InCryptid Q&A, Part II: Cuckoo to you too.: seanan

InCryptid Q&A, Part II: Cuckoo to you too.

So remember when I said that I would answer ten questions about the InCryptid universe? Well, I'm still taking questions, but here's your second answer!

ashnistrike says...

"I'm going to deviate from all the Aeslin obsession above and admit to a cuckoo obsession (much less healthy). When I see something like this—a species that has almost all gone mad around their basic biological set-up—my assumption is that at one point they were more sane and adaptive, and something changed in their environment so that once-adaptive characteristics led to problems. And yes, I realize that they are still adaptive in the purely biological sense in spite of being sociopaths. But it still seems likely that they haven't always been that way. So, question—what's the original environment in which their parasitic telepathy evolved? What changed? Were they ever less completely destructive to their hosts? Symbiotic? Have they ended up, as parasites often do, in biological/telepathic arms races with other cryptid species?"

YAY I GET TO TALK ABOUT JOHRLAR YOU'RE ALL GOING TO BE SORRY!!!!

...ahem.

So the cuckoos are more properly called "Johrlac" (species name Johrlac psychidolos), and they are not from around here. I would call this a spoiler, since it hasn't come out in the series proper yet, but it's something that I talk about on panels, and it's something that anyone who's performed any sort of physiological examination of a cuckoo has probably guessed. Still, your personal perspective on spoilers may make this sensitive information, so I'm going to cut-tag.

mneme

February 14 2013, 20:00:51 UTC 4 years ago Edited: February 14 2013, 20:01:19 UTC

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Wow. And...this makes so much sense!

(edit) Also, it's completely terrifying.

seanan_mcguire

February 15 2013, 15:37:28 UTC 4 years ago

Yeah, that's true.

elialshadowpine

February 15 2013, 00:54:35 UTC 4 years ago

... this reminds me of a pin I had once, that I unfortunately lost: "Of course I'm out of my mind! It's dark and scary in there!"

(I also can't wait for the Sarah books.)

February 15 2013, 15:37:36 UTC 4 years ago

Hee.

thedragonweaver

February 15 2013, 04:42:02 UTC 4 years ago

Sweet. Inter-dimensionality gets to bring a whole new level of crazy in whenever you want.

February 15 2013, 15:37:43 UTC 4 years ago

Yup.

shiyiya

February 15 2013, 06:48:30 UTC 4 years ago

*shrieks in delight*

I just ran across an old blog entry the other day that was a list of things you weren't allowed to talk about at an interview and one of them was the evolution of the Johrlac and I was like WAIT BUT I WANT TO KNOW and now I do and eeeee! THISMAKESMESOHAPPYAAAAAA. You do amazing worldbuilding. I am in awe. And delight. I LOVE KNOWING ALL OF THE THINGS!

*dances around gleefully because INFORMATION!*

February 15 2013, 15:37:59 UTC 4 years ago

Information is awesome.

avhn

February 16 2013, 05:03:10 UTC 4 years ago

I'm pretty much the worst ever about leaving comments, but wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed reading this, and your other "ask me a question" posts. I don't have any good questions right now, but reading this got me out of a really bad mood the other day just by being so utterly fascinating. Basically: Thank you. You're awesome.

February 16 2013, 05:28:55 UTC 4 years ago

Aw, thank you!

You're awesome, too.

Deleted comment

February 19 2013, 16:15:37 UTC 4 years ago

I'm not taking big, complicated questions on this post, just small, straightforward ones; big questions need to go on the "I am collecting questions here" post.

In this case, I'm not telling. :) I'm very lax about certain spoilers, but I have to keep some things in reserve.

boobook_owl

February 21 2013, 15:25:34 UTC 4 years ago

This was awesome ! I just read Jim Hines' Libriomancer. In his world Johannesburg Gutenberg himself sealed off Feed so Kellis Amberlee couldn't get out and cause havoc. You're going to make him seal all your books, aren't you? :-)

February 21 2013, 16:17:07 UTC 4 years ago

Intelligent creatures can't be removed from books via libriomancy.

February 21 2013, 16:32:09 UTC 4 years ago

What about Lena and all those vampires? I'm just saying that if the world is taking over by psychopathic wasp creatures from another dimension, I'm blaming you :-)

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InCryptid Q&A, Part II: Cuckoo to you too.

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