#basalt draws

[chrisrin]

AWWWW SHIIIT is that HOMESTUCK GEM FUSION DESIGNS??? 

#homestuck #steven universe #gemstuck #davesolkat #davekat #solkat #davesol #i'm absolutely bonkers about these guys #still tweaking designs and i also have no idea what the fuck their fused gem names are #i just draw here idk SHIT abt geology #i call the davekat one red basalt tho #i just like the name <33 #chris doodles #please feel free to ask me about these fucks if u want #also these arent to actual scale #i think the DSK fusion would be the size of alexandrite #idk abt the others im still thinking

[thegrimreepurr]

anyway i have a silly guy i wish to share i don't think i've talked about him much at all to anyone except for my friends but i love him and i figured i should bring him into the world because i am normal about him so. his name is basalt he's a version of murder,, and so like.

basically, in my main 'au' of sorts, murder is besties with reaper [my reaper is nicknamed thanatos so yeah :3] because after he actually managed to beat the player [the player gave up 💀💀], he was just kinda. left alone in dusttale until thanatos showed up to reap the dead of dusttale :3 now usually, normal Guys™ can't see him but sometimes, rarely, those with high LV can and murder just so happens to have very high LV so he can see thanatos he sees him just like walking around and he's kinda like 'huh. that's sus,,,' bc he killed everyone and WHY is there a dude first he just brushes it off as a hallucination because he is VERY aware that he's insane and schizophrenic but then he keeps seeing him just about everywhere so one day he decides to check it out and he goes up to thanatos and is just like 'yo. dude. who tf are you' and then thanatos is obviously surprised that he's been noticed so he's just kinda like 'oh yea so uhhh,,, im the grim reaper or something,,,' and murder's like 'wha- so like. why are u here' and thanatos is just like 'doign my job' anywya blah blah blah they talk for a while and then thanatos leaves but then he comes back occasionally and every time, murder finds him and has a conversation with them and soon enough thanatos starts coming back even after he's finished his work and he becomes besties with murder :D but also like. thanatos doesnt go back to his au anymore cuz he's been coded out of it since he's away from it so often, but thats a story for another day anyway, they soon become like therapists for each other thanatos tells murder about interwsting things that happen while on the job and also about his relationship struggles [thanatos has SO much angst and i absolutely love him for it] and murder tells thanatos about how fucked up he is also there's an alternate timeline in which murder eventually gets cursed alastor cat as a pet but that is not in this timeline [don't ask, it was a silly thought my friend and i had bc my headcanon murder had a cat named alastor {THAT WAS BEFORE I WAS EVER IN THE HH FANDOM BTW} ] and so yeah they're therapist besties but then uh. thanatos dies [i havent figured out how yet, i will eventually]

and that's when basalt exists! so basically uh. murder was just kinda handed thanatos's powers and job and thanatos TOLD him this would happen if he ever were to die, since he basically has to choose an heir to hand his power to [and he has a shit ton of kids, but all of his kids hate him so he didn't want to put that on them] which this is how basalt finds out about thanatos's death and he's just kinda shocked because how the fuck does the grim reaper die buuut he eventually uh. just accepts it and becomes rhe grim reaper he has no friends until further notice im gonna draw him but i made him in gacha [yes i am a gacha kid, cry about it] anyway

his design is under the cut

he is a skele btw i just can't make skeles in gacha also im going to change his design bc i made it too colourful [it's a habit :,)] and too complicated in a weird way that i cant draw his outfit makes like zero sense even to me

#dustin says stuff #basalt!murder #dustin's blorbos #long post #he's so silly and i love him but i have beef with his design #i can never get him to look how i want him to #murder sans #reaper sans #reaper!murder #dust sans #reaper!dust #dusttale #reapertale #im gonna draw him soon tho i swear #hopefully pinterest can save me

[bobateaboo]

Advanced hide and seek where if you get found the seekers get to wear your skin as a hat

Reblogs > likes

#my art #my ocs #monster sona #basalt #Boba draws

[kajenus]

Revising old STALKER OCs :o) Swallow, Basalt, Star and Emperor.

#s.t.a.l.k.e.r. oc #s.t.a.l.k.e.r. #s.t.a.l.k.e.r shadow of chernobyl #stalker #stalker shadow of chernobyl #swallow #basalt #star #emperor #oc #original character #own character #oc artwork #my oc #oc art #art #drawing #digital #portrait #digital portrait #digital drawing #own art #fan art #mine #my art #artist on tumblr

[object44object]

here. take these

#blackholes.art #osc art #object ocs #I swear I’m still working on the canvas I jsut needed to draw these. I’ll finish up the rest and get to working on it again #also basalts name is staying because It’s funny to me. ignore the temp name thing

[vulpixelates]

god i desperately need to level up my art skills so i can draw horny pretty art of zaerellia being giant lesbians

#*dykeposting #they would be soooooooo pretty curled up in bed together 😭 #and za/riel would be so interesting to draw/color #our homebrew version of her has her like. this burnished bronze color with splotches almost like she's been tarnished after being cursed #and she has a bunch of basalt features as well so it would be interesting to figure out that texture for her tail/parts of her wings #also she has HAIR. shocking i know. but it's curly and short and i imagine it would be so fun to draw #i can picture her stupidly perfect face so clearly in my head... even moreso than caerellia's tbh #tho caerellia is also v fun to draw #THE ONLY PROBLEM. IS THE HORNS. #WHY DO ALMOST ALL OF CAERELLIA'S FUTURE WIVES HAVE HORNS. #THEY'RE SO HARD TO GET THE PERSPECTIVE RIGHT ON FROM DIFFERENT ANGLES😩

[chaotic-minds-think-alike]

Finally finishing all these guys we’ve got charts and headcanons! (Long post)

(Height)

(Wingspan)

(Body length & basic shapes I used) (it might be odd but ignore any detail on the back, the shapes are for general body shape)

Headcanons:

Seawings: - Colors range from red and purple to yellow - Aquatic is based off areas of bioluminescence rather than singular scales (because no one wants to draw all of those) - Although they average small compared to the other tribes, gigantism is more common - Wing bioluminescence gene is always present but for some doesn't show, thus aquatic doesn't utilize the wings

Rainwings: - Can change the texture of their scales alongside color - Weakest bite due to their fangs, probably why they're vegetarian - Mimic interesting behaviors - Have forked tongues

Mudwings: - Colors range from olive green to purple-ish red - Very resilient - Able to breathe fire regardless of body temperature, the heat of the flame depends on body temp - Their horns constantly grow and sometimes have to be cut due to dangerous growing patterns - Love gnawing on things, tough foods like jerky is popular - The horn covers of fallen siblings are harvested and turned into instruments to remember them by

Leafwings: - Colors range from gold to teal (and pink to olive green during cold seasons) - Can appear to have false eyes - Bug-like just like the other Pantalan residents (because they're just some weird outlier like what is going on here) - Leafspeak doesn't actually allow them to hear voices from plants but rather increase the sensitivity of their antennae which pick up on the changes in plants - In colder seasons, regions that have deciduous trees influence leafwings in that their scales change into warm tones similar to fallen leaves for camouflage but this also negatively impacts one's leafspeak ability; this doesn't apply to evergreen leafwings however

Hivewings: - Colors range from hot pink to olive green - Can appear to have false eyes - Have elbowed antennae just like their "cousins", Hymenoptera (wasps, bees, ants) - Tend to disregard personal space/get close out of habit, being close means better temp regulation and better communication - All hivewings have stingers, wrist stingers, and a venomous bite but it largely depends on preference of which they choose and like muscles, they can be exercised to become deadly weapons - They're not capable of "emitting a horrible stench"

Icewings: - Colors range from white to pale indigo - Melanism is still very rare but more likely in icewings - Can be iridescent in any color, especially visible in lighter scaled individuals - The scales on their face is very fine and is flushed with blood which darkens the area and allows them to see in the snow by absorbing light, otherwise the glare from the sun reflecting off would be a hinderance - Their wings are thin and thus have visible veins most of the time - Idk how to describe their scales other than its kinda like basalt formations - From the side they appear large but are actually thin and flexible - They can freeze to death if they've gone without cold for a long time and then reintroduced too quickly - In hybridization, they have dominant genes, partially because the animus gene - The extra mane of horns can appear randomly on the body in singular spikes, they also make a clink sound when they collide as if they're made of ice, making a pretty scary rattle when disturbed

Nightwings: - Colors range from orange to purple - Albinism is still very rare but more likely in nightwings - Dwarfism is more common - Teardrop scales are always present, highlighted when the dragon has powers regardless of type - Pitbull ready to bite kids - They CAN hang upside down as the books suggest but not for long - By taking dust baths, they dull their scales to reflect less light and blend in better in the dark - Have white fire but cant breathe for long due to how hot it is (this is mainly to add onto the mysterious factor of em and I always liked the idea) - Due to eye sensitivity, they hate sudden bright lights and will close their eyes as they breathe fire

Silkwings: - Can have black or dark accents but never as a whole body color unless they've hybridized - Wing shapes vary widely - Can appear to have false eyes - Flamesilk is rarer than one might think - Very flexible and have strong tails used as a sort of 5th limb in climbing - Albino or melanistic dragons still keep their iridescence - Silk is emitted through a spinneret on the chin rather than the wrists - Prefer to travel in pairs (instinct)

Sandwings: - Colors range from red to olive green - Dark patters often mimic a snake's - Horse-like in complexion - Alongside their snake-like appearance, they have pit organs - Tend to move like birds - Poor eyesight but good hearing - Their horns angle upwards sort of like a bull

Skywings: - Colors range from red to yellow (and green because skywings are meant to be your typical fire breathing dragon which is most often depicted to be red but can also be green) - Tend to move like birds - Weaker than they appear - Green skywings are incapable of being or having flamescales - Their horns constantly grow and have to be filed down - A flamescale cant melt rock or metal by touch alone, only via fire is it possible - It's not that they don't want flamescales that they kill them, it's more of a mercy killing because of how lonely their life can be

#myart #wings of fire #wof #wings of fire seawing #wings of fire mudwing #wings of fire skywing #wings of fire nightwing #wings of fire icewing #wings of fire silkwing #wings of fire sandwing #wings of fire hivewing #wings of fire rainwing #wings of fire leafwing #dragon #wof seawing #wof mudwing #wof skywing #wof nightwing #wof icewing #wof silkwing #wof sandwing #wof hivewing #wof leafwing #wof rainwing

[redteeth-fr]

[Image ID: A black and white ink drawing of an anthropomorphic snapper dragon. Her name is Basalt. She is fat and has an open mouth smile while looking off page. One of her hands is resting on her hip. In her other hand is a cane with a black handle. She wears a chunky rock necklace. /.End ID]

Actually drew this before the last two I posted. I wanted to redraw this on from what it was as I was unhappy with it. Not exactly happy with this one either, but I like it better than the other. I tried a different style, not sure how much I like it.

#redteethchatter #flight rising #fr snapper #fr fanart #black and white art #ink art #ink drawing #dragon #artists on tumblr #traditional art

[ithinkthiswasabadidea]

*comes out of three hour drawing haze covered in blood*

T O O T H 🦷

Item no. 49 from @basalt-dnd list of Another 100 Magic Items (which I FINALLY found the original post after saving the images ages ago, but not the author 😅). I changed the item description ever so slightly to fit what I had in mind

(Also lmk if I need to add more cw/tw tags!!)

#dnd #dnd campaign #dnd item #dnd dm #dnd art #d&d #d&d campaign #d&d items #d&d dm #d&d art #Aleuthera #my art #art #digital art #digital illustration #tw gore #cw gore #tw horror #cw horror

[nosferatini]

Reversed Veil of Worlds: A Little History

I’ve had the tremendous pleasure of working with @daneecastle on the background for this fic, drawn from their inspiration and their Reversed Veil of Worlds comic, which you can catch up on HERE!

Summary:

In the aftermath of what was taken from him, the Supreme Archangel has charged himself with the protection humanity, and that means putting a stop to the war between Heaven and Hell—for good. Neither angel nor demon is safe from the flaming sword, with one exception: Muriel.

After permanently separating themselves from Heaven and Hell, Aziraphale and Muriel carry on their crusade in the midst of crippling identity crises. Aziraphale, plagued by the handling of his grief, and Muriel challenged by the limited knowledge of sporadically returning memories, both find that their demons may be the very key to navigating their inner conflict.

Of course, Aziraphale's demon has been asleep for 75 years.

Chapter 1 (excerpt):

“Tell me a History, little wings…”

The voice crept eerily into half woken ears; like wind licking at the mouth of a cave. The slightness of it teased Muriel’s brown eyes open to the surrounding pitch of darkness, leaving them unsure if the whisper had come from a dream.

The words carried an air of familiarity. Senses took flight from the chasms of their mind: a taste, a scent… a feeling ; a tall silhouette in a curtain of clouds that fell like waterfalls from the archways of Old Heaven. Sensations as lucid as a memory and as elusive as a dream. And Muriel knew about dreams, if only for those daylit versions that came without slumber or appeal—visions that haunted their waking hours like ghosts reticent to reveal themselves. Muriel considered the words themselves:

Little wings?

It was a nickname. But its identity was lost in the disintegrating fragments of their subconscious; sand slipping through the helpless clutches of ethereal fingers. The dream was already hardening around the edges, reconstituting reality around them. The smell of sulphur, the murmur of bubbling lava flow, and the chafe of basalt on their hands and face, which caught at their cardigan when they tried to rise. A knife-edged threat of pain hindered the movement, and Muriel slumped back onto the igneous surface, trying to forget the gash left by Hellhound claws in their leg.

They bit their lip, held their breath, and rose to sit upon the rock. The action caused the sounds of respiration to recommence. Which was odd, because Muriel still had their breath tucked behind their teeth.

Muriel ceased all movement and listened…

The inhalations gained in magnitude, drawing in heaves great enough to create a vacuum behind their shoulders, while each exhale coursed ripples of warm air between the feathers of their exposed wings. The rasps of breath picked up as Muriel began to turn their head, like a giant hyperventilating at the sight of a mouse.

Yet there was no giant behind them. Even in the darkness, Muriel could sense the walls of this chamber were too small. A rivulet of leaking magma on the ground nearby gave the tiniest hint of light. That, and the blue glow from the eyes that were now staring back at them.

Listen to the 🎧PODFIC VERSION🎧 (feat. music by the very talented @paperclipninja !)

Continue Reading on AO3

Check out Danee's Socials

Special thanks to my betas 77ckk, @fishey-me and @the-literal-kj along with all the support from @goodomensafterdark and @whickberstreetwriters !

#good omens #good omens fanfic #good omens fanfiction #good omens fic #aziracrow #ineffable husbands #good omens after dark #writers of after dark #reversed veils of worlds #good omens muriel #whickberstreetwriters #good omens podfic

[mybeingthere]

Photographer Henry Bourne, Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland 1994

(The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the north coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles (4.8 km) northeast of the town of Bushmills.)

1. It's around 50-60 million years old.

2. The rocks are believed to be the result of the crystallisation of molten lava extruding into the sea.

3. It's called 'The Giant's Causeway' because according to legend, it was actually the work of Irish giant Finn McCool who created it in order to cross Scotland so he could go into battle against his enemy Benandonner.

4. It's actually made up of three rock outcrops - but the largest iconic one is the Grand Causeway.

5. There are over 40,000 basalt rocks that form the entirety of the formation.

6. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1986 and is Northern Ireland's only one.

7. It's currently the most popular tourist attraction in Northern Ireland and continues to draw in the crowds.

8. There are plenty of shipwrecks along the coast - and divers are often spotted swimming down in a bid to find buried treasure.

(Info from an article in Mirror).

[kaleidoscope1967eyes]

TELL ME ABOUT LUNA'S PLANET!!! THE FRUIT PLANTS, THE GREENERY, I GOTTA KNOW WHAT THE HYDROSPHERE IS LIKE

OH YOU ARE SO SLAY FOR THIS MY MYOOCH!!!!

Iego is separated into two main biome-regions--Luxayang (the lightlands) and Noktayin (the darklands)--that take up equal space on the planet. Luxayang is made up of lush jungles and sandstone cliffs, rich in flora and fauna of all kinds, whereas Noktayin is made up of barren canyons and basalt spires. If it wasn't obvious enough, both regions correspond to areas rich in the Light and Dark sides of the Force, respectively.

As there are no fields large enough for farming--there's a bit of terrace farming on mountainsides, but that's it--the people who reside in the Luxayang region partially sustain themselves with the ample fruits and vegetables available. As the planet experiences no real cycle of seasons, plants grow and produce year-round, offering a very stable and reliable food source. In Meru especially, there are seemingly boundless berry bushes and fruit trees growing in the village. Drawing from the Force properties of the area, all edible plants have great medicinal value, too, and are widely used in both Iegoan cuisine and traditional medicine.

As for the hydrosphere, well... Iego has no oceans, nor any real bodies of water on the surface of the planet. The only source of water on the surface of the planet are the Sacred Falls and the Pools of Lustration of Mount Horai, in the heart of the village of Meru. Both places are featured heavily in the native religion of Drolism, regarded as the holy grounds of the Gods, flowing with the ichor of the planet that in myth is regarded as an elixir of immortality. Traditionally, the people of Meru would rely on collected rainwater to sustain themselves, leaving the sacred waters untouched, save for specific religious ceremonies and rituals. As the water is purported to have life-sustaining properties, it is used in ritual healing by the triyi, and has been shown to be effective.

#oc stuff #oc fic lore #iego worldbuilding #star wars worldbuilding #my fic

[bobateaboo]

Making him iridescent :]

Reblogs > likes

#my art #my ocs #selfsona #monstersona #Basalt #Boba draws

[raichett]

Ethically Sourced

CEO Scar Goodtimes gets kidnapped by an eco-terrorist (Grian, who else?) seeking to land a blow against Big Nether. But there may be more at work here than first meets the eye...

Content warnings: kidnapping but done light-heartedly, excessive amounts of lava, allusions to capitalism and its effects upon the environment, vexes as demon equivalents >:)

This can also be found on AO3.

–

ETHICALLY SOURCED

The room is large, a huge hall made of dark blocks. Nicely textured, actually: blackstone and basalt and deepslate, some others mixed in there that Scar can’t identify from this distance. The floor is entirely lava, of course, and Scar is standing in a cage suspended above it, held up by huge chains. It’s all very… fantasy-villain-esque. The builder in Scar is impressed.

In front of him his kidnapper stands, a dramatically thin tower rising from the sea of lava below providing him a platform. It’s even got dripstone detailing on it. Now that’s dedication to an aesthetic.

Scar takes off his burgundy jacket and ties it around his waist. It’s hot in here, his human flesh disliking the heat and making it feel like it wants to melt right off of him.

“You know,” Scar says, conversationally, “for a guy who just spent the last few minutes ranting about how the proliferation of lava is causing immense negative effects on the Nether’s eco-system, you sure do seem to be using a lot of lava in this, ah, villain's lair execution room.”

“This lava,” his kidnapper snaps back, “is ethically sourced!”

Scar blinks. “From where?” he asks. He glances down again at the lava below; the amount of it is truly impressive, especially for an Overworld build.

“From a lava farm,” his kidnapper grits out. “You know, dripstone and cauldrons? It’s part of a preservation programme for striders – the lava from the farms is sold to players to stop them from taking from strider habitats. The excess is used to help replenish the dearth and restore the habitats from where they’ve been left barren and empty.”

“I’ve never heard of them,” Scar says, honestly. It's good news, though.

His kidnapper scoffs. “I wonder why,” he says, sarcastically. “It’s not at all like there’s a silencing campaign around because ethical farms aren’t in the interests of Big Nether companies. You know,” the man spears Scar with a sharp look, “like the one you work for? As a CEO?”

“Ah, yes,” Scar says, lightly, “that.”

Well, at least he has a motive to assign his kidnapper: eco-terrorism. How delightful! Scar likes his job – or, more accurately, he likes the money his job gives him – but…

Scar grins at his kidnapper, exposing his sharp teeth. He runs his tongue along them, drawing attention, and he watches as his kidnapper’s wings fluff up in an instinctual defensive display. Parrots aren’t exactly a predator in the food chain, not like how vexes are.

His kidnapper’s eyes narrow, his face pulling into a frown. He leans forward, sharp eyes inspecting, but isn’t stupid enough to actually get closer. “… A deal?” he asks, slowly, changing gears.

Scar nods. “Standard, you know,” he says, brimming suddenly with pride. “Ten years of high, high profits – and then their souls are mine. The whole board, that is.” His face splits far too much for most Overworld natives to be comfortable with, not that Scar cares.

“Huh,” his kidnapper says. He tilts his head, shuffles his wings, and then laughs. “Wait – all of them? How far into the deal are you?”

“Seven years,” Scar tells him. “And yeah, all of them. That’s far too good to pass up, I’m sure you understand.”

The man raises his hand to his mouth to muffle his giggles, sudden camaraderie springing forth between them. “So I take it their souls are bound for the sands, then?”

Scar nods. “All the pain they’ve caused? When trapped in the sands their souls will regenerate all of what they’ve destroyed and more. Big Nether isn’t going to be around in a couple of decades, I can promise you that, good sir. But…” Scar smiles, more gentle this time. “All of the effort players like you are putting in is appreciated, too.”

“Thanks,” his kidnapper answers, grimacing and looking frustrated, “we try. I – we really do try. I’m sorry that it isn’t always enough.”

Scar shrugs. “Trying and failing is better than not trying at all,” he assures. “Now, er… could I please get out of this cage? I have paperwork to do, emails to answer, coffee to drink, souls to darken in preparation for reaping, all that good stuff.” Curled inside a human skin like this, he can’t phase through the bars without compromising the homunculus – and he’d really rather avoid having to make a new one. Those things are fiddly.

His kidnapper nods. “One sec,” he says, spreading his wings and swooping off to an opening in one of the walls, landing in the room there and pulling a lever. The lava sea is covered with the sound of clunking pistons. Another lever lowers the cage holding Scar to the newly-created ground.

His kidnapper comes back, keys in hand, and unlocks the cage. “Sorry for the misunderstanding,” he says.

Scar beams. “No harm, no foul,” he replies, stepping out of the cage. “Though I have just one question – two, actually. Two questions.”

“… Go on,” his kidnapper says.

“What’s your name?” Scar asks. He crosses his heart with his index finger, nail scratching lightly at his silk shirt. “I’ll keep silent as a grave about it, promise on my demonic heart.”

His kidnapper hesitates a moment. “Grian,” he answers, finally, and Scar’s tastes the vibrancy of the name on his tongue, sunbeams and gunpowder, sweet and tangy.

“Grian,” Scar repeats, just for that taste again. “And, dearest eco-terrorist extraordinaire Grian… what is your number?”

Grian looks startled. “My number?” he asks.

“Oh, you know, for important reasons,” Scar assures. “Conspiracies, cahoots, coffee dates.” He pulls out his phone and waggles it in the air, hoping that Grian will ignore the cracks in the screen and write them off as Scar being supernaturally strong or something, rather than Scar just being supernaturally clumsy with a tendency to drop his phone down staircases. “What do you say?”

Grian stares at him a moment, assessing, before he answers. “I’m always down for cahoots,” he says, a teasing smile starting to form, “but the coffee date had better be amazing if you want a second.”

“It will be,” Scar says, jubilant. Oh, he can’t wait to see this player again! His soul is so bright and ferocious, his name so delectable – Grian, Scar knows, will be such a fantastic companion. Vexes dream of linking themselves to a soul like Grian’s – and that may be getting a bit ahead of himself, but Scar sees clearly the destination he desires. The only question now is the path that will get him there. “Don’t you worry, Grian, it will be.”

#my writing #scarian #hermitshipping #grian #goodtimeswithscar #flash fic

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

April 7, 2024 (Sunday)

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

APR 08, 2024

In August 1870 a U.S. exploring expedition headed out from Montana toward the Yellowstone River into land the U.S. government had recognized as belonging to different Indigenous tribes.

By October the men had reached the Yellowstone, where they reported they had “found abundance of game and trout, hot springs of five or six different kinds…basaltic columns of enormous size” and a waterfall that must, they wrote, “be in form, color and surroundings one of the most glorious objects on the American Continent.” On the strength of their widely reprinted reports, the secretary of the interior sent out an official surveying team under geologist Ferdinand V. Hayden. With it went photographer William Henry Jackson and fine artist Thomas Moran.

Banker and railroad baron Jay Cooke had arranged for Moran to join the expedition. In 1871 the popular Scribner’s Monthly published the surveyor’s report along with Moran’s drawings and a promise that Cooke’s Northern Pacific Railroad would soon lay tracks to enable tourists to see the great natural wonders of the West.

But by 1871, Americans had begun to turn against the railroads, seeing them as big businesses monopolizing American resources at the expense of ordinary Americans. When Hayden called on Congress to pass a law setting the area around Yellowstone aside as a public park, two Republicans—Senator Samuel Pomeroy of Kansas and Delegate William H. Clagett of Montana—introduced bills to protect Yellowstone in a natural state and provide against “wanton destruction of the fish and game…or destruction for the purposes of merchandise or profit.”

The House Committee on Public Lands praised Yellowstone Valley’s beauty and warned that “persons are now waiting for the spring…to enter in and take possession of these remarkable curiosities, to make merchandise of these bountiful specimens, to fence in these rare wonders so as to charge visitors a fee, as is now done at Niagara Falls, for the sight of that which ought to be as free as the air or water.” It warned that “the vandals who are now waiting to enter into this wonderland will, in a single season, despoil, beyond recovery, these remarkable curiosities which have required all the cunning skill of nature thousands of years to prepare.”

The New York Times got behind the idea that saving Yellowstone for the people was the responsibility of the federal government, saying that if businesses “should be strictly shut out, it will remain a place which we can proudly show to the benighted European as a proof of what nature—under a republican form of government—can accomplish in the great West.”

On March 1, 1872, President U. S. Grant, a Republican, signed the bill making Yellowstone a national park.

The impulse to protect natural resources from those who would plunder them for profit expanded 18 years later, when the federal government stepped in to protect Yosemite. In June 1864, Congress had passed and President Abraham Lincoln signed a law giving to the state of California the Yosemite Valley and nearby Mariposa Big Tree Grove “upon the express conditions that the premises shall be held for public use, resort and recreation.”

But by 1890 it was clear that under state management the property had been largely turned over to timber companies, sheep-herding enterprises, and tourist businesses with state contracts. Naturalist John Muir warned in the Century magazine: “Ax and plow, hogs and horses, have long been and are still busy in Yosemite’s gardens and groves. All that is accessible and destructible is rapidly being destroyed.” Congress passed a law making the land around the state property in Yosemite a national park area, and the United States military began to manage the area.

The next year, in March 1891, Congress gave the president power to “set apart and reserve…as public reservations” land that bore at least some timber, whether or not that timber was of any commercial value. Under this General Revision Act, also known as the Forest Reserve Act, Republican president Benjamin Harrison set aside timber land adjacent to Yellowstone National Park and south of Yosemite National Park. By September 1893, about 17 million acres of land had been put into forest reserves. Those who objected to this policy, according to Century, were “men [who] wish to get at it and make it earn something for them.” 

Presidents of both parties continued to protect American lands, but in the late nineteenth century it was New York Republican politician Theodore Roosevelt who most dramatically expanded the effort to keep western lands from the hands of those who wanted only their timber and minerals. 

Roosevelt was concerned that moneygrubbing was eroding the character of the nation, and he believed that western land nurtured the independence and community that he worried was disappearing in the East. During his presidency, which stretched from 1901 to 1909, Roosevelt protected 141 million acres of forest and established five new national parks. 

More powerfully, he used the 1906 Antiquities Act, which Congress had passed to stop the looting and sale of Indigenous objects and sites, to protect land. The Antiquities Act allowed presidents to protect areas of historic, cultural, or scientific interest. Before the law was a year old, Roosevelt had created four national monuments: Devils Tower in Wyoming, El Morro in New Mexico, and Montezuma Castle and Petrified Forest in Arizona.

In 1908, Roosevelt used the Antiquities Act to protect the Grand Canyon.

Since then, presidents of both parties have protected American lands. President Jimmy Carter rivaled Roosevelt’s protection of land when he protected more than 100 million acres in Alaska from oil development. Carter’s secretary of the interior, Cecil D. Andrus, saw himself as a practical man trying to balance the needs of business and environmental needs but seemed to think business interests had become too powerful: “The domination of the department by mining, oil, timber, grazing and other interests is over.”

In fact, the fight over the public lands was not ending; it was entering a new phase. Since the 1980s, Republicans have pushed to reopen public lands to resource development, maintaining even today that Democrats have hampered oil production although it is currently, under President Joe Biden, at an all-time high. 

The push to return public lands to private hands got stronger under former president Donald Trump. On April 26, 2017, Trump signed an executive order—Executive Order 13792—directing his secretary of the interior, Ryan Zinke, to review designations of 22 national monuments greater than 100,000 acres, made since 1996. He then ordered the largest national monument reduction in U.S. history, slashing the size of Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument by 85%—a goal of uranium-mining interests—and that of Utah’s Escalante–Grand Staircase by about half, favoring coal interests.

“No one better values the splendor of Utah more than you do,” Trump told cheering supporters. “And no one knows better how to use it.”

In March 2021, shortly after he took office, President Biden announced a new initiative to protect 30% of U.S. land, fresh water, and oceans areas by 2030, a plan popularly known as 30 by 30. Also in March 2021, Supreme Court chief justice John Roberts urged opponents of land protection to push back against the Antiquities Act, saying the broad protection of lands presidents have established under it is an abuse of power.

In October 2021, President Biden restored Bears Ears and Escalante–Grand Staircase to their original size. “Today’s announcement is not just about national monuments,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, said at the ceremony. “It’s about this administration centering the voices of Indigenous people and affirming the shared stewardship of this landscape with tribal nations.”

In 2022, nearly 312 million people visited the country’s national parks and monuments, supporting 378,400 jobs and spending $23.9 billion in communities within 60 miles of a park. This amounted to a $50.3 billion benefit to the nation’s economy. 

But the struggle over the use of public lands continues, and now the Republicans are standing on the opposite side from their position of a century ago. Project 2025, the blueprint for a second Trump presidency, demands significant increases in drilling for oil and gas. That will require removing land from federal protection and opening it to private development. As Roberts urged, Project 2025 promises to seek a Supreme Court ruling to permit the president to reduce the size of national monuments. But it takes that advice even further. 

It says a second Trump administration “must seek repeal of the Antiquities Act of 1906.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#Letters From An American #Heather Cox Richardson #public lands #the Antiquities Act of 1906 #history #Department of the interior #tribal nations #Teddy Roosevelt #conservation #conservatism #preservation

[mechanicalriddle]

the moment weve all been waiting for EXALTED SECRET 2023 BIOS YAAAAAY

Heres my bios for the secret santa ! this years theme is Girls Who Rot, Have Rotted Previously, or Are Rotting Right Now

I like to provide some little details, tidbits, tone and setting ideas in my bios in case you want to draw them in like a little scene; don't feel obligated to get that fancy, though!

without further ado.

Pleione (Plin for short, she/they, roughly equivalent to early 20s) is a Marrow Aspect forged from the remnants of a young royal from a long-forgotten kingdom, resuscitated from the depths of the mausoleum in which her body was interred by (accidental) necromantic means. She's spent the past two decades quietly living on her Anchor's manse-estate, indulging in her passions for art and botany.

Plin is a big chicken who is deathly terrified of conflict and does a lot of screaming and cowering when things come to blows for someone who

Her personality is particular, peculiar, and holier-than-thou. She's got dynastic sensibilities, snobbish and disinclined to associate with 'the proles'. Get her on the subject of one of her special interests, though, and you might find each other fast friends.

Motifs- Plin has an orchid motif on account of the fact that she needs a dose of a special tea made from a (formerly) extinct orchid several times a day in order to NOT DIE. She hasn't died yet. She doesnt know she can come back give her a break. Some other motifs include glass, terrariums, spiders & fireflies; marble & porcelain, old-timey anatomical drawings, delicate floral and baroque patterns; antique-white, minty green, deep purple, and black.

Ideas- If you want to draw her doing something she is equally likely to be found reclining on a huge pile of pillows with a book or with her knees planted in the dirt rooting around in a thorny shrub. She loves to dissect and draw plants and is liable to be found at a desk or behind an easel doing one of those activities

Anima- Currently I am thinking... a grove filled with ghostly-white plants twining over enormous bones (hopefully of the animal variety, but hard to say, really) and probably features giant flowering orchids that are shaped suspiciously like skulls... Also its hard to say but the ground does look an awful lot like meat, and those stringy bits look an awful lot like connective tissue... hmm

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Desert Fang Grim Devil Lioness (Grim for short, she/her, 36 yrs old) is a renegade Midnight caste former-warlord-turned-backwoods vampire-MILF. upgrades!

Grim was fazed a lot as a child (being pawned off by your family as a slave will do that to you) and vowed to grow up into a woman who Wouldn't Be Fazed By Anything. Having achieved this (with a few notable exceptions), she mostly gets her way by via being larger, stronger, and scarier than as many of her problems as possible. Sometimes problems don't and can't have physical largeness, though, which is annoying.

One of these problems included being counter-merc'd by one of her targets and dying of exposure under the desert sun. She didn't... quite... let this stop her, though. There are people in need of her skillsets, and dying isn't really a disqualifier for their service. She was raised as a deathknight and for several years served as one of the First and Forsaken Lion's most fearsome officers.

Another problem is... More recent. Having run off with her lunar mate and tried to start a family far, far from FAFL's stomping grounds, it turns out toughing it out in the wilds of the North can kind of suck.

Motifs- Pretty normal deathknight stuff. Black iron of the wrought variety, and soulsteel; tattered and blood-drenched fabric, rough-hewn basalt and dark masonry. Honestly got stronger canid than felid vibes, to spite the name. Black-and-red is an obvious throughline but grimy grays and natural tones complete her overall color scheme. Things that are totally inert and lifeless, and will always remain as such.

Ideas- Riding her terrifying steed (basically just a half rotting perma-permafrosted elk corpse with a broken antler), slicing something in half with her awesome reaver daiklaive, hovering over a pot of survival-stew boiling over a crude hearth, walking thru the woods in the dark covered in blood. Or maybe hanging out with her awesome baby (pictured) if youre inclined to draw something... Nicer :)

Anima- A bit stereotypical, I think like. a blasted land with bloodsoaked earth so barren and expansive that it blends with the crimson sky, as well as off in the distance banners that tower like skyscrapers which only flutter by virtue of their enormity. Not even Mela's breath will touch this forsaken place.

Grim is the current wielder of Gorgon.

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(WHOOPS forgot the tattoos in the second thing but like hell im fixing that at this point)

Last but not least, the Gunstar Autochthonia Girl Hirudana Siithavari (Siithi for short, she/her, 32 y.o.) a No Moon ostensibly still answering to the Deliberative; at heart, a roustabout and a scallywag. She crawled deep into Authochthon's world-body on a suicide mission and then beat all odds by sheer cockroach-style stubbornness, earning her Luna's favor. Also, terrible death-sorcery (necromancy is sort of an unknown factor in our rendition of the Gunstar shard but she somehow managed to make contact with the neverborn and stumble into its practice)

she likes drinking, and gambling, and yelling, and generally being a nuisance. Sometimes a little bit of heart-of-gold shines through, and quite frankly everyone is probably better off with the secrets of necromancy in her hands rather than someone slightly less grounded in reality.

theres more pics of her in her tag if you want to poke around.

Motifs- Bronze, brass, grimy earth tones mixed with bright accent colors. Black leather, studs, needles, teeth. Tubes, pipes, gears, grates and various industrial junk. Worms, bugs, and other vermin. Dankness, darkness, the sickly shadows of Black Non. Smoke-haze and drug paraphernalia.

Ideas- Generally she spends most of her time at the bar, the gym, in her lab, or asleep. you could draw her pumping iron, or taking a toke on a decrepit sofa in her dingy weed-cave (not a literal cave though that would be kind of fun), or sitting at an industrial workbench pouring over a half-disassembled chainsaw. or corpse. or both at the same time.

Anima- Her lower-level anima is kind of gloopy like a lava lamp. Iconic is a swamp with oil for water, populated by mangroves assembled from pipes and black plastic tube-vines, with the moon reflecting brightly on its surface. Her spirit shape is a Buffalo Leech, one of the largest species of leeches (on earth at least). i'll attach a pic of her hybrid form if you wanna draw that instead!

(necessary disclaimer for these sorts of things) youre welcome to take this as an opportunity to do some experimenting but if you don't think you can passably represent a certain characters body shape i would recommend picking one of the other options. thank you!

#exalted secret santa #exalted secret santa 2023 #exalted rpg #waaaagh im here. hi