Ancilla One

[ancillaone]

Just read 'Challenge' by A. A. Weiss and I need to rant a little.

It's an amazing short story, about 12ish pages, go read it, then come back cause I'm gonna be spoiling it.

Ughhhhhhhh

It was so good.

It's about this Russian kid who gets adopted by an American family and is having a rough time adjusting and the bulk of the story is when his parents decide to adopt another child and they adopt a Ukrainian boy. Plot twist (not really) the sibling comes out as a trans woman. Meanwhile, Vladimir is struggling because she's getting all the attention and the parents are being super supportive and relaxed with her after being really tough on Vlad.

The whole time, it keeps hinting at Vlad's interest in his father's pistol and how it calms him down.

Skip to him having constant hardship at school while Alexis (sister) is actually pretty popular and not actually having that hard of a time. This sets him off and he tries to stay calm. RESULTING IN HIM BRINGING THE PISTOL TO SCHOOL.

He freaks out and doesn't do anything and eventually goes home and tries to put the gun away, but Alexis took the key to the safe to stop him from taking the gun so often. This sets him off and he shoots out a window and then goes and sits at the table waiting to be lectured by his parents.

Aaaahhhhh

So in class, we broke down Vlad as the narrator and how this changes the story and we talked about different story elements. Everyone was talking about how violent and angry Vlad is and how he's getting angry at all this stuff and has a trouble past and it's ahhhh

And I'm over here trying to not cry in the back of the class because of the beautiful trans story here, and also the fact that this hits waaaayyyy too close to home because I can see how desperate Vlad is for any kind of acknowledgement and attention and validation. He can't do anything right, so he acts out and breaks social convention to get people's attention and everyone just ignores him and finally at the end, he does something that they can't ignore anymore.

Ugh.

I hate this story, it's so good.

Anyways.

That's my rant.

[ancillaone]

Yeah, I remembered my online soap box!

Right, this is an important Life Update post. My winter break is ending in a few days, so I will be going back to Uni. This means my art account will continue to suffer, but it also means that this account will probably start to thrive again. Yay.

I am also changing up some of my habits because of two reasons, one of which is the most important thing I will mention in a minute. Firstly, I have a 15 hour class schedule this semester. My Advisor recommended against it, but I'm a double major who has work to do. This means my life needs to adjust to make it work. I won't get into the nitty gritty of it, but expect more posts out of me.

Now the big news. I HAVE FINISHED THE OUTLINE FOR MY FIRST NOVEL!!!

This is a game changer. I am actually starting to write the first book in the Compendium. I'm so excited. I won't spoil much of it here, but I will be posting about it a lot as I write it, both for promotion, and as a way to keep me sane and invested in it.

What I will say now is that it takes place on Rakhiss, with the Ikhtse. So expect rough stuff. In the meantime, I'm probably going to start yapping about more of my worldbuilding so y'all have something to eat while I work.

Another thing. This is not set in stone because I have no clue how my life will change, but... The projected finish date of my book is at the end of September. Ideally, I've started the publishing process by then, but that depends on how life works with me and if I get good beta readers.

In the meantime, Happy new year!

[angelofthemornings-deactivated2]

Haven't really seen anyone on here talking about it, so:

If you have psychosis, do not use ChatGPT or any other AI model to do reality checking. They're trained to agree with the user, say things to encourage further discussion/input, and in general provide "customer satisfaction." So if you ask if the moon is made of green cheese and seem really intense about it, the AI is gonna tell you it might be a possibility just to keep you happy as a customer.

Hopefully I'm preaching to the choir and everybody is leaving AI alone for mental health issues, but an AI program's willingness to go along with whatever the user is saying and exacerbate a mental health crisis is becoming a serious problem for the mentally ill. Researchers are currently studying it.

[ancillaone]

I want to double on this, because it really needs to be said. AI will say anything to make you happy. I've faced this issue in my student career with AI becoming more prolific and people using more and more in classes.

AI will lie to make you happy.

If you ask about something, it is more likely to make something up to make you happy, rather than tell you that you are wrong.

The only time AI will take an adamant no stance is on harmful topics, and even those can be worked around.

I have and always will be against generative AI.

[ancillaone]

So, in other Anthropology news, Unit 3 is about Marriage/Social Bonds, Social Structures and Social practices. Which is awesome. Love learning about how different cultures do that stuff.

Also, you know what that means. ✨More yapping about how I can use this for worldbuilding.✨ Damn right.

I particularly think this is pertinent to my Dilectu because they are polygamous and have fairly unique ways of grouping. As I have them now, they are polygynyous, meaning the family structure is typically one guy with multiple wives.

Marriage would typically work with multiple sons and daughters coming to age at the same time and a ceremony is held between two families who seek to make alliances, with the Patriarch (big guy in charge) picking what family he wants to align with. During the ceremony, all of the daughters would perform various rituals and during these, if one of the sons sees a daughter he likes, he will approach her and join her in the dance. If they can keep up with each other, then they are to be wed. This is how first wives are chosen, with whom a new family unit will start.

If a daughter is not approached during her ceremony, she will not be able to marry for a year and will stay in her family. After this year, she becomes available again and any who want to take her into their family can approach her and marry her.

Overall, it works pretty good, but definitely needs more fleshing out and tweaking based on what I've learned. I'll probably work on that and get back to y'all, but let me know what you think so far.

[ancillaone]

Oh yeah, we had an Anthropology midterm like... A week ago. Got a 90/100 on it 💪

I don't know what I missed on this one, but considering I was sick for a week and then had to catch up and prep for multiple midterms, I'd say a 90% is pretty good.

Is it obvious I'm an Anthropology major yet? Lmao

[ancillaone]

You can tempt me all you want with sexy furry men, but I'm not going to download your shitty AI man.

Unlike you, I am not a worthless hack, I can draw MY OWN buff furry men to hug and cuddle. So. Fuck off.

[t34-mt]

Heavy work duty clothes - 2025

[ancillaone]

Writing is so hard...

So, I'm going to a writers retreat with the Creative Writing club at my university this weekend. It's for talking to a whole range of other writers from new comers to many times published authors. There's also dedicated workshopping groups. The issue with that is... I have nothing to workshop...

Uhm... yeah...

So pretty much, I have to write a good chunk of my book in 3 days cause we leave on friday @w@

I think I'm gonna work on the outline and take then, then keep hammering it out into something over the course of the retreat. Which means I will probably be on here yapping about it a lot this week.

oh yeah, I was sick for the last two weeks, so that's why I wasn't posting. I'm better now.

Anyways, for a quick preface to actually make this post worth reading, the book I'm going to be working on is The Stone Queen, which is about my Ikhtse. It does not take place in the present of The Compendium Project timeline, but it is a somewhat important backstory to set the Ikhtse up for the present.

I've actually posted some art that was supposed to be a scene from the book, but I'm not sure if it's staying in. I've also redesigned the Ikhtse since then, so there's more changes to be shown off.

Either way, more updates to come!

[ancillaone]

Had a 100 question Anthropology final the other day. No notes. Finished it in 30 minutes, I'm a fast test taker.

Guys. Girlies. Gays. Assorted Fruit Snacks.

I got a 99/100! Oh. My. Glob.

No clue how I did that, but I am 100% taking it as a sign that Anthropology is the right path for me.

[ancillaone]

Oh yeah, want to know what I missed? A linguistics question. I'm gonna cry.

It wasn't structural stuff tho, I would've done great on that. I was asking the name of the kind of linguistics that looks at the social impact of language and whatnot.

The answer is Sociolinguistics btw.

[ancillaone]

Had a 100 question Anthropology final the other day. No notes. Finished it in 30 minutes, I'm a fast test taker.

Guys. Girlies. Gays. Assorted Fruit Snacks.

I got a 99/100! Oh. My. Glob.

No clue how I did that, but I am 100% taking it as a sign that Anthropology is the right path for me.

[wolfertinger666]

do we like fat dragon boys?

[ancillaone]

I wanna know why learning is locked behind so many pay walls. Like, I get needing to pay teachers and stuff, I'm all for that. My issue is that in order to learn another language, you've got to pay for classes or app subscriptions and do different things just to get a usable level of understanding about another language.

Like, I'm trying to learn ASL (American Sign Language), it's great to know, it's useful when encountering other ASL users, and it's fun. However, I've only been able to get the most basic of basics down because I'm broke and don't have the money to spend on these different learning things. The next best offer I've had was a college course to learn it, and it was full when I applied. The best part is that ASL is one of the most accessible languages to learn because it doesn't rely on syntax and actually speaking like spoken languages do. If you learn the signs and how to use them, you'll be pretty well off, but that doesn't work with spoken languages.

I'm honestly just ranting a bit, but it's because I care. I'm currently in University to study this stuff and it's just jaw dropping how limited the access to it is. Which is making it harder for me to construct my own languages. Oh well.

Start up some convo about language, it's cool.

[kidnamedpronoun]

Very real. It does suck but from what I know it comes down to there not being enough initiative to fund free education (shocker).

Also about ASL stuff, as someone learning LSF, I gotta say the amount of resources for ASL up to an intermediate level is actually astounding. I feel like there is a high chance you already know of him but from what i’ve seen Bill Vicars on youtube seems to have some of the most in-depth educational content on the topic of ASL, all for free.

Also small linguistics nitpick: To say that ASL or any sign language doesn’t rely on syntax is a bit silly. In the same measure you can get an operational level of English or any language without mastering syntax, you can do the same with any language, spoken or signed. Sign languages are full-fledged languages with syntax and grammar rules that differ from spoken languages uniquely and significantly. If you just learn the vocabulary without the grammar you’ll be doing Signed English, not ASL.

As just a general closing remark: It does suck how language learning is behind paywalls, but I think that there are amazing resources out there for learning languages which are often better than classes you might find or apps you might subscribe to, all for free. You just have to know where to look and how to use them.

[ancillaone]

Yeah, I have heard of Bill, he's a great resource where I've learned most of my knowledge of ASL.

And to add to the "No Syntax" thing, I meant more along the lines of like, word order. I wasn't really gonna go into the depths of it in a 5 minute free time post before bed 😅. From my experience (which is unfortunately little) word order is a lot more squishy with ASL compared to most other spoken languages and relies on context more than the order of the signs. Of course, correct me if I'm wrong, I'm far from a professional in it, I just enjoy learning it.

But on the fuller topic, yeah, I'm sure there are plenty of options, just sucks that you have to dig for them 😞.

[captyns]

tedious (2023)

[languageadventurer]

Learn the Alien Languages of Star Trek: a Masterpost

Vulcan (Vulkhansu)

Vulcan Language Research Project

Vulcan Language Dictionary

Vulcan Writing Systems at Omniglot

Korsaya

Vulcan Language at Memory Alpha

Vulcan Language Institute

Vulcan Language Official Tumblr (No longer active, but still good info)

Cardassian (Kardasi)

Cardassian Language Tumblr

Kardasi Dictionary

Kardasi Grammar Summary

Cardassian Writing System Part 1

Cardassian Writing System Part 2

Cardassian Writing System Part 3 (Numbers)

Kardasi Quizlet Class

Cardassian Language at Memory Alpha

Klingon (Klingonese)

KlingonTeacher on Youtube

Learn Klingon Facebook Group

Klingon Teachings 

Klingonska

The Klingon-English Dictionary by Marc Okrand PDF

Klingon Language at Memory Alpha

Duolingo Klingon Course

Klingon Language Institute

Klingon Language Assistant App (For Android Phones only)

Klingon for the Galactic Traveler by Marc Okrand

Conversational Klingon by Marc Okrand

Power Klingon by Marc Okrand

Romulan (Rihannsu)

Imperial Romulan Language Institute

Romulan Writing System on Omniglot

Central Institute of the Romulan Language

Romulan Language and Culture Institute

Romulan-English Dictionary

Romulan Language at Memory Alpha

Ferengi

Ferengi Language at Memory Alpha

Ferengi Writing System Part 1

Ferengi Writing System Part 2

Bajoran

Bajoran Language Project

The Bajoran Language File

Bajoran-English Dictionary

Bajoran Language at Memory Alpha

Trill

Trill Language at Memory Alpha

Trill Language at Holowiki (Not sure how accurate this is)

Dominionese

Dominionese at Memory Alpha

Borg (Alphanumeric Code)

Borg Language at Memory Alpha

Andorian

Andorian-English Dictionary

Andorian Language at Memory Alpha

Andorian Languages at Memory Beta

[risingchaos]

OH FUCK YES.

[ancillaone]

I wanna know why learning is locked behind so many pay walls. Like, I get needing to pay teachers and stuff, I'm all for that. My issue is that in order to learn another language, you've got to pay for classes or app subscriptions and do different things just to get a usable level of understanding about another language.

Like, I'm trying to learn ASL (American Sign Language), it's great to know, it's useful when encountering other ASL users, and it's fun. However, I've only been able to get the most basic of basics down because I'm broke and don't have the money to spend on these different learning things. The next best offer I've had was a college course to learn it, and it was full when I applied. The best part is that ASL is one of the most accessible languages to learn because it doesn't rely on syntax and actually speaking like spoken languages do. If you learn the signs and how to use them, you'll be pretty well off, but that doesn't work with spoken languages.

I'm honestly just ranting a bit, but it's because I care. I'm currently in University to study this stuff and it's just jaw dropping how limited the access to it is. Which is making it harder for me to construct my own languages. Oh well.

Start up some convo about language, it's cool.

[ancillaone]

I think an important thing to think about when worldbuilding for non-human characters is to consider the lens you're looking at them through.

For mine, I'm purposely letting them be kind of left of human-like because it makes storytelling easier (and more marketable) but not so much that they aren't alien.

However, for things like in 'Children of Time's with the portiids, or the octopodes, Tchaikovsky does an incredible job (in my opinion) of making even earth-born creatures become so alien. Yes, it uses language we are familiar with, but the books address how ill fitting the concepts are to the reality of the portiids or the octopodes. They are really alien and depicted so well.

I am still in the early stages of developing The Compendium, so things are bound to change, but for now, I'm not aiming for anything extremely alien.

I will say though, I might end up leaning more into it, but for now, I'm stuck using the 1 sample we have of life like ours.

[ancillaone]

So, I've been watching a lot of videos about megastructures and our aspirations to make large structures and stuff. Our record right now is the Burj Khalifa, which is around 830 meters tall. Now, there are some projects in the work that are planned to be around 1000 meters, which would be a big milestone, but those are a few years off.

Anyways, this got me thinking about the various species in the Compendium and about their architecture and if they have any megastructures.

My first thought obviously goes to the Dilectu because of their tree-top civilization, but they don't really make large structures, so much as live in massive trees. Which, I'm going to have to do some looking into the logistics of, because on Earth, the largest tree (alive) is Hyperion, which is only 116 meters tall. Meanwhile, I was hoping the largest trees on Nel Ungtoni would be in the hundreds, maybe even thousands. Of course, the gravity on their planet isn't as strong as Earth.

The next I can think of would be the Apnikuld, which would have made some massive structures to get out of the environment. Especially since their planet is kind of in a spiral. No spoilers. But the buildings are massive structures, mostly built into mountains and stuff.

I was considering the Ikhtse might have megastructures, but after doing redesigns, I don't know. I'll have to do more work, but megastructures are definitely on the menu. One of the big questions is whether them burrowing underground counts as a megastructure or not.

Now, the Fallai 100% have megastructures. They are builders like no others. It comes naturally to them.

I doubt the Scorqrun or the Haellux would because they are definitely more about roaming or having sprawling towns.

And the Carlaxi haven't been worked on enough for me to give a definite answer on yet.

So, lots of plans for it, but I need to do more research on the plausibility and the how to of it. Keep an eye out for it though. I want The Compendium to be on all the "Biggest Megastructures" lists.