Worldbuilding: A Cure for Happiness - Smoldering Tortoises

Worldbuilding: Smoldering Tortoises in A Cure for Happiness

This time, someone asked me about my smoldering tortoises from A Cure from Happiness, so here's my little worldbuilding post about them (from tumblr):

To be fair, there is something slightly terrifying about the smoldering tortoise, as adorable as it sounds in my head.

A smoldering tortoise is a tortoise with a cracked-ember-type shell. Basically, imagine something kind of like this but as a shell:

(Image from Pixabay.) I will draw it one day, but for now, I hope this will help you visualize what I’ve got in my brain for the smoldering tortoise! ^^

They’re really great at warming your house during the winter or colder days, so it’s nice to have them pop in and get used to your fireplace. They will likely not wander out of your fireplace if your create a good environment for them, but even if they do, it’s not particularly dangerous as long as you’re keeping an eye on what they’re up to. Wouldn’t want them to put your favourite blanket on fire or anything. They’re basically like walking heaters.

They like eating anything as long as it’s been burned. Accidentally burned a batch of cookies? Leave them in your fireplace. Need some nice snacks to feed your smoldering tortoise? Burn some sticks or an old shoe or something and throw it in there. They’re very easy to feed lol. You can pretty much toss anything into the fireplace, and when it’s burned enough, they’ll eat it.

Do not throw water on these little fellas (well, I say “little”…). They will be very angry with you, and you do not want an angry smoldering tortoise in your house when you are not fireproof. And they actually need fire to live, because they can die if their smolder ever stops smoldering (?), so they’ll need to take a fire bath every now and then in your fireplace (or wherever else there is fire.) When they do that, it makes very nice crackly noises and a bit of a smoky smell ^^

But here’s the (slightly terrifying) catch: it’s an interdimensional creature. In other words, it will pop in and out of existence, moving from one realm to the next. Little is known about interdimensional creatures, but they’re certainly not an uncommon occurrence, especially in the countryside. There is a theory that by making your fireplace as attractive as possible for them, they’ll create a sort of “anchor” that allows them to keep returning to your fireplace often. They will know that in that particular anchor, they will find a nice firebath and food and will often come back to visit. There is also a theory that they can smell/sense a fire burning at a specific area, even when they’re in another realm completely, and will travel to the place where the fire is. You just have to be careful that they don’t pop into existence and set something on fire by accident.

It’s not uncommon to find smoldering tortoises randomly hanging out in an area where a big fire has taken place. But little is known about their lives outside of how they are experienced in Brieuc’s realm. Do they have a home realm that they come from? What’s it like over there? What are the other realms like? Are there any other realms for them to visit? Mysteries, mysteries everywhere.

But they’re cute little potential arsonists.