the iridescent “scales” on their backs and faces are actually articulated scutes, which can be raised to release magical gasses that ignite as part of their hunting form. Kirins utilize fire in hunting and agriculture/forest management, and love both their meat and vegetables cooked. Requested via ko-fi!
just a quick question, with Starlight's horn which is separated into two points... did that mutation benefit her magic? and how?
i love your world building it's so fascinating !!<3
it does benefit her magic! Here’s a diagram of how unicorn horns work. Each horn is two single-tine antlers spiraled around each other, and the shape channels the magic of the user around and around in tighter and tighter coils, which concentrates it at the tip and allows them to cast spells.
Tempest Shadow’s horn is a chaotic, twisting mess, which means that the magic spills out the broken tips and corners before she can direct it into a real spell. Loose, potent magic without a spell to act on can be very volatile.
Starlight Glimmer, on the other hand, was both lucky enough to have a mutation she could work with, and skilled enough to figure out how to channel her magic into her strange horn in a way that enhanced its potency rather than having it fire off uncontrolled.
Instead of reaching the tip and exiting the horn, she sends her magic through the air between her horn tips into a powerful loop of swirling, concentrating magic. While most unicorns’ power grows with how many twists their horn has, Starlight’s grows with how long she lets it sit in the holding pattern before unleashing a spell.
This means that the only limit to how much power she can wield is based not on her horn loops, but on how much she is able to swirl at the tip of her horn before losing control. And since she is always working to perfect her technique, her power is unparalleled by all but the most ancient unicorns.
As a foal, her home village wrote her off as barely even a unicorn, because she hadn’t figured out how to control the magic of her “defective” horn. But she’ll show them. She will show them all.
Changelings! Six legged insectoid beasts grown to the size of ponies, their target mimic species. Rather than evolving perfect physical mimicry, changeling imitation is a two-pronged process. In addition to a color-shifting carapace, magic distorts and twists the silhouette to match the mimicked subject. The spell is weaved with a rapid beating of the the wings, which creates a delicate network of invisible magic threads that tie the changeling’s physical form to the projected mirage to make it move. After casting the spell, the changeling needs to recast it periodically, so if you doubt your friend’s identity, listen for the buzzing of wings.
It takes a lot of concentration to keep the illusion in place, and changelings are naturally much taller than ponies when standing at their full height. Inexperienced or agitated changelings may forget to crouch, which breaks the illusion in a terrifying way. Because the features of the mirage are bound to the underlying insect body, moving wrong will distort the perceived form before it reveals what lies beneath.
The reason changeling bodies are so much longer than their target species is to allow a changeling to mimic creatures many times their size, provided they have the wingspan to reach the entire length of the target individual. A full wingspan is the sign of a healthy changeling, one that has enough magic to cast their illusions without much effort. Without sufficient magic, a changeling must constantly refresh their spell, and the ceaseless beating tears their delicate wings to shreds.
There is one changeling with enough magic to spare: The Queen. Drones store magic in their tails and bring it back to feed her. The queen of years past has been bleeding them dry and soaking up all their magic, leaving what should be a healthy reservoir in their tails as a withered pocket. This new style of ruling could possibly have started as a response to the ascension of the Goddess of Love, and the resulting magicification of feelings of romantic and platonic love.
For millennia, changelings evolved to feed on emotions directed at them (or rather the being they mimic) and convert it into magic. Positive emotions were the most stable, but any emotion worked. But when Love started to feel an entire meal, and gave the drones strength to subsist on their own, their queen demanded every drop of intoxicating love for herself, leaving them in a constant state of starvation and desperation.
Just a little love can go a long way. Changelings are forbidden from changing their colors or illusions to express themselves, as they must be seen as “mindless drones” and part of a single hive mind, despite their potential for individuality. Instead, they remain black unless imitating a pony or other creature. Each section of a changeling’s carapace has a clear top layer with liquid suspended above the actual armor layer beneath. Microscopic grooves display different colors and shades based on how much of the liquid fills them, and how much pressure it’s under. With the base colors set, wings spin the illusion of form to completely disguise the changeling beneath.
But what if they didn’t have to save all their energy for disguises? What if there was enough love to go around?
The Changeling Revolution is an ongoing battle, but it has a hopeful, vibrant spark. Led by a mild-mannered former “drone,” a growing faction are discovering peace, safety, and individuality by feeding off love directed not at illusions they cast, but to the people they truly are. It’s a scary, vulnerable first step to allow others to see your true nature, but the rewards of loving and being loved are worth it.
Revolutionaries are not “reformed” so much as healed by embracing individual love. It turns out when each changeling allows themself to have their own color, preferences, and name, then the love felt from one changeling to another can be converted into magic, and a hive can become a thriving ecosystem within itself.
Nymphs, once destined for a viscous cycle of deception and starvation, are now able to bask in love given to them by hivemates, and they grow up stronger and kinder than any generation before. Though they can only shift into pastel colors until their carapace fully hardens and darkens, they still express by choosing their own look, name, and destiny.
The healing of the changeling population is as varied as their prismatic colors, and as beautiful as their glittering wings.
Normal horses naturally come in a variety of earth tones, with a single hoof on each foot, and bodies covered with fur and mane and tail made of long hair.
Physical characteristics such as cloven hooves, horns, wings, feathers in place of hair, lion tails, and such are locked to their respective species. A unicorn cannot be born with wings, nor an earth pony born with feathery mane.
Color, however, has been spread from ancestral pegasus hybridization to every species of horse in the world. Bright hues pass down from parent to child as easily as long legs or curly mane. Behind the scenes, genes to conceive a foal that is a member of another species are carried through many ponies’ lineage; you can never tell when they will manifest.
The one constant is that a foal will be born as either an earth pony, unicorn, or pegasus. Something with multiple traits would be… a different creature entirely.
Dragons are one of the most variable creatures in the world. Individuals are shaped not by genetics, but by their environment and what they want out of life.
Baby dragons can remain in their young form for decades, if the environment isn’t right for them to mature. Intense competition, lack of resources, or uncertain emotional development are all reasons for a baby dragon to delay their adult molt.
Once circumstances are right, an intense period of growth begins, and a dragon can multiply its size and sprout new features such as wings in just a few short years.
Pubescent dragons need a huge amount of food (including gem minerals) to sustain their growth. In the dragon lands, this can lead to competition, toughening up a young dragon to face a world of challenges.
Not everything is about fighting tooth and nail. Dragons raised in more cooperative societies are often softer, with less need to develop armor and weaponry. However, if their society faces constant threats, even the softest, kindest dragons will bulk up into formidable creatures in order to defend the ones they love. These individuals are difficult to provoke, easy to make peace with, but impossible to beat once you’ve threatened their family.
ko-fi commission of a very special pony. They asked for a pigeon, and I thought tumbling pigeon would suit her quite well. These breeds are prized for their aerobatics and backflips when flying and taking off.
The much anticipated Mola Molaid has been spotted basking at the surface!
While mermaids arose from fish and are not even remotely related to mammals, their spines oscillate in an up-and down motion, rather than side to side like mundane fish and sharks. As such, they are dorsally compressed, and swim by moving their tail vertically, pushing water downward to propel forward. This anatomy allows most mermaids to tread water with their torsos above the surface.
Mola Mola mermaids, however, are barely built for swimming. Their humanoid half is flexible enough, but their multi-ton tail is built for drifting stealthily up to jellyfish with minimal movement.
If you’ve never eaten jellyfish or other cnidarians, you’ll want to find a sunfish chef to introduce you. Mermaids have been cooking flora and fauna of the sea for thousands of years. They have access to spices and side dishes we can’t even begin to pronounce.
Though trade has been booming between humans and coastal mermaids, pelagic and deep sea people still have much they keep to themselves.
While they cannot tell you the ingredients of By-the-wind crepes, privileged sailors can order them from restaurants that float just below the surface. These venues drift about, soaking up the sun just like the cooks and patrons who run the place.
If you can protect yourself from their stings, visiting a jellyfish farm can be an incredible experience. Just make sure you stay with your guide. The ocean isn’t kind to trespassers.