#grauls

I called the number I was given for a Graul’s grocery store, and the CEO of Graul’s picked up on the fifth ring, didn’t let me speak and told me to call back later.

Some oppy world megafauna of a specific biome, I’m not sure what to call this biome yet, but it’s a tropical, swampy place. Species are: canopy leopard, giant tapir + baby, little bongo, graul.

“Graul Mother has many children. She can add one more. And you have no family. This is good!” The graul child rose up on its hind legs and placed a stubby forelimb on Rook’s arm, “You,” it said knowingly, “you are my brother now.”

Rook was starting to wonder whether the turtle he ate might have been slightly poisonous, and he was merely imagining this whole conversation.“That isn’t how that works.”

“Why not?”

Rook considered that this creature was young, and fairly stupid. It would be easy to get around the question, or distract it until it moved on and left him alone. It would be a very simple lie: You can’t be my brother, we’re not the same species. It was even mostly true.

Well, Mostly.

Rook looked to the fire, and at the dancing shadows that it cast on the tree hollow. The light led him to think of things he had been determined to push out of mind. The memories made his upper lip twitch, and his eyes shut in a wince. He was not going to lie to the graul child, or himself, at least not for the moment.

“I have a mom,” Rook said with a sigh, “Brothers and sisters, too.” He added in Choro, “They’re fire choros, in the far north, a long way from here.”

The graul looked sad, in sharp contrast to its normally blank expression. “But, I want you to be my brother,” It said despairingly. “This is terrible.” The graul child turned away from him, and hid its face with its forelimbs as if to cry.

Although Rook doubted grauls were the kind of creature who could actually cry, the gesture still managed to make him feel a little sorry for it. Rook frowned hard, trying to think of ways to make it better.

Rook was about to tell the graul child to just go home and be grateful for all the brothers and sisters it already had, but then he remembered something Graul Mother said earlier. If grauls are really solitary, and they don’t keep any company other than their siblings, Rook thought, Maybe it just doesn’t have a word for what it’s trying to say.

Rook moved into the line of sight of the graul child and trilled encouragingly, “I can’t be your brother, but I could be your friend.”

The graul child stopped its imitation crying and stood straight up, “What is that?” it asked.

It dawned on Rook that he didn’t have much experience to base his explanation on. His attempts to befriend choros outside his family had all ended somewhat poorly, and most other animals simply walked away when he tried to speak to them longer than asking for directions. But the graul child was waiting for his answer, so he improvised, “A friend is someone you like to have around,” he said.

The graul child did not react, so Rook supposed he should continue, “A friend… can be something like a brother.“

“You are my friend,” the graul child said.

Rook looked at the graul child and nodded, feeling slightly unnerved about how long it had now gone without blinking.

“I want a name,” The graul child said.

“You…?” Rook faltered, “you can have a name if you want.”

“I am the smartest graul,” proclaimed the graul child.

Rook supposed humility must not be not a virtue for grauls, or else that this graul was too young to have heard of it. “Is Smartest Graul what you plan to call yourself?”

“No.” The graul child tapped its stubby paws together, “The smartest graul needs a good name.” It shut its eyes in concentration, then turned to Rook and said, “I am Gray Stripe.”

Rook glanced from the graul child to the stripes on its tail, “Your stripes are yellow.”

“No.” The graul said, “Look.” It curled its tail around itself and raised the feathers on its back. Sure enough, while all the rest of its stripes were yellowish, there was one hidden light gray stripe where its feathers ended and its scutes began. “Other graul children are gray stripes, I’m the only gray stripe. This makes it a good name.”

“How old are you?” Rook asked, skeptically.

“I hatched six months ago.” Said Gray Stripe.

“That explains a lot,” Rook muttered. In Graul he said, “Gray Stripe can be your name if you want it to be.”

Gray Stripe appeared immensely pleased by this.

— — —

I hope Gray Stripe isn’t super annoying. It’s a very cute creature in my head, but it might come across different in text.

It is not entirely wrong about being the smartest graul. Because gray stripe is significantly more social than others of its species, it has more potential to learn and grow than most grauls. But it is still quite young and not all that smart yet.

The graul children’s age or size is definitely going to change in subsequent drafts because it doesn’t make sense right now. Unless grauls start bigger or grow faster than crocodiles do. Which is a possibility but I haven’t decided on which route I’ll take.

2022 Species Ref

Graul 2022

Syrsin have the most distinct name rules, they name their fauns after stars, constellations, and celestial bodies, (even if they don’t always make sense in a world where nothing is seen with the aid of telescopes). Basically if I give a syrsin the name of a planet or planet’s moon that is not visible in our universe you can assume it is at least somewhat visible in theirs.

So Mars, for instance, is a mythological figure, a planet, and a name they give fauns (hence Mars the character being named after his red skin and eyes.) The mythology surrounding these names is not 1-1 for our universe but rather syrsin versions of our mythology, so themes and meaning might remain, but other specific implications are left behind. Mars in their universe isn’t the son of Juno, for instance, but remains a figure that represents war. Sol is one of the most common syrsin names, and so doesn’t carry a lot of weight, while it’s kind of off-limits to name your faun after the moon.

Oppies have a lot of short, purely sound-based names but also like to name their opplets after plants.

Yarrow is named after the medicinal plant, while Kei and her siblings (Uru, Ika, Ohr, etc.) all have sound based names with no meaning behind them. Tin was named by Kei and so has an oppy name.

Choros have element based names, as well as naming their chicks after species of birds and a few random sound names I made up (Apparently I named one of my girls a slang word for “idiot” but anyway…)

Kindling, Lorikeet, Rook, Shrike, and Flint are a few of my characters with choro names. I was on the fence for awhile about Rook’s name being literal but I think I’m going to go ahead and say it’s literal. He was adopted by a choro and his mom gave him a bird name. I think it fits.