thrived without competing ungulates or rodents.

In this island continent meniscoessids co-existed with kogaionids, Balkanatolia’s apex carnivores and their frequent predators; with galulatheriids, which occupied the largest herbivore niches as well as semi-aquatic ones few meniscoessids explored; and with relictual metatherians, too generalistic to compete with them either.

In our world Balkanatolia connected with Asia in the mid-Eocene, spelling the end for the local ungulates; not so much here, where higher temperatures meant higher sea levels. Thus, meniscoessids lasted across the Eocene, continuing to evolve in splendid isolation. But all good things come to an end, and if anything this prolonged isolation made the Grand Coupure all the more violent, the sharp temperature drop collapsing Balkanatolia’s tropical biomes while the prolonged isolation made meniscoessids less capable of surviving the new waves of competitors and predators.

In spite of this, some menicoessids apparently made it as recently as the Rupelian/Chattian boundary in eastern Europe and Anatolia, though once more these are rather rare animals.

The future looks bleak for these herbivores, which only had one chance to shine and no other.

[satashiiwrites]

Messy Draft Monday—Halloween Edition

So yeah.  I have had too many work emergencies the last three days to get this done… despite goals of yeeting a complete one-shot today. Tagging my RC collective discord peeps: @radio-chatter​ @quietborderline​ @tkwritesdumbassassins​ @missanniewhimsy​ @elisela​ @outtoshatter​ @muffinsandsweets​ @redhoodiskra​. No pressure as always, this is just for fun

*sigh* there’s always tomorrow right?

Title: Bound By Blood

Fandom: Mass Effect Andromeda

Pairing: MReyder

Summary: doesn’t have one.  It’s Vamp!Reyes x Werewolfexperiment!Scott

Other tags/warnings: first draft. Half done one-shot.  Halloween creature fic. 

The years had made him cautious—but not overly so. He was rather hard to kill after all and great rewards usually awaited those daring enough to take the risk

The last two hundred years (minus a six hundred year cryosleep) had been particularly interesting.  So many new inventions, new places open to exploration as the mass relays connected his home planet to the width and breadth of the Milky Way.  He’d made the jump almost immediately to the colonies exploring the various nebulas and systems, meeting alien races and learning new skills until he’d heard a rumor of an expedition so audacious he hadn’t believed it until he’d obtained his own offer to join.  

Reyes had taken advantage of the one way journey to Andromeda purely because it was such an unusual opportunity and it intrigued him enough to play human again and leave the shadows he tended to favor. 

What wasn’t surprising was the mess that humans (and Asari, Krogan, Salarian and Turians) could make of things.  The Uprising had been disappointing.  New galaxy but old problems and petty grievances had followed them all to precipitate a disaster.  Colonists died., colonies failed and civil war broke the Initiative in half. 

As old as he was, he didn’t need that much to survive. Finding that the Angara were just as good a substitute as a human, krogan or asari had been a pleasant discovery (in a pinch a Turian, Salarian or other Milky Way species would do but it always made him feel a bit off to have dextro blood in his system).  Keema’s adoption of him as her family even more so.

Reyes hadn’t had a true family in a long time.  Now, he would kill any who threatened Keema and his people.  

He’d written off the Initiative for the most part.  They were stuck on the opposite side of the Haranj in a tangle of the Scourge without a viable colony to support themselves so he’d invested his time and efforts in working with the Angara and starting to carve out his own fiefdom like his kind had in the worlds of old. 

That’s when whispers of an ark had reached his ears. 

The Hyperion had been sighted and made it’s way to the Nexus. 

Reyes had consulted with Keema and Evfra about whether this changed anything.  They had all agreed to wait and see—they had enough trouble to deal with in the Kett. 

Now the Kett were truly worthless.  Their blood was rancid—they barely qualified as living to Reyes and were waging a war of extinction against his family by invading their homes. 

No sense of humor either—you could tell a lot about a species based on what they found funny. 

The whispers became rumors and then intelligence reports of a Pathfinder—not Alec but a Scott Ryder. It seemed some misfortune had befallen the father and now the son had inherited his father’s heavy mantel. Reports came in that implied competence and a tendency towards fairness more fitting of an Arthurian knight. 

Reyes had to admit to being intrigued when Evfra admitted to finding this Scott impressive for being so young.  He offered to be the liaison contact on Kadara when it became obvious that the Tempest’s next port of call would be Kadara. 

He needed to meet Scott Ryder personally and judge how best to handle him. Whether this young Pathfinder was going to be ally, asset or foe needed to be determined. 

Photos of Scott Ryder did not adequately prepare him nor were the reports detailed enough. 

As old as Reyes was, he’d honed his skills and enhanced senses over the years.  It had been quite a while since someone had delighted him as much as Scott did. 

Scott had the athletic build of a career special forces operative and the slight swagger to his hips and cocking of the head that spoke to his confidence in his skills. Sapphire blue eyes reflected unnaturally in the neon lights of Kralla’s Song that hid the hazel green and amber flecks of the iris but betrayed the night vision flash of something not quite human more than the slight scent of pine and mountain air that clung to him. 

Reyes had not anticipated this. 

Scott had something of the wolf in him.  Not fully—no.  When tested he did not react to the changes of the moon nor did he do anything other than sneeze when tested with wolfsbane  flowers (and hadn’t those been fun to procure when he’d not thought to ever need them six hundred years away from the politics of the Milky Way). His skin did not burn when exposed to silver and he was confused—not offended—by dog jokes. 

He was a puzzle and Reyes was fascinated. 

Fascination led to investment.  Investment led to banter which led to something else.  Something that Reyes labeled friendship but Keema labeled it something else with a sly grin while he ducked out of the gentle ribbing she gave him whenever Scott was on Kadara.

He was almost a thousand years old.  Love was for shorter lived mortals—not him. 

Then Scott made a declaration—he could have chosen differently but he had not. 

Instead, Scott chose Reyes and Sloane Kelly fell to the ground dead from a sniper’s bullet in Draullier. 

It made an odd sort of sense that Scott should surprise him even further at that moment, standing on the other side of a dead body. “I know.”

“Know what?” Reyes asked. The urge to touch Scott was strong but he denied it.  He was used to denying his wants.

“I know you’re…. You’re…”

“I’m what?” Reyes asked, letting the words slide across his tongue like velvet even as his fangs descended, taking a step to the side so he could fade into the shadows if necessary. Scott smelled wonderful unlike any other wolf he’d ever encountered and it drew him in.  

“You’re a vampire.”

Reyes paused, the label creating a barrier between them. He had not hidden any of his tendencies from Scott—in fact he’d revealed more of them than he had to any human in quite a long time. “A vampire Scott—surely you joke.”

Scott was nervous, a pink tongue swiping across his lips and he shifted his weight.  “You smell…. Different.”

“Like what?” Reyes couldn’t help himself. 

“Whiskey. Plums.  Like the night wind…. And death.”

He arched an eyebrow at the description. “So? It sounds like you don’t like my cologne.”

“It’s not cologne,” Scott snapped, frowning before his expression flattened into neutrality but his eyes didn’t leave Reyes’.  “Surely you feel it?”

“Feel what?”  He’d been circling Scott, and he asked the questions right into the shell of an ear that twitched as his words entered, lengthening slightly to a point which Reyes couldn’t help but touch with one finger and trace the delicate ridge. “Ah—keep it in.  Wouldn’t want to slip and let just anyone see this.”

“Reyes,” Scott breathed his name out in a sigh, head falling back as he shivered.  Reyes took advantage to wrap one arm around Scott’s trim waistline. 

“Yes Scott?”  This close you could see all the different fleck of color in Scott’s eyes and they practically glowed gold in the faint moonlight. The wolf was close to the surface—closer than Reyes had witnessed it before. It felt like a rubber band stretched too thin between them when they were apart and the recoil as they neared urged him closer and closer, faster and faster until he actively wanted to snarl when Scott was called away by his masters. 

He was beginning to suspect he would give just about anything to be Scott’s master. To be able to claim Scott as his.

“Are you mine?”

Possession flared in his chest and the heart that had not beat in almost a millennia gave a lurch. 

Nuzzling his nose into the side of Scott’s neck where jaw and ear met, he purposefully inhaled deeply.  Breathing was not necessary for his kind but it was necessary to use his enhanced senses. He could hear the slightly quick beat of Scott’s heart, feel the thrums of nerves transmitted through layers of armor. 

Scott’s blood would be thick and rich on his tongue, taste better than ambrosia.  It would be instantly addicting and Reyes knew he wouldn’t be able to resist the siren call for long. 

A gauntleted hand held him in place, pressing his nose into Scott’s neck and he couldn’t help the satisfied purr that escaped. The gasp and aborted roll of the hips that Scott gave when licked over the jugular was both interesting as well as intoxicating. “Reyes….”

“What do you want Scott?”  He needed an answer.  Reyes barely had a leash on his instincts but he needed to know what it was that Scott wanted. 

“You.  I want you,” Scott growled, turning in his grip until they were pressed together from knee to chest. The hand that cradled Reyes’ face remained where it was but the other arm snaked around his waist to pull them together tight.  The rumbling grew in pitch to a snarl and then they were kissing. 

They’d kissed before in the storeroom as a smokescreen and Reyes had gotten the tiniest taste of Scott then.  Now, however, it became quite apparent that Scott had been holding out on him. Open mouthed, their tongues dueled as Scott submitted to Reyes’ who nipped at the tongue that tangoed with his to add a few drops of blood to the mix like the finest wine.  The crisp north wind as it howled across the mountains gathering the first hint of a spring thunderstorm. The crackle of lightning as it struck. 

[tysonfurybattlepass]

OC asks for Lisaph 1 to 26

(i’m gonna do the first half here and the second half tomorrow after work!!)

1. What are your OC’s nicknames and how did they come about?

Lisaph gets called Red a lot by her coworkers for uh. obvious reasons. her ring name/fighter name is Hellcat!

2. What is the color of your OC’s eyes/skin/hair?

Lisaph has bright orange fur with white points on her muzzle, chest, and all six paws. she has dark, reddish-brown spots and rosettes concentrated mostly on her back and shoulders, and her tail is banded. she has pink eyes!

3. How tall is your OC?

on two legs, Lisaph is nearly 6’8”! she’s got very long limbs and an extended upper body to accommodate the extra forelimbs. she’s kind of like halfway between a weasel and a cheetah.

4. What is a notable physical attribute of your OC?

well, probably her extra arms! species within the subfamily hexelidae have six limbs, with the frontmost and backmost being modulated for locomotion and combat like most carnivorans. their middle limbs (or ‘second arms,) are modulated specifically for fine motor skills, much like human hands, which allows them to create and use technology. though notably, they don’t really make or use weapons all that much since their entire bodies are basically built for killing lol

5. What does your OC normally wear?

Lisaph is a rocker chick. she likes ripped jeans, spiky bracelets, and leather jackets. she usually wears crop tops because finding clothing that accommodates her four arms is almost impossible. if she really wants to impress, a thin-strap little black dress is her go-to. her favorite is a halter top so it doesnt get in the way of her lower arms.

6. What is one word you would use to describe your OC’s appearance?

Carnivorous.

7. Does your OC have any markings?

She has patterned fur, but other than that she also has a bar piercing on her nosebridge! (Geneph hates it)

8. How does your OC talk/what does their voice sound like?

You know Danny Murillo from Hollywood Undead? she sounds EXACTLY like him. she also talks very quickly most of the time and curses like a sailor.

9. What does your OC’s bedroom look like?

Like the aftermath of a particularly centralized tornado. if she owns it, rest assured it is on the floor or on her bed somewhere.

10. What does your OC keep in a special drawer?

Lisaph is too disorganized to even denote any drawer as special. it’s a complete free-for-all with her.

11-12. What is your OC’s relationship with their mother/father?

see, this is an interesting one, because Lisaph’s species doesn’t really have parents. i mean, biologically they do, but adults play no role in the lives of nymphs. rather, the nymphs live apart from the adults as fully-arboreal small predators, so as not to compete directly with the adults (who target larger prey). nymphs band together into tight friend groups early on that will likely persist for their whole lives. this is a crucial time for them to learn cooperation and coordination with others, skills that they will definitely need as borderline-eusocial adults.

13. How many siblings does your OC have and what is their relationship with them?

Geneph is the closest approximation of a sibling or parent that Lisaph has. there’s a word for their relationship in their native language that sort of translates to ‘mentorship’. it’s when an older individual helps guide a brand-new young adult into group living, like how a high school senior might “adopt” a freshman. what makes Geneph and Lisaph an outlier is that they actually met before Lisaph pupated and integrated into adult society. due to extenuating circumstances (read: extinction event) Lisaph never got the chance to live out her nymph days in the wild or integrate into a clan as an adult. rather, Geneph ran into her while fleeing their homeland. at first, Geneph didn’t want anything to do with her as nymphs are not the responsibility of adults, but Lisaph had lost all her other nymph friends and was in a new and scary place so she latched onto him immediately and never let go. Nowadays, Geneph loves Lisaph fiercely and would easily kill or die for her, and Lisaph affectionately refers to him as her ‘brother’. he doesn’t like this approximation as he feels it’s invalidating to their culture, but in Lisaph’s defense she grew up in the context of secular(?) society and doesn’t know any different. in that regard, though Geneph would go to the ends of the earth for her, he doesn’t really get Lisaph in a lot of ways. Lisaph, for her part, often feels like she’s incapable of being a part of Geneph’s life in a meaningful way because she’s missing crucial cultural context and thus can’t give him what he needs. it’s a frustrating language barrier that Lisaph often blames herself for.

[newstfionline]

Saturday, July 6, 2024

Biden Stumbles Over His Words as He Tries to Steady Re-Election Campaign (NYT) President Biden sought to steady his re-election campaign by talking with two Black radio hosts for interviews broadcast on Thursday, but he spoke haltingly at points during one interview and struggled to find the right phrase in the other, saying that he was proud to have been “the first Black woman to serve with a Black president.” He also stumbled over his words during a four-minute Fourth of July speech to military families at the White House, beginning a story about former President Donald J. Trump, calling him “one of our colleagues, the former president” and then adding, “probably shouldn’t say, at any rate” before abruptly ending the story and moving on. The president also made a mistake in a radio interview when he asserted that he had been the first president elected statewide in Delaware. He appeared to mean that he was the first Catholic in the state to be elected statewide, going on to speak admiringly of John F. Kennedy, a Catholic. Ammar Moussa, a spokesman for Mr. Biden’s campaign, criticized the news media for making note of the president’s stumbles.

To save spotted owls, US officials plan to kill hundreds of thousands of another owl species (AP) To save the imperiled spotted owl from potential extinction, U.S. wildlife officials are embracing a contentious plan to deploy trained shooters into dense West Coast forests to kill almost a half-million barred owls that are crowding out their cousins. Documents released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service show up to about 450,000 barred owls would be shot over three decades after the birds from the eastern U.S. encroached into the West Coast territory of two owls: northern spotted owls and California spotted owls. The smaller spotted owls have been unable to compete with the invaders, which have large broods and need less room to survive than spotted owls. The notion of killing one bird species to save another has divided wildlife advocates and conservationists. It’s reminiscent of past government efforts to save West Coast salmon by killing sea lions and cormorants that prey on the fish.

Hurricane Beryl is expected to head north from Mexico (NYT) Hurricane Beryl made landfall today at the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, just northeast of Tulum, as a Category 2 storm. More than 2,100 people were taking refuge in shelters. Beryl weakened slightly as it moved inland, but it could strengthen back into a Category 1 storm over the Gulf of Mexico. It is forecast to move toward northeastern Mexico and southern Texas, bringing strong winds, storm surge and heavy rain, by the end of the weekend.

Haiti’s prime minister says Kenyan police are crucial to controlling gangs, early days are positive (AP) Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that recently deployed Kenyan police will be crucial to helping control the country’s gangs and moving toward democratic elections—and he called feedback from their initial days in the capital “extremely, extremely positive.” On June 25, the initial contingent of 200 Kenyan police arrived in Port-au-Prince. Kenya has pledged 1,000 police to the international police force and Conille said the next contingent will be arriving “very soon.” They will later be joined by police from the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad and Jamaica in the force that will total 2,500 personnel.

Brazil’s Bolsonaro indicted for alleged money laundering for undeclared diamonds from Saudi Arabia (AP) The indictment of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for money laundering and criminal association in connection with undeclared diamonds from Saudi Arabia marked the far-right leader’s second formal accusation with more potentially in store. Brazil’s Supreme Court has yet to receive the police report with the latest indictment. Once it does, the country’s prosecutor-general, Paulo Gonet, will analyze the document and decide whether to file charges and force Bolsonaro to stand trial. The indictment dramatically raises the legal threats facing the divisive ex-leader that are applauded by his opponents but denounced as political persecution by his supporters.

UK Labour Party sweeps to power in historic election win. But impatient voters mean big challenges (AP) Britain’s Labour Party swept to power Friday after more than a decade in opposition, as a jaded electorate handed the party a landslide victory—but also a mammoth task of reinvigorating a stagnant economy and dispirited nation. Labour leader Keir Starmer will officially become prime minister later in the day, leading his party back to government less than five years after it suffered its worst defeat in almost a century. For Starmer, it’s a massive triumph that will bring huge challenges, as he faces a weary electorate impatient for change against a gloomy backdrop of economic malaise, mounting distrust in institutions and a fraying social fabric. Britain has experienced a run of turbulent years—some of it of the Conservatives’ own making and some of it not—that has left many voters pessimistic about their country’s future. The U.K.’s exit from the European Union followed by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine battered the economy, while lockdown-breaching parties held by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his staff caused widespread anger. Rising poverty, crumbling infrastructure and overstretched National Health Service have led to gripes about “Broken Britain.”

Some Countries Are Trying a Four-Day Workweek. Greece Wants a Six-Day One. (NYT) As the rest of the world zigs toward a four-day workweek, Greece is opting to zag. On Monday, a law came into effect that allows some companies to enforce a six-day workweek, a shift that is intended to prop up the country’s aging work force and compensate strapped workers, while respecting workers’ rights. The law applies to private sector workers in certain industrial and manufacturing sectors, or to those who work in a business that operates continuous shifts 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with some exceptions. And it would be allowed only “in exceptional circumstances,” like an unexpectedly increased workload. Labor unions, which have long pushed for better working conditions and rights, have opposed the move. It has prompted a fierce debate and, when the bill was approved last year, protests. Greece already has the longest average workweek in the European Union, and it is not clear whether the extended workweek will bolster productivity.

China and Russia Compete, and Cooperate, in Central Asia (NYT) With Russia mired in a long war in Ukraine and increasingly dependent on China for supplies, Beijing is moving quickly to expand its sway in Central Asia, a region that was once in the Kremlin’s sphere of influence. Russia, for its part, is pushing back hard. As the leaders of Central Asian countries meet with the presidents of China and Russia this week in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, China’s rising presence is visible in the region. New rail lines and other infrastructure are being built, while trade and investment are rising. Flag-waving Kazakh children who sang in Chinese greeted Xi Jinping, China’s leader, upon his arrival in Astana on Tuesday. He praised ties with Kazakhstan as a friendship that has “endured for generations.” The forum was for years focused largely on security issues. Beijing has come to dominate the group, and as it has expanded its membership, China and Russia have used it as a platform to showcase their ambitions of reshaping a global order dominated by the United States.

As Taliban limits options for Afghan women, many lead secret lives online (Washington Post) Three years into Taliban rule, Afghan women and girls are finding ways online to take back some of what was taken from them in 2021. Banned from secondary and higher education, they attend online classes, learn foreign languages with the help of AI chatbots and e-books, and trade cryptocurrencies in the hope of becoming financially independent. They have tried to make up for the closing of movie theaters, the shuttering of gyms for women and the banning of music by turning to YouTube’s copious offerings of comedy shows, fitness classes and music videos. Some spend so much time online that their friends worry about addiction. Others face torturously slow internet speeds, or—in rural areas—cannot get online at all. “The internet is our last hope,” said Beheshta, 24. “But nothing can replace real freedom.” She spoke on the condition that only her first name be used out of concern that her comments could draw the ire of government officials.

Japan won its ‘war’ on floppy disks, but its love of archaic tech lingers (Washington Post) Two years ago, Japan’s Digital Minister Taro Kono turned heads when he declared war on an almost obsolete piece of computer hardware: the floppy disk. This week, Kono declared victory, telling Reuters: “We have won the war on floppy disks on June 28!” Still, Japan’s lingering reliance on archaic technology stands out. The country has long been known for innovation, so much so that the idea of Japan as a futuristic utopia replete with robots, singing toilets and zooming bullet trains has almost veered into a trope. But it’s also the country where flip phones remained popular long into the smartphone era and where employees protest getting rid of fax machines—and, as experts say, this relationship with tech reflects both pragmatic concerns and the deeply held values that allowed Japanese technology to thrive in the first place. There’s also the Japanese language itself. It can be difficult to fill out digital forms in Japanese, which uses three writing systems that don’t always translate well to digital interfaces, one analyst said. “It feels like it’s 1,000 times faster to just write the thing and then send a fax.” This effect is compounded in a society where older people, who are not digital natives, make up a large percentage of Japan’s population.

Life and death in Gaza’s ‘safe zone’ (AP) An Israeli airstrike slammed into a residential building next to the main medical center in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, wounding at least seven people, hospital authorities and witnesses said Wednesday. Nasser Hospital sits in the western part of the city, which is inside the Israeli-designated humanitarian “safe zone” where Palestinians have been told to go, according to maps provided by Israel’s military. The latest Israeli evacuation order affected about 250,000 people earlier this week across wide swathes of Gaza, the United Nations estimated. As dust from Wednesday’s strike billowed through a street near Nasser Hospital, an Associated Press contributor filmed people running in all directions—some rushing toward the destruction and some away. Andrea De Domenico, the head of the U.N. humanitarian office for the Palestinian territories, said Gaza is “the only place in the world where people cannot find a safe refuge, and can’t leave the front line.” Even in so-called safe areas there are bombings, he told reporters Wednesday in Jerusalem.

A bench and a grandmother’s ear: Zimbabwe’s novel mental health therapy spreads overseas (AP) After her son, the family’s shining light and only breadwinner, was arrested last year, Tambudzai Tembo went into meltdown. In Zimbabwe, where clinical mental health services are scarce, her chances of getting professional help were next to zero. She contemplated suicide. “I didn’t want to live anymore. People who saw me would think everything was okay. But inside, my head was spinning,” the 57-year-old said. “I was on my own.” A wooden bench and an empathetic grandmother saved her. Older people are at the center of a homegrown form of mental health therapy in Zimbabwe that is now being adopted in places like the United States. The approach involves setting up benches in quiet, discreet corners of community clinics and in some churches, poor neighborhoods and at a university. An older woman with basic training in problem-solving therapy patiently sits there, ready to listen and engage in a one-on-one conversation. In New York, the city’s new mental health plan launched last year says it is “drawing inspiration” from what it calls the Friendship Bench to help address risk factors such as social isolation. The orange benches are now in areas including Harlem, Brooklyn and the Bronx.

[myfaveisfuckable]

Rants!

Obi wan/grievous: Ok so this is a HUGE crackship and some people are not going to agree but like, Obi-Wan is what comes to mind when you think of the jedi and Grievous hates the jedi as a whole because he believes them to the cause of his mutilation and the suffering of his people, but the jedi are not the ones who did this. Grievous is a pawn in the game of the sith and he doesn't realize that his mind has been altered against his wishes or that he will be desposed of as soon as the war ends. Obi-Wan is a compassionate man and is able to consistently go toe to toe with Grievous, making him a rival Grievous can't help but respect in a weird way (his people are warriors, for all we know, fighting could be a method of flirting to his people yaknow? And obiwan genuienly flirts as a way to throw off his enemies, think of the comedic potential if Obi-Wan didnt realize how MUCH hes been a flirt or if Grevious acctualy gets flustered by it because obiwan is such a competent fighter and IF ONLY HE WASNT THE ENEMY-) If Obi-Wan knew what happened he would have tried to make amends and help his people, and if Grievous learned that it was Dooku (a former jedi turned sith) who turned him into a monster against his will, he'd probably be willing to team up with Obi-Wan to bring down Dooku and the Sith plans for Galactic domination to avenge and to protect his people, and they would be an absolute powerhouse since they are already familiar with eachothers way of fighting and from a writers point of view its filled with so much potential angst and drama, and hijinks, and even enhances the plot and creates parallels between the two that the franchise has never bothered to make and it has so much potential even if they don't fall in love they could be really good friends/partners/allies and if order 66 goes as planned they would be badass rebels its such an overlooked possible dynamic PLEASE 🥺

Dreadwing/Optimus: Ok so they are such a small ship they don't really have a name (which works in their favor considering this competition) but they have SO MUCH angst potential as they are on opposite sides of a million year long war that is leading to the potential extinction of their species, but they have so much in common too!!! They are both Honorable and follow their convictions on what they belive is right. If the studio didn't kill off Dreadwing for stupid reasons, he could have joined Optimus in the fight for what is right they probably could have fallen in love because Dreadwing is not a subordinate to Optimus and doesn't treat him like an untouchable divine being and voices his disagreements with his ideas with reasoninf and nor out of spite, and Optimus is a good leader who treats his underlings like mechs with respect and he's not hooked on space Cocaine like Megatron and he's rational and competent and self sacrificing while Megatron is self serving Dreadwing could totally fall in love with that or at least grow to respect him deeply. Also it could be a catalyst foe the other decepticons to realize something is incredibly wrong with their cause and with Megatron and his blatent instability and the defection of Dreadwing could change the fate of so many beloved characters for the better and they would be a genuinely good pairing and not toxic or gross or concerning but it's still an unknown and unconsidered ship whish is a CRIME