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I cannot BELIEVE I forgot to post anything about this on dA??? probably because what I have rn is just a bunch of sketches and no polished work but still. jfc.

Asherah is a setting I've been cooking up for a few months now. I went to pick up Keeva and Cynebald again and me n my friend ended up getting so deep into worldbuilding for Oddworld that it just kind of... outgrew that setting and spilled over into something new. It gave us a lot more freedom since we no longer had to try and tie our stuff in with preexisting lore

So! Asherah itself is a Hell Planet ravaged by war and natural disasters, and subsequently by famine, drought, disease and organisational chaos as most major countries/government bodies collapsed. It's about Earth size (give or take. I haven't decided for sure yet) that's roughly 50/50 land/water and inhabited by four primary sapient races.

Hammerharks: Huge, lanky obligate carnivores. They make up the smallest percentage of native inhabitants post-collapse. They're all bones and long legs and teeth and are always getting in (culturally regulated) fights over hierarchy and personal issues but they're also very social creatures who often form packs (formal or informal) and/or large extended family groups. They're seen as weird by the other races for a number of reasons, including their lack of a beak and the fact that they're the only species that hasn't lived in the water and/or below ground at any point.

Sascids: Squat waterbear people. They're very tolerant of extreme climates, resilient to disease, and can go without food or water longer than any other species (when they do eat, they're omnivorous), which has led to them being the most numerous species post-collapse. They can be found almost anywhere, but historically they preferred shady, humid places, so a lot of their settlements are/were partially sunk into the ground.

Otoclodes: Long and noodly, no longer having the face tentacles I drew on them in the headshot collection up there. Historically big fans of setting up shop in big tunnel networks (these drawings are already outdated...... I've made design changes for that), so they get on well with sascids. Prior to Modern Civilisation they scavenged on previously-killed carrion and stole eggs, as well as eating bugs of all kinds, but this is much less so as of the post-industrial pre-collapse era.

Pelamines: Come in two varieties: terrestrial and marine. Terrestrial pelamines are the most common in the modern day; marine pelamines are a struggling population, with a lot of them still trying to eke out their traditional lifestyles in the face of industrialisation, forced assimilation and pollution wrecking the waters they live in. A lot of them see the post-collapse era as an opportunity to regain lost ground (or water, if you will) and reestablish themselves as more robust communities now that they no longer have corporations wrecking the place or terrestrial Asheran populations trying to force them out of their waters. Pelamines as a whole are the not-too-distant evolutionary cousins of sascids, and fit in extremely well in sascid-dominant societies. Both varieties have fleshy whiskers, though a lot of terrestrial ones are more likely to have none, either due to genetics or surgical removal, and their defining feature is their ability to flare up into much brighter, high-contrast colours when experiencing strong emotions. A more subtle version of this colour-changing takes place around the whiskers; while terrestrial pelamines are less physically emotive, marine ones use said whiskers and ears along with colour changes to communicate with one another underwater. Pictured: tail experiments since they originally didn't have 'em. Only marine pelamines have long tails, which are often removed in those who assimilate into terrestrial societies

Neofae: New kids on the block. They're a space-faring race made up of what are essentially metals, plastics and rubber, but organic and functioning as you would expect any fleshy creature to be. They're largely peaceful and have been roving the galaxy (universe?) for at least a couple of centuries. Most of their skin is made up of a thick, resilient, rubbery material, aside from the "mask" that constitutes their faces, which are metallic, as are their manes (which are almost always the same colour as the mask, if you're chancing it with regular natural genetics; another thing I've changed since drawing this stuff lol). They landed a few decades after the active collapse finally stopped/stabilised, and have basically just been kickin it with the locals. Communication is tricky but they find ways. Unclear from the pictures and/or not pictured: they can pull their arms into cavities in the sides of their bodies to be more streamlined, they have tails now, and workers have a rubbery egg pouch on their backs.

UHHHHHH I think that's it... I have some more stuff on neofae reproduction but I only just finished that yesterday and I already wanna make changes lmao. This is still extremely rough around the edges and I have noooooooooooo idea yet what any individual cultures look like but here we go. This is basically my "worldbuilding for the hell of it" project rather than anything I want to use for a comic or similar so it kinda takes a back seat to a lot of other stuff but it's fun having this little sandbox where I don't have to worry about mucking up storylines

A lot of what I do is gonna be loose sketches that I just post on dA in sketchdumps sporadically so if you wanna see more of this happen in Real Time then tumblr is the place to look

Description
I cannot BELIEVE I forgot to post anything about this on dA??? probably because what I have rn is just a bunch of sketches and no polished work but still. jfc.

Asherah is a setting I've been cooking up for a few months now. I went to pick up Keeva and Cynebald again and me n my friend ended up getting so deep into worldbuilding for Oddworld that it just kind of... outgrew that setting and spilled over into something new. It gave us a lot more freedom since we no longer had to try and tie our stuff in with preexisting lore

So! Asherah itself is a Hell Planet ravaged by war and natural disasters, and subsequently by famine, drought, disease and organisational chaos as most major countries/government bodies collapsed. It's about Earth size (give or take. I haven't decided for sure yet) that's roughly 50/50 land/water and inhabited by four primary sapient races.

Hammerharks: Huge, lanky obligate carnivores. They make up the smallest percentage of native inhabitants post-collapse. They're all bones and long legs and teeth and are always getting in (culturally regulated) fights over hierarchy and personal issues but they're also very social creatures who often form packs (formal or informal) and/or large extended family groups. They're seen as weird by the other races for a number of reasons, including their lack of a beak and the fact that they're the only species that hasn't lived in the water and/or below ground at any point.

Sascids: Squat waterbear people. They're very tolerant of extreme climates, resilient to disease, and can go without food or water longer than any other species (when they do eat, they're omnivorous), which has led to them being the most numerous species post-collapse. They can be found almost anywhere, but historically they preferred shady, humid places, so a lot of their settlements are/were partially sunk into the ground.

Otoclodes: Long and noodly, no longer having the face tentacles I drew on them in the headshot collection up there. Historically big fans of setting up shop in big tunnel networks (these drawings are already outdated...... I've made design changes for that), so they get on well with sascids. Prior to Modern Civilisation they scavenged on previously-killed carrion and stole eggs, as well as eating bugs of all kinds, but this is much less so as of the post-industrial pre-collapse era.

Pelamines: Come in two varieties: terrestrial and marine. Terrestrial pelamines are the most common in the modern day; marine pelamines are a struggling population, with a lot of them still trying to eke out their traditional lifestyles in the face of industrialisation, forced assimilation and pollution wrecking the waters they live in. A lot of them see the post-collapse era as an opportunity to regain lost ground (or water, if you will) and reestablish themselves as more robust communities now that they no longer have corporations wrecking the place or terrestrial Asheran populations trying to force them out of their waters. Pelamines as a whole are the not-too-distant evolutionary cousins of sascids, and fit in extremely well in sascid-dominant societies. Both varieties have fleshy whiskers, though a lot of terrestrial ones are more likely to have none, either due to genetics or surgical removal, and their defining feature is their ability to flare up into much brighter, high-contrast colours when experiencing strong emotions. A more subtle version of this colour-changing takes place around the whiskers; while terrestrial pelamines are less physically emotive, marine ones use said whiskers and ears along with colour changes to communicate with one another underwater. Pictured: tail experiments since they originally didn't have 'em. Only marine pelamines have long tails, which are often removed in those who assimilate into terrestrial societies

Neofae: New kids on the block. They're a space-faring race made up of what are essentially metals, plastics and rubber, but organic and functioning as you would expect any fleshy creature to be. They're largely peaceful and have been roving the galaxy (universe?) for at least a couple of centuries. Most of their skin is made up of a thick, resilient, rubbery material, aside from the "mask" that constitutes their faces, which are metallic, as are their manes (which are almost always the same colour as the mask, if you're chancing it with regular natural genetics; another thing I've changed since drawing this stuff lol). They landed a few decades after the active collapse finally stopped/stabilised, and have basically just been kickin it with the locals. Communication is tricky but they find ways. Unclear from the pictures and/or not pictured: they can pull their arms into cavities in the sides of their bodies to be more streamlined, they have tails now, and workers have a rubbery egg pouch on their backs.

UHHHHHH I think that's it... I have some more stuff on neofae reproduction but I only just finished that yesterday and I already wanna make changes lmao. This is still extremely rough around the edges and I have noooooooooooo idea yet what any individual cultures look like but here we go. This is basically my "worldbuilding for the hell of it" project rather than anything I want to use for a comic or similar so it kinda takes a back seat to a lot of other stuff but it's fun having this little sandbox where I don't have to worry about mucking up storylines

A lot of what I do is gonna be loose sketches that I just post on dA in sketchdumps sporadically so if you wanna see more of this happen in Real Time then tumblr is the place to look