#tag glossary

[sparrowlucero]

i have a question for you feel free to ignore though I don’t want to bother you

do you know any ressource or anyone who’s knowledgeable in terms of spec evo words? uhm, like more global ones anyone could use. I’m just getting started but my grasp on biology is p basic

if that helps I’m doing something with aliens and im hitting a block referring to similar aliens as mammals or plants bc that’s very earth things

i really like your blog btw ok bye

I don't know of one but maybe some of my followers/mutuals have a good resource?

I will say I don't think you're going to find specific universal terms for classes of alien animals akin to "mammal" "reptile" etc.- people make those up for their own individual stories in the same way they make up names for their original species. You could identify a specific trait that your aliens have that sets them apart from other animals on the same planet (like having no eyes or bony spines or giving live birth or whatever) and give them a name based on that, or you could just make up a fun word that sounds like something you might call a group of animals

[unkat]

More drabbles on the Chilaios ems au. (please see Psiroller's beautiful Stop Smoking, We Love You!)

Takes place after Chilchuck's bad call and talk with Laios.

Rating: M for content, nothing spicy yet

contains non-graphic discussions of pregnancy complications, death of children, cancer; backstory things

----------

When Chilchuck returns to the station after his long weekend and hike with Laios, the sense of dread he had about losing his job has abated, but his guilt over the meeting and anxiety of how his coworkers might react still lingers. He puts his uniform next to his bunk and hovers in the room as he builds up energy to go back into the main areas.

As he steps back into the living room, the whole crew is piled in front of the TV watching some show; no chairs available for him to join in quietly. His palms sweat as all eyes turn on him, leaving him at the mercy of the jury of his peers. Trapped by his employment contract to interact with the men he hasn't spoken to in days after rolling his eyes and scoffing at them for debriefing a call.

Plenty of reason to cause a scene in a lull between the action.

Laios gives a smile from the far seat on the sofa, looking up from his work phone. Someone else speaks to Chilchuck before Laios can open his mouth.

"I saved you the best seat in the house." Isaiah remarks and pats his lap, making no move to shift. Chilchuck can see Laios tense as he tries to decide if he needs to intervene. But this is something he can handle himself.

He saunters over and drops into his lap, shifting a little until he is comfortable. "Thanks, sweetheart." He winks and the other guys jeer at the two of them. He stretches out, and drops his feet onto Dan and head onto Laios. "You really know how to make a guy feel at home, please don't let me interrupt your show."

Dan snickers and grabs his legs to make sure Chilchuck doesn't fall off. He can see Laios covering his mouth with his hand as his chest shakes and he looks away from the rest of the room. Isaiah plays along, "Anything for you, gorgeous." And he pats his stomach before settling back into his seat. The tension that was in the room before has dissipated and the lull returns as they continue to watch King of the Hill. Chilchuck turns his head to see and his hair flops into his face. Laios tucks it away before he can do anything about it.

They make eye contact before Laios has to look away, grin still trying to get onto his face, not that Chilchuck is any better at this point.

Almost at the end of the program, the radio goes off. "Dispatch to Station 9, house fire at address 589 South Pierre Creek Road. Sounds like a backyard barbeque getting out of hand, and the neighbors want it checked out. No injuries reported."

Dan sighs and keys up his radio, "Station 9 to Dispatch, we copy your call for address 589 South Pierre Creek, we will notify you when we are en route."

Chilchuck lifts his legs vertically to let him get up, and Isaiah uses them as a handle to tip him further back and stand up himself. "Sorry gorgeous, but I need to drive the engine."

Chilchuck flops back onto the couch. "Listen, I do more medical only calls than you, I'm doing my job here!"

It gets a few chortles as they leave to gear up. A few minutes later, Isaiah get on the radio as the sirens start and fade into the distance.

It's only him, Senshi, and Laios still in the room after they are gone. Chilchuck looks up at Laios, still not moving from his position laying in his lap. "Hey. Can I talk to you about something?"

Laios looks down at him. "Sure. Do you want to go to the office?"

Chilchuck shakes his head. "Nah, it's not related to this job. It's something someone told me might be good for me to talk about." He shuts his eyes.

"Back when I first started, I was thinkin' about being an EMT for a couple of years before going to paramedic school."

"But then…is this about you not driving?"

"Shut up. Yeah." Chilchuck chuckles. "My work partner and I had a deal, she wanted to keep going with the EMT driving stuff and I had already crashed the truck twice-- never with a patient in the back, stupid shit like backing into a pylon and getting stuck over the curb. I got banished to the passenger's seat, but it worked for us. Gave me practice doing patient care, writing reports, all that shit."

His brows furrow. "I had only just started working when my wife told me she was pregnant, and we got married. We found out we were having twins and I saved all my PTO, all my sick time, talked about taking a leave of absence with my chief, all that stuff. We had a c-section scheduled for 37 weeks, which is pretty good for twins. Pregnancy was rough for her, and it was tough-- it was a high-risk pregnancy, and they were keeping an eye on their size the whole time."

He waves his hand. "There was something called twin-to-twin transfusion that we kept worrying about. Their placentas were too close, and they started getting connected." He meshes his hands together as an example. "The doc hadn't ever seen it like that before, it's only supposed to happen with identical twins who share the same one. Mei was getting bigger than Fler and the docs kept saying it was just something we had to keep an eye on, something we had to watch, come back in two weeks, my schedule isn't available then, Chil can you take a couple hours off to come with me?"

He sighs.

"I was doin' all sorts of overtime with my partner, offering to stay late a couple extra hours to make up for it. And I had other guys who I went through orientation with who were willing to let me ride along without having to do too much driving. We did nights as first on scene emergency BLS, transported if it was BLS appropriate, waited for the paramedic otherwise."

"We were at 29 weeks with the girls, a month and a half out from being a new dad, when we got a call for active labor in our zone. Dispatch asked me if I wanted off the call, because of my wife, and I said are you fuckin' crazy? This is practice for the real deal, send me in."

The room is quiet. Chilchuck speaks again. "We got on scene, and baby was already on his way out. They had been going for a water birth with a midwife, who called us. We had backup coming, but I radioed that in--if the midwife is calling, that means something went wrong."

Laios brushes his fingers through his hair. "They hadn't cut the cord yet, but he was going blue and wasn't crying. I am the medical guy, so I was the one who suctioned his nose and mouth, turned him upside down and slapped him on the back trying to get him to breathe. Then we bagged him, on oxygen, notified dispatch and the medical director. She said to transport. We were less than ten minutes from the nearest women's hospital and waiting for the paramedic wasn't going to make a difference."

He can't speak and Laios says nothing, continuing to pet his hair. Chilchuck opens his eyes. "I was doin' everything they taught us in school, the stuff we always joked would never happen, two finger CPR and pediatric AED and everything. I didn't know if I did something wrong or not. But I lost pulses quick, and the hospital couldn't get them back."

Laios lets him go quiet. "I'm so sorry."

Chilchuck shakes his head. "Don't be. You didn't even know me."

"No, I mean I wish you didn't have to go through that. I'm feel sad for you."

Chilchuck huffs a laugh. "Thanks."

He exhales, relaxing into Laios. "They had another call while we had a smoke outside the hospital, and asked me if I could take it. My crew chief called after it went out and asked me if I needed to come back to the station instead. I said duty calls, we're on it."

He laughs. "Nobody asked if I needed to talk to anyone, I just want home and went to sleep. Afterwards, I didn't know what to say to my wife about it-- I watched someone else's baby die and now I thought our babies were gonna die? So I sat on it, but I was gonna tell her. Then she went into labor two days later, and I had to leave work."

Laios pauses. "How old were they?"

"Twenty-nine weeks and three days. They were so small, less than half the size of the one from my call. It left my heart in my mouth, holding them in my hands, I thought they were going to stop breathing the whole time. Their lungs weren't fully developed either, they had to be tube fed, and they had vision problems."

He squeezes his eyes shut. "All my planning, my saving of my PTO, it was was for nothing, you know? I took a few days off to stay with my wife, we'd go to the NICU in the morning, stay there until it was time to do home, sleep, and do it again. Then I couldn't handle it anymore."

"I went back to work. We brought women to the hospital all the time, but I never told my wife we were there. I felt like I was gonna contaminate them, and bringing money in made sense when she suddenly wasn't working for an extra month. Mei came home after seven weeks, and Fler after nine. Those two weeks was the worst time, cause she had to go back and forth to the NICU to bring milk to Fler while taking care of Mei."

Laios hums his understanding and encouragement. "Did you get some days off then?"

He opens his eyes again. "I didn't offer to take days off, and she didn't ask. We weren't really talking then."

Laios swallows. "That sounds awful."

Chilchuck laughs. "I don't think she ever forgave me for leaving them like that."

Chilchuck goes quiet, throat bobbing as he swallows, opens his mouth, shuts it again, and shrugs, face flushing in embarrassment. Laios keeps his hand in his hair. "You know, I didn't get into EMS right out of high school. I worked at a mechanic's shop where this side of the county brought their trucks for a couple of years. I'd learned a bit from my dad, fixing our car and tractor, but there was a lot of learning I ended up doing on the job."

He smiles softly. "Nothing like Falin. She was good in school, but really good at biology. You know, she was trying to go to med school and cried when she saw an open heart surgery, not because it was scary but because she thought it was so beautiful?"

He looks down at Chilchuck who nods back, listening. "She came out here to go to school, giving up a position at John Hopkins because she wanted to be closer to me, and make connections at Regional. I'd moved out here as soon as I graduated, bought and slept in my car for a couple of months before I could get a job and afford an apartment. I don't regret it, but it was pretty stupid."

He laughs looking to the side, almost wistful. "When she was getting bloodwork done, as a part of her yearly school physical, they found that she had really high, like really high white blood cell counts along with abnormal weight loss. She called me at work and said she had just started an oncology seminar and these were cancer symptoms, that she might have some kind of blood cancer."

"She was so proud of herself for the self-diagnosis, and I was the one freaking out on company time. So, I told my boss it was a family emergency and left. While I was there, I saw the same trucks we would get in the shop at the hospital. It planted the idea in me, you know, that I could do a job I liked rather than one that just put a roof over my head. And maybe I could get some kind of insurance for Falin and I."

He smiles. "So I enrolled in community college EMT classes, got a student loan, and struggled my way through all the classroom bullshit, until I could get on the road. Everything got a lot easier after that for me, but Falin had to take a medical leave halfway through the semester because she was too sick to do her studies. She stayed with me at first, and I would drive her to her appointments and take care of things around the house. Until we went to one of her chemotherapy appointments, and they said she should stay for a couple of nights, to monitor bloodwork. She didn't stay at home much after that."

Chilchuck carefully grabs Laios' hand from its spot tangled in his hair and squeezes it. Laios squeezes back. "That's when I got my job, pretty much. I got my national license and kept pushing ahead, claimed Falin as a dependent on my insurance plan, and worked. I was doing the same thing you were. Bringing people to Regional, thinking I would go see my sister, and realizing I just didn't get the time, and after a point, I wasn't allowed in the same room as her, especially during a shift. Her immune system was too weak, and I was exposed to too many sick people."

Laios rubs his thumb against Chilchuck’s, more of a nervous tick than intentional contact. Chilchuck lets him, opening his mouth to speak.

"She's doin’ better now. What changed?" Laios squeezes his hand.

"She needed a stem cell transplant."

"Yeah?"

"Mhm. Uh. It's a part of what brought Marcille out here. I saw her on Falin's facebook and saw she worked at a cancer research lab, and I emailed her. We talked."

"And you helped her?"

"Sorta. I was the donor for Falin. Marcille kept talking about our HLAs, protein testing, immunity, medications, experimental therapies. It started going over my head, and she had these medical journals as sources that were. Just. I didn't get it, even when she tried to make it easier. All I cared about was if she could help, what they needed from me. She's amazing, Marcille-- she got Falin and I into clinical trials and took over talking to the oncology team. I don't know what we would have done without her."

Laios gaze wanders off to one of the corners of the room and he goes quiet, the smile having drifted away, replaced by a furrow between his brows. Chilchuck lifts and drops his head back into his thigh. "It all worked out?"

Laios looks back at him and the corners of his mouth perk back up. "Yeah, she's doing better now. And with Marcille here, I don't even hear if there are any problems because she is right there with Falin, and they take care of it. Falin moved in with her after she recovered. Marcille lived closer to the medical school and they were always really close."

"That's good."

"Mhm." Laios lets a moment pass. "I still was worried for a while afterwards. I ended up using the EAP too after Senshi said it might be a good idea to talk to someone about it. I was having dreams and waking up freaking out that she wasn't there, calling her and Marcille way too much. Things are a lot better now."

Chilchuck is the one to squeeze his hand. Laios' smile grows and he squeezes back. "Things work out. They have to."

Chilchuck gives an affirmative hum in response. They should probably move and work on other things, but there is an ease in tension that Chilchuck never realized he had carried into the station, had been carrying for many years alone and coiled in his chest.

He closes his eyes, and Laios does not ask him to move, does not try to slide away, does not untangle their hands. Chilchuck can feel his breath, a silent fond laugh, against his face and can't help it when the corners of his own mouth twitch upwards.

Glossary *BLS=Basic Life Support. Referring to training that is for Emergency Medical Technicians only. BLS trucks have x2 EMTs and no paramedics. *CPR and AED= cardiopulmonary resuscitation and automated external defibrillator. Used when someone's heart has stopped. *NICU= Neonatal Intensive Care Unit *EAP= Employee Assistance Program. usually provides some sort of counseling/mental health coverage.

[lupinedreaming]

I feel like we don’t talk about the benevolent sexism of Mormonism enough. It’s real Angel in the House Victorian style sexism.

If you ask, well, why can’t AFAB people have the priesthood? Why can’t they have certain leadership positions? The answer is usually, “Well, women are naturally so good and righteous that they don’t need those things! Men need more ‘training’ to become righteous, so they need the priesthood and to be in charge.”

You get put on a pedestal, but at great cost. You’re second class because you’re so good

And that’s not even getting into how your worth as an AFAB person is tied to your virtue, your purity, how righteous you are. God forbid you have sexual thoughts

[seasicksilver]

writing world-building in the style of in-universe textbooks is very fun

[theelin-sea]

Advancing the Warp - Theelin Creation Myth

Told in the style of the Theelin planetary council for the benefit of other cultures

Here is a tale woven long ago, we know it as we know ourselves, connected to all that was, is and will be. 

The Weaver, the force that holds all things together through thread and loom sits in its circle of looms, it weaves planets, creatures, space, time, and all things into place. 

It weaves for a time before switching looms to allow things their time to settle. It finishes one system at a time and then turns to make another. It is at one such moment we find it.

After a moment of resting its arms, the Weaver, already turned to the next loom in its cycle, bids the Patchwork Harpy to release the lock of the warp beam that it may advance the warp and wrap the fell on the breast beam, which brings the work to unmade space. 

The Weaver observes the space for a time, musing on all that could take shape before it positions its arms to work, bidding its Spindles to select threads. 

The Spindles nudge bright threads into the Weavers hands, yellows and greens. Between the stars and space of the warp the Weaver forms a first, small planet: yellow and green. It does not want the planet, Seev, to feel cold so it bids the Spindles to fetch warm reds, pinks and yellows. It weaves two suns, twins Theel’ell and Sev’arp. As it battens the weft down into fell the two suns, woven so close together, become one: Eel’sev.

Seev is too small for the Weaver to contain all it has in mind, so it weaves on, lo’arp Eel’sev and Seev it begins to form Theelia. A larger planet than the first of the system it first takes blues to form an ocean, then greens to form the first islands. 

On the first island it takes branches and lays them out in the arrangement of bones, it scoops clay from a river and wraps the bones shaping flesh. It paints the clay into bright decorated skin with the dyes of its Spindles, it leaves a hole in its creations chest as it picks the brightest threads for hair. 

Then the Weaver weaves a heart, taking threads from its own and imbuing it with love. It nestles the heart into its creations chest and lays the newly made Theelin on a bed of tea flowers and berry branches its Spindles wove. 

It weaves another Theelin, laying it beside the first. Then, as its new creations sleep it weaves a draegin with large wings to shelter the still sleeping creations from the sun. It leaves eight spindles, four of each kind, to aid the newly created and then it continues on. 

The next land mass to form is furthest from the sun, the Weaver forms two Theelin all the same process as before, resting them on a bed of tea flowers and berry branches once more. It forms a Avicore to snap off branches from the trees and cover the sleeping Theelin from the sun and the winds. The Weaver leaves Spindles the same as with the first pair as it battens down the weft and sends the shuttle toward the sun. 

The land mass it forms next, closest to the sun, receives two Theelin the same process as those before, set to rest on berry branches and tea flowers. It creates a Erieroc to settle by the sleeping pair, its large form casts a shadow over the pair, it shelters them from the close heat of the sun. It leaves eight spindles the same as the sets before.

The Weaver continues one for a space, it builds out islands and continents. It drops three more creatures, one for each region. The teep on the center islands, the Ailote far from the sun, the Kee and Dir, counted as one in their purpose, all scattered to till and plant along the ground. 

The Weaver continues on once more, it creates three more pairs of theelin, further along their columns, center with the company of an Oer to help clothe them from the sun and warm them from the night, furthest from the sun it gives the company of a Varr to keep them warm as they sleep away the long dark nights, and closest to the sun is given a Cagor to help clothe them under the intense sun and provide them drink as they explore. Each set is given Spindles as before.

The Weaver next scatters three more creatures, it observers that while its creations are making fine creations of their own and cannot help but grant them more help as it feels its own heart beat echoed in its creations. 

Centered it weaves a Leer to help teach how to hunt fish. Far from the sun, a Weffloom for the creation of clothes to warm when the Varr is unable. Close to the sun, a Eabgh to carve an easier path to explore. 

As the edges of the planet began to round toward each other once more, the Weaver creates three more pairs of Theelin all made from the same process as before. It gives the center a Mear. Furthest from the sun, a Gatross, the closest a Eeakle. Each to teach the newly created how to eat well like those created before them,to  hunt the creatures made by their hands that had begun to rapidly spread across the lands. Each set is given spindles once more.

As the Weaver finishes the end of each land it forms three final gifts formed from feathers of its companion, three harpies, one per region to travel back lo’ell to spread news of the planets completion. The weaver studies the theelin and the creations as the harpies fly. It finds the theelin have made made of their own will many creations. As the Weaver rests its many arms it finds that the theelins hearts glow brightly with love for their creations just as its own glows for them. 

Needing to express this light the Weaver forms another sun, two suns batten down into one to keep the second sun, Ve’tria: the combination of Mel’ve and Arp’tria, from feeling lonely compared to Eel’sev. It places it Lo’mel of Theelia. 

As the weaver takes in the sight it notices that some of its Spindles had woven another small planet, the same reds, pinks and yellows of the suns though the smallest planet yet. They whisper to it that the planet is A’tor, though not twins battened like the suns the small creatures have chosen the name to quell their bickering of if the planet is more Lo’arp or Lo’tor of Theelia. The Weaver laughs as it praises them, observing all that was woven. 

The Patchwork Harpy brushes it’s feathers against the expanse of space above all that has been woven thus far and requests a spool of blues. The Weaver gives the spool to its old companion and happily twatches as another small planet is formed lo’arp from the rest. The Harpy names it V’nell as it declares it the end of the systems range. 

The Weaver nods, taking in all that is woven once more, it grabs a few final threads, greys, browns and greens to thread its needles as it bids some Spindles to copy its actions as it forms a moon lo’arp and lo’tor of Eel’sev. The Weaver sits back when it finishes the moon, it observes with affection the way the Spindles have mirrored Ortal, the weavers moon when creating their own, Netrii. 

As the Weaver rests, watching its Spindles spin new threads to replenish the bobbins, brew new dyes and rewind shuttles, it notices the Patchwork Harpy peering at Theelia. At the point furthest from the sun a Mountain Harpy attempts to break free of the threads of its home world. 

The Weaver takes a needle and gently untangles the creature from the threads of its world, and bids it to speak.  The bird wails a melancholy tale of a dark night sky, it laments that the thread that composes its night sky has too few stars and it must petition for light. 

The Patchwork Harpy leans down to soothe the fragment of itself that pleads for light, a wing outstretched toward the Weaver. The Weaver understands its companions' request, it takes some of the most colorful feathers and brightest beads to carefully weave them into lights and stars over the mountain harpy’s home region. 

The small harpy’s wails become joyous as it darts between the stitches of the Weaver, wings become painted with the new lights of the night sky as it darts in and out and all the way back homeward, joyous wails echoing all the way, drawing a laugh from the Patchwork Harpy as it declares the Theel system nell. 

The Weaver agrees, setting its supplies down once more as it listens to its Spindles ooo and ahhh at the things the Theelin were creating.

The Weaver turns to another loom, and bids the Patchwork Harpy to help advance the warp once more to continue the Weavers slow rotation of looms, creating anew, wrapping old abreast to be unwound and remade after a time, a joyous eternal cycle of old to new, all that came before woven with all that would be.  

In time the Weaver will notice the slow shift of its creations as the twin suns slowly pull toward each other, dragging planets and space with them in a slow dance, a death spiral of birds locked talons between the suns. 

The Patchwork Harpy will cry a final song for the system as the suns collide to one day clear the space to start anew. 

The Weaver will mourn its creation and celebrate the return into the thread of all things, beloved and eternal. The thread will weave into something new, continuing to tie all that was, is and will be. 

This end was woven long ago, we know this end as we know ourselves, connected to all that was, is and will be. 

Glossary under the cut. In box is open for comments, questions, general yelling, ect <3

Snippets in the glossary provide context that is generally given regionally, each region focusing more on their creatures and creation than that of the others or as a whole.

The Weaver - The figure that works on its loom to weave the fabric of time and space together. Though no true form is ever recorded it is known the figure has many arms when needed, and a heart of its own. It is typically portrayed as hands working on a loom with a heart somewhere in the vicinity of where it’s torso might be if it were humanoid. 

Seev - The first planet formed in the system, a small planet that appears mostly green and yellow. It is generally depicted as such. 

Eel’sev - The first sun, a merged set of twin stars. It is considered to be the second planet though suns are not planets, theelin tend to refer to it as such for the simplicity of numbering the creation timeline of the system. It is generally portrayed with reds and pinks, in traditional theelin depictions it is portrayed as one sun nestled inside another. 

Theelia  - A large planet, homeworld to the Theelin. It is considered the third planet formed in the system. It is generally portrayed with many greens and blues, typically with a band of islands representing Sei’lo in the center with larger land masses representing the other two regions on either side of it. 

A’tor - A small planet formed fourth in the system, made up of the same reds, pinks, and yellows of the sun though it is not a star of any sort. It is considered the fourth planet to be formed and is generally depicted as it is described. 

Ve’tria - The second sun, another merged set of twin suns. It was created to mirror the first sun and is considered to be the fifth planet formed. It is generally depicted with yellows and oranges, in traditional theelin depictions it is portrayed as three theelin stars nestled within each other. 

V’nell - A small blue planet considered to be the sixth planet formed. It is generally depicted as it is described. 

Ortal - A medium sized moon made up of greys, greens and browns. It is considered to be the seventh planet to be formed. It is generally depicted as a gray planet with rings of green and grey with a brown dot in the center. 

Netrii - A medium sized moon made up of greys, greens and browns. It is considered to be the eighth and final planet formed in the system. It is generally depicted as grey with brown marks reaching toward a brown dot in the center that is cradled by a green crescent shape.

The Patchwork Lights - A series of stars and colorful lights found in the Toria night skies as a gift from the Weaver and its companion the Patchwork Harpy. 

The First Islands/ Center - The Sei’lo region. Its formation began first and stretched up the center of the planet as chains and stretches of islands. 

The Furthest from the Sun - The Toria region. Its formation began second, with multiple large land masses with a smattering of islands bordering the Sei’lo region. 

Closest to the Sun - The Melore region. Its formation began last with multiple large land masses and a smattering islands bordering the Sei’lo region, near similar to Toria’s formation though it also held a single large island directly on the planets axis, referred to as the collision point due to the collision course of the suns leading right over it. 

Nell - Most commonly used to mean complete or finished. 

Directions - Theelin view their system and the galaxy at large being rotated to the right due to their view of the Weavers loom having East as the direction of the fell (completed work) and West as the direction of the empty warp (space waiting to be woven). 

Due to this the Theelin compass and directional terms are as follows: 

Lo’ar/p (p sound is regional) = Up/West 

Lo’tor = Right/North 

Lo’ell = Down/East 

Lo’me/l (L sound regional) = Left/South

Sei is considered the word for Center. The “Lo” affix becomes a suffix as opposed to a prefix in the regions name due to the view that Sei was created first, and then directions formed in context of it. The affix is also seen being as a suffix in the names of the first suns original names while being prefixes in the names of the second due to the weaver mirroring the creation of the first suns in the seconds. 

Patchwork Harpy - One of the weavers oldest companions and primary assistants, often portrayed as helping work the loom and keep it in good shape. It is said that it was made from fragments of the Weavers first creations and that it takes patches from each of the Weavers creations giving it a colorful appearance. 

The Spindles - The term used to refer to the caterpillars and spiders thought to be the Weavers helpers, spinning threads and helping teach the early theelin how to weave themselves by taking the images they created and weaving life into them.

Tea Flowers - The flowers that were gathered to make the beds for the first theelin to rest on. Theelin tea flowers contain nutrition that helps prevent excessive illness and blood issues within the species, many theelin commonly refer to it as the species life blood. 

Animals by Region: 

Sei’lo:

Draegin - A winged creature that can be seen as a mix between a Bat and a Pangolin, thought of as a protective figure from the sun. Thought to be brightly painted from the berry juice and tea flower stained fingers of the first theelin. Its scales, though used as canvases by the first Sei’lo theelin, are thought to have healing properties. 

Teep - A creature similar to a mix of a tapir and a deer. Has the snout of a tapir and large antlers similar to deer, was said to plow the ground with its snout and drop seeds into the hole by shaking its berry covered horns. 

Oer - A large horned rabbit, its long hair sheds easily to be spun and woven on its horns to clothe the early Sei’lo Theelin to protect them from the sun. It was also said to have playfully followed behind the Teep on its later journeys to tamp the dirt over seeds and speed up the planting process.

Leer - A large creature similar to a seal. It was said to be painted by the sun through the water, resulting in spotted patterns and a berry stained nose from licking the juice from the first theelins hands. It was said to have taught the early Sei’lo theelin how to catch the fish they had created. 

Mear - A large cat-like creature said to teach the early Sei’lo theelin how to scale the trees to reach more food and look for paths through the foliage and trees. It was said to be patterned like the tree bark it brushed against as it climbed. It was also said to have taught the early Sei’lo theelin how to stalk and hunt the creatures they had created. 

Sea Harpy- A large raptor seabird made to fly the length of Sei’lo to bring news of the completion of the planet back to the first pair of Theelin. Its wingtips are said to be painted blue by dipping them in the water before it was fully woven and stealing some of the dye. 

Toria: 

Avicore- Quadruped creature with crested horns and fur and feathers. Like if a unicorn was cooler and also probably more like a deer than a horse. Thought to be painted by the sap of the tree branches from it snapping branches to shield the first theelin of Toria from the sun. It’s feathers, though first used as paint brushes and quills by the first Toria theelin, are thought to have healing properties. 

Ailote - A coyote-like creature with an extra tail. Its coat is said to be stained from the cloak of berries and seeds placed on it to plant things in the paw prints it left as it bound across Toria.

Varr - A large bear-like creature said to have been made to shelter the early theelin of Toria from the cold by curling around them and bundling them in its fur. It’s said to have gotten its spots and smears of color from the theelin it had curled around as the dye staining their skin was not quite dry. 

Weffloom - A large sheep like creature with extra horns to allow the early theelin of Toria to spin its wool off of it and use the yarn to weave clothing to protect them from the sun and the weather when the Varr was off hunting during the day. It was said to be able to blow on ice to melt it and water to warm it. 

Gatross - A large alligator-like creature with four sets of legs and large scale plates armoring its body. It is said to have been painted with the clay of the swamp it was formed by, mixed with tea flower petals. The Gatross was said to have taught the early Toria theelin how to ambush and hunt the creatures they had made. 

Mountain Harpy - A large raptor bird, its puffy leg feathers are said to be white from the snow sticking to them as it hopped from mountain range to mountain range to bring news of the completion of the planet back to the first Toria theelin. It was said to have gained wings that match the lights of the night sky after journeying to request such lights from the Weaver.

Melore: 

Erieroc - A large reptilian creature similar to a crocodile but if they were cooler and had a lot of spikes and horns. Said to have used it’s claw to crave creatures into the ground to show the first theelin of Melore how to draw to create. It shed its old teeth for them to use as tools, though its teeth are also thought to have healing properties. 

Kee and Dir - A snake and a bird that are thought to be in an eternal chase. Kee, the snake is said to have spikes to protect it from the birds beak and have a beard of horns that plows the earth as it runs from the bird, Dir who’s wings shed the seed and berries that had been placed between its feathers when it was created. Dir is said to be long necked and long legged. 

Cagor - A goat-like creature who shed its long hairs for the early Melore theelin to spin to make looms and cloth on the spikes and horns of the Erieroc’s back. It was also said to be able to produce milk for tea leaves to be steeped in, a trait given to it to help aid exploration without worry of needing to find water along the way. 

Eabgh - A large water buffalo like creature said to have gotten its striped upper fur from breaking through foliage, rocks and trees to make paths for the early theelin of Melore to explore. It’s said that its lower body’s stripes were washed away when the Eabgh waded through the rivers to continue its path. 

Eeakle - A large cat-like creature with a thick coat of hair that was said to mimic the grasslands it was made in. It was said to teach the early Melore theelin how to disguise themselves to hunt the creatures they had created.   

Deseret Harpy - A large raptor bird said to have gotten its spotted wings from the sand sticking to its feathers being melted onto them by the sun as it raced back to tell the first theelin of Melore of the news of the planet's completion. 

[sanguinecoffins]

𝐓𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐄. 𝐗𝐗𝐈𝐈𝐈. 𝐕𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐋𝐋.

੭﹕ ̊ ̟ ꒷꒦ + gothic aesthetics, the macabre, & all-consuming obsession . . . 💌

ヤンデレ — 🩸 ⋆₊ ୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ

>ᵥ_ᵥ< 18+ MDNI / asks are open!

↓ read more for anon + askbox guidelines ↓

𝟎𝟏. i only accept anons who are 18+. i prefer 21+ anons, but i won’t say no to 18-20 y/o anons.

𝟎𝟐. please claim an emoji or one word if you wish to be a reoccurring visitor on my blog! taken ones will be regularly updated in this post.

𝟎𝟑. you must be okay with sensitive and potentially triggering topics being graphically talked about such as: vampirism, blood, stalking, kidnapping, intensive obsession, toxic tendencies, and anything of that nature. please also note that these are merely more fantasies than anything else, and as such are dreams i would not enact in real life. now, care to indulge me? ♡

𝟎𝟒. be as unhinged as you please… let me know your deepest, darkest desires. (but this also does not mean i should be privy to any random dumping of your trauma. i do not like such surprises, so please do not.) i’m a poet and romanticist by heart, so expect some possible purple prose and terms of endearment.

𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍𝐒 :: 🔗, dutch anon, 🔪

𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐋𝐀��𝐌𝐄𝐑: if you break the mutual, hardblock me so i won’t accidentally follow again.

[stormvanari]

“But seriously, quit making out at every corner.”

“Hark, thee zany carnie! Perpend thy observations bef’re thee determine two’s relationship!”

[bmpmp3]

last night i had a dream i was watching a nintendo direct and they announced 1) a unity asset store looking house of leaves video game adaptation and 2) another slightly underbaked style savvy spiritual successor

[kommikoira]

2024_10_22 // glossolalia and i

i think quite a bit. it's probably the thing i do the most of anything at all, and in doing so i find myself solving and defining lots of things in their own special ways to me. this has notoriously resulted in people referring to me as intentionally vague or cryptic, when in most circumstances i just genuinely don't know how to put something without a metric FUCK TON of context; so here is that context, i suppose! i'm going to be going over some of the main facets of my personal morality and guiding principles and such that may need clarification for the sake of making future communication more effective and streamlined in the future as well as provide any important cultural or historical context to the lexicon. think of this as a glossary of sorts, one that i may or may not add to/edit in the future as i continue to grow forever and ever and ever and ever.

starting off with one of the biggest ones, PLUR or PLURR is an acronym originating in classic rave culture as a sort of rule set one would be expected to follow when at a rave and when encouraged to apply to day-to-day life. it stands for Peace Love Unity and Respect (with Responsibility added in iterations including a second R). it has recently in the last few years found traction in parts of the furry fandom, considering the large crossover demographic between the two and even more recently been contorted into a sort of badge to define a particular esthetic and idea an individual wants to put up about themselves. considering this, i tend to classify any modern example of of the phrase into one of three different categories: classical, esthetic, and co-opted. note that there is an overlap present in almost every iteration of it.

classical plur is when it's displayed in the context that it originally would have been intended: a display of an individual using PLUR(R) as a principle to live by or a ruleset to follow. esthetic is when it is displayed as a representation of somebody's esthetic (often times rave or scene inspired) and as a sort of standard to rally others with the same esthetic interest. finally, co-opted plur is the most recent evolution of the usage which has predominantly come out of individuals who desire to fit themselves into the scene, rave, or 'sparkledog' esthetic and community without actually embodying what these communities and terms are really about, therefore their PLURs (often presented without a second 'R') are given exceptions or recontextualized to fit their rigid institutions of morality and missing the entire fucking point. esthetic PLUR(R) is seen in both instances, as one using it would undoubtedly be aware of the communities surrounding it, but in general fits the MO of PLUR co-opters rather than people using it classically.

now, with all of that being said, i use PLURR in the classical sense before all, and to the extreme, trying to apply ideals of peace, love, unity, respect, and responsibility to all things i do in life, seeing the acronym as one of my guiding principles in all things. of course, there is an esthetic usage to it as well, considering that i am a raver and all, but even if i became your run-of-the-mill blue fox furry and never listened to another rave track again or attended a rave, it would never not be my guiding principle.

"At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality." - Che Guevara

now, the next term is more of a phase, and it also comes sort of hand in hand with the next ones. This is "retoriikkaa ja rakkautta."

this may immediately catch your eyes if you follow my private twitter and now if this is your first time seeing my blog, as it is my display name. retoriikkaa ja rakkautta is finnish and directly translates to "rhetoric and love," but there is another level to this. in finnish, using the word 'rakkautta' is not something to be taken lightly, as it is generally considered a very strong word to describe your love for something. this is intentional in this phrase, as retoriikkaa ja rakkautta is another guiding sort of set of principles to me. they exist in a yin and yang state in my mind, being technically opposed but containing one another. retoriikkaa refers to my political devotions, specifically to communism. rakkautta refers to my expansive love for all that is in this world. the two go hand in hand, as without this love for all that is, i wouldn't be a communist. and, should i not be a communist of some sort, than that love worthy of the term "rakkautta" surely would not exist. this is the philosophy behind another phrase i have used before to describe my work in this world: "kommunismin rakentaminen, rakkauden lisääminen," which translates to "building communism, increasing love." there are motifs that fit the two in my mind, such as paper, left, and the color red being retoriikkaa and plants, right, and the color green being rakkautta.

tying into the previous entry, i would like to define the abstracts and motifs of red and green as i have used them before. red is effectively an embodiment of retoriikkaa, as well as acting as a compartmentalizing tool for specific things and concepts, academics and time being great examples of something i would classify as 100% red in nature. green, as you might expect then, is the embodiment of rakkautta, and is used in the same way. plant life and imagery would be green to me. and then there are things that fit somewhere between the two, such as computers, language, and music falling between the two.

tilakkhana is one that i have seldom used actively, but tend to keep as a permanent fixture (i.e on my private twitter account's bio). this is a term used in buddhism to refer to the three marks of existence which are three characteristics present within all living things. the three marks are impermanence, suffering/unsatisfactory imperfection in all things, and what i will simply describe as the concept of the transient nature of the human experience. i reconcile the use of this term in my own life effectively as a descriptor for a state of great gratitude and resignation. Gratitude for the life that I live and the world I live in and the fact it may change, and resignation to the fact that this is the only life i can live, and so i will be grateful for all things within it as to not be affected by dissatisfaction and maintain humility. it's a recognition of the tao in many ways as well.

the last one is a term i don't use often anymore, but a fundamental descriptor for how i live my life every single day. and that is sharpness. now, this term is originally coined by june strings (who you can find here and on twitter and bluesky). the best way i have come to learn to describe it is radical self-care. it is being specific, being direct, and being honest regarding your own needs. it is making a true effort to say what you want when you want it to yourself and everybody around you. it's also making sure, with bleeding dedication, that you make it clear you cannot give what you do not have, and attempting to do so or hiding that you cannot is only a path to resentment, bitterness, and misunderstanding. you remove assumption from the equation and save as much of yourself for yourself as you need.

i'm sure scrolling june's twitter would give you a better understanding on a deeper level, but this is what it is to me, and it continuously serves its purpose as such, so i think my understanding is more than adequate.

anyway, i hope that was illuminating to any degree or enjoyable. i really like talking about my strange processes so i will always take the liberty to do so when given the opportunity. hope you have a good rest of your night or day and got something out of this, since i think you really could get a lot out of this stuff. god knows i certainly have. lots of love from all of us :)

[void-botanist]

Glossary tag game

In the spirit of not doing work I should be doing right now, I propose to you a new tag game.

Rules: pick a few terms from your WIPs or that you have used to describe your WIPs and define them glossary-style. Putting them in alphabetical order is optional.

vinegar sun

The opposite of a honeymoon, such as when you sail away while waiting for the pre-divorce cooldown period to pass.

two-timer

Someone who may become a canid in the middle of the day because the full moon is rising where they were born.

chist

A transphobe. In a previous version, short for cisgenderist.

cisgenderist

The nice word for people who wear orange shirts and try to talk to you about our lord and savior, Being Cis When You Are A Member Of Your Species' Third Sex, and pretend not to notice when you say "I'm fine thanks".

fuckrivals

What you are when you've fallen really hard for this girl but you don't know how to flirt in a way she'll pay attention to so you attempt to annoy her into hatefuckery.

Crunchwrap

Bo.

Tagging @outpost51, @malloen8c, @kudzucataclysm, @pb-dot, @sam-glade, and @vacantgodling plus anyone else who wants to jump in!

Nicea taglist: @kahvilahuhut @malloen8c @outpost51 @writernopal @athenswrites

[cepheusgalaxy]

so yea im using it/its today

[m0r1bund]

how do you pronounce basedt? loving it so far

Hi, thank you so much for asking! I love making up fake words, so I have tried Very Hard to be succinct LOL.

Basedt ◆ BAH-sedt

“BAH” as in cot or father, this syllable is stressed.

“sedt” as in dress or best, this syllable is unstressed.

The “dt” sound is intermediate between “d” and “t.” If this makes your tongue hurt, just pick a consonant and pray.

When Basedt is conjugated into Basedti, the stress and pronunciation changes.

Basedti ◆ buh-SEH-dtee

“buh” as in cut or abbot, this syllable is unstressed.

“SEH” as in dress or best, this syllable is… stressed.

“dtee” as in fleece or these, this syllable is unstressed.

“dt” remains the same as before.

Audio pronunciations come from Katie Russ’ IPA reader, which is a wonderful tool :) I approximated the “dt” sound as best I could with it, but it's crude.

More fiddly IPA under the cut for people who are into that. It’s even denser! … Waw!

Basedt ◆ ˈbɑˌsɛdt / ˈbɒˌsɛdt ◆ BA-sedt

Basedti ◆ bəˈsɛˌdti ◆ ba-SE-dti

bɑ vs. bɒ

I live in North America, and most of us collapse the “ɒ” sound into either “ɑ” or “ɔ”, and many of us even collapse all three into the same sound… Which means I have certain phonetic biases when conlanging. This video demonstrates the differences between them very well:

You can pronounce Basedt with an intermediate “ɒ” (e.g. lot), and you can also pronounce it with an unrounded “ɑ” (e.g. father.) It is not pronounced with a rounded “ɔ” (e.g. thought.)

Voiced “d” vs. voiceless “t.”

The “dt” sound is a voiced “d” sound that becomes a voiceless “t” sound. When speaking quickly, it’s like a less voiced “d”, or a slightly voiced “t.” I don’t know if you can legally call something “a little bit voiced” or “a little bit unvoiced,” but that’s how it works in my brain and my mouth.

[her-canine-teeth]

FUCK ME GUYS BACK TO YOU IS GONE FR I HATE THIS what abt my fun tags. nobody is ever gonna see my fun tags anymore G O D what the hell. no it's not gonna be cronológical anymore fuck this anyways

[forabeatofadrum]

Happy El WooWoo to everyone. Thank you @blackberrysummerblog​, @aroace-genderfluid-sheep​, @confused-bi-queer​, @shrekgogurt​ and @artsyunderstudy​ for the tags. Welcome back @whogaveyoupermission​.

Before I go to the whole fic thing, I want to ask non-Glee fans to vote on my silly “Which glee plotline is fake” poll. This show is absolutely wild and I love to see how people vote, so also put in the tags which one you voted. (Gleeks should also vote, just to relive the wacky shit.)

Because I am going to talk about Glee some more! Ljubim te is coming to an end and I have finished the Quinn companion piece. I loved writing the companion piece, because I liked writing Quinn’s perspective and I loved showing how [REDACTED] evolves. But one thing I really liked is that I get to show how Quinn has become the kind and caring woman she is now, since she wasn’t always like that in canon.

It is a long snippet and maybe a bit too spoilery for these WW posts, but I really like it:

“You should’ve seen me in high school,” Quinn laments. Then she proceeds to tell Denise the truth about what kind of petty girl she was. Quinn was mean-spirited and manipulative. She would do anything to be the head bitch in charge at her private all-girls school. She would be fake towards any other girl in order to get what she wanted. Quinn was cold, jealous and catty.

Quinn does feel genuine shame when she thinks of her actions, but she takes pride in knowing that she’s grown.

Granted, part of it was to cover up the fact that she had a baby. It’s not as if people didn’t know. It was hard to miss when her belly started growing exponentially. But once she came back to school after giving birth, she knew that she didn’t want people to know her as the sinful Christian girl who got knocked up. She would much rather be the person you wouldn’t fucking cross and it worked. No one ever dared to bring up Beth and by the time she graduated, the younger students didn’t even know. Beth was forgotten, which is what Quinn had wanted, no, needed.

She doesn’t tell Denise that part. No one from her new life knows about Beth, except for Blaine.

Still, thank you to @thnxforknowingme​ for finding a way to add Beth to the this AU. I was going to make an awful joke about us co-parenting this version of Quinn.

And now, the stormy weather: @quizasvivamos @blurglesmurfklaine @coffeegleek @esperantoauthor @otherworldsivelivedin @caramelcoffeeaddict​ @sillyunicorn @bazzybelle @dragoneggos @raenestee @tectonicduck​ @nightimedreamersworld​ @urban-sith​ @thnxforknowingme​ @captain-aralias​ @you-remind-me-of-the-babe​ @takitalks​ @justgleekout​ @cerriddwenluna​ @tea-brigade​ @ivelovedhimthroughworse​ @moodandmist​ @bookish-bogwitch​ @ionlydrinkhotwater​ @1908jmd​ @special-bc-ur-part-of-it​ @larkral​ @chen-chen-chen-again-chen​ @cutestkilla​ @nausikaaa​/@wellbelesbian​ @martsonmars​ @facewithoutheart​ @boyinjeans​ @rockitmans​ @bitbybitwrites​ @whatevertheweather​

[aldieb]

i really wonder if book schedules (as in the pacing of the process a manuscript has to go through from submission to publication) are ever going to go back to normal after the disruptions from covid/paper shortage/shipping problems, or if copyediting is going to just be a bit shittier from this point forward. musing prompted by how the copy editors of 2 books i’ve read recently (new rothfuss + front matter for the wilson iliad) were totally asleep at the wheel

[melting-morning-blues]

i think im gng to give my acc a little makeover hmmfmm