Daerwen

[daerwen]

In some regions of Schkepi, you can find bamboo-like forests, dominated by a fast spreading flora. Due to the regions having a mix of mostly clay and gravel soil, the plant specialized and outcompete most other plants.

The main fauna of these regions are insectoids, smaller, low living critters, branch-swinging tetrahexapodia and a distant relative of the oceanic region's Ya'queetits; The Ya'quitret. A relative, more evolved to not require the ocean to breathe and reproduce. It hunts both by catching insectoids midflight as well as making use of their pointed lower jaw. By listening to the trees, they can find critters hiding inside and use their lower jaw to crack open the surface and pull out the prey.

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The Avialyxes in these regions form a lifestyle with the ecosystem, and they're famously known for their region's dance. The dancers form a bond with a companion Ya'quitret, in a practice called Ya'quiteering. Dedicating themselves to a semi-hermit lifestyle, they spend a significant amount of their life in the wild with their companion, often raised from young age. Doing everything from hunting, resting, preening and traversing the land.

To dance, the Avialyx makes use of a lure, crafted to mimic their companion's prey. They use it to guide the flier around them, showing off the colours, patterns and agility. The art is to join their flier in the pattern, moving their body in tandem with their companion, dancing together.

The trees of these regions reproduce mainly through cloning. It has two types of growth, the foliage stems and the cloning stem. The foliage stems grow upwards, shooting out leaves from the circular nodes as it grows. Meanwhile the cloning stem starts growing bent in the direction of a vacant space. It keeps growing until the top of the stem makes contact with the soil, where it will proceed to push down and start developing a new root bulb. These plants tend to thin out around the region's outskirts, but deeper in the regions, the trees tend to stack, reach over each other; Growing thick stems large enough to walk across. These forests tend to be dark and tangled, as the trees compete with each other for the light, the lower branches being used by their clones to grow taller, supplying them with water and nutrients.

[daerwen]

I'm working together with my friend Smolzilla (credits in extended view) to test knapping Schkepian spear- and arrowhead designs from the speculative world I'm working on.

This is a scaled-down version of an arrowhead based on the sketch I did for a Lyxian spear:

There isn't a lot of work finished or decided yet around Schkepian spears and arrows, so I can't say yet which group of Avialyxes these points stem from. This work will help decide that though, and really flesh out the world.

I started this collab with them as I'd like the Schkepian world to be as realistically plausible as I can get it, so testing the designs in real knapping will aid in that.

Aside from the project, Smol does some incredible work. He started knapping as a hobby not that long ago, and he's already worked up a channel on youtube where he shows how to knap and talks about the different materials he uses. It's cool stuff, so I recommend checking it out.

You can find Smolzilla on youtube and reddit:

Smolzilla Makes

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

[daerwen]

The sketch for a planned scene of a more plains-like environment on Schkepi, with a varied mix of smaller animals and a larger predator, a lesser Magnanex making their way over the open space.

I'm making this scene to showcase both fauna and flora on the planet, from insectoids to flying animals and both big and small Tetrahexapods.

In the scene you can easily spot fauna with names next to them, but there's also some smaller ones like insectoids on the foreground rock, Umedoria "frogs" by the stream and a mix of plants that I've been focusing on for a while.

[daerwen]

Some more insectoids and a small insectoid eating creature without names.

I'm having a harder time drawing at the moment, as a combination of moving around, my pc being stationed away from home and ect, I'll just be dropping a few simple concepts now and then :)

[daerwen]

Ciraliths are the most common fishoids on Schkepi, easily recognizable for their large head protrusion, holding their respiratory and propulsion system. You can find them anywhere from grazers to predators. Ciraliths are a grouping of fishoids in the same class Cethalothura [Head tube-breathers].

Although it looks like they have segmented bodies, it's not true segments. the skin is made out of large, fused plates, with a bit of elasticity to them. The head in particular is a rubbery cap, housing most of the organs and functioning as an entry way for the respiratory system. They draw in water through thousands of moving cilia coated on the inside of their breathing tube. Small holes on one side of the tube also pull in oxygen from the water and through their lung, letting them breathe.

Most Ciraliths are schooling fishoids, living in large groups of open water, but some species keep to smaller groups or even solitary lifestyles.

Showcasing: Ciralith Erelis "Shrimp" Relative of Ciraliths

[daerwen]

Here's a batch of sketched animal concepts I've been working on, from armoured Ciralith relatives, to shallow water rock pools and coral reefs. I need to work and develop these concepts, but so far they're a good start and something you'd see on Schkepi. Sketched the rock pool animals, it hit me as I was looking around for what other people have worked on that there's is a huge lack of shallow water concepts.

It's one of my absolute favourite parts of oceans and marine life, the middle ground between the marine world and land, with anemones, sea stars. urchins and different algae. I will definitely be thinking up some more fun stuff for Schkepi's rock pools.

There's also these insectoids, a wide, varied group of segmented animals, and often caught and cooked by Avialyxes across the planet. A majority of insectoids go under the "Cyclops" class, having one large compound eye at the front of their heads, but there's all kinds in this phylum, from different numbers of eyes, legs and more.

This ended up a little long, but there's a lot to share in this world :)

[daerwen]

Decided to share this sketch concept of some Avialyx space gear, including a suit for their "Cats" (Still working on a name for them). This suit being more geared towards planetary exploration, air being blown under the suit to allow better mobility, padding and plates where they want to be more protected.

The "cat" is a more specialized breed to have smaller ear plates in order to better fit in a suit, their more natural appearance having larger plates unfit for the task. These animals are a close companion species to the Avialyxes, often working together with Avialyxes and trained for tasks. Although intelligent, they're more feral in behaviour and prefer to bond with only a select few of both their own species as well as Avialyxes, often creating strong bonds with their Avialyx partner.

During planetary exploration, they often serve both as working companions as well as social company, ready to defend their partners if the need arrives, or pulling sleds during non-vehicle travel. Showcasing: "Cats" Avialyxes

[daerwen]

Drids; A very small, almost insect-like, species in the Tetrahexapoida class. These small animals live near caverns where certain species of hanging flora can be found, rich in a type of nectar that the Drids consume. They use their elongated, hollow mouth parts like straws in the flowering protrusions of the plants, specialized to reach the nectar while staying in flight.

Different species of Drids come in various small sizes and colours, a beloved species by the Avialyxes on Schkepi, but rarely seen due to their small size and cavernous lifestyle. When they're not in flight, they'll usually be hanging off a cave wall or on small foliage using their two hind grippers.

[daerwen]

Qrinn, a small fish from Schkepi, indigenous to the shallow coral reefs with colourful appearances and strange anatomy. They can be found both in groups as well as solitary around coral and aquatic foliage.

Although not commonly seen as food, they are caught in some regions and fried up as a light snack for Avialyxes. More commonly however, these are popular among fishoid keepers who appreciate the natural colour variation that the Qrinn showcase. These are very simple lifeforms, but they serve as cleaning filter-feeders, taking part in helping the reefs stay clear and clean, allowing the star's light to clearly reach all of the coral and plants; even on deeper depths. Showcasing: Qrinn Ciralith

[daerwen]

Currently working on this piece; Of an Avialyx named Aga relaxing over a coral reef, Ya'queetits flying above as he temporarily rests on a large, floating organism.

I've been meaning to put the different animals together in one scene for a while, so I'm excited to be finishing this, seeing it all come together.

[daerwen]

These will be nicknamed "Leaf wings" until I go through proper naming schemes with them. They're a medium-sized fishoid from the Schkepian oceans.

I haven't written much for them yet, but the idea is that these creatures have specific species of algae that they grow through vein-like structures in their larger fins, as well as other parts of their body. This algae will photosynthesize and feed the host, admittedly for not much in return, but the fishoid does serve as a structure for the plant.

There's also a smaller species related to these that I'll be drawing sometime, found in coral reefs.

[daerwen]

Dhouluks, a predatory aquatic animal from Schkepi found in deep freshwater rivers. They are one of the larger freshwater fishoids on the planet, relying on ambush among underwater foliage to hunt their prey. The common prey for the Dhouluks are freshwater species of Ciraliths.

There are a large variety of fishoids on Schkepi, but the Dhouluks lineage can only be found in freshwater environments; where only a few species have been found even close to the water merging into the ocean.

Although their carnivorous diet mostly consists of the Ciraliths [A confusing common tongue term, as Ciraliths are the common name for nearly all fishoids in the order Thynocorida, while also being the name for a specific genus of Thynocorida], they also prey on smaller land animals, larger insectoids and other small animals that will fit in their jaws.

Showcasing:

Common Dhouluk

Horned Dhouluk

Tailed Dhouluk

[daerwen]

A group of friends gardening together, Anrie'ye teaching Phio, new to plant caring, about the different plants and their life cycles. As they discuss, Ciranon has prepped something for the friends to snack on.

The thendro flora is the most prolific and varied lineage of flora on Schkepi, being the line that not only makes up a lot of larger plants, but also a majority of grass-like species on the planet.

The larger individual in the artwork is a perennial plant that will sprout, grow, and wither its leaves in cycles all year round. It comes from the wide tropic zone of Schkepi, both in and near the edges of forests.

Showcasing:

Avialyxes

A wingless Smolline bird

Blue Thendro(living vine) flora

Red Cortan(weave) flora

Other unspecified flora

[daerwen]

A coral and fish nursery on Schkepi, prepping and growing organisms for space travel, as these will be shipped out to terraforming colonies throughout the colonized space.

Nyn'thian is on her way with a clipboard to explain a new mini ecosystem she's been planning, with Haixiao waiting by one of the nursery's smaller tanks. Hanging above the tank are instructions on Dhoulak care and life cycles, some species of algae, and a collaboration of kids' drawings sent in from local schools.

Showcasing:

Two female Avialyx

Common Dhoulak (Fish)

A species of Ciralith (Smaller fish)

Various "algae" species

Various "coral" species

[daerwen]

New to Tumblr 👋

I'll be using this space to post about my passion project, a speculative alien world. This sketch is of a lab for growing and prepping corals and aquatic life for space colonies :)

I'll be posting both older and new art every now and then until I'm all caught up ^^