Ok, here we go. I'd been wanting to do this for a while, but I didn't really know how to in a way that wouldn't become completely awkward and confusing. Now I've finally figured out something I think will work well and be clear and unambiguous.
What am I talking about, you ask? Well, let me refresh your memory.
I have a vague goal of making all the various animals [from Stablehand] completely open for anybody to use with no caveats, not even the all of... two? the CC-BY-SA I'm currently using for the story itself has. I figure, what's the use of creating a bunch of weird and colourful animals if other people can't reimagine, rework, and become them as fursonas or whatnot? It always disgusted me just a little that the term "mythical creature" had an expiration date on it, and while modern creators are making all these new and diverse species, our definition of "mythical creatures" remains small and boring since people in the modern era have had this idea implanted in them that they cannot create new mythical creatures, but only new intellectual property [...]. I say, let's change the definition of "mythical creature". Let's create some new open mythical creatures and start letting the modern world into it for once.
So, that's what I'm doing today. Releasing all the basic creature concepts under the CC0.
Why would I do this? Haven't I already made them libre?
Well... yes and no.
Yes, inasmuch as people are explicitly allowed to use them in absolutely anything, period, if they use the CC-BY-SA. No, inasmuch as it's still really ambiguous whether people are explicitly allowed to make things which are kiiinda my species and kiiiiinda not and whether they need to use the CC-BY-SA to do so.
So.... after thinking about this a whole lot, I finally decided the best option would be to make the species "public domain" so that there was absolutely no question about whether people were explicitly allowed to make things resembling them but not put them under the CC-BY-SA. The answer would simply be a resounding YES.
Now, the problem with that I'd been struggling with is that you aren't supposed to be able to copyright concepts for things, even though a lot of people and companies basically try to claim copyrights over characters and species anyway. The thing is, copyright is only supposed to protect "original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression", not ideas themselves.
So, as tempting as it might have been, I really couldn't just release the species under the CC0, because that would basically kind of backfire: far from my goal of "expanding the definition of 'mythical creature'", it would send a message to other people that I believe particular species and characters outside of the context of any specific work are copyrightable and what they are doing is okay, and it would probably not even work in ensuring other people could use my species if any legal expert looking at it were in their right mind.
So, instead of releasing the species as "public domain", I'm releasing all "fauna concept/design documents", so that there are specific fixed works involved. Here's my fancy and official "certificate" saying that:
To the extent possible under law,
TAKUMI
has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to
Stablehand fauna concept/design documents.
And just in case this post ever goes through any kind of weird trauma, I'll state that today's date is April 19, 2014.
As to what pictures "fauna design documents" actually refers to, I'm gonna put all of them in this archive.org collection. That should eliminate any and all ambiguity; if it's there, it's a fauna design document, and if it's not, either it's not, or I neglected to put it there for some reason, or some accident occurred. If you have any questions, ask me.
So, tl;dr: All the Stablehand species are essentially public domain now. You can use them. You don't have to think of them as "copyrighted" any more. You don't even have to use the CC-BY-SA. Just use the goshdarned things.
I hope that puts it in a way that's clear enough for everyone to understand.
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