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if you ever find yourself wondering “well wait, what kind of prison sentences would long-lived species like elves receive in my world” consider that prisons are honestly pretty new. when people were imprisoned for long periods of time it was usually bc they were political rivals of members of aristocracy who didn’t want to go reminding the masses that you can just chop royalty’s heads off (or because they’re more useful alive for whatever reason)

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A cloudless night and a moon nearly gone made for the perfect night for vanishing.

Nihal moved with confidence, bare feet guiding her across familiar paths without the aid of a light that would have surely given her away. If she had been less familiar with the way she might have struggled, but she had made this journey many times since childhood, and she walked amid the scattered herds as confidently as if it were the middle of the day.

She had planned this for long enough; she would not let them see her coming.

The house was as still and silent as the fields when she approached it, no hint of anyone staying awake to keep a watchful eye.  The goats didn't seem to notice her presence, only occasionally deigning to turn and give her a long, doleful look before returning to their rest. No one else was there to see Nihal as she sidled next to the storage building which she knew held hides and fermenting cheese waiting to be traded, but rather than those, her own goal stood outside, beyond the corner.

Slowly, dry grass rustling beneath her feet, Nihal crept to the corner, then struck, quick as an adder, clasping one hand over the mouth of the man that leaned there, grasping his wrist with the other. He gave a start and would likely have shouted had she not been quicker to silence him.

Quickly, though, he recovered, and at his response Nihal yanked her hand away as quickly as she'd darted other, dramatically wiping the spit from her hand with a grimace as he silently laughed.

Though his features couldn't be discerned in the shadow cast over what little light there was, it was as though Nihal's memory could conjure him there completely, as though she could see more of Makram than the glimpse of the light in his eyes. Her second hand slipped easily from his wrist to his fingers, lightly entangled, calloused thumb absently worrying at work-worn knuckles.

"You're late," he whispered, but it sounded too loud, and she jostled him, though in truth it took great effort to keep from giggling like a child. As perfectly as her plan seemed to be working, she didn't want to give away the game so soon. She began to walk and he allowed himself to be led by the hand, looking back as though to watch for some candle lit in the last moment, unmindful of his steps but simply content to follow.

-- Their path had been too circuitous for its goal to be immediately clear, but even in the darkness Makram recognized as they approached their destination and gave a small skip as they approached the old plane tree. It was a comforting landmark, beloved memory of the pair's youths, resting in its shade together and alone. It had been years since either of them had spent time there, as it had become too far of a detour from the sudden business of adulthood.

  "Lovely!" Makram said, slipping his hand away from Nihal's so that he could place his palms against the bark of the wine tree, enjoying its presence. It was too dark to appreciate the pink flowers it bore, but the scent filled his mind with memories of the coolness of the shade and the taste of flower buds plucked from the tree. "But don't you think they'll find us here?"

Nihal sat, leaning against the trunk, enjoying the novelty of a tree she didn't have to tend to or harvest, and smiled.

"They may have thought to look here, but they'll have already checked and left. No doubt they've been looking for quite a while."

The plan, which Nihal had been quite pleased with, was to avoid spiriting Makram away more directly, but to have him sneak out and then simply wait nearby, letting his family notice his absence and start on the hunt, never realizing that he hadn't even left. She'd done the same herself, making as if to approach Makram's home only to circle back and wait for her own family. They'd be out of step all night, assuming they didn't have the sense to give up and go back to bed and salvage what sleep they could.

As Makram sat next to her, seeming as relaxed as though he were resting against a pile of cushions, Nihal felt a surge of emotion. Triumph, not just for tonight, but for their lives and futures. 

Emboldened, she leaned forward and kissed him, too eagerly, awkwardly, teeth and noses bumping in the darkness, but he laughed, and triumph made way for a quiet awe, at this man and the way he made her feel, for this night, a fleeting balanced moment before the scales tipped and the cycle rolled on. For a moment they were still, simply sitting in each others' presence, foreheads pressed against each other, each quiet, alone together in their thoughts. Then Makram lifted his hand, tilted her jaw and kissed her, properly this time, a gentle kiss on the lips, then moving to kiss her cheek and down the curve of her neck. In the dark she reached out, feeling for where cloth met skin, tracing her way to the hem of his shirt, which she had gotten so far as to grasp when the world went cold.

It was sputtering and chaos as water fell from above onto their heads, a torrent drenching them through as they shouted and flailed, climbing to their feet and hearing a victorious whoop! from overhead.

When one bothered to look closely at the tree bough, with sight not clouded by hubris, one could see even in the darkness the signs of a figure reclining on a branch, waving a bucket aloft.

"Yiannis-!" Makram began to cry, but he was drowned out by his brother's shouting.

"Ha! You think you're clever! Well you're not nearly clever enough."

The now-empty bucket was unceremoniously dropped to the ground, with its owner following behind it, rubbing his arm once he'd landed.

"It took you long enough. I was up there for ages."

Nihal blinked, still reeling and only just now beginning to wring the water from her drenched sleeves. "How-?"

"You're predictable, girl!" Another voice chimed in, this time from further away, from a hiding place beyond the nearby shrubbery. Thais stopped next to the couple, clapping them each on the shoulder.

"And there's no way I'd let you have him without a fight. There are three nannies ready to kid and I need another pair of hands-"

Thais continued as though her brother wasn't speaking at all.

"And, honestly, how sentimental. Under the wine tree? The atmosphere hardly works if you can't see it. And that shade would give you extra trouble seeing -"

Thais feigned staggering as Nihal jabbed her in the upper arm, face heating up but laughing. She could see Makram, tying his now-wet hair out of his face, and looking unfairly more composed than she felt at her plans being thwarted. His brother slung an arm around his neck, and seemed to be listing responsibilities he intended to have Makram complete before finishing the wedding preparations.

"Alright, alright, I yield!"

"Yes you do! Come on now, let's get you both home. You look like a drowned rat. Plus, you'll be busy enough come morning. And I hope your baking has improved, or you'll be breaking teeth tomorrow."

"I yielded," Nihal laughed as her soon to be sister-in-law repeatedly pushed her shoulders, nudging her to start back towards home, "have mercy!"

Protests and laughter echoes for a while through the fields as the night settled in once again.

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writing’s all fun and games until you have to google every character name you come up with to make sure there isn’t already someone well known with that name

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The tamék (lit. purifying) flower originating from Myiing works as an insecticide, and is particularly important for discouraging mosquitoes that spread disease. Not everyone has made the connection between mosquitoes and the ague, thinking only that the insects are naturally drawn to the impure air that brings the disease. The sick are usually isolated along with their caretakers to prevent them from breathing out the foul air, and dried tamék leaves scattered to purify their surroundings.

The flower has become an important part of Myiing's economy due to its usefulness, and is exported around the world. Even though its appearance is far more humble than many other popular flowers, it’s often used as a symbol, like that of a merchant family below, depicted on a background representing a gray shield.

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@anonymousdandelion

Thank you both for the feedback! You’ve given me a lot to think about. You mention not being a direct analogue, which is a fair point - I wasn’t sure about spreading out different themes, I don’t want to come across like I’m rifling through to cherry-pick things I think are aesthetically ~Interesting~ while divorcing them from important context.

I have Marie Brennan’s book on my TBR pile, I’ll have to bump it to the top. And the only Gaiman I’ve read is American Gods, so I’ll have another peek into his works. Aside from the mangoverse I haven’t found a lot of fantasy in quite the same setting I’m looking for, so any suggestions on that front would be welcome.

I’ll be sure to hire beta readers if I end up actually writing any stories in this universe. Thank you again for your input!

I did some reading on the topic on writingwithcolor and there were a lot of varying opinions so I’d like to get a better idea of the general stance from Jewish people (religious or secular) on Judaism in non-earth fantasy.

Some people said they’d like a fantasy-analogue of Judaism (as long as it doesn’t have a lot of stereotypes/they’re not evil/etc) because they’d like to see themeslves in fantasy characters even if they aren’t quite the same. while others said that unless a character can be explicitly stated as Jewish they’re not interested in Jewish-coded characters. This person is an author who mentions that you can hand-wave details and have characters be explicitly religiously Jewish without explaining why Seder exists if there isn’t even an Egypt. Which is totally valid, but I’m worldbuilding for its own sake and not writing a story, so I do want in-universe logic. There’s a lot of christianity in fantasy where religious stories, rules, and history change but are still blatantly christian, but there’s of course a difference since it’s a dominant religion through most of the world and it’s not difficult to find christian narratives to begin with. I don’t want to just randomly include things disrespectfully.

So basically: a fantasy world with a religion that isn’t called Judaism but has obvious shared elements - days starting at sundown rather than sunrise, having a different “new year” than other regions & different types of ‘new year’, a day of the week reserved for rest and worship, prohibitions against eating hares pigs and shellfish, removing blood from meat, holidays that include fasting, no hell-equivalent, etc. (obviously not a comprehensive list of parts of Judaism) These people aren’t villains and aren’t portrayed as more backwards/violent/greedy than anyone else, and don’t have particular associations with money or banking. They’re one group out of many, with (ideally) no one being the central part of the story. Would you prefer that, or a gentile author just not including it and leaving fantasy Judaism to Jewish authors entirely?

(Similar question would apply to Islam in fantasy, by the way, if anyone would like to chime in on that. I’ve found fewer discussion on it though)

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Definitely, I certainly don’t expect to get any kind of ‘universal’ answer.

Fair, I wasn’t sure whether to include things like achrayut and kehilla - to try and include the same exact values but in a world where the Torah doesn’t exist felt...inappropriate? Though I also don’t want to include anything blatantly against Jewish values either.

Even with a sacred text in this world, it still wouldn’t really be the Torah. So I thought perhaps with more surface level comparisons it would avoid the problems of essentially Judaism with the Torah changed but I’m definitely realizing it has some problems on its own.

I did some reading on the topic on writingwithcolor and there were a lot of varying opinions so I’d like to get a better idea of the general stance from Jewish people (religious or secular) on Judaism in non-earth fantasy.

Some people said they’d like a fantasy-analogue of Judaism (as long as it doesn’t have a lot of stereotypes/they’re not evil/etc) because they’d like to see themeslves in fantasy characters even if they aren’t quite the same. while others said that unless a character can be explicitly stated as Jewish they’re not interested in Jewish-coded characters. This person is an author who mentions that you can hand-wave details and have characters be explicitly religiously Jewish without explaining why Seder exists if there isn’t even an Egypt. Which is totally valid, but I’m worldbuilding for its own sake and not writing a story, so I do want in-universe logic. There’s a lot of christianity in fantasy where religious stories, rules, and history change but are still blatantly christian, but there’s of course a difference since it’s a dominant religion through most of the world and it’s not difficult to find christian narratives to begin with. I don’t want to just randomly include things disrespectfully.

So basically: a fantasy world with a religion that isn’t called Judaism but has obvious shared elements - days starting at sundown rather than sunrise, having a different “new year” than other regions & different types of ‘new year’, a day of the week reserved for rest and worship, prohibitions against eating hares pigs and shellfish, removing blood from meat, holidays that include fasting, no hell-equivalent, etc. (obviously not a comprehensive list of parts of Judaism) These people aren’t villains and aren’t portrayed as more backwards/violent/greedy than anyone else, and don’t have particular associations with money or banking. They’re one group out of many, with (ideally) no one being the central part of the story. Would you prefer that, or a gentile author just not including it and leaving fantasy Judaism to Jewish authors entirely?

(Similar question would apply to Islam in fantasy, by the way, if anyone would like to chime in on that. I’ve found fewer discussion on it though)

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@wenevergotusedtoegypt​

Well yes, I’m not expecting a definitive consensus, I just wanted to gauge whether there seemed to be a particular leaning for and against it. If some people say it’s fine but most say “no don’t do that” I’ll not do it. Maybe it’ll be entirely mixed, but like I said: wanted to get a general idea of how more people feel about it (with an albeit small sample size) instead of the 2 people whose opinions I’ve seen

[fatesline]

I did some reading on the topic on writingwithcolor and there were a lot of varying opinions so I'd like to get a better idea of the general stance from Jewish people (religious or secular) on Judaism in non-earth fantasy.

Some people said they'd like a fantasy-analogue of Judaism (as long as it doesn't have a lot of stereotypes/they're not evil/etc) because they'd like to see themeslves in fantasy characters even if they aren't quite the same. while others said that unless a character can be explicitly stated as Jewish they're not interested in Jewish-coded characters. This person is an author who mentions that you can hand-wave details and have characters be explicitly religiously Jewish without explaining why Seder exists if there isn't even an Egypt. Which is totally valid, but I'm worldbuilding for its own sake and not writing a story, so I do want in-universe logic. There's a lot of christianity in fantasy where religious stories, rules, and history change but are still blatantly christian, but there's of course a difference since it's a dominant religion through most of the world and it's not difficult to find christian narratives to begin with. I don't want to just randomly include things disrespectfully.

So basically: a fantasy world with a religion that isn't called Judaism but has obvious shared elements - days starting at sundown rather than sunrise, having a different "new year" than other regions & different types of 'new year', a day of the week reserved for rest and worship, prohibitions against eating hares pigs and shellfish, removing blood from meat, holidays that include fasting, no hell-equivalent, etc. (obviously not a comprehensive list of parts of Judaism) These people aren't villains and aren't portrayed as more backwards/violent/greedy than anyone else, and don't have particular associations with money or banking. They're one group out of many, with (ideally) no one being the central part of the story. Would you prefer that, or a gentile author just not including it and leaving fantasy Judaism to Jewish authors entirely?

(Similar question would apply to Islam in fantasy, by the way, if anyone would like to chime in on that. I've found fewer discussion on it though)

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I have no idea why on earth a terf would follow this blog (just randomly spam-following to see how many people you can find who won’t block you?) but I guess I should mention that you aren’t welcome here, nothing I do is meant for you, and I hate you.

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There's a story with varying details in Chēzang of two mortals who loved each other dearly, but one the mistake of praying for the blessing of the mercurial goddess Lau, for their relationship had not been one of official status, but after remaining together through the hardships they'd faced would be seen in public as a couple for the first time during Lau's festival. (reasons for the secrecy of their relationship vary through time, usually either due to both being women or due to differences of status)

Lau, goddess of alcohol, fermentation, and change, is notorious in many stories for blessing or cursing drunken revelers in the matters of love. In this instance, envy of the petitioner's beauty (or depending on the telling, a sense of disrespect or a simple dislike of the unchanging nature of their relationship), led Lau to instead curse the asker as she made her way to the festivities, robbing her voice and changing her appearance. In some versions the woman's appearance is changed to that of a stranger, to cause her partner to believe she had been abandoned, perhaps out of shame; in others she appears as a monstrous demon.

Instead of shattering their relationship, she was recognized by the woman who would know her love no matter the form, embracing her regardless.

Sho, god of marriage, promises, and the hearth, saw this unfold and undid his sister Lau's curse, and declared them married himself.

A tradition was born, celebrating their display of love: a masquerade in which partners ostensibly prove their love and the harmony of their souls by being able to recognize their partner even without being able to see their face.

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Some common traditional elven food. Pretty much every underland elf learns to cook these growing up, and many surfacer communities continue the traditions - though sometimes with more human-palatable ingredients.

I’m not good at coming up with recipe names that aren’t just description of the item. Suggestions would be appreciated

Fish - steam the fish on a rack, slice into pieces, serve with a mushroom sauce that’s essentially mushroom cooked with water and/or wine, and raw sea lettuce.

Bread - either steam lichen into a surprisingly sweet tasting hardened treat or, with the addition of fancy surface ingredients, mix powdered lichen with other grain flour and make as you would any other bread.

Pan fry some grubs in mushroom oil, serve with lichen chips and roe

Deep fried fish bones - once again exactly what it says on the tin. Very popular with kids.

Happy WBW!

tell us about one (or more) of the common recipes in your world! Are there many steps to it? Is it something everyone knows how to cook or is it a secret passed from generations? What are the main ingredients?? Just... go wild about it!

(@worldbuildingwedasks)

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Magic is used through concentration and strength of will, and draws upon life energies - most frequently and easily the caster's own, or, with some finesse, that of other people, animals, or plants.

Learning magic is a bit like learning math or how to whistle: theoretically anyone can do it, but in reality some people struggle a lot while others find it comes naturally. There's a steep learning curve, and it can be especially dangerous for amateurs to practice, since they can accidentally cause themselves serious harm or death due to not being able to regulate what they're doing. Most people don't have the luxury of being able to spend the time and energy to learn to do it.

Casting magic also requires knowing specifically what you're doing. You can't just 'heal' someone in a vague, general sense, though you can perform specific actions like clamping a blood vessel. Such a precise action has risks, since one could accidentally clamp the wrong vessel, or close several.

Virtually anything could be done with magic with enough energy and if you know what exactly you were doing, but in reality it's more difficult and you're more likely to fail and die anyway. For most people who don't have magical training and live in an area where other tools are available, magic isn't worth it. The biggest use it has in the general world is for sapping heat from water to make ice.

Magic has historically also been valued for its usefulness in warfare - being able to use enemies as a source of energy is especially powerful.

There are also less direct but more safe forms of folk magic, with efficacy that is less certain. Instead of doing something concrete like lighting a fire or drawing water from the air, these have more general uses: warding away evil, attracting luck, etc. The methods vary based on the region.

A secondary type of magic is accessible after infection from the spirit reaches, an area that had been magically scoured to stop the spread of disease hundreds of years ago. The original methods of magic used were lost to time, existing only as residual magic, which allows some expanded magical ability as the infection provides a source of energy, but also some really rough side effects.

Happy Worldbuilding Wednesday! Tell me about magic in your world. Who can use magic? How can they use magic? Are they born with magical talent or can magic be learned?

WBW Alert - thanks for the submission!

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Marriage customs in Sirine

In Sirine, outdoor labor is considered men's work, making men are a vital part of any farm. While parents want their sons to grow up and join good households, the loss of a hardy worker still provides problems. Stereotypically, Sirinian parents exaggerate their reluctance for sons to marry, especially to help the family acquire a good marriage price to offset their loss. This has led to the custom of women to be married "stealing" their future husband.

After a marriage has been arranged, when the wedding approaches, at some point in the night the marrying man will attempt to sneak out of his home while his family sleeps and meet with the marrying woman, and the two will attempt to slip away to find a place where they can spend an entertaining evening, free from the parents who have inevitably been very involved in their lives during the marriage arrangements.

However, family and friends are of course aware of the custom of the marriage flight, and will take much delight in interfering. If someone finds where they've hidden themselves they'll be heckled relentlessly. Some couples with particularly mischievous friends have thought themselves well hidden, only to end up with an unpleasant surprise as they're doused with a bucket of water right before things get interesting.

When the sun rises, the couple return to the home of the marrying man's parents for a breakfast and to start preparations for the wedding which will be held that afternoon, where they will have a more private follow up - if they're not too tired from a night of mischief.

Weddings themselves are rather simple affairs; while more politically-minded couples will host events as a pair after their marriage, the weddings themselves only involve the couple, family, close friends, and a priest. An animal – usually a goat – is sacrificed and eaten, and some of its blood dabbed on the backs of the hands of the couple. Festivities often include singing and dancing, and continues until the sun sets.

Upon marriage, men move into the household of their wife, where she resides with any of her living parents of grandparents, and at times aunts and sisters, who may also be married themselves. The main bedroom houses the current head of the family and her husband, and functions as both bedroom and office, and sisters and daughters are sometimes brought in to discuss the business of the farm.

Traditionally men and women live in separate living spaces, eating together in the family's dining and hosting area but spending evenings and nights apart. Some Sirinian families have been influenced by the Kapiken style, where each couple has their own small building that functions as their living space, usually encircling the communal living spaces. While this provides more privacy and can work well for very large households, most Sirinians are accustomed to sharing a bed with family and would find the solitude unnerving. When one needs particular privacy, they may suggest their roommates find some outdoor entertainment for a time, or may make use of the hosting area.

Divorces are possible, and simply involve the man returning to the household he grew up in, or a branch house of another female relative. Any children old enough to leave with him may do so if they chose. Technically a person could join an unrelated household without marrying if they're accepted, but not making the commitment to a family is frowned upon. There are those, particularly in cities, who live alone and don't have a family business, who are considered strange and asocial.

Inheritances often go to the eldest child of the head of the household, but an heir can be chosen from among the women in the household, and usually inherits while their predecessor is still alive, though they play a major part in decision-making and guidance throughout their lives. As long as someone remains to take over the household and care for their parents, other daughters may split off to start their own households, though this means they are generally out of the running for inheritance unless they are left the only woman in the family, at which point one of their daughters or sisters-in-law will take on their new household while they return to the place where they grew up.

Same-sex marriages exist among both men and women, and a woman does not have to have a husband or children to become head of household, as heirs are not restricted to the head's eldest child. Which household a same-sex couple joins depends on their preference and the needs of the households.

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Ḑuqqall religious knives

The cornerstone of the religion of the Ḑuqqall is balance. There is a duality between the divine twins: light and darkness, life and death, man and woman, domains blending together, each needing the other. An excess of one or the other disrupts the order of the world. Knives symbolize this balance, as a tool used by each of the twins, used in bringing life into the world, maintaining life, and at times ending it. When expecting a child, a Ḑuqqall father will craft a specific knife for them, primarily of bone but potentially with wood or metal elements depending on the wealth of the family, which is called a dhāw. Its first use is to cut the child's umbilical cord, after which is will be kept in safekeeping until the child is deemed old enough to be given it during their coming of age. The dhāw is tied to the life and fortune of the owner, and is only used in certain ceremonial instances or in emergencies.

Parents will design patterns on the dhāw of their children with symbols correlating to hopes for the child's life and personality. These will be expanded on after marriage(s) and the birth of each child, with a final marker upon their death, before their dhāw is buried with them. With these records, the deceased will be able to keep hold of their identity in the fog of the first journey of the afterlife, and pull upon the life force imbued in their dhāw for strength and guidance. If a person does not receive a proper burial with their pattern completed their soul may be lost, not knowing of its own death and plaguing the living, trapped wandering with no memories, or consumed by evil spirits. In the case of twins, a second dhāw is made after birth and in a ritual is sympathetically bound to the other. The second, despite not literally being part of the life-bringing process in the same way as the first, is able to share that property due to the interconnected nature of twins' souls. Twins are considered good fortune.

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New map and new general summary of fateline.

Fateline is a just-for-fun fantasy world with a moderate amount of magic and focus on speculative culture and daily life because I love mundanity. We've got underground elves and forest dwarves too just for the hell of it.

Sirine - A major player in world trade, a matriarchal meritocracy that could be quite the powerhouse if not for the infamous difficulty in uniting them under a single ruler, with families being proud and stubborn. The center for pretty much the only monotheistic religion, they believe all other religion's gods are facets or interpretations of the goddess Prosposa. This makes them relatively religiously tolerant, though many aren't thrilled with the invalidation of their gods or being held to another religion's moral standards.

Wahlia - A group of six smaller nations, whose mythologized founders were siblings, and whose histories with each other have been long and varying. At the moment the six are theoretically in accord after increased hostilities have driven the military-minded Andzu to focus more on Rediva to the south instead of trying to shoulder further into their sibling nations' territories. Of course, there are still plenty who wish to take advantage of the situation to shift power to their own ends, reclaiming lost land or growing their status even further.

Rediva -Historically a large empire spanned most of the continent, though it fell after natural disasters and sickness. The remains of a last-ditch effort to save the retreating healthy remains visible today: a large swath of land turned foul and inhospitable to block the sick on one side of the mountains. Some survived, and over time society began to grow again, but the separation was solid, with both sides of the mountains having superstitions about the taint of the no man's land. Some bold southerners would cross north to raid Anzu, but the raids were never a serious problem until recently, as wont for resources cases unrest in the south brings expansion as people rally to a new leader whose folk hero status is spiraling out of his control.

Farran - Volcanic soil and lush plant life competes with the danger of the volcanoes themselves and of wildlife. A haven of corruption, pirates, smugglers, and thieves, and prone to bloody peasant revolts, there is as much unrest as there is opportunity for riches.

Hytea - The Chuizaīn and Dèshihyo empires are caught in a power struggle, each attempting to absorb the other and the last few independent kingdoms holding on to power; meanwhile, each empire threatens to collapse under its own weight as one struggles with corruption and the other with a succession crisis.

Tinsang - A country built on trade, Tinsang stubbornly clings to its power at sea, resisting attempts to conquer it. It's a country for trade, networking, and a high price to pay for a deal undone.

Belros - While Belros is the heart of the study of the nature of magic, exploring even the less immediately obvious uses, mages are unchecked and largely entwined with the economy and government and free to take advantage of the poorer citizens who are desperate enough to volunteer as energy sources. Though there are factions that wish for greater regulation of magic, the persistent threat of the nomads the east and the rumors of the Hytean dynasties looking to Belros' shores make for easy pro-magic propaganda.

Maselle- A region of open grassland upon which several nomadic tribes herd their goats, cattle, and horses. With their ability to mobilize quickly, they provide significant problems for Belros, and their grip on Leira is strengthening.

E'cia - Elves traditionally live underground: in antiquity they lived in self-sufficient communities in cave systems, and were feared for their vicious retaliation towards any who wandered below ground, and even attacks on those who didn't. Much time has passed, and with the growth of elven communities more substantial above ground sources of food are required, with the elves on the surface seen as lower class. Those surfacers were open to trade with human communities, and now in larger and more progressive elven cities it's common to find human imports.

Not all surface elves through history have felt compelled to stay put, of course, and over time they have taken up with human traders, often joining merchant vessels, and spread around the world. some have stayed closer to home, settling Tygran, a cold island which has a history of raiding the towns on the coasts of Belros and E'cia

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A lot of Sirinian color symbolism has been influenced by plays, with colors becoming associated with popular characters and later being used as a shorthand to invoke certain character archetypes to the audience

Warm colors are generally feminine, and cooler colors masculine

Red: Life, death, divinity, renewal; usually only worn by priests Blue: Homosexuality, doubt, rest Green: Wealth, maturity, trustworthiness Yellow: Youth, strength, stubbornness Silver/gray: Fate, death, deceit, mourning Brown: Safety, control, knowledge Pink: Innovation, humor, mischief Orange: Intimacy, devotion, passion

Purple: Indulgence, foolishness, fun

Black: Boldness, compassion, wisdom White: Peace, sleep, sickness

What kind of common colour symbolism is there in your world?

Alert, Worldbuilders!

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[fatesline]

some gay symbolism

in Belros, rams are associated with homosexuality, since gay sheep are more common than you'd think. in real life, not just a worldbuilding thing.

buttons or jewelry made of ram's horns can be a subtle indicator of sexuality. the cyclamen flower is associated more specifically with lesbians due to their being the favored flower of the somewhat mythologized soldier Emelin, eventually evolving to an association with hares since the flower's petals resemble their ears. however, some lesbians still prefer the ram iconography. same-sex marriages are colloquially known as ram weddings, even though the couple in question might be straight.

(just as gay people may end up in a political marriage with the opposite sex, if you're not the first son (/daughter where relevant) you may end up in a gay marriage in order to strengthen bonds with another family while preventing you from having legal heirs that could enable you to challenge your older brother(s).)

in Sirine, as red is associated with blood, life, and childbirth; blue, as its opposite, can be used to indicate homosexuality or someone who is averse to marrying having children. plenty of straight people wear blue, but it's used as a euphemism, and in plays the use of blue for character's costumes is very deliberate.