#menphia the fury

[gumbootillustrations]

divine warriors loredump!

so yeah, the divine warriors! admittedly, i'm fascinated by them - i rlly rlly wish that we'd gotten to see more of them + their powers/domains/abilities in mcd, especially considering that they're a driving force behind the plot. so, i've gone ahead and done some redesigns for the sigils (above) and expanded on the domains and abilities of the divine warriors within the context of ashes, ashes.

more under the cut!

irene retains her matron title. for her domains, i rlly wanted to lean into her being a deity of life and family; as such, her official domains are  life, light, healing, childbirth and parenthood, fertility, marriage, tradition, beauty, and romantic/familial/platonic love. menphia also has domains over aspects of love (namely over sexual/carnal/manic love), but i wanted them to sort of have an aphrodite ourania (irene) and aphrodite pandemos (menphia) sort of vibe. in terms of the abilites that her relic gives its wielders, its a lot of what's seen in canon mcd: lots of healing and light abilities, but also some dimensional manipulation and time manipulation stuff thrown in there for the shits and giggles.

for shad, i rlly wanted to play into him being both a mirror and a foil for irene. where irene creates, he destroys; where irene brings life, he brings death. his official domains are that of death, darkness, chaos, the afterlife, change, rot and decay, the Nether, bloodshed, and madness. although he's also a war deity like menphia (and, to an extent, esmund and xavier), he's mostly associated with the worst bits of battle - the blood, the rot, the awful awful deaths, that sort of thing. his relic grants its wielders a lot of destruction-associated powers like disintegration and rot/plague/death stuff, but also some shadow and blood manipulation as well.

like a lot of other folks, i felt like enki was the best fit for a knowledge deity. he looks after scholars, librarians, witches, and inventors; officially, his domains are those of knowledge, air, magick, prophecy, the weather, winter, reason, and lightning. from here, you'll start to see pretty much all the warriors having some sort of like. elemental association? is the best way i can put it. i've sort of based it off of the minor arcana of the tarot; the suit of swords, which is associated with air, is the suit of knowledge and the mental realm, which i thought was fitting for enki. enki is also one of the four seasonal divine warriors (the others being esmund, menphia, and kul'zak); he gets winter, mostly because of his centre of worship being in gal'ruk. wielders of his relic get air and weather manipulation powers, as well as powers related to memory and access to witchcraft (if they aren't witches already). they also gain clairvoyance.

esmund! again with the tarot symbolism; esmund is associated with the element of earth and the physical world, hence the mountain in his sigil. his domains are those of protection, earth, wealth, autumn, boundaries, earthquakes, guardhood, and the harvest. the domain over the harvest might seem a little left field but it makes sense i promise! i sort of saw esmund's association with the harvest not only being because of him being an earth deity, but also because i feel like being able to provide is a form of protection, and given the setting of mcd, i feel like being able to provide a good harvest is a part of that. this is also why he is associated with autumn. regarding the abilities that his relic provides, there's a lot of earth manipulation and barrier/force field creation stuff in there; his relic wielders are also freakishly stronger and more durable than those who wield other relics, sort of playing into esmund himself being a tank.

i changed menphia's title to 'the conqueror' because i thought it'd be a bit more fitting for her, especially considering how i'm working tu'la in ashes, ashes (more on that later). i also changed her colour scheme to more of a blue/copper theme despite her being a fire goddess - i thought it was neat, considering that blue flames are those that burn the hottest. her domains are those of warfare (the glorious bits), fire, soldiers, political power, summer, passion and courage, festivals and celebrations, and sexual/carnal/manic love. i'm still not suuuper sure on the abilities that her relic gives its wielders, but there's definitely some pyrokinesis and emotion/heat manipulation, along with some combat-specific foresight in there. i'm open to suggestions!

nothing much really changes regarding kul'zak. he's a nature deity and watches over journeymen and particularly sailors, given that he's a water/ocean deity; he's often worshipped by pirates. officially, his domains are travellers, water, animals, the wilderness, the cardinal directions and navigation, hunting, and spring. i really wanted to lean into him being a man of the wilderness and not really having a home in urban environments. as such, his relic grants its wielders a lot of wilderness-based abilities, like shapeshifting, water and plant manipulation, and camouflage, with a bit of teleportation in there for all your wandering needs.

xavier is probably the divine warrior that i've changed the most. first off, he becomes a divine warrior in ashes, ashes where he isn't in canon mcd. i also really wanted to lean into him being the founder of the jury of nine, hence his title - the justiciar. he's associated with the domains of guardhood (along with esmund), loyalty, metal and metalworkers, justice, balance and order, peace, brotherhood, devotion, and artisans. where esmund looks after the more physical side of being a guard (being your lord's shield and spear, aka the protection side of things), xavier looks after the more emotional side of being a guard - the devotion to your lord and the comradery that you share with your fellows. his relic's abilities capitalise on that, with its wielders being able to both amplify and nullify the magick of the people they're fighting alongside/against. there's also a bit of metal manipulation and a lot of supportive magick in there too.

and, as a fun little tidbit - a lineup of the divine warriors! (the layout is inspired by @star-boi0720 - the way you lay out your drawings like this is mint as 🤩)

i'm still not suuuper happy w kul'zak or irene's designs but i'll get there in the end i guess :)

[shadowqnights]

PART ONE of a MCD headshot page collection - DIVINE WARRIORS & CO., AND MAIN CAST. for rewrite reference and also enjoyment :3

[warlocks-and-phoenixes]

[goat-guy-tm]

Wowie those Divine Warriors are pretty cool. Hope nothing bad happens to them-

Would you believe me if I told you I didn't touch this for months and then finished it in one go pulling an all nighter.

[opel164]

The art from tonight’s stream~! (Also, Shad wasn’t supposed to be lookin so confused but he does and I love confused villains so it’s fineeeeee)

[irenes-journal]

After nearing two months of work on and off, I finally completed this! This is the artwork that is discovered in s2 ep86 of MCD, and was kinda a pain to try and recreate lol. Some creative liberty was taken with the colors, (either to make it more readable to give the divine warriors each a unique color) but I tried my hardest to make it similar :) under the cut off is the original from the series and a close up!!

(Original piece created for season 2 episode 28)

Close up of the divine warriors :)

If anyone is curious about the dimensions for the canvas I used, it is 1 x 3 feet (or 30.48 X 91.44 cm)! It doesn’t match the original perfectly but it’s close enough lol. I just spread out the red space to be larger. The colors are also warmer/brighter because I wanted it to have more of a “new” or restored feel to it!! It’s not perfect but hey, I think I did pretty good

[xielianslver]

I have all the Divine Warriors deaths in mind. I'll eventually draw somethings about them but here you go.

Shad: Never truly died, as we know. Which is funny. God of death yet she continuously tries to live. He wears clothes not meant to be buried in a casket. But ones made to attend the funeral because they are alive. Even after becoming who he is today, her "armour", although reaks death. Shows how he will kill to live.

Irene: She never really died, just "disappeared." (or something I haven't thought that far). Much like Shad but different. God of life yet she tries every waking second to die. All those that she has loved, have been met with a tragic end. Her clothes resemble that of the body laying in the casket. Even in her new form she can't help but wonder when her death would come.

Menphia: She died while saving the one she loved. Enki. In the fierce fight with Shad she was the first to go. The one to make the sacrifice that saved centuries of people. Menphia wasn't one to make sacrifices, she was a selfish woman. Yet, Enki and Irene were important to her.

Enki: He set fire to himself inside his library. It was suicide. He took all the knowledge with him. No one knows why, as they never found his journal.

Kul'zak: He died doing what he loves best. Getting drunk and dancing on a ship. He death was peaceful, and calm. Mature if you will. Much like himself.

Esmund: He was mauled to death. Perhaps it was Xaiver, the boy he helped build into a man. Xaiver was the first Shadow Knight. But who knows. It was a gruesome sight. Despite Esmund's eagerness to protect those. He seemed to have failed at protecting himself.

[laurancezvahlslefteyebrow]

The Divine Warriors and their sins

Irene: Pride .. Holds herself in a high position, self appointed leader.

Shad: Envy .. Jealous of Irene and the praise she receives, jealous of the life she’s lived, self pity king.

Esmund: Sloth .. Doesn’t often use his full abilities, preferring not to get involved.

Menphia: Wrath .. Quick to anger, slow to calm.

Enki: Greed .. Keeper of more than just knowledge.

Kul’zak: Gluttony .. A taste for wine, mead, ale, you name it.

Xavier: Lust .. Irene is his entire being, everything he lives and yearns for. He exists to love her.

[agua-cat]

RELIC HOLDERS - KATELYN

I’m back and writing this on the bus so apologies if there’s any typos!!

Let us begin…

Katelyn here is Slovakian, her native language is Slovak and her second is English. Whilst she was born in Ru’uan I have considered that the general Idea of “ñthe country Slovak to be within another region of sorts.

Katelyn holds Menphia’s relic, already with fire powers from her time as a jury member she fits the concept of the “Fury” well. I have a lot to speak about when it comes to Menphia as the Divine Warriors somewhat changed conceptually.

Katelyn has full control of the weather (though right now it’s very easily swung by her emotions at any moment). I believe she also has the ability of increased strength but I’ve yet to play around with this.

She’s passionate. She’s also one of the two holders who hasnt absorbed her relic. The thought of it makes her absolutely anxious and sick with worries- see here I have it so that upon absorbing the relic you become immortal and can only be slaughtered by other relic holders.

As of where she’s at in this rewrite upon receiving and using the relic - she is the leader of the Dragon Ward and is happily in a committed relationship with Travis.

She considers Garroth as a brother of hers, they escaped O’khasis together in my rewrite and thus she’s a little protective over him as she knows exactly what he’s been through.

The scar across her mouth was given to her by zane whilst she was in the jury.

~~~

HI OKAY THSTS ALL TODAY

i probably have more to say but I’m incredibly travel sick and I need to get off my phone </3 I hope you all enjoyed nonetheless

Yes, Katelyn is Bisexual in my rewrite !!!!

[killerzys]

Dude I don't know if anyone else is a big fan of like aphmau like her old series are still watching like her old series mystreet and MCD (Minecraft diaries)

If anyone still a big fan of her I need a little help of some info

So the Divine warriors we don't really have that much information about them in general but we pretty much know like who they represent and now times shad is Aaron, Irene is aphmau, Esmund is Garroth, Enki is Travis but we don't know who Kul'zak and Menphia

now on to the conversation about who the two are, I seen people theorize that Vylad is Kul'zak I never thought of that I thought it was Laurence, but then I seen someone say that his eye is closed and supposedly missing like Zane and then made me question who does he truly represent it's really never confirmed but I kind of see the same thing because I also thought that too with my street season what six when angels fall Zane, Lucinda and Aaron were turned into relics to help aphmau defeat Michael/demon warlock but I'm making my own rewrite ordeal I will start explaining it soon and everything but it made me question who Kul'zak is is he Zane, Vylad, or Laurence

Now Menphia I always thought she was Lucinda, from day one as soon as we figured out that aphmau was Irene and everything I always thought it was listened up because Jess when writing Minecraft diaries mentioned that Memphis was a Magic's user aka a witch and my brain went automatically to Lucinda, but Menphis title is the Fury I never took that into consideration if I'm being completely honest and I see people say Menphia is kaitlin same thing with like Zane I see it but they never really say

Because little information I gathered here and there the Divine warriors reincarnations always have similar looks to the Divine warriors like Irene being really identical to aphmau same thing with shad he is very identical to Aaron Esmund looks like Garroth Enki looks like Travis but Kul'zak looks like Vylad? But there's nothing confirming that and Menphia looks like listen to despite them having different skin colors she looks like Lucinda and is a witch like Lucinda

Every reincarnation has similarities to the original live either it's the hair the eyes the face the way they act or just completely looking exactly like them even if it's just Minor details they look exactly like the divine but again it's never confirmed and I need help I guess someone has more insight to it than I do or notice something that I didn't even though I watched all of the Minecraft diaries series like 50 times I like watching it over and over cuz time to time I realize something different that I never noticed before and maybe someone else noticed something that I didn't and I just need help in my valid for thinking Kul'zak is Zane and Menphia is Lucinda or am I completely wrong?

[wyverndreamers]

in honor of Hades 2 i offer THE OFFICIAL most underrated divine warrior in a style study attempt

[gumbootillustrations]

UGH I FUCKING FINALLY FINISHED THIS

so yeah, have the divine warriors of the second war of the magi!!

more deets n closeups under the cut :3

aph!! i like to think that although the incarnations of the divine warriors r generally pretty similar, they do have some minor differences. for example, whereas the matron of the first war of the magi (irene) had one of the sets of wings on her head covering her eyes, the matron of the second war (mcd!aphmau) has both of them held back. this is bc whereas irene had lost her humanity (and therefore the ability to connect with mortals), aph hasn't - and, therefore, her eyes are open to the struggles of humanity. additionally, i took a lot of inspiration from honkai impact 3rd for these designs - in aph's case, i was inspired by elysia's herrscher of human: ego battlesuit and how it looks like a wedding dress (which a lot of folks have interpreted as an expression of her love for humanity, which is smth i want to convey w aph).

i think my favourite part of aaron's destroyer form is his seal (the thingy behind his head like a halo). i wanted to rlly play into the whole destroyer/devourer aspect of his abilities and domains, and i thought a black hole would fit perfectly! it also sort of (unintentionally) plays into how i see the dynamic between the matron and the destroyer and how they're both mirrors of each other; whereas the destroyer, well, destroys (and his black hole devours everything in sight), the matron creates and nurtures (seen in how aph's seal is almost like a white hole). i also wanted his armour to look a lot like the armour that shadow knights wear, albeit without all the spikes and spines and whatnot given that he isn't a shadow knight himself (shad's destroyer form from the first war probably looks a lot more similar to traditional shadow knight armour).

i'm lowkey suuper proud of how travis's keeper form turned out (even if i had to go back right at the end n fix it bc i forgot to add his tail 😭). i wanted this form to sort of be a mix between a high mage and a rogue: whereas the keeper embodies knowledge and magick, travis himself is a prankster who relies on cunning and trickery to gain the upper hand on his opponents. as a result, he's the only one who doesn't automatically manifest a weapon when he shifts into this form - instead, i feel like he chooses to rely more on magicks and witchcraft during combat.

katelyn's design was lowkey the hardest to pin down. originally, i wanted to go for something that was suuuper inspired by roman armour and had a copper and teal/turquoise colour scheme, but it wound up feeling too magical girl-ish and i scrapped it. i've retained the roman inspirations, but i headcanon that her flames are so hot they burn blue, so i settled on a blue-and-white colour scheme w some purple elements. i think my favourite part is her gauntlets! i feel like she uses them as an extension of herself/another pair of hands to punch with. the blue elements also lean into menphia's association with the moon - in ashes, ashes, tu'la is based on the roman empire and, as a result, is where werewolves originate from, and with werewolves having such close ties to the moon.... yeah. i'll probably do a post on tu'la later on at some point.

my blorbo

garroth's design is probably the one that's changed the least, but i'll still need to update his ref sheet anyway. i don't know if i conveyed it very well but the sort-of wing-things on his back are slabs of earth that can be shaped into a shield - originally i had him holding a shield but i wanted him to look a bit more divine warrior-ish so i retooled his design.

the boy! i was tossing up between having vylad or dante fill the role of the wanderer, but i settled on dante as i feel like vylad fits better as a sort of weird guide sort of figure within the narrative. plus, i have a real soft spot for dante and wanted him to remain in the limelight a little bit - i love his dynamic with garroth and laurance and i wanted to explore that further. i sort of wanted to play into his whole red-and-blue colour scheme that we see in canon diaries, but bc kul'zak is a nature deity (specifically of the wilderness), i wanted to incorporate some greenery into his design. i hope i've done an okay-ish job here - overall i'm pretty happy tho, but i can't promise that there won't be any tweaks in the future.

this is a redhead laurance propaganda spreading blog and i Refuse to apologise for it. i'd like to think that laurance's original colour scheme is similar to his justiciar form - lots of beautiful reds and golds and oranges to match the flames of his father's forge - but after he comes back from the nether with a Severe fear of fire he switches to the greens and browns that he's known for in canon. eventually he slowly begins to reclaim his fire and returns to the golds and oranges that he's introduced with (haha colour symbolism go brrrrrr).

but yeah. the special interest is special interesting. let me know if u have any questions!

[that-one-i-think]

Another thing to help me characterize my Divine Warriors - Vices

Shad: Bloodshed - After becoming the Destroyer he was always hungry. He craved to consume and destroy everything in his path, whether it be people, animals, or towns.

Irene: Attention - While attention in itself isn't bad, too much of it can be bad. Irene was subscribed to "Any attention is good attention" and was how she became the most worshipped god. She encouraged it so more people would come to her for help. She was a fixer.

Enki: Power - The man was a hoarder of knowledge, and in this world, the quote "knowledge is power" is directly inspired by Enki. She was the Keeper, and they constantly wanted more.

Menphia: Booze - She was the fury, the one who constantly got into fights. The definition of a warrior, but as a warrior, she often killed people in her bouts of fury that she never meant to. This led to her taking moments to... calm her mind with a stiff drink.

Esmund: People - This man was a self-sacrificing maniac. He desperately wanted people to love him and, more specifically, Irene to love him. He wanted to wrap everyone in his big strong arms so no one would ever be unsafe again.

Kul'Zak: Smoking - After becoming immortal against his will, he took up the habit so he could at least feel like death. After all, a smoked fish is a dead fish.

[kurithedweeb]

It’s the same anon again because the MCD beetles are slowly consuming my brain, but what are you thought on clothing culture in universe?

Like of course climate plays a big role in how traditional dress looks, but apart from that there’s also things like religion that play a big role. We don’t really know what the climate is like in Ru’aun but Irene is a big thing, how does that effect clothing choices, what dyes are most common and how does that reflect in clothes?

I’m a sucker for world building

Hello again, anon! Lucky for you I, too, am a sucker for worldbuilding. I have been considering my answer for literal days. I’ve vaguely commented on modesty rules in Ru’aun before but we’ve yet to get into fashion trends and hierarchical or religious dress, not to mention personal ornamentation and the different meanings associated with that in different areas, so let’s talk about Ru’aun first.

Because of the impassable Sacred Forest, most towns are along the coast to facilitate travel, and it’s a very lush and green region. The majority of the land is either plains or various forests, with a variety of cliffs, shoals and a few mountains scattered around, plus stretches of swampland and beach. Dyes are usually made from whatever resources are nearby, so you’ll see a much wider range of colors in settlements near flower fields or birch forests. Popular port towns like Meteli, O’khasis and Bright Port also have more variety, but will most often stick to colors that have special meanings to the town. Whites, greys, and blues are popular in O’khasis and Scaleswind as the religious capitals of the region, but red is also pretty prominent in Scalesind.

The same general rule also applies to fabrics and jewelry—mohair comes from goats so it’s easier to acquire in Phoenix Drop where there are tons, there’s more precious metals in Scaleswind, and in Nahakra people take any broken glass they find and lay the pieces in fine mesh containers on the tideline to make sea glass for decorations. Fabric and dye are common trading goods, especially in more backwater towns where the physical currency used in bigger villages and city-states have about as much practical value as an especially shiny rock. The most popular kinds of fabrics in Ru’aun are mohair and wool for their durability and temperature regulation respectively, with leather, ore and ivory as the most common materials in ornamentation.

The primary religion is what I’ve been calling the Divine Faith, which worships the Divine Warriors as a whole under the figurehead of Irene and has various subsets that focus more on each individual Divine Warrior, with the grand majority of its followers falling under the Church of the Matron or cults dedicated to the Destroyer, with the Trail of the Wanderer as a close second. Which of the Divine Warriors you follow most closely definitely has an effect on your attire. 

Disciples of Irene wear small cloaks modeled after hers and members of the church hide their faces as a way to present themselves as closer to the goddess since you don’t look upon those of divine nature or close to divinity without consequences, most often using dark blue or white veils stitched with gold, since those are the colors she’s documented wearing most often and are therefore most often associated with her, though purple is too. Devout followers cover their eyes, members of the church like priests and nuns cover the lower half of their faces, and the High Priest covers his entire face, usually veiled or with a simple mask in public and with a more ceremonial mask during sermons and ceremonies. 

Followers of the Destroyer are much more subtle because they’re technically outlawed, they have a lot more to do with ornamentation than clothing. If you have long hair, it’s always pinned up and back, never in a ponytail and never left loose, usually in braids and buns and other hairstyles that wouldn’t be out of place on a guard, nothing an enemy can easily yank on. Hanging jewelry is also out. Hair is adorned with warmly colored beads and hair sticks that can be used as weapons and on occasion chains are woven into braids, most other accessories are close-fitting: there are nearly always cuffs around the wrists and ankles, subtly decorated wraps around the waist are more common in cities, chokers with detailing done in texture are uncommon but widely used, and earrings and ear cuffs are rare and usually kept for formal ceremonies. 

Those on the Trail of the Wanderer are nearly always found to be wearing travel-appropriate clothes no matter the occasion or setting, and there’s touches of pirate and backpacking aesthetic throughout. They tend to carry just about everything they own, dedicating their life to traveling and seeing the world the way Kul’zak did, and dress accordingly. Knee high boots, at least two layers, oil-treated cloaks, many wear jerkins and sashes with stitched depictions of scenes from places they’ve been, and leather harnesses and holsters are common. Hair is usually left down or half put up and decorated with feathers and ribbons found on the Trail. Meditation beads carved of wood or stone are nearly universal, worn around the neck or wrapped around the wrist. Trinkets and charms found on the Trail are important to the travelers, and you’ll find bowls of them left behind by others at shrines and trail markers that you can add to or take from, and in doing so you bring other travelers with you on your adventures and are carried by other travelers on their own, it’s a very dear tradition on the Wanderer’s Trail. Imagine geocaching but with religious connotations. Many of these items are worn as bracelets, anklets, necklaces, or on waist chains, usually put together while camping out. Flower crowns are also a bit of a thing and when they start wilting they’re left behind in places bearing Kul’zak’s symbol.

I’m thinking of making flower crowns also a thing with Enki’s followers since I’ve recently been turned onto the Kulki ship by @warlocks-and-phoenixes, but instead of wildflowers it’s mostly herbs and grasses. The matching flora crowns are a symbol of their union. Enki’s followers are mostly stuck on an iceberg, so they show their faith by carrying carvings of his symbols and making tapestries and records of their history, studying the world and spreading a love of knowledge wherever they go. Children usually start with embroidering their favorite/their family’s stories into their own clothing.

Embroidery! I love embroidery. In Ru’aun, it’s a very popular pastime, especially among stay at home parents and the sickly, so you see it pretty much everywhere. Colored threads are easy to acquire, but some colors are restricted. Purple is only for the clergy. Gold is for the highest ranking members of the churches and Lords’ family lines, as well as important personal staff of the Lord’s household like a close advisor and the primary caretaker of the children. Silver thread is for other people in powerful positions like members of a council or the highest ranking members of the guard (commander of the guard, second-in-command, reserve commander, Jury of Nine), which helps to distinguish officers from soldiers in larger villages and city-states that have a standard uniform and armor template. If you qualify for both, the gold usually takes precedence. For example, Laurance would have gold embroidery despite being head guard of Meteli because he’s also the son of Joh. Many small settlements don’t bother much with distinguishing personal importance based on thread color, though. They much prefer to use embroidery to keep a record of family history. Abstract depictions of personal achievements are stitched into the edging of most clothing, and the rank and position of the wearer and their parents + lovers go across the back on formal clothes and if you’re a guard around the neck and cuffs of your gambeson and also your sash if you wear one as a way to identify bodies after battle like modern day dog tags. It’s very simple and blocky on guardwear and incredibly elaborate and stylized to the point of illegibility on formalwear. Other common designs are flowers, symbols of faith, waves, landscapes, and elements of regional stories.

Modesty standards in Ru’aun. Here’s the basics: the average person should show nothing in the range of torso between the knees and breasts in public, midriff can be seen only by people very close to you, mothers should be covered from somewhere around the collarbones to their ankles, visible shoulder straps and undershirts are generally a no-no but off the shoulder and sleeveless attire are okay, and open shirts should not go further than the base of the sternum and should not show undergarments or nipples. Anyone fifteen or older is expected to follow these, but it’s not as important that children do. Some of them are negotiable based on climate and regional culture; Meteli and let’s say Pikoro are more lax and pretty much do whatever they feel like while O’khasis and Scaleswind follow the rules very closely and places like Brightport and Boboros are somewhere in the middle.

In Tu’la, how you dress is so important because it shows your loyalties. It’s a place filled with hundreds of clans all on the brink of beating each other up on any given day. In their culture, you’re not defined by who you are but who your family and their allegiances are. Symbology is important, families have their own color blends, patterns and even specific plants associated with them since gems aren’t very commonly found in Tu’la and sparkly things go to the monarchy and the king’s pets (the humanoid ones). Throwing away your clan’s symbols when you’re not on a covert mission of some kind is seen as a betrayal.

Cloth is very often uncut and styled by wrapping, pinning, and tying them into various shapes like you would a sari or toga or a variety of old African clothing styles I can’t remember the names of. Short sashes and waist wraps are very common. Many of the common people will also wrap their hands and feet in place of gloves and shoes. Cutting cloth is often reserved for important articles or the royal family and its vassal clans. It’s considered a wasteful expense since the excess cloth can’t be remade and isn’t recycled into other things like blankets. Scraps are distributed among the clan’s servants for them to wear to match their masters’ clothing as a sort of claim over them. Gladiators often wear their sponsor’s colors in the same way. When clothing is sewn, you’ll often see designs similar to the Japanese kimono and yukata and the Chinese hanfu and cheongsam/qipao. Designs with layers are more expensive and a luxury that very few, essentially only the king and his consorts, can afford. In most places, the only articles of clothing you’d find cut and stitched into new shapes are some forms of undergarments and a more form-fitting underlayer that covers the entire torso and cloth is arranged over top of.

Tu’lan clothing is essentially custom tailored by the wearer for the wearer, unless you’re super rich or a conscripted servant. Ideally it should allow you to be flexible, it should allow you to keep cool in Tu’la’s very warm climate, maybe with a window just above your butt if you have a tail, but easy to hide things in. Really the only rules about it is that you don’t wear enemy symbols and you keep your private parts private around everyone not your lover. It’s a war country, so most of the time the styles are very utilitarian and comfortable, but you’d only know how utilitarian it is if you were raised wearing them. To Ru’aun and Gal’ruk, even the simplest outfits seem fancy. Part of what makes them think that is the decoration and accessories.

Hair sticks. God do I love hairsticks. More formal ones are made of glass with a small hanging charm and common ones are simply carved from wood or made with the scrap metal shavings of weaponsmiths—those ones are usually sharpened into needles or knives in case you need it. Jewelry is usually close-fitting to make it harder to grab, so meditation beads would be wrapped several times around the wrist or ankle and no pretty hanging piercings. Humans are actually the only one of the three dominant species who get piercings because pretty much all meif’wa clans are warriors or their ears are too sensitive, and if a werewolf has to transform with a piercing in it’ll either warp super bad or hurt them when the change tries to push foreign bodies out of the werewolf. Cloth is usually made with patterns everywhere or very prominently displayed and accented. 

Sun and snow motifs are also fairly widespread since the patron Divine Warrior of Tu’la was Menphia, it very rarely snows in Tu’la but she had ice powers so. Unfortunately, I don’t have anything more on Menphia’s followers right now, I’m basically scraping and redoing her whole temple and worship at the moment.

Gal’ruk loves yarn and fur, since practically every living thing out there is covered in fur and spinning yarn is a good time consuming indoor activity. A lot of people spend considerable time weaving and tanning and sewing over the blizzard season when they get trapped inside by storms. Fur goes inside everything from gloves to hoods to pants. People make competitions out of who can knit the best hat or scarf from scratch before the next moon. 

For an idea of the style of clothing usually worn I recommend looking up ‘viking winter wear’ for some ideas. Plenty of layers, loose pants cinched at the knee, lots of fur cloaks and shawls, leather belts with pouches and space for your knife/sword/axe’s sheath over top. Leather goods like armor and belts are usually marked with subtle designs pressed into the materials and are padded. Nothing metal ever comes close to touching the skin directly. Clothes can either be simply pulled on or are closed with loops and clasps carved of wood or bone/teeth from a hunt. 

Nothing hunted ever goes to waste. Gal’ruk is a plentiful land but it can be a harsh one too. Pelts, furs, teeth, claws, bones and tails are all made into clothing, among other things. Pelts can be scraped and tanned and made into leather, furs are stuffed into everything as an insulator. Teeth, claws and bones are carved into accessories or combs or buttons, it’s very common for someone to make the spoils of their hunt into necklaces or arm bands or earrings as a mark of their achievement or to exchange as a betrothal gift to prove their worth as a provider. Married couples wear carved tokens of their family’s symbol made by each other instead of rings, presented to the other for the first time at the wedding and very rarely taken off unless one dies or they get divorced. Widows and widowers usually keep their tokens old, but they’re burned to make the divorce official and if a divorced couple gets back together new ones have to be made.

Unfortunately color is fairly sparse on the island. There’s not many plants to harvest  dyes from and clay takes ages to dig up and warm enough to use, so it’s mostly natural colors of the materials and some darker shades from smoking pelts over a fire to waterproof them. There are shades of green every so often from dye made with the kelp that washes ashore and sometimes if you can manage to grow beets there’s some reds and purples but not everyone is able to dye their clothing.

Gal’ruk has zero modesty standards. You wrap up to keep warm outside, but while you’re inside you can wear just about as little as you want. The public dining hall can get pretty warm with everyone packed in there, it’s not unusual for people to go titties out. They’re all warriors, they’re pretty chill about partial nudity and naked bodies are very rarely sexualized in such a close-knit warrior community, they’re all pretty much grown up seeing each other half undressed while tending wounds, so modesty isn’t a real issue. This is why I said in my post about Travis playing around with his shapeshifting that he needs to have Ru’aun modesty rules explained to him the first time he changes into a female form in public, because in his homeland having breasts show through an open shirt isn’t at all notable but in Ru’aun it’s absolutely scandalous.

And we’ve circled back to embroidery! Again, time consuming pastime, again, people who spend the majority of the year huddled inside waiting out the worst of the cold, again, followers of Enki. Personal history is recorded on parchment, but communal history is recorded on tapestries and clothing. They have very little in the way of colored threads, so designs are made with only lineart and shadows in mind to make it clear what they’re meant to be. Stories about Enki and the Divine Warriors are very common, and so are fables for the children. Animals bounding through the snow and their different tracks trailing behind them are used to teach the babies how to tell your prey apart by print. Kids are taught to embroider their own clothes to teach them patience and attention to detail.

These are all pretty general regional ideas, specific parts of the region and settlements also have their own deals sometimes. I’ll have to come back to this at some point to cover the rest of the Divine Faith properly. This was a fun question!

[goat-guy-tm]

Every divine fell in some way. It was bound to happen, no one figure could be holy and pure forever. Each shaped the soul of the divine in some twisted way, something that changed them completely.

Enki's ravenous thirst for knowledge, to become all knowing no matter the cost.

Irene's loss of all emotion and draining of compassion for those under her.

Drae'lic (Shad)'s loss of his own soul and spiral into beasthood.

Menphina's abandonment of those closest to her.

Esmund's thirst for power and control, his want to become stronger than even the other divine and gods that came before them.

Kul'Zak's sudden dissapearence after watching all his fellow divine rip each other to shreds.

The divine's flaws were covered up, twisted and changed to seem more holy. After all, no one wants to admit the god they devote their whole life to is nothing but a desprate, scared, bloodthirsty child.

[mcd-brainrot-hours]

worldbuilding (kinda) hc:

menphia didnt have any kids so before she passed, she declared that each time a fury died, a fight to the death would be held between candidates would be held in the gladiator ring. whoever emerged victorious (think of the hunger games) became the holder of menphia's relic.

as time progressed, this became one of tu'la's biggest events and turned into a spectacle of sorts. the tu'lan royals throw parties and flaunt their wealth during parades in which the king would show off the possible furies, menphia's gladiators.

as fate would have it, aphmau and gang end up in tu’la just in time to watch it unfold, maybe even participate in.