THE SPECIES OF FISTBUMP THE SKY
INTRODUCTION #1: BIOLOGY
Hi, it’s nice to finally meet you.
Sorry to blunder in like this, but the historian’s currently busy writing the fourth chapter of The Fantastical Encyclopedia of the Imagined World of Fistbump the Sky, so I’ll be taking over for a while. Sir Shilta keeps complaining about “unnecessary explanations,” so I thought this might be the best opportunity to introduce the Fistbump the Sky species. Maybe then the historian will stop bringing it up.
A quick disclaimer before we begin:
I’ll do my best until the historian returns, but I’m not living on Fistbump the Sky anymore. I only work there now, and for very little pay, I might add. I was about six the first time I went visited and never got to see any of the events Sir Shilta keeps yapping about. I’m not as good with words, but as the artist, I can try and show you the things I’ve learned.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s begin.
CREATING A SPECIES
A long time before planet Earth was made, the Great Frog accidentally made a planet when he kneaded the first seeds of existence with baking ingredients. The seeds that survived were located in the world’s centre and sprouted into the first creatures. They were called the demigods, due to having their own powers, and later became full-fledged gods after the Great Frog taught them how to create life.
This technically makes the demigods the first species, but as far as I understand, being gods (or demigods) takes them out of the equation. Their biology doesn’t follow the species’ rules anyway, as they’re made of only one thing: seeds.
I asked Ag’s monks about this years ago. From what I understand, each generation of inhabitants is a separate species. Each is made by a demigod who adds a part of themselves (essentially seeds) with cake crust and baking ingredients. The crust comes from the planet, and the ingredients are taken from the bodies of the previous generations. It’s all an experiment to them. I know they’ve sometimes added other materials, like sunlight, or sometimes left out important ones, like their body parts. That’s probably why some of the species look so weird. From what the monks told me, if the wrong ratio of materials are used when making a generation, their bodies tend to fall apart or, at best, lack solidity.
If I had to compare their bodies to ours, then the seed their god’s body is made from creates their skeleton. The cake crust functions like their muscles, and the baking ingredient they were made from creates their ‘blood’ and outer layer, like skin or fur. I’m not entirely sure whether they have a normal soul like we do—I thought it was too rude to ask. I do know they have two cores, one made from their god’s seed, and the second is made from the baking ingredient unique to them.
An important thing to know is that they don’t have a stomach or intestines like we do. I’m also sure that none of them have genitalia or even a rectum. They don’t wear any clothes, so believe me, I would have seen something by now.
Instead, like plants, one of their limbs absorbs nutrients from the planet’s crust while another limb excretes the remains back into it. These are usually the limbs they walk on, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if there were exceptions to the rule.
It’s probably a bit confusing, but maybe this will help.
CREATING OFFSPRING
Despite their lack of genitalia, they’re perfectly capable of creating offspring. This took me a while to wrap my head around. Apparently, this is done by entangling the limbs used for absorption and excretion together. However, the inhabitant born from this… act is not considered a new species. Don’t ask why. They may have a different definition of species than we do. Either way, they only consider new versions of life to be a species if it was made by one of the gods.
There is one link, though.
Whether it’s one of the demigods who made a new creature, or the inhabitants themselves, all new life is born in the Birthing Grounds. I have no idea how the new ones go all the way to the island and then back to their territory once they’re born. I could ask the historian if you’re curious. Nobody is allowed on the island except for god Hip Hip and the Great Frog. Being the only human allowed on Fistbump the Sky doesn’t allow me to enter either. I did, however, manage to catch a glimpse of it this one time.
It was about ten years ago. I had to go collect some memories for Sir Shilta in Pendla, and had caught a ride on one of the flying houses to cross the central ocean. The captain was a really nice Codexan, who let me use their telescope. That’s when I spotted the island.
Describing the island is forbidden. Yet, what I can say is that there were flowers everywhere. According to their legends, new creatures are formed inside these flowers. These remain closed until the one inside decides they’re ready to join the world. It sounds ridiculous, but that would explain why so many of the new creatures are full-grown.
Death was so much easier to understand.
