#gordahan

[magic-is-something-we-create]

Happy WBW!

Hope you're having a great day! What are the Islands of Gordahan? Are they on saltwater or freshwater? Are they inhabited?

hi!!! happy WBW, thank you for stopping by!!!

The Isles of Gordahan are a series of archipelagos to the south of Sieril!! I actually need to rearrange my Ehlverse map a bit to get the layout right, what with the north pole currently being off center and not quite on the edge, but imagine that in this screenshot its a bit further down and a little more to the right (and that it says "kard" not "chard". and that theyre both smaller. i really need to update the layout):

But yeah!! They're right down in the middle of the ocean, and have a fairly active local volcanic system!

They are inhabited, though!! Their locals are about 95% Drenn, which are the dragon people next up on my Peoples of the Ehlverse list!! They're pretty laid back folks, much more peaceful than their size and body ornamentation might suggest :)

The other 5% tend to be descendents of Ehlven, Mulari, or Mikrona immigrants! There's some rather weird ways that cross-species fertility works there, so there's absolutely people who are a mix of two, three, or all of the above.

Also, fun fact: the reason Eternal Veratrum is so tall isn't because she's immortal! It's because her great-great-grandpa was Drenn, and the height genes hadn't quite worked their way out of the lineage quite yet :) the K'Rons are still pretty notorious for being tall to this day!!

[arcwrath]

NAWWWWWWWW

gordahan reblogged your post:36??

Here let me fix thatQuick don’t think of kittens.Forever.

OMG

[quartercirclejab]

Do you go to any tourneys?

Not any longer, no. I used to play in them fairly frequently, and even paid my rent some months with winnings, but the past two or three years, with my job and everything, I just haven't had the time to commit. I still play from time to time, but it's mostly with a small circle of friends now.

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Writing Update March 16th, 2022

Missed a week, whoops! Progress made: 9.8k words drafted (and ~5.5k of planning) WIPs worked on: Echoseers (total wc: 60.7k) Writing streak: 215 days Current chapter + POV: in the middle of chapter 13, Ember's POV

Favorite line(s) since last update (Gab POV):

I wondered, when we first left, whether any of the ceilings in Glittergale would be high enough for us. Why, after all, would the home of the Dwarves cater to the needs of everyone else, when we Ehlves build homes in canopies so high off the ground that others making rapid ascents succumb to altitude sickness? When Humans don’t bother to muffle themselves, and Goblins hide in dunes so dry that even Water mages can’t gather condensation from the air?

But Andy, ever pragmatic, pointed out that the roads spiraling up the trunks of Godtrees home inns for a days-slow ascent, that Humans enchant garments and wallpapers to smother sound for our sanity, and even Goblins need water to live.

And so I was pleasantly surprised to find that, though much of the residential city is built around Dwarves for obvious reasons, the industrial and transient are built for all.

And here, “all” extends even to the Dragonkin of Gordahan, whose height can reach more than twice that of Veratrum’s.

Scene I'm looking forward to:

I am literally about 5 paragraphs from starting the "my dad was a soldier, not a warrior" conversation and I'm excited to actually make it fit in to the wider context of the story!

This week's soundtrack:

Daydream by Marika Takeuchi, Crusaders by Adriel Fair, and Leap Of Faith by Rush Garcia. Hey, look, it's the three artists to whom I owe my writing career!

Notes/Thoughts:

It turns out that drafting is just... the endless repetition of "Oh my god I do not know how to write a single goddamn sentence in the right character voice" and "Oh. Oh I just didn't get the Vibes right. I'm fine, actually" over and over and over every day.

Anyways, shoutout to Focuswriter for the umpteenth time on this blog. I would be incapable of writing literally anything without the ability to make my own themes to fit the vibes I need alongside my ever-changing "mood for this scene" playlist.

Oh, and also shoutout to @/copper-dragon-in-disguise / @dragon-swords-prophecies for talking some sense into me on the post where I was lamenting missing a week <3<3<3 i owe u some cats crying at heart emojis

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Look at me realising it's wednesday :> Happy WBW ! Since Ehlverse seems to be a really big world, how do people get around? Is there teleportation? Is it sidely accessible? Or do you have cute little harbours or train stations? Tell me everything :D

Happy WBW to you, too!! :D

The Ehlverse is quite large, yes!! And how you get around it depends on what magics or technology you have at your disposal!

A majority of people in the Maelands and Emarye find themselves using either steam- or magic-powered trains or long distance pack animals to get around! Some of the more popular animal companions include Pack Lizards up in the Nimian mountains, Dreamdancers in the Godwoods, and horses or camels in the prairies and desert. Meanwhile, up in Emarye, there are some large yak-like creatures that are often used as beasts of burden, and occasional domesticated bears or furry-snake-dragon-things that have yet to be named.

In Sieril, Gordahan, and the Chard Islands, people tend to use lots of canoe or gondola equivalents! Sieril in particular is only really inhabitable in the bayous and swamps, so instead of streets, they have canals, like Venice! And the Chard Islands are mostly mangroves, so unless you’re Mulari and can jump from tree to tree, you’ll be using boats and wading shoes as much as possible.

The Ehlves of Deltierin tend to ride Griffins (gryffins? griffons? i cant remember how i chose to spell it a;lsdkjf), while Mikrona can Shift into whatever animal is best for the trek they’re taking!

Getting between continents is usually a matter of taking a ship and waiting a few weeks or months... Or, if you’re human, you can use Runes to teleport yourself. It takes about a 1:10 ratio of blood-ounces-per-mile. Particularly brutal killers have been known to hop continents to evade capture before...

That got a little dark at the end a;sdlkfj but thank you for the questions!! :D

[magic-is-something-we-create]

HEWWO IT IS A WONDERFUL WBW INDEED my preferences this week include:

- what saddles/riding gear look like for different creatures (including Whiptails, Dreamdancers, and some funky ones i havent covered: Griffins to the Left™, Bear x Yak x Raccoon lovechildren™, and Pack Lizards)

- also literally anything about said Griffins to the Left, Bear x Yak x Raccoon lovchildren, and Pack Lizards

- places in the ehlverse i dont talk about much, like the Kard mangroves, the Isles of Gordahan, Deltierin, and smaller spots like the Mountains of Nimia or the Rillian geyser country!

as always, these are just guidelines!!! if you have something else you want me to talk about, go ahead!!!

i do also have some older WBW asks (i. answered None last week and have a couple in particular ive been sitting on for longer) so if you see a note from me answering an ask u dont remember sending, thats why!

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hey y'all!!! it's another whimsical WBW, and I have no particular preferences this week!!

if you need a little guidance though, some general topics I'm able to infodump about at literally any given moment include:

- the different magics of the ehlverse and how they interact with each other (and sometimes goblin tech) (like ehlven elementalism, shifting, human blood runes and alchemy, rill botany, etc etc)

- the basics of the different peoples (there are. A Lot more than get brought up regularly; this will probably also circle around to the millennium cycle frequently jgsfakfa)

- what the environments are like all around the world (the Maelands are talked about a lot; Sieril, Gordahan, the Chard islands, Deltierin, Emarye..... are all v fun for me too ;) )

but please take this week as a question free-for-all!! these are just prompts if you have no idea what to ask about :D

and as always, I'll be sending asks back to anyone who sends them in, as well as hitting up my usual list of people!!!

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Happy late wbw! What are the countries in your world known for? what reputations do they have? what goods come from each of them?

heya, happy WBW!!! sorry this answer is so late, ive been Busy™

HOWEVER prepare yourself for just as long-winded an answer as always :D

-

So, Ehl doesn’t tend to do “countries” the way we do them on Earth, and that’s mostly because the more prevalent belief is “you can rule your local area’s land and you can rule a people, but you can’t rule more land than you know of” if that makes sense? Basically, when I refer to the Ehlven Nation, I’m talking about major cities that are under Ehlven control because of population ratios, and any Ehlven person that hasn’t sought out citizenship in a specific city rather than their nation.

That being said, there are some peoples who rule entire lands - the Dwarves have full control over Western Nimia because there aren’t enough other peoples there to contest the population. And then, if we move our scope away from the Maelands, the continents themselves are more like countries than anything within them?

But that ^ is basically an explanation for why things are worded a bit weirdly here.

MOVING ON THOUGH, people from Aree and it’s immediate surroundings (aka Arish people) are considered chaotic and weird by a lot of others on Maelani, because there are just so many different cultures intermingling in such a small area, and it’s hard not to have a lot of unique cultural overlaps and oddities. But they’re also under Ehlven control, at the moment, so it’s also a booming artisanal hub, and Arish schools are less likely to let you graduate if you don’t have at least one artistic skill. Also, the Mayhist celebrations there are wild.

More generally, though, Mae people are seen as a lot more aggressive, because war pops up between at least two nations every couple decades. They’re also rules-oriented and organized, as some of the few peoples who actually have centralized governments or governments at all. And they’re the ones you go to in a pinch, because shit dude, dragons deliver my mail, i can take ANYTHING.

As far as goods and where they come from:

- the Human farmers of Maelani provide a lot of the world’s grain and wool - but also Avatica itself (the human capital) is the place for any and all alchemy-related things - if you need a reliable, magically self-sufficient device, you get your shit from Glittergale. if you can afford it, something directly from the Forges themselves. - Ehlven farmers in the Godwoods have great conditions for potatoes, beets, carrots, and venison, and if you have a potato, it was probably grown in the divots of Godwood bark - Aree, Cahnei, and Tasiri have Godwood mines, and Aree has a stronghold on the ship building industry in Maelani right now - Myshari harbor in Emarye is known for jewelry and intricate craftsmanship - on the other end of Emarye, Fowden is THE hotspot for the black market - a lot of the best medicinal supplies come from Sieril, unless it’s a crimsonvine sedative. then it’s from Gordahan. - need paper? linen? leather? Deltierin’s your place. Delya specializes in bookbinding and it’s related supplies; there are several other unnamed cities that specialize in fabrics, yarn, and clothing - also Deltierin’s fruit is the best fruit you heard it here first

there’s more, but this is already long as fuck, so im stopping here. thank you so much for the ask!!!

[magic-is-something-we-create]

Worldbuilding Navigation

once again, ignore this on your dash, this is purely for navigation purposes for those interested :)

General Ehlverse Tags

Ehlverse Culture (general tag)

Traditions Folklore/Mythology Goblin Technology

Ehlverse Environment

Creatures Plants Geography (no posts yet)

Ehlverse Magics (general tag)

The Millennium Cycle Elementalism Sorcery Runes the Forges Shifting Calling Type M Calling Type L Calling Type U Worldly magic Rillian Botany Flexing Alchemy/Enchantment Death Circles

Ehlverse Religions (general tag)

Mayhism

Places + Peoples

WorldAnvil map (updates occasionally, shows cities + specific locations) Map posts + updates Maelani

the Godwoods the Ruins of Fahrial Impalfahr Aree Avatica (no posts yet) the Nimian Mountains the Temple of Nimia Glittergale (no posts yet) the School of Smithy  Wasi (no posts yet) -- Ehlves Fairies Humans Dwarves Goblins

Emarye

the Motherfrost the Nightwoods Fowden -- Atali Kanah (no posts yet) Kimir (no posts yet) Aliri (no posts yet)

Gordahan (no posts yet)

Drenn

Deltierin

Mikrona

Sieril

Sharali Saythe

Chard (no posts yet)

Mulari ( prev. Mudskippers )

Oceans (no tag planned)

Sirens

Notable People and Groups

Tieling Evergreen Arthur Coldstone The Whispers The Firebreathers (separate from WIP tag) Edgar Trueheart The Priestesses of Nimia The Witmouth Sisters

Notable Events

the Day Plague Goblin-Dwarven Conflicts the Dark Mage Rights Movement the Smite on Fahrial

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:D no worries!!! I'm glad you're interested in them!!!

It's very similar to the "cats are to lions as dragonkin are to dragons", yeah!! In TL;DR lore reasoning, the Goddesses took some of the dragons from a certain archipelago in the Ehlverse and decided to make them into People by speedrunning a path of evolution that would usually take time that would be tracked on a geologic scale.

And they aren't any more connected to Dwarves than they are to other people, really! They just get along better and have a thriving cultural exchange, so lots of Dragonkin visit Dwarven cities like Glittergale, and lots of Dwarves visit the Isles of Gordahan to meet them, too!

They do have scales!! And wings, and sometimes horns!! In my head, the "template" is a kind of tropical green that would blend well into environments like those found in Hawaii, but I imagine they'd come in just as much variety and color as birds of paradise :D

me, finally getting to reference and dive into a bunch of the worldbuilding ive been itching to have reasons to add to tms: let's just casually drop in a reference to the different needs of different peoples on ehl and--oh okay i guess they do have the words for altitude sickness. oh. oh now the dwarves and the dragonkin are best buds. i didnt know id want to show the dragonkin so soon wait--

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Happy Worldbuilding Wednesday! What is the most difficult aspect for you when it comes to building up your worlds?

Happy belated WBW!! Thank you for the ask, and apologies for it being so late!!!

For me, the most difficult part is the maps, tbh. I know in my head where everything is, but I have absolutely no sense of scale. Also, keeping in mind that the world is spherical and has a north pole. If you’ve seen the Ehlverse map, you’ve probably noticed that Emarye, the equivalent of northern countries like Russia and Canada, is right next to Gordahan, a humid, tropical place. In my head, the north pole is somewhere near the glaciers of Emarye? But I didn’t have that in my head when I made the map originally, and I’ve been too lazy to update it and change all the markers on WorldAnvil + rearrange the continents, so  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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if you're doing WBW as well (and no pressure if you're not): are there any delicacies in your world, and if so, why are they considered delicacies? Hard to find ingredients, ceremonial ties, cultural significance?

happy WBW!!! i'm always doing wbw, it's my favorite day of the week!!!

Okay, one of the first things that pops to mind is an old in-joke I have with my friends that is absolutely canon:

Dragon meat is considered a form of poultry, and certain varieties are delicacies because dragons are so hard to raise. mainly because they stress-poop

Delicacies also depend on where you are! In the Maelands, a lot of Delt fruits are considered delicacies just because they don't have good ways to preserve them during long trade-hauls. Gordahan's spices are super easy to mess up en-route, too, so those are sought after by the upperclass everywhere!

thank you for the questions!!!! <3<3<3

[arcwrath]

36??

Something that’s constantly on my mind.

Umm, not very pleasant things I’m afraid ^.^;

[open-skull]

TEN DAYS SIXTEEN HOURS FORTYFIVE MINUTES