#massà

[cy-lindric]

A pocketful of monastery OCs !

[airportlimousinefan]

Offriamo i migliori studi dentistici in italia. offriamo il corretto sviluppo delle ossa mascellari e il posizionamento dei denti. Oggi un'ortodonzia sta diventando sempre più invasiva e attenta all'estetica, che in alcuni casi utilizza allineatori trasparenti.

[cy-lindric]

trinkets & heraldries

[cy-lindric]

Some more frail royals from the world of Massà and the Very Long France (ominous)

[cy-lindric]

I'm curious where the words u used for the four cadinal directions on the Massà world map come from

Massà is inspired for the main part by Marseille so a lot of the vocab I use comes from Provençal and other dialects spoken in southern France.

"Adret" and "Ubac" are used to describe north and south in the context of mountain exposure : Ubac is the northern side of the mountain that gets the least amount of light, and Adret the southern side that is more exposed to the sun. I know it's used in the Alps, not sure if that's the case elsewhere.

"Levant" is pretty self explanatory, it means "rising" so it's used to describe the direction of the rising sun in many languages that use latin roots.

"Tremont" is the least straightforward. It comes from the Tramontane / Tremuntana ("across the mountains"), one of the main Mediterranean winds, that blows from the north west. I've seen the western direction described as Tremont in Provençal, so that's what I used, but I don't think it's a frequent way to describe it. To be fair I suppose if you're in Marseille, Tramontane comes from the north really, so it's a bit of a stretch but it sounds cool lol. There you go !

[cy-lindric]

as a british person i gotta say the map you just posted is the best thing i’ve ever seen. heck yeah. england yote directly into the sea

Lmao I meant no disrespect to my neighbours BUT it had to be done. I simply needed Wales lording over a bunch of islands. Just little chunks of Cornwall and east Anglia and Hampshire.

I haven't really decided yet if there was some sort of geological cataclysm or if England has always been like this, but I think probably the latter (in human memory at least). The whole project is pretty late medieval vibes but I have it in my mind that the Anglies haven't really been unified and have derived from the old saxon kingdoms so I'll probably give places silly names like the island state of Issex and its capital Wincæster lol

[cy-lindric]

i am SOOOO interested in all of your Massà posts!! the twin princess (and of course gay monastery shenanigans) has really caught my eye!!! do you have any lore you’re willing to share? id be so excited to hear >_<

Hello ! Thanks a lot for your interest !

Massà is the setting for the big graphic novel I've signed about a year ago. I'm working on it side by side with my character design gigs and since it's a 200-or-so pages long beast I'm sorry to say it'll be a while before you guys can get an actual look at the story ! But I've been posting tidbits on my insta here and there.

The world it's set in is a low-ish fantasy alternate of XVth century Provence. The twins are called Sàvi and Sefia, and Sefia is married to a guy from the ruling family of the neighbour realm of Longitania (aka cursed Long France) That's guy number two below. would have loved niche subreddits and making spreadsheets if that was available to him

Since most of the intrigue takes place in the monastery the Longitans and Twin Princes intervene only in a handful of scenes so this is mostly lore for the sake of lore but here are some snippets of them and their delegation from the rough pages !

and a bonus wip panel for an extra display of artistry (pov : you've just called the prince a cockroach in front of all the Longitan ambassadors)

[cy-lindric]

I see all this awesome art and there is this name that keeps coming up that I dont know. Whats "Massà"?

Hello ! I'm working on a comic and that's the name of the city in which the story is set. It's a bit of a placeholder name for now (I'm thinking of changing it), but it's the tag I've been using for anything lore-related for my project !

[cy-lindric]

I must admit I love all your monastic OCs, but I'm particularly intrigued by the design of the Abbe's coiffe. Is there any magic in this AU? What happened to Clomonde's eye?

Also... Fibert looks very cute. Who is more feral between him and Nanthilde?

There is magic in that world yes ! It's fairly limited ; it's some sort of divination magic based on linguistics. Their liturgical language can't like, summon demons or make fireballs, but it can grant images and visions of hidden truths (?) and answer questions if you're like, really good at grammar.

The Abbé's coiffe is inspired by 15th century hats and it's the headwear for abbots. I think it's common for noblemen of Massà to veil and hide their faces anyway, but the abbot probably has some type of scarring that he's obscuring somewhat.

Clomonde's eye is just like that, probably since childhood. I think it's just some type of strabism. Regular human uniqueness.

Fibert and Nanthilde are siblings and Nanthilde is definitely the chaos agent here. I'm not sure where she'll fit in the story ; she's more of a background presence for now, but I see her as some sort of feral kitten running around.

[cy-lindric]

their faces are all so different and interesting…! for the sake of asking a specific question rather than a general one, I would love to know more about the doctors and their work. Is two doctors a lot for a monastery of this size?

In that world (and similarly to today, I suppose), Doctes are both teachers and researchers. They are, like others in the abbey, sworn to monastic vows, but they are not constrained to the walls of their monastery. They usually specialize in a particular subject and they go around advising rulers and researching their chosen topic.

Only one Docte is made in Massà every year, and two candidates are presented to the Prince. The abbey where the story is set has multiple Doctes on site teaching aspirants and novices, but I think most places wouldn't have that sort of privilege and wouldn't take students to prepare for the doctorate. Basically, the Abbey of Reol is the only one in Massà to offer a graduate program. There would be similar programs in other countries and city-states though.