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These were doodles done late last night and I still get hesitant to show off canon x oc ships but here they are because ✨ITS SELF CARE ✨

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"Oh, Nyra, do you know anything about the unexpected sighting of Dinraal near Rito Village? It's all detailed here."

*hands you a picture of Dinraal with some white powder sprinkled on it*

-<3 Marina

Its Dragon Time Baby

Dinraal is so cute with it's floppy ears <3

It's time to bother the ask blogs >:3

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Map I made for @axidentshappen, she wanted a map of BotW's Hyrule created by the Twili (who didn't actually know all that much about Hyrulean geography) in the classic black and white fantasy map style for her amazing Revalink comic Reuniting as Champions and this was the result.

(Technically this was actually a commission from her, if you want a map for something please do hit me up, I love drawing maps)

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today's mood is human! Lurona and Fat Fin

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Today's mood is three handsome men 🩷

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Happy Father's Day!

I did a meme! Kamion and Fat Fin show off their parenting skills 💙

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@gargoylesister he plays the bad guy and loves to ham it up! He leans into the stereotypes/fears others have about the zorca, and he became one of those bad guys people love to cheer for.

After all, a hero is only as good as their villain!

Today's mood is Fat Fin suplexing a humpback zora wrestler

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Adrift from Home

Listening to music got me wanting to doodle something for Cironus being wistful and lonely, and to play with water effects.

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@becquerelsplash THEY DEFINITELY DO 🦐🎵

A Beautiful Friendshrimp

I felt like talking about the shrimp that live inside Cironus' seashell necklace! The only two I have named are Wee and Lili who are sisters and take it upon themselves to look after Cironus and give him advice.

Wee loves gossip and drama and enjoys living vicariously through Cironus (or others). Lili is the more level headed one, keeping her sister's ideas in check, but she's also the protective one. They both have husbands and children of their own so their motherly tendencies bleed over when they're guiding and lecturing Cironus.

Not every zorca have their own shrimp community, but the shrimp do travel from individual to individual within a pod to visit with their families. Wee and Lili have been with Cironus through thick and thin; from his travels during TotK to the exile from his pod. They're probably his main reason he manages to stay grounded when things get bad.

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A Beautiful Friendshrimp

I felt like talking about the shrimp that live inside Cironus' seashell necklace! The only two I have named are Wee and Lili who are sisters and take it upon themselves to look after Cironus and give him advice.

Wee loves gossip and drama and enjoys living vicariously through Cironus (or others). Lili is the more level headed one, keeping her sister's ideas in check, but she's also the protective one. They both have husbands and children of their own so their motherly tendencies bleed over when they're guiding and lecturing Cironus.

Not every zorca have their own shrimp community, but the shrimp do travel from individual to individual within a pod to visit with their families. Wee and Lili have been with Cironus through thick and thin; from his travels during TotK to the exile from his pod. They're probably his main reason he manages to stay grounded when things get bad.

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His job is Beach

A gift for @becquerelsplash!

I showed them a pose for an idea and they came up with the scenario of Becquerel resting after a fight with some monsters, and then Fat Fin flops down going "Sup"

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The Zorca Collective

A shiny new directory! My zorca works are expanding and I wanted to categorize them for easier browsing and also show off my graphic page

My story for Cironus is it's own work in progress. Do I want to write a fic, or draw comics, a mix of the two? Or maybe just talk about it in random bursts of inspiration? Who knows! But here you will find the snippets of his life!

[Zora May Debut] ○ [Cironus the Bard] ○ [Character Sheet] ○ [The Zorca] ○ [Kingdom of the Dead] ○ [The Life of Cironus] ○ [Ballad of the Wind Fish] ○ [Cironus' Dating Life + Bonus] ○ [Befriending the Zorca] ○ [OC Rating: Cironus] ○ [Origins of the Wind Fish]

My Comics

Not as extensive as the work done by the astounding @gargoylesister, but here it is! Save for a few that were made for Gargoyle's Labor of Love, these are in no particular order! [Sardon don't touch That] ○ [Pretty Shark] ○ [Song of Storms] ○ [They know what they're doing] ○ [Shrimp Community + Bonus] ○ [From Runt to Hunk + Bonus] ○ [Lightning Resistance] ○ [Girl Talk] ○ [Meet Cute Part 1] ○ [Meet Cute Part 2] ○ [Funeral Rites] ○ [Halloween Vandalism?] ○ [Deleted Scenes] ○ [Gift Giving Ceremony] ○ [He's just Dense] ○ [She's just Dense] ○ [Two Old Men]

The Zorca

Gif by Jona Dinges

This is the section for the general tag for my zorca where you can find most of my art, asks about them, and killer whale related images and facts! I'm linking a few here as basic starter information (as well as a couple of favs)

[Echolocation + Bonus] ○ [Migration Routes + Bonus] ○ [Zorca Trends + Bonus] ○ [Friendly Surprise] ○ [Zorca Anatomy] ○ [The Zorca Clans] ○ [Orcanomics]

That's everything for now! Thank you for checking out my stuff C:

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Just Fat fin chatting up the locals for @tides-that-bind-us!

With and without foreground

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He Whose Melodies Wake the Windfish Waving From the Waves Gouache on Canvas 2194 On Loan from the Dwick Dwickcast Syndykyt

Something that's off the beaten path for myself - a variant of something you might find far from the shores of Zelda's beloved Hyrule! This is Danmalaak, a salt-and-pumice-based variant of the gorons, riding aloft the back of @tides-that-binds-us' zorca, Cironus!

Tides' take on the zora made me want to consider how one might create new variants on the gorons - which, while fun and entertaining, never quite got the facelift that the zora or rito did in Breath of the Wild. Namely, I wanted to imagine a version of them that wouldn't share the Majora's Mask-era gorons' fear of water (i.e. immediately sinking and drowning) - and would even thrive live out out on the oceans themselves.

Enter the salt gorons (name pending) - a subset of the species borne from pumice and the natural salts that comprise dried-out seabeds. They float easily on the seas, given their main mineral formation - and far from fearing some sort of dissolution from the waters around them, accumulate salt from the surrounding waters as they swim through them!

Danmalaak himself is based off kala namak, a reddish-black salt used in South Asian dishes. He's a tradesman of sorts, though his specialty is salvage - until his boat itself joined them, Danmalaak specialized in finding shipwrecks, diving down to them, and piecing together histories from the remants of their cargo manifests. He's in the process of commissioning a new boat - but in the meantime, he gets around by bumming rides from nearby zora as they skirt the seas.

Where's he off to now? NOBODY KNOWS, least of all him - but he's glad to be along for the ride!

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SRKW

"If we lose the Southern Residents, it will be the first extinction where every individual's name was known." - Alexandra Morton

And here is the final prompt.

The southern resident killer whales inspired me to make Orcanomics. They inspired me to create the zorca.

I don't know why it surprises me, but opinions about killer whales for most people even today don't go any further than "Sea World attraction" or "dont they kill everything?" Sometimes it feels like the opinions from the 60's and 70's didn't change too much.

Research on these animals has changed and grown since my childhood days obsessing about whales. And having the means to dive deeper (haha) into all of it has expanded my own perception and opinions on orcas, and marine life in general. I was not aware of how spiritual they are to several cultures. And reading up on stories about Kiska and Tokitae, I see why there have been comparisons of killer whale captures to what indigenous people went through.

Orcas represent community, family, strength, connection to the ocean. They are revered in indigenous communities as guardians of the sea. They are a keystone species.

The Southern Resident Killer Whales are a unique group of orca in that they feed primarily on fish, specifically the Chinook Salmon. They struggle due to their food source declining thanks to over fishing and pollution. As well as other factors like noise pollution.

They consist of three separate pods; J, K, and L pods. Together there are only 74 left in the world, and one of two orca populations listed under the Endangered Species Act. They used to be greater in number but their population was heavily reduced during the orca captures during the 70's. And because of pollution and lack of food, there is a 50% mortality rate in orca calves during their first year.

When I first learned about them I was so sad. But I also learned how many people and groups are fighting for them and other animals. It's hard to feel like you can make a difference, ESPECIALLY in this day and age. But we can't give into despondency and end up doing nothing anyway. I read a post about how it feels hopeless because there are so many causes and people in need. So how can you, as one person, help them all? Someone came in and added "pick one cause and focus on that" Don't scatter yourself, find something you are passionate about and do what you can. Raise awareness, donate if you can, etc. Then things feel less daunting.

And it's helped me.

I began to focus on orcas and found out how much people care 😭 THEY CARE SO MUCH! We have sad stories like Kiska and Tokitae, and countless others, but now further captivity and breeding is banned. There are projects to create sanctuaries, plans to help increase salmon populations and to make sure they thrive. People are giving platforms to indigenous communities so they can speak on what can be done.

Ive been told by folks that they've learned so much from my orca facts. 🥹

I wanted to do this challenge for myself but also to raise more awareness. And if you learned something from these prompts, then I say mission accomplished!❤️

Thank you for coming on this journey with me and to everyone who supported me on this project!

Orca Conservancy Saving the Southern Resident Killer Whales Adopt an Orca River Partners Native Northwest The Orca Man Northern Naturalist TideBreakers

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Tokitae & Kiska

Reading about the history of these two orcas was a lot to take in, and they're not the only two who went through these experiences. The story of Tokitae absolutely broke me.

Trying to summarize it without somehow lessening the importance is also a challenge. I don't want to make this into some kind of depressive spiral, but I also feel its important to share, you know?

The picture itself was to show how small and dirty their tanks were, though they didn't live near each other (Kiska in Canada, and Tokitae was in Miami) the pattern was pretty much the same, wasnt it?

Kiska

Kiska was captured in 1979 in the North Atlantic Ocean when she was about three years old. She was sold to Marineland in Canada, alongside another killer whale named Keiko who was later sold to an aquarium in Mexico (wild fact: that is the same Keiko who starred in Free Willy)

She was kept for breeding purposes and had five calves in total, all who died too soon. Marineland made a deal with Seaworld, to borrow one of their orca males as a breeding partner for Kiska. But he was too young at the time and so the park owners decided it would be a chance for the two to bond first. Things were taking too long and Seaworld wanted their orca back, and Marineland refused. The issue was taken to court and Sea World won, and their orca was flown back to their park. It would be the last killer whale Kiska would ever see. From 2011 up to her death in 2023 she remained completely isolated in her tank. She was nicknamed the World's Loneliest Orca ;__;

In 2019, the Canadian Parliament passed the Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act which made Kiska the last orca in captivity in Canada. Besides banning future attempts of putting cetaceans in captivity, the act also prohibits animals still in captivity to be used for entertainment or breeding purposes.

A man named Phil Demers, also called the Walrus Whisperer, brought attention to the conditions Kiska lived in. Videos of her swimming in circles, floating aimlessly, and even bashing her head against the tank walls went viral. Kiska's situation sparked a lot of conversation about the treatment of killer whales in captivity. Orcas are extremely intelligent and emotionally complex animals who live in social groups and this turned a spotlight on the cruelty of the industry and a call to figure out more humane solutions.

Unfortunately help didn't come fast enough for Kiska, and she passed away from a bacterial infection in March 2023. The biggest issue was coming up with ways to provide sanctuaries for whales and dolphins still in captivity. Groups like the Whale Sanctuary Project are working to model a seaside sanctuary in Nova Scotia for orcas and other cetaceans who can't go back into the wild. Sea Life Trust in Iceland has created the first beluga sanctuary with with Whale and Dolphin Conservation, and their first residents (named Little White and Little Grey) arrived back in spring of 2020.

Tokitae

She had a similar story like Kiska. She was a southern pacific killer whale who was captured in the 70's when she was only three or four, then she was shipped to a seaquarium in Miami. There she was penned with a male orca named Hugo who was caught a couple of years earlier. For a time they were kept separated in fear they wouldn't get along. But Hugo was also a pacific resident and when they were heard calling to each other they were put together.

Over the years she was trained and performed with Hugo. Tokitae's name was changed to Lolita, according to he owners they "didn't want people to know where she came from." She also became pregnant several times but Tokitae never delivered a live calf.

In 1980 Hugo died from a brain aneurysm and despite that, Tokitae was pushed to perform. It was said she would look for Hugo but the owners brushed it off saying she got over the loss. Since then the seaquarium had her paired off with several tank companions including a pilot whale, a risso's dolphin, a short beaked common dolphin and several pacific white sided dolphins.

In 2019 the Luumi Nation called for Tokitae's release. They gave her the name Sk'aliCh'elh-tenaut which meant that she is a member of Sk’aliCh’elh, the resident family of orcas who call the Salish Sea home. And two Luumi women invoked the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) which calls for the protection and return of Native American human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony.

The Luumi Nation consider killer whales to be their kin, therefore Tokitae belonged with them and in her natal waters in the Salish Sea. Several members of the Luumi Nation made comparisons of Tokitae's situation to that of native children being stolen and indoctrinated. It was their duty to bring her back.

The Miami Seaquarium came under legal fire in 2021. A 17 page report was released by the USDA about the conditions Tokitake and other cetacean residents were living under. Such as ignoring the vet's advice in letting Toki rest, instead the trainers continued to make her perform high energy behaviors which ended up causing Tokitae to injure her jaw. Both she and the dolphins were fed rotting fish. And Toki developed eye injuries due to the highly chlorinated water in the tank.

In 2022, The Dolphin Company took full ownership of the Miami Seaquarium, and Tokitae was retired and taken off display, mainly to help her recover from the jaw injury she sustained earlier. Then in 2023, the seaquarium partnered with an organization called Friends of Tokitae to return her to the Salish Sea. With the guidance of the Luumi Nation the plan was to build a sea pen which would take 18 to 24 months. Tokitae would be safe, but never be wild again, as the main concern was acclimatizing her and the dangers of exposing any infections or diseases she carried to the already endangered pacific resident orcas.

But like Kiska, Tokitae passed away in her tank in August of 2023 due to old age and other chronic illnesses she had. She spent over fifty years in captivity. Her ashes were given to the Luumi Nation and they were taken to a sacred spot and spread in a traditional water ceremony in September.

It was said the southern resident killer whales came together in a super pod the day Tokitae died.

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J35 Tahlequah

Tahlequah is a special killer whale to many people. I remember hearing about her story in the news and online. It's another sad tale so here we go under the cut

She's another killer whale from J Pod of the southern resident orcas who has gone through several losses, but she's especially known for what people called The Tour of Grief. She has given birth to four children, with two still alive today named Notch and Phoenix.

Tahlequah is the daughter of Princess Angeline, and L41 Mega. In 2016, her sister Polaris gave birth to a son named Dipper. Not long after giving birth, Polaris began to lose weight and her health started to decline. Dipper, who was still nursing, began following his mother health wise. Polaris eventually passed away and Tahlequah and Polaris' daughter, Star, both took the task of caring for Dipper. Unfortunately, he didn't last long and about a week later he was gone.

In 2018, Tahlequah's mother showed the same signs, and though she started to gain weight, a year later she too passed away.

In that same year before her mother's death, Tahlequah gave birth to her second baby but half an hour later the baby died. She captured the world's attention when she was seen carrying the body of her dead calf. She traveled over 1,000 miles over the course of 17 days which was later called the Tour of Grief. Within a week she was having trouble keeping up with her pod. And people reported that her pod took turns carrying the baby while Tahlequah rested. Despite the calf showing signs of decomposing she did not let it go. Then she vanished for a few days an when she was spotted again it was reported she was not carrying her baby, and she rejoined her pod.

Her baby wasn't given an identification number but it was named "Ti-Tahlequah," meaning "little Tahlequah."

In July of 2020 she gave birth to another calf, her son named Phoenix. Then last year in December she gave birth to another calf, J61. Researchers were hopeful at first but determined the baby to be born prematurely and reported Tahlequah pushing her baby around who showed signs of lethargy. Researchers kept an eye on her and the baby and a week later they didn't see J61 among the pod. Then on Jan 1st of this year people spotted Tahlequah once again carrying the body of her dead calf. She carried J61 for 11 days.

The study of grief and how animals mourn is still fairly new in that researchers are still trying to recognize it across various species. It was believed that grieving was associated with large-brained animals like elephants, primates and cetaceans. Studies are showing grief doesn't solely depend on the brain size and cognitive power, as the capacity to form bonds is becoming a new factor on how species express it.

For Tahlequah, researchers and advocates worry and wonder what it could mean for her and the southern residents. With only a population of 74, every calf born is a lifeline for their preservation, and every loss hurts just as deep.