#bastet headcanons

[goddesstrolls-archive]

i am home which means brooding cavern headcanons

for starters, in ancient times (i.e. kairne’s time) jades stayed in the caverns for religious reasons, also because the caverns are pretty secluded and Outside Scary. Of course, some jades traveled to the surface, but they were pretty rare. After the summoner’s revolution, the empire began to enforce the seclusion, keeping adult jades in the caverns to care for the mother grub rather than conscripting them.

this lead to the majority of recent alternian history being nearly devoid of jadebloods- which in turn, lead to a lot of the truths about jades being shrouded in mystery. popular misconceptions cropped up; all/most jades are female, the popularization of rainbow drinkers and the idea that all jades become/are drinkers, all jades tend to the mother grub, ect..

in modern times the fleet has become more lax, allowing jadebloods to travel to the surface- though they are forced to make the choice between the caverns and conscription as adults.

the caverns are convoluted and most settlements are quite deep down, so few outsiders manage to reach the larger jade cities and usually only know of the small villages close to the surface.

in truth, there is only one mother grub on alternia, so tending to her and freshly-hatched grubs is a great honor reserved only for a small number of jades.

however, the mother grub is still a big part of cavern life. many jades revere her as a goddess personified (sorta), often depicting her non-corporeal form as a woman with dragonfly-like wings.

the empire encouraged this religion in the hopes that it’d help keep the jades in the caverns. the religion’s been warped with time; originally, it was simply worship of the mother grub, but other ideas have cropped up and some have been encouraged by the empire, i.e.

- the mother grub is a benevolent life-bringer, caretaker of all trolls. loving and caring of oneself is encouraged, effectively a ‘do no harm but take no shit’ mantra.

- jades are closest to the mother grub as they share a hue; some pity or look down upon other hues for this.

- going to the surface is Bad because you’ll be further from the mother grub; the closer you are to her, the better (a more recent idea, encouraged by the empire)

- mutants are unholy and should be slain; alternatively, their souls should be sent back to the mother grub for reincarnation (an idea made up entirely by the empire)

- descendants are reincarnations of their ancestors

and so on

the caverns are broken into cave systems that are usually secluded or distant from one another, as well as the surface. for example, a large system would include a city or two and some towns/villages. some systems only include one, completely secluded settlement.

as a result there’s a lot of variety between settlements, as they’ve had thousands of sweeps with their own, largely untouched cultures. 

there are also settlements populated entirely by drinkers- covens- who either travel to the surface to feed or feed off other jades.

the vast majority of the flora and fauna is bioluminescent, providing some scant light in the dark depths of the caverns. additionally, there’s little mammalian life and it’s mostly populated by plants, insects, and fungi.

[goddesstrolls-archive]

Bast’s Guide to Undead

Corporeal undead are animated corpses of several varieties. They may be intentionally created, but all troll corpses- Unless properly handled- Will turn to undead under sunlight. Most undead are killed only by beheading or otherwise destroying the skull.

Undead are magical creatures by nature and subsist on stealing magic from living trolls by consuming either the flesh or blood, depending on the type of undead. They are also drawn to sunlight, and sentient undead may feel uncomfortable or cold at night.

Most undead will typically decompose at a normal rate unless magical measures are taken.  Magic allows the brain and motor skills to function without a heartbeat, and the stomach’s function is also altered- Consumed food is entirely destroyed quickly after being eaten, with the trace magic within being absorbed.

All undead, particularly sentients, have a magical signature that mages and other undead can sense. This signature is typically partially masked in sentient undead.

If a sentient undead starves, their brain will begin to lose function and revert to a feral mode to survive. Feral sentient undead will stop masking their signature and draw massive amounts of weaker undead to them, creating a horde. Feral sentient undead are also often stronger, faster, more aggressive, and more intelligent than their non-sentient counterparts.

Zombie - Level 1 The most common type of undead; Rarely sentient, with a very weak signature. Requires a decent amount of troll flesh to subsist upon. They have no particular abilities and can be identified by a lack of such.

Wight - Level 2 A somewhat more uncommon type of undead similar to a zombie. Wights tend to have a more emaciated, dehydrated appearance rather than the rotted flesh of zombies. They are generally somewhat stronger, faster, and more aggressive than zombies. They sometimes draw small, easily dispersed hordes.

Banshee - Level 3 A rare type of undead identified by its extended jaw; It may appear as either a split from the mouth down the throat, or a gaping maw full of teeth. The banshee’s signature ability is a resonant shriek which instantly causes dizziness, nausea, and fainting without precautions. Despite this, they are fairly weak and not particularly aggressive.

Mummy - Level 4 A type of created undead; These are ancient trolls preserved and left to protect Alternia’s tombs and ruins. They are often hidden and appear suddenly, but are stiff and fragile. They are seldom sentient, unless they were more important trolls as opposed to mere guards.

Rainbow Drinker - Level 5 A somewhat more common type of undeath that typically only afflicts jadebloods. It is identified by glowing or exceedingly pale skin and a thirst for blood. Rainbow drinkers are nearly always sentient, though they can become feral if they starve. They have a vast array of abilities which grow over time with the amount of blood they drink. They are one of the few undead who do not decay over time. Even feral drinkers have a very weak, ‘life-like’ signature that allows them to blend in with the living.

Revenant - Level 6 A type of undead created by forcing a soul or ghost into the wrong body. They are typically servants of more powerful undead or necromancers, and thus powerful and intelligent themselves, but usually lack true sentience and desire for flesh or blood. Some revenants whose creators have abandoned them or died have gained sentience over time. These undead, as they are created, typically decay slower or not at all. While revenants do not desire flesh or blood, they can feed on souls by possessing a living troll.

Amalgam - Level 7 A created undead formed of various parts and embued with magic, a soul, or formed around a magical artifact. They can vary wildly in aggression, sentience, and strength depending on the parts used. These undead typically decay slower or not at all.

Ghoul - Level 8  A rare but powerful undead characterized by it’s great speed and insatiable hunger. They are identified by blackened, claw-like limbs, black sclera, and a jaw extended by splits along the cheeks. Even non-sentients are incredibly agile and often leap around to disorient their prey, and couple their speed with brute strength. Ghouls decay slowly or not at all.

Dullahan - Level 9 A rare, headless form of undead that is often sentient. Dullahan may be separated from their heads, or still in possession of them and capable of removing it while still maintaining control over their body. Beheading will not kill them, but destroying the head will.

Lich - Level 10 A self-created undead formed when a mage stores their soul into something- Typically a magical artifact. Liches are often also powerful mages and are very rarely non-sentient or feral. They can survive beheading or their head being destroyed; Only destroying their soulbound item through magical means will kill them. 

[goddesstrolls-archive]

Helmsmen are those fully incorporated into ships to serve as batteries, and can’t be removed without causing severe emotional, mental, and physical damage

It’s a sort of outdated, but tried-and-true method of powering ships, especially large ones. All four limbs, plus various points of their spine and most of their brains are integrated into biomech wires to allow complete access to and control of psionic output- They want a steady level of output both to avoid burning out their batteries, and to avoid damaging any equipment with sudden bursts of psionic energy.

When a battery dies its easy enough to get rid of; The wires grow quickly so its just a matter of hacking them all off and disposing of everything.

Due to their connection with the ship, some helmsmen have some awareness of the goings-on of the ship, and may still be capable of communication and coherent thought. They may also have a telepathic connection with other helmsmen, and may suffer when another dies.

Additionally, some ghosts can bond with the ship in death, which can cause some issues if they’re malicious. This usually leads to a Fleet exorcist being on hand when they remove dead and dying batteries.

[goddesstrolls-archive]

so because alita and i got to thinking about it. my headcanons for troll body temperature To scale: My relatively, but not very cold hands from being outside were ~70F. 

Rust: 105F  Bronze: 98F Yellow: 94F Lime/Mutant: 90F Olive: 88F Jade: 84F Teal: 81F Cerulean: 78F Blue: 75F Indigo: 71F Violet: 66F Fuchsia: 60F

I feel like seadwellers in particular would have, either different blood or some bodily function to help protect their bodies in extreme conditions, both extreme pressure and and extreme temperatures

[goddesstrolls-archive]

so, magical capacity vs magical output

Basically, magic flows into a mage’s soul from their chosen source. This is basically their mana level, their magical capacity. 

Magical output is how much their body can physically handle exerting. Now this actually relates to a mage’s power- If capacity is endurance, then output is strength. However, each one has aspects of the other- A mage with high magical capacity can cast very powerful spells if their magical output matches their capacity. While a mage with high capacity and low output will burn out even though their mana stores aren’t depleted, due to exhaustion.

Kairos has a somewhat low capacity considering their high magical output. Cerres’ magical output vs capacity are even. Verran has a high capacity and low output.

Specifically, a high capacity-low output combo results in a lot of overloaded/backfired spells and the sort of mishaps Verran deals with. The high capacity is responsible for his proficiencies and odd quirks. High cap-low out is common for beginner mages, but you’re supposed to build up your capacity/output over time, whereas he just started with a stupid high capacity. So his case is somewhat unusual.

Also, in Kairos’ case, they substitute their low magical capacity for their phylactery, which causes a strange imbalance. They grow exhausted easily but can replenish their stores rapidly by using their phylactery. However, that can cause a physical strain on them. So they’re capable of very powerful spells, but generally have a kind of shit endurance.

[goddesstrolls-archive]

god i look at the timeline and just wanna knock a 0 off each number bc that makes more sense in accordance to like. human history. but in my own canon, pre-condy era was w a y in the distant past, and if fuchsias live fuckin 15,000 sweeps then it’d have to be beyond even them (not including condy)

with the ages i wanted there to be a noticeable leap between each caste group. lowbloods live to 200 sweeps at most. midbloods, including ceruleans, live from  a few hundred to a thousand sweeps. highbloods hit the ten thousands.

i was trying to make the numbers kinda match canon bc i feel like that makes it easier for other people to adopt. like a cerulean could outlive about 70 generations of brownbloods hatched back to back, as vaguely noted in the comic

my slightly updated version is this:

Rust: 24 sweeps Bronze: 72 sweeps Yellow: 180 sweeps Lime: 250 sweeps Olive: 500 sweeps Jade: 900 sweeps Teal: 2,000 sweeps Cerulean: 5,000 sweeps Blue: 8,000 sweeps Indigo: 10,000 sweeps Violet: 12,000 sweeps Fuchsia: 15,000+ sweeps

Pre-condy era: 25,000 sweeps prior to modern day Sufferer era: 15,000 sweeps prior to modern day Summoner era: 7,000 sweeps prior to modern day

[goddesstrolls-archive]

now in better accordance with the history timeline

Pre-condy era: 30,000 sweeps ago Sufferer era: 20,000 sweeps ago Summoner era: 7,000 sweeps ago

[goddesstrolls-archive]

well. i shouldn’t say ghouls can completely heal their injuries. it’s basically the same as kai’s healing, except it comes naturally. They can’t heal flesh/bone that’s entirely missing, like it was burned or is too far away. They’ll also be killed if they’re shot in the head or their brain/skull is otherwise severely damaged

Liches can survive without their heads because they can control their bodies through their souls, or some bs