#specghouls

[phylophocidae]

I'm great at posting regularly shh. Anyways! Speculative Biology (ish) versions of the ghouls! I wanted to make them more obviously creature-y and change their proportions for proper bi-quad movement. In order here we have

Phantom, Aether, Aurora, and Cumulus.

Some Additional Developmental Art from trying to figure them out

[translunary-phylophocidae]

Hey guys it's @translunaryanimus aka @phylophocidae my main account got nuked with no warning or reason provided to me as to why that might've happened. I'm gonna be trying to get my account back as best as I can but I'm over here officially for the time being. I figured I'd make an actual proper backup for the meantime until I can get things reinstated. For proof it's me here's some unreleased ghost art ft. The Specghouls

+ some unreleased art of Mantis and Alex

THIS IS NOT MY PERMANENT NEW ACCOUNT it just exists for the time being until my old account is reinstated.

I also have a bluesky where i've started posting which currently has a WIP archive of all my old Sacred Estuaries art if you'd like to check it out!

[phylophocidae]

So ive been meaning to ask this but im curious abt the biology of the ghouls genitals since you’ve released the like- body maps of phantom, aether, aurora etc. ? Im just a bit confused about them is all 😅

Hi! I've been looking for an excuse to talk about this!!!

So the speculative biology ghouls (specghouls) are different from standard ghouls in a few key ways. Namely that they're entirely unisex, meaning they only have one biological sex. They still may choose to adhere to human genders or present in a gendered way, but biologically they're all the same. I grabbed rain to help me out here with the visual differences between how I draw specghouls vs standard ghouls.

As for actual genitals. Tumblr wouldn't like it if I posted an erect penis or full vagina so you're getting the scientific diagram version.

If this looks at all vaguely familiar it's because I borrowed the layout from the Tailed Spacers from Runaway To The Stars with some differences.

Self fertilization is prevented via cell membrane markers but generally reproduction is fully capable between any two ghouls regardless of element. Subspecies with bigger physical differences (ie. Water and Fire) may have a harder time producing viable offspring but generally everything turns out ok.

The reason you can't see the penis on a standard basis is because it stays tucked inside a sheath and only comes out when stimulated, either sexually or if they need to take a piss. The only exceptions to this are if a ghoul has a particularly large penis, the glans may poke out of the sheath even while in a resting state.

TL:DR they look like that because the specghouls are completely unisex and posess both a penis and vagina

KOFI | PATREON

[phylophocidae]

Im curious about your thoughts on what ghoul kids/kits would be like?

I have an answer for this! Kind of!

I tend to treat ghouls (regardless of whether or not they're my speculative biology based version) as weird little animals so I think their kits are pretty analogous to the babies of other carnivorous animals. Born after about 6 months (not 9) and they come our blind and deaf and hopelessly reliant on their parent(s) to do just about everything for them. Exhibit A - Obsidian's (ghoulsona) first kiddo Solifaction

(Im aware this is a meme image format but shhhh I dont have much proper art of him)

I think their eyes and ears fully start working around 1 month but it can take longer depending on developmental milestones. Ghoul kits typically don't speak until later on in development but are able to get up and roam around free from their parents MUCH faster than a human baby, typically figuring out how to crawl at 4 months and walk around at 7. Solifaction, at 6 months old, is very adept at walking around on all fours and is making this everyone's problem but his own.

More similar to human kids though, ghoul kits are still dependant on their parents for emotional and physical contact well into their teen years, typically only departing around the age of 15-16 to begin their own packs back down in the pits. Surface ghouls (ie. Domesticated Ghouls) will remain with their parents well into adulthood should they so choose. Circling back to this physical closeness for kits, it's pretty common to see surface ghoul parents carrying their kits around in a chest carrier or just in their arms if they need to do something. Exhibit B - Also Solifaction (and Aether, his other dad)

(About ready to go in for a bite here)

For my non-speculative (standard) ghouls, they typically only have 1-2 kits at any given time. Specghouls have litters due to low survival rates in the wild. 3-6 is the average range. For both, kits come out quite small and are typically restricted by the size of the carrying partner to allow for safe delivery.

Water ghouls (standard) lay eggs but the kits come out all the same.

[phylophocidae]

just curious, have you ever drawn the spec ghouls actually moving quadrepedally? I'm really curious to see how you think it'd work!

i hope you have a beautiful day!

Hastily put this together before finishing my job onboarding just for you anon. I'd realized I'd never really actually shown how they'd walk around on all fours before and figured it was best translated in GIF format. They can just stand up from here and walk around bipedally. The little skip in the back legs is because quad motion is usually used to go a bit faster!

[phylophocidae]

How did the spec ghoul and standard ghoul become two separate ghouls?

Specghouls are their own little universe bubble and do not exist alongside standard ghouls. That's why everything dealing with specghouls is under its own tag!

In the specghouls universe, every single ghoul looks like a specghoul. That's just the standard appearance for all nameless ghouls.

In the normal ghost bc universe all the ghouls are their usual vaguely humanoid selves!

[phylophocidae]

i want you to know that your specghouls are so important to me. theyre just enchanting and fit my idea of ghouls so perfectly. youre correct in every way.

(a humble bug)

Thank you! I'm a speculative biology artist primarily and a fandom artist second so I'm glad my fun little merger of the two is well loved!

Also since I feel like it's important to state this openly, so long as I am credited as originator, specghouls as an idea are free to use in any capacity. Y'all are more than welcome to write/draw/whatever with them. Y'all are also allowed to borrow my canon ghoul designs for stuff, go nuts.

[phylophocidae]

I have a question if you don't mind answering, how come spec ghouls have more nips than the standard ghouls? And how come they have a lower pelvis than the standard ghouls?

I don't mind answering! That's what the ask box is for afterall.

The specghouls are specifically a more animalistic/less humanoid version of our standard beloved nameless ghouls based around some common fandom headcannons that I decided to translate into a design. The 8 nips on specghouls are there because I took the (less common) fandom headcanon that ghouls litter like cats or dogs and applied it to them. More kids on average means more surface area dedicated to feeding them. Also I just like the look of it. Makes them feel more creature-y.

This is kind of a lie though because I do draw the normal ghouls with 8 nips most of the time. Rain is an exception because I don't give standard water ghouls nips.

The low/'dropped' pelvis is a proportioning choice to let them walk around on all fours smoothly. It makes their legs and arms around the same length rather than having the legs be significantly longer than the arms which allows for bi-quad movement. Switching from a biped gait to a quadruped gait and back. This is also why specghouls tails are thicker and longer! Helps balance them out when they're walking around on all fours.

Hope that answered your questions!