How Did This Happen?
Urk, I apparently also forgot to send out my usual winter holiday warning--if it's bigger than an envelope, maybe hold off on sending it until January? While I was living in Philly, I had an (expensive!) box of goods stolen off my doorstep while I was at work, and neither the company that mailed it or the Post Office would take responsibility for it. The FedEx guy has always left the box on my doorstep here, but there's a new UPS guy who does the same and, lately, even some of the USPS boxes have started to simply get dropped on my doorstep :( Not cool, but whatcha gonna do?
I'm laughing as I write this next part, mostly because it is somewhat absurd. I started following skuldchan's Tumblr a while back and apparently completely forgot that I did so. In the mean time, I apparently also latched on to the Tumblrs of a few other artists, also promptly forgetting about it. A month or so ago, I went back to my dashboard on a whim and discovered all this stuff (nervously, since I was at work and some of it is quite clearly NSFW), and it has unexpectedly turned out to be an absolute education, art-wise. As embarrassingly silly as it sounds, I think all that Sherlock stuff is going to become a huge help when I eventually get around to drawing again, because I need to learn to draw guys, hands, and figure out how to draw figures such that they are interacting rather than simply being two figures on the same sheet of paper. Because it is full of (slash) fanart drawings of Sherlock and John, who have significantly different silhouettes and stances (very useful!), in a whole lot of different poses and drawing styles, most of them posed such that they are interacting with each other (to put it lightly). (No, really, I can't stop laughing, but I'm also serious!) I really do need to get back into drawing again if I ever want to actually tell a story through comic form, and completely lacking the ability to draw one gender has always been a pretty severe handicap to that goal. Here's to hoping I can fix it! (With Sherlock and John's help, apparently!) And so, I must extend a very sincere (if punctuated by snorts of laughter) thanks to skuldchan for being so very obsessed with Sherlock XD Perhaps this is what Tumblr is going to be good for for me--as an art resource looking at other peoples' well-executed drawings. It would appear that the aforementioned fandom is full of some very talented artists!
Actually, I also got inspired to add a creature to my D&D world based on this beastie by Evan Dahm that was re-posted by one of the web comic artists (Aaron Diaz from Dresden Codak) whom I follow on Tumblr, too. I didn't like it so much as-is, but something about a bitey little creature that looked like a nut seemed like a fun idea. And so the "Dahm Nut" hatched in my brain, but without the kooky mouth, googly eyes, and with the crabby legs and pincers.
Dahm Nut (also sometimes spelled "dahmnut," or called "pinch nuts" or "crab nuts")
These are little crab-like creatures that live under oaks and other nut trees which adapt their hard exterior shell to resemble the nuts that fall around the tree and eat beetles, worms/caterpillars, and other bugs that typically show up to eat the nuts (but not squirrels and birds and other large things). Dahm nuts tuck their legs and pincers under themselves to appear as a fallen nut on the ground, and over the course of several years change the shape of their shell to look more like the nuts in their surroundings through processes which are not yet fully understood. "Crab nuts" and "pinch nuts" are the most common colloquial names for the creatures, and the name "Dahm Nut" is believed to be a malformation of "Damned Nut" as a result of being pinched by one. They are extremely territorial and apparently fearless of larger animals or each other--if something begins taking the fallen nuts and gets close enough, the Dahm nut will spring forward like a tiny fencer and attack with its tiny pincers. Likewise, if another Dahm nut enters its territory (usually the leaf radius of a single tree), the resident nut will attack the newcomer and drive them out, with the exception being mating season. Many a nut is discovered because a weary traveler sat down to rest in the shade of a tree and was subsequently pinched by an angry crab nut protecting its territory.
During mating season, females will leave their trees in search of a suitable mate, mate, and then seek out a new tree under which to spawn her young. It is not common for a mated female to return to her original tree, but will generally stay put until her next available mating season. After spawning, she rears the young until they are mature and then shoos them away from her new tree to go find new trees of their own. Mating season for dahm nuts occurs in 3 year cycles, during which the female will produce 2-6 eggs if she manages to mate successfully. Dahm nuts reputedly have a dismal mating success rate, as their rarity and territorial nature makes it difficult for males and females to find each other, and their fertility is only so-so. Eggs look like very round pebbles and are, in fact, rather difficult to distinguish from a round pebble. Experts typically distinguish viable eggs from pebbles by putting them before a female dahm nut--if she attempts carry it off to a secluded place, it's the real deal.
Crab nuts are difficult to kill (even by other nuts), but reasonably easy to subdue and are sometimes kept as rare pets for children in areas where they are common (they range over all of the Northern continent and parts of Rysniel where they were introduced by the elven populations there, but are most common in areas with oak trees). They have occasionally been known to be eaten by desperate or extremely irritated squirrels, but are generally left alone by predators due to their very hard shells. A properly cared-for dahm nut will easily live 20 years, and there are tales of some that live to as old as 34.
The durability and portability of the creatures has given rise to dahm nut fighting where players pit their pets against each other in a small area the size of a barrel top or tavern serving tray with an acorn set in the center. The acorn serves to trigger their territorial instinct and the creatures will immediately rush to claim the acorn, fencing with each other until one gives up and trundles off (yes, essentially I am creating a super simple Pokemon). Fighting crab nuts are often painted with a number or symbol to distinguish them. The practice of fighting the nuts is frowned upon in elven society as cruel (elves still occasionally keep the nuts as pets, however), and the practice is looked upon as the sport of the weak by orcs and goblinoids who prefer to fight larger animals, and to the death. The game is most popular among humans, gnomes, and halflings. Given the difficulty of finding a dahm nut (even in oak stands, they are reasonably rare to find), the creatures can often be sold for a few gold, especially if selling in a city with a notable dahm fighting population (usually human cities).
Eggs regularly fetch even higher prices in elven cities. Elvish dahm nut keepers prize unusually shaped or colored dahm nuts, and are known for keeping their tiny pets in little tanks and habitats (nutteries?) with interestingly shaped nuts in a form of crab nut bonsai, taking advantage of their slow chameleon-like ability to mimic nuts they are commonly around for an extended period of time (usually around 6-7 years for an adult nut, but very young crab nuts will shift their appearance in as little as 4 years, making dahm nut eggs very highly prized in elvish society). Chestnut dahm nuts are quite popular (looking a bit like small green hedgehogs) and take a while to produce. A very popular and extremely difficult to produce variant is the crab apple crab nut, where the nut is kept in proximity with small crab apples until it grows to resemble those--the reddish color, apparently, is difficult to produce and interferes with the crab nut's recognition of the item as a "nut" to emulate. None of these exotic variants has been found to exist in the wild, as the nuts will prefer to seek out oak trees when given the chance and naturally look like acorns with the tops removed when initially hatched. Some elvish keepers prefer the smooth-shelled acorn dahm nuts, however, and will have elaborate designs painted on the backs of their pets instead of altering their shell shape.
And that's the dahm nut, in a nutshell. *ba-dum psh!* :D
I'm laughing as I write this next part, mostly because it is somewhat absurd. I started following skuldchan's Tumblr a while back and apparently completely forgot that I did so. In the mean time, I apparently also latched on to the Tumblrs of a few other artists, also promptly forgetting about it. A month or so ago, I went back to my dashboard on a whim and discovered all this stuff (nervously, since I was at work and some of it is quite clearly NSFW), and it has unexpectedly turned out to be an absolute education, art-wise. As embarrassingly silly as it sounds, I think all that Sherlock stuff is going to become a huge help when I eventually get around to drawing again, because I need to learn to draw guys, hands, and figure out how to draw figures such that they are interacting rather than simply being two figures on the same sheet of paper. Because it is full of (slash) fanart drawings of Sherlock and John, who have significantly different silhouettes and stances (very useful!), in a whole lot of different poses and drawing styles, most of them posed such that they are interacting with each other (to put it lightly). (No, really, I can't stop laughing, but I'm also serious!) I really do need to get back into drawing again if I ever want to actually tell a story through comic form, and completely lacking the ability to draw one gender has always been a pretty severe handicap to that goal. Here's to hoping I can fix it! (With Sherlock and John's help, apparently!) And so, I must extend a very sincere (if punctuated by snorts of laughter) thanks to skuldchan for being so very obsessed with Sherlock XD Perhaps this is what Tumblr is going to be good for for me--as an art resource looking at other peoples' well-executed drawings. It would appear that the aforementioned fandom is full of some very talented artists!
Actually, I also got inspired to add a creature to my D&D world based on this beastie by Evan Dahm that was re-posted by one of the web comic artists (Aaron Diaz from Dresden Codak) whom I follow on Tumblr, too. I didn't like it so much as-is, but something about a bitey little creature that looked like a nut seemed like a fun idea. And so the "Dahm Nut" hatched in my brain, but without the kooky mouth, googly eyes, and with the crabby legs and pincers.
Dahm Nut (also sometimes spelled "dahmnut," or called "pinch nuts" or "crab nuts")
These are little crab-like creatures that live under oaks and other nut trees which adapt their hard exterior shell to resemble the nuts that fall around the tree and eat beetles, worms/caterpillars, and other bugs that typically show up to eat the nuts (but not squirrels and birds and other large things). Dahm nuts tuck their legs and pincers under themselves to appear as a fallen nut on the ground, and over the course of several years change the shape of their shell to look more like the nuts in their surroundings through processes which are not yet fully understood. "Crab nuts" and "pinch nuts" are the most common colloquial names for the creatures, and the name "Dahm Nut" is believed to be a malformation of "Damned Nut" as a result of being pinched by one. They are extremely territorial and apparently fearless of larger animals or each other--if something begins taking the fallen nuts and gets close enough, the Dahm nut will spring forward like a tiny fencer and attack with its tiny pincers. Likewise, if another Dahm nut enters its territory (usually the leaf radius of a single tree), the resident nut will attack the newcomer and drive them out, with the exception being mating season. Many a nut is discovered because a weary traveler sat down to rest in the shade of a tree and was subsequently pinched by an angry crab nut protecting its territory.
During mating season, females will leave their trees in search of a suitable mate, mate, and then seek out a new tree under which to spawn her young. It is not common for a mated female to return to her original tree, but will generally stay put until her next available mating season. After spawning, she rears the young until they are mature and then shoos them away from her new tree to go find new trees of their own. Mating season for dahm nuts occurs in 3 year cycles, during which the female will produce 2-6 eggs if she manages to mate successfully. Dahm nuts reputedly have a dismal mating success rate, as their rarity and territorial nature makes it difficult for males and females to find each other, and their fertility is only so-so. Eggs look like very round pebbles and are, in fact, rather difficult to distinguish from a round pebble. Experts typically distinguish viable eggs from pebbles by putting them before a female dahm nut--if she attempts carry it off to a secluded place, it's the real deal.
Crab nuts are difficult to kill (even by other nuts), but reasonably easy to subdue and are sometimes kept as rare pets for children in areas where they are common (they range over all of the Northern continent and parts of Rysniel where they were introduced by the elven populations there, but are most common in areas with oak trees). They have occasionally been known to be eaten by desperate or extremely irritated squirrels, but are generally left alone by predators due to their very hard shells. A properly cared-for dahm nut will easily live 20 years, and there are tales of some that live to as old as 34.
The durability and portability of the creatures has given rise to dahm nut fighting where players pit their pets against each other in a small area the size of a barrel top or tavern serving tray with an acorn set in the center. The acorn serves to trigger their territorial instinct and the creatures will immediately rush to claim the acorn, fencing with each other until one gives up and trundles off (yes, essentially I am creating a super simple Pokemon). Fighting crab nuts are often painted with a number or symbol to distinguish them. The practice of fighting the nuts is frowned upon in elven society as cruel (elves still occasionally keep the nuts as pets, however), and the practice is looked upon as the sport of the weak by orcs and goblinoids who prefer to fight larger animals, and to the death. The game is most popular among humans, gnomes, and halflings. Given the difficulty of finding a dahm nut (even in oak stands, they are reasonably rare to find), the creatures can often be sold for a few gold, especially if selling in a city with a notable dahm fighting population (usually human cities).
Eggs regularly fetch even higher prices in elven cities. Elvish dahm nut keepers prize unusually shaped or colored dahm nuts, and are known for keeping their tiny pets in little tanks and habitats (nutteries?) with interestingly shaped nuts in a form of crab nut bonsai, taking advantage of their slow chameleon-like ability to mimic nuts they are commonly around for an extended period of time (usually around 6-7 years for an adult nut, but very young crab nuts will shift their appearance in as little as 4 years, making dahm nut eggs very highly prized in elvish society). Chestnut dahm nuts are quite popular (looking a bit like small green hedgehogs) and take a while to produce. A very popular and extremely difficult to produce variant is the crab apple crab nut, where the nut is kept in proximity with small crab apples until it grows to resemble those--the reddish color, apparently, is difficult to produce and interferes with the crab nut's recognition of the item as a "nut" to emulate. None of these exotic variants has been found to exist in the wild, as the nuts will prefer to seek out oak trees when given the chance and naturally look like acorns with the tops removed when initially hatched. Some elvish keepers prefer the smooth-shelled acorn dahm nuts, however, and will have elaborate designs painted on the backs of their pets instead of altering their shell shape.
And that's the dahm nut, in a nutshell. *ba-dum psh!* :D