04/09/08 [Hybrids #10] - Kissing is hard, too, I imagine. :B

[Eibborn]

...So it looks as though Mythos truly are the Dittos of Furrae.

[Jairus]

"Chalkboard-sound" haired Fluffy is adorable. And the Insectis is pretty cute too, in a certain way. It looks like it's a little shy for some reason.

Question: Aside from the creature council, have we ever seen an Insectis in canon?

[Darkdragon]

You mean aside from what is on their demonology 101 page? I think not.

[Kaerou]

\o/ fellow bugs.

The insectis looks adorable

[techmaster-glitch]

INSECTIS INSECTIS YAY INSECTIS!


I've been waiting for this one! Another tiny shred of info for them; their speech patterns! And another Insectis physical sample!
*hoards with all other Insectis info gathered*
HIISSS. My info!

[!KCA]

Wasn't there an insectis manning a grill at the evil beach party?

[Darkdragon]

Wasn't there an insectis manning a grill at the evil beach party?

Link just to make sure?

[techmaster-glitch]

Wasn't there an insectis manning a grill at the evil beach party?

Link just to make sure?

http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_193.php
Hmm...maybe?
It seems more likely some sort of mythos. Or it might actually be a Mythos/Insectis hybrid...

[Amber Williams]

Urghawa! Old art! D:

I think that was drawn back before I had a full idea of what the Insectis were like...so I would go with Insectis/Mythos hybrid at this point.

I am happy with how the speech patterns worked out...though I apologize if they are difficult to read. I wanted to indicate that whenever they need to pronounce a sound that normally would be easily done with lips, they have to use a faux vibration inside their mouths to try to imitate the sound.  Not sure if I succeeded or failed.

[Jairus]

I am happy with how the speech patterns worked out...though I apologize if they are difficult to read. I wanted to indicate that whenever they need to pronounce a sound that normally would be easily done with lips, they have to use a faux vibration inside their mouths to try to imitate the sound.  Not sure if I succeeded or failed.

That makes sense. Very cool indeed. I didn't quite pick that up while reading it, but I could tell that they had to be doing sounds differently.

[Darkdragon]

Urghawa! Old art! D:

I think that was drawn back before I had a full idea of what the Insectis were like...so I would go with Insectis/Mythos hybrid at this point.

I am happy with how the speech patterns worked out...though I apologize if they are difficult to read. I wanted to indicate that whenever they need to pronounce a sound that normally would be easily done with lips, they have to use a faux vibration inside their mouths to try to imitate the sound.  Not sure if I succeeded or failed.

If it was just the lips that would actually only restrict sounds of /b/, /p/, and /m/ in English.

[!KCA]

If it was just the lips that would actually only restrict sounds of /b/, /p/, and /m/ in English.

Actually, it would also affect lip+teeth sounds /f/ and /v/ and, apparently, rounded semivowels such as /w/ and /r/. (Although the "r" in "hard" isn't actually rounded.)

[Aisha deCabre]

*Note to self: next time when writing with Insectis, use the speech feature to up the creepiness factor significantly.*   

Also, the way the sounds were done was pretty cool.  Judging from Fluffy's reaction I equated it very much to a chalkboard-ish noise, perhaps the mechanic squealing of broken machinery, perhaps throw in a dash of fork-against-porcelain-dinner-plate, something to that effect.  Must say something about the way Insectis hearing is built, too.

[Zedd]

Note to self..Buy earplugs for fluffy! 

[Turnsky]

Urghawa! Old art! D:

I think that was drawn back before I had a full idea of what the Insectis were like...so I would go with Insectis/Mythos hybrid at this point.

I am happy with how the speech patterns worked out...though I apologize if they are difficult to read. I wanted to indicate that whenever they need to pronounce a sound that normally would be easily done with lips, they have to use a faux vibration inside their mouths to try to imitate the sound.  Not sure if I succeeded or failed.

makes perfect sense to me, trying to mimic sounds with rasps and clicks of their mouthparts. My guess is that their native language is music to the "ears" to an Insectis (whatever passes for hearing apparatus for them, anyway)

[Darkdragon]

If it was just the lips that would actually only restrict sounds of /b/, /p/, and /m/ in English.

Actually, it would also affect lip+teeth sounds /f/ and /v/ and, apparently, rounded semivowels such as /w/ and /r/. (Although the "r" in "hard" isn't actually rounded.)

Well, I never properly studied phonetics anyways.

*Note to self: next time when writing with Insectis, use the speech feature to up the creepiness factor significantly.*   

Also, the way the sounds were done was pretty cool.  Judging from Fluffy's reaction I equated it very much to a chalkboard-ish noise, perhaps the mechanic squealing of broken machinery, perhaps throw in a dash of fork-against-porcelain-dinner-plate, something to that effect.  Must say something about the way Insectis hearing is built, too.

Judging by the way Amber wrote it, I would also assume it to be a continuous screeching noise. Or am I just over-analyzing it and it was a sample of someones handwriting gone though Photoshop?

[Amber Williams]

Judging by the way Amber wrote it, I would also assume it to be a continuous screeching noise. Or am I just over-analyzing it and it was a sample of someones handwriting gone though Photoshop?

Pretty much. The insectis language isnt so much fingernails so much a single large needle on a chalkboard moving up and down in varying fequencies...along with what probably sounds like a coffee grinder going off.  The Insectis primarily communicate by vibrating some inner chords and mandibles in a particular rythme...meaning they dont really even use their mouths half the time.

The Insectis have a double flaw in that their tongues are also not very language-friendly so most Insectis which become translators undergo a surgery to make it more elastic.  But it still gives them issues with a great deal of words and most will simply try to replicate what they think a syllable sounds like by trying to make a vibrational version.  It doesn't always quite work out.  Either way it usually takes a lot of training for an Insectis to learn the language much less make it sound moderately tolerable.  About 95% of the Insectis race doesnt even bother and wouldnt be able to speak a word of Furrae's language if their lives depended on it.

[techmaster-glitch]

Moar information!

I always imagined the Insectis language would sound like clicking and buzzing, but this is good. Of course, I'll have to come up with an excuse as to why my Insectis character I'm using for some RPs actually knows 'surfacer' language if I use him again in another RP and keep him as close to canon as possible, even though I had to flesh him out with details that almost certainly aren't...

[ChaosTiger]

I've heard the sound of cutting sheet metal...
...this is probably more like cutting sheet metal with a spork o_O

*goes back to lurking* 

[Kaerou]

I am happy with how the speech patterns worked out...though I apologize if they are difficult to read. I wanted to indicate that whenever they need to pronounce a sound that normally would be easily done with lips, they have to use a faux vibration inside their mouths to try to imitate the sound.  Not sure if I succeeded or failed.

I really liked it!  I always saw my ant-self as being kind of clicky and screechy.. I 'conned on' to the sound before I read this thread, its well done!

So yeah, you succeeded =)

I'm really happy you drew another Insectis!  Ive been wondering my 'place in the world' of DMFA for a while now ^^  Since my character is a dragon who becomes an insect fur (insectis, really) and so would likely be living amongst them.

I'm curious, are there insect-like beings?  And are there other Insectis variants? (like there are different styles of beings and Mythos etc)

[Anri]

...So it looks as though Mythos truly are the Dittos of Furrae.

Probably more that mythos covers such a wide variety of weird creatures that it's easier to find something that makes a match.

[Amber Williams]

Yeah...the thing to remember about Insectis is they live underground and do a lot of digging. So for their language, they need to "feel" it, and those antenna are good enough to be able to pick out the difference between one of them giving a warning amongst the sound of digging and grinding.  While there is a little bit of clicking in the language, its not a main feature.  The Insectis likely would find our language incredibly monotone and the idea of a whole language that is set on the same sound frequency would be considered really foreign to them.

As for insect-like beings, the answer is no. Much like the Mer, the Insectis dont have any bug anthro equivalents so you wouldnt find any bee anthros or butterfly anthros or whatnot in furrae much like you wont find any dolphin anthros in the ocean.  The closest one might find is some of the Mythos...but as Tikki pegged it, its not a case of there being one race of Mythos that can boink anything and have kids so much that there are so many types of Mythos there is usually one or two sub-classes in there that have enough compatability to go the distance.  As such, a Mythos that may crossbreed with an Insectis is likely not able to crossbreed with a Cubi.

[Akisohida]

Yay for Insectis! Though I guess that means I am not an Insectis crossbreed.   Though I did make a character based off of the Mythos 'race' for RP elsewhere. Amber has a big brain, full of scary stuff and neat stories..and scary stories and neat stuff.

[Kipiru]

Was that a male or female insectis. How do you tell anyways- by the size of the antenae?

[Mischa]

Awww... and here I wanted to talk about linguistics, and I was already beaten to the punch.  Ah well.  XD

<.<

Obviously the bilabial sounds would be out (plosive, labial, and fricative), and probably the labiodental.  Given that I'm not sure whether or not they have teeth or not, some of the dental sounds might be problematic.  Given what Amber said about their tongues, they can probably approximate retroflex sounds... but I can see why it'd be hard. 

The weird one for me is the velar 'g' ... not sure why they had trouble with that, unless it's due to the shape of the mouth cavity. 

I can see the Insectis as being able to make some of the non-pulmonic consonants, but since they wouldn't really translate it's not likely they'd show up.

To break it down more simply, at least according to my phonetic alphabet chart, the consonants the Insectis would have the most trouble with would likely be 'p', 'b', 'm', 'f', 'v', and the various 'th' consonants, as well as possibly 'r' depending on how flexible the tongue is.

More about phonetics than you ever wanted to know!  XD

And, uh... yeah.  >:F

That all aside, it's been a few years since I took phonetics and phonology at university, and so the issues the Insectis had with 'English' was a rather amusing reminder. 

[Lego3400]

Gah. I wanted to plug my ears and the sound was in my own mind! Gah. The text box with their language is uber creepy btw...

[Psaakyrn]

Was that a male or female insectis. How do you tell anyways- by the size of the antenae?

Assuming they have traditional male/female genders to begin with.

Also, he/she/it also has a fancy outfit...

[Aleolus]

Wait a minute, what was it trying to say?  I could make out most of the common stuff it said, but some of the letters being scratched out made me go "Huh? "

[Eibborn]

Now, I just wonder how long Amber spent talking to herself, trying to select the sounds that would be difficult.


...I can't be the only one who did that after reading it.

[RobbieThe1st]

Wait a minute, what was it trying to say?  I could make out most of the common stuff it said, but some of the letters being scratched out made me go "Huh? "

Look carefully - Inside each "scratched out" dark area, there is the letter, in grey/white, and fairly small. But each letter is indeed there(the G in language isn't really visible though).


-RobbieThe1st