Do Electric Sheep Dream of Machines?

She/Her Just a place for me to write what'ever i want, more often than not speculative evolution and adjacents to it, i sometimes do pixel art for my stuff. quality unassured

[doelectricsheepdreamofmachines]

Random Mythology / Tradition #1

"The Greatest Insult"

The Dwarves in the mountains west are renown for few things greater than being Stubborn Irritable Craftsmen but many fail to notice the near boundless depths of dwarven tradition, if you can think of something there is likely a tradition surrounding it, though most are unfollowed.

One of the few traditions that survive to the modern day, though diminished in those who seriously follow, is to devise the most gut-wrenching, bone chilling, near demonic insult to keep in your mind, which ended up as a side effect of a very rich culture of insults thrown in tavern brawls which all seem to be ghastlier than the one thrown before it.

in the stories past down next to the stories of ancient heroes, craftsmen, monsters, dragons and many feats by dwarven hands, the oddest one is a story of a trickster god which in their time among dwarves fell in love with the tradition, using the knowledge taken through tricking the other gods, devised an insult so monstrous, its said to destroy the very soul of those who are insulted, even just reading it would feel like your soul was being clawed at by death itself. even dragons fear just the first word of the insult.

rumors say deep within the land, sealed away by all the other gods in the rare moment of mutual-aid the insult lies under thousands of locks, even so the area that surrounds it remains barren at the very presence.

the vast majority of dwarves practice this, although somewhat unknowingly simply by crafting insults honed through arguments overheard or partook in, still easily more jaw dropping than the insults of non-dwarves, the few who properly practice the tradition more faithfully have insults perfected over years which are incomparable to anything short of a genuine curse.

I haven't written anything in a while here and i thought some stupid mythology would be fun enough, which i might write more of as it was infact, fun enough.

its something short but i feel like its missing alot from fantasy stories in general, I need some stupid, unimportant traditions, culture, etc. it makes the world feel alive, people maintaining a tradition which, nobody knows the origin of anymore not because it was perceived sacred, not even complex, just the fun of it.

in my eyes thats what makes the worlds feel alive. the small things are truly what makes something feel natural, as a large overarching mythology works for a story but its artificial.

i am a woman of details, and after all, the devil is in the details and i am very easily tempted by his offer.

[doelectricsheepdreamofmachines]

Felt like i should write a little bit on my own personal project which i'm working on for a game i play (mainly as just a connecting line of lore for things i make in said game)

Mainly as its something that actually drove the creation of This Post (and also a few other of my posts indirectly) and also expands on the ideas there specialized for the project, aswell as talking about abit on other tiny subjects i was thinking of

(aswell as this being a shameless outlet to write planet lore i've been putting off for far too long)

lore™ and geology to start off, Arachne is both the faction name and common name of the species of Anthropoctonus araneiformis (Species name Designated by the Orion Interstellar Xenobiology Division shortly after first contact by ARACHNE in 2167 Terran) which originated on a snowball planet in the Large Magellenic Cloud Localized somewhere near NGC 2070 Cluster

the planet AR-02 "Pruina"'s relative temperature is a bit more consistent than earths sitting around 7c to -33c with much less pronounced winters and summers, due to this year round there is snow, the planets elevation much like its temperature is rather consistent, on earth the distance from the Marianas trench's bottom to the peak of mount Everest is a total of 20km in elevation difference, on Pruina it would be roughly 7km. how'ever most of the elevation is very smooth, the most aggressive overall geographic elevation change on land rarely reach or exceed 25° Degrees.

rotating at about half the speed of earth resulting in 40hour days with slightly shorter years at about 312 earth days (187 Local days) from a cooler star, sitting closer yet still leaning to the far edge of its goldilocks zone.

how'ever the surface is covered in large "plates" which move independently but alongside subdued tectonic activities, due to consistent snow and snowmelt erosion between the separation of these plates result in entire regions of canyons offering shelter to many specialized lifeforms during the ripping winds frequently brought and unchallenged by relatively tame and smooth geography.

Due to these ripping winds most large-scale creatures have grown wider bases instead of taller inorder to avoid being pushed over by rogue winds

alongside often alongside keen sense of atmospheric pressure to the point of a mental problem that can cause anxiety before even lower-power storms on atmospherically stable planets.

ARCHITECTURE

all things considered, most architecture built by Arachne is shaped by the wind

often built within the snowmelt canyons; the doors sit facing away from the winds, and for those on the surface are built rounded, on the wind battered sides, with more angular straight faces away from the wind, often spreading wider on the surface, and more vertically underground.

the designs from their homeworld Purina often still reflect in more atmospherically stable planets to the point of paranoia, the few skyscrapers on other planets they have sharp deflective edges into the direction of the strongest winds, even the small scale buildings still carry wind deflective surfaces towards the strongest wind direction.

even Arachne which have been multiple generations off home world still have a sense to build towards storm-resistant architecture. or building in naturally sheltered areas.

Quick post as i felt i should fill in this area with lore while bored and definitely not procrastinating other things while procrastinating doing those other things with more procrastination

probably will delve more into specific biology, clothing and culture, then have to do things i love and have fun doing like art and worldbuilding to my absolute dismay 💔, before fancying it up to put in proper google docs

[doelectricsheepdreamofmachines]

Non-Human Architecture

As trying to do research on potential ideas for another project of mine where the sophonts are not completely shaped nor share the same needs and wants of habitation like humans i've realized a severe lack in content about it aside from AI slop which is barely considered content at all

so as my duty as a writer and annoyed person on the internet,

i present my non-professional, unconfirmed engineer and architecture prowess and skill to Architecture design work for beings that simply do not value or need the same solutions human architecture doesn't fulfill.

So to start off i'm gonna do something to clarify and give an arbitrary metric of measurement

AIND (Alien Index)

_ 1 AIND | Fully Human / Guy with tattoos (Self explanatory) | _ 2 AIND | Human BUT (human shape but altered in some shape or form, no extra limbs aside from at most a tail, still fits the featherless biped with 2 arms body plan) | _ 3 AIND | Partially Human (Uses human designs, culture, morals and sometimes mythos, quite adjacent but limbs can be repositioned, extras added, sometimes more insect based, sometimes more avian based, varies heavily but ultimately has human traits.) | _ 4 AIND | only in mind does the humanity show (biologically Not human in any shape or form, however mirrors a bit of cultural, mental and moral actions. often times includes parallels to human tech progression as well as straight up parallels to human technology simply adapted to their biology.) | _ 5 AIND | completely inhuman (operates within completely non-human morals, habitation, biology, the only similarity is operating under the same rules of reality.) | _ 6+ AIND | incomprehensible (operates under completely different rules of reality)

I'll try to cover something for things below 4 AIND as a person who has been human for a majority of their life sometimes less depending who you ask, i unfortunately do not know how to think in a way untouched by human bias.

to categorize more so to ensure we are on the same page and some references on media:

most TV show/movie & game sophonts are within the 1-2 AIND range think startrek, avatar, the lot

Starwars is one of the big ones to have a few sophonts in the 3 AIND range

the classic grey aliens are firmly within 2 AIND

most Speculative evolution projects (that dont include humans as their center) firmly stay within the 4 AIND range

I know i've seen some people who have pulled off 5 AIND but i cant recall the name exactly.

The Utility Room easily features 6+ AIND

thank you for reading my arbitrary measuring system, time to get into the actual architecture parts:

1 AIND Architecture is simply human but scifi/fantasy, it requires no specialized work to avoid challenge inherent to a being which doesnt have the same body plan as a human, the choice design work for most tv shows/movies with aliens, due to the limits of having human actors.

2 AIND Architecture is just human architecture requirements but brought to extremes like taller doorways or shorter doorways for access but inherently is still using designs of human architecture, potentially just located in like trees or something. if not on an exceptional extreme tall side, they probably can still navigate human architecture with a little trouble, functionally just would require making a house just overall taller or shorter.

3 AIND Architecture gets a little more unique as i count this as where much more unique body plans start occuring but still reminisce of human, functionally architecture will be designed for simply different needs and creatures might have difficulty navigating human architecture. an Example could be a creature which adapted to climb on walls and ceilings as simply as simply as walking on the ground, lacking needs to design stairs and ladders, if done underground they'd likely sprawl out in all directions or a blind creature housing requiring unique shapes and textures within the walls and floor to dictate where everything is based on the reflection of sounds from different textures and materials, likely would have Horrendous color choices. all housing lacking lighting and windows due to the lack of a need for them. maybe even Mermaid type beings, using underwater caves with air pockets as their homes, maybe being more amphibious requiring their entire house to have atleast a "waist high" amount of water for comfort. all technically able to navigate human architecture but wouldn't be able to reasonably live or want to live in it.

4 AIND Architecture is designed moreso for creatures which dont follow the same body plan in any shape or form. either fundamentally incapable of using human architecture or would be VERY difficult to navigate. @entelodante actually has quite a good reference of the concepts in function, big bulky stone architecture that sprawls outwards instead of upwards to deal with the large and heavy Styraphants, including Stop-overs as a big part of Styraphant architecture due to being a migratory species.

they require different design work to fit their body plan and habits as a migratory being which is PERFECT example of what 4 AIND is all about. Different Bodyplan, Different Habits, Different Priorities in Housing, checks all my boxes.

I feel like i haven't done perfect justice for the topic but, DO tag or mention other examples of uniquely designed architecture for your own projects or others. i might make a part 2 to this post if i can amass alot more cool references to talk about and organize into arbitrary categories.

[doelectricsheepdreamofmachines]

I feel as though i must share this.

this dream of mine i had like a year ago (sometime before august 2025, thats atleast where i can find the first time i talked to people about it) that just resurfaced again.

I was floating in the middle of open ocean, deep below the surface, but still able to see sunlight come through the surface of the water.

far above a swarm of sharks swam near the surface, orbiting around a massive one, a gash from where the mouth should be all the way down to the base of the tail, where a new mouth was, teeth extending outside of the mouth like pistons.

a smaller one of the sharks swam under and she bit down, the teeth on the outside rapidly spearing inwards instantly turning the shark into a red mist that tinted the light pouring down red.

none of the surrounding sharks reacted at all, still orbiting.

i never felt fear during, only awe, reverence in a way. i do not know why but i know, she was "Wrath", for who, of what, i do not know.

and then i woke up.

probably means nothing but, it feels different, something i keep thinking of from time to time. i feel as though i just glimpsed an old god and told a prophecy in a way only they could tell.

and i can be SURE it wasn't because i watched a shark based film, i watched Jaws during a movie night in October the same year.

maybe i should draw her, one of these days.

[doelectricsheepdreamofmachines]

Its rough but i DID draw her, played with some new techniques of mixing pixel art w/ other art programs to adjust it & add text (and add a random stock photo i stole off of google for the background & pixelized + gridwarp + overall some editing to the image itself to fit better)

also i need a shorter alias.. quite hard to find a spot that fits but i made it work! (but i am happy with how i managed to make Dream stand out on the fin, highly fitting)

[doelectricsheepdreamofmachines]

I feel as though i must share this.

this dream of mine i had like a year ago (sometime before august 2025, thats atleast where i can find the first time i talked to people about it) that just resurfaced again.

I was floating in the middle of open ocean, deep below the surface, but still able to see sunlight come through the surface of the water.

far above a swarm of sharks swam near the surface, orbiting around a massive one, a gash from where the mouth should be all the way down to the base of the tail, where a new mouth was, teeth extending outside of the mouth like pistons.

a smaller one of the sharks swam under and she bit down, the teeth on the outside rapidly spearing inwards instantly turning the shark into a red mist that tinted the light pouring down red.

none of the surrounding sharks reacted at all, still orbiting.

i never felt fear during, only awe, reverence in a way. i do not know why but i know, she was "Wrath", for who, of what, i do not know.

and then i woke up.

probably means nothing but, it feels different, something i keep thinking of from time to time. i feel as though i just glimpsed an old god and told a prophecy in a way only they could tell.

and i can be SURE it wasn't because i watched a shark based film, i watched Jaws during a movie night in October the same year.

maybe i should draw her, one of these days.

[doelectricsheepdreamofmachines]

GOLEMS & LIVING ARMOR

Calxina Terraplasmati Most people assume Living armor and Golems seperate, when they are one and the same, simply differing by their shells

Golems are Wild Calxina, made by acid secreted when asexual reproduction occurs within the colony, hollowing out and filling stone, resulting in over time golems growing nearly infinitely large, until the sheer weight grows too much for motion and the colonies split. They are typically found in the wild around rocky canyons and fields of collapsed stone

Living armor is the domesticated form of Calxina, made by putting a part of a colony within a set of armor or general mechanical body, they quickly fill the space within the armor. some wizards and artificers alike have tried to use this to create immortal endless armies usually ending in failure due to the difficulty in controlling colonies to do what you wish

Either naturally found in the ruins of castle armories or within the hands of a crafty artificer.

Despite the numerous failures there have been few kingdoms able to master control over the Claxina, usually using them as dumb labor, hauling material and sometimes, as mobile castles.

Rumors say they are related to the simple slimes but no proof has ever come of it

[doelectricsheepdreamofmachines]

I FORGOT I HAD A TUMBLR FOR A BIT

So this time because i cant think of how to de-humanifiy the centaurs and mermaids you get this in the meantime

A TRI-GOD PANTHEON

but first, i need to get off on my tangent on how gods come into being

I'm not religious, but i do take an interest in trying to figure out how the concept of god, dont lynch me religious people of tumblr for this I think the core of a god is understanding how the world works, gods served the purpose originally to understand why something happens when you cannot explain it otherwise, namely in early stages of humanity

You are Alive Pre 12,000 BC what seems more logical to you?

A Spirit/God/Being controls the rain, it rains when they are angry/sad

The Sky Rains, then the ground then DRINKS IT then the sun steals the water back

Voting ended onSep 1, 2025

Now this also extends to everything else, Fire? its because a spirit is angry and taking its wrath out on people.

when communities of humans grouped together the gods obviously gained a more concrete shape and mythos around them, that only increased in size with the groups size, thats why we generally have so (relatively) few gods still believed in around obviously later down the line some humans bastardizised them for control via fear, if you didn't follow their word and woe you were a sinner and were gonna go to the shit boilers and be boiled in shit for the rest of eternity when you die. also it worked to convince people to do bad things in the name of god to be good, I.E: go kill that guy because hes a dirty sinner and you'll get a pass into the good afterlife. anyways tangent done, a little more nihilistic than i liked but, but to leave it on a note "If you need a book to tell you how to be a good person, you are not."

THE SISTERS

there are 3 Sisters, The Beginning, The End, and Everything Inbetween,

Nysera, The Beginning, kisses your forehead before letting your soul come to the world, blesses every beginning, a new years resolution, the shedding of a grudge into a new era of life, a new job, a new something. of the start of rain, of the start of fire, of the start of the coldest winter, of the start of the worst drought. Blessing every Sunrise. Melyra, Everything Inbetween, holds your hand as you go, ensuring nothing grows idle, ensuring trees reach to the sky, forcing you to walk through the storm inorder to reach the other side quicker. Blesses every time something continues, cruelty and joys alike, ensures a beginning meets its end only when its time. Blessing both Midnight and Midday. Ozyra, The End, Hugs you as you fall into her arms when you die, telling you did all you could, cleansing you of every woe and both every joy, rebuilding you as something anew, to gift back to Nysera, Blessing every end, of a life, of rain, of drought, of sorrow, of joy, of the winter and summer, of famine. Blessing the Sunset.

i wanted to make this little pantheon as i felt there was too many just simply "evil" and "good" gods, all of them are good and bad in a way, just a force of nature

also i mean i needed something to write that felt from the heart, something not utopic but something just okay. if anyone wants to use this idea go for it, just dont start a cult in my name. might at some point draw the sisters as tarot card style things

[doelectricsheepdreamofmachines]

De-Humanizing Fantasy Races 2: Electric Boogaloo

PT1

the sequel everything obviously has been waiting for in all of history

ELVES

i forgot to cover High elves in the last one which i did have concepts for already HIGH ELVES are when elves of either type live for a very long time, (>1000 years) when magic has concentrated enough inside their body, they metamorphize into a higher form, something akin to a jellyfish, flying off magic, which when running out eventually, they fall to the ground and become roots of a new forest, typically above their body the largest tree sits.

DWARVES

shamelessly stealing the design from MonsterGarden check out their stuff on them, big inspiration to this. i love their design on it and it works PERFECTLY for what i'm going for here. i was gonna explain the design from there but, just like, watch their video on them, send them thoughts AND ad-revenue

GNOMES

a Intelligent fungoid species, which uses its roots as limbs, they operate in a colony with other gnomes, forming bodies for eachother to operate as puppets, leaving their cap outside of the body as a head, looking like a red cone. as fungoids they have a sudo hivemind, being able to communicate through touch and through electrical currents between them vaguely understand what each are thinking, typically working in a colony-first mentality but they do have their own personalities craftsmanship is usually valued highly in gnome society as they make usually multiple bodies for themselves during their lifetime.

not quite as meaty as the last one i think but still a pt3 of it! please send me an ask or reply if i missed your favorite fantasy species or some details to add/change tho them! i'll probably do a pt3 soon for all the fantasy races that distinctly were half-human in their descriptions (I.E mermaids/merfolk, Centaurs, ETC) and some other niche-ish races (also anything anyone send an ask or reply of) as i think the ones i covered now and in PT1 were more MAINLINE fantasy (stuff like i think probably everyone with a vague interaction with fantasy knows)

[doelectricsheepdreamofmachines]

De-Humanizing Fantasy Races

i always felt in a world of fantasy with so many weird creatures, backwards traditions, the races wouldn't just be... Human BUT tall sexy and has pointy ears or Human BUT short and has beards

So without further ado (but first PT2 is here if you wanted to read that after this)

Elves

Elves are a race of sophonts whom live within forests as guardians, elves are a sort of umbrella term there are two distinct groups of elves Wood Elves Dark Elves Wood elves have the head of a deer, tall, long arms almost like a primate, their fur is a cream color, always well groomed. Dark elves have the head of a wolf, tall, long arms aswell, much like a primate but with claws tipping the ends, the fur is grey patterned with black, brown or purple, rough and less kempt dark elves are strictly nocturnal, wood elves are strictly diurnal elves protect forests for their entire lives, their ways differ, wood elves prefer diplomacy but will fight if push comes to shove dark elves eliminate all threats to the forest, no questions asked.

GOBLIN, ORC, TROLL, CYCLOPS

Goblins are a single species which through both age and food availability grow in size, goblins are small green frog-like sophonts, hunched bipedal and capable of tool use, a distinct thing is they have a single eye in the middle of their head After growing to a sufficient age and their environment having enough of their food of choice, they grow into a orc, but first before that, the largest goblins are typically called "Hob-Goblins" Orcs are larger more muscular goblins, typically double the height (around 6-7ft) and just as strong, their posture is more properly bipedal, lacking the hunch that goblins have , a "beard" beegins growing and at the back of their heads horns begin to grow aswell, typically rarely consistent to other orcs the largest of the orcs are called "Hob-Orcs" (typically being around 10ft at most) Once they of course reach sufficient age and they still have enough food they become cyclopes, rarely more than 1-2 exist per region and usually leave colonies of goblinoids to seek more food, rarely how'ever they stick with their original colony and work as a defender Cyclops are even larger goblins, even more muscular, reaching well past the sizes of orcs going 17-20ft, their horns have fully matured into their final states, same with the beards, their skin color shifts from the green found in most goblinoids to a dusty almost biege green Other notes that apply to all goblinoids, except trolls (which i'll cover in a moment) all goblinoids birth goblins, regardless of size. Trolls are when a goblinoid fails to transition into the next form, ending up as boil covered greyish beasts, with hyperactive regeneration, able to grow limbs fully back from severance, they typically match about halfway inbetween the former and latter forms they were trying to reach (i.e a troll from Orc to Cyclops would be 13-15ft) they are still accepted within goblin communities for their power, despite their looks. trolls are infertile and cannot give birth to any goblinoids at all.

Anyways to pause on this and say a PT2 will be somewhere in the future as i've been sitting on this for a while, for those whom wander upon my posts and possibly enjoy them (sick fuck) sorry for not posting for a bit, i forgot i had a tumblr for a minute and got busy with other things

[doelectricsheepdreamofmachines]

Arachne

Alongside the tentacle speculative evolution i had an idea for them

if you have arachnophobia, maybe pass for this one

this one i didn't want to delve too much into the speculative evolution side but more into the functional modern habitations and niches of them, so without a further ado

Zoology of The Arachne (araneacaponem)

Arachne is a very Large trapdoor spider species with a very complex and detailed ornamentation off the head, which appears to have been designed to near evolutionary perfection to be as close to a homosapien's body waist up, the area where the legs would be is where it attaches to the head.

Hunting tactics

Hunting tactics rely on their nests, which is dug into the ground about 2m, lined with webs. they sit in those nests to allow only the lure above the ridge, a underground burrow extends from a side of them for storage of food and protection from rain. preying upon both humans, anything curious enough and predators of humans, when something that meets one of those 3 criteria gets too close, the Arachne will spring out of the hole, grab and drag prey back in while pumping paralyzing venom into the prey. consumption is mostly the same as normal spiders, wrapping the prey in webs and releasing a digestive enzyme.

Ecological benefits

despite being a predator of humans aswell, they infact do more benefit than harm (if you are careful to leave them alone) killing off other predators of Homosapiens, ensuring that the population of them do not get too high. Rumors say in some communities to co-exist with the Arachne, they offer the dead to them as payment for defence, rumors also have said they are possible to domesticate but no proof of such has been found, hasn't stopped people from trying how'ever.

Subspecies

There are plenty of Arachne subspecies which can vary from, colors how they build their nest and burrow to entirely changing hunting strategy from the wait and pounce strategy. a low northern subspecies (araneacaponem pruinem) seasonally changes color from brown to white during winter, having adaptations alongside to operate during warmer days of winter, returning to their burrow to hibernate on the colder ones.

Lifespan & Sexual Dimorphism

Living about 30-40 years, becoming mature at 10 years which then they will leave their mother's nest, if female they will find a suitable location for a nest and begin creating one (typically >100km from their mothers, or if they find a suitable location already taken, might fight the owner of the nest to take it over), Males how'ever are smaller and do not have the ornamentation, hunting more like a tarantula.

[doelectricsheepdreamofmachines]

Wanted to put something here initially before i start writing anything to say i exist, so this time more formally and as a form to chronologically know when i started truly.

Hello Tumblr, I Exist.

> Do Electric Sheep Dream of Machines? (2025/07/01)