Doodle Compilation Number Idk

doodle compilation number idk

sillies

slom animal conceptin

bigger ethnicity difference and. a mecha (def not canon)

fun fact, Neal wanted to be a sloman priest as a teenager.

Also, foru tree thought? idk

the don't-worry-about-it and uuuh, ugly baby

lastly a character. They guide the group on their journey to the "different world". But this is still a WIP. I want to refine their outfit and name (text on the pic is their "first name").

Once again a creature from the continent of Slomen. A very primitive but also very specilised critter. 6 to 30 cm long, wet roots up to 45cm.

They live in many aquatic environments but most often you will find them in forest rivers and lakes. Some species have even adapted for life in the sea and could be considered fully aquatic while still air breathing.

Majority of the clade feeds on small animals like invertebrates sometimes parts of plants they can digest. Their hunting strategy is either burst swimming, jumping or just sliding on top of some slow prey.

There were two important species that started life on land, with the leaf ancestor being a smaller, less land specilised of the two. Leafs are one of their earliest evolutionary branches as land vertebrates and have retained many acient features like paw suckers and teeth instead of claws. In bigger vertebrates most of these little teeth were lost and became true claws or fingers (even present on the other land climber ancestor).

They can actually eat with their feet that are still closely connected to their stomach. But it applies only to very small food particles.

The wets are not very culturally significant but some regions do eat them. But the thick mantle isn't very tasty. In some places they symbolise good harvest season.

These little guys are also related to the 'birds' of Elve and I'm sure you can see why.

Been keeping this away for long since its a very out of context specific stuff.

These are the Heads - the mostly spiritual leader of the central Foru micro-state collective. Their role is to be a guide for all the leaders (archs) in central Foru and speak for all of them on an international level. They also bless lands and people and generally are well-liked by them. They can make big decisions, but it's ultimately on the archs if they comply (but the pressure is strong).

Every head has a more specialized role, each representing a 'sense' of their one shared soul (hearing, seeing, touch, thought...) and people they are patrons to (the old, the "rich", the leaders, the priests...). Each central Foru micro-state usually has its favorite head that they want to see the most in their community when bringing them news or blessings.

here are closeups

The Heads are the center of a religion practiced in the region. In short - the Heads share one spirit that in ancient times belonged to a priest who misused their power to get to the spirit world and instead became forever stuck in the material world. After many reincarnations, the priest became a wise leader who learned to speak with the spirit world and make final peace between the worlds of spirits and the material.

I would need to go into more religion details to go over that but that can be a separate post. Let's talk about how they get their role.

A 'competition' is held to determine the best leader, most spiritually attuned, most well-thinking, and best-presenting individual. The Heads in position at the time with a few other high-ranking individuals will judge the participants and then make their pick at the choosing ceremony. Luckily there are not too many to choose from, there are many requirements to participate.

However, the one picked isn't one that will become a head, they would be far too old at the time. Instead, they will force their system to make a rare phenomenon happen. This means making more of themselves with cloning (having babies grow out of diploid cells with no need for another person). This is usually achieved when under high amounts of stress and loneliness.

The uniima egg naturally holds 4 larvae but usually only 1-2 develop fully while the rest becomes food for the surviving ones. This clone egg has 4 identical whites (pre-babies) in them that get special care to ensure at least 3 survive. There have been heads with one member before and with 2 and 3, but 4 is a miracle as the bottom corner larva almost never develops enough to hatch. This egg is very lucky.

The identical quadruplets are given to be raised in different environments. These environments will decide what they represent as adults. It will also give them better perspectives of the world, making it easier/more difficult to make big decisions when the time comes.

Additionally, because there are 4 heads this time, a new environment had to be introduced. This environment was that of small communities, minorities, and generally people living in poorer conditions (yes, for the past Heads, war was more important than their people suffering (it's a very central Foru thing)). Unfortunately for The Ear, they are not respected everywhere, and many people assume them to be a fake among their siblings.

You can also see the heads have each their own signature and each Head generation has their own symbol that is recognized outside their writing systems.

What does a sloman skull look like? I don't know! But you can take all versions as canon for now.

The version with the most detail assumes sloman eye stalks need more external muscles while both versions on the right assume the internal stalk muscles do the job for them. Versions on right would have fewer muscle facial expressions so some expressions would be assisted with feather movement but would still be human-like.

(4 "teeth","bone" brow and 5 neck vertebrae are decided canon)

ALSO HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Anyway let's add a regular post on the mole stars

Here is the one from the new ref.

There are some updates from the last time you saw them. Their skin is full red and their "tentacles" are gone. Their teeth are inside their skin and not always visible.

They manipulate surroundings with very flexible arm endings that create slight suction between the frill layers. The frills are surprisingly energetic and have the most touchy nerves and many small muscles. The teeth can go very far back into the arm, leaving the mouth flexible (the teeth themselves are flexible-ish).

Star eyesight sucks. On each arm is 4 (sometimes 5) extendable thorns with tiny eyes on top that give the arm a basic sense of space. If they want to focus on something they look with their mouth which has its inside lined with photoreceptive cells. To get a decent image they shape the arm inside into a sphere and change the end diameter.

But this works a lot better underwater, where they only spend their early and partial adult lives. Speaking of early life. Stars are born looking more like jellyfish than a star.

When hatched, they are only 1/4 of their adult version, a single arm swimming around and slowly growing. After this stage, the little jellies start connecting. Most often you get 4 arms but some moles have 3 or 5 (other numbers have a hard time surviving). Once they are joined, their bodily functions are connected, and even their nervous system becomes one. While being sophonts, their brain/s work a lot differently, with their arms being somewhat capable of independent thought.

And a tiny possible living space. But that's just thoughts.

Uniiman mount. They are present in almost every region either for travel or silk or both.

Something I forgot to add is their face plate rotates depending on how their body is angled. It's limited in movement but it gives the animal better spacial awareness. They have few eyes spots in their armor too but less sensitive.

More to their biology - while looking like a giant lobster they come from the same "fish" ancestors as Uniima. They belong to a group that kept their 3rd pair of limbs for locomotion, though these limbs are more specilised than the rest (in uniima the 3rd pair is part of their internal organs).