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anyways here is a thing I wrote thats for my solarballs fight club au I have been working on, tw for earth beating the shit out of moons or smt idk man its 2 in the morning for me rn

its called in my google docs, "Earth vs Some Moons", i cant be bothered to change the title T.T

ive been focusing on ocs for the past like ever but i really miss drawing solarballs not just ranting about it

Anyways. Hunger Games. First thing to know: this takes place in the "canon" universe; aka this is a scenario where the Hunger Games exists in the Solarballs universe, not the Solarballs characters existing in the Hunger Games universe.

Second thing to know is that there is only one thing that the Evolution AU and the HGAU have in common: celestials' human forms are separate from their planet forms and both can be in separate places. So don't worry when celestial-Earth is running from one end of the galaxy to the other, planet-Earth is hanging out in orbit around the Sun. But unlike the Evolution AU, celestials have always been intelligent and had human forms.

The Hunger Games have always existed in the Solarballs universe. I'm still musing on who the "Capitol" analogues is, but is probably Sagittarius A* and the inner core stars. Usually, they play their Hunger Games (which aren't called the Hunger Games in this AU, maybe I'll steal from one of my other AUs and call them the Ascension Games) with rogue planets - the ones that are easy to miss and won't be looked for. The winning planet gets a star to orbit again out of the inner core stars (which... isn't the best place for a planet, scientifically). Unlike the original Hunger Games, there are no reapings here. Stars pick their tributes - some rogues seek out the Games for the reward, but most are kidnapped.

These Games are different. For whatever reason, still haven't decided why, it's a special occasion, and instead of rogue planets it's decided that the tributes will be planets with Life. So Earth is one of the tributes picked - and so is Titan.

Have I figured out how Earth and Titan are taken? No. Have I decided how Earth isn't freezing due to leaving his orbit? Also no! But they're here now for a great time :). What I have decided is that the rest of the Solar System is not aware of Earth and Titan being kidnapped - though they'll obviously notice their absence pretty quick. The Sun has heard of the Games but only as a rumor in his youth (thus one of the reasons he's so protective, though he doesn't even know if they're real), while the planets have no idea they exist.

The old victors can still be mentors, though since without districts they're ostensibly allowed to choose to mentor or not. It's pretty common for their new stars to make them mentor though so they have a better chance at winning another planet. And you'll never guess who gets to mentor our tributes - yeah yeah it's Planet X (renamed Erebus by his new star) because how could I NOT?

I might make another post about this because this AU made me dwell on this idea as a concept on its own but Erebus asked to mentor Earth because he felt responsible for him. After the Grand Tack he feels very protective of the Rockies - and he honestly doesn't care that much about Earth's Life, just Earth himself. Titan, on the other hand, he's much more dismissive of for obvious reasons, but Earth gives him a "it's both of us or neither of us" and Erebus gives in and mentors him too.

The rest of the AU is more fragmented. I mostly haven't decided on the other tributes since I haven't had time to research exoplanets lately, but most of them only have microbial Life - Earth is very unique in how advanced his Life is, making him very desirable as a winner, while Titan is overlooked because his Life is very basic and primitive. A few others are moons, and there is a Rue-analogue, a dwarf planet who lives in a young solar system with a Hot Jupiter. One of the antagonistic tributes is a Super Earth.

The arena is also just a basic idea, but the thought is that it's built like a solar system, with different rings representing orbits whose danger is based off of their habitability. So the Goldilocks zone is fairly safe environmentally but dangerous because everyone is going to go there, while there are some safe islands around "gas giants" that are harder to find. The "sun" will occasionally shoot out solar flares and asteroids can come careening in from outside. The arena is built on a large asteroid (we're also skimming over how the arena is built) and the celestials are in more human-sized bodies (with appropriate proportion with respect to their planetary size). No I haven't decided what happens to a planet when its celestial dies though it's probably not good.

Thank you for the compliments, lol I'm ngl most of my baseline for this came from my dsmp-era myct hunger games au back in the big ol' 2020 so a lot of the foundations were already built, especially the whole idea of the Games always existing but separated from the canon plot.

Earth gets to meet exoplanets! And they are all going to have to kill each other :D! Now I can't say it isn't nonsensical (sweeps the issue of how Earth is getting to the galactic core from the solar system under the rug) but it's so fun I don't really care either way.

BRO I DIDN'T EVEN THINK ABOUT CHRYSALIS KDJHFGKSDIUGFOUEIRYGFIUEYR you're so RIGHT Titan indirectly caused her death oh this can be used just the same as Earth always knowing death in relation to his Life but it's never affected celestials before. It's never been personal (looks at the Rue-analogue....)

NO BECAUSE LIKE. X never expected to see the solar system planets again. I don't think he even realizes until his new star tells him about Earth and Titan's origins and he puts it together and starts insisting that he mentor them. I can totally see him getting sponsors for them too. Because he's so desperate to meet one of the remaining rocky planets that he essentially gave his life for and like. He really wants to get to know Earth but he's also kinda screwed in the head after the trauma of his Games and I don't think he's very good at hiding it (hides Haymich-sized inspiration under the rug. i don't think this rug can hide much more). As for his new system - to be frank the galactic core is not the best place to be. It's the Capitol for the stars, but it's difficult for planets, where there's competing gravities every which way and enough radiation to roast you alive. EDIT: I forgot to add that I think the idea that X is - at least to some extent - happy with his new star is so compelling, especially when juxtaposed against the core's conditions.

For the crowd itself, the stars of the Galactic core all know about the games and participate in them as audience members and as sponsors. The most influential ones get their new planets. The further out you get from the core the less is known, and by the Sun's orbit it's barely more than a rumor. The Milky Way is big!

There would be a couple moons in the Games, but unless I make one of them Mars or Venus-sized they're all gonna be gone by the halfway point. I'm thinking of some strategies for Titan to survive as long as he does while avoiding him immediately teaming up with Earth (they end up making a pact to not mutually kill each other and Titan splits almost immediately once the games start to try and avoid any involvement between the two of them on that front)

and yeahhhh X Earth and Titan are the Haymich Katniss Peeta trio LMAO I did try to put them in a similar situation without making them the same characters.

Rue-analogue (she needs a name ha) is the only major rocky body in her solar system because her system's Hot Jupiter ejected or absorbed everything else when they migrated inwards. Her star and her Jupiter love her very much <3

I initially conceptualized this as being a majority-star thing in regards to the audience, but now that I think about it the idea of the rogue planet army serving these stars for a chance at the games... ough. Perhaps they scout out distant systems for tributes in return for something?

Or maybe WISE and Ogle are past victors... thinking out loud now but imagine X introducing Ogle as the only rocky planet to ever win the Games before this round (where they're all rocky bodies).

Super-Earths are SO COOL and I have nothing for them except that they're an antagonist a la Cato or Clove kjdhfgkjsdfh

LMAO YES *yoink* it can be the AFT-EEW AU. 10/10 acronym I'm wheezing.

And one more scene I was thinking of in the past hour... we can totally add the girl-on-fire shtick to Earth. Like his Life isn't all that unique now, and I do imagine there are exhibitions before the Games similar to the interviews/parade... and taking our conversation last week about his core into account I bet his tectonic activity would be something X (or some other sponsor, there aren't really stylists in the au yet) would want to highlight as a strength!

Like... a cloak or a dress that shimmers in iridescent colors (the magnetic field), then when a specific motion is performed erupts into flame (volcanic activity). I found this with like 10 seconds of google image search but IMAGINE

Ahem, okay since we’re talking aus and what are essentially solarballs creation myths. Allow me to introduce the way I like to headcanon it :3

What if it isn’t celestial bodies that look like humans, but humans that look like celestial bodies?

In this case it’s just about thinking about which came first. Why would planets look like something that comes billions of years after their formation? If the problem is human shaped planets why not make the humans “planet shaped”? (Not planet shaped like spheres)

Where this has stopped me in the past is what this implies about humans. Humans would be the only species on earth to resemble celestial bodies, why?? I feel like the obvious reason is Earth, but that could mean a lot of things that would reflect both Earth as a character and the creation of life.

Like if Earth himself were the reason humans look the way they do, that implies that he can shape the evolution of life on his surface, or at the very least influence it. How would he do this? Maybe through natural selection? I don’t know but let’s assume he does it somehow.

What does this mean about Earth’s character? Why would he make humans?

What if they were like his passion project? He spends a few billion years cultivating multicellular life and showing off all his animals and plants and everyone loves them, including him. But his special animal is one he’s been working on for a while, and he’s used all the knowledge he’s gained from cultivating his other organisms to make this one species specially to show off to everyone. And it’s humans. Earth has made an animal species that look and have intelligence just like celestial bodies, and he calls them humans.

Can you imagine that? It’d be like seeing a puppet of yourself that thinks and acts of its own accord, one that’s made of the wrong materials and has the wrong capabilities and everything about it is so close to being a copy, but it’s not quite right. It’s uncanny. And a little silly.

This would foster the various reactions and attitudes that each planet has towards humans (and by extension all earthlings bc why not lump them in as a group).

RUN FREE MY SOLARBALLS Ohhh my god guys hiiii ^_^ Mars, Venus Mercury Sun hellonearth designs upon you. These have been finished since like forever I've just been finalizing my demented personal solarballs worldbuilding. It's harder than it looks man I've had to think more than I've had to think in like a year. Or whenever I last worked on my humans are space orcs fanfic that was the giga-thinker epicenter.

First the sun symbol. OUGHHHHH THE SUN SYMBOL there are so many layers to it and idk if you intend them all but I'm running though them all.

Okay so like each planet has a sun symbol. Immediate reaction to that (back with the Ice Giant post) was that it 100% fits the Sun's possessive behavior to make all the planets wear him on their outfits. But at the same time they all get some sort of expression with it. And there's a consistent pattern (with the exception of Venus) of them wearing it on their hips/lower body.

And then Earth not having one. Because man your story behind it makes sense - Earth copies humans the most closely and he probably wasn't thinking about his Sun symbol when he picked out the NASA shirt but like. The symbolism??? Of Earth forgoing his "creator" in preference of something that is his, the Earthlings. And not only that, but NASA (the space agency all about pushing limits and exploring the unknown) specifically replacing his sun symbol has me vibrating I'm ngl. And now I'm really interested in what Earth looked like before his current outfit.

The symbol thing could also be a form of rebellion, and while I doubt Earth is doing that intentionally I do find myself suspecting that it is unconsciously motivating him. Your note about the Sun not noticing is feeding Earth's ego is especially interesting. What that reveals about Sun's character aside, the fact that Earth's reaction went from terror to "yo I'm invincible" is rather odd, because why wouldn't he be upset that the Sun doesn't seem to care enough to notice? I think there's some deeper seated resentment on Earth's end here. Maybe he's not even aware of it but I think it's there and stronger than anyone would suspect. I'm rambling and headcanoning now but like. I HAVE THOUGHTS ABOUT THE SUN SYMBOL.

Also Luna. I see you without the sun sumbol. Is it a planet-only thing? Is he also in solidarity with his idiot planet? Does he have to wear a planet symbol? Idk but I'm curious.

ALSO also the irony of the only planet without the sun symbol being the one most restricted to the Sun's whims. Unlike the other planets Earth can't really go outside his orbit, y'know?

EDIT: guess what another sun symbol thought. Also not sure this is intentional but I see the sun symbol formed on Earth's hand from his clouds. I see it. I see it and I have thoughts.

Slightly related but I'm also feeling things about Mars (so far) being the only other planet to have human-esque clothing. I'm interpreting it as a nod to his and Earth's friendship, which I think is absolutely adorable. And also he 100% was doing the right thing with that haircut no wonder Earth couldn't make any jokes about it.

Venus is making me wonder how much control the planets have over their projected forms in your designs. But also yeah if anyone would just remove his ears because he thought they were stupid it'd be Venus.

I also remember you saying that there's a reason some of the planets have realistic skin tones and others don't, and I'm really curious with these designs, because so far only Earth and Neptune do and I'm rather stumped on why it's just the two of them.

One; THE SUN SYMBOL. AHHH. Your entire spiel about the Sun Symbol was SO satisfying to read, because guess who also really likes the sun symbol? ME. I don't even know where to start. I guess wherever I want:

The Sun and the Earth. I have an INSANE AMOUNT of thoughts about Sun and Earth. I'm talking COPIOUS and DISPROPORTIONATE amounts, when you compare it to the amount of screen-time they have together prior to the planet revolution arc. I don't think any of it has even breached containment yet, besides that tiny little snippet I wrote up there in the design note? (Which is a miracle by the way. I think I've been keeping it under such heavy lock and key so far because I know it's insane. I feel like I'd be the only one to care this hard. LOL.) But anyway, a lot of these thoughts stem from the idea I have that Earth has this strong desire to be in a family. Specifically (and this is important) a human family. There are a couple examples I can pull from the show, those of which being Earth repeatedly referring to Jupiter as their older brother, and him off-handedly calling the Sun "our crazy dad", and really the latest offense where Earth says the Sun is the closest thing they all have to a father was kind of the final nail in the "Earth-has-something-he-needs-to-tell-us" coffin. I definitely don't think it's a thing he consciously knows he does, but it's a thing, and I've capitalized on it. I think I need to preface that I don't think Earth is the only one who thinks of them as a family, but I do think he's the only one among the planets not doing it in an abstract, non-human sense. For example; Jupiter and Sun. Whatever Jupiter and Sun have going on is certainly reminiscent of a father-child dynamic, except you don't really see Jupiter going around throwing human terms like "dad" and "children" out there. And I think Jupiter would be one of the planets who'd be more knowledgeable on human terminology and dynamics, so its not that he just doesn't know. I'm pulling Venus out as another example but this time with no in-show excerpts and instead my own thoughts. I think Venus would reject the idea of the Sun being their "father", much less the planets being a family like the ones on Earth, and not because he doesn't care, or is trying to uphold his image as independent and nonchalant or whatever—but in every way he can identify with humanity, I don't think their family dynamics is one of them. He's not ridiculous for feeling this way either, and I don't think he's the only one; celestials essentially have zero crossover with humans when it comes to their lives and how they operate. Earth is the one making it weird, as we see consistently: Mars warns Earth about collisions between two planets, Earth immediately draws a comparison to how his humans reproduce. He's participating in ranked reaching-for-conclusions gymnastics. If Earth were a living color instead of a living planet he'd see red and blue mix to make purple and he'd frame 1 impose human family dynamics onto them. In this way, he is remarkably similar to the humans living on his surface. Which is impressive because he's not actually part of the team he's just decided he also wants in. Which is basically the crux of this entire jumbled segment: Earth wants something that doesn't belong to him. Somewhere in his inorganic brain, he knows that what he wants doesn't belong to him. He wasn't taught to speak, and he doesn't have blood to share with anybody else, he doesn't live and die in under a century, he doesn't live at all—but he wants it like he does. If I were a rock in space wanting what the flesh had, personally, I'd feel pretty silly.

On an entirely unrelated note, you know the phenomenon where kids act out or generally just push boundary lines to get the attention of an inattentive parent? Waiting for them to notice that you've broken something? That your attendance has been dropping? A new tattoo? I bet feeling like you're getting away with something feels a lot better than the alternative, which is the feeling you get when you realize your parent actually just isn't paying attention to you. Which might feel a lot worse, if, say, your parent wasn't actually your parent and was actually a very large celestial body you have orbited your entire existence who doesn't technically have any responsibility towards you because none of you are actually alive and all of your existences kind of seem like a mad scientists twisted idea of an experiment of what happens when you inflict the ability to think onto a boulder. Unrelated though. (A side note; while Venus isn't the only one who isn't interested in comparing their experiences to humanity, Earth isn't the only one who is. After all, being called a father wouldn't have quite the emotional impact if the target didn't want to be one.) Here's a brief interlude though: After finding out the circumstances of his and Luna's creation, Earth took to being Luna's brother with extreme enthusiasm. Luna didn't get the hype. Currently, if given the chance, Luna would jump at the chance to introduce himself as Earth's brother, and then flippantly explaining oh yeah it's an Earthling thing. Heh. All of this requires some retconning in regards to Neptune and Neptunes moons who regularly use Earthling terms like "brother" and "cousin" but to be really honest billions of years old space rocks deciding to latch onto the silly little family-terms made up by creatures that live for less than a century is a lot more emotionally significant to me than them knowing and caring right off the bat. WHATEVER SECTION THAT WAS UP THERE IS OVER. OH MY GOD. That was so long. And im still going. Im so sorry. YOUR EDIT ABOUT THE SUN SYMBOL ON EARTH'S HAND. HELLO. DO YOU HAVE SPECIAL EYES. IT WAS INTENDED BUT NOT FOR ANYBODY TO NOTICE I didn't think anybody would notice, it was just for me to be like hahaha. haha. BECAUSE ITS SO VAGUE. YOURE GATEKEEPING YOUR THOUGHTS AWAY FROM ME which is especially cruel when you know you're the only freak of nature who noticed that stupidly little detail And yes! Mars being the only one to wear human-esque clothing so far is a nod to his and Earth's friendship, in a way! A proximity to humanity type thing. Some celestials see it as a curse. (it is not an unpopular opinion in some circles of the solar system that Earth and Mars's outfits look silly. As Enceladus might say, "TAKE THAT JACKET OFF YOU LOOK RIDICULOUS" he has no similar sentiments for Earth because there is no saving Earth. The second those clothes got on his body they were practically fused onto him. He wears that outfit like how one might drag around a ratty security blanket.) For the control-over-their-body thing, the answer is more and less than you might think. Can Venus do away with his nose on a whim? Yeah. Can he change the color of his skin? Nope. Can Earth conjure NASA merch out of the ether whenever he feels like it? Yeah. Can Mars decide to give himself a haircut out of the blue? Apparently yeah. Can Mercury make himself any taller? Nope! Can the Sun get rid of his charred fabrics? Can he fix the tears and soot in the material? Will they ever look pristine again? ...Nope!

and now that neglected child is a barely-legal adult and the youngest Celestial of just about everyone who has a gut feeling that he's neglected but an even fainter feeling that he shouldn't feel neglected but he does anyways. And he doesn't know how to deal with it because how could he? No one raised him. But he wishes so badly that someone did. Part of him also knows that he can't have it so he goes for the next best thing: attention. Good or bad, who cares?

It's the classic cry of a child screaming to be noticed in any manner, to try and replace that long-lost parental affection with something to fill the gap, something just vaguely enough to curb the sting, and at the same time being unable to face it so you cover it up with bravado and arrogance.

(and yet. and YET. that child is heard. but its so faint. and the one who desires so badly to love and protect like a father is the one most removed from the instinct. stars are meant to control and to shine. not... love)

*cough* huh that was weird. blacked out for a second and had four whole paragraphs written. anyways.

I have many thoughts about the sun symbol on Earth, some of them I talked about in my original reblog. Mostly its the narrative irony that Earth is trying to rebel so desperately but he can't because the evidence is etched in his skin. Plus the symbol being on Earth's skin instead of his clothes can be a metaphor for how dependent he is on the Sun and how closely tied he is to him. He can never escape.

I also have many feelings about Mars and Earth but they are (disregarding the above) warm and fuzzy. I really like the idea of Mars being genuinely interested in Earthlings, even if that isn't really the case in canon. Plus they're my two fashionistas (don't listen to what anyone says Mars I think your outfit's cool).

Anyways I find this interpretation really interesting because it's kind of the opposite of the Evolution AU. As the Celestials evolve intelligence, they kinda don't have any other reference except for Earthlings and especially humanity, so they do end up assigning themselves weird human relationships that don't quite fit and they don't quite understand but they have no other word to describe. It gets even more sideways when this information is going through a telephone effect the further away you get from Earth. And I think that's cool.

edit: you calling Earth a teenager tickled me so badly I just remembered because I exited the reblog and saw it again in my inbox and it got me all over again. He'd be so offended . GO TO YOUR ROOM

What's even funnier about the symbol on Earth's palm is that he actually. Hasn't noticed. Nobody has, actually. Will anybody ever notice? Will anybody ever make the connection? Much to consider.

Also, now that you say it, I also really like the idea of Mars being interested in Earthlings for real. Kind of like how you might glance at your friends aqua-scaped aquarium for a second but then they're leaving you in the room to get something or do something and you're just left with the aquarium so you kind of have no choice but to watch and the fish are genuinely getting up to wicked subplots in the tank and you can't look away. And then your friend comes back and you kind of have to pretend you weren't just getting really into whatever their fish were doing.

Anyway dude this made me realize how fun it is to consider two AU's at once. I'm thinking about yours, and I'm thinking about mine, and there's definitely some cross contamination happening on my end which is kind of beautiful. AGH I'm thinking about the Evolution AU again it's such an exciting concept. Celestials developing human-like intelligence alongside actual humans instead of doing somersaults on einsteins block theory is SO cool. It feels like the Cambrian explosion but for space rocks. The concept of the celestials needing to gradually build up to where they are today is so, so good, because it kind of makes all of them...new? But it's still weird, because they've had consciousness for longer, but that consciousness hasn't always been higher. I mean, it's the demented primordial creature version of growing up. Humans at one point are babies, who are stupid and operate on base instinct. It's not...so different from being a prehistoric crab at one point in your existence. Sort of.

And it really, really puts a spotlight on Life. Like yeah, the celestials reverence for life makes perfect sense in this context. Wow our AU's really do feel sort of like opposite ends, now that you've pointed it out. There's two entirely different vibes being executed right now, and it's like the result of two different solution paths being taken to clean freaking solarballs up. ALSO I think the telephone effect is HILARIOUS I love the outer celestials just having ridiculously skewed versions of reality for Earth concepts. What are they gonna do? they don't have email

Earth is comprised of all the elements of the periodic table available on the surface— yes, even the man-made ones. That is, He is capable of fabricating the elements from his own body. He can produce and control materials that exist on his surface because it’s apart of him. Naturally, he is geological connoisseur.

He can understand animals, but can only communicate with them when he turns into the animal he's trying to communicate with. As he remembers what his extinct species look like, he'll be able to remember their language, but after 5 mass extinctions... it's getting hard to keep track— and the memory is beguiling to falter.

This and the next paragraph took an hour to write due to the research I needed to do, so I'm sharing some of it now to reward myself lol

AND ALSO SUN AND PROXIMA just wanted to make some new redesigns

ok that's all bye