#the worldbuilding.... the folklore.... the

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

I owe @freenarnian both an apology and a thanks tonight, possibly

[stutterhug]

Night Vigil

[filurig]

ALSO finally. updated nattramn ref somewhat. their anatomy change is a bit subtle but i did make them More Creatura i will say.

[writingwithcolor]

Sri Lankan Fairies and Senegalese Goddesses: Mixing Mythology as a Mixed Creator

[Note: this archive ask was submitted before the Masterpost rules took effect in 2023. The ask has been abridged for clarity.]

@reydjarinkenobi asked:

Hi, I’m half Sri Lankan/half white Australian, second gen immigrant though my mum moved when she was a kid. My main character for my story is a mixed demigod/fae. [...] Her bio mum is essentially a Scottish/Sri Lankan fairy and her other bio mum (goddess) is a goddess of my own creation, Nettamaar, who’s name is derived from [...] Wolof words [...]. The community of mages that she presided over is from the South Eastern region of Senegal [...] In the beginning years of European imperialism, the goddess basically protected them through magic and by blessing a set of triplets effectively cutting them off from the outside world for a few centuries [...] I was unable to find a goddess that fit the story I wanted to tell [...] and also couldn’t find much information on the internet for local gods, which is why I have created my own. I know that the gods in Hinduism do sort of fit into [the story] but my Sri Lankan side is Christian and I don’t feel comfortable representing the Hindu gods in the way that I will be this goddess [...]. I wanted to know if any aspect of the community’s history is problematic as well as if I should continue looking further to try and find an African deity that matched my narrative needs? I was also worried that having a mixed main character who’s specifically half black would present problems as I can’t truly understand the black experience. I plan on getting mixed and black sensitivity readers once I finish my drafts [...] I do take jabs at white supremacy and imperialism and I I am planning to reflect my feelings of growing up not immersed in your own culture and feeling overwhelmed with what you don’t know when you get older [...]. I’m sorry for the long ask but I don’t really have anyone to talk to about writing and I’m quite worried about my story coming across as insensitive or problematic because of cultural history that I am not educated enough in.

Reconciliation Requires Research

First off: how close is this world’s history to our own, omitting the magic? If you’re aiming for it to be essentially parallel, I would keep in mind that Senegal was affected by the spread of Islam before the Europeans arrived, and most people there are Muslim, albeit with Wolof and other influences. 

About your Scottish/Sri Lankan fairy character: I’ll point you to this previous post on Magical humanoid worldbuilding, Desi fairies as well as this previous post on Characterization for South Asian-coded characters for some of our commentary on South Asian ‘fae’. Since she is also Scottish, the concept can tie back to the Celtic ideas of the fae.

However, reconciliation of both sides of her background can be tricky. Do you plan on including specific Sri Lankan mythos into her heritage? I would tread carefully with it, if you plan to do so. Not every polytheistic culture will have similar analogues that you can pull from.

To put it plainly, if you’re worried about not knowing enough of the cultural histories, seek out people who have those backgrounds and talk to them about it. Do your research thoroughly: find resources that come from those cultures and read carefully about the mythos that you plan to incorporate. Look for specificity when you reach out to sensitivity readers and try to find sources that go beyond a surface-level analysis of the cultures you’re looking to portray. 

~ Abhaya

I see you are drawing on Gaelic lore for your storytelling. Abhaya has given you good links to discussions we’ve had at WWC and the potential blindspots in assuming, relative to monotheistic religions like Christianity, that all polytheistic and pluralistic lore is similar to Gaelic folklore. Fae are one kind of folklore. There are many others. Consider:

Is it compatible? Are Fae compatible with the Senegalese folklore you are utilizing? 

Is it specific? What ethnic/religious groups in Senegal are you drawing from? 

Is it suitable? Are there more appropriate cultures for the type of lore you wish to create?

Remember, Senegalese is a national designation, not an ethnic one, and certainly not a designation that will inform you with respect to religious traditions. But more importantly:

...Research Requires Reconciliation

My question is why choose Senegal when your own heritage offers so much room for exploration? This isn’t to say I believe a half Sri-Lankan person shouldn’t utilize Senegalese folklore in their coding or vice-versa, but, to put it bluntly, you don’t seem very comfortable with your heritage. Religions can change, but not everything cultural changes when this happens. I think your relationship with your mother’s side’s culture offers valuable insight to how to tackle the above, and I’ll explain why.  

I myself am biracial and bicultural, and I had to know a lot about my own background before I was confident using other cultures in my writing. I had to understand my own identity—what elements from my background I wished to prioritize and what I wished to jettison. Only then was I able to think about how my work would resonate with a person from the relevant background, what to be mindful of, and where my blindspots would interfere. 

I echo Abhaya’s recommendation for much, much more research, but also include my own personal recommendation for greater self-exploration. I strongly believe the better one knows oneself, the better they can create. It is presumptuous for me to assume, but your ask’s phrasing, the outlined plot and its themes all convey a lack of confidence in your mixed identity that may interfere with confidence when researching and world-building. I’m not saying give up on this story, but if anxiety on respectful representation is a large barrier for you at the moment, this story may be a good candidate for a personal project to keep to yourself until you feel more ready.

(See similar asker concerns here: Running Commentary: What is “ok to do” in Mixed-Culture Supernatural Fiction, here: Representing Biracial Black South American Experiences and here: Am I fetishizing my Japanese character?)

- Marika.

Start More Freely with Easy Mode

Question: Why not make a complete high-fantasy universe, with no need of establishing clear real-world parallels in the text? It gives you plenty of leg room to incorporate pluralistic, multicultural mythos + folklore into the same story without excessive sweating about historically accurate worldbuilding.

It's not a *foolproof* method; even subtly coded multicultural fantasy societies like Avatar or the Grishaverse exhibit certain harmful tropes. I also don't know if you are aiming for low vs high fantasy, or the degree of your reliance on real world culture / religion / identity cues.

But don't you think it's far easier for this fantasy project to not have the additional burden of historical accuracy in the worldbuilding? Not only because I agree with Mod Marika that perhaps you seem hesitant about the identity aspect, but because your WIP idea can include themes of othering and cultural belonging (and yes, even jabs at supremacist institutions) in an original fantasy universe too. I don't think I would mind if I saw a couple of cultural markers of a Mughal Era India-inspired society without getting a full rundown of their agricultural practices, social conventions and tax systems, lol.

Mod Abhaya has provided a few good resources about what *not* to do when drawing heavily from cultural coding. With that at hand, I don't think your project should be a problem if you simply make it an alternate universe like Etheria (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power), Inys (The Priory of the Orange Tree) or Earthsea (the Earthsea series, Ursula K. Le Guin). Mind you, we can trace the analogues to each universe, but there is a lot of freedom to maneuver as you wish when incorporating identities in original fantasy. And of course, multiple sensitivity readers are a must! Wishing you the best for the project.

- Mod Mimi

[whereserpentswalk]

Fae do not have a concept of good and evil. But they do have a concept of fair and unfair. They are creatures of politeness and impolitness. Even when they're doing things that would be horrifying to humans, they do these things with a specific set of rules around them.

Most of their weaknesses are only weaknesses because they see them as making things fair. Fae are physically capable of lying, but they consider it cheating to lie to someone who isn't familiar with the fae. Likewise, fae can create unbreakable curses or unsolvable puzzles, but it's considered improper to do so. Even their material weakness works this way, if a fae is cut by an iron sword they'll but hurt by it because it was the polite thing to do.

They'll also always match the power level of any human who wanders into the fae realms, so the human in question never meets a challenge they can't overcome. When a knight of the Holy Roman Empire and his men tried to conquer part of the fae realms in 1126 the fae fought like medieval soldiers, using tactics and strategies that would be clever and strange but understandable to him and his men, the numbers of warriors never being too much for him to defeat, even when he could. And when the D.T.L paranormal containment organization sent in modern soldiers with firearms and gas masks to assassinate the fae Queen of Winter Dawn in 2004, the fae responded accordingly, with ranged weapons, and hit and run tactics, that a modern commander could play off of. And, in 1873, when three children got lost in the fae realms, deeper then any human who had been lost there before or after, the fae filled their path of peril with puzzles and traps that the children could solve. One of the children ended up having her eyes turned into spiders, and all of them were traumatized, but it's the fairness the counts to the fae. When you're billions of years old you just care about different things.

And of course. There are some fae that break the rules, fae who will truly do everything in their power to affect the world. These fae are useally exiled from the fae realms, to far off and desolate planes, where they wander and seek power. They are truly terrifying creatures, though in the places they are sent they can rarely use their power. Few who encounter them who aren't their loyal servents escape with both their lives and their humanity.

And of course, fae politeness isn't universal. It applies to humans, and to other fae, and to some other entities. But when there's a true threat to the existence of the fae they will use everything in their power to stop it, polite or impolite. When the star spawn and the great old ones attempted their invasion of the fae in 700MYA they were very promptly destroyed, and pushed back using horrors humanity can't comprehend, horrors the star spawn could barely comprehend. And when the demons on the 8th abyss attempted their invasion in 10MYA they were given almost an equal horror, spared only from pure destruction because they fae found such creatures to be useful.

[shaylogic]

I cannot believe this fandom was so blindsided by the gay drama that we missed the obvious lore drop of Sedna hinting at the greater worldbuilding of Inuit Mythology implied at the end of the season with Niko and all the other afterlife folklore season 2 may explore

[autophage]

How To Survive In Our Village

a collaborative storytelling game for 3-10 players

You will need:

three coins to flip

paper or other writing surface for a map

notecards to write on

a writing utensil

Round 1: Society

Starting with the player whose name has the longest history, and then proceeding widdershins (counterclockwise), each player describes a role within the Village. This can be official (mayor, seneschal, sherriff) or unofficial (matchmaker, drunkard, lothario). The next player gives the names of the current and previous person that occuppied that role, as well as the circumstances under which the role changed hands. At the end of the round, the first player (the one whose name has the longest history) names and describes the handing off of the role that was specified by the player before them. Each Role is written on a notecard, along with the names of both defined people in that role; these notecards make up the Society deck.

Round 2: Location

Before this round begins, draw a regular grid (Cartesian or hex probably work best). In the order from player with the earliest birthday in the year to latest in the year, players take turns labeling each space on the grid until the grid is filled up. Labels can include passable features (plain, meadow, road), structures (homes, places of commerce, monuments, temples), or features (natural or otherwise) that may impede motion (rivers, quarries, dense forests). Each player also flips all three coins. If all 3 coins come up the same, the player must describe an event that happened (either recently or passed down in oral tradition) at the location placed by the previous player; add a number to the location on the grid and write the event down on a notecard with the corresponding number; these notecards make up the History deck. This round continues until all spaces on the grid have a description.

Round 3: Needs

Starting with the player who last ate, and proceeding sunwise (clockwise), each player specifies a need that the villagers have (strict needs, such as food or water, but also social needs, such as status or amusement). Each subsequent player defines two different ways that the previously defined need can be met. At the end of the round, the first player (the one who most recently ate) defines two ways of meeting the need defined by the previous player. Each Need is written on a notecard, which constitute the Needs deck.

Round 4: How To Survive

Before this round begins, shuffle each Deck. Starting with the player who most recently suffered a hardship, and then proceeding widdershins (counterclockwise), each player flips 3 coins; for each that comes up heads, they must draw a card from any of the existing Decks. The player then specifies one Danger that is INSIDE the Village and one Danger that is OUTSIDE the village. The next player specifies how to avoid or mitigate each Danger defined by the previous player before specifying their own Dangers. The player must work any cards drawn into some aspect of what they have generated; after each player finishes, cards are shuffled back into their Decks. At the end of the round, the first player (the one who most recently suffered a hardship) specifies how to avoid or mitigate the Dangers specified by the player before them. This information is written on a notecard; these notecards constitute the Insular Knowledge of the Village.

(Background: Eugène Isabey’s “Entry to the Village of Bains”. Public domain, housed in the Met collection.)

[zal-cryptid]

What are the three ghosts of Christmas like in the other world canon. I believe jacob Marley worked tooth and nail to get them to help Scrooge and Is the ghost of Christmas yet to come an aspect of death

I call them the "Three Santas" in my Otherworld canon.

The Ghost of Christmas Past is the spirit of Saint Lucy, chosen due to her association with light and sight, as well as her holiday being in mid-December.

The Ghost of Christmas Present was always going to be obvious. Dickens based him on Father Christmas, an English folk figure that evolved from pagan traditions who later merged with Saint Nicholas.

And finally, keeping with the theme of choosing saints, it only made sense I find one that personified death in some fashion in order to represent the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. The mexican folk saint Santa Meurte seemed like a perfect, albeit somewhat out of place, fit.

[lycanthrop-ee-art]

When the seasons were young, the Spirit of Spring gifted the Spirit of Winter an animal of the sun which brought light with its antlers. Its coat was soft and it had paws and cloven hooves both. It was to be a source of food in the cold times and carry the sun’s light through the dark months, and it was named a jackalope. This gift, the Great Hare, gave birth to many more of her kind which lived in the forest with the Spirit. Their feet were strong and swift, and thus he harnessed them and they drew him through the forest on a chariot of wood. 

first / prev / next

[faislittlewhiteraven]

Fais fanfic rambles: Introduction to my 'Selkies by Starlight' ISaT AU

Note: Not to be confused with @looped-140-and-counting / Soren_793's wonderful Selkie AU oneshot series 'The Northern Islanders are Selkies' which was hugely inspiring for this if potentially VERY different in vibe (we got very into talking about cloaks! XD)

Basic premise/summary:

In an alternate version of the precanon adventure, the party lead by Mirabelle to stop the King freezing Vaugarde in time, recruit Siffrin as per usual.

Thing is, Siffrin is a Selkie.

A very skittish selkie without a cloak of their own, who openly wears the cloak of another, and due to Reasons is under the impression that the party know all both of those things and the Implications about them, and for whatever reason have decided to welcome him into their group anyway.

Which er, he's completely wrong about as the party know absolutely nothing.

Mira and Isa like most Vaugardian humans think 'shifters' are just fairytales, Odile knows shapeshifters are real but is only really familiar with how foxes like her father work, and Bonnie is actually able to sense some pretty major things but is a preteen dealing with a lot and hasn't even joined the party yet, so this pretty major misunderstanding is sustained for quite a while...

Cue the AUs' main focus being on the resulting party dynamic shifts as more and more canon divergence due to Sif's 'selkie stuff' (both cute and serious) comes into play, the party slowly realising something is up, and all of it hitting an eruption point right around the time of the 4th Orb/the loss of Siffrin's eye...

Some key world building notes: (Note: very summarised from my docs. I have like 20k+ words on this stuff XD)

The Island - Probably the most drastically different thing from canon here, the Island was not forgotten or erased here. Rather it is hidden away and permanently shrouded in Wish Craft generated fog from 'those without cloaks'. Side note: Sif is still unable to return home and continues to have some very plot critical memory problems but those are due to unrelated issues, which means yay I get to have Sif talk 'home culture' with the others in this =D Also idk why the King is freezing Vaugarde still. I've got a few ideas I'm not sure about and he's not in focus enough for it to even matter really, but random suggestions -especially those with possible selkie motivations- would be very much appreciated.

Selkie powers in my setting - Went into something of a deep dive regarding selkie folklore for this and did you know they have an absolute ton of seer/oracle based stuff going on?

From selkie being summoned by their human lovers shedding seven tears into the ocean, to a selkie man telling a former lover that he and their child will die at the hands by her genuinely good and loving future husband, to a selkie woman forseeing her fisherman husband about to die out in a storm just in time for her to swim over there and rescue him, etc.

So... Yeah. This AU has a lot of plot relevant sensory/seer stuff going on as well as the standard seal shapeshifter stuff (Islander selkie traditionally believe it to be the Universe talking with them, in the same way Wish Craft is talking to the Universe), and going off all the stuff I read decided it'd be most fitting if the general rule for how it all works is: - Selkie always passively have a bit of it going on (aka Sif's canon 'you sense someone nearby' stuff) which like most things can be enhanced with Craft use a bit. - Near perfect understanding of all 'connected' bodies of water (aka they know EXACTLY where the tasty fish are/will be and can probably get a general sense of location for most people on a boat) - Potentially get strong 'visions of the future' and/or instincts on what they need to do to avert an outcome when it comes to loved ones being in danger/distress.

They also maybe get to pull very fast, high power Wish Craft 'curses'/miracles' at idk, the cost of something major like their cloak or lives (mostly based off of the The Legend of Kópakonan where the whole island of Kalsoy was cursed with death by a selkie in retaliation for her husband and children being murdered) but not super attached to this idea past it being in 'seal shifter' stories in-setting.

Other non humans in setting and regional differences in shifters - Pretty much only selkie and selkie issues are in focus here, but just as a general thing, all non humans in setting are shapeshifters and originated from human ancestors who went crazy with the the Body Craft and/or used Wish Craft in some way.

Ka Bue in particular has a ton of them since yokai, with their origins being various sects/clans back in the warring eras going so nuts with trying to weaponize Body Craft (super soldiers, enhanced life spans, infiltration, exploiting attraction to furries, etc), that after some particularly high profile incidents (for an idea plz see: Kiyohime, Tamamo no Mae, Kachi-kachi Yama) and 'Body Craft misuse leading to shut down of the brain/vital organs' being the most common cause of death for 10+ years once peace time was established, eventually Ka Bue's authorities set their foot down and banned Body Craft altogether.

Currently the shifter population in Ka Bue is around 30% of the population, shifters are required to have ID regarding their forms (or potential forms if they're merely 'half'), and it's considered distasteful for a shifter to be in non human form outside of private settings/necessity and even ruder to ask a shifter about their non human forms if they haven't brought the topic up yet first (kinda like seeing/asking about someone's underwear or something XD).

In contrast the Vaugarde, Mwudu and Porteria region is extremely shifter sparce, with most of its original shifter population being the result of various Universe worshipping peoples (mostly small groups, like greek mystery cults) deciding to use a big Wish Craft ritual as some sort of religious rite and becoming shifters as a side effect of their primary Wish (usually stuff like 'we wish for us and our descendants to be one with You and the sea/air' or 'may we Change with the phases of the holy moon' etc) which granted them some pretty neat skills but also tended to come with some 'potentially nasty' drawbacks attached (see: selkie and swan maidens with their cloaks, werewolves Changing in both body and mind etc) Which er, lead to some issues born of lack of knowledge about this stuff, later some very nasty anti shifter sentiment in the region, and then around... IDK 200 to 300 years ago or so ended up exploding into violence and other very nasty things, with most shifters able to do so fleeing the region, and those that couldn't either enduring horrible conditions until they could escape/died or went deep into hiding, with the Island's Country being founded by the two later groups who used Wish Craft to hide their new home, erase awareness of their existence from their enemies (a short term, fully intentionally 'forgetting' blast centered specifically around shifters), and developed a LOT of culture and traditions regarding when, who and what can be told to 'outsiders' about themselves, Wish Craft, etc in order to keep their people safe.

There are shifters living in present in Vaugarde of course (anti shifter sentiment died back a LOT after most people stopped thinking they were real, and most modern day Change Believers are more likely to view these 'totally fictional/allegorical' beings as children/messengers of the Change God rather than 'evil demons who stole power by tearing apart the Change God's cloak for themselves and thus have to be hunted down and made to repent' propaganda take that was everywhere back then) but numbers actually living outside the Island as opposed to merely visiting remain low, since either the shifters know their history and stick firmly to their 'stay secret' traditions or quickly pick up on how oddly unknown shifters are around these parts and decide to err on the side of caution... Also 'trust worthy' humans who do learn about them (usually northern coastal folk, gee wonder why) tend to help cover them up so... Yeah =D

---

And... Yeah!

This is hella long as is, so will stop here and ramble about the actual 'how this all affects our beloved Sif and Co plot and culture wise' stuff that is the actual meat of the AU in another post later, but hope this made for an interesting/idea provoking read, know that I have no issue with anyone using any of this for their own works (just please, don't use the 'Selkies under starlight' same story name unless it's actually a fanfic/fanart of my 'hopefully soon has a chapter/one shot up' fic/Ao3 series of the same name so people don't get confused), and I would love to chatter with you about any thoughts/questions you might have so...

Wishing you a good day =D

(sighes in relief finally getting this post finished after literal months. Pheeeeww~)

[toadlett]

New book is here! I'll have this book of 5 rituals for TTRPG, all based off pre-christian traditions in the British Isles, at Tabletop Scotland next weekend!

It's also up on my itch in digital form!

[sanct-dream-reality]

Monster Report Form

An in-universe SANCT official monster-hunting form for monsters defeated in the field. While not mandatory, eligible hunters can fill out the form to receive SANCT Bucks, a SANCT-exclusive currency that can be redeemed at your local Sanct facility store. Hunters may also receive other rewards, such as vouchers or the appropriate local currency, if needed.

[filurig]

some stuff involving non sapient creatures in pareidolia, first image is some animals that tomtar have domesticated, second is a remake of gloson, which is a vätte but is, contrary to most other ones ive made, not a sophont and is instead domesticated by trolls. more info below the cut...

ive already talked about the tomteget in another post, so i wont go into detail about them here, but the one shown in the picture is gullmar's goat (and he is there as well as ucan see). tomtar also keep a domesticated breed of wolverine and ermine, used for some different purposes - wolverines more as guarding/herding animals and ermines to hunt. tomtar don't actually tend to hunt a lot of large prey at all, and what they do hunt is sort of limited as a lot of game birds are sacred to them due to folklore (basically ptarmigans, corvids, grouses, capercailles and things in those veins..). therefore despite how small ermines are they can hunt most of the quarry they prefer such as hares, ducks etc - especially bcs the tomte variety of ermine is bred to be a bit larger and more robust. they can also just be kept as companion animals for many tomtar. wolverines meanwhile serve well as guarding and herding animals due to their size and strength. there is a notable regiment of wolverine fighters in the midlands front - where interested tomtar are trained for combat utilizing the power of the wolverine - the one pictured though is a regular herding/guarding animal though. there are probably some smaller tomte hunting groups that try to go for bigger game with them such as wolves etc. but its definitely pretty unusual. tomteget goats are basically universal across tomte cultures, but the tomte wolverines and ermines are a bit more limited, more occuring in northern cultures historically. although as time goes on they have been spread further south, especially as the midlands front was established and increased the communicative network between different disparate tomte societies. 2. this is just a remake of the gloson from that older post bcs i wasnt really happy with the design - its a laaaaarge animal but didnt really feel like it proportionally bcs i stuck too closely to the normal eu swine proportions... things are mostly the same about them though. the orange parts of the horns glow!

[writingwithcolor]

Running Commentary: What is “ok to do” in Mixed-Culture Supernatural Fiction?

Dear readers: 

Today we are trying something new. To give you some insight into our process in the Japanese moderator section, we are presenting our response in the form of running commentary to show you how we dissect and answer long asks. We hope this makes clear what points are useful and not useful when sending us a query. As always, this is for learning purposes, not callouts. Be prepared: this is a long one. 

To summarize: the asker is looking to create a comic drawn in Japanese manga style, and has provided a long summary of the story and worldbuilding which involves a mix of “reimagined” Japanese yokai mythos and cultural symbols from many other sources. They have questions with respect to cultural appropriation, coding etiquette, and “what is and isn’t ok.” 

Opening Comments

I know a common advice when it comes to the thing I am about to ask is to talk to people involved in __, but I struggle with opening up to strangers for reasons I'm uncomfortable explaining. 

Marika (M): This is already a red flag. If you want to engage with another culture without talking to people from that culture, then research is going to be very challenging. You won’t have members of that culture to guide you towards sources and perspectives they feel most accurately represents public opinion. If I were in your shoes, I might start with tackling my discomfort when engaging with other people, if only to improve my work. If you aren’t ready to engage with a culture and its people directly, then I think you should wait until you are. 

I should note, reaching out to the Japanese mod team at WWC does count as engagement, but WWC should not and cannot be the only point of contact because there is no single, legitimate cultural perspective. 

Rina (R): Also, you don’t need to “open up” to strangers or talk to them in person to get perspectives. Asking specific research questions anonymously to a forum or on social media requires very little vulnerability. You managed to do it here on WWC. So give it a try! 

Anyway, my question basically amounts to the what is and isn't ok [sic] in terms of depicting fantasy creatures and concepts outside of their respective culture.

R: So, the reason why we turn away rubber stamp questions by that ask “is XYZ okay?” is because “okay” & “not okay” 1) is vague and 2) creates a dichotomy where there isn’t one. 

When we say something is “not okay,” do we mean:

It’s offensive to the general majority of XYZ group? 

It’s contentious among people who ID in the group? 

It has a potential to be interpreted in a certain negative way, but may not be a red flag to everyone?

Insetad try asking:

What are the reasons this subject is offensive? 

What makes cultural appropriation bad? 

When might it be “okay” to intentionally discuss a difficult or controversial topic?

What is your reason for including something that may be interpreted as offensive and can it be sufficiently justified? 

What stereotypes or tropes might it be consistently identified as or associated with, and why? 

When might it be justified to bring up these tropes?

With That In Mind...

Let’s get into the rest of the ask below. 

…a story I've been working on in recent times is largely inspired off the Japanese yokai, and the setting is basically Earth in the far future, as far as when the next supercontinent may form. These yokai, although portrayed differently here, do retain their main characteristics [...] Included in this world are two goddesses of my own creation, primarily representing the sun and the moon. [...] There will be thirteen nations, named and based after the Chinese Zodiac, and the life force found in the living things in this world, called qi, comes in two forms that are always opposing each other but can never fully overpower the other, this being based off yin and yang. They're even directly named this; yin qi and yang qi.

M: This reads more like using Japanese and Chinese culture for the “aesthetics”, not the cultures themselves, which I personally feel falls under cultural appropriation. From a world-building/ coding standpoint, the actual use of concepts is workable, and, dare I say, typical, given how Chinese cosmology influences Japanese culture. However, naming a concept “yin qi” or “yang qi” is the equivalent of naming something “- charge” or “+ charge”, respectively. That you don’t seem aware of this tells me you are pretty early in your research phase. In that vein, we’ve covered translating terms and names from foreign languages in fantasy before. See the following article linked here for our recommendation against using RL terms outright but instead encouraging people to create their own conlangs. 

R: Worldbuilding-wise, I think you would have to figure out the chicken-or-egg of the zodiac nations. Did the nations come first, and the zodiac later as an origin folk story (which you would have to rewrite to serve the nation-building narrative)? Did the zodiac come first, and the nations named (most likely re-named) by a political entity? What is the justification? Otherwise, again, it’s a shoehorning of aesthetics. 

There is also a third, lesser known god based off of fox spirits and trickery and I imagined he's the patron deity of a family that honors and worships him, but his influence on them has transformed them into Kitsune-tsuki, which I depict as fox-like anthros. 

M: Not related to this ask directly, but I have jokingly ranted about how often non-Japanese people prefer using imagery related to kitsune-tsuki in Japanese coded world-building (link). This makes me feel the same level of petty irritation. See my troll answer below for a similar experience.

R: Same. It’s boring tbh. 

M: Troll Answer: I get that kitsune-tsuki are very sexy furries, but Japanese folklore has other sexy furries too! These underrepresented demographics also deserve recognition and appreciation!!

The plot of the story is this; modernization has left the goddesses neglected of their worship and forgotten, something that is necessary in this world to stop them from fighting each other. The Moon Goddess awakens first, punishing the humans by unleashing the yokai. Then the Sun Goddess wakes up to fight in humanity's defense…

M: This could feel rather like Shinto-like coding (Ex. the myth of Amaterasu and the Cave, or Tsukuyomi slaying Ukemochi), but something about this scenario feels a bit too binary in terms of themes of good v. evil, light v. dark to be Shinto. The plot also feels more Gaelic/ Nordic in influence for me as a person raised in a Japanese Buddhist and Hindu household. I imagine this dissonance could have been fixed with better guided research. 

…but their fighting has caused a perma-eclipse and this world is in danger of ending. The yokai have run rampant; some are loyal to the Moon Goddess, and some aren't, and it lies to the main characters to bring balance back to Midgard. Yeah... the name of this future Earth is Midgard. I debate changing it since it and some other things I will mention sorta feel out of place.

R: Marika, looks like you were right on the Gaelic/Nordic influence /j 

Also, worldbuilding question: if the Earth is in the far geologic future, how long has it been since modernization (19th-20th century)? Centuries? Millennia? How long has this fighting gone on for? What triggered the perma-eclipse, and why now? Why is this time depth necessary? 

One of the main characters in question is a humanoid woman with wolf features named Ling, and she is a descendant of the dynasty that had first ruled the one of the nations, particularly the one based off the dragon zodiac. She accidentally summons the other main character to this world as she's praying at a shrine, a humanoid with dragon features--I call them drakon--named Angelynn.

[on the names of characters] is it appropriating by not having the world entirely based on [Chinese, Japanese, and Indian] influence? it's a little weird to me how worldwide the creatures are referred to as yokai, implying a strong Japanese influence not unlike how it is today with Western culture being so dominant, yet there are still names like Keith and Kiara.

M: I will give you credit for recognizing you have unconsciously veered towards white-washing/ race-bending: either presenting European cultural influences (drakons, Angelynn, Keith, Kiara, Midgard) as default or utilizing general E. Asian cultural influences and aesthetics for a Western-style story (Ling, qi, Chinese zodiac, yokai). I agree with you that this creates a sense of cultural dissonance. At this point, I’d say you have a clear choice: write a Western-style high fantasy using a background with which you have more familiarity, or get some better guidance on research with East Asian cultures so you can code the story more effectively. 

The focus of this story is centered around meeting all these yokai and showing that there's more nuance to them than Ling believes, all while saving the world. But I worry if I'm appropriating these concepts and creatures by 1, drawing from more than one culture--I initially imagined that there would be a mix of Chinese, Japanese and Indian influence because according to a website I am getting the info on yokai from, the yokai in question already draw inspiration from or have been based on something in Chinese mythology or Hinduism [...]

R: Sure, some yokai have Chinese or Hindu parallels as that tends to happen with folk tales. But not all–some are unique to Japan, and some are more modern. Sometimes it’s very political–some people consider the Ainu Korpokkur as being a “Yokai of Japan” despite it belonging to the indigenous culture. It’s up to you to research, untangle, and understand these influences. 

The fact that you bring up that the Asian continent has seen a lot of cultural exchange is not a sufficient reason to randomly combine influences for the sake of visual appeal or “coolness.” That is appropriation. These influences must be understood in their historical context so that you know how/why certain things combined or morphed into another, and what makes sense to combine/morph. 

M: This also indicates that the character views the yokai as evil/inherently bad, which I would argue is not a typical stance for much Japanese folklore. Again, this shows a deficit in research. 

2, reimagining these yokai in a new context even though I have done the research on them, because one thing I kept seeing in regards to cultural appropriation is that it's bad to do that […]

R: Refer above to my note on “okay” and “not okay.” The thing with folklore and fairy tales is that every–and I mean every–folk tale is reinterpreted with every new iteration of it. Reimagining in a new context is what people do every time they pass on a story or tell a story with the same plot or characters. Do not think of folklore as an “original” that is altered and rebooted, but rather a living document that gets added to. Reimagining is not the inherent issue. HOW you reimagine something matters. 

So I suppose my question is...if someone were to do research upon the creature they want to use, given they are allowed to use it, and gained an understanding of what the creature or concept stood for, are they allowed to pick it apart and reimagine it? Alternatively, is it ok if it's explicitly pointed out that it is derivative of the original?

It has actually become my biggest fear that I may have internalized something that could both continue to do harm long after the fact and attract the wrong people to me work. I don't wanna let people down!

M: As Rina has noted several times, I think the problem is in trying to ID a set of specific variables and circumstances that make a thing “okay” or “not okay.” I want to recommend that you read my joking response about writing in secret rooms while wearing a disguise (Linked here). Who can you hurt if no one knows what you are doing? There’s a difference between creating for oneself and creating to share. 

You have internalized a message incorrectly, but not the one you cite. The goal of many recommendations against cultural appropriation is to avoid causing direct harm to people who have seen their cultures demeaned, discredited and devalued, especially in shared spaces. Assessing cultural engagement, whether we are talking about appropriation, appreciation or exchange is not a measure of personal virtue or a collection of commandment style do’s and don’t’s. Rather, I believe engaging with other cultures is the state of mind of acknowledging that when using these cultures’ in one’s own work, there is value in consulting members of that culture and giving credit where credit is due. This will be challenging if you are only comfortable engaging with all of these cultures in a distanced, minimal capacity. 

FWIW, I’ve written stories that probably will offend people from other cultures and backgrounds, but I don’t show them off. I don’t think writing these makes me a bad person, but I also don’t see the need to give unnecessary offense, so those stories are just for me, to be written and read in my own secret room. However, I’m not ashamed of having written them, and I’m also comfortable to “let people down” provided that my own shared work reflects my personal principles of what I consider to be sufficient research and engagement with other cultures,  As a creator, my work wouldn’t be mine if I didn’t first please myself. I think the trick to the creator role is deciding what to keep private, what to share and what constitutes sufficient engagement. 

P.S. 

We’ve referenced the need for research multiple times in this ask, and in some of the other asks that have gone up this week, so we thought this would be a good place to plug a beginner’s guide to academic research created by the mod team.. Look for it soon under WWC’s pinned posts!

[whereserpentswalk]

There was an abandoned church where the faeries used to come out, tucked away in one of those neighborhoods in the city where only residents ever go. It was a beautiful stone building, covered in vines and ivy, half broken, resting between the corner stores and brownstones. They say it's so old that nobody even remembers the name of the god they worshipped there.

And there used to be faeries there. They would come out quite frequently. Nobody maintained the place, but it was ruined enough so you could just walk in through where the door used to be. And you could see them there, the kobolds who would sing their ancient songs in languages long forgotten. And the hollow backed women who would dance in the silver moonligh, and who turned men who tried to touch them into trees. There where spirits who'd look like dragonflies one momment, and than little winged people the next. And great dire trolls at times would come out and brew strange drinks from grass and root. There were mothmen who flew in the skies above the ancient church, looking down with big yellow eyes. There where witches who'd grant strange requests for strange prices, and who'd look like women from a far, and great mantises when near. And there were even darker things, faceless men, and black eyed girls, who'd come, but they never harmed a soul on those old church grounds.

They say it became a place where people who were grateful for such things would come. Urban sorcerers, and cryptid hunters, unmarketable artists, and outcasts and members of forgotten subcultures would come to. It was mostly just a place people in the city knew about, people who knew enough about the fae, people who had respect for the fae. A few faeries would let themselves show up in dim photographs, perhaps to appear on somebody's blog, but most people who would go there knew to ask first. And they say that. In her gratefulness to the ruins, for being a place where the children of Odin and the children of Gaia had found peace, the queen of the autumn faeries had gifted them a magic sword, that shined like sunset amber, planted forever in the ruins of the church's alter.

And once there was a magical sword there, something valuable there, the city decided it had to take notice. It wasn't just some worthless stone anymore, it was something with more money behind it now. They transfered the ruins' ownership from the underfunded historical society, to a successful real-estate company, who would know how to handle it well, and perhaps bring in some tourists.

And suddenly, things began to change. See, the sword needed to be well protected of course, so there were security cameras all over the place to keep out robbers, and guards of course to stand around and yell at people, and of course perhaps to fire iron bullets at any faeries who thought about hurting humans who wanted to be free to touch them and pet them and take pictures without consequences. And there were metal detectors of course, and there needed to be a closing time because suddenly there was a staff that had to be payed.

And somehow there were less and less faeries then, and the people who had used to come so often had gone away too. But that didn't matter, they still needed to turn a profit, and they had started advertising it, so soon tourists with their fancy cameras and expectations, and families with little children on leashes and dogs in their strollers, and fourteen year old boys who giggled because faerie could mean gay, all started to come, and waited on line to see the minority of faeries who were still there. And soon the walls of the old church had signs and ads and the walls were painted a green because the company thought grey was an ugly color, and the entrance had all those little marketable t-shirts and plushes for people to buy.

And soon there were no more faeries. They didn't want to come. The sword had turned black.

They say the last faeries to leave were the toughest of them, and that they didn't like the new type of guest, trolls would put human bones in their last stews, and witches would curse anyone who took pictures of them, and the black eyed girls and faceless men finally dragged people into faeland never to return. But even they left eventually, all of them did. They say the sword healed when it was bright and amber, but when it was black it's magic was no weaker, but it killed, anyone who touched the black sword would rot away. They say other magical creatures, meaner ones, found good homes in the church when it became so filled with the company's things, blood drinking vampires, and howling ghosts, and deal making devils, found the place to be a perfect hunting spot. The faeries never came back, and the church lost its profitability, they tried to rip it down, and use the land for some pretty shot or restaurant, but they could never clear the foundation, nobody could lift the sword.

[t34-mt]

maanul folklore: mermaids

mermaids in maanuls ( or poaluk'nau in east, meaning: "one with sea") are not just them but with a fish tail, they're actually quite different from what most mermaid in human culture looks like.

they look like if maanuls went more aquatic, even having an operculum on the back like animals that went back to the sea. they have almost side eyes, a bottom lip (maanuls don't have that), and large palmed hands that are wonderful flippers underwater but on land make them clumsy and only able to wiggle around like a seal would. They own long muscular tails to help them swim, overall maanul mermaids look like them mixed with those strange whale ancestors. Most of the time they are said to be bigger than maanuls, other regions say they're the same size in length. While their size can vary in regions, the look is quite the same in all cultures meaning it's a shared representation that got spread among other maanuls tho the origin is vague, there's a possibility that it was from the south.

In tales, they can hold different roles, such as mysterious guardians in west, annoying but essential in the central north, tricksters and careless in the south, beasts of the ocean to scare kids from misbehaving in the north east and finally, in the east only one mermaid is present in the culture and its a sort of cursed person. now more onto each tale of every region in depth.

the word core will be mentioned a lot, core in maanuls means soul, they see their soul as a round ball that molts everytime they experience a grand event in their life.

Tales from the south: creatures of mischief

In the hottest region where maanuls live, Maanuls tell a story of a troublesome late teenager (18-19 in human years, that's still a minor in their species), whose love for mischief could not be matched by anything, except one, the ocean. The ocean was where they did all of their trickery, such as pulling people by their tail or legs in the water, swimming under canoe to then push them over, blowing water at people by their operculum, and so on. In the water is where they played, where they ate, they lived, they stood so much in the water that people were thinking it was a core of an aquatic animal born in the wrong body. they were like a child who never learned to grow up and have responsibilities, a child who never wanted to have responsibilities or care about what it meant to be a colony member. And what better place could there be to flee than the vast and infinite ocean.

So they prayed on a lone beach, they prayed day and night to the sea while the waves would caress their knees.

And the sea answered, by sending a large wave that came and wrapped around the maanul, absorbing them into the water to transport them back to the sandy beach. When the wave retreated from the black sand nothing was left of the maanul, except a large mass curled onto itself. The thing moved and tried to get up on its legs only to realize its long muscular legs were gone and replaced by short palmed feet, it noticed its tail being strong and muscular perfectly made to push itself in the water, its body was massive and heavy on land, its hands could hold anything anymore. They were now made to be within the waves. The now mermaid started to ungulate their body with little to no grace to produce forward movement, trying to claw the sand to reach the waves faster. Once in the ocean, without a look behind them they left everything they had behind to pursue a meaningless life of trickery. Never to be seen again as a maanul, the colony thought the ocean ate them.

In southern culture mermaids are seen as heartless people who left their family, their colony, and their responsibility behind to live a simple life of mischief. Causing trouble to maanuls' canoes, pushing fishermen to the water, and stealing their food because they are lazy beings. They are said to be previously people who don't care about anyone but their own short-term pleasure. mermaids are said to peak out the waves grinning before chewing on the side of boats.

And while for kids the idea of being a marine animal that plays nonstop can be tempting, parents remind them that mermaids don't care for their dead. Once they die as a mermaid no one will remember them and they will be left to be forgotten within the depths of the ocean mother, and without a proper mourning ceremony they cannot reincarnate and their cycle will end.

Tales from the west: the mysterious singing people

In the west, mermaids are seen as guardians of the sea who speak no words at the surface and choose to not interact with the people of the land.

They are said to have been born at night, out of the "tears" of joys of the first moon when she gave birth to its calf, the so-called "third moon". Each tear that fell into the salty water of the sea became round, resembling a fish egg except that it had no life inside. The eggs sunk into the depths of the sea. But the ocean took pity on those empty eggs that reached the bottom floor. By using cores of lost dead fishermen that haanu didn't pick up yet (she comes at sunrise), the ocean took those lost cores and blew the souls of those previously maanuls onto the empty eggs, making them hatch and reborn as new creatures, mermaids. The new mermaids were said to gracefully all reach for the surface, taking their first breath of fresh air in this new vessel. All gazed at the first moon and its calf for the first time, thus they were born from two mothers, the first moon and the sea.

But the way they were made prevents them from ever participating in the cycle of endless life and rebirth, they are said to be immortal to live along the ocean forever, and while at first it might be seen as nice to live forever, mermaids envy mortals as they can experience the ups and downs of life, learn to grow as an adult physically and mentally, and to laugh and cry. They are aware that they used to be maanuls, but are said to vaguely if don't remember anything from their past. They've forgotten their loved ones, they knew people cared for them at land but they don't know who did. They are sometimes upset that the sea locked them into this state, when upset they are said to be found laying on rocks and the beach like a large earth seal would.

Mermaids are said to sing to each other's underwater, they sometimes sing to comfort the ocean when one of the giant que'arsaeb descendent filter feeders dies. They protect the sea as its now their only home, they are said to jump out of the water and launch the canoe of fishermen who disrespect the sear, breaking their boat and leaving them to drown out of exhaustion. Mermaids are curious of boats and maanul activities, western fishermen think they are good and will always release one fish/crab/any other animal, they caught in from their stack as a treat for the mermaid. Aa they think said mermaid will accept the treat and follow their boat until they're back home and safe, if an accident happen they think the mermaid could bring them back to the beach safely.

In reality, it might be the works of a real-life intelligent marine animal that might bring them near home, but delusional from exhaustion the rare fishermen that are brought back near the beach by that animal will think its the mermaids from the folklore recusing them.

Tales from the central north: unpleasant but essential guardians

the central north believes that 10 mermaids came out of the depths of the world, made by the sea to be its guardian and to keep the ocean in order.

While they are essential to the sea, they are said to be quite unpleasant to meet. They are rude, love to steal food, bump into canoes regularly on purpose, and even splash fishing people with their strong tails or their operculum. It is even said that when they see a maanul hurt themselves on their boat or underwater, they will do a sort of cackle/laugh at maanuls. Mermaids are believed to be the ones who pick up lost jewelry at sea, never giving it back to the owner and keeping it to themselves, piling up their treasures in an underwater cave. That is why maanuls never swim with jewelry on, as they know that if they lose it underwater they'll never be able to find it again.

In reality, this might be the result of a type of crab that picks jewels to decorate its "nest" to attract potential partners, said nests when found by maanuls are then thought to be the mermaid's den. And it is said to be forbidden to pick back your jewelry in it, as it would anger the mermaid so much they might not do their duty anymore. When you lose something at sea, it now belongs to the sea.

Despite their many flaws, they are important and need to be here. As they torment the cores of horrible people till they rot. Central both believe that when haanu at sunrise picks up the core of every living being and throws them onto the world like seeds to reincarnate, she keeps the cores of maanuls who were horrible people in their lifetime in her arms. When she's done with her duty, she throws those maanul cores in the ocean. Mermaids are said to then come and pick them with their jaws, dragging them to the depths were even light cannot enter.

They stack the cores in piles in the abyss and push down any core that tries to rise up to the surface. The cores are kept in the abyss to rot, when they rot they become empty fish-egg-like spheres as the spirit of the person is gone and now forgotten by the world and by haanu.

Then the mermaids are said to hold those empty spheres in their jaws and blow life onto them, using those empty cores as eggs for their species to reproduce. The now eggs are taken care of by the mermaids until they hatch, so the firstly 10 mermaids of the world arent alone, it is said that there are thousands or mermaids roaming the sea, protecting and punishing anyone who would harm the ocean, and tormenting the cores of horrible people in the depths till they rot, till there is nothing left of their soul so they can never reincarnate.

To be considered a horrible person that will be dragged to the abyss you'd have to be terrible to other people, there are many tales that tell children that if they're uncaring with their peers they will end up like this. that they should not only care about everyone in the colony but other life forms and respect the way they are.

Tales from the north-east: Thieves of cores and children

Mermaid tales in the north-east speak about people, who never were mourned by anyone, who no one was there to remember them and sing their song cord. And without proper ceremony mourning maanuls cannot be reincarnated properly, their core were thrown in the ocean by haanu, but they couldn't get a new vessel.

So then their core rotted underwater, forming a black mucus around the core that then transformed into a strange oval fish-like egg. The egg hatches and gives birth to a mermaid, a beast filled with hate and jealousy towards living maanuls due to never being remembered when dead, being stuck in limbo they cannot ascend and join the cycle of death and rebirth, they cannot grow core-wise as they're consumed by hate of how no one remembered them. It leads to mermaids stealing floating cores in the ocean that were waiting to be picked by haanu, they steal and try to swallow them so they could replace their corrupted ones. As if they gain a normal core again they can die and go back to the cycle.

But it never works, and it frustrates them more. mermaids then try to harm living people to harvest their fresh core, as they're desperate to get out of this situation. Children are told to not swim in open sea since they're too young and it's way dangerous, they're told to stay at the reefs and closed lagoons, or else mermaids will grab them with their strong jaws by the tail or feet and drag them to the depths of the world as they desire to kill them and eat their core. They're told that only as teenagers, sub-adult and adults do mermaids not pick on them anymore because they're bigger now and have a stronger core that repels them.

To get out of this state of limbo, only a brave hunter can free them. It is said that they need to slay the beast while reciting a special prayer to truly kill and free the person. Before doing the final strike theywill ask the mermaid what was their name, when back on land the hunter and the colony would need make a mourning ceremony for that mermaid so they can finally be at peace.

Once done, they make a songcord for the mermaid to sing, they will remember the person at the colony so they do not feel lonely, so they do not feel abandoned by its peers like it previously did. Only then, can the rotten core as sea become clear again, free of its hate and out of limbo. At the next sunrise they will be picked by haanu and successfully reincarnated, being part of the death and rebirth cycle once more.

Tales from the east: Rejected by all but loved by one

The east does not see them as guardians as the role of ocean guardian is given to a giant "leviathan" worm. which you can see glimpses of in the chanter clothes of yarey'lu! i will not expand on it as this is a mermaid post, but here's every time the giant ocean worm appeared in this outfit.

The east takes inspiration from the south in terms of how it was created but has its own twist on it overall.

They believe in someone, named poaluk'nau, who loved the ocean so dearly that they wanted to be one with the sea, but still wished to be able to return and see their loved ones.

To the sea they then prayed, brought gifts and food in wooden bowls, and then curled up in front of their offerings asking their wishes to the ocean, to be blessed in a way that their body could tame the waves but still be able to be at land. The waves then came and gently reached to them, firstly to eat and take the offerings and take the gifts, but came back bigger to take and carry the maanul to the water. Engulfing them in its strong currents.

Several hours later, the waves came back to wash up a thing on the black warm sand. A strange enormous leather egg was laid by the sea, it stood still for several minutes. But then movement was seen inside, the egg twitched and suddenly a craw pierced it, creating an opening for the thing stuck inside, the thing slide out of the egg looking like a slimy fish at first. It took its first breath of air, breathing heavily as it realized its body felt heavier. They let their skin and the little amount of feathers they had dry up in the warmth of the sun. Until finally opening their eyes to see themselves, admiring and examining their new vessel, the ocean has rebirthed them to their wishes.

Content and joyful poaluk'nau thanked the sea, excited that their wish was exhausted it clumsily crawled and moved around on the beach like a seal would, searching for their family to show them their new body.

Upon reaching where the colony lived, they started calling for their family. But when said family came and saw poaluk'nau new look they were horrified, calling them a monstrous thing, a beast, crying at why they would choose to do such a thing. The mermaid's heart was shattered as they looked around to see that all the colony members had the same look in their eyes, terror, and disgust. They started throwing rocks, sticks, and even just went sand at them, telling them to go back to the water. Screaming at them to never come back to land.

Paoluk'nau started to ungulate their body clumsily towards the waves, screeching in pain as it was emotionally hurt by being rejected by their peers. No fate could be worse for a maanul than to be rejected by their family and the colony.

So to the waves they dived, they tried to find the ocean's heart for answers, they swam to ask it to change them back. But the ocean's heart was never found, a great sense of abandonment took over poaluk'nau who even felt rejected by the sea as it never spoke to them back again. they swam for day and night at sea, refusing to see land again out of shame and fear.

But on one stormy night, a fisher who couldn't come back in time was wiped by the waves, their canoe was broken, and the relentless waves didn't let them have a sip of air, they thought it was the end as they were sinking down being tormented by the ocean, the moon was barely visible underwater anymore. But the barely unconscious maanul was saved by a strange figure. They gently held them in their jaws, carrying them to the surface as it was swimming towards the far beach. It was poaluk'nau. To the beach, the fisher was carried, and placed on the sand. The mermaid stood against them, keeping the maanul warm for the night.

Only until the sunrise came that the fisher woke up, it was terrified at the sight of the creature next to them. Poaluk'nau started to crawl to the waves at they saw the fisher's eyes filled with the same terror its home colony had at them, but before they could reach the waves the fisher called. they asked for their name.

poaluk'nau was baffled but still answered them, the fisher then gave their name to the mermaid. Once again they asked something else: to meet again at the same spot. They said that if poaluk'nau didn't show up they wouldn't be mad at them, and that they would keep their name in their heart and remember them forever for saving their life. the next day both showed up, and the other, and the day after.

Every night the fisher would come at dawn because the mermaid was waiting for them, they'd stay together until padak rise up. They were great friends, and then developed greater feelings for each others. The fisher didn't care that others could deem poaluk'nau as monstrous, it was a person just like them, with feelings and dreams and the same state of mind. poaluk'nau vessel didn't matter, their core did.

Not handling being separated so much, the fisher asked their mermaid lover if the sea could turn them into one too, so they could be together forever. poaluk'nau said the ocean didn't speak to them since they were rebirth, but maybe if they found the ocean's heart they would be able to communicate to it directly. So to the waves the fisher followed the mermaid, to the water they swam together, searching for the ocean's heart.

Some tales say they found it but the ocean's voice was nowhere to be found, others say that they are still searching it together. It is believed that the fisher was unconsciously blessed by the sea, as they could swim as fast as their mermaid peer, as they could stay underwater as long as them, as they stood together in the endless sea as lovers for eternity.

---

as you can tell in those several tales, the ocean is seen as a grand being, and while called a mother it truly has no gender it's an entity with feelings, sometimes gentle and merciful sometimes violent and uncaring. It can take back anyone to its depths as a payback to the resources maanuls take. They almost see it as when the ocean eats someone in its waves it does it to feed their hundreds of children's (the marine animals). Born out of haanu's blood, compared to her the ocean does take part in maanul's affairs. Haanu is grand and omniscient but she doesn't take part in people's lives other than reincarnating every living being that dies and keeping the delicate gears of the cycle of life functional.

reminder obviously, its all tales mermaids arent real in altuyur

Mermaids in kyhuine folklore?

there's none to be found! As kyhuines do not have bodies of water where they live, they don't even know what a fish was until first contact with maanuls in late AOS. The closest thing to a mermaid would be those intelligent sand worms that were once people but that's a streetch

---

if you read all of this, thank you so much! took me several hours of my day cause i have a terrible attention span, i hope you enjoyed it. tell me what you thought of this id love to know! I'm literally dying after this