gcaa-official

[gcaa-official]

elf liberalism probably goes insane

[gcaa-official]

Random linguistic worldbuilding: A language with six sets of pronouns, which are set by one's current state of existence. There's a separate pronoun for people who are alive, people who are dead, and potential future people who are yet to be born, and the ambiguous ones of "may or may not be alive or aleady dead", "may or may not have even been born yet", and the ultimate general/ambiguous all-covering one that covers all ambiguous states.

The culture has a specific defined term for that tragic span of time when a widow keeps accidentally referring to their spouse with living pronouns. New parents-to-be dropping the happy surprise news of a pregnancy by referring to their future child with the "is yet to be born" pronoun instead of a more ambiguous one and waiting for the "wait what did you just say?" reactions.

Someone jokingly referring to themselves with the dead person pronouns just to highlight how horrible their current hangover is. A notorious aspiring ladies' man who keeps trying to pursue women in their 20s despite of approaching middle age fails to notice the insult when someone asks him when he's planning to get married, and uses the pronoun that implies that his ideal future bride may not even be born yet.

A mother whose young adult child just moved away from home for the first time, who continues to dramatically refer to their child with "may or may not be already dead" until the aforementioned child replies to her on facebook like "ma stop telling people I'm dead" and having her respond with "well how could I possibly know that when you don't even write to us? >:,C"

[gcaa-official]

in preparation for the newest gcaa post (we're SO BACK) reminder of our first one !!

~ rian :}

rian tien'er here with the first installment of common misconceptions! *cue applause*

it's really cool that i get to be the first official post on the gcaa blog, especially since i haven't been here all that long, so i wanted to start with something crazy widespread and deep-rooted:

misconception 1: goblins are inherent thieves

most people have the idea in their lil noggins that goblins are kleptomanic to the point of stealing the clothes off your back and the children in your house and it annoys me deeply for two reasons: 1) it's so blatantly rooted in anti-goblin creaturist sentiment, and 2) it's just... wrong?

the first thing that needs to be understood is that goblins have a completely different concept of possession to most other cultures - in that a person only owns that which they have a deep sentimental or emotional attachment to, with everything else 'belonging' to the community.

goblin society relies upon mutual aid and the equitable distribution of resources, and therefore there is very little room for possessiveness or individualism. additionally, in the goblinist philosophy, attachment gives items a soul that allows them to find purpose and can aid them in their efforts to help the creatures attached to them, which is why naming - an open display of strong attachment - is so important to goblin covens and gellewethes (communities centered around a coven, that are often seperate townships).

on the flip side, as we all know in aelven society, or at least much of regular calodian society, ownership relies on claim. if you say it is yours, then it is. and in legal terms, ownership relies on capital - if you bought it, then it is yours.

modern goblins understand this concept, but the aelven notion of ownership has historically been used as a tool of opression — to the point where gellewethe and goblin sacred sites are being bought from under them, making it so their forced to pay for their own land — so many goblins choose to ignore it. they usually don't steal directly from people, but from places they consider “soulless” like corporate-owned solomarkets and empty or generically decorated aristocratic homes.

those who practice this rejection of the aelven notion of ownership are known as gremlins — short for guerrilla goblinists. many gremlins also make a specific effort to target high-ranking financiers (the sector of government that controls the courts and the taxes) or nobles, and rarely, if ever steal from anyone else.

“a goblin can't tell what means the most to me!” you might say, and to that i’d say, “fuck off, pearl-clutcher!” but the truth is, they can.

to a goblin, physical proximity often dictates emotional closeness, whether by an item being directly on your skin or close to places one would consider their space. another factor is personalization, making an item or space unique to you indicates emotional attachment.

some theories have also been proposed that goblins also have a sixth sense for these things (ceilan et al., 17th dynastic year; vein and sythie 28th dynastic year) often known as ‘synwiyr aijectum’. most gellewethes reject research into this subject, so there is very little evidence for its existence or otherwise.

this misconception is also fueled by a misunderstanding of goblin ‘scores’ - small trinkets that many goblins wear either in their ears or hanging from them. goblin scores are their most valuable items, and some may be stolen, but most are gifts, things that they've found, or keepsakes of important experiences or events. scores, in goblinist philosophy, are said to be bound to the wearer’s soul and the first score in a goblin’s ear is the sign of a coming of age.

a better understanding of goblinist ideology and general goblin culture is imperative to being an ally to the goblin liberation movement, and this particular misconception is the basis of a lot of anti-goblin discrimination and contributes to goblin oppression in calodia. if you ever want to live in an equitable society, dismantling that predjuice should be your first step.

~ rian :}

may your day be one of triumph!

tldr; goblins have a totally different understanding of possession to most creatures, and any stealing they actually do is from corporations and politicians as a show of resitance, not the general populace.

[gcaa-official]

people who don't know anything about academics: man y'all are stuffy and boring what's up with that? actual academics: *too busy fist-fighting each other over the beryllium problem or the existence of a dentistry profession in ancient egypt to reply*

[gcaa-official]

what’s good, friends, foes and family! this is:

Your Everyday Guide To Calodian Politics

before i can give you the lowest of downs on the shitty political system in place right now and calodian political beliefs and whatnot, you first need to know how it works.

SO:

we do not live in a democracy.

–> calodia has a sort of parliamentary monarchy - where the emperor (ew) is the theoretical and cultural head of state, and the guoshia* actually make state decisions. we don't elect any of these people

-> the only thing we have a say in is the vote for thr dynasty that rules, and that only happens every one hundred years. the last time one happened, i hadn't even hatched! according to certain sources (goirw), the elections are usually rigged towards the favorite of the nobles and aristocracy.

2. the guoshia*

-> formed of the heads of every guild. these guys make actual policy decisions. they approve and ratify the proposals for every single proposal from the guilds. they hold all the power and they're all aelves

3. the guilds.

-> there are five guilds, and every single job in calodia is categorized into one of these guilds. the guilds are: the financiers (ew), the veneratum, the scribes (us!), the artisans, and the smiths.

-> the heads of these guilds are: the judiciary for the financiers, the chief veneratum for the... uh. you know. the bibliographer for the scribes, the master for the artisans and the mechanicier for the smiths.

-> the financiers are the most powerful of all the guilds, and control the courts and treasury. the veneratum study and regulate majic, and are the second most powerful. the scribes control the archives, literature, science and education. the artisans deal with anything cultural and culturally important. the smiths’ domain is in infrastructure, architecture, military and anything to do with making stuff for functional purposes.

-> the financiers influence most decisions, but the artisans and scribes control all depictions, discourses and narratives, so the actual power belongs to them.

-> the guilds are mostly controlled by noble families, and its pretty rare when a non-noble becomes a guildhead. usually though, the guildheads are mostly just figureheads for their families and enact their policies, with intraguild elections being mostly vapid popularity contests.

currently, the emperor is vanyuo iii of the myng dynasty. he's more liberal than previous emperors but he's still dastardly cunt**, so don't trust anyone who backs him wholeheartedly. very creaturist, particularly anti-goblin and anti-orcean but he hates everyone who's not an aelf, honestly. just because he's trying to legalize intercreature marriage doesn't mean he's not endorsing shittier movements.

the judiciary right now is ruong velian. he's probably the the most aelvenist-aligned judiciary we've had in millennia.

the chief veneratum is ceijuing kawaixi. she's basically velian in blue.

the current bibliographer is tenxin tsaanwïa. he's korixe’s uncle or something. he's probably the most liberal of all of the guildheads, but he's also flimsy as fuck. if the rest of the tsaanwïa family (minus korixe because i trust her mostly) pressure him, the tides could always turn.

the master is jelpyng cen. poor poor creature. they're definitely in over their head, and very obviously a puppet for their family.

the mechanicier was elected yesterday, and i’m kinda glad the old one's out of office. the new guy, zheruan xiortun, says he'll put more focus on infrastructure over bolstering the military, which is good because half the roads in wyvera aren't even walkable.

your resident menace,

~ loggyn ★

{translator's notes:

{*this is an untranslatable word but the closest equivalent is parliament or senate, which doesn't really capture the nature of what the guoshia is.

{**this is the closest translation of a goblin vulgarism. even though it does not have the same meaning, it is the only word i could find that was of a similar intensity.

{– loggyn uses a lot of giblex expressions when they write, so much of the slang they seem to be using in this post are approximations of giblexisms that they use frequently. i might write a whole post on their language specifically >:).}

[gcaa-official]

This is an official notice. It has come to my attention that someone has been making fae taxonomy mistakes, and therefore it is within my jurisdiction to right them.

Nymphs — no matter their colloquial name — are not fae. They have a completely seperate original ancestor and have just happened to evolve to exist on similar majical wavelengths to fae. This their only similarity, that their majic feels like arunfae majic, but they have little else in common.

It is an easy mistake to make for those new to creature taxonomy, especially the very complex fae side of things, but some people should not be so amaturish.

Nymphs are not fae. They are closer in relation to driyads than fae. They should not be mistaken for fae.

Thank you for your understanding.

— Xiun Voriartum

[gcaa-official]

a brief session in language and linguistics: fae names

[a brief session in language and linguistics: fae names]

as this week is fae week (yayyy!), i get to talk about my absolute favorite aspect of fae language customs: naming! giving your name to a fae may be a bad idea, but a fae giving you their name is a marker of deep respect, which is why there are only four known names. even though this is a small sample size, many fae, when asked, were happy to tell us the naming conventions of their species and from whence they came.

mukfae: as mukfae are functionally immortal, and none have been born since the beginning of time, mukfae names are in a language that no longer exists, and can give clues as to how the very first language - known as “proto-flavic” - may have worked! mukfae names are pronounced with gulping-like phonemes that are said to mimic the sound of bubbles on their surfae and the sound of the chinchanyashi (most similar to what is called a “frog” in this language) that live in their waters. a source, known mononymously as “geh,” says that most of the names are unpronounceable with a modern tongue as creatures have evolved so far since then that the body parts required to create such sounds no longer exist on most creatures.

mulfae (aka freshwater fae): names are made up of trilling, “mulsong” and clicking that differ vastly from regular muldryn, which is made up of elongated vowel sounds made in the back of the throat and sharp whistles and and the rub of the mandibles together. the reason for this difference is the fact that each mulfae is named with an imitation of their creature guide, which is usually an amphibious reptile, a fish, or a bird that frequents or lives in a mulfae’s lake, pond or river. mulfae are careful not to call a youngling or youth’s name in front of members of other species, so it is unlikely that you will hear a mulfae name in the wild.

seafae: names are in fairy, who used to rule over seafae. fairy is a language that is no longer spoken in the realm as all the speakers have been cast into limbo due to the fairy Uprising, but the seafae, as their closest allies, have named their children after fairy “heroes.” fairy is a language that requires modification to be spoken underwater, but it is mainly comprised of /s/, /l/, /θ/ and /w/ consonants that create names such as swellweather, slithus, and lullwelus, three of the most common seafae names. seafae are the only fae that have their names be in an entirely different language to their own!

arunfae (aka air fae): the arunfae language is not often studied as arunfae are considered a myth – this factoid is inaccurate as arunfae are frequently spotted in more rural areas – so the least is known about their naming conventions, but arunfae speak a whistling, creaky sounding tonal language, and their names seems to be in higher in tone than everything else. perhaps because most arunfae seem to be named after inanimate objects and plants, so there needs to be a demarcation, but that’s just a theory.

bonus! (that xiun is going to kill me for):

nymphs (aka wood fae): the nymphen language is actually unable to be heard by aelven ears, so it’s hard to know what the nymphen language even sounds like, let alone what the naming conventions are, but! there was a pyxie that was able to hear the nymphs speak and relayed to us scribes that nymphs do not call themselves by any name, and instead identify each other with ambiguous pronouns that refer only to the people in conversation. nymphs identify those outside of conversation with their leaf shape or place of origin rather than a name. the pyxie did further research, but they disappeared around a hundred years ago, and did not publish all their research.

anyway, that was a quick run-down of fae naming conventions, and i hope you enjoyed reading it, traveller!

keep safe and healthy!

~ korixe

[gcaa-official]

Tips for Travellers #1: Never give a mukfae your name.

Giving a mukfae your name, or your pronouns, or any title that you particularly identify with can link their majic to yours, which though usually innocuous, can cause an adverse reaction when a creature attempts to use their own majic. The strength of the bond between the majic and the fae is rather strong and is likely cause a creature great distress! It can also cause hallucinogenisis, and result in death or loss of limbs. An uncontrolled majical bond of such strenghth is not something to play around with, no matter how friendly a mukfae may seem.

May the Great Sun guide your travels! | Goirw.

[gcaa-official]

Quick Ikretonology #1: Mukfae

[Quick Ikretonology #1: Mukfae]

Subspecies (in order of commonality): bogfae, fenfae, marshfae, swampfae

Common habitats: wetlands -> Mukfae are usually found around rivers and lakes, or not far from them

Sexually dimorphism? no -> Interestingly, mukfae have no biological sex.

Diet: carnivorous -> Mukfae use the enzymes in their water to digest prey, luring them onto their surface with powerful illusions, then encasing them in peat. they are also scavengers, ingesting any organic, non-plant matter that falls onto their surface

Language: unknown -> Mukfae communicate telepathically, adopting whatever language a creature thinks in.

Culture: -> Not much is known about inter-creature cultural norms due to mukfae being notoriously tight-lipped and increasingly difficult to study. It is incredibly hard to effectively study the culture of sentient wetlands that communicate telepathically when you are a group of bipedal vertebrates who are very very susceptible to drowning. -> We do, however, have an understanding of their interactions with other creatures, namely goblins and witches*. Both of these creature groups have a mutually beneficial relationship to mukfae, with witches being allowed to live on the mukfae’s surface and use their majic and their matter as part of spells. Witches pay to do this, and most mukfae only accept a specific currency - but none accept regular Aelven coin due to its lack of majical residue. On the other hand, goblins traditionally feed themselves to the mukfae in their old age as a way to die with dignity, and any goblins that are killed or die elsewhere usually ask to be sent to their gellewethe to be fed to their local bog, marsh, swamp or fen. In return, the mukfae guard the gellewethe and allow the goblins to channel their majic. -> Mukfae are not traditionally hostile, but their primary motive in most interactions is to play and eat.

Majic abilities: -> Mukfae are largely agreed have the largest depth of majic in the realm, with every part of their being being majically charged. their majic density is large, and usually a person can feel the majic before they even arrive in the wetlands. on contact with the mukfae, all majic will be immediately amplified.

Fun facts: -> All mukfae have what is known as a “tangible form” that looks similar to a vertebrate creature of their choice. This is made of approx. 12% of their mass, and can often be disturbing to look at as mukfae only remember vague shapes and forms.  -> Mukfae brain cells are distributed throughout their body, and they have a complicated series of neurons that leads many researchers to believe that they can feel everything. mukfae are mostly tissue, and seem to only be able to control their waters with a brand of levitation majic. -> Mukfae do not reproduce, and instead are presumed to be virtually immortal, as their cells regenerate at a consistent rate that prevents deterioration.  -> Mukfae do migrate, but it is only seen to happen once every million years. the reason for the migrations seem to be the shape of their nearest river changing dramatically, and of the mukfae migrations that have been on record, it seems that they gather their entire mass into a bipedal shape and walk to their new spot. Goblin culture celebrates mukfae migrations and center their calendars in million year circuits, with the migration being known as Gelleishe Coggethynn or “the Year of Reset.” Goblin scribes have a far more expansive record of fae migrations that all Aelven institutions are barred access to. -> Mukfae are not considered a species with agency under Aelven law, even though much research has shown evidence to the contrary.

Folklore: -> Mukfae are featured in woodelf and goblin folklore, with the goblin deity Wiergunne being a marshfae. Wiergunne is the deity of change, having encouraged Vishe and Gibb, the suns (Gibb being the goblin name for Gyr), to alternate their schedules and bring around day, halfdark and fullnight.  -> In much of woodelf folklore, mukfae are depicted as tricksters and sowers of discord, and are largely antagonistic. The history behind this depiction is unknown. -> In ancient Aelvic folklore (or riverelf folklore) the mukfae goddess Biyrrun is the bride of Fewin, the river god. She is the goddess of fertility and abundance. -> A common superstition amoung elfic creatures is that one cannot remove any drop of a mukfae’s waters, otherwise the mukfae will permanently inhabit a person’s mind and wear away their spirit to lure them back and eat them. There is no evidence to back this.

Please be respectful of mukfae. – Xiun Voriartum

*witch is a profession, not a species.

[gcaa-official]

Why are all the archivists wearing green?

What is the significance of this

Greetings, Anonymous!

Us archivists wear green because we’re of the Scribal guild! Now, way back when, when I first entered the field, each library and Akademiya wore their own colors. But Chancellor Wyint — who was the chancellor before this one — decided to unify our guild and give us a guild color like the Financiers.

From then, our color was green, the color of knowledge in ancient Aelven mythos.

Respect and peace,

— Jillun the dwarf

[gcaa-official]

Loggyn O'Giigeshe [ lock-in oh gee-gaysh ]

age: 68

human developmental age: 24

favorite creature to study: aelves (why are they like that??)

pronouns: they/them

gender: elishe (goblin third gender)

title: none officially but unoffically: official menace of the great wyverul library

[gcaa-official]

Rian Tien'Er [ ree-aen tee-aen-ur]

age: 784

human developmental age: 22

favorite creature to study: goblins

pronouns: he/she

gender: divoztuvi (dradgnyc gender most similar to multigender)

title: apprentice

[gcaa-official]

Goirw Heiaviw [ gai-r hay-ya-vee ]

age: 145

human developmental age: 57

favorite creature to study: mukfae

pronouns: he/him

gender: male

title: senior librarian at the great wyverul library

[gcaa-official]

Jillun Meracleusi [ jill-un merac-lu-shi ]

age: 268

human developmental age: 59

favorite creature to study: trolls

pronouns: he/him

gender: masculine-aligned

title: professor of calodian history and mythological studies @ the akademiya d’kuxunue

[gcaa-official]

Korixe Tsaanwïa [ kori-chuh zawn-vai-ah ]

age: 2072

human developmental age: 31

favorite creature to study: dradgyns

pronouns: she/her

gender: female

title: professor of dradgnyc @ the akademiya d'kuxunue

[gcaa-official]

Xiun Voriartum [ chee-un vor-ee-ar-toom ]

age: 2983

human developmental age: 34

favorite creature to study: syrens

pronouns: they/she

gender: undisclosed

title: professor of ikretonology @ the akadiemi d'scriba

[gcaa-official]

isnt that what the scholars lament tag is for?

~rian :}

(also DEFINITELY should study dradgnyc genders before attempting to translate ANY dradgnyc text. linguistic gender and social gender are super complex :})

i hate scribe summits i hate scribe summits i hate scribe summits

always full of presctiptivist uddersucklers who refuse to expand their worldview to accommodate real life. getting an understanding of dradgnyc genders before translating dradgnyc texts should be standard practice!!

i want to majic blast these people.

~korixe