#The -kul in Brakul's name also comes from this root but no longer has any literal meanings of hardiness. A name with -kul in it will

[serpentface]

A kulustaig bull, the distinctive cattle landrace of the highlands.

Kulustaig have striking differences to other native cattle found across the Imperial Wardi claimed territory. Their aurochs ancestors were domesticated in a separate event from those found south of the Inner Seaways, and the broader cattle population kulustaig derived from may have trace bison genetics. The progenitors of this landrace were brought south across the Viper seaway by the ancestors of the contemporary Hill Tribes, and were gradually shaped into the kulustaig in adaption to the high altitudes, mild but dry summers, and cool/snowy wet seasons.

These cattle are mid-sized and stocky in build with large, broad faces, most distinguished by curly manes and 'beards' and thick, V-shaped horns. Genetically undiluted kulustaig are almost ubiquitously black, white, and/or gray, though breeding with other cattle has introduced a greater variety of coloration in contemporary stocks.

They are adapted to higher altitudes, having larger hearts and a bigger lung capacity than comparable lowland breeds, and grow thick, curly winter coats that allow for superior resistance to seasonally cooler temperatures. They can maintain condition on less food and lower-nutrition grasses than the average cattle, and are excellent instinctive foragers. This particular quality makes them attractive for crossbreeding efforts with cattle stock of the dry scrublands in the south of Imperial Wardin, though most of their other traits are highly unfavorable for hot, low altitude environments, and scrub-kulustaig hybrids with idealized traits are rare (and highly sought after as studs).

These are all-purpose cattle that can adequately fulfill roles as meat, draft, and dairy animals, though the latter role has the most importance in day to day life, and they show the most selection for milk production (though are not as high-yield as pure dairy breeds). Their meat is mostly lean and somewhat gamey, as they rely more on thick winter coats than fat stores to manage cold, and the vast majority subsist entirely on wild grasses and forage.

Most kulustaig have fairly calm, gentle temperaments, and accommodate well to human handling (it is not uncommon for cows and geldings to be passively ridden by herders otherwise traveling on foot). Their herds have strong, well defined, and stable dominance hierarchy structures, which reduces actual fighting and lends to them being more easily managed by their human herders. In most traditions, the dominant female in each herd is regarded as blessed by and belonging to the agricultural goddess Od, and will not be milked or slaughtered (this untouchable status is often maintained even if the cow's rank in the hierarchy is displaced, though traditions vary).

Bulls are almost ubiquitously given personal names by their owners (the honor often belonging to a family or clan's matriarch, who is generally considered the owner of the herd and other familial assets), while other traditions vary between just the bulls and dominant cows, personal favorites, or entire herds receiving names.

These cattle are of tremendous importance to the peoples of the highlands (particularly tribes and/or individual clans living above the river valleys, who fundamentally rely upon them for subsistence). They provide much of the meat and dairy that the core diet revolves around, and are the greatest measure of wealth within the highlands. Non-native cattle can be commonly found in parts of the highlands in the contemporary (and may be bred in to impart unique qualities to established stock, such as improved milk production or fattier meat), but kulustaig are typically prized above all the rest. These cattle are often a source of great pride for individual clans, and one of few agreed upon markers of shared identity and pride for all of the collective Hill Tribes.

Cattle raiding is a near-ubiquitous practice (both as a practical resource acquisition, and a less immediately lethal method of settling larger disputes than open warfare), and most cattle will be branded with a mark identifying their owning clan as a method of dissuading theft (often futile, particularly given cattle marked as belonging to certain wealthy clans may be especially prized). Nose rings are commonly used to assist in the handling of bulls, but have secondary protective functions that lend to their common use in even the most docile of cattle. Rings are usually blessed or have spells woven into their making as a supernatural barrier against theft, or against malicious (or at least devious) mountain spirits such as tiirgranul (who take pleasure in frightening cattle (and their herders) and are known to cause stampedes) or wildfolk (who are known to sometimes steal or curse cattle when offended, or just bored).

The word kulustaig derives from the common word 'taig'/'taigr', which refers to cattle in the contemporary languages of both the Hill Tribes and Finns, and the 'kul' root (heavily antiquated and not used in contemporary speech, most commonly recognizable in the name of the kulys plant), which has connotations of hardiness/robust qualities. The name would have derived from complimentary descriptions of the animals as 'the best and most robust of cattle'.

[serpentface]

how do you come up with names for your characters, places, fauna names etc? like is it just vibes or do you have a naming system/special alphabet/language? :o

(talking about your white calf headworld) sorry if its been asked before!

I have a naming language for Wardi words, an incomplete naming language for the Highland-Finnic and Burri languages, and like, a sense of common consonants and sounds for the other languages that come up frequently. I try to keep at least a sense of internal consistency rather than things just being like, purely keysmashes and Vibes, but some words are more thoughtfully constructed than others (and some predated me establishing Any rules and had to be written around or handwaved as loanwords).

Also I have ongoing lists of words and established roots for every language which is what I rely on the most for building new names. Whenever I create a new word/name Without established roots, I usually try to derive new roots from it that I can later re-use (ie decided the -kul in Brakul is an obsolete Highland-Finnic word with connotations of hardiness, which is no longer used on its own in contemporary dialects but appears in kulustaig (cattle landrace), kulys (drought resistant plant), beinkulm (high altitude barley landrace))

As for the character names, the majority of the major characters have been around/named for a Minimum of 2 years (which is before I did any linguistic stuff) so their names were not built on in-universe languages and I instead built the languages around these names.

Faiza- was originally Faizahaidamane as one word, later divided into a name and surname. She's one of the oldest characters and I don't remember how I came up with it. Also had to retroactively change the pronunciation to 'Fai - Tsa' because Wardi has no 'Z' sounds (justified in-universe, Faiza is originally a Burri name).

Janeys- Might have been a spin on 'Janus'?? I don't really remember how I constructed it but I wanted it to be a common name.

Brakul- I have no earthly idea.

Tigran- This is the only one I (knowingly) took from a real world name, it was kind of just because I liked it.

Couya- I straight up just named her after my first major OC from the 7th grade and added a 'U' (the character was named Coya, which was based on the word coyote).

Palo- He is kind of a fusion of two older characters, one of which was named Dove, so on that theme I took 'Palo' out of the word 'Paloma'.

Hibrides- I think this is one that Seemingly came to me fully formed but was actually me just thinking of the name of the Hebrides archipelago without remembering that is an actual thing, so now I have google docs insisting on autocorrecting it to that every single time