Ferro @Ferrovore@mastodon.social

The Addams Family movie is sort of a gloriously timeless flick that is simultaneously EXTREMELY nineties, and the fact that they made a novelty MC Hammer song for the soundtrack is probably the most 90s thing about it.

Next stop will probably be figuring out how orcs fit into VTU because I can't in good faith just copy/paste how the Rhoanish work.

Also Rhoanish orcs have pointed ears, which are associated with different blood typings (generally faebloods, also some urgebloods or people with extraplanar juice) in VTU. So THAT'S out.

In modern society, a dwarf's brain is set up well to be a specialist, particularly if they do contract work or are otherwise working for a client. They shine at QA. They're going to have an awful time figuring out what to draw if you say "oh, do whatever you want to!" but the instant you say you want to see a fancy picture of a cat in these two colors you're going to see some Mucha-level stuff coming out of the dwarven artist's pen (assuming they know how to draw, anyway).

They're not exclusively cave-dwellers (barring cultures where that's just what everybody does, like certain deep-mining orgs), but they do have a species-wide tendency towards agoraphobia and kind of "ehhh" distance vision, so operating in enclosed spaces just feels right for the typical dwarf.

While not as prone to monomania as high elves, dwarves do prefer a LOT of structure and focus to their day-to-day lives.

Axes, alcohol, and hating elves are all entirely optional.

They're on average about as magical as any other ironblooded species, but there's a higher chance for a magic-positive dwarf to just not do anything with their ability because it doesn't really fit into any of their interests (aside from maybe manifesting some spare tess crystals for their friends).

They make, they build, they repair, and so long as they can figure out the concepts from outside sources dwarves can make some wonderful art. You want them on your QA team.

A young human needs to be stimulated to encourage their curiosity, creativity, etc. so that they can approach the world from an adaptive standpoint. Humans are dreamers, innovators, tool-users, and survivors.

A young dwarf needs to be given basic building blocks with which they can approach the world. Their brains aren't too great for innovation, but what they CAN do is improve upon what they've been given. Dwarves can work with what you give 'em and do so quite well.

When you have a typical faeblood imprint on the "real world," you get the original genetic material for one of many different flavors of elf. When you have a jotunblood do the same, you get proto-trolls, who also come in a zillion weird phenotypes. If you take the typical ironblood resilience and adaptability and have it try to adjust for otherworldly stimuli, you get dwarves.

They're compact to save energy, and their proportions generally don't map to little people.

We were reluctant to just DUMP dwarves from the setting, since they're a pretty heavy fantasy staple and some of the fun of VTU is finding new ways to work with staples. This meant I was straining to find ways for these doofuses to interact with the world in ways other species did not, since otherwise why would they exist, right?

The solution: dwarves are what happens when ironblood stock overcompensates for Jotunheim and Faerie exposure.

So it's no secret that Cid and I have a hard time giving too much of a toot about dwarves, in that if you want a shorty species there's so many other options you could go for, and it's hard to get too excited about beings whose species traits tend to be summarized as "short, often subterranean, sometimes tech-y, sometimes vaguely Scottish or Germanic," since for VTU we're pretty fussy about not giving a single personality/culture to an entire species.

But then, yesterday!

"🎵 There's Manhandla/ Bein' a dildo!/ What's it doin'?/ Just existing... 🎵

This is my 'Manhandla Is a Dildo' song."

"Yeah, well, it's correct and true."

We did it, we survived the daylight-hours necessities-and-groceries shopping trip on a weekend before a holiday! Now the toilet seat is fixed!

Doing some calm, low-stakes analog work with Devilman Crybaby in the background. I like being able to cross things off my "stuff I owe people" list, even when said people are almost entirely my spouse who has infinite patience whenever I run out of time or gas.

Every so often I think back to the one bad review on a prominent furry avatar maker's marketplace page where the author was lambasting the creator for his SICK, PERVERTED EMPHASIS ON...generally-unisex avatar models with big ol' thighs.

I don't get furry, sometimes.

(for the record: I make original stuff because I want to make original stuff, please don't suggest I write more traditional fanfic instead)

"Don't you push these issues a lot, Ferro?"

Buddy I get single-digit feedback numbers on things that take me weeks to finish, you BET I'm going to keep pushing loud and frequently.

What's up, folks? As it is after 2 PM on a Friday over here this means for some of you it's already the weekend! If original M/M fiction is your bag, why not celebrate by checking out the newest S2B2 issue right over here? Completely free, completely NSFW, and I do indeed have a story this month.

http://www.shousetsubangbang.com/mirror/frontpage/bangbang-no-73/

Presented with minimal comment. Sorry for the weird angles, these are SHINY!

Also Amaroq did the wacky-order thing again.

(he definitely has more scars than this)

I chose to practice some anatomy today in a manner appealing to my sensibilities.

I definitely need to brush up on my muscle groups in atypical poses, and you can never draw enough hands, so why not deploy Foxy Grandpa here to help out?

Clickthrough added since I definitely did not draw pants on him yet.