Vaporo
Inkling
Question 39: Can you tell me about your world's boogie man?
This one's easy. Raldan the Immortal: a gnome-like creature that leads drunks astray when they're walking home from the tavern so that he can replace them with changelings. Or challenges men to drinking games for their souls. Or carries off children who sneak some of their parents' liquor or otherwise misbehave. The legend has a lot of variation, but Raldan is usually depicted to somehow exploit drunkards.
Question 40: can you describe the architectural styles of you world? (high/low, peaked/rounded, ornate/modest, open/closed etcetera)
Antisa has a penchant for structures set partly underground with wide, sloped sides. Antisa is largely grassland and is periodically battered by enormous hurricanes and earthquakes. Sloped walls make them less likely to collapse in high winds, and being partially underground saves on precious wood and means that there's less that needs rebuilt if an earthquake destroys your house. Improved technology has since rendered these to be largely secondary concerns, but the style has stuck around.
Question 41: Can you give me a linguistic overview of your world? (Language families, broad distribution, intelligibility, lingua franca, trade language...)
Every language is descended from the three major languages that survived the war with the Generals. I don't have proper names for them yet, but for convenience I'll call them Ancient Halgolian, Tulvian, and Amulkonian. These three languages were stuck on an island chain for two centuries while the rest of the world stabilized from the Generals' reality-tearing powers, and formed a variety of pidgins. Then there started to be pidgins between pidgins, and elements from these pidgins started to leak back into the primary languages. When colonists finally left the islands, many spoke languages so thoroughly intermixed that it was almost nearly impossible to discern their original origins. The original three languages survived, but in severely mutated forms. (I also just learned that language that emerge from pidgins are called creoles, so that's interesting).
The modern linguistic makeup is something like this: Halgolians speak languages directly descended from Ancient Halgolian with very few outside influences, although a few components from the Amulkonian language family made their way in during the reign of the Amulkine empire.
Untians speak languages from the Halgolian family, as they are culturally from Halgol. However, many native Untians assimilated into the culture the immigrants brought from Halgol, and brought elements of their creole-based language with it.
Kumbaskans speak languages from the Amulkonian family, but severely affected by elements from the other families. The Tulvian family is almost exclusively spoken on Western-Continent-Whose-Name-I-Keep-Changing.
Yeah... if you couldn't tell, I'm not a linguist. I mostly just came up with this stuff so that I could have semi-consistent naming patterns.
Question 42: What are your world's superstitions? (Bonus: where do these beliefs come from?)
It's bad luck to drink without wearing a piece of glass around your neck. Comes from the ability of magic to steal the memories of a drunk person. There is a glass-like material called unsundo that interferes with nearby magical effects, and can protect a drinker from memory theft to some degree. However, since unsundo is rare and extremely valuable, it is usually in the best interest of the shard's owner to sell the unsundo and use the money to buy a really big parlor room where anyone who is close enough to steal your memories is also close enough to be seen. So, many people started wearing glass necklaces in their place, hoping the sight alone would ward off any potential thieves. Thus, the myth was born.
Question 43: Can you give me the descriptions of some of your world's cheeses?
Well, there's Halgolian... "cheese"
Question 44: What does an average household look like? (Is it a modern nuclear family, or a multigenerational feudal household? Do pets live inside?)
In Untia, families typically live in a single multigenerational household. Children live with their parents, who live with their parents, etc. A person will likely be born, live, and die in the same house. Typically, the house will be passed down to the eldest man or woman (depending on the family) in the direct line after the previous head of house dies or otherwise becomes incapable of performing the role. There are practical considerations, though. Usually siblings not in the direct line of inheritance will move out when they get married to live with their spouse's family, or construct their own house.
Question 45: How are children treated in your world? (Until what age are the kids? Are children allowed to work? Can they vote? Are they considered people or property? Do daycares and schools exist? Has the concept of teenager/young adult been introduced in your world?)
In Untia, children will usually start working at ages ten to twelve, whether they be helping move boxes on the docks or an apprentice. Officially, the age of adulthood is sixteen years, but there's a lot of variability to this, especially in the countryside.
Not too much in the way of democracy in my world, but the tribes to the far northwest of Kumbaska do vote on their leaders. There, all adults are allowed to vote. In that part of the world, adulthood is usually determined by some great deed or event, especially for men. This may involve undergoing a spiritual journey, or killing your first animal in a hunt. There is no true age barrier. Occasionally, a six year old get lucky and stab a wolf through the heart and be declared a man for his deed.
Question 46: What do people in your world value most in a leader?
In Untia, people tend to value whatever leader makes them the most money.
Question 47: What are some common names in your world? (Bonus: Why are they popular?)
Ikla: Name of the first warrior-queen of the Nation of Ikla. Original meaning of the name is unknown.
The names of the hundred Alstalia who died during the war between the Amulkine Empire and the Fel. Their names are immortalized by the religion of the Amul, so they're naturally rather popular.
Nothing specific aside from those.
This one's easy. Raldan the Immortal: a gnome-like creature that leads drunks astray when they're walking home from the tavern so that he can replace them with changelings. Or challenges men to drinking games for their souls. Or carries off children who sneak some of their parents' liquor or otherwise misbehave. The legend has a lot of variation, but Raldan is usually depicted to somehow exploit drunkards.
Question 40: can you describe the architectural styles of you world? (high/low, peaked/rounded, ornate/modest, open/closed etcetera)
Antisa has a penchant for structures set partly underground with wide, sloped sides. Antisa is largely grassland and is periodically battered by enormous hurricanes and earthquakes. Sloped walls make them less likely to collapse in high winds, and being partially underground saves on precious wood and means that there's less that needs rebuilt if an earthquake destroys your house. Improved technology has since rendered these to be largely secondary concerns, but the style has stuck around.
Question 41: Can you give me a linguistic overview of your world? (Language families, broad distribution, intelligibility, lingua franca, trade language...)
Every language is descended from the three major languages that survived the war with the Generals. I don't have proper names for them yet, but for convenience I'll call them Ancient Halgolian, Tulvian, and Amulkonian. These three languages were stuck on an island chain for two centuries while the rest of the world stabilized from the Generals' reality-tearing powers, and formed a variety of pidgins. Then there started to be pidgins between pidgins, and elements from these pidgins started to leak back into the primary languages. When colonists finally left the islands, many spoke languages so thoroughly intermixed that it was almost nearly impossible to discern their original origins. The original three languages survived, but in severely mutated forms. (I also just learned that language that emerge from pidgins are called creoles, so that's interesting).
The modern linguistic makeup is something like this: Halgolians speak languages directly descended from Ancient Halgolian with very few outside influences, although a few components from the Amulkonian language family made their way in during the reign of the Amulkine empire.
Untians speak languages from the Halgolian family, as they are culturally from Halgol. However, many native Untians assimilated into the culture the immigrants brought from Halgol, and brought elements of their creole-based language with it.
Kumbaskans speak languages from the Amulkonian family, but severely affected by elements from the other families. The Tulvian family is almost exclusively spoken on Western-Continent-Whose-Name-I-Keep-Changing.
Yeah... if you couldn't tell, I'm not a linguist. I mostly just came up with this stuff so that I could have semi-consistent naming patterns.
Question 42: What are your world's superstitions? (Bonus: where do these beliefs come from?)
It's bad luck to drink without wearing a piece of glass around your neck. Comes from the ability of magic to steal the memories of a drunk person. There is a glass-like material called unsundo that interferes with nearby magical effects, and can protect a drinker from memory theft to some degree. However, since unsundo is rare and extremely valuable, it is usually in the best interest of the shard's owner to sell the unsundo and use the money to buy a really big parlor room where anyone who is close enough to steal your memories is also close enough to be seen. So, many people started wearing glass necklaces in their place, hoping the sight alone would ward off any potential thieves. Thus, the myth was born.
Question 43: Can you give me the descriptions of some of your world's cheeses?
Well, there's Halgolian... "cheese"
Question 44: What does an average household look like? (Is it a modern nuclear family, or a multigenerational feudal household? Do pets live inside?)
In Untia, families typically live in a single multigenerational household. Children live with their parents, who live with their parents, etc. A person will likely be born, live, and die in the same house. Typically, the house will be passed down to the eldest man or woman (depending on the family) in the direct line after the previous head of house dies or otherwise becomes incapable of performing the role. There are practical considerations, though. Usually siblings not in the direct line of inheritance will move out when they get married to live with their spouse's family, or construct their own house.
Question 45: How are children treated in your world? (Until what age are the kids? Are children allowed to work? Can they vote? Are they considered people or property? Do daycares and schools exist? Has the concept of teenager/young adult been introduced in your world?)
In Untia, children will usually start working at ages ten to twelve, whether they be helping move boxes on the docks or an apprentice. Officially, the age of adulthood is sixteen years, but there's a lot of variability to this, especially in the countryside.
Not too much in the way of democracy in my world, but the tribes to the far northwest of Kumbaska do vote on their leaders. There, all adults are allowed to vote. In that part of the world, adulthood is usually determined by some great deed or event, especially for men. This may involve undergoing a spiritual journey, or killing your first animal in a hunt. There is no true age barrier. Occasionally, a six year old get lucky and stab a wolf through the heart and be declared a man for his deed.
Question 46: What do people in your world value most in a leader?
In Untia, people tend to value whatever leader makes them the most money.
Question 47: What are some common names in your world? (Bonus: Why are they popular?)
Ikla: Name of the first warrior-queen of the Nation of Ikla. Original meaning of the name is unknown.
The names of the hundred Alstalia who died during the war between the Amulkine Empire and the Fel. Their names are immortalized by the religion of the Amul, so they're naturally rather popular.
Nothing specific aside from those.
Auror
