#uplifting

[memeuplift]

[holy-leapin-splits-batman]

[Video Description by idowhatiwantspock: A tiktok from Paal Bjørndal of a white haired lighthouse worker with a glorious white beard speaking into the camera, as wind blows his hair around. No dialogue is audible over the sound of wind. The video caption reads "Here I tell you some really inspiring quotes. I hope this will help you get up in the morning" End Description]

[positivewritings]

You are allowed to start over. As many times as it takes. Each time you do, you bring more wisdom, more courage, and more of your true self.

[afeelgoodblog]

[a-path-by-the-moon]

[injuries-in-dust]

Good news of December 2024

[luxudus]

An actually up to date referece sheet of the Ruuik. Now with a fresh new look!

That's right. I made a reference sheet of my Ruuik sophonts too. The other sophont species from the Ikleud homeworld for my main worldbuilding project the Neo-Anthropocene. I haven't really drawn them as much as the Ikleud and haven't gotten a true reference sheet until now!

And in buildup to this they have gotten a fresh new coat of paint through their own redesign! Their eyes now sit atop the top of their body, with more detailed and flexible anatomy. With new more complex more flexible eye anatomy. And extra-jointed legs for a better range of movement. They also have all their lore properly compiled. Now completely rewritten with better ecology and a vastly more fleshed out history. Enjoy! :D

THE RUUIK

The Ruuik are the second sophont species of the ringed planet Irou. While they’re notable for their omnivorous small sized food selection with eccentric dieting choices. And their small but tight knit social structures. They’re most remarkable for the fact they used to be the Ikleuds’ pets. And that their sapience wasn’t naturally evolved. But were uplifted by their former owners, now mutual companions.

BIOLOGY -

The Ruuik find their ancestry within the Phylum Radiartupoda. A massive group of invertebrate organisms found in every corner of Irou’s landmasses. Anatomically they share many attributes with earth insects. Both possess sturdy biomineralized exoskeletons. Sets of compound eyes. And 6 arcing legs to give them support. This is where the similarities end. All Radiartupods for one, are Radially symmetrical. Their mouth, a sensitive proboscis, lies on the bottom of their body. They possess 6 spiracles on the top of their body followed by 6 antennae used to taste their world. They also use an ultra-optimized form of Clorocruorin as an oxygen carrier for blood. Giving their flesh and compound eyes a deep green hue. They also have ring-shaped brains, that’s a thing too.

Ecologically, they function as more of a second group of “tetrapod” analogs than anything insect-like. With most species regularly taking on macrofaunal niches rivaling their Eterocrurid coinhabitants in size. In fact since the dawn of time it seems the two Phyla have been locked in an evolutionary “stalemate” in spite of the constant speciation within the two groups. Neither side is winning or losing against each other.

SPECIFIC SPECIES ADAPTATIONS - 

The Ruuik also originate from the largest continent on Irou. Finding refuge in an open plain of chaparral lowlands. Akin to the Mediterranean coasts but devoid of their mountainous landscape. They are naturally able to manipulate their environment with all 6 of their legs, of which are all frighteningly flexible. With each segment able to bend outwards nearly 180 degrees. And can even arc sideways if a Ruuik wants to visually inspect what lies in their hands up close. They belong to a clade which softened up their exoskeleton in favor of sheer muscle and brain mass. Creating an almost mesoskeleton. Their antennas are flexible and move independently to display emotions as well as provide refined taste. Their compound eyes also sit on a set of mobile bulges derived from ancient eyestalks. And move around independently akin to the eyes of a chameleon or a Humhead Wrasse.

SIZE - 

They are also pretty small in contrast to their Ikleud cosophonts and massively vary in size too. The smallest adult Ruuik stand at a height of .3 meters or only1 foot tall. On average a Ruuik grows to .7 meters or 2 feet tall. And at the very maximum there have been some Ruuik documented growing to 1 meter tall or 3.5 feet

ECOLOGY -

The Ruuik are omnivorous in their diet and fill a role of small prey specialists in their native ecosystem. Willing to feed on pretty much anything that will directly fit inside their proboscis. If your definition of anything is exclusively small Eterocrurids, Radiartupods, Seeds, nuts and “fruit” of large trees, Plant tubers. And oddly enough Charcoal. Ruuik will feast on any charcoal they can find. Being made readily available in their Chaparral habitats left in the wake of wildfires. Charcoal does actually help them too. Aiding as a natural detox to cleanse their systems of any ailments or parasites. And acts as a natural antidote to poison. An element that is found in a concerning amount of their usual prized prey.

The Ruuik not only act as small prey specialists. But have found their own niche regulating the prey no other predator is willing to eat. But this deed has no thanks to be made. The Ruuik find themselves preyed on from time to time. By larger Eterocrurids and Radiartupods. Their physical merits alone aren’t enough to remain safe. Sociality was their way to survive.

BEHAVIOR -

The Ruuik usually form groups of 3-5 individuals in order to ensure not only their survival, but everyone else's. Though these groups are small and their limit for recognizing faces is far outpaced by an Ikleud. The bonds that form between them grow as iron tight as their Cosophonts. When not hunting or watching for predators. Ruuikk will often engage in play and socialization to strengthen their bonds. However, despite how social and crafty they sounded, for most of their evolutionary history they could only be classified as nearly sapient by most. And Facultative sophonts by those few who were optimistic in their brightness. Ruuikk were exceptionally smart. But nowhere near the intellect of earth’s great apes, corvids, and elephants.

COMMUNICATION -

They communicate using various forms of clicking, chirping, tapping, whistling, and grinding of their beak. And can create noises similar to vowels by puffing air out of their spiracles. They express their emotions with their antennae. Both the large feathery variety they use to taste their world. And the small variety they use as makeshift eyelids. However in the presence of their Ikleud cosophonts. Who aren’t as adept at reading Ruuikk. And even more so in the presence of humans. They fall onto their sheer flexibility to express emotion with body language. Changing the ways they move and locomote to show how they feel.

HISTORY -

Ruuikk as a species first evolved a little over a million years ago, and managed to wedge out a quaint life for them. Their wide range of diet allowed populations to specialize in different lifestyles relying on specific varieties of their usual prey. Creating crude tools out of flint and bark. And sometimes they changed parts of their world with no material meaning. Possibly having formed a hallmark of almost all facultative sophonts, the capacity for Culture. Though unfortunately some 110,000 years ago a disease ravaged these populations, and by the time the Ruuik naturally grew resistant. It was all too late as what little they’ve built up had completely collapsed. They had fallen back to square one

DOMESTICATION -

Countless Millenia later. The Ikleudd had begun venturing out of their forested highlands and expanded across their whole home continent. Paleolithic cultures developed in all sorts of new environments and braved climates their kin weren’t suited too. It was somewhere around the periphery of the Chaparral lowlands that agriculture first emerged. Ancient Ikleud that settled in the lowlands had grown acquainted with the smaller Ruuik. And learned their wide food palette could protect their farms from pests and plants all too eager to invasively grow. Much like the cats and dogs of earth. The Ikleud had begun domesticating the Ruuikk and protecting them in return for preening the farms and homesteads that suddenly showed up.

With the passage of time and the explosive advancement of Ikleud civilization compared to the epochs of paleolithic life. The Ruuik began to physically change as they became more specialized for certain tasks for their owners. Selective breeding had diversified the domestic Ruuikk. Taking on all manner of builds, earthy tones, furs, and sizes to suit the needs of the Ikleud. Eventually as technology progressed even further the Ruuik were being bred for luxury. High contrast stripes showed up from the far corners of their genome from bygone ancestors. Selectively bred back to be made in the image of Ikleud fawns. And anatomy began being contorted for show. The Ruuik exploded in diversity all across Irou in exchange for the foundation of their physical health. A deal they had no say in signing.

THE GREAT UPLIFTING -

Possibly the single biggest event in the history of the Ikleud and Ruuik was the great uplifting. It took centuries until the advent of a world network of digital communication and a complete unrestricted flow of information all around Irou. That the Ikleud masses were finally diving deep into learning the natural world around them. At the forefront of these seeds of ecological empathy being planted. It was the realization that the Ruuik were intelligent. Remarkably intelligent. And that they have possibly been passively getting smarter over the eons.

Something changed within the Ikleud. The spirit of new generations fighting for change, for a better, more ethical world. The memetic seeds being planted for a more ecologically conscious Ikleud. And a lingering desire to meet new peoples growing in the shadows of news that the Ikleud world governments were reaching other planets. An idea brewed.

“What if we made our pets people?”

One thing had led to another. A long chain of seemingly unrelated events. Culminating in this single idea becoming the absolute forefront of Ikleud society. The world’s governments got on board, and soon great Uplifting officially began. The process split into three separate projects. 

One was to completely restructure Ikleud society, in law, in etiquette, and in ergonomics. Everything that had to change was changed to one day welcome the Ruuik as people. A society-wide equivalent of cleaning up and reorganizing a herdhouse to welcome a soon to be hatched fawn. The second project was a species-wide cleanup of the Ruuik themselves. To undo all the damage the old Ikleud did to their pets for the sake of aesthetics. Fix up as many breeding-caused health problems in the genepool. At least in such a way that they don’t commit eugenics on their own pets. And lastly the final part of this project is the actual neurological uplifting of the Ruuik themselves. Giving them that final push to becoming recognizably sophont.

This project to uplift the Ruuik and welcome them to a better world took over the course of a whole Millennia. Within that time the Ikleud were wholly politically unified and became an interstellar civilization. The secrets to Faster than Light space travel were cracked wide open. The first signs of alien life beyond Irou were discovered with xenobiology teams being sent into the long quiet night to make planetfall. The cultural seeds of ecological awareness and interspecies empathy had bloomed and swayed the masses. The Ikleud at the tail end of the great uplifting had become changed people. Their outlook on life is fundamentally different to the Ikleud at the very beginning of it. They were no longer the same from the start of their project.

Then on one fateful day. Sometime in the early 31st century. The first fully sophont Ruuik was born. Two way interspecies communication was established for the first time. And the Ruuik were at last welcomed into the world as proper people.

MODERN DAY SOCIETY -

Now in the 4160’s, the Ruuik have become a prosperous and fully sapient species under the protection of the Ikleud, They joined their companions on the frontiers of space exploration and helped the Ikleudd and more recently the humans in constructing a prosperous and nearly utopian civilization.

In the present day a Millennia has passed since the first fruits of the Great Uplifting. The Ruuik have had an eon of history to grow their own identity. New cultures as artistically dense and rich as their cosophonts have formed both on Irou and among the hundreds of exoplanets they’ve colonized. New faiths have been made. Naming systems and full languages were developed that made full use of their Clicking and Chittering and Whistling. The Ruuik have long since joined the ranks of Ikleud scholars, bringing their own theories of the world and peoples to the field of science. Entire planets and star systems have been named in their honour. Their scientists, diplomats, celebrities, gods, goddesses, and fashion styles.

The Ruuik have gone from pets, and ascended to being a fully fledged people.