#sapient species

[he-who-needs-to-be-silenced]

Here’s all the art featuring the spires

First off

This one with the main focus being this aerotheuthid

Here they are. The council

And second off, this new piece which took me 3 days because I had to study up on the grimmos

Focusing on the old 467 year old female of this council

Council: group of spires

[elmurid]

not sure how into this kind of thing you guys are but it’s honestly mind-expanding. if you find this interesting this guy has a few other talks on youtube that are 20-30 minutes. but he’s convinced me that sperm whales are the most intelligent beings in the animal kingdom on the planet (including humans).

Not that I would take a lot of convincing, as I’ve read a lot about this kind of subject and I’ve always been a huge non-human intelligence enthusiast, and I’ve believed dolphins to be at least as intelligent as us for years now, but I’ve never read that much about sperm whales. The fact that they can communicate with each other across thousands of miles, and in some cases from literal opposite faces of the planet, seems to me like they have some kind of built-in physiological internet.

And the fact that their language is exponentially more complex than ours, coupled with the fact that their brains seem to be more capable at processing things like intuition, emotion, love, and empathy leads me to believe that their understanding of nature, themselves, and therefore the universe itself must be many times deeper than our own. And to top it all off they’ve had these incredibly massive, dense, well connected, sophisticated brains for 30 million years. We’ve had our brains for only 200,000 years at the most.

[octagonsun]

Homunculus

A human-derivative species first created by foul arts. They are mainly distinguished from humans by their small stature. They may also exhibit traits more diverse than the humans they live with. Some branches of the species cohere more to the idea or symbol of a human than an actual human body (resulting in odd appearances such as “chibi” homunculi or homunculi resembled a child’s…

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[octagonsun]

Gibs

Gibs are a diverse sapient species, with many subspecies, some of which vary dramatically from the most common members of the species. Gibs are most readily recognized for being ball-shaped, with a plain face. Each member is monochrome, but Gibs are found in every color. All Gibs variants possess a long, extensible, and prehensile tongue which they use for most manipulation. Gibs are, as a…

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[suujatan]

When an animal with an obligate-carnivore's diet evolves into a sapient species, from what sort of proto-society would civilization emerge?

I guess a variation of hunter gatherer with greater emphasis on the "hunter" role would be plausible, but even if they're semi-omnivorous (like how wolves and foxes sometimes eat fruit), I don't think they'd go through the same stages of development of neolithic humans who settled in the fertile crescent. I don't know if a carnivorous sapient would domesticate grain plants and learn to make beer and bread.

They could develop animal husbandry. Herds of prey animals could become chattel livestock kept by ranchers or nomadic shepherds. Maybe towns and villages develop from trading posts where cattle-herders exchange beasts and meat. Maybe they grow from ranch homesteads that pass down through generation.

Land might not be cleared to grow crop plants, but perhaps forests would be cut to provide open fields for the animals, and to build barns and fences.

Of course, that's assuming there's evolutionary pressure that favors shifting from hunter to shepherd/rancher. Perhaps an intelligent carnivore would not become "civilized," but instead just develop more complex strategies for hunting and pack coordination. Clever tricks and teamwork, but still very much a wild animal using claws and teeth. Would it even have need to evolve manipulative appendages for handling tools, if it still retains ancestral tooth and claw?

Pretty sure that at least part of the reason human's evolved to be brainy hunter gatherer's is because their was no room for our ape ancestors to evolve into conventional predators, as the order Carnivora had already taken up occupancy of that niche. Couldn't become ape-dogs or ape-cats when the real dogs and cats were doing just fine in the role.

Likewise, I don't think there's much incentive for wolves to become tool-users and house builders. They're smart, sure, but they don't really need that sort of smarts to live well as they do, especially since they don't really have the best limbs for grasping stuff (maybe if they evolved weird lips? but that might interfere with biting prey...)

[reijnders]

MEGA POSTING MEGA POSTING

these funny guys are the sapient species ive developed the most (and i'll be using jeyo-centric terms for ease of reading and continuity with my other posts)

Generally, yotavuș have some differences easier to pick out across them that directly correlate(more or less) with where they are originally on the planet. those closest to the equator tend to have tan/light brown fur, splotchy stripe patterns, and longer/larger+more saturated matti and frill, while those further from the equator tend to have paler fur tending towards a blue-gray, and more solid stripes.

Additionally, they have two main places where fur can be longer than the rest on the body: the "mane", extended from just between the ears along the length of the tail, and at the junction between the underside of the tail and the back of the legs.

individual in-depth info under the cut!

images of individuals are 1-6, left to right and top to bottom

Image One: Nûzkalrw

/nu˥ʒ.kal.ɹɨ/

Found at the very bottom of the continent, and speak the isolate language of Mw̌ku, which has some influence on the modern standard dialect of its neighboring language, Chà Lo. This is the south pole of the planet, and as such these guys have fur that's longer than average for their species, and, rather uniquely, has a bit of a curl to it. They have smaller ears due to the cold as well. Culture-wise I haven't developed a lot for speakers of this language, but the word nûzkalrw in their language also refers to the species as a whole.

Image Two: H̊lanueli

/xla.n:we.li/

One of the five major ethnicities found in areas where the language Twac̊in̊ /tʷa.t͡ʃiŋ/ is dominant, on the majority of the northern peninsula of the continent, as well as along the southwest coast of the H̊iya /xi.ja/ sea. This land is home to a rang of biomes, from temperate forest to grasslands to tropical forest. Despite the warmer overall weather compared to the nûzkalrw people, there is a tendency to cover up due cultural and religious norms spanning a large amount of the region. The character pictured in the example lives at the northernmost edge of this region, and is bundled up for winter, hence the face mask.

Image Three: Càhetmǐje

/t͡ʃa˥.χɛt.mi˧˥.d͡ʒɛ/

North-ish of the central regions on the continent, and curled up along the coast of the Mǎvnivadjeco /ma˧˥v.ɲi˧.va˧d.d͡ʒɛ˧.t͡ʃɒ˧/ sea, this place is just a little below the equator and almost smack dab in this worlds "cradle of life", where it's theorized that their species first evolved. Most cultures in this area use large head coverings to protect themselves from the sun. They have shorter arms and tails than what would be expected for their heights, along with long, wide ears to help release heat. They speak several different dialects of the most widespread language on the planet(and second-most in space!), with the main one being the standard dialect.

Image Four: Uutas

/u:.tas/

The eastern neighbors of the H̊lanueli, but not as closely related as some think, due to mostly being on Ranihikk and only coming other Sotuŧahtěnu in the last thousand or so years. Big fans of bright colors, and their language has retained a logographic writing system, which is super fun. I have worldbuilt basically Nothing on the continent of Ranihikk beyond the east and west coasts so uh. yeah :)

Image Five: Neohùanshīadhàr

Standard: /neo˥.hwa˥˩n.ʃja˩.da˥˩ɹ/ Sāng-Hòn Dialect: /neo.hwa˥˩n.ʃja.ta˥˩ɹ/

This particular branch of Chà Lo speakers have a bit of a rocky past with those under the Twac̊in̊ umbrella, but in the modern(2374 and a good hundred of so years before then) era things are more of less resolved. This is a Big Desert area, so naturally you'll find a lot of these lil fuckers all around. mimicking the colors of nature is fun, and sand is hot so sandals are preferred during the dry season. tail brushes are flashy and cute, and many folks will wear those little fabric ties on their tails as well with patterning or writing that represent their family. Narrower ears than their central Katteșuvi cousins, probably to avoid catching as much sand in there. Also very, very good at running fast and for a while.

Image Six: Śjixutwu

/ʃji.ʔut.wu/

On the southern coast of Vǒtiyǎcke /vɒ˧˥.ti˧.ja˧˥.t͡ʃkɛ/, and speak one of the oldest indigenous languages on the continent, along with a few others. Defined by straits and seas(Metom Strait/mɛ˧.tɒ˧m/, Mireurǎ Sea /mi˧.rɛ˧.ə˧.ra˧˥/, Eșyǎmemě Strait /ɛ˧ɬ.ja˧˥.mɛ˧.mɛ˧˥/, Șamac Strait /ɬa˧.ma˧t͡ʃ/, Mǎvnivadjeco Sea) , there's a lot of storms here, and has led to communities relying on being water-proofed as much as possible. Tall wooden shoes are also used to stay above floodwaters. Their cultures are highly matrilineal.

[hacchigryphon]

One of the more notable forms of passive magic in the Pommeverses is that any sapient species can have viable children with any other. The resulting child of such a union will always have some mix of traits from both parents' species. For example: Cantus the Aves has birds' wings with feathers and claws for arms, Alphonse the Yeti has humanlike hands with furry arms, and their child Qen has muppetlike hands and integument that's simultaneously like fur and feathers.

[hacchigryphon]

The Haploidal Harpy (often called a "Siren" to minimize confusion with the other type of harpy) has a modified tail that allows it to stand while keeping both claws available to manipulate objects. The harpies call it their "Settinghand". It's not used for locomotion; it folds up against the belly when not in use, such as when the harpy is walking or flying.