#but mostly this is like. clan lore?? idk
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allgather · 2 years ago
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one liberation begets another: the uchiha & jewish themes of resistance i was thinking a bit today about how historically jewish people have used the celebration of our holidays as a guise to gather in order to hide the fact that they were planning rebellions against their oppressors in the present. and this is interesting to me bc jewish holidays are largely thematically about uprisings by jewish citizen's militias who were able to defeat the large military forces of their oppressors ( best examples are jewish people winning their freedom from slavery in egypt which is what passover is about and the maccabees, which were a very small militia of jewish people who successfully fought to take their temple back from the roman emperor, which is the story of hannukah. these and other holidays commemorate actions jewish ppl took to reclaim their freedom and liberation ).
there is a passage from the passover text, the haggadah, that explains this and gives a historic example that really resonates with me:
A tale is told of five rabbis who were holding a seder in the town of B’nei Brak, and talked about Pesach (passover) until dawn broke, when their students had to interrupt them saying,“Rabbis, it is morning and time to recite the morning prayer.”
This story takes place during the rule of the Roman emperor Hadrian, who ordered that the Temple be moved so he could put a temple to Jupiter on the Temple Mount. In the year 123 of the Common Era, a guerilla insurgency began, which resulted in a crack-down by the Roman authorities. B’nei Brak was the headquarters of the rebellion against Roman occupation, a rebellion of which one of the Rabbis was a leader. Because of rebel activities, the Roman authorities had forbidden gatherings of Jews, on pain of death. The seder described in this passage was used not only as a chance to discuss the liberation from the story of passover—but also to plan a strategy of resistance against current Roman occupation. The students were standing guard, ready to caution the rabbis to disband at daybreak, lest they be caught.
 This tale may be read as a story of how one liberation begets another.
and i've always been really taken with the phrase "one liberation begets another" when we got to this part in passover because it is the gathering and speaking about a historic liberation that provides the opportunity, the cover under which to plan to fight for a present liberation.
so i was thinking about this in the context of the uchiha ( and whether you view these practices as actually the customs of jewish people or if you understand this more as an allegory to the uchiha as outsiders with their own customs that the people of the leaf are unfamiliar with, and see this all as a sorta allegory or common theme, that is up to you! and i’m happy either way! )
so the uchiha are an ancient clan with practices the rest of the leaf are unfamiliar with, who are viewed as inherently different, as outsiders, who are kept siloed away in their own section of the village. and i can see so clearly how they would use these holidays or cultural practices/festivals that no one really understood as a guise to gather all the adult members of the clan together to talk, without suspicion, about their circumstances in the leaf and to plan their uprising against it. who use the fact that they are viewed as outsiders with a strange set of customs to use those gatherings in order to have non-suspicious meetings to plan their rebellion and insurrection right under the leaf's nose.
and i can see it so clearly, the clan gathered in dining rooms, by the candle light and all the customary table settings of the holidays. from the outside it looks like every other observance. but this time their prayer books are lined with maps of the leaf and surrounding area which they study and mark up together. and perhaps they speak in their own language, one spoken ancestrally by their clan but not shared by the people of the leaf ( and in the case of judaism, perhaps it is hebrew or yiddish ) and it sounds like all the other old prayers they speak in that vaguely sing-song way. but they aren’t, not this time. they are planning, discussing tactics, organizing themselves in a tongue only they are familiar with. using celebrations about rebellion as cover to plan for their own rebellion. one liberation begetting another.
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serpentface · 6 months ago
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FAMILY TITLES AMONG THE HILL TRIBES
(ft. various linguistic notes and tangents)
In-universe Brakul’s self-given title of ‘Red-Dog’ is Brakul 'ne-Dainh' in his native language (Bict-Urbinnas dialect of the Highland language group) and Brakul 'Chin-Reyla' in Wardi. Ne-Dainh/Chin-Reyla is not something he treats as or considers an actual surname or identity, just a self-styled nickname. He already has a title.
Family names/surnames are not a native practice among the Hill Tribes (though some clans or individual families have adopted this practice), and all traditionally use titles that designate immediate ancestry, clan and tribe. These full titles are officially given when one comes of age and are spoken aloud in ceremony (with the entire direct male and female lines listed by name, with most traditions expecting 12 generations of each being named).
The function is to cement one’s sense of place in the world, and their place in a direct ancestral line, which puts the person under the full watch and guidance of their ancestors. It's also a critical method of recording lineage- the long held practice of each person memorizing at least 24 total direct ancestors allows for very long, largely accurate records of family history to be kept, with some people able to trace their ancestry all the way back to initial settlement of the Highlands (or even beyond).
Brakul’s full title is:
“Brakul virsum Kuligan et Borunil an Briyonis ne-Taig an Bict-Urbinnas”
Which dead literally translates to “Brakul son of Kuligan and Borunil of the Foothills (of) Red-Cattle, of the North (Urbin/Erubin) River Valley” but has a much richer meaning in the original language.
"BRAKUL VIRSUM KULIGAN ET BORUNIL"
The actual meaning here is closer to ‘Brakul, son of Kuligan and his father’s fathers, and Borunil and her mother’s mothers’.
“Virsum” means ‘child (son/daughter) of’ (the gender is contextual), but implies the person’s status as a descendant of a full male and female line of ancestors. A different word is used if you’re just saying ‘I’m so and so’s son”. The title describes him as a son of his father Kuligan and of Kuligan’s male line, and of his mother Borunil and Borunil's female line.
All ancestors (within this particular system of kinship, divided into one direct male line from the father and one direct female line from the mother, and not including husbands from the female line or wives from the male line) are invoked and credited with the word ‘virsum’. Speaking it as part of the personal title is part of the routine and necessary honoring of one’s ancestors, who watch over their descendants from the afterlife and can temporarily return to the land to guide and protect (and sometimes punish, or teach sharp lessons to) the living.
"AN BRIYONIS NE-TAIG"
The actual meaning here would be understood as ‘clan/people of the foothills where cattle are lit red by the setting sun'.
‘Briyonis’ is the word for ��foothill’, citing his clan’s specific location being the foothills that form the slopes of the north Urbin river valley. He is of a lesser clan within the powerful North Urbin River tribe. His clan benefits from close affiliation to their more powerful ruling clans located directly in the river valley, which grants them access to a greater variety of cultivated foods, but their actual position in the foothills still renders them predominantly reliant on cattle for subsistence. Clan names referencing cattle or horses are very common, given their frequent centrality to life.
The ‘ne-Taig’ literally means ‘red cattle’, but the ‘ne’ color word for red specifically invokes shades of red seen in and cast by a rising/setting sun. This red cast is culturally regarded as a unique beauty and evocative (and part of the name) of the solar god Hraighne. The foothills his clan is physically located on are a vantage point from which the western horizon is not fully obscured by mountains, and they experience very striking sunsets and are directly touched by the light. This is fairly unique to this location, and is invoked in the clan name and identity. ‘Ne-Taig’ here suggests a visual of grazing cattle illuminated red by the sun as it crosses the horizon.
‘Ne-Dainh’ carries the same implication, a dog illuminated red by setting sunlight. The Wardi language does not have a comparable word for a sunlit red and ‘Chin-Reyla’ really does just mean ‘(orangeish) red dog’ (‘reyla’ is specific to orangey-red colors, which is the closest match he could get. There’s no way to impart the meaning of ‘sunlit-red dog’ in Wardi that is non-clunky enough to be appropriate for a name).
"AN BICT-URBINNAS"
‘an Bict-Urbinnas’ is fairly simple, Bict means ‘north’, and 'Urbin' is the name of the specific river that stems from a northern and eastern tributary. This river has a very ancient name (or a derivative of one) that predates settlement by the Hill Tribes, and its exact meaning is lost.
The root -(n)nas designates a river valley, but has strong implications of being an esteemed and bountiful place, rather than solely a literal geographical descriptor (as the river valleys are centers of power and trade in the highlands). It may be a loanword from the Wardi language family, as its usage is VERY similar in form and function to the Wardi -(n)nos, which also suggests a place of esteem and bounty (more specifically having connotations of a kingdom).
’An’ literally means ‘of’, but in the specific sense of describing the place and identity of a collection of people. ‘an Bict Urbinnas’ would be understood in speech as ‘of the north Urbin River Valley (people)’. The clans historically settled in and around the valley of the North Urbin River form the totality of the Bict-Urbinnas tribe.
The ‘Urbin’ word predates the contemporary Wardi name ‘Erubin’ for the river, the latter of which invokes the semi-mythological founding figure Erub, who himself was of a Wardi tribe located downriver to the south of the Highlands. The real historically extant ‘Erub’ was most likely named Urub after the river, with his cited name shifting over the centuries in folklore, and the Wardi name for the river shifting with it.
‘Erubin’ as a corruption of ‘Urbin’ functions very well in Wardi language due to ‘-bi/bin’ denoting something as a ‘gift’, usually in a more metaphorical sense. ‘Erubin’ is understood as meaning ‘(The river that is) Erub’s gift’, and the Erubin/Urbin river is a key tributary to the much larger Black river, one of the key rivers that feeds the region's wetter and more fertile west. This 'gift' meaning also occurs in the name of the southeastern Imperial Wardi city-state Erubinnos, which is understood as meaning ’((The kingdom that is) Erub’s gift’. He is considered to have conquered and taken the land (from the core city's actual founders, the Wogan people) and established a kingdom there in the early days of warring Wardi tribal monarchies.
#Just dropping this randomly because it's a pretty complete lore dump in my notes app#Family names are a big fucking deal in the Wardi cultural sphere and not having one is associated with being a bastard or otherwise#displaced or unwanted. If pressed Brakul either fully lies and says 'ne-Dainh' (which will just come off as 'oh it's some foreign name')#Or lists his actual title (not a family name but equally important). Sometimes listing all 24 generations if he's particularly annoyed.#It's only strictly necessary to memorize 12 ancestors in each line but it's considered good practice to be able#to cite associated non-direct ancestor husbands/wives/siblings/etc. That's where the tattoos as a mnemonic device comes in#It's easy to memorize 24 ancestors but very difficult to memorize 24 ancestors and at least some of their family members#And remembering and honoring the dead by name is of great importance- both puts you under the protection of more#ancestors (including non-direct ones) and ensures the dead's status in the afterlife is secure (it's believed that fully forgotten#dead leave the celestial fields and can no longer directly intercede with the living- though with some additional nuances to what#constitutes being fully forgotten)#Venerating and remembering the dead is a huge focus of cultural practice and additional methods are used to safeguard#ancestors (and other honored dead without descendants) whose names have been forgotten. There's one yearly holiday focused entirely on#the nameless dead where they are invoked and honored via little straw dolls that are burnt in bonfires high in the mountains so the#smoke is sent up to the Fields. It takes weeks of preparation and tens (maybe hundreds idk I'm bad with scale) of thousands of#dolls will be made each year across the Highlands for this purpose. Honoring them with effigy even without name is usually#considered enough to safeguard their afterlife for at least another year.#Also yeah kinship systems among the Hill Tribes (and very similarly among the Finns) follow a male line/female line system#Only father's father's fathers (...) and mother's mother's mothers (...) are considered direct ancestors (though all four grandparents#are sometimes honored as ancestors even if only two are considered DIRECT ancestral kin- this tradition varies)#Inheritance systems are somewhat matrilineal given that a wife is considered the owner and arbiter of property and a husband is#its protector and active manager. If a man and woman from different clans (or tribes) marry any children will be considered to be of#the clan/tribe of whichever spouse does NOT relocate in marriage.#Whether the husband moves in with the wife or the wife moves in with the husband is dependent on an arbitration process#and the husband (and his family) being able to provide a bride price (which is somewhat of a payment for the land/property#the wife's mother will be passing down to the new husband's management should he move in- and displays his ability to care#for and provide valued assets. A man who can provide a bride price tends to receive greater respect)#This is most commonly going to be livestock (and almost ubiquitously includes a single cattle to be butchered for the wedding feast)#But can include other valuables or assets like land or grain/seeds or etc. There is no intra-Highlands monetary system and the internal#economy is built on trade. So Imperial Wardi currency is mostly useless but is sometimes given in marriages between clans with strong
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pinkkittysaw · 2 years ago
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perhaps controversial but i enjoy the idea of childless gojo. at least in the terms of biological kids
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driaswrld · 1 year ago
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ultraviolence — gojo satoru and geto suguru.
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wc : 3k
summary : suguru coming home was supposed to make things better. but, it's as if everything is going wrong again.
part of : the star paradox collection.
notes : pls read this and this first ty!! LORE DUMP 🤭 mostly from sugu n toru's pov dealing with their new life and the twins along with jujutsu society. reader is trying to be the mediator as always and shoko is the best ofc. just the one where everyone has an existential crisis. (part one of two hopefully)
other : I PROMISE YOU'LL GET FLUFF SOON 😭 mentions of alcohol, blood, smoking obvi, idk why i named this ultraviolence lmao (shit hits the fan in the next tsr im js trying to be kind i promise!)
comment to be added to the tsr taglist!
current cassette : pretty when you cry - lana del rey
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You come home to a house colder than you left it.
There’s a small comfort in the droplets of water that splatter against the wooden floor when you hang your jacket up, having remembered the way the girls beamed up at you only an hour ago as you walked them to school.
The twins were adamant to hold your hands, Mimiko blushing the whole time and Nanako poking fun at it, promising to hold your hand everyday until they became big girls.
Big girls that would only need you to hold their hand halfway — the same way Suguru only walks you and Satoru halfway to the school before heading back.
But the sliver of a chill that reverberates through your bones doesn’t resemble the comfort of a morning’s soft rain drizzle.
“You can’t just dismiss the issue like this, Satoru!”
“Where’s my own will, huh? Can’t I just do this?”
“This isn’t about you.”
You hear everything for a moment, muffled shouts and grumbles from the bathroom.
“Yeah, you’ve made that pretty clear, haven't you?”
Then you hear nothing at all.
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The investigation launched on the ninth day in December.
Suguru had all but been home for a week and then some, settling into the shoddy apartment you and Satoru called home between missions and meetings with Yaga and the higher ups.
It took half a day to move his old things out of the dormitory building, most of what really mattered was already sitting in the hall closet untouched, kept the way Suguru would’ve wanted it.
It was after he rifled through the closet in search of a fresh set of clothes did he realize, he had been mourned.
You and Satoru had mourned him like a mother would a child, like a womb stretched to make space, only to bleed.
His clothes smelled more like the both of you than it did him.
The fourth day, Suguru spent the night hunched over the balcony, smoking a silver blue parliament with Shoko while you and Satoru attended a hearing with the higher ups.
A necessary audience, they defined over the cryptic email.
Shoko described it as a means to an end, Satoru was still the strongest and you were his voice. The meeting was all but a farce to keep you two in check — but Suguru read it clearly for what it was.
A threat.
“He’ll be clan head,” Suguru murmured between plumes of smoke. “They won’t let him turn it down any longer, especially with me around.”
At this, Shoko chuckled, sucking in a sharp breath.
“You think he’ll do it this time?” She asked, somewhere between knowing and not knowing.
The higher ups want Satoru under their thumbs — not that you’d so much as let them come close — that much is evident. But it’s become a lose to win situation.
The guarantee that Suguru and the girls would remain untouched and hidden under the condition that he follows their rules, does it their way, doesn’t ask, doesn’t so much as breathe a word or commit an action using his own strength outside their command—
“Satoru as a lap dog?” Suguru laughs a little.
He just can’t picture it.
What he can picture though is the Six Eyes user backed into a corner, with no other choice but to concede. Then again, Satoru’s never been submissive to authority, no matter the setting.
A beat of silence passes over him and Shoko, and she knows what he’s thinking before he says it, yet she doesn’t caution him otherwise nor does she blame the nicotine.
“He could kill them.” Suguru says, “It wouldn’t take him long.”
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The seventh day, Suguru stands in the middle of one of the many engawa corridors of Jujutsu High, dressed like a teenage dropout, teeth sinking into the inside of his cheeks until crimson stains his tongue.
You told him last night while cuddled into his side, Satoru’s head on his chest, “Walk away from it the right way, Suguru.”
And admittedly, he was going to laugh a little, kiss your cheek and maybe lull you back to sleep and ease your worries.
I don’t resent you,
for the path you chose.
As long as you swear,
yours and ours will converge.
“Geto, what is this?”
Suguru looks down at the sealed envelope he passed to Yaga seconds ago, the word resignation printed in bold atop the sealed flaps.
If he intends to kill himself, he should at least do it the way you asked him to.
He owes you that much.
Suguru never thought of himself to have been in a position where he could live past twenty ; he thought he was lucky Satoru even let him live to see the first snow, even if it was from the bittersweet solitude of the bed you three shared.
“I’ll graduate first,” Suguru says, stuffing his hands in his pants pockets.
For the sake of saving face he took a total of ten missions after his sentence was pardoned.
Five to prove he wasn't a liability to the Jujutsu world, two to hover by your side – he hadn't realized post traumatic stress could manifest in the need for more physical attachment – and three to see up close just how much Satoru had on his shoulders now.
To see just how different Satoru had become because of him.
“And then?” Yaga asks it like a cruel joke that only he and Suguru know.
People are talking. People have been talking.
Suguru Geto the defect. Suguru Geto the cancer of the strongest. Suguru Geto the curse. Suguru Geto—
“Maybe I’ll die of old age.”
I pray death finds me
under you two
in our bed.
If not,
kill me yourselves.
There’s meaning in that too.
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That same afternoon, brandished with what should be newfound freedom – Suguru Geto. Not the sorcerer, not the curse, not the man – he drinks himself sick until he blacks out on the sofa.
Alcohol is cheap at Shinanoya, it’s been that way since he was sixteen and idle in the summer of ‘06, coaxed by Satoru into printing fake IDs, blacking out on the floor of your dorm room and waking up to throw up, just to blackout again.
Suguru took the train back and passed his stop two times.
Two times he thought of two different outcomes and two different destinations.
First, he’d go back to Jujutsu High and take the resignation back from Yaga before he signed it.
He’d call your cellphone, tell you how he's had a change of heart, whisper into the line : “We should celebrate. Me, you and Satoru.”
But you’d know it was a lie.
He still has twisted dreams of waking up in a gas station bathroom in a pool of blood that isn't his own.
Dreams that don't frighten him at all.
Second, it came to him the moment he considered actually getting off at his stop and going back to the apartment.
He’d let the train take him to Shibuya, stand in the middle of the crossing and scream.
People would look at him weird, others would walk by.
And the first monkey to reach out and offer him help, he’d—
“Suguru?”
He wakes with a startle, eyes bloodshot and half lidded.
“Name—” he opens his mouth, half empty vodka bottle tilted over and soaking the carpet. Satoru comes through the door a moment later, leading the twins to the kitchen to set their half eaten bentos down.
A shiver runs down his spine when he glances at the clock above the mantle. 12:53pm.
“School ended half day,” you say to him. Satoru doesn't so much as glance at Suguru when he steps back in to take the plastic bags of takeout from your hands. “They called but you didn't—”
Suguru's already sitting up, fishing through his pockets for his phone and clicking at the buttons.
Two missed calls from Mimiko and Nanako’s school.
Two missed calls from their homeroom teacher, Ms. Aiko.
Four missed calls from you.
One voicemail from Satoru.
“I'm so— shit,” Suguru sets the bottle of alcohol upright, pressing a palm to the carpet to find it damp.
His skin is hot, he feels like a mess, no doubt he looks like a mess with the way you're already kneeling beside him to screw the bottle shut. “I’m so sorry, I didn't— everything with the letter and then the train got delayed—”
“Suguru.” Satoru speaks for the first time, looks at him for the first time – behind bandaged eyes. “Sober up by tomorrow, yeah?”
Your head flits around to give Satoru a stare, as if to ask if that's all he has to say right now. But Suguru’s fingers enclose around your wrist, it’s okay, I was the one at fault.
“Satoru—”
“Just do this one thing right, please.”
The twins’ school dismissed half day due to heavy snow this early in the month. Suguru, listed as the girls’ primary guardian, gets the calls first.
He doesn't pick up.
Your work line rings next, and it goes to voicemail.
In between exorcising a special grade in Shinjuku, you don't hear it ring.
As the devil would have it made and done, Satoru’s line rings while he's at the school. Loud.
“Gojo-san!” The lady from the admin office knocks on the door twice, and is met with silence. The phone rings again, but this time it's the main line. The office extension.
The one he’s been using since he put in his teaching application.
The phone clatters against the desk in robust vibrations, Limitless almost bending the coily cord to nothingness.
The meeting room of four higher ups and two members of the Gojo clan watch him intently, scrutinizing him, waiting.
Beyond his better judgment, Satoru tells himself it's just you, calling to ask if you should bring back kikufuku or just the udon.
Or it's Suguru, who’s confused and can't find one of his things in the apartment and needs some guidance.
Satoru's not a pious person. But he wishes he’d have prayed the moment the call went to the answer machine.
“Good day, Mr. Gojo! I’m calling regarding the girls. School’s been dismissed half day today on account of the weather but Mr. Geto nor Ms. Name are picking up.”
“I’m hoping this reaches you soon so the girls can have a ride home. Thankyou! Stay warm!”
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The eighth day, you wake to the smell of jasmine and hot oil. Four messages from Yaga, one email attached, forwarded to Satoru : Adoption fraud.
“—he hates me.” Suguru mumbles, shirtless and damn near cowering from your gaze, flipping the omelet in the frying pan, two steps away to avoid the oil splatter.
“Don't say that so casually,” you shake your head, shutting the fridge door, setting a carton of milk on the counter. “It's not like you believe that.”
Suguru flips the omelet with one hand on the pan handle, the other flicking the carton open and turning it to his head in a quick gulp.
He doesn't confirm it.
“Suguru—” you smack his arm and take the milk, turning away to rummage through the pantry for the pancake mix.
“I know.”
No, Suguru.
You don't know.
"I try to be patient," Suguru says quietly, shaking his head. "I know we're not sixteen and that this and then are two different things—” He turns the flame down, refusing to look over at you.
“Nobody's asking you to be perfect,” you cut him off, pancake mix forgotten on the counter. “You made a mistake, it happens—”
The higher ups are already breathing down Satoru’s neck about the twins now that they've been found out. It's an uphill battle in the Jujutsu world, your phone won't stop ringing.
Whether it's Yaga proposing damage control to have you and Satoru set apart on missions or another higher up waiting for you to slip up and beg for help, beg to be in their debt.
“I owe you better,” Suguru whispers, more to himself than to you.
He’s never been the type to ask for help or beg for forgiveness or cower at someone's heels. But you saved him — by putting your life on the line and in turn making Satoru cover it up — and he hates himself for it.
I wish
you would've
just let me stay dead.
“Because that's what I deserve? Better?”
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Suguru gets the call from Shoko the next day.
December 9, 2007.
A formal investigation is announced into the involvement of [name] [name] in the case of Suguru Geto’s defection and pardon — alleged charge : fabrication of evidence.
Satoru makes his mind up the same day, sends the twins to stay at the dorms with Shoko for the weekend and brings you and Suguru with him to the Gojo estate.
“I can feel your eyes,” you whisper, seated cross legged on the tatami floor, nursing a cup of tea in your cupped palm.
You've never liked the Gojo estate. Not in winter at least, not when it's like this.
Satoru has his back turned to you, fingering the loose cloth of white bandages covering his eyes, almost hesitant. He recalls his mother's words to him from a few hours ago.
You look tired, Satoru. You're never tired.
There’s an unspoken thing residing here between both your energies and it becomes unbearably evident.
“It’s nothing,” he murmurs, slipping the baby blue haori off his shoulders, draping it over the edge of the bed. “Just the cold getting to me 's all.”
Loose and darkened strands of hair lay on the silk sheets where Suguru sat moments ago. Satoru holds his breath.
My lover’s hair is splitting at the ends, tearing apart at the seams just like me.
I pray you don’t notice.
“Is he okay?”
You set the ceramic cup down on the table, turning your head to glance over at Satoru, who despite himself, wears his emotions like a cardigan knit tight between his brows.
“Why won’t you just ask him, ‘toru?”
He thinks he hates you. He hates not being more like you.
With the way you say these things so easily.
Maybe it’s the deep rooted thrum of Suguru’s cursed energy in his veins, or the bitter taste on his tongue when he wakes in the middle of the night just to see if he’s still here—
Maybe it’s that voice in the back of his head, the instinct pounding on the walls of his heart, telling him this is only for a while, it won’t last.
“You can’t lie to me.” Satoru reasons, bending his knees and folding his body next to yours, wrapping and unwrapping the length of cloth around his fingers over and over again. “But he can.”
Or maybe it’s the way he knows even if Suguru lied to him again, said it was okay, said that he’d stay, said that he’d let you and Satoru be selfish for once and keep him here, keep him tethered to this existence he loathes so much—
“Satoru…”
—he’d believe him.
“You feel it too, don’t you?” He sighs, near breathless.
You lift your hands to cup either side of his face, hooking your thumbs under the pale cloth, unraveling and unraveling and unraveling.
How many more layers?
How many more walls?
How many—
“His energy is restless.” Satoru could find other words to describe it, the aura, the shape of Suguru’s soul, his scent, his being, his whole existence. Something only you could understand.
“It’s pouring into me, and I can’t— I pretend I don’t feel it, that I don’t know that he’s…”
Different.
Suguru is different now, he wants to say.
Suguru’s unhappy with me, unhappy with us.
I can’t give him what he needs.
I was too selfish to have asked him to stay. You were too selfish in saving him.
We were too selfish. Do you think he hates me for it? Do you think he wishes he were—
“He loves you.” You tug on the cloth, let it fall and pool in endless strands around his neck. “Isn’t that reason enough?”
Satoru’s eyes are dim, bleaky sapphire and cerulean staring back at you.
Don’t look at them, look at me, look inside me, my eyes are lying, that’s not how I feel—
“He loves you too,” he says it like a confession, a secret. Love can’t be enough, can it?
Love never stopped Suguru from leaving the first two times.
Love never stopped Satoru from waking up so many nights with tears running down his neck, from where you cried for Suguru in your dreams.
Love never stopped Satoru from not being strong enough to bend the world and stretch it to fit Suguru inside.
Why should you love him whom hates the world so?
Satoru lets his head fall into the crook of your neck, body slumped over yours and breath shaky.
Loving Suguru came as easy as breathing if not easier.
He’d spend nights curled in his bed at the dorms, clicking through photos he’d taken of you three, back then, when it wasn’t anything yet but still everything to him.
“Yaga-sensei, please pair me with someone else!”
“Hah!? We not good enough for you anymore, name?”
“Satoru, name, don’t yell so early in the morning…”
And even from the first mission, when Suguru’s hair was shorter and you hadn’t quite figured out how to control your technique.
When Satoru had to save you from plummeting to your death after you sliced a curse open just for grabbing Suguru and yanking him by his hair.
Satoru thinks, maybe, he came into this world loving you two.
Because he loves me more than all the world.
“I’ll protect you,” he whispers into your neck, full of conviction.
He’s never not the strongest, except maybe when he’s here, in these moments. “I’ll protect the both of you.”
Let me do this one thing,
just this once.
Let me be the one
who holds us together.
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tsr taglist :
@wishmemel @draecys @pearlvalley @cookielovesbook-akie @astral-hydromancy @celestair @/midnightbluehorizons @plaggi @blue-blossomss
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y-rhywbeth2 · 3 months ago
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Elves: Social Life
Society, family, friends, dating and marriage, blah
Link: Disclaimer regarding D&D "canon" & Index [tldr: D&D lore is a giant conflicting mess. Larian's lore is also a conflicting mess. There's a lot of lore; I don't know everything. You learn to take what you want and leave the rest. etc]
Physiology and quirks | Names & Clans and Houses || Pan-Cultural things: Social life | Time and Age Categories | Homes | Language | Art | Entertainment | Technology || Elven 'Subraces' still a wip || Philosophy and Religion & Pantheons || Half-elves | [WIP]
I hit the point where I'm tired of editing and checking sources, so here's some idea on how relationships work for elves whatever level of coherency it has. There might be more or contradictory information in other novels, but I do not have that much free time.
Mostly surface elves, mostly elves in elven lands. Though it also applies to elven diaspora communities (who do stick together and maintain their culture).
• Elven social life in general, plus greetings and etc
• Gender roles in society (or lack therof)
• Family and terminology
• Dating, sex and marriage That I guess you can use for ideas for your elven pcs or if you're dating the vampire who probably doesn't give a damn about elven social mores, the druid or whoever. idk how much elven social norms matter to Ketheric, but if you want to fuck the villainous old man you could give it a shot.
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'Elves who lived even in reasonably close contact were so connected to each other through the Reverie and the Weave that they shared at least some shadow of each other’s emotional experiences.'
'As I would think, so shall ye; As I would feel, so shall ye; As I would do, so shall ye; As I would not harm, nor shall ye; As I would, so shall the clan; As the clan would, so shall I; As we would, so shall ye; The People are as one, and never shall I stray from this, nor shall ye, for to digress is to diminish you and your People.' - The Code of the People
There's a balancing act involved in elven societies where personal freedom is greatly prized but at the same time they're very community-centric cultures.
An elf is an individual part of many things: their House, their settlement, their environment, the People as a whole (which includes the Seldarine). The health and wellbeing of all of these things is the health and wellbeing of you, as your elders will teach you growing up.
Regardless of blood relation elves will usually address an elf of same rank and age as siblings; 'brother,' 'sister,' etc. Another term for a young (surface) elven stranger is 'thaes.' Although insofar as I remember I think it's used to address an elf you don't know and just met with that term until you learn their name or title. There's a whole host of titles and honorifics for nobles, elders and important people.
A friend is 'ebrath,' for surface elves and 'abbil' for drow.
There are various nuances and rules governing how to address people, and you can get an idea of their personal opinion on somebody and their politics by whether they use your name and what titles of address they use when addressing another.
Elves prioritise their Clan/House allegiance first and foremost, their homeland second (be that Evereska, or the Wealdath, or Ched Nasad, or wherever), their subrace next, and then the elven people as a whole.
House politics is a whole other post, but suffice to say your House is usually your family, your political party and likely your employer with its own internal culture and laws that you follow, and you'll likely be working in the family business (or one of them). Your personal reputation affects your House reputation, and your House's reputation and the reputation and behaviour of your clanmates also affects your reputation and determines what doors are open or closed to you. If an alehouse is owned by a member of a rival House, or one of their allied Clans/Houses, don't expect service; if a village or hunting grounds is home to a rival House/Clan don't expect a warm welcome there.
The higher your personal rank and the rank of your family, the more the personal-community social symbiosis affects you. What counts as lessening or increasing personal and familial prestige varies by elven culture and what they value.
There's another balancing act in elven culture with really, really deep intimacy and also not intruding on another's personal space. There must be room for quiet and solitude and respecting the individuality of another in between the mind-melding and oversharing.
An elven social circle is often decided by hobbies and careers, where the elves gather together to learn from elves with skills they desire and debate and infodump about whatever hyperfixation they're absolutely obsessed about with those who share it (those who don't share these interests make poor conversation for each other). There will be months, if not years, where individual elves won't be seen or receptive to socialising because they're busy with whatever project they're working on.
Privacy is a concept, but it's not as strong as it is with non-elves. There is no nudity taboo, and a significant amount of elven magic used in daily life, even outside of communion, involves mind reading (usually for security reasons).
Your fuck ups will be remembered. Evereskans at least have no social taboo against plainly discussing the personal business and even the failures of others amongst themselves even if you're standing right there, so you will hear about it and your neighbours will know. It's taboo to be overly frank or cruel to you about it - and most are not intentionally being cruel, just matter of fact - but there will be reactions like pity and scorn all over.
The lack of privacy is actually one of the complaints elves often have about their own culture when it gets too invasive.
Elves are also very good at holding a grudge; forgiveness is not a virtue in a people who relieve their memories over and over every night, including any pain you've given them.
Their in-group thinking also lends itself too neatly to xenophobia. The Tel'Quessir are masters at the sport of us vs them, and choosing 'them' is a betrayal that can garner a response of mass hysteria and violence depending on the nature of the slight (real or perceived), although violence is significantly more likely from elven youth (aged under 100-250ish years old). Aiding an N'Quess against an elf? The height of betrayal.
An elven 'in-group,' usually their immediate community, is often tightly knit even if they don't like each other or spend much time together: the community's young are encouraged to grow up together and be educated together for the first 10-20 years, and shared reverie and the connections of the elven soul joined by the Weave and Sehanine provides a mild empathic link in the background which means that harming another elf in ones 'group' should rebound on the perpetrator to at least some extent. To harm your own is literally to harm yourself.
Elven friends and family usually commune and reverie together, allowing them to know the others' thoughts, memories and personalities almost as well as their own.
Expressing sadism and spite or engaging in violence amongst non-drow (and many dark elves too) is greatly frowned upon, it's considered 'lowminded' and the behaviour of the N'Quess. Even Lolthite drow frown on open violence and conflict within settlements, both for its disruptive effect and because it shows a lack of sense and skill (tavern brawls, military training and slum raids notwithstanding).
All that is far from saying that elves are incapable of resenting or harming other elves, as their long history of bloody disaster shows.
Relieving their memories in reverie means that elven relationships - the good and the bad - are long lasting. An elf remembers their grudges against you because every now and again they get a refresher where they literally reexperience the times you pissed them off. An elf stays in love with you because those early days and emotions stay fresh in their minds.
Exile is a great punishment, and elves encountering others marked such (whether they were exiled for something they did or self-exiled) respond with 'suspicion and hostility.' Exiled criminals and the most severely outcast often take up worship of Fenmarel Mestarine, patron god of said outcasts, and frequently pack up to live in the wilds alone. You can often spot why they're exiled because they often wear a personal token somewhere on their person symbolising it.
Elves usually expect their friendships and romances to be very emotionally intimate affairs where it's normal to know somebody's deepest fears and desires at a degree of knowledge that, say, humans would not volunteer. Friendships go deep. Aside from the racism that's one of the biggest contributors to their aloofness around non-elves. The time it takes to get to know some of them notwithstanding (humans in particular will be senile or dead before your newborn child is legally old enough to vote and elves like to take their time), the concept of losing such close loved ones in only a century or two (or worse, less than one) is devastating and they will relieve a life and loss for hundreds of years after their friends are gone. There's an argument amongst elves about whether a brief lifespan makes it all the more important to make use of that time and that at least they'll have the memories, or whether loving the 'shortlives' is a form of self-harm.
(While the traditional word for non-elves is N'Tel'Quessir, or N'Quess, in human lands the slang word aethen or 'the others' has caught on.)
Worse, N'Quess cannot commune, and so the spiritual connection and intimacy between elves does not exist. For elves, particularly elves not used to non-elves, this can be alienating.
Rule of thumb: Half-elves, gnomes and halflings are the most socially acceptable friends in that order. Elves and gnomes being the most culturally compatible N'Quess, with a respect for community, art and nature, as well as loving a good time. Humans and dwarves are in competition for the elven culture's least compatible, with dwarves generally winning since their cultures often have polar opposite values. Orcs and half-orcs - and other goblinoids -can expect to be viewed as vermin rather than people, though a half-orc might get an extremely racist and condescending congratulations on 'defying their base nature' or some shit. (Whatever elves on the whole think of the dragonborn has never really been discussed, and it's safe to say they don't like tieflings.)
There is a status, Sha'Quessir, the Elf-Friends, granted to non-elves who are loved by an elf (platonically or romantically) and perform some great service for the people which is rewarded with adoption. The individual is, for all social purposes, one of the People and must be treated with the same respect, with the price tag being that they must act as one of the people and share in their concerns and causes (like the grave-robbing of elven burial sites and tombs, the out of control deforestation and loss of elven homelands, etc). They're even allowed to live on Evermeet, and can be recognised by a token on their person called an elfrune.
In terms of politics it's usually a clash between the conservatives who want elvendom exactly as it is and 'always has been' with a clear distinction between the 'right people' and the others and what counts for a 'proper elf,' and the moderates and liberals who chafe under a millennia of tradition and/or think the Tel'Quessir need to join the rest of the world in the modern year before the oncoming future crushes them all.
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Manners:
Inclining/'bobbing' your head in acknowledgement, or making a brief bow is the equivalent of a handshake.
Elves do not have a tradition of shaking hands, finding it a 'horrific affront' to attempt to grab their hand. Probably something to do with communion usually being initiated by holding hands and the fact that the fingers and palms of the hands are extremely sensitive, so touching hands is probably significantly more intimate to an elf.
Just in general elves do not seem to appreciate being physically touched by people they don't know or trust, and laying your hands on an elf who isn't your friend or family might piss them off.
Elves also have a strong aristocratic bent, which plays a part in their sense of hierarchy (usually more 'gently' established than with non-elves, but present nevertheless).
An elf of lower standing cannot make eye contact with one of higher standing without permission. When a noble passes you part for them and may not overtake them; if traveling by flight, you may never fly higher than a noble.
Walk with the crowd and the flow of traffic, never against it.
A polite farewell is: 'Sweet water and light laughter ['til next we meet].' The response to which is: 'Back soon for soft songs and bright wine.'
When introducing somebody to another person/s you end the introductions with: 'May your meeting and parting be of equal pleasure.' To which the person you're introducing should say: 'My honour is brightened.'
A full formal greeting when approaching strange elves on the road (outside the bounds of civilisation) is translated as: 'Fair be our meeting, for our hearts are light and our swords sheathed, we hold peace in our hands and its light guides us.' Which is to be sung.
Welcome home is simply 'Glad homeagain.'
Pressing foreheads together seems to be a display of affection.
All elven cultures have a custom of exchanging gifts, where the character of the gifter is measured by the value of the gift (such things being judged primarily by their aesthetic beauty and any magic it contains, with its material value benign judged second). It's polite to offer a gift of equal value in return. For the original gifter to refuse the return token in exchange is viewed as odd.
Amongst the dark elves of Ilythiir an exchange of weapons was a display of trust, and sometimes a pledge of service/assistance should they ever be called on,' which may well still exist amongst modern dark elves. Although Menzoberranzan has a variant where you take another's weapon, display your skill with it and hand it back to illustrate 'I mean you no harm' as a peaceful greeting with strangers.
There's a tradition called the Rule of Saving: When one saves another's life, the saviour can invoke a debt which means that the individual owes them their life to do with as they please.
Gender roles:
Rule of thumb, due to their entire pantheon being genderfluid elves tend towards egalitarianism in their societies. If your gods encompass both male and female genders then it's hard to say one is lesser or greater, and some consider androgyny in mortal elves to be a sign of divine favour.
On the other hand that doesn't mean elven societies are totally free of nonsense (and horror).
Many societies also have a slight inclination towards matriarchy (dark elves infamously having more than a 'slight' inclination in the majority of cases); a woman's word often carries more weight in discussions if she chooses to weigh in. Evermeet in particular saw a shift towards matriarchy as Queen Amlaruil grew to become a beloved monarch and ended up with an inner council of advisors comprised of the female elders of the noble houses.
Dark elves are of course infamous for their matriarchies: Lolthites, Kiaransaleen and Eilistraeeans all favour - if not mandate - female leadership. Men are artisans and helpers, women are leaders.
On the flip side there are the patriarchal elven societies.
Aquatic elves have a patriarchal nobility.
At least one city of Vhaeraunites has ignored the part of their god's doctrine that says 'equality' and instituted the patriarchal mirror of Lolthite society.
And then there was the sun elven empire of Cormanthor (which was sun elven by origin and overarching culture, but had significant moon elven population), which was a nightmare where women would bitterly comment that they were good only for arm candy and providing heirs and that many elven men would say they didn't believe women had brains; women couldn't socialise with elves outside of their House without their patriarch's permission, and one woman had a nervous breakdown at the idea of confronting her husband on the grounds that he could very well beat her to death for talking back in public and throw her corpse out the window and then just get a new wife (he does later, hungover, threaten her with a horsewhip for challenging him).
So you know, fun times.
Mostly you're getting full gender equality.
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Family:
One's family, strictly speaking, is one's Clan (or House, if the family holds noble status (doesn't make every member a noble though)). Aside from your parents, siblings, first cousins, grandparents, uncles, aunts and such you have a network of in-laws, cousins and employees sharing your surname and playing a part in the family business/es. The largest Houses will have people scattered around the world that you've probably never met.
Ancestry is also a very important part of elven identity, and an elf will know the famous and infamous stuff their family got up to. If the fame came from heroism and great deeds then the family will obsess over it, if it's negative press then elves will carry the stigma or do their best to make sure the knowledge never sees the light of day (you do not want word getting around that you're descended from the Vyshaan or Dlardrageth, for example.)
That's your ancestry and Clan or House, but the immediate blood relations, and likely the people who raise you, are your Blesséd.
Due to their lifespans and low fertility rates, siblings rarely grow up together since it's likely that older siblings will be adults by the time they get any. Educating and watching over the family's children is often a task for the elderly, who can no longer work, so that they can still make use of their centuries of experience and contribute to the community.
Family lineage tracks matrilineal and patrilineal. Except for most drow, who only track matrilineal.
For the drow I only know of the words for mother and father ('Ilhar' and 'Ilharn')
For surface elves (for most of which there are no gender neutral variants given):
Parent: O Child: Sum Cousin: Tyss Cousins: Tyssir
Brother: Tan Sister: Nys Daughter: A'Sum Son: E'Sum Granddaughter by daughter: A'a'sum Grandson by daughter: E'a'sum Granddaughter by son: A'e'sum Grandson by son: E'e'sum Niece by sister (sister-daughter): A'Su'Nys Niece by brother ('brother-daughter): A'Su'Tan Nephew by sister (sister-son): E'Su'Nys Nephew by brother (brother-son): E'Su'Tan
Matrilineal line: Mother: O'Si Grandmother: I'Osi Grandfather: I'Osu Uncle: Osi'Tan Aunt: Osi'Nys
Patrilineal line: Father: O'Su Grandmother: U'Osi Grandfather: U'Osu Uncle: Osu'Tan Aunt: Osu'Nys
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Dating and marriage
'The love of an elf is a deep and precious thing. Misused or spurned, it can be deadly. Realms have fallen and been sundered for love, and proud elder houses swept away. Some have said that an elf is the force of his or her love, and all else just flesh and dross...' - Shalheira Talandren (who is a bard so is perhaps being a touch melodramatic as her trade demands)
Like many non-human people, elves referring to their sexual and romantic partners translate the terms in common as 'mates' and the act of sex as 'mating.' (Dwarves, orcs, dragons and vampires also refer to their SOs as mates... although that vampire was an elf, so maybe it's just certain vampires. I don't know about gnomes and halflings but it's the preferred terminology for many demihumans and nonhumans).
You can also call your partner damia, an endearment equivalent to 'darling' or 'sweetheart' or whatever.
This is one of those things where it depends on the writer, but apparently some degree of demisexuality is very common for elves, where it can be a cultural norm to be baffled as to why you'd lust after somebody when you have no affection for them.
'Her men, however, were staring at Takari with such a look of feral hunger [...] Under the circumstances, they could hardly have developed any feelings of love for her, so it was hard for an elf to understand why the mere sight of her naked body should inflame their passions.' - The Summoner.
Somebody wearing revealing clothing or dressed naked would not be seen as advertising a desire for sex, that's just how they're dressed.
They also apparently have lower sex drives, which I suppose could make sense for a longer-lived species.
Courting will involve trying to impress upon the object of your affection the sincerity and depth of your feelings with songs - or poetry if you've failed as an elf and really can't sing - and dancing.
If things are moving towards the erotic then the dancing starts to take on that tone.
There is a form of acrobatic dance amongst elves that involves the dancers wearing nothing but body oil and bells, tied to their bare limbs and beaded into their long hair (which is worn loose), and this dance will often be performed with the aid of a fly spell or some equivalent.
Such dances are actually used in public performances, so while they might be sexual (or not) they aren't necessarily seen as inappropriate (though they can get grumbles from sun elven elders about how back in their day they didn't have this kind of impropriety).
Just in general it seems like elves like bringing magic into the bedroom, but aerial sex seems a popular choice from what I've seen on elf sex.
And ears and apparently hands are erogenous zones.
'On the subject of giving pleasure to elven maids, [the diary] mentioned using one's tongue gently on the palms of the hands and the tips of the ears.' - Elminster in Myth Drannor (despite the 'maidens' part it applies to elves in general)
For lovers who decide to engage in Rapport/aleiryid and bind their minds and souls in a permanent empathic link, the terms 'spirit-deep mate' and 'life-mate' have been used. 'Aleiryid' itself may be a noun for such a partner, and can only be used to refer to a life-mate.
Elves, regardless of how committed they are - eternally psychically linked or no - still generally expect to be given their personal space just as with any other relationship between elves.
In terms of monogamy vs polygamy, sun and maybe moon elves may be more inclined to monogamy and green and wood elves towards polygamy.
Green elves, and by extension most wood elves, default to polyamory. Jealousy is perverse and will disapprove of displays of such possessiveness and flirting and love are just parts of the joys of life. Which isn't to say they don't feel it, but the green elven approach to a love rival is basically, to quote one character, '[they'll] have to share!' The sylvan elves of the High Forest usually dance in trios rather than pairs.
Moon elves probably vary on that cultural norm; there's been an occasion where a moon elf pov character can be read as uncomfortable with polyamory, but on the other hand the silver elves are also infamous for their love of freedom and hedonism, and said character notes his own moon elven father would not begrudge his green elven ex-wife her flirting. Also in moon elven pantheon Corellon has a Queen who is simultaneously three people, so there's a religious argument to be made for 'the gods approve of polyamory' I suppose. As oathbreaking is considered one of the greatest sins possible in moon elven cultures one imagines that infidelity (and definitely breaking your marriage vows) is also very high on the taboo list, regardless of what the relationship set up is - Fun is important, but if something matters enough to make a commitment for it you keep your fucking commitment.
The dark elves of Menzoberranzan have usually been portrayed as serial monogamists, with a side of 'women can fuck as many men on the side as they like.' Dark elves in general don't expect a pairing to last forever.
Sun elves, I'm not so sure. They have a very strong emphasis on lineage and house politics and frown on 'philandering' though so legitimate marriages, family duty and knowing who the parents are is important regardless of monogamy vs polygamy.
Marriage ceremonies are most popular during Midsummer celebrations.
Elopements are most popular on nights of the full moon, when Hanali is supposed to bless your union with good fortune.
In common elves stick to the translations of 'spouse,' 'wife,' 'husband.' 'Consort' crops up, probably refers to nobles spouses.
Between moon elves at least, marriage can be a very simple procedure: you weave a flower crown and place it on your lover's head. That's it, you're married now. You don't need any witnesses or officiants; the prince of Evermeet married his human girlfriend by placing a flower crown made of laurels on her head in the middle of the woods during a private moment. None of the nobility nor his mother approved of him having a human girlfriend nor would they have permitted it, but doesn't matter: flower crown. Generally though there is more ceremony surrounding weddings
There has also been mention of handfasting too, which may be a similar deal, just with trying ribbons around your enjoined hands rather than putting flower crowns on your head.
If you want to bring a high mage into it - which is unusual in the modern era, when they're almost extinct - marriages have also involved the arcane.
Marriages, formal and informal, are performed by priests of Hanali Celanil who are bound by their faith to help you regardless of what society thinks - all lovers must be protected. I suspect most marriages take place under the moonlight, since elves seem to be lunar-centric, but that's just an assumption.
Entering into u'aestar'kess was a popular marriage tradition in love matches, a magical linking much like Rapport/Aleirin, but the enjoined beings can - through concentrating - engage in true 'verbal' telepathic communication. If one of the bonded is in danger then their connection will also alert the partner, who will generally stop at nothing to get to them. Also unlike aleirin u'aestar'kess permits two bonds to exist rather than just one.
Creating an Aestar'Khol was also a popular way of getting married - the ritual wove an oath, in this case marriage vows, into tangible existence in the form of a stone the size of a fist and likely in the shape of a statuette, though a quicker casting will produce a rock covered in inscriptions of the vow. It also allows the spouses to know that their partners are faithful, because breaching contract causes the vowstone to shatter.
Some elves, namely nobles, do arrange marriages, it's a useful way of calling dibs on particularly promising mages, warriors, priests, artisans and etc by having them marry into your House. There's also historical precedent for crackdowns on arranged marriages because squabbling and intrigue over powerful wizards was getting idiotic. If your family picks out a spouse for you you don't have to marry them, but you may face social and financial repercussions from your refusal. Not always though; some nobles, even sun elves, have turned their nose up at tradition and married non-elves and had half-elven heirs without losing too much prestige.
A holy order in the service of Hanali, the Chaperones of the Moonlight Tryst, are rogues and rangers who are tasked with discretely safeguarding elven lovers from those who would interfere with them or use their relationship for some end (blackmail or some other intrigue, for example). They can also be called upon to help arrange secret meetings between star-crossed lovers and aid elopements.
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sleepyseals · 3 months ago
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[Image Description: A digital painting depicting two Flight Rising dragons in profile, the one on the right craning his neck backwards to see the other behind him and they are making eye contact. The left dragon is a gray coatl with a spotted feather crest which is standing up in a show of aggression. He is wearing a simple metal helmet with horns on it and his eye glows bright green and blue. The right dragon is a brown striped pearlcatcher with long whiskers disappearing off frame and a red mane. He has one horn made of gold and patches of gold metal embedded into his scales. The background is dark and a swirl of dark cloud and a bolt of blue lightning covers the bottom left corner of the frame. End Image Description.]
2 of my flight rising dragons! cirro and cinnamon :) they don't really get along. cinnamon is the nice one in the clan and cirro enjoys antagonizing him. what little of my clan's lore I've figured out is mostly silly and lighthearted so this is a little dramatic for them but I felt like drawing something cool :P I got bored of rendering though. this keeps happening. Idk why i keep digitally painting i dont even like digital painting!!!
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wildstar25 · 1 year ago
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Many thoughts specifically about miqo'te having their own unique wintertime celebration akin to a festival of lights and/or warmth that would date back to the fifth umbral era (age of endless frost). It could be something that recounts their peoples' great crossing over the ice bridge during a time where days were short and nights were frigid.
The two tribes could celebrate it slightly differently, I think:
Seekers would focus on bringing light into their lives by gathering as a tribe around a big bonfire as the sun goes down. The eldest of the tribe recounts the blessing of fire granted to them by their goddess Azeyma. They mention the torches their ancestors carried along their journey never went out, no matter how strong or cold the winds became over the frozen ocean straight. The light of the flames kept their tribe together in the dark; it let them see the path ahead when the sun went down and was strong enough to be seen by even the slowest trailing members of the migrating tribes. Food is cooked by the flames as children run and play. Of Age Tias endlessly sing over each other, all trying to demonstrate how well they know their clan's traditional songs. The Nuhn keeps the fire going through the night, making sure it doesn't burn out until the light of tomorrow's dawn arrives.
Keepers would focus how the warmth of their family clans kept them alive where most other life perished in the cold. They would hold a large feast on the night of a full moon; stewed game, seasoned preserves, fresh loafs of sesame flour bread, roasted mushrooms and root vegetables would fill their bellies as the night festivities went on. Tokens of love and appreciation would be shared among clan members. As a rare occurrence in keeper life, wandering males would be invited in to partake in the revelry. Prayers would be sung in honour of Menphina, giving thanks bringing love to their lives and for guiding their ancestors together across the horizon. Arms would link together to create circles of dancing miqo'te. Hyms and cheers would carry through the forest for as long as the moon remained high in the sky. Love struck pairings might slink off to deepen their new connections while the remaining family members sleep in groups, sharing each others warmth for the night like those who crossed over into Eorzea so long ago.
Something like that!! Idk this is just off of the top of my head thoughts. Mostly just think that it would make more sense that the Miqo'te tribes and clans have their own cultural practises as they were/are a nomadic people that (in lore) are small in number and tend to keep to themselves. Stories of their people would need to be passed down in one way or another, why not make it a holiday??
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georgialawman · 20 days ago
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RIN LORE. that I made up. for rin sensei au.
Rin is not of konoha!!!! she’s from a once famous medic clan that settles near kiri, but not In kiri. From what I remember in canon like the only medical ninjutsu mentioned around like. the warring states is just Hashirama’s self healing abilities. So we’re just doing what I say now.
Medical ninjutsu is a “newer” thing. During the warring states period, before it, and probably a little after it— if you could do stuff that would be considered “medical ninjutsu” in Naruto part 1- or 2– it was just something you were blessed with (like hashirama). If you could heal, that’s just what you did. you are gifted in this way, help your clan with your rare talents. it was just a luck thing.
well and proper medical ninjutsu has to be taught— and there was no way sharing would happen between clans. so most nin with an inclination to healing would have to figure out their abilities by themselves, there was usually no other medic around to teach them. To be good with medical ninjutsu you’d need a steady line of teaching, people to learn and people to try out their own stuff to learn more— and there’s the nohara clan. noharas were more inclined to healing, and with older clansmen to teach the kids stuff to where they have steady trial and error/learning and improving they just. got Good. They were good.
I’d also say the nohara clan was more civilian orientated. they weren’t a clan with power- they weren’t anyone or anything, just normal people with a specific gift. Which was good for them- it’d keep them under the radar. It’d keep them safe. Cuz. Yknow. Imagine all these warring clans who only have healers if they’re “blessed” with them, hearing that therea a clan that specializes in healing? you mean now we can just grab a ninja medic? that easy? one that already knows what they’re doing? hell yeah?
So that sucks for the nohara clan. They end up being coveted and their numbers split and dwindle. it’s not much of a clan anymore. the noharas left were mostly just regular medics- healers, doctors. some get the gift of medical ninjutsu, but they usually hid that. by the time of the third hokage and (the end ?) of the second war, the last senju is trying to get out Proper training for medical ninjutsu. that is pretty much just shot down. yeah idk why either. screw her good plans! someone thinks we should have some medics though fr fr.….
Rin nohara is a little girl. She lives by the sea with her mother. rins mother has no talent for medical ninjutsu but she did have talent for more typical ninjutsu. Rin’s mom knows her daughter has the potential to be a ninja, she knows her daughter will have to be one. The nohara clan isn’t nearly as sought as it used to be but it is still legend. rin and her mother live somewhat close to kirigakure, if someone wanted rin trained properly that is where she would go. she’d be trained as a kiri nin. Rin’s mom knows what happens to children in kiri.
So when she’s offered to have her daughter taken to konohagakure instead, that’s where rin goes. Rin will be a shinobi, but she doesn’t have to be a mist shinobi.
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frogletscribe · 1 year ago
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I finished the main story of A:FoP last night and I have more thoughts but don't want to spoil anything for anyone who is not there yet so im putting them under the cut again lol. Also a lot of this gets into like general Avatar lore things and not always specifically A:FoP. I just have a lot of thoughts and not a lot of people to talk to about it lmao.
Warning: this is very long, i am apologizing now if you choose to read the whole thing.
Spoilers for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora under the cut
TEYLAN oh my god my boy. He scared me so bad when he showed up again but I'm so glad he had a hand in stopping Mercer. It felt like such a moment of growth for him finaly setting himself free of his abuser. Poor guy feels so guilty about everything that happened, and I'm very nervous about whenever Nor comes back in future DLC stuff because he still doesn't know that Teylan 'betrayed' them. Especially after everything with Alma.
Speaking of Alma, I have somewhat mixed feelings about her story? Obviously the Sarentu have every right to be pissed at her, I am pissed at her, she used them (and honestly is still using them) to ease her own guilt. What bothers me is the "You will never be one of us" rhetoric? Mostly because it makes me think of Jake and the Sully kids (Lo'ak and Kiri specifically) who all are/look more like Avatars rather than Na'vi. It makes me wonder how the Sarentu would react to them? The situations are very different, Jake gave up almost everything that made him human to live as a Na'vi where Alma has stayed human, albeit unhealthily attached to her Avatar form. Jake worked to earn his place with the Na'vi where Alma is trying to take it from this group of children she has been lying to from the very start.
But more than that, her still talking as if she was a part of their family at the end made me so mad. I don't think Nor had a good reaction to her by any means, stabbing her was definitely not good, and it leaves all of the other humans scared of him but like,,, i'm on his side tbh. His anger is justified, he's just not coping with it in healthy ways. Like at least the Sarentu did shut her down, Alma is not a part of their family by the end, but giving her the grace they did at the end i think was more than she deserved. Idk, I am glad that they are able to be the bigger persons (pun not intended lol) and move forward, I'm just not a fan of forgiving a person who was partially responsible for the murder of your entire family?
Back to Nor. He is such an interesting character to have next to Ri'nela and So'lek. His anger is palpable and it has nowhere to go. He refuses to connect to Eywa again because he feels he has been poisoned by TAP and humans as a whole and it colors everything he does. He copes with his pain by ignoring it until it becomes too much and he snaps.
And then there is Ri'nela, who is also clearly hurt by everything that comes to light about the Sarentu and TAP, but she is so much more reserved about it. She has a really lovely audio log about how she feels the need to set her own emotions aside so she can take care of others and their emotions. You can really tell how much pressure she puts on herself to be that emotional stability for others. Still she works through it and at the very least tries to talk with the Protag about it in a much more healthy way than Nor does.
Compare that to So'lek, who is similarly reserved in is emotions to Ri'nela, but less to protect others and more to protect himself. Hopefully we will get a little more insight into his character with the comics coming out, but So'lek is i think very similar to Nor in a lot of ways. His clan was wiped out in the Great War, and he was the only survivor to not assimilate into another clan, and we can assume, i think, that those other survivors were most likely children and other non-warriors, either too old or unable to fight for whatever reason. He is entirely alone by choice, and he is angry, but he keeps it together.
So'lek sees the bigger picture, he knows that the resistance is the one other group that's actually fighting back (Besides Jake and the Omatikaya), even if its entirely a group of humans, who we can assume he is not terribly fond of in general. He makes a point of saying the RDA is what needs to be removed from Pandora, not humans. He knows how to separate his allies instead of generalizing 'all humans bad', something Nor is implied to struggle with at least a little. That is especially clear when So'lek calls Nor out after he stabs Alma. But that still doesn't negate how angry So'lek is and is capable of being. He says it after HQ is attacked, he is trying not to follow Nor and his rage. He knows that if he has that conversation with Nor, it will be very easy for him to let his rage consume him as well.
Given that Nor is pretty much gone from the game after he stabs Alma, I'm hoping that in the upcoming DLC we get to find him? Maybe he is being an angry loner out on the woods or if he has found other missing TAP students? There are 4 mentioned in game, either by name (Ri'nela asks where two of them, Telisi and Yefti, are at the very start of the game, and 2 more are mentioned in TAP School Records, Okni and Yuayt) Of course they could all have died while the main four were in cryosleep, 15 years have passed and if they werent with that group when Alma saved them, theres no telling what exactly has happened to them. I just think it could be cool for them to pop up and join back up with the Sarentu.
On, like, an entirely different note, the joy it gives me that there are multiple nonbinary characters! Ahh!!! I think right now the only ones are Tsu'kiri from the Aranahe and Okul from the Kame'tire, at least that I have found, but the way that they are handled, I really really love. They are both just people! Existing in the world! As a nonbinary person myself i also really appreciate the game using they/them for the protagonist and letting you flavor your character however you want so that you aren't locked into male/female like so many games tend to do.
Getting into less A:FoP specific and more general lore territory: Something else I found really interesting while digging around on the wiki is that Mokasa is not the Olo'eyktan? He is listed as Anufi's chief advisor, which made him a sort of stand in Olo'eyktan while she was exiling herself, but he isn't actually the Olo'eyktan the way Ka'nat and Nesim are for their respective clans. Even on the wiki, the Olo'eyktan for the Kame'tire is labeled as Unknown. At most we get Okul being named ? Tsakarem? Thats at least what I took from it. But it makes me curious about the other clans and their leadership (also just very curious about them in general lol). There are 16 clans that we know of (that are all still canon) but we really have only really in depth explored 6 of them in the whole series so far. (Just counting the movies and A:FoP right now because I do not have access to the comics or I think the like one? other games that is still canon) Idk im interested in more Olo'eyktan/Tsahik dynamics beyond just mated pairs like we have seen. Like the Zeswa sisters is really cool to me, or father/daughter dynamic with Ka'nat and Etuwa. Obviously, Jake, and later Tarsem, are not mated to Mo'at but there was the intention of Neytiri eventually taking over as Tsahik before the Sully's left, which would have continued the married couple leaders dynamic that we have been seeing.
We also know that Olo'eyktan don't always have to be men (See Nesim for the Zeswa and Ikneyi from the Tayrangi clan that we see in the first film), so then are there examples of male Tsahik somewhere? Okul being presumably named Tsakarem as a nonbinary/gender non-conforming character would imply that on some level, but im curious if we will ever see examples of it.
And finally, somebody has got to let me smooch the characters in this game PLEASE.
If you actually read all that kudos to you and thank you for indulging my screaming.
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scatterbrainedbot · 1 year ago
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RAT SONS LORE DUMP #1
THE HAMATO FAMILY
okay so im looking at my first few character sheets and theres a little bit of lore/context i want to give just to clarify, specifically about the last generation (of humans) in the Hamato lineage
(long text heavy post ahead!)
so background:
in the 03 version of tmnt The Ancient One (who is not a Hamato) essentially adopts three children: Hamato Yoshi, Yukio Mashimi, Tang Shen (girls dont get surnames i guess??) They seemed to have been explicitly raised as siblings. Still, love triangle trope was hungry ig. Both boys fell in love w Tang Shen and she fell for Yoshi. to which Mashimi said ‘alright bet’ and killed her. i cant even laugh at him for his pathetic Nice Guy “i was nice to you for years and u wont have sex with me???” tantrum cos like. sir, that is ur sister. boy howdy. all of yall need to go meet some other people.
mostly i chalk that whole mess up to the fact that the writing of women in most media in the early 2000s lacking like idk?? any actual characterization?? an ounce of consideration??? not a single braincell?? they were mostly just there to be a means to some plot trope, rather than an actual character in and of themselves — like im amazed april came out as lovely as she did, with her own like life and skills and autonomy (her big sis vibes in 03 are so so nice, and tbh i love her whole character a lot — still lots of misogyny moments in her writing too but im not trying to do an analysis into that rn)
so anywho!!
for the rat sons au, i decided to go ahead and scrap all the incesty undertones (idk, are those undertones? seems p straight up to me?) and completely revamp the origins of The Ancient One, Tang Shen and Yoshi <3 (and Mashimi too ig, but he essentially got cut out entirely. sucks to suck ya entitled lil douche)
Here's the general lowdown
So, the Hamato clan is one of the oldest and well established in all of Japan. The family rose to prominence in the feudal period of Japan’s history, due to their collective skill in the art of ninjutsu, their dedication, stealth, and discretion. Like most ninja, they were assassins available to hire, either for killing or simple sabotage, for politics or personal matters – though no matter the task, a Hamato’s loyalty was always to the head of the Family over their client.
Beyond their reputation as a ninja clan though, the Hamatos also had a reputation for being extremely generous to their community and highly protective of the less fortunate. (think kinda Al Capone vibes, like oh these bitches hella dangerous. but also. will def tip over $100 soooo…) This did lead to occasional conflict of interests during assignments/contracts. Most Hamatos would then seek the advice of the head of the family, and follow their lead, be it to the benefit of their client, or not.
(This also led to several members either abandoning the clan, or being killed by their clients for failed action etc etc)
As time passes and we reach the mid twentieth century or so, there is only one final heir to the Hamato lineage. A young man, named Hamato Sho. Sho spent his youth trying to serve his family and honor their name etc etc etc. But ultimately, this got him caught up in a lot of corrupt powerful nonsense that he eventually walked away from after the death of his friend.
This friend had left behind a young daughter, Tang Shen. Since he knew she had no other family to claim her, Sho took her in, expecting to only be a temporary foster at most. Surprise! this quiet five year old kiddo melted old mans cynical heart to absolute mush. his daughter now bitch.
He only ever adopted the one child, and he adored her sm. and he tried his best to be a good papa. he nurtured her curiosity and engaged in her interests and taught her everything he knew, without ultimatums or concerns about family names. at times he could have probably been considered very lax in his parenting, or far too lenient or undisciplined, but as a kid that grew up suffocated by watching eyes and guiding hands and Destiny capital D, i think that by giving his child room to be her own person and do her own shit (especially in her teenage years) he was in fact showing her a level trust and pride than he never had been given himself. basically he did everything he could to give her the exact opposite childhood he himself had (like rise splints <3)
Because of Sho’s encouragement, Tang Shen grows up to be a very independent soul, whos never met a problem she can jerry-rig, bodily move, or roundhouse kick into being fixed. She also becomes a fucking badass ninja master (and mystic warrior, lol) though mostly all she wants in life is the maintain the quiet little farm her father has started. maybe kiss the cute boy from town who walks her home sometimes (even though he lives the other direction.)
Meanwhile, Yoshi (surname pending) is in fact not a Hamato. Yet, at least. he, however, is that cute boy from town who walks home with Tang Shen most days and has been absolutely smitten with her since like fourth grade lol
(theyre besties for like a decade before they officially start to date. They get together finally after Tang Shens been trying to figure out a good date idea (one that isnt just something they already do) to ask him on for like a month, and Yoshi just leans over and kisses her goodbye super casual one day cos he thought they already had been dating for like. six months. cue her delight and his abject horror (he never wouldve kissed her if he didnt think that was already established as okay. p sure he even like asked her before randomly like, hey is it alright if i kiss u goodbye? and she was like ????? ok??? is this cos of ur european studies class. theyre both very silly) shes gonna tease him so bad about all of this. and tell Sho. Yoshi will never know peace again /affectionate)
Mashimi doesnt make any real appearance in their story i dont think. Like he might be a friend of Yoshi’s in elementary school. probably had a tiny start of a crush on Tang Shen when they were small and tried to take the ‘pull pigtails on the playground’ route of getting her attention. what he got was a kick to the chest and a broken nose. never came near her again after that. (eventually started avoiding Yoshi too since he was with Tang Shen all the time)
All that being said though, im afraid Tang Shen is not fully free of curse of the unwanted suitor. The Hamato name still carries a fair amount of pull, after all, and there are some very dangerous people looking to make some claim to its influence.....
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3gremlins · 7 months ago
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i'm certainly not a deep dive lore master or anything (i super appreciate the people who are tho. like that's one of my favorite ways to consume lore, have other people tell me about it <3 ), but i haven't seen anyone else mention about Ghilan'nain and the halla. here's my maybe crackpot theory :) (or maybe not, idk i sort of assumed everyone thought this too but i haven't seen it mentioned in evanuris discussions that i've come across at all) (ill try to cite what sources i remember off the top of my head but i haven't done a full replay in awhile)
since the reveals about Ghilan'nain making monsters out of people (in tevinter nights mostly, i'm not up on the comics), I've always kind of assumed the halla WERE also once people. Like twisted into the beautiful deer and the way the dalish care for them is wrapped up in that, like they vaguely remember that the halla were once their loved ones (the way the dalish worship only partially remembered bits of who the evanuris were). We also learned from Trespasser that the Evanuris were fairly cruel and enslaved their people (and also presumably USED the elves for a variety of unsavory things) .
Also we do get the new versions of the halla in the horrors of hormak story like Ghil was iterating on a previous idea (as all artists do, like okay sure the pretty deer were nice, but what if i added more INSECT? XD)
The way the dalish refer to the halla has always been a little off to me, even for a sacred animal. They're more integrated into the clan- they're not a separate entity to be worshipped or revered. Afaik they don't ever eat or kill halla on purpose* (which does fit with some sacred animals in certain cultures for sure, but it feels more personal with the dalish somehow? most cultures where there's a sacred animal you don't eat, it's because it's special to a particular god).
from inquisition: "The first thing you must understand about the halla is that they are not our servants. They are not our pets. They are our brothers and sisters"
While they are heavily associated with Ghil, they're not really part of her worship, they're kind of separate from it (as far as we've seen). You have halla keepers/herders in dao but they're not really shown in the other 2 games- mostly the whole clan seems to care for them communally).
I believe merrill mentions (in da2 i think?) that without the halla, the dalish are nothing like the clan can't survive without them, they're so integral to their culture. Obviously this is partially how they move around and they're particularly suited to pulling the caravans through deep forests etc, but maybe there's something more to it.
They've also littered lots of bread crumbs of bits of dalish culture that the dalish have pieced together that we now know to be incorrect (or at least not the whole story)- the fenharel statues, the vallaslin, the evanuris themselves, the veil etc.
These are all half-remembered things- they remember that they were important/related to certain gods, but not why or how (as solas mentions in ambient dialogue "the dalish remember fragments of fragments")
there's also the codex entry on ghilan'nain in dai with the story andruil turning her into the first halla and leading Andruil back to the hunter who hurt her (tho she'd previously cursed him so it def feels like there's more to that story than the parable lets on)
"And since that day, the halla have guided the People, and have never led us astray, for they listen to the voice of Ghilan'nain"
i've seen a couple people point to this story as evidence that maybe andruil made the halla instead, tho we know that Ghil was making monsters for Andruil specifically to hunt so I think it could go either way? Maybe it's both.
The evanuris also feel a bit greek god inspired, and Andruil ofc has parallels in Artemis directly. Who was also always turning people into deer and things, so that could support an Andruil making people into halla theory instead. It could even be slightly less nefarious than Ghil making monsters, perhaps Andruil would turn favored subjects into halla as a warped "reward". ( <- i have no evidence for this outside of that one story but it is an interesting thought). Or maybe also to hunt them, could see that being a thing.
This would still explain why the Halla are so attuned to the dalish particularly (and vise versa) and also give some more of that good crunchy HORROR reveals to their interpretations of the past.
Either way, I think there's SOMETHING going on with the halla and I hope we get some more dalish culture reveals with the Veilguard a bit ( even if it's just in supplemental material that comes out with it or like a codex entry).
*halla leather *is* used as a crafting material in dai but this might be separate (gameplay vs lore). in dao, if Elora's halla has to be put down, she only gives you its antlers (which would probably have been shed naturally anyway since they're fairly deer-like). If you attack/accidentally kill the golden one in front of the exalted plains dalish in DAI, i believe they did attack you on sight (but that might also have been a bug, i remember that quest being tricky- like if the wolves or rando bandits attacked & killed the halla, inky still got the blame) ** I'd also love to see Merrill again like all of the events in DAI/DATV would be her jam like I just want to hear her thoughts/have her geek out a bit even when the world is ending (i have limited hope we will tho, since she was written by mary kirby T.T tho she also wrote varric and we still have him around so idk maybe)
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licoricelump · 2 years ago
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Hot take: The lack of Shirai Ryu Ocs could be explained by the fact that the clan has what? FIve members (Hanzo, Harumi, Satoshi, Forrest Fox, Takeda) and NRS decided to kill off 3 of them without delving further into the clan's structure (mkx comic slightly mentioned the rebuilt clan, mind you - not the original one,as a "protective force" or sth,but for about 5 pages in before all of them were slaughtered (again)) and idk, there should be some Shirai Ryu members that are of equal rank to Hanzo, because pls man - don't you have any friends? Colleagues? Clanmates? Who you talk to on a daily basis ?(no not your blueberry bf) Why are you like this? Why are you sitting in the corner ruminating? The edge lord in yellow, what troubles you? Where are your friends. His close relationships are mostly vertical (clan leader - member/ father -son : Takeda/Fox/Satoshi) and only two are horizontal (Harumi/Kuai) and none of those horizontal ties depicts a "clanmate-mentality" to Hanzo. Kuai Liang at least has what? 5 clanmates of different ranks (Bi Han / Smoke, Sektor, Cyrax/Frost) to create tensions/interactions for his character depths - and thus making the entire Lin Kuei gang, not only KL, relatable, and also a good grounding way to make a character believable. Now, Which canon character is also a Shirai Ryu member, of equal rank to Hanzo, that he can socialize with (aside Harumi, who tips more to the romantic aspect and doesn't have that "brother in arm" feel) and through their interactions suggests how their clan works/what its hierarchy is/what is the underlying tension within the organization?/,in short, some grounding work for the fans to have a faint knowledge of how Shirai Ryu works and grows in interest to the clan? No one.
I try to create some Shirai Ryu ocs but damn it's hard because the clan is so vague . We have MK:Mythology focusing solely on the Lin Kuei already, i would dig a game that only focuses on the Shirai Ryu lore - and hell it doesn't have to be all about Hanzo, I just want to know wtf is that clan about to vouch for it.
Maybe I just obsess with clan hierarchy, lore and structures due to my old Warrior Cats obsession day but yeah, just a sliver of my thought about Shirai Ryu and Hanzo
(Ps: English is not my native language so bear with me the jumbled words)
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kirisclangen · 1 year ago
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Pinned!
This is just where I wanna put all the designs I’ve been making for all the cats I currently have on Clangen! There’s a lot of them so… idk, I reckon I can just queue a few up and set it to post once a day? That seems good.
Once I get through all of the existing cats I have, I think I’ll end up doing semi-regular updates on what happens between them every few moons! Doodle pages, profiles for new cats, etc.
My main is @fantasykiri5, and I mostly make hermitcraft/life series fanart there, so pretty different from anything that’s gonna be here.
I mentioned it in the sub header but the rough format I’m gonna use for this blog is very much inspired by @/warriorsproject and @/cryptidclaw! Go check them both out!
World setup under cut:
There are 5 clans;
Beetleclan,
Tulipclan,
Honeyclan,
Bayclan,
and Vixenclan.
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1: The Mountains
2: Abandoned Twoleg Nest (old cabin)
3: The Farm
4: The Maple Hollow (Vixenclan Camp)
5: Tunderpath (mountain road. All other thinderpaths are very scarcely used, like the one up to the farm or to the dock. There not a large risk, but they’re also called thunderpaths by the cats.)
6: The Clearing (Tulipclan Camp)
7: The Small Valley (Honeyclan Camp)
8: Twoleg Place
9: The Lake (meeting place)
10: Southern Twoleg Bridge
11: Northern Twoleg Bridge
12: The Tidepools (Bayclan Camp)
13: Twoleg Nowhere Bridge (fishing dock and small parking lot)
14: The Shipwreck (Beetleclan Camp)
15: Bearclaw Islands
16: Star-Spinner (lighthouse)
17: Lonely Twoleg Nest
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Links (will be updated as I go):
Bayclan Lore
Beetleclan Lore
Tulipclan Lore
Honeyclan Lore
Vixenclan Lore
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wardenhowe · 2 months ago
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okay. veilguard thoughts.
first the positives!! i really really enjoyed the gameplay! it felt fluid and the combos were a lot of fun and i liked the warrior skill tree!! also the loot system was perfect for me, a person who despises micro managing inventory! the armours and such were also really cool looking generally, so that's neat!! the level design was so good as well!!! as someone with no orientation skills at all i rarely got lost and the environments were nicely designed and invited to explore without being overwhelming!!
i also liked all the companions! i do have problems with their, mostly, one dimensional characterisation but i did think everyone was genuinely intriguing and the companion quests were always something i looked forward to!!! bellara i love you so much btw davrin i'm coming to romance you soon. neve. my life belongs to you.
the story was. okay i guess. as good as it could've been with the premise i suppose. well actually. the venatori and antaam were deeply uninteresting and i don't understand how not a single dalish clan followed their own gods and that sucked imo. i liked the five seconds we got of the butcher but generally speaking my god the minor antagonists SUCKED. you're telling me elven slavers would follow elven gods? i don't believe it sorry. the antaam were just the worst qunari lore in one group so didn't enjoy them either. like. let elves be evil. let diversity win. they have enough reason to want to bring the current world to an end and return to the glory of the elven empire let's be real.
the evanuris were okay i guess. i didn't love nor hate them. solas was a joy. i never wanted answers for all the secrets of the universe but if they had to give them to me then i'm glad it's all solas' fault unironically! so that part was fun. he was an amazing quasi antagonist and even if i expected his betrayal it still hit me emotionally! the rest was like. 4/10 at most.
and my biggest gripe with this game is how much they disregarded the previous games. like it wasn't even funny anymore at a certain point lol. i'm glad they killed varric even if i cried like a little baby but jesus christ not even SINGLE mention of hawke okay lol. generally it's like. every single veilguard companion could have been replaced with a previous companion and the story would have benefitted from it. i understand it's a lot of effort to write with all the different world states in mind but all i really want is for some of my decisions to have counted. i also put a lot of effort into these games you know? just give me a letter or a throwaway line instead of the obvious way they did not talk about the previous games. also. thanks for obliterating southern thedas lol
also! the factions? mostly so BORING. why couldn't these questlines be about internal struggles?? THE CROWS??? such a let down. i loooved treviso but wtf. minrathous was like. so sanitised. where are all the blood mages and elven slaves?? i don't get it. i think overall the factions were so boring and "good guys". the only saving grace for the wardens were evka and antoine whomst i absolutely adored!
so yeah. very enjoyable to play and i liked the characters but um. idk. it felt the opposite of rewarding to be a long time player of this franchise. i never wanted the big lore reveals they gave me. i wanted to see how this world reacted to me and my pcs and i wanted to see my little blorbos evolve. so in that regard it was a big disappointment. it was extremely beautiful and fun so i'm giving it. like a 6.5 or even a 7 out of 10.
also i certainly hope thedas will call a new age cause i think it's time lol significant events certainly took place to justify that
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your-absolute-destiny · 2 months ago
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Out of character world building shenanigans:
I also am trying to flesh out Warrior Skitties. Do the clans get to keep their names, or should it be types (thunder=electric, river=water, shadow=dark, wind and sky are difficult though because theres only one flying type, maybe wind could be psychic because of their connection to star clan)? Similarly, are the clans broken up by type (with the exceptions of cross clan kits and loners and skittypets who join)? Are Eevee and its evolutions catmon in this scenario (Vaporeon being the only water type cat-like mon)? What is Midnight, a Linoone, an Obstagoon?
Asking opinions because I'm wanting to write a mystery dungeon X warrior skitties story. I have a plot but I'm struggling with details.
//ooc: i use the same clans as in canon, thunder river wind shadow sky star just cause. they arent stuff that dont exist in pokemon? so like its whatever + easier to remember. also what you said with wind and sky and if one was psychicclan that two cs next to eachother is just. weird to read and i wouldnt be able to have lucky read the books cause she absolutely was explaining the plot of warriors to her parents gidjdoejs.
//clans are not broken up by type. theyre primarily skitty and delcatty throughout the entire clans, with few cats being something else when i think its funny/when they were born outside the clans. firestar is a torracat because of the latter, while sol is a meowscarada because of both points. the when i think its funny point mostly works cause of how the erins named a lot of warriors in the first series based off their adult appearances forgetting theyd be given these names as children with the kit suffix and because of the erins not knowing how cat genetics works. tigerstar can be an incineroar because its really funny. his parents are both delcatty though. how does that work? idk i dont think the writers know either.
//eevees are weird because theybare not just based on cats and the only one thatd like solidly just a cat is espeon. leafeon is based a little on cats too but mostly fox. the rest are based primarily on rabbits, hares, dogs, foxes, and seals in vaporeons case. eevee isnt even based on any one animal its just a vague beast creature. i dont think any of the cats that have outsider roots give eevee or its evolutions energy anyways so like idk if theres any in the series really.
// i have midnight down as an obstagoon in my notes yeah
//this is just what i go by though do whatever you want forever i know other people have different ic lore they use for their pokemon warrior cats.
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edai-crplpnk · 1 year ago
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Aburame worldbuilding masterpost
Remaking this one cause it was a bit of a mess haha
Character sheets of my 80 Aburame OCs
https://href.li/?https://airtable.com/shretO4bsoxUtiHxz
All sheets contain a summary of the character's history, so reading them makes up for a lot of the lore I made on the clan's history!
The sheets are colour-coded by generation, and ordered in the way they converge towards Shino.
If you want to read Aburame history from the ancestors and down to him, I would suggest reading the sheets in order starting from the last one at the bottom, and working your way up from there.
The 17 first sheets (Shino to Shikie) contain lore that is discussed in my main Aburame fic, so if you want the full surprise, don't read them yet.
Content Warning for canon-typical trauma and violence, and a significant amount of infant death, pregnancy loss and other similar topics.
Breakdown of the family tree
A drawing of two of my OCs, Kurai and Akarui
Headcanon about Youji/Sugaru and his family's history
My Aburame fics
The Smell of the Rain: a long KankuShino fic, set on the Aburame compound, with many dives into the clan's history and traditions, as well as a few of my OCs being present!
No Matter How Much You Yell At Me: a long KankuShino fic, set in Suna and mostly centred around Suna worldbuilding, but with a few scene of Shino talking about his relationship to the hive. (Note: there's also a lot of smut.)
I have other fic projects, mostly centered around Shibi this time, but I am not working on them at the moment so I don't know yet when they're time will come!
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