I wanna talk about Petrosapiens again (what else is new) and today’s hot topic is, drum roll please…
Uh… beard crystals???
Okay, so, let’s begin by announcing that this is kinda honestly super dumb. Or at least it’s dumb for how… stuck on it looks. That chinstrap (that’s what it’s called right?) looks like it’s held in place with a super secret magnet rather than naturally growing from the guard.
Well, no offence to Tetrax 23 here- I mean if I mocked the style I’d be a hypocrite for giving it to Humanformer Skyke-!
But looking at it, it just feels too human and is actually, in a way, cheating out on an alien set of uh… appearance options. And it’s not like Tetrax over here can’t get a Petrosapien equivalent, but how would it even look?
The answer may lie in hardstone carving;
It’s been done on Earth in quite a few places, but if you’ve ever seen a jade sculpture, that’s what hardstone carving is.
Now, different cultures for different aliens, of course you aren’t gonna find an etching nor carving of Buddha on a Petrosapien’s face. But digging into crystals here and there, unlike in real life where there is no ‘take-backsie’s, taking a dremel to the face is less utterly terrifying because 1) it doesn’t particularly hurt, 2) so long as it’s surface level that ain’t gonna get infectious, and 3) “don’t be such a baby, ribs jaws grow back”.
Hardstone carving could also extend to the rest of the body, especially in places that aren’t repeatedly broken like anything and everything below the elbow of the arm. Backspines have a lot of uh… free space to decorate on without breaking nor getting to inner parts through digging in a little deep.
Getting away from carvings, piercings here and there could function too. At first, I wouldn’t really think so, Petrosapiens don’t have any ears. But then I focused on the guard again, looking at that taped on chin strap Tetrax 23 seems so insistent on wearing.
So, taking inspiration from David Draiman of Disturbed fame, chin/jaw/guard piercings;
But then, you may be thinking, aren’t piercings also a rather human thing?
Well, perhaps, but it’s less about growing metal from our face and more about sticking something into our face. Petrosapiens get the benefit of both, and even if metal piercings are too human, carving into their crystals is still a hypothetical thing, putting extra stuff into the design doesn’t seem that far out of left field.
I thought adding some visuals though may help a little;
Hmm let’s see- I had to sit on this one because I’ve only recently been especially thinking about them. Yes, they were my favourite folk for UA, but only retroactively am I actually beginning to really have any thoughts on them. @thistlehawk ‘s the one to really talk to about Andromeda 5, I just come up with the art for it.
Still though, I’m not afraid to give it a whirl- let’s do a cute and cursed hc each shall we?
Bivalvan
I do not know why- Bivalvan gives me heavy Mom Vibes™️, and I don’t know if it’s because of my recent shitpost or not, but he feels like a bit of a parent??? Like- chiding because he cares, sarcastic but affectionate, and if like actually parental-child relationship (don’t mind me slipping in some father-daughter content) understands when and where to intervene or let breathe? Applied to everyone else in Andromeda 5 you’ve got bickering competitions between him and P’andor, bonding over being both aquatic AND most of the brain cells with Ra’ad, getting to talk about random things with Galapagus, and being the strangely sturdy pebble to Andreas’ shaky mountain. The vibes- they compel me-!
Though, if ever there is a piece of technology that ISN’T bolted down, with Bivalvan around it inevitably goes missing. If you ask he definitely won’t say- it’s not like he’s taking anything vitality important anymore, he’s just tinkering with a few household items, Bivalvan WILL not return whatever lost device to default working order. Whether or not it’s a ‘being prepared’ thing or a ‘needing those claws to constantly be on the move’ thing has been long since muddled by time and also maybe slightly a little bit of criminal activity maybe possibly- Asking for permission is a relatively new thing for him to try out.
Galapagus
Though he won’t engage in violence unless deemed otherwise necessary (like of course his attempts to garner the attention of Ben Tennyson), Galapagus had undergone a little bit of a corruption arc. By Aldabra standards- Galapagus is a villain most foul, but really he only partakes in the occasional heck word and one little ‘cookie jar’ lie as a rare treat.
But did you know he had retractable claws? i didn’t know that at the time of drawing :(- I just couldn’t resist thinking about cats when I realised- and soon that thought turned to scratching posts and perhaps the need to just claw into something and… I don’t know? You’d like to think it was Andreas tearing cushions or Bivalvan itching seams of fabric or even P’andor peeling out the stuffing on a varying scale of nervousness, need or boredom- but you’re wrong. That is Galapagus’ urge- he is the one to scratch up the couch-! there’s a few trees on aldabra surely one can contemplate philosophy while giving the bark a good scritch
Andreas
Being a big lad himself, Andreas can bench-press everyone in the Andromeda 5… but not at once- not that Andreas himself would be the type to use them as weights, haha! Ra’ad and Bivalvan are easy to lift for obvious reasons, P’ander’s weight is all in the armour rather than matter (especially if he’s still stuffed in there), but Galapagus is at top difficulty, mostly due to his shell which for 1) doesn’t offer any flexion, so it’s not an easy hold and 2) is a dense mother heckery for full on bone.
Also, that isn’t just simple armour, those are technically densely packed plates. Andreas has layers upon layers of thin but durable scales that pack in and come across as armour, so outer layers can break without effective the overall integrity of the plates. That uh… DOES mean that shedding happens at some point, even if it’s less Andreas getting bigger and needing larger fit armour and more just ‘refreshing’ the quality of the scales. He’s just lucky to not need it seasonally, else Earth might’ve futzed with something with its no doubt different seasonal cycle.
P’andor
You’ve probably already seen my redesign of P’andor’s true form - the fucked up deer-taur look - but if you manage to find a large, flexible AND relatively thin rad suit (or just find it more convenient to get 4 different suits), P’andor when well fed and significantly more ferret/centipede-y is at his least bastard and most pretzel. Don’t get me wrong- he’s still one heck of an ass, but without the constant annoyance of eating his own bones for enough energy, he’s got a lot of warmth and totally not radiation to share- with only the Andromeda 5 + 1.
Though, speaking of eating, because most of the time being out of his suit is off-limits, on most occasions when P’andor is just hankering for something to naw, hearing clanking coming from the suit isn’t all too unusual. Don’t you worry, that’s just P’andor shifting and maybe accidentally forgetting how cramped the suit is, sometimes one gets a little sneak peek at his fingers as they claw out the slots for that day’s surplus intake. The best kind of ‘sustenance’ that can fit through the slits is probably overwhelming energised energy drinks- to the toxic slutch degree, heart-palpitations degree.
Ra’ad
Saying that Ra’ad is an empath isn’t exactly right, or at least gives off the wrong vibes. Yes, being able to read the minds of folk with a proper nervous system has a little more uh… actual mind reading than trying to understand based on what one may or may not know. But- you could say that Ra’ad is a great listener, so even if he pretty much has exactly a mind to know what you’re thinking (though only if you DO have a nervous system), listening and responding seems to be what Ra’ad would do instead. Though- in place of thoughts, he gets the joy of listening to a constant hum coming from P’andor’s direction- like listening to a microwave.
The bonus to being able to float is that Ra’ad gets to have some degree of control over how much it LOOKS like he has bones, but sleeping breaks all illusions. While he’s far from the level of jellyfish liquidity, the most bone he has in his body are some cartilage plates segmented in his main body, so while his body looks like it does when Ra’ad is consciously aware that folk don’t typically lack a skeletal structure, his many limbs can end up twisting up on themselves- not quite in knots but most certainly in positions most skeleton folk can’t get.
I’m having some thoughts on universal translators, and though I know absolutely nothing about programming or generalised tech, I might as well share- I have a language headcanon in the drafts.
Also, while this is mostly in reference to Ben 10 (mainly for the brief mention of R&D), the actual translation programming can actually apply to Transformers too, considering that they’re most likely built into a Cybertronian.
I, in making this, wanted to have a balance of sci-fi and sci-fantasy (ben 10 is already heavily sci-fantasy, try as i might to star trek the shit out of its logic), so in that sense, I decided upon two types of translators;
Full translators - native language to foreign language through speech alone; does not require understanding of the foreign language, but can have cultural misunderstandings and translation errors.
Full translators are simple, take what you say and (with delay or no, depending on how much coin you can spend) translate it for others to hear. And by being audio based, this translator can work two-way.
This doesn’t matter the price, the translation will always be yours and yours alone, the price only really affects how you hear it. The cheap alternative is simple, an earpiece or some other suitable listening device (depending on of course your biology and whatever the shape of your ear is). More expensive devices uses a one-way thought reader that provides the translation to the mind already. It looks the same as an earpiece, but it just skips the audio prompt and conveys meaning.
And again, full translators translate EVERYTHING you say, and while things may be semantically correct, native speakers of your chosen foreign language can notice something off with your speech. Plus, not all words have direct translation, and across the universe there are some concepts that don’t even have words in other cultures, so translations can be conflated with confusing words or words that don’t quite sound right in the sentence that you are trying to speak.
And that leads us right along to the second translator type;
Semi translators - native language to foreign language with foreign language thoughts and native language speech (i.e. thoughts marked as ‘intended speech’ with vocal imput); prevents cultural misunderstandings and translation errors, but an understanding of the foreign language is required.
Semi translators - I’m not a fan of the name but I’m the worst at making them - are used by individuals who physically cannot pronounce the foreign language they want to speak in (someone with vocal chords speaking a language with striation). Semi translators are typically a one-way translator - mainly due to the thought reading required - so even if the foreign language thoughts were not required for more accurate translations, a new speaker would still need to learn to listen.
Galvan’s have produced a lot of intergalactic tech used by the wider universe - and I think they have made some translation tech canonically - so why not be the ones to make semi translators a real thing?
R&D’s first attempts at making the semi translators initially lacked a line distinguishing intended speech and stray thoughts. A particularly detailed screenplay of a subject’s thought process was identified and consequently translated through, and while the subject was given points for creativity, researchers found the need for an intended speech market; why not use speech itself as the marker?
Taking the one-way thought receiver of the full translators and flipping it, again in the form of a wearable headset (of some form or another), the receiver has a proximity noise sensor that activates the mind-reading. This is far more sci-fantasy that I’m used to talking about (and far more programming shenanigans than i have any knowledge on to actually make a thing hypothetically possible), but essentially galvan smart and yada yada monkey thought translator a la Cloudy and the Chance of Meatballs, the foreign language thoughts are converted to sound thanks to the audial trigger of native language speech.
Of course if you’re a Cybertronian you can skip a few steps. It’s probably a median between full and semi translators that has its route in a Cybertronian’s processor; foreign words enter an audial and - if the planet has global network or some form of internet - words are translated on the fly. It’s prone to errors and misunderstandings - Ultra Magnus’ “What’s a ‘kilt’?” comes to mind - but unlike full translators, they have the opportunity to quickly fact check a word they don’t understand.
And uh… I think that’s it?
well for ben 10 there’s magic- skips all the steps and goes straight to ‘i mean to say this, and this has a certain meaning’
Keep an eye out for my alien language headcanon post- it’s fully drafted and is waiting on a good release time.
@karkalicious769 , I think I found the real Red Sleep.
And for the rest of y’all, let’s talk about alien plants that exist on Earth too, woop-!
So, just as a random thought inspired by rock-eating organisms, which got me thinking of plants and animals eating crystals, Petrosapiens included, I thought ‘are there any plants that explicitly eat crystals’?
Oh bejesus do I have an answer for you!
The Velloziaceae family is a family of plants that are/include organisms that eat quartzite rocks and phosphorus, and have been explicitly observed to live and eat directly on quartz crystals. And take a little guess at what primary element quartz crystals are made from.
That’s right lads, it’s silicon! Silicon dioxide, or silica, are is the primary make up of quartz crystals, and with a crystalline, silicon based species like a Petrosapien, the Velloziaceae family are free to chow down.
But how, you ask, does the Velloziaceae family eat its food. Why, but secreting certain chemicals that dissolve the rock. Now why does that sound familiar?
Because hot damn does Red Sleep love to dissolve Petrosapiens, hoo boy!
You don’t have to understand (lord knows i don’t) but the Velloziaceae family produces carboxylates, or carboxylic acid if we wanna cut to the chase. It’s made from carbon, oxygen and a hydroxyl group, the latter in turn from hydrogen and more oxygen.
Now why am I spouting chemical names that you’re probably and most likely just learning about now? Well, keep it in mind as I tell you the chemical reaction of carboxylic acid against silicon dioxide.
Something something link to correct me if I’m wrong and missing something, yada yada amide bonds I am aware I’m skipping over, and one of the final product/s of this reaction is silanol!
Bringing back hydroxyl, aside from the obvious relation that and silanol has, silanol is also found in all alcohols.
Alcohol, you say?
Maybe that’s why Petrosapiens feel neutral to positive when Red Sleep decides to snack on them.
Of course, all this is me just finding and completely misunderstanding what the heckery is going on in science sources, because fact checking after a post is made is something I don’t do.
Eh whatever, tumblr is a place for net zero information at times, so being wrong isn’t all that bad.
Perhaps this is an atypically personal post, but I wanna talk about all the ‘you’re probably not cis’ moments I was too dense to notice and only retroactively realise. Okay, maybe not talk, but at least dot point them.
You can take this as a vent, but it’s just me giving the biggest facepalm in my life, so nothing really negative.
• As an AFAB little kid, I experienced joy when I was ‘‘‘‘‘‘mistaken’’’’’’ as a boy (i had used hairclips to pin my hair short)
• I was ‘‘‘‘‘‘not like other girls’’’’’’ to the point I didn’t like being called a girl
• My, maybe not first but definitely most notable, persona was and I shit you not called Mr Mask, who was me in every way down to the clothes I wore and my early interest in masks, save for that freaking mr
• the fact that it felt better than mrs, miss or ms too, and god those he/they pronouns and that damned androgynous figure of my idealised self wtf
• Pulled a ‘wouldn’t you like to know, weather boy’ moment when a kiddie wink asked whether I was a boy or girl
And finally;
• Had the time of my goddamn life when two youngens argued over my gender when I dressed all fancy-like, only to have my jovial mood ruined when my accompaniment settled their debate by whipping out my status as AFAB
Did I tell you I was dense? Because I think I’m pretty fucking dense to have only realised this modern era, bejeezus-!
