Where the Wild Things Hide

world building, creatures and OC's that don't make it on insta: @sumzerbutt

[la-nute]

Yes, hello Tumblr I am attempting my alien plant people story again.

But a part of me just want to scream about One Piece and Dragon Age headcannons. Oh the horrors of trying to create your own things, so many distractions underfoot.

[sartorialadventure]

Stockings, 1830, cotton/silk.

[thelodestardirective]

From the collection of the ASU FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandizing) Museum in Los Angeles.

[la-nute]

And finally here are the habitants of the foothills. These giants are long lived (centuries), compared to the plant people. I wanted someone to more readily recognize how small the plant people population had become and bring the reality of the accumulated changes to Mio's attention.

They also offer a chance for me to explore language variances/changes. As the foothills giants haven't had direct contact with the plant people in centuries and only know an older form of the dialect. Conversations between the giants and Mio start off stilted, but slowly expand as Mio begins translating between the dialects.

It only took one try before I became happy with the design of the giants. Their introduction had me reworking the whole start to Mio's story so that I could give the giants a larger role in Mio's development.

Due to differences in atmospheres/oxygen concentrations neither Mio nor the giants can fully adapt to eachothers altitudes. That doesn't stop Mio from visiting and they end up building quite a friendship with a giant, and often suffering from a kind of reverse altitude sickness.

[la-nute]

A lot of things in my life have changed in 2025.

I said goodbye to my cat Momo who was in my care for 16 years. I struggled to get employment in my field and juggled 2 part time positions instead. And then I packed up my life into a shed in my parents yard and moved across the country to go to school again.

It's been a lot, and I'm still not convinced this is where I want to be. But sometimes you have to let things play out before you can see what's next.

As I packed I tried to downsize, and I spent time searching through old art. I have a few more snippets of Mio and their world to share. And after that? I guess I'll have to start making new snippets.

[1-jar-of-stars]

On Friendship.

[la-nute]

A little more speculation about minor differences between the plant people settlements that live in different biomes. None of this is applicable to Mio's village, but it's still good to work with the world regardless of its impact on the story. And some bonus Mio expressions just for fun.

And I do want to build a story. I'm just stuck debating if there is enough motivation or plot points to fill a beginning, middle, and end. Snippets of life would be easier to access, but I'm still stuck on the idea of building a bigger story.

[la-nute]

Long time no see. Not much new to add story wise but have some doodles of Mio.

Been in a real rut with life. Which usually means I need to find something to focus on. Maybe this story will be what I need.

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A few more of the old musings about how the plant people will dress. Overall the concept hasn't really changed: large overcoat, form fitting underclothes, and face coverings. Big patterned outerwear in bright colours to contrast the empty mountain landscape.

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For the village I want the homes to have almost no wood in their structures. They will have low profiles to reduce damage from weather and high winds, with sturdy dense building materials. Kind of a hobbit vibe mixed with Machu Picchu. When present the soil is thin and the few treea that do grow are compact and short.

I thought about giving the village terrace farming, but have switched that up a bit. They have small gardens at their homes, tucked beside the building for wind protection. A few plants could grow on the roof, but they have to be sturdy varieties. One of the other plant people settlements specializes in terrace farming. They have access to more soil and plant abundance. The plants they grow show signs of selective breeding and the seeds are hoarded by this tribe. So farming is not readily practiced by other villages and they are more dependant on foraging.

Unfortunately foraging is dangerous. Besides traveling and deep mining, foraging has become one of the main causes of death to the people. Many villages have depleted the plants close to the settlement and foragers must venture further and further. Many have opted out of foraging, becoming highly dependant on their personal gardens and mining to supplement their photosynthesis.

I like the idea of each village having slightly different cultures and specialties. More like distinct tribes that all fit under an overarching cultural umbrella. They all pay reverence to the Mother Mountain, have the same rebirth rituals, and participate in some form of mining. Each has their own slight spin to the traditions though. Like the terrace farmers, maybe there are those that mine pigment more, or some who focus on carving or building. And each trade between eachother with varying levels of secrecy on their specialties.

Basically Mio is a curiius and rebellious bean that hates being denied access to knowledge. They break rules in order to help their home village, but become more of an outsider because of it. In the end maybe they do help their village, or maybe all their isolation and exploration is for nothing.

At the moment the largest interaction between Mio and the villages will be with the terrace farmers and the annual intervillage gathering. I have this fun idea of Mio wanting to learn better farming methods but being denied access to that knowledge. Mio being a stubborn creature steals seeds or sneaks into their archive to obtain some of that knowledge, which ostrasizes them from their own tribe a bit more.

[la-nute]

I went delving into older art again and found more from Mio's story. It's ben an embarassing amount of time since I last thought about this project. That tends to happen.

I love this lil snapshot, it really shows off Mio's (foreground) loner attitude and preference for solitude. Someone knows them and cares where they are despite this. Probably Knot, maybe another villager whose care Mio is oblivious to.

The collection I found is from an attempt to actually draw out some of the comic panels. Some of the ideas have been replaced now. The process was quite an effort and I want to celebrate how much I did in 2017/2018. If I think abiut Mio enough more is sure to develop.

Then in another 5 years I'll pick it up again. XD

[la-nute]

Thinking about a bit of biology for the alien plant people. Plus a bit of cape/mask thoughts, I don't think it's worth bothering with though. It's too complex for a daily use item.

They have arms a bit longer than a human and shorter strong legs. No need for a large digestive system, and so the lungs take up the exyra space. I was thinking about bird lungs and respiration for the people. They live in thin air so why not have the most efficient lungs. There is always air circulating within their lungs, perfect for efficient oxygenation.

I mean, it's way more complex than that, I'll throw an animation from google as an example of how the system works. Basically the exhale moves to a holding space before being exhaled.

[la-nute]

Still debating how the patterns and colours of their cloaks will work. I've been pulling from Peruvian and Mezo Amercian cultures but I am thinking I will take a closer look at the clothing and decorative patterns of these cultures. Maybe some Mongolian patterns as well.

I've mostly focused on Mio and Knot for visual development of the plant peoples clothing. Haven't put much thought to the other cast members as of yet. Also need to decide if bright colour is reasonable for where the people live, how do they get the dyes and pigments? Easiest thought is from the stones around them. Second would be plants, but plant life is more scarce up there.

Ho hum.

[iheartmyart]

Ahmad Nadalian, series Sand Prints

[la-nute]

Here are some more recent sketches from Mio's story. Plotted out some rules for their clothing under the cloaks.

These are made of one of the cloth types that the plant people weave from stone. Don't ask me how they do it, I haven't decided yet. The cloth is breathable and highly durable. Most often the garments are form fitting for easy layering under the thicker protective cloaks that the people wear. They are close to the skin to prevent sand and rain from entering and help regulate their temperature. They are made of one solid colour or are left undyed and are the colour of the stone they were woven from.

The only time you would see these garments are indoors in very casual settings. Cloaks and ponchos are the go to norm and no one would go outside their home without one, mostly due to the weather and partially due to habit.

I like to think that even when hanging around their homes the people tend to keep a cloak on, usually a lighter variety more like a housecoat. Decorative belts act as the main adornment of these outfits. Sometimes patterned under/overlayers are added to be fancy, but the people usually lean toward function over form.

[la-nute]

Say hello to my horndog asshole rogue Tomlin. He is crab flavoured.

He's gone through a lot of development since I first made this simic crab boi. He definitely has become more crab as time progressed. Bit of a sleeze, a bit dense, and a bit beefy for a rogue.

Dude got his ass cursed by a fae or something. Scorned lover or some shit. Haven't quite decided yet.

[la-nute]

In 2017 I really gave a lot of time to building up Mio's world and story. Now I am hoping to pick it up again and continue solidifying what I want to happen. Mio is the cactus head on the left, on the right is their friend/partner Knot. Keep reading for some more about village life in the mountains.

The majority of the story will be set atop the mountain where the plant people's villages are. There are only 3 or 4 villages and all of them have decreased in population since they were first settled. As such each village is surrounded by a section of abandoned buildings in various stages of delapidation (is that even a word?). Each village has a central temple space where their records are kept and funerary rites occur. These vary in appearance with Mio's village using a large cave as their temple.

The villages communicate between eachother via insect messengers. Much like carrier pigeons these insects transport messages and small items between villages. Travel between villages is treacherous and only undertaking if absolutely necessary. The plant people have minimal contact with the lowlands, though a few merchants from the foorhills will venture to the lowest village on occasion. Due to the thin air lowland villagers have a difficult time staying at the villages for long. The low oxygen, high winds, cold temps, and dryness are a deterrent for any casual visitor.

The merchants that do visit are there to trade predominantly for stone cloth, ores, or minerals. The plant people have an expansive knowledge of the rocks and minerals found in their home and have been able to develop methods to produce thread and weave cloth from select minerals. This cloth is very durable and lighter and more flexible than you would expect (it's still heavier than most cloth, probably like a thick canvas).

And that's a little parcel of village life.

In exchange for their products the plant people usually take other fabrics, some food types, wooden objects, or an odd trinket. The mountain provides them with everything they need and these trades are never for essential items. Sometimes the people will just give a merchant a portion of what they are asking for without trade if the merchant doesn't have anything they want. This is highly dependant on their manners and history with the village or people.

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More Mio notes from 2017.

Mio finding an "item" is the main storyline I have developed. I am still unsure what change it shall produce, but it will be something that disconnects Mio from their tribe. More musings on the story development below.

At one point these plant aliens lived on a desert. I scratched that and have moved them to a mountain top. It gives similar sustenance and environmental challenges, but feels better. I live near the Rockies, the humbling power of a towering mountain is highly attractive.

A big part of this story is a community being faced with a big change. I want Mio to be the source of the change and explore how their relationship to the community is altered by their actions.

The "item" currently exists in my head as a uniquely shaped/coloured stone. Mio discovers it while working in the mining caves. I like the idea that the "item" is a past technology from the alien settlers from which the plant people decended. The settlers adapted themselves genetically to fit this ecological niche on the mountain and some of their old experiemnts and tech are found/passed down/used by the plant people. The people no longer have the knowledge for how these technologies work, but they tend to adapt them to their current environment or just keep them in their spiritual dwellings.