I was trying to generate a picture of a Sea God here, but I think the figure created makes a very nice Loki (the God of Chaos and Mischief in Norse mythology.)
Worldbuilding Wednesday 3/1/23: The Best of Twittersnips (Plants)
A dragonfruit mutant (AI art)
A selection of plant-related Twittersnips from the years 2017 – 2020.
Plants
| Plants |
Butterstink Blessed Weaselwand Thimble of Thorns Toadbeard |
| Herbal Infusions |
Weeping skullcap Extraction of crushed foxpot Essence of sweethimble and pussy-pine Frogboot stamen solution that reduces a fever Brew of hairy queenspike bark and greatblossom seeds Nurestink Pollen Oil Pink Fiddlerus Velvet Leaf Mazelbush |
| Trees |
Strixon: A popular fruit-bearing tree that is widely used in drinks. It is found in the Riverwood region and is popular with beastfolk. |
Worldbuilding Wednesday 2/22/23: Return to Melniboné
I went to generate a pic of Elric on a Melnibonéan dragon by using the prompt “Albino warrior, black armor, rainbow dragon” and look what I got! But it’s so cool looking I’m going to keep it.
A more conventional Elric was generated later and you can see him to the side.
I did an earlier discussion of the Elric of Melniboné series here, and writing recently about House of the Dragon made me want to return. Martin lifted the whole dragon-riding, magic-using people trope from there, and also, perhaps, from The Dragonriders of Pern series as Martin’s dragons, like Anne McCaffrey’s, are named. Another similarity are the character names of Melniboné which, like those of the Valyrians, are unpleasantly alien, not alien like, say, the heroes of the latest Hugo winner, but alien characters from the comics of Buck Rogers and Flash Gorgon. Moorcock gave his a slight Latin touch, but on the whole, the names are alphabet soup, ranging from head-scratchers like Yyrkoon and Xionbarg to the more conventional Elric and Shaarilla. Below is a list I cobbled up from letter combinations used most frequently.
Melnibonéan Character Names
| Male
Yishleod Yisshorn Myric Zarleb Myhir Sadric Morchan Thelgan Smiir Jaggen Rackhen Dvokwar Hroan Ezghovir Vijoon Ailogon Orjic |
Female
Zareena Yyrana Elinia Cynia Myella Shayara Anaanis Yishuna Zaruna Shaia Yinzia Tvana Eesel Osika Quaahra Ariona Oophyra |
Cities a’ Walkin
AI Art
Mexican philosopher Manuel DeLanda called cities the “mineralization of humanity.” Invertebrates like snails, clams, and nautiluses generate outer coverings of calcium to act as their homes. Now humans have begun to do the same, “mineralizing again when they developed an urban exoskeleton.” What might happen if those shells developed personalities of their own and began to move?
Worldbuilding Wednesday 2/15/23: House of the Dragon (Dragons)
“I’m a horny toad? Really?”
The dragons of House of the Dragon are equivalent to B-52 bombers and almost as large, with unprecedented, literal firepower. They are what the Valyrians used to dominate the continent of Essos in ages past, building up an empire that was Roman-like in its scope. But unlike the jets, Valyrian dragons are sentient, and bonded to their owners who have the power to communicate with and control them. In that, they may be thought of as kaiju who serve certain families instead of all mankind, as in the 1970s version of the Godzilla where he went up against Hedorah, Megalon and Gigan who were mankind’s enemies.
The dragon design follows Hollywood standard for the new century, which means giant reptiles heavily influenced by the dinos of Jurassic Park, forever roaring with open mouths and armored like Texas horny toads. Which doesn’t break new ground, but serves the story well enough. The Valyrian dragons are more snaky, however, particularly when they fly — they seem to slither through the air. Like Smaug in the Hobbit trilogy, they are technically wyverns — meaning they have four limbs. The front pair are winged while the rear are for walking, which makes sense biologically as reptiles are quadrupeds not hexapeds. But unlikethe wyverns Valyrian dragons also use their wings for locomotion on the ground, shuffling along on the knuckles of their “hands” where their fingers crook and become supports for their wings. In that, they are like Azhdarchid pterosaurs, also a very cool creature.
Valyrian dragons are venerated when they die, their skulls being preserved for prosperity.
Dragons’ names mean something in Old Valyrian. This is most evident in Vermithrax, which is literal Latin meaning “like a worm” — worm being a synonym for dragon way back when in Old Medieval texts. This name was included as homage to the forgotten 1981 Disney movie Dragonslayer, which also — surprise! — included a character named Valerian. Other dragon names in House of the Dragon are hippyish, like Seasmoke and Sunfyre, which has the added flourish of a special snowflake spelling. This type, I’ve chosen to ignore. There’s also a tradition of naming dragons after people, like how Danaerys named two of her dragons after her dead husband and brother.
These names here I’ve randomgenned out of common elements of the names and don’t mean anything.
Valyrian Dragon Names
| Aegal
Aevralos Aghei Anthyrion Anulixes Ashaegal Demisanthius Draelus Gednevar Ghanumar Gharaxes Luthrax Lythgar Orthion Ranlos |
Rhunei
Rhussei Santoucar Shancar Strellax Sylmar Tennirion Tenthor Tyrannos Ursilax Urthlor Vhengal Vhilos Vhylax Vinthrax |
Since there’s a Valyrian translator available now, I thought it would be fun to name some dragons on the results. (I’m assuming that Old Valyrian keeps the -ax and -axes suffixes from Latin.)
Valyrian Dragon Names derived from Old Valyrian
|
Rovarelgos Pryjatys Melelaesi Mere Atsio Jelmazma Merbugonax Pazavorax Pungaxes Hurapeldio Qeldaria Ossyngnon Bantisovegon Anogortikun Sambar |
Big Mouth
Destroyer Red Eyes One-fang Storm The Hungry One The Loyal One Nosy Moon Snake Yellow Queen Terror Nightflyer Bloodwing Cloud |
AI Art Adventures: Rockabilly Couple
Since I started to experiment with AI generated art back in August 2022 a lot has gone down. Chief among the developments, a lawsuit filed by a group of artists who claim the Midjourney creation site, the StableDiffusion AI engine, and DeviantArt, has plagiarized their work. Meaning, the AI engine was trained on images pulled from the DeviantArt site, which is a showcase for fannish, SFF, and out-there art, without the artists’ permission, and used by Midjourney to create original art for its users. Which has opened up a whole can of worms considering that some of those users are now profiting off those works. Many copyright lawyers will be very busy in the future over this. History is being made.
And all this means, too, that AI art has since exploded into the public consciousness. I feel a little hipsterish right now, that something I’ve discovered and thought of as cool now has been taken up by everyone else, and the ethicality of it troubles me also even as I want to experiment more and see for myself what it can do and can’t do.
One of the things I’ve found is how Midjourney differs from all the other generators, even those using StableDiffusion themselves, and it’s not its access to the whole of the DeviantArt site. The images are too good, too polished, and leads me to believe something else is going behind the scenes. But I can’t put my finger on it. That it’s run off a Discord server is still fishy to me.
So I came up with a prompt inspired by a photo of two people that I know. I ran that photo through a Hugging Face site that generates a prompt from a visual input, and got something that said, basically, “Rockabilly couple, orange jumpsuit, glasses, suit, leopard skin.” Which amused me greatly as the couple in question were not Rockabilly and not wearing any orange jumpsuits; they were Native American. But there you have it.
I added gouache as the medium.
These are my favorites of the four pictures generated. They are very polished, very professional, but also kind of soulless. They remind me of illustrations on the cover of a sewing pattern to create a Rockabilly look. Very illustrative. Though the styles the differ slightly, the “look” is the same, and even the couple themselves. Any quirky weirdness has been absorbed into the illustration so it’s barely noticeable. Notice the glasses of the girl in the first pic. They have two different lenses, and it seems parts of the frame have become a ribbon tying up her hair. There is also no overt leopard print. In the first pic, we get cow-like splotches, in the second, something that looks like giraffe. And both pics are orange… very, very orange. It’s a little spooky. It’s also spooky how the engine has concealed the couple’s hands, avoiding the “hand problem” of AI art.
This picture was generated on another engine, and though it’s not as polished, I like it better as art. The couple looks real; they have personalities of a sort. It looks like a quick sketch. The girl even has her hair tied up with a scarf in Rockabilly style.
This pic shows even more personality; I added “Native American” to the mix. Again, it looks like a quick work done by a real artist, but it’s full of personality. I had to fix a few things in a paint program, like the man’s eyebrows, but overall, I like it.
I wouldn’t profit off any of these, or claim them as my own. As far as I’m concerned they are just random gifts from the internet.
I’ll be experimenting more later in these posts, and keeping up with the legal issues.
Worldbuilding Wednesday 2/8/23: House of the Dragon (People)
Daemon Targaryon channels Elric of Melnibone
Now that Game of Thrones has wrapped, House of the Dragon has become HBO’s next blockbuster fantasy series. It’s about the history of the Targaryon family who ruled over Westeros two centuries previous to the events of the former series. They are Valyrians, George R. R. Martin’s equivalent of Imperial Romans, with the addition of dragons and a healthy dollop of Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melnibone. Like that melancholy hero, Valyrians are pale and have ghostly platinum blonde hair, rumored sorcerous abilities, and a decadent culture that includes slavery and incest. They’re a lot of fun. I’m currently watching the series, and I’ll give a full review when I am done.
With a new series comes new worldbuilding, among which is High Valyrian, the language these dragon people speak. High Valyrian is a lot like Latin with touches of some unknown Slavic language, and was created by a language expert for the show. There’s even a translator for it, available here, and a list of some phrases used on the show if you want to try it yourself. Happily for me, the new language also allows for a more evenly applied, otherworldly naming convention for the Valyrian characters. First names use the ae vowel combo in heavy rotation, adding to the Latin vibe, with endings of -ion, -ys, -on and -or that make the names sound serious and foreboding. These are not playful, happy-go-lucky people; they are weighed down by their own history and shortcomings. Exotic touches come from the consonant combos of rh and vh and the consonant doubles of mm, rr, and ss. Easy to replicate.
Brōzāt syt fanfic nykeā rpg valyrians gō kesīr. (Names for fanfic or RPG Valyrian characters are below.)
Valyrian Character Names
| Male
Aergon Aesselon Baedegon Ensys Ghavnon Hemaegon Icerys Idmaen Ithilys Naessor Rhanor Telcerys Uthrys Varanthys Vhistar |
Female
Aegna Aerys Anma Brysa Daemara Erra Jaedrys Jessryn Minnyra Naema Saena Sarys Thryna Vaena Vyrna |
Worldbuilding Wednesday 1/25/23: States of Confusion (Southwestern States)
Most people think of the U.S. states of Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona as cowboy country, the Wild West. Originally, I wanted to do these three states as a post puncturing the cowboy myth, and how these rough-and-tumble men were nothing at all like those on TV and in the movies. But then I realized these three states had in common something way more interesting than cowboys and horses… top secret aircraft!
As in Area 51.
One of my favorite books on the subject is still Phil Patton’s Dreamland: Travels Inside the Secret World of Roswell and Area 51, which is part history, part travelogue, part psychological investigation. Though dated (it was written in 1999) it’s still a good introduction. That it, and Roswell — of the notorious saucer crash and alien corpses — are located in this dry, scenic, magical part of the country only adds to their allure.
The magic of AI lets us imagine how famous artists, past and present, would have depicted this forbidden military base.
From top to bottom, left to right: John Waterhouse, Toulouse-Lautrec, Sir Laurance Alma-Tadema, Cindy Sherman, Georgia O’Keeffe, H. R. Geiger. Neat, huh?
Alternate art means alternate history, and in some other multiverse, the names might be…
Alternate Names for the Southwest States
| Nevada
Naihana Eubravo Nevaedon Nachita Novadon Neversir Nevudas Ruvada |
Arizona
Agrocosta Urizona Arzyona Erzamu Estebana Adisho Hacona Arithbara |
New Mexico
West Texama Nuevo Lexado Los Centagos Nos Peixiu New Peztli New Jalisco New Calixico Greater Mixalo |
Rainbowman
Among the more bizarre Japanese tokusatsu hero shows of the 1970s was Warrior of Love: Rainbowman. This sounds contemporary, but the show had nothing to do with LGBTQ people or rights, as it debuted in 1972.
Due to the special training he received in India from the yogi Devadatta, young hero Takeshi Yamato was able to split himself into seven different beings, each with its own special powers and abilities. Oddly, these did not conform to the colors of the rainbow (red-orange-yellow-green-blue-purple-indigo) but to Light and Dark and the Five Chinese Elements of fire, water, earth, metal, and wood. Rainbowman’s mission was to fight against the enemies of Japan who were taking revenge for the atrocities Japan committed during WWII. That right there is why this tokusatsu never made it to America.
Worldbuilding Wednesday 1/18/23: Tokusatsu Shows of the 1970s
Symbol of Justice Condorman, a tokusatsu show from 1975. This hero was inspired by the sad news at the time that the California condor species was going extinct. The bird’s population has since increased and stabilized, but Condorman is long gone.
Tokusatsu is a form of media native to Japan. At its most basic, it means any kind of Japanese SFF, horror or war drama that relies heavily upon special effects. But since the 1960s popular usage has defined it as any action-packed TV show or movie with colorfully costumed superhero characters who have their own set of unique visual and cultural tropes.
The great-grandfather of the genre is 1954’s atom bomb cautionary tale Godzilla (Gojira in Japanese) which featured Eiji Tsuburaya’s use of rubber suits and miniature sets. Tsuburaya went on to produce Ultraman a decade later, further cementing his reputation as a tokusatsu pioneer. Though there were other monsters and aliens duking it out on Japanese TV both before and after Ultraman’s 1966 debut, none have had his staying power, which has lasted 55+ years. (Which makes him eligible for a senior discount I suppose.)
The vintage magazine cover above features a prime selection of the alien, offputting beings spawned in Ultraman’s wake. Known as Kyodai Heroes in Japan, each had its own unique series premise and storyline, but all did the same thing: growing to huge size and battling giant monsters. Some of them were truly whacky, such as Lion-Maru, an anthropomorphic white lion who rode a flying horse, and Spectreman, who battled Dr. Gori, an intelligent alien gorilla being in a pink Nehru suit. Japanese creators took inspiration anywhere they could get it and I suppose Planet of the Apes was but one element in the mix. They were and continue to be a lot of fun.
Another subgenre of tokusatsu was created when Kamen Rider debuted in 1971: a human superhero who dressed just as oddly as the Kyodai Heroes above, but stayed normal size and indulged in Batman/spy movie shenanigans against evil organizations out to conquer the world. Like Ultraman, Kamen Rider proved it had legs and is still around today.
The team are all carefully numbered and dressed alike but in different colors and helmet designs, a trope carried forward for decades.
But both were eclipsed in the later 1970s when Himitsu Sentai Gorenger debuted, the first of the Super Sentai shows. This third subgenre had a team of human heroes who derived their powers from some mystical or technological McGuffin. They dressed in a color-coordinated way around a certain theme (elements, jungle animals, prehistoric creatures, etc.), used advanced technology, had special attack modes which they shouted out before striking (“Super lotus energizer side kick!”) and protected the earth from some alien or supernatural foe. Several of these shows were later imported to the U.S., excised of all but the costumed fight scenes, and received new storylines with American actors. Yes, this was the genesis of The Power Rangers. The popularity of the American version of the show has since waned, but in Japan, new teams continue to debut year after year, most often with five young people.It is traditional for the two token females of the group to receive pink or yellow as their team color.
If you need an imaginary tokusatsu show of your own, here’s a randomgenned list.
Tokusatsu Shows of the 1970s
| King Nexus
Joe Raider Brave Miss Mighty Five Man Girl Sluggers Honey Samurai Hyperjack Mega Mandala Decade Busters Sabre Fox Xeno Rangers |
Ambassador Stranger
Fighter Fighter 979 Baron Raiden Maskless Human 7 Dynazon Man Argent Eye Lady Grid 42 Space Devil Girl Prince Luger Sergeant Spectre Mirrormirage |