#proto behemoth

[elezenchaser-art]

It's not much but I can hold a pen again for long enough that I managed to make an enemy aggro circle thingie.

WIP

Digital art

[naidleen]

Devil May Cry 5 (2019)

[palebloodcvrse]

Devil may cry V enemies: what do they taste like? (And how to cook them) (Cursed headcanons)

Part 1

Some things shouldnt be posted...

This is cursed as fuck but my brain always does weird shit like this and since tumblr is the de facto dump for thoughts like this I feel obligated to share it with you.

Hell Caina

Theyre honestly not very meaty. They have little bits of flesh stuck to their bones and they smell weird.... but their flesh makes a good snack if theres really nothing else. But they taste bland, almost like cardboard... and decay. -1/10

Hell Antenora/Judecca

Their flesh would taste the same as hell caina but those purple things would make good pasta if you blanched them to cook the bitterness away, otherwise that shit would taste like medicine.

If you want purple carbonara, spaghetti or mac and cheese, eat those tenties. 6/10

Pyrobat/Hellbat

theyre spicy and tangy. The texture of their flesh is kinda weird though, its quite leathery, kinda like softer beef jerky. Theyre actually really good for some korean hotpot if you have the patience to slowcook them. As for their heads, theyre too tough to be eaten but if you tossed it into a stew youd be able to get the flavors anyways. If you minced them they'd be great as taco meat because of their flavor. 7/10

Behemoth

A mix of beef and pork! Theyre great for soup, chili, or even pork belly or steak! It depends what part of them youre eating oh and those tongue limbs it has?? Great for a nice cut of filet mignon, and depending where you cut it you could get anything from brisket to bacon. 8/10

Death scissors

Fucking inedible. -1,000,000/10

Proto/scudo angelo

Is there even flesh under there or are they just made of armor through and through? Either way theyre not very meaty and their flesh would be too tough. 0/10

Fury

They look tasty, i mean they look like beef jerky/glazed meat/fruit rollups... theyd be really lean meat, they got potential but their flesh looks hella leathery, but theyre probably hella flavorful. 6/10

They cant all fit in one post so im gonna reblog with a part 2.

[funtimespringscare101]

Poppy Playtime AU Chapter 4 Update Headcanons because the Hype is too real! Contains Spoilers because i'm watching Dawko's videos on it as I'm writing this!

WHAT KINDS OF FUCKING DRUGS DID MOB ENTERTAINMENT TAKE TO START COOKING UP A CHAPTER THIS FUCKING DARK MAN?

Okay, So right off the hook I am confirming that the crew is bigger than the canon. The AU's "Fuck Proto" team are Evan, Poppy, Kissy, Mommy, Dogday and CatNap/Theo. The latter two were rescued/saved by Evan. Mommy is going to be Evan's partner often.

Dogday and CatNap stay with Poppy and Kissy, as they're not in the best shape.

Evan and..."The Doctor" are going to be beefing hard. OMG if Evan sees Sawyer, it is ON FUCKING SIGHT. Dr. "Scar Wannabe" is such a shitty bastard that all the toys agree if he lives, he's gotta be punished.

when Evan hears the tape between Leith and Stella (his first ever friend at Playtime Co.), he can hardly think that this woman talking about to "changing kid's lives" doing these experiments is the same woman he met when both him and her were first hired. At least she had some heart left...

CatNap is having a tough time getting used to having all these people, one of them which he ripped in half, going out of their way to save him and protect him from the God that he is now disillusioned by.

After dealing with Huggy, Mommy and Theo, Evan is now more willing in his new mission to not leave any toy he can save behind, ESPECIALLY after Kissy got attacked in the ending of Deep Sleep.

Yeah, Pianosaurus dies. The Fuck is wrong with Doey for doing that????? Yeah, Fuck that, We are not balling with that.

When they get into the Safe Haven, Evan just hugs Kissy as hard as he can. Bro is tired of almost losing friends at this point.

CatNap only allows certain people like the team to use his old name and call him Theo.

"Shhhh! I think they might be listening..." Evan: "Oh, you think, Sherlock? Also you don't need about me or especially CatNap over there. They're just...scared right now"

Evan actually is a professional with the Mini residents of Safe Haven, all that time at the Game Station with the orphans resurfaced and Evan felt actually happy and like himself for once.

Evan would agree with Doey more than Poppy 100%.

Yarnaby ain't dying, and Evan spent the next 15 minutes apologizing and crying. Our kitty boi needs love and more buddies.

The only reason that Sawyer is still alive in this AU's ending is that Yarnaby still needs his only friend. That's it... And Sawyer is not too pleased to be forced to help a kid like Evan, but his intellect is most needed.

Kevin would have taken over and caused Doey's (very justified) crashout if the Trio wouldn't have noticed that Evan was having a breakdown as well. After 10 years of dealing with the trauma and now the Prototype fucks up when he's truly happy again. NAAAAH BRO 1006 IS FUCKING DEAD.

Speaking of 1006, during the Ollie is Prototype reveal, I feel like Evan would have enough bullshit for him at this point, especially after the stunt he tried to pull on Theo last chapter, and literally snatch the phone from Poppy. He then went on to threaten the literal giant spider-legged behemoth for all the shit he did. After the Game's events, they're chill and boyyyy, did Evan want blood.

Evan really comes to connect with the Doey Trio, and you may think that he would have the closest connection with Matthew or Jack, but actually it's Kevin who Evan connected with most. Listening to the Kevin tape and hearing him being called a "problem child" really resonated with him with his own troubled past and made him have a deep connection with the kid.

So this AU has been following the in-game canon events, ever so loosely, ever since it was first properly concealed on October 25th 2021 (in the debut days of the game itself) and ever since then, Huggy was always one to take the fall, but I updated this... When Evan dropped the crate on him, the guy did try to grab the poor toy before it was too late. unfortunately, he was too slow.

So when the big Huggy reveal happens and the big guy sees Evan and maybe Mommy and a couple more through the door window. the giant blue patrol toy is fucking pissed. The only reason Huggy would and does become an ally is because of him hearing about Kissy.

[vladdyissues]

do you have any headcanons about non-human ghosts/ghosts that originate from the ghost zone? like behemoth and the ectopusses and other creatures like that?

I do, in extensive detail! I like to think that creature-ghosts were actually once a part of the human world, physical manifestations of natural forces and other living things or magical myths and legends that gained some kind of form.

But as time went on and people developed the land or stopped believing in them, their power weakened, so they moved to the Ghost Zone—basically just another universe where physical dimensions don't exist and everything exists as energy—to keep from dying out altogether. Some return to the human world every now and then because, hey, home is home, but they don't stay very long.

I applied this concept to Frostbite's people in Chapter 11 "Syndis" of Familiar:

[Vlad] scoffed. “It’s no wonder you simple-minded savages died out.” [...] Danny’s head swiveled back and forth. “Wait, what’s he talking about? Who died? And what’s a yetnar?” Invisible weight settled on Frostbite’s shoulders. “That is the name of my people.” He lowered his heavy frame onto one of the benches, thick tail curling on the floor. “We had many names once. Thurs, risi, jötunn. We were forces of nature, earth spirits, guardians of the hidden places. We kept to ourselves, caring for the earth, weaving poems and magic.” “Whoa, hang on a sec. You mean you’re from my world?” “The Norwegians called them trolls,” Vlad muttered, waddling over to an adjacent bench and plopping down. “The Tibetans, yeti. Nearly every culture on earth has its own iteration. You can tell they’re not normal ghosts by the color of their spectral radiance.” Danny blinked. Vlad was right. Instead of the typical white glow that human entities emitted, Frostbite and Eisvin glowed blue. Danny felt painfully stupid for not noticing it sooner. “This is true,” Frostbite admitted. “We are not normal ghosts, for we were never living flesh.” “So how does that work?” Danny slid into the vacant spot beside him. “How can something not living be killed off?” “Our powers came from the earth, young one. From all living things. As time went on and humans progressed, the forests shrank. Animals retreated or disappeared altogether. Science and technology prevailed. Instead of living in harmony with nature, men and their machines soon dominated everything. We became few and weak. The magic that sustained us dwindled as centuries passed, and eventually we had no choice but to come here, the realm of ghosts, or face our own extinction.” He tilted his head back to stare up into the mountain’s dark crown. “It’s not much of an existence, but it’s better than fading away.”

So I headcanon that the ectopusses were probably some kind of sea monster, Behemoth was the physical embodiment of an ancient curse (protecting the Skeleton Key), and beings like Vortex, Undergrowth, Nocturne et al were probably ancient proto-deities of the weather and agriculture and sleep/dreams.

[scrollsfromarebornrealm]

on our fates alight--eikon list

Eikons and their Dominants

Riven DeGlass: Valefor*

Sebastian Astralyas: Odin*

Augustine Bishop: Halone*

Mathye Bishop: Halone*

Reinhardt Sauveterre: Zurvan*

Aeryn Striker: Asura, Zaine Striker: Daividipa (@autumnslance)

Klynt Gothawyn: Susano (@saesama )

Zoissette Vauban: Ozma*, Nyx: Omega (@driftward )

Alice Romanova: Agrias/Oschon (@matrixdragon )

Erick sas Gage: Thunder God Cid (@erickgage )

Y'zel Tia: Memphina (@yzeltia )

Thalia: Thal (@ladyofvoss )

Archon: Nald (@dapperpea )

Bylti: Tsukiyomi/Tungli (@scalefeathers )

Minti: Azyema (@minti-tales )

Karasawa Atraxae: Nyemia (also played by driftward)

Dark Autumn: Siren, C'oretta Kell: Maybe Behemoth's Dominant. No one's sure. Not even her. (also played by autumnslance)

Apple: Carbuncle/Proto Carbuncle (@eorziapple )

Estinien Varlienau: Nidhogg

Louisoix Leveilleur: Thaliak (briefly)/Phoenix

Foruchenault Leveilleur: Thaliak (briefly)

Alphinaud Leveilleur: Thaliak (as of Dawntrail)

X'rhun Tia: Rhalgr

Minfila Warde/Ryne Waters: Hydaelyn

Elidibus: Zodiark

------

others who have thrown a hat into this general sandbox:

Raven Cross: Ratatoskr (@lunarosewood23 )

Alisa Kim: Llymlaen (@dominantofstorms )

Archie: Alexander (@eorzeanflowers )

Storm Dancer: Rhalgr (@reassambled-dragoon )

---------

*Eikons are like Pokemon in my headcanon (hell also based off the XVI canon too!) in the fact they can evolve and become stronger. Any Eikon that has the little star next to them means they end up developing an Ascended form and powers by Shadowbringers.

[NOTE: Some characters/Eikons have not shown up in posted stories due to being within FC only.]

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (December 17-23, 2023)

Episode 7 of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters laid down significant Monsterverse lore, showing the moment Monarch finally revealed itself to the public (under hilarious circumstances) and how the organization's partnership with Apex Cybernetics began. I did not find May's long-awaited backstory super compelling, to be honest, I think because the proto-Apex company was so thinly sketched. And that Frost-Vark better not be dead. :(

An incredible three Godzilla comics released last week: DC/Legendary's Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong #3 and IDW's Godzilla: War for Humanity #3 and Godzilla Rivals: Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon. The crossover lit a certain section of the Internet on fire with the revelation that Godzilla did, in fact, kill Superman the previous issue. Writer Brian Buccellato chalked it up to Godzilla's atomic breath having "a radioactive signature similar to [K]ryptonite," which as handwaves go is pretty good. Behemoth and Scylla had moments to shine as well, and the issue ended with Lex Luthor discovering a Mechagodzilla eye. Glad Godzilla won't be the only Toho character in the comic; that would've been a bit lame.

Godzilla: War for Humanity remaining a thrilling read, and the Super MOGUERA debuting in this issue is not to be missed. Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon starts with a content warning for depiction and discussion of attempted suicide, which certainly surprised me. It's another strong issue, neither callous nor didactic, and told so efficiently there's plenty of room for the titular bout (which sometimes has felt like an afterthought in Rivals stories). Also, Jet Jaguar talks—something Toho forbade in a comic earlier this year, for whatever reason. Anyway, he's exactly the 'bot you would expect him to be. Hope IDW can keep him chattering in the future.

You've probably seen my flurry of posts already, but it bears repeating: The Boulet Brothers' Dragula, a drag reality competition found on Shudder, aired a kaiju episode. Reality TV isn't my bag, but I thoroughly enjoyed the competitors' kaiju-inspired costumes and performances. I also kept ping-ponging between awe that Americans are just expected to know what a kaiju is now and yelling at the hosts for, say, not naming any kaiju outside of Toho's Big Five.

Hot on the heels of the black-and-white re-release of Shin Godzilla comes Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color, which has to be the best title one of these things has gotten. As with Shin, this is no mere filter; each shot in the film was regraded, with director Takashi Yamazaki striving for "a style that looked like it was taken by masters of monochrome photography." It opens in Japan on January 12; no word yet on whether it will play in any other country.

Godzilla will follow in the steps of pop culture fixtures like The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars with Godzilla: The Official Cookbook by Kayce Baker, due from Titan Books on September 10. (You can tell it's official because he's actually on the cover.) 60 recipes lie within. It's a given that I'm going to buy something Godzilla-related that's this silly; I just have to pick up another cookbook first so it won't be the first one I ever own.

I was surprised to realize that McDonald's has never done anything Godzilla-related; far less prolific fast-food chains have worked with the monster, from White Castle to Carl's Jr. The first salvo in the campaign was pretty underwhelming—BE@ABRICK figures that can only be won via lottery, with an entirely plain Godzilla. That replica MogeGoji suit looked great in the ad, at least. Tokusatsu is being kept alive in the Godzilla franchise through some truly odd means. The follow-up ad/promo was a lot better, but that's a matter for next week's post.

This is at least kaiju-adjacent—James Wan's long-gestating The Call of Cthulhu movie seems to finally be going somewhere, as revealed in roundabout fashion by a Deadline article. I thought the 2005 silent version was just fine, but presumably this will be produced by his company Atomic Monster, which is long overdue for an actual giant monster movie.

[doomedandstoned]

MARGARITA WITCH CULT Return with New Music Video “Witches’ Candle”

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

I don't know if you've noticed, but the music is really heating up lately. It's not just my imagination. There's a mood in the air so thick you can cut it with a knife and doom provides the perfect soundtrack. The album that's got me feeling the dankness of summer right now is 'Strung Out In Hell' (2025) by Birmingham, UK three-piece MARGARITA WITCH CULT. I swear the band gets better and better with each release.

Scott Abbott's vocals are as on point as his deadly guitar licks, starting with opener "Crawl Home To Your Coffin," with that death chant of a chorus. Throughout the album the rhythm remains infectious, with Jim Thing and George Casual festering up a firestorm on bass and drums.

The record even boasts of a Billy Idol cover ("White Wedding" as you've never heard it before). Those stomping doom chords are absolutely dominating, and the guitar attack here and throughout the album does not disappoint.

"Witches' Candle" is the second single and music video, which Doomed & Stoned is revealing today. It's got a robust NWOBHM beat with elements of stoner rock and dark psychedelia woven deftly throughout, for one of the tightest tracks on the new 9-songer. The guitar screeches like a siren as the two-and-a-half minute pulse-pounder comes to a close, leaving us wanting even more.

You won't have to wait long. Margarita Witch Cult's Strung Out In Hell comes out July 18th on Heavy Psych Sounds (pre-order here). It's pure rocking doom all the way from this power trio. Stick it on a playlist with The Watchers, Hippie Death Cult, Warlung, Uncle Acid and the deadbeats, and Reagers-era Saint Vitus.

Give ear...

SOME BUZZ

Hailing from the home of metal, Birmingham UK, Margarita Witch Cult are the Sabbath City’s newest heirs to the throne of darkness- serving a merciless concoction of stoned sludge, demented thrash, and proto-metal weirdness.

Having released their lo-fi cassette demo ‘Witchfinder’ in early 2022 to international acclaim- being booked for Desertfest London and signing with HPS- the self-proclaimed “disciples of the riff” having been tearing up venues across the UK and leaving audiences aghast in their wake-sinking their claws into all who dare offer up their ears and eyes to their unholy din.

Formed of Scott Abbott (vocals & guitar), George Casual (drums), and Jim Thing (bass), the power-trio are especially stoked to be working with HPS internationally, telling “It’s a stone cold honour to sign with Heavy Psych Sounds, they’re a vital part of the scene and have great fuckin' taste!”

MARGARITA WITCH CULT - Strung Out In Hell by HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS Records

Margarita Witch Cult captured lightning in a bottle with their 2023 debut- a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it behemoth that saw the band thrash and burn through Europe and the UK, picking up legions of fans and touring with the likes of Cancer Bats, Monster Magnet and Nebula. Now, the Birmingham trio are set to pick their teeth with the bones of their own past- as their second LP ‘Strung Out In Hell’ takes everything that was so compelling about their debut and turns the knob up to 11; rips off the knob; throws the knob into the fires of hell and cackles maniacally in the wake of its demoniacal glory.

From top-to-tail, ‘Strung Out In Hell’ is a cloven hoof to the chest; a dizzying descent through infernus. It will caress you only to chew you up and spit you out. It is the soundtrack to the afterparty of all life on earth. Succumb to its sordid siren song. Bolder, stranger, and downright more mean, there’s no better time to jump on the Margarita Witch Cult train- and it’s going straight down, fast.

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[ratpalaceusa]

Van Down By the River

It’s not down by the river, it’s in South LA. And technically it isn’t a van, it’s actually an SUV. An old one. One my partner was able to procure from Facebook Marketplace for $1,300 even though it could probably retail for a lot more except that it’s bad on gas (like all behemoths of its generation) and it has some electrical issues (also like all behemoths of its generation). But it’s the kind of vehicle that lets you stretch your legs out completely in the back. It’s almost bigger than some spaces I’ve lived in in the past: dens and back porches on punk houses, little storage areas, black boxes in the arts district of downtown Los Angeles. There’s no real “how did I get here” kind of moment because I’ve been here before. In a lot of ways I feel like I was built for things like this. It’s a default setting. Though usually it’s not an old luxury SUV built in my sophomore year of high school twenty-plus years ago, it’s a bicycle with a trailer attached, a hiking backpack with a camera and a computer tucked neatly in the middle far away from watchful eyes, it’s a Greyhound but or a youth hostel. I don’t come from money, or much of anything really, like many of the comfortable vagabonds you’ll meet out in the wild, “cosplaying poverty” as an old fiend once put it, I am actually poor. And I have been on and off the majority of my life. I grew up on Chicago in the 80s and 90s and early 2000s, my parents were old radicals, beatniks, the pre-or-proto hippies of their generation, my late mother was the same age I am now when she had me and my father was a year and a half younger. My mother was 4th generation South Side Irish, and my dad was the child of immigrants from Yugoslavia and Germany. They were star-crossed adversaries who locked lustful eyes from across the room at an AA meeting; stale coffee and cigarettes in hand, she was 8 years sober, and he was 2 years sober, she never drank again, and he drank until he was around 70. She decided to go back to school when I was 3, and didn’t graduate until I was 19. She opted to live the life of a professional student and never had a solid job, dying having accomplished a good bit in the world of academia, burned bridges and owed money to everyone in her personal life. She died penniless on government assistance, convinced her smoke-caked, dingy apartment was a secret goldmine of hoarded antique furniture that cost her now-late sister even more money to get hauled out. My father lives in public housing, back in Chicago was out of my life on-and-off from 7 on, and fully from the time I was 16-25. We have a distant friendship these days, I’ll hear from him a couple times a year, we will send each other art we working on, but there is little-to-no emotional depth to our relationship. He didn’t want to be there in the first place, my mother, his tormentor and reluctant partner, was a woman he met in an AA meeting in 1985 and got pregnant and together they hobbled together a little life as best they could for as long as they could stand. We moves 14 times before I was 9, and I am trying not to repeat the same pattern. That said, I’m currently living in a proverbial van, down by the proverbial river.

Rat Palace, the name of this blog here, I chose to begin on tumblr as a nod to my elder millennial self who never started one back in college, back when they were in their heyday.

Rat Palace is my fashion line, it’s currently sold at one store and about to be sold in a second. It is the name of my pop-up when I vend my art places, it is the name of the Burning Man camp my partner and I are perpetually starting. It started as my own pop-up, immersive art installation that I used to travel with several years ago, a project that explored intimacy and vulnerability between strangers and in an anonymous way, guided by my paintings of these psychedelic rats that represented different human concepts and psychoemotional spaces withing the human experience. My style is somewhere between pop-art surrealism and graphic novel style illustration. I take that style with me wherever I go, whatever my medium, and whatever my subject. It is a style I have refined my entire life, and the concepts I keep in my art and in my fashion line are also lifelong common-threads about resilience and the strength of the underdog and resistance against the establishment.

And that is why I use rats as representatives throughout and in most of my artwork, they represent the perpetual underdog, constantly facing extermination, seen as vermin and undesirable, and yet they are persistent, smarter and kinder and more clever than any of us. They represent the people, places and things that we overlook because society has decided that they are other, unworthy, and yet if you ever met a rat, you’d fall in love. We currently have two rats. Alaska and Rocky Balboa, and they are going to embark on this journey along with us in a few weeks; their doofy little faces watching our travels from the back of the van.

This is not a travel blog. And it’s not just a journal. It is both of those things and it is also a social critique, a take on the world and all of the passengers living in it, written currently, at this moment, on stolen WiFi in the McDonald’s parking lot at the strip mall on Slauson. Aka, my home office.

So goodbye for now, rats, love and revolution.

[ethanarang]

DAILY FACT #300: Many in the Mechanicus believe that Hive Fleet Behemoth was not the first time the Tyranids ventured into our Galaxy. Some smaller proto fleets or beta Tyranids may have come and inhabited scattered planets.

[deleted-files]

Since I Couldn't Figure Out How to Upload the File

Here. A list of just about all the horizon machines and their rahi counterparts. At least what I think to be their counterparts... Close enough anyways. I'm always open to suggestions on this list since it's still a work in progress.

-Acquisition Machines-

Bilegut (Frog) = Ranama/Ghekula

Rockbreaker (Badger/Mole)= Blade Burrower

Bristleback (Wild Boar)=

Broadhead/Strider/Charger (Horse/Goats)= Mahi

ClamberJaw (Orangutan/Primate)= Brakas

Fanghorn/Grazer/LanceHorn (Deer,Gazel)= Fader Bull

Glinthawk (Large Savanger Bird)= Kahu

Scrapper/Scrounger (Canin)= Happaka

Snapmaw (Crocodilian)= Furnace Salamander

Spikesnout (Anteater)= Hikaki

Stingspawn (Insect/Fly?/Thing?)= Acidfly

Sunwing/Waterwing (Pterodactyl/Bird?)= Gukko/Mata Nui Fishing Bird

Plowhorn (Triceratops)= Mata Nui Cow

Tideripper (Plesiosaurus)= Proto Drake

Widemaw (Hippo)= Kraawa

Trampler (Cattle)= Kane-Ra

-Combat Class-

ClawStrider (Raptor)= Rock Raptor

Dreadwing (Bat/BirdofPrey)= Cliff Screecher

Ravager (Tiger/Leopard)= Rock Lion

Sawtooth (Sabertoothed Cat)= Muaka

Scorcher (Wolf)= Kavinika

ShellSnapper (Snapping Turtle)= Pit War Tortoise

Slaughterspine (Spinosaurus)= Archives Beast

SlitherFang (King Cobra)= Crystal Serpent

Stalker (Panther/Wolf)= Shallows Cat/Energy Hound

Stormbird (Eagle/Hawk)= Nivawk

Thunderjaw (Tyrannosaur)= Tahtorak

Tremortusk (Mammoth)=

Fireclaw/Frostclaw (Bears)= Ashbear

-Communication Class-

Tallneck (Giraffe/Stegosaur)=

-Recon Class-

Burrower (Otter/Rodent)= Archives Mole

Longleg (Ostrich/Emu/Large Bird)= Moa

Watcher/Redeye (Raptor)= Manutri

Skydrifter (Bird of Prey)= Kewa

Transport Class

Behemoth (Rhinoceros)= Kikinalo

BellowBack (Bipedal Dinosaur)= Parakrekks

Leaplasher (Kangaroo)= Fusa

Rollerback (Pangolin/Ankylosaur)= Swamp Stalker

Shell-Walker (Crab/Hermit)= Ussal Crab

[elezenchaser-art]

Update to the WIP

I'm growing more and more fond of the colors as is, even though they were only meant as a stand in. I still definitely want to make the bestial arms (hands and forearms specifically) look like they've been dipped into oil/petrol. Like, all black-brown-purple and oily and goopy looking.

Digital art.

[cedar-glade]

Fort Hill Tulip, or Andrew's Tulip, 60 dbh in Adams co. Ohio has a few behemoth tulips, this one is tall for fort hill, an old growth forest, proto-river crossing associated with canby's mtn lover. A refugial active dolostone gorge with some of the best sullivant's coolwort populations and Canada yew populations in Ohio and ancient earthworks associated with the same period as serpent mound and the site adjacent to poverty point(OH not LA).

[karoubrugarou]

I have been developing Tomo's brutal form (first form before the Racboar form) for a while and finally got the results. Because he has the soul of the Vengeful Racboar God inside of his body, Tomo is extremely careful so he will not go ballistic. Similar to Chibi's Fenraos' Anarchy except that Tomo would be controlled by a Wrathful God who seeks out to destroy Outsiders (humanity) for killing the entire Racboar Tribe. Tomo will do anything to protect himself as to avoid death-threatening confrontations; so the Wrath of Raku'rai won't be triggered.

As for the Proto-Rak form, Tomo is brutal and vicious, as he wants to break every bone from his enemies. Proto-Rak Tomo is completely stubborn fighter and he refuses to stay down. Now the only way to take this stubborn behemoth down is equal strength and magic.

Tomo © Franchesca Huerta aka Chibi Brugarou

[stephenminiotis]

Diary: Lit TO: The Hardest Book I've Ever Read

The Hardest Book I’ve Ever Read Was Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne

Let me start by saying that The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne is not just a book—it’s a beast. A sprawling, chaotic, 600-plus-page behemoth that feels like it’s actively trying to derail your sanity. It’s the kind of book that makes you question whether you’re reading it wrong or if the author is just gleefully pulling your leg. Spoiler: it’s the latter, and Sterne is cackling from the 18th century. Published between 1759 and 1767 in nine volumes, Tristram Shandy is a literary labyrinth that defies conventional storytelling, making it one of the most challenging—and rewarding—reads I’ve ever tackled. Here’s why it’s so confoundingly difficult, why its hefty size and structure overwhelm, and how it lays the groundwork for the stream-of-consciousness style that would revolutionize literature a century later.

A Big Boi: The Sheer Weight of Tristram Shandy

First, let’s talk about the physical and mental heft of this book. Tristram Shandy is long—really long. Depending on the edition, you’re looking at 600 to 700 pages of dense, digressive prose. It’s not War and Peace long, but it feels heavier because of how little it seems to care about getting to the point. The novel purports to be the autobiography of its titular character, Tristram Shandy, but good luck finding a straightforward narrative. Tristram doesn’t even get born until Volume III! Instead, you’re bombarded with tangents about nose sizes, military fortifications, and the philosophical implications of a hot chestnut falling into a man’s breeches. The book’s length isn’t just a matter of page count; it’s the way Sterne stretches time and narrative to absurd degrees, making every chapter feel like a marathon of wit and frustration.

This heft is compounded by Sterne’s playful formatting. There are blank pages, black pages, marbled pages, and even a chapter that’s just a squiggly line representing the plot’s trajectory (spoiler: it’s not linear). The book’s physical form mirrors its chaotic spirit, demanding you engage with it as a material object, not just a story. It’s a big boi in every sense—intellectually, emotionally, and physically exhausting.

A Precursor to Stream of Consciousness

What makes Tristram Shandy particularly fascinating—and fiendishly difficult—is its role as a precursor to the stream-of-consciousness technique that would later define modernist masterpieces like James Joyce’s Ulysses or Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. Stream of consciousness aims to mimic the flow of a character’s thoughts, unfiltered and nonlinear, capturing the messiness of human cognition. Sterne, writing in the 18th century, was doing something remarkably similar long before the term existed.

In Tristram Shandy, the narrative is less a story and more a transcription of Tristram’s racing, digressive mind. He’ll start telling you about his birth, then veer off to discuss his uncle’s war wound, then pause to philosophize about time or hobby-horses (a recurring metaphor for personal obsessions). The result is a text that feels like you’re trapped in someone’s head—one that’s brilliant, hilarious, but utterly incapable of staying on track. This proto-stream-of-consciousness style is exhilarating because it’s so innovative, but it’s also disorienting. You’re not reading a plot; you’re wading through a torrent of thoughts, asides, and interruptions.

Sterne’s genius lies in how he uses this technique to reflect the human experience. Our minds aren’t linear; we jump from memory to tangent to worry, and Tristram Shandy captures that chaos. But for a reader, keeping up with Tristram’s mental acrobatics is like trying to follow a conversation in a crowded room where everyone’s shouting at once. It’s a workout, and it’s easy to get lost.

Why It’s So Confusing and Difficult

So why is Tristram Shandy the hardest book I’ve ever read? Let’s break it down. First, there’s the lack of a traditional narrative arc. Most novels give you a beginning, middle, and end; Sterne gives you a middle that spirals into more middles. Tristram’s stated goal—to tell his life story—gets buried under layers of digressions, so you’re constantly reorienting yourself to figure out what’s even happening. It’s like trying to assemble a puzzle with half the pieces missing and the other half from a different box.

Second, Sterne’s humor and erudition demand an active reader. The book is packed with obscure references to philosophy, theology, and 18th-century culture, plus Latin phrases and sly winks at the reader. If you’re not familiar with, say, the works of John Locke or the intricacies of midwifery in Georgian England, you might feel like you’re missing the joke. Even when you get the references, Sterne’s irony and wordplay keep you on your toes. He’s not just telling a story; he’s interrogating the very act of storytelling, which can feel like a meta-maze.

Third, the book’s structure is deliberately disorienting. Sterne includes fake prefaces, chapters out of order, and typographical experiments that break the flow of reading. At one point, he “loses” a chapter and just moves on. It’s brilliant, but it’s also maddening. You can’t passively consume Tristram Shandy; it forces you to wrestle with it, to question what a book can be.

Finally, the emotional and intellectual stamina required is immense. The book’s humor and charm keep you going, but its relentless refusal to cohere can wear you down. You laugh, you marvel, but you also groan when Tristram launches into yet another tangent about his father’s theories on names. It’s a book that rewards patience, but it tests it first.

Why It’s Worth the Struggle

Despite its challenges, Tristram Shandy is a masterpiece. Its difficulty is part of its point: life doesn’t follow a neat plot, so why should a novel? Sterne’s playfulness, his deep empathy for his quirky characters, and his bold experimentation make the book feel alive, even centuries later. It’s a reminder that literature can be wild, anarchic, and deeply human.

As a precursor to stream of consciousness, Tristram Shandy showed that a novel could capture the messiness of thought itself, paving the way for writers who wanted to push boundaries. Its hefty size and confusing structure are daunting, but they’re also what make it so singular. It’s not a book you conquer; it’s a book you survive, and in surviving, you discover something profound about the chaos of existence.

So, yes, Tristram Shandy is the hardest book I’ve ever read. It’s long, it’s confusing, it’s a big boi that laughs at your attempts to pin it down. But it’s also one of the most exhilarating, a literary adventure that dares you to keep up. If you’re brave enough to dive in, just brace yourself—and enjoy the show.

Post-Script: I once wrote a senior essay about this work as a literature undergrad at the University Of Toronto because I took a course that primarily dealt with this work. Stay tuned! Might need to polish it before I post it!

Sincerely,

Stephen Miniotis, Writing from his desk. THE BOROUGH: Scarborough, Toronto Ontario, Canada June 17, 2025

writing for TheMutant.net; A desktop-only publication (tumblr on mobile). Charity: ParanoidSchizophrenic.ca

1.0 Might be edited.

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[gsirvitor]

Giants exist, gargantuan versions of the other races, more akin to Homo Erectus than cavemen, their grasp on technology not even at the stone age, utilizing the tools found in nature, and their own bodies to attack their enemies and prey.

Their legs are stout and thick, like elephant feet, with great fatty pads and short toes built to support their weight, while they make great strides while walking, their mode of locomotion is less refined than other races.

It is theorized that the modern, more civilized, races split from these giants many thousands, perhaps even millions of years ago.

Their facial features are more ape than hominid, with large robust jaws, great sagittal crests and small brain cases with beady, forward facing eyes sunken beneath their heavy set brows.

Their arms, while strong, are shorter than their legs, used to manipulate their prey, and grab hold of their attackers.

Some have vibrant furs adorning their bodies, while others have great voluptuous tears that flare red and blue to attract mates, but most often they judge their mates based on scars they've gained, and their age.

Giants are omnivores, but primarily consume foliage, eating meat when available.

Giants adapted to fend off their predators, while the smaller races hid in caves to hide, what predator could predate on a behemoth like a giant?

Dragons, it was predation from ancient proto dragons that spurred on their adaptations, and the split that had occurred between them and their smaller cousins.

Dragons today, while an issue, are smaller than their ancient forebears, it takes a flock of dragons to take down even one full grown giant, this is why the more predatory species of dragons target the young, old and sickly.

Other species of dragons have adapted to different environments, some becoming stealthy stalking jungle predators, some parasites that feed on larger dragons, and more have simply moved far from civilization.

While myths speak of dragons capable of speech, they are as fanciful as the legends of the sophisticated giant civilization in the clouds.

Though, some myths are truer than not, dragons are very much attracted to gems, gold and other shiny trinkets, much like corvids they use these items to adorn their nests and attract mates.

Some will even melt the metals into their scales, and swallow gems, the swallowing of gems is interesting, as this is done for the same reason some birds swallow rocks, to help break down prey.

I want it so elves, through the generations, selected their mates off of ear length, so elves will wear sorta like jockstraps for their ears, but when they take them off their ears nearly drag on the ground with how long they are.

The upper class will have long ears, draped in silk, ivory and gold, carried by servants, while the lower classes have varying ear lengths, their social status reflected in the length of their ears.

Merchants tend to have ear extensions, made from homunculus flesh, but tattooed so they can't pass as upper class elves, these tattoos can be tailored to the merchant's liking, to reflect their familial roots, their values and aesthetics, or just their chosen business.

The lowest class are the kind most humans interact with as they are the only ones allowed to mingle with humans and other races with subpar ears, despite this, the shortest ears on the lowest class elf is still 1-2' long.

So even low class elves have an air of superiority, and arrogance when they're interacting with other races, as the other races are clearly inferior to them.

Dark elves are outcasts because they reject this caste system, choosing to cut off their long ears, and mimic humans, the only thing betraying their elven heritage is the fact their eyes are larger than most humans, though some still have epicanthic folds in their eyes.

The reason their eyes are larger is because Elves are crepuscular in their evolution, but the lowest classes are diurnal, at least they are forced to be because they interact with other races, causing them to often squint during the day, or wear large hats to protect from the sun.

If anyone wants to add to this, they can, I just wanted to spew some random ear related ideas.