dialtown objecthead speculative biology overview
*These diagrams don't show everything- assorted facial muscles, vessels, fat layers, and other miscellaneous bits have been omitted for clarity. There's very little by way of empty space.
1. skull
The post-Dialup objecthead's skull is heavily modified from those of before the Dialup, see fig. 2 for more information. The orbits, nares, and foramen magnum serve as ports for organic nerves, inorganic wires, blends of the two, and blood vessels to enter and exit the organic brain.
2. digital brain
Part of the brain has been digitized. Processing and data storage are suspended in a non-conductive, organic oil produced by the body. The surface of the drive is heavily vascularized, serving as a natural liquid coolant system.
3-5. trachea, air filter, and nasal cavity
The trachea is covered by an air filter to keep particulate out of the lungs. The filter is inaccessible through normal means, and is cleaned by a set of digestive enzymes. Serious clogging may need to be rectified with surgery.
6. dermis
A thin, skin-like layer houses vessels and nerves and provides feeling to the head shell, similar to feeling your fingernail being touched. Helps water resistance, but does not ensure waterproofing of the head- the shell must be waterproofed. This skin layer can regrow after being damaged- such as in the case of a head shell swap surgery. Those recovering from swapping their head shell generally have little-to-no feeling in their head for up to a year afterwards as the nerves regrow.
7-9. eating slot, liquid tube, and mouth cavity
The eating slot is the opening leading to the mouth- typically has a sliding door that opens and shuts voluntarily. The slot faces either forwards or downwards, making ingestion of liquids through the slot difficult for some. To compensate, many models have a separate, nearby port to insert straws which can provide suction into the mouth. A similar attachment is used to allow newborns to nurse.
The mouth cavity "chews" food into tiny sizes using grinding metal surfaces, preventing blockages and choking. These grinders are surrounded by metal to avoid flesh getting caught. Prior to the grinders, fleshy "cheeks" covered in tastebuds with connected salivary glands move food to the back of the throat, while allowing a sense of taste & saliva introduction. The complete separation of the food and air intakes make deaths by food asphyxiation essentially non-existent.
10. mechanical phone elements
Machinery allows for the function of the object head (phone calls, printing, etc.), and entirely depends on the model. Many rotary phone models based on Crown Mechanics' original designs retain older-style mechanics such as metal ringers alongside newer developments.
11. optical sensors (shown in a separate illustration for clarity- they rest near the surface and would obscure the other parts)
Essentially little cameras, the nerve-wires of which enter directly through the cranium's orbits. Optical sensors, like organic eyes, often have problems with focus. Like glasses, small corrective lenses can be placed over sensors, often by a dentist. Entire sensors are extremely costly & risky to replace, so it is rarely done.
12-15. vocal chamber, larynx, receiver trachea, and billows
Organic vocal chords that lead to a fleshy air chamber which is precisely manipulated by a series of constrictive muscular rings and mechanical pistons, emulating the speech-making ability of a tongue and lips. In phone-heads, this is often placed in the receiver. In heads which do not have a separate receiver, the vocal apparatus is often attached to the breathing apparatus, and thus do not require the mechanical billows which bring air into the receiver to power speech.
16. aural microphones
Also often placed in the receiver in phone-heads, two microphones (one on each side) which transmits sound data to the digital brain, whether wired or wirelessly.
In modern, post-Dialup objectheads, these many elements can be arranged in near infinite ways to fit into a near infinite variety of object heads. These parts were intentionally designed by Crown to be highly customizable, to allow for this variety.
The post-Dialup skull is heavily modified. The mandible is entirely absent, and the skull itself is compact & rectangular, allowing it to fit into a variety of head shapes in a variety of compositions. Being so compact & further protected by the object's outer shell, the skull is especially tough. No eyes or teeth are present.
As it is so much smaller, the size of the organic brain is heavily reduced. This is made up for with a far higher neuronal density (allowing more brain power in a smaller space), and relegating part of the brain's processing function to the digital brain. This can, however, lead to vulnerabilities inherent to digital media.
Those who had their heads surgically replaced prior to the Dialup, of course, do not have the modified skull shape. instead, their original skull still resides in their head, with the lower jaw and assorted extremities removed and replaced with mechanical versions, such as the eyes. This means that pre-Dialup objectheads are necessarily large in order to accommodate the skull's size. Modern objectheads allow for far smaller and narrower heads.
i've been working on this. for AGES. i've had this in the works for so long and it's gone through SO many iterations (some of which you may have seen) and it's finally done and i'm very very proud of how that first illustration came out in particular. i have other assorted bits and bobs to say about the subject but this is the vast majority, and i think the most interesting parts. i hope you enjoy my scary headcanons
