Species Info

Introduction

Garden Grubs are a species of intelligent, anthropomorphic creatures based off of real life grubs from many insects! They walk and talk much like we do, and live in a world they lovingly call the Garden. All Grubs have mandibles under their cheeks, a segmented tail with tiny air holes called spiracles, and a special glass-like bowl on the end of their tail that they use to show off something meaningful to them~ Garden Grubs are closely tied to the world around them- depending on their diet and preferences, they can choose to develop traits that show off their personality, style, and likes! Living in harmony with nature is important to them, and they’re always working to protect and cherish the Garden they call home with a culture that celebrates individuality and creativity- with every Grub proud to show off the things that make them- well- them!

Anatomy/Minimums

There are a few things that make a Garden Grub well… a Garden Grub. These traits are present on all grubs and cannot be removed (and most, duplicated) with any items. At a minimum, here’s the things that make a Garden Grub a Garden Grub!

General Anatomy

These are the general aspects of their anatomy to consider!

• Body/Face

  Grubs are bipedal anthros!
  • Grubs have very short muzzles without visible nostrils.
  • Grubs are on average about 3 feet tall! But can go as low as 1 foot tall or as high as 5 feet tall!
  • Grubs are solely bipedal, only comfortable mobilizing upright.
  • Grubs are all the same sex! They are not born male/female but may choose to gender themselves!

• Legs

  Grubs may have many arms, but only two legs to stand on!
  • Grubs may not have more than 2 legs!
  • Grubs may have less than 2 legs due to disabilities or other life factors. Many opt to use prosthetics. These are not added by traits and cannot be used to skirt around other requirements.
  • Digitigrade legs are like the hind legs of most quadrupedal mammals, they cannot be partially plantigrade or fully plantigrade like humans!

• Paws

  Grubs have paws for hands and feet, often with pawpads shaped similarly to a dog or cat’s paws by default!
  • Grubs have 4 fingers (includes 1 thumb) and 4 toes by default.
  • With the Double Peets trait, they may have 2 fingers (and an optional thumb) and/or 2 toes!
  • They never have more than 4 fingers total on either their hands or feet!
  • They have claws by default, but these may be removed using trait items!

Specific Anatomy

The specific elements of a grub that are unique to them!

• Mandibles

  One of a grub’s defining traits is a single pair of mandibles under their cheeks!
  • While mandibles come in a variety of shapes and sizes, they must always be clearly visible and not hidden by accessories, fur, etc.
  • Mandibles must be symmetrical in shape and size. Scars, cracks, markings/colors, and other such design elements may be asymmetrical!

• Segemented Tail

  Past their Grubling stage, as grubs develop into adolescence and then into adult Grubs, they grow more segments, usually up to 5 not counting the tail bowl!
  • Grubs may not have more than 2 legs!
  • Grubs may have less than 2 legs due to disabilities or other life factors. Many opt to use prosthetics. These are not added by traits and cannot be used to skirt around other requirements.
  • Digitigrade legs are like the hind legs of most quadrupedal mammals, they cannot be partially plantigrade or fully plantigrade like humans!

• Bowl on Tail

  Another one of a grub’s defining traits, Grubs have a bowl on the end of their tail that often contains something special to them!
  • This bowl is usually on the end of the tail, unless using the integrated bowl trait
  • The tail bowl cannot be duplicated, even on grubs with duplicated tails!
  • Bowls always need some amount of empty space in them to be opened!

• Spiracles

  Spiracles are the little opening on each segment of the tail that allows grubs to breathe!
  • There MUST be 1 pair of spiracles per segment! No more, no less! See the spiracle guide!
  • By default, they are circular/oval and all the same color!
  • You may use traits to change their shape and/or have each spiracle be a different color.
  • Spiracles must always be a solid, closed shape in the middle of each segment.

Prohibited Anatomy

There are also certain things that grubs do not have, regardless of traits!

• No mammary structures (breasts/teats)

  While grubs share many traits with mammals, they are not mammals! Grubs may not include structures that function as, or closely mimic breasts, teats, or nipples.

• No nostrils/noses

  Like many insects, grubs breathe through their spiracles!, they do not have nasal openings!

• No human hands or feet

  Grubs always have paws of some kind! While there may be variation in how these paws look, they may not closely resemble human hands or feet!

• Not plantigrade or semi plantigrade

  Grubs are fully digitigrade!, once again, while there’s variation in appearance and walking style, Grubs do not have human-looking plantigrade legs!

• No extra Terrarium parts

  The only 2 terrarium parts that grubs have are their tail bowl, and, when using the terrarium mandibles trait, their mandibles!

Traits

A grub’s traits are the ultimate form of self expression in grub society. Grubs are a species that care very much about self expression, individuality and identity; hence the importance of their traits and how they appear, which make them all unique in their own special way!

A long time ago, early on in grub history, grubs discovered that their bodies can react and change in response to their diet, but only if they want it to. This led to lots of experimentation with food over the generations, and they found that these changes vary widely, and seem to be based heavily on the individual and what they like, feel and want. A lot of the time, these traits didn’t even serve a purpose, and were purely decorative. This relationship with nature and their diet is so deep, that grubs can inherit traits based on their parent’s diet before their eggs are laid.

With these discoveries, grubs recognized that things like expressing personal identity or showing appreciation become that much easier. Through their cuisine and the resulting traits that stemmed from them, grubs could show how much they loved the uniqueness of all the creatures around them as their own traits grew to mirror those of other creatures.

Diet

Grubs are omnivorous creatures, meaning they eat a wide variety of foods! Fish, bugs, leaves, meat, roots and much, much more are all on the menu! They eat such a wide variety of things that they even take the things other creatures won’t eat, resulting in a massive expansion of their culinary culture. If they can safely eat it, they probably do!

The culinary world of grubs is massive and theoretically as limitless as their diet, and yet through this all, grubs never seem to take more than they need. Grubs understand that they are part of an ecosystem just as much as every other living thing- some things are limited, rare, or difficult to get without hurting the friends they share the world with, and that’s ok! The world they inhabit is their home as much as it is everyone else’s; from the tiniest spider to the biggest trees! Because of it, grubs often refuse to modify, change or exploit the environment beyond what other animals may do to live. Anything they eat is always ethically farmed or foraged!

Life Cycle

Compared to most other creature’s life cycles, a grub’s can be pretty strange! At the beginning of a grub’s life, eggs are wrapped in special leaves and deposited into a patch of soil specifically chosen by the parents in an area set aside as a nursery. In these nurseries, many other grub eggs are encased, often alongside toys and gifts from their parents, and the temperature is closely monitored. After incubating in warmed soil for about 3 months, a grub is born!

Baby grubs (often called Grublings) are born with no limbs or segments and spend most of their young, vulnerable lives wriggling around in their patch for shelter and warmth. The egg they emerge from never truly separates from them, and as they grow their first set of limbs- their legs, it’s clear what the purpose of their egg’s translucent shell is- it becomes their tail bowl! With the appearance of their legs, grubs periodically emerge from the soil to be better cared for by their community, but soon comes their first segment- developing under the egg shell that will eventually become their tail bowl. As they grow in size, their mandibles better develop for adulthood, and their tail bowl goes from translucent to fully transparent.

Finally the day before they fully emerge from the soil, they develop arms, and their eyes open, letting them truly interact with everything they see. From this point, Grubs are fully cared for by their community, encouraged to explore and learn about their world. As they grow into adolescence and eventually adulthood, they continue to grow segments, in adulthood always having at least two for breathing, alongside their tail bowl!

Culture

At the depths of a grub’s soul is their love for self expression, diversity and the world around them. Everything in the world they inhabit is unique in some way, just like grubs themselves! After all, when everything is unique in its own way, nothing can ever replace it. That’s why little differences, whether it be the fuzz of a caterpillar or a nick in a pebble, mean so much to them. Small differences like that are what makes a grub a grub, so what would make other creatures so different? The differences found throughout the world is what is celebrated most in grub society. Through all of their differences, they are united because the one thing that they have in common with their world is all of the ways that they are different from one another.

Even with their love of individuality, grubs have another thing in common; they each use their resources very carefully. A huge part of why they put so much effort into preserving the environment is because when the environment is unhealthy, they are too. They want everyone to thrive and enjoy the world that they live and work in– not unlike weaving a spider’s web or a building beaver’s dam, just never enough to overindulge or conquer!

As for their bowls, these are a remnant of their life cycle, a piece of their shell that grew and hardened into the ends of their tail. Nobody is really sure why this happens, not even grubs! Over generations, they’ve found a lot of uses for their tail bowls as the ultimate form of self expression as a means of putting their favorite things on full display for the world. However, grubs have also been known to use their bowls to protect local fauna or floras that find themselves endangered. Sometimes, they even use their bowls to contain invasive species without harming them. Their bowls do seem to be used mainly for displaying and storing things, but the reality is that many grubs use their bowls to benefit and help other creatures, too!