If Anyone Ever Wanted More Reason To Resent Arthropod Geneticists, Theres A Single Gene In A Bug-infectious

if anyone ever wanted more reason to resent arthropod geneticists, there’s a single gene in a bug-infectious bacteria that controls the production of toxins which destroy the immune system and hydraulic muscle capacity in insects within 24 hours of infection. this gene is called the “mcf” gene.

wanna take a guess what that’s short for?

this fucking disease that is basically arthropod rabies depends on a gene called makes caterpillars floppy.

I hate linguistic anthropology. Why? One of the most influential experiments in linguistic anthropology involved teaching a chimp asl. One of the most influential linguistics is named Noam Chomsky. You know what the chimp’s name was?

Nim Chimpsky.

Fucking monkey pun.

And this is in textbooks, in documentaries, everywhere. And everyone just IGNORES THIS GOD AWFUL PUN cause of how important the experiment was. But

BUT LOOK AT THIS SHIT. FUCKING NIM CHIMPSKY. I HATE THIS WHOLE FIELD.

A good example of my art / creature design process nowadays: the motes! They’re millimeter-diameter silicon-based lifeforms that form sapient swarms.

First we have the (final) sketch, in my trusty small bound notebook:

Then the polished digital version, complete with shading and textures:

More info on the motes can be found here for now; WorldAnvil article is pending.

The Realms

An up-to-date overview of my 8 worldbuilding projects.

Edit: As of 2023, Diaspora [DSP] has been renamed to Astra Planeta [ASP]. As of 2022, Aedrynn [ADN] has been retired from the list, replaced by The Midnight Sea [TMS].

ASP | AV | OE | SPH | TMS | CDL | LOR | PR

In which the human species embraces its cosmic wanderlust and slowly, conscientiously, we venture out into the stars.

[ASP] The Astra Planeta universe is a hopeful exploration of humanity’s future within the local stellar group, as well as speculation on the history and ecology of nearby alien worlds, with equal parts scientific realism and social optimism. Humanity, and our extraterrestrial allies, still face hardships, of course –after all, the universe isn’t a particularly hospitable place– but the stories of Astra Planeta center on cooperating in the face of adversity and utilizing interpersonal differences as a source of strength against the unsympathetic cosmos.

In which humankind is suddenly and unceremoniously thrust into a bustling galactic super-civilization, and gradually discovers there is much more to both the past and future of our universe than we ever imagined.

[AV] The Arcverse is a fictional version of our universe that speculates on the myriad possible forms of intelligent life on other worlds, and the evolution of starfaring civilizations over vast spans of time and space. The project is strongly rooted in current scientific theory yet strives to maintain the look, feel, and tone of a soft-sci space opera, and is presented in a manner intended to inspire wonder at the vastness of our universe and the endless possibility contained within.

In which humanity, its genetic legacy splintered into millions of descendant species across the Orion Arm, seeks the grandest mysteries the universe yet holds.

[OE] Orion's Echo is primarily intended as the setting for a tabletop RPG campaign of the same name, using the Hyperlanes game system. This realm blends the scope and setting of whimsical planet-hopping science fiction with story elements of cosmic horror and mystery. It is built on a speculative vision of humanity's far future in the galaxy, both a science-fictional take on classical elements of D&D and a love letter to the Golden Age of science fiction.

In which a wide diversity of intelligent beings sharing the planet Sphaera trace their ancestry to a vast experiment enacted by an ancient and powerful civilization originally hailing from Earth itself.

[SPH] Sphaera is an Earth-like world within an universe parallel to ours, where magic is a force of nature with its own physical laws. Sphaera itself is verdant with fantastical organisms and cultures that seem pulled straight from legend. The project aims to subvert, invert, or uniquely explain many fantasy tropes with a more scientific angle; building up an expansive and diverse setting while retaining the feeling of coherent closeness typical of fantasy worlds.

In which a brave crew of explorers sails the Midnight Sea in search of danger, adventure, and most importantly fellowship -for no spacer is ever alone.

[TMS] The Midnight Sea is one of many names for the space between suns; that wondrous, endless, dark void that seems to beckon planetbound beings to reach ever further. A sea it is, in a sense: one must voyage far across it to find other islands of civilization, and strange things lurk in the starry deep. The Midnight Sea is a collaborative space fantasy tabletop game setting, derived from the Spelljammer supplements of Dungeons & Dragons in a somewhat haphazard attempt to link all of the major contemporary D&D and MtG settings together under our collective fanon.

In which the infinite potential of the multiverse is distilled into a cesspool of mixed realities, overseen by a perpetually-stoned quasi-deity and inhabited by beings beyond your wildest fever dreams.

[CRDL] Crundle is a planet-ish realm at the center of the "Crundleverse," a surreal puddle of existence that resides beneath Everything Else. The Crundleverse is formed and sustained by the mingling of magical energy that trickles down from every possible reality. As such, Crundle is a kaleidoscopic realm of non sequitur, a literal idea wastebasket; and the only way to cope with the absurdity of it all is to simply sit back and enjoy the weird.

In which a precious few intrepid, curious souls know the true nature of the ashen world they inhabit.

[LOR] Bleakworld is the working project title for the land of Lor: a barren waste inhabited by strange beasts and tenacious peoples. The project is an exercise in imagination on the part of the audience and an endeavor of meticulous ambiguity on the part of the author: everything in Bleakworld canon is worded extremely carefully to avoid giving away the true nature of the setting.

In which a group of friends discover their small town -and their whole world- is not what it seems.

[PR] Pinereach is a small town of about 500 people nestled comfortably in the Cascade Mountains of northern California, at the center of an elaborate web of unusual events that border on the supernatural. Pinereach is the setting and shared title of a weird fiction story project written by myself and four coauthors.

tbh the worst thing about being a self aware mentally ill person is that people assume that because you understand your illness you’re automatically able to actually apply your knowledge to your life and cure yourself

YESSSSS YES YES!!! ambiguous genre-bending worldbuilding is so fucking great. I’ve got an old, currently archived project that starts off with the appearance of a typical low-magic dark fantasy world and with every passing detail it becomes apparent that Something Is Not Quite Right.

references are made to characters using more than two hands at once. wyverns have venomous stingers. dwarves are strange and twisted creatures that eat away at the bones of the world. orcs build massive structures with their own bodies. it never rains here and the sky is a physical place.

this isn’t your typical low-magic dark fantasy world. we aren’t in Ohio anymore, Toto.

I’m really obsessed with the idea of worldbuilding that refuses to clarify its relationship to reality

When we read books we instinctively try to categorize books based on the kind of book they are, oh this is fantasy, post-apocalyptic, etc. and we try to find out things and clarify what kind of world it is and whether or not the things in it are make believe and how make believe they are.

So what if I...Messed with that process?

For instance. A book is set in Ohio. We mention the names of cities in Ohio and pieces of Ohio’s history and famous landmarks in Ohio and it’s incredibly well researched, even down to the names of museums in Cincinnati or something. We’re talking very firmly established in the facts of a place. It’s kind of an eerie book and in some ways the setting seems weird or cloudy or dreamy but it seems grounded in just the amount of facts that are in it about the setting.

There are little factoids dropped here and there. At first very boring ones. Something that happened at an Ohio water treatment plant in 1995. What it takes to serve on a jury in Ohio. Ohio laws about spraying pesticides on corn. Facts about corn itself. Probably one of those cutesy little facts about weird local laws.

They start to get...stranger. The little bits of worldbuilding. Did you know that Ohio has had more nuclear power plant accidents than any other state? In this small town in Ohio, you used to need a license to perform an exorcism! This charming small town’s mayor is a ghost. In Ohio, it is legal for doctors to draw more of your blood than they need to sell to third parties. There are no Dollar Tree’s in Ohio. (Have you ever seen a Dollar Tree in Ohio? Are you sure?)

At some point the reader catches onto something that is clearly not right. Maybe the book states at some point that Indiana is to the east of Ohio instead of the west. This is clearly a mistake, and they move on.

Some things about the everyday realities of the setting seem peculiar. There seem to be quite a bit of packs of wild dogs about, and mold seems to grow a lot quicker. Grass is described very strangely—a shade of green that isn’t very characteristic of grass. There seem to be a lot of cults, and there are a lot of empty lots in town enclosed with razor wire for no apparent reason. Sometimes a character’s hands grow suddenly cold, and they panic and hasten inside. Frostbite? Is it the climate? Why does the author write that way?

At some point, though, it becomes clear that the author is fictionalizing a bit. It may certainly be the case that nuclear accidents have occurred in Ohio more than any other state, but the tale of how deer from that area glow in low light is probably made up. And though that famous televangelist existed and it seems plausible enough that he owned tigers, like some kind of janky drug dealer would purchase, it seems implausible that he regularly fed people to them.

As the story continues, more and more facts seem a little off, though. The spatial relationship of Ohio to its surrounding states, and the shape that Ohio is (it’s described at one point as having a panhandle, and as bordering East Tennessee) seems to make less and less sense. The wild dogs are massive, and have smoldering eyes like hellhounds. One nuclear disaster apparently wiped out a full sixth of Ohio’s population. The deer, plagued with cancer from the radiation, have turned carnivores. The wild horses run under a red sky—the sky is always described as red. The original capital of Ohio is lost, its stones dashed down in the war that made its citizens turn to cannibalism. The invasive plants of Ohio can pry open windows, and once choked a woman in her sleep. The people of Ohio dream more frequently of birds of prey gouging out their eyes than people in any other state. There are plagues of rats in Ohio that sometimes devastate towns. In Ohio, unexplained disappearances are rarely investigated. There are eagles in Ohio—their wings blot out the sun. Ohio briefly seceded from the Union in 1922, and there are those that still believe in the Free People’s Empire of Ohio. Ohio shares a border with Arizona. Ohio has a coastline on the edge of a dark and perpetually cold sea.

It becomes abundantly clear that this is not Ohio. It is something else, named Ohio and superficially wearing Ohio as a skin, but it is not Ohio. And looking back, it is hard to tell when it stopped being Ohio. When it stopped being just quirky Americana and an eerie mood and started being...this. Small details were off early on, but these were not noticed, because they seemed so normal. The sky was always described as red, but that was because it was supposed to be sunset...right?

The governor of Ohio has been struck down. All bow before the God-Emperor of Ohio. The black wolves of Hell await those who will not bow with their teeth.

Naturalists have got to be one of the groups of people most susceptible to being tricked by the fae. Travellers these days are much less likely to follow a mysterious light or the smell of roast beef into the forest. Meanwhile, find me a naturalist who would not completely lose themself in pursuit of:

An unidentifiable bird call

A butterfly that's slightly off-color

An opossum with its head stuck in a yogurt tub

A really big woodpecker