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Diletta Ucello, Grey Princess of the Seberegn | Grey Empress of the Demiague Empire

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Alasdair MacMuir, Sir Daryush Moradi, and Feyz Aerdan-Koli

When Alasdair paid a man on a dock to take him south, he did it simply to escape the pressures of his family, and the watchful eye of his deceased father. Lord Ronan MacMuir, Son of the Sea, Ocean-Blessed, the Pirate King of Muir, had passed a great deal on to his son after his untimely passing, including his face, his title, and his overpowering obsession with the sea. What he did not pass on was his charm. Alasdair was plagued with a stutter as a young boy that only seemed to worsen as he aged, and at some unfixed point in his early teens, Alasdair simply stopped speaking entirely. He refused to interact with his siblings or playmates at all, and preferred the company of fishermen, or even better, the fish themselves. His mother's displeasure, and then disapproval, and then resentment, he could tolerate, but the torture of being constantly compared to his successful father was too much to bear, and the day before his fifteenth birthday, Alasdair slipped from his father's hall under cover of night, and hired a boat southwards.

A shipwreck, an unseasonal storm, a circuitous caravan journey, and a detour to a floating market-city later, Alasdair found himself in a small desert town with an empty purse, and no way to fill it back up. He wandered and begged and pilfered what scraps he could, though this was made significantly more challenging by his absolute refusal to eat meat. Despite his absolute disinterest in his fellow people (though all those south of the Crest insisted that Alasdair was a fairy, and not a person) Alasdair's empathy for other living creatures was cripplingly strong, even those that resided nowhere near the ocean.

Six months into his new life as a sandy street rat, Alasdair encountered Sir Daryush Moradi, a wandering desert-knight, who inquired politely in Canain (Alasdair's own tongue) why he was picking chunks of chicken out of the bowl of soup he'd just been given. After an extended written discussion on the merits of vegetarianism, Daryush invited Alasdair to travel with him. Alasdair saw in him everything he didn't see in his own father; warmth, guidance, protection... Though Daryush had a few students in his hometown further east, there was no questioning who was the favorite. He spent a few blissful years in the northern Kathib, learning a hundred ways of fighting with a hundred kinds of sword.

Then, not long after Alasdair's eighteenth birthday, a Sarkoli troupe came into town, and Alasdair fell in love not with nature or with combat, but with a person. The object of his dogged, obsessive affections was Feyz, the son of the troupe's fortune-teller. An enigmatic young man with a penchant for speaking to spirits, Feyz was regarded with faint distrust by the rest of the Sarkoli, though this did not extend outwards to the town at large. Alasdair was enchanted by his easy manners, his gentleness, and his people's wandering lifestyle. Surrounded by desert for so many years, Feyz's tales of sea-journeys were intoxicating. The Sarkoli brought with them a letter, however, battered and sand-worn, that had been carried over half the continent. It was marked with Alasdair's name, and sealed with his father's crest, still unbroken. Inside was a note from his sister, informing him of his mother's passing, and requesting his return to the north - if he still lived.

With Daryush traveling southwards to fight in a desert-war, Feyz and the Sarkoli leaving for the east, and his sister's letter begging him northwards, Alasdair was left unsure of who to follow, who he was supposed to become. Only time would tell which path he would take, or if he would cut a new one for himself.

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Fashions of the Kusti

Adults

The Kusti generally lack a formal class system, save for the Raid-King and his family. Instead, social standing is determined by military might. Jewelry and adornment are the clearest signifiers of success and wealth, and many Kusti wear nearly all of their wealth on their persons at all times, to show their pride in their skills, and to protect it from theft. Hair and beards are grown long regardless of age, and are frequently decorated with jewelry, beads, or ribbons. Traditionally, a Kusti warrior's wealth would not be passed onto their children, but instead buried with the warrior's own body, and forbidden to be dug up again.

Youths

Besides wealth distinctions, Kusti society is deeply communal, with a small group of men and women taking responsibility for raising the entire community's children, while the others hunt and pillage. Even when not blood-related, children in the same Kusti communities often consider one another "siblings" due to their shared upbringing, and marriage between differing groups is common, to avoid any undesired coupling. Kusti teenagers often share clothing between families, and some even share with their parents, though generally teenage wardrobes lack the abundance of ornament that their parents display, as the teens have yet to earn any treasures of their own.

Children

Though among teenagers and adults baring skin is a matter of pride - a symbol of one's strength, and ability to weather the cold - it is the whole group's duty to clothe the young children and protect them from the chill. What the youngest Kusti lack in expensive jewelry, they make up for in large, expensive wool coats, long skirts, and fur-lined boots. Indeed, Kusti children are the only ones who wear skirts of any sort, as once they're old enough to hunt and fight, all Kusti are expected to wear pants for ease of horse-riding and general locomotion. Save the few adults who choose to remain at home, the wearing of skirts longer than knee-length can be something of a symbol of immaturity, or distance from society.

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Fashions of the Seberegn, pt 2 - the Non-mages

I don't have nearly as much to say about these, so we're just going to do the pictures this time!

The profusion of red is my fault, and probably not representative of how much red people actually wear. I just like it...

Merchants

Artisans & Tradespeople

Laborers

Vagrants

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Fashions of the Seberegn, pt 1 - the Demiago

The Demiago of the Seberegn make magic in two colors: black and white. This magic is used primarily to support industry and reinforce the city's gravity-defying architecture. Demiago's spells are always written, traditionally in either chalk or charcoal depending on the mage's color, and these elaborate sigils must be viewed regularly to maintain functional. Modern innovation has led to magically infused paints, allowing Demiago artist-pairs to paint elaborate portraits, murals, or signs to keep the city functional. As a scholastic city-state, showing off one's magical prowess - and one's color - is a requirement for all of the upper classes, and there is no better way than through one's clothing.

Government Officials

The Seberegn's impassible bureaucracy is well-known throughout the west, and its government is one of the city-state's largest employers, followed by the University. Government officials are required to follow a sumptuary law restricting them to only the color of their magic - black or white - alongside gold or silver accents, and the occasional colorful gem or jewel. Long skirts are a symbol of the erudite life of an official, regardless of gender, often leaving them somewhat restricted in their movement. Additionally, tall, complex braided updos are a ubiquitous style among all of the Demiago, reminiscent of the Seberegn's iconic high towers and floating buildings. Symmetry is maintained throughout most if not all outfits, and asymmetricality is closely connected with unkemptness - and thus relegated to the artists and the non-mages.

Nobility

Like the nation's government employees, the sorcerer-aristocrats of the Seberegn dress almost exclusively in the colors of their magic, though they are under no strict law that requires them to do so. Instead, the impetus comes from a simple desire to maintain and perform their social status. Symmetry is and will remain the de-facto rule, across all groups. Notable among nobility, however, is the split-skirt, with trousers underneath. This trend seeped into the upperclasses from the more artistic Demiago some time ago, and has remained for generations, thanks to its practicality, and its slightly flirtatious cut.

The Artists

Responsible for much of the city's elaborate sigil-work, as well as the non-magical artwork that adorns the walls of the high nobility, Demiago artists are admired and resented in equal measures. Their power over the city's physical construction is resented by those in governance, and their outlandish fashions are looked at with suspicion (and envy) by the nobility. As one of two "bridge classes" between the Demiago and the non-magical underclass of the small nation, the artists are often those responsible for introducing fashions of the underclass to the upperclasses. Currently, the object of their interest is color, which is almost entirely absent from all upperclass wardrobes and homes, but is prolific in the poorer parts of the city.

The Greymages

The half-magic of the Demiago is only (officially) taught at the Seberegn University of Sorcery, and students in the first year - the only one provided free of charge by the Seberegn government - are restricted only to grey magic; smaller, weaker spells which they can write and maintain on their own. Those who attend that first year, but can't afford to continue afterwards, are relegated to the role of Greymage, the closest thing the Seberegn has to a middle class. Required by sumptuary law to dress primarily in grey, and relegated largely to service and mechanical jobs, the Greymages sit at an awkward position between the under and upperclasses. Very few citizens of the Seberegn can even afford the year off work that the University requires, and the Greymage populace is largely made up of the few devoted hopefuls who worked their way through the first year, only to find they couldn't afford more. Unlike the other Demiago classes, many Greymages elect to ignore or reject the fashion trends of the aristocrats and artists, symptom of the deep resentment towards their "superiors."

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bonus outtake from my new simblr post, for those of you who are also up in the middle of the night for no reason

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Kusti Raid-King Batomor Khan-Chulingan, and his Princely Bride, the Seer Uz-Zamir Ayel-Chulingan.

In the sparse woodlands of the Ustirt Plateau, in the high northern regions of Albatwi, live the Beyvan people, a peaceful agrarian community known best for their sheep and goats, whose wool clothes the wealthy all across the continent. Once shunned by his people for his blindness - and his vivid hallucinations - Uz-Zamir lived as a shepherd on the far reaches of a small Beyvan village. Captured by Batomor's band of Kusti raiders (called "Mogoruudi" meaning "devils" by the Beyvan) during an attack on his village, Uz-Zamir was taken prisoner, and held for a ransom that was never paid.

Whether it was the Kusti people's reverence and admiration for Uz-Zamir's visions, an unfortunate case of capture-bonding in the harsh northern winter, or the result of Batomor's infamous physical charms, Uz-Zamir refused to be released when the Kusti discovered they weren't going to profit from his capture. Instead, he demanded that he be allowed to stay, and to take on a formal position as a seer. The Kusti, bewildered by his unusual case of Stockholm Syndrome, agreed. How could they refuse, when they believed they had a Seer-Saint walking among them? Uz-Zamir's elevation to the Khan's marriage-bed is, however, a slightly more dramatic story.

According to the tale, shared over mugs of horsemilk all across the Plateau, Batomor was so charmed by Uz-Zamir's request to stay that he ordered Uz-Zamir accompany him and his raiders on their next journey, to begin his acculturation to the group. Spring was approaching, and it was to be their first journey northward in some time, now that the weather was warming slightly. Batomor had left his three wives at back in town with his seven children, and when the raiding group fell victim to an avalanche while resting in a cave, Batomor and Uz-Zamir found warmth in one another's arms, or something similarly poetic. Uz-Zamir observed how he had enchanted the Raid-King, and demanded that Batomor divorce his three wives if he ever wished to lay with him again - though, given his own obvious inability to provide heirs, he conceded that the children of the wives would still be permitted to remain. Batomor, enchanted by the Seer's quick wit and strange, fairy-touched manner, agreed almost immediately, before the group had even dug themselves out of the cave.

When they returned, and the news was broken to Batomor's wives, they attempted to stage a coup against him, but were ultimately thwarted not by the Kusti's loyalty to Batomor, but to their beloved new Seer - the Kusti could have raised their weapons against Batomor, but not against Uz-Zamir. Now, with his murderous wives banished Batomor rules in relative safety again, but he can't quite forget his wives' failed coup, and the power his lover held over his entire tribe. He knows who really rules them, and it isn't him.

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adorable eyessss @plantainboat

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hi there and welcome to my new super not-secret simblr sideblog! (SnSSS) 𓆚

you can call me mage (or whatever else i don't really care) i'm an adult, and i use they/them :) i have been refreshing my old oc world from years ago and i decided i'd make all my characters in the sims, and then i got carried away and realized i wanted to post said ocverse nonsense,,, and here we are! it's mostly going to be CAS & writing to start with, until i can get my act together and find some proper fantasy build cc, and my mods folder is still quite small so bear with me while i build all this up

since this is a sideblog i can't always follow people back, but i'd love to make some friends regardless! hope u guys enjoy my magical nonsense

reblogs very much appreciated

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Arman Pell-Ruadh and Eliyanora Ucello, the Sorcerer-Consuls of the Seberegn.

The Seberegn - a small city-state among the westernmost forests and cliffs of Albatwi - is home to the region's iconic magic-workers, the Half-Mages, or Demiago. Unlike many other magic-workers from across Albatwi, the Demiago believe that magic is best performed in pairs of two, and this half-and-half mentality governs much of the Seberegn's political and social structure, despite the state having a (slight) majority non-magical populace. Though the Seberegn was for centuries a Republican nation, with its paired consuls elected once every eight years, and its monarchy remaining as a purely cutural , Pell-Ruadh and Princess Eliyanora are a unique exception to past precedent.

After recent shifts in legislation, Pell-Ruadh and the Princess won a landslide vote as the first consulate pair to contain a member of the royal family - and the heir to the vestigial throne no less. Though a vocal minority protested the monumental election, it was not to disparage Princess Eliyanora's right to rule, but rather that of her mage-partner and husband, Arman Pell-Ruadh. Despite graduating from the Seberegn University of Sorcery, and his change in citizenship following his marriage to the Princess, many felt that Pell-Ruadh could not be considered a legitimate citizen of the Seberegn, and was thus not qualified to lead.

Now, however, as Pell-Ruadh and the Princess take the reigns for their second consecutive term, new whispers are beginning to spread throughout the winding streets of the Seberegn: Will this become a new era of villainous, undemocratic diarchy? Will their daughter, the Grey Princess, become consul? And, of more immediate concern, will the pair's rumored marital issues affect their ability to cast together? After all, the Sorcerer-Consuls are responsible not only for political leadership of the Seberegn, but also magical leadership, and thus the upkeep of much of the city's ensorcelled architecture. A split in the consulate could result in very literal physical destruction, particularly in the wealthier University districts of the Seberegn.

It's not clear now what will come of Pell-Ruadh and Princess Eliyanora's rule, but it is certain that whatever nation emerges on the other end will be greatly changed.