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cienie-isengardu · 10 months

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Jaster & Tor

For me, one of the most hilarious and no less furious aspects of Jaster Mereel’s treatment in the sources is how he is hailed as the great figure in Mandalorian history that brought back honor between Mandalorian Mercs and all but like, not getting any real development for over two decades. Sure, he got here and there mini encyclopedia entries and some mention in regard to Jango Fett, but never anything truly expanding his characterization beyond the general image of “good” Mandalorian created by tie-in sources - an image I find a pretty bland one compared to retconned “The Last One Standing: The Tale of Boba Fett” (in which Jaster Mereel originated from) and Jango Fett: Open Seasons comics series.

This is hilarious, because Tor Vizsla got a personal entry in Fact Files - an article biased as hell but still acknowledging both him as character and his impact on Jango & Mandalorians - and a whole section of Bounty Hunter Code for himself and Death Watch. And though I will forever stand with Jango that the Manifesto doesn’t sound much like him (but I like the idea the Manifesto is based on Tor’s notes just edited by someone to be more reader-friendly), there is like 30 pages expanding history and his person while Jaster is once again reduced to small mention here and there. And look, it is hilarious to me that Vizsla and Death Watch is the Mandalorians that Lucas wanted to keep for The Clone Wars, throwing out of window the supposedly great Jaster Mereel and True Mandalorians without any second thought but good damn, it is so frustrating we can’t get any solid material on him even though Bounty Hunter Code was the perfect opportunity to bring him back, as it would make a perfect sense for Jango to keep Jaster’s notes if not the whole Codex.

It is also frustrating because Tor and Jaster are like the two Mandalorians officially writting down important stuff and apparently both were versed in Mandalorian history & lore and I for one would love to compare their notes to get the feeling of middle-ground and see their ideas from the proper perspective not from biased sources that clearly favores Jaster - even if in JF:OS, after making research and interrogating Jango’s allies, Dooku’s only conclusion was that for Mereel Mandalorians were “merely highly-paid soldiers”. Which is hardly the same as bringing work ethic to your group (not that it does cross out the possibility of having actual moral standards, but it does not automatically mean the same). It is frustrating, because we don’t get that often Mandalorians with literary tendencies - hell, we didn’t get any other Mandalorian like that for years because almost everything is about the oral culture which makes Tor Vizsla and Jaster Mereel’s existence even more hilarious, as the two literature nerds that at some point sit down and write their own input - Tor about history and political goals for new members of Death Watch, Jaster about work ethics for True Mandalorians. And it is even more hilarious than that, because Jango Fett presumably read both works and HE DOESN’T READ BOOKS BECAUSE HE THINKS THEY ARE WASTE OF TIME:

Boba's father didn't read much. "Books? A waste of time," he said. "Read maps, Boba. Instructions. Warnings. Important stuff." [Boba Fett Book 1: The Fight to Survive by Terry Bisson]

#star wars #jaster mereel #tor vizsla #jango fett #mandalorians #death watch #true mandalorians #LOOK FOR ME JASTER AND TOR ARE THE OLD GUARD TYPE OF MANDALORIANS #they may not agree on what it is mean to be mandalorian in modern times #they may hate each other #but both at some point decided to write a fucking book-ish type of work #solely to pass it to other members of their group to uphold standards and ideals they believe in #AND THERE IS JANGO WHO DOESN'T READ BOOKS #and he read dw manifesto as can be seen by his comments #and presumbly read jaster's work either to please his mentor or was forced to do so #WE WERE ROBBED #tor and jaster should get more spotlight in books and comics not just some biased tie-in materials #WE NEED MORE MANDO NERDS WHO WILL SIT DOWN AND WRITE THE IMPORTANT STUFF FOR US #AND TO TORMENT JANGO WITH MORE BOOKS TO READ XDDD #but seriously jaster deserves so much better and it seems my new tradition to write a rant about him once in every year or two lol #tor too deserves better #the only more frustrating thing is how jaster tag is now full of jedi and still barely about him but i guess the poor bastard is really #that unlucky lol

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thienvaldram · 5 months

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Silurian Speculative Ancestry

Edit: Updated to add Silurians from the 30th Anniversary Calendar

Prelude – Meta-Origins of Silurians

It is of note that the Silurians, upon original development, were very much intended to effectively be ‘dinosaur people’. With their reptilian appearance being indicative of the pre-Avian, pre-Jurassic Park reptilian dinosaur conception. Though with JP-style avian dinosaurs being depicted in both Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and Deep Breath among others, as well as the newer designs of the Silurians themselves, make such an origin retroactively very tenuous in Universe.

Their two names from their first couple of stories, ‘Silurians’ and ‘Eocenes’, reflect two eras of history in which they are implied to originate, though both raise massive chronological problems with regards to how their depicted, especially in later works but even in their early ones. The Silurian era (444-415 million years ago) predates the emergence of reptiles entirely (310-320 million years ago) whereas the Eocene (56-34 million years ago) postdates the Dinosaurs but also still predates humanity (300,000 years ago), the homo genus (2.8 million years ago) and Hominids (22 million years ago).

And the ‘Silurian dating controversy’ only gets worse the more Silurian stories got written over time, as various pieces of media date them anywhere between less than 1 million years ago to 65 million years ago to 1 billion years ago (Which is pre Multicellular life). This exacerbated by the idea that the Moon’s capture was the reason for the Silurian hibernation, a theory that was since superseded by the Theia impact theory in modern scientific consensus and either way would have been dated to the early Solar System.

Thus for the interest of Speculative Biology I have thrown out all specific absolute dates and specific geological events associated with the Silurians in favour of hashing together an origin that makes conceptual sense for the Silurians as a prehistoric sentient Earthbound species based on what knowledge of modern biology I happen to have, as well as what jives with the overall ideas of the DWU.

Speculative Evolution

Speciation

Template

Scientific Name – Colloquial Identifier for this writeup (DWU Name/Origin Story)

Genus

Bipeslacertia – Reptilian Kindred (Earth Reptiles)

Species

Bipeslacertia vehemenus – Primitive Ancestor (Primitive Ancestor)

Bipeslacertia volans – “Winged Kindred” (Winged Earth Reptiles)

Bipeslacertia diabolus – Sea Devils (Sea Devils)

Bipeslacertia homines – Silurians (Silurians)

Mondasian Parallel Evolution

Bipeslacertia diabolus abastrius – Sea Kings (Mondasian Sea Devils)

Bipeslacertia homines abastrius – Lizard Kings (Mondasian Silurians)

Subspecies (Winged Kindred)

Bipeslacertia volans mortuus – “Paleocenes” (Winged Species – Adolescence of Time)

Bipeslacertia volans malakhi – Wyrm Callers (Wyrm infected Paleocenes)

Bipeslacertia volans vivus – Luadans (TM: A Morphology/Reign of the Reptiles)

Bipeslacertia volans aurori – Zori (Reign of the Reptiles/Revelry of the Redacted)

Subspecies (Sea Devil)

Bipeslacertia diabolus sicutsimiae – Late Sea Devils (Comic Sea Devils)

Bipeslacertia diabolus sicuturtus – Early Sea Devils (Normal Sea Devils)

Bipeslacertia diabolus reditius – “Devolved Ones” (Inhabitants of the Nameless City – HP Lovecraft/Faction Paradox)

Subspecies (Silurian)

Bipeslacertia homines malus – Serad-dur (Serad-dur)

“Scholar” Caste

Bipeslacertia homines augurius – Fair Folk (Fair Folk- The Shadows of Avalon)

Bipeslacertia homines sapentia – “Senior” Silurians (Chibnall’s original classic style redesign – Cold Blood)

Bipeslacertia homines rostrata – “Middle” Silurians (Warriors of the Deep Silurians)

Bipeslacertia homines gravius – “Horned Kindred” (Bulky Horned Herbivorous Silurians – TM A Morphology)

Bipeslacertia homines labia – “Early” Silurians (Original Classic Who Silurians)

Bipeslacertia homines venefica – The Silurians from the 30th Anniversary Calendar

“Warrior” Caste (Alternatively “Hunter” Caste)

Bipeslacertia homines anguis – “Junior” Silurians (Silurian Hunters – Supremacy of the Cybermen)

Bipeslacertia homines sapiens – “Late” Silurians (New Who Silurians)

Notes

Bipeslacertia vehemenus is considered by the Reptilian Kindred to be an ancestor species and not part of the ‘Reptilian Kindred’ themselves, it is however considered to be in the same genus biologically.

Bipeslacertia volans mortuus was the earliest sapient subspecies to diverge from the Reptilian Kindred and the first to develop a civilisation, but was however rendered extinct by the Wyrm (Alongside the Wyrm mutated Bipeslacertia volans malakhi)

The Reptilian Kindred consider themselves to have five extant ‘Classes/Castes’

Sea Devil

Scholar

Warrior

Winged Kindred

Serad-Dur

And do not consider any greater subgroupings such as the ‘Silurian/Sea Devil two species grouping’ or the ‘Scholar/Warrior single species hypothesis’ as valid, from their perspective, the five main classes are considered the maximal groupings of Reptilian Kindred outside of the sole group that includes all of them, with the term ‘Silurian’ (Alternatively Earth Reptile or Saurian) being used to refer to all five rather than just the Scholar and Warrior castes.

The original Reptilian Kindred diverged from the ancestor of the Helodermatidae family of venomous lizards in the late Cretaceous, with the Bipeslacertia genus itself diverging from the rest of the family with the origin of its bipedal stance in the early Paleocene, just after the KT Extinction Event.

Most accounts of Reptilian Kindred-Dinosaur cohabitation are either later palimpsests (The Reptilian Kindred were a time active power during the Time Wars era, with an individual of Bipeslacertia homines sapiens appearing in the Alliance of Races alongside Rassilon) or instances of Reptilian Kindred bioengineering in the Eocene and Oligocene rather than true Jurassic-Cretaceous era native Reptilian Kindred species.

Their technological civilisation emerged in the Eocene, after the divergence between the “Scholar” and “Warrior” castes of Silurians but before full speciation.

Their full classification is

Domain: Eukaryota

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Reptilia

Order: Squamata

(Potential Clade: Toxicofera)

Suborder: Anguimorpha

Infraorder: Neoanguimorpha

Clade: Monstersauria

Family: Bipeslacertidae

Genus: Bipeslacertia

The emergence order of distinct subspecies was as follows

Cretaceous (145-65 mya)

Split of Bipeslacertidae from Helodermatidae

Paleocene (65-56 mya)

Bipeslacertia splits from the rest of the (extinct) Bipeslacertiadae genera, they are separately characterised by their bipedal stance as opposed to other lizard species.

Spilt of ancestor species from the rest of Bipeslacertia

Bipeslacertia volans splits from the rest of Bipeslacertia

The Zori split from Bipeslacertia volans before the full development of wings

Silurian-Sea Devil Split

“Paleocenes” split from Bipeslacertia volans, “Paleocene” civilisation forms (mostly) above the clouds.

“Paleocene” extinction at the hands of the Wyrm

Reptilian Kindred Civilisations first form.

Extinction of ancestor species

Eocene (56-34 mya)

Serad-Dur split from Silurians

“Early” and “Late” Sea Devils Split

Scholar-Warrior Split, emergence of Scholar Third Eye

Reptilian Kindred Civilisation reaches technological level

Fair Folk Split after Silurians are transported to Avalon

Oligocene (34-23 mya)

“Senior Silurians” split from Scholar caste

Scholar Caste splits into “Early” and “Middle” Silurians

The Inhabitants of the Nameless City split from the “Early” Sea Devils and devolve, eventually disappearing entirely under the shallow seas of north Africa.

“Junior” and “Late” Silurians split

Miocene (23-5.3 mya)

Speciation begins to slow down due to civilisation technological advancement

Reptilian Kindred civilisation enters hibernation due to disaster (Either the newest Moon or a planetoid close passage unrelated to the Moon)

Pliocene (5.3-2.6 mya)

Various apes modified and bred by the Reptilian Kindred begin to develop to fill the ecological niche left by the Reptilian Kindred’s hibernation.

Pleistocene (2.6 mya – 11,700 ya)

Evolution of Homo Sapien Sapiens (humans).

Holocene (11,700 ya – 1712)

Various sporadic reawakenings that are almost always killed off by the newly developed humans.

1500 BCE – Atlantis is destroyed, the Nameless City is forced above the ocean in Africa and the inhabitants are rendered (mostly) extinct

Anthropocene (1712 – 500,000 yf)

(22nd Century) Reptilian Kindred civilisation reawakens and is forced to cohabitate the planet with the human civilisation.

Relinquecene (500,000 yf – 2 myf)

Reptilian Kindred and humanity mostly abandon Earth for the first significant geological time (Previous abandonments had happened temporarily for much shorter timespans), whilst they would make sporadic returns, from this point onwards the Earth was allowed to evolutionarily develop without its previous intelligent species. (This is when the Haemovores evolve)

Perdicene (2 myf – 10 myf)

Earth was lost, and began being known by different names including Ravalox, Orphan 55 and Tellus. This is the point in which the Reptilian Kindred became no longer tied to Earth as a homeworld beyond as a cultural factoid (Unlike humanity who consistently returned and remained conceptually tied to it until its destruction in 10 myf and the start of the Posthuman era).

This document for the most part, only covers the Extant subspecies of Reptilian Kindred and does not account for the unknown species and subspecies that went extinct prior to the Anthropocene (nor the other extinct Bipeslacertiadae genera) with the exception of Bipeslacertia vehemenus, identified only due to Vastra’s devolution into one during ‘The Evolution Episode’ due to exposure to temporal radiation and Bipeslacertia volans mortuus, an early intelligent extinct species documented by Bernice Summerfield and Peter Summerfield.

The Mondasian Parallel Evolution species (The Lizard Kings or Bipeslacertia homines abastrius and Sea Kings or Bipeslacertia diabolus abastrius) which were documented by both the Homo Sapien contra (Mondasians) and the Mondasian Cybermen are considered to be parallel evolutionary counterparts of their Earth twins and aren’t included, it is speculated their evolutionary tree is identical to that of Earth’s.

Despite being considered distinct castes by the Reptilian Kindred, the ‘Early’ Sea Devils (The Sea Devils), the ‘Middle’ Sea Devils (Warriors of the Deep) and the ‘Late’ Sea Devils (Legend of the Sea Devils) are considered to all be local or climate variations of the same subspecies of Sea Devil, Bipeslacertia diabolus sicuturtus.

I basically ignored most direct years given in DWU sources when doing this in favour of trying to work out something that conceptually made the most sense (IMO). Since DWU sources give Silurian origin or even civilisation years as far back as 450 mya, in the Ordovician, Pre-Reptiles, which is not conducive to trying to actually do speculative biology with, and the less said about 'They predate complex life entirely' the better.

I went with Eocene - Miocene because references to the Dinosaurs can always have been post-Cretaceous genetic engineering stuff (They have the tech) but references to "apes" should be theoretically constrained to early human evolution in the Miocene and Pliocene, and the idea that the Silurians existed for the entirety of the Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene and Miocene was... kinda ridiculous IMO for this exercise.

Subspecies Visualisation

Bipeslacertia vehemenus – Primitive Ancestor (Primitive Ancestor)

Subspecies (Winged Kindred)

Bipeslacertia volans mortuus – “Paleocenes” (Winged Species – Adolescence of Time)

Bipeslacertia volans malakhi – Wyrm Callers (Wyrm infected Paleocenes)

[No visualisation]

Bipeslacertia volans vivus – Luadans (TM: A Morphology/Reign of the Reptiles)

But the wreck, first seen from the air by a migratory tribe of the flying kindred en route from the tropical swelter of the Oriental Archipelago to the temperate climes of the Austral Spur, had confirmed to the profile of no known vessel from any of the saurian kindred, and Morrahaurm had been the only specialist available. And so, with many misgivings, she had embarked.

(Winged Kindred - The Book of the Enemy)

The globe was held by a creature like a mythical devil incarnate! Its oily green, needle-fanged head hovered just above the luminous sphere, the hellish red eyes darting from side to side in search of the intruder; and where the shoulders should have been were hunched lumps that made the man think of folded wings. The body and shuffling feet were invisible; the claws appeared in silhouette on the surface of the globe that the monstrosity held before it. A little it resembled a gigantic lizard, and the fanged snout, if not the same one, was at least practically identical with the one Sanders had seen in the room of horror. Only now it had lost its super- natural and diabolical aspect, appearing still hideous but only in a reptilian, scaled way. It propelled itself on hissing, leathery wings, and its sinuous body was clad in a blue, silken robe. About its ugly brow was a jewelled diadem; its claws were alight with jewels.

(Luadans - Reign of the Reptiles)

Bipeslacertia volans aurori – Zori (Reign of the Reptiles/Revelry of the Redacted)

He was a Zori, a subspecies of the Reptilian Kindred with vestigial wings on their backs that were useless on Earth, but perfectly adapted to low- gravity environments.

Revelry of the Redacted (The Book of the Snowstorm)

Subspecies (Sea Devil)

Bipeslacertia diabolus sicutsimiae – Late Sea Devils (Comic Sea Devils)

Bipeslacertia diabolus sicuturtus – Early Sea Devils (Normal Sea Devils)

Bipeslacertia diabolus reditius – “Devolved Ones” (Inhabitants of the Nameless City – HP Lovecraft/Faction Paradox)

They were of the reptile kind, with body lines suggesting sometimes the crocodile, sometimes the seal, but more often nothing of which either the naturalist or the palaeontologist ever heard. In size they approximated a small man, and their fore-legs bore delicate and evident feet curiously like human hands and fingers. But strangest of all were their heads, which presented a contour violating all know biological principles. To nothing can such things be well compared - in one flash I thought of comparisons as varied as the cat, the bullfrog, the mythic Satyr, and the human being. Not Jove himself had had so colossal and protuberant a forehead, yet the horns and the noselessness and the alligator-like jaw placed things outside all established categories.

Subspecies (Silurian)

Bipeslacertia homines malus – Serad-dur (Serad-dur)

“Scholar” Caste

Bipeslacertia homines augurius – Fair Folk (Fair Folk- The Shadows of Avalon)

[No Specific Description]

Bipeslacertia homines sapentia – “Senior” Silurians (Chibnall’s original classic style redesign – Cold Blood)

Bipeslacertia homines rostrata – “Middle” Silurians (Warriors of the Deep Silurians)

Bipeslacertia homines gravius – “Horned Kindred” (Bulky Horned Herbivorous Silurians – A Morphology)

Her mass alone would have made Morrahaurm the most conspicuous individual on board, even without the horns and crest majestically adorning her high forehead. Among her own she was known as a beauty, a graceful dancer and no mean athlete: here she was simply a bulky, lumbering target.

(The Book of the Enemy)

Bipeslacertia homines labia – “Early” Silurians (Original Classic Who Silurians)

Bipeslacertia homines venefica – The Silurians from the 30th Anniversary Calendar

“Warrior” Caste (Alternatively “Hunter” Caste)

Bipeslacertia homines anguis – “Junior” Silurians (Silurian Hunters – Supremacy of the Cybermen)

Bipeslacertia homines sapiens – “Late” Silurians (New Who Silurians)

Notes on the Meta-history of Earth Reptiles

The natural evolution of most species on Earth was a by-product of the anchoring of the thread, when the Time Lords locked down the rational Universe and rewrote all of history to suit their new rules. In the pre anchoring Universe, humanity was created using Time Lord Looms by the Original Mammoths, a powerful, psychic and magical sapient species that rivalled the Time Lords in the pre-Universe.

Whilst we have pretty much no knowledge of the Silurians from that era, we do know that they were a Time Active power in the Alliance of Races during the Time Wars era, shortly after the anchoring. Implying some kind of time active power, which would explain their appearances in eras of Earth history predating the one in which they originally developed in the Time Lord dominated rational Universe. It is, however, also of note that the vast majority of other more recent (in Universe) accounts depict the Silurians as a mildly advanced mostly stagnant species with very little space travel capabilities most likely indicating at some point between Gallifrey’s ancient past and relative present that the Silurians time active civilisation was erased from history. It is possible they experienced some equivalent of the Ghost Point (The point in which humanity became culturally sterile and stopped meaningfully advancing as a civilisation) though more extreme as humanity was still able to traditionally, if not conceptually, advance whereas the Silurians grew complacent and stagnant for presumably millions of years.

It is of note that New Who consistently depicts the Silurians as both coexisting natively with Dinosaurs and knowing humanities Ape ancestors despite an ~60 million year gap between the two eras. There are numerous potential explanations for this including human evolution occurring over a much longer period in the DWU relative to real life, the effects of the Last Great Time War on the history of Earth, genetic engineering resurrection of Dinosaurs in the Eocene-Miocene and potentially Silurian related dates being actually in months rather than years.

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