#uniima culture

[yellosnacc]

On the left, an older caretaker from some island culture. Sleepy babies get to hold on the adult's piercings. The ones too young get a ride in the basket.

On the right, an egg arch (a reproductive leader) of a coastal culture. The babies on their neck don't have the balance to walk but might not be so sleepy. Unlike the caretaker the arch carries their own children. They make great accessories but being your parent's keychains is also a good exercise, experts say.

Climbing on big uniimas is natural to a baby. Since uniima are evolved to be arboreal, it's better they can climb and grip as soon as possible. Their giant heads make it easy to hold their full weight on their jaws.

Before becoming a parent or a caretaker, one needs to realize they will also become a tree, a mountain, and a hanger.

[cathchicken]

Oh boy, the start of a probable series. The collector encounters an Uniima fellow!! (Uniima C sophonts belong to @/yellosnacc ) he would probably find their faces quite silly, always “grinning”.

I think a general exploration of a bunch of alien cultures would be fun for colly. But I’ll probably mainly stick to mine and mutuals sophonts so I don’t confuse random spec artists haha. But if anything I could save that for personal entertainment

[yellos2]

Gingerbread uniima man (Neal)

Yes I'm obsessed over him

Neal wip progress.

It's dealing me a lot of damage.

The hands just look wrong-

Anyway I made some new cultural stuff for Uniima C but before u see that a new pokemon game comes out.

There's airplanes, food, traditions, 2 new animals and of course the still unfinished wyverns..... Aaaaaah

[yellosnacc]

An elder master performing one of many forms of a silent wing dance. The goal of this show is to appeal to the eyes alone, using movement and colors - making too much sound is seen as a failure in this specific style.

Some of the silent dances might try to confuse the watcher with fabric appearing as other body parts or wing flags that cover most of the performer. With uniiman arts, there are really too many variants to cover as their whole deal is to compete and innovate (but most often can still be categorized).

To some, the silent dance is more artistic than the loud one while others find it lazy not to play music with the body. It really is a question of taste.

Based on the crest drawings of this uniima it seems their show's purpose is to find 3 partners and create three lives. This however isn't because their dance or outfit is sexual, it is simply a show of skill with an additional message.

[yellosnacc]

Which one of your creatures tastes best when cooked?

I was planning to do a bit more than this but sadly my mind is not doing the thing (the focus). Also- the "tastes the best" here only applies to some people of a single species.

This is a parasitic fruit (it does not aid in reproduction of the plant) you only really see once a year. It's often hard to spot and even harder to harvest at the right time as it's one of the few mobile fruits that changes its host plant regularly. (And when ripe it explodes and rots away very fast.)

However, because of its size, rarity, and traits, it's considered a delicacy. If you were to compare it to human foods, this fruit is fatty, very sweet and the bottom part can taste quite meatlike.

It's best served steamed or 'grilled' with raw eggsseeds. No seasoning added. Don't overcook it or it becomes mushy inside.

Can be made into gourmand alcohol.

Foru flora fruit reproduction - for context: The fruit of Foru trees is alive. Small flying animals, sometimes difficult to see with a naked eye, spread 'pollen' (sometimes also spores/seeds) of plants and later some of them attach themselves to a new plant. There they begin injecting the plant with signals that make it start feeding them. As the small organism matures it loses its eyes, legs and stops producing wastes. The plant, now connected firmly to the animal grows it's seeds inside the animal, using it as protection and 'incubator' of those seeds. In the meanwhile the fruit also gets fertilized and produces eggs in its top layer. While it depends on species, most often a ripe fruit dies and opens its back to release hundreds of small frying creatures. The remaining fruit might get eaten by another animal or fall on a comfy spot where seeds can start growing.

These designs might not be final. Still working out Foru flora.

[yellosnacc]

bigger Central religion post

Journey of the lost souls by an unknown pilgrim

A scene from the story of the "crystal Head".

With the help of a "harpy", the great sinner crosses the bridge to the new land as their sea-born crystal body cracks under the weight of a thousand souls.

If they were to fail, the sky may become richer, but the Uniima will end.

This is a bigger central Foru uniima religion post. All the information here is about the central religion's beliefs, not the world's biology or physics.

Now let's get the context for the painting.

To leave the Physical, one must die at a ripe age so that their wisdom can be put to the test. The glowing triangles are the souls of uniima. They resemble a larva/white and are parasite-like in behavior. After a soul is released out of a body by premature death (or created) it holds onto someone (soul-binds) until it's passed into a new body. Soul bonded can be anything with a soul but uniima souls are picky in what they cling onto and usually pick a parental figure, a friend, or pupil. When the soul senses an empty unii-body, it moves in. Twins/triplets are considered 'one-soul' with special powers.

The one depicted to carry this soul mass is the uniiman spiritual leader/s (their historical body and events), sometimes called the Heads, but there's definitely a better name in the native language (slomen and O.s use this name). The Head/s existed for most of the religion's history and is the one to name the 'uniima' (translates "own-one-mind". It's the name of the central people. Because of historical events, it caught on between aliens as the species name). Head/s is immortal because of a "curse" set on them for breaching into the spiritual world thousands of years ago. Since this event, they have been changing bodies and fixing their sins until today. Nowadays, they are considered the wisest, mentally strongest, and morally cleanest soul - an inspiration for everyone (which keeps them in power over Central Foru among other things).

More about the current Heads.

This art comes from an early chapter, only a few hundred years after the creation of people. After the Head dooms the uniima by peaking into the Spiritual, society starts falling faster than it did ever before, finally resulting in the 'death of creature people'. This society was one of constant sin and destruction since no holy parts were remaining (too complicated, let's leave that for another time), so this scene is something of a strange bitter-sweet moment. With both the land and the people gone (yes, land too), the Head is once more reincarnated - being put into a body of melted sand and rock. They collect all the wandering souls unable to ascend and travel to a new land with the help of a half-uniima-half-animal who feels sorry for the people it shares a soul with. This journey is the first major lesson and soul-cleaning of the Head. Now, what is the thing in their jaws?

This motive is common in images with the Head, but it's not very realistic for the time period. These "flesh lists" worn on the lower tongue-hand are a modern-ish invention. People wear these on special occasions. They show all the past lives on a uniima and can get very long in high mortality areas (soul moves until a body reaches the desired age to be final-judged). The significance and uses of these in status get very complicated, but I will keep it simple. A short scarf/list makes one seem strong, with potential, being naturally gifted, and wealthy. A long scarf shows weakness, and a tendency to sin, but also patience, and a wise mind (which in many cases is the most important feature of a person).

In religious art, "scarfs" help mark chapters, but in "Journey of the lost souls" it's to depict the scale of the tragedy.

Lastly, the Heads' stomach. It shows them moving a large "hole" out of their body. This is symbolism for shedding a sin. It's said a mind and body should be able to naturally "regurgitate" any "object" out of their stomach, clean of the evil within it.

Bad nature - sins, bad thoughts (even physical stuff such as poison and drugs), is stored in the stomach. The "hungrier" you are the more evil you have to shed and the more you are controlled by this "evil hunger". Being flagged as a "stomach-thinker" is not calling you a food enjoyer but rather an insane/deranged person. However, some regions consider the stomach the default thinking center (what's a brain?), so it's more like a scale of good to bad stomach.

If anything needs more explaining or isn't explained properly, please inform me in the replies or send me an ask for a dedicated post. Thank you for reading this far <3

[yellosnacc]

Been keeping this away for long since its a very out of context specific stuff.

These are the Heads - the mostly spiritual leader of the central Foru micro-state collective. Their role is to be a guide for all the leaders (archs) in central Foru and speak for all of them on an international level. They also bless lands and people and generally are well-liked by them. They can make big decisions, but it's ultimately on the archs if they comply (but the pressure is strong).

Every head has a more specialized role, each representing a 'sense' of their one shared soul (hearing, seeing, touch, thought...) and people they are patrons to (the old, the "rich", the leaders, the priests...). Each central Foru micro-state usually has its favorite head that they want to see the most in their community when bringing them news or blessings.

here are closeups

The Heads are the center of a religion practiced in the region. In short - the Heads share one spirit that in ancient times belonged to a priest who misused their power to get to the spirit world and instead became forever stuck in the material world. After many reincarnations, the priest became a wise leader who learned to speak with the spirit world and make final peace between the worlds of spirits and the material.

I would need to go into more religion details to go over that but that can be a separate post. Let's talk about how they get their role.

A 'competition' is held to determine the best leader, most spiritually attuned, most well-thinking, and best-presenting individual. The Heads in position at the time with a few other high-ranking individuals will judge the participants and then make their pick at the choosing ceremony. Luckily there are not too many to choose from, there are many requirements to participate.

However, the one picked isn't one that will become a head, they would be far too old at the time. Instead, they will force their system to make a rare phenomenon happen. This means making more of themselves with cloning (having babies grow out of diploid cells with no need for another person). This is usually achieved when under high amounts of stress and loneliness.

The uniima egg naturally holds 4 larvae but usually only 1-2 develop fully while the rest becomes food for the surviving ones. This clone egg has 4 identical whites (pre-babies) in them that get special care to ensure at least 3 survive. There have been heads with one member before and with 2 and 3, but 4 is a miracle as the bottom corner larva almost never develops enough to hatch. This egg is very lucky.

The identical quadruplets are given to be raised in different environments. These environments will decide what they represent as adults. It will also give them better perspectives of the world, making it easier/more difficult to make big decisions when the time comes.

Additionally, because there are 4 heads this time, a new environment had to be introduced. This environment was that of small communities, minorities, and generally people living in poorer conditions (yes, for the past Heads, war was more important than their people suffering (it's a very central Foru thing)). Unfortunately for The Ear, they are not respected everywhere, and many people assume them to be a fake among their siblings.

You can also see the heads have each their own signature and each Head generation has their own symbol that is recognized outside their writing systems.

[yellosnacc]

-Outdated flora, rest is good-

Some basic coverage on wood

Some zoom-ins since it's probably unreadable at that scale

[yellosnacc]

-Partially outdated-

Because food is very celebratory, here's bit of what uniima eat

They are evolved to mostly eat fruits but can process other plant matter and even meat.

Because of their lack of teeth, food is done to be mushy, liquidy or very tender (bones are decorative or crushed into powder).

Popular is jelly made with grounded svut root, usually prepared and served in a box. Uniima also make many types of plant milk but the best material is from the mitucha plant, they make "cheese" and "jogurt" from these.

Meat is consumed rarely (in most cultures) and is usually connected to an event

- for instance the One-animal meal which can be prepared in different ways but all parts are usually prepared the same way. Uniima families are often very large but even a two person group can celebrate (halfing a small animal). It is also consumed in business related matters. (Different Uniima have different opinions on what family means and no Uniima family is fully blood related, having members that would be considered friends in elven culture.)

This is a singular tradition but it's popular in all meat eating Uniima cultures so it's here.

Here's some closeups

[yellosnacc]

I love your concept of the e-eua, the headless Uniima! I was wondering, bc they’re called “gods”, do other Uniima revere them? Maybe bc they survived such an injury? Do the e-eua eventually die?

-VERY OUTDATED-

Thank you!

Okay I will try to put it simple

Any livng organism can become a god with enough magic exposition. It's also dangerous to get close to a god since they emit it. They can only be killed with enough magic (basically impossible for big ones).

E-eua is only a single small god who's being visted by their family/partner simirarly to visiting a grave. However, if they were to be around for long enough peoples perception of E-eua would likely change with their size and magic influence. But this can take hundreds/thousands of years.

With size and power, gods start building up attention of the magic "industry", after that comes a "religion". The followers are those who will use the god's blood for their family member's magic transfer, sometimes being loyal to one god for generations to come.

The gods are usually not involved in the process by other means than blood sharing since they aren't conscious. But rarely their minds change and those will comunicate through feelings and often have a connection to their follower's magic use in some way.

Different gods can even have different magical focus. If it was veeeryy simplified lets say one is better at photon control and one at absorbing energy.

But again, being powerful to a point of creating full on illusions and fireballs is an extreme rarity even with the largest of gods.

closeups

[yellosnacc]

*Outdated*

Hi there, I have a really bad art lock today and I'm having a very hate-hate relationship with clip studio and rendering/coloring. Anyone has any tips for brushes or brush settings that won't make me feel like I'm actively fighting the program? Never felt this angry with sai or rebelle.

To that here is the sketch I destroyed today because I wanted colors 😑.

As context, it's a lazily designed Foru Uniima ll - living in a society with uniima c and sharing the same social norms.

This isnt a redesign of Uniima lls, this is just an individual with different traits.

[yellosnacc]

Have the uniima or slomen made any mythical creatures? What are they like?

While there are definitely many different mythological beings in the cultures of both, I really felt like showing the sloman equivalent of a dragon.

These beasts go far in sloman history. They can be even found in their cave paintings, often as 'hunting' targets of prehistoric slomen.

Because of how many cultures have named their own beings and how different they are among these cultures, I will not name them here.

You can encounter them in hundreds of legends/folktales with some regional quarks to each. Sometimes they fly, sometimes they lift mountains and shape the world, sometimes they suck people inside their bodies, teleporting them to strange locations (...), and other times they are simple monsters fought by sloman heroes.

Other places these beings are common in are regional flags, blazons of houses or families, house decor, weaponry, some religious imagery, and naturalist books (many groups believe they are real, same with thousands of other mythical beasts), etc.

Their form is not consistent. The number of "limbs" and "fingers" is an exception. Few cultures even depict them with full vertebrate bodies with the whole 4-limb piece being the creature's head.

[yellosnacc]

Do uniima eat soup without their hands? Since it looks like the fellow in the picture is holding both the soup bowl and the spoon with their beak and mouth only. How does that work?

Here's a guide to proper eating

Uniima rarely use their front limbs for manipulation. In some activities it's more acceptable but they are generaly seen as dirty. It's not as bad as using your human feet but for eating it's unacceptable.

Correct way to eat is to use your lower jaw and lower tongue to hold the plate/bowl and your upper tongue to move the food from the plate with "spoon" or directly with tongue. Few tools exist with some being more used in different cultures.

[yellosnacc]

Finally - Ifey (species O.)

This is the first stage (not counting a possible larva) in O's life cycle. These are the "gatherers" of their colony which is usually a villiage with one adult O (the parent of the colony). Cities can sometimes have more than one adult.

Ifeys are the lowest ranking members of their society and are expected to do most of the work (farming, building, hunting..). After that are Ee, who take roles in politics, sciece and comanding Ifey. O are the last stage which is sexually mature but only 2% of O.s reach that stage. O mostly do the population managment. (Ifey can do other tasks but for that it's better to move societies).

For their 'humanoid form' - O. are one of the first sentient species who did evolve to use their limbs in more formations but with the rise of Elven race Uniima weren't the only ones pushed into more human forms. In case of O.s, most changes were in their culture.

The O. culture is about "being human". From birth, human form is pushed as the beauty standart (different for O (final stage)). For Ifey to be seen looking non-human by non-Ifey is shamefull. They usually feel more comfortable looking natural with non-humanoids.

[yellosnacc]

Swimming (not a popular activity, fear of the deep or just fear of water is pretty common)

this uniima is naked which is not actually a taboo in many cultures. It's often that the body should not come in contact with "filth" rather than that it should be hidden. In activities where clothes aren't very 'protective' it's normal to show front body and when swimming it's completely fine to be naked. In other cultures it's more complicated but naked swimming is almost always expected.

(Some people also fear that wearing clothes when swimming will instantly drag them underwater.)

[yellosnacc]

After Uniima C facial expressions its time for Faulkner cartoony-arse expressions

He deserves more goofy ones but I got little lazy.

What other Uniima C have as an 'anger marking' is Neal's blush, nervous, uncomfy marker.

Neal's 'happy marking' is an upset marking since it curves downwards which is more like human sad face.

His 'brows' are less specific and just show surprise or happiness (happiness usually more subtle)

His other expressions use beak, head angle and hand gestures mimicking more human expressions.

He also talks while facing the other person. Uniima C communicate showing their face profile for better show of facial expressions (if they want to be polite).

Neal Faulkner is an elven raised Uniima C unfamiliar with Uniima C culture