Ace, Aro, OR BOTH?
I have made some ace/aro pride sea monsters,,, as a treat
edit: just so you know this artwork is made by an aroallo artist who doesn't appreciate being erased
tagging it as aspec/aro/ace and nothing else is fine, but if you're gonna tag aroace, don't exclude the other intersections represented here
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do you have any favorite illustrations of map sea creatures? like the guys they would draw on old maps cause (imo) plain old water was just too boring? I’d love to see them if you do!!
What a great question! Weirdly, the one map everyone thinks of when thinking of sea creatures on maps?
These were very much NOT space-filling. This map illustrated Olaus Magnus' history and geography of Scandinavia, and every single thing on it (including the sea monsters) is directly taken from his book. So it's kind of like making a map of Middle Earth and putting in the locations of all the trolls and dragons and stuff! Everything here is intentional!
But in terms of monsters placed purely as decorative elements because the mapmakers felt like it, I think it's hard not to love this screaming head from Cosmographia Universalis et Exactissima by Giovanni Francesco Camocio (1569).
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By all accounts, Magic Mountain was a lovely place. The bases coming up around it all in various stages of progress offered glimpses as to it's final form. Cub liked hanging out in the cherry trees at the top of the mountain, watching the sunset. It was a great backdrop for his fireworks tests. High enough to be out of the way of people's bases, and with enough open sky to really show off how good they looked.
There was just one problem with Magic Mountain, though. Gem and Grian's bases were just... foggy. Damp, cold, foggy. For whatever reason, the weather around their bases was so utterly different from everywhere else, and Cub didn't really notice it until he was up on that mountain and could see the distinct changes in lighting and atmosphere that surrounded that part of the river.
it was a bit creepy, really. To be fair, Gem and Grian had been weird all season. Something about fishing and being close to the water had clearly done something to them. Which is not to say Cub had been immune either. He'd done his share of fishing while Grian was trying to get that mending book, more for moral support and company than anything else. There were worse ways to spend your time than hanging out with your friends while fishing.
One evening, he got curious. He'd seen Gem's progress at her base, seeing the crane reaching out through the fog and the bright yellow sparks from the power lines punching through the darkness. A bright red beacon beam burst through the top of the lighthous, as if it was a warning. Something...
He flew down and landed on the docks, immediately feeling the change in atmosphere. The night ceased to be clear. Thick fog rolled around him, preventing him from seeing too far. The skull across the river glowed ominously, its towering presence looming over the water. He might have shivered. Something here didn't feel right.
"I probably shouldn't be here," Cub muttered as he walked further into the base.
The huge anglerfish head that decorated the fish market seemed alive somehow, bathed in the eerie glow of the bulb at the end of the protrusion coming from the top of its head. Its teeth just seemed razor sharp. Cub didn't want to approach it. He was sure he just saw it breath, saw some kind of tongue moving in its lower jaw.
He walked slowly, moving towards the lighthouse. The two fish that circled it moved so slowly, the fog making them seem like ghosts that weren't really there. They made no sound save for the soft movement of their bodies through the air.
He turned as something large seemed to hit the water, causing a splash.
"Hello? Is someone there?" Cub called. "Gem? Is that you?"
There was no answer, and only small splashes. Perhaps fish just swarming. Maybe that was just a squid landing after flying out of the water. Maybe that's what it was. He went closer to the water's edge, trying to see if he was alone.
"What the hell-? What is that thing?" Cub murmured as he saw an unusually large dark shadow moving through the water. It was too dark to see what it was; it was only visible because of the moonlight that had barely made it through the fog to reflect on the water.
One of the power lines sparked again, causing Cub to startle. It was too loud in the dark quiet dockyards. Perhaps a sign he should get out of here.
"Maybe that was just squid ink. Maybe it got scared when it fell into the water. Maybe that's it," Cub told himself as he moved past the lighthouse, hoping to pass out of Gem's area and back into the clear night.
Perhaps something grabbed his ankle and dragged him under before he could leave. Perhaps there was nothing more than dark water and soft, gentle singing before he respawned in his bed, clammy and wet, with a jagged stab wound through his heart made by some creature he did not want to imagine.
"Man, I ain't never going there again. That place is cursed for real though," Cub said. And if even he was scared to go there, perhaps the fear was well placed. Something was wrong with Gem's base, and Cub wanted nothing to do with it.
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