#mainly because I'm just fascinated but also for worldbuilding purposes

[spirit-tracks]

Manifesting 3 hour long Zeltik video going into depth about the Zelda series' religion and the pantheon of hyrulean gods

[theredengineapologist]

Introducing the world of TTTE: Sudrian Boys [TTTE: Sudrian Boys AU Worldbuilding, Pt. 1]

Now that I've worked out exactly what I want from my AU, I believe it is finally time to share the lore with all of you (one month after I initially promised it OOPS).

The lore of this world is a bit HEFTY to explain, so I'm breaking it into multiple parts. This part mainly goes over the history and background for my Humanized!TTTE AU, TTTE: Sudrian Boys. In later parts, I plan to cover things like Sudrian vs Non-Sudrian Engine culture, how the engines differ from humans, and more info about how the shapeshifting works in my AU, so stay tuned!

Also! Information regarding specific characters will be included in separate character sheets I will be posting at a later date. I'm also currently working on some fanfics that I hope will expand my AU further. But feel free to ask me any questions you may have!

This is going to be a VERY long post so read on under the cut!

Before we begin, some key things to keep in mind:

I am still actively catching up with the canon source material at this point in time! Thus, aspects of my AU are subject to change as I read/watch more of the source material and incorporate it into my AU.

This AU is primarily based on TV series canon (both model and CGI), as that is what I am primarily familiar with. Some aspects are also taken from the Railway Series to help estimate an approximate timeline of events.

At this current point in time, BWBA is NOT canon in my AU. This is mainly because I have not watched it yet and have no plans to watch it later (with the exception of the Michael White episodes that everyone says are good). The episode "A Shed for Edward" from Season 21 is also NOT canon in my AU. This is to say that in my AU, Edward and Henry still live in Tidmouth. It's my AU. I do what I want.

On that note, Thomas and the Magic Railroad is partially canon in my AU. I haven't gone back to re-watch the movie yet (I do plan to at a later date), so I'm going purely off of memory and what I hear other people say about it. Because of this, I've decided to basically just take parts that I like and leave behind parts that I don't. In regards to the canonicity of the film itself, I consider it as a dream Thomas had (that may or may not have actually happend. It'll all make sense later).

With the exception of Philip the Diesel Boxcab, ALL of the engines are adults in my AU. Yes, that includes Thomas and Percy.

With that out of the way, let's start at The Beginning:

A long time ago, when humans were designing the first steam engines, a young faerie fell in love with them. Her true name is beyond mortal comprehension, but engines of today refer to her as Lady (or alternatively, the Lady of Legend).

Though fae are usually associated with nature, this faerie in particular was fascinated by machines and the ingenuity of mankind. And so she used her magic gold dust to breathe life into the machines that she loved so much.

And thus she became Lady, Goddess of Steam Engines.

For many years, engines and humans lived together in harmony. The engines found purpose in being useful, and humans were able to travel longer distances and distribute supplies amongst each other. It was a mutually beneficial relationship.

But then, everything changed when the fire nation attacked dieselization happened.

Lady watched in horror as humanity turned their backs on the steam engines that worked so hard for them. In increasingly larger numbers, engines were getting scrapped for as petty reasons as "not being useful enough". In an effort to protect her beloved machines, Lady imbued them with more powerful magic.

As much as Lady wanted to, the Fae Court wouldn't allow creations of man to be taken in mass to the fae realm. So if she couldn't offer her engines salvation, Lady would at least give them a means of escape.

By around 1960, as steam was getting phased out, Lady blessed her beloved machines with the ability to shapeshift. If an engine ever had a desire to leave the rails, all they had to do was imagine themselves doing so and they could walk the Earth in a human-like form. This would allow them live lives completely independent from mankind. Being "really useful" was no longer a requirement to have a right to live, now they could simply exist and pursue goals of their own choosing just as any human could.

For steam engines all around the world, shapeshifting became a secret and closely guarded practice that they would only discuss amongst each other. Humans were not to be made aware of this under any circumstances.

Unfortunately, even after Lady bestowed the gift of shapeshifting upon her engines, hundreds of them were still killed under the cutter's torch. Steam engines are proud entities after all, and many of them preferred to die upon their rails than to live in hiding as something foreign. And since shapeshifting was such a closely guarded practice, not every engine who may have wanted a way out was able to be taught.

Even so, there were still reports circulating of engines vanishing from scrapyards without a trace, almost as if by magic. These were the engines that managed to escape and are now living secretly amongst humans to this day.

Fast Forward many, many decades later. We return to the Island of Sodor:

It is now the late 2010s to mid 2020s. The entire Island of Sodor basically runs as a giant heritage railway.

The NWR is currently run by Sir Topham Hat III, who is at the strapping young age of 83. (I saw this tweet from someone who asked Christopher Awdry if STH III is still running the railway and he said yes so we're going with that.) STH III loves his engines very much, which is why he has no plans on retiring any time soon. Still, he has STH IV shadow him closely in order to prepare him to take over the railway some day.

Because of the success of both The Railway Series books and the Thomas and Friends TV show, tourists flock from all over the world to get a look at the famous engines. Plus, being one of the few places to still have steam engines in operation (and so many of them in fact), you can count on many of the tourists being train enthusiasts too.

Basically, the engines of Sodor are all treated like celebrities. They are FAMOUS and are generally adored by the public. Whenever they go anywhere, you can count on someone knowing their names.

And because of just how many tourists come to Sodor every year, the economy is thriving and the engines are all very, very busy. Everything is pretty idyllic.

But sometimes, prosperity can get pretty boring.

And now, our story begins:

As with many Sudrian Shenanigans, everything starts with Thomas the Tank Engine.

One night, after Thomas delivers passengers to a carnival, he makes a wish to leave life on the rails, even if only for just one night.

As much as Thomas loves working on his branch line, delivering goods and passengers from place to place, and meeting tourists, doing the same routine for literal DECADES can get a little dull.

While waiting for his driver and fireman to return from a short break, Thomas let his mind wander. He imagined himself as a human person taking part in the festivities with the passengers he just delivered. In doing so, Thomas accidentally activated the dormant shapeshifting magic Lady had blessed him with many years ago.

When Thomas opened his eyes, he was literally much closer to his rails than he had ever been. The station platform was much higher up. And Annie and Clarabel were much bigger than he remembered. Thomas had accidentally turned himself into a small human man, just like he had seen in his imagination.

He freaked out a little at first. When they returned, his driver and fireman didn't recognize him. It was only after Thomas started going off about things that only he would know, details about events that happened decades ago, before they were born and had only heard about in stories, that they realized that this small human figure really was Thomas the Tank Engine.

They called Sir Topham Hatt III at once, explaining the situation. And while baffling and unbelievable, the truth was right before their eyes. They were at a loss for what to do, especially since Thomas didn't know how to turn back yet. They concluded to allow Thomas to enjoy the festival for now, let Edward take the passengers home that night, and have Thomas stay with STH's family until he could figure out how to return to normal.

While scary at first, Thomas did enjoy the festival that night. And he went home with STH in Annie and Clarabel. He got to see the island from a new perspective, and he very much enjoyed that.

STH III made Thomas's driver and fireman promise to keep this a secret for now until they could figure out what happened. But that ultimately didn't matter because Thomas went to say "hello" to Edward that night. By the next sunrise, every engine on the island heard exactly what happened to Thomas. Some told their crew, but most weren't believed. Even some of the engines didn't believe each other. But at the very least, every engine on the island knew something strange was afoot.

The news eventually reached Donald and Douglas, who swiftly made their way to Tidmouth Sheds. Coincidentally, STH was bringing Human!Thomas to Tidmouth to inform the rest of the Steam Team about what had happened.

It is at this moment that Donald and Douglas reveal that they knew about shifting for decades. It was how they managed to get to the island under the guise that there would only be one of them. They would take turns, one traveling as an engine while the other hid in their cab. The reason they both appeared on the island as engines is because they hoped the controller would be kind enough to keep them both (and he was!). If it hadn't worked out, they would have run away together as humans. Since things worked out in their favor, they didn't see a point in shapeshifting again. But now that their secret was out, they needed to keep it safe.

Donald and Douglas taught the Steam Team how to shapeshift, and the engines continued to teach each other until basically every engine on the island knew how to switch between the two forms comfortably. In exchange, however, only a limited number of humans could know about engine shifting. These include STH III, STH IV, and the engines' drivers and firemen. Basically, only those who really needed to know.

Nowadays, STH gives the engines a little extra time off during the day to explore their new forms. The Steam Team also has an apartment where they can live together as humans if they choose. Within a few months, most of the engines have gotten in the habit of shifting back and forth, exploring their world and learning new things about themselves.

Now in a new perspective, the adventures continue. 😉

[penname-artist]

The Fascinating/Frustrating World of...Bird...People...?

(Pre-warning: Don't get too excited for this to become a Thing. One, my motivation is non-existant right now, two, trauma that we're not getting into is keeping me from indulging in the idea, but, it's a recent idea that I think is so interesting I really wanted to share it in case somebody else would like to pick it up.)

The concept behind avians (bird people) is both really neat, and really...weird? And for that reason also frustrating to navigate, which is one of the reasons I personally do not indulge in it.

...well, usually at least. But today I have a neat idea I was given in the early morning of dreaming, and I really want to do something with it before it gets lost in the ether again.

Bird people, except...

smol.

Very smol.

Small enough they'd be akin to either their original bird origins (whatever specimens those may be) or closer in scale to that of modern-day depictions of fairies. To the latter, I point towards Disney's Tinkerbell series from the early 2010s as a concept of both size and relative way of living.

The main reason that a fairy-sized flock of tiny bird people interests me is, of course as always, because I can slap Planes characters onto it and call it an AU for funsies. Not only does that open the floodgates of "these aircraft are now human but still capable of flight without additional machinery", but it also gives room to retro-fit bird species onto characters in ways that might not have been done before.

And by that, I exclusively mean I get to turn Blade into a goddamn hummingbird.

And THAT is the sole reason I wanted to share this fucking concept. Not just fun bird people, not just silly AU material, no. I get to turn Blade into the only type of bird he would actually fit the bill of REALLY fucking well. Helicopter? Hummingbird. Do you SEE my genius here???

Even BETTER, too, there's a species of hummingbird called the Allen's Hummingbird which has a very rust-colored plumage, and LIVES along the coastlines of CALIFORNIA. Coincidence, I think not! It was fucking meant to be!

Okay but that really neat idea aside, there's of course a whole lot of...ahem, *complications* in creating any sort of Avian universe, be it for these specific purposes, or just any in general. Anyone else dabbling in the matter probably knows what I'm talking about, because while there are like, sub-categories of mythology and style design of "bird people", there's honestly no ONE single universal style of them that fits the idea. It's actually a very wide net you cast when you just say "bird people".

Basically, it's a very large spectrum of "how BIRD do you want your hybrid birds to BE?"

(And that answer in your universe is kind of like, really important for setting the groundwork and worldbuilding for, y'know...everything else.)

And that spectrum's two major ends would be the D&D style Kenkus and other such builds that are ALL BIRD - in head and limbs and feathery bodies aplenty - versus the almost completely human characters that just happen to have wings on their backs, usually REALLY big ones because, y'know. People are heavy.

Somewhere in the middle, you might have your two types of hybrids, the people that can turn into birds or all-bird bird "people", and the ones that are "mosty" human with wings and a fair assortment of bird qualities, including but not limited to talons for feet, extra plumage tufts around their bodies, and/or tail feathers.

The latter is kinda where I - and to be fair I think a lot of people - lean, mainly because it's the most human-functional non-human combination. Not to mention it has the most creative freedom as far as deciding how many facets of bird qualities you want on your species.

Like a weird build your own pizza! but...birds...

Anyways yeah, so IF (and that is a REALLY big IF) I make an AU kinda-sorta in that range, I have no idea where I'd want to go as far as those specific customization options. For sure we'd go the route of separated hands/arms and wings, because functionally that is wayyyyy easier than a creature whose wings ARE their hands/arms, but aside from that, mmm...I haven't got anything I've seen yet that I really like or gotta have.

The concept of bird legs for an Avian is tempting, but also really...odd?? Like, it would be easier for them to land in tree branches for sure, given how a bird's foot works, but it also makes simpler human-y things like chairs a bit more of a challenge, especially if their knees bend forwards like birds do and not backwards like we the homosapiens have.

There's also plumage coverage, and that's one of those "I really want to do it this way but would I need to explain that?" because especially in the case of hummingbirds, their iridescent throats are super vital to their species, so there might have to be SOME type of feathering around character's necks/chests/backs to help convey that properly.

I unno, it's all very loose and subjective at the moment, like I said the chances of me making this a thing are slim to none, BUT, for the sake of my desire for Blade, I might do JUST hummingbird Blade, and toy with that idea as a standalone for a while. If anyone else has other cool ideas for something like this, or they wanna take the idea and run with it, absolutely go for it man, my motivation pool is so dry I am literally giving away my muse's shit like it's a yard sale right now. Half-off, come and get it while it's here.

I might be back with Bird Blade soon, but other than that yeah that's an idea. Buh-byeee