#splicing

Things that are so cool about dogbane (citations needed, grain of salt): it is indigenous to North America. Indigenous Americans have used it for millennia to make all sorts of stuff- cordage, nets for hunting, shoes, baskets, etc. It (allegedly) does not need to be retted (!!!) just dried. Dogbane fibers have a smaller diameter than other line fibers like flax meaning fabric made from dogbane might be nice n soft.

All of this to say: I bought some dogbane fiber. Now you may be saying "Avery what are you doing?? You don't know how to spin! You don't have any spinning equipment" and I say to you "yeah oops"

But look how pretty it is!!

I have been using a splicing technique I learned from a video by Donna Cossette (Paiute) for the Nevada arts council to make cordage just with my hands and a bit of spit.

I made just about twelve feet of spliced cord. My hand cramped so badly. Either I am doing this wrong, or this is not a bulk technique.

Also, since it's toxic, I did it outside and my cat was yelling at me the whole time.

Chimaerans!

Chimaerans are a man-made species that escaped during a lab accident! They are similar to Eusocial insects and make massive hives for them and their Spawner to live in. This will list off all the different types around the world that have adapted to their environment! They don't produce waste, they are completely gender-less and reproduce by leaking a liquid substance from their eyes that contain microscopic eggs that grow larger over time. Only the Spawner can produce mass eggs without any physical side-effects. Any other member of the Chimaeran species that tries to lay eggs die soon after. Chimaerans are a mix of animals from around the world with human genomes added to them as well. Each biome type has a different culture related to the environment or ruling Monarch at the time. Some Chimaerans even partake in trades and festivals of their own! Some have taken to wearing clothes or jewelry! To say that they are very similar to humans is an understatement.

Vivitors!

Vivitors are a mix of lion, scorpion and raptor! Their roles in the nest consist of being a scout, a medic, a soldier and a scientist! They also excel at diplomacy with other species! They are able to understand most human languages and even make friends with them. Their main goal is to collect genomes from other species to strengthen their nest and Spawner. Vivitors are the only Chimaeran types to be able to produce fertile eggs other than the Spawner themselves, but then they succumb to it do to energy loss and die like any other. Their tail is the genome extraction point and venom injection point. Their venom triggers the nerves in the targets body to think it has been damaged, causing intense pain to flow through the spot. Constant injection of the venom could lead to cardiac arrest. They travel in small packs consisting of Vivitors and Canifae, making them quite dangerous if angered. Falling from a high height inflicts no damage to them at all, in fact they just bounce off the ground like a rubber ball! They play dead by indenting their heads to look like it's been crushed, this causes the eyes to bulge a bit.

[1.Lab]

[2.Flower/Glade]

[3.Plains/Grassland]

[4.River/Pond]

[5.Flower/Thorns]

[6. Volcano]

[7. Arctic] 

[8. Jungle] 

[9. Ocean]

[10. Forest]

[11. Desert] 

[12. Oasis] 

[13. Tropical] 

[14. Cave] 

[15. Galaxy]

[16. Swamp] 

[17. Tundra] 

[18. Bug-like]

[19. Bird-like] 

However cutting the hair off doesn’t delete the memory.

Hello! Now that the Title has got your attention? YUP I’m actually going to prove how ,from a “ Lore Purist “ perspective, you can not only WRITE splices, but do so in a way that is 100% true to ALL given Tyrian lore.

Introductary Terms :

Splice : A character consisting of a hybridization or fusion of two species. GW2 has a class that plays with this already : Soulbeast, but for the purposes of this excersize, those will only be touched on . 

Lore-Purist : Oftentimes read as gatekeepers , Lore Purists ONLY accept what is written DIRECTLY in the wiki, or things that came directly from the mouths of devs. Of course, this is usually based on bad experiences with Lore-Lenient folk, oftentimes newer roleplayers in general, thus lending to the perception as Gatekeepers

Genetics : The understanding of, and decoding of, the genome of species, sapient or otherwise. 

Part 1 : Hexes, Soulbeasts, and Magick Amok  . 

Tyrian magic is a fantasic, all-encompassing system of INCREDIBLY diverse spell types .  Imagine if you would , throwing light into a prism. That’s how magic works. The spectrum of magic is broad, and it’s uses moreso.  Hexes are lore compliant, demonstrated by the Siren’s Reef Fractal, The Foefire Ghosts, The Undead ‘ Charm’ in Some paths of the personal Story, and Even More! , so , as demonstrated by the Foefire , Undead Charm, AND the Spectral Magic At Siren’s Reef, curses are capable of not only altering body shape, but the soul and magic of It’s target. Thus, an easy way to have a splice is just to have your character be cursed. Just, be sure to throw in some /ACTUAL/ Curse-like bits in there. Like being unable to say some words or having an allergy to some oddly-specific but common thing.  Soulbeast magic! This is by far the easiest way to do this. Soulbeasts,”  can become one in spirit(with their animal). By channeling their pet, they become a single entity, attacking with fanglike dagger strikes and using the abilities of their companion and its archetype.. “ Notice something in the wording there? “ Becoming a Single Entity “  There’s a few ways to interpret this. Either by just “ Buffing” yourself using the power of your animal, or, the more generally accepted, fusing yourself magically into a new beast. Fangs, Claws, tails , Scales, and Burning Breath all possible... And encouraged. 

What’s more ? Magic in Tyria is decidedly unstable. Ley Magic Surges , Instabilities in Artifacts, and More can cause a soulbeast to be ‘ Stuck’ in a merge, thus resulting in a splice.. and likely a fair amount of distress over a “ Lost “ companion, depending on how you handle the merging of minds.  Part 2 : Asura don’t know Genetics* (*AKA ‘ Anet isn’t consistent ‘ )  It’s explicitly stated that the asura don’t actually understand genetics. This is, of course, Only true at the time the statement is issued. From there we’ve had two pretty impressive peices of genetics-based lore given. Taimi suffers from a genetic condition, a terminal illness which is well understood and treated. The clue-in that this is genetically related is that the treatment isn’t shotgun-style “ throw things at it until it works “ ... That can not only prove detrimental, but outright lethal. Thus, the remaining conclusion, and the one that’s , yes, Genetics related: that asura doctors, if nothing else, understand genetics enough to know that ‘ upping dosages’ when something doesn’t work , or rapidly changing medicine types, probably won’t get them anywhere with terminal illnesses. Unless of course, one wants to say that they magically stumbled along the perfect route to learning about medicine without ever once touching on How illnesses develop. Given the asura tendency towards obsessive learning patterns, it’s doubtful that they’d pick up medicine without picking up anatomy, genetics, and more.   Rata Primus Is the 1 absolute in this case. When dealing with plagues, especially ones that are species-specific, tampering with them to get them to jump across species requires some baseline understanding of genetics. You can’t just throw magic at it directionless and expect it to do anything but kill the researchers first. Yet we see those beautiful inquest bastards slowly, if not certainly, tweaking the plague generation-by-generation to adapt to new targets and hosts. while notably being wholly unaffected by it themselves in those first few iterations.  Thus,even from a purist standpoint, the Lore has shifted enough from the “ Asura can’t do Genetics “ Time to today. We’re nearly in 2021,it’s time we update our Canon , just like the writers have done with the story itself.   Part 3 : The Inquest Can Clone  This is where things get fun! So , even without genetics , the inquest are capable of manipulating dragon magics and cloning entire creatures using them. Examples of this are Subject Alpha , An amalgamation of many different dragon magics, the Six Simulacrum (Artificially made) Of dragon minions , And various projects that violently warped the state of their subjects (Subject 6, Thaumonova Fractal ). Kudu himself was even capable of absorbing absurd amounts of dragon magic and staying sane    Part 4 : Dragons? Easy. Souls? Easier. Splicing? Why even ask. The extreme ease by which the Inquest manipulates dragon energies is superceeded by one other thing they’re experts at warping.. Souls. In the asura personal story, long before dragons become a hassle for the commander, the inquest are seen fusing souls to Golem bodies as a power source.. so easily, in fact, it can be done without even touching the subject or golem, as well as being done in multiples (Funhouse instance Cutscene). Doxa is one such victim of technology like this going awry. 

By this metric, it’s extremely easy to infer that the Inquest are capable of precise tampering with Bodies , souls, or magic as a whole in subjects.. meaning if they felt like it, an abuse of any of these magics would suffice to make a splice : Druid , Soulbeast, Dragon Corruption, Ley Energy, .  Or, if you prefer Less magically dubious : Just fusing the two bodies into one. 

Deceit/Ethan

Chosen: By the Crocodile

Age: Has told the others he's 18. (Actually 16)

Portaled: While walking home from school with his Sister. (His sister was the one who was supposed to walk through the portal. Not him.)

-Doesn’t feel like he belongs with the others and is desperate to prove that he can help out and be useful to the group. 

-Has nightmares about losing his hand and foot. 

-Wasn’t supposed to be Portaled (because individuals are usually 18-40 years old) and feels like everything is out to kill him because of it. 

-Got on Roman’s bad side and hasn’t yet redeemed himself. 

-Clumsy and hates it because he used to be far more coordinated. It’s mostly from dealing with his Crocodilian vision he has now in one eye as they don’t see the same as people and it throws him off. But also the claws on his altered foot catch on things when he’s not paying attention. 

--I probably would give him a crocodile tail too after thinking about it for a while, but at the time of drawing him I was trying to stay true to the dream and what was changed after the crocodile chose him.

Portals AU   Roman  Patton  Logan  Virgil

Context: I’m splicing ropes for a trapeze. I did 3 eye-splices, I still need to do the last one.