Northy

@friccinbirdthing.bsky.social

94 Followers 164 Following

Self-Sustaining Branding Crisis with goals ever-foiled by a Living Situation, vaguely fits the category of "artist." @northiesnudies.bsky.social for heavier NSFW+fetish, but 18+ here too, MDNI.

Tweet from The Aviationist. I'm sorry if screenreaders aren't working but I'm just back from therapy and am inundated with a thing that makes me need therapy and my frontal lobes are swelling. A "Bipartisan" bill is introduced into US Congress that would keep the A-10 in service until a "fully certified" replacement is operational. Which is the F-35. But nevermind that. They are calling this bill the "BRRRRT Act" because the very bottom of the barrel of our culture, all our dead jokes and gentrified memes, have crawled into the saddle and taken up the reigns of our society. The Aviationist itself in the article they link elaborates that the text is not public yet but it would involve an increase of a previous Congressionally mandated minimum of 103 A-10s to 126 of the things. I'm not sure exactly if this means that 23 need to be pulled out of the boneyard or if they're just raising the floor on how many of the decrepit airframes they won't let the service humanely euthanize, and most concerningly the ever-nebulous, ever-shifting goalpost of a "sufficient aircraft for CAS" isn't fully established. Given the title of the act, I'm fully expecting it to be "Has Funi Gun" and nothing else.
See alt text of previous. This profile view shows the cannon a bit better, tilted to the right side to accommodate the tail "spine" holding the head. Obviously this is all very rough in terms of proportions and joints but this should give an idea.
Starts off with a bipedal robot with two main arms, skirt-like extensions of the hip, and a pair of waist-mounted secondary limbs. The head flips back, with the apparent "spine" it's mounted to being revealed as a tail, as an abdominal plate holding the secondary limbs leans forwards. The chestpiece, with arms, begins to lean forwards on the load-bearing struts to follow it, as the secondary limbs act as forelegs, the skirt flips and extends into wing-legs, and the hindlegs shift to digitigrade posture. The primary arms fold in to act as a two-piece, snakelike lower jaw as a cannon, formerly slung over the shoulder, is thrust into place from behind between them under the chest-turned-cranium.
An Elf, sketched. Pointed ears, lanky build, and so on, but naturally I'm insane with spec bio. A long tail, with winglike extensions wrapping around, hangs behind the body. Muscles are centralized higher up on limbs by means of a system of keels, visible as external, bladelike horns across the body, including the sternum and sacrum. Arms are four-fingered and somewhat flattened, overall quite thin. The legs are a sort of digitigrade with a fused ankle, tapering into fine points without distinct toes. Elven skeletons are a complex intermeshing of pneumatized bone and cartilage, and many of their body's structures are reliant on the considerable elastic deformability and springiness of this composite structure rather than active muscular control, further reducing weight.
A primate-like beastman trotting forth with one fore and hind knuckle on the ground. In his left, raised arm, he holds a Nagamaki-like sword, with an extremely long blade and a grip that can accommodate two hands behind a knuckle-guard. His left leg carries a kite shield, having presumably passed it to that limb temporarily, raised over his back as if to protect specifically from an attack from that direction- likely propping himself up by the point of it, given this leaves his left unsupported. A long, prehensile tail holds a quiver of Plumbata-like darts, with fins folded down in a spiral pattern for storage. Membranes flow from his arms down to the relatively inflexible, proximal length of his tail- sufficient for some gliding, though through the design process this departed quite a bit from the real-life almost-flying almost-primate, the Colugo, and wound up quite draconic, with cartilaginous spurs supporting the membrane at the hand, elbow, and tail, leaving all twenty fingers free of the wing surface and the hind legs entirely unrestricted. Orangutan-like wispy hair covers his back, tail, arms, and scalp, ventral surfaces largely free of it. Head structure is relatively baboon-like, albeit with hints of the Orangutan facial disk along the temples- the upper lip is peeled back in display like a Gelada, revealing contrasting colors of darkened, ruggedized flesh more like a dog than the real thing with what would be more typical light flesh in-between, as his face expresses a mix of wild fury with a hint of curiosity or confusion in the direction he swings his blade towards.
Robotic humanoid with aggressive shaping implying both animalistic features and some degree of stealth-shaping. As with Echelon 3, Echelon 4 were an accidental offshoot of Echelon 2. Turns out a lot of the humans inducted into the Echelon program weren't entirely human. This all hit at once- Halfbreeds of Dragon and Jotunn ancestry tend to appear in tight concentrations, in a phenomenon known as Innsmouth Syndrome- and it wasn't recognized until many were under the knife. In an attempt to salvage the situation, the Alien factions running the program were forced to, sheepishly as ever, get in contact with their still-tensely allied counterparts for advisory oversight on how to proceed, as they had already crossed something of a medical point of no return. The resultant beings would operate as a heavy force within the Echelons, filling many niches vehicles do for other factions. Echelon 4 units retain a humanoid, doll-like form, but are able to utilize what is essentially a repurposed half-breed shapeshifting spell to materialize the larger vehicular form around themselves, serving at once as the "pilot" and power source via several levels of particularly wonky Echelon tech mixed with more than a bit of outright magic. With their true natures being inadvertently revealed, Echelon 4 individuals are known for embracing their arrogant, avaricious ancestries, and have a reputation for being at best grumpy, which is a little funny considering that in terms of hardware they're basically the result of a very fucked logistical situation that forced a half-militarized force to put backhoes on its fighter jets. Like get off your hoard of rivets that set off your "must grab shiny" instinct and back to lifting the I-Beams lizardlips we're on a schedule.
So named for a reputation of working as scrappers in the many slag-clad ship hulks in the Terran Exclusion Zone, Echelon 2's "Hulken" type are as resourceful as they are hard to stop. They're big ones, notably heavy for their size a lot of the time, and can be cumbersome and specialized- but, creative use of what assets they bring to bear can compensate for whatever weaknesses they have. See, they... Okay, look, you know blast jumping? Like in games? You know, the stupid tactic of throwing yourself around by catching yourself in your own weapon's blast radius? Yeah, they do that. They *do* that. They just DO that. It's something about their shields and the programmable warhead interacting to sort of directionally punt each other and... It's like that for everything. Relatively little guy without a big gun, doesn't throw a great punch? Well then he's gonna body check you at relativistic speed. Glass cannon? Well the rockets have proxy-fuses, hope you got something that can bypass that. They push their advantage to gain (often literal) momentum, and apply that from inventive angles to hide their weaknesses. They've got a deep pocket of big numbers, and can brute-force their way back to cleverness. Fuckers are smarter than they look and no one wants to admit it. Probably the most humility of the Echelons if we're gonna make a contest out of that...
Another Echelon 2 variant (and the first Echelon I came up with), Vainglories are... Well, it's in the name, and if not that, the rocket-powered platemail angel get-up. The fact that the Echelons hit full swing with something so show-offish definitely serves their PR. The Vainglories serve as the most direct Echelon 2 branch in a sense, using proven technology but generally demanding high performance, whether in combat or just running peaceful jobs. They value expediency, to say the least, and take a lot of pride in getting the job done fast without their work turning sloppy. They're built to work on the move, and watching them operate will treat you to an acrobatic display that they don't even seem to realize they're doing- but won't shut up about after the fact, for sure. Once put on a task, they seem to put a lot of pressure on themselves to impress. If it hits any sort of hitch, though, they can struggle to adapt, and are quick to cry fowl when outplayed. They're that special combination of clever and hard-headed, really. ...Also, this guy came out short, huh? Napoleon syndrome dollet wasn't my initial intention but it certainly fits.
Echelon 2 were follow-ons to Echelon 1. While Echelon 1 sort of put the idea of humans having a desire to lead on a pedestal, Echelon 2 would take a bit more of a nuanced approach to those who would admit they were less suited for that. Converted into cybernetic beings with enhanced strength, free of organic needs, easily repairable from damage that would be fatal to Humans, and highly configurable, Echelon 2 would give rise to Echelons 3 and 4 from unusual cases amongst its own specifications- Echelon 2 itself is broadly divided into three sub-groups. An odd one to start with, sure, but one I've drawn a bit less in the (increasingly distant agh) past and thus had on the brain getting back to them. Echelon 2's "Sleepers" are specced into all the bleeding edge stuff. Whether in combat or otherwise, they deal in electronics, interfacing to them with the shifting nanotech that makes up their bodies. Being the sneaky technician types they are, they're not much for conversation, but they play an important role. The adaptable foundations built into their very anatomy have encouraged them to push the boundaries of the already bizarre, hybrid techbase of the Echelons, allowing them to integrate, tweak, and promptly dispose of prototype equipment on the fly, and ensuring that every time you see one, they've probably got something new and exciting on their person... For better or worse. Well, even at their most crackpot, being able to melt into nanobot slush and hand-adjust semiconductors as easy as turning a screw is generally worth tolerating the occasional bout of mad science.
An Echelon 3 individual, a doll-like being with angular, metal horns, and mechanical detailing like thrusters. Between the horns, Bovine-like ears, clawed hands, and hoof-like peg-feet, there's clearly a bit of a daemon vibe to this one. He's also a snob. And a nerd. The Echelons as a whole were an effort by alien powers to make humans more suited to living off-world, as well as brute-force societal progress via a cultural hard-reset and reducing reliance on typical scarcity factors like food, shelter, what-have-you. Echelon 3 is a bit of a weird one to start at, but it's essentially what happens when you apply the transhuman processes involved there to someone who had latent magical ability- they're one of the smoothest integrations between fine machinery and the arcane that we've yet seen! Typically such attempts accelerate wear, and... Well, that's also the case here- to a much more manageable extent, mind you, but it's still always *something* with these ones. While they're quite formidable in the moment, the literal techno-wizardry is quite prone to breaking down and requires a lot of upkeep. This tends to keep them away from any frontline action, and they instead use their mix of abilities to further the sciences back at base. In an environment of mostly technology, being able to synthesize and control things via magic has opened up many exciting new avenues for research. Inversely, this combination of shock-and-awe power and a tendency not to be seen much away from their headquarters, not to mention a pretty snide and prideful attitude, give the impression to other factions that they're an elite force.
Mechanical Lamia Boy Looking All Shady, will spare you the lore for now.
Audire Quoting One Funny Bug Meme in elegant and fancy font: "You dumb fucking cretin, you fucking fool absolute fucking buffoon, you bumbling idiot. Fuck you." LEO Quoting Another Funny Bug Meme in sci-fi computers font: "one day you will have to answer for your actions and god may not be so merciful" Fun fact: work on this got split in half hard. I did Audire's linework mostly before losing a lot of time to draw, and LEO's after. There's a bit of a before/after rust comparison to be made there.
"[Conservativism needs] A world in which you will always need a gun, and to shoot somebody with it, instead of just lusting for both."
Metal Gear Ray Ahh F-35
Generic modern helmet design with integrated earpieces and flip-down night-vision goggles. Protection consists of a ~5mm thick woven aramid (did you know the name everyone calls aramid is copyrighted? you do now) exterior, over a plate of about 1-2mm hardened steel, and a cushion layer underneath. Pretty sure the steel layer isn't real but I put it in there for kicks and the thickness isn't absurd for personal armor.
"If only you knew how bad things really are."
Wings lean a bit more eagle/devil ray, and the front lobes acting as a "collar" to the jacket look are from the Manta side of the family, with a bit of Torpedo ray in the tail to boot- but stingers are preserved, in about the same position as on eagle rays and leveraged as another glowing spot for psy-powers. Legs basically become pelvic fins below the knees, which I like to think adds an ethereal aspect, maybe they'd have to levitate themselves to move out of water at all? also if it's not clear this isn't a terribly serious proposal i know i go a bit off the deep end with my kemonomimi designs lol
Cartridge details showed at bottom left, illustrating 10mm projectile diameter with tapered, necked case and slightly rebated rim, more like a stubby rifle round than pistols often are. This causes the magazine to form a curve, giving the user a recurved grip with the bore nominally lying quite close to the angle of the pointer finger and thumb. Gas-delayed blow-back design nominally allows for a barrel that doesn't need to tilt or rotate to unlock, and optics attached firmly to it for consistent accuracy. Rounds are extracted backwards out of the magazine which allows for a barrel that goes further back than it, with a telescoped bolt. Weapon would be cycled on loading with a non-reciprocating charging handle at the back, pulling on the bolt but not vice-versa. Nominally would be a single-action-only design and hammer fired but I didn't think to put the hammer in at this point- as you can tell, the gun is missing its... Gun, and this is mostly just to show the magazine, bolt, extractor, and barrel. When I get a bit more into this, I intend to find a way to lower the bore axis even further, obviously smooth the linework out a lot, give it an optics rail and a much longer barrel (handguns are crazy in this setting), and implement such glaringly missing mechanisms as the aforementioned hammer.
I'm not sure I can really do this word for word so I'll try my best to summarize as I really gotta be more consistent with this. So, bottom left are essentially design notes for what I'll for convenience dub an "unflavored" character. I've become very fond of this Harpy-like bodyplan and any sona that comes of this will be based on it. With this are just notes about posture, how her neck works, how her legs aren't optimized for walking and she's mostly a seabird, etc. Center row is a set of characters here summarized into different combinations of options of two slots. Slot 1, either a Vampire, Zombie, or Doll, each with their advantages and disadvantages- Vampires serve as nice allegory for bad stims and OCD but zombies and dolls offer an aesthetic edge, I think? Slot 2 is instead a sort of normal Harpy versus a long-running concept for a Sea Dragon type of ordeal. Right are the remaining four oddball shapeshifterish concepts.