(Tumblr removed the old post due to an honest penis, so here's a censored version for cowards)
Jabikah (Giants)
Jabikah (referred to as simply "Giants" by most) are the largest and most cold resistant of the speaking peoples on the continent of Lardromor.
With almost perfect memories and long life spans they are seen as the wisest people (or at least the most effective archivist), having an intricate spoken history as far back as their massive Ogrikah ancestors who witnessed the early Mountain world and the evolution of life.
Despite this vast access of information, the Jabikah language is a struggle to parse due to their natural speaking tones being so low, often described as being felt more than heard by smaller peoples. The Jabikah may compensate by adjusting to higher pitches known as "Luki Baba", or "Little Talk".
Due to a long history of slavery by both the ancient divine and the modern mortal, the majority of Jabikah culture is isolated to the harsh boreal country of Czarzemlaw. This large and long-wintered land was famously brutal, even for the Gods, with most non-Kah living close to the border and only migrating further in during the spring.
The spring is a vital survival and economic time for the Jabikah, as they farm en masse various corns, wheats, fruits and grasses to store for the winter and sell to trusted traders.
This is the busiest you'll ever see native Jabikah, as the winter is time of much waiting and walking.
Boredom and fire has lead to their invention of popcorn.
Outside of Czarzemlaw, Jabikah are either slaves or the descendants of slaves. Many small-folk would mistake the Outer-Kah and the Czarzem-Kah as completely different species due to the outsider's shaving culture.
Initially done to reduce overheating as slaves, many Jabikah shave their fur strategically to create styles, usually to match the culture's they live with or define their own Giant Clique.
My contributions to the twitter Europa War world-building shitpost.
Second image description:
Ground forces escape the thermal blast of a Glorious Vision.
Designed specifically for Europa, these orbital bombs never hit the ground, but produce a heat so intense it instantly and explosively evaporates the surface.
This is known as a "ThunderMelt" effect.
The Ichneumon are a truly lethal mutant, but the most disastrous part of the Ichneumon are the airborne Sows.
The whips and iridescent green of the Boars are swapped for wings and a reflective chrome. While Boars are territorial herd guardians, Sows are true ambush predators, hiding in the sky to swoop up prey of man and mutant alike.
The organs of the back seem to have two purposes: the smaller organs vibrate to create a mirage-like affect to cloak the Sow during an attack, the larger and longer organs produce propulsion during flight.
Sow's spend much of their time seeding areas with placental pig "eggs" cloned parthenogenetically from the DNA of the pig they bore from, ensuring that their own larvae will have ample opportunity.
After successful mating with a selected Boar, the Sow will re-visit these areas and release her feather-like offspring mid-air like an aerial bomber.
The larvae seek almost any warm body they can find in hopes of imbedding into a viable host's spine. So far the only known successful host are the human made Meal Pigs and their Ichneumon replications, all others simply lack the nutrients, calcium, and biomass to support a complete maturation.
The statue-like calcified corpses of failed bondings are a sign of a Sow's passing.
Two massive Brahmastroth attempt to ballistically fertilize each other, one succeeding in striking the reactive spore bloat of the other, while the other demolishes one of the symbiotic spy drones of it's impregnator.
Brahmastroth are some of the tallest bipedal Trochilimorphs on Heliconia, stomping across Verdigris Rainforest on legs evolved from ancestral treads.
At such a size their body demands massive swaths of resources, so they spend much of their lifespan consuming entire Ancile structures for both nectar and metal. The copper of Branching Cup Ancile "trees" are especially devoured by the Brahmastroth to construct their copper sheathed fur, using their unfolding tongues located at the belly to saw and pull the material inside.
The copper lined hairs of their bodies are the Brahmastroth's primary defense against small predators and parasites. Each hair has an "eye" that carefully tracks the distance of every approaching object. If something gets too close, a segment of the hair will detonate to kill or ward potential threats, leaving another segment to grow and replace the exploded bit.
If a creature makes it past the hair, the static electricity that dances between hairs will likely fry it.
The only creatures allowed to contact the skin of a Brahmastroth are their symbiotic partners: Glassoid Ravns. A bio-internet connection between the two animals allows the Ravns to constantly share visual data with the Brahmastroth, giving them a far greater spectrum of data then their own limited vision ever could. In return for assisting the targeting of rivals and threats or new feeding zones, the Brahmastroth offers it's own nectar-rich blood to the Ravns.
Foreign Glassoid Ravns are usually killed by already partnered Brahmastroth in case of blood thievery or potential spying by rivals, so their glassy transparency reduces the risk of obliteration.
The most infamous trait of Brahmastroths is their magnetically accelerated canon, appearing like a long thin beak protruding from their small head of eyes. Every eye on it's head is dedicated to aiming the canon as accurately as possible, thus the need for spy Ravns , a 360° rotating head, and sensory hairs to make up for the massive blind spots.
Rounds for the canon are gestated from metals harvested from Ancile consumption, while the power is generated through electrogenesis organs that line from the pelvis to the cranium above, it's charge causing the hairs to rise as the energy and round travels up.
Muscles and magnetic rails within the cranium prepare and store energy for a powerful release of the round, building intense heat that requires venting from large gill-like structures on that back.
Once fired, the Brahmastroth's shot is unmatched in accuracy and devastation among organo-ballistics on Heliconia, able to hit significantly tinier animals with little error and destroy creature's tougher than itself.
In the fertility season ready Brahmastroths go through two changes:
1. Areas of their neck bloat with infertile "spores".
2. Gestated rounds change into fertile ballistics.
In full "musth", these eager Brahmastrohs defy their normally solitary existence to actively seek rivals. Though eager to shoot their rivals, few Brahmastroth are eager to be shot due to the energy cost of sporing and the risk of death, especially if multiple Brahmastroths are firing, so being the first to see and shoot their mate is ideal. This also may be a form of natural selection, promoting the best shots to successfully breed.
Upon ballistic fertilization, the spore bloat explodes into a mass of yolk-yellow blood and reproductive material, spreading across the landscape as it fertilizes. The majority of these spores will be consumed by various organisms, with the Branching-Cup Ancile blooming to swallow as much as they can.
