Promiseland

[Fetian]

(There might be a Secret Grace somewhere closer that I was going to look up if the just-run-for-it plan didn't work, but it did so I'm not)

[Fetian]

I keep getting one-shotted by fucking chandeliers in the Rennala fight

[Fetian]

Summoned someone to help me with the fight, they didn't actually join until I got to her second phase and then he died right before we beat her

Shout out to Furled Finger Nut

[Fetian]

Every time I think I'm done with the academy I realise I missed something and have to go back in

[erikakaiser]

Every time I think I'm done with the academy I realise I missed something and have to go back in

ai58s0.jpg

[Fetian]

I've been unsatisfied with Culacians basically since I made them, and since they're going to be a playable species in SnowRPG then I should put some thought into revamping them

Here's the direction I'm thinking of going:
On the other side of the planet from Hjodenvede¹ is an as-of-now-unnamed continent, that hundreds of thousands of years ago was also populated by (precursors to) humans. It was also populated by a parasite that evolved to specialise on infecting those humans, and then after hundreds of thousands of years the parasitism evolved into an obligatory mutualism (I am thinking the classic, they stopped producing the genes necessary to process/create a vital nutrient that the other half of the relationship now provides). This symbiont is a plant that is now passed on by injecting 'seeds' into the host's egg during ovulation that then infects the offspring of the host. So the humans could now be considered a plant/mammal hybrid

They're called 'Culacians' culturally but species-wise they're still humans and could reproduce with the humans from Hjodenvede, and being as humans are humans and will do as humans do, this probably happens with some frequency. In these cases, whether the kid will be born with a plant buddy or not will depend on whether the pregnant parent was a Culacian, but whether or not the kid could survive without a plant buddy would be genetic. I think the survive-without genes would be dominant, so it would be rare for a child with one Culacian and one not-Culacian parent to be born needing a plant buddy and not having one, but to be safe it is pretty common for such pairings with a male Culacian who are seeking to have a child to use a surrogate. There have been some advances in fertility sciences to manually inject the 'seeds' into the ovum to ensure a healthy Culacian child, but this is a very niche field in a society that largely still considers the Culacians' symbiont to be a disease.

I do not think it is possible for humans now to be infected with the Culacian symbiont, but there are similar parasites on the as-of-now-unnamed-continent that could infect them in a less mutualistic fashion. One of the benefits of the Culacian symbiont is that it provides protection from these for their hosts.

When born, Culacians appear entirely human. As their symbiont is not yet developed, they rely on their parent's breastmilk to provide the nutrients they cannot produce or process themselves, but this is also true of non-Culacian human infants. Before long, the symbiont will begin to erupt from the skin, and many parents will prune sprouts from inconvenient spots such as the joints or face. The skin around the eruptions hardens and loses sensation, and if left to mature these holes will become permanent features. After maturity, the symbiont will only sprout through these locations, no longer erupting anywhere else on the body. The symbiont has features similar to a woody shrub, with a lot of variation from plant-to-plant.

---

¹This is the continent that Valdesland, Chavidea, and Snowtown are on; Kuris is considered to be² south of it
²It's Complicated™

[Fetian]

Oh good -- someone I follow on mastodon posted and deleted an allusion to suicide last night and then nothing at all for about eighteen hours, but they've started posting again not long ago. Was pretty worried about them

[Fetian]

They've been having a very rough time, including being hospitalised for suicidal ideation and then forced to go home before they were ready. I wish I could do something for them

[Fetian]

So last week ash emailed the property people about the lack of pool service and they said they would reach out to the owner and get back to us, and then nothing. And this week there has still been no pool service, and ash emailed them yesterday, and we have had no reply, but also!

Today we got another final notice before they shut off our water! So that also hasn't been getting paid

Getting kind of worried about the long-term security of our living situation

[Fetian]

In more pleasant news, my new soaps arrived (I have a bimonthly-ish subscription) and the one I opened is making my room smell really nice