>[!meta-dates] >- **Created:** 2025-07-24 >- **Last updated:** 2025-07-26 >- **Author:** TJ Trewin > [!info] > **This exploration is part of my fantasy worldbuilding development! Check out my latest progress on the project here:** > **[[Overview - start here]]** > > Or get your sneak peeks before anyone else by supporting me on Ko-fi: > https://ko-fi.com/tjtrewin/tiers 🥰 In my world's [[Yes-no list|yes-no list]], I mentioned that I really want to include bladed weapons - not just swords, but polearms, axes, and weird museum pieces that barely share the limelight compared to well-known designs. I also wanted to explore the possibility of having **no humans** in this world because I'm taking a [[Glossary#H|hard worldbuilding]] approach and it gives me a great opportunity to think hard and learn more about speculative evolution and creature design! Whilst my world is Earth-*like* in its habitability, it's unlikely that the same sequence of human evolution developed. Probably no humans, yes bladed weapons. So how can fantasy creatures hold stuff? There's also a lot more questions I want to explore in other notes relating to weapons (like: what's the specific purpose, who/what is it used against, how is it wielded/used, what's it made of, cultural influences, etc.) but that's for another note or two. ## Holding things Gonna start with nature and just braindump some stuff, I'll tidy up this note later! Hands / feet: - Mammalian hands / feet with two or more digits - Bird claws / talons - Hooked claws - Paws - Gecko-like pads - Hooves somehow? Mouth: limited head movements and impact on vision and vocalisation - jaws, size, opening, split jaw, - teeth, different types/directions/sizes - long tongue, or chameleon-like? - beak, different shapes/purposes - mandibles - proboscis? Limbs / other body parts: - ~~tentacles~~ - ~~trunk, nose, snout~~ - prehensile ~~tail~~/ appendage - wings? feathers somehow? - suction cups - velcro-like textures - antennae? - shell / carapace / chitin to lodge something in place - ~~flippers, fins, gills? how do they grip & manipulate?~~ - horns or antlers (what about shedding?) - hair? used like a whip that latches onto things to hurl them, or to form knots to carry - orifice/sphincter, not necessarily for digestive or reproductive purposes - pocket/pouch - just using the joints and connections between other limbs (knees, elbows, armpits, or two limbs touching together) - hooks/spines/spikes - specialised scales to lodge/hold something in place - held between bones - roots, branches, vines, or other plant-like features Tools / other: - prosthetic - static - magnetism - slime / stickiness - tool / knots - symbiotic relationship with some other thing that does the holding/using of items? but then how does *that* species know how to use it? unless it's under some kind of mind-control? - magical manipulation / divine intervention - suction, inhale/exhale - vocal/sound manipulation? - local manipulation of pressure/air/water ## Dexterity - Digits - Opposable thumbs - joints - flexibility - muscles - tendons ## Evolutionary purpose