#direct payments

[alwaysbewoke]

[serpentface]

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.

[ecto-stone]

No need to Work up so much Vladdy. Just sit Back and enjoy the absolute chao that about to happen.

[regular-dog]

Heyyyyy so guess whose pharmacy fucked up and had to get part of its prescription reordered for the next day and who also now can't afford to get transport to and from said pharmacy when the prescription is due. This guyyyyy

Now that I actually have access to my paints again I can start doing commissions again! So when I get home I'll try and revamp my commissions post finally. But, for now:

- It's £10* per hour of time I spend on the main piece (preliminary/concept sketches are for my own sake and are free).

- I usually recommend a minimum of 2 hours for a loose painting, and a minimum of 5 for a more detailed one.

- I don't accept up front payments for more than 20 hours, but am willing to work on a painting for longer than that if I fill that time and you still want me to keep working on it.

*Previous rate was £9 per hour but as of today I'm changing it to £10 due to changes in cost of living recently. Backgrounds or more than two characters will now cost an extra £1 per hour rather than flat payments.

If anyone is interested in a commission at all, even if it's just a single hour doodle, it would be extremely appreciated 💖

(All my current work is traditional, primarily watercolour but I can also do pencil sketches and drawings. If you want the original physical copy as well as scans/photographs, please feel free to ask about it!)

[unopenablebox]

look. most people on tumblr, like most people everywhere, are just kind of innumerate, at least in slightly unexpected cases theyre asked to discuss on polls. they can't demonstrate an understanding of probability and they also don't understand compound interest. this is bad, but we can't fix it by explaining on the polls at length why they are wrong, because people on tumblr, in a specific manner but also still pretty much like people everywhere, think you are a fun-ruining evil stemlord who automatically loses the argument and should be put to death as the oppressor if you try to explain math to them

[vvelegrin]

man another thing that's been very nice about having moved out of my dad's house is that... i am under no obligation to convey anything to anyone <3 i don't have to tell my parents about my doctor appointments, i don't have to tell people my intentions, i don't have to defend making purchases or arranging my life in a way that makes things easier or more pleasant because people don't even have to know about these things in the first place.

it's really fucking nice.

[l3irdl3rain]

My birthday is next week! In celebration I bought myself an aquarium chiller. For the first time ever I’m having a hard time keeping Otto’s tank as cool as I’d like to. I know it’ll be worse in the Summer so I decided to finally take the plunge.

[thebookworm0001]

just fucking love having my salary held hostage by my government it’s so fun and not anxiety and rage inducing at all 🙃

[paladincecil]

My credit score was mega fucked from when my parents used my name to apply for loans and services that they then didn't pay for many years without me knowing.

Around 4 years ago I got myself into a decent enough place in life to start tackling it after having it hanging over my head all those years. Got myself a little credit builder card and just put little amounts on it now and then so I had something to pay off. My limit slowly increased from £250 to what it is today :)

Today I got my weekly report and my score has finally passed into the "excellent" range \o/

I celebrated by ordering a milkshake and cookie dough :)

[fluffypurpleglitterdemon]

Xie Lian Almost Gets Stolen By A Brothel

[propicsmedia]

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[cbmagus49]

Wait I just realised I forgot to tell you guys that I looked into all the commission stuff over the weekend, and while that’ll probably still be a ways off I have made a breakthrough:

I have a Ko-Fi now :D

https://ko-fi.com/cbmagus49

Idk how it works or what to do with it yet but it sure is a thing that exists now!

I also messed around with the html on my blog and prettied it up a bit; it’s got a fancy background I made and there’s a Ko-Fi button there now ^^

[walks-the-ages]

need to make an HD 2023 version of the Retail Robin meme at some point. so I can make memes of the daily occurances of dealing with the public.

Customer: *puts card into pinpad and does not do anything but stand there for a full minute*

me, wondering if the pinpad froze again: "Does it have any questions on the pinpad?"

Customer: "No."

Me: "oh, it must be frozen again--"

Customer: "It's just been asking me if I want cash back."

Me, internally, 'yeah, that counts as a '''question on the pinpad'''''

Customer: "But I don't want cash back."

Me: "if you look at the touch screen, there will be an orange button right there that says 'no'. You can press that to go to the next screen."

Customer: *hits button*

Customer: *continues standing there not doing anything further for a full 30 seconds*

Me: "Annnd does it say anything else, or does it just say 'processing'....?"

Customer: "Now it's just asking me for a pin."

Me: "In that case you can enter your pin to run it as debit, or you can skip the pin and run it as credit by hitting the green enter button."

Customer: "I don't want to use my pin though. I want to do credit."

Me, repeating, "Okay, to do credit, all you have to do is hit the green button."

Customer: "this is too complicated."

Register: *error noise-- transaction has been canceled due to timing out-- which is around 3-5 minutes of inactivity*

Me: "Okay, the register timed out due to inactivity, if you could remove your card and re-insert it for me--"

Customer: *rips card out and shoves it back in* "This is too complicated!!"

Me: *stands up, leans around register, confirms "no cash back and credit, right?" *and presses the exactly 2 buttons that it takes to complete the transaction and has the card processed in 2 seconds* "Okay, go ahead and remove your card."

Customer: "Don't I get a receipt??"

Me, pointing at the printer which is audibly and visibly chugging away: "As soon as it's done printing, yes, it takes a second,"

Customer: *ignores me and reaches over to the register printer and physically rips the receipt in half and almost jams the printer trying to yank it out before it's done*

Me: *has to open up the printer and carefully extract the other half of the receipt and reset the roller*

Customer: "Why is this taking so long??"

[tenpixelsusie]

after strike week ends im considering making an actual comm sheet for commissions...

[f1ghtsoftly]

The correct response to calls for black reparations by white working class Americans should be “hey, my ancestors were also exploited! we should get a little something too!” and not actually racist drivel but this is America and we loooove to destroy class consciousness by being as racist as possible.