#asksatyr

Just a few so far!

Freebillies - Satyrs who wish to return to a more traditional way of life. They reject the concept of civilization and instead live “free” nomadic lives. Etio Nation is one of the very few Great Kingdoms that not only allows satyrs to live this way, but actively encourages it by designating special nature preserves for these individuals. These preserves are essentially lawless zones where satyrs can do whatever they want. But as a tradeoff, these satyrs must revoke their Etiosi citizenship and lose all benefits that entails, including access to hospitals, welfare, police protection, schooling, etc.

There are different types of freebillies, some more dedicated to the feral lifestyle than others. The most radical of them refuse to interact with townsfolk or set foot in permanent structures at all, while the less dedicated freebillies might camp in the woods and rely on civilization for supplies.

Freebillies are stereotyped as rowdy, hedonistic, and sexually aggressive by outsiders. Females are sometimes called “freenannies”. While this subculture is largely dominated by satyrs, other species may occasionally be accepted into the group; particularly nymphs and fauns.

Horners - Also disparagingly known as “horny boys”, this subculture is exclusive to horned gaians: satyrs, fauns, and minotaurs. They are vain males who are obsessed with their own horns, particularly their size. For horners, bigger is always better. They often decorate their horns with paint, jewelry, and intricate carvings to make them stand out. A cracked or chipped horn is emotionally devastating to these men.

While female horners are rare, so-called “ivory queens” are common. These are women who lust after horners and fawn over their majestic horns. Ivory queens may or may not be horned species themselves, but horners always are.

Friends of Fae - This is an Etiosi political movement that fights for fae equality. They want Etiosi's leadership to let go of the past and welcome fae across the border. Some even call for the border to be erased altogether, and the reunification of Etios Nation and Matuzu Kingdom. While this is a rather small fringe group, its members can be quite loud and disruptive while trying to get their point across. They are stereotyped as aimless people with nothing better to do but fight for a pipe dream.

That’s all I have for now, but there may be more in the future as I develop Etios Nation’s culture further.

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

Actually satyrs do have a "natural defense" that protects them from exactly this scenario. It's not 100% effective, but it works most of the time. It's their sense of smell!

Satyr noses are very sensitive to certain smells. They can detect subtle things like hormone changes, sweat composition, and so on, meaning they can learn a lot about someone else just by their scent.

With just a whiff, an experienced satyr can determine your mood, energy levels, reproductive virility, what kind of diet you eat, what diseases you have, and they can even figure out who your relatives are by smelling them too. They're like walking paternity tests!

(This is partly why Dr. Che is so accurate at diagnosing illnesses, despite having no fancy medical equipment at his disposal. He just gives his patients a sniff and knows "Yep, that's diabetes/fungal infection/liver disease/whatever)

Some satyrs are better at detecting these things than others, but just about all of them are able to detect their own blood relatives by smell alone.

Even if a male satyr has never met his children, he will know exactly who they are if he happens to run into them many years later, so long as he gets close enough to catch their scent. Plus, I imagine they will look at least somewhat like him too, so between their appearance and scent, most satyrs will have no trouble detecting their own kids.

Of course alcohol dulls the senses, and there is plenty of alcohol flowing at the average satyr revel...so I'm not going to say mistakes never happen, but I don't think it's common. Inbred satyrs are surprisingly rare.

In the series, Itchy's mother managed to recognize him by sight and smell, even though she hadn't seen him since he was a baby 40 years prior.

I will mentions that while this is an innate ability, it improves with time and experience. So, child and teen satyrs may not be able to correctly identify their parents by smell until they're older, but their parents can almost certainly identify them.

Itchy had a hard time identifying his mother because he thought she had died long ago. The narrative mentions that he did recognize her smell, but overrode his own instincts with logic, believing that it couldn't possibly be her.

TL;DR: If a satyr encounters another satyr that smells a bit too much like themselves, they'll assume they're related and probably won't have sex with them.

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

Good questions! I will say that while most satyrs are slaves to their lustful hormones, this doesn't apply to every single individual. Every satyr is unique in their own right, and some of them are more lustful than others. Just like anyone else, some satyrs are also able to control their impulses better than others. It is harder for them in general, but not impossible.

It's tempting to say that Ginger just isn't a very lusty satyr, but that actually isn't true. Throughout the series we see that she is, in fact, pretty horny a lot of the time (pun totally intended)...it's just that her horniness is directed towards Itchy specifically.

Yes, she feels attracted to other people too. Don't think she's not having impure thoughts about Olof, Javaan, Evan, or any of the other chadly men in her village, because she definitely is!

But her lust for those guys is only superficial. Meanwhile her lust for Itchy is stacked on top of her deep love for him, and a shallow attraction will never overpower her feelings for him, as we saw in "Coins for Clowns".

Monogamous satyrs like Itchy and Ginger are quite rare. But that's one of the reasons they're in Drifter's Hollow, living with all the other misfits who don't quite fit in with their kind.

Ginger is faithful to Itchy because she has strong impulse control and she was raised by an uncommonly "civilized" mother, who instilled different values in her than most satyrs have. She's only cheated on Itchy once, and it was a deliberate act to "get back at him" because she thought he cheated on her first. The whole thing turned out to be a misunderstanding, and she felt horrible, confessed, and apologized to him afterwards.

She has no plans to ever be unfaithful to him again, because she betrayed her own values and disappointed herself. She doesn't like the concept of polygamy due to the values her mother instilled in her.

Meanwhile, for all his faults, Itchy has never cheated on Ginger and I don't think he ever would. His faithfulness isn't necessarily built on personal values like hers, but on fear. He worked his ass off to get Ginger in his life and continues to work his ass off to keep her there. He's incredibly proud to be a married family man and subvert expectations for his species. The last thing he wants to do is screw it all up just for a dumb fling.

Itchy fucks up basically everything he does, but his relationship with Ginger is the one thing he takes very seriously and wouldn't dare compromise. His family is the only thing he cares about in his life, everything else can go to hell as far as he's concerned.

Unlike Ginger, the concept of polygamy doesn't offend Itchy's values. He's down to have a big crazy orgy whenever. But he doesn't, because he knows it goes against Ginger's values, and disappointing her would ruin his relationship. Cheating on her is not worth it to him, he enjoys what he has with her too much.

Basically what I'm saying is: if Ginger suddenly decided she was cool with an "open" relationship, Itchy would be cool with it too, because he's already cool with it. He just doesn't act on it out of respect for her.

As long as whatever they're doing is based on honesty and respect, they're both okay with it. Ginger fooling around with Javaan behind Itchy's back was not honest or respectful, that's the part that upsets him. He wasn't mad because she fucked another guy, he was mad because she didn't ask him beforehand if it was okay. Because god knows he would have said "yes" if she simply asked! Then again, it was her intention to disrespect him in that case, so...

Anyway, Itchy and Ginger are both pretty unique specimens of their species!

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

Sure! Fauns and satyrs can look quite similar, so people who don't encounter them a lot often can't tell them apart. People who encounter lots of fauns and satyrs, however, will usually know the differences when they see them.

Fauns and satyrs are two species which are both highly diverse in appearance. But the thing all fauns have in common--which satyrs lack--are the white freckles on their faces and shoulders. If the faun has pale skin, these freckles can be almost invisible. So another surefire way to tell a faun from a satyr is the dark coloration fauns have on their lips and the tips of their noses. They also have a dark-colored indent above their top lip that leads up to their nose.

There are other differences between them, but those are the most obvious. Less educated folks aren't always familiar with these differences. Some people don't even know they're two different species!

Satyrs have a terrible reputation all over Gaia. This reputation outshines the fauns' more neutral reputation, so less educated folks just assume both of these species are satyrs and treat them like thieves, troublemakers, etc.

Fauns have faced a lot of discrimination due to ignorance. Satyr-specific slurs get hurled at them, they're denied jobs and housing, shopkeepers chase them out of businesses, and so on just because people think they're satyrs.

This problem is worse in rural areas with poor education. In urban areas people tend to know better and the confusion doesn't happen as much, if at all.

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Questions/Comments?

Sure! I may or may not make a full article on courtship, but I do have something planned for Valentines Day, so keep an eye out. :)

CENTAURS

Centaurs are a bit unique because males and females of this species are naturally attracted to the same things: strength, speed, and courage. When they want to court eachother, the first thing they'll do is show off these qualities in front of their crush.

In traditional centauran cultures, brawling is a healthy and normal activity, and usually there's no malice behind it. Centaurs wrestle eachother regularly to A) Work out...B) Practice fighting...and C) Impress any cuties nearby.

If a centaur male wins a brawl for example, an interested female might approach him, wanting to get to know him better. But if multiple females are interested, now the females have to brawl with eachother to establish dominance. Whoever wins this brawl gets to talk to the hot guy, and the others leave in shame. This can go both ways for both sexes.

If you're not a centaur yourself but you're seeking to attract one, you're probably not going to impress them with your strength unless you're another heavyweight species. And nobody runs faster than a centaur, so forget speed too. However, you can make up for all that by displaying courage, honor, and strong character. Centaurs are naturally repelled by cowardice, lies, and weaselly behavior.

Show your centaur crush that you care about your community by performing good deeds while they're around. Tell them about acts of courage you've accomplished in your lifetime--times when you were afraid to do something, but did it anyway. Most importantly, always be honest with them. Even if the truth doesn't paint you in the best light, centaurs like feeling confident that they're not being lied to, especially by commoner species. Centaurs aren't very good at detecting or telling lies themselves, so honesty means a lot to them.

SATYRS

Walk up to them and ask "wanna fuck?"

Just kidding...kind of. For the majority of male satyrs, this actually does work, especially in spring and summer when their hormones are most out of control. They really do be out there sticking their schlongs in fruit and other males because they're just that desperate. In general, male satyrs are not picky. You don't have to be attractive. You don't have to have a nice personality. You just have to be willing to have a good time.

Now, if you're looking for a long-term relationship with a male satyr, well...good luck to you, because this species is naturally repulsed by that kind of thing. The majority of them will get bored of you after a week or two and want to move on. There are exceptions to the rule of course, so you'll just have to do some hunting. Attracting a male satyr isn't hard. The only things that really turn them off are prudishness and a dull, depressive personality. As long as you have some kind of hobby or passion for something--even life itself--they'll sense that and want to know more about you. Contrary to stereotypes, it's not all about sex with them. They like socializing in general, and you can have some very long, fascinating conversations with them if you give them a chance.

Male satyrs are naturally compelled to give gifts to those they're trying to woo--usually alcohol or sweets, including fruit and candy. If a satyr offers you these things, it means he's totally into you and DTF whenever. They also appreciate gifts from others, so if you're trying to win the affections of one, a basket of fruit, chocolates, and wine goes a very long way.

Female satyrs are more complicated. The problem is, childless satyresses are in short supply and competition is fierce. In the wild, male satyrs have to compete with eachother for their attention. This competition includes impressing her with song, dance, or feats of athleticism, giving her the best gifts, and fighting off the other males. Effort is very important to female satyrs, because they know that after this hookup, they're probably going to spend the next several months carrying this guy's kid, then the next several years raising it. He can not be a loser, because she doesn't want to waste effort raising a loser's loserly kid.

If you're trying to woo a childless female satyr and you're not a satyr yourself, I hope you have some fighting skills because you're going to need them. Male satyrs will be orbiting her constantly, and you need to prove to her that you're somehow stronger, smarter, wealthier, and/or more interesting than every one of them. These males will be attacking you regularly to get you out of the picture, so watch your back.

If the satyress you want has young children...frankly, just forget it. 99% chance she wants nothing to do with you or any other male until that child sprouts horns and leaves her. Their hormones cause their libidos to completely "shut off" in the presence of their offspring, and the thought of sex actually disgusts them during this time.

While she probably won't be into the idea of a random hookup, there's still a good chance she'd be interested in a more long-term relationship. If you show her that you're a good provider and kind to her child, you'll catch her interest. Gift-giving goes a long way.

SIRENES

Step 1) be attractive

Step 2) don't be unattractive

Sorry to say it, but sirenes are naturally quite shallow and put a lot of stock in appearance. It's not enough to dress nice and try hard, you actually have to possess natural beauty to get their attention. To them, this means a fit, healthy physique, clear skin, healthy hair and teeth, and symmetrical facial features. If you're an ugly, sloppy person, you're not going to win their hearts no matter what you do, because they don't care much about personality. If you're attractive enough, they'll actually tolerate quite a bit of assholeish behavior from you before telling you to get lost. Sirenes have surprisingly thick skin when it comes to being treated badly. They just kinda brush it off because chances are, they're pretty abrasive themselves.

This rule goes for both males and females. Both sexes also have a bit of an obsession with hair, so if you're trying to get their attention, putting extra effort into your hair care routine never hurts. Elaborate hairstyles and vibrant dye jobs can really get their hearts thumping. If a sirene is interested in you, the first thing they tend to do is play with your hair. If you're a species that doesn't have hair (like goblins), a nice enough wig might be enough to impress them, especially if you've done a good job styling it yourself. Sirenes socialize by grooming eachother, so it's best not to approach them unless you have some beauty school classes under your belt.

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Questions/Comments?

Centaurs are more flexible than you think! They actually can achieve a wide variety of sexual positions, including missionary. It isn't as convenient for them as standing up, but here's a spicy bit of lore regarding that:

(NSFW discussion + images under the cut)

I think the hogmens’ main problem was their inability to communicate with other peoples. Their beast-mouths meant they could only speak in grunts and squeals, and this made it so much easier to dehumanize them. Minotaurs have the same problem, but minotaurs are also much bigger and stronger than hogmen, so they were able to hold their own regardless. Hogmen just didn’t quite have the braun to make up for their lack of communication.

It’s possible for satyrs to find success in life, despite all the discrimination around them. Itchy, for example, managed to make a happy little life for himself. It wasn’t the lavish life he expected, but he realized maybe money isn’t the key to happiness anyway. Ginger too, and Dr. Che live happy, fulfilling lives.

I think the main key for satyrs is to stop trying to meet the expectations other species place on them. They have hormonal challenges and genetic differences that make it hard for them to live a “civilized” (I hate using that word but...) lifestyle the way other species do. They’re really not built for that. They were built to live nomadic, independent, adventurous lives among nature, and they actually excel at it where other peoples’ can’t. But other societies don’t see that as a “real” way to live. They call it “homelessness” and try to cram satyrs into a box they don’t fit in.

It’s like a monkey getting mad at a goldfish because it can’t climb a tree. The goldfish wasn’t meant to do that. It can swim better than the monkey, but nobody wants it fouling up the water so they keep it on land where it doesn’t belong. That’s pretty much what’s happening with satyrs worldwide. If they try to live their traditional lifestyles, they’re called “vagrants” and treated as such.

The story “Dirty Animal” explores this concept quite a bit. Both Itchy and Ginger struggle for years trying to live the way other species do, and they just can’t manage. They beat themselves up over it, and in fact so does Itchy’s mother. Society beats them over the head with this idea that they have to act like other species, but their hormones and natures make that feel very unnatural for them.

Ironically, LGBT satyrs actually have it easier than other species in some cases, because in places where homosexuality is frowned upon, nobody bothers speaking up when satyrs get freaky with the same sex or expresses their gender unconventionally, because folks think “oh they’re just deviant creatures by nature, whatever”. Like the bar is set so low for their behavior, they can often get away with shit that other people can’t, just because nobody cares about them enough to stop it. It’s actually quite sad, but in a way that’s beneficial to them sometimes. Other times, not so beneficial. For example, if a human woman is passed out drunk in the street, people would likely rush to her aid because humans are expected to be “better” than that. But if a satyress is in the same way, pretty much everyone would ignore her and think “eh, they’re just like that”.

Dr. Che is actually a satyr, not a faun, so the fact that he’s asexual actually causes him more trouble than you’d think! People automatically stereotype him as this sex-crazed, rowdy maniac and treat him like that by default, when he’s 100% the opposite. A good example is how when he and Morbus worked together, Morbus would flirt with him like crazy and get mad when he didn’t reciprocate, because she has this idea that satyrs will just fuck anything that moves. She still doesn’t quite get it and tries to get him into bed whenever possible. She sends him love letters and shit, it’s bad lol. She’s an example of someone who stereotypes satyrs in a so-called “positive” way, because she makes it clear that she has the hots for them, but she fetishizes them in a way that’s honestly really gross and dehumanizing. That’s another common attitude people have towards them, thinking they’re basically living sex toys.

As for how satyrs treat other satyrs...it’s not much better than how other folks treat them. In fact, I don’t think anyone hates satyrs more than other satyrs. This attitude was explored in “Dirty Animal” and maybe a few other stories. It’s mentioned that Itchy automatically thinks poorly of other satyrs he meets, assuming they’re jobless losers or they’re going to steal from him or something. He’s totally blown away when he meets Dr. Che, and he’s so enamored by Ginger and how she subverts stereotypes that he falls in love with her right off the bat. I think there was a scene where he even tells Tomato not to trust other satyrs, but I may have cut it, I can’t remember. Even after Itchy went out of his way to save Ginger’s life, she was still paranoid that he was going to rape her when they slept next to eachother, showing that even she has negative views of her kind. Itchy’s mother expressed similar feelings too, and also Brogan on several occasions.