#nephelai

[en-theos]

ARISTOPHANES: when you sit inside discussing philosophy all day, it makes you a woman. Studies have shown this. Studies have shown this. And if you're out working, out wrestling naked in the gymnasion like real Athenian aristocrats, you are around other guys. You're not around sophists and philosohers that gives you estrogen.

[blooxxy]

☁️Subtle Nephelai worship☁️

Being inspired by @khaire-traveler , I've decided to do myself a subtle worship for the Okeanid nymphai of clouds and rain. They deserve to be worshipped by more people and to have more recognition. That being said, let's move on to the list:

-Research about them

-Dance in the rain

-Sing in the rain

-Listen to rain ambience playlists on youtube

-Taking a walk outside

-Cloud-watching, cloud-watching, cloud-watching

-Check the weather daily

-Learn more about the clouds and the atmosphere

-Donate to those affected by natural disasters such as severe storms, floods, droughts, heat waves, etc....

-Volunteer to organisations that deal with natural disasters

-Wear jewelry

-Wear make-up

-Take care of yourself

-Practice self-love

-Drink water

-Have a candle that reminds you of them

-Have pictures of the clouds and raindrops

-Take showers

-Clean your space

-Write poetry

-Make art

-Objects in the form of clouds or cloud objects

-Mood boards

-Wallpapers as digital offerings

-Read poetry and stories that contain cloud and rain themes

For the time being, this is the list. When I will have more inspiration and ideas, I will update the list. I know it is short, and I apologize for this, but this is what I know for now.

Χαιρετε!

[fenrishion]

soul memory

[verdantlyviolet]

Are they birds in flight? Bubbling sea foam? Divine and beautiful?

[bitsbug]

what are the upper atmosphere nephelai creatures like .. rubbing my hands together. and is science at the point where they know things that live up there generally speaking, and understand them as organisms more than myths, but still have a very limited scope of the actual biodiversity, similar to how we are with the deep sea?

Oh upper atmosphere organisms are VERY strange! Nephelai's cloud layer is an environment which literally doesn't exist on earth, and has some unique evolutionary pressures. Being in a groundless environment without liquid to support your weight results in some unconventional solutions.

*Kyliyt is here for scale. They can't survive this far up.

They've always known about the stuff that lives above, but have never gotten to see it alive. The midnimbus, the cloud layer between the surface and twilight zone, is constantly stormy and has VERY high winds so it tends to... shred anything that falls down. Or otherwise slam it into the ground at unlivable speeds.

It's a bit like globsters. Unidentifiable corpse-things that appear without explanation, leaving you to speculate what it once was.

And yeah there's millions of yet undiscovered species up there. It's even vaster than the ocean, and just as barren, so good fucking luck trying to find things. Seriously luck is your best bet. Even still, this is a way better understanding of cloud life than years ago. At least there's observations of alive organisms in their proper habitat now.

[bitsbug]

miscellaneous tipoon stuff

[bitsbug]

Nephelai is the setting of my speculative biology project, and a very weird planet.

The best way I can describe it is that it’s a cold venus. Its atmosphere is mostly composed of ammonia, methane, and nitrogen in copious amounts, resulting in a powerful greenhouse effect that warms the planet despite its distance from its low-heat star. The resulting cloud cover also blocks all light from reaching the surface.

 Cloud formation is spurred by temperature gradients between layers of the atmosphere, which help insulate the planet and promote even more temperature difference. The intense polarization results incredibly frequent, violent storms, which happen to also be the main energy source for surface-bound life. 

That’s right, life on Nephelai is electricity based! The combination of cold temperatures, reliable electricity sources, and ammonia-based physiology make this method of metabolism more efficient than typical chemical metabolism, at least for macroorganisms. Energy is gathered and exchanged through raw currents rather than molecular vectors, though organisms do still need to eat to keep their physical cells intact. The line between consumer and producer is blurred here, with many fascinating combinations of both lifestyles.

Anyway here’s a medley of surface organisms, described from left to right. Absolutely not an exhaustive list.

Figure 1: A species of tree analogue. Basically a living lightning rod. Prolific across the planet, and extremely important for all ecosystems they’re in. Owners of the largest battery organs on the planet, which they use to survive for years at a time without storms.

Figure 2: a mobile tree analogue! Part of a whole niche known as ‘stormchasers’, organisms that follow the wake of thunderstorms to harvest energy. Gigantism is common in this niche for the same reason it’s common in the deep sea. Inhabits the plains of the equator’s hurricane band.

Figure 3: Another stormchaser, this one smaller but faster. The ‘head’ is a purely sensory bulb, with the brain being inside the main body. Eats other organisms for the material aspect of its diet.

Figure 4: Mid-sized predator. Uses bioluminescent spots on its knees to hunt by sight, but is overall more of a hearing-based hunter. Their taxonomic class has no external tail-rod, and instead drains using conductive ‘fangs’ in its mouth.

Figure 5: Kyliyts. One of two sophont species. Cosmopolitan, flying pack-hunters that’re allergic to making permanent settlements. Live in inseperable groups of siblings called flocks.

Figure 6: Tipoon. The other sophont species. Rat-sized, very gregarious scavengers/ambush hunters that live in communities of high population density. In the same taxonomic class as Figure 3.

[fenrishion]

the forgotten fourteenth seat

(if it’s not clear, the one returning the lady’s wallet is Azem)