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Worldbuilding June

WBJ 2020 Prompts

kyeugh

you gotta feel your lines
Staff
Pronouns
she/her
Partners
  1. farfetchd-galar
  2. gfetchd-kyeugh
  3. onion-san
  4. farfetchd
1590905153749.png
hey folks it's that time again! the worldbuilding june tumblr recently posted a new set of prompts for the year, so i figured i'd bump this thread back to life. are any of you guys planning on participating this year? i'm still all cooped up in the house, so i'm excited to have a fairly directed outlet like this! here's the list of prompts for your convenience:
  1. Tell us about your world.
  2. What’s the Geography of your world?
  3. Who lives in your world?
  4. What’s its history? (How did it come to be?)
  5. What sorts of civilizations and architecture fill your world?
  6. How does gender & sexuality work in your world?
  7. How does the economy work in your world?
  8. Who rules in your world?
  9. What religion and cosmology exists in your world?
  10. What traditions are observed in your world?
  11. What’s language like in your world?
  12. What fauna inhabit your world?
  13. What flora covers your world?
  14. What do people eat in your world?
  15. What technology is used in your world?
  16. What magic exists in your world?
  17. What’s medicine and healthcare like in your world?
  18. What is clothing and fashion like in your world?
  19. How are wars fought in your world?
  20. What sorts of weapons & armor are used in your world?
  21. What do people do for work in your world?
  22. What do people do for fun in your world?
  23. What’s the sky like in your world?
  24. What places are still unexplored in your world?
  25. What do people carry with them on a daily basis in your world?
  26. What sorts of art exist in your world?
  27. How do people get around in your world?
  28. Who’s important in your world?
  29. How do people communicate with each other in your world?
  30. What is the cycle of life and death in your world?
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
Episode 1

Heyo! I'll just recap what I said in the "trailer": The Iggyverse is a high fantasy setting designed for my dragon protagonist (or prodragonist) Iggy and his companions. It's a fairly typical high fantasy setting because I like it better that way and can make jokes about it, but I'm trying to make things more interesting, less problematic, and a shitton more neurodivergent and queer. It's been kind of growing and evolving from something more meager that I came up with when I was 15 and have been slowly improving ever since, and this is the first time I've used a world way over a year old for a Worldbuilding June. As a result I am simultaneously very excited and very nervous. But! The old Worlbuilding June Wringer will be good for it, so let's get to it!

(Oh by the way. From day 2 onward I'm bringing The World Wanderer from my first year back to handle in-universe stuff. Meta commentary will still be handled by little old me.)
 

kyeugh

you gotta feel your lines
Staff
Pronouns
she/her
Partners
  1. farfetchd-galar
  2. gfetchd-kyeugh
  3. onion-san
  4. farfetchd
well, i'm doing the same thing as last time, so if you followed along last year or have listened to me ramble about my worldbuilding project before, some of this should be familiar to you! :D i have made some pretty heavy revisions over the last twelve months, though, and i'm hoping these prompts draw even more out of me, so there should be some fun new stuff... just looking over the prompts list, i think a lot of the major points here have changed markedly, so that should be fun! in the case of unchanged stuff, i will probably end up deferring to older posts in order to avoid duplication of effort, or boring my no doubt massive pool of dedicated fans. :D so with that said...

Day 1: Tell us about your world.
my world is called Auspice (name change! name change!). it was formerly called Kralle, german for claw (but more specifically it translates to talon, most of the time). as you might have surmised from the connection between those two words, my world is about... birds!!! more specifically, my world imagines a planet used as a bird sanctuary by an alien race called the Numenites, left alone to evolve for millions of years following the collapse of the empire that governed it. in that time, the birds evolved to fill every imaginable niche, resulting in a highly diverse but fairly uniformly fluffy biosphere. :p my definition of "bird" here is somewhat broader than usual; i include all theropod dinosaurs, as these too were included in the ancient alien menagerie.

there are some humans on this world, too—some that were used as slaves by the empire before its collapse, and some that arrived millions of years later through re-activated portals devised by the numenites for interplanetary travel. the story follows some such humans, and it follows birds as well, but in particular it centers on the relationships between the two, and a strange, intimate bond that humans and birds can share called Peerage.

i've been working on this world on and off for probably... seven years now? it's gone through some pretty significant changes since its early days as an attack on titan ripoff wherein humans lived underground hiding from berserk birds, and it has evolved quite a lot over time into this...! i've been taking a bit of a break so i'm excited to get back into working on it this month!
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
2. What’s the Geography of your world?

I am the World Wanderer. One world I take great joy in visiting time and time again is the one known as Klidi, so called for an ancient word meaning "home." Its scattered continents belie lush, bountiful biomes full of life, both familiar and unfamiliar. The space between continents and the massive ocean make sea travel slightly difficult, but the locals manage anyway.

(Okay, uh, pretty much any attempt to make a map of this place has been lost to the Shadow Realm, but like. Look up a map of Late Devonian Earth, split up and re-arrange the continents a bit, and presto.)

(...I really need to comm a map of the world or something)

(I'm not sure how geologically old it is? The initial baseline was "as old as Earth for Plot Reasons" but I'm reconsidering the fine details of that. Though that's more for Day 4.)
 

kyeugh

you gotta feel your lines
Staff
Pronouns
she/her
Partners
  1. farfetchd-galar
  2. gfetchd-kyeugh
  3. onion-san
  4. farfetchd
Day 2: What's the geography of your world?
wahoo, an excuse to Post Map! here is an interactive version of my working map of auspice, complete with some cute little pins! i'll post some images of the maps below as well:
503428020d7f24526061e43f1f0e0dc8.png
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this map doesn't cover all of auspice—there may be additional islands and such on the other side of the world—but it does cover auspice as it's known to the characters. auspice's landmass is concentrated on this supercontinent, so the map does cover most of the world's significant geography. auspice spins retrograde, and is host to a colossal panthalassic ocean that keeps the world running hotter and moister than our own on average. (shoutout to unrepentantAuthor for their help in sorting all this out!)

the story takes place across these two continents: dry and desolate senia to the north (red/pink/grey on the political map), moist and forested frith to the south (green/orange on the political map). they collide at the subcontinent of deren, a the temperate, swampy, highly mountainous chokepoint (painted yellow on the political map).

senia is the cradle of civilization on auspice, and was in ancient times a highly fertile region, though it has become nonarable desert over the last several hundred years due to the harmful effects of the harnessing of the qahn (more on this in a later post). it is the ethnic homeland of the sifa people, as well as a number of coastal mvzge tribes. a minority of the sifa people still practice the sedentary qahnic religion and ritually wander the vast desert that once made up the heartland of civilization on the continent; now all that remains are ruins and sacred roads as old as time. to the north of the desert is a virtually uninhabited tundra (painted grey), where penguins the size of two men run free. the majority of the sife have settled into a highly diverse collection of citystates on the continent's archipelago (painted pink), southwest of the desert. this region has a pleasant mediterranean climate.

the continent of frith is mostly covered in dense rainforest—most of the area painted green is a huge jungle called the Sagewood, which has seen little human exploration but is home to a species of sapient birds simply called the wisebirds. the northern head of frith, painted orange on the map, was a mountainous area in time immemorial but has since been weathered away into gently sloping hills and dry plans and savannas sliced through with rivers, with some taiga to the far north. this area, called the frithian lowlands, the giantsrealm, or simply the lowlands, is home to a colossal subspecies of human covered in shaggy fur. this land is highly fertile and hospitable, but guarded fiercely by the giants.

deren is a small subcontinent being subducted by both the senian and frithian plates, and as a result is home to a chain of very young, very tall, ever-growing mountains. runoff from these mountains collects in the middle of the continent, creating a highly marshy environment home to giant, marsh-dwelling creatures called swamp drakes. these mountains are inhabited by the derrish race, a feudal group of people who arrived on auspice through an ancient numenite portal only within the last several thousand years. the temperate, mountainous environment of the area somewhat resembles their homeland.

finally, the isle of ash (painted white) is an uninhabited island between the lowlands and the sefian desert. its climate is intensely frigid, and the landmass is surrounded in ice, restricting travel around it. the island's extreme climate appears to be somewhat of an anomaly; there doesn't seem to be any apparent cause for its consistently low temperature and persistent blizzards, but the very inhospitality of the island by its nature makes the matter difficult to investigate.

um, that is a ton of text for something that doesn't even end up being super descriptive and isn't particularly interesting to most people, so i will cut it off here.
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
3. Who lives in your world?

The diversity of sapient species living on Klidi is astounding. They come in all shapes and sizes, forms and functions, some very familiar and others very not. It gives me great sadness to do so, but I had to narrow down which I covered here.

(No really. I uh, have written down a lot of sapient species/race/whatever notes for this world, so for this entry not to be an utter nightmare for me to write down without copy pasting old notes, I had to be picky. They have been divided into "familiar" (basic shit pretty much every fantasy setting has only here because I like them) and "unfamiliar" (stuff I got a little more creative with). Also there is no "alignment", especially fixed alignment. Any of these fuckers can be just as good or evil as any other, privilege aside. Anyhoo...)

(The Familiar:)

(Humans)

Ah yes, the classic, the hardy, humanity. There is not much different to them that is not seen in other timelines, but they are the most populous of what the world calls "hnau" or "people." They are no better or worse than things than the others and are highly reliable.

(Ah yes, hyoo mans. I do not need to go into them much for there was a human inside you all along.)

(Molivites)

These sturdy burrowers have been seen in other worlds under different names. They do not dig out of greed, but out of hunger for minerals. Their food causes their hair and bones to be metallic, and gems to sprout from their skin. They like to be left alone, but their culture prioritizes the masculine.

(It should be obvious these are dorfs by a different name. The only reason they aren't called dorfs here is because it makes no-in-universe sense for these particular dorfs to define themselves by their height compared to hyoomans.)

(Elves)

These pointy eared people intertwine flesh with crystals and plants. Crystal leafy branches and lichen grow from them, enhancing both their lifespan and magical ability. While stereotyped as living in forests, they will live anywhere without too harsh of winters.

(one of my goals with these fucks was to make them just... people. Not snootily arrogant or snootily arrogant AND EVIL or eternally screwed over for their misdeeds but just... people. And also weird crystal plant hybrids because that shit is my jam.)

(Vampires)

Monochrome-skinned people who feed on blood. Most feed on animal blood, but some more privileged aristocratic societies have cabals based on eating the blood of peoplekind. Sunlight is not inherently lethal but is extremely painful to be directly exposed to so most live in caves or deep dark forests where the sun doesn't reach the ground.

(Fun fact vampires here are an outright species, not an infection of other species, intended to fill the same niche "dark elves" do in other settings. Also yes the nobles are the ones who are the actual maneaters for obvious reasons.)

(Fire Dragons)

There are multiple types of dragon on Klidi, but one of the most familiar is the Fire Dragon. Archosaurs with four legs, two wings, sets of three cheek spikes, and horns. Named for their ability to breathe fire and strong control of fire magic. They are painted by bigots as dangerous monsters, and so most fire dragons hide away.

(Dergs. Love them. Cherish them. Accept them into your heart. Forfeit all mortal possessions to the- wait)

(The Unfamiliar:)

(Gorgomen)

Strange beings that resemble prehistoric mammal-like creatures and are the result of an incident with the time-space continuum on Klidi. They subsist largely by hunting, but are dedicated farmers as well, and stereotypes about them being a warrior race are grossly incorrect. Just don't call them lizards.

(Do you know what gorgonopsids are? They're my favorite obscure prehistoric creature! So fuck it I'm putting gorgonopsid people in my fantasy setting.)

(Barb Cats)

These cat-like humanoids resemble snow leopards in all but their tails, which are barbed and scorpion-like in "males" (known as manticores) and sleek and snakelike in "females" (known as sphinxes). This sexual dimorphism has been heavily influential on ideals of gender in their society, mostly for the worse.

(I am not sure what convinced me to merge sphinxes and manticores into one, sapient species except that possibly I'm a furry.)

(Dragon Whales)

One of the other sapient dragon species in Klidi. Massive marine reptiles, they live underwater, communicate with others by telepathy, and manipulate objects with telekinesis. They mostly interact with other water-dwelling sapient species, but are not opposed to communication with those on the surface.

(-marge simpson voice- I just thought they'd be neat)

(Satyrs)

Humanoid goats, frequently short, with dexterous front hooves for grasping things. They eat pretty much anything and get along pretty much everywhere.

(the decision to overhaul satyrs/fauns into full-on goat people also has no explanation other than possibly the fact i'm a furry. Similarly to vampires they're intended to fill the role hobbits/haflings/kender/etc fill in other fantasy settings)

(Pixies)

Superficially, pretty, sparkly, glamorous fey, they are in fact dragonfly-like humanoids with advanced illusion powers. They create an air of "fair folk" to drive others away, so they can live in peace.

(I wanted to have evil eldritch fair folk types without them being actually that evil, so there you go)

(Other:)

(Luminoria and Umbratics)

Two groups of beings, one of light, one of darkness, that are subspecies of one known as the Celestials. They start life in a larval stage that metamorphosizes into a shapeshifting adult state that cannot die, just be reduced to a "core." They live in their own parallel dimensions to Klidi, but often visit there and influence its history, for good and for ill.

(Basically the substitute for angels and demons. Also yes my username is derived partly from the Umbratics.)
 

kyeugh

you gotta feel your lines
Staff
Pronouns
she/her
Partners
  1. farfetchd-galar
  2. gfetchd-kyeugh
  3. onion-san
  4. farfetchd
Day 3: Who lives in your world?
for the sake of simplicity i'm going to restrict my answer here to the people who live on auspice—if i start including the bird societies, too, it becomes a bit much to handle in a single post. :p (even if you don't feel like reading all this stuff, click the spoilers for some cool art!)

the first ones

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the longest continuous inhabitants of auspice are the giants, also known as the First Ones, who occupy the frithian lowlands. the giants evolved from the first humans on auspice, brought to the planet to serve as slaves for the numenites who visited the planet or oversaw its maintenance. following the fall of the numeni empire, the slaves were left to their own devices, and quickly settled the lowlands surrounding the main numenite outpost on the planet. (humans stationed at other posts around the world were fewer and further between, so most of them died in the several million years following the fall.)

the soil of the lowlands is infertile, so these humans never experienced the agricultural revolution that kicked off civilization in our world. they spent their lives in patriarchical bands that foraged and hunted for their food, and over the millennia, their bodies began to change to suit their new lifestyles and environment. their bodies grew remarkably—tall to see over the hills where predators and prey might lay and to better endure the great flash floods and mudslides that racked the valleys during heavy rain; wide and stocky to better withstand the unforgiving winters and constant exposure to the elements. they experienced other curious changes as well: their bodies grew shaggy, coarse hair to keep them warm, and they re-gained the ability to digest cellulose (a power lost among modern humans but retained by our closest evolutionary relatives), enabling them to eat more of the limited plants available to them in their environment.

perhaps surprisingly, giant society has not changed significantly in this time. their bands are small, dynamic and constantly adjusting, and a given area of land can only support a small number of giants, thus precluding urbanization. only in recent times have small settlements begun to arise on the northern coast of the lowlands, to facilitate limited trading with derrish merchants. this is no knock on the culture and society of the first ones, however; their handiwork (in particular their wood/stone carving and jewelry production) is world-renowned, and they have erected mighty monuments as a testament to their strength. though the derrish might scorn their ostensibly primitive ways, the giants have held their own against the warbirds and steel of the kingdom for thousands of years...

the sifa
a18a808f361551702c542aa3dc9644bb.png
the sifa were the first humans to colonize auspice from off-world by activating an ancient numeni portal. arriving in the sagewood of frith, they quickly migrated upward, through the derrish mountains which they considered inhospitable and into the fertile plains of senia. the region's bountiful soil left the sifa with little to want, but there was a single, if glaring, caveat: the region was subject to sudden and intensely violent sandstorms called "qahns" that decimated every living thing over which they swept. obviously this made settling the region rather difficult for a time, and the sifa people were driven to the brink of extinction before—according to legend—a prophet named yonas spoke with a mountain drake (now considered sacred in the sifa religion) and learned that the qahn can be tamed if offered the blood of a freshly slaughtered sandfowl. this revelation founded the yonian religion, which served as the cornerstone of sifa civilization for centuries and formed the basis of their nomadic lifestyle. not all of the sifa wandered, of course—some settled to the south, in the fertile lands bordering derriland or in the peninsulas and islands to the southwest of the desert. these sedentary sifa formed a variety of independent and idelogically diverse city states with a highly developed mercantile economy and a powerful navy. sifa universities continue to serve as places of prestige for up-and-coming derrish nobles.

the mvzge
fishers.png
the mvzge people, or marshlanders, are the native people of the derrish mountains and surrounding regions. they are a culturally diverse group closely related to the sifa who mostly exist in unaffiliated sustenance communities along the coasts and rivers. nearby tribes might collate into loose federations called clans that trade their young for apprenticeships between tribes, engage in internal flower wars, or arrange inter-tribal marriages. infighting among the mvzge is common but not particularly malicious or violent; tribes observe certain etiquette in combat that keep the fighting just and honorable in their eyes; that said, they dislike fighting with outsider cultures (such as the sifa and derrish) and prefer to live in relatively self-imposed isolation. when the derrish people arrived, they forced the mvzge outside of the bounds of the derrish mountains, and the mvzge largely obliged without resistance in order to avoid dishonorable combat (not to mention the rather intimidating weapons of the derrish knights). the mvzge practice limited agriculture but have a rich fishing culture, and are well-respected by sifa academics for their prowess with natural medicine. their unique stance on gender and sexuality is well-known, if poorly understood.
the derrish
the derrish are the "empire" of auspice, so to speak. relative newcomers to the world of auspice, they arrived on the world with an already solidly developed worldview. not long at all after arriving on auspice, they settled in the derrish mountains (familiar to them due to the mountainousness of their homeland), ejected the native people forcibly, and assumed the local name for the mountains for their newly formed kingdom. within a few hundred years they had castles erected on the derrish peaks and a relatively stable feudal pecking order established; they pushed their political boundaries further by engaging in skirmishes with the sifa and the giants, just to test their limits. derrish supremacy is virtually unchallenged thus far in the land they've claimed, but trouble brews on the horizon as their self-proclaimed borders approach the sifa, and as the dwindling mvzge people grow increasingly desperate. the derrish are well-known for their metallurgy and adept domestication of large birds, which they use as combat mounts, domestic companions, and beasts of burden.
 

kyeugh

you gotta feel your lines
Staff
Pronouns
she/her
Partners
  1. farfetchd-galar
  2. gfetchd-kyeugh
  3. onion-san
  4. farfetchd
Day 4: What’s its history? (How did it come to be?)
i've touched on this a little already in my last couple posts, so i'll try and keep this one a bit briefer than the previous few. :p

auspice's significant history starts it out as a refuge planet for a wealthy numeni noble named typsvyr. it began as a fairly rustic getaway and evolved over time as a pet project of sorts. after centuries of effort, the planet became a heavily wooded natural getaway or vacation home of sorts. typsvyr's place of residence on the planet was at the ashen isle, but she lived there alone and without any slaves; she kept a larger and more robust living space in the lowlands, where she entertained guests. typsvyr had a great fondness for birds, and so once the planet had been terraformed to the extent that it could support animals long-term, she began housing them there, and the planet became something of a sanctuary for birds of all kinds. when the numeni empire fell, those birds (and the human slaves that took care of them) were all that was left behind on the planet auspice.

the humans left behind, particularly the ones at and around typsvyr's guest house in the lowlands, evolved over time into the giants described in the previous post. left unattended for millions of years across an incredible variety of habitats, the birds too diversified into countless new forms and niches. things continued on this way for several million years interrupted, until the first wave of humans arrived on auspice from off-world.

it's unclear whether the sifa and the mvzge arrived in separate waves or if they're derived from the same group of ancestors, but regardless, their arrivals occurred in fairly rapid succession and intermingling definitely took place shortly after. eventually the mvzge settled along the waters just north of derriland, and the sifa traveled further north, settling in the fertile area that would eventually become the great desert. the yonic religion developed probably not more than a few hundred years after their religion, and the desertification the qahnic cycle that religion produced (more on this in a later post) was already fairly advanced by the time the derrish arrived. many of the sifa citystates on the southwestern senian archipelago are fairly ancient, but the sociopolitical conditions of the area are historically volatile, so many of them are brand new as well.

the derrish arrived a few millennia after the sifa and mvzge, and originated from a markedly different culture (and probably a different homeworld, too). they spared little time carving out their empire in the derrish mountains, and the following few millennia are recent history—with luck we'll get to that in further posts.
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
4. What’s its history? (How did it come to be?)

Once, there were two voids, a light one and a dark one, sitting side by side in limbo. Two women of indeterminate species, two embodiments of the voids emerged into being, met in the middle, and fell in love. Their love caused them to merge into one being, known as the Overgod, who created a cosmic tree that produced planets and stars as leaves and fruit. One of those leaves was Klidi, and life unfolded there due to the will of the Celestials and lesser gods. Or so the local creation myths tend to go at least.

Various civilizations rose and fell, but Klidi has been stuck at roughly the same technology level for a while. No one knows why.


(I am not entirely sure how geologically old Klidi is? It was originally "as old as Earth for Plot Reasons" but it could get away with being more fantastically young? Just note the timescale here and the exact origin of the planet Klidi itself are subject to change.)

5. What sorts of civilizations and architecture fill your world?

Civilization is lush and sprawling across Klidi, while simultaneously not taking over nature. It helps that magic allows the people of Klidi to build into rather than over the landscape, and they will gladly do so, whether it is cities built into mountains, trees, or sand dunes. Most civilization hosts multiple species, though in some locations it still leans some over others, especially if a community wants to isolate itself for whatever reason.

(The World Wanderer pretty much covered everything I wanted to say here, except that I wanted to avoid leaning TOO hard in the direction of "the elf nation" "the dwarf nation" etc.)
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
6. How does gender & sexuality work in your world?

The way people on Klidi express the concept of gender and sexuality in various ways, and it varies wildly. How their society reacts, however, differs. Most are open, with many feeling free to express themselves, but some are individually phobic or toxicly masculine/straight/cis, and those who do not fit in those societies often flee into more open and welcoming places. In those groups people truly blossom.

(basically "queerphobia exists but not as much as you think it would, which is convenient for Umbra trying to make this as queer as possible")
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
7. How does the economy work in your world?

There is currency, but it is hardly universal, and varies wildly from nation to nation, continent to continent. Most citizens carry multiple kinds of currency, just in case, and exchange rates are memorized from a young age. All of this is less of an issue the higher up the social ladder you are and the more influential you are and the more money overall you have.

(Only other thing I can think to note is that the Iggyverse is not immune to capitalism. Unfortunately.)

8. Who rules in your world?

There are plenty of governmental systems on Klidi. Most of them, however, are some form of monarchy. Kings and queens, princesses and princesses, all come and go at either the speed of lifetimes or the speed of assassinations, with little in between. How much support they get from the masses tends to depend on how competent they are, and/or how not tyrannical they are. Unlike many realities, there are, however, good monarchs. The people in this timeline can take some relief in that.

(Because when I have sympathetic royal side characters I can't lean TOO hard into "dismantle the monarchy")
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
9. What religion and cosmology exists in your world?

The people of Klidi worship various gods as protectors, guides, and helpers. While these gods often resemble one particular species or another, the religions that sprout around them often are practiced by multiple species, and the gods are capable of altering their appearance beyond their preferred forms anyway. As with the species themselves I was sadly forced to narrow down.

(OH BOY TIME TO TALK ABOUT THE DEITIES MY FAVORITE)

(The Overgod)

I've mentioned this one before. The progenitor deity of Klidi itself and beyond. Aside from her origin myth, little is known about her, not even to the other gods, but she is said to resemble a cosmic grey whale.

(We talked plenty about this fellow on Day 4.)

(Efilla)

The goddess of life, nature, and acceptance, and patron guardian of Klidi itself, who can be as ruthless as nature itself but decrees all people should treat each other with tolerance and respect and to punish those who do not. Takes the form of a woman with dark hair, green eyes, and green clothes.

(Basically the second-in-command to the Overgod.)

(Celosia)

Goddess of the moon, peace, and calm. Her followers, relatedly, tend to be some variety of pacifist. Takes the form of an anthropomorphic luna moth.

(Do you like moth girls? I like moth girls.)

(Ellegia)

The goddess of death, decay, and finality. She appears in the visions and dreams of many, usually foretelling doom, but she is not antagonistic. Takes the form of a woman of indeterminate species in a dark dress, wielding a bloody sword.

(I also like more feminine grim reaper types.)

(Niata)

The goddess of magic, mystery, and forests. She is enigmatic and odd and those species influenced by her in particular are known as the fey. Resembles a woman in mage robes who is a hybrid of multiple species.

(There'll be more on her in Day 16.)

(Norgun)

Nonbinary deity of justice, restraint, and patience. Believes that if conflict is to happen it must be to fix injustice in the world. Resembles a green-skinned humanoid with long hair, strange wings, and what can be best described as a "battle dress".

(A bit of a note. I didn't mention it in Day 3 because I was trying to narrow the scope a bit, but there are orcs in this setting, and they tend to gravitate to Norgun a lot, even though they're hardly the only ones who worship Norgun or Norgun is hardly the only deity worshipped by orcs. They're meant to run counter to conventions of what an "orc deity" would be like.)

(Also I drew them!:)

ftD0Qwa6w1It6Hj3kOr92EDOOliF4HLq9MjIyeXFc82a6W1UoNOIX58qvliGp8O4k0zhuLRqxC5G5iSxo7jaJLr_GiBTK46BWBaOb0midAJnzl9Z8zE4LP0pGF0-XbB8rifijwgN


(Nyxian)

Nonbinary deity of darkness, confidence, and passion. Their followers are more pleasant than you'd think. Resembles an enby vampire in, dare I say, edgy clothing. In a romantic relationship with Solah - their religions get along.

(MORE UMBRA SELF-INDULGENCE)

(Repscal)

God of pride, power, and valor. Often invoked by warriors going into battle. Resembles a hybrid of all the dragon species.

(derg god derg god derg god)

(Sheliel)

God of ice, determination, and hope. His followers believe struggles are like winters and they exist to be overcome. Resembles a man with crystalline wings.

(I have art of this one too! Though this time it was made by TabrisDuCiel on Toyhou.se:)

iEgjGnYfpjE3jJ3-VHijxj3g6aQMWNQJDuUF4bjQMleoy7oZZKgtbY5d5AofqcPozu9rNlsWtUHYPOpReMn_3qY18LEJl1m9PIg_hzPQMoQjogk-GOWnFmayJfWtNYAA_k2trifV


(Solah)

Goddess of the sun, happiness, and positivity. Said to be cheery and bubbly... unless you get her mad. Resembles a white-haired woman with various sun motifs on her clothing.

(SUNNY D BABY)

(Stevgonzrak)

Not much is known about this strange eldritch deity, its cults are scattered and enigmatic. Some say it is as old as the Overgod, and while Niata controls magic on Klidi this terrifying being is the source. Is it truly a threat to the entire universe, or is the truth more complicated than that?

(Okay, so uh, this one happens to be one of my favorite OCs of mine. But we'll talk about him later.)
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
10. What traditions are observed in your world?

Hmmmm, let's zero in on one in particular, shall we?

The Great Fire Dragon Hoard Fest is an event that takes place once a year in the northeastern side of Klidi. Hoards are symbols of social status to fire dragons, and every year many of them gather to trade items from their hoards. Usually specialists, not necessarily fire dragons themselves, are there to check for counterfeits.


(Confession time I made this up out of my ass because I wasn't sure how to address this prompt at first, but honestly Iggy has probably been to at least one of these.)
 

kyeugh

you gotta feel your lines
Staff
Pronouns
she/her
Partners
  1. farfetchd-galar
  2. gfetchd-kyeugh
  3. onion-san
  4. farfetchd
i'm a bit behind on this, so i'm going to do two per day/session and skip the ones that aren't especially interesting (or keep them fairly brief). i've talked about #5 quite a lot in past posts and will probably continue to talk about them going forward, so i'm not gonna get into it for now. i guess #7/#8 tomorrow?

Day 6: How does gender & sexuality work in your world?
i love this one! obviously this content is fairly nsfw by nature, so fair warning there. i'll start with the most boring one first...

the derrish are probably the most socially conservative of the modern humans on auspice, so their understanding of gender/sexuality is a bit backwards as you'd expect. not quite as backwards as medieval europe, which is what you'd pretty much expect, but not far off. gender is pretty rigidly binary for the derrish, excluding eunuchs which occupy a sort of third gender space (although they are certainly viewed as male, to be clear). masculine women are viewed as just that; it may increase their power projection, but it decreases their attractiveness among men as a result. in the same sense, feminine men are viewed as weak. there's pretty much no concept of a transgender person in derriland—women are free to present as masculine as they please with only minimal repercussion, though they may be viewed as uppity if they demand to be treated as a man before the law; men who present as a woman are viewed with contempt, though if they choose to become eunuchs such behavior is pretty much not noted whatsoever.

gender equality is a bit messy. the ideal derrish woman is servile and meek, but they technically inherit on equal terms with men, so it's fairly common for women to hold titles, particularly in the lower rungs of society. this gets a bit shakier as you advance up the social ladder, however; some of the major noble houses may pass along their titles to a second- or even third-born son over a daughter, and this often goes pretty much uncontested even though it spits in the face of the de facto inheritance law. some even go so far as to assert that women are unfit to hold high office, and this belief is sometimes held for political purposes rather than in earnest; for example, the king of derriland has no siblings and has produced only a single daughter for an heir. many of the major nobles have preemptively disputed her right to rule so as to create a vacuum (which they hope to fill personally) following the king's death.

sexuality, meanwhile, is rarely a major issue. homosexuality is pretty much viewed as harmless, though it does present issues for inheritance that are sometimes exploited politically by dissatisfied vassals. that said, derrish society is decidedly heteronormative.
my idea on mvzge (marshlander) gender/sexuality has not significantly changed since last year, if you'd prefer to read that. the mvzge essentially recognize three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. these genders don't behave in any particularly surprising way except for that they are not necessarily bound to sex, i.e. a relationship between a masculine male and a feminine male is as equally valid as a relationship between a masculine male and a feminine female. relationships between two mascs or two femmes are still discouraged, though mostly because the mvzge can't really seriously conceive of how such a relationship would work—someone has to be on top, right? :p but genuinely, the mvzge understanding of partnership/marriage operates intrinsically on a dominant-subordinate duality (not entirely unlike our own), so masc-masc or femme-femme relationships don't really fit into this social framework.

the third gender is pretty uncommon and dominated by amabs (often eunuchs), though it definitely includes afabs as well. all shamans are of this gender, as they're thought to be exceptionally cerebral, connected to the spirit world, and separated from the appetites of the flesh. it's important to note that they aren't seen this way because of their gender, but rather are thought to belong to the neuter gender because these qualities are intrinsic to them; unlike the masculine/feminine genders, which are largely tied to presentation and social function, this gender is related to a deeper sense of self and spirituality. members of the neuter gender are viewed as kinless—they renounce their families and vow never to start one of their own. (if they do anyway, they are pretty much forced to adopt one of the other two genders.)
sifa views on gender/sexuality are somewhat similar to the mvzge's, with some important distinctions formed as a result of their unique culture. for one thing, the sifa (particularly the religious) viewed having children as a moral responsibility. this provided crucial genetic variety to the insular nomad communities. in fact, brothels could be found at virtually every outpost along the road of the qahn, and on the rare occasions that caravans intersected, sex flowed freely between them. however, much of this wasn't really a consequence of any feelings of responsibility; the sifa simply viewed sexual urges as natural and acted on them accordingly. the sifa conceived of the same three genders the mvzge did (with some differences); the thinking was that so long as you were engaging in sex that would bear children, anything else you did was your own business.

the neuter gender served a unique purpose among the sifa. only members of the neuter gender could serve as priests, i.e. caravan leaders; however, sex was forbidden them, and castration was mandatory. in the past, lovers or polycules could break off from their caravans and form cadet caravans of their own so long as they had a neuter sponsor that would serve as the head of their new caravan. however, as the practicing yonian sifa population dwindled, this no longer became practical. the idea of a lifelong partnership (e.g. marriage) became increasingly foreign to the yonian sifa as time wore on, and romantic/sexual relationships were categorically fleeting.

the sedentary sifa of the southern archipelago have abandoned many of these notions, as they were necessarily tied to the nomadic way of living. the neuter gender doesn't really exist in the south, and sex is more strongly tied to gender, but feminine men/feminine women are still thought to occupy basically the same niches as one another, for example. in the south, gender can be age-linked, as well; for example, most amabs are viewed as feminine until they reach "manhood," at which point they're free to make a more permanent decision. marriage is a common institution in the south, unlike among the nomadic yonians. however, some extramarital relationships are socially permitted; (tw: pederasty) relationships between older masculine men and younger feminine men are viewed as pure and often permitted even if either (or both) participating parties are otherwise married. these relationships weren't strictly sexual; they were also somewhat like the mentor-apprentice relationship in nature. however, once the younger party reaches adulthood, the relationship is no longer viewed as pure, even if they choose to remain feminine as an adult. these kinds of relationships are dwindling in number as time goes on; they were much more common in the past.

giant gender/sexuality pretty much hasn't changed since last time. also i feel really bad if anyone is actually reading this stuff, sorry i talk so much lol. it's mostly for my own use tbh.
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
11. What’s language like in your world?

While one would expect language to correlate with species, it actually tends to be more by nation, as those have laws that can enforce one language or another. Languages of the nearest areas are typically taught by parents to children, as well as where speaks what.

(There is probably not a Common, but there's usually enough language overlap to do in a pinch.)
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
12. What fauna inhabit your world?

It is half divided between life one would find on an "Earth" and more fantastical creatures, leading to higher biodiversity overall.

One of the more fantastical ones are basilisks, strange chicken-like dromaeosaurs with hypnotic eyes and venomous spit that paralyzes victims. They are the result of an incident with the spacetime continuum, and they are apex predators widely feared by the residents of Klidi.


(I don't know why the take of "basiliks/cockatrices are weird dromeasaurs" is one I'm so proud of, but it is.)
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
13. What flora covers your world?

Again a mix of the mundane and fantastical. Many plants are used for healing and remedies not possible on most Earths, and a mix of plant-based medicine and magic is often used for transitioning.

There are rumors of giant, vicious carnivorous plants in some tropical areas but they are usually dismissed as such.


(God I wish I had magic plant HRT)


14. What do people eat in your world?

Some beings are more carnivorous or herbivorous than others, and their diet reflects that accordingly. Satyrs for example tend to prefer vegetables, while sylphs eat large, domesticated bugs. Some species are also poisoned by foods harmless to others - a key to many assassination attempts.

(Many a vampire has been killed by sneaking garlic in their blood.)
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
15. What technology is used in your world?

On a scale of high to low tech, Klidi leans fairly low. The exact Earths history level is hard to peg but it trends middle ages, with some forward and background anachronism on a small scale.

As I said before, it has stayed this way for a long time, and no one knows why. Anyone who seems to be on the verge of discovering why tends to disappear.
 

Umbramatic

The Ghost Lord
Location
The Yangverse
Pronouns
Any
Partners
  1. reshiram
16. What magic exists in your world?

Magic is omnipresent. Everywhere. And anyone can use it.

Sure, some beings are better at certain kinds of magic than others, and some beings have particular forms of magic built into their biology, but any sapient creature can harness and control it. It is an art that is a combination of creative expression and physical exercise, one that can hone both the mind and muscles - some mages are surprisingly ripped. But most people just use it for mundane, everyday tasks, like growing their gardens faster, or cleaning. There are universities dedicated to the study of magic and training mages of various sorts, and most have statues of Niata, who is said to guide mages.

It is said Stevgonzrak's reality-warping presence is what makes magic possible on Klidi, but this has never been confirmed.


(Man I love writing metaphysical magic bullshit.)
 
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