#rythulian biology

[abhorrenttheorizer]

I can't believe people still follow my antics somewhat on this platform. I hardly post anymore and when I do it's bullshit. Unfortunately, I am about to do it again 💔

A sincere apology to the people who followed me for anything other than bitching about Sky and Journey specbioposting. I've got a lot of personal issues with original designs and my refusal to accept that the Journey Tumblr fandom is effectively dead has made it so that I've unintentionally become a fandom account. Sorry for my obsessiveness, and hopefully I am able to overcome this art block and make something original for once.

With that being said, I am once again about to Journey 💔💔

CONTENT WARNING for naked birb cat creature with a fupa under the cut 💔💔💔

EXTRA CONTENT WARNING for bright image immediately under the cut. From one photosensitive lad to another, the following image is bright AF turn down your brightness pls

Also long post lol

The feet and toes are a lot thicker than I would've liked. Their feet and legs are much more slender, and the actual foot itself should be longer and thinner (damn canvas space + brush size...) but because I'm a dolt I gave this guy chunky camel feet without meaning to.

This is an adult individual of a mildly pale complexion. To avoid making the image even brighter, there's one detail I have forgotten omitted to paint. The arms gradually become paler from the shoulder to the hand, and the hands themselves are typically lily white and glow very brightly regardless of skin tone. I know in-game Rythulians lack arms, however I do not care. Beefy paw arms = funny.

Also, I have only drawn one individual. Rythulians are simultaneous hermaphrodites, and as a result don't have separate sexes or sexual dimorphism, so this adult pictured here is the only "species representative" needed to be drawn.

Anyway, Rythulians as a species, unlike their ancestors are designed for desert life (no shit). Similarly to ostriches, their lower body and legs are free of hair to induce cooling, however unlike ostriches and most other land animals Rythulians also sweat through their skin, even the skin that is covered in fur. They are also a species that is heavily tied to magic (later post), so there is much to their biology that would not feasibly make sense through Earth's standards.

Generally speaking, they're a pretty tall race. Individuals are generally anywhere between 7 and 10 feet (2.13 to 3.25 metres) tall, with long dainty legs designed for bounding across sand. They're also incredibly lightweight, as "obese" individuals barely tip the scales at 32 lbs (14.5 kg). This is due to the many unique characteristics of their internal body, which I will demonstrate in a later post :,)

The fur they have is fluffy, and somewhat dense. The pure white fur coloration serves to insulate and protect the Rythulian's upper body, cooling the brain somewhat by reflecting sunlight. The only dark hairs they have are on their facial discs. The dark hair on the facial disc serves to reduce glare, especially for their unique glowing eyes.

The strange fleshy orifice at the center of a Rythulian's chest is it's wax gland. More will be explained about this later, but the wax gland is present and almost fully functional at birth, and one of its main purposes is to melt the body's fat deposits into "wax" which is then eaten by other Rythulians, especially babies, elders, sickly individuals, and young ones. Wax production is very similar to nursing, and is essentially a non-mammalian way of producing milk. The other purpose, reserved for adults, is to release a single zygote which will then develop into a baby (after it has been feeding off of dwarf stars for around 9 months, but that's a topic for a later time).

The skin itself is loose, stretchy, and squishy in many places, while it's a bit tigher in other areas, like the legs and feet. Rythulian skin feels a bit like very soft and stretchy plush cloth, a slight nod to their symbiotic relationship to their clothing. Under the arms, they have a short band of folded skin that expands outwards similarly to that of a flying squirrel. However, this band of skin stretches from the middle of the upper arm to the waist, rather than from the wrist to the ankle. I like to think that Rythulians co-evolved and have a symbiotic relationship with their cloaks, so this flap of skin was made to aid the act of flying, gliding and soaring as the loose skin catches the air current alongside the cloak itself, and reduces fatigue to the arm.

So... I know what you're thinking...

What the hell is with that unsightly FUPA???

Well, the fupa is actually a fat and skin deposit similar to the "primordial pouches" found in cats. They serve much of the same purpose too, enabling the Rythulian to jump higher, run faster and stretch more without ripping the skin. In fact, a Rythulian's "primordial pouch" is so efficient than they can be stretched up to 6x their height without being in pain or tearing in half (this is also due to Rythulians not having a spine or cervical bones or really any traditional skeleton either, but that's a post for another time). This pouch was co-evolved as a way for modern Rythulians to deal with Guardian attacks without extreme injury, as Guardians generally attack by crushing the Rythulian and then yanking them upwards as their scarves or cloaks are torn.

Speaking of running fast and jumping high: When Rythulians are not starving to death on pilgrimage, they move very swiftly in their mountain and sandy environments, often bounding across their arid mountain environments at upwards of 10x their height horizontally and 8x their height vertically. They run swiftly as well, up to 87mph (140kmh). Unfortunately, their endurance is poor, only being able to run at top speed for around 3 minutes before complete exhaustion. After which, about an hour of rest is needed before continuing to move.

As for their arms, depending on the circumstances, their arms can be quite powerful, able to punch with enough force to break bone. Pushing, pulling, carrying, and crushing can be done with relative ease, but certain environmental factors may seriously inhibit their stamina. A Rythulian's upper body is significantly stronger than it's lower body, since the muscles required for flight take a lot of energy, and Rythulians are a flying species (provided they have cloth to help them out, which this individual clearly does not).

The feet are covered almost entirely in dense, soft fur to keep the Rythulian from sinking into the sand and also keep sand out of their sheathes.

What do I mean by "sheathes"?

Well, a Rythulian's foot is anatomically somewhere between a camel and a cat. The foot paws function like those of a cat, except the claws sheathed within the paw are blunt hooks used to latch onto mountain rocks. In short, they have retractable "hooves", a reminant of their ancestral form.

Excuse the crude animation, but here is how a "whole foot" flex works. Rythulians have 4 zygodactyl toes for climbing on steep cliffs, the front claw-hooves latching onto the rocks and the rear claw-hooves adding support by catching onto other divets within the mountains. Besides the whole foot flex, Rythulians can protract and retract each toe individually, providing a completely individualized support system based on the surface area of rocks they may stand on.

Another thing that I have mentioned in one of my earlier posts about Rythulian headcanon anatomy, is that their ears are not truly ears. Their real ears are on the sides of the head.

Rythulians have 4 earholes designed for processing different sounds. They are positionally asymmetrical, however the ears themselves are relatively in the same place, like in mammals instead of owls (in which one ear is at the top of the skull, and the other is closer to the jaw bone).

On the left ear: Upper hole for lower frequencies from above, lower hole for higher frequencies from below

On the right ear: Upper hole for higher frequencies from above, lower hole for lower frequencies from below

Because of the earhole asymmetry, Rythulians are able to triangulate like owls do and pinpoint the exact location of a sound. Their hearing is exceptionally sensitive, which was mentioned in this earlier post

The catlike rhinophores atop their heads serve a completely different purpose:

A Rythulian's actual nose is completely useless for smelling. What are their "ears" are actually their rhinophores, of which they use to detect airborne chemicals (poorly) as well as express emotion.

The rhinophores themselves have very coarse hair, much different than the normally soft, silky hair on the rest of their bodies (minus the facial whiskers). Each ear smells independently, however this is inefficient, as rhinophores are typically more effective underwater. To solve this problem, Rythulians will intertwine their rhinophores together, rubbing them vigorously in order to generate a stronger olfactory signal to the brain. This is generally not effective either, as smell is their weakest sense. An "A" for effort regardless.

Here is a head sketch of a yawning individual as an example. The lips have an odd shape, but I will explain that in a later post.

Rythulians have 16 piranha-like teeth, and a small spiny radula in place of a "tongue" (will go into why they have a radula later, it's a doozy). While they will consume plants on the occasion, and they are capable of tasting and enjoy the sweet flavor, Rythulians are obligate carnivores. Their teeth are designed to tear off small chunks of meat, to which the radula rasps into smaller chunks of meat to be swallowed whole. Their preferred prey are aquatic (fish, mollusks, cetaceans, seals, etc), but due to the arid, often barren habitats they're native to, they are not picky and will often catch and eat most things that move. They are not cannibalistic and don't favor eating other humanoid things.

Their second weakest sense is their sense of taste. They can taste all flavors that humans can, but on a much weaker intensity. The short and stubby radula is covered in small, villiform denticles that are used to shear away small chunks of meat. On the outer and rear edges of the radula are small, flatter denticle plates. These are used to shred out meat from shelled creatures such as crustaceans or mollusks. Between and sometimes around these denticles are taste receptors, of which a Rythulian has very few. However, Rythulians have a very sensitive mouth, and salty/spicy/acidic foods are generally not favored by them, as they can quickly become painful.

Denticles start off at the back of the radula, flat, before splitting and pointing upwards into "new" teeth. It's an unusual form of denticle replacements.

Anyway, that's pretty much it for this installment. Next installment, I will go over the hair texture, fur length, skin colors, and body language of my Rythulian headcanons.

Thanks for making it this far! I have no idea how to write or format things so please excuse the rambling and text walls.

[little-paper-man]

Finally! =u=;; I finished the drawings some time ago but didn't have the energy for the ramble-y part until now BECAUSE HOO! after talking with a friend it turned out i had a LOT more thoughts on rythulian biology than i previously thought.

My very basic premise is that rythulains are "Plant-ish"

Kinda like how mushroom's look like plants but in reality they're more closely related to animals but in the opposite direction.

They get their nutritional needs through light (be it sunlight or glyph-based light) and through water - the more mineral rich the better! But because they do a lot more moving around than any plant, their bodies have specific adaptations to be super efficient at conserving energy.

One being their bodies being somewhat like a cactus in that they can store lots of water in their bodies and could go long stretches of time without - especially if the water they picked up was Light Enhanced Mountain Spring Water (tm) because it's basically water+minerals+light all mixed together into a nice lemonade. And every inch of their bodies can absorb light, and it absorbs light to an absurdly fast degree, so even in the dark as long as there's even a hint of light their bodies can make the most use of it.

of course, the glyph-based light was the most sot after as it's extremely concentrated energy and beats having to sit out in the sun for a couple of hours everyday. but because of them prioritizing that and yoinking more out of the other cloth-like beings they ended up fucking themselves over when they destroyed what they considered "non-essential life" because without the other local plants and animals around, the environment became unstable and as a snowballing result the land received less and less water and that meant that the mountain springs dried up and they couldn't go anywhere else because as the environmental disaster became worse and worse they essentially became trapped in their home mountain ranges until everyone shriveled up and died :D Last only made it as long as they did because their little ruined university still had a functioning creek stubbornly lingering on.

[abhorrenttheorizer]

Ok so uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Been a while since I made some TGSquid content

I'm trying to find some sort of a balance between quantity and quality but there's issues. I don't want to post something actually worthwhile once every 5 years, but I also don't want to post a bunch of shitty sketches and unfinished things that don't look good.

Hopefully the image below isn't too bright for people who use 100% brightness settings but just in case I am going to spoiler for photosensitivity reasons

This issue is made worse by the fact that I seem to only be good at rendering now. My cartooning or "flat sketch" quality is in the shitter, but bear with me on this one.

TL;DR: I have turned Rythulians into furries and also there's more of them:

Sooooooo rythulian history and development because why not. In order of most ancient to most recent from left to right.

Also heavy crossover material because you can pry the idea that Journey and Sky are connected and they're all the same species/in the same evolutionary tree out of my cold dead... brain?

And so begins a small sketch of what repeated divine punishment does to a motherfucker. Why? Idk but tbh I like the idea that Megabird is a corrupt, unforgiving, wrathful deity that regularly punishes her devoted children. That idea unironically won't stop pestering me but I'll talk about Megabird and my thoughts on her later.

Rythulian evolution is all kinds of fucked up because of the heavy divine hand (wing?) at play in their development, with new traits suddenly and randomly being added instantly when they should take millions of years to develop. In the beginning, Rythulians were once tall, lumbering, bony creatures that lived in lowland forests and plains areas. This species was extant from several thousand years before the start of their civilization, to a few hundred years before the start of Journey (2012). At this point in time they were more closely related to "dark creatures" in their surrounding areas than "light creatures", hence the lack of glowiness. While not true vertebrates, ancestral Rythulians had an internal shell in the chest region with segments similar to those of ribcages, and a heavy keel at the center to protect the wax gland. They also had long segmented attachments to the internal shell that acted like a spine, fused in the lumbar region which made them relatively inflexible. They also only had one fur and one eye color, dark blue with bluish green eyes, with little to no variation in fur pattern or color. Because they lacked the internal magic that would grant them the ability to stand on itty bitty Barbie feet, the feet of ancestral Rythulians were thick and camel-esque, made to hold their great size and weight against soft forest soil. At this point in time, Rythulians did not need to perform yearly death rituals, only ascending the mountain for rebirth for the sake of cleansing the body and spirit.

Cue massive war over resources forcing their evolution into the 2nd figure in the image.

Nicknamed the "Atonement species" by their far descendants, the next iteration of Rythulians were small(er), soft, jelly things with bright white beads where green eyes once were. Smooth, sloping torso that used to be their arms now void and featureless, like the duney wastelands they were commanded to die in. Despite having very slug-like anatomy, they do not leave a moist trail when they move. However, what separates this slug from the slugs of some other reprimands of a higher power, is that the Atonement Rythulians do have mouths, and boy did they love screaming. Atonement Rythulians existed from a few years before the start of Journey (2012) to several hundred years before the development of the first settlements on the other size of the Mountain of Eden. Unlike their previous ancestors, this species had no bones at all besides the skull and internal shell, a trait that will continue on in the rest of their descendants. Their feet are significantly smaller as well, and all digits posess retractable hooves. On the lower belly is a pouch of loose, stretchy skin that will continue in all future descendants, something that protects them from the impacts of guardians and enabling them to stretch up to 6x their height, As well as the relative bonelessness, they were created in the image of Light, and thus had Light's magic, rather than their naturally evolved Dark ancestors. They lacked arms because of divine punishment, it was arms that aided the ancient Rythulians in their pillage and plundering and war, and it was arms that were taken away, forcing generation after generation of slugbirb to maneuver their environments with only their legs and their song for dexterity. Also unlike the ancestral Rythulian, this species came in a wide variety of facial disc colors, another trait passed down to their descendants.

Cue the start of divine corruption, a goddess rendering thousand of years of armless infrastructural development obsolete for supposed shits and giggles.

The "Sanctioned" or "Spirit" Rythulians differed not much from their previous ancestors, other than for their Good Deeds, they were finally granted their arm privileges back, in the form of massive hulking bear paws. This species originated several thousands of years after the events of Journey (2012), and was extant up until the Eden disaster before the events of Sky: Children of the Light. Under their new powerlifter arms, they have a small flap of skin from the upper arm to the waist, used to aid them in flight, giving them added endurance against their predecessors. Along with the retractable hooves in the feet, the hands have retractable claws as well.

Cue even more war over technology, followed by even more divine punishment, followed by even more divine corruption.

Finally, the latest iteration of Rythulians, with many traits that are far more adapted to flight than the previous forms. Some of these traits are to bring them closer to other flying light creatures, such as their long, tentacle-esque tails used for steering much like the tails of mantas, and others are simply to make flight easier, suck as their longer membranes that start from the elbow and reach down to the hip, which help with endurance flying. Modern Rythulians have been extant since the first of their kind, the descension of Prince Alef/King Resh, to the present day. This iteration practices complete metamorphosis, with a waxy, almost carapaced "larval" stage (the skykid, or moth), and the softbodied, "feathery" secondary form (secondary instead of adult, since they metamorphosize into the softbodied form well before they are mature, around the age of 10). This species also must sacrifice themselves every "birthday" that individuals may have simply to age properly, whereas such rituals weren't necessary for their predecessors.

Thanks for reading! Hopefully my posting will be a little more regular as I balance school, work, and shitposting on this.... site xd