#caltrop

[entelodante]

two scamper crows discussing romance in the late afternoon sun

wanted to get back into bgs, so fun to draw

[entelodante]

Finally finished the styrapahnt walk! Definitely things I would tweak, but I wanna move on to other stuff for em.

Also gave them a caltrop friend for emotional support.

[entelodante]

Just out prancin' with the boys.

[chronivore]

[drhoz]

#2976 - Tribulus terrestris - Caltrop

AKA 3-corner-jack, goathead, bull's head, gopher-head, cat-head, devil's eyelashes, devil's-thorn, devil's-weed, puncturevine, and tackweed.

A singularly vicious plant that wouldn't go astray in the armoury of evil D&D characters, with woody fruit easily capable of puncturing tyres and feet. It's native to the hotter, drier parts of Eurasia and Africa, but is a nightmare of a weed in Australia, New Zealand and the Americas. Don't bother wearing shoes, it won't help.

For some godforsaken reason, an extract has been sold as a health supplement since the 1980s, in the belief that it enhances testosterone. It doesn't, of course.

Baldivis, Perth, WA

[entelodante]

Color Guide for the Caltrops! Wanted to make a genetic coloring system for them for the funsies. So these fellas from left to right are; A warm-toned, ruby faced fella, a mid-toned fire faced gal, and a cool-toned yellow faced dude! See below for the breakdown of how their colors came to be!

First! The majority of a caltrops color is attributed to their tone. The tone is going to be coloring their thicker, more durable skin. And comes in four main hues! From most to least common, they are mid-toned, warm-toned, cool-toned, and stone-toned.

The tone that a caltrops presents is decided by the presence of red and blue factors within the skin. Red is mostly due to pigment while blue is more circulatory but that's not important right now. All you need to know is that the activation of both factors will lead to a mid-tone, activation of only red will lead to warm-tones, just blue are your cool-tones, and neither gives you a washed out stone-tone. Caltrops can come in various hues of each tone, to where it may sometimes be hard to tell them apart. There's no real differences aside from stone-tones being the most prone to sun burn and mid-tones being more sun resilient. Tones are the base of caltrops colors but they are NOT the most important! Socially, if a caltrop were to describe another, they would first refer to the individuals face coloration! Face colors are a LOT more varied as they are influenced by three main factors. The main factor is RED VALUE. Caltrops have a lot going on with red pigments. Face colors are broken down into two main categories, those WITH red and those WITHOUT red. Having red is the most common condition, the original mutation to turn it off is from a formerly fringe population that has since reintegrated. On top of that is the BLUSH of ones face! Blush can be either high or deep, high blush is generally a lot more airy, whereas deep blush tends to enrich the colors of the face. Both of these are not to be confused with the face genotypes of similar name!

Blush as a pattern can come in a red and redless variety, it leaves the lower face and throat blue so it is very obvious! Others of note are Yellow and Fire, the two patterns without blush influence. These are the true 'base' color that blush is affecting you could say. Rainbow and Limon are 'false' blushes, if only for their wider range of color. Ruby and Green are seen as kind of plain. So knowing all that we can use that to make and PREDICT individuals. Such as this happy family!

A cool-toned mother and mid-toned father can result in all tones except stone. And looking at their face alleles, they produce half of the total face patterns. Though the mothers own rainbow face would not be possible outcome!

Just wanted to flesh out a system for them to have a lot of color variation and wanted to try some genetic planning. It's fun to think of how colors are working in the background. Thank you for reading and hope it makes sense!

[entelodante]

Caltrop expanded lore! Wanted to get into the workings of their booty tails, since I think they're fun. See below the cut for the details!

Caltrop's are named because of their multipronged, caltrop like tail, which is divided into three main lobes. Two curly horns on either side and one long pointy bit in the middle. Males tend to have more substantial tails and this is because tails of caltrops(and styraphants) are used in the feeding of their young. Imagine if instead of making milk, parents just grew a giant wad of condensed fat for babies to munch on. While the mother drops her tail in the case of styraphants, caltrop tails have evolved to be able to break off in sections to allow dad to feed the whole litter piece by piece. When a section slops off the blood supply is cut off and the exposed flesh quickly scabs over before regaining its horn like sheath. I'm thinking new dads will wear a cap over their tail while it heals and to make sure people give up their bus seat for em. Outside of that the tail is also the main method of fat storage, with the curled horns in particular being almost never shed. Tails only begin to grow in during puberty and tend to never stop growing, though they grow quickest during peak 'breeding age' and slow down as they grow older. Caltrops may drop their tails to feed young or if they become ill, overly stressed, malnourished, or damage their hormonal system. Also! Their brightly colored underside extends to their lil booty, because how cute.

[entelodante]

FINALLY finished the fellow sophonts for Styraphant-land. They aren't too closely related to the styraphants and have quiet a few differences. They are small, energized, and hyper carnivorous. Info dump BELOW!

Caltrops live on a mostly tropical continent, with the majority of their range being lush jungle and forests. The continent is pretty new, with the flying ancestors of the Caltrops being some of the first terrestrial creatures to colonize the land. So these guys and their relatives have a pretty intense stranglehold on the niche of megafauna. Caltrops are on the larger side of carnivores there and specialize in catching smaller prey with their creepy face fingers. They also partake in fruits and other treats they can find in the shrubbery.

Or at least they did before they got CIVILIZED. They have a complex and violent history between various peoples and governments that has lead to their current system of shakily aligned states controlling very rigid territories. But things are p chill at the moment! They made contact with the Styraphants a few hundred years ago and they actually have gotten along pretty well, though it is rare to see either living fulltime outside of their native ranges. (See ranges below)

I want to make a more in depth anatomy overview for them, but here are some general notes. They have 'stalk' less eyes, more so the stalk has shortened and become part of the eye itself. They have 6 webbed fingers that cover the majority of their face, including their mouth, nostrils, and secondary fingers. They have NO digits on their front limbs, since they are derived from wings, but they do still have their toesies. That big ass spike above their head is the remnants of their keel, used now for the muscle attachments of their large head. And most importantly is their tail, which like a Styraphant, is grown and dropped to feed their young. Though it is actually the male Caltrop that drops his tail for the kids to eat. Yeah, a good lil STARTER for em. I have another info sheet almost done, but wanted to get them down so I could think on em more.