vigilance;

bed | ENG・HK aside

[tribus-mantodea]

⤮ ᴡᴇ, ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴄɪʟ ᴏғ Fɪᴠᴇ.

And then: the council falls to three.

We are not a roleplay nor an ask blog. This is a humble side-blog for the Mantis Lords and their respective tribes.

Spoilers are inevitable and will not be tagged.

The characterizations may or may not be bastardized. ⠀

main blog/sole admin: @aueua

current icon: @bean-cubed on instagram ⠀ ⠀ DO inform us if you would like tags added to any posts.

⠀

This was created to divert the mantis-posting and avoiding the horrors that is flooding the main Mantis Lords tag. Our content includes but is not limited to: illustrations, writings, and general ramblings/thoughts all centering the mantises in some fashion, complete or not.

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TAGS MASTERLIST

x | chrono | firstborn our eldest sister, indomitable and noble. ⠀

x | chrono | secondborn the middlefirstborn twin, a proud huntress. ⠀

x | chrono | thirdborn the middlelastborn twin, a gentle altruist. ⠀

x | chrono | lastborn our youngest brother, zealous and burdened with inferiority issues. includes records of his traitorous bearing. ⠀

x | chrono | tribes’ child our niece, the lastborn’s daughter, and a child of all our kin. loved and born from a loveless bond. ⠀

x | chrono | the council at least three lords are found in the post, regardless of if we are together. ⠀

x | chrono | AU: Mant(is) is Okay the verse where our lastborn brother had not turned traitor. ⠀

x | chrono | AU: Lifelastborn the verse revolving our lastborn brother, a traitor reanimated by lifeblood, a tale of mending. ⠀

x | chrono | illustrations art. ⠀

x | chrono | writings/ramblings/OOC/miscellaneous we speak through our actions. more seldom, we enthuse. (I yearn.) ⠀

[aueua]

Silksong tomorrow!!! Will we see more mantises? :O

there is never a guarantee, however: Mantises are awesome

[aueua]

My will and [Hers] the veil. Grant me no absolution. Cast judgement unto my last breath. For my people, I alone bear sin.

Heretic. | Coward. Tyrant. | Traitor. No matter the title: My resolve is firm.

[aueua]

funny; they share the same dash.

[aueua]

Hi so I binged most of your blogs in a day or two and I’m 300% in love with your Ze’mer and traitor’s child content, they’re my biggest comfort characters and the way you draw them is just *chef’s kiss*

thanks!!

[aueua]

prideful

[aueua]

…actually, I’m a mantis AND snail enthusiast! a mantisnailthusiast, if you will

[aueua]

(it’s been in my head for three months now…)

[aueua]

Idk if you want canon or not but there isn't a lot of stuff for this ship anyway so traitor lord's daughter and ze'mer?

ah... traitors' child my beloved... <3

it's been a while since i revisited them.

something difficult, would be their dynamic without diverging heavily from canon. where the daughter's tribe was against the union because the partner she sought was not quite simple: she's a great knight. strong certainly, but that title cannot be disregarded. and truthfully this would not have mattered so much, but they were infected, and so their resentment towards things hallownest related had been amplified.

and while it shouldn't matter. well. the mantis is usually more reserved about things and her emotions are often complicated. she does not indulge in affection blatantly, does not find many opportunities to meet with her lover, and is overall quiet about everything as her tribe of defectors makes it quite clear they detested hallownest if it wasn't obvious enough by their intrusion into a territory (that was not even the lady's own lands originally).

meeting is simply. hard. harder, when considering either of them may have or otherwise felt it wrong to confide in others about their little relationship that sprouted in who knows how. perhaps it was how confidently ze’mer carried herself with origins hidden by the armor she donned herself in. maybe her stories. and perhaps it was the daughter’s winning personality of curiosity that kept her drawn. an intrigue of her own that came from secrecy. and later, of course, it’s more attributed to when they spar. their clear differences in how the other was unlike normal denizens. an unfaltering nature.

though they were able to cherish what moments they could, perhaps it was an abrupt end. never telling the other where they must go (they should not have gotten so attached to begin with). ze’mer finding her lover departed far too late.

yeah.

yet in the verse where they were allowed, they would be considered gentle lovers. ze'mer is the one that often initiates contact and long-winded praises. she holds for the other cannot (not properly, at least, and those moments are the only times she felt her rightfully sharp claws were in the way). and though the child does not indulge in these matters frequently, it makes the times mean all that much more when she does happen to. a gentle head rest here. a prize from a hunt there. a short word in her language, returned with a loving phrase from other lands.

see also: the fact that both of them are assuredly a power couple. that's a whole knight and that's a bug hailing from a tribe that's no nonsense. the daughter fills in gaps with her innate agility when the sweep of the great-nail arcs just the slightest slow. ze'mer heads at the front and is capable of enduring blows that would otherwise have rung throughout metal and body and sung it numb.

also tropes of both of them managing to have their antennae curl into hearts! accidental yet lingering contact that slowly grows into more confident and deliberate touches. glancing at the reflection of the other in your weapon and seeing their enamored gaze. just... the general knowledge of knowing their partner will be okay. they're strong. reliable. loyal. (and yet they would still check on the other to see if everything was alright. if their lover was fine.)

hello. mantises huh! mantises. and ze’mer. i never quite settled fully on the important bits of their dynamic, but... ^^ :person_golfing:

nonetheless. it’s quite sweet that the daughter’s only at ease when the flower is delivered, after all the struggle the knight would go through (nails and claws and Possibly explosions) almost like what they were met with. and if you see it as void that leaks from the daughter’s ghost and the delicate flower tying into relieving(? this isn’t the word) stains of echoes and regrets in some way or another, well...

hehe... girlfriends

[tribus-mantodea]

[ We remember the Elder. ]

sigh... so now I must do this, because a friend reminded me. (cakes my dear. why. how did the conversation swerve into...)

[RELATED DIALOGUE] ・ “Yes, even the wild bugs lurking below us. They were once proud like you, but now they are only monsters.” ・ “Ahh... I remember. Those proud lords... were they truly monsters? I remember their eyes now... bright and clear. Why then did I fear them so?” ・ ”If there was madness in that village, it was I who brought it. They were right to cast me out. “ ・”When I attacked, they were right to... // to kill... me...?” [SUB-NOTES] Lingering dream of a fallen warrior. Travelled the world tending to those affected by the plague. - “Never forget what once was lost, yet do not let it tie you down.“ "Dreamborn god of travellers and sages"

-

They were once proud, but now they are monsters.

He brought madness into the village (supposedly), and he was cast out. // He attacked, and then they killed.

By chance, he has encountered the Mantis Village, and by chance, he had stayed long enough to know that they are proud. How long had he himself been there (or how often had he visited) to say that they turned into monsters? How much respect had he earned that they had not outright killed him -- even giving him a grave once things were said and done?

It’s just... fun! To think about. Where this guy wanting to simply help those affected by the plague/purify things managed his way here, probably a timeline after the traitors defected (or maybe not). Imagine? He was the one that sowed the thought into the Traitor Lord’s mind among others? Speaking of the plague or otherwise attempting to resolve that in his own way accidentally leading to new(?) sentiments? Or, well, the madness could’ve just been him beginning to accuse everyone of being monsters and being unaware that he himself had gone mad (yet the lords had noticed; agreed as a council that he could not remain in their village and yet he saw that as evidence). Regardless... nice to think about, I suppose. I just think that the whole [waltzes on in and starts shit] would be a bit too out of the question since again, he’s got a grave and the respect of his belongings on said grave. It isn’t a mere marking or anything, that’s a whole structure.

-

yeah i don’t have much more to say on that, i just wanted to get it out there that it’s probably unlikely to treat him as bare bones “yOU’RE InfeCTed and so ARE YOU!!! NOW LET ME TREAT Y-- ah.” tried not to think abt this man and yet. mm... paincakey. maybe he was tho idk don’t look at me please do Not perceive me

[tribus-mantodea]

[ Funny to call someone a heretic. ]

[tribus-mantodea]

[ Formalities. ]

long overdue. I’ve been trying to chip at a google doc and uh, hrm. think I’ll toss the gist into here for mostly myself and anyone else that happen to be curious

likely will still modify subtly in future drawings, but just general gist of what i want to do moving forward for personalization fun because i ... am too lazy to do subtle color shifts/other notes when i can just. [forcibly adds on things that makes it look more like ceremonial accessories than not] (the first is lacking more of the adornments because she doesn’t care for ‘em, plus hello brother)

i never mentioned it, but the scratches dragged across the third’s horns are due to a hunt, whereas the second had mirrored some of the scratches in gentle solidarity (even if it had went against how she idealized their eldest/how it was somewhat disadvantageous when working together but. eh.) and wound up gaining new ones anyhow

names:

i haven’t really figured anything out. i don’t see mine having actual names even when professionalism is involved (manta from yesterday i look at you VERY disrespectfully) as they’re commonly referred to as the collective “lords.” individually beyond respectful hisses and the striking of claws (or tapping the butt end of a lance against ground) at most four times depending on which lord is being spoken to, adjectives and titles are fun. maybe not self-proclaimed ones -- at least beyond the initial passage into adulthood long ago.

i... hm

where the first has been dubbed the primary arbiter and judicator. by merit, she is more adept than her siblings as an individual. not blatantly so, but her wit and due responsibility placed her as such. that being said... she’s not foolish enough as to decide everything on her own, certainly not for their village of warriors when they aren’t receptive to outsiders. she has the sense to seek counsel from the other lords. they aren’t at risk of an echo chamber, and in the end, she herself is the one that finalizes matters after an unhealthy amount of consideration. she has been called indomitable as well (though she herself does not see that the slightest bit true if saying so outside of her prideful spirit) in the way she presents herself and what position she takes in a fight. part of it is because she is a lord, so... what would it do for her to fall so easily and without fight? morale is a funny thing sometimes.

the second is the obligated huntress (and as some have regarded her as... warmonger). her personality is rather brash and almost snarky, and with not much else to consider herself skilled in, she prides herself in almost everything related to hunting. (patience, shockingly, and the utmost attention to little everythings coupled with perhaps a cruelly efficient means of doing things.) well. just a fighter. she’s also that one lord who later after they’d spoke with the king personally was like “We could use just even one of those unnecessarily shiny spikes on his crest as a substitute nail. He doesn’t need all of them does he?” “...Sister.” “Or we toss in a mushroom into that cage. See how long it takes for it to stop bouncing before he realizes.” “Sister.” “Bah! Would you rather I talk about how unrealistic but infuriatingly fun it would be to fight him and all of his people?”

while she finds it somewhat embarrassing, the third has been called an altruistic mediator in her attempts to settle disputes and internal conflict. that, and she more actively shows her concern towards things (thus having more bandages on her just as a precaution). she was the one most receptive to the idea of interacting with outsiders and doesn’t exactly agree with those (aka her older twin) that might feel it more necessary to outright sunder before they ever get to speak. don’t get her wrong though; she understands the justification and wouldn’t give anyone a slip of mercy either (especially if they happen to kill any of their warriors or youth, but she’d entertain a talk for something that somehow snuck through their village and let them go with the risk that of it being determinantal. (well. not like none of them can handle themselves, ha ha.)

the brother is simply... stalwart, zealous in his efforts to improve himself and be as good as his sisters (if not better). even when he tries to hide that, it’s quite obvious that he tries and in turn serves as some sort of inspiration for the other mantids. dude just wants to be the best for the tribe. he’s got little traits of all of his sisters, but in the end, he has interests at heart. he’s formidable! he’s cool! he’s. i forgot what else i wanted to talk about here so oops sorry mister man grjkaldfhj another time

bonus

“Only for a little—” “For longer.” “—okay.”

the third’s the type to overextend herself and dance on the brink of burn-out fairly often (especially so post-deposed lord; involving herself with the village is expected). while both sisters will call her out on it, more often than not it’s the second doing so. sure she’s not the greatest at what the younger can do, but. hey. they all rule together. 

come to think of it they all call each other out on their tendencies oops

[tribus-mantodea]

[ Harumph. ]

aka the few moments of when I’d repeatedly enter and exit the area of “notice/lords’ head lift” where I’m sure in another world they’d be sick of my shit and probably beat me up without ever prompting a challenge (but hey! there’s like. two pattern-orders of when they lower their heads!)

and then .... [stares respectfully]

[tribus-mantodea]

I know the HK fandom likes to imagine the Mantis Lords as cool and no bs type bugs but after your post redrawing real mantis pictures with them, I can't stop thinking about them acting like real mantis do. Like the Pale King comes over to discuss the Mantis tribe becoming part of his rule and the Mantis Lords all just stand up, raise their arms and slowly move from side to side to intimidate him.

alt caption: “I changed my mind.”

✨ every bug has their quirks ✨ and dominance must be asserted over the shorter fork because that is Their Territory and They’ll be Damned if They Don’t

edit: alright but now that I’m more sane, what’s to say they don’t do a lil’ ol’ mantis trait here and there? lost in thought and (with the brush of wind, subconsciously teeters side to side even if subtly) or having to catch themselves and stop before going [W] snrrk

[tribus-mantodea]

[ Pew. ]

[tribus-mantodea]

[ POV ]

(video in question https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6ogBK4NmtE)

let him in vs “what u see as a bug trying to enter deepnest.”

[tribus-mantodea]

[ ...Context under cut. ]

i lied there’s really not that much context

“hello dear. how did the negotiations go?” “...honey, do you think your gardens need trimming?” “perhaps? what brought this?” “never mind.” hallownest is actually just a world of tools (and is there any way i can go back in time and unread scissors..... thinking about it now they’d be more like those zig-zag pattern scissors)

bonus herrah as a less violent alternative: “where did you get that.” “doesn’t matter. it fits, yeah?” “perfectly. we’ll move it somewhere less open.” “great. hey so I have one that looks kinda like the watcher and I think it’d go great as like a spoo--”