Dave The Diver: On Aberrations

Dave the Diver: On Aberrations

Between a scattering of recently discovered islands rests a jewel of paradise, mystery, and a hint of exotic danger. The famous Blue Hole has found a name for itself among the most envied tourist destinations among the world, with a gorgeous view, thrills to experience, and rich natural resources… but on a day like this, the scene has become anything but recognizable as the bustling hub described. That is because a ponderous fog has decided to linger over the lagoon by the time my vessel reaches port.

Despite the warm weather, I could feel my hairs standing on end from the very moment the clouds had enveloped our ship. Aside from the occasional day like this, fog horns would usually be a rare sound to hear across the bay. Since the discovery of the area, vacationers have enjoyed a tropical climate punctuated by mild storms. It all paints a picture so drastically unlike the eerie one I have pursued to this end. By sunset, I know that the white mist outside will give way to a crimson haze. With it, begins the investigation into the unusual animals only spotted on previous fogged nights: What familiar aberrants have made their way to the region, what are they capable of, and to where they fit within the additional puzzle of Blue Hole’s astounding ecosystem.

The Fog Coast, Part One

The hour is roughly 10pm, and “Blue” Hole has turned to a sight otherworldly. Thick, red vapors and an eerie silence hang in place of what was a starlight sky over the whistles of dolphins a mere night ago. The locals claim that the lagoon is an inscrutable locale, whose underwater geography both hosts an impossible collection of species and undergoes rapid, unexplained changes every few hours. On a night of crimson fog, it has been made enigmatic even from the surface view. Rocks easily seen by daylight make sailing close to the shorelines a hazardous endeavor along a coast with no lighthouse or other navigational indicators. It is a coastal venture treacherous, but also rewarding, for much more hides under these waves than the rocks. A watery gyre is barely seen at the edge of shiplight, and at its core, I have heard there can be found treasures far more interesting than mere gold.

• Encyclopedia Entry No. 83, 84

[Testimony of a local fisherman]

“Now it’s not unusual for cod to happen up close to the shores at night. Obviously, I was hoping for it or I wouldn’t have been fishing in that stuff, but there was something else going on with these fish. Something not right. They weren’t taking to the bait, but they just kept coming up closer. Like they were trying best they could to get up on my ankles without getting stranded. Almost like they see someone standing on the beach and that’s all they’re interested in. Not that I let them, but they got close enough to tell something ugly about them. The only thing I managed to get hooked snapped my line before I could figure out what I was even looking at, other than big teeth and nasty looking eyes.“

Analysis: Our first descriptive cases of mutated cod corroborated with archived specimens from off the coast of Greater Marrow. Though there are instances where residents have managed to capture these codfish whole and live, no success has been found in attempting to keep them or any other mutated fish in captivity, due to their propensity to die shortly after they are harvested from the ocean. The two ‘flavors’ of tainted cod found here include the Fanged and Three-Headed variants, with no cases of hypertrophy. Their behavior has observed to feature heightened predatory behavior, to the point of stalking and testing large animals as oppurtunistic targets. They approach sluggishly at first, and lunge to close distances. They pose some hazard to swimmers, notably the unarmed, but can be reeled or netted as readily as any scrod. The three-headed cods are generally larger than the fanged variant, and both can be found close to the surface during a fog night.

• Encyclopedia Entry No. 79, 80

[We join the crew of a commercial trawler, company left unnamed to permit this revord of the onboard operations. As the ship coasts upon the outskirts of one of the smaller outcrops, fishermen gather at the fresh haul to do their work. Mackerel from all global ranges and climates incredulously line the deck of the vessel, meticulously sorted into an array of containers. One worker calls out as an unusual sight is plucked from the pile- a brown shiner with half a dozen too many eyes for an average fish. The bosun indicates for me a specific container the individual is packed into. What I find there is a collection of similar wretches, scales still twitching and mouths gasping wet with a shimmering fluid.]

“We don’t actually come across that many of them in the nets. One for about every hundred of the healthy ones. Their meat is considered tainted and has to be separated from the catch, but we aren’t allowed to return them to the environment either. They’ll stay on ice for now, later today they’ll be dropped off with a merchant who’s agreed to handle the… disposal.”

Analysis: In spite of the sheer diversity of mackerel to be seen at Blue Hole, these turned pacific mackerel are the only shared species between Greater Marrow and this living collection in such regard. Specifically, the Many-Eyed and Grotesque mackerels found in shallower coastal water. Like most aberrants, they are prone to agitation and exhibit territorial, if not predatory aggression at first contact. Like all aberrations, their blood runs a purple hue, and their sightings dry up once the fog has dissipated.

• Encyclopedia Entry No. 91, 92

[Shared anecdote from a lionfish diver]

“You have to really love a place like Blue Hole to do what I do. A lot of people don’t think of lionfish as an invasive species here, but they can do real damage to reefs where they’re not native, and ours are no exception. Worse still is that they’re far more aggressive here than anywhere else in the world, and not any less venomous. I thought if anyone was prepared to do a part in protecting local animals from these new pests, why not me? And yeah, I bagged a few. I speared things with a few too many eyes, a few too many heads, a few too many teeth. I found these great big ugly fish with no eyes at all that still would come right at you. And then I saw a… thing. The thing, Reason I don’t go night diving anymore. Came out of the dark like a ghost, black bones and green light. It didn’t look like something that should have even been real. I was lining a shot up and I felt like my arm had taken a lion’s barb. I didn’t even know what happened, that thing sparked, and I felt pure pain pulse through half of my body. Everything was panic after that. Panic to get back up and the hell out of the water. Fingers were still tingling almost until morning. All I know that I know is, I’m sticking to day hunting.”

Analysis: What’s to be expected was found in observation of the Tusked grouper. Despite their blindness, they show no hesitance to begin tracking and pursuing any nearby disturbance of water they sense. While their sole offensive boast is a strong mouth full of elongated teeth, the Voltaic variant wields a far less conventional weapon. When approached to a range of a couple of meters, it is capable of discharging a potent shock. Likely, this is utilized both as a defensive and hunting technique, similar to the currents produced by an electric eel. Similar accounts have attested to this stunning capability, reporting temporary paralytic effects from direct contact with the fish. Mechanism of this ability remains unknown. Especial caution recommended in presence of Voltaic grouper, not only for the risk of attack, but also from the drowning hazard posed by their stray arcs.

Nothing messes me up like knowing that magic absolutely exists in invader Zim and the only beings to capitalize on its potential are like a tiny handful of sapient primates on Earth. Demonic entities exist and sometimes pay visit to this plane… but only on Earth, as far as we know.?

But then, again, maybe I’m wrong and aliens absolutely do take use of magical forces, and just don’t make the categorical differentiation between the two concepts like we do. Kind of like how Star Wars is literally a high fantasy setting but it has the outward aesthetics of a futuristic sci-fi. Kind of also like how humans are comparatively primitive and ignorant compared to sum of their society’s knowledge. Maybe part of the difference was that they cracked powerful “natural” forces we aren’t even aware of yet. Vortian tech is not only hyper advanced, but actually does things technology should not ever be capable of under the limits of basic physics and universal laws, unless the “infinite power generating thingy” is not a literal concept and is more like a very efficient fusion reactor. The meekrob are still beings of pure unspecified energy, and the standard voot cruiser’s capabilities are far beyond what even Professor Membrane calculates should be possible for interstellar travel.

Spelldrives are fascinating to me in particular

In effect, there’s no practical difference between them and a dnd wizard’s scroll. They’re digitized magical tomes. I never thought about how cool of a concept that was until these babies came along. It’s good proof of concept regarding integrating advanced technology with what is absolutely and without question straight up sorcery. It also applies heavily that warlocks or mages or whatever they would call spell casters in IZ have persisted into the modern world, and have adapted to the current standards of media storage. But that also makes Dib’s collection and use of them extremely reckless because the show clearly conveys he has no idea how they actually work, he understands their powers about as well as I understand Minecraft enchantment tables, and he’s never gotten a moment to speak with one of their intended users. (Plot hook where a very pissed off technomancer finds the twerp who’s been playing with his dangerous af tools like they’re toys when?????)

Your last paragraph I believe encapsulates exactly what I think has been happening to Dib’s perception of magic, this sort of expectation and outcome conflict. The “spiritual” kind of paranormal is an especially difficult beast for him to try to tackle and tame, because by definition, magic does not follow conventional scientific understanding of the world. Aliens and Bigfoot and lake monsters are some things that mostly do. They’re material and grounded, just really damn good at hiding from average humans. Irken technology is something that operates in ways predictable and usable to anyone who can get a firm grasp on its machinations and counter its protections.

And I think Dib runs into a wall when he tries to deal with magic the same exact way. A wall that especially loves to burn him for his naivety and shows how sometimes he can be a lot like his father when it behaves as though it doesn’t want to be conveniently figured out. His disappointment with magic being a very unreliable and high-risk tool, and how it reflects his broader frustration with his whole hobby was the straw that broke the camel’s back in “Mopiness of Doom”, after all.

He also read a freaking pamphlet about Mortos and showed up entitled to a boon without much real respect for the entity, just “Now that I think I know the rules I can command this creature as a weapon that makes me look very badass, like it’s a freaking genie”. Turns out mystical stuff not only takes great offense at his abuse of it, but it’s way more capable of retaliating against an unworthy user than the Takship is. So, he’s probably going to still passively study it where-ever he can, but as far as what to bring to the field and gamble his life on, I wouldn’t blame him for sticking with more reliable methods and gizmos in the meanwhile.

New headcanon, in fact: A lot of Dib’s general misfortune and random events of the universe screwing over victory every time he’s in arm’s reach of it is all actually a karmic result of how thoroughly he’s attracted the spiteful attention of very annoyed higher beings.

Something I wish they did more was having Dib try to combat Zim using magic instead of science. He did try summoning a demon to steal his soul in Mortos and in Mopiness of Doom he attempts to use a talisman from a wizard store in the mall, (which led to him giving up on trying to defeat Zim altogether). But we never really got to see Zim actually try to grapple with magic being used against him.

Normally Zim's knowledge and resources dwarf's Dib's when it's a battle of science vs science, perhaps no better illustrated than in The Wettening. But Zim doesn't know dick about magic or the supernatural, so he'd be way out of his depth trying to combat Dib if he ever found something actually effective he could use against him. You could have Dib use a protection spell that prevents Zim from harming him, or a curse that makes Zim unable to lie, recruit a ghost to harass him in his own home, take control of him with a voodoo doll, or magically summon fire and shoot it out of his hands. Lots of possibilities to keep him on even footing with Zim as their conflicts escalate.

I kinda like the idea of Dib becoming a super powerful warlock who still somehow can't get anything done because of how overwhelmingly corrupt and ineffectual the world around him is and who's also still desperate for approval that he never receives despite how outrageously accomplished and OP he gets. In a way, becoming even more like Zim, who absolutely has the resources to destroy the world, but has no idea how to use them effectively and constantly wastes them on petty skoolyard bullshit.

Either that or everything Dib finds that he thinks he can weaponize against Zim always comes with a serious design flaw or drawback that makes it functionally as useless as the Megadoomer's cloaking device. He studies mystic lore, learns spells, and collects ancient relics, building up this huge knowledge base and arsenal that's almost entirely useless bullshit. Over time he becomes super jaded about magic not living up to the hype. Like, not so jaded he loses the curiosity and enchantment that keeps him pursuing paranormal investigation, but he definitely stops getting excited about the latest source of "untold power" he hears about and approaches the legends with a lot more skepticism about what it can actually do.

"Behold! The Irken Empire..."

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen

more stuff about becoming a god being inherently dehumanizing pls

Yknow with all the hype over easter eggs in invader zim i thought somebody would have mentioned the JTHM logo in "walk of doom".