#also the associations with them being hunted. especially hunted for sport. idk i think it fits.

[unsettlingcreature]

i just wanted to show off this sketch :)

[mallowstep]

I’m thinking about writing a short OC piece about Windclan and I’d love to see your notes about its culture and the hymns you’ve written so far, everything you’ve done for Windclan appreciation month has really inspired me :)

hello anon!

alright, first things first: please send me ur piece when ur done if you're comfortable doing so! i will publish it from you, or if you don't want to be associated with it in Any Way, i will also just read it and add it to the queue with no indication why it's there. or if you don't want me to share it at all, i'd still like to read it.

as for your ask,

hymns?

i'm working on it. however, underneath the read more, i'll include a few snippets for u.

culture

alright, i'm just going to post links with some commentary as i go. feel free to ask any more questions you have.

windclan (search) | windclan (tag) | wcam tag | five clans (narrative essays)

i would link the elders den, but there's no windclan stories in there ATM.

moving on, i'm just going to go through posts in reverse chronological order.

tallstar taking a mate admittedly, this is more about cats and sexuality than windclan, but i provide the commentary that windclan...has a particular view on sexuality and fluidity. one thing i haven't explored but should is the role visiting cats have in windclan.

whoops that's a code word, my plug for solacefruit has been activated. okay, as you may be aware, based on the fact that i have a whole tag for it, i'm obsessed with solacefruit. now, i love everything they do, but i would like to point you particularly to "make a mighty sound" for a fantastic exploration of this idea.

i don't want to spoil anything, but i do think windclan, and maybe cats as a whole, but windclan has a certain view towards relationships that very much breaks them into pieces. i'm a "love is a verb" person, so the idea that you can grow to love someone romantically by going through the actions of love makes sense. not to say you will, but you can.

(to be clear i'm not out advocating for arranged marriages just saying that they can work, they're not destined to be bad, and there's a difference between forced marriage and arranged marriage.)

anyway.

this was a lot of words to say, cats do not have a human (and particularly, western/american) understanding of relationships, which makes analyzing them in those terms difficult.

early hymn talk i'll probably say more below, but it is here.

general ibtwicm notes might get you into the headspace for some of my choices in ibtwicm.

i don't have a ton to say because this pretty much all holds, but uh, yeah.

poetry and language this isn't strictly about windclan, but it does explain some of what i think about when writing hymns.

obviously, i'm writing english translations, but these general themes are what i have in mind. it's also part of why i say i don't think i'll ever release a "full hymnal" for windclan, because i don't know if my weak worldbuilding heart could take it if i only had translations.

names part two very much not about windclan, but just some thoughts on names. as i've said before, i support all names and worldbuilding equally, but if you want my thoughts on names, go buckwild.

clan culture fic rec list just stuff i think does a good job, if you want other sources of inspiration.

general clan culture notes this is really old, but it mostly holds.

i've obviously expanded a lot on windclan since i wrote it, so shrug? idk man.

alright, i'm going to move into hymn discussion below the cut, but best of luck! and i hope u have a good time. it makes my brain shut down to read that i inspired you, straight up got brain juice pouring out of my ears, but i'm really, really happy to hear that.

windclan holds a special place in my heart. (i know my oc avatar is from skyclan shhh it's because of the backstory he sees ghosts.) but i grew up in this super sporty household as a lil asthmatic klutz, and running was a sport i couldn't mess up, so of course windclan appealed to me.

they're actually third on my list of favorite clans, but they. it's a special place in my heart that they hold, especially after reading dawn of the clans and moth flight's vision, where i got an asthmatic cat and an adhd cat, both in windclan.

god i should reread dotc it's good.

alright, here's the deal on hymns: i am not going to fight to get duets to post correctly. there's a 0% chance i can in tumblr's wonky ass new editor with no markdown, not to mention how difficult it would have been in the old editor. so i'm going to talk a lil about what i've got, and post some stanzas that i think don't get explored a lot in ibtwicm.

we're discussing these in the order that they go in. a reminder that these are all sections of one epic poem. that said, i don't know where the gaps are. like, i don't know what's between these, if that makes sense.

the wind

the wind, the very first hymn. this is an ode to, well, windclan. it's a song about everything that makes them them. it's filled with poetry about the wind, about the seasons, and it's just...well, it's a bit of a genesis, in a way.

The wind — like the rain, like the river — calls the name of each star in its breath. The wind — like the earth, like the stone — anchors us to our home. The wind — like the sun, like the sky — is knowable only by name.

i wanted to share this stanza because the last line doesn't show up in ibtwicm (at least so far, i cut the reference), and it really, really, makes a difference imo.

anyway, windclan is basically tying the wind in with every other fundamental part of their life here.

they are the wind, and that's that.

the hare

okay, this one has a line that comes up a lot in ch1, but i already talked about that, so instead, i'm going to talk about this stanza

Speak of the earth and the dens, and you will be answered: By the call of the howling gales, the open earth singing in response. But speak of that which grows above, of the grass and field, And you will be answered by the softness of the buds and the roots.

okay, we get deadfoot thinking about this when he's talking to yellowfang.

i like this stanza because it really tells us what the hare is about. now, hares are not something windclan catches. hares are huge, y'all, there's no way they take one down. i take liberties with ecology, but not that many.

(i.e., a team of cats definitely could take one down, but i know too much, and would prefer letting team hunting stay a plot thing, and not fundamentally alter the environment in the way it would.)

now anyway, all of these hymns come from the time of the tunnelers. and the point of this is, even though the work of tunnelers and moor runners is disconnected, they fundamentally affect each other.

a moor runner must trust the hollows of the earth beneath them won't collapse, and a tunneler must trust that the prey they chase up will be caught.

it's all very symbiotic and is, well, in a way, a love poem. plus i really like the line "the open earth singing in response"

of the warrens

so this has one line, one you might not even know is a hymn, in ch1, but i'll share the whole stanza.

And as for the subject of fallow fields: Fallowed fields make for hungry prey, Yet hungry prey makes desperate rabbits, Who leap into our claws.

and ig my big point is, the hymns are a cultural artifact. just like many of the rules in the old testament have to do with hygiene things being codified into religion, this whole hymn is about hunting advice.

the moon on the river

okay, out of all the hymns, this is the most complete, and because ashfoot and deadfoot sing it together, and deadfoot discusses it, i only have one stanza to share.

Under the coldness, you shine back at me, And I do everything to keep the clouds from threatening you.

now, this poem is about love, grief, and being separated. it's a particular kind of grief, and windclan discourages grief, so this is one of only a few ways to really, fully express it.

and this section, in particular, is about love in times of hardship.

i don't have. a lot to say here. but the way hardship changes how you love someone can be particular and intense.

(temporarily, this happens sometime before "Spare for my chosen few / All I have is given towards the distant ground.")

the gorse in the wind

oh shit! i have so fucking much to say okay first.

the series title does not come from this hymn.

second, this is a challenging hymn okay. fuck. i have so much to say. where to start so! moors are actually relatively wet. think british countryside, not, like, a cool desert.

this is something i always knew? i read the secret garden a lot as a kid. but. i've seen stuff about moors being dry, and it's just one of those things that really...starts to eat under your skin. anyway.

okay, so. gorse is a dry plant. it does not like rain. it grows in sandy soil, etc etc, and yet. aside from everything we know about gorse and warriors, it also grows in this moor. because i say so.

okay, so. so so so. the lines quotes here are really deceptive, and i bet no one understood why, and that makes me just a little sad, but i couldn't find a good way to explain it in text, so uh, yeah, anyway. there's an exchange between ashfoot and deadfoot: "THE GORSE: You called me the heather and I grew stronger. / THE WIND: I called you the heather and brought rain for you to grow."

so...so do you see? do you see the point? it's about communication, needs, challenging each other. fadskj;l i love this. okay, so. the point is that heather is fragile, soft, pretty, and gorse is the opposite. the part of the wind is trying to be kind and complimentary, but the gorse is saying, fuck that, you are not being kind to me by undercutting my strength.

anyway, this passage is sung by the gorse:

In what good company have I set down roots, That even through snow fall I flower. You called me the heather and yet I've weathered, Far more than your sweet-named love.

so uh, yeah, this adds context. gorse! gorse is a hardy plant that continues to flower basically all season round. it's cool. it's cool. gorse is super cool. fuuuck y'all it's such a small thing and i've contained talking about it until now, but now it's too much. the floodgates are open, and i thought about this small detail too much.

okay. deep breath. gorse is a really easy plant to grow, but it's still adapted for dry environments. so the "even through snow fall I flower" part is a little tongue in cheek: gorse itself will flower in the cold, but snow is a type of precipitation, which as we've covered, is not gorse friendly.

then we have some rhyming and puns in the next line, and finally, "yet I've weathered, / Far more than your sweet-named love." like. yes. love as a form of softness is not necessarily helpful.

i mean, consider the damaging "soft trans boi" problem. same energy.

right. okay. so we've got all that? now if you remember, this is sung when deadfoot thinks ashpaw doesn't respect him, and ashpaw says she'll sing with him if she can sing the gorse, so in essence, she's telling him...not to back off, per se, but that...she is the "hard part" of the relationship. like, okay, i refuse to even bring up gender roles in human relationships, but uh, her point is very much, "i am the gorse, and you are the wind," and it's a very monumental moment.

it's anchored, i believe, in the other scenes, but this is a small thing that matters a lot to me.

like a lot.

okay, now that i've talked about like four lines for the length of this entire post, moving on.

the heather and earth

okay, this is the last hymn i have in concrete terms, and i cut a bit of it from the latest chapter, so yeah. it's also, uh, okay everything i have for it is only a line or two, but i wanted to share this closing line (sung together):

Sing a song of forgiveness, of growing together, and we will make madness, And madness from hence will everything beautiful grow.

and i just like these lines. they got cut, it was initially part of an exchange between ashfoot and deadfoot, but i can't share the part of it they talk about, because i'm reusing it for a later chapter and i'll 100% spoil shit if i try to talk about it.

but these lines? mmm they speak to me.

i don't have a ton to say about them, but i just. i like it.

if we apply the same ecology discussion from the gorse and the wind, we see heather is a plant that grows in acidic, infertile soil, and heath (which is not the same as a heather, but also kind of is) is a defining quality of heathland, which is...i'm not kidding, it's hot discourse about the difference between moorland and heathland.

i'm not getting involved, but my point is, if the gorse in the wind is a hymn about finding a working relationship, about mutual respect, etc., then the heather and earth is a hymn about working well together in a terrible situation.

god.

uh, wow! can you tell i like plants? because while parts of my ecology are dubious (see: everything regarding the rabbits in ch1), the plants part are well thought out. this shit is carefully detailed metaphor.

and that's why i won't be releasing a full hymnal. it's hard to as on top of this as i want to be. i'm not kidding, writing even four lines of a hymn usually takes me about twenty minutes, because i pull up a lot of research about how things work, how they interact with each other, etc., and then there's wordsmithing, cat worldview filter, etc.

but i hope this overview of what i've got is a good insight into my general thoughts. and i will eventually release more and more of the hymns i've got written.

[triad9462]

Sanders Sides TFP AU

Since @graedari has shown interest in this( at least I think they have), I’m gonna go ahead and post this.

EDIT, because I can’t BELIEVE I forgot this: Sanders Sides, Cartoon Therapy, the associated characters, and Remy(is that his official name? idk) belong to @thatsthat24.

Cybertronians: Logan, Patton, Roman, Virgil, Janus, Remus, Remy( not a side, but lots of people see him as such so...)

Humans: Thomas( and his family and friends, of course), Emile Picani( from Cartoon Therapy, also not a side, but again...)

Other Characters: Flambe, Digit, Buzz

Logan:

-Autobot

-Self-appointed leader of the group

-“It was a very logical conclusion, really: Patton is too childish. The twins too wild, especially when combined. Virgil is a habitual worrier. And Janus really doesn’t like responsibility.”

-“Childish” is a word he picked up while on Earth

-Rarely listened to

-Alt mode is a pickup truck, both on Cybertron and Earth

-Is basically a walking archive of all things science

-Loves to learn everything he can, and when he can’t he gets moody

-Does not like having emotions, but at the same time doesn’t want to be like Shockwave so instead of getting rid of them altogether, he merely hides them

-Can and will call you out on your bullshit

Patton:

-Autobot

-You’d think he’s the medic of the group, but he’s actually the muscle

-Doesn’t like hurting others, but doesn’t like others hurting his kiddos more

-On the topic, “Kiddo” and its variants are terms he picked up during his time on Earth

-If you hurt anyone on his team, he will hunt you down, protocols be damned

-Cybertronian alt mode was a tanker truck, Earth alt mode is a food truck

-Designated dad friend

-Has two minicons, whom he adopted

-Has a whole kitchen setup, no idea how to use any of it

-Thomas: “You have all these neat appliances, but you don’t know how any of it works?” Patton: “You have all those organs inside you, do you know how they work?” Logan: “I should certainly hope so! Unless I imagined him attending that medical class last year?”

-Yes, is afraid of spiders

Roman:

-Autobot

-Team tactician

-Not willingly trusting of others who aren’t Autobot from formation

-Once he gets to know them, though, he feels a little more at ease

-He and his brother were abducted my Decepticon spies who pretended to be converts and this is why he’s not so trusting of non-Autobots seeking asylum

-“You can’t be serious, Logan! He’s... Decepticon!”

-He does not like to talk about what happened behind enemy lines

-Alt mode is a sports car, similar to Wheeljack’s

-Has only one sword though

-However can create a shield

-Is ambidextrous, whatever hand his sword isn’t in becomes the shield

-Introduced to Disney movies by Thomas, immediately loved them

-Thomas’ guardian

Remus(No, I’m not doing this in order of name reveal and for good reason):

-Autobot

-Team demolistionist

-Became a Decepticon for a bit, but is now an Autobot for good

-Had to execute an Autobot prisoner to become a Decepticon

-They chose his brother

-Obviously he couldn’t bring himself to.

-“Our relationship’s weird like that. I hate him with all my being, but I’d also hate for him to come to harm. Especially by my hand!”

-Actually a lot more mature in behavior than canon Remus

-Alt mode is a muscle car, modified for competition in a demolition derby

-Along with his morning-star, also has a sword, a broadsword as opposed to Roman’s katana

-Also ambidextrous, whichever hand isn’t holding the morning-star holds the sword

-Neither weapon is designed for one-handed wielding, but Remus makes it work

Virgil:

-Arachnicon, Autobot aligned

-Basically a cybertronian with a spider-like mode

-He doesn’t like taking this form around Patton because he knows he’s afraid of them

-The actual medic

-Has a welding torch along with his regular kit

-Puts webs over freshly welded wounds to function the same way gauze wrapping would

-“Venom” is actually an antitoxin that cleans wounds and flushes most venoms and poisons from the body

-This also works on humans, but antitoxin can’t be left in the body after flushing, unlike with Cybertronians

-Stowed away on the ship the rest of them were on and did his best to keep hidden

-Patton caught him trying to get some energon from their supplies

-Logan lost a battle of will to let Virgil stay

-Roman was reluctant, but just could not bring himself to say no

-Remus happily welcomed the ex-con

-Alt mode is a hearse, mainly for the aesthetic

-Got confused for an on-duty hearse once, had to carry someone’s coffin to the cemetery without any humans noticing anything off

-He succeeded, and peeled out soon as he was out of there

-Also a Disney fan, thanks to Thomas

-And similar to canon, he notices the more subtle messages better than Roman does

-“It’s context, Princey! It’s not supposed to be obvious!”

Janus:

-Predacon, Autobot aligned

-Cloned from the remains of his ancestors long before the evacuation of Cybertron

-Thought the ship the others had taken off on was a cave and went inside to rest before it took off

-He was more than freaked out when he woke up and found he was no longer alone

-Learned about his ancestors and how to transform thanks to Logan

-Default mode is a two headed wyvern, alt mode is his humanoid mode

-Both heads are able to shoot fire, but niether is dominant, as they are both controlled by one processor

-Has a unique transformation due to his physiology

-Heads and necks become legs, legs become arms, wings become cape and tail becomes staff

-The gatherer for the team

-Can locate energon deposits from anywhere on the planet

-Sometimes these are untouched

-Not that Great at lying~!

-Damnit Janus, don’t edit my bullet list for you!

-[REDACTED INFORMATION]

-ffs, Janus why are you so worried about people seeing that?

-I see how it is: You have no problem with me talking about the other guys, but when I get to you, you want my followers to as little about you as possible.

-Well, I’m done with yours anyway.

-What’s that? A quote? Um...

-“I must say, Remus, you must take very good care of yourself.”

-How’s that? Good? Good.

Remy:

-Microcon, Autobot aligned

-Somehow able to safely drink coffee without it getting everywhere

-Do not get between him and his coffee

-You will end up with a new intake where it isn’t supposed to be

-Alt mode is an alarm clock

-Mainly stays at Thomas’ house, unless he somehow wanders off

-Logan had to put a tracker on him so he can be found again and returned home

-“C’mon, Logan! I didn’t go too far from home this time!”

-He did, in fact go too far from home

-<_<

->_>

-(Patton convinced the others to let Janus stay not long after finding him)

-Will only accept Starbucks coffee, for some reason

Flambe:

-Altered minicon, Autobot aligned

-One of Patton’s minicons

-Alt mode is an electric stove

-Is helping Patton learn how to cook

-“And then you whisk it like that, there you go!”

Buzz:

-Altered minicon, Autobot aligned

-Patton’s other minicon

-Loves pranks

-Alt mode is a microwave

-“AHH! WHAT HAVE YOU DON- Now what did I tell you about waiting for the beep?”

Digit:

-Microcon, Autobot aligned

-Alt mode is a calculator

-Offers help to Thomas if he needs it, but berates him if it’s a problem he should’ve been able to solve himself

-Very insistent if Thomas hides the face he’s struggling

-“1+2? Really? Eveyone knows what that equals, Sanders!”

Thomas:

-Pretty much Character Thomas from Sanders Sides

-Came across the bots while filming for one of his vines

-It may have been a Disney Prank

-I will reveal no more info regarding that

-Became fast friends with the lot

-Even Virgil

-Introduced him and Roman to Disney movies

-“Virgil, I know you’re worried about me, but I’ll be fine! Really.”

Dr. Picani:

-Thomas’ Therapist

-Loves cartoons of all kinds

-Thomas introduced him to the bots after they had been on earth for a year

-“When you said you had some ‘big changing factors’ enter your life, Thomas, I didn’t expect it to be taken so... Literally.”

And that’s all I got at the moment. If you think of anything you’d like to see added or changed, let me know!

[bringmecoffeeandroses]

Jaaryl! ❤️

Heya, sweets!

who hogs the duvet

Aaron deeeeeefffinitely hogs it in his sleep. However, Daryl and Paul rarely bring it up to him because the one time Paul teased him about it, poor Aaron practically forced the covers on them to make sure they weren’t cold. (Let’s face it, there’s prolly a second blanket on their bed for this reason.)

who texts/rings to check how their day is going

Aaron, 10/10. Daryl and Paul occasionally check in but Aaron is definitely the “do you want me bring lunch by? we could go picnic UwU” boyfriend and you cannot convince me otherwise.

who’s the most creative when it comes to gifts

I mean, it depends on your definition of creative? Like, Daryl’s gifts are kind of straight forward but he is very much a service kind of guy – do not make a dirty joke, do not make a dirty joke, do not – who will fix the things you didn’t know you needed fixing or bring breakfast in the form of a dead deer. Paul is the scavenging form of gift giver; he does his best to get you what you want/need, whatever that might be. Aaron is aaaaaaallllll about the sentimental gifts. Remember that first note you passed to him to invite him to lunch? He does, and he’s kept it in his wallet ever since. 

who gets up first in the morning

Daryl. He’s been raised like a true hunting boy - up before the sun - and it has just stuck over the years. However, he can be occasionally, *ahem*, convinced to stay in bed for a while with the right motivation.

who suggests new things in bed

Probably Paul. Aaron is always happy to do new things in bed but nottttt exactly bringing the conversation up and Daryl? Well, he doesn’t have a lot of experience prior to this relationship so it’s more up to Paul to set out ideas for him to think on. This does come to a great conclusion though, involving some rope, a well-placed bandana, and Daryl’s bike.  

who cries at movies

Daryl. When Aaron and Paul find this out, it is under pain of death that they are threatened to tell no one nothing. Don’t get him started on Old Yeller.

who gives unprompted massages

Paul, for sure. He’s had a lot of jobs, he really has, and when he’s good at something, it’s not surprising to hear him say, “I used to be a _______” A yoga instructor, an activist, a martial artist, a barista, an aquarium tour guide. So, when he says he was a masseuse, it’s not hard to believe especially given that he can spot the stiffness in Aaron and Daryl’s backs when they have had a day of it. All of a sudden, they’ll feel hands under the hem of their shirts skirting upwards with firm pressure against the stiff muscles of their back. It rarely leads to anything, he doesn’t expect anything – Paul just finishes and kisses their cheek and goes back to whatever he was doing before.  

who fusses over the other when they’re sick

Aaron. Poor fucking Aaron, man. Paul is the worst patient when it comes to being sick, followed closely by Daryl – they do not need to be in bed, they’re fine. It’s the sniffles, not cancer! Daryl is happy to help Aaron when it’s Paul that’s sick but Paul is more likely to be on Daryl’s side when Daryl is sick and it’s a nightmare because that poor, poor man loves two men that have no sense of self preservation.      

who gets jealous easiest

They don’t get all that jealous of one another - the glorious effect of constant communication, the only way as relationship like theirs would work - but Paul can be a little flirty and that can…stir up some of those feelings. Primarily in Daryl.

who has the most embarrassing taste in music

Lmao, I will always include Aaron and his favorite 80s music.

who collects something unusual

Well, one one hand Aaron collects liscence plates? But then against Paul has a lobster bib on the wall, so who can judge????

who takes the longest to get ready

Paul.

Particularly if he doesn’t want to go.

who is the most tidy and organized

Aaron. Daryl and Paul are just not used to giving a shit about things being organized? Daryl and Paul help in their own ways; Daryl is…not the best about cleanliness but regularly fixes anything that needs fixed, cooks, ect, and Paul isn’t above dish duty and picking up here and there (group homes often have a point system when it comes to chores so, erm, take that for what you will.  

who gets most excited about the holidays

Again, Aaron the cinnamon roll to the rescue. It’s unlikely that Daryl or Paul have positive associations with yearly traditions, tbh, so Aaron coming in whole-hog and generally bringing some of that positive energy into the holidays for them? Lovely.

who is the big spoon/little spoon

Daryl is most often in the middle and he loves it? Like, he’ll grumble about cuddling til he’s blue in the face but that boy is the epitome of five-more-minutes and must-be-touching-most-of-your-person while cuddling.

Meanwhile, Paul is a firm outside-position-cuddler. This is partially because he doesn’t always tie his hair back in bed and there have been “incidents”…Mostly involving one of them eating or being tickled by his hair, but also one very special occasion where a hand got tangled. (Also, big spoon/Jetpacking!Paul is a wonderful thing.)

Then there’s Aaron, who is by far the best cuddler among them. He’s like a giant teddy bear,the easiest person in the world to receive/give physical affection from merely because he is so warm and concerned with how comfortable you are. He is sometimes a middle-cuddler as well.    

who gets most competitive when playing games and/or sports

Paul.

He’s also a dirty little cheat, just saying.

who starts the most arguments

They don’t argue that often but I’ll probably say Paul?

who suggests that they buy a pet

Honestly, if Aaron or Paul brought it up, it’s only cause they see that Daryl so desperately needs a dog. Maybe this happens after their viewing of Marley & Me/Old Yeller.

what couple traditions they have

IDK, that’s a hard one. Maybe Saturday game night, if Gracie’s around? Or a once a month camping trip?

what tv shows they watch together

I see a spattering of Nat Geo and those weird home improvement shows? Also some sitcoms because, yeah.

what other couple they hang out with

Tara and Rosita? (Or Denise, let me live okay?)

how they spend time together as a couple

Honestly? Scouting, camping, exploring, everyday life – I see these three being attached at the hip, no question.

who made the first move

I have different theories on this. I do have a feeling that two of them would couple up first. Maybe Daryl and Paul approach Aaron? or Daryl and Aaron approach Paul? IDK.

who brings flowers home

Aaron.

who is the best cook

Daryl is probably the best between the three of them. Aaron knows how to cook but Daryl’s been cooking his own food since he was tall enough to reach the counters. Paul is a disaster in the kitchen but…at least he tries.  

SEND ME A SHIP

[vaalkyrja-blog]

// Meta-a-day: tell me about how Zofian nobles show off their wealth, and aside from lineage, what other factors separate the nobles from the commoners?

ooc.

zofian displays of wealth

as much as the game tells us that zofia is across the board known for its leisure and plenty, and never having to work hard for anything, i think that this image actually is only perpetuated by the nobility. it’s clear in-game that the peasantry still works hard; alm talks about being handy with a plow, and those sheep in ram village aren’t going to milk themselves. even if mila provides a lot of bounty, it still takes human effort to actually obtain it by sowing crops, reaping harvest, etc. i don’t think that the hard-working villagers are only a product of the famine that’s been going on for two years by SoV — someone still has to farm, even in golden era times.

as a result, though, i think that zofian wealth display goes hand in hand with the idea of not working, because this helps to uphold the traditionally ‘zofian’ image of mila’s bounty. among the nobility, leisure pastimes are huge, and as much a presentation as they are an actual pastime. 

hunting for sport. zofian nobility often own vast amounts of privatized land ( clive and his four villas lmao ) and with that comes a lot of private hunting grounds that people do get jailed and fined for trespassing on, or hunting within. the game there is supposed to be solely for said nobleman’s use. though different nobles enjoying sport hunting to varying degrees, you’d be hard-pressed to find nobility that doesn’t own hunting dogs. breed and pedigree matter a lot here, and the dogs themselves are a symbol of wealth. more on that later.

sports such as dressage, pedigree showings, and horse races are also common in zofia among the upper class. in fact, i vaguely headcanon that dressage is one of the only ways that noblewomen are permitted to engage with horses beyond a purely aesthetic level, though it’s still considered a little strange. dog and cat shows are also common, and nobility who participate in these sports go a long way to not only make sure that the animal performs well, but also looks good; fortunes are spent on trappings and outfittings, and all sorts of fancy tools. there are books upon books on the subject. a lot of wealth display in zofia is centered around the idea of ‘how much money can i spend on stuff that isn’t  necessary to show that i don’t care about spending’.

on that note, certain animals are only owned by nobility — purebred dogs, for example, and horses. though horses certainly exist in villages and among commoners, they’re often very noticeably workhorses, and especially in villages, they don’t tend to belong to one specific person, since the upkeep for even one horse is very costly. nobility is often recognizable for owning fine horses of good lineage, and owning a lot of them, hence fernand: “i mounted my finest destrier and sped here as quickly as i could.” 

very importantly, only nobility are permitted to own warhorses of any kind; trainers are not permitted to sell horses bred and trained for anything related to battle to someone without the proper papers. this is to make sure that only nobility are able to become knights, which is something the game mentions. as a result, nobility are often depicted in portraits alongside a favored animal — often their finest hunting dog. the animal itself is an indicator of wealth and class.

i also have been thinking about how prior to the war, there was likely a holiday that the zofian nobility ( and to an extent, the middle-upper class ) celebrate which involves deliberate wastefulness. they’d gather together a bunch of stuff, the better quality the better, and burn it — clothing, food, silverware, etc. the point of it is to show that you’re so wealthy that you don’t even consider losing these things to be anything worth caring about. people noticed whichever house amassed the most things. it’s obvious why this was only done amidst the upper echelon, but the practice dwindled when mila left and the famine hit, and has probably since been dropped completely after the war as the nobility began to understand what it is to want for something.

wealth, of course, among the nobility, also manifests not only financially, but also as political power. the two are often directly correlated, but not always, and depends a lot more on influence and connections, as well as other forms of socio-economic monopoly. you can have a family that’s very wealthy financially, but if they don’t have assets or investments in the right places, they might not have a lot of political clout or leverage with which to sway the king. in some ways, political wealth matters more than financial wealth, and of course this is where the court games come into play.

difference between nobility vs. commoners

aside from the obvious blood lineage, there’s a whole lot that separates zofian nobility from commoners; in fact, they pretty much run in two entirely different spheres, and culturally they can even be vastly different. python points towards this incredibly wide gap when he says to clive that people born and raised in nobility just can’t ever hope to understand commoners, and vice versa, no matter how open-minded and egalitarian they might be. the lifestyles are just so vastly different.

one of the biggest cultural differences i think comes in the form of speech. it’s easy to see in the game, even, where that comes in — clair’s way of talking is an exaggerated form of noble rhetoric, but i think it’s actually what’s common in the circles she runs in. we should keep in mind that clive, mathilda, and fernand are nobles too, but in many ways they’re quite different from regular nobility. at the very least, they’ve been in the deliverance for this long, and have adapted their mannerisms to appeal to a wider audience. speech in the higher circles isn’t so much about what you’re saying as it is about how you’re saying it, and clair’s ‘fancy’ words and habit of speaking in third person and addressing others by epithets are likely a lot more emblematic of how the average zofian noble talks in court and at other social engagements.

class lines in zofia are also heavily drawn on the urban vs. rural line, as well; though nobles are decentralized around parts of zofia, urban areas tend to build up around noble places of residence — because of the heavy need for manpower within each house ( servants, etc. ), it’s natural that communities tend to form around the seat of nobility in each region. additionally, all high nobility have residences in the castle city around zofia castle ( which……is unnamed bc intsys likes to make my life hard idk, but is presumably the capital ) in order to attend court when it’s in session and also to just stay in the know. 

because of these aspects, nobility tends to be associated with urban lifestyles and culture, while commoners are associated with rural life. dialects are probably different as a result; nobility probably all speak relatively similarly, probably an ‘urban dialect’ with minor variations, while rural dialects can vary drastically, and what’s spoken near the mountain ranges probably sounds very different from what’s spoken elsewhere, etc. this is also why i think lukas gets so much flack for being “backwater nobility” — removed from metropolitan life and therefore uncultured, very literally situated amongst the commoners because of real, geographic location.

i also think that nobility and commoners probably view the mila faith differently and worship the zofian religion in different ways, actually. again, the game depicts zofians are being decadent and depraved, but realistically this probably only applies to nobility, or people who can afford to be decadent and wasteful. the mila faith among the upper classes tends to be about celebrating mila’s blessings with pleasure and leisure, because this is historically what mila wanted them to have — to lead lives of comfort and happiness. in this way, their worship verges more on what we see in SoV’s opening sequence, with wine and dancing and excessive food and riches. it’s all about just basking in decadence because you can, because this is what mila wanted for us. in this way, their faith much resembles dionysian worship practices.

in contrast, i think among the commoners, the focus is a lot more on being grateful for mila’s bounty and plenty, particularly focused around the harvest. there’s still a lot of food and drink and celebration, but it’s less about overindulgence and leisure and more about being grateful for what you have, sort of like the idea around thanksgiving. 

as mentioned before as well, only nobility are permitted to enter the knighthood, and i think traditionally, nobility are also the only ones allowed to assume high-ranking leadership positions in the military. there’s probably been more wiggle room for this over time, though, and there have definitely been cases where commoners have risen to become celebrated military leaders ( i’ll talk later about how i headcanon how mathilda’s house was one of these waaayy back in the day ), but this is still a rare occurrence, and the knighthood is still restricted to those ( men, usually ) of noble birth. this is why mycen had to be formally made a count by the king himself in order to be granted knighthood, though i think such an occurrence is very rare and — as fernand shows us — definitely looked down upon for not being traditional nobility by lineage.