Aquila

I'm having some worldbuildy thoughts about the Singing People at work right now. Really hoping I still remember once I get long enough break/get off work so I can type them down.

I did briefly consider removing the hood marking, but I do kinda like the design, so instead I'm steering the Singing People into a less human direction.

Jotting down some thoughts!

Family and roles and stuff:

* They don't really have a concept of marriage. While pair bonding does happen, and some breeding couples do stick together, it's not expected to happen every time.

* The average time a breeding couple stays together is few years.

* While some Singing People do, in fact, mate for life, that isn't the norm. (Sunbird is just a weirdo in how into Stonemaker he is.) It is also not unheard of for the pairs to split before their chicks hatch.

* They don't see the latter case as single parenting, though. If you asked them how they're gonna raise the chick/chicks alone by themself, they would be really baffled.

Like, that's what the clan is for? Who on earth would leave childrearing on a single person?? What???

* Like with ostritches, it's usually the dad who does the incubation. So, while usually both parents are acknowledged, and both of them plus their extended family take part in raising the child, the Singing People see fathers as slightly more central role than mothers in the process.

* There are some female Singing People who see that their responsibility ends at laying the eggs.

For them what happens in the nesting grounds stays in the nesting grounds.

How frowned upon this lifestyle choice is varies, but it's usually more accepted than not.

* Single mothers raising their chicks without the father present are much more rare than the other way around.

* If you hatch it, it's yours.

* Collecting eggs from multiple ladies and hatching them in the same year is super weird, though. You do bond with your seasonal mate for the nesting season at least!

* Since multiple clans usually share the same nesting ground as they follow their cow herds that do so, people exchanging clans usually happen this way. You bond for a season and follow your bond mate once your herds split after the season. Some stay in their new clans even after the pair bond ends, and some return to their original home clans, depending on the person and the friendships they've formed.

* They usually don't see former pair bonds as exes, and while levels of jealousy vary, the average level is a lot lower than on humans.

Gender stuff

* For the Singing People "child" is a gender.

* Due to not having external genitals, and no sex linked markings upon hatching, all children are considered the same as a result.

* It is technically possible to try to probe a chick's sex while they're still kids, but it's not always accurate and is seen as a bit weird thing to do.

* While sex linked behaviors do pop up before adult plumage does, they don't always match the "eventual" sex of the individual (sometimes a lady can dance, for example, even if the mating dance is usually a thing initiated by males) and is seen as just kids being kids, basically like playing house.

* Overall the Singing People have very little gendered expectations for their people and the strongest of bonds you have don't have to align with who you raise your kids with, mating bonds tend to be fleeting after all.

* Molting into your adult plumage is considered to be when you become your gender, and is also an occasion for celebration.

(It can take several molts across few years for your adult markings to settle into their final form, but once your facial feather disc turns white -usually at the same time the hood marking first makes its appearance- is when you leave childhood and become an adult)

* They have a... not really a "deity", but a mythical character, who is said to paint your feathers once you grow old enough. Might just call them Feather Painter for now.

* Their myths also have a trickster character (Wind Cloak) who also occasionally paints feathers of young Singing People. Wind Cloak is often portrayed as bilateral gynandromorph, half male and half female, so being intersex or presenting non-typical markings is seen as being painted by them instead.

This is usually seen in positive light, as Wind Cloak is usually portrayed as a benevolent character, tricking greedy and mean people into falling for their own traps (kinda like a Bugs Bunny type of character)

They used to be part of a bigger clan before splitting some years earlier.

If I remember correctly, troodontids (and many other theropod dinosaurs) laid eggs in sets of two.

(Also they probably have different words for father[sired you] vs father[hatched you], and mother[laid your egg] vs mother[raised you], and possibly even siblings[hatched and grew up together] vs siblings[raised elsewhere by the other bio parent].)

Flying Blade (the grandma) might have had a pair of eggs before our sibling trio, but those were hatched by their father from another clan, and she didn't join the clan after, so the chicks belong to the other clan. Maybe. Haven't decided yet.

Later she decided she wanted to hatch her own children, so another year she made a deal with Stonemaker's father to split the egg pair, as the man also wanted to raise a child. Both were happy! They still like hanging out together whenever they happen at the same nesting site when the cows' nest season rolls around.

Two Feathers and Laughter in Canopy are probably just a year younger than Stonemaker. Flying Blade chose her mate that year partly because he was happy to leave the childrearing to Blade, though he did travel for a year, maybe even two with her clan after the season. They are all in great terms, and love hanging out whenever their paths cross!

When the clan split off from the original, bigger clan, it was on Two Feathers' initiative. The clan's cows had developed some discord, and the easiest way to solve their quarrel was to split some off the herd, to release the pressure caused by clashing personalities. Her siblings stood besides her, and Flying Blade decided to back her children and joined them. Sunbird joined soon after that, on their first nesting season since the splitting.

Not everyone has them, in fact Kamina and Simon are among only a handful in Jiha with wings. Kamina's loud and proud about his wings, foregoing the cloaks everyone else wears to have his wings out at all times. Simon's far more shy about his, which are undersized to begin with, and he always keeps them tucked away under his cloak and later his team gurren jacket. Part of Kamina's argument with Chief about the existence of the surface is the very existence of their wings, because what's the point of them if there's not enough space to fly?

When proto team gurren are being chewed out after the pigmole escape attempt, Kamina's wings are bound just as his wrists are, and Simon watches out of the corner of his eye as Kamina's feathers ruffle and his wings strain against the ropes even as he seems focused on his argument with Chief. Simon feels their absence keenly when Kamina pulls him into a hug during the earthquake, as Kamina's hugs usually involve being covered by his wings as well.

Yoko's wings pique Kamina's interest immediately when she dives down after the big metal face. Her's are big and powerful, unlike the sad atrophied things the few other winged Jiha residents sport, and she really knows how to fly with them. "Daaamn, you got a mighty fine pair of wings, surface chicks are a breed apart!"

Over the course of his big triumphant return in ep 11, his wings finally start to grow from their stunted state. His wings are deeply connected to his spiral power, and have been growing a little ever since he powered up Lagann for the first time, but now he's finally truly embraced his spiral power and his wings reflect that.

Simon doesn't even notice until after Guame's forces have been sent packing and Nia comments in awe on how beautiful his wings are now.

I, knowing that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, waited carefully for the lab director to be deep in conversation with someone else on the other side of the laboratory. And then I took my chance.

Test tubes, as it turns out, are really bad as shot glasses. Their shape turns any liquid inside into a stream, so you really can't knock it back quickly - it takes a couple seconds. Additionally, the best way I can describe the taste of virus concentrate was "sterile rot". A very unique kind of bad! Made worse by the test tube's inefficiency as a shot glass.

(by the way we were studying bacteriophages, not animal viruses. these viruses are too specialized on attacking prokaryotes to even recognize our cells as targets at all, according to studies.)

(but also like. if the viruses managed to successfully switch hosts and killed me with a violent infection, itd still be worth it.)

Hi! Thank you! I am glad if it could help 💖

True, we do see more of his biomancy. I think he might have used sanctic discipline on Kiava Gamma while working on the cogitator:

As soon as Heinrix takes another step toward the cogitator, it emits a deafening shriek like hundreds of metal needles driving into toughened glass, as though sensing the stranger. Wincing, Heinrix approaches the control panel and bends down toward the screens. Despite the heat clogging the room, you feel an ice-cold breeze — Heinrix is clearly using his psyker abilities to try to fend off the pernicious effects of the Chaos artefact.

And this one from an event, I belief:

"Emperor's mercy, do not forsake your loyal servants now!" Van Calox's voice cut sharply through the panic that had descended upon the brave scouts like a net cast by an unseen hand. The psyker's eyes gleamed softly in the gloom — the touch of his sorcery drove the taint of weakness from the scouts' souls, and the sinister voice vanished as if it had never been there. After regrouping, the team retreated to the shuttle."

And maybe even here during the ritual in Voidshadows DLC:

A hand is laid on your shoulder. For a second, a golden flash breaks through the ruthless white light, and you hear a fragment of a sentence: "…brace yourself…"

Xavier is not a psyker, but he is performing a ritual, and I believe that is usually called sorcery (though Heinrix in-game dialogue often uses the term for psychic/psyker powers as well, I have noticed) - and non-psykers can do that too. But I would also expect that it belongs to the same school/field.

It is a very useful discipline that any psyker should have - but not everyone can do it (more to this later).

On Janus, Heinrix senses psychic powers and know it is a bewitching spell - but - it is possible of course, that he just sensed something and given the reaction of the rebels, came to the logical conclusion it has to be mind affecting.

In the tabletop game that RT is based on, all psykers have a skill called "Psyniscience", which is basically like an Awareness skill for warp-related phenomena. To start with its something they have to focus and actively use, like when you close your eyes and listen hard to something just outside your hearing, but it can be improved with training. Even if we take that as a symptom of the game system, it makes sense to me that learning to feel the movement of the warp around you would be a foundational skill for all psykers. And the name is as good as any.

That ability would be how Heinrix can tell if you're a psyker when you first meet, and it's how any sanctioned psyker would be able to tell that the rebels on Janus were under the influence of something. Heinrix's additional training would be how he could make a fairly solid guess about what sort of power was influencing them, even if he doesn't have a knack for mental powers himself.

Interesting question. There are fewer marsupials than placentals, most of them are concentrated in the continent with the lowest primary productivity (after Antarctica), and IIRC they tend to have a slower metabolic rate, which might artificially against marsupial intelligence.

However, Weisbecker and Goswami (2010) make two interesting observations:

The difference in relative brain development between marsupials and placentals is distorted by the inclusion of Brain Georg among the latter (i.e. primates). Once you exclude those the two clades aren't that different; placentals also have small-brained subgroups (e.g. Xenarthra).

Marsupials may actually have less constraint on max brain size than placentals because of their extremely precocial birth, and -- perhaps because their development is spread over more time -- it's also less limited by the mother's metabolic rate. It's not clear to me they have made much use of this reduced constraint, though.

Ashwell (2008) examines in detail the relative brain size of Australasian marsupials, and interestingly finds that small marsupials have the same endocranial volume (proxy of brain size) as placentals of similar size, but larger ones fall short. Pygmy possums, honey possums, and sugar gliders apparently have similar e.c.v. as similarly-sized prosimians (with whom they share tree-dwelling, grasping hands, and sugar-rich diet). They also find no relation between e.c.v. and the lushness/aridity of the environment, which I find vexing.

Karlen & Krubitzer (2007) also finds a relative brain size in some possums that rivals some primates, and note that similar specializations in the cortex can be found in marsupials and placentals with similar lifestyle; Rasmussen & Sussman (2007) explicitly describe phalangeroid possums as marsupial analogues of prosimians. The brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) is already fairly close to a marsupial monkey, or at least a marsupial lemur.

The most obvious difference in brain structure is the lack of a corpus callosum in marsupials, but there is an anterior commissure with the same function. Interestingly, per Dos Santos &al (2016), Australasian marsupials have a cortex-to-rest of brain ratio of neurons "comparable to artiodactyls and primates", whereas American marsupials have a less concentrated cortex.

Having a different brain organization compared to placental mammals is not necessarily a negative; birds don't even have a neocortex, strictly speaking, and this doesn't prevent parrots and corvids from being impressively smart.

Tl;dr I'm not convinced marsupial brains as such are in a poorer state than placental ones.

Quokkas (a small wallaby famous on social media) have learnt how to open zips and velcro, which we know because there's a group of them on Rottnest Island who have become somewhat infamous for sneaking into people's tents to steal food. I don't think that quite counts as tool-using, though. Quokka have also learnt how to manipulate tourists, but again that may be more a sign of cunning than smart.

A hand-reared kangaroo can learn its name and maybe one or two other verbal commands, but that's about it. Admittedly, they're not a very vocal species and don't tend to respond to food rewards, so training them is hard.

I was trying to write the outline for episode 3, but was running into the problem of why not combine right at the start of the battle? I had Nia and Viral discussing the possibility the previous evening (bc neither are impulsive dumbasses like Kamina who would think of sticking Solvernia on Enki's head mid battle, so I need some actual set up to justify it), but Nia's not a scardey cat like early show Simon so she isn't having trouble getting Solvernia to work the next morning when Kamina shows up. So why not try combining right away? But I can't have them combine right away because that completely ruins the pacing and tension of the fight!

And @morgrimmoon came to my rescue as usual by suggesting that if I can't make Nia more scared, why not make her even less scared? She's overconfident and runs into battle as soon as Kamina arrives, ignoring Viral telling her to hold back, and promptly gets swatted over the wall of the canyon. Kamina's not interested in this little mosquito, he's just here to fight Viral. Solvernia goes absolutely flying, gets wedged real good in the rock when she lands, and now Viral has to hold off Kamina on his own until Nia can get unstuck and make her way back to the fight.

electroreception in monotremes is extremely old, 130 mya, and may have evolved to deal with hunting in the 3-6 month darks of the south pole forest.

echidnas may have evolved from a platypus like organism that became fully terrestrial, as evidenced by their flatter bill as embryos (and lack of echidna-like organisms in the fossil record past 2mya)

I have the feeling I represent quite often the minority in certain views about him, but I also do not think he would do it.

Remember the Magnae? People seem to wave it away easily, like, that was just a warning he gave us, as if that didn't take a lot from him.

He went against the wish and order of Xavier, his Master, who he also describes as someone very dangerous, who is not lenient usually and doesn't tolerate other peoples weaknesses, to warn RT. Xavier clearly wanted this to be a surprise and Heinrix went against this - knowing that this will not stay a secret, he even expects to be punished in some sort for this:

"Let them charge me with whatever they want later — I had to make you aware that there is no genuine threat to your life."

He is more afraid of what will happen to RT than to him. If RT acts unwise, Xavier might order her to get killed - or worse - tortured by him. He is clearly afraid of that and this is also where his fear on Janus stems from I think.

You can also have two times (Janus/Black Ship) already told him there is more than duty - but to be honest, even without this, even if hardened, he acts the same in the Magnae, because duty or not, he is already in love with RT.

And while a hardened Heinrix later tortures Emelina, I think RT is different for him, because of this love. Yes, he cares about Emelina too, but not as strongly. And while Heinrix leaves a heretic RT the ending slide says he was killed by RT while pleading to her - he still would not give her up.

Commorragh is the reason he opens up - if he is present or not. Because he realizes how easily he can loose RT and even sees it as another chance for them to at least enjoy the time they have. And you can have his date and him saying he loves RT even before Emelina.

So I think there isn't actually that much between the Magnae and him stating he loves RT.

I am honestly not sure that Xavier has forced Heinrix to do terrible things just to test is loyalty (at least not openly) - I think that came up naturally during his work, making hard decisions like with Rykad Minoris. Heinrix at least doesn't (until further towards the end at least) seem to hate Xavier - even after Emelina look how he talks about him. He sees him as his personal teacher, admires him, looks up to him. He defends Xavier during banter even later with Ulfar. I don't think he would talk like this if he would hate him or be really deeply afraid of him because of what Xavier might have done to him but for sure he is afraid of what Xavier would do to RT.

Would he do it with a stable environment of loved ones and friends? I do agree it means even more for Heinrix because he doesn't have anyone left or any friends really (aside from Emelina) so he is very focused on RT. But even then - he is in love. It would be more difficult for him to go against Xavier's orders because he might be afraid of retribution affecting his loved ones but still he loves RT. I don't think this would lead him to torture her.

As already being said - Heinrix could make it less worse for RT. But Xavier would know this and notice this too. I know it is hypothetical but if Xavier really wants RT to suffer he will make sure of it. So I doubt Heinrix would be able to do anything except for giving her a quick death and then face the consequences.

The Rite of Purification that a Heretical RT can undergo is, in my eyes, clearly torture. It's described in very similar ways to the drukhari inflicted and the RT can think they're dying and beg for mercy. And given that Heinrix has already asked for the RT to repent and is about to leave, I see him as being grateful it's happening. In fact, given that the RT asking Calcazar for help does seem to come out of nowhere, I could definitely see a romanced Heinrix as having strongly hinted that the Rogue Trader needs to seek the aid of the Lord Inquisitor. And he'd be doing that knowing what the consequences of that would be.

(Sidenote: the fact that Calcazar has the tools and is willing to offer the Rite of Purification is interesting to me. I don't imagine he gets many repentant heretics that he thinks worth the effort that could be "salvaged" in such a way. But the rite mentions the stains left by corruption on the soul, and Heinrix mentions he risks similar darkness messing with the chaos cogitator on Kiava Gamma. So I suspect the most common target of that purification is other members of the Inquisition, after the sort of particularly fraught mission that leaves them wanting to scrub their souls in bleach.)

At the Magnae, Calcazar can mention the "varied and fascinating instruments and procedures that expedite candour". And I think that if the encounter at Kiava Gamma where Uralon psykically contacted the RT had gone more sideways, or perhaps if some of the drukhari had said something that made Calcazar genuinely wondering if the RT had contacts with their own faction of drukhari that might foul up his deal with Yremeryss... it could come up that the Rogue Trader could be challenged to "prove" herself under interrogation.

And if that happened, an Act 2 romanced Heinrix would, I feel, consider himself the best choice because with his biomancy there's less chance of going too far and doing permanent physical harm. "The only way she does not survive this is if she's a traitor to humanity who tricked me the whole time" is something Heinrix would cling to.

I made myself a batch of tater tot casserole with venison. I think this would be better with some bacon in the meat, but it was pretty tasty.

I don't know for sure where normal people get venison (I mean, besides hunting it themselves or getting it from a friend that does), but the place that processes my deer sells venison as well, so if deer are local to your area, you might try small town or country butchers that sell game meat. Instead of searching for venison (which is liable to turn up carcass processing places, not places that sell it to eat), you could try looking up game meat butchers or search by other meat names (pheasant, quail, goose, boar, bear, that kind of thing).

If you haven't had a lot of venison before, be aware some people swear it tastes so different than beef it's gross and gamey and and and- and that may be true, if the deer was an aged buck that got got for his rack. But good venison, the sort that is taken for food without regard for the antlers, honestly doesn't taste that much different, to me. BUT I'm used to eating 96% lean beef, and most people are getting a LOT fattier beef than that, which is probably where they are getting the flavor difference. If you HAVE the ability to grind meat at home, you can grind venison with bacon, which will add fat and flavor.

My family has done that for years because we hunted what we could catch, and sometimes you just get a gamey deer. When that's your main source of meat, you take whatever you get.

Grouse just tastes extremely gamey, and it tends to be SUPER dry and tough, so same reasons, the buttermilk helps it hold to its liquid content and keeps it more tender, PLUS gets rid of more of the gamey taste.

Revising some of my horse drawing tips pages, starting with necks!

Scientists Unlock the Secrets of Crocodile Skin and Its Irregular, Mystifying Patterns

The scales on crocodiles’ heads are very different from the skin appendages of other animals and even distinct from the scales on the rest of their bodies.

We commonly refer to scaly, itchy skin rashes as “crocodile skin.” Scientists, however, have just proven that real crocodile skin—specifically the parts on the reptile’s head, snout and jaw—is much more special than previously thought. But unlike the hair, feathers and scales of most other vertebrates, crocodile head scales uniquely develop as a result of tissue mechanics, not genetics, researchers suggest. Their findings were published in the journal Nature on Wednesday. The study was inspired by an observation of Michel Milinkovitch, a biologist at University of Geneva and the paper’s lead author, while taking a blood sample from a Nile crocodile, per Popular Science’s Laura Baisas...