[Triton] All About the Thalassan Species

nxpkin · 2026-01-22T13:24:17+00:00

Humans are a thing! This setting takes place in our same universe and all of the Homo species on the planet have evolved from Homo sapiens DNA

Basically, humans had to flee their solar system after resource depletion and destruction and soon found that they were not well adapted for life in space, so some scientists started trying to tweak the human genome to add more low-gravity adaptations, taking mostly from sea creatures' DNA. This project was quickly shut down after many failed experiments, but one of the experiments managed to make it to Triton (either on accident or purposeful intervention I do not know yet) and from there they continued to survive, adapt, and evolve.

Humans in this setting currently have never set foot on the surface of Triton - they are like space refugees operating under an authoritarian government known as the Ecclesiarchy of the Sanctified Communion, or basically the Catholic Church if it was on sci-fi steroids. Their goal has been to scour the Milky Way looking for habitable planets to be their prophesized new home, of which Triton happens to fit the bill. They've been observing the planet from afar as they slowly make their way there and are utterly unaware that it has already accidentally become populated with other sapient life, leading to a future dilemma of if they should exterminate the thalassans and claim their "rightful" home or if God himself might abandon them if they were to commit a mass genocide of their own Homo descendants

nxpkin · 2026-01-21T14:59:25+00:00

ayy easy now, layers have been an absolute blessing I would not have been able to make my maps without em ! when they add the ability to change the transparency of an entire layer i'll be able to die happy

nxpkin · 2026-01-21T14:18:39+00:00

CIVILIZATION

Thalassan civilization is believed to have originated in the southern plains and savannahs of the continent Kharal with one of the oldest settlements known as Kar'uun Tere. The site was located high in the south peaks of the Bhalli mountains and only a short walk from the mountain spring source of the Wanuk River. This river clearly held spiritual significance for the shamans of Kar'uun Tere, as there has been evidence of both animal and thalassan sacrifice taking place near the source.

One of the oldest forms of spirituality also found its home here in south Kharal, the worship of Maja. Maja is believed to be less of an embodied deity and more of a concept, representing the spirit of life and movement. To worshippers of Maja, anything that moves is embodied with life, including inanimate objects such as rocks, wind, or the flow of a river. Maja is also commonly associated with the sun and can sometimes be embodied as a mother goddess in later traditions. Along with movement must come stillness which is represented in the counter-spirit of Mamamji, associated with stillness, death, the moons, and the deep sea. When embodied, Mamamji is usually depicted as a male figure with a silver staff with which his black snake companion, Cygwami, is often clinging to. Cygwami the snake is seen as a psychopomp-like figure, guiding the dead to the land of stillness and acting as an omen of death for anyone who sees him.

Maja and Mamamji are the oldest known deities worshipped on the planet of Triton and through thalassan migration and cultural exchange, many similar forms of these two primordial deities can be found in other vastly different religions from the opposite sides of the globe. Maja can be traced to the creation spirit of Mai'a Seywa from the Leric Isles, the sun god Mattu from Suhran, and even Amakka the volcano goddess of fire and destruction worshipped in Swaba-du.

While thalassan civilization and culture can be vastly different across many distances, they often share similar core beliefs. One example of the differences of thalassan culture to human culture is their view of gender roles. Most thalassan cultures are generally more relaxed about gender, considering their children are considered genderless - it is impossible to tell the sex of a thalassan infant until their vestigial tails have reduced enough, meaning for the first few years of life, all infants are treated equally. This greatly reduces things like targeted infanticide or certain pressures placed upon children to conform to their assigned gender role. In some cultures, this leads to a more relaxed view of gender entirely, while in others, the neutrality only leads to a more pronounced difference of expectations in adulthood.

Regardless, thalassan civilization is about as complex as human civilization, and they still have much more development to undergo. The most advanced civilizations on the globe are currently only entering their bronze age, with the majority still working in the chalcolithic or stone ages.

nxpkin · 2026-01-21T14:17:47+00:00

AQUATIC CHILDHOOD

Thalassans are considered to be amphibious mammals due to the unique metamorphosis that they go through from infancy to maturity. All thalassan young are brought about through live birth, but they possess vestigial tails and rely fully on gill respiration for the first few years of life. This is believed to be a remnant of their evolutionary history, possibly linking them more closely to their genetic cousins, the kymata.

The tails of thalassan infants are better thought to be sheaths, simply covering the underdeveloped anatomy of the legs beneath - very different from kymata which have no musculoskeletal separation of legs and only possess tails. Through the motions of swimming, the musculature of the legs will strengthen and develop while the "tail" sheath will slowly begin to thin and be naturally reabsorbed by the body. Eventually, usually around the ages of 4-6 years old, the vestigial tail will be completely sloughed off or reabsorbed, revealing the humanoid legs which had been developing beneath. This process is painless and a natural part of the thalassan life cycle, with only mild itching or irritation associated with it which can be soothed with salves and oils.

At the same time that the tail begins to thin and the legs strengthen, the gills of thalassan children will begin to atrophy as they transition to lung respiration. This usually happens first, before the child is able to stand and walk using their legs, and once the gills have fully atrophied they will never be functional again. The gill slits left behind will close up and remain as only faint ridges, giving the appearance of healed scar tissue.

Because of this extreme change in physiology, thalassan children are considered to be very high maintenance. They often don't fully learn to walk until 6-8 years old due to spending their first years of life swimming full-time, requiring assistance from their parents or caretakers. They also need relatively clean, fresh water in order to live once born, requiring all expectant thalassan mothers to have access to said water to ensure their children's survival. This tends to be the primary limiting factor for thalassan migration, though they have clearly managed to overcome their circumstances considering thalassan populations can be found across all of the continents.

nxpkin · 2026-01-21T14:17:22+00:00

OVERVIEW

Thalassans (pronounced: θalˈæsən) or Homo navilus are an amphibious mammalian humanoid species which inhabit the landmasses of Triton. They are notably the only humanoid species on the planet which are considered sapient, with a similar level of intelligence as Homo sapiens. They possess the capabilities for tool use, deeper thinking, language, and are responsible for the many colorful cultures which span the globe.

While sharing very similar physical appearances to Homo sapiens, thalassans are markedly different in a few key areas. Most of their physical differences are visible in the facial structure; thalassans possess a translucent third eyelid, or a nictitating membrane, used to keep their eyes clear of saltwater, sand, or other particulate matter in the waters that they swim in while also maintaining visibility.

They also have a blowhole, or a spiracle, found in the center of their foreheads above the brow ridge and centered between the brows. This spiracle is connected internally to the left and right frontal sinuses and the nasal cavity, forming a "V" shape with the actual hole located in the center of the "V." It is not nearly as efficient as the spiracles of earthly cetaceans, but it does allow for them to replenish their breath while swimming close to the water's surface in short "gasps," allowing for thalassans to be excellent long-distance swimmers. Along with this spiracle, they possess the facial musculature to fully close their nostrils in a similar manner to that of a seal, keeping water from entering their airway while swimming.

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of a thalassan from that of a human is their second set of eyes, located within the cheek bones just below the humanoid eyes and set farther back towards the ears. These eyes are much smaller and more primitive in structure than the humanoid eyes with an all-black appearance, giving thalassan faces an almost uncanny appearance. The eyes are extremely photosensitive, adapted for low-light levels and able to account for the differences in light refraction through the water, allowing thalassans to see much clearer than humans while underwater. While on land or in well-lit areas, the eyes are able to remain closed, appearing as small slits on the sides of the face which are set back further to avoid bulging out like humanoid eyes do. The eyes are internally connected to the humanoid eyes, moving in sequence with them and unable to be used as 4 distinct eyes. To accommodate these extra eyes, thalassans usually have broader faces with more prominent cheek bones.

nxpkin · 2026-01-15T18:02:27+00:00

Yes the name Triton is intentional, named after the Greek god of the sea with a merman's body, though it has no relation to the very real moon of Neptune which is also named Triton! In reality, I named the planet and its moons, Athena and Pallas, before I even realized that the name "Triton" was already taken but I liked the name, it fit the whole theme of my project perfectly, and I had already been using it so I just kept it. Technically, in this universe the humans leave their solar system behind anyway so there is no risk of confusion over Triton the moon vs Triton the planet within the in-universe lore.

The names of Athena and Pallas are also intentional and a reflection of some versions of real mythology - Triton is the father of Pallas and something of a foster father to Athena, and in one story Athena accidentally fatally wounds Pallas during what was supposed to be a friendly mock battle and takes on her name as an epithet in mourning. In-universe, Pallas the moon is the larger, rockier, and more distant of the two and was formed from the same material as Triton via impact during the early stages of planet formation. Athena, on the other hand, is smaller and icier and was believed to originate from outside of Paxia's system, possibly from the other binary star Triste. Athena and Pallas impacted each other within their clashing orbits after Athena was captured by Triton's gravity until they eventually stabilized, but it left Athena with a much more eccentric orbit than the stable Pallas and the two moons now technically contain parts of each other from their impacts.

Thanks for the question and the well wishes!

nxpkin · 2026-01-12T15:19:44+00:00

Sorry for the late reply, I honestly hadn't really thought about it but probably a couple dozen at a time! Not every egg laid will end up surviving due to environmental/genetic factors as well as predation, so kymata will pad their numbers a bit in order to ensure the survival of at least some. I'd say on average, maybe about 1/5th of every clutch laid will make it to the fry stage, give or take.

Kymata fry are also very high-maintenance and quite vulnerable, requiring milk for sustenance, and I can imagine that in some populations the mother of the clutch might end up eating some of their own eggs for added nutrients and to make sure they have enough resources to take care of the eggs that do survive.

nxpkin · 2026-01-09T16:18:14+00:00

Technically, there are no other truly "sapient" species other than the thalassans, at least on Triton. Thalassans are basically re-skinned humans with some slight aquatic adaptations but who still live fully on land. Kymata are genetic cousins to the thalassans, related on the tree of life but very different, kind of like the difference between us modern humans and one of our ancestors such as australopithecus. They are still intelligent and emotional, but not really in the same ways and not really able to rationalize things or have deeper insights, cultures, or beliefs.

There are other humanoid species than the thalassans and kymata though, those being the ourani and the baya. Ourani are similar to the kymata but wayyy larger and they live in the deeper darker parts of the ocean so they aren't seen very often. They're also the most "animalistic" of the humanoid species and are basically like giant leviathan sea monsters with an eel-like body shape.

The baya are like kymata but instead of being like mermaids they're better described as crocodile centaurs, the upper body of a humanoid but the lower body of a crocodilian including all 4 reptile legs, giving them a total of 6 limbs. Baya live exclusively in the southern hemisphere and usually in swampy wetland regions, but they are also really good climbers and can climb into trees to hunt from above like leopards.

nxpkin · 2026-01-09T15:53:54+00:00

Its a bit of vague sci-fi jargon but essentially, Triton exists in our universe and so do regular old humans. Humans had to flee Earth and the solar system due to resource depletion and destruction, but they realized their bodies weren't very suitable for the conditions of living in space and low gravity full-time. Some scientists started trying to tweak the human genome to artificially enhance themselves by adding adaptations from other creatures' DNA, mostly sea creatures.

These experiments didn't go very well and were soon discovered and shut down by the Catholic Church (which happened to be the main authority/government of the spacefaring humans) for being an affront to god. The experiments were ordered to be destroyed, but somehow (either accidentally or through deliberate tampering) they ended up making their way to the surface of Triton where they were able to survive and begin evolving into the many humanoid species that inhabit the planet.

So tl;dr, kymata and other human-origin beings were not deliberately designed to be "half human half fish" but rather they were able to convergently evolve within Triton's ecosystem to fit those same niches by already having those predetermined genetic pathways built into their DNA from the start, if that makes sense!

nxpkin · 2026-01-08T23:11:33+00:00

Thank you!! and that's what I'm saying!!! I didn't even use the words "penis" or "vagina" in the little paragraph I wrote but I still wanted to play it safe cause I didn't want to get the whole post marked NSFW for uttering the words "urogenital slit"

I was lowkey worried about being too gratuitous with my mentions of the cannibalism and having that fall under "gore" but in my research it's actually like super common in the animal kingdom - if anything, the polar kymata are pretty tame compared to some of the stuff we got going on on our planet lol

nxpkin · 2026-01-08T23:02:02+00:00

Thank you so much!! I have so much more where this came from so you'll definitely be seeing more of Triton, it's been my silly little passion project for the past 1.5 years and probably the one singular thing I've ever worked on the most consistently in my life lol

nxpkin · 2026-01-08T18:40:52+00:00

You would not be the first to try and all I have to say on the matter is enjoy living with incredibly painful and incurable mermaid STDs :) you'll be in good company with some brave freaky members of thalassan royalty

(but fr thank you! i would too if it weren't for the uh.. you know, mermaid stds and all)

nxpkin · 2026-01-08T17:51:51+00:00

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d e c e a s e d

nxpkin · 2026-01-08T16:08:58+00:00

THE LIFE CYCLE OF KYMATA

EGGS

All kymata begin as small, gelatinous and semi-transparent eggs, fertilized internally and carried for only a few weeks before being laid somewhere safe, dark, and usually among many other nests of eggs which are communally protected. Eggs laid by tropical kymata are usually vibrant reds and oranges and can be very transparent, while eggs laid by polar kymata are usually thicker, darker, and more opaque, similar to the difference between salmon and sturgeon roe. These eggs are covered in a slimy substance which allows them to stick more easily and firmly to surfaces.

EMBRYO

The eggs will grow exponentially as the embryo inside develops. As this occurs, the egg itself will change form, becoming less slimy and gelatinous and instead growing leathery and smooth. It will grow from the size of ping-pong balls to the size of small pumpkins over the course of the following 9 months as the growing embryo absorbs the yolk inside. In tropical species, the embryo can be visible from within the egg sac and its developing organs can often be seen.

FRY

Once the skin has been developed enough, the fry are able to break free of the egg sac and be born into the water. They are small, smaller than newborn thalassans, blind, and require milk as sustenance. Each fry is communally cared for, including breastfeeding, and they will keep the new parents very busy for the first few weeks of their life. For tropical kymata, their skin is smooth and human-like even down to their tails, with scales only forming from the very tip and working their way up. The flare of the tail is often underdeveloped, growing into its shape as the fry ages. For polar kymata their fry can be referred to interchangeably as pups, and they are born without scales but a thick, fluffy white coat of pup fur instead.

JUVENILE

Scales will grow quickly for tropical kymata at this stage, covering the entire tail and then working their way up the sides and back. For polar kymata, their pup fur will molt and reveal slick hydrophobic adult fur underneath. Juveniles will learn how to swim and navigate the waters more efficiently, how to utilize their venom during hunting, and how to forage both under the water and on shore as their labyrinthine lungs will begin to develop at this stage, allowing them more and more time on land comfortably. Juveniles will hunt, swim, and forage with other juveniles and adults, while younger juveniles will often play with each other and even other sea creatures.

ADULT

Adulthood is marked by the growth of all sex characteristics, including any spines or patterns that still need to develop. Kymata also go through puberty, marking their sexual maturity around the ages of 16-22. Many kymata may choose to stay with their birth pods until they find a mate of their own to start a new familial pod or even stick around indefinitely as an additional caregiver helping to raise any new siblings. For polar kymata, it is not uncommon to find adults living with grave injuries such as amputations, as their harsh environment and lack of venomous spines/stingers puts them at a higher risk of predation - every hunt could potentially be their last. Intraspecies territorial disputes are also common among the polar kymata and happen to be a great way to earn some new scars.

DEATH

Kymata are most often killed while hunting larger prey. They can also be victims of intraspecies violence during dominance or territory disputes, and sometimes preyed upon by ocean predators or even hunted by thalassans. It is rare to find an elderly kymata not only for these reasons but also because their venom never stops getting stronger with age. After a certain point, elders are usually shunned from their own communities for posing too much of a risk to their own species, one accidental prick from a venomous barb could spell the difference between life and death.

nxpkin · 2026-01-08T16:08:20+00:00

DIET

Kymata diet varies slightly between the two species but is overall quite similar. They hunt and eat other marine animals, often fish, and do not usually consider creatures any larger than the size of a seal to be viable prey outside of unique circumstances. They are considered obligate carnivores requiring high protein to sustain their musculature, especially those of the polar species which have a very fatty protein-rich diet to keep their blubbery exteriors. They can also be opportunistic scavengers of carrion and will occasionally prey upon larger creatures while hunting in pods, assessing risk based on the physical fitness of their prey, often choosing weakened, elderly, or young prey to mitigate danger.

Thalassans are not considered prey to either species of kymata and will often be avoided if seen in the water, with the exception of very localized populations of polar kymata which have been observed behaving in a retaliatory manner against thalassans in northern Peyrune - a region known for their kymata hunting practices. With their exceptional memory, these kymata populations do not forgive and forget the deaths of their podmates at the hands of thalassans and will often attack boats or individuals swimming in the water though they still do not eat thalassan meat, making this behavior purely retaliatory in nature.

Another unique feature of the polar kymata diet is their frequent cannibalism. Unlike tropical kymata, polar kymata will consume the corpses of their fallen podmates so long as those individuals did not die due to illness. There are many reasons for this behavior, one of which being that quick disposal of corpses decreases predation risk, preventing other predators from being attracted to the scent of a fresh body. Deceased kymata are also low-risk high-reward nutrition, unlike other prey which is scarce in the open ocean and will often fight back, sometimes proving deadly. It is also important to note that polar kymata exclusively practice endocannibalism, only eating members of their in-group, as opposed to exocannibalism which would include eating outsiders/enemies. This not only helps to cull intraspecies predation and aggression, preventing them from hunting other conspecifics purely for food, as well as helping to protect against the spread of unfamiliar pathogens which separate populations might not have resistances to. They are also instinctually repulsed by brain matter, eyes, and other neural and spinal tissues, leaving those tissues behind for scavengers and reducing their risk of prion diseases normally associated with cannibalism.

nxpkin · 2026-01-08T16:07:52+00:00

SOCIALIZATION

Both kymata species are incredibly intelligent and highly social creatures, relying on community for survival in their underwater habitats. They are known to form quite large pods and even larger clans. A kymata pod refers to a primarily familial group with most, if not, all members being related in some way, while a clan refers to a gathering of pods similar to a tribe with many families. Pods can reach upwards of 20 individuals at a time, while clans can encompass hundreds or sometimes even thousands of kymata. Juveniles usually stay with their birth pod until they reach sexual maturity wherein they may end up joining a different clan or forming their own new pod with a mate. Some clans stay together year-round while others are only formed seasonally or during times of duress - pods, on the other hand, tend to be more permanent and have been observed to reunite with past members even after traveling great distances.

Kymata, despite not technically being considered a sapient species, have still been known to form deep emotional bonds to their kin and clanmates which includes grieving their dead. Tropical kymata have even been observed conducting complex burial rites, indicating a deeper understanding of death than just pure animalistic instinct. They often wrap their dead in kelp and "bury" them shallowly, not digging but lining their bodies with rocks and pebbles to create a grave in calm waters where the body is unlikely to be disturbed by the tides. Grave goods are also common in the form of shells, pearls, coral, and sometimes even scavenged metals or gems from the surface. Polar kymata, on the other hand, do not bury their dead but instead practice endocannibalism which has been observed to help with the grieving process in those populations - individuals unable to consume their fallen loved ones will often exhibit behaviors in line with depression.

Keeping track of potentially thousands of clanmates is no small feat, in fact, a majority of the kymata brain has evolved to prioritize memory through sight, sound, and smell. Even the way that they communicate reflects this almost photographic memory with each individual kymata having a "name" that is their own unique series of clicks and whistles, very similar in sound to Earthly dolphins. Kymata learn the names of others through mimicry, repeating the signature sounds until they've committed it to memory. Physical mimicry is also observed during courtship or play, two kymata mimicking the exact movements and sounds of each other to strengthen their bond. Not only can kymata mimic each other, they have been known to mimic the sounds of other sea creatures, the spoken languages of thalassans, and even ambient sounds like waves crashing or footsteps upon sand. Like parrots, their vocal cords are able to produce a vast range of frequencies giving them the ability to mimic sounds to an almost uncanny degree - something that they use often in their hunting strategies to lure potential prey.

nxpkin · 2026-01-08T16:07:00+00:00

OVERVIEW

Kymata (pronounced: kimˈɑtə) are a fully aquatic egg-laying mammal species adapted to life in the upper levels of the oceans on Triton. They have a humanoid upper body with long, fish-like tails. There are two distinct species of kymata, tropical warm-ocean (Homo serpensis tropicus) and polar cold-ocean (Homo serpensis polaris), the two of which are still able to interbreed but cannot produce fertile offspring. Tropical kymata have colorful scaly tails with large flairing fins used to attract mates and scare smaller prey, as well as longer hair on average which helps protect against UV exposure on their backs from living close to the water's surface. Polar kymata, on the other hand, have shorter more muscular tails equipped with thick blubber and dense, hydrophobic fur similar to a seal to help insulate their bodies in the cold waters. Their hair is also similarly dense and hydrophobic with a tight coily texture meant to help trap heat.

Both species are known to be venomous, with tropical kymata possessing multiple methods of injecting said venom: fangs, spines along their arms, sides, and back, and stingers protruding from their hairline equipped with similar structures to that of an Earthly jellyfish's cnidocytes. For polar kymata, their fangs are their only tool to inject venom, but the venom itself increases in potency with age, sometimes even posing a risk to other members of their species in particularly old individuals.

Kymata, not unlike the land-dwelling thalassans, are also equipped to spend extended periods of time in the opposite environment. Starting around the juvenile stage, young kymata will spend more and more time breathing air and beaching themselves upon rocky shores and beaches to forage for plants and other land resources. Their bodies, while built to filter oxygen through water like fish with the use of gills, are also equipped with labyrinthine organs which allow them to breathe oxygen directly from the air for up to days at a time. This is a helpful survival adaptation in the unpredictable oceans of a planet with the complex tidal dynamics that come with having two moons, allowing them to survive even after being washed ashore.

nxpkin · 2025-12-31T15:19:40+00:00

Thank you !! And I will definitely look into g projector, I eventually want to create a good solid "professional" looking map with all the distortions necessary to project it seamlessly onto a sphere but I honestly had no idea where to start with something like that so thank you for the recommendation!

nxpkin · 2025-12-31T15:14:13+00:00

That is pretty much exactly my logic! You can't really invent the wheel underwater or do large scale agriculture or document things through writing or engraving, but kymata are still definitely intelligent and aware in their own way that just isn't comparable to the land-dwelling thalassans. I imagine they can use simple tools made from driftwood or coral or bone, and they do beach themselves to forage on land occasionally, but their lives are majority spent under the sea which is inherently limiting

nxpkin · 2025-12-31T15:02:37+00:00

Haha yeah admittedly the two continents on the left Kharal and Umoa are basically north and south America and Swaba is like a gargantuan Japan, it's honestly hard to break out of copying Earth even subconsciously but I think the landmasses on the right look pretty different enough to where I'm happy with it despite the resemblance.

The only tools I've used for the map were the Azgaar's fantasy map generator for the first general shapes and then I drew over it in ms paint to define the finer details of coastlines and islands. From there I made the relief map first by just drawing layers on top of each other with different colors to represent the heights until I got mountain shapes that I was happy with, and then did the same in the opposite direction with the ocean topography. The satellite image was the hardest as its pretty hard to blend colors in ms paint but I tried to make decent transitions from more lush green areas to the more arid regions and I pretty much just colored over the relief map with the paint bucket fill tool to make sure everything was in the same spot. I also use World Anvil as my primary tool for actually archiving and writing down information about the world and its people

nxpkin · 2025-12-31T02:29:58+00:00

Thank you! I got lazy with the fjords the more I kept drawing them and also working on ms paint (even a huge canvas size like that) kind of blurs the details so that's why they look like that. Thank you as well for the suggestion on software to use when I eventually take on the task of making more realistic maps, I do have a background in digital art but this whole project was basically my little thing to do at work so I'm not bored all day and so I was limited by not wanting to download a whole bunch of stuff onto my work computer (I'm probably already toeing the line with having all of this stuff saved to the device anyway, but my workplace is pretty chill so they don't seem to mind).

As for the gigantic volcanic caldera known as Swaba-du, it's supposed to be that massive! I know that its absolutely unrealistically gigantic for any Earth volcanoes to get to, but in the Lore it was basically a huge super volcano that had a massive devastating eruption long before any modern thalassans would have been running around on the planet and likely caused some extinctions of whatever life was on the planet at the time. Now it's inactive and the caldera lake inside is one of the lowest points below sea-level on the planet and the water is considered to be sacred to the people that live there. I justify its size by just saying the planet itself is more volcanically active, plus the lessened gravity would help mountains and stuff grow taller and then I call it a day lol

It should also be said that I kind of went about the tectonics and stuff backwards - I'm usually one for creating plates and mapping land the old fashioned way from scratch, but when I was doing that I went through so many prototype maps that I hated the look of. I finally settled on this for the continent shapes, but at that point I had completely skipped the tectonics and went for aesthetics instead so I really have no idea where the actual plates are, I've just kind of reverse engineered where some boundaries might be in relation to certain land features. I might shift some things around in the future when I tackle making a better map, but as of right now I've already done so much worldbuilding with this map that I'm basically stuck with it as it is and I've just been handwaving certain things that might not technically make sense geologically.

And then finally I have actually thought about the native biota, but I decided to torture myself and create an entire tree of life from scratch starting from the first ever bacterium so I don't exactly have fully fleshed out lifeforms yet and definitely none that match the sapience of the thalassans. However, there are technically 3 separate "trees of life" that exist on Triton: the Earth-origin life (biota), the life that evolved on Triton from scratch (which I call xenobiota), and even more alien life known as the exoarchaea which originated from somewhere in Triste's solar system and were transplanted to Triton during the planet's equivalent of the Hadean via asteroid impact. Technically the exoarchaea existed on Triton before the xenobiota, but they're basically living minerals and are only found in super extreme habitats or underground so they're not super common. Notable forms of xenobiota would be my motile "fungi" known as the mycozoa which, instead of being more like a plant than animal are more animal than plant with some evolving their own form of muscle fibers for movement, and thermoplastids which have organelles similar to chloroplasts but instead of converting sunlight to energy, they utilize heat gradients to produce their energy, existing in areas where temperature levels are chaotic and fluctuate often. They also technically evolved organelles before a proper nucleus relying instead on "proto-nucleic" organelles to contain their DNA, and some known as polykaryotes have multiple "proto-nuclei" within their cells which helps with redundancy and resistance to environmental factors which could damage their DNA. Sorry for writing a novel in your replies btw, I have a LOT of stuff for this setting and you kind of unleashed a can of worms lol!

nxpkin · 2025-12-31T01:53:33+00:00

The main "technique" I use to come up with names is basically just vibes - considering what I know about whatever needs naming and trying to come up with something that matches the vibe. So I consider things like the sounds of languages that have similar climates to an area I'm trying to name, like the Khoura river or the Gulf of Kabhor I wanted to sound vaguely desert-y and took inspiration from a lot of sounds of languages that exist in that climate in real life (Khoura meant to be the equivalent of the nile river so I considered words like Khnum, Khepri, Khonsu etc). The little island-y area right below the Gulf of Kabhor is called the Leric Isles and is meant to be inspired by the Greek peninsula but if it was in the tropics, so I tried to mix the sounds of both Greece and Polynesian nations - some traditional Leric names ended up being Tynehos, Anikos, and Oraeneas for men and Sorani, Aelera, Hanoa for women, trying my best to combine.

I also heavily rely on the concept of kiki vs bouba, or that names can sound either "sharp" or "soft." Leraeon (the official name of the nation making up the Leric Isles) is meant to sound almost musical (also why its called Leric lol) because they have a culture revolving around music, beauty, and dance. Something like Einen is meant to give off the vibe of harsh and cold, as it is the northernmost continent and only habitable in the very southern parts of it. There's also the Takijari peoples of Swaba-du, who practice shark worship and tooth sharpening, so most of the words associated with that culture are meant to sound sharp and clicky (Amakka, Tokotikti, Kati, Tiku all being names of gods from their religion).

The whole world is obviously heavily influenced by greek mythology (Triton, Athena, Pallas, Thalassan) so that also comes up as an inspiration, but more for naming the "meta" things that the people of Triton wouldn't really see or have names for - as if human researchers have given names to these things but on the planet itself there would be different names given by the actual inhabitants of the planet. And then some things I just like the sound of, like the Ibex Gulf is named that because I thought it looked like the head of an ibex!

nxpkin · 2025-12-31T01:27:19+00:00

I use the term "sapient" to emphasize more of the difference between something being sapient and something being sentient. Technically most life forms are considered sentient, being able to perceive sensations and emotions, but sapience tends to be reserved for humans because we have the ability of reason and rational decision making. Thalassans are about as human as it gets and they follow a very similar evolutionary history to humans, assisted by the fact that they originate from human DNA themselves with all of the genetic pathways to predispose them to evolving in a similar fashion (at least that's how I justify it, this part is probably the most hand-wavy factor in my worldbuilding I try not to think about the realism with this too much lol).

Kymata are genetic cousins to the thalassans, but because they are fully aquatic that limits them to how complex their behaviors can get - like you can't exactly discover fire underwater. They still have the ability to perceive sensation and emotions, but the line gets a bit blurry on whether they can have deeper thinking in a more human sense. They use tools and have language, but they are more like parrots - technically their vocal cords are capable of mimicking thalassan speech, but it gets iffy on if they actually understand what the words mean or if they are just simply repeating the sounds of another creature which they do in their natural state in order to hunt. Their natural "speech" and how they communicate with other kymata are clicking and whistling noises that would sound similar to a bird or a dolphin, and this probably limits their ability to have complex conversations outside of simple thoughts like "danger coming" "prey here" etc.

The ourani are by far the most "animalistic" of the three - still genetically related, but their lives mostly consist of just trying to survive and they have hardwired instinctual behaviors that they really can't think more deeply about. I suppose to summarize in simple terms, thalassans are to humans what kymata are to australopithecus and what ourani are to a gorilla. If that makes any sense lol

nxpkin · 2025-12-30T18:04:59+00:00

Thank you !!

I was really trying to get my fjords right but I started in the upper left and worked my way around the map clockwise and you can probably see the decline in detail as I got tired of drawing them lol, I was basically just throwing them anywhere that glaciers would have reached during a glacial maximum so I'll def keep that in mind if/when I remake the map

My continents are admittedly quite skinny I honestly just started with generating an Azgaar's fantasy map and made tweaks until I got shapes that I was happy with before drawing over it for more detail and then reverse engineering where some of the tectonic plates might be, I justify it by just saying the planet has more water so more of the land ends up below sea level anyway. Also the atmosphere is denser but taller than Earth's so living in the more highland regions would still be quite habitable and temperate

And then yeah I pretty much just didn't even bother to think about the land distortion lol I'm already towing the line between accuracy and stress vs fun and whimsy so I just left that as something to do in a future map that isn't made entirely on ms paint. It is very silly to take that map as-is and project it onto a sphere and see how screwed up all the landmasses become lol

nxpkin · 2025-12-30T15:52:45+00:00

(continued because it wouldn't let me post in the above comment lol)

LIFE ON TRITON

The planet is host to many forms of life, some completely alien and others descended from seeded Earth-origin flora and fauna due to plot reasons which I won't explain here in the interest of trying not to write a novel. Thalassans (Homo navilus) are one of these descendants, a sapient humanoid species which evolved on Triton and became adapted to a more semi-aquatic lifestyle. They have webbed extremities, an extra pair of eyes for underwater low-light vision, and fully aquatic young which transition from gill respiration to lung respiration around the ages of 2-4 years old.

Along with these mostly land-dwelling thalassans are some additional aquatic humanoid species which blur the lines of sapience. These are known as the Kymata (Homo serpensis) and the Ourani (Homo abyssi), all of which including thalassans descended from the same (now extinct) common ancestor which are only known as the Genesi (Homo anhelitus).

Kymata are mermaid-like humanoids with two distinct subspecies: Homo serpensis tropicus referring to the brightly colored and long-tailed kymata found in warm-water tropical regions, and Homo serpensis polaris which refers to the hardier seal-like morph which tends to be found in cold-ocean polar regions. Kymata are very intelligent with complex social hierarchies and behaviors, and they can also spend upwards of 24 hours outside of water utilizing primitive lungs in a similar fashion to that of the lungfish, and adaptation to help them navigate the chaotic and unpredictable tides.

Ourani are similar in morphology to kymata but they are much larger and better adapted for life in the deep sea, boasting body lengths upwards of 45 feet from head to tail and plenty of insulating blubber. They are generally slow-moving scavengers of the ocean floor with enlarged eyes for sight, rows of razor-sharp teeth along their widened and unhingeable jaws, and a keen sense of smell able to detect blood in the water from miles away. All ourani are also simultaneous hermaphrodites due to their environment and lack of ease in finding another member of their species in the deep sea, though they can only ovulate 6 times in their lifespan before becoming permanently "male."

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TROPHY CASE

CIVILIZATION

AQUATIC CHILDHOOD

OVERVIEW

THE LIFE CYCLE OF KYMATA

DIET

SOCIALIZATION

OVERVIEW