A worldbuilding resource and general nerd zone focused on the topic of invented creatures as viewed through a scientific lens. Whether you’re a writer looking to turbo-charge your own fantastical fauna or you just want to explore the history of mythical creatures and a bit of basic speculative biology, read on!
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Medieval Bestiaries and Mythical Creatures: Unnatural History
Of all the literary forms in human history, the illuminated manuscripts of medieval Western Europe are among the most memorable. With their thick parchment, elaborate opening letters, and colorful and often strange illustrations, what’s not to love? Perhaps the most famous illuminated manuscripts were the great medieval bestiaries, curious tomes describing both natural history and…
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Some Blog Updates
Hey readers! This is just a quick update to let you guys know about some improvements I’ve been making to the blog. You may have noticed some recent additions to the front page – namely a few social media links (plus one to my author’s page on Amazon), a handy search bar, and a list…
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Griffon Gryphon: Fantasy Creature Naming Conventions
Before starting this blog, I spent several years working as either an educator or animal keeper at a few different zoos and aquariums. Shocker, I know. In that career, I learned all kinds of animal names: from the eighteen different species of penguin, to the impressive variety of names for a single skink species, to…
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Monstrous Monsters: Conflict and Natural Aggression
Open up any Dungeons and Dragons book about game monsters, and chances are good that you’ll end up on a page detailing either an evil entity out to ruin your day or a powerful and dangerous creature that may very well want to eat you. Even the less enemy-focused creatures have “stat blocks” detailing how…
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Let’s Make a Gryphon
For a while now, we’ve been discussing how various scientific principles tie into things like anatomy and ecology. And unless you’re new here, you’ve probably seen me throwing out suggestions for how to tie those topics into some of the classic fantastical beasts. I think by this point, we’ve discussed enough basics that we can…
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Massive Monsters and How to Sustain Them
Fantasy creatures come in all shapes. Some are basically existing animals but with special traits or abilities. Others are chimeric, with two or more species smashed together wholesale. And still others are completely bizarre monstrosities. They can be fishlike, insectoid, reptilian, mammalian, you name it. Many are very much like humans. But some fantastical traits…
- Announcements (2)
- Bygone Literature (1)
- Human Connections (3)
- Let's Make a Monster (1)
- Natural Behavior (2)
- Science Basics (4)
- Special Abilities (1)
- Square-Cube Law (3)
- Taxonomy (2)