#merzen unification

[solraine]

The animation industry on Merzen is most comparable to the early home movie experience- you have big productions from the first layer, middling productions of varying quality- usually direct-to-dvd or TV- from the second layer, and the poorly animated bootleg cruft of the third layer.

However, as opposed to what we think of poorly animated movies, Merzen has a fascinaton and deep obsession with them. Many of the most well known, beloved, most aggressively preserved movies are these "low quality" "budget" films.

In actuality, films and shows from the third layer are often passion projects, filled with more clumsy and genuine love for the craft than the other two layers combined. In spite of the cheesy, mediocre voice acting and subpar visuals, they're often fascinatingly complex and well written stories that tie deeply into the heart of the third layer.

The "cheapness" of third layer movies is literal though- they are made as cheaply as possible. Without focusing on visuals the artist can spend less on supplies, and doing the voices themself or with friends and family means they can stretch their units out further in other areas of their life. Come time to distribute, their frugality means they can also charge less when selling discs while still turning a profit.

And that cheapness is what makes the market so viable and how these movies became a subtle, pervasive part of the third layer. Where 500 unit movie tickets can be too much to justify outside of the occasional treat and home videos and rentals being nearly as bad, the 50 unit third layer movies are a much more reasonable option. Coupled with the irregularity with which they are produced and sold, they're a common impulse buy when shopping in the third layer.

[morriscribbles]

Merzen's heavily polluted atmosphere means their skies range from yellow in the Valley of Ruin and beyond the crown, to amber around Smallbrooke, all the way to a muddy gray-orange around the Unification. However, their sunsets are a shocking- if slightly hazy- bright blue.

Bonnie has been wandering the Valley for years and has come to find a lot of beauty in an overwhelmingly dead and hostile landscape. No matter where she is, if there's nothing else there, there's always a sunset to enjoy.

i haven't done any traditional art beyond a sketch or maybe some lines in a long damn time. and so i've messed up severely in some areas. maybe later i'll come back through and do a digital cleanup, as it is i just played with some sliders to make the colors prettier. uncropped version under the cut because i do like how it looks with the rough edges too:

[oldmanyaoi-jpeg]

i think i've found the most succinct way to describe the merzen unification:

imagine dropping a state-sized boston into a really cold australia

[oldmanyaoi-jpeg]

Merzennian Direwolves are part of Merzen's quadruped clade, and the second largest predator on the planet behind only Direbears. Like all Merzennian wildlife they are extremely aggressive, anything that isn't part of their pack is either getting eaten or ripped apart.

Measuring 10ft at the hip, they aren't capable of running or galloping, but the fact that they don't even need to run to reach speeds of nearly 20 mph makes their speedwalk terrifying. Their beak- highly modified, keratinous front teeth- pairs with an incredible bite force and can disassemble cars if they're determined to get what's inside.

Like other Merzennian quadrupeds, they are ovoviviparous. Their pack structure is that of parents and their cubs, and they are ruthlessly efficient hunters. However, they do need to stick to the safety of their packs, as the other primary pack hunter of Merzen, Selines, are perfectly capable of swarming and taking down lone Direwolves. In all other occasions, a pack of Selines would be little more than a couple mouthfuls.

Another similarity to Selines are their heat pits, hidden by their lips just behind their beak. Though unlike Selines and other Merzen quadrupeds, they have shaggy filamentous "protofeathers" instead of traditional feather structures. Their sheer size keeps them warm, even in the subzero temperatures of Merzen's deep winters.

They range through almost all of Merzen, with those nearest and within the Unification being the most poisonous and dullest in color.

(thanks to Moon for help with the biology and props to Oblivion's co-author @erezar-zaral-rezanova for coming up with Direwolves to start with!)

A merzennian Direwolf for @oldmanyaoi-jpeg's Oblivion universe. Had a lot of fun drawing this guy. Big freaky dogthing

[oldmanyaoi-jpeg]

Are there any popular mascots or cartoon characters in Oblivion? What about video games?

ATOM is kind of a mascot for themselves, but I think they count. They're an EXTREMELY popular planet duster, one who people don't know the identity of at all. Their full body suit and reflective face shield are pretty iconic, though they're also pretty divisive as a person.

Merzen itself I can see having a few mascots for different things, the most popular probably being a cartoon version of their local gods Naskian and Occam. Especially in the countryside which has the highest concentration of the pagan faiths that worship them. They'd likely have cartoons made with them, kind of like christian cartoons, except extremely off-the-wall because Merzennians are insane by default.

There's a giant ship that travels through space and is so densely populated that it acts as a mobile planet- and on that ship they do have One relatively popular "mascot". There's a small bookstore + cafe in one of the commercial sections that has a bookstore cat, a little tuxy named Rover. She's VERY popular, especially among regulars, but also across the ship's intranet.

As for video games, I don't know any names, but I do know what would be the most popular. In general, strategy games are very popular, especially those based around space battle. The (original) X-Wing tabletop game comes to mind, though that's not a video game I know. Exploration and settlement/development games similar to Satisfactory and Minecraft would also be pretty popular, as exploring and settling barren planets is very common in their society, but not everyone has the bravery/skills for that. Doing it in a video game is still fun though!

Per planet/system though...

Merzen- REALLY into walking simulators and wilderness survival sims, at least in the Unification. It's an escape from the horrors.

Drakkam- Same as Merzen, for the same reasons, but also sandbox games. The horrors are many but science is neat too

Pentae System- Their video games are pretty rough, likely text based adventures end up being the best. But computers are energy intensive and if you're running a computer it's for something more important. They're more board and tabletop gamers I think

Fragment of Praeter- Puzzle games and temple crawlers, as those are pretty common in their daily lives. The pursuit of knowledge is embedded deep in their culture.

Zion- Strategy. Again, very battle focused culture, but they're also a mercantile kingdom.

Ita- Sandbox. They're incredibly science focused, creating things is just fun.

[oldmanyaoi-jpeg]

The primary architecture in Merzen is a little thing I like to call Absolutely Fucked. Not that their buildings are super messed up- They're pretty much just utilitarian concrete boxes, at least in the Unification. Merzen in general is pretty form over function. No, the primary intrigue in Merzen's architecture is...

(Map by @erezar-zaral-rezanova)

The Merzen Unification, Merzen City, the Unification, or just Merzen. Those shapes on the side are accurate- the city isn't structured in rings but in layers. Malyy is stacked on Seredniy which is stacked on Velykyy. Tall buildings generally terminate into the layer above, smaller buildings may be surrounded by pillars or other supports.

Theres really only two districts of real interest- The Ashen district, where the Bleeding Eye (lead by Csatta) is stationed. They aren't particularly ornate, but they do use black and black-dyed stone which creates a surprisingly stark divide between their territory and the rest of the Unification.

Then there's the Thanatic district, one of the few unpopulated areas of the Unification. It was once a bustling black market, and is now an empty web of melted stone. It'd been fortified very heavily, since two layers rest on top of it, but its ultimately just a twisted and dark heart within the city.

Outside of the city, the most exciting architecture in Merzen is probably Glaciarium and Solaciarium.

(Also by @erezar-zaral-rezanova)

Both of them have a lot of significance in Merzen's 'pagan' religions, being the homes of two gods, the dragons Naskian and Occam. Glaciarium is the only one that actually has anyone else living in it, housing a northern ice-based religion where only the hardiest of the hardiest suns that can actually survive that level of cold. Solaciarium is just a nest for Occam, iirc- that'd be a question for Hayden though

btw you should always ask @erezar-zaral-rezanova and i questions about oblivion i promise we'll both be normal about it and answer you in a reasonable word count

ⓘ WARNING: This action will trigger a Cataclysmic Autism Event. Proceed with caution.

[oldmanyaoi-jpeg]

A lot of Merzen culture and tradition comes from necessity more than anything else- they're a cold planet, with a staggering poverty rate in the Unification. So warm drinks are well loved, but insulated containers can be kind of pricy, and it's hard to keep a container if you don't have a home to live in.

I have yet to come up with a name (i need to get back on the conlang grind) but the drink itself is actually a soft-but-solid fat- traditionally lards from northern ranging species like Direwolves, but once adopted outside of the Herroka system they switch to less toxic alternatives like soy and soy-coconut waxes. Spices, either a traditional "warm" blend or whatever you happen to have on hand, are mixed in and the liquid is poured into whatever you have on hand to solidify. Spices are vastly preferred over other flavorants as they're intensified instead of destroyed when reheated. Wood "wicks" are used pretty exclusively, as they stand up better when the melted fat is removed from the top and can be jammed down into your drink after it's solidified, so you can port around some containers filled with the fat to drink whenever you can next get your hands on some flimsy wooden stir sticks.

It's a very popular "community" drink, where everyone pitches in what they have. If one sun finds a pot, another sun can come up with the fat, a few suns have spices, and others can at least come up with jars or wicks, you have something that can feed a lot of mouths. Some street vendors have also scraped out a living selling their own blends- you provide the container, they'll pour some in and give you some wicks.

Its popularity is largely from its relative cheapness, but it became a staple because it keeps itself warm. Starting a fire is easy, so you just light the wick and it warms up and stays warm, while also warming your frozen hands.

While it gains some popularity outside of Merzen, it isn't nearly as popular as it is there. It's held back by the fact that organic species can't drink molten wax, even when less toxic alternatives to direwolf fats are used.

i really need to finish my worldbuilding blog. i'm not going to though. who wants to hear about my cool new drink called a candle

[oldmanyaoi-jpeg]

honestly the more i think about the sausages the more i think that this entire meal would just be Merzen staples. obv not the whole thing, like Bonnie brought the soup hot from somewhere else and it's hard to keep soup hot up north but the Merzen kitchen can almost always be thrown into a bag and taken to go. like, it's just:

hardtack

bouillon cubes/powder

cured meat(s)

dried diced vegetables

shelf stable/dry cakes/cookies

spices, usually just a catch-all mix with tons of salt for filler/preservatives

and ofc since Merzen is solely entities you sometimes get weird additions like metal shavings or harsh chemicals but the majority of the lower layers of the Unification (which is a majority of Merzen's population) and the Valley of Ruin both have diets best described as "prepper pantry clear out". since for those populations ensuring you have food is way more important than how it tastes.

both share the "comfort meal" of 1 bouillon cube 2 scoops dried veggies some strips of dried meat added to jar pour boiling water on top and mix until bouillon cube makes broth soak and eat hardtack while meat+veg rehydrate. sounp

donate to my lobster sausage fund