Eliksni have odd inherited colors from time to time. The two most documented (aside from extreme humidity blue and red) are "yellow" and "green".
"Yellow" eliksni are just that -- a yellow color that varies from pale sand to fresh lemon. These are usually taken for very pale brown eliksni, though as they age this gets proven wrong. It's not fully understood what might cause the yellow coloration, but it could simply be from a particular slew of recessive trait combinations. Some theorize it may be linked to stress while the hatchlings eggs were still being carried, but typical stress/sickness related coloration tends to fade into pale blues. Yellow eliksni are more likely to have chitin-related conditions, but they are often on the extreme ends of the spectrum: either very fragile or very thick.
"Green" eliksni are meanwhile are completely understood in their origin: the Hive. Or, rather, the result of an eliksni carrying eggs of the Hive rather than the inverse, which results in changelings. The offspring of changelings, should they manage to have any at all, also carry this green color, with diminishing Hive characteristics. The green coloration is typically very dull and very dark, but pale complexions are not entirely rare. Green eliksni also have atypical eye color, such as a matching - albeit brighter - green hue, as well as yellow. There aren't any known defects associated with the coloration, other than growing faster than their peers (much like changelings).
The majority of eliksni are born grey or brown -- the colors are very similar when one is a hatchling, but as an eliksni ages the differences become more apparent.
"Grey" eliksni are cooler in color: slate greys, silver, and even vibrant blue. "Brown" eliksni are warmer: dull browns, rusty oranges, and bright reds. Coloration changes and morphs over time; an eliksni born grey can get some warmth to their shell if they live more inland, with the inverse being true for a brown eliksni to move to the coast.
These colors were once analogs for where their ancestors lived: grey eliksni were equipped for salt water, while brown were for fresh water. They mingled and adapted alongside each other, with crossbreeding leading to the modern eliksni we know today.
I'm not sure if I need to put a suggestive tag or to turn on mature label for the post. Bc I abruptly remember somewhere such things being flagged, when for me this art doesn't look like that, and maybe I again don't understand things right.
It's not that serious, I only wanted to draw them more and with other coloration. Not sure if I needed to change them more drastically. Cabal have some hooved animals' coloration and big cats (I don't have a clear explanation, could make their colours anything). Psions got fish and sea slugs (and I also thought abt amphibians). They just gave this vibe.
If I'll get to Hive and Eliksni it would be a fight between deciding which arthropods' coloration to give to which of them.
I thought if I needed to do Psions' joints like this creature from NMS has, so alienish. Like it's not chitin but thicker skin. Tho maybe their skin is thin, and it wouldn't be suitable. I did it only on the one Psion
Idk where Cabal's bristles are located except these that I saw on some concept. And if they would be like humans have. Still, I added them more on some for diversity.
Maybe I would draw Ghaul and Umun'arath someday if I ever get to them on my spontaneous list and if I would have motivation. I saw only two official arts with Umun'arath, and she's pale as Ghaul too? Cabal were said to have gray skin as the base one. Calus's coloration also brings questions bc I saw it gray on some screenshots and lighter-pinkish on other. Did they like have 3 Cabal with unusual skin colour in one place.
Thought I would do it quicker and even more sketchy. And I couldn't concentrate and let thoughts and condition go, bc I abruptly got stressed and very anxious to the little nosebleed that I don't remember when I even had. I don't want to go into details, as it was bringing the tears when remembering, and put me back into more paranoid and enclosed state. What became of me
riis eliksni probably didn’t need to wear shoes except for special purposes (most likely protection and maybe fashion in some cases), but if they did, i like to think they looked like these :o
Stickers are $3. Decals are $7. Shipping within America is $1, Worldwide is $3. If for some reason you or a pal deeply desires to stick your loyalty to Eramis on some wall or object, you can do that now.
Chances are, Finnish is the key to deciphering the Eliksni language
So, in the first mission in the Edge of Fate DLC (Which is also conveniently enough the free hook mission) Lodi mentions that the Eliksni language structure is apparently somewhat similar to Finnish. This would meaning that the Eliksni language is agglutinative, meaning that it strings together large sequences of words to form a single long compound word. This would make sense, as in the lore tab 'Burden Part III' we get a captain yelling "vankemraptalirask" as well as "vamesaqeptosirulosk," which seem to both be an amalgamation of multiple words all mashed into one.
Additionally, depending on how similar we believe Eliksni and Finnish to be, there are a lot more language rules we could garner from this one short line of dialogue. And given the work the people like the Cryptarchy and Sarsion are doing, chances are, the entire Eliksni language could be at our fingertips if we learn how to break each compound word down into their individual key elements. From what I'm aware, the Cryptarchy has a method of decoding new words, so as long as we can obtain those words and their contexts, a full dictionary should be easy enough in due time.
But eh, at this point I'm just rambling. This probably isn't even half coherent.
Velask! Over the past year or two, the Destiny fandom has seen a handful of zines centric on all of our alien friends - but nobody has pitched one for our favorite space crabs yet.
So a handful of us Eliksni lovers come to you to ask - do you want more Eliksni/Scorn content? Do you want to have fun contributing to a big group project that accepts artists of all skill levels? If this sounds up your alley, please fill out our interest check!
Interest check for a zine focused on the Eliksni race from Bungie's Destiny.
If you have additional questions, feel free to check our FAQ or send us an ask.
Okay, now that I am calmer and have actually read through the FAQ and a few other things they had...
I have thoughts....
The first and most important is that I'm very confused why they are separating out cannon from OCs and non-cannon characters. This is not a "Destiny" zine, this is small niche zine... and on top of that it's SFW - which I want to be clear I am ABSOLUTELY okay with - however, it means that the already small base of creators are going to be even smaller, and then you remove non-cannon and OCs.... >.>
If you think I'm wrong, let me direct you to Ao3. If you type in Eliksni you will get 90% NSFW. Of that remaining 10% I would say, maybe 3% is centered on a cannon character, and of *that* 3%, only about 2%(very generous) is actually cannon character focused with no OCs.
IMHO, if you want this zine to thrive (which I cannot stress enough that I would love to see it do so), and don't want to have NSFW (again, very valid!) then you have to compromise, and will need your OCs and cannon-divergent peeps to do a LOT of that heavy lifting for you.
I just don't think the content - or will to make it - is out there, as dearly as I would adore it being so.
However! I say this last bit with my full chest. I hope with all my heart to be proven wrong!
Genuinely confused about this comment. How is a zine focused on canon characters from the first enemy race ever presented a small, niche, non-Destiny zine? There's been multiple seasons focusing on said characters, so it's not like they're obscure, either. Misraaks and Eido feature quite prominently in lore cards even in out-of-season events as well, so they're up there in the main characters spectrum of things.
I'm also confused about the comment of needing NSFW or OCs to take off. I'm not on the mod team, I'm just someone who backed the idea and entered early, but the whole reason why the zine was created and split from an OC zine was to put more attention on canon characters in a fandom that is generally dominated by OCs, so the submissions that the zine gets are not overwhelmed by it. I say this as someone who is very attached to his OCs, but the main reason I'm into Destiny is for the canon Eliksni characters, so if we're trying to promote appreciation for them, measures are going to have to be taken to ensure that the zine remains on-target. It's not for lack of love for OCs. That's why there's going to be a follow-up zine for OC content.
As for NSFW, that's to make it safe for anyone to join + lower the moderation headache. If you incorporate NSFW, you have to verify that the folks who are doing NSFW pieces are adults somehow, and then there's the added headache of nobody involved wanting to see shitty porn art of non-mammalian characters having tits and human dicks when fanart is already flooded enough with that shit as is. Content moderation would be a nightmare, so it's best to just...not
This is also a nonprofit fanzine, so...it's not about whether or not this is a 'successful' zine or if it takes off or w/ever, it's purely for the fun of it. Even if it only got 3 submissions that would be fine. The point isn't to be 'successful' or reach a target, it's to have fun. Therefore, there's no reason why there should be a compromise for NSFW or OCs. The point is to give more love to canon characters and to have fun, and incorporating those aspects for more reach would contradict both points entirely.
Idk, maybe I'm misreading something somehow, but I just genuinely don't understand how any of this is relevant here, and the idea of needing to make a fun fandom group event be successful is kinda rubbing me the wrong way, ngl
Velask! Over the past year or two, the Destiny fandom has seen a handful of zines centric on all of our alien friends - but nobody has pitched one for our favorite space crabs yet.
So a handful of us Eliksni lovers come to you to ask - do you want more Eliksni/Scorn content? Do you want to have fun contributing to a big group project that accepts artists of all skill levels? If this sounds up your alley, please fill out our interest check!
Interest check for a zine focused on the Eliksni race from Bungie's Destiny.
If you have additional questions, feel free to check our FAQ or send us an ask.
The International Space Station (ISS) crosses in front of the Sun’s roiling chromosphere, captured in extraordinary detail by photographer Andrew McCarthy. source
made a base so i could draw the colors/markings of my eliksni ocs for artfight -- you can download it off my shop for free (there's always the option to tip me <3 )
A fullbody and headshot base for eliksni/fallen OCs for the Destiny franchise. Not affiliated with Bungie.
I personally operate with 1 Riis year is ~11 Earth years, and a Riis day is 27 hours with a longer daylight period due to their 2 suns.
Seasons
(Some of these might not be "seasons" for us, but eliksni also have very huge trade cultures in my headcanons. Some of these names use parts of @abidethetempest's conlang, but others are my own "eliksni sounding" words)
Durrdra: Rough equivalent of winter -- incredibly cold in some places, with lots of water freezing over.
Urthrys: Period when Riis thaws out and one of the shortest seasons. Used as a period of preparation for hunts and harvests. Eliksni often (and instinctually) find life partners or have hatchlings during this time.
Chihrr: Bugs come out in droves during this season and are hunted and harvest for food, or caught and bred as pets.
Shiivath: The hottest season on Riis, an equivalent of summer. A lot of schooling happens around now within Houses.
Viideks: A (typically sudden) rainy and flood season that swamps much of the planet thanks to the prior heat waves.
Liismek: "Frog" breeding season and when tadpoles are gathered and harvested. Also when weaker crops are planted to avoid flood damage.
Kicheth: Similar to spring; usually a time when more mammal-adjacent creatures have their offspring, and is another instance of insect activity.
Taneth: very long farming-into-harvest season. A very busy time of the year for most houseless eliksni and lower class workers in Houses.
Voltesk: A shorter season usually marked with increased trade and travel.
Voldryst: A period where the cold starts to creep in and eliksni bulk up their resource stores, especially amongst the houseless and places with already cold climates.
Molts
Molts are treated as life stages, comparable to us using "child", "teenager", and "adult".
Egg Molt: Nymph stage, a newly born eliksni retains their egg molt for around 67 days. (~75 Earth days, or ~2½ Earth months)
First Molt: Child stage, from toddler-like state to something like a preteen. Molting after ~67 Riis days and lasting ~3 Riis years with shorter, less dramatic molts in that time.
Second Molt: Adolescent stage, encompassing preteen to pre-adult. The start of more dramatic changes, like setae growth, fuller mandibles, and harder chitin. The molt happens at ~3 Riis years, and they stay at this life stage with a few sparse molts every year until they're ~7 years old.
Third Molt: This molt marks biological maturity, not legal maturity (in most Houses). This molt happens when an eliksni is between 7 or 8 Riis years old, and at this point they are their natural adult size (though some may have a few smaller molts that add to their size).
Eliksni can have future dramatic molts due to ether intake or triggering certain hormones to cause a sex change (I subscribe to @ahamkara-apologist's headcanons regarding that), but it can become more difficult with age. Usually, an eliksni will stop future molts when they get past 120 Riis years in age.
Life Events
[I'm going to just share this as my bullet notes lay them out. Years in this section are only in relation to Riis]
0-2: baby. spending most of the time swaddled to parents.
2-3: learns to walk on two legs rather than crawling on sixes.
3-4: begins getting socialized with unrelated peers. family trade tutoring.
4-6: basic schooling or further tutoring.
6: finds a mentor and begins apprenticeship
7-8: possible early graduation or entering higher academic classes
9: biological maturity
10: socially/legally mature
11-12: latest point of graduation for certain trades
20-30: usually expected to have at least one life partner and/or hatchlings during this period.
~70: considered "old".
~130: typical retirement point.
~150-180: typical period for an eliksni to die of age or illness.
Just a little thing I was thinking about to explain how certain characters managed to vanish from the face of the planet for years despite being alive and well.
Riis was a larger planet compared to Earth, and the territories od Houses stretched past the home planet and onto moons and neighboring landmasses. With this came very robust communication networks, both in couriers and radio, and their technology is able to work over great stretches of space so long as they can angle their signals right.
So how do eliksni manage to disappear on Riis, especially children?
Riis, its satellites, and its neighboring planets, are all dangerous places for live for numerous reasons, be it local wildlife, invading species, exiled criminals, or the inhospitable corners on the system. As such, eliksni are more willing to believe someone that went missing got themselves killed -- their culture has much emphasis on family, some Houses more than others, and so tbe thought that a member of their family would flee because they were unhappy with them is always a secondary thought.
Some individuals that run away do die, though, and may or may not be found afterward. In the case of them living to enter another settlement or House, many often shed their identities and change their names (though some, like Taniks, keep their names). Runaways also often fall into seedier careers, like mercenary work, thieving, or street medicine.
Runaways will often flee to houseless villages outside their birthplace's reach, and may only ever return their homeland when they are older or more established elsewhere.
Nobles of any age looking to make themselves disappear will travel off planet to get the effect, and will usually fake their deaths if they're smart. Public figures will take to gorging on special diets and go through numerous molts to change their appearances in whatever way they can -- popular choices are copper rich or tropical diets, which cause bright blooms of color and can alter scents.
Nobles are some of the only individuals that get parties looking for them, who will rake through the territory, villages, and outposts they have control over, and send notices to their neighbors if they're particularly desperate.
It's not common outside of the High Noble Houses (Judgment, Kings, Stone) to take account of specific identification when eliksni enter or leave their cities and territory, so it's easy for an eliksni to slip away at night.
Rift of Light: Eliksni that have vanished/run away:
Worldbuilding: Salt Moon Work & Civilian Clothes [concepts]
eliksni of the salt moons nitho and neyor have a different way of life from those living on their home planet riis. they are almost always equipped with respirators, and wear as much facial and throat protection as they can depending on the work they do.
they wear boots made from leather and metal, with leg covers made of an easy-to-clean fabric that need to be either imported or grown in their sparse greenhouses. many living and working on either of the moons choose to forgo typical loincloth or cape banners to signal their house, instead wearing arm bands or cuffs with their house colors.
-- canon timeline: many eliksni on nitho and neyor were abandoned when the whirlwind claimed their home. not many that lived on the salt moons still survive in sol, if any were brought along or rescued. with new riis being brought back by eramis, nitho and neyor may yet be populated again.
-- rift of light au: nitho and neyor are subject to attacks, like many of riis' other moons and neighboring planets. the people of these moons are stubborn though, and they have the help of light-gifted eliksni to keep them standing. when the noble houses pulled away from their moon-territories, a handful of settlements declared they were no longer of those houses, becoming their own houseless villages.
