Notes on amygdalines/Ampersand
There’s no fan wiki for Axiom’s End so there’s no fan-made list or descriptions for amygdalines online… so here ya go! (Yes, spoilers, obviously- for the 2nd book, too)
FEET: Eagle-like feet, does not clarify if the 4th back toe is included or if this only meant three front toes. (”It looked like a bird’s footprint, if the bird weighed three hundred pounds and only walked on its toes. It had a texture to it, upon examination, like creases, joints leaving their imprint in the sand.”)
LEGS: Book 2 confirms their legs are digitigrade, which lines up with them being toe-walkers (being a toe-walker with straight legs would be a pain). I.e. they really do have deer-like legs.
TAIL/STANCE: No tail, but natural-born amygdalines have a tail. The ability to stand with their back horizontal to the ground without a clear counterbalance means they have something keeping them from falling over. My first assumption was it’s due to their mechanical musculature holding them up. But in book 2, when Ampersand’s brain functions mess up, he starts losing balance and his body falls as if heavy. Could actually be held up by the gravity-changing tech they utilize in other things. Would explain why big Obelus was described as being light “like a ballerina.” (”-lack of anything behind it like a tail to balance its center of gravity, with long arms curled in front of it like a praying mantis.”) (”Once it settled, its posture reminder her more of a deer than a dragon, its arms folded neatly under its midsection…”)
ARMS/FINGERS: Two thumbs, four fingers. (”…the two thumb-like appendages securing her front while the other four fingers locked around her back, holding her in place like a clamp.”) (”-each of his fingers were at least two feet long, and the palm itself was smaller than a human’s.”)
NECK: Ampersand’s neck can form an S-curve. This means his neck has to, well, be long enough to form an S-curve. How graceful. Nikola is described as having a longer neck than Ampersand. (”…its head raised high and long, slender neck curved into a slight S.”)
BREATHING: Don’t think it’s ever clarified if the slits on their neck are horizontal or vertical… slightly unclear if by “two openings” it means two openings on both sides, or if it was meant to mean there were two openings overall- one on each side. My fiance says I’m an idiot and it probably does mean two openings per side of the neck, for a total of 4 overall. I say I’ve made too much fanart with only 1 hole per side to be fussed over it, lmao (”Amygdalines had two openings on either side of their necks about the size a deflated balloon that allowed air in and out, and it was from there the noises came, layering on top of each other like drums.”) (”She thought she could even feel him breathing, not the in-and-out of human breath but a constant stream like an air conditioner.”) (”Two holes on the side of his neck…”)
HEAD: Ellis stated Ampersand has a large head size relative to his body in her Q&A. They also have ridges over the eyes that give the illusion of expression depending on head angle, but I didn’t grab a quote about that, sorry. In book 2, it’s also described as shaped like a dirigible, so their snouts may be round. (”It had an oblong head like a dragon, if the dragon had no jaw and no nose…”) (”In profile, his head reminded her of the heads of the oil well pumps that dotted the near entirety of the greater Los Angeles metro area.”)
TOOLS: He seems to conjure tools out of no where, like syringes, fluids, and balls of light. In book 2 it’s described where these come from. As a machine, these tools are literally just inside of him, and he removes them when needed. However, some of them ARE influenced by the shape-shifting, such as the needles. I doubt all of them are since his shape shifting is “limited.” (…most of the automation he used was inside his own head, his tools willed into existence from the microscopic drones that covered his entire body, flowed through him like blood.”)
EYES: The most described body part by far. Almond shaped eyes on either side of the head (due to natural amygdalines being herbivorous). Ampersand has large eyes that take up nearly his whole face, and they glow amber, though the exact shade seems to change with the lighting. Eye color and size varies among individuals. They can blink, their eyelids described as wax-like. (”… although there was always one spot in those luminous eyes that was brighter than the rest, he seemed to be able to have multiple focuses.”) (”… she could see the bits that seemed to glow were actually reflected light like a cat’s eye, but instead of one retina, there were thousands, perhaps millions, clustered in a nuclear mass in the middle and thinning out on the edges. They moved like solar panels, catching light as the creature changed its focus.”)
CREST: Based on description, he probably has six fronds, meaning they’re likely lined symmetrically on the back of his head. It’s not clear how long or wide they are, though. In book 2, despite being described as not being like a triceratops in book 1, they’re described as being somewhat like a triceratops after all. Crests are used like antennas on bugs, for hearing and other information retrieval- though amygdalines can’t smell [doesn’t mean they can’t parse out air contents, though]. ”…and even had a sort of crest that jutted out from the back of its head like a feather headress.”) (”The crest on the back of his head was less triceratops and more like half a dozen thick, silvery banana leaves that curled downward like a rosebud when at rest but perked up like the petals of a sunflower when he was alert or excited…”) (”…strange no-man’s-land between a triceratops crest and palm fronds.”
SKIN: Described as white, almost blindingly so in the sun. But also described as off-white or grey in some parts. That might be because the skin is reflective, so under different lighting wouldn’t look pure white. In book 1, it’s a little unclearly exactly what the “skin” is made of. The texture is smooth one way and rough the other, described as looking like canvas, which doesn’t line up with something reflective and metallic. In fact, it is never actually described as being made of metal at all- we just assume it because they are machines. In book 2, it’s revealed the skin is made of nanites, as well as the teleportation pad and invisibility cloak. (”…instead of individual living cells, his body was covered in billions of microscopic drones, which lent him some limited shape-shifting ability…”) (“…billions of self-replicating nanites”)
CARAPACE: Their bodies are often described as a “shell,” in reference to being mainly mechanical. Brains/nervous systems can be transferred to new “shells” like hermit crabs. There are some descriptions of the back popping open like a wing, which is where the liquid metal (nanites I think) comes from. I didn’t grab too many quotes though, sorry. (”The carapace of his back was among the parts of him that were most insect-like, and though fused into one piece, it reminded her almost of the wings of a cockroach or a praying mantis.”)
GENDER & SEX: Prefers pronouns for whatever the humans call them, because amygdaline’s do not have gendered pronouns. They see it as useless as having pronouns based on religion, ethnicity, or other traits. So far, does just seem to have two main sexes, egg laying or not, comparable to humans. Ellis stated Ampersand would have an ovipositor if he retained genitals, and Ampersand confirmed he has a female egg-laying karyotype. However, “female” amydalines are larger than “male” ones [like praying mantises and other insects], so by human standards Ampersand is perceived as male by humans, and actually prefers humans to continue seeing him that way. Ironically, in the same conversation Nikola confirms to have a male karyotype, but he is larger (even bigger than Ampersand) and assertive, not small and delicate like Cefo or the propagandists (who I assume have male karyotypes). I.e. Nikola may be the gender equivalent of a “male” he/him human being feminine. He breaks the gender stereotype for his species.
ABILITIES: Gravity manipulation, heat manipulation, ability to form barriers, minor shape-shifting, invisibility, semiautonomous plate (pseudo-teleportation), turn organic matter to ash instantly, crumple large objects into smaller (still dense) masses. Obelus walks “like a ballerina” despite being gigantic. However, according to book 2 certain smaller castes of subordinate amygdalines, such as Cefo, are not built with telekinesis. This either insinuates smaller castes don’t need to hold themselves up with gravity manipulation, or parts of the telekinetic abilities are separate from other ones. Or maybe I’m thinking too hard. Either way, it’s only mentioned in passing, so as of book 2 there’s not much info on the limitations of lower castes. I assume not all castes have the same abilities, but text doesn’t go into detail. For example, Ampersand’s shape shifting abilities, his needles, his ability to “teleport,” may not be shared by all castes. Obelus-in-Cefo’s body ran off, didn’t he? He didn’t teleport. Maybe he couldn’t. (”Non-similar amygdalines weren’t supposed to have any telekinetic capabilities like Ampersand did. Their bodies weren’t designed for it.”) (”…the electromagnetic supports that lent his body that antigravity elegance give way, and he nearly collapsed under his own weight.”)
LANGUAGE: Three types of communication. Spoken language (with written equivalent), network language (like texting inside their heads, essentially), and high language (absence of medium; you see what I see, I see what you see). Amygdaline language is polysynthetic, meaning in a nutshell instead of using words to form sentences, each word is a sentence, and the small parts of said word-sentences cannot be separated from the rest of the word-sentence and have the same meaning. Some human languages are polysynthetic; they are difficult to translate to something like English because of just how specific each word-sentence has to be. Take out a single unit of sound in the word-sentence and meaning is totally different or may have no coherent meaning at all. That’s why it was so hard to build a translator in book 1 and they don’t even bother teaching humans how to understand it out loud. It’s hard enough translating human polysynthetic languages into English, let alone a whole new alien one.
Eye contact: I think they treat eye contact like a cat does. That means depending on social context, eye contact is threatening or meant to show comfort and trust. For example, Ampersand staring Cora down at the beginning of the book when he was threatened by her vs. the way he watches her near the end of the book, when they have grown close. The propagandists stare Cora down when they’re curious, but they are unafraid of her and seem to maybe even like humans. Examples that break the mold are the Genome avoiding eye contact with Cora when it’s scared, but Espras avoiding even looking in Cora’s direction because he refuses to open communications with humans.
Note that amygdalines can look at someone without facing them. Looking at someone with a small amount of directed lenses vs. full-frontal eye contact probably has different connotations. So Espras could still be looking at her from the side of his eye, with a smaller amount of lenses.
Fingers: The positioning of their freaky long fingers seems to be related to emotions. When threatened, Ampersand spreads his spider-like fingers out “like a bear trap.” He does it towards Luciana when they meet, and the secretary of defense. Then when he’s being polite, he laces them together in front of himself, as in the scene where Ampersand visits Cora at her bunk. The neutral stance seems to be keeping arms close to the body with fingers at ease. Then, it may be that placing their hands behind their backs is a submissive gesture, as Luciana suggests. In book 2 it’s confirmed placing their hands back is submissive and non-threatening.
Heads: The most obvious body part used in body language. Ampersand tilts his head down and spreads his crest upwards when he’s angry at Cora or threatened by the secretary of defense. It also shows excitement, as in the scene where he tells Cora he wishes to take her anywhere she would like because it pleased him. Conversely, one can assume an opposite gesture, one where the crest is flattened back, or curled down, must be an emotion opposite of excitement. Whether this would be sadness, jealousy, disgust, general upset, ect, I’m not sure.
Eyes: In book 2, Ampersand only half-lids or closes his eyes when he’s depressed or given up. Otherwise, his and other amydgdalines’ eyes stay wide open.
Body: Frightened amygdalines make themselves small. They crouch and “roost” (a position similar to laying like a deer) more frequently when afraid. In the beginning this is a position Ampersand is almost always in. When he meets the Fremda group he very rarely does this, and it’s probably because he comes a secondary leader of the group. At that point he only squats, roosts, and lays down when he is being friendly with Cora. The roosting position- when in context of friendly company- might be akin to a cat or dog showing it’s belly. It’s a non-threatening gesture of comfort and trust in that context. In book 2, Nikola roosts like this in front of the Fremda group to be non-threatening to Esperas.
Circling: I don’t know yet what this action is for. Possibly a protective thing? Ampersand circles Cora in the desert before he sits when she expresses fear of desert animals. But Nikola circles Cora in a different context, after he takes her into his metaphor. It could also just be that circling doesn’t mean anything very deep, and it’s a coincidence that it was done more than once. I THINK there is a third instance of it, but I’m not through with the second read of book 2, so stay tuned..
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