#also lore and worldbuilding stuff

[filurig]

sekuuti and akestur, deities of the rau-kakse and crakam

LONG ASS CREATION/ORIGIN STORY OF THE RAU KAKSE AND CRAKAM HERE

the sun and moon both have important roles in northern basilisk religion, and are interpreted as two deities: sekuuti (sun) and akestur (moon).

both seen as patron deities of their respective people (rau-kakse aka basilisks and crakam aka harpies). their eggs were originally stars in the sky that fell and hatched in the world below.

at first, there was only pure spirit. something known as "tukaarti" (which is an unconscious but all powerful driver of all things) - the "natural force", arose, and began create shapes from this spirit, polarities, warmth, energy eventually the forces shaped this spirit into The World, which was barren at first, amorphous, but this shaped energy began to solidify, first into mountains, then into lakes, rivers, flora etc etc. but the water did not stay liquid long for after the formation of these things, and a brief flourishing period, the World cooled down, and fell under a great winter, as it had no sun. the sky is basically where tukaarti resides in its rawest form still, and stars are "concerntrations" of it, and the only light source. the stars began to fall eventually on occasion into the world, and that would spawn Creatures. early on when the world was still fresh after this was when the eggs of sekuuti and akestur fell, they were among the last creatures to fall onto the world. prior to them similar animals had hatched from other eggs, but they all perished trying to survive on their own.

both sekuuti and akestur were lonely and struggled on their own - persecuted by hostile ancestors of other creatures. not only was it difficult, most of all, it was lonely.

sekuuti was so lonely that she desparately wanted children, but as she was the only one of her kind she prayed to tukaarti for a way to achieve that company she desired. she was heard, and granted the ability to shapeshift to any creature that she found. this also was something tukaarti needed, as it lacked a way for spirit to go from the World back to tukaarti, and by "collecting" bodies to learn as forms, sekuuti would also return their spirit to tukaarti. with this ability, she resorted to courting different birds that she transformed into and bearing their young. and she did successfully hatch them. her children would not only inherit a lot of her features and shapeshifting ability, but they also inherited the plumage and some other traits from their other parents, and she loved them all the same. this also means that according to rauk-kaksian lore sekuuti "has no comparison" and doesnt look like an extant bird in particular, but interpretations vary. these children were the first "rau-kakse". the most important established trait of her depictions though is that it seemed that the glow from her egg ("star") never faded, and her plumage glowed strongly and brilliantly.

akestur, meanwhile, sought company with birds in a different way. he found flocks of corvids, flocks of nightjars, and found certain comfort with them. but he was frustrated with the fact that they could not communicate, he prayed for the ability to "hold a conversation" with his new contemporaries. and the tukaarti granted him his wish - the flocks that he had become familiar with were granted a blessing, but with that blessing, they also changed in morphology - they became harpies (crakam), and gained sapience. he was reminded, however, that he had gotten this wish without cost - and that the forces counted on him to do what they wished in return if they so needed it. they only cryptically let him know to "not keep his eyes off of the flame". akestur is thought to have looked like a harpy slightly, but with a different face, black as night, but with brilliant glowing white eyes.

again, the world during this time was pretty barren and harsh due to an eternal winter, as they had no sun. sekuuti, while having found comfort in her kin now, was unhappy with the state of affairs - especially as many young would die in the harsh conditions. akestur, too, hated seeing his new contemporaries suffer.

the two groups would meet one day, sekuuti and akestur leading them. the two were fascinated by one another - sekuuti brought warmth to akestur and the crakam, while akestur brought a certain darkness, that while somewhat discomforting at first, also shrouded both groups from other hostile creatures, theyd come to find out. there was safety in his darkness. sekuuti and akestur grew very close and became partners (according to most legends).

sekuuti wanted to change the state of the world and set her eyes upon the sky, wanting to become a sun and bring warmth to all and end the eternal winter. akestur was hesitant, for he did not want to lose her, and her children needed her. when seeking the guidance of tukaarti - they discouraged her from it, urged her to stay and perform her duty as a bringer of spirit from corpses of this plane back to tukaarti. but she was insistent, and one day, decided to simply go for it. she flew so fast, with such force, that she caught flame, but her will was so strong that it didnt bother her and she became one with the flames eating her as she flew up to the sky.

akestur was too late, and only realised she was gone once she had lit up the sky. betrayed, upset, but most of all - realising that he had failed tukaarti. he had let his eyes off his flame. as a punishment, tukaarti undid the blessing it had granted his people for half of them, leaving half of them as regular birds again.

sekuuti lighting up the world had done something - it had taken away the eternal winter, but the problem was - sekuuti had nothing to temper her up there. the world was beset by a devastating drought with no end in sight. akestur, trying to lead his people as well as the basilisks, then realised what he had to do.

before leaving his people, he urged them "to not take their eyes off the flames", meaning the basilisks in this case, and then, he also set off for the sky. instead of setting ablaze, his eyes seemed to burst with the pressure of the speed of his flight, engulfing him in a cold, bright light. once he joined sekuuti in the sky - the heat was finally tempered.

however, sekuuti, both overwhelmed with love but also guilt and shame over abandoning akestur, fled him. but he, loyal and also overwhelmed with love, began to follow her. and basically, the day/night cycle is their eternal chase after one another - and on occasion, they meet, during eclipses :,) perhaps they also realised that their chase is what brings the world balance. and perhaps its a bit of a punishment from tuukarti for disobeying it.

[mspaint-flower]

loved the 'hidden malice' piece from January 3rd. Perhaps more Moth Flower?

careless blooming

[yardsards]

something interesting about dungeon meshi's worldbuilding: the elf-tallman hybrids that we see are referred to as "half-elves" rather than "half-tallmen"

hell, they're oftentimes just called "elves" by other characters.

in the case of laios's party not knowing marcille was a half-elf, it's explained that they just didn't know she wasn't a full elf. which makes sense, none of them pay enough attention to that kind of thing, or know enough about elves to know that certain features like rounded ear tips are highly unusual for full-elves. 

but it's more interesting in the case of kabru's party. kabru, who is super observant and was also raised by elves, describes both marcille and fionil (who are both canonically half-elves) simply as "elves". kuro also simply identifies marcille's scent as "elf", despite half-elves probably having slightly different scents than full-elves.

and! even word-of-god type material casually lumps marcille and fionil in with elves, rather than lumping them in with tallmen or giving them their own half-elf category

is this a case of hyperdescent (or hypodescent, depending on if elves are thought of as higher or lower status than tallmen in a given culture)? is it just that half-elves tend to be more similar to elves than to tallmen in matters like lifespan?

of course, our sample size is literally 2 and we know so little about fionil, it's hard to know for sure or rule out other factors.

SIDENOTE:

what is this random character from the elf page's deal? their rounded ear tips definitely look like they're a half-elf, but their facial features and size and ear shape makes me think their other half is half-foot, rather than tallman (...or maybe they're just a kid, lol). the adventurer's bible does say that tallmen can have fertile offspring with half-foots, and we know that tallmen can have infertile offspring with elves. so it would kinda make sense if half-foots could have infertile offspring with elves too.

[northern-passage]

Hello! I was curious... Do the coins in TNP have designs, or are they completely smooth? :0

they do! the gold Adranian coins (which is what Clementine has) have the symbol of the king/king's house which is the swooping hawk that we'll see Duncan wearing later. that's basically the royal sigil of Adrania, and we'll see wardens, soldiers, and other high-ranking politicians or wealthy Adranian families wearing it throughout the game.

silver coins have a merchant ship on them, and bronze coins have the moon on one side, and the sun on the other side (to represent the Wolfmother's children, but to avoid directly printing the image of a god on money). Gael is different in that their gold coin actually has a whale on it, since whaling and fishing is their main source of income (versus Adrania, which in the south has decent farming and functions as a massive trade hub between/with Gael and Yulan). their silver coins have a wolf on one side, sun and moon on the other (same reason as Adranian's have it on their bronze) and then Gaelish bronze coins just have a silhouette of the southern mountain range and sea stacks.

Gael also has whale bone coins and Yulan has shell coins, but those don't get traded with Adrania. only the metal coins, and that's just because gold is gold; it doesn't change much of the value, it's only aesthetics, and the flow of coins between Gael, Adrania, and Yulan (Adrania's main international trade partner) is vital for all three countries.

[askamnesiamoonjumper]

[marshrom]

Piglins :)

This is just the base body stuff planning to do cloathing and such soon !

[flickering-nightfall]

just asking, what if an iterator possibly gets too hot or cold? What happens if they can’t get to safer temps with out outside forces? What if they can’t get to safer temps at all?

Do you mean superstructures or puppet-bound iterators? I'm sure superstructures have a lot of failsafes to deal with temperature fluctuations, mostly via processing water intake. They're living saunas! They probably have an incredible resistance to both hot and cold, as evidence shows.

I'll talk about puppets here, but if you meant superstructures, well... a lot of what I'll say here could apply to superstructures too.

(For puppet-bound iterators, I am referring to my AU CDSS)

For heat: Puppet-bound iterators, like their former superstructure bodies, run hot and need to stay hydrated. They rely on liquid coolant that runs throughout their bodies. Ruptures in the coolant system are one of their many common problems, but with medical aid, they're not too serious. Many cases are self-healing, or the rupture will seal itself off and reroute around the blockage - like with collateral circulation. Leaks into essential systems are more of a concern than the actual loss of coolant. As long as they stay cool and drink water while waiting to get fixed, they tend to be fine.

If they are stuck in a hot region and can't escape, they'll suffer from dehydration, heat stroke, fried components, damage to organic tissue, seizures... pretty much what you'd expect. As a superstructure, Moon probably suffered from all this leading up to her collapse.

For cold: They're fairly resistant for a few reasons. One is the antifreeze in coolant. Another is the heat that they naturally produce. I'm thinking they have silicone-based skin, which is very cold resistant. They have hemocyanin, which tends to function better in extreme cold than hemoglobin. (Hemocyanin can also work at hotter temperatures. I have like a whole essay about this that I still intend to post lol.) However, the puppets have been modified to have more flexible and sensitive skin - dexterity in exchange for some durability. They're more susceptible to the perception of cold than they would be if they were a still a superstructure. Many of them also dislike snowscapes on principle, because they've been freezing their decaying metal butts off for centuries by the time CDSS happens.

Iterators in both forms are very moist, so if it's cold past their limits, their mechanical components will freeze. And like with hypothermia in fully organic beings, prolonged time in extreme cold will lead to tissue death and organ failure. Superstructures with fractured exteriors (direct exposure of internal parts to the cold air) are especially susceptible to this.

Misc theory about superstructures: Moon's superstructure was able to stay intact into Saint's era because she collapsed straight down into the water, preserving most of her shape. The canyon water could have provided the pressure and circulation she needed in the absence of gravity cores, as well as protection against land pests and insulation against the cold. Remnant slag could have her generate excess heat as well, which would keep the water surrounding her unfrozen. In a way, dying like that could have helped her live longer?!

Thanks for the question anon, this was very fun :P

[razzledazzletrassh]

no major fic updates just yet guys TAKE MY WOY OC I MADE LIKE. April of last year IM PLUGGING SOME INFO ABOUT THIS GUY IN THE TAGS.

I may also redesign her soon or something. Make her more bug-like with some stuff. I can cook guys let me cook !!!

[vivian-teil]

Do you think Lord Diavolo's animal motif (assuming he has one) could be a moth? He has two sets of wings like a moth does and kind of has that big fluffy area that some moths have around his shoulders. A quick Google search also tells me that moths are symbolic of change and transformation which I guess could have to do with his dream of improving the relationship between the three realms

I just happened to think of this while looking at him in lessons 13 and 14 of Nightbringer so I could be wrong, but it's still interesting to think about

[kheprriverse]

Sorry for the lack of loz content, I have been COOKING! I'm still working on loz stuff in the background, it's just pushed back a bit to give my brain some creative flow after working on it for almost a year.

Here’s some peeks at what I’ve been working on:

Details about each image below (for those of you not entirely interested in my kofi/personal stuff you can ignore it all coz this is basically a plug)

-> Img 1: Kovul, wyvern companion of Vi’dynnr. (Tbp) -> Img 2: Kovul’s sketchpage ($1+ tier) -> Img 3: Environmental practice + Tailnrr Map WIP ($1+ tier) -> Img 4: Tailnrr Wildlife addition (Ketz’henyr) + Base peek. ($1+ tier) -> Img 5: Tailnrr Wildlife addition (Zelkn — Drake) + chibi base peek. ($1+ tier)

Everything that's on kofi rn is basically "what am i working on" plus wips, concept progress, and full-image peeks at whats to come, and lore (is the best way I can explain it tbh). Once everything is solidified, finished references and stuff will be free to view for everyone (while old wips, concept pages, etc will still be behind membership).

WIPs aren't guaranteed to be finished btw. And this isn't all that I'm working on atm.

[artlipsis]

scrapped loredump

[arolesbianism]

Wow look at this very normal guy I’m sure he will stay kind and normal forever

[chipjrwibignaturals]

'may i suggest sticking to [X] like the watchers intended' what the FUCK are you TALKING about??????????? we LITERALLY made all that shit up. they could not and have not intended SHIT. where did you get this info from. im-- you... you know they arent real right?? its fully and solely a fan concept, with the only exceptions being EVO and the newest life series teaser? like thats it. the rest WE MADE UP!!!!! its ALL fanon!!!! you KNOW that right. right??????

[13eyond13]

One of the main things I dislike about book 2 Lestat vs book 1 Lestat is it just takes away a lot of the interesting mystery about his character in the first book to have him definitively answer everything like: "oh actually I WAS hiding a bunch of secrets of the vampire universe and rules and hierarchy and history from you the entire time, and actually I WAS also filthy rich secretly the entire time due to a treasure left to me by my maker and didn't actually need you for your money at all, and also I wasn't a bit insecure about my lower class upbringing and poorer education and trying to compensate for that by being both showy and secretive about myself I was actually a noble, and also I CAN do a bunch of other vampire things that I never taught you to do or did in front of you even though we lived together in the same house as a family for like 70 years, and yes I DO hate following rules and doing what I'm told and keeping secrets but I did it because Marius said your fragile minds couldn't handle the truth if I DID tell you anything else, and also I DIDN'T want any revenge on Claudia or blame her for attempting to murder me or think I maybe should undo what I did by making her one bit, I was just being forced by the even EVILLER vampire to have her condemned to death, and also almost everything questionable or problematic or cruel that I did within the first book was either a lie told by Louis or secretly actually a kind and heroic thing I did because I cared about someone other than myself, IN FACT I SECRETLY THE ENTIRE TIME HAD A STRICT MORAL CODE I WAS FOLLOWING every time I casually killed an innocent npc in the first book, and whenever you watched on in horror at my cruelty and toying with my victims I was actually only killing scummy evildoers and Louis was just too dumb and romanticizing of humans to ever see it etc..." like FINE WHATEVER, I GUESS hahaha but I actually kind of liked you better when you were a bit meaner and a bit petty and a bit imperfect and a bit lame

[neigepomme]

AAAAA mentions of silent hill?? and leon kennedy?? are you a horror enthusiast perhaps? have you played the games? i am very interested in the lore of RE and silent hill but i am too much of a coward to play the games, so i just watch streamers do it instead HAHAHAHA

in the topic of leon, i thought you might like to see this HAHAHAHA (https://x.com/rookiemephie/status/1904879629116019056?s=46&t=MZVm25BYdXluPt78AdUfnQ)

I AM I AM!! omg pomme lore.. my dad used to play the original re4 when i was young!! one of my first memories is leon BWAHAHAHA i ended up being a fan of the franchise for as long as i can remember.. i tried to play the games but unfortunately i have one big issue. the issue being that i suck at them 💔💔 so i end up watching streams + lore analysis videos!!

horror games and the horror genre as a whole is probably my favorite EVERRRR because of the understanding of human nature and human fears + the use of music to set up a mood and whatnot!! the silent hill 2 and resident evil 8 soundtracks are my favorite video game soundtracks of all time..

ALSO HELPPP I SAW THAT POST BWAHAHAHAH i'd be whaling.. FUNNY THING THO i think zayne is really similar to leon?#?@?@? it might be a stretch but their personalities are very alike imo..