#polymorphic relation

[randompolykin]

a silly art thing post

Because "Barbie you can be anything" and polymorphs are shapeshifting beings that can be anything.

[theros]

still a work in progress, and nothing's in its final order, but i've been working on a shapeshifter playlist because i love making playlists and i really don't vibe with any of the shifter playlists i've found

[iserlohndiary]

hmhm how do sunshine girlies feel about the impending release of oppenheimer

[theoldlibrarynook]

I feel like one of the downsides of people only knowing greek mythology from percy jackson or other modern pop culture materials is stuff like this where there is some sort of strange belief that Aphrodite is the only woman Hephaestus has ever been interested in and. That's clearly not the case, a quick appraisal of theoi alone would tell you as much. Hell, he has a mortal kid that ends up being one of the argonauts. The Man Has Fucked.

I think the idea that Hera is totally against DIVORCE too though is particularly funny considering we have an entire damn story where she almost dumps Zeus' ass in and of itself. Granted she didn't go through with it, but that alone still says something.

The romance novels comment specifically is particularly taking me out though. Are they talking about like. A modern era adaptation specifically or.

Listen, maybe we can invent a hypothetical where Hephaestus is still relatively young and possibly sheltered while he's still living with Eurynome and Thetis and/or the other nereides (gee hephaestus how come you get to possibly have 50+ moms). Maybe in that scenario he is still sheltered enough to not know too much about the ways of romance yet.

I still think we can be more creative with that concept. My good friend Kothar-wa-Khasis, eminent magician crafter of Ugarit whose home is in Crete but whose heritage is Egyptian, keeps bothering him and showing up with smuggled contraband his mothers Would Not Approve Of like the Erotical-Satirical Papyrus from the Museo Egizio collection because he thinks its funny.

Hera doesn’t give a shit about relationships other than her own and she didn’t give a fuck about Hephaestus and Aphrodite divorcing BC THEY DIVORCED IN THE ODYSSEY AND THERE IS NO INDICATION THAT HERA HAD ISSUES WITH THAT

[notrapsplease]

Werebear Halsin Headcanon

I have seen a couple other posts going around about werebear Halsin and wanted to make my own with some of my thoughts/evidence because I have been a werebear truther since I first saw the beefy elf daddy.

This doesn't really have spoilers in it, but I do touch on a couple plot points from the game. Fair warning! I also pull a lot from D&D itself, specifically 5th edition since that's what BG3 is built on.

This ended up being long, so I split it into a few different categories, they are in no particular order:

Quite large for an elf

We all know, Halsin is big. Large even. In D&D, elves are described as being slender and slight. Even if they are athletic they are not muscular and are lighter than other races of the same size (as in a 5'5" human will weigh more than a 5'5" elf). They are a little shorter than humans on average.

This puts Halsin well outside the usual elf physiology. When this is addressed in game, Halsin says perhaps he has some orc ancestry or "conventional wisdom is too narrow about what someone can or cannot be" (beautiful sentiment Halsin, you're still big).

Being a werebear offers a simple explanation for his unusual size. Werebear in D&D are described as being large and muscular, even in their humanoid form.

It's a "Wildshape"

Sure buddy.

Halsin's bear form is explained away as one of his druid wildshapes, but there are a couple things that don't line up.

First is the UI itself. Halsin’s bear form is separate from wildshape. It’s in the general abilities section not the class features. This might be just for programming reasons, but I still think it’s interesting.

Second and more incriminating, Halsin stays in bear form for too long. ACT 1 Spoilers: When you find Halsin in the Goblin Camp, the Goblins don't know he's a dude, they just think he's a bear. Even if in the stories timeline you're supposed to reach him the same day as when he was kidnapped, that's still a long time to maintain a wildshape. As per DND 5e rules: "You can stay in a beast shape for a number of hours equal to half your druid level (rounded down)."

So even if Halsin is STARTING as a max BG3 level druid at level 12, he should only maintain wildshape for 6 hours. Even as a Circle of the Moon druid, the time doesn't increase.

"I...lost the run of myself"

Related to the idea that Halsin's bear form is a wildshape, I need to touch on the parts of the game that indicate Halsin can lose control of his bear form.

My main piece of evidence here is that wildshape in D&D has no indication that you lose any control of your impulses. In fact, wildshape describes the opposite: "Your game statistics are replaced by the statistics of the beast, but you retain your alignment, personality, and Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores."

The fact you retain your mental stats mean you are in total control. There is no mental difference between a druid in wildshape and a druid in their humanoid form. To be in wildshape is a CHOICE the druid makes.

This is in contrast to spells like Polymorph which indicate that you lose your mental stats AS WELL as your physical ones: "The target's game statistics, including mental ability scores, are replaced by the statistics of the chosen beast. It retains its alignment and personality."

I bring that up just to showcase that D&D does have that distinction, if wildshape was meant to be something that you could lose control of, or let the beast take over, they would have written it that way.

ACT 3 spoilers: This idea that he can be made to lose control is also hinted at if Orin kidnaps him from your camp. Orin's dialogue from the kidnapped victim usually indicates a deep-seated fear the victim has, or their worst case scenario. Having kidnapped Halsin describe himself losing control indicates to me that it's his biggest fear. Which makes sense as a werebear, as a druid…not so much.

In contrast to wildshape, which is a voluntary choice the druid makes, being a werebear is a curse. Halsin is obviously in good control of his werebear self (I discuss this later on), but it is still a curse and can affect him negatively, especially in impulse and instinct.

Alignment: Neutral Good

Now I've got to talk about the werebear curse a little more. And D&D lycanthropy in general.

When someone is afflicted with the curse and resists it, they maintain their normal alignment but struggle to contain the beast. If an afflicted person chooses to accept the beast they gain more control over their bestial form, but lose their alignment to the alignment of the kind of lycanthrope they are.

Both Halsin and the canon D&D werebear are Neutral Good. Which means Werebear Halsin is in alignment with his bestial side, offering some manner of control over his transformations.

Only you can prevent shadow curses.

Werebear are described as being lone hermits who guard their territories fiercely, protecting their habitat, and the flora and the fauna from any threat. Sounds like a werebear might get really obsessive trying to rid his territory of, say, a Shadow curse.

Halsin and Thaniel's relationship makes a lot more sense if Halsin is a werebear. They met when Halsin was a child, so Halsin wouldn't have been a druid yet. In D&D druids are a learned class, more like clerics. Certainly Halsin could been a child in touch with nature, but why did Thaniel single him out?

If Halsin was a werebear though, he would have already had a natural desire to protect the land, the land being personified as Thaniel.

The werebear curse is described in D&D as usually being passed on voluntarily, as in a werebear chooses who they want to bite, either a companion or an apprentice. Werefolk curses also pass through bloodlines (as in you can be born a werefolk). The general consensus is if you are born a werefolk you will naturally align with the curse's alignment so you will innately be in more control then a bitten werefolk. We already know Halsin is Neutral Good, like werebears usually are.

This is a more headcanon-y part, but I think Halsin’s family were probably all werebear, or at least one of his parents was and from a lineage that had a history protecting the land Halsin grew up on. Knowing that Halsin's family all passed away, this could also indicate why Thaniel singled him out, maybe Halsin was the last in the werebear lineage that had chosen to defend the land Thaniel personified.

Either way, Halsin and the werebear align in the desire to protect natural spaces, and Halsin's obsession with the shadow curse could stem from that innate desire.

This isn't my first time recruiting a werefolk druid

This is meta evidence, but I'm including it. In BG2 there is a druid named Cernd and he’s a werewolf! What does this have to do with Halsin? Not a lot, but it shows that having a companion who is a werewolf is established in the universe. Cernd also establishes that being a druid helps to control a werecreature curse. Cernd isn’t feral and has greater control over his werewolfism because of his abilities as a druid. Also Cernd has magic items that are from High Forest. If that sounds familiar, it's where Halsin says his family is buried. idk the connection but it's interesting.

Final thoughts

I think that's all?? I also want to talk about why I think the Werebear curse wasn't brought up in game.

One of the other posts I saw suggested that the reason it’s not brought up in game is Halsin doesn’t know he's a werebear. I get that, I can totally see that, but I don’t think that does Halsin justice. Halsin may be a beefy boy, but he isn't oblivious. There is no way Halsin has lived for 350 years and hasn’t realized he’s a werebear. 350 years is a long time not to bite anyone.

I think the more likely explanation in game is simply that it never comes up. Halsin is in control (mostly) and not worried about it. He is also not used to having people who care for him (this is a huge part of his characterization in game), and probably has had to keep the fact that he is a werebear relatively secret throughout his life.

From a meta perspective, I think it was cut for time and content. We KNOW that a lot of his content was cut already (Sorrow, anyone?). There is also the fact that originally one of the other origin characters was going to be a werewolf, so they may have decided to ease back on Halsin being a werebear so she would be more unique. Then she ceased to exist anyway. Personally I think they should have included some dialogue about it somewhere, especially after deciding not to have the werewolf companion. I genuinely can’t FATHOM that werebear Halsin wasn’t the plan all along, regardless of if they decided to cut it. Alright I'm done. Werebear believers unite!

[figueroths]

okay so this is long and likely impacted by my poor memory but I wrote a lot of it down friday night so it’s still somewhat accurate!! but here are my favorite things that went down during gauntlet at the garden (which is still so crazy to not only play msg but sell it out!!)

she’s already famous but still worth mentioning: the brennan murph kiss

lou genuinely in distress about the pyrotechnics because brennan repeatedly chose violence hitting them without warning

siobhan rolling a giant dice for world’s biggest box of doom marked out on the floor plus getting the front audience to get their luck all over it

luck failing and rowan having to help out with the roll anyway!

getting to do a re-roll chant

business dragon as thee recurring bit from jump

telling wealth by nail beds + siobhan’s unnoticed callback to this mid-show

oil tycoon family money energy

kug having friends in the 80s who called themselves business dragons

kug ranking his friends without hesitation

sofia ranking a new rat in the crew as her number one and kug being soooo offended because he put sofia as his number one

the new rat’s name is parker and he has a car but they can’t use it because it doesn’t work and emily running with it saying of course she assumed he had a car because his name is parker and brennan adding that if it did work they’d call him driver and then doing cute little chin hands or smth like that

murph having his starstruck hair 🥰

siobhan looking so good in the yellow outfit and just not having these monster’s bullshit

ally trying to cast fireball on a dragon and then arguing can it be dream sparkles - successfully!

emily looking like a snack and at some point referring to herself as one - oh because calroy asked what kind of food they were

defeating junkmother by befriending her

lou jumping in when brennan had more than one character tell sofia that she reminds them of someone and being like “who reminds you of someone is it me???? is it me????”

the lighting being off when they swapped places post-intermission and then murph decided to play to the crowd and the whole group got in on an impromptu battle royal where lou hit murph with a stone cold stunner - brennan letting them go on (including siobhan with a steel chair) only to be like “and now im being told you need to be in your seats for them to adjust the lighting”

gilear being there at all

gilear dying immediately (yogurt related ofc)

audience participation on rolling for support

nat 20 roll to get ayda (i got a nat 20 on that roll but didn’t even think to screenshot it 😔)

ayda saying she’s gay as hell

ayda being there to protect her paramour’s father 🥺

ayda saving gilear’s ass from getting roasted

ally calling themself out about including pete’s medical bracelet in the character design for it to specifically be carrying testosterone but it doesn’t come in pill form so pete was just walking around with an empty medical bracelet that whole campaign (but now it has adhd meds I think)

wally showing up to shit talk staten island

zac getting the third highest roll on initiative during one fight and then getting the crowd to chant “third highest roll”

kalvaxus getting applauded for ending a crypto bro’s life (literally)

kalvaxus getting polymorphed into a rat and gilear then claiming the mantle of the chosen one and beating the shit out of him

P90X dvds and anachronisms

plug

coronitas on the staten island ferry

making plans they will Not be keeping about hanging out more and living healthier lifestyles

pete giving gilear jaeger from a flask

pete saying plug and gilear have a similar energy

genuinely just the delighted cheers at every gay thing and there were so many gay things

parker the rival rat doing the baby dance correctly but kalvaxus as a dirty little rat does it all wrong and they all start kinda doing it

murph living out his wrestling dreams and doing a heel turn just for the fun of getting booed

there was a shoutout to the two crew but I forgot now if it was murph or emily who rolled it (I think murph but with no confidence behind this thought)

grenade arm sofie!!!!!!!!!

K2 mention

ricky fail flirting with esther

kug magically communicating with the cockroaches across town but everyone starts treating it like a phone call so sofia has her ear pressed up against his chest and then when she asks for visuals (again this is not a phone call) brennan asks how does that work and someone (ally??) said “like teletubbies” agdjsks

emily genuinely sharing staten island facts

back to gilear dying immediately - kingston revivifying him (or a similar spell), someone else also did something I think but I forget because then sofia said she’s giving him a makeover and then proceeded to do semipermanent makeup with the most insane eyebrows

lou wasting his turn doing a bit with gilear just for kalvaxus to have a legendary action next

the kalvaxus battle starting with pete casting a cantrip during a handshake (shocking grasp) for FIVE points of damage ally why are you like this (never change)

junkmother letting ricky get away with a weak reason he counts as discarded (something like he discards his legs when he doesn’t work out enough lmao) while the party attempted to endear themselves to her but not before saying she can tell he’s the fitness expert because that was a stretch

so many closeups of emily like whoever handled the screens you’re so me

brennan (idr which npc) saying quangle and emily laughing through her own joke about pelvic floors pretending sofia heard him say kegel lmfaooo

kug getting charmed into thinking he’s doing audience participation for the nutcracker while tin soldiers try to kill him

all of it! it was all such a great experience and they are so talented and giving and I just had a lot of fun 💕🌸

[alphynix]

Hexameroceras panderi was a nautiloid cephalopod that lived during the late Silurian, about 425-423 million years ago, in what is now Czechia.

Around 5cm long (2"), it had a downwards-curving egg-shaped shell that preserved the original color pattern on one fossil specimen, showing closely-packed crisscrossing vertical and horizontal bands.

Like several of its close oncocerid and discosorid relatives, its shell also developed a highly constricted opening as it reached maturity. This eventually formed into a narrow visor-like shape with several lobes that probably correlated to the life positions of the eyes and arms, with a "spout" at the bottom for the siphon.

Development of the "visor" in the related Octameroceras sinuosum From fig 6 in Stridsberg (1981)

The function of this structure is still unclear. It may have been a defensive measure against predators – but it would have also severely limited the range of motion of the arms and the size of food that could be eaten through the mouth, suggesting that Hexameroceras may have specialized in very small prey, perhaps even filter-feeding.

Another possibility is that these visored nautiloids might represent brooding females, walling themselves into their shells to protect their eggs and dying after releasing the hatchlings through the tiny remaining gap.

———

NixIllustration.com | Tumblr | Patreon

References:

"Hexameroceras." Paleobiology Database, https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=13035

Mironenko, Aleksandr A. "Early Palaeozoic Discinocarina: a key to the appearance of cephalopod jaws." Lethaia 54.4 (2021): 457-476. https://doi.org/10.1111/let.12414

Mutvei, Harry. "Siphuncular structure in Silurian discosorid and ascocerid nautiloids (Cephalopoda) from Gotland, Sweden: implications for interpretation of mode of life and phylogeny." Gff 134.1 (2012): 27-37. https://doi.org/10.1080/11035897.2012.654507

Stridsberg, Sven. "Apertural constrictions in some oncocerid cephalopods." Lethaia 14.4 (1981): 269-276. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1502-3931.1981.tb01098.x

Turek, Vojtech, and Š. Manda. "Colour pattern polymorphism in Silurian nautiloid Phragmoceras Broderip, 1839." Bulletin of Geosciences 86.1 (2011): 91-105. http://dx.doi.org/10.3140/bull.geosci.1240

Wikipedia contributors. “Hexameroceras.” Wikipedia, 29 Jun. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexameroceras

[the-griffons-saddlebag]

⚔️ 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗺! Nail of Mundanity
Weapon (dagger), rare ___ This leather-wrapped spike has been hammered into a sharpened edge. Eldritch runes run along the back of its blade, and a crude, eye-like rune has been gouged into its side. A creature hit with this weapon takes an extra 1d8 force damage from the attack. An aberration always takes the maximum amount of force damage from the dagger. When you reduce an aberration to 0 hit points using the dagger, you can choose to speak the dagger’s command phrase (no action required). When you do, the creature is transformed into a humanoid commoner (as if by the “true polymorph” spell) with 1 hit point and the dagger magically buried within its chest, with only the head of the nail showing. The commoner’s race is random, although it is typically related to the surrounding terrain. Roll a d4 to determine its general age: child (1), adolescent (2), adult (3), or elderly (4). A creature is immune to this effect if it has the Legendary Resistance trait. For the next 7 days, you have advantage on Charisma checks you make to interact with the commoner. The dagger remains in the creature’s chest until the effect is dispelled, the creature dies, or until you use an action to speak the command word again (provided that you’re both on the same plane of existence). If the dagger is removed, the creature is immediately slain. The dagger then falls from its chest, and this property can’t be used again until 7 days have passed. ___ ✨ Patrons get huge perks! Access this and hundreds of other item cards, art files, and compendium entries when you support The Griffon's Saddlebag on Patreon for less than $10 a month!

[covid-safer-hotties]

Reference saved in our archive

Yet another study showing Vitamin D deficiency coupled with acute covid severity. Maybe consider a supplement if you're going to be in covid high risk scenarios.

Abstract Background The vitamin D binding protein (DBP) plays a critical role in both innate and adaptive immune systems, participating in several clinical conditions, including coronavirus disease 2019 infection severity, and mortality rate. The study aimed to investigate the correlation between rs7041 and rs4588 polymorphisms in the DBP gene and Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) severity and mortality, in patients of Suez Canal University Hospitals in Ismailia, Egypt.

Methods A case-control study enrolled 220 individuals; 140 COVID-19 patients and 80 healthy controls. Serum 25(OH) vitamin D levels were determined by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and rs7041 and rs4588 polymorphisms of the DBP gene were genotyped using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP).

Results The study found that both groups had vitamin D deficiency, which was considerably lower in the COVID-19 patients group compared to controls. Among COVID-19 patients, there was a significant difference in vitamin D levels according to the disease severity indicating that vitamin D levels can be used as predictors of COVID-19 severity. Negative significant correlations between genetic variants rs4588 CA genotype and genetic variants rs7041 TT genotype and COVID-19 prevalence (p = 0.006 and 0.009 respectively) were proved. No significant correlations between all the genetic variants of both rs4588 and rs7041 and COVID-19 severity (p > 0.05). Positive significant correlations between both genetic variants rs4588 CA genotype and genetic variants rs7041 TG genotype and COVID-19 mortality (p = 0.029 and 0.031 respectively).

Conclusion vitamin D deficiency increased the severity of COVID-19. The DBP polymorphism correlated with vitamin COVID-19 prevalence and mortality.

[hazard-c-horror]

What is this? A weird-god child like-creature-spawn thing??? Well Your gonna love it!

I made a new oc! Their name is seraphim!! And Yes, it’s Paragons child This is just one them, there’s many more. Paragon created them to be their successor along with its siblings. They aren’t an Astral being and isn’t related with star power, but they are connected and communicate with other celestial beings. They are immortal but it’s still a baby. They have powers but have not yet in their full potential, after all they’re a baby. They can’t do any harm……..Yet

They absolutely are very curious. One thing they like to do, They love exploring and bouncing between realities :) While going through different worlds beyond, they stumbled upon a living world full of organic life and discovered humanity which they became so obsessed with. They were obsessed about the living world called ‘earth’. The earth was filled with so much life and they were so fascinated by its life, culture and especially its humans. They grew very fond of humans because they were intelligent life, and took it upon themselves to learn more about them. They desire to learn about the human beings and to know what is life like as a human being. They want to be human. They tried to copying bodies but due to lack of understanding gender, they are unsuccessful.

They are very sub-conscious about their appearance. Sometimes they will hide their faces to avoid prolonged attention or eye contact. They are kind of shy but still very friendly.

Here’s a power list

Astral Manipulation

Astral Projection

X-Ray vision

Mind linking

Infinite digestive system

Invisibility

Clear Sight

telescopic vision

Phantasm Manipulation

Spirit Barrier

Spirit Magic

Spiritual Aura

Spiritual Awareness

Spiritual Force Manipulation

Spiritual Form

Spiritual Negation

Teleportation

Flight/ levitation

Restoration

Energization

Hypnotization

Telekinesis

Magical telepathy

Gravitokinesis

Spatiokinesis

Realitokinesis

Mind reading

Healing

Purification

Memory magic

Stellar flight

Stellafication

Inter-stellar travel

Illusion awareness

Camouflage

Invisibility

Wing manifestation

Eye manifestation

Thought detection

Polymorphing

Transmutation

*gasp* Modrolith’s one weakness!

Children

Sorry for the late response I was gonna make a small sketch for this but got distracted by other stuff, and didn’t want to keep you waiting any longer

With that being said Modrolith will absolutely adore Seraphim, cooing and nurturing. Just a complete 180 in his personality. He offer some parenting advice to Paragon, and or lecture Paragon of the most important things to do when taking care of a child. He’d also offer to babysit anytime Paragon wants. Perhaps even teaching/helping the children with a few selective powers.

Hazard would probably try and help the child with some of their abilities. Knowing how hard it is to control and learn something new. They be able to help immensely with the shapeshifting, and I’m sure Seraphim would love their lack of eyes. Unless they can see Hazard’s cameras. I think it would be fun if they did watch parties together, since Hazard also likes observing.

I do love the design a lot. I love the color and eyes especially. The wings are also really nice as well. But those eyes i absolutely adore <3 <3

[melodi-jackson]

🔘🌀👁️₴ɆⱤ₳₱Ⱨł₥👁️🌀🔘

CW// Eyestrain I’m back it’s been a minute. Time to introduce my oc- This is seraphim. They are an “offspring” that Paragon created to be their successor along with more. Just like Paragon, they aren’t an Astral being and isn’t related with star power, but are connected with other celestial beings. They are immortal but still young. They are very fond with humanity and want to learn more about their history, their cultures, and their lives. They desire to discover the living world.

Pronouns: Any

Gender: None ( they try to copy bodies but they lack understanding of gender)

Age: ??? (Immortal, still a young child)

Alignment: Neutral

Personality???

A young immortal celestial being

One of the “offspring’s” created by Paragon

They like to discover new worlds and explore different realities

👁️👁️‍🗨️POWERS / ABILITIES👁️‍🗨️ 👁️

Astral Manipulation

Astral Projection

Mind linking

Infinate digestive system

Clear Sight

Phantasm Manipulation

Spirit Barrier

Spirit Magic

Spiritual Aura

Spiritual Awareness

Spiritual Force Manipulation

Spiritual Form

Spiritual Negation

Teleportation

Flight/ levitation

Hypnotization

Telekinesis

Magical telepathy

Gravitokinesis

Spatiokinesis

Realitokinesis

Mind reading

Healing

Purification

Memory magic

Energization

Restoration magic

Stellar flight

Stellafication

Inter-stellar travel

Illusion awareness

Camouflage

Invisibility

Wing manifestation

Eye manifestation

Thought detection

Polymorphing

Transmutation

[patheticmosasaur1]

I'm thinking about making a bugs and other arthropods iceberg, just for funsies

here are the ideas I have so far!

LEVEL 1: isopod cultures, difference between butterflies and moths, springtails are not insects, true bugs, fireflies are beetles, harvestmen aren't spiders, funky treehoppers, carcinisation, dragonfly and damselfly nymphs

LEVEL 2: importance of mosquitoes, larviform females, venezuelan poodle moth is a hoax, barnacles are upside down crustaceans, fly diversity, horshoe crabs are related to arachnids, mysid shrimps and krill are not related to true shrimp, crustacean zoea, insects are crustaceans, terrestrial amphipods, ant trophobiosis, funny weevils, whip spiders, playful behaviour in bees, assassin bugs that cover themselves in their prey's corpses, honeybees are invasive, 'spider with wings' hoax, hotwheels sisyphus, scorpions are great mothers, pistol shrimp, scorpionfly 'stingers' are genitalia, camel spiders are harmless

LEVEL 3: cockroaches do not spread diseases, gladiators, tongue eating lice aren't that bad, tongue worms, flightless flies and moths, hangingflies, spider that feeds on human blood*, hematophagous moths, polymorphic butterflies, myrmecophil insects, ant mimicking spiders, sawflies, twig spiders, snout mites, rove beetle tongues, kermesidae, parasitic copepods, there's no point in killing spotted lanternflies, buoy barnacles, tar flies, protecting native bees, antarctic midges, butterflies are moths, harvestman clustering behaviour, munnopsis, arachnura, sacculina

LEVEL 4: ice crawlers, fleas are actually scorpionflies, mantises are related to cockroaches, ichthyurus, insane isopod diversity, flies are not the only insects with halteres, phytalmia, owlflies, cockroach trophobiosis, termites are cockroaches, ancyra, longhorn beetle that stings with antennae, saltwater skating flies, coatonachthodes, bioluminescent fairy shrimp, mr. arthrobalanus, primarily herbivorous spider, forcepflies, lake baikal giant amphipods, fruit fly covered in eyes, even weirder fly diversity, the other myriapods, spider mimicry in flies and moths, serolidae, phreatoicopsis, antarctic amphipods, saltoblattella

LEVEL 5: terrestrial ostracods, ascodipteron, morostoma palpale, ischnomesidae, coral treaders, pentaceration

so what do you think? anything I should add or change?? should I just scrap this concept altogether???? I don't know much about bugs when it comes to facts or how well known said facts are so I'd really appreciate some help with this!

*it doesn't exactly feed on human blood like mosquitoes or bed bugs, it just eats blood from mosquitoes that are full of blood

[axonthegoat]

So I was thinking more about the path of hero's au, and I love the idea that when Twilights Lycanthropy is revealed he feels really bad about it, like even though everyone took it quite well his anxiety still gets to him, And as a way to try and make him feel better Red convinced Vio, Legend, and Hyrule to turn into wolves with him when Twilights in his wolfie form and moping to try and help him feel better Red, Legend, and Hyrule all know Polymorph and Vio knows wild shape, so like a scenario might go something like this: "those towns folk really made him feel bad huh?" Legend questioned looking up from the patchwork on Hyrule's cloak to watching as Wild, attempted to console a mopping Twilight, though the wolf just whined and buried himself further under his bedroll "yeah.... I wish there was something we could do to make him feel better" Hyrule sighed, it wasn't too hard a thing for the group of mix matched hero's to accept Twilight's secret, but now that they know, either Twilight stopped hiding it or its just become more obvious about how hurtful comments about werewolves being monsters is, and the comments from the towns folk when restocking supplies were....particularly awful, though seeing as to how they treated their....less human looking companions, it shouldn't have surprised them, Hyrule's wings chimed as they turned to look, surprised to see Red dragging Vio along behind him towards them and Legend, "oh! Red Vio? you decided to split tonight?" Red nodded, eyes shiny and tail wrapped around his leg "yeah...Four tried to go help twilight but even his attempts at relating to comments we've all gotten as Tiefling's wasn't able to help him feel better..." Red sighed, letting go of Vio's hand and plopping down next to hyrule, looking a little more cheery "We split because the others wanted to try something themselves, but I happened to over hear you and I had an idea!" Red chirped, as Vio came and silently sat down next to Legend, creating a small circle amongst the magic users. Hyrule raised an eyebrow, leaning forward on their knees, "oooo? what do you have in mind! it's awful seeing Twilight so upset" Hyrule whispered, eager to have any way to try and make their brother feel better. Red grinned in return scooching forward a bit more and gesturing to Vio, who in turn pulled out a small bag "So you, Legend, and I know how to use polymorph" Red said and Vio opened the back to reveal a white powder, Crushed caterpillar cocoons, "and Vio knows how to use wild shape, so...what if we turned ourselves into wolves!" Red whispered conspiratorially, Hyrule started bouncing a bit, their wings making a happy chime as Legend looked between the two, then looked at Vio, who gave him a small smile nudging Legend in the arm, "you'll get to bite Wars." Almost instantly Legend grabbed the bag and stuffed his hand inside, "alright, I'm down" Rubbing the powder on hands, he brought his hand up to his shoulders, and after a short moment, and a poof of feathers and smoke in Legends place sat a medium sized wolf with pink streaks in its grey and white fur, Red grabbed the bag next, his fur patterns looking almost like flames and then Hyrule next who was a much lighter green than Twilight. As the three looked to Vio, they were already shaking their fur out, Red yipped a bit and bolted off to Twilight, tackling him to the ground at the other three joined him, Twilight looked...baffled to say the least as Hyrule plopped down on his other side, Vio and Legend were close but not quite pressed against Twilight, the other members of the chain laughing out at the sight. After a moment Twilight seemed to calm down and feel a bit better, snickering as Legend, indeed ended up biting Warrior when he tried to pet him, maybe he really will be ok in the end...

[rubydreamsuwu]

wish we got to see more of polymorphs honestly.

like are they an artificial species? what's with the antigravity projector? they're dependent on it to even move, it doesn't seem like there would be many polymorphs that don't have one? it seems like it comes with?

how much effort does it take a polymorph to stay together? is it just like staying upright, where it's pretty automatic?

kind is related is do polymorphs sleep, and how? do they just lay around as a puddle for a while to rest? i mean goop has been shown getting exhausted and losing shape a bit, like here. i can only imagine it's a lower effort form to keep up.

i also just generally wish we saw more than just one polymorph in the whole show.

[ohyeahben10]

In honor of Pride Month, do you have any LGBTQ+ worldbuilding headcanons for any alien species in the Ben 10 Cinematic Universe, whether biological or societal/cultural?

Biologically, I consider Pyronites agender at default (inevitably by process of space travel and meeting cultures in which gender is prevalent there will be Pyros who think social gender sounds awesome actually and promptly trans their gender), we’ve only seen Pryonite transformations and hybrids as full characters, leaving them up for interpretation in my opinion. Any two of the species can mate, in which they will mutually erupt in flame until a rocky body is formed from their combined material and a fire inhabits it.

(Which results in a very interesting kink scene for other species with a thing for burning)

Vulpimancers lack a social concept of romance. Which in a way means they have an aromantic society but also not because they have no reference of what romance is to consider themselves devoid of it.

Necrofriggians are an agender and sexless species we all know this.

Anur Transyl has a very prominent queer scene, it effectively goes hand in hand with accepting so many different cultures as a multi species planet.

On that note, Ectonurites are a sexless species that reproduces via apomixis. Though they do have a cultural understanding of gender that translates to our understanding of m/f, but it has nothing to do with anything related to reproduction.

Tetramand culture has a very prominent f/f culture in its history. Many of female Tetramand that were unable to be defeated by any man were instead eventually bested by a woman and were promptly betrothed. These pairs were typically renowned as images of strength. M/m couples took longer to be accepted, unfortunately, initially being regarded as both partners being too weak to court a female.

Polymorphs are biologically sexless and socially genderless. Single cell organisms don’t have much to work with.

Lepidopterrians are a tri-sex species. Sexualities are thought us which of those the individual is attracted to. Three for exclusive attraction to each one, three for any combination of two of them, and one for attraction to all and any. Which of the three the individual happens to be is not considered.

Piscciss Volanns have the natural ability to change their sex when their current environment necessitates. Now however, it is used also as a way to transition for bodily dysmorphic transgender Volanns. Due to the larger size and different physicality of the females compared to the males, it’s a long and rather strenuous process, but is met with much celebration when completed.

Planchaküle treat genderfluidity as the default. They love their adaptations after all. Can’t leave one thing as it is for too long.

Methanosians have four sexes. Two which produce pollen, pollination functions with only one of them providing the pollen, but the two of them joining together in the act results in more diverse offspring and is the social norm. The other two are the pollinated. The first of them will always bare offspring of the two pollinator sexes, while the other will always bare offspring of the pollenated sexes. Perhaps not the most streamlined reproduction cycle but it seems to be working for them.

Cerebroian Currmary all default to male as a result of their biological programming. This was unintentional of the Cerebrocrustians, but they would claim otherwise. Many decide they prefer to be female, neither, or both however.

Galvanic Mechamorphs don’t have sex, but they do base their gender off of the Galvan’s because they think it’s neat.

That’s all off the top of my head. Happy pride to you anon!

[nimdreams]

I wasn't sure whether I wanted to write about my gender a bit, or write a full fledged entry for the nonhuman gender zine. For now, here's some thoughts from a shapeshifter.

As a child I never questioned my gender, I just went with what was given to me and that didn't feel so wrong at all. It wasn't until I was in my late 20s/early 30s, while in this community, that I learned about gender. How many genders there are, neopronouns, about gender identity. Quickly I found myself in this gender community too, relating to a lot of it but never considering myself transgender.

At first, I used agender female to describe myself, even if it seemed to confuse some people. I felt like my true self, separate from the vessel, was agender, and that I just happened to live in a female body. After finding out I am a polymorph and my true form is a genderless glittering ball of light and void, I found the term agender even more fitting.

As a shapeshifter though, whatever form I take isn't truly me, and I can take the form of human's binary genders but also the form of any species with genders outside our binary. As I went through different genders feeling right to me, I tried on genderfae and genderfluid labels.

You don't really see my fluidity in gender on the outside, I just wear what I am comfortable in and always present as a woman within this vessel.

Technically you could say I am genderfluid as I can appear as any gender, but to me being agender feels more right as that is what I truly am underneath. No matter the shape I take, my true self is that.

I really love starself pronouns, they make me so happy, but in dreams I use the pronouns of whatever my body is at the time, and irl I use she/her pronouns as that is how my vessel presents. This doesn't give me dysphoria, but it's just that there is much more to me, and most people who see me will never know.

I don't feel dysphoria when I am phantom and mental shifted as something that is male, I just wish I could shapeshift my vessel to fit what I am feeling on the inside. So far, only very few of my shifts consist of masculine genders, female is still the most common, and then there is the many wonderful genders I have glimpsed the comfort of as I take different forms.

It is still a journey for me to accept my own gender feelings more and be more open about them. Especially the freedom in this vessel to share how I am feeling, and maybe the confidence to not always have to present female.