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Bestiaryposting Results: Shonweak

This is an unusual one in terms of whether people have preconceptions on what it looks like. On one hand, the medieval interpretation of this animal is widespread and generally known, at least in comparison to other bestiary material -- shows up in modern fantasy and everything -- so it's possible that people familiar with medieval stuff recognized it on sight and had to work against those preconceptions. On the other hand, the medieval interpretation is pretty much completely divorced from reality, so anyone coming at it from a background of Actually Knowing Animals rather than one of Knowing Medieval Nonsense is likely going to be baffled.

Anyway, as usual, if you're confused by what I'm talking about, please refer to https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting. And you can find the entry that artists are working from here:

Art below the cut, roughly chronological, &c.

@silverhart-makes-art (link here) says that they wanted to draw a Weird Little Creature, and... mission accomplished, that creature sure can Weird and Little. I kind of love it; it's got that vibe that makes something simultaneously cute and kind of unsettling. The linked post goes into some detail about design decisions and the real-world animals they used for inspiration. Something I think is particularly clever is how they not only incorporated the carapace from the beetle they were inspired by, but they also made the profile of the head fit with that, so that it also looks kind of beetle-like despite being obviously mammalian.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) also had Beetle Thoughts and decided to just run with them, creating an impressively-realistic-looking drawing of a beetle. (I think I'm just a sucker for black-and-white naturalist-style art, because lately I keep looking at CheapSweets's work and going "ooh, look at the stippling and everything". Plus I'm perennially impressed that they do this with a fountain pen.) There's some detailed discussion in the linked post about what specific beetles this design takes inspiration from, as well as how they envision this animal functioning in general, and that's really interesting, so I recommend checking it out. (Did you know there was a beetle known as the "diabolical ironclad beetle"? Delightful.) Additionally, they note that we should imagine bright warning colors, but they didn't have time to add them. Also, thank you CheapSweets for providing alt text.

@sweetlyfez (link to post here) also notes that this critter would have bright warning colors if she'd had time to color it. Apparently this design is inspired by poison-type Pokemon, which I can definitely see: that's a credible Pokemon design. It's all gloopy for putting out fires. I find it interesting that there's a degree of consensus on this entry being interpreted in this way -- replies on the original post expressed that That Is A Pokemon, and seemingly SweetlyFez agrees. I like the side-eye it's giving, too. (And thank you for including alt text.)

@pomrania (link to post here) was the one to label this a Pokemon in the replies, and we can see that they've run with that a bit, as this is also a credible Pokemon design. It's a little bit cat, a little bit dragon, and a little bit liquid so it can put out fire. I like that it looks so pleased with itself while causing problems.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) has decided that the Shonweak is an armadillo. This illustration shows some very nice Stylized Trees, I must say, and I particularly like the visual effect showing that the Shonweaks are poisoning the one on the left. (Coolest-Capybara also makes note of the Pokemon thing.) For an explanation of why they are armadillos, please see the linked post.

@strixcattus (link to post here) has drawn a very charming little creature. I love the puffed-up cheeks & throat sac, and the effect that has on its facial expression. If you check out the linked post for a proper description of this beast, you'll find it's quite interesting -- I particularly like the idea that it spits poison by filling its throat sac with water and then allowing its natural poison to seep into that water. I think that's pretty clever.

Now, to the Aberdeen Bestiary, where the illustrator has done a Scene that takes up most of the page:

That's a heck of a thing, right? I really like it, to be honest. We've got the cool Stylized Tree with critters wrapping around the branches, we've got the ones in the fire doing kind of a flame-like pose, and of course we have a dead guy at the bottom. The last of these just strikes me as funny for some reason.

Anyway, as I think multiple people guessed, this is the salamander.

No, the illustrator had apparently never seen one, so they've drawn snakes instead, probably because of the association with poison.

Anyway, I was surprised to learn (just now actually) that salamanders really are quite poisonous. I have no idea whether they can poison food and water in the way that the author describes -- that seems a bit extreme -- but I don't think I know enough to rule it out.

The fire thing... well, that's definitely not the case. I'm not really sure where that came from. I've heard the explanation that people in the past would occasionally see salamanders crawling out of fires, and thus form the idea that they were fireproof, unaware of the fact that the salamanders were just hiding in their firewood and are fleeing the fire as a result of being Definitely Not Fireproof. I don't know how credible that is, though.

This fire association may have been amplified by... well, look at this:

That's Salamandra salamandra, aka the fire salamander. It's pretty common and widespread in Europe, and is also among the largest salamanders on the continent, so it's reasonable to think this is the one that pre-modern Europeans would have in mind. And you know, that coloring definitely gives the impression of "this is a Fire Guy". If one were to see this salamander crawling out of a fire (worth noting that the Wikipedia article does say they like to hide under fallen wood, so maybe that idea tracks), and knew nothing about zoology, you could see how they might think "yes, that looks like something that was supposed to be in there."

“ I have the power! “

Quick 15 min doodle after playing some MWO