Mmm... classifications of Tsars in Svanihk... this might be WIP:
Tsarihktra - High Tsars aren't always around but some historical Svanihk Empires were lead by Tsarihktra. The Philosopher King is Tsarihktra Fyarihk in Svanihk.
Tsar Tsarihk - The Tsar of Tsars is not a real title, but instead is given to fairytale figures and God and such. Like, a particular popular bard might be the Music Tsar of Tsars. Also, the name of the Constellation/Tarot card.
Tsar - Tsars are just Lords -- they are in charge of a particular area.
Tsafet - The Next Tsar is the Heir.
Tsarinav - Little Tsars are anyone who are related to the Tsar but are not Tsar.
Above ^^^ Svanihk wrap outfits in red and gold with wooden shoes and koroshnik-style crowns and helms. Gold bangles and bracers and gilded bones adorn them.
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Okay, fine, we'll TALK about Nouveau Thuille...
Nouveau Thuille is a city settled in a fertile valley under the Upper Continent run by a collection of mafia-like families -- and of those, there are four (kinda) primary House with the most influence:
House d'Magnia — The Spec Ops & Research
House d'Aramitz — The Military & Production
House d'Fealtoire — BIG old money folks
House d'Romanach — The Factory Workers & Agriculturalists
House d'Solais (Deceased) — The local-equivalent of King Arthur's house
The nobles collectively tell the people that they are holding power until their Emperor Under the Mountain, the Once and Future Emperor, Riavh Solais, returns to lead the world to eternal peace. And they definitely all believe that and it isn't propaganda. Definitely. 🙂
Anyway, without a very clear central authority, there are functionally no laws for nobles or those affiliated with them -- this includes this like murder and using corpses for science experiments and so forth. And so... there are basically laws for no one, because even the commonfolk farmers will pay taxes to (read: Get extorted by) at least one of the nobles families. That being said, you cannot be SEEN just MURDERING PEOPLE in the streets. You have to SEEM respectable. Openly murdering or kidnapping or robbing people? That's uncouth and you're properly stupid and dangerous if you can't HIDE your crimes. So, perhaps it's better to say, "There are no laws if you don't get caught breaking them."
Somehow, despite this relative anarchy and decentralized government, technology advances steadily. (Probably because competition between the Houses has led to growth!) And, recently, increased contact with the South has led to rapid industrialization over the last 50ish years here, which has led to the creation of a middle class. House d'Magnia and House d'Romanach both appeared into the last three or four generations or so.
So, with all that said, let's get into the thing WE ALL CARE ABOUT the most: What do people even EAT? Here's just a handful of foods:
- Stroganina -- Cut frozen fish into strips, eat raw
- Salmon Roe
- Frozen Rumateur Liver -- Freeze a Rumateur lamb liver, eat raw
- Eider Foie Gra -- (Force) feed an eider a diet of mostly black pine nuts, blood, and meat scraps, kill it at a year old, fry the liver on a rock slab, salt and top with thyme
- Rumateur jerky
- Rabbit Stew -- Every family has a unique stew recipe.
- Frozen Cream -- Rumateur cream is whipped and mixed with wild berries frozen or dried from the summer
- Bechamel Sauce -- Butter, barley flour, warmed and whipped. Add salt or honey for different flavors, frequently put on bread
- Barley Bread -- Both risen and flattened
- Fermented Rumateur Milk -- Has a vodka/soda like taste, sometimes warmed before drinking
- Barley-based Beer
- Rumateur Tongue Sandwich -- Traditionally on a barley bread bun with rumateur cheese, Tongue is grilled, roasted, or fried in lard, Lightly salted, sometimes dusted with thyme, sometimes eaten with bechamel sauce
- Barm Cake
- Blood pudding
- Scrap Meatloaf -- Made of scraps of meats from other meals, ground up, frozen into a cube, and then fried in lard
- Honey Mead
- Berry-Wines/Champagne/Ciders -- Every family has unique fermenting process for their Wild Berries
The Evolution of Theatre in Nouveau Thuille
This might seem random but hear me out: What could be more important to a culture than HOW THEY TELL STORIES about themselves?
See, for the longest time, across the North, they would tell stories of legendary figures, animals (particularly seals), and stock characters in song-form -- with funny voices for each of the characters. Sometimes puppets would be involved, particularly with children.
Then, around the time of Riavh Solais, the oral tradition just evolved to have more specific forms of songs -- and more people were expected to learn to sing songs or at least have their own, unique verse to a song -- but the melodies became more standardized, as a means of telling history. Character voices and accents became very specific, and some costumes became iconic. However, sorta like Opera, you didn't have to move around -- you just entered, exited, maybe even only stood up and sat down, and sang/played your instrument to play your role -- maybe with some, minor hand gestures or props. This means that they often explicitly said what they were doing, rather than demonstrating.
Today in Nouveau Thuille, shadow plays are popular -- typically set to music, sometimes with the help of tiny music boxes that cast shadows -- but dolls are considered crude and for children. This evolved into shadow dances briefly before just becoming actual dances, set to music, with poetry being recited -- sometimes by the actors themselves but usually by the chorus or the musicians. But the body language -- intended to be slightly stylized but with realistic facial expressions (much like their paintings being stylized but leaning towards realism these days) -- is supposed to do most of the work. And sometimes, there will be extended periods of no-speaking, only dance, and music.
These are performed in people's homes or the streets, but special effects in Ysse contraptions, alchemy, and other such special effects are used to enhance the performance and Nobles particularly are expected to tip to learn the secrets of how it was done -- and so, theatre is just an extension of the industrial military complex.
Nouveau Thuillean Language
For all 2 of the Conlangers who follow me (unless you've come over from YouTube... in which case, hello all ~650 of you lol), Nouveau Thuillean is intended to look and sound Franco-Irish. It has two grammatical genders (Normal or Transcendent), a definitive and subjunctive mood, and special Timeless conjugation -- for things that are happening regardless of time.
Since I have a whole language breakdown on my website, I won't dig into it here but here's just some sample sentences for you:
If you had loved me, none of this would have happened! =
The ev'vatoirias eu, flavon s'de eblivui.
I hear the call of the Abyss. (I.e. I feel self-destructive, I want to do/know something that will hurt me. "Call of the void" refers to something that will hurt you but you MUST do) =
Nenne theillan d'flavoneisse.
It's a flower. (i.e. It's really simple/easy.) =
Zaira peo.
AND WITH THAT, I will leave you for the day. This was such a long post lol and I didn't even cover everything XDDDD
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The Not-So-Much Black Brothers.
~~~♤~~~
"Mr. Potter." Sirius' grin widened as he caught sight of his brother.
Regulus couldn't help the twitch of his lips as he nodded back,
"Mr. Lupin."
And they stood there for a moment, basking in the freedom they felt. They had singlehandedly cut off the fucked up line of the most ancient and noble house of Black.
And they were so godamn proud of it.
"I'll see you tomorrow for dinner at your's?" Sirius asked, hopeful. Regulus nodded,
"See you tomorrow, Sirius." His smile was genuine now.
The Lupin's, Potter's, and Evans' lived happily ever after, and that's canon, thank you very much.
~~~♤~~~
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Amai's Fantasy Noble Houses
^^ The Courthouse of Nouveau Thuille
So yesterday, I went on a big info dump about Nouveau Thuille itself, but its most important aspect is its people -- the Noble Houses of Nouveau Thuille. Factions are one of my FAVORITE PARTS of worldbuilding, so please indulge me as I gush about how COOL all my Houses are <3 <3 ,3
**House d'Magnia**
^^ The Manor d'Magnia
House d'Magnia is Arlasaire's House, my protagonist! Well, kinda. See, House d'Magnia sigil is a winged serpent and its words are "Eshew Axiom for Ascendancy" which basically means "We break the law to win." They are known for being the most brutal and underhanded in their tactics -- Giluniques, the heir, had his eye cut out as a baby with the hopes that he would become a mage. (He did.) And one of the House's favorite things to do is take in society's undesirables and turned them into hitmen.
Arlasaire was one such person -- she was effectively Gil's human pet, growing up. He got to teach her to read and write and murder people and stuff. His father probably did this because Gil's mom died in childbirth with his stillborn sister and Arlasaire was a burned orphan child whose village was destroyed in a Dragonstorm. Who was going to say "No"? It wasn't a great environment for her, despite her pride in her upbringing. It really messed with her head.
House d'Magnia is known for its Ysse engineering -- though Arlasaire never took to the House's art
**House d'Aramitz**
Ah, the good ole House d'Aramitz! This grand old House has controlled the military since House d'Solais ruled a united North. Their sigil (or maybe they're coats-of-arms?) is a gold sword with two shields on each side. They also are in charge of military production and were probably some of the earliest adopters of the assembly line. They value tradition and typically, their members most staunchly believe in the notion that they are keeping order and fulfilling the will of the long dead Emperor.
As of the start of my World Letters, House d'Aramitz is led by Silvestre and he has two or three sons (idk, doesn't matter) -- the eldest of whom is a sweet gay guy named Cleiv who really wishes his dad would stop trying to make him get married.
Oh, and I think their art isssssssss Martial Arts? Or maybe textilesssss? Idk, I'll roll with it now lol
**House d'Fealtoire**
House d'Fealtoire is currently being run by a young woman and her sisters are all women, but gender isn't the reason it's sometimes called "The House of Wh*res" -- that's because the House's ongoing political strategy is just to suck up to whoever is in power and keep them there. They're considered to be charming but duplicitous -- but hey! It's working! They're extremely rich and they typically end up funding the plots of the other Houses and their many, numerous smaller houses. Their sigil is a bowl of blooming Tobacco violets with vines dripping out on either side.
Lucienne d'Fealtoire is currently running the House, with her two younger sisters, Celia and Derecina. Luce has a sorted history with House d'Magnia -- she was engaged to Gil as a child and they grew up quite fond of each other. But then, her dad tried to poison every other noble at Court. Arlasaire dropped a chandelier on him to stop him. Lucienne and Gil's engagement was technically cut off at that point... except when his dad died of a heart attack a few years later, they promptly picked up where they left off. And you can imagine the kind of relationship two ambitious, horny teens have...
Anyway, House d'Fealtoire is full of musicians and dancers. Performance arts. Unfortunately, over the 5 years since I started Yssaia, I didn't always remember this and I did this whole portrait of Lucienne painting Arlasaire (below). Not that there's anything WRONG with her being multitalented, but she should definitely be an excellent actress and dancer. It just WORKS with her characterization.
**House d'Romanach**
House d'Romanach is a fan favorite because they're the House of the People. They're only three generations old, run by Lady Isaurala d'Romanach, and they're basically a factory and farmer's union that became a noble house.
Isaurala's #1 priority is the well-being of the people -- but this puts her diametrically opposed to many of the Houses in the war, who are interested in fighting for independence and sovereignty, where she would rather just surrender to the seemingly less-corrupt South. Of course, she also knows when elections come, she'll keep her power and privilege, even when the others don't, so like... you know...
Their sigil is a hammer and anvil, and their artform is painting.
**House d'Solais** (Gone)
House d'Solais -- or actually, just House Solais because grammar worked differently 400 years ago -- died when Riavh d'Solais, the Once and Future Emperor, the Sun King, etc. etc. died in a civil war with his son. Under the justness of his rule (and very nice, Dragon-summoning sword and amazing propaganda machine and a wife who could see all the possibilities of the future to pick the best one), Riavh united the North 400 years ago. He rose to power at age 14, when he pulled a sword out of an anvil at the back of the last king's Trialhall. He married a fairy for his wife. And his champion was the strongest and most charming fighter in all the land.
But the world was not ready for a man so pure and kind. And so, he was killed by his own, wicked son in a revolt. (It was definitely the son's fault. Definitely. And Riavh was definitely not a depressed, young father with incredible military advisors who could only unite a culturally diverse North for barely a generation under the threat of force.)
Their sigil is a radiant sun-shaped crown. Riavh did not leave behind a Trialhall for a next Emperor -- instead, he is allegedly sleeping until such a time arises that he can rise again and bring about a world without war. And the Noble Houses hold his crown until this inevitable return.
Which House do you think you'd work for?
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