#chrones art

the main concepts I'm running with for the two is that moon is based off of a mix of whitetip reef shark, weedy seadragon and mesmer while sun is based off a mix of lemon damselfish, leafy seadragon and hoverfish. boths physical appearance and instincts/behaviours are mainly from the shark and damselfish with a physical touch of their seadragon aspects (mainly the leafy apendages) the red growths act similar to cat whiskers in the fact they are good at being a early warning against sticking themselves into spaces they cant fit. both of them have evolved convergent evolutionary traits imitating successful species that share similar environments to what eachs types of mers evolved to exist in. in this one moon and sun are not siblings though happen to be around the same age, the two of them come from different pods but share similar features with their general body construct and face cresent mark from a extremely distant common ancestor

moon

white tip reef sharks as moons main traits were a no brainer with moons character, sharks being mainly slow moving with quick bursts of speed as required and their dangerous stigmatism match very well with moon, shark behaviour also seemed just like a really fun choice to play into moons more michevious behaviour. white tip reef sharks were specifically picked because of their nocturnal nature and their unique ability to stationary sleep- something to do with their nostrils helping run water though their gills or something. but the main thing with their sleeping is that they sleep in cute little shark piles! its mainly for protection but also made for a really sensible reason as to why sun and moon in this actually paired up despite their differences (ill get into that later) - sun is awake during the day and with moon sleeping near sun would be a perfect early warning/protection for moon while he slept. from a story point of view sharks were a really good choice for some ideas using their face sensory nodes, habit of investigating things by biting and the trance that can happen when flipped belly up- all three something im planning to use as quirks though out the story. moon doesnt take much of anything behavior wise from weedy seadragons but does physically have appendages along his body similar to weedy sea dragons- with moons design the appendages dont serve much outside of something to make him look bigger to potential threats but during the night the additional appendages are really good at obscuring his form. the appendages can be kind of moved, no where near like an actual hand or tail but more like - eyebrows? i guess. they are used for communication and expression (and courting :>) the third thing moons designed with is being based of mesmers, moon has the same hypnotism a mesmer can use- those weedy seadragon appendages acting as the panel like appendages the mesmer use to draw things towards moon when active. the nightcap like ones bundled together behind moons head expand out like how the mesmers do when using the ability but also can be relaxed to droop or float or even flare without the ability being used.

sun

now sun i have alot to say about why i choose lemon damselfish as his main base. it actually relates to why i had the whole story idea in the first place and thats because lemon damselfish are a type of fish that cultervates algae farms! these fish are territorial gardeners that tend these algae patches and fiercely defends them because thats the main stuff they eat. these fish often have to deal with urchins and stuff trying to eat their algae and with urchins being this literal balls of spikes its hard for the fish to remove from their gardens- there was a few videos of urchin harvesting divers getting swarmed by these gardener fish trying to lead them to the urchins eating though their gardens to get them removed and my mind saw that and went "sun and his meticulous ass plus this and subnautica" and thus this story idea was born LOL those gardening fish remind me alot of how much sun fusses over the daycare and its cleaning. the whole symbiotic relationship these fish have with divers also made for a really fun story idea with floaters being the subnautica equivalent. the leafy sea dragon touch much like moon is a physical over behavioral trait though is more useful for sun being a less predatory mer- the type of mer sun is evolved to be more herbivorous then moons more carnivorous branch and evolved more threat desplay/camouflage traits to reflect that. the leafy sea dragon apendages also come into play with suns species living in and around the shallower areas and specifically kept forests. hoverfish is mainly visible in the larger finger membrains around suns hands and was a choice mainly for aiding with the damselfish gardening behaviour- being able to push more water around but also being able to use the hoverfishes ability to have a really good control over their position in the water means sun is very good at controling how much or how little movement is being used, something great for camoflarge too! suns special ability comes from a very different source, having a form of short range pathokisesis - the ability to sense emotions of others (or even control depending) and a tactile telepathy. it was mainly something the more social species evolved to rely on- a weaker version of telepathy like the sea emperor as well as a branched off evolved trait