#I didn't have enough info about tengalu to warrant an extra post and since its on the same planet I added it here

[butterfly-winx]

Melody

- People know all about Domino and Solaria, the two oldest planets in existence, but quietly Melody is actually also one of the oldest civilisations in the magical dimension.

 - Which is an interesting fact, considering that Melody was a colony planet, filled with exiles from a culture that didn’t value arts and entertainment. With time a new culture boomed on Melody based on harmony and the joy of creation, but the mystery of the people’s origin is still not cleared. There are no nearby planets with remnants of an extinct civilisation, so their ancestors must have travelled from far away, but even then the Melody genetic code is very different to that of most planets that are known colonisers. 

 - There is a rumour going around the dimension though that people find fun to believe, which is that the original colonisers were people from Zenith and they pushed all their fun people off, which lead to Zenith and Melody developing as they did: one of boring logicals and one of fun art creators. 

- Melody (the planet) houses six distinct countries. The synonymous Melody, Ohm, Oppositus, Tengalu, Napir and the tiny Weilan. Melody is the largest and so produces the most immigrants to other parts of the universe, which is why its culture is most well known. Other countries like Ohm and Weilan are popular tourist spots, but on the other hand Tengalu and Oppositus are more closed off and need special visas to grant travellers entry.

- Each country has its own government systems and dominant religions that they once fought bitter wars over. One thing that anthropologists consider proof of the ancient root of Melody is that the oldest of religions in the Magic Universe, Tao qi, is still present and practised there, showing that Melodians have well kept cultural memory and their history is untarnished by cultural erasure. They directly worship the Flow of the Universe itself and use the philosophy of balanced energies and their flow in many areas of life, from interior design to healing. The difference between Tao qi and magic sciences is that Melodians believe that the Flow touches all living beings, and regardless of whether they are magic users or not the qi resides in al of them. Their religious celebrations are dependent on energy equinoxes of the Universe and are sparse compared to other belief systems. The few they do celebrate are not just shared with immediate family, but with the larger community as well.

- There are six events a year Tao qi believers observe. Each of them is associated with different aspects of life such as health, internal balance, family, intentional actions, unintentional actions (letting go of the sense of control) and frugality for the sake of others. Only the equinox that favours the bonds between families is celebrated in private, the others are commemorated with festivities and shared meditation. 

 - Melody may be full of life, but looking at the climate it becomes very apparent that it wasn’t a very desirable place to live at first and was a colonial dump. The weather is extremely arid, the rocky terrain making it hard to build and grow foodstuff on. Any and all agricultural activity is maintained by the yearly two monsoon seasons that magic users conjure. The situation is slightly less sever in Tengalu that has remnants of a tropical forest, but even there the terrain is marred by dried out riverbeds.

 - For this reason Melody highly covets magic users with powers linked to weather, climate and water. If your child presents with magic like this? Melody officials knocking down your door and promising your kid scholarships galore. Off planet people? Come to Melody, sign our fifteen year commitment contract and live here for free. They are very serious about this, as a lack of weather controlling magicals means an immediate wave of famine for the planet. 

 - Melody cuisine is known to be something of a proto-carnivorous thing, and famous for having perfected the art of cooking the same thing a hundred different ways. Due to the restrictions in what they can grow, they have focused on finding a way to prepare almost all animals that are found on planet, including amphibians and insects, as a food source. Gastroexploration continues to this day as new methods are found how to turn previously poisonous and indigestible sources into food . Melody doesn’t really grow fruit, but they have a selection of wheats, rice, quinoa, and plenty of spices to prepare the high variety of dishes that they are known for. Is it really a Melodian dish if the meat hasn’t been broiled, cooked and smoked before you steam it in a wheat bun? It both preserves food for the long and hot workday and travels and adds some flair and creativity to an otherwise drab diet.

 - Melody popcorn is fried and spiced bugs. In texture they are exactly like fried corn, so Musa has gotten away far too many times with pranking her friends with them. 

 - The royal family isn’t rich, as opposed to other planet’s customs. On Melody it is tradition for them to have the same, or less than the average of their people. Should resources be scarce it is paramount to them to prioritise the many over their few. This custom is to blame for Princess Galatea’s frailness, who was born on a summer of spoiled harvest that left her an her mother undernourished. She is technically an insufficient conduit for magic, which she didn’t know when her powers manifested and her wings have stuck around ever since then. She looks more thin than she is unhealthy, thanks to the constant flow of magic through her that the wings facilitate.

- The huge seat of power at the centre of the capital is therefore not a palace, but the seat of the government. The Emperor of Melody is required to surround himself with ten voices of his most trusted, hundred voices of his enemies, and a thousand voices of his people- or so the culture dictates. In current days this translates to stratified councils with heavy community involvement from common folk as well as an elected high government closest to the Emperor who is an unelected constitutional monarch. Each of these councils feature magic beings other than humans, but mainly elves who are the largest non-human minority on the planet.

- Human and non-human society on Melody is very integrated, allowing free intermixing between them, which used to spark controversies way back before the sociopolitical regulations that promise non-humans equal rights were born. Now the second largest minority of the country is actually human-elf mixed people, that Musa too belongs to, who carry traits of both folk to varying degrees. Matlin was full elf and Ho boe is human giving Musa her characteristic pointed ears and sturdy bones while still being able to use magic as a human magic user. As elves age slightly slower reaching median life expectancies of 120-130 years as opposed to human 90, Musa is expected to have a slightly extended life span between the two values.

- Melody joined the Company of Light as an alliance of the size was able to promise them a steady stream of magic users for their climate control and is in general a good fall back plan in case of emergencies. The other countries of the planet followed suit with the exception of Ohm.

Extra:

- A little bit about Tengalu, Riven’s home. 

- Tengalu is dwarfed in size by Melody and Ohm, its neighbours, but holds political power and interest due to its strategical position at the delta of the most powerful river of the planet. The region had been fought over along the centuries with empires rising and falling on the same mountains and gorges over and over again. The cultures of Ohm, Oppositus and Melody shaped Tengaluki as they were forced to change religions and ideologies depending on which empire’s master was holding the reigns at the given time, their last own city state having fallen two thousand years ago. Tengaluki have only known relative peace since the Secular Revolution.

- The Secular Revolution “liberated” Tengalu of the oppressive forces of Oppositus and their rigid religious systems that enforced class separation and the idea that people of higher standing were born into their seats of power based on divine right, preventing any upward social mobility. People were stripped of their wealth and a level ground of equal opportunities was created. However change this big is impossible to enforce without crushing force and the military that chased the oppressors away has retained iron-fisted leadership over the country enforcing its ideals for over fifty years. The even playing ground soon morphed into a land barren of opportunities and liberal expression. Religious communities are though not persecuted anymore, but oppressed all the same and upwards social mobility seems as impossible as it did before the Revolution when all of them were equal, yet some more equal than others.

- Riven left his home country the only way that was ever imaginable: on a military scholarship. He pledged five years of service, servable any time before he turns 40, for the chance to study at a school abroad. His original intention was to return to Tengalu and work some change from the inside, but as graduation encroaches, he finds himself searching for any excuse to extend his visa.

#winx club #winx melody #melody #worldbuilding #butterfly fic #extra section on tengalu where riven is from #I didn't have enough info about tengalu to warrant an extra post and since its on the same planet I added it here