#Cannibalism:WB

[marlowethelibrarian]

🕳️- Talk about a research rabbit hole you fell down!

I did a bunch of research into the geology of salt plains for Project Cannibalism. As it turns out, they're usually the result of arid areas where water carrying salt and sediment to an area will evaporate, accumulating salt.

Salt ridges can form when sediment moves over salt plains. Salt is like, less dense than rock I believe, so it rises in the mountains and eventually pokes its way out.

Saline in the soil can be washed out by rain, which pokes some holes in the intentions of my geology honestly.

The idea was that magic was necessary to desalinate the land, but they live in a place with a lot of rainfall.... but maybe the salt run off from the mountain is just exceptionally salty or something. X)

I might end up using something else in the end.

[marlowethelibrarian]

Worldbuilding for Project Cannibalism: The Pantheon

Project Cannibalism takes place on this peninsula, in this trio of states, in primarily the Suyan theocracy, the Nori Queendom and the Muloyu Federation.

These three states share a pantheon though they have some varied ways of interpreting it. All three of these states run on a matriarchal clan basis, with inheritance going to the youngest daughter as the mother sees fit.

The lowlands are the Nori in the north and the Muloyu in the south, with Suya on the highlands.

The founding myth of their pantheon is the death of the founding earth goddess, who gave birth to the sun and moon, and the winds, and then, died in violent, volcanic childbirth to give birth to the twins Suyo and Napeki.

Suyo, the elder twin took charge of their mother's body and returns it to the earth, beginning a cycle of life and death, raising the forests and all that grows on the peninsula. She's a god of composting, death, rebirth, life.

Napeki, the younger twin, and the youngest daughter, inherits her mother's legacy of fire and flame. She becomes the first alchemist, and from her cauldron springs the boars and the birds and all the creatures that populate her sister's forests. Her favorite, of course, are the humans, gifting them with fire and alchemy and control over the forests.

There are a smattering of other gods as well. The sea god is a primordial god who was probably the father of the twins- they don't track paternity here so it very much doesn't matter. There's an intersex god who has domain over light and truth and oracles, a lightning goddess, a music god, a bunch of other minor little things.

We never get any confirmation that any of these gods are real.

[marlowethelibrarian]

What does the social hierarchy look like?

Hi! And welcome to SPLITE NITE, a series of posts about worldbuilding based off of @hyba's post on their SPLITE model post

For this series, I will be making one post per question that they present about Project Cannibalism as I do my best to prepare this project for the first draft and I'll try and get these up at least once a week, for WBW. I know it's not wednesday, shh I got busy.

So. What does the social hierarchy look like in the nation of Suya?

Suyan hierachy is based in matriarchal clans rooted in land ownership and agriculture. Clan often have different ways of organizing themselves, and they can differ, but usually there is a matriarch at the head of a clan.

Suya is somewhat of a confederacy, wherein clans are the primary landowners where, on their property, they have first say on how things go. However, they are all beholden to the first clan, the Daseri who are the keepers of magic and representatives of Suyo. The head house of the Daseri clan mediates inter-clan conflicts, represents Suyan interests to foreign parties, and controls the use of magic.

The Daseri are enormously powerful. The clan doubles as the main body of Suyan religion- to become a priest means joining the Daseri clan, and only Suyan priests can work magic. The Daseri will hold tryouts for young children to see if they have the potential for magic- and if they do, then those children get adopted into the clan. The highest status people in Suya are definitely the women priests in the Daseri clan.

Other than that, clans can expand their power by acquiring more land and more food, taking on and completing difficult work and projects and gaining status within a particular sohae.

A sohae is kind of like a state, but instead of being drawn by boundaries, it is an agreement by the clans who already exist in that area to work cooperatively. Not all clans exist in every sohae- some clans like each other more than others and are therefore more willing to work with each other. Large clans might have small presences in other sohaes, and therefore less influence.

Within a clan, there's usually a matriarch who distributes power and tasks. Inheritances generally run down to the youngest daughter. Land ownership doesn't go to the individual but to that branch of the clan, where the products of that land is theoretically owned collectively by clan members. Older siblings are expected to support the youngest daughter as she learns from them about their lives, the work they do, so she can lead appropriately in the future.

Clans often also sometimes have more than one bloodline that forms the clan. These are called houses. Some clans rank one house higher than other houses, but usually that's internal clan politics that people from outside those clans won't really grok to. You can be adopted to another clan, but you keep your house name. You don't marry people within your same clan, and you don't marry people with your same house name.

The people without a doubt who are the lowest status in the land are the Okono, those without a clan. These are usually exiles of some sort, people who have been driven out of their families. The Okono are regarded with suspicion, because it usually means they have done something criminal and have been removed from the family lists.

Second generation Okono can either be adopted into another clan, should a clan be willing to accept them, or, if they can gather up enough Okono together, they can form a new clan.

[marlowethelibrarian]

How are Family Relationships Represented?

Is it a Matriarchy or a patriarchy?

How are gender roles and relationships presented?

Hi! And welcome to SPLITE NITE, a series of posts about worldbuilding based off of @hyba's post on their SPLITE model post

For this series, I will be making one post per question that they present about Project Cannibalism as I do my best to prepare this project for the first draft and I'll try and get these up at least once a week, for WBW.

Suya is a clan based matriarchal theocracy.

Clans aren't all organized the same way, especially at the highest levels, but generally your local clan compound will be a communal living space for everyone in the clan. This is where childcare takes place, usually by teenaged boys and nursing mothers.

Within the clan, generally property is held in common, but private affects and leadership are passed down hereditarily through the mother and the concept of fatherhood is nearly non-existent. Instead, men are expected to look after the children of their sisters and become coparents that way.

Not everyone who belongs to one clan has to live under the same roof. An adult from a clan can move out from the clan house and find another living space, but once children are born, the child, at least, gets raised in the clan house.

Women and men both take on the role of farmer but it's the women who make the decisions and act as leaders. They are expected as caretakers to make the decisions when it comes to harvest, planting, irrigation etc. Men play a more itinerant role in society, often asking permission from the local matriarch to travel to other places. Often times this is how a clan will obtain valuable skills to pass on to the household.

Men also sometimes form guilds in order to exchange trade secrets and combine economic power. It is expected that their loyalty remains with their clan though.

Marriage can be romantic, but it is primarily an economic decision. It is not expected for people to remain monogamous and it's even encouraged for higher ranking women to take on multiple husbands. A marriage is a business arrangement where the woman brings a man's labor into the clan, for which he will be properly compensated for. It is a long term contract. If, for example, the husband refuses to provide goods, or the bride refuses to use them, then that is like cheating levels of scandal.

Women marrying women isn't unheard of but it is quite unusual in that it may involve joining of whole clan inheritances and sometimes means the two split off to form a whole new clan.

Men don't generally marry other men, because they don't tend to have the money to make it worthwhile, but them having sex isn't at all stigmatized.

Love matches between anyone of any gender can be recognized with a handfasting, but isn't legally binding- it's just a nice thing to do.

The Laeyat clan is a clan of genderqueer people who don't fit the gender binary. They are the Seers, the historians, the musicians and the spies, carving out their own little place in society. Generally trans and nonbinary people in our parlance aren't quite so accepted within a more gender essentialist clan structure, so usually they are heavily encouraged to go get adopted into the Laeyat clan instead. Of course this isn't always the case, but that's often on a clan by clan basis.

[marlowethelibrarian]

I DIDN'T WANT TO MAKE A TEN PAGE POST!!! I have more stuff about the history and relationships of the three nations, more gods, some biome stuff, a whole ass world map still.

Earlier generations of Suyans deffo saw it as a worthy sacrifice to make- either someone served as a battery, or everyone dies. Now that things are more established, there's definitely more variety of opinions, and the knowledge of the sacrifice is more of an open secret rather than something everyone knows.

The peninsula in general has more of a collective culture than an individualist culture so more people are willing to make that kind of a sacrifice. At the same time, it's not like the temples drain someone's life down ruthlessly- the position is considered an honor and you cycle out of it after you've done your term, and ofc not everyone serves. There's still huge power imbalances with who becomes a living sacrifice and who doesn't.

I still have to do so much more worldbuilding lol, the politics of the world are so steeped in the plot I need to do a lot more before it's in any shape to be written. Tho might just write some short little stories taking place in this world to try and flesh it out, particularly the crime and punishment systems, and the technology available here. Also two nomadic cultures that need to be fleshed out with and some foreign nations as well, to develop more of the diplomatic and trade sphere.

I need you to tell me all about Project Cannibalism actually

Okay! So I have like 10 pages of worldbuilding just for this project, so if you wanna know something more specific, feel free to send me another ask!

Project Cannibalism is currently still in the planning stages.

The story takes place in Suya, a theocracy dedicated to cult of Suyo, a cthonic earth goddess, ruled by hereditary priestesses. Suyo was founded by exiles from the lowlands, banished to the steppe where most of them were killed by the harsher conditions at higher elevations, or by the nomads that lived on the steppe.

All living creatures have some kind of magic inside of them. Life itself is an energy that can be bent towards magical working. Usually this is expressed through alchemy- creating effects by brewing potions and later, by runesmithing. It can be a labor intensive process and biomes with more biodiversity have more options when it comes to alchemy. It is a useful technology that underpins most the engineering accomplishments on the peninsula.

The exiles discovered a way to use the magic of human life, amplifying another's energy through their own bodies to do bigger magic, bypassing the need for the process of alchemy. Other creatures can serve as batteries, but the closer the battery is to human, the more efficient the process. It is with this magic that they created arable land out of the rocky steppe and drove away the nomads.

You couldn't light a candle with the life of a cockroach, but with a another human, you can break up boulders, divert rivers, raise shelters, and only take a few years off of their lifespan.

The story for Project Cannibalism centers on a pair of identical twins, separated by birth. One raised in the temple of Suyo as a talented priestess, the other a genius alchemist that has run out of luck and time and realizes they have an uncanny resemblance to the up and coming priestess.... However, they find themself with more than they can chew, as the aging queen priestess and her heir are at odds with each other, and their twin is being groomed to possibly replace the crown priestess.

[marlowethelibrarian]

For alchemical practices almost definitely, but I haven't worldbuilt that out yet! But there's two kinds of alchemy, hearthside and engineering, with hearthside focusing on food and medicine and engineering focusing on the movement of energy and power.

Muloyu is particularly strong in the engineering side and Nori specializes in hearthside. Hearthside is the oldest form of alchemy, because y'know. Cooking.

Suya, on the other hand, doesn't have as strong an alchemical tradition because life magic took higher precedence and is associated with their patron goddess. I bet they have perfected the art of moving water though. Suya has a more organized, central system of sewers and irrigation that isn't half as necessary on the lowlands, so they've probably developed some level of indoor plumbing.

Suya definitely has less alchemical practices in comparison to her lowland counterparts. There's less biodiversity to make a large variety of potions on the highlands, as compared to the subtropics on the coast, and they'd be competing hard with food for the arable land.

There's probably a more robust alchemical practice near the lake though, because it supports a wider variety of life.