#mos: mezalea

[minecraftbookshelf]

Hey! Wondering if you feel like dropping anymore lore about the Conquering of Mezalea or the Ocean Alliance in general!!

Orrr relating to my ask the other day... people outside the alliance dealing with the sheer chaos that is Pix and Lizzie together!

sorry for sitting on this one so long, if it takes me a year and a day to answer you know it means i have a lot to say and i have to sit and think for a long time about which points to hit XD

(I'll wait on the Pix and Lizzie for now, I still have hopes of finding that draft again someday *gazes wistfully off into the distance*)

So the Conquering of Mezalea took everyone by surprise.

One day it was business as usual, the next there were people in the ocean and they were killing almost anyone they came across.

Prior to the Oceanic invasion the only aquatic hybrid populations were concentrated in the swamp under Mythic rule, and the Salmon hybrid population that spent half the year just off the coast and half traveling up river into the Grimmish mountains, though there were some who lived year-round in one or the other location. (I'm sure you can see where this is going a bit :) )

The first two Oceanic strikes were at the Salmon and at Mezalea, almost simultaneously. One attack on the Salmon outpost most in-sea and one on a Mezalean fishing vessel. Every single salmon hybrid at the outpost was killed, but a skeleton crew of the fishing ship was allowed to limp back into port, under the command of the youngest Mezalean prince, who had been on board, carrying a message.

Shortly thereafter, Pix got involved and was able to minimize casualties, though not halt the invasion.

[minecraftbookshelf]

LETS SAY IM OBSESSED WITH YOUR MARRIAGE OF STATE AU

Just a little.

Maybe....

I have questions to posture you about if you don't mind-

How does adoption work in most Empires?

Also, if Xornoth is overprotective of their brother, and Lizzie with Jimmy, if Scott and Jimmy ever decided to adopt a child, how overprotective and spoiled with that kid be?

Does Scott and Xornoth have wings?

Is there a group in Rivendell that doesn't like Xornoth as king, and maybe some tries to take them off the throne throughout the years?

How does Jimmy fair to being in the cold?

Is the Ender Dragon important in this world? And how so?

How long does Xornoth visit Joey?

Should Scott or Jimmy even be trusted with a child?

Hello! Welcome to the chaos! Grab a seat, grab a snack, and join the circle!

I love talking about this AU (If you hadn't picked up on it by now XD)

Adoption varies from empire to empire, for some it is very culturally central, such as in Mezalea, and in others it is much more rare simply due to either the nature or size of the population, such as the Overgrown or Rivendell. In some places its more informal, such as the Swamp and in others its much more formal, again, like Mezalea.

The concept of adoption varies wildly between cultures as well. In Mezalea it is very much a formal "you are now part of our family as if you were born into it" stance, while in the Swamp its more along the lines of "you lost your family, whether through fate or their own poor choices, so now you will go find a new family either in your relatives or your immediate community"

The very concept of family varies so of course adoption is also going to change from place to place.

If Scott and Jimmy ever adopt a child that child will be absolutely spoiled rotten from all directions. (also addressing the last question here, no, Scott or Jimmy should never be trusted with a child tbh.)

Scott and Xornoth do have wings I had a whole crisis about it on here somewhere because I didn't want them to bc it felt a bit like too much but the more i wrote and built the more obvious it became they would have to have them. So here we are.

There are multiple factions among the Rivendell population that are Not Xornoth Fans. There have been some attempted insurrections, though not recently. The only major one was resolved with Xornoth's marriage.

Well now that would be telling ;)

See previous statement. But also yes, the Ender Dragon is going to be very important.

Xornoth visits Joey semi-frequently, though Joey probably visits them more often. Especially early on when Xornoth was still trying to figure out what was happening and how it happened XD

[minecraftbookshelf]

Do you think that because of shipwrecks and stuff that the Ocean empire has a bunch of Jewelry and/or random trinkets from the other empires?

Oh absolutely. Empires with major seafaring factions (mostly Pixandria and Mezalea) have like, treaties in place for the return of major artifacts or anything like that and individual merchants can also contract with seafolk scavenger crews to retrieve things but there's also just some things that either aren't found for long enough or that are just written off, or are old enough and pre-date alliances.

Joel: *hanging out with Lizzie* Joel: *sees a bunch of kids playing with a shiny orb* Joel: "Hey that looks like a dry land thing" Lizzie: "Yeah probably, the kids like to go rummaging though the old shipwrecks and its safer practice than ruins or monuments." Joel: *Still watching* Joel: "I'm fairly certain that specific item was supposed to be a wedding present for my great grandmother from Pix. It was lost in transit and the wreck site was never found. He made another one that's still in the Matral Palace to this day." Lizzie: "...Do you want it back?" Joel: "Nah."

[minecraftbookshelf]

Lore? Lore? Lore for the poor?

Could you perhaps spare some marriage au lore for a poor soul?

Lore about Mezalia? Lore about Pixandria? Random culture lore?

Hello and welcome to World-Building Central! where the feral brain rabbits never stop running!

I did just post my Joel Character Design post, so if you haven't seen that yet it's here and is honestly as much about Mezalean style in general as it is about Joel in particular.

I'll ramble for a bit now and we'll see what we get XD it'll probably be more character based than general world-building, since that's where my head is at today, but we shall see!

Mezalea has two primary exports: Fish and terracotta. They also make some of the most beautiful pottery, but that is less of a significant trade resource.

Fishing in Mezalea has been the main livelihood of approximately half the population for a very long time. Fishing and sea-travel (mostly for merchant-ing reasons) are the primary focus of the coastal towns and villages, while inland it is mirrored by the terracotta quarries. This caused a brief tension when they first encountered the Ocean Empire, not because the Seafolk have an objection to eating fish, but figuring out who had rights to the waters and where Pixandrian and Mezalean territory ended and Oceanic territory began. (Was Joel basically traded for fishing rights? Well it wasn't not a factor :) )

Mezalea and Pixandria have a long history as allied nations, though that alliance has become a lot closer over the past handful of centuries due to Joel and Pix's friendship. There are some cultural similarities, both being desert nations with some seafaring tendencies, though there are plenty of differences too.

Pixandria has a somewhat interesting relationship with the other empires at large, due in large part to Pix's tendency to randomly show up in other empires, regardless of treaty or alliance status. No one in the Pixandrian government admits to this, but they are pretty sure that their Emperor sometimes forgets where they are in time and who they are currently having more tension-ridden interactions with. If this is actually the case or if it's just Pix being a troll, no one knows.

The WRA starting to call the Ocean Alliance the Cod Alliance is a source of amusement for Pix. He doesn't mind at all, Jimmy has very much been stepping up as a leader of the alliance recently (and they are all very proud of him) It's that kind of mostly fond amusement that older people get when they see younger people "reinventing the wheel" for lack of a better term. It's new to them but it's not new. A mixture of vicarious joy in the discovery of life and the world and "ah, the youth"

Pix is very fond of this generation of rulers in general. He thinks that, if the world is kind, they will all be able to accomplish great things, due in no small part to their much closer bonds to each other than their predecessors. While the Ocean Alliance has stood as a wonky little family for centuries, most of the more land-based empires were much more business-like with each other. So while politically and personally, his relationship with the Wither Rose Alliance is not the friendliest, he is very proud of them for what they have done.

One of Pix's titles is "Bringer of Storms" and is the other main reason, beside his absolute obliteration of war as a cause of death among the common folk, that he remains as Pixandria's ruler. If your priest-king can summon rain in the desert, you keep him. (This is not a standard ability of their priests or their kings and, along with the immortality, is a distinguishing feature of his.) He is usually very responsible with this power, and maintains an awareness of its impact on all surrounding ecosystems. Occasionally the urge for mischief does override good sense, but its mostly fine.

Pix is the only person outside the Ocean/Swamp and its Royal family who wields a trident, and the only one outside the Oceanic Royal Family who's trident is imbued with the level of enchantments it has. The landlocked empires consider this an odd quirk of his. The Ocean Alliance empires are more aware of the cultural significance of this and the indication of adjacency to divinity and treat him accordingly.

This is why Pix was the first person to make peaceful contact with the Ocean when they first emerged and were basically greeting everyone with murder. The ability to wield an enchanted trident guaranteed him safe passage and respect.

The Anthill and The Oasis are the two centers of Pixandria. The majority of the population actually lives in The Anthill, which, much like its name suggests, has been hollowed out into a series of tunnel-roads and cave homes. Most actual houses have at least one wall built into the outside of the mountain, but some people do choose (and it is usually a choice) to go full cave-dweller in the interior.

The Oasis is primarily a trade center and space for growing crops and tending to bees. Embassies and guest houses are also here, to host travelers and representatives from other nations without allowing them access to many of the more vulnerable citizens.

Pix developed the Oasis town himself over the course of the reign, but The Anthill was already ancient when he was born.

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AU Masterpost

[minecraftbookshelf]

In Mos, you said that Joel was given an 'awareness' of his people, what exactly does that mean?

The connection between the ruler of Mezalea and their people is something I've described as a kind of "hivemind-lite." It's not a full telepathic connection but is a general sense and connection. It's not dissimilar to the connection between Helianthia and its rulers, thought in Mezalea's case its the people, not the land itself.

There's a lot of ambient magic in the world of Empires and when the gods vanished it to get creative with how it channeled itself.

[minecraftbookshelf]

Religion In the Empires: The Ocean Alliance

@justanaveragelizardperson here is part one!

This is just a brief overview. I'll probably talk more about specifics later and it will definitely come up in the fic series.

It's also important to note that for most of these cultures, religion is viewed in a very historical way, which is to say, its just Part of Life. It is both more casual and more integral in a lot of ways.

Most religions in the Empires are basically just different facets of the same pantheon, for lack of a better description.

The Ocean: I'm not actually going to say a whole lot here because this is kind of going to be a plot point of the Joel and Lizzie fic(s). But the Seafolk worship, in a loose sense, a Lost Sea God, who, or so legend says, swam among them in ages past before they vanished. Leaving behind A Gift to protect the Seafolk in times of need...

Mezalea: In Mezalea most spiritual traditions are centered around the Mother Tree. Passing Through the Mother Tree is the coming of age ceremony that all citizens experience when they reach adulthood. There is another ceremony that all rulers of Mezalea go through with the Mother Tree when they take the throne that binds them to the Mother Tree their people and allows for a sort of...awareness of all their citizens that borders on faint hive mind at times. Not control just a connection.

Pixandria: Pixandria has been home to The Vigil since time out of memory. They worship the Primordial deities and respect the Desert. Death is their patron goddess and their kings and queens keep Her Vigil. Pix himself has become something of an almost-deity figure in a very casual way. He is not aware of this. Water is also sacred, Water is Life. And without Life there Cannot be Death. Both are to be valued and treated with respect.

The Swamp: The Swamp is a bit of a cultural melting pot, with traces of Mythlandic and Oceanic traditions bleeding into the native ones. They do have the same mythology as the Seafolk, though they are a bit more distant about it, and have their own patron deity, a god/goddess of duality and the union/sameness of opposites. Land and Water, Day and Night. Transitions and Border Places are Important.

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The Wither Rose Alliance The Fae Squad AU Masterpost

[minecraftbookshelf]

What’s your take on Joel’s clones/clay people in the marriage of the state AU? I never actually watched Joels E1 so I don’t know how much fandom made that up, but it’s something I see around and couldn’t tell if it was in this AU too.

So on the server what happened was he just....killed himself over and over to get his own head which he then put on his villagers (and some of Lizzie's) to make a bunch of Joel clones. The Clay People, as far as I can tell, is a fandom interpretation of that. I considered it but ultimately decided to go another route, leaning into The Mother Tree that he built and then turned into his Villager Zombify-ing and Curing station.

(Also I do recommend his E1, its great fun.)

I know I've mentioned how I'm doing Mezalea before but I have not got the slightest idea which post it was in so the tl;dr is that passing through the Mother Tree is the coming of age ceremony in Mezalea and when a new ruler is crowned they "Sleep Beneath the Mother Tree" and thereafter have a sort of very low-level magical/psychic connection to their citizens. Like it isn't a hivemind but does bear some resemblance.

[minecraftbookshelf]

i have two probably stupid questions about your marriage of state au, which I have enjoyed immensely. Do the shops on the server such as Joel's mezalean terracotta exists in the au? Also some empires are pretty far away from each other so do the empires have a from of mass transit to other empires? Sorry that this is wordy and big I just have been loving this au.

So yes and no. I’ve used the server shops as a basis for the overall economy and trade in the AU. So terracotta is a major export from Mezalea, but they also have fish, pottery, and gold, to name just a few examples. This applies to the other empires as well, their canonical exports being also exports for the AU, and/or cultural features. It’s mostly a matter of scale. What was a single small shop on the server can be anything from a guild to a massive industry, depending.

Some of the empires have more accessible transit than others. Again it depends. Helianthia for example has access to a large network of roads across the continent and fairly guaranteed safe passage along them due to how many people rely on them as a trade partner. Because food.

Rivendell on the other hand is more difficult to access due to its isolated location on mountain tops. Most of their trade comes in via the Overgrown routes. The Crystal Cliffs would have a similar issue but they have different types of magic for alternative solutions.

I am working on a rough map of a lot of the major trade routes in response to another ask, and that will come with a lot of notations and explanations.

I’m really glad you’re enjoying the AU. It’s been a lot of fun for me as well!

[minecraftbookshelf]

Biglong ask incoming, I kept getting more ideas as I typed lol. Hope you’ve got a ramble already locked and loaded. This might be a bit much otherwise, sorry. 😅

So… How big are things in MoS? Like the empires are presumably much larger than the Minecraft counterparts, being actually functional empires. How long is travel between the empires? Is the Minecraft map basically proportional or would things scale up differently? Is there just a separate map for the AU or are the broad strokes close enough to use the original world as a reference?

And what does travel actually look like? Are elytra a common thing for people to have? If they’re rare and valuable, who gets to use them? How about boats, horses, camels, lamas, donkeys? What’s common? Are there empire specific preferences for mounts/vehicles? Do we got flying machines, and would you see them outside the grimlands? How does pix tend to travel when he goes wandering?

When the dragons get brought back (gem would not appreciate the passive voice there) do dragon riders pop up? Do they become more common mounts eventually?

What is travel between empires like? Who lets people through easily, who doesn’t, and how do they enforce it? (especially with the flying people) What’s the process to be allowed into more closed off empires? I imagine the rules are different with allies, so what are they in that case?

Do you have any big trade routes you already thought of? Is ocean trade and travel generally allowed by lizze? Are there any silly circuitous routes that trade or travel has to take to get around closed off borders; get around both as in literally geographically around and metaphorically, as in around the rules.

Do winged sophonts ride on mounts sometimes; for comfort or for pomp and circumstance? Or is flying just so much faster that they basically never bother? Are there underwater mounts for the seafolk? Do seafolk use boats for themselves? Can seafolk swim faster than boats? Travel long distances faster?

Nether travel exists too! Or does it? Xornoth didn’t get possessed, so is the nether still around? If it is, how common is nether travel? Is it like the baseline for long trips, or a restricted ultra-fast highway? Probably depends on how hard it is to make portals in AUland. Do they even make more at all? If not commonplace, do the portals have like, waiting lists? Who tends to use them? Is it mostly used for trade?

Oh jeez, my asks are only getting longer. I feel like I need a tldr. Actually..

TLDR: a bunch of questions about travel in the MoS AU, more specifically regarding, in order; scale, vehicles, borders, trade routes, flying and swimming manually, and the nether.

Ok, now I think I’m finally actually done, for real this time, and I hope you have a good day. <3

Usually I either do have a ramble locked and loaded or it doesn't take much to get one going so I wouldn't worry about it XD

going to go ahead and preemptively pop in a readmore because, all this. (Also this ask is very funny to me because the literal first few paragraphs of the upcoming chapter do actually talk a bit about travel. In the sense of "Jimmy has flown all the way to the Overgrown and is dried up and cranky about it.")

How Big Is It All?

I have messed a bit with the proportions. On the actual SMP for example, Helianthia is one of the smaller empires, while that just...isn't quite feasible for the purposes of the AU since the sort of large scale agriculture happening there needs Space. Even when its magically assisted agriculture. Basically I'm using the official map and just adjusting proportions a bit. I might make my own "official" version for the AU at some point, but I haven't really bothered at this point.

Helianthia, Mezalea, and Mythland in particular are all pretty big. Some of the other kingdoms, like Pixandria, are fairly small but just spread out over a large area. (In this case, small populations clustered in a few different oases) Rivendell technically has a fairly large territory, but a lot of the Southern reaches of it are abandoned. Things like that.

Travel?

Travel time depends on who is traveling to/from where and how. There are elytra but they are extremely rare and are reserved for the rulers themselves and, in a few cases, particularly trusted messengers who act as couriers for high-security documents/messages. Mythland, Mezalea, Pixandria, Helianthia, The Ocean, The Swamp, and The Grimlands all make use of elytra to differing levels, while Rivendell, The Overgrown, and The Lost Empire have enough citizens with wings of their own that they don't really bother. The Crystal Cliffs use spells to achieve the same effect (Shrub doesn't even arrive until after the story has already begun, so I leave them out of a lot of this discussion mostly because a lot of it will be in the actual fics explicitly as they learn to find their way around a strange new world full of stupidly tall people.)

Boats and ships are very common for the seafaring kingdoms; The Swamp, Mezalea, and Mythland. Pixandria also has a few but they mostly use them for near-shore fishing and shorter ferry trips. Ocean trade and travel routes are heavily effected by the existence of the Ocean Empire in general and Lizzie in particular. The Mythlands used to be much more seafaring then they currently are, and yes, they do have to take some rather circuitous routes these days.

There are very much empire specific preferences for mounted travel, though horses are fairly standard in most empires. A lot of those will show up fairly quickly in the series so I won't do a full breakdown here but yes, Pearl does have her golden goose because I love that that is a thing.

Pix has traveled just about every way imaginable and he is just as likely to show up at your door on foot as he is by elytra.

There are some flying machines, though they are not incredibly reliable. They are mostly used by the Grimlands yes though Mezalea also has a couple of more dirigible-style transports.

I'm actually going to put a pin in the topic of the dragons for now. :)

What is travel between empires like? Who lets people through easily, who doesn’t, and how do they enforce it? (especially with the flying people) What’s the process to be allowed into more closed off empires? I imagine the rules are different with allies, so what are they in that case? Do you have any big trade routes you already thought of? Is ocean trade and travel generally allowed by lizze? Are there any silly circuitous routes that trade or travel has to take to get around closed off borders; get around both as in literally geographically around and metaphorically, as in around the rules.

These will both be kind of covered in the post that I will make with the trade routes map i mentioned making earlier but the tldr is yes, alliances definitely affect trade and travel, though the emperors themselves tend to go wherever they want and show up on each others doorstep with zero warning, there are some instances in which this is heavily discouraged. (Mythical Sausage is Not Welcome in the Cod Swamp. He shows up anyway. This is a major topic of conversation that I have been writing about lately XD) Some empires also heavily discourage air travel by outsiders.

(So yes most of the winged rulers do have backup mounts for such cases.)

The Ocean Empire does not really use boats or ships but the Swamp does. Some Sea-folk are faster than ships straight up, but mostly they aren't as limited by ocean currents and wind patterns and so can often take more direct routes. (Though they also do use the currents)

Nether travel does exist. Xornoth's connection to the Nether is a little bit different in this AU, just because I've tweaked the mythology to suit my own purposes and story. So there are Nether roads, though how frequently they are used and how well they are maintained varies wildly. The Ocean Empire and the majority of The Swamp population avoid it when possible, because it's basically instant dehydration for them and is an incredibly dangerous way to travel. A significant portion of the Rivendell population is also very ill-suited for travel in the Nether as well. It's primarily used for extreme distances or for some of the WRA. It's mostly used for time sensitive things that won't be harmed by the heat. Some trade, but mostly travel.

Nether travel won't show up much for the first two arcs but will feature heavily in the third arc so I'll go into it in a lot more detail there.

[minecraftbookshelf]

THESE ARE SO COOL! OHMIGOD! I love the details on the green parts of the last one especially and you NAILED the sillouette I had in my head!!! These are AMAZING!

Marriage of State AU Character Designs: The Mad King of Mezalea

Joel actually has three major looks through the course of the AU; Prince of Mezalea, Trophy Husband, and King Joel, with the subcategories of "armor" for each.

They all have the same base design of "human", differing by (apparent) age and general sense of style.

Some Joel Skins to start us off and provide the base we're working off of, and also the Mezalean banner because color pallet

And also, because it is actually relevant, (bear with me here) some samples of Mezalean architecture.

The Matral Palace and the Villager area.

Based off of Joel's final skin, the vibe is kind of "Victorian military dress uniform" however there is something very, very important to take into consideration from a worldbuilding perspective.

The Mesa is a warm weather biome. Its a colorful desert. Which means high temperatures during the day and cold at night. So tight-fitting, thick fabrics in a Victorian style would be incredibly impractical.

So we turn to the second possible source for fashion inspiration: The architecture, which gives mostly Byzantine vibes.

So what would Byzantine clothing look like, especially for nobility?

First off, taking into account that the Byzantine Empire lasted for approximately a thousand years and, naturally, underwent some dramatic changes in clothing style during that time, we'll pick a specific vibe out of the options. I settled on a bit of a mix between Early Byzantine (think the Theodora Mosaic shown below) and Middle Byzantine (see the mosaic of Emperor Constantine IX below)

And here are just some screenshots from my pintrest board for Mezalea and Mezalean!Joel, because if I put all these on here separately I'll hit the image limit too soon.

(General disclaimer: yes, Pintrest has an art theft problem, yes Pintrest is much harder to effectively use now due to the pervasiveness of ads on everything, no I don't use it for like, formal things. It remains one of the best ways to collect visual references and figuring out The Vibes)

(Yes, we get to go full Material Gworl vibes for the Mezalean King, as is only right and proper.)

General characteristics I'm adopting here for Mezalean clothing:

Brocade (and bejeweled) kaftan/kaftan-esque outer layer. This is a formal wear thing, and is absolutely a "showing off the wealth" power move.

Lots of Big Chunky Colorful Jewelry

I don't know what it's actual name is, but that general style of having jeweled tassel-like things hanging from the front sides of the crown/headdress.

Light-weight and loose fitting under-layers.

And of course, bright colors.

Prince Joel: Before he became part of the main cast in an epic fantasy adventure spanning several hundreds of years and an entire continent (and the adjacent ocean) Joel was the youngest of three princes with two older brothers who were both married and had kids.

Which is to say, it did not look like he would ever be the king.

His role in the kingdom was very much that of an ambassador to and direct connection to their people. He spent a lot of time working on fishing boats and in the mines and quarries. While he did receive a standard royal education on things like diplomacy and combat, international interactions were not his focus at all, much more involved in the day to day operations of his own home. (And yes, that is a very vital aspect of the idea of "royalty" in general, supposedly, and that being a particular point of Joel's upbringing will make more sense when I get around to writing and posting the post about how royalty functions in the Empires. tldr; its related to the whole thing where Pixlriffs accidentally redefined "war")

Basically, Prince Joel = the first skin, the simple green one. He's wearing more lightweight, practical clothes that allow him to engage in physically demanding dirty work without costing a fortune every day. He still dresses up for formal events, but he doesn't even attend all of those and he is far from a daily sight in court.

Trophy Husband: For a couple hundred years, Joel didn't live in Mezalea. Instead, he was one half of the chronological first arranged marriage in the "au in which all the marriages are arranged" situation. And this one was the one that most resembles the set-up of a generic "period" bodice-ripper novel (though that is not how it played out ultimately, for the parties involved, despite the romance that does happen.)

Basically, this is his War Prize Era. In which Lizzie won a husband in combat and then didn't really know what to do with him.

During this time period, Joel mostly wore ocean styled clothing, though during formal occasions he would wear a notable amount of Mezalean accessories, that were part and parcel of the treaty with him. (I'm trying so hard not to derail this into just a breakdown of the events of the Joel & Lizzie arc of the au im trying so hard)

He did tend to mix Oceanic and Mezalean clothing, due in part to Oceanic clothing being primarily designed for underwater wear, while he lived above the surface, finding the balance of practicality and appearances demanded by the political nature of his existence at the time. (Also a personal comfort thing as Mezalean clothing tended to afford more skin coverage and also had shoes) Once he and Lizzie were more comfortable both in the world and with each other he had more opportunities for personalization and tended towards Mezalean styles in oceanic colors. He did develop a significant appreciation for the Oceanic idea of skin-tight under-layers for water travel.

King Joel: He did end up back in Mezalea as king, which is when we hit the style closest to the second skin, which mostly for this is really an indicator of color scheme. Formally, he is now wearing the full Kaftan and Jewelry look, day to day its more of "colorful, simple, and lightweight" because he still is very active in the day to day commerce of his empire. He does usually wear significantly more jewelry than he did as a prince, he grew a taste for it during his trophy husband era XD. The details of his day-to-day wear are also fancier. finer fabrics, more embroidery, brocade hems, etc.

Most of his earrings are gifts from Lizzie, some in Oceanic colors, some in Mezalean, but all with little chips of prismarine to remind him of her even when she can't be there.

Armor: Joel's armor preferences are simple netherite plate. He also does have a ceremonial trident, as a member of the Oceanic royal family. His is gold-plated.

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Lizzie || Jimmy ||

AU Masterpost

[minecraftbookshelf]

@passivedecept replied to your post “what even Happened during the MOS rivendell...”:

Okay but the coup not being actually planned as coup really fits xornoth? Xornoth, in my head at this point at least, is the act first think later type (scott is the think a lot first and act dramatic later) So for xornoth to burn the palace and killed their parents. Being smug they won. Only to surrdenly realise that... who are all these people following them and- why are they expecting them to make more choices and- OH!

​Yeah it was very much not planned as a coup. They went in with full scorched earth intentions of the "leave no survivors" variety.

(Neither of the Rivendell Siblings is anything even approaching emotionally or mentally stable.)

Fortunately Something Happened (before they got too far with the earth scorching luckily, though not soon enough that there aren't consequences still that they will be dealing with for a very long time) and was the catalyst for a wild change of plans.

It was very much a hostile takeover, and a good portion of the Rivendell populace approached it kind of like a hostage situation for quite a bit of time (Scott was the hostage in this scenario) It took some time (and a wedding) but it turns out that Xornoth is actually Not Horrible at being king. It helps that their parents were, in fact, absolutely terrible at ruling in addition to being terrible in general and so despite...Everything, things have actually been improving in Rivendell at a slow but steady pace.

(The second winter of Xornoth's reign was the first winter in nearly a generation where no sickness swept the city and no children or elderly died. The Power of Trade with Helianthia.)

[minecraftbookshelf]

ok so I know you’re writing and probably already thought of this but I’m case you didn’t: the differences in elven courting rituals and oceanic courting rituals, specifically when it comes to wedding gifts. if you have thought about this feel free to ignore but the way I see it

elves live a while,and probably know about the arranged marriages a decent amount of time before they happen, so in between wedding planning and normal life each half of the marriage is planning some extravagant amazing wedding gift like gardens of gold or giant tapestries and stuff like that

meanwhile ocean/swamp folk who don’t live as long probably have more personal gifts, even in arraigned marriages bc they’re still getting to know each other! but either way the gifts are more personal and specifically tailored to the other half

so keeping track we have Scott, panicking bc he has like zero time to plan a wedding and learn a language and make a wedding gift and so the necessary things for life in however little time he has, Jimmy, panicking bc he doesn’t know anything about scott, no one he knows knows anything about scott, and even when they finally meet scott isn’t exactly an open book! so Jimmy is trying to do the same things as scott (tjough his doesn’t need to be as extravagant) in addition to finding out who the hell he’s getting married to and also ruling a kingdom

AND (you thought I was done NO the adhdemons love this concept and filled the no-box fan void with fictional politics) you have Lizzie, Joel, Xornoth, and Iona, who also had to get gifts for each other

first I need you to know that I saw your url and had the immediate gut reaction of "oh same hat!" XD

Anywho

So courting traditions in general:

I don't have too much set in stone currently, lots of ideas and concepts though, because I'm half shaping the story around it and half shaping it around the story, because writing be like that (rip) but I do have a few things.

Rivendell is basically just Tolkein's elves partly isekai-ed into minecraft, lets be real. So I've yoinked the tradition from there of the bride-to-be's family gifting a jewel (usually of magical or historical or familial importance) to the groom-to-be as a sort of pre-dowry. Only because heteronormativity does not exist here it is usually a mutual exchange of gifts. Tapestries and other labor and skill intensive textile arts also play a role because of the importance of textiles in Rivendell culture (see the ask that I'm answering after this one for more details on that) And there is also just a general idea of "a demonstration of what you are bringing to the table" for the actual wedding exchange. Like the most intense and stressful art show where both your entire extended family and also your significant other/others's extended family will be judging it. (Exact form of art varies depending on the skills and interests of the elf in question; culinary, poetry, musical, metal working...the list goes on)

The Swamp has fewer actual universal traditions. Due to their recent (past few centuries) history they are basically two nations that mixed and mingled and also include a few different diasporas interspersed within them. Jimmy himself tends towards more Oceanic traditions, which include things like feats of bravery and provision. This will go both exactly as well as you think it will and genuinely very well. (Oceanic traditions tend towards dramatic and grand gestures and statements. Ability to protect and provide is a huge thing both in the Ocean and the Swamp.)

Also Jimmy absolutely panics and ends up asking a good dozen random citizens for advice.

You also have the added layer of this specific instance being an arranged marriage (which isn't especially unusual) between two empires (which is wildly unusual at their social level) That custom is, in fact, purely an Oceanic one. (Which is why Joel and Lizzie were the previous example)

Most/all of the other Empires don't tend to intermarry their royals because enough Empires don't use familial succession models that it renders it fairly unstable as an alliance technique. There's more context for the Oceanic take on it but that is a whole nother post/will be in the fics explicitly.

The point of all this is that both parties are kind of stressed and trying to figure out how to compromise/accommodate while not really having a fully applicable framework for this situation (on Rivendell's part.)

Rivendell barely has interacted with the other empires for generations let alone married them.

Xornoth and Iona actually had it fairly easy, outside figuring out how to navigate the religious minefield that is Xornoth's entire existence. It was a very matter of fact, business like courtship that Scott and Iona ran with all the stringent focus of a military operation (which it basically was) and not even Xornoth's tendency towards chaos could really do much in the face of that.

In the context of like, personal gifts Joel and Lizzie actually got off really easy because by the time they got married-married they'd technically been married for several years already.

[minecraftbookshelf]

Marriage of State AU: Masterpost

My WIP Empires S1 AU featuring a completely different timeline, some canon problems are not issues but we've given them all new ones to make up for it.

At this point the arranged marriages are more of a minor plot point because I have gotten lost in the worldbuilding of fantasy geopolitics, religion, and agricultural commerce, but the name stuck long enough that we're just rolling with it.

Standard Disclaimer that this is about the Minecraft DnD Characters, not the creators who play them.

This series is also on my AO3

You can find all the posts for this au in the #marriage of state au tag, which is the first one on this post, for your convenience.

Index of links below the cut

Xornoth's POV Trigger Warning

Fic

In the Hall of the Ocean Queen Arc:

In the Age of Icons Arc:

Mistakes Are Made [AO3] [Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3]

Into Ash Arc:

Character Oneshots:

Art

The Ocean Queen The Codfather: Version One // Version Two The Mad King of Mezalea The Elven King of Rivendell The Copper King Shrub Berry the Gnome The Prince of Rivendell The Lost Emperor The Farmer Queen The King of Mythland The Great Wizard The Count of the Grimlands The Faerie Queen

Joel Takes A Nap

This Amazing Joel Detail by @heliostheperson

Important Posts

Where It All Started

Character Design Posts: Lizzie || Jimmy || Joel || Xornoth || Pixlriffs || Shrub Berry || Scott || Joey || Pearl || Mythical J Sausage || GeminiTay || Fwhip || Katherine

Tags

Marriage of State AU (new to old) // Marriage of State AU (old to new)

Character Tags: Fwhip || GeminiTay || Joey || Katherine || Lizzie || Sausage || Pearl || Pixlriffs || Shrub Berry || Scott || Joel || Jimmy || Xornoth

Empire Tags: The Grimlands || The Crystal Cliffs || The Lost Empire || The Overgrown || The Ocean Empire || Mythland || Gilded Helianthia || Pixandria || The Undergrove || Rivendell || Mezalea || The Cod Swamp || Mangrovia

Grouping Tags: Seablings || Rivendell Siblings || Roseblings || Ocean Alliance || WRA || ShadowBeans (I refuse) || Flower Husbands || Jornoth || Nature Wives || Ensemble || Gods & Monsters || Hermits & Friends || OCs (all two of them with their .05 seconds of screen-time)

MoS AU Fic

MoS AU Asks

MoS AU Fic Snippets and Previews

MoS AU World-building

MoS AU Art

I also tag all asks with the url of the asker and HERE is a cheat code to search for posts filtering for more than one tag (only usable on a browser)

[minecraftbookshelf]

Also yes this does mean that Joel has annual duels with relatives who have an increasing number of “greats” in front of “grand-nibling”

How To Become King of Mezalea

@sleepingjasminetea has once again spoken as the external executive function so!

How succession works in Mezalea.

Also a general note relevant to the succession criteria of the majority of the empires. Remember this whole thing, where Pix kind of accidentally changed the formal definition of war in the empires? That had a lot of implications for how royalty functioned in the Empires. While they still absolutely have internal duties and responsibilities and privileges, ultimately their most important job is that they stand ready to defend their empire and its people at all times. Part of this is that they also function as international ambassadors in a way, while most empires also have official ambassadors, the relationships and interactions between the emperors themselves are a very important (sometimes volatile) facet of international relations. A country cannot be recognized internationally as an autonomous nation without an official Emperor/Head of State.

Mezalea is a mortal realm, with a mixed human and hybrid population.

Like Mythland, they have a single royal family. However the exact succession traditions vary significantly from Mythland.

To ascend to the Mezalean throne, rather than completing a designated quest, the heir to the throne must defeat the reigning monarch in single combat.

This duel is an annual event, held before the entire court and a not insignificant portion of the general populace, with a great deal of ritual attached to it.

Technically any member of the royal family can challenge, once they have passed through the Mother Tree (the Mezalean coming-of-age ritual, more on that another time) but historically it was only the acknowledged heir to the throne who actually did so. This was usually the oldest child of the reigning monarch, but not always, if that individual did not consider themselves capable or was otherwise deemed unsuitable for the role the next in line would hold the title of heir, and so forth.

While this is a ceremony and a ritual, it is also very much a genuine combat, in which both parties give their all. Once the reigning monarch has been defeated, the new king or queen is crowned and Sleeps Beneath the Mother Tree, bonding with the tree and the Mezalean people, and their rule begins, usually with their defeated parent/grandparent/aunt/uncle/relative remaining in an advisory capacity for at least a few years.

Now.

Joel.

Joel is a bit of an unusual situation that has thrown a bit of a spanner in the works.

Joel was not intended to be the king, with two older siblings who both had children, even before he got married off to the Ocean Queen. His mother had multiple heirs waiting in the wings.

And then about a century and a bit after he and Lizzie settled into their relationship, a plague hit Mezalea.

The majority of the royal family was completely wiped out, along with far too many of the people. There were survivors, but they were mostly non-combatant adults and children. No one suitable to take the throne. So Joel, who had gone back to Mezalea to help during the sickness, took the throne, proving himself against the greatest soldier left alive in the Mezalean army, since none of his own family remained for the challenge.

His niece had been queen, succeeding her father, his brother, who had succeeded Joel's mother. And her only child, a toddler, had survived, though the illness had left them with damaged health. And several of Joel's grand-nieces and nephews survived in varying levels of fighting fit, though none of them were more than fifteen years old.

So the idea was that Joel would be king for five or ten years, until one of his grand-niblings was able to defeat him. Several of them showed promise, so although they decided not to name an official heir at that time, everyone had high hopes.

And then...Joel just...never got defeated.

It's been a few hundred years now.

It's getting mildly awkward.

He's not physically aging, so he's still in the full strength of what appears to be his late twenties/early thirties, while just getting older and more skilled as time goes by.

He's done amazing things for Mezalean infrastructure and international relations though, so its clearly working out. And as much as he adores his wife and did enjoy parts of being a trophy husband, it was genuinely pretty boring so it's nice having a full-time job again.

-

AU Masterpost

[minecraftbookshelf]

Mos has consumed my thoughts

Bit of a sad ask, but do you think about how guilty joel probably feels for being in love with the person that, ya know, destroyed muzelia that one time.

So there is absolutely some guilt in the early days.

The good news is that Mezalea wasn’t ever actually destroyed. There was a couple of ships and their crews lost and some costal holdings looted and destroyed but Mezalea as a whole was left untouched. (There was some life lost and this is the source of most of the guilt)

There are also some other factors at play. I’ve actually written a good chunk of this part already, it just isn’t ready to post yet (because there’s things that happen first that I still have to write) but the sort of spark notes version is that Pixlriffs probably saved hundreds of lives at least through a bit of deft negotiation and also sheer luck.

[minecraftbookshelf]

In which order were the empires formed/founded? (Mos)

So I guess the answer to this is more or less "it depends"?

Because while some empires could be claimed to be much older than the others, almost none of them are really the same as their original versions.

The one real exception to this is the Overgrown, which looks much the same in the "present day" as it did when it first began, long before mortals walked the earth.

On the other hand...Rivendell could be argued to be almost as old as the Overgrown, but really, its the single, honestly somewhat bedraggled, remnant of what used to be multiple massive elvish kingdoms.

The Ocean Empire is easily as old as either of these, but the majority of their ancient infrastructure was lost not long after Lizzie hatched.

The mortal kingdoms came after; of those, Pixandria, the Mythlands, and the Swamp are the oldest. The Lost Empire and Mezalea were shortly after that and then Helianthia split off from Mythland and the Grimlands was settled. The Crystal Cliffs is the youngests.

(Legend has it that Mangrovia is where the first mortals woke up, but no one knows for sure.)