Species of Monkeys
The monkey species of SGS share many common traits, but can still vary from what's typical for their species, especially in personality.
Default Monkey
Default monkeys are the monkeys that you see all over the Bloons series. They are the most common type of monkey by far. They don't have much of a preferred habitat, typical personality, or anything they all share - aside from loving bananas.
Fur color: dark caramel to bark-brown
Fur texture: usually short and flat, occasionally with cheek & tail tufts. Can be longhaired due to some rare mutations.
Eye color: brown, green, blue, gray, or amber
Markings: usually none, rarely darker spots or splotches
Height: 4'10 - 6'2 (average 5'7)
Tail length: 0.6x - 0.8x total height
Other distinct features: none
Culture & values: Very widespread, to the point of not having any collective values, or anything the majority have in common.
Fur colors
Druid Monkey
Druids are playful, friendly, and a bit feral. Many of them strongly prefer the depths of the jungle over the city, so there are often Druid settlements set up in the jungles around a city. Fresh fruit and nuts are a staple of Druid diet.
Fur color: light yellowish tan
Fur texture: Very fluffy and soft with a wiry undercoat to keep out jungle rain. Fur is especially long and fluffy on the cheeks, tail, and upper limbs.
Eye color: brown, green, blue, gray, amber, or red
Markings: occasionally, speckles, spots, or stripes, ranging from beige to auburn to brown.
Height: 4'6 - 7'10 (average 5'11)
Tail length: 0.6x - 1.1x total height
Other distinct features: Does not apply to Paladin Druids (those who took a ritual to become a Druid); becoming a Druid later in life only affects fur color and the capability to learn nature powers. Note that Heritage Druids (those who were born as Druids) are not born with nature powers, they have to train to learn them. See Druid Genetics for more info.
Culture & values: The Druids value tradition greatly, and a lot of them are also really religious. They believe that you can never try to reject the wildness that all monkeys lived by not too long ago. They also believe that being a little bit wild is necessary for all creatures; that no one and nothing can ever be truly domesticated, and that to try is to reject the very act of living itself. As per this, they tend to hate technology that they deem unnecessarily advanced, or that they feel takes the humanity out of things. (show ai "art" to a druid elder and you've got yourself an avatar of wrath lol)
Fur colors
Ice Monkey
Ice Monkeys are a mysterious and reclusive species of monkey, who tend to live in the mountains far north of Monkeyopolis - but some have wandered south to join the fight against the Bloons. They can be territorial at times, but most of them are kind and warm despite their shyness.
Fur color: pure white or pastel cool colors
Fur texture: very thick, soft, and fluffy, like freshly fallen snow
Eye color: blue or gray, sometimes soft purple
Markings: usually none. Sometimes has white patches and spots. Rarely, has darker rings of their main fur type, on the limbs or tail.
Height: 4'4 - 5'10 (average 5'1)
Tail length: 0.6x - 0.8x total height
Other distinct features: will be born with weak ice powers, needing to be trained in order to be useful in battle. Healthy body temperature is 92 degrees Fahrenheit. Ice monkey traits are genetically recessive.
Culture & values: (TBA)
Fur colors
Ignis Monkey
Ignis monkeys weren't just named for their fiery-looking fur. They are loud, adventurous, and rather hot-headed. They also love fish and swimming, and have an unusually high heat tolerance, having evolved in very hot tropical climates. The vast majority of Alchemists, middle-path Monkey Buccaneers, and middle-path Beast Handlers are Ignis monkeys.
Canonical examples include Gwendolin and Rosalia.
(Inspired by the Alchemist being orange in BTD6, based on my existing headcanons for how alchems and buccaneers are.)
Fur color: dark brown to orange to bright red
Fur texture: Coarse and wiry, but thin - dries and cools down very quickly, while also protecting from rain and sun.
Eye color: orange, purple, or green; vivid and intense
Markings: darker, lightning-like stripes are very common
Height: 4'7 - 5'8 (average 5'3)
Tail length: 0.5x - 0.7x total height, with 1-2% being stump-tailed
Other distinct features: webbed paws present in 10% of Ignis monkeys. Smaller, square ears, with around 15% able to flatten or close them. Ignis traits are genetically dominant.
Culture & values: (TBA)
Fur colors
Dusk Monkey
Dusk Monkeys all evolved from a group of Ice Monkeys who ran away from their troop a very long time ago. They are stealthy and highly intelligent, and some of them can be quite serious. They live anywhere from low mountains and caves, to thick forests and lakes - anywhere they can blend in with their surroundings.
Corvus is canonically a Dusk Monkey in this AU.
Fur color: stone gray to black, can also be purplish or blue-gray
Fur texture: softer and fluffier than default monkeys, but not by much
Eye color: blue, purple, or green
Markings: sometimes has lighter rings on tail or limbs. Can rarely have lighter stripes. Piebald markings are extremely rare but possible.
Height: 4'8 - 5'10 (average 5'6)
Tail length: 0.7x - 0.9x total height (needs better balance when sneaking around)
Other distinct features: slightly better night vision, has larger ears
Culture & values: (TBA)
Fur colors
Mermonkey
These mystical, amphibious monkeys were once considered cryptids, creatures of legend, and had to hide their existence to keep from being captured by terrestrial monkeys like some kind of mythical animal. But after a huge pod of them was encountered by a patrolling group of Monkey Subs, making their existence undeniable, they mostly live among the rest of the monkeys, and are no longer considered impossible. They have also joined the fight against the Bloons.
Fur color: any; usually very vivid cool colors or pink. Pastel colors are also much more common in Mermonkeys from icy climates and those with certain mutations. Mermonkeys from cold climates will tend to have paler and more blue & green coloring, whereas Mermonkeys from tropical climates will tend to be much more colorful and vibrant all over.
Fur texture: soft, thick, and silky, but flat.
Eye color: any. Black scleras indicate better night vision.
Markings: Large and colorful patches, stripes, spots, rings, bands, swirls, or pretty much any other marking formation out there, are fairly common. Markings can be any color but are often complimentary colors to the rest of the Mermonkey, and tend to match the color of scales and fins. (But there's no limit to how many different colors one Mermonkey can be.)
Height: 6'0 - 10'4 (average 7'0), fully extended, including tail
Tail length: accounts for 2/3 of total height
Other distinct features: Colorful horns, fins, claws, and scale-covered tail. Breathes both through lungs and gills, and can breathe either air or water indefinitely, however they will die if they become dehydrated. They need regular contact with water to remain properly hydrated. Most Mermonkeys are born with an affinity to one path (for example, Echosense capabilities can be passed down genetically), but they can choose any.
Culture & values: (TBA)
Most common fur colors (in comfortable/average climates)
Sunblood
These highly powerful monkeys are born to those who are especially close with the Sun God, often times with no prior Sunblood heritage. They all have powers in some way or another, but are born weak and have to train to unlock the full strength of their powers (or to contain them).
Canonical examples include Psi and Adora.
Fur color: bright golden orange to pure white; hair is always pale golden or white
Fur texture: softer but shorter than normal monkey fur
Eye color: golden, blue, red, or purple. Glows slightly.
Markings: intricate patches, rings, dots, or other geometric patterns on darker monkeys; lighter monkeys are often markingless
Height: 4'0 - 8'0 (average 5'7)
Tail length: 0.6x - 1.0x total height
Other distinct features: Sunblood powers are usually specific and not completely in their user's control. No two living Sunbloods anywhere will have the exact same powers, but there are types of powers that are more common. Most common are those who channel the light of the Sun directly; whether their light is a warmth or a blaze is up to chance alone.
Culture & values: (TBA)
Click here for an explanation of Sunblood genetics (it's complicated).
Sunblood traits are genetically recessive when being passed down. If a Sunblood is born to a non-Sunblood family, their Sunblood traits will overwrite whatever genetics they had before. If this happens in a Heritage Druid family, the Sunblood can then become a Druid through the normal ritual (they won't lose their Sunblood powers upon doing this). A Sunblood in a Druid family is considered a Sunblood and cannot pass down Druid traits, until they go through the ritual to become a Druid. If they do, they are genetically considered a Heritage Druid, and will pass down Druid traits and continue the generation count as normal. They can still pass down Sunblood powers, eye colors, markings, and other traits that are not overwritten by becoming a Druid.
Fur colors
