The World of Jute

Or why I think Iwatex has, intentionally or not, a representation of GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder, or when absolutely *anything and everything* can set up horrible anxiety) that feels so accurate yet uplifting it goes beyond anything I could have ever imagined, let alone ever expected to see in a game or anything. As context, I am diagnosed with GAD and it can get very severe for me. Severe anxiety, aside from physical symptoms can make you feel you're almost consumed by terrible mental images and premonitions and the dread they accompany because you never know what is just anxiety and what is a justified worry. You can probably imagine I related heavily to the whole visions stuff in the game and being fearful about the future. But the thing is, it actually looks so cool in it!

Don’t let the name of this surveyor fool you, he’s no one’s ally but his own. His main goal in life is to grow and defend his hoard of shiny things, after all, as he’ll be quick to tell you, he’s a dragon! Just look at his dragon ears that are definitely not axolotl gills.

And his picrew-perfect boyish smile hides an animalistic enthusiasm for violence and battling that can make even Vace uneasy.

Genetic augment: Gills, perpetually youthful and regenerating skin (no scarring) from axolotl DNA. For adaptational cuteness! But they also have other uses... and drawbacks.

His gills need to perpetually stay wet or at least moist to avoid health issues and injury, and his skin needs to be kept misted at all times, as it dehydrates *badly* otherwise. He also needs to apply lotion frequently whenever not spending time in water, and especially after showering with soap. Then he will go through an entire bottle to cover his entire body in it.

Like his cousin Benthic Sediment also has webbed feet and hands, but unlike him much prefers warmer waters.

Age: 28 (18 upon planetfall)

Place of birth: Stratospheric

Occupation: He was originally going to work in the depot until he heard of crystals being spotted in some regions. Later, the opening of positions for work in the swamp meant he’d spend a lot of time there, eventually getting a real taste for hunting and battling...

Favorite food: Anything glittering or nice bright or sparkling colors.

Biography: From an early age he showed an interest in all the shiny animals and translucent minerals and gemstones he saw in picturebooks, holonovels and holovideos. But he soon became particularly fixated on dragons, recognizing themselves in them and their large ears that reminded him of his gills, and their desire in accumulating beautiful and glittering just for its own sake.

With his looks, attention to health and beauty and the confidence built on both he never had problems around other people, and later became friends with Marz, letting her try out various nailpolishes and eyeshadows on him with glee and enjoying looking colorful and special.

Generally, his interested continued to rest on inanimate things, however, and powerful dragon characters in various stories. He mostly felt like he had little in common with other people, and would as a teenager soon insist he is barely human to begin with, much to the dismay of his mother who wanted to take pride in having a pretty perfect son.

Still, he was never a loner, and enjoyed the attention he got by other people, even seeing it as natural. He just didn’t give them much attention in return.

Finding a dream career

He was set on helping out in the depot, viewing it as the closest equivalent to a dragon hoard he would be able to get and seeing it as a chance at maybe learning more about cosmetics from Marz, before hearing about how shiny certain regions of the planet looked from above, seemingly eternally glistering in the sunshines and moonlight.

But it still took confirmation that there were crystals and other shiny things to be found outside the landing site before he committed to becoming a surveyor instead.

He was especially curious about the bodies of water and whether they could supplant or even replace parts of his skincare routines. Unfortunately, the waters in the northern plains turned out to be very cold and also off-limits, and the swamp area was just deemed too dangerous for almost everyone to go in to begin with, including him. This one time, even his good looks and natural charisma didn’t help him change anyone’s mind on that, much to his surprise and disappointment.

The thought of treasure hunts in the plains still excited him, though. Even if it meant he had to bundle up to not freeze, and so he set on some missions there with his cousin Ben, soon becoming one of the brightest minds regarding geology the colony had.

Eventually, he was still sick and tired of being cold so often and could feel his whole body aching for water, feeling envious that even Ben had managed to go for a swim already... somehow. And they had let him do it and not punished him for going against the rules!

Going rogue

Feeling emboldened, he tried to sneak out at night to find his way to the swamp on his own, having previously meticulously studied maps of the area and the data of the surveyors working there. With enough favors called in (he was positively swimming in kudos) he had amassed enough supplies for himself while not arising suspicion and managed to clandestinely climb a tower on the walls and then unfurled a rope to lower himself down on the other side of the wall, feeling giddy about the holovideo-level act he was performing.

He knew the colony surroundings like Cal always knows the Geoponics fields, and so he didn’t take long to cross them and reach the swamp. And it felt ecstatic! The warmth, the humidity, the clean air was like a wonderful warm towel on his entire skin and the water was even better, making him feel whole like nothing ever did before.

With all the knowledge he had amassed from surveying materials he was able to avoid all threats, too. Except for one: Unlike with Ben, his absence had been noticed straight away and he got caught on his return, and given a stern lecture on personal responsibility and banned from obtaining and using kudos for three months. Compared to his cousin, it felt intensely unfair to him and bred a sense of resentment in him that made him isolate more and more from other people and only increased his desire to return to the swamp, and if at all possible, live there somehow.

This changed when the Heliopause arrived and soldiers started going hunting in the swamp and were entirely willing to take Ally with them, who had thrown himself into self-defense and combat training to deal with his anger. At first it was just an excuse to just go swimming again, but soon he realized he actually enjoyed the battling there as well... and the hunting.

He would not just avoid backing down from any challenge in his way, but began seeking them out, even pursuing them for hours, and then re-emerge with his prey and lay it in front of Vace whose face over time gradually went from admiration to concern to suppressed shock. A unisaur, a whole balneal... then a manticore. Killed on his own.

And because he eventually found battling with laser rifles too easy and unfair towards the xenos, he would start throwing it away before using only his natural abilities and the environment as his only weapons.

Moodboard for Benthic Sediment since @yseath was curious about one :D This is the first time I tried making one myself.

The first image shows the plains north of the colony! I took the photo myself, the other ones are public domain photos from Wikimedia Commons.