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undercat.bsky.social
undercat
@undercat.bsky.social
78 followers 100 following 540 posts
elves, mostly. she/her. adult.
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undercat.bsky.social
Someday I'll come up with an OC for Elf Chomsky. In the meantime, have some Optimality Theory in Aman:

archiveofourown.org/works/279233...
Short and Sundry Stories - Chapter 18 - undercat - The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien [Archive of Our Own]
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
archiveofourown.org
November 15, 2025 at 4:36 PM
undercat.bsky.social
The other thing with this is that the versions of Quenya and Sindarin that we have are both as they are spoken in Third Age Western Middle-earth. I would never write the dialect of Sindarin the First Age Noldor used, because we *do not know* nearly enough about it to even guess at what's correct.
undercat.bsky.social undercat @undercat.bsky.social · 3h
Idk, Darth Fingon, when an author would ask if they should use Quenya or Sindarin, would answer "English." I feel more or less that way about the use of thee/thou in fic.
November 15, 2025 at 4:29 PM
undercat.bsky.social
I am a hypocrite here because I have literally written characters having a conversation in my conlang of Tolkien's conlangs and expected the reader to more or less understand it.
undercat.bsky.social undercat @undercat.bsky.social · 3h
(My own answer to the "Sindarin or Quenya" question is also "English" but it comes with the footnote of "consider Elven sociolinguistics and semantics!")
November 15, 2025 at 4:23 PM
undercat.bsky.social
One reason why bsky is nice for random Silm thoughts is that I can post things publicly here that I do want to talk/lecture about but where, if I posted them on tumblr, there'd be the strong possibility of hurting people's feelings. I like talking about writing choices! I don't like hurting feelings
November 15, 2025 at 4:22 PM
undercat.bsky.social
I wish I didn't have such a strong negative reaction to how the Silm fandom uses thee/thou. Another fic I was enjoying, but the frequent use of it takes me out every time. It's something that *breaks* immersion for me.
November 15, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Reposted by undercat
passionpeachy.bsky.social
cryptids
October 31, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Reposted by undercat
vandroidhelsing.bsky.social
talking about Beren and Lúthien next time on @bythebywater.bsky.social (and since it’s October I drew their scary forms)
Ink illustration of a gigantic bat flying above a gigantic wolf in a clearing at night, the moon high above
October 20, 2025 at 1:16 AM
undercat.bsky.social
Favorite sign today:
A protest sign that reads “Dictators - boil em mash em stick em in a stew!” Behind the person holding it is a frog.
October 19, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Reposted by undercat
undercat.bsky.social
There’s also the chaos option of marking long vowels by doubling the letter: don’t Findekaano and Findaraato look nice?

I very much support not using diareses, which are completely unnecessary and only a transliteration convention.
September 30, 2025 at 7:30 PM
undercat.bsky.social
OTW is a dysfunctional disaster, but I am beyond glad that AO3 exists and that (english fic-writing) fandom is no longer dependent on small ma'n'pa archives.
September 29, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Reposted by undercat
greenleejw.bsky.social
Something I've been drawing today. I woke up this morning with the thought of it in my head, and wanted to see if I could make it work.
Grayscale drawing made of abstract shapes and lines. It is a scene from "The Hobbit" in which Bard the the Bowman shoots his last arrow at Smaug, as the dragon ravages his town. This drawing shows the bowman's arm in the foreground, with the arrow nocked and pulled back. The arm, arrow and bow are in black. Beyond is a town, done in grey, resting on a pier above the water. The buildings are in flame. In the air above, in black again, is a dragon. There is a blank space in the hollow of his left breast.
September 29, 2025 at 12:44 AM
undercat.bsky.social
It's funny, the longer I've been in fandom and reading fanfic, the more I prefer using just the Silm names. If I ever wrote Age of the Trees fic (I won't), I'd 100% go with the characters' Sindarin names (for those that have Sindarin names, obviously I wouldn't Sindarinize, say, Anaire's name)
September 22, 2025 at 5:17 PM
undercat.bsky.social
I remain so fascinated by Eregion having a large Iathrin population (doriath diaspora?) and what you could do with that. Especially with the coup!
September 7, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Reposted by undercat
rachelignotofsky.bsky.social
Illustration of the Silurian Period based on fossils in Scotland.

The first animals to live on land were tiny arthropods, escaping predators and eating food in fields of cooksonia plants.

Art from my new book DINOSAURS preorder here: a.co/d/fGVwsX0

#sciart #paleoart #evolution #fossiladdict
August 23, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Reposted by undercat
eartharchives.bsky.social
A newly discovered Devonian trackway in Poland reveals lungfish ancestors testing land mobility 10 million years before the first known tetrapod traces.

phys.org/news/2025-08...

#fossils #paleontology
August 21, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Reposted by undercat
oliviawhen.com
Day 10: Dachshunds. An incredible commission I got to do recently, painting a card for 6 dachshunds' 10th birthday party. 🎂🎉
#doggust #doggust2025
A painting looking down at a six black (dark brown) and brown dachshunds in party hats. From top left to bottom right: Yellow hat dog (DJ) jumps at some bubbles. Red hat dog (Harley) looks looks up at a leaf. Blue hat dog (Blue) is sitting half inside a picnic basket eating a sandwich. Purple hat dog (Raya) is sitting and eyeing a pink birthday cake with 10 candles. Orange hat dog (Olive) is holding some yellow flowers in her mouth. Green hat dog (Autumn) is bringing in some colorful balloons. The scene is framed by lime green grass, and darker green foliage. There's confetti and bubbles scattered throughout.
August 11, 2025 at 2:43 AM
undercat.bsky.social
Stuck on the next chapter of fuck monastery and what C's punishment should entail. I set it up so it would involve a count of some sort, which worked for my initial idea (needleplay) but I'm not actually that into needleplay and don't really know how to write it.
August 10, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Reposted by undercat
cephalopodsdaily.bsky.social
Bigfin squids (genus Magnapinna) have a reputation for being these almost eldritch creatures because of some low resolution photos, but I think they are quite beautiful, spaghetti arms and all.
A bigfin squid (genus Magnapinna) swimming in the ocean. It is a pale pinkish white. It has large fins and extremely long arms. The arms have two sections, a short, thicker section, then a bend, then a much longer thinner section. Two limbs are going down deep, where the other limbs are kind of curvy and not going as far down. A photo of bigfin squid (genus Magnapinna) swimming in the ocean from below. It has large fins and extremely long arms. The arms have two sections, a short, thicker section, then a bend, then a much longer thinner section. It has a pale orange colour on its body, fins and upper arms, while the lower arms are white. A bigfin squid (genus Magnapinna) swimming in the ocean. It is a pale pinkish white. It has large fins and extremely long arms. The arms have two sections, a short, thicker section, then a bend, then a much longer thinner section. A close up of a bigfin squid (Magnapinna sp.). It has a relatively small head and mantle with large fins that go to the top edge of the image. Its arms are in two distinct part: a short thicker section close to the body, and long, thing section coming off of the shorter sections on an angle. The shorted section have two rows of small suckers. The squid is a light orange and peach colour, with the long thin part of the arms being lighter. Its mantle and fins are translucent.
August 9, 2025 at 4:29 PM
undercat.bsky.social
ffs, shipweeks are not the place for platonic gen content
August 9, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Reposted by undercat
weratedogs.com
We only rate dogs. This is the goth cousin of Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc. Please understand it's not just a phase, and only send dogs. Thank you… 12/10 (credit u/vincidelaunc)
a fluffy black orb like a soot sprite is sitting on a white floor. there’s a small crescent shape of white right in the middle, with a black round spot centered within it. at first glance, it has the appearance of a single eyeball floating in the middle of the void. at second glance, it still looks like that. but maybe on third examination, it’s clearer that the white is from a dog’s little snout, and the black in the middle is the dog’s nose, and any other distinguishing feature like eyes, ears, and paws are absorbed into the black void. an exceedingly fluffy black dog stands expectantly on the floor and looks up at a little kid in a high chair who presumably has snacks to share. the little bit of white on the dog’s nose and their pink tongue is the only interruption in the otherwise endless sea of darkness. but at least from this angle, they have a more defined body and tiny feet, so she’s a little less “orb” and a little more “dog.”
August 6, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Reposted by undercat
atane-is-here.bsky.social
Silvergifting week - Romance
August 5, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Reposted by undercat
willquinnart.bsky.social
Daily bunny no.3035 is out catching fireflies
A bunny catches fireflies in the night. There are a half-dozen fireflies surrounding him in a small clearing in a forest. The bunny has only a jar and a flashlight with him.
August 3, 2025 at 2:07 AM
undercat.bsky.social
Behold, new (old) fic. Includes a Shall These Bones Live outtake.

archiveofourown.org/works/279233...
Short and Sundry Stories - Chapter 1 - undercat - The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien [Archive of Our Own]
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
archiveofourown.org
August 2, 2025 at 8:09 PM
undercat.bsky.social
We don’t talk enough about how pretty Sarati is!
Sarati calligraphy - Sarati is one of the writing systems of middle-earth, in universe invented by rumil. Art by Karolina Stopa, from https://www.elvish.org/gwaith/rumilian.jpg
July 31, 2025 at 7:56 PM
undercat.bsky.social
Sometimes I think about how Maedhros giving Fingon the elessar as a wedding gift means that Fingon married Maedhros’s kid
July 31, 2025 at 7:42 PM