#welikanate

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new @riesenlied character Isan, one of the ill-fated successors of the golden age prophet lore:

This is a giant raised by the church of Golden Age Prophet Dayas Welikanate and prepared all his life to be one of her successors. Her plan was to be succeeded by a council of scholars so that the burden of spiritual leadership in the Welikanate would not rest on only one heir alone and be more distributed. But that did not go as expected. After her passing all of these scholars broke down, one by one, each in their own way. And each of them went down another rabbit hole to get through that. Isan, the "best" and most religious of that entire group, was the last one to break. To cope with the prophet's death he had delved deep into old scripture and chronicles. And discovered something that destroyed everything he had believed in. When he confided in his closest friend (another scholar heir) about it, that friend reacted by stabbing him with a bayonet. Isan barely survived and escaped the country (along with a part of the prophetic guard), asking for asylum in the human-led part of the world. There he wrote "Divine Lessons. A study in reconnecting Gods gifts with history". A book that tricks a religious reader by appearing "normal" at the start, only to subtly lead someone to the same realisations the author had towards the end. Citing many sources for every claim. Copies of that book were then smuggled into his home country, wreaking havoc. Destroying the faith of many. And starting a modern anti-theist movement. He started going by "Vito" ("torch"). As many later demonised him claiming that wherever he holds a speech, churches soon burn. He made a habit of getting a new tattoo for each new assassination attempt he survived. (Most of which were ordered and paid by that former best friend.) By that time of that last picture (where he is recording some podcast while vaping) he is no longer the main leader figure of the movement he had started, and is seen as a washed up celebrity by some. A bit of an edgelord who has run out of fucks to give a long time ago. Some find it nonsensical that part of the Prophetic Guard (a church organisation responsible for protecting the prophet and her heirs and making sure their voices are heard) had followed Isan into exile despite him turning against the faith (and are the reason how he has survived all those assassination attempts so far). The Guard claims that each of the scholar heirs embodies part of Dayas thinking. And that she, too, had held an amount of doubt and resentment to the faith. Making Vito still part of her legacy that the guard is sworn to protect.

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@riesenlied content Here’s a new character that I didn’t get to develop much yet. He’s a saint named Niarto Toik and is part of the government of the Welikanate.

He is one of three parlamentarians who’s job it is to represent the traditional Artalamian communities there. This proves difficult at times.

Traditional Artalamian families are “mixed”. Which means they are made up of giants and humans. This is a huge part of their cultural identity and faith. Toik himself has numerous adoptive human family members and has been raised by both kinds. In those families both kinds have equal say in things. Which is not the case in the Welikanate overall. (The word Welikanate itself means “country ruled by giants”.) At that point in time Traditional Artalamian families are not in control of their homeland, Artalam, as they have been exiled from there a couple centuries after gods death. Since then, these communities have had no other choice but to live in countries that are strictly giant-governed, despite disagreeing with that kind of hierarchy and law. In this moment in time, there are two giant-ruled countries. Crownland and the Welikanate (Crownland has existed for many centuries at this point, the Welikanate less than a 100 years.) Artalamian communities are divided on which country to live in. Over all it seems like the Welikanate feels like a safer and less stressful place to live. But one of the only things keeping Crownland Artalamian communities safe at all is that there is a lot of them there and they are a relevant political force there. If too many of them were to leave and go to the Welikanate, that influence and safety might be lost. So there is no easy solution there. Back to Toik - his clothing there is a Welikanate uniform with Artalamian-style ornaments added to it. And he is known as a mediator and peacemaker, helping find compromises between different parliament factions. This includes talking to people like Kadi Samkiuliot - someone who his two fellow artalamian collegues will avoid interacting with at all cost because of her bad reputation about how horrible she can be towards humans.

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( @riesenlied-related )

Brainstorming doodle for a type of military unit that runs on something like this to keep up with (and shoot at) inhuman participants on the battlefield. (Likely during the mid or end golden age).

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(@riesenlied related) A human noble from the Welikanate of Dayas People. There nobles are the link between humans and their inhuman rulers. Ruling over people in their name. This is the reward they get for descending from people that were the first to welcome the golden prophet and help her build her empire.

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I was discussing @riesenlied and fantasy military strategy stuff with someone and had this horrible idea I felt I needed to draw for some reason and nobody was there to stop me.

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one super rough sketch that needs to be redone some day. a handful of Welikanian cultures/groups. Explanation under the cut. Twitter • YouTube  • Insta • Patreon • Worldbuilding

from left to right Sidrics -  a religious minority of giants that believe that trying to learn and understand more about the world honors god and creation. After having to leave their home, most of them live in Tuliam/Crownland, where some of them make a living being private tutors to the Tulish Elites. Artalamian Families - a society where giants and humans live in mixed families together. Were one of the last groups to lose their homelands after Odhr’s death. After that, most of them live in Tuliam/Crownland, where they live in gated communities. Keeping the humans of their families hidden away and protected. Resenting most of the other groups they have to share that country with, which is mutual. Enesh Giants of the Welikanate - a group that has survived being sentenced to “death by exile” by the giants of Tuliam/Crownland. Under the guidance of their Prophet they have founded conquered a row of human-led countries and founded a nation named The Welikanate of Dayan (A Welikanate being an old word for a land ruled by giants.) and begun “The Golden Age”. During that Golden Age they are the only giant-run country except Crownland. And while trading with each other, relations between the two nations are still tense. Their symbol is a sun that shines downwards, while a symbol of crownland has a sun that shines upwards. They rule the Welikanate using Odrics, a loyal class of human nobles that believe in the same god as them.

Enesh Giants of Tisli - (this is in an earlier era, way before the Golden Age) these are the Ancestors of those who would later become the Welikanate. During the time of the Tislian Empire though they were loyal to Tises, a human king, whom they had helped into power and had a contract with. And while they were not technically in power, one of them, the captain of the royal guard usually, would always be an advisor to the current human monarch of that dynasty. And the humans of Tisli would see their Giants with Pride. Later, after a great catastrophic event, the humans if Tisli were unable to uphold their part of the contract, the heir of the dynasty was dead, and an Enesh Giant Woman, the Prophet Daya, would take over. Tisli would become the first territory incorportated into the Welikanate. Tulish Giants - live in Tuliam/Crownland, a nation of giant former monarchs that still cling to being monarchs, even centuries after being dethroned. Waiting for god to return one day and give them their kingdoms back. And making life hell for each other. Because in a land made of kings, they can not all be kings. Even the lowest paid giants there will wear cheap crowns. And be eager to tell everyone how they are the so and so’th in line to some throne to some far away kingdom that might not even exist anymore. The moment the Welikanate sprung into existance as a new giant-run country, several Tulish Giants would show up and be like ���HEY, actually, I’m first in line for the throne of this land you just returned into giant hands, and by Tulish law that means you have to return that land specifially to ME thank you very much.” After a short audience with the Enesh Prophet, those would usually change their minds and renounce all of their claims. At some point less and less Tulish giants would show up with that same goal, fearing to be brainwashed by the Prophet aswell.

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@riesenlied related: An ancient days saint holding a speech. (Back then the word for saint and giant was the same.) I was thinking about incorporating checkboard patterns into their outfits because stitching a bunch of “small” bits together might be cheaper to produce than one big thing? And maybe they just embrace that kind of look. Twitter • YouTube  • Insta • Patreon • Worldbuilding

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Vakadi during different chapters of her life.

Kadi is born close to the Founding of the Welikanate, the beginning of the socalled Golden Age. Her generation is known as one of the worst. 1 - giant infants are born the size of human adult which is absolutely horrifying 10 - Kadi would have grown up around paintings of the prophet conqueror 17 - these folks take a while growing up, she’s not done yet 25 - now considered an adult, hyped to join the army and wreck some places 30s/40s - higher education, academic work on human psychology in warfare 40s/50s - chosen to be a war-related minister or advisor of some sort 80s - leading the exile-Welikanate for a moment, then other government roles 90s - extradited by her people and sentenced by an international tribunal

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Welcoming Daya. During Daya’s life time, only a handful of human communities still believed in the same god that giants believe in. They were quite excited to hear the new godly word that she was carrying. And quite eager to join her forces and help conquer the lands that would then make up her Welikanate. They would be later rewarded by becoming a ruling class among humans of that Welikanate. Fulfilling the giants’ orders as mayors, assistants, buerocrats, teachers, soldiers and police in human communities. Twitter  •   YouTube  • Insta •  Patreon •  Worldbuilding Blog

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Just renamed my worldbuilding blog from peopleofdayan to riesenlied. Changed it because the country in question, the Welikanate of Dayan, only exists in one part of the Riesenlied story. The new name is german for “giants song”.

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A sketchy Daya animation that took about an hour to make. Maybe now it could get a bit easier to tell what she’s about besides that one shitpost of her throwing snakes.

She’s a saint/prophet figure for many giants of her age. The most recent voice of Od, the first oficially recognised propet since the end of the ancient days. The country she builds (The Welikanate of Dayan) shares part of her name, a name that in its full form is an entire sentence, a slogan, both a promise and a threat. The Welikanate is supposed to be a ““democracy”” but humans can’t vote in it and also it’s still very theocratic because the craze around this founder hero is so intense that any candidate she endorses will end up elected. As always, more of that story project can be found at @peopleofdayan . Because her tag won’t work on mobile, here’s two direct links to more drawings of her. One. Two.

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Three really goofy sketchbook thingies featuring the giant saint Dayashpurasht Marraskalonush (Daya the Conqueror), beginner of the golden age, founder of the Welikanate of Dayan. Her freakishly long name is both a slogan and a promise. Her people even use parts of that name for greetings or goodbyes. Humans would see that name as a thing of great tragedy and the worst of luck.

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Drawing fromm 2019. Left is how the Enesh giant soldiers that conquered and founded the Welikanate dressed like. Right is a look based on that about 1-2 generations later, around the time that my grad film is set. Both have the downward shining rays of the Prophet’s midday sun all over them. Twitter • YouTube  • Insta • Patreon • Worldbuilding