Speculative Anatomy - Blog Posts

Have I strained my wrist? yes. Should I be resting and yet haven't for a week? Also yes. However - Storm Hawks. It was cool, I missed it, and I wanted to make fun things with the under-explored concept of Merbs and Terra Merbia.

I've been thinking a lot about Euclydian biology lately, specifically in regards to pigmentation thanks to this awesome ask I got on a side blog, and wanted to illustrate some of the ideas I had. Super quick lazy sketches but hey, maybe some of you will dig this! Nerdy stuff under the cut, will make a bit more sense if you read the aforementioned post

Euclydians have a genetic predisposition towards a "resting" color (in Bill's case, yellow). The opposite of this state (full "flexing" of chromatophore-controlling muscles) is also predispositioned, which is what's seen in the threat display. This rapidly stimulates the individual's metabolism and gets their blood really pumping in preparation for conflict, but is also somewhat costly in terms of energy, so is typically only flashed rather than maintained as Bill does it

"Teeth-peeking" is the cute zoology term I came up with for when a Euclydian displays a couple teeth overtop their eye without fully switching into mouth-function, usually as a threat but sometimes a sort of stim when they're hungry

Communicative flashing ("Chromatic") has a few languages. The most primitive is Simplified Emotive which is a quick display of mood, while the most modern is Traditional Chromatic, wherein patterns of color serve as words. Words in Traditional Chromatic are not ciphers like they are in TBoB and there aren't always direct translations into English

There are a couple accepted ways for a naturally colorful Euclydian to signal an emotion or "syllable" that matches their color, typically either by a subtler change in value along the edges or by changing everything BUT the edges

It's probably worth noting that Chromatic of any variant is considered a secondary, uncommon language in modern Euclydian society. It's simply more efficient and easier for most to speak, though I think Simplified Emotive probably stems from the natural threat display and so it's more intuitive. It's not unheard of for someone's edges to flash "angry/surprised" (◼) for a second if you bump into them on the sidewalk

A memetic blush is a learned behaviour in which individuals appear to fluster by a reddish shift in color along the face, edges and vertices. This might just be something Bill (or hypothetically other Euclydians who come into contact with humans) does I'm not sure yet but it's cute so

Given the body needs to conserve more energy when fighting illness, it's not uncommon for chromatophore muscles to weaken or spasm in order to lessen metabolic strain, giving the individual a patchy look that often reveals the naturally white skin below the chromatophore layer

When rigor mortis occurs in a dead Euclydian, all the minute muscles in control of chromatophore dilation contract all at once, rendering the entire body white. Because of this, white is considered a bit of a grim color in Euclydian culture; you know emos are wearing all-white instead of all-black

Conversely, a perfect, non-tinted grey is a regal shade because it's seen as a sign of fitness and strength. Maintaining a neutral grey requires very precise control over one's chromatophores to get the balance right and hold it there

Euclydians are capable of training the muscles that control their chromatophores like any other, and as a result can change their resting color with enough discipline! They can also use this technique to give themselves markings. Haven't decided the cultural implications of this entirely, but I think the idea of someone training themselves to match their threat display so nobody can tell when they're angry, for example, is a cool idea. Possibilities!