Daemons | EURASIAN OTTER

animorphs + favored battle morphs/true forms

life is so good when you enjoy rain and snow and sunshine and starlight and wind and mornings and twilights and spring and autumn. to pay attention to weather and natural phenomena is to hack the days of the year into bringing you many gifts, predictable, perhaps, yet no less delightful

🌊 Subtle Poseidon Worship 🐬

Picking up trash at a beach, lake, or river

Collecting ocean water or making salt water (please do not drink either)

Collect seashells, shark teeth, seaglass, and ocean-related fossils/precious gems

Have a candle that reminds you of him (no altar needed)

Keep a picture of him in your wallet

Wear jewelry that reminds you of him

Wear cologne with a musky or breezy scent

Learn about local fish and underwater species

Have a stuffed animal horse or dolphin; have a stuffed animal of any water creature

Try eating seaweed or fish (be careful with shellfish; many people are allergic!!!)

Have imagery of the ocean, sea dwelling creatures, tridents, or pegasi around

Support ocean-focused organizations

Learn to go more with the flow of things; practice grounding regularly

Fall asleep/meditate to ocean sounds

Sunbathe on a beach, if able

Go swimming/diving; learn to swim/dive

Practice standing up for yourself; assert your boundaries; you have power

Make a list of your personal strengths and things you're proud of

Own a fish (please research the fish first)

Visit an aquarium

Learn how to ride a horse; volunteer at local horse stables, if able

Take care of your mental health; learn to be patient and forgiving with yourself

Learn about constellations; learn how to navigate using the stars

Take a walk under the full moon (only if it is safe to do so in your area)

Drink water; stay hydrated

Take a self-care shower/bath

Use hydrating lotion on your skin; take good care of yourself physically

Focus on the personal power and strength you have; maybe meditate on this

Practice mindfulness

Try fishing

Learn how to sail, kayak, or paddleboard

Try to learn divination of water; rivers, the ocean, lakes, ponds, etc. all work

Draw in the sand; build sand castles; create colored sand art (best in a pretty vase, imo)

Stand in water; ground yourself around bodies of water; meditate standing in or near them

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May add more to this later! This is my list of discreet ways to worship Poseidon. I hope this is helpful, and take care, y'all! 🩵

Link to Subtle Worship Master list

#NEWS Wallpapers provided by His Dark Materials official Instagram account

Predator/Carnivorous Dæmon Profiling: some of my long-winded thoughts

One of my biggest pet peeves in the dæmon community is the characterization of prey animals as being gentle/good, and predator animals being mean/bad. This is not an everybody-does-this kind of thing, by the way, but it crops up sometimes. It’s an easy trap to fall into (heck, I’ve done it before), and this isn’t an accusation towards people who personality-type this way. This is mostly to help A) newer or confused dæmons, B) start a discussion, and C) let me rant.

            I think one of the largest hurdles when dealing with characterizing predator dæmons is working through what it means for a dæmon to be carnivorous. To best do this, let’s look at why some animals evolved to eat meat rather than plant matter. In the simplest terms, meat, and especially organ meat, are incredibly nutrient-rich compared to pretty much all plant matter. Herbivores spend the vast majority of their days foraging for food, eating that food, and then repeating the process. If you’ve ever had a pet like a goat, cow, or horse, you know how long they’ll spend grazing, if you let them. While herbivores expend comparatively little effort meeting their nutritional requirements, the payoff is also relatively low; that’s why they’re forced to spend so much time eating. Consider, then, that while herbivores trend towards low risk—low reward, carnivores trend towards moderate/high risk—high reward. When examined in this way, it’s easier to see that predatory/carnivorous dæmons are people who work based on efficiency above all else. While I noted the possibility of “high risk”, what carnivorous animals really want is to put in the least amount of effort for the highest amount of payoff. This is why they frequently target the old, the young, the sick, the weak, and the slow; if a carnivorous animal can avoid putting in excess effort, they will. Also, fun fact! Most herbivorous animals can and will eat meat if it is made available to them. They might not be able to eat much of it, but they can digest at least a little bit. It’s actually quite common for herbivores to eat meat (birds, rodents, frogs, lizards, even carrion), so if you want to put some kind of moral judgment dæmon-wise on carnivores because they eat other animals, it’s going to have to extend it to herbivores, too.   

            When it comes to profiling dæmons, I understand that a certain amount of anthropomorphizing animals is required to do so accurately. However, I think sometimes people in the dæmon community take this to the extreme. I do get it—when you’re anthropomorphizing one animal, you’re obviously going to anthropomorphize them all, so the circle of life previously untethered from morality comes out a little more murder-y. Here’s the thing though: there is no such thing as sadism in the animal kingdom. The closest thing I can think of is animals that envenomate their prey and then follow them until they die so they can eat them (like Komodo dragons), but even in those cases this is, again, a case of a predator using the lowest risk action to gain the highest reward. And like, I do get it. Animals dying is sad! It’s violent, and brutal, and often extremely bloody! We all feel bad for Bambi, but that isn’t very helpful when it comes to dæmon profiling.

I frequently see predators characterized as vicious, when what they actually are is vulnerable. Predators aren’t competitive over territory and breeding rights because it’s fun, they’re competitive because if they lose their territory they will likely die. Without a safe area for them to live and hunt, they will probably starve or be killed, so when predators act aggressively towards other animals or people, they’re usually doing so out of desperation. Predators in particular have to be extremely careful about what fights they pick; as a general rule, they want to avoid conflict. Serious injuries are a death sentence to predators in a way that they aren’t even to prey animals, because predators are on a ticking clock to heal fast enough that they can hunt again, or they’ll starve to death. If a lynx were to somehow break its leg, that’s it, that animal’s life is over, so if a predator is willing to actually fight over a resource, they’re doing so because they have no other choice. The general list of what predatory animals will fight over can usually be summed up as follows: breeding rights, cubs/babies (if they have them), food, territory. These are the essentials of the animal kingdom, so to speak. To put this into perspective for why this list matters in regard to dæmons, people with predator dæmons will not be constantly aggressive, or evil, or cruel. For the most part, predator dæmons are very conflict-adverse, and will only involve themselves if said conflict directly affects them and/or something that holds an extremely high value for them.

            Now, that being said, most predators are also opportunists. A pack of wolves will go after a human like they would a deer because humans are, generally speaking, relatively easy to kill. While we may attach a moralistic perspective on that killing because as humans, we relate to said prey, these hypothetical wolves are just trying to meet their needs in the way that is the least strenuous and least likely to result in them being injured. This is a characteristic which often gets labeled selfishness—which I’m not denying that it can be—but which I think might be better labeled as individualism. I’ve seen people describing carnivorous dæmons as taking care of themselves at the expense of others, but often times what they’re referring to is an anthropomorphized approach to carnivorous behavior. I personally think this is a bit lazy and doesn’t get at the heart of what predator dæmons are like, because predator dæmons do invest in themselves above others (especially for animals that are lone hunters), but it isn’t because they kill other animals; it’s because, as I mentioned before, they’re inherently vulnerable. I’ve seen people refer to predator’s natural prey drive (such as tigers in zoos stalking patrons, or wolves overkilling livestock) as a sign that people with predatory dæmons are constantly looking to fuck someone else over, but the reality is that predatory animals (and therefore dæmons) are simply extremely aware of how vulnerable they are, and will take every occasion to meet their own needs, especially if that can happen without them needing to put themselves at risk.

            So how do we translate this into dæmonism? Mostly with a lot of generalizations and patience. Generally speaking, carnivorous/predatory dæmons are conflict-averse, efficiency-based, need/interest-focused people. Despite the aggression stereotype, most predator dæmons just want to be left alone, and will likely only engage if they feel like or someone/something extremely important to them is being threatened (this is slightly less true for animal forms that are group hunters, as they have a wider support network to fall back on and can manage more risky behavior). Predators are also efficient animals, and dæmons of the same kind will reflect that. This means that people with predator dæmons won’t usually be inclined to expend effort unless they’re actively gaining something of high value from it. This doesn’t mean that people with predator dæmons can’t be active, it just means they aren’t likely to take on a challenge without a sufficient reward waiting for them at the end. Predators dæmons are also going to be need/interested-focused, which I tend to translate into predator dæmons having a few categories of things that are actively important to them; it might be their career, their family, their hobby, whatever. These categories tend to overlap, and become the main concerns for people with predator dæmons’ happiness. Everything outside of those specific concerns don’t matter overly much to people with predator dæmons. If something doesn’t directly affect a person with a predator dæmon, they probably don’t care. This is where the selfish characterization comes in, and while it isn’t wrong, I think it lacks the awareness that the downside to this blasé attitude predator dæmons carry towards things outside their interest is that, should that person lose any of the things they consider vital to their own life, they will experience a huge amount of upheaval and distress. This is what makes them vulnerable. A lion needs to eat, you know? And if a predator dæmon can’t feed themselves (metaphorically speaking), they’ll waste away. These three traits (conflict-aversity, efficiency, need/interest-focus) all tie into one another, and present a person who will likely only take on challenges in their own life if they can either do so without significant risk to their personal comfort, or see the potential reward as worth significant possible loss. So, it’s a somewhat contradictory personality that stems from wanting the best for the lowest price.

            Just some disclaimers, since anyone who’s read this far deserves them! Not all predator dæmons are going to meet this personality type exactly. Predators higher on the food chain, and predators that hunt in groups are going to be more prone to risky behavior than lone hunters, and predators lower on the food chain, generally speaking. There are also outliers, as with any broad category (fisher cats have successfully killed lynxes, those little bastards do not fuck around). A lot of omnivores also get stuck in the carnivore/predator category, when they can, but don’t always follow the same personality type (some bears do, like black bears, but not all). So, while I hope this essay/rant helps people, I also hope that anyone who reads this understands that personality-typing dæmons is complex, so if you feel like this doesn’t apply to a form, don’t worry about it. Or, hey, reply to this and let me know. If anyone thinks I’m completely wrong, I’d also be curious about your take on predator/carnivorous dæmons. 

upon a rewatch (sorta), some other favourite little moments in no particular order:

Will having the needle for Whispers tucked behind his ear like a pencil, what an icon your fave could Never

Wolfgang echoing Riley in season 1 by putting the gun to his head, and Kala echoing Will in stopping him

All the times you actually hear characters speaking their own languages instead of English

“You’re supposed to say trick-or-treat.”

Amanita’s awed “NOM! HOT DAMN!”

Explaining to the sapiens that Riley was visiting with Mr. Hoy while she’s just staring off into space looking concerned

Bicon Riley Gunnarsdottir

BPO showing up before Rajan had a chance to learn what was going on, and in the organized chaos Kala shoving her microscope into his arms

Wolfgang lifting Felix clear off the ground in a hug

Capheus and Sun’s fist bump

Rajan’s scandalized “My wife!” after he sees Wolfgang-as-Kala shoot a couple of people

Capheus picking Felix up wedding style

Wolfgang still crying but laughing at the same time after saving Kala

The fact that there was no awkwardness at all between Wolfgang and Rajan, no sideways glances, no feeling of being shunted off to one side by the other

“You big German lug, we love you!”

Kala’s adorable “Now we try, now we try, is okay!” while “fixing” the van

including the sapiens in listening to Depeche Mode

Felix and Wolfgang holding hands during the wedding

“Nomi’s not doing anything until Nomi’s had a fuckin’ cup of coffee.”

Amanita and Nomi bursting out laughing when they are pronounced wife and wife

Meta/Document Fic: Daemons and settling

(I don’t know, guys. This thing just happened and demanded to be written. Excerpt from a college student’s sociology paper on daemon settlement.)

(Un)settled: An analysis of atypical patterns of daemon morphic fluidity

The ‘standard’ pattern of morphic fluidity in daemons is a bell curve[1], punctuated by the long tail of settled adulthood. The brief window of infant stability, transitioning to the rapid-fire shifts of childhood peaking around age ten, before slowly dropping to a stable set of preferred shapes and ending with settlement into a final adult form by the point of legal adulthood.

There is no public conception of non-traditional settlement except as a stigma, a moral failing. Non-traditional settlement is pathologized, treated as a sign of mental illness at best, moral depravity at worst. [2] This refusal to teach or consider other settlement patterns leaves many of the most vulnerable members of society out in the cold.

In this essay, I will discuss the most common alternate settlement patterns: delayed settlement, precocious settlement, two-stage settlement, long-phase polymorphic settlement, short-phase polymorphic settlement, traumatic resettlement, and traumatic unsettling.

Delayed and precocious settlement are both recognized medical conditions, akin to disorders related to puberty and development. [3] Two-stage settlement, polymorphic settlement, and trauma-based settlement patterns meanwhile fall under the umbrella of psychiatric disorders. [4]

Delayed settlement is defined medically as any daemon settlement after the age of sixteen, but is not considered ‘serious’ unless a daemon remains unsettled past the age of majority. The oldest recorded settling was Bazhenov Vyacheslav|Emiliya at 39 years old. [5]

Precocious settlement, on the opposite end of the spectrum, is daemon settlement before age thirteen.[6] Precocious settlement is most diagnosed in boys, despite studies [7] which suggest girls are three times as likely to settle precociously than boys are. The youngest recorded settlement was Faraji Shabani|Jahaira at five years old. [8]

Two-stage settlement, also known as ‘false settling’, is defined by the DSM-5 as ‘periods of involuntary quasi-settlement, where a daemon is morphically stable for a minimum of six months’.[9] The DSM-5 definition is not without controversy – proponents of neuro-morphic theory argue that ‘quasi-settlement,’ by definition, is only applicable to daemons who retain metamorphic ability. 10]

Long-phase and short-phase polymorphic settlement are marked by limited retention of metamorphic ability. Polymorphic daemons have a set range of forms – as few as two, or as many as twenty [11] have been recorded. In contrast to unsettled daemons, polymorphs often describe their shifts as involuntary or situation-based. (e.g. a polymorph is always a yorkshire terrier at home, but shifts to a husky while at work.) [12] The division between long and short phase polymorphs is largely artificial, useful more for describing the entire population than any one individual. A polymorph who shifts more than once a month is considered a short-phase, one who shifts less often is a long-phase. [13]

Traumatic resettlement and unsettlement were, until recently, treated only as symptoms of PTSD. [14] The DSM-5 reclassified them as trauma disorders in its own right, [15] which has drawn disapproval from multiple groups.[16]…

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My ocean altar💙 on my life, my mama said “jingle shells are wish shells” and I stood in the ocean and made a wish for our current house and threw the jingle shell to the sea. She needs more work and I want to get an ocean sign or something to hang above it but I love it. So blessed and thankful and in shock still.