Cone Art and Trench Art and Outsider Setting

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SaintofM
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Cone Art and Trench Art and Outsider Setting

Post by SaintofM »

Cone art is art done by soldiers on munitions and vehicles. Good examples are the cartoons characters or pinup girls on bombers in WW2, and the Shark Teeth/Tiger Teath on dog fighters in the same war and sometimes seen on the Wart Hog (the plain that was built around a giant gatling gun for air to ground support).

This has been around for a while. They have found polished stones used by slingers with things like Catch or the literary equivalent like a one finger salute. Even today you sometimes come across bombs people have written or drawn stuff on (I have saved somewhere on my computer one that has Grumpy cat on it, and another bomb that said "This is for making me miss Season 3 of Game of Thrones."

How would the different races view this or implement this?
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As for Trench Art, this is art made by soldiers, prisoners of war, or civilians due to armed conflict or the consequences of it. War is said to be 90% boredom interrupted periodically by 10% of pure terror. There was a model ship made from spent shells from cannons that was on an episode of Pawn Stars, and my Mom gave one of my brothers a lamp from a shell just like that. Wikipedia has a small statue of a woman made from these casings as well as a par of goblets to name a few examples, but the artwork does not need to be made from scrap or discarded ammo (anything could work).

What would some good examples in this setting be of that?
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Arioch
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Re: Cone Art and Trench Art and Outsider Setting

Post by Arioch »

In the Loroi tradition, customizations to uniform or vehicles are considered to represent a sort of medal or citation, and so can only be done with permission. Since they are a symbol of prestige, such markings tend not to be comical or frivolous. Examples in the comic are the crescent moon insignia on Moonglow's ship Tsunami, and the black Imperial Guard stripes on Ashrain's Black Razor.

Umiak ships are heavily customized by their crews, and that includes their paint jobs. They usually stick to an accepted theme of camouflage-like patterns, but they occasionally include symbols or writing. Most Umiak art combines abstract shapes with symbols or writing; they avoid direct representations of people. The subject matter tends to be either gung-ho slogans or more solemn existential symbology.

The Morat vessels will probably have some decorations that are more analogous to the Flying Tigers shark mouths. Those designs are still in-progress things.

As you go up the technology ladder, I think it becomes more problematic to tinker with your munitions. My impression is that though it's still popular in the US military to decorate iron bombs, as munitions get more expensive and more complicated, these customizations seem to diminish or disappear altogether, for understandable reasons. However, many Umiak munitions do have custom paint jobs. Ultra-tech small arms have less in the way of customizable detritus -- no shell casings, and power packs for energy weapons need to be either recharged or carefully recycled.

The Loroi warrior class isn't known for their craft skills (it's very "civilian"); they do style each others' hair and occasionally make hairpins and other jewelry, or customize traditional weapons. Umiak crafting tends to be more like sailor's scrimshaw than trench tinkering, making carved decorative items, musical instruments, woven items, etc.

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Urist
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Re: Cone Art and Trench Art and Outsider Setting

Post by Urist »

I definitely do like the idea of an Umiak cruiser with "To Deinar by Christmas National-day Celebration" scrawled across the hull. Makes for a nice distinction from the usual sci-fi default of "aliens that look like arthropods/'bugs' are borderline-eusocial at best and have no individual flavor."
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Re: Cone Art and Trench Art and Outsider Setting

Post by Quickdraw101 »

Arioch wrote:
Wed Oct 25, 2023 9:03 am
stripes on Ashrain's Black Razor.

Umiak ships are heavily customized by their crews,

The Loroi warrior class isn't known for their craft skills (it's very "civilian"); they do style each others' hair and occasionally make hairpins and other jewelry, or customize traditional weapons. Umiak crafting tends to be more like sailor's scrimshaw than trench tinkering, making carved decorative items, musical instruments, woven items, etc.
Man, its stuff like this that makes me think that whether in peace or war, Loroi warrior existence is really damn boring. With knowledge like this, it'd be hard to have even a simple conversation with them, assuming they can talk.

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Re: Cone Art and Trench Art and Outsider Setting

Post by Snoofman »

Quickdraw101 wrote:
Tue Dec 05, 2023 8:51 am
Arioch wrote:
Wed Oct 25, 2023 9:03 am
stripes on Ashrain's Black Razor.

Umiak ships are heavily customized by their crews,

The Loroi warrior class isn't known for their craft skills (it's very "civilian"); they do style each others' hair and occasionally make hairpins and other jewelry, or customize traditional weapons. Umiak crafting tends to be more like sailor's scrimshaw than trench tinkering, making carved decorative items, musical instruments, woven items, etc.
Man, its stuff like this that makes me think that whether in peace or war, Loroi warrior existence is really damn boring. With knowledge like this, it'd be hard to have even a simple conversation with them, assuming they can talk.
It’s okay. We can seek out conversation with the civilians instead. I’m sure they would have lots to talk about.

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Re: Cone Art and Trench Art and Outsider Setting

Post by Arioch »

Heh... because conversations about knitting or whittling are SO exciting...😜

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Urist
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Re: Cone Art and Trench Art and Outsider Setting

Post by Urist »

I don't know which mental image is funnier:

a veteran Teidar who *is* the Navy SEAL copypasta (Fireblade ^2) running a hand-made comb through her ankle-length hair that would put a Disney princess to shame,

or

a Hardtroop doing his level best to look like an intimidating vertebrate-bug-monster while wearing a bright-pink knitted cap that one of his ship-mates made as a gift.
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Re: Cone Art and Trench Art and Outsider Setting

Post by Arioch »

Hardtrooper knitting attachment: standard

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Re: Cone Art and Trench Art and Outsider Setting

Post by GeoModder »

Knitted by mandibles no less! :D
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SaintofM
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Re: Cone Art and Trench Art and Outsider Setting

Post by SaintofM »

Arioch wrote:
Tue Dec 05, 2023 11:19 pm
Hardtrooper knitting attachment: standard
If every Brittish Tank can have the equipment needed for making tea standard issue in every war since WW1 (yes, I know it was unitentionaly in the first one but thats what inspired it), then the Bugs can have their Knitting kits. Do they produce their own silk like spiders?

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Re: Cone Art and Trench Art and Outsider Setting

Post by Arioch »

SaintofM wrote:
Sat Dec 23, 2023 2:20 am
Arioch wrote:
Tue Dec 05, 2023 11:19 pm
Hardtrooper knitting attachment: standard
If every Brittish Tank can have the equipment needed for making tea standard issue in every war since WW1 (yes, I know it was unitentionaly in the first one but thats what inspired it), then the Bugs can have their Knitting kits. Do they produce their own silk like spiders?
I was joking; if Umiak wanted to knit, they could probably do it with their clawlike fingertips. I suppose they might have some version of knitting, but the textiles that I have in mind would be woven rather than knitted.

And no, Umiak don't produce their own silk-like fibers. They'll use animal, plant or synthetic fibers like we do.

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Re: Cone Art and Trench Art and Outsider Setting

Post by Demarquis »

Loroi hair.

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