#am I pushing for costumbrism in my eldrith horror? You bet

[motsimages]

Some personal ideas I have on the Candela Obscura world outside of the Fairelands:

What are those toponyms? Vastchasm, Otherwere, Fairelands... Is it really called Otherwere or it's just the Fairelander way of calling it? I mean, sure, maybe they were the invaders but is Faireland a government who pushes lightly for a conflict and then plays the victim when the "ennemy" reacts? Because you call yourself FAIR+land and the ennemy OTHER+where (insert meme of Our Bless Land vs Those Barbarous Wastes). Who would call themselves "other"? What is this translation job here? "Over there, i don't really care about them, that's what I call them" "But they actually call themselves "Turnipland"" "Nah, Otherwhere" "Sure, do your thing". I sure smell levels of corruption and propaganda in the Fairelands that are out of this world (get it? out of this world? *pistol fingers*).

As a European (and I guess we're not alone here), "a place built atop the ruins of an ancient fallen civilisation" is just another Tuesday. There are ruins of like 3 civilisations on any given town. It's as vague as it is non-threatening. Feels mysterious but it is actually a pain in the ass to build anything because of patrimony. I personally see the magick part of it all as another layer of difficulty for architects, builders and overall anyone living there. "Ugh, another rift opened and we won't be able to go through this street for the next three weeks". That's probably how they see this magick mystery thing in many countries, useful at times, maybe more dangerous than it's worth, good to have, could do without it, please just let me get home after work, do I really want to work in Bleed containment? The government offers a lifetime pension if you work there for 10 years but will I survive those 10 years? Martin has the best gold for home locks: no more intrusions after dark with Martin's magick locks! (1 year guarantee).

The horrors are the same. That rift opening in your street will cause nightmares on everyone for months after closing it and you still have to go to work. Some people seem to think, well, who doesn't know someone who is affected by bleed after all? Who doesn't hear voices at certain moments of the year? Some people really go alt-right "we have to kill them all" and some others really go all hippy "we have to be friends with them". Some governments have campaigns for their citizens à la "don't feed your gremlins after midnight" for prevention, many governments just pretend nothing happens and let people figure it out themselves. Activists in those countries push for some kind of government responsibility, particularly in cases like when some village has been in trials with the government for decades because a breach let a creature eat all of their children and the survivors are scarred for life.

Because of all this, I personally think in the Fairelands there is a taboo around the horrors and the magick. More than not understanding it, it's mainly that it can't be officially researched or used (hence, private initiatives like EONS or Candela Obscura) and you shouldn't speak about it and people are ashamed of it. The war has been tragic but it has given people a valid explanation for certain (very clearly for the trained eye) bleed scars. "Oh this?? It was a mine" Was it, though? It's light green. Foreigners from countries where this is more commonplace and less taboo find it weird but learn to play along for the social contract. "Is it really worse to be scarred by bleed than by other causes?" they seem to think and then shrug it away.