Here’s a slightly unfinished sketch thing of my take on the Oddswitch AU version of Molluck.
I based his outfit partly on @boopwyrm’s design. They made him super tall based on thier own headcanon that native/non-industrialised glukkon’s legs would keep growing as they evolved to the point where their average hight was about 13 feet tall. I wanted to see what Oddswitch!Molluck would look like with a short body similar to @francoisl-artblog’s Glukkon scrub designs.
More backstory/headcanon stuff under the cut.
I like the idea of Molluck as a wannabe glukkon saviour of sorts, mirroring Abe’s role as the mudokon messiah in canon, as suggested by @boopyworm. Since their artwork depicts him with more native clothes, I thought maybe switch!Molluck could be born/raised in isolated native glukkon society as opposed to being born into slavery. As I feel like an industrial-outsider protagonist isn’t something we’ve seen that often in canon aside from munch.
Before the events of the story, I imagine he was either a native farmer or hunter, as a callback to the stockglukk profession of his canon counterpart. The reason Molluck would go on to try and save the enslaved glukks and rebel against the Mudokons is because of his years of seeing the mudokons stealing land from nature and animals being either taken to be bred for meat and slaughtered on mass or over-hunted to extinction. Amoug… other reasons.
Plus, seeing his fellow glukkons avoiding taking action against the mudokons and instead go deeper into hiding and preserve the culture that the mudokons were continually destroying sparked a lot of anger in Molluck and drove him to want to take direct action to save his kind. This definitely created tension and resentment between Molluck and his fellow natives and high alchemists, who discouraged him from his whole quest. Saying the Glukkon tribes couldn’t risk engaging in conflict with the vastly overpowered mudokons while they were still venerable. Or as one of Mollucks colleagues warned him;
So the size difference between mine/ @francoisl-artblog’s version of Oddswitch Glukkons and @boopwyrm’s version of the oddswitch glukkons sure is something…
Not bad, obviously! I love the different interpretations of this AU. I just think the contrast is funny.
Random Oddswitch!Vykker stuff, because @francoisl-artblog got me inspired with their interpretation of the Vykkers in the Oddswitch AU, and I wanted to expand on the idea a little:
One of the reasons for the canon Vykkers various quirks, like their general lack of compassion towards other beings and each-other, their self centred natures and the fact they’ve evolved to be self-impregnating hermaphrodites is due in part to the environment they originally evolved in. As they lived in dense forests and jungles, primal Vykkers developed into highly territorial, solitary ambush hunters. In a way similar to earth tigers. Only breaking their solitude in very specific circumstances, such as to raise young, defend thier territory from rival Vykkers or to find a mate (the latter type of encounter being much rarer since, as mentioned before, Vykkers are able to reproduce asexually).
While Vykkers of the Oddswitch timeline tend to have a reputation among Mudokons and the other societies of oddworld for being sadistic and remorseless monsters that actively enjoy inflicting pain on and murdering living creatures, most Vykkers are generally indifferent to other creatures unless hunting or defending territory. Most Vykkers do lack empathy, but this in itself doesn’t really make them malicious or evil. It’s just that the whole empathy and compassion thing isn’t really something that comes naturally to them. Though, there are certainly some individual Vykkers that can take their hunting and defence of their territory a step to far and like toying with their prey/would be intruders a bit too much… or they can just be real jerkasses. Plus, there are some Vykkers born with a different neurological wiring that makes them more inclined to be empathetic and/or compassionate towards other creatures, or simply other Vykkers.
Although in the oddswitch timeline Vykkers are far more primal (being similar to primates such as chimpanzees in thier demeanour) and haven’t developed a society, let alone a civilisation anywhere near as advanced as others like the Mudokons, Glukkons or even Sligs, Vykker individuals are still a lot smarter then you’d expect. Being highly curious and fast learners, they’re able to craft simple, rudimentary tools by carving wood and rock with the highly developed, almost tusk like teeth on their lower jaw. A valuable skill among many which they learn from their parent (or in some cases, parents) before becoming fully independent and going out alone to find their own territory.
They use tools like these to build traps for catching prey, protecting their territory from intruders, and, in some cases... create art. Such examples of this include carving and painting images of various prey animals on the walls of their shelters and whittling and carving crude, vaguely Vykker-like figures from wood and soft rock. All of which were found in abandoned shelters within hollowed out tree trunks later cut down and discovered by Mudokons.
Unlike the trap crafting tools of the Vykkers, the exact purpose or significance these pieces remains unclear...
I imagine at some point in the canon Vykkers early history, individual Vykkers became somewhat less possessive of their territories for whatever reason and began to more regularly encounter other Vykker individuals. They learned to get along with, or at the very least, tolerate one another, form groups and share knowledge. Thus rapidly evolving into the highly intelligent and scientifically knowledged society we know in the canon timeline. In the oddswitch timeline, several factors lead Vykkers potential development of civilisation to become stunted. With a big one being Mudokon civilisation rising to power earlier than the Glukkons in the canon timeline. They increased their consumption of Oddworld’s natural resources like wood, leading to large amounts of jungle and woodland areas being cut down by the Mudokons, who only left certain trees untouched for religious purposes and for fruit and spooce shrub agriculture. Through this, Vykkers lost much of their territory, became further isolated from one another and far more ruthless, tactical and sadistic when protecting what remained of their territory.
Very little is known of Vykker biology and behaviour by advanced civilisations of Oddworld such as the Mudokons. There are many reasons for this lack of research. Such as Mudokons highly biased views on the Vykkers. Dissmissing them as nothing more than animalistic, savage beasts getting in the way of valuable resources (despite the overwhelming evidence to support Vykker intelligence, such as the aforementioned tool making and surprising creativity skills), and thus most of the Mudokon scientific community see no reason or value to studying them. Another big reason mentioned in François’s original post is that Mudokons are absolutely terrified of Vykkers! As many expeditions and group ventures into their forests result in mass casualties and comeback with very few survivors if any. Hence, these days, Mudokons tend to stay far away from Vykker forests. They are also still in the process of figuring out ways to exterminate the Vykkers without destroying their trees, as many Vykkers have resorted to making their shelters within the trees Mudokons hold as sacred as well as larger fruit trees.
The Vykkers themselves have become something of a legend, with the horror stories left by survivors of Vykker attacks making their way to the “”civilised”” world. Notably, being told by some soldier mudokons to Glukk slaves as a way to scare them off from the idea of escaping their captivity and into the wilderness, where savage and sadistic Vykkers will surely be waiting to trap any unfortunate Glukks foolish enough to leave their Mudokon masters.
So a couple of weeks(?) ago, @oddest-worlds posted an idea for an au where mudokons were an evil cultist species-supremacist power because of the mudokon moon incident and the glukkons were the enslaved natives. I really wanted to pitch in ideas/headcanons, but was busy with coursework at the time.
Fortunately, I just finished my project and now have more free time so I got to writing some stuff.... a lot of stuff... mainly just some points on the main trio of eusocial races (Mudokons, Glukkons and Sligs) and their role in the AU. So strap in!
(Fyi if you have/had other ideas that contradict the headcanons bellow, feel free to ignore those. Or pitch in some of your own ideas, I’d love to hear them!)
Glukkons
Were once a spiritually oriented race who practiced black magic, occultism and alchemy and were allies of the Mudokons thousands of years ago
When the mudokons declared themselves as the supreme race because of the mudokon moon, they were, understandably, upset and concerned
Fearing their once allies were drifting further away into cultist, species-supremacist behaviour, the glukkons set out to disprove the mudokons declaration of supremacy though their alchemical arts and unify their species once more
It’s said that some glukkon alchemists were successful in finding the answers they seeked out, but what those answers were have long since been lost to time
Now becoming more industrialised and realising the glukkons were a possible threat due to their alchemical powers, the mudokons orchestrated a war against them, nearly wiping the glukkons out in the process before thier surrender
After the war, disillusioned, outnumbered and on the brink of extinction, the glukkons began working for the mudokons, who belittled, oppressed and eventually enslaved them
Now most glukkons are born into subservience to the Mudokons, oblivious to their spiritual past, true history and culture
Still native glukkon tribes out in the wild in hiding from the mudokon empire
I mentioned this before, but I personally imagined the glukkons of this timeline walking on thier legs, which are still somewhat short, and retained thier long arms. Basically, they have the same body type to gibbons and similar long armed apes
Because they walk with their legs and not on their arms, most glukkons stand at almost half their canon height, roughly around 4 or 5 feet tall or so
In industrial captivity, most glukkons tend to have a grey or pale skintone like the glukkons we see in soulstorm
Native Glukkons born outside of captivity are much more diverse in skin colour, with their base colours ranging from brown to purple, red, pink or green etc
Along with This, they have the ability to change their skin colour like octopuses (which makes sense given their closest relatives evolutionarily are the oktigi and other octopus/cephalopod-like creatures)
Notably, they flash different colours across their face and skin when feeling strong emotions like sadness, anger, excitement etc. Similar to the mudokons in Abe’s Exoddus
Glukkons from certain tribes also have bioluminescent markings and patterns on their skin that are visible in the dark. Though, this trait is not as common
Using this colour changing ability, some glukkons are able to copy the colours and even textures of their environment and become one with the scenery. Essentially making themselves invisible. Of corse, this particular aspect of colour changing usually doesn’t come as naturally or involuntary to glukkons as the emotional-based changes. In most cases it takes years of training to master the art of invisibility
Much like the Mudokons in canon, industrial-born Glukks are born into captivity from a mother queen and their eggs are shipped off to be sold into slavery
Baby or young slave glukkons are raised alongside their siblings and cousins over a mudokon master and are usually kept together as something akin to a demented orphanage where youngling glukks are sent to work as soon as they can pick up a rag and bucket
@oddest-worlds, You described the mudokons as being cult like. I personally imagined this would ya know aside from the moon worshiping mudokon supremacy stuff manifest itself most in the way they control thier glukkon slaves
Glukkons in slavery, much like people born into cults, are indoctrinated at a young age to believe their mudokon masters are perfect, all knowing and benevolent beings, that the outside world beyond the factories is a savage, unforgiving wasteland where outsiders will try to lead them astray, and that they are better off and safer dedicating their lives to loyaly serving the mudokons
Glukks who challenge these beliefs, defy their mudokon masters or try and escape to the outside are often severely punished. Either from being removed from their glukkon group, being held in a cell for hours or days where they are interrogated and for their “crimes” or getting severe beatings.
Native free glukkons have a similar tribal society structure as the native mudokons in canon, with each tribe having their own distinctive culture
As said before, they practice the occult, black magic and, most prominently among different glukkon tribes, alchemy
As well as living in tune with nature, Glukkon alchemists often practice the art of transmutation, turning one type material or substance into another, and joining certain substances and/or materials together. Which they do in order to better understand the natural world around them
Nowadays, though, native glukkon civilisation is far from what it once was millennia ago
Thanks to the mudokons and other industrial societies either enslaving or killing off their numbers as well as building over their sacred lands, most native glukkon’s main priority is to hide away from the rest of society and to protect what little of their culture and traditions still remain
From my research I learned the practice of alchemy (or at least the traditional western version of it) could be traced back to Egypt and Thoth, the god of arts and sciences, so I thought it would make sense if at least some individual native glukkon tribes culture and overall aesthetic would be loosely based on the ancient Egyptians as a callback to this, with some small echos of the architecture we see with the glukkon aesthetics of the canon timeline plus the more native looking early concept art of glukkons
Also while researching alchemy I noticed one key aspect of it involved change and transmutation, I.e. turning base metals like lead into noble metals like gold. I thought about how this could also connect to their colour changing. Maybe some native glukkons believe the colour changing to be a glukkons most primal form of transmutation. And view the ability to blend in with the environment as a way of being one with nature, both in the figurative and literal sense. Or something else along those lines
In industrial propaganda, native glukkons are painted as savage barbarians and alchemists as swindlers and charlatans that lead gullable slave glukkons astray, filling their heads with doubt, or with the promise of bestowing riches and immortality for a price
Enslaved glukkon’s clothes tend to consist of whatever textiles they can get their hands on in the factories and what little the strict dress code implemented by their mudokon masters will allow
The main item of clothing worn by most glukk scrubs is a shoddily cobbled together shirt and overalls. Sorta like an even shabbier version of the basic glukkon pud uniform in munchs oddysee
Like many things, native or liberated glukkons tend to have a lot more freedom when it comes to what they wear
The more traditional fashions often worn by glukkon alchemists include long, loose fitting robes, sometimes with these thick ribbed shoulder pads. Pretty much the same as outfit worn by glukkons in the very early concept art back when they were still called “Oldger” or “Ociti”
Mudokons
A once spiritual race that possessed psychic powers and were allies to the Glukkons thousands of years ago
When the shape of a Mudokon pawprint appeared on one of Oddworld’s moons, some mudokons took this as a sign from the gods that they were the chosen race
Blinded by their self imposed delusions of grandeur, the first believers of the mudokon moon sign set out to prove the mudokon race’s superiority over all other races of Oddworld
The moon believers did this by recruiting more mudokon members into their tribe, slowly converting the many tribes into one unified empire, increased consumption of the planets resources and began to isolate themselves from the rest of Oddworld
Building massive towers that reached the skies, they began to spend most of thier time indoors, only looking up at the night sky to see thier sacred moon, the symbolic reminder of thier divinity over Oddworld
Gradually abandoned thier spiritual ways in favour of a more industrialised way of life. Only a few powerful figures within the Mudokon empire still use their psychic abilities such as possession
Growing more paranoid that their Glukkon allies and thier powers of alchemy would prove to be a threat to their rising power, the mudokons orchestrated a war against the glukkon tribes, nearly wiping them out in the process
After the war, the mudokon empire gave the queens of the last remaining glukkon tribes an ultimatum: give away thier children to the empire where they would be “employed”, “sheltered” and “safe”, or let them be born into a “primitive” tribal wasteland at the brink of extinction
The mudokons were able to enslave their once Glukkon allies and quickly rose to become the most powerful, and power hungry, civilisation in all of Oddworld
In terms of architecture and aesthetic, I figured many of those motifs from their spiritual/tribal past would subtly carry over to their current society, I’ll be it more metallic and industrialised. Like larger, dystopian dieselpunk versions of the huts, buildings and structures we see in Monsaic Lines and other native mudokon locations
The buildings they live and work in are also incredibly tall, with some structures in their urban cities reaching above the clouds (basically the opposite of the canon glukkons subterranean cities)
The Mudokons are the main industrial society with a stronghold over the planet
Having essentially brainwashed both thier mudokon citizens and glukkon slaves, the mudokon empire is singularly concerned with proving their dominion over the planet oddworld. with no reguard for the native creatures and cultures that inhabit it
Mudokon society is extremely dedicated to the idea they are the best civilisation in all of Oddworld
As far as they’re concerned, their empire is the supreme civilisation, unparalleled in architecture, politics, philosophy, military and art
And they are dead set on proving thier superiority to the other races of Oddworld, no matter the cost
Any historical records that makes mudokons civilisation and society look bad or less then perfect are either deeply hidden away or destroyed. Through this constant revisionism as erasure, their true history has been long forgotten
Only consistent part of their history is the mudokon moon, which they hold as a sacred symbol and a reminder of their power as the “chosen race”
Now, the sight of the mudokon moon is rare for any industrial borns due to the sky being covered by air pollution from the mudokons buildings and factories
Young mudokons are born as eggs by their respective queen and sent to be raised by a foster mudokon worker and, if they’re rich or well off, their many glukkon slaves
As I said before in the glukkon bit, the way glukkons are taught how to view the world is very similar to real life cult indoctrination and brainwashing. Young mudokons get a similar treatment in terms of their education
At an early age, mudokons are taught by their elders that oddworld belongs to the strong such as them, that the other races that cannot compare to the mudokons, And that all mudokons which as them are perfect and destined for greatness. (Provided they work hard and follow the rules of the empire...)
For a mudokon, lacking this sense of superiority over other races and drive to prove themselves as exceptional is frowned upon in thier society, and such mudokons are often either outcasted or placed in the lower ranking job roles
Like the glukkon workers in canon, adult mudokon workers are often employed as powerful bosses and rulers in the mudokon industries of food production, science, politics and/or religion to name a few
While some individual mudokon masters value mollah and material gain over other things, mudokon society as a whole isn’t quite as obsessed with mollah the same way glukkon society in canon is. They do hold monetary wealth and riches in high regard, of corse, but mostly as one of many status symbols to prove their superiority over others
Due to their belief of being the superior race, some mudokons are known to be extremely arrogant and self centred, to the point they’re often compeating with one another over who is the better mud
In terms of physical appearance, I imagine mudokons having a lot more angular features, like more talon like claws on their hands/feet to evoke a bird of prey
While mudokons are still omnivores, teeth such as their canids are more pronounced due to consuming more meat products such as scrab, Meech, slig and elum meats
I also feel like the slight uncanny-valley elements the mudokons already have should be subtly accentuated in the switch designs for creep factor and everything
unlike muds of canon, muds of the switch au tend to be on the lean, average and/or slightly cubby side rather then underweight and slightly bony in terms of their weight. Mostly down to having relatively better diet and quality of life, at least compared to their canon counterparts.
Mudokons also have way more feathers on their heads! Though, due to the airborne pollution of their industrial lifestyle, feather growth is mainly restricted to their head and face
don’t tend to grow as many feathers on other parts of their bodies like arms, legs etc
On top of this, as mudokons tend to live in colossal tower-like structures, they’ve evolved adaptations to life in higher attitudes such as naturally taking shorter breaths.
One popular form of dress for most moderate or high ranking mudokons consists of a shirt garment with a v-shaped neck (kinda like a Dashiki) a medium length skirt and long ornate robes or feathered cloak. Think more fancy versions of the native clothes worn by the mud shamins in canon.
How intricate, layered, extravagant and/or customised etc these clothes are depends on how high the individual mud wearing them is on the power/wealth hierarchy. Kinda like the wealth hierarchy with canon glukkons. Most lower class muds tend to look closer to the muds we see in canon with a short loincloth-like skirt and simple vest.
While the majority of mudokon society tends to be more industrialised, there are certain elite and powerful groups within the mudokon empire that still practice their spiritual psychic powers
One example of such a group is an elite task force of mudokon agents specifically trained to hone their psychokinetic abilities.
Fed on an exclusive diet of mind altering spooce shrubs, they are granted powerful and dangerous abilities (provided they don’t die from spooce overdose first). Such as the power to possess the minds and bodies of other beings
They are employed as black ops-like operatives by the mudokon empire to manipulate the affairs of other Oddworld nations and races behind the scenes with their powers of possession, as assassins to take out highly dangerous targets from afar with death via red ring explosion or possession induced head explosion, or as bodyguards to protect highly powerful and elite clients, usually mudokon queens. Essentially taking on a similar role to the Glocktigi in canon
Sligs
Race of amphibious/semi-aquatic swamp dwellers
Society not as complex or “advanced” as others like the glukkons or mudokons, technology wise
Somewhat nomadic as they tend to move around from place to place in colonies, though their preferd environments are wetlands, marshes, swamps, lakes and bogs
Were never enslaved by Glukkons, Mudokons or any other societies of mudos for that matter. probably since Sligs are seen as useless and impractical for such tasks anyway. I mean, what kind of peanut-headed chumps would have a legless species who can’t use their hands do their dirty work for them?! lol!
While functional on land, they’re a bit more adapted for life in water, with webbed hands and seal-like tails for swimming as well as gills in their mouths for breathing underwater
Walk with their hands when on land (similar to pantsless sligs in canon but slightly less awkward)
Use the highly dexterous tentacles on their faces to pick up objects and use tools while they walk or swim
Covering themselves up with dirt, moss, mud etc is a big part of their culture. Not because they think they’re ugly like the Sligs in canon, but because it provides good camouflage from larger creatures and predators wanting to eat them
If a Slig is spotted or about to be caught by anything that would want them as food, they can use their arms to leap away from their attacker
In terms of actual clothing, they don’t wear much aside from a covering that wraps around the middle section between their abdomen and their tail mostly so their butts don’t get cold when they go up on land. These coverings are usually either made of soft reeds weaved together, a leaf held together by a stick going through both ends or whatever they can get their tentacles on in thier surrounding environment
Even without fancy covering or camo, Sligs are pretty diverse when it comes to their appearance
Depending on the environment, their skin tone can range from light green to yellow, dark green, blueish-green, teal, brown or black to name a few
Some Sligs also have tiger like stripes similar to the ones on big bro Sligs in canon
And, of corse, there’s albino Sligs. How they’re treated tends to vary form colony to colony
Some outcast or even kill albinos, fearing their bright colour could attract predators
Other colonies are a lot more accepting of albinos, though they tend to be more protective of them due to, again, being more easy targets for predators
Most albino Sligs either take extra care to cover themselves with as camouflage as possible to hide their bright skin, or stay under the water for most of their lives, rarely ever venturing up to the surface world
Queens are also never seen on dry land, as their birthing process is significantly less painful underwater
While none of the queens in this timeline are as cripplingly obese as queens like Skillya in the canon timeline, most healthy queens are still rather large. Sorta like the size/weight of an average male elephant seal, or a salt water crocodile
Also, while some queens can still be jerkasses, they don’t usually eat their own young, as they don’t hold as much resentment towards them due to the less painful birthing process. Plus, their many drones usually bring them smaller fish and swamp dwelling creatures to keep them well fed
Baby sligs (or sliglets, as I like to call them) are born underwater and later take their first peek up to the surface after a couple of weeks
Raised by either one of their drone fathers or their many older siblings
baby Sligs are also born able to swim and walk on instinct, sort of like lizards. They only need to stick with their guardians for protection and to learn valuable life lessons from them like camouflage, avoiding predators, looking both ways before they cross the rivers etc
According to ex-Just Add Water employee Will on the Oddworld forums, Lorne Lanning originally envisioned Sligs having pig like fur, but this was cut from Oddysee due to technical limitations at the time. I headcanon that native Sligs had fur in the canon timeline but lost this trait due to their industrial lifestyle, similar to mudokon’s feathers. Hence in this timeline, some native Slig colonies do have fur.
usually more common, much thicker and more prominent on Sligs from colder climates as it helps them stay warm
The fur is also good for collecting dirt and growing moss and algae on, adding to the Sligs camouflage
I also have this headcanon that the noises sligs make for the BS and S’Mo BS commands in Oddysee and Exoddus gamespeak are remnants of their old language before they were enslaved by glukkons in canon. This is how Sligs communicate to each-other in this timeline: through a series of frog-like ribbit and croak vocalisations.
They do have the ability to speak language in the same way Mudokons and Glukkons do, I’ll be it in a limited capacity since they’re somewhat cut off from these language speaking societies and not used to talking in words. Think of it how, in canon, Gabbits like Munch can speak language with characters like Abe but can also call to other Gabbits through a dolphin-like “song”
Though they were never slaves, that doesn’t mean industrial societies like the Mudokon empire haven’t caused trouble for them
On top of occasionally hunting them to make high protein meat products and for sport, the Mudokon empire has also put their glukkon workers to use digging up Sligs swamplands for iron ore, as water that carried flakes of iron accumulated and settled in those swamps. As well as gathering peat from mires for fuel
These practices have been encroaching on the Sligs natural habitats. driving them out and disrupting their usual migration patterns
In a lot of cases, Mudokons purposefully try to drive off or exterminate Slig colonies. Viewing them as useless, dirty pests getting in the way of the precious resources that, much like everything else on Oddworld, the mudokons feel a sense of entitlement to
Alright, that all the points I got down for the big three. I do have some ideas for the other races like vykkers, steef, oktigi, meeches etc but for now, I’ll just leave it here. Again, please let me know what you think of all this and feel free to make contributions.
