I love it!!

WAS ANYONE GOING TO TELL ME THAT FISH ARE VOCAL!?

@bunjywunjy WHAT THE FUCK, PLEASE EXPLAIN

LOTS of fish make noise of some sort, usually by using their swim bladders as a kind of drum! they use noise for the same reasons birds do: to stay in touch with each other, warn of predators in the area, attract a mate, or just to yell HEY GUYS ITS DAY NOW

fish noises aren’t nearly as pretty as birdsong though, it’s mostly grunts, clicks, pops, and squeaks. but it’s still REALLY FUCKIN COOL, plus can birds sing underwater? no. no they can’t. git gud, birds.

Sea Shanties 101: Let's explore

TYPES OF SHANTIES

If you've any experience in sea shanties, you've probably noticed they don't all sound the same. Some are slow, some are fast, and some are just downright sad! Well there's method behind the melody, and I'm here to tell you all about it!

A shanty frequently contains a CALL, which is what the shantyman would sing out, essentially the verses of the song, and the RESPONSE, which is what the men would sing back. For example in Haul Away Joe: the call is "Louis was the king of France before the revolution," and the response is "heave away, haul away Joe."

One of the first things to keep in mind is that shanties were used most frequently during tasks that required most of the crew. I'm now going to separate these types of work shanties into categories:

CAPSTAN SHANTIES: these shanties were used for repetitive work that was sustained, such as raising the ship's anchor at the capstan. Examples? Randy Dandy-Oh, Drunken Sailor, Eliza Lee, Barrett's Privateers (though this was written long after the age of sail!)

HALYARD SHANTIES: sung during tasks that took a very long time and required a break for a breath before the men started up again, such as hoisting a sail. Examples? Blow the Man Down, Leave Her Johnny, Hanging Johnny (Johnny really took the piss huh)

PUMPING SHANTIES: let's hope you didnt have to do a lot of pumping! Wooden ships were prone to leaking and so pumping out the water was necessary but tiresome work below decks. Examples? Santiana, Pump Shanty (surprise there)

SHORT-HAUL SHANTIES: for quick work, like shortening sails! Examples? Haul Away Joe, Paddy Doyle's Boots, Haul on the Bowline

There's some of our task shanties! Now why don't we go below and see what our off-duty men are getting up to?

Why, they're singing FO'C'SLE SHANTIES! These shanties are stories of life at sea, the work they'd done, the places they'd been, they can tell you a lot about a sailor's life. Examples? Rolling Down to Old Maui, Ben Backstay, All for me Grog

Fun! How about those far away in the polar seas hunting whales? Well I'm glad you asked because this is where we encounter WHALING SHANTIES! And yes, you guessed it, this is where Wellerman comes in! Other examples include Bonnie Ship the Diamond, The Greenland Whaler Fisheries

Now of course the most important rule of sea shanties is to have fun with your buds! Be sure to tell everyone you know about your newly-acquired shanty knowledge!

morally grey/evil scientist characters are always like biochemical engineers or nuclear physicists or whatever but the people want VARIETY give me a story about a fucked up geologist for once

one of my favorite parts of writing is packing the text with foreshadowing and dark in-jokes that will only make sense on a much later reread

if I get one person to go OH SHIT OH FUCK WAIT in horrified realization then it’s all been worth it

Chubby Inuit mermaids with sleek seal tails

Sleek Japanese mermaids with orange and white koi bodies

Dark, scaly mermaids with enormous white eyes so that they can hunt at the bottom of the sea

Small mermaids with spiky, poisonous lionfish bodies

Mermaids with sharp teeth and shark tails that hunt sailors for fun

Mermaids that aren’t just skinny blonde pretty girls with fish tails

HOLLOW DIVINITY | writeblr a-z challenge

→ melora | member of clan strai, mermaid

“If you lay a hand on her,” Melora grabbed Clarice’s wrist and growled. “I will rip your arms off and toss you in the bay, understand?”

“You always did have a flair for the dramatic,” Clarice looked over to Laini and smiled. “Maybe your friend wants to play?”

The snap of Clarice’s bone was almost as loud as her howling.

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YES MERMAID

oohhhh she’s a cold one. I like her.

Ironheart: Human Colonisation (Part II)

Author’s Note: Location indexes are formatted shelf:row:number, and denote the location of a book or voice record within the True Library. Descriptions are provided in the case that the item has moved, either by being misplaced or of its own accord. The author cannot be held accountable for volumes that may decide to change their appearance.

Marleni goes on to describe the gradual increase in the number of humans in Fae, and the effects of the shift in population. She documents the appearance of Fae Hunters, humans who killed Fae standing in the way of the colonies, becoming symbols of new world dominated by humanity. But humans were not the only new species to appear in Fae. A vast array of species followed, taking advantage of new space, food sources, and prey.

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