thestarrymanuk

[thestarrymanuk]

One big advantage of literary fantasy over more visual media is that you can hide completely batshit worldbuilding in plain sight. Like, yeah, what this setting calls "elves" are actually grey aliens, like from UFO folklore, but it takes thirty chapters for the reader to get enough information to piece that together because none of the viewpoint characters particularly remark upon it. Why would they? Elves looking like that is normal for them.

[thestarrymanuk]

Do any of the cultures in your setting have snow? What does that look like? How would your main characters react to a snow day ?

oh! most of the geographically-interesting and/or plot relevant features of this planet (so far) are equatorial, so indeed i've neglected to mention anywhere cooler, haven't i.

i couldn't bear to deprive my kids of snow days tbh. akko grew up with them; he's from a decently remote and sparsely populated mountain chain in the planet's northern hemisphere, and more importantly one that is smack dab in the middle of the immense northern forest. most areas of the planet are relatively arid—less than 20% of the surface is covered by water—but this forest acts as a giant humidifier, roughly the size of the continental united states. summers are warm, but short, and indeed winters would probably be pretty frosty. (i guess dreadnoughts simply evolved endothermy somehow…?) consequently akko is pretty well used to cold weather—and specifically, to cold precipitation (i.e. snow), which would be a rarity in most other regions of the planet.

as to how it fits culturally? hm. i guess i should preface this by saying that i have much less elaborated for akko's…representative political entity? than i do for ppilli, or even iridarra. this is not of course the same thing as a culture, but all together it covers a similar (if non-congruent) area as the northern forest itself, so tldr: customs may vary. that being said:

clothes: akko would actually be quite at home in a kariulli, because he's used to bundling up for most of the year. he is predictably not immune to the masculine urge to wear shorts and a tee-shirt in 40°f weather and probably wasn't even before he froze to death. but he will probably wear pants and furs and proper boots when it really snows (though mainly because he's still got dads around to bug him about it). meyeqitš wears full-body cloaks to the hot close cramped equatorial city because they come from a desert and the fabric is actually incredibly light and breathable; akko wears his long black bagjacket/scarf combo because it's too comfy (before overheating) and he's too goth/lazy to change.

buildings: akko's (dads') house is fairly large for a single-family dwelling but it's built into the side of a hill, a little below ground level, to maximize heat retention. it also has a large sunroom, which can be opened for ventilation in summer but stays bright and quite warm in winter.

cuisine: the northern forests are surprisingly bountiful (at least to meyeqitš' stereotypically warmie expectations) but while by no means unique slow-cooking and smoked/preserved foods are quintessential winter fare. lintta makes a hot toddy that could knock god on his ass out of moonshine she brews herself. i would also deeply love for there to be something like snow candy, hot maple syrup cooled to taffy on fresh snow…

i think often of the first time meyeqitš goes to akko's house but now i just can't stop thinking about the first time they go and see snow. they'd be so. they would be So.

(side note: there are some pretty significantly besnowed mountains elsewhere, even on the equator, near ppilli. but while these might have provided theoretical knowledge—ppillisi does have a word for snow, noiquš—it's more of a curiosity or luxury than a 'thing that happens while people are around.')

anyway, then akko beans them directly in the back of the skull with a perfect snowball. and i can die happy.

[thestarrymanuk]

writing share tag ✨

thank u @sidhewrites for the tag! another wip wsaturday, because i don't have a lot shareable yet. but have a terrible bird having a terrible time, ft. birds (terribility may vary).

been feeling in the slop a lot recently, but at least i'm writing (more) (relatively) regularly.

tagging @phthalology @falling-hand-in-unlovable-hand @niemalsetwas @babblish? if you feel up to it.

[thestarrymanuk]

images of foxes with things in their mouths...

[thestarrymanuk]

sitayqik's character playlist. is incredibly powerful

[thestarrymanuk]

What is civic government like in the Red City? Is there a unified consolidation of power or rival factions vying for supremacy, and how does Meyeqitš slot into it all?

oh, the red city (iridarra) has possibly the worst form of government: it is ruled by the university's faculty senate. it is so, so stupid. half sumer, half medieval paris. getting anything done depends entirely on the whims of one or more of the dozens of faculty committees and subcommittees. imagine the venetian senate but with snide academic bickering. it is ridiculous. a city the size and population of the bay area, surviving solely on literal millennia of institutional inertia.

such a system naturally presents many opportunities for the manipulative and ambitious. some faculty (magic) are centuries old, and are formidable political forces whether through their resulting experience, connections, or sheer cussedness. ofc there's also a hierarchy to the senate, from ignored undergraduate interns, adjuncts, lecturers, junior faculty, faculty, senior faculty, etc., all the way up to the illustrious archchancellor; the full franchise is probably limited to faculty and above, though the untenured probably get to vote on some (less important) questions now and then. the archchancellor is probably the closest single thing to an iridarran head of state.

the current incumbent, of course, is a recurring presence in meyeqitš' no good awful very bad time at uni. he's the first human archchancellor in many years, so out of necessity he plays the political game very sharply. he immediately identifies meyeqitš' potential (as both a powerful magic user and one he wants to have in his pocket) and so greases many wheels for them, but he makes no pretenses about expecting their fealty in return, which immediately and deeply disingratiates him. but he's not the only faculty meyeqitš gets involved with—the other, namely, being their sponsor, the mysterious eyreth. how did a completely unmagical lede become tenured senior chair of esoterics? what are they playing at, poaching meyeqitš—a completely untrained, unlaureated postdoc, a white elephant preschooler with the power of a god—from the archchancellor himself? and how on earth are they going to teach meyeqitš alchemy?? (why, via their lost-and-found red uni princelings protege club, duh.)

but eyreth too has their deep political secrets. :3c they're not who (or what) they seem to be, though the truth of their intentions is probably more of a shock than the discovery they were hiding something in the first place. i think meyeqitš will still be glad to have sided with them in the end, but let's see if i can write something that far first.

…unless you meant ppilli! which is a (medieval-style) commune.

the city of ppilli has probably had many forms of government over the untold millennia of its existence but it is currently steered by a nebulous "council" consisting of the chief senior priest, the captain of the city guard, and a representative elected from among the heads of all the city guilds. when one exists, a šiušappandzaš (what meyeqitš is) is a sort of unofficial fourth councilor, but with somewhat more than one vote—they couldn't force a decision through without support, but they can always veto singlehandedly. though i suppose they do have some more direct political responsibilities… there's at least one "festival" annually where the šiušappandzaš is expected to hold court and arbitrate civil disputes, though they might not be able (and definitely don't want) to do it their first year or so at the university—iridarra is halfway around the planet.

but the politics in ppilli are generally much more low-key than in the red city. there's stuff going on but it's like. 10k people, max? meyeqitš in particular finds themself in a strange position of suddenly going from an awkward, temperamental loner, a known Weirdo (with a notably Difficult, if respected, non-local mother), to a living god with mass popular veneration/support. of the three councilors, the most antipathic is probably leluaniš (?), the guard captain, but mostly because she's under a tremendous amount of stress which is only exacerbated when commandeered to babysit a tremendously annoying and depressed baby god. definitely not because of the time when she hit on them when they were both horrible teens, though mainly because she doesn't really remember.

even a baby god is a powerful patron, however. imagine the knives and intrigue of big-city politics transposed onto small-town drama, where everyone knows everyone and all their history together, too. many fish with designs of bigness in this very small well! the priests' college likes to claim meyeqitš early on but while meyeqitš does take their (ugh) responsibilities as a god (UGH) VERY SERIOUSLY, they only tolerate ninna and alawaši (the official and unofficial chief priest, respectively) to certain limits. they respect their (undeniable) experience as administrators, small-town politicians, and diplomats; they respect the history and gravitas of the institution; they have limited opinions of the more mystical/esoteric aspects of religio ppillensis (meyeqitš believes in religion more or less like they believe in the weather before religion starts believing in them) but are willing to admit they are perhaps not an expert.

but they find ninna oppressive. especially his expectation that (after being graciously allowed out of the city to learn magic) meyeqitš will more or less retire from the world to be a decorative temple ornament. he's not like the archchancellor—ninna's attempts at manipulation are so obvious and easily avoided meyeqitš initially thinks they're demonstrations as for children, softballs, meant to show them what they should really watch out for—but. hm. very much "the dad that earnestly, heartbrokenly can't understand why his child isn't going to medical school, despite never actually asking if the child wanted to be a doctor." alawaši is much more pragmatic about meyeqitš being their own person: man proposes, god disposes. but her vocation was always the practical administrative aspects of the job. and meyeqitš is close to sitayqik from very early on; sitayqik is a priest, but they were heavily and even unsecretly reformist even before "their" god (meyeqitš) entrusted themself to their care. they're in love with god, not the college.

of course there are also a lot of little local grandees who try to suck up to meyeqitš following their ascension. most of the time meyeqitš understands (they mutter, with gritted teeth) that this is simply a function of having a new and very important job, one they take very seriously, and they also understand (they insist, with clenched fist) that most of the people leaving them sumptuous and ostentatious offerings are just concerned with introducing themselves, making a good impression, the continuing welfare and safety of ppilli, etc. the one exception they knowingly make to this self-enforced good faith is whatever would-be rural baron sent a little baby manuk, alone, nearly 3000 miles across the world to a stranger he wished to impress. and especially once they learn who this sender's family is.

[thestarrymanuk]

sitayqik has A Lot To Say

[thestarrymanuk]

what if u hold raptor like chicken, like this

[thestarrymanuk]

Hello on WBW! tell us a bit about the taxonomy/ecology you're working on. What species are you developing, and are you going into a whole ass food web or just a rough evolutionary tree?

ah hello! i've been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately by the thought of/attempting to do An Entire Planet, so currently i've been playing around with ppilli as a sort of…representative thumbnail? meyeqitš is from there; bellroc was profoundly shaped by the place of their birth, even long after their city had died, and i enjoy imagining hapless baby god failing around their end-of-nowhere town, even occasionally accompanied by nature. but which kind(s)? how? in what contexts? ppilli lies at the end of a massive and ancient river canyon; the river itself is long since extinct, but the canyon is by no means "dead." i'm currently trying to justify a mix of biomes, mostly consisting of the grand canyon (for "realism") with a healthy dose of "how much can i make a near-equatorial canyon at the edge of a vast and trackless desert resemble 8000 BP central anatolian steppe" plus a whimsical dash of "early cretaceous yellow cat formation (where convenient), for Reasons." i'd like not to segue entirely into rebranding as a biologist, but i would like to figure out just how unrealistic my NYC sewer arapaima/giant rideable draft varanids/utahraptors actually are.

the problem is all the cool fantasy fauna i want are huge, which means they require a shit ton of food. worse, they're all carnivores! i already used my one (1) "get out of realism free" card to handwave a magical well system, so at least the arapaima have somewhere to live. but what are they eating?! and what about those? (if you've been playing along at home, you know such rabbitholes are typical of my creative process, haha.)

so i guess i'm trying to build just enough food web to justify my pet enormous carnivorous megafauna… except… i'm doing that by trying to figure out the entire food web needed to support them, lol. so probably the exact "wrong" way (or at least it feels "backwards"), but at least i've got dinosaurs :3c

[thestarrymanuk]

we are learning. ecology

[thestarrymanuk]

"You don't know me. I'm not the same person anymore."

"That's okay. I'll get to know you again."

[thestarrymanuk]

you've heard of conlanging normally... but what if, instead, i rewrote ecce romani... to be about fantasy mars çatalhöyük... in fantasy mars hittite

[thestarrymanuk]

2/370 VERBS REMAIN!!

[thestarrymanuk]

wip wsaturday

tagged by the always effervescent @niemalsetwas. i've been making some humble progress on this project, which i'm desperate not to jinx by speaking about it. but hard times call for stupid self-indulgence. remember "janky neolithic universal translator?"

have that again, except this time... on fantasy mars!!1

tagging: @sidhewrites @babblish @niemalsetwas (for whenever you want to share something again), and...anyone who follows me here, but not my main, and wants to show off some wip :3c

[thestarrymanuk]

BABY BOY... x 2!!

[thestarrymanuk]

bored.

[thestarrymanuk]

fighting for my life that there's no good reason for ppillisi to have an imprecative