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A lot of the organisms on Erid reside in the atmosphere, so just imagine Grace and Rocky are sitting on the beach one day and there’s a loud thunk on the biodime. Grace looks up and does the iconic high pitched gosling scream. It sort of resembles a human, but its limbs are all weird, its flesh is hard, and there are SO many things wrong about it. But it’s humanoid enough to give him nightmares for days.

“Rocky….what the FUDGE is THAT?!”

“Oh, is Erid flying organism! Name is ♫ ♪ ♫. Sort of looks like Grace, question?”

“Rock, I never want to see one of those again.”

Please, please, PLEASE.....

✧ Magic systems with actual consequences that aren't just "ooh I'm tired now." Like your wizard gets hiccups that turn into burps of flame for three days. Your necromancer's hair falls out in clumps. Your healer has to absorb a percentage of the pain they cure and spends evenings crying in the bath.

✧ Fantasy creatures that are just... kinda mid at their designated thing. Dragons who are afraid of heights. Vampires with a garlic intolerance that's more "lactose intolerant at a pizza party" than "instant death." Werewolves who transform but just become a really anxious medium-sized dog.

✧ Prophecies that are vague because the ancient oracle genuinely had terrible handwriting. Nobody can agree if it says "the chosen one" or "the chicken coop" and honestly both are equally possible at this point.

✧ Magic schools where students are failing because the curriculum is actually hard, not because they're the chosen one having drama. Let someone flunk Potions because they can't math the ratios. Academic probation exists in fantasy too.

✧ Dark Lords with the most mundane administrative problems. Yes, he's conquering the realm, but also the castle's plumbing is a nightmare and his generals keep submitting their expense reports late.

✧ Worldbuilding that remembers disabled people exist in fantasy settings too. No, not just "magically healed." I mean fantasy wheelchairs, accessibility spells, sign language variations, service dragons, the whole deal.

✧ Taverns that aren't just quest-dispensing machines. Sometimes the innkeeper is closed for a family emergency. Sometimes there's karaoke night and it's bad. Sometimes they're out of the stew because Greg ordered all of it.

And then I went to the USAmerican Midwest

Names...

It's funny how some names survive when others don't.

Green sea turtles have been an iconic endangered species since the 1980s, mostly due to bycatch in fishing nets and taking adults and eggs for food. I have core childhood memories of watching Steve Irwin talk about sea turtle conservation in front of a beach full of nesting green sea turtles.

After 45 years of conservation efforts, their population now meets the IUCN criteria for Least Concern rather than Endangered.

For a species with such a slow life history (it takes green sea turtles decades to reach sexual maturity) and a nearly global population, this is a Really Big Deal. This is the kind of long term conservation victory that many of the amazing humans who started working on green sea turtle conservation back in the 80s didn't live to see.

transparent johnny appleseed! please drag him around your dash so that he can plant apple seeds wherever he goes!