#pallanoph headworld

[pallanophblargh]

Happy birthday!! I have a worldbuilding question for you: do pallanophs have deities that they worship? I hope your birthday is a good one!

Thank you! I think my day went pretty well, even with me being at work. Definitely had my mood improved vastly!

This is a question I’ve been tossing around for a while: The answer I’ve been leaning towards is pallanophs don’t have deities, though they likely have a sort of belief system, or more accurately, a world-view. Mostly I wanted to make them more distinct from humanity in general by making them non-spiritual, though I still need to work on how they evolved to be that way, and how their sapience and intelligence has diverged from humans. 

They are, however, more or less “practitioners” of nature worship, I suppose: they respect and observe nature’s processes and hold them up as great constant truths. So they aren’t interested in entities so much as forces bigger than themselves. I suppose “naturalism” could be used as a catch-all here, but philosophy isn’t my forte, haha!

Basically, pallanophs never saw the point in actively worshiping or attempting to change events beyond their control. They do keep certain rituals, especially regarding death, but these practices are also practical. (I’ve been meaning to come up with some of these, though I’m fairly decided on pallanophs practicing a form of sky burial.)

Their apparent lack of theistic beliefs likely caused chaffing in relationships with human neighbors on some occasions, and I imagine that some pallanoph ambassadors would “adopt” a human religion to placate their human neighbors, though it’s highly unlikely a pallanoph would actively believe.

I really want to keep mulling this over, especially as I worry I’ve been lazy in certain aspects of pallanoph cultural development. (I think it has to do with me having little understanding of culture in general? People are a mystery to me and I am ashamed, ha!)

[pallanophblargh]

So tell me more about Tjardek's living structures and Sorstan's magpies. :D -- Tjardek's #1 Fan

Oh man, let’s see if I can get a little bit of world-building up in here!

I’ve been thinking about ‘noph dwellings for a while now, and though it very much depends on the habitat, most of the woodland ‘nophs will build with stones of varying sizes, coupled with dug-outs and live trees. Some pallanophs are almost human like in their habits and will fell trees (I’m going to have to come up with methods as to how they manage that) and make almost cabin-like structures that may lean against hillsides or be free-standing, but a lot of woodland ‘nophs prefer a less destructive approach, where they plant sapling trees of fast growing and flexible nature (I feel like birches would work, but I need to read more, also they likely have their own special tree species unique to their world) and basically plant them to form living walls. They tend the trees, gently prune, tie, and stake, often meticulously weaving them together while providing them fertilizer (blood and bones from kills in particular, along with composted mulches). In a handful of years, the trees are grafted to one another to create a sturdy roof, after which point the framework of the living dwelling is finished and the trees are more or less left to continue their growth. Insulation (exterior) is composed of interwoven pine boughs/needles, or mats of living vegetation.

Some pallanophs might get a little ornamental with their grafting. I imagine Tjardek enjoys adding little embellishments with his growing trees: He’s grown some very nice ornamental windows for the dwelling they all share. As for how Tjardek came upon this unusual craft, I imagine it turned up just before adolescence, when Sorstan acknowledged his brother’s dangerous temper and decided to turn his energies to more positive ends. I imagine there was a conversation that went something like this:

Sorstan: “You need to think about things that DON’T make you angry. What are those things?”

Tjardek: “You. Sometimes… and mom.”

Sorstan: “OTHER things. Don’t get smart at me.”

Tjardek: “Alright… the trees, they don’t gossip, for one thing. And they’re quiet, unlike your birds.”

Which brings us to Sorstan’s birds! False magpies (they’ll get a better name someday?) serve as a messenger service if you don’t want to/can’t send a message in person. The magpies are wicked smart and have excellent verbal memory, so can recite a message pretty reliably. Magpies have a strong tie to pallanophs, as the pallanophs supply food, nesting, shelter, and protection for their services. Sorstan and Tjardek mostly work together as border rangers (they escort ambassadors from other tribes, report movement of pallanophs within and outside of the tribe, and protect the tribe from aggressive rogues, among other things) but both of them need their side hobbies to relax and unwind. Sorstan regularly feeds most of the village’s birds scraps and special treats, checks and treats them for any parasites, illnesses, injuries, etc., and plays Big Brother during fledging season, where he dutifully climbs trees to return clumsy chicks to their nests. He also teaches them pallanoph words to increase their innate speaking ability: persistent coaching and encouragement yields the best messengers, after all. To make a long story short, he is the ultimate bird friend.

(I’m totally cheating by giving them jobs/hobbies that are relevant to my interests… ahahahah, worldbuilding, bit by tiny bit!)

[pallanophblargh]

Are pallanophs and aequis apart of your same headworld? What’s their relationship with each other?

They’re both from different headworlds (planets actually): Pallanophs lazily inhabit an “alternate earth,” and Aequis inhabit a planet that has some obvious earthlike parallels but certainly isn’t earth. However, their as-of-yet unnamed planet IS habitable to us. So it’s lightly colonized by space faring humans (and maybe humanoids?) in the future their story is set in.

In canon, they never interact, but off the top of my head, I imagine they’d be wary of each other, with the pallanophs being mildly jealous/perplexed/curious, and the Aequis wondering if pallanophs are anything like the “gryphons” that are their major adversaries/competitors. (”Hey, at least they can’t fly, but I don’t like that they can climb trees...”)

[pallanophblargh]

I really dont think your standards are too high when it comes to not wanting people to steal your creations! i mean its not even like basic curtesy its just not being an absolute asshole? its ridiculous that people think that somehow stealing art online is ok but if it happens irl its not. im sorry you have to deal w so much crap regarding all of this. thank you so much for still sharing your art maybe it sounds cheesy but i really think its brave of you. Your art is so gorgeous and inspiring!

First of all, thank you! Despite this being a problem that plagues so many artists, and we speak of it quite often publicly, you’d think that would be common knowledge, right? Alas, entitlement/ignorance is widespread. Also it’s common for someone to come along with the casual comment “Hey theft is flattery come on” and it’s doubly insulting for someone such as myself, who doesn’t see flattery as any sort of currency whatsoever. 

Thankfully I don’t deal with/encounter theft/plagiarism of my work as often as I might, but I also tend to not go looking for offenders. It’s tedious, having to police such instances, and maintaining polite firmness with each interaction is a lot of work. 

Sharing my work (especially that of a personal nature) has always been a deep struggle of mine, and a matter of trusting the general public to at least try to be respectful. Most of the time the experience is worth it, so that outweighs most of the negative consequences. I feel like I’ve been very fortunate overall, thanks largely to a group of supportive friends and followers I’ve gotten to know over the years. 

(Certain headworld/personal creatures are posted with great reluctance each time, since they’ve been with me through personal hells and such. And pallanophs, when I first created them as a child, were poorly received, so... yeah, they’re very dear to me!)

[pallanophblargh]

Some questions about your noph characters. Who are Orstad and Reivig? Also what colors Mirthond (my fav) and Flier?

Ah, some easy ones! (I’ve got some heavy pallanoph headworld questions in this inbox that still need some good thorough answers, ahahaha)

Orstad is mate to Mirthond and together they are leaders of the Skirdet tribe (more or less distributed through alternate universe Sweden). He’s the charismatic and more easy-going half of their duo, he likes to be the face of relations with his people, and likes to interact with them directly when possible. He can be a little ham-handed with more subtle matters (disputes, sentencing criminals, etc.) and these he hands off to Mirthond, who is calculating and thorough, the brains behind the outfit. She won’t shirk from anything that involves getting her hands dirty.

Reivig is Sorstan’s fellow assassin, his brother in arms, of the Teirn tribe (alternate universe Germania). Loyal to a fault, excessively stubborn, and more than a little surly towards Sorstan, he is selfless when it comes to his tribe and his lord. He’s not terribly good at thinking for himself.

You’re reminding me that I STILL really need to do a color sketch of Mirthond: as she stands now in my mind’s eye, she’s an ashy/silvery fawn/blond color, with the tips of each guard hair being silvery/white. Her summer coat would be a richer darker shade than the light creamy silver of her winter coat.

Flier is a kind of brownish silver and charcoal combo with a little off-white markings for good measure.

(That’ll be a good use for winter days to come, taking a break and doing color refs/tests for pallanophs!)

[pallanophblargh]

Hey :) I just read about your Aequis taxonomy, and I was wondering - you said that they live on an Earth-like planet (but not Earth itself), which would mean that there's no terrestrial taxonomy in which they could be placed. Or did the pioneers bring species (which where formerly endemic to Earth) to this planet which became the foundation for Aequian (?) evolution?

Ah, yes! We were actually discussing the pallanoph taxonomy (my little excuse is their world is an “alternate universe earth”) so we were trying to rationalize where they might fit in the slightly shifted phylogenetic tree.

With Aequis, they definitely wouldn’t fit nicely following earth’s evolutionary patterns especially with that crazy hexapod strategy, so I would get to come up with a whole new tree of species just for their headworld.

(Though OH MY GOD the concept of endemic Earth ancestors being introduced would be a REALLY neat idea! I need to spend some free time this winter doing some reading on evolution, it’s something I’ve been meaning to brush up on for so many years now.)

[pallanophblargh]

Pallanophs and Aquis are by far your most famous creatures, but do you have any others?

I have others, but none are even remotely as well developed as pallanophs or Aequis. (Links included for viewing pleasure.)

Cirthans: very large carnivores sharing the pallanoph headworld, they resemble a mashup of hyena, bear, and entelodont with perhaps a dash of thylacine. Woefully absent, but I really don’t have time to work on them at this moment.

Ynderrogs: Generic fantasy horned ungulate. These need a pretty heavy overhaul, as they also share the pallanoph headworld. Decently intelligent as far as ungulates go, generally distrustful, humans have attempted to domesticate them now and again.

Doluns: A caprine-like creature, but dialed up to 11? Also, toes. They also share the pallanoph headworld. Their appearance is a bit more set, but I need to develop them more. What else is new?

Kinda-Sorta Gryphons: Nemesis species for the Aequis on their homeworld. Ambush predators, tree dwellers, not fully capable of sustained powered flight. Otherwise utterly terrifying. NEED TO PUSH THIS CONCEPT. (But where?) A real species name wouldn’t hurt, either. 

Twitch the Featherbeast: Not really a species, but a fun mashup exercise that resulted in this super cute buddy. He doesn’t have a home, and that depresses me intensely. His influence seems to be bleeding over into Aequis Homeworld “Gryphons” though...

I... think that covers it?