#space insects

[buttsaremyassthetic]

May Patreon Illustration! Celestial insects

[shpepyao]

Moth design inspired by Great Attractor

[wolven91]

Skin Deep

The crit'yun are an ancient race.

Chitin instead of flesh, feather, scale, or fur. A mind that was vast enough to include all their kind, but also individual minds, all working towards a common goal broken up into hives then castes. They were like ants of old, but massive.

As for the hives, in the deepest, most protected parts of their worlds, there were pools of a biological soup that gave birth to new and needed bodies. There was no 'set' appearance to the crit'yun. If they needed pincers the most, then the creature that crawled from the ominous goop had pincers. If they needed size or bulk, the goop would recede as a titan lifted itself clear of the liquid, allowing it to cascade from it in great waterfalls as it stepped into the galaxy.

The crit'yun had been around since the various races that now dominated the galaxy had begun to crawl from their own primordial soups millennia ago. They watched the galaxy and recorded its comings and goings with a careful eye. Nothing was forgotten, everything was shared. Perhaps once the crit'yun had spread themselves across the galaxy, like a grand empire? But that wasn't the case now.

Their territory with a sliver that spanned several arms of the galaxy. They stayed there, watching and listening to the galaxy that appeared and grew now that they stayed dormant.

But the modern galaxy feared them, even before their most recent awakening.

Not just because they had perfected what was important to the current races, war and weapons, but because they were an antithesis to what was considered beautiful within the galaxy. Skittering. Twitching. Eyes that didn't look like eyes, or none at all, still watched without blinking. Legs and hands that were weapons.

They were judged on their first introduction. The crit'yun were aliens, even to the aliens.

When humanity appeared, it created an almost visible ripple amongst the insectoids. Something new. Something they hadn't seen. Something they hadn't recorded with their incredible minds. Something, that was dying.

Like a locust swarm amassing, the crit'yun, after thousands and thousands of years in isolation and refusal to engage with the wider galaxy; was suddenly abuzz with activity. The galaxy feared the crit'yun despite the diplomats they sent to assure the Galactic Community of their honourable intentions. They avoided crowded systems, sent only the most appealing of the crit'yun to parley when needed, but they were still shunned as dangerous, foreign things.

This was where Max came in.

Max had been in the 'care' of slavers. He was one of the lucky ones. He hadn't even been aware of their foul intentions. They had lied, placed him in comfortable quarters and began their journey towards a buyer before being found by the crit'yun.

"We are still sorry. That this. Was your first step. Sorry, that we, no... you... did not find... ally, friend, family." Chittered the creature. It was the size of a large dog, perhaps a Great Dane? It's red membrane wings flutters and twitched, but the numerous black dots, that Max had come to learn were its eyes, watched him carefully. Its speech pattern was strange, but it sat next to the human on a raised bench of resin that coated the inside of the crit'yun ship.

"It's alright. I should have known, I just didn't... think I suppose?" The human said with a sigh, gesturing with his hand before it fell back down against his knee.

"Absence. No. Lack of knowledge. Ignorance. Not worthy of fault. " Assured the creature as its head tilted one way and then the other.

The human smiled idly, more to the floor than to himself or a crit'yun. His hand, ever moving reach over without thought and rubbed a hand against the almost perfectly rounded head of the alien insect. Although there was no fur there, the distracted human merely felt calmer by the action. It reminded him of his own dog, Max missed him.

It was almost a whole minute before Max turned his head to the crit'yun and blinked, seemingly surprised that he was petting the insect and immediately withdrew his hand.

"I'm sorry! I didn't-" Blurted the human, holding his hands up in apologetic surrender.

"Why?" Asked the creature. It's perfectly round head turning, the beady black eyes rotating with it. It was a perfect impression of a puppy tilting its head.

"I wasn't thinking." Replied the human honestly, lowering his arms once more, paying attention to the creature.

"Ah. This one knows this. Nature. No... Natural action... To act by instinct. True Freedom. Fear no. Fear not. No offence made or received." Confirmed the alien, bobbing its head. Unbeknownst the Max, the instinctual drive it spoke of was its 'purpose'. Every crit'yun was born and made with a goal, a true purpose in life. The broodmother's was to birth and care for their young and vulnerable. The guards was to defend and destroy threats. To this drone? It was to reapply the resin to the ceilings of the crit'yun craft.

Since the human had shown preference to it, it had already been replaced, its purpose was now to stay by the human and ensure it wanted for nothing until the broodmother's craft arrived.

Max gave a smirk as this giant insect spoke in such an odd way, struggling to find the correct words, all the while he had accidently just treated it like a favoured pet. His brow furrowed as he thought about it though.

"How come the translators don't work for you?" The man asked curiously. He was aware that translators normally just adjusted any word heard for the word the speaker meant, in the listener's language. It shouldn't have been hiccupping over the insect's words.

"They do." Replied the creature smartly.

"But you mix up your words?" Pointed out Max.

"Ah. Translators fine. It is mind that is... limited." The insect explained, bobbing on all six legs.

"Mind?" Max was only more confused now.

"Yes. This one. Crit'yun you see with your eyes. Is only drone. Mind limited. In time... We will present acceptable crit'yun to you." The drone explained, speaking the words the broodmother sent through the hive's mind. It was a delicate thing, to speak through a drone, but doable. They didn't normally have the drive to talk or even need to. It was pure luck that this done was a talkative one, often humming to itself as it happily worked. The broodmother could only whisper simple concepts and the drone would repeat them as best it could.

"What does that mean?" Enquired the human. The crit'yun was pleased with the new specie's curiosity but feared that this was the moment they would lose this creature's trust. The crit'yun knew what they looked like, and the diplomat form could only look so much like them before it caused distress.

"We hide. Will hide. What makes us. Robes will hide chitin. Our eyes will be only... One... Two..." Counted the drone, repeating the broodmother's words. Her signal was getting stronger, straining the creature's mind.

"You don't have to change for me you know? I don't mind." Promised the young man.

"You... flinch." Pointed out the drone.

"I'm not going to lie, its intimidating, being surrounded by bugs, but I bet I don't look great to you."

"Clicks for this one. True. Truth is spoken. Very well. When this drone... is returned to the hive. Hive will not attempt... much... to hide selves..." Promised the drone, settling down onto its folded limbs. Tired now.

"Good. I was always told be proud of who you are. And you guys saved my life, so in my book you're alright."

"We wish to record your book. Please present it." Asked the drone, it's mind growing tired now that the broodmother had relinquished her hold on its mind. She was on the ship now. The idea the drone could record new history and present it to the broodmother? As it slipped from the waking world, if it could smile; it would have.

"Oh. Uuhh..." The human said, unaware he was the only one present now.

[r/WolvensStories]

[AO3]

[Ko-Fi]

[eulogyofaninsect]

Eulogy of an Insect is now live on Steam!

Eulogy of an Insect is now live on Steam! Please wishlist today! Share with your friends, then they'll share with their friends, and then- E HAS COME TO...

[doecrossing]

Geniunely I don't get the whole song and dance ppl do abt wasps being sooo mean and aggressive. A paper wasp landed on my book while I was reading outside the other day and we just chilled for a bit until she flew away. Maybe they sting you bc you're ugly or something idk.

[martha-anne]

Poached-egg Pollinator Paradise

There is a patch of poached-egg flowers growing next to my pond. Pollinating insects love it, and I love to watch them. Here are a few of this weekend's visitors.

??

Mint moth

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Honeybee

Rose chafer beetle

Ashy mining bee

If you are familiar with bugs 1 and 3, please let me know their names! And grow this plant if you can!

[eulogyofaninsect]

Milady Sanitarium, one of the dungeons that Charlie & co must overcome, takes place in an eerie clinic where a virulent disease has been let loose on the patients and staff. Here is a look at how this locale has changed through development.

Discord

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[halluciniwaynia]

i think what makes rpgmaker games after (and including) one shot is that the engine is consistently and reliably pushed to limits by devs who want to either work within those limits or completely ignore them all together. well known old school rpgmaker games rarely if ever had significant combat because the turn of the 2000s saw people disinterested by the mechanical design of turn and roleplay, and opted instead to create something banally bizarre, and often abstract in artistic expression.

games like yume nikki, space funeral and hylics have their dna connected by this thread of blasé attitudes towards the fundamental mechanics baked into their engine, and yet are defined by its limitations in both scope, fidelity and overall progression. RPGmaker is a grimy, toolbox-laden shell of a program to build a game with—it requires workaround coding for unique mechanics and often intense knowledge of the base runtime program itself if you don’t want to completely destroy what you’re making into a mess of ruined ideas and bog-standard gameplay that often annoys people about rpgs. Because, like, RPGmaker will give you the most basic that you can get. You’re working out from the program instead of inside of it.

this is what later games (I think all rpgmaker games can be split into an era of “before oneshot” and “after oneshot”) like eulogy of an insect, fear and hunger and feldivek subvert—they don’t pretend to be above the engine they’re made in, but they also don’t box themselves into being a “normal” RPG like most people expect. Eulogy is drawn in a fucked up, unique “dirty” style, Fear&Hunger is brutally difficult, and Felvidek is more humorous than its aesthetic would suggest and is brimming with Eastern European sensibilities of humor. This marks a drastic departure from when old RPGmaker games tried to be anything *but* rpgs.

(Excluding OFF, because it’s just a weirdo in the timeline lol)

[ex0skeletal-undead]

Spring Nocturne, watercolor by artbyworth

This artist on Instagram

[pie-bean]

Nobody asked for it, but here are a couple of close-up pics of fleas!

[heartnosekid]

🔮 phosphor slime 🌙

for @bamboozlin-maxie!

🌙-⭐️-🌙 / ⭐️-🔮-⭐️ / 🌙-⭐️-🌙

[eulogyofaninsect]

Reggie is a Loyalist- artificial beings made of straw and sinew, created to serve and fulfill the whims of the mysterious Imperatrix. Reggie's gone rogue however, and he now runs the largest pirate TV station in the world, straight from The Hive! He desires nothing more than to entertain and delight audiences... even through unsavory means.

Discord

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[transmechanicus]

Awful that the list of organisms a human being can achieve integrated symbiosis with is almost exclusively micro-organisms because anything with more than two cells attached together gets too big for its britches and becomes deleterious to our health. Venom-style alien symbiotes DM me I will be the cutest and most loving host you've ever had <3