#or Celtic adjacent cultures | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

aikoiya · 7 months

Text

LoZ - Hyrulean Cultural Aesthetics

Overall Cultural Influences:

Central Hyrule & Hylians specifically = Medieval Germanic & Arthurian English with some variation depending on location. All Hylian towns will likely have a little bit of this in them.

Humans = Rural, small town, down home, farmer, tough as nails, survivor, rough around the edges, traditional, conservative, but still rebellious, & generally very good-hearted. That means they are the rednecks, the cowboys, the military men, the American Southerners, the Vikings, & the Celts kind of characters. You're salt of the earth types. At least in feel, though not necessarily in culture. It's because of this that humans generally get along well with Gorons. Either way, humans stick mostly to the agricultural & ranching settlements for the most part.

Zora = Hard to tell as they generally don't wear clothing, but they do wear a lot of jewelry. If I had to give them clothes, I'd definitely say they'd be something flowy. Possibly Roman or Greek in fashion to go with the water theme? As for sensibilities, maybe a bit of French Rococo. I also get the impression that the Zora's Domain is actually divided into 2 levels: the Upper Domain & the Lower Domain. The Upper Domain is what we see in the games & consists of the commercial district & palace. The Lower Domain is entirely underwater & is where the Zora actually live. The reason we don't see it is because Link can't dive.

Rito = Northern Native American. Aldean specifically. Maybe a bit of Latin American.

Goron = A mix of Maori (Polynesian), African, Dwarven, & maybe a bit of Old West mining town, though it's hard to tell for certain as they generally don't wear clothing. Definitely something with a decent blend of caballerismo & machismo. Something masculine & tribal, but also community oriented & friendly.

Gerudo = Egyptian/Middle Eastern Amazons with some Orc influence. Possibly with some hints of Hindu too. At least as far as fashion goes.

Korok/Kokiri = If Peter Pan & the Lost Boys were Hobbits.

Twili = Possibly Scandanavian? Also Chinese with some Japanese influences.

Mogma = They seem to be Brooklyn-ish. Maybe even a bit of an Italian-American Mob feel, but more so in the "friendly gangster" way. So, I'm seeing some Bensonhurst influences, which is a specifically Italian-American borough within Brooklyn, I believe. Maybe even a bit of New York Jewish? Like, they come across as being Italian mafia adjacent, but only in so much as the accent, the attitude, & family-oriented organization. Sort of an "it takes a village" & "we take care of our own" type of mentality. Not in any way actually mafia though & certainly not in the romanticized view of gangsters as I don't actually see the Mogmas being the types to actually commit crimes on the reg. And despite being avid treasure-hunters, they seem to have a general culture of altruistic generosity. By that, I mean that their love language is gift-giving.

Yeti = Norse Viking.

Minish = Borrowers.

Anouki = Inuit.

Lokomo = Possibly Greek?

Zonai = Mesoamerican.

*Lupos = Gaelic, Celtic, & Nordic. (This is a race I made up, if you wanna know more, go to Wolf Link & the Lupos Race.)

Smaller Settlements:

Hateno = I'm getting Gaelic Scottish farming town. Also maybe a bit of Spain, Italy, & Greece. Mostly inhabited by humans & Hylians.

Kakariko = Japanese with maybe a touch of American Old West. While primarily Japanese, there's also some definite South Korean influences. Especially in their cooking.

Mabe = Rustic dairy ranching town vibes because I'm putting Lon Lon Ranch there. Based on how AoC & LA's Mabe was designed, their roofing is colorful terracotta tile & generally has ivy & such growing on their homes, so maybe Colonial Spanish. Mostly inhabited by humans & Hylians.

Goponga = I'm getting rural Luisiana Bayou vibes, most likely due to it being located in a swamp. So, primarily Cajun, French, & Colonial Spanish with some Zora inspiration maybe. Mostly inhabited by humans, Hylians, & Zora.

Deya = Not sure yet, but I'm giving them a vineyard, peach orchard, & making them use them to make moscato, so maybe an old Tuscany winery & fishing village? Mostly inhabited by humans & Hylians. From what we see in the games, it was actually the biggest settlement in Hyrule besides Castle Town, so it could've been a full-on town or city.

Ordon = Has a rural ranching feel & might be inspired by a southern agricultural town in Italy called Ordona. So, maybe rural Italy with American South mannerisms & sensibilities. Culturally, though, I get Gaelic Irish vibes. It might be the smials… Also, maybe a little bit of Welsh too. Either way, it's mostly inhabited by humans & Lupos (more human than Lupos) with the occasional Hylian, Sheikah, & 1 or 2 Gerudo. (For more of their overall culture, go to Ordonian Culture & Ordon Cooking Culture.)

Lurelin = Rural Hawaiian fishing village. Maybe a little bit of Caribbean & Okinawan? With a little bit of Mesoamerican mixed in due to Zonai influence from the nearby ruins.

Ealiyah = Tibetan-flavored Gerudo farming & brewing town. Maybe a little bit of Russian too? Also, interior decoration is eclectic & cluttered but cozy & colorful in a vibrant, rustic Bohemian sort of way. There are also some influences from humans, Hylians, Lupos, & even Sheikah to a degree as several of each race lives there too (all men), but overall, the culture remains mostly that Tibetan-Gerudo sort of style. They do a lot of weaving & sewing as well as dying. (This is a town I made up, for more on its culture & history, go to Ealiyah Town & the Highlands Gerudo.)

Tabantha Village = Norse with Rito, Yeti, & Lupos inspiration. So, old Norse Viking, Aldean, Celtic, & Gaelic with a Russian & Welsh accent. They use a lot of furs in their clothing. Mostly inhabited by humans, Hylians, Rito, Yeti, & Lupos.

Shadow Hamlet = Dwarven possibly, with Goron inspiration. So, very masculine. Maybe a bit of Old Western Mining Town. A mix of Gorons, Hylians, & Humans tend to live here.

Koholint Domain = This is on the Koholina Archipelago, which Eventide Island is the smallest island of & will eventually become a fishing & port town. In-world, it has influence from Zora, Rito, & Lurelin. But, from a real world perspective, it's mostly Polynesian, coastal Native American, & coastal Hindu with some ancient coastal Greco-Roman (even Atlantis-like) influence for the underwater sections of the settlement. As well as in their formal fashion. There would likely be a tiny bit of Carribean & Okinawan influence in there too. The population is made up of Euryhaline Zora (able to survive in both salt & fresh water), Coastal Rito, & Lurelin Hylians/humans. And, much like with how I think the Zora's Domain is built, the settlement's commercial district is on land, while the Zora residential area is underwater. The Rito & human/Hylian residences, as well as the Cheiftain's home, are also on land. (For more on the specifics of this, go to Euryhaline Zora & Coastal Rito Port Town.)

Gatepost, Outpost, & East Post = These are all a package deal. These are mostly military towns, so that'll definitely factor in. They are positioned in such a way as to protect Oldcastle. Mostly inhabited by Hylians, humans, & Sheikah, but with smatterings of the other races too.

Oldcastle = The site of OoT's Castle Town, a.k.a. the Great Plateau, so there'll be some DEEP historical significance going on. As such, it's mostly Medieval Germanic & Arthurian English. Mostly inhabited by Hylians, humans, & Sheikah.

LoZ Cultural Masterlist

#loz #legend of zelda #hyrulean #hyrulean culture #hyrule #zora #goron #hylian #sheikah #gerudo #rito #ordon

21 notes · View notes

beatingthedeadhorse · 8 months

Text

Ethnic Groups and their differences - brief

This can be an incredible way to explore how many different cultures view gender-norms, and their role in society. It can also be up to the writers discretion on how they portray specific ethnicities and how their people display A/B/O, however, the purpose of this distinction in different ethnicities should be to uplift people, not to bring them down – looking at you, writers who consider the western approach to be the norm, when it isn’t even the norm in western society. How’s that 5/6 divorce rate feel? Anyway.

A general idea on how to extrapolate on this effect is this – how do peoples bodies change in different environments? In areas where people face real predators – like jaguars, and bears – would it be safer for Omegas and Alphas to have less of a scent and simply have better senses? In places where food is scarce most of the year, perhaps the Omegas and Alphas sync their ruts and heats to either whenever the harvest is plentiful – whenever their fat reserves reach a certain amount – or simply every year when spring begins? Perhaps extreme environments, such as hot deserts and humid jungles, will force Omegas and Alphas to sweat without a scent, and to have less heats, and perhaps colder places will allow couples and families to intentionally spark heats to create warmth? Perhaps you could even have certain ethnicities that lack the sensory range of others, or vice versa, or have ethnicities that display differently due to their environment not requiring such extreme differences in strength, like New Zealand and some island nations, where there were no natural predators, perhaps allowing the Omegas to develop into being as strong as, or perhaps stronger than their Alpha counterparts in moments of high stress. If the world is post-fallout, especially a radical kind, such as chemical warfare, perhaps the world lives in greater extremes, creating whole new ethnicities in places that live life differently, and are biologically sometimes adjacent to their neighbours.

The most important part to stress would always be that the people would match their environment, and that another people entering, and enforcing their worldview would go incredibly poorly, even if they are seemingly more in the right – such as cold weather ethnicities valuing small, close units, as opposed to large desert-based communities who share their resources for safety and survival. It’s all about a matter of perspective, and the way in which different ethnicities – such as Old Celtic and Gaelic and Picti Britain and their subsequent invaders – interact and raise children and families can be a brilliant way to examine and deconstruct gender, culture, ethnic influence, and society as a whole.

It would also be interesting to explore what kind of Omega and Alpha beauty standards exist due to the environment around them – such as the continent of Australia, where being tidy and clean is the most attractive feature someone can have, versus perhaps a resource scarce country, who value partners who are evidentially eating well. It is interesting to note that, recently discovered by anthropologists, peoples in desert countries acquire and store fat in different ways and forms to peoples in cold weather countries. Which is another consideration a writer can use when writing in different perspectives! Something one character is ashamed of – such as thicker than usual in their culture and ethnicity thighs – can be considered incredibly attractive to another character due to their culture and ethnicity placing heavy importance in the presence of such features. Perhaps even an Alpha who is ashamed of having a quiet voice, being from a country in Europe, is considered incredibly attractive to other varieties of Ethnic Omegas and Betas because a ‘quiet Alpha is a good warrior and a hunter’. Writers can go as ham as they want with this, because it’s a real thing in our actual world! Exploring the differences in beauty standards from different ethnicities and cultures can be an incredible experience.

[Back to Guide]

#omegaverse theory #omegaverse worldbuilding #omegaverse #alpha/beta/omega verse #alpha beta omega #alpha/beta/omega dynamics #a/b/o dynamics #a/b/o universe #a/b/o #a/b/o verse #omegaverse culture and ethnicity #god i cant believe i made this

9 notes · View notes

amaiguri · 8 months

Text

How I Added More Appeal to My Worldbuilding

So, I was checking my Tumblr drafts and looking for the post where I had started my ideation on my Saegenfolk and apparently, that post has been lost to the ether. Which is sad -- it was a really good post, going through the worldbuilding process in real-time. But THAT'S OK: We'll recreate it now using my Saegen culture as an example!

So, imagine you're looking at your worldbuilding but you're just NOT FEELING it. To fix that...

Step 0: Gather all your worldbuilding into one place!

This will help you review it to identify it for problems. Now, for me, the Saegen were actually a whole worldbuilding project for another ice-world with an upper and lower continent and stuff. I'd even written a a whole codex of laws and an etiquette handbook... but here's the shortlist of all the old Saegen cultural info:

NOW: You must begin by identifying WHY you feel lasseiz faire about your Worldbuilding!

For me, when I was looking at my worldbuilding around the Saegen folk, it felt like they didn't have the polish and the cultural fusional elements that my other cultures had. For example, the Nouveau Thuilleans, for example, have a Franco-Irish aesthetic with Japanese and Sakha elements and a mafia-like government structure. That's a lot of disparate elements coming together to make a culture with its own unique flavor. But the Saegen folk were basically... just Vikings.

At first, I tried to just redesign their fashion. And I mean... here's the barely-redesigned fashion. The main difference here is that they have a more Hanfu-style undershirt. But. This was not the actual problem so it didn't really work to solve my problem

Add on top of that: I've been increasingly learning a lot of Viking-adjacent, Ancient Norse history has been misunderstood and/or co-opted by Neo-N*zis and it's just a lot more work to make them more authentic representation while dodging accidental dogwhistles than I think it would be worth.

The other issue I had was that their culture was not reflective of the environment enough... Especially since I had screwed up on continent placement and descriptions -- I was writing them as if their whole society DIDN'T live underground with very limited sunlight every day. Whoops!

So this brings us to STEP 2: Review your design objectives.

With creative works, it's really easy to just change things to be different without knowing if it's better or worse. Like, whether you think the new Zelda games are good or bad depends on if you think freedom in games is good or bad. If it's bad, then the new Zelda is bad, right? (I don't think this -- I think they're good and different. But not necessarily BETTER games: just literally different games.)

The way to ensure things are getting BETTER in your worldbuilding is by having objectives or pillars for your work! With pillars, the more your work aligns with the pillars, the better you know it's getting.

For my worldbuilding generally, my #1 goal is that I, personally, should want to make characters for each of my cultures AND they should be distinct from other, to allow me to make the widest diversity of interesting characters.

And the Saegen culture was failing this because "just Vikings" doesn't interest or resonate with me anymore. But I DO like Norse culture and Norse landscapes and Celtic music and other Northern European things like that! But not unchanged for my fantasy world...

So now, STEP 3: Brainstorm changes to the worldbuilding to bring it in line with your design pillars!

I wanted to keep their focus on families and the hyperindividualism that pervades Northern cultures, because I think that makes them a good thematic foil to Nouveau Thuille. And I also wanted to keep their sailing, conlang, and music -- because I'm a huge fan of what my music friends have done with their music.

What did I add? I decided, since Nouveau Thuille had Japanese elements, Saegen culture should have Chinese elements! Plus, I'm a Chinese adoptee with very little knowledge or ties to my birth culture and I've wanted to make a concerted effort to learn more about it. Of course, this required a lot more research BUT I was motivated to do it...

I also began to consider the geography of the North and how the worldbuilding would need to reflect that. They live in an alpine tundra just shy of the North Pole of my world. I mean, here's a sketchy map that shows where their Capital is:

See how that's smack beneath the Upper Continent AND in the far north? It's fucking COLD. How are they getting food? Staying warm? Drinking water? I'll have to really revamp the ecology of the area to be as cool as the Black Gothic plants of the Nouveau Thuillean valley and as resonant as the cities I've made in the South while still make sense.

Also, since personal appeal is important goal, I also looked at things I was excited about at the time. And you know what was exciting me when I started working on the rewrite? Fontaine from Genshin Impact -- and their upper city-lower city dynamic, high crime rates, water associations...

I was even outlining a whole novel thing called "The Sunken City" and, what if I just tied that into the revamped Saegenheim? I had no interesting things happening there so I COULD set the novel there...

And this made me realize that Saegenheim should be a relatively vertical city underground, near some sort of thermal heat -- as this solves both my ecology problem AND my personal appeal problem. Like... when I think about an underground and partly-underwater city with viking houses and crime problems, I just 😍😍😍

Step 4: Research

Before I got too deep down the rabbit hole of making changes, I wanted to do more research because my knowledge of Chinese culture begins and ends with my Chinese school in 2nd grade. (Okay, that's not fair -- I ALSO learned about all the Dynasties in World History class). I wanted to have MUCH MORE knowledge, so I began to watch a bunch of YouTube videos on Chinese culture -- both historically and today.

And some of the things that really resonated with me were:

The changing traditions of snowy cities in the North of China

Their various concepts of masculinity and how it's changing today

The hyperindividualism seen in modern China compared with the community focus indicated by philosophers and architecture of the past

The evolution of Chinese fashion

The stories behind all the festivals

Color significance

The importance of numbers and their own astrology system

The way the Chinese government interacts with itself and the outside world

I wanna try to capture some of those elements in my work, though obviously, I have much much more to learn. But like... it's really cool to learn about this stuff -- to get a glimpse into the kind of person I might have been if I'd grown up in a different culture.

And then STEP 5 is to JUST DO IT -- which you can see I started doing in this post here!

That's all for today!

#worldbuilding #how to worldbuild #fantasy worldbuilding #fantasy writer #fantasy world #writeblr #writing #writing tips #creative writing #on writing #art process #writing process #yssaia #amaiguri

8 notes · View notes

psychotrenny · 6 months

Note

Sorry I’m stupid but I want to understand more. Is an Anglo an English European-decent(?) speaker with no Spanish heritage (aka not Hispanic) and if yes is that often relevant in discussions abt the fictional concept of race and ethnicity? I feel like in America whiteness usually is treated as a monolith so even if u speak Spanish as long as it’s Spain Spanish no one cares but I might be wrong and completely unknowlagable abt the sub-divisions of white in America (or ur not even American and so it’s just relevant to where u live so u put it in ur bio)

Oh I put Anglo in my bio because I spend a lot of time on the internet talking to people from outside Anglophone nations so it felt relevant to note that I'm culturally and linguistically English/English-Adjacent. Anglo is a loose term with a specific meaning that can vary depending on context but I'd normally use to mean someone whose cultural/ethnic background is of a majority English-Speaking nation (as opposed to say a nation that uses English as an official language but most people still retain indigenous first languages for use at home), especially if they themselves speak English as their first language. For me specifically I'm an Australian entirely descended from North West Europeans; mostly Cornish (a traditionally celtic speaking people who had been assimilated into speaking English by the end of the 18th century) and Lowland Scottish (a people who by the 14th century spoke Scots, an Anglic Language related to but distinct from English) with some English, Welsh, Irish and Breton if you look far back enough. Still, even if I had non-British heritage I'd probably still consider myself Anglo if I lacked any sort of real cultural connection to it. The fact that I'm neither geographically or lineally *English* English is why I use a broad term like "Anglo" rather than "English" more specifically

3 notes · View notes

warriors-rewritten-chaos · 1 year

Text

Warriors Rewrite- The Tribe Rewritten: The Lunar Feles

So I’ve recently stumbled across a post addressing exactly why a lot of people consider The Tribe of Rushing Water to be a collection of racist stereotypes. Knowing what I’ve learned from that post now, I cannot keep the Tribe in my story as it’s presented in canon. And since this is sort of my “fix things the Erins did wrong” rewrite, I want to change it to be less offensively stereotypical towards indigenous people.

However.

I myself am not an indigenous person and I do not believe that I would be able to correctly and accurately portray an indigenous culture. So therefore I have changed it to be something closer to what I believe I can pull off without falling into offensive stereotypes. If any of this still falls into any offensive stereotypes please tell me.

So here we are!

Name Meaning

The name Lunar Feles essentially just means “Moon Cats” in Latin because I’m uncreative. The reason behind this name change will be explained below.

Stoneteller Druid

The Celtic religion was led by spiritual leaders known as druids. Since the Lunar Feles define themselves by their worship of the moon as the bringer of life and their general leader is also a spiritual one, I thought Druid was the best option to name it after.

Unlike Stonetellers in canon, Druids don’t change their name when they become Druid.

The Druid gains an incredibly strong power from Lady Half Moon when they ascend to their position. Specifically, they gain the ability to see the future. This is in contrast to the nine lives StarClan grants their Leaders. Druids are mentally and spiritually tethered to their goddess and constantly receive visions. They live nearly their entire lives in a special cave with a hole above showing the sky to better pick up on these visions.

Other Changed Roles

Not much has really changed here besides the addition of a Healer role (called Cleric) and that Prey-Hunters are renamed Rangers, Cave-Guards are now just Guards, Kit-Mothers are Guardians, and To-Bes are Squires.

Naming Conventions

Since the Lunar Feles are the remnants of the precursor Tribe (called the Caelestia Feles in this AU) that led to the Clan cats, why not keep the Ancient Clan-adjacent name conventions and style?

Here are some examples of some changed canon names:

Brook Where Small Fish Swim = Small Brook

Rain That Rattles on Stones = Rattling Rain

Night of No Stars = Sightless Night

Dark Shadow on Water = Dark Shadow

Territory and Lifestyle

The Lunar Feles make their home in an expansive cave system near the top of a mountain. While the cave system provides them with water and safety, it has little to nothing in the way of food. Therefore a class of hunters leave the caves each day to catch prey. While their main sources of food are either scavenged carcasses from kills made by larger predators or small rodents and birds, the Lunar Feles have adapted a method of hunting large birds of prey as well. While they rarely use it as the method is incredibly dangerous for the cats involved, it is sometimes necessary (mostly in times of famine).

Rangers (the hunters) are the only Tribe cats who ever leave the caves. Guards will spend their entire lives in the caves.

Spirituality

The Lunar Feles worship a goddess known as “Lady Half Moon”. Half Moon was the first Leader of the Tribe of Rushing Water as appointed by Jay’s Wing in the books, but here she is an all-powerful entity that takes the form of a black cat with stars in her pelt and half a moon for a face. She is an eldritch goddess of death and rebirth in a cycle, something that I imagine that cats who live in such a dangerous place as the mountains are very familiar with. While StarClan and the Dark Forest are held together by large groups of cat spirits, Lady Half Moon is capable of holding her own pocket of space-time open for her loyal worshippers to contact her and go when they die.

Once upon a time, though, there were two gods worshipped by the then-called Caelestia Feles. In addition to the Lady Half Moon, there was also the god of fate, whose name has been lost to time. But who knows, he may be still around...

#Warrior Cats #warrior cats rewrite #the lunar feles (the tribe of rushing water)#worldbuilding #while researching for this I learned that cats are also scavengers #which is where the carcass thing comes from #also the mountain has very little food in general so they take what they can get

2 notes · View notes

robertalexender · 9 months

Text

Best Summer Holiday Destinations in Europe for Families

Summer is the ideal season for families to engage in wonderful family experiences. Europe has a wide range of scenic sites to suit families of all sizes and ages. In this blog, we will look at some of the top Summer Holiday Destinations in Europe for Families, ensuring that everyone has a memorable and fascinating experience. Don't be concerned if you're planning a family vacation and need advice! The Travel Makers, The best travel agency in Dubai is here to assist you in creating the perfect itinerary for an extraordinary European escapade.

8 best Summer Holiday Destinations in Europe for Families

Portugal's Algarve

The Algarve is a renowned tourist destination in southern Portugal known for its magnificent beaches and family-friendly resorts. Water sports, boat cruises, and seeing the magnificent sea caves along the coast are all options for families. Zoomarine (a marine theme park), Aqualand water park, and Lagos Zoo are among the many family-friendly attractions. The location has a mild Mediterranean climate, making it ideal for a beach holiday.

Greece's islands

Greece has various gorgeous islands, each with its own distinct experience. Crete, Rhodes, Corfu, and Naxos are among family-friendly Greek islands. These islands offer lovely beaches, safe swimming areas, and a variety of activities for children. Families may visit historical sites, water parks, and sample traditional Greek cuisine. Greece is also noted for its wonderful friendliness, making it an excellent choice for families with children.

Italy's Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre is a beautiful location on the Italian Riviera. While it lacks the conventional family attractions of other places, it provides a unique and charming experience for families with older children. Hiking trails connect the five colorful fishing communities (Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore), which offer beautiful coastline views. Families can visit the villages, eat Italian gelato, and go on boat rides along the shore.

Spain's Costa Brava

Costa Brava is a northeastern Spanish coastal region famed for its magnificent beaches and crystal-clear waters. Lloret de Mar, Tossa de Mar, and Roses are popular family-friendly locations on the Costa Brava. Families can enjoy seaside activities, see medieval castles, and visit water parks such as Water World. The region also has a number of family-friendly resorts with facilities and entertainment catered to children.

France's Brittany

Brittany, located in northwest France, offers families a blend of stunning coastlines, lovely villages, and cultural events. Families can discover the walled city of Saint-Malo, and the scenic Mont Saint-Michel, and participate in outdoor activities such as hiking and cycling. The region's distinct Celtic past adds an extra layer of fascination to the journey.

Croatia's Dalmatian Coast

Croatia's Dalmatian Coast is well-known for its beautiful shoreline, medieval cities, and crystal-clear waters. With their rich history, old city walls, and family-friendly beaches, Split and Dubrovnik are popular family getaways. Families can visit the National Parks of Krka and Plitvice Lakes, take boat cruises to adjacent islands, and participate in water activities such as snorkeling and kayaking.

Denmark's Legoland

Legoland in Billund, Denmark, is a dream location for families with LEGO-loving youngsters. This amusement park has a variety of activities, including LEGO-themed rides, interactive experiences, and Miniland, which recreates renowned sites in LEGO bricks. Legoland is an excellent choice for a fun-filled family outing.

Sweden's Stockholm

Stockholm, Sweden's capital, is a family-friendly city with a lot to offer. Djurgrden, an island with attractions such as the Vasa Museum (which houses a 17th-century battleship), Skansen (an open-air museum), and Gröna Lund amusement park, is ideal for families. Stockholm also features lovely parks, family-friendly eateries, and a relaxed ambiance that is ideal for families.

Tips for planning a successful family summer holiday in Europe

Planning a successful family summer holiday in Europe requires careful preparation and consideration. Here are seven tips to help you make the most of your trip:

Choose Family-Friendly Destinations: Look for places that cater to families and provide a variety of activities for people of all ages. Look for amusement parks, beaches, museums, and outdoor leisure opportunities. Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, and the Greek islands are all popular family-friendly destinations in Europe.

Plan and book in advance: Summer is a busy vacation season in Europe, and popular tourist destinations can fill up quickly. Book early in advance to ensure the greatest lodgings and flights at the cheapest pricing. Planning ahead of time also allows you more time to investigate and adjust your schedule to your family's preferences.

Create a Flexible Itinerary: While a rough plan is necessary, make room for chance and flexibility. Unexpected scenarios can develop because kids are unpredictable. A flexible schedule allows you to adjust to changes without feeling rushed or pressured.

Involve the Whole Family: Involve your children in the planning process. Inquire about their suggestions for places, activities, and sightseeing. When children are participating, they are more interested and enthusiastic about the vacation.

Pack Smart: How you pack can make or break a family vacation. Make a list of necessary items and attempt to pack light while considering the needs of everyone in the family. Don't forget to pack any necessary medications, entertainment for the kids while traveling, and clothing appropriate for diverse activities and weather situations.

Embrace Local Culture and Cuisine: Introduce your family to the local culture and food of the places you visit. Encourage your children to try new meals and take part in cultural activities such as festivals or local crafts. It's a fantastic way for them to make lifelong experiences and widen their horizons.

Stay Safe: During your travel, safety should be your primary priority. In crowded settings, always keep an eye on your children and choose trustworthy transportation providers. Learn the local emergency phone numbers and healthcare institutions. Consider obtaining travel insurance to protect your family in the event of an unanticipated event.

Conclusion

Europe attracts its numerous attractions, making it a perfect summer vacation destination for families. Whether you choose to visit sunny beaches, awe-inspiring mountains, or enchanting historical cities, the experiences will leave a lasting impression on everyone in the family. So, what are you waiting for? Gather your loved ones, contact The Travel Makers, the best travel agency in Dubai, and prepare to embark on a once-in-a-lifetime journey! Unforgettable moments await in the heart of Europe.

#Travel #travel destinations #travel news #travelling #travelplaces #Travel agency in dubai

1 note · View note

kroashent · 1 year

Text

Demat!

For the month of April, I am undertaking a special project to "solidify" Kroashent while I continue to work on the novel and the art. For the month, I will be making a special focus on developing and sharing the "Bestiary" of Alvez, showcasing the flora and fauna of the world of Kroashent. I hope to shift the focus each month with looking into characters, magic systems and geography, among others.

A lot of people have asked about the creatures of Alvez, and I always feel like my explanations are rather long-winded, daunting infodumps. It seemed like a great place to start to make my work a little more engaging.

Those familiar with my other work may be familiar with "Marie's Bestiary", a similar themed project sharing this information with in-universe commentary by the wandering troubadour. For this project, I'll be following a similar pattern, sharing the WorldAnvil Wiki pages. While I eventually hope to illustrate each of these entries, but for now, I'll be posting the entries themselves.

As always, feedback and inquiries are very helpful! I am always looking for ways to improve and flesh out my setting and stories and love enthusiastic engagement! I put a ton of work into these and hope you enjoy them!

--------------

By popular demand, moving into some celtic vampire lore, with the Baobhan Sith!

--------------

BTS: I've had a lot of people ask about Vampires in Kroashent. There are actually 2, but I'll get to those in a bit.

Vampires and hematophages (blood-drinkers), are exceedingly rare in Breton folklore and even in wider French culture. Sorry fans of the brooding French vampire, but France is solidly on team werewolf, mythologically speaking! I wasn't able to find any vampires or vapire adjacent beasties in my survey of Breton and French folklore. Even historic serial killers like Gilles de Rais and Nicolas Damont, their purported crimes embellished with supernatural additions, are usually accused of being werewolves long before they are vampires.

French Vampirism really took off with the publication of the influential 1819 novel, The Vampyre (part of the same contest that produced Mary Shelly's Frankenstein!), which spawned a popular Parisian play and numerous imitators.

But fear not, vampire fans! Where the continent is unhelpful, the Islands will provide!

The Baobhan Sith are a blood-drinking Scottsh Faerie that bear a lot of similarities with the popular image of vampires, ageless beauties entrancing travelers and draining them of their blood. They are not the living dead (we have to go to Ireland to get one of those!), but they do follow a lot of the same tropes. The Sidhe, the Fae of the Fortunate Isles, are inspired by the folklore of Ireland and the British Islands (for the most part), so the Baobhan Sith are fair game!

(I'll drop the Irish one soon. Very different take on the concept!)

#Bestiary of Alvez #Kroashent #Lore #worldbuilding #World Anvil #baobhan sith #vampire

0 notes

planttitta · 2 years

Text

Flying paper monsters mythology

Sometimes described as more than 14 ft tall, the monster’s kind was said to have descended from demons. The other G in our entries, Gogmagog was a muscular humanoid giant from the island of Albion (the ancient name for Britain). According to the legend, when he fell down upon the adjacent soldiers, his massive body simultaneously buried 109,350 men and 21,870 elephants! Gogmagog (from Anglican/Celtic mythology) Source: Mythical-Creatures Wiki ( link) Incidentally, he met his tragic death in his very giant form at the climactic Battle of Kurukshetra. Having the blood of the rakshasa endowed Ghatotkacha with many magical powers, including the ability to glide and the capacity to turn into a monstrous giant. He was the son of Bhima, who was one of the heroes of this Sanskrit mythological work, and the giantess ( rakshasa) Hidimbi. Going against the grain of ‘evil’ monsters portrayed in various mythologies, the giant Ghatotkacha was described as a humble and loyal character in the world’s longest known epic poem Mahabharata. But unfortunately for the ginormous creature, the demi-god Hercules successfully captured the boar – as outlined by one of his twelve heroic labors. Oddly enough, the Erymanthian Boar was considered to be a repugnant form of the Greek god Apollo, who had changed himself into a monster to punish Adonis. Residing in the vicinity of Mount Erymanthus, the boar was fabled because of its sharp yet strong canine teeth that were used to gore and impale unfortunate victims who had mistakenly wandered to the ominous location. But the enormous one-ton Erymanthian Boar has seemed to elude pop-cultural references for quite some time now. Greek Mythological traditions have brought us a host of exalted creatures, including Kraken, Cyclops, Minotaur, Manticore, and Fury. This was supposedly done as a punishment to the existing civilization when the people revolted against the bloodthirsty divine will that demanded human sacrifices in return for protection. In fact, the legends pertain to the folkloric narrative when the Mayan Gods deliberately let loose the monster from its prison so as to destroy the entire race of Mayans – which would have made way for a new order of humans. For example, the Camazotz has been described as a purely evil entity with the sole aim to cause terror. But the fascinating part is – that Camazotz’s legend does have many similarities to the well-known vampire stories of the later eras. So, it really doesn’t come as a surprise that it is Mayan mythology that brings forth the legend of a mythical vampire creature. In terms of conventional zoology, all of the three known species of vampire bats are actually native to the New World. However, they were also depicted as nominally benevolent beings who warned travelers of any danger in their future journeys. In terms of portrayal, the Aqrabuamelu are described to have astronomical proportions, with their heads supposedly touching the sky and their mere glances resulting in death. They were said to be guardians of the sun god Shamash and were found around his abode at the Mashu mountains. The Aqrabuamelu or the Scorpion Men are mentioned in many myths written in the Akkadian language, with the most famous descriptions being in the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh. Aqrabuamelu (from Mesopotamian mythology) Illustration by Larkin Art (DeviantArt) Hinrich Johannes Rink, the term Amarok pertains to only a ‘fabulous’ monster for the Greenlanders, while other Arctic inhabitants believed the Amarok to be a monstrous wolf greater in size than a human being. Interestingly, according to famous Danish geologist Dr. Some also draw parallels of this beast with the Waheela giant wolves that supposedly inhabited the northern parts of Canada. Many believe the legend of this lone wolf actually comes from real-time ecological periods when the untraveled deep woods were indeed populated by larger varieties of wolves (like the better known dire wolves). Sleipnir (from Norse mythology) Amarok (from Inuit mythology) Illustration by VinodramsĪ fantastical giant wolf from the barren lands of the Arctic, the Amarok is said to hunt alone in contrast to the pack tendencies of its much smaller brethren.Ogopogo (from Native American mythology).Gogmagog (from Anglican/Celtic mythology).Erymanthian Boar (from Greek mythology).Aqrabuamelu (from Mesopotamian mythology).

#Flying paper monsters mythology

0 notes

midwrites · 3 years

Note

Would you ever write a fic about your favorite mythological or folklore creature? (And or kid fic!)

Gosh, this is such an interesting question.

Ok, so for the first bit re:fic about my fave mythological/folklore creature, Imma go ahead and say yes-ish? Like my favourite mythological creature ever have always been dragons and being into Dragon Age lately has really made it easy for me to go absolutely crazy including them in stuff -sends a little kiss the Iron Bull’s way, my number one validator-.

Other folklore creature I really love, which is also already ingrained into horror and pop-culture in general, are werewolves, and I’m currently working on a fic with some of that 👀👀.

But, one of my all-time fave folklore myths is La Santa Compaña, which I don’t think would translate well into fic form. For a brief explanation, La Santa Compaña is basically a regional variation of the Wild Hunt myth present in the North of Spain and Portugal, and consists of a deadly procession formed by the spirits of the deceased lead by a living person, who cannot see those they are leading, their primary mission being to visit those who are about to die or to announce death in a certain location, you can read more about it here! I think that it would fit a story with very heavy rural horror elements or themes, but as it is, I really don’t know how I’d get it done.

As for lighter topics, re:kidfic, I have to confess that I am not a huge fan of the genre :,D However, I am a huge fan of found family, and dynamics like the one Bull has with the Chargers make me curl into a ball and gently weep out of sheer joy, so I don’t completely discard working on fics exploring those kind of relationships. Tangled Up in Red is the closest I’m ever going to get to writing kidfic at the moment I’m afraid—which came out of my sheer necessity to explore a certain set of issues, so you never know.

Let’s play writers would you ever

#answered #redxluna #don't get me wrong I will read almost absolutely anything featuring characters/pairings I like if I enjoy how it's written #so that's why I never say no to writing X or Y #also I think I'm forgetting some monster or myth I love #because most of my faves are not well known outside of Europe #or Celtic adjacent cultures #so I feel like I will be loading the dishwasher in half an hour and suddenly remember

3 notes · View notes

aikoiya · 9 months

Text

LoZ: Wild - Ealiyah Town & the Highland Gerudo

Ealiyah Town is a Gerudo settlement situated in the Gerudo Highlands in Risoka Snowfield. Part of why they chose Risoka is brought up by Patricia, “Risoka Snowfield rests upon the shoulders of the eighth heroine.”

They were founded by Gerudo who wished to stay with their husbands & not have to send their daughters away, as men are forbidden from entering Gerudo Town & vaivïn (girls, plural) are supposed to be sent away to Gerudo Town once they start becoming more aware of the world around them; around 5. Then, those girls are forbidden from seeing their fathers again until they're adults. That's like 12-16 years!

As such, Ealiyah is inhabited mostly by Gerudo, Hylians, Ovelians (humans with regular-ass ears), & even the occasional Sheikah & a race that I call Lupos. (For a better understanding of what Lupos are, go here.) As a result of not being so thoroughly segregated from male figures, Ealiyan vaien (women, plural) tend to have a far better time of getting married. Their success rates being much higher.

Interestingly, Highland Gerudo seem to show a trend towards preferring Hebran & Ordonian humans, both rounded & pointed ears, especially Lupos ones. As they tend to fall more towards being taller, stronger, & more traditionally masculine, which much like western women IRL, the Gerudo tend to find much more attractive than the shorter & more delicate Hylian & Sheikah men of Central & Eastern Hyrule.

Hebran Lupos being some of the only Gerudo-compatible men that can manage to reach heights equal to & even sometimes taller than the average Gerudo on a decent basis. Which, as you can guess, tends to turn more than a few vaien's heads.

As a result, there tends to be a fairly large number of Viking-adjacent men living in the Highlands. Quite a lot of them being blonds & red-heads with green, hazel, or blue eyes too. With the occasional brunette & brown-eyed folks.

Culturally, the Ealiyans are something like Tibetan/Russian-flavored Gerudo. As such, their main language remains Gerudo, though with definite Hebran & Ordonian influence. (Which, Hebran is mainly old Norse with Russian & Welsh influence while Ordonian is very Irish Gaelic/Celtic with a bit of Welsh as well & a definitive southern US drawl to it.)

Like this:

(Not my art, but I love how it looks. However if the original artist wishes for me to take it down, I will do so.)

Over the millennia of living in the Highlands, the Eaylian Gerudo's aquiline noses have become more upturned like the Hebrans so as to heat the air that they breathe in. This makes them more readily adapted to their environment than their desert sisters.

—

They have become something of a farming village that cultivates hearty foods. Particularly Tabantha Wheat, Tundra Potatoes (Spicy), Hearty Radishes, Bloodberry Grapes (Chilly & Hydrating), & Endura Carrots.

A few Sheikah men also brought over Snowdrift Buckwheat (Snowdrift), Mountain Furberries (Freezeproof; Kiwis),

They also raise Highland Yaks, or Bōsa, for Bōmïchaa (Yak Milk) & use it to make Bōchurkha (Ealiyan Cheese) & Bōsudrï (Yak Butter).

Not to mention, Bighorn Sheep that some shepherds brought with them from the desert, or Ranqarn Ghanam. They tend to use a lot of Bōsoof, yak wool, & Ghansoof, sheep wool (specifically Merino wool), in their clothes which retain heat much better. They also produce milk, Ghamïchaa, which the Ealiyans use to make butter & cheese as well, Ghasudrï & Ghachurkha.

Because of this, whenever a recipe requires dairy, they tend to use local Bōsa or Ghanam products.

Many have become fierce hunters & have traded their claymores for longbows & arrows to better hunt for Tabantha Meese. They still do quite well with spears though. The guards also use Moonlight Scimitars, Mah'let Shim'tarren, & Shields, Ïkemen, much more often than Desert Gerudo.

And due to the Highland Gerudo having access to higher quality metals than the desert, they use the traditional Gerudo method of pattern welding known as Dawallaham with the Dawasaaq steel of the Highlands to make even better, more powerful & durable weapons. Thus, greatly improving on the Moonlight Scimitar's design. Dawasaaq steel being the Hyrule equivalent to Damascus steel.

And their hunting companions are typically the Fïwa'gàtï or Snow Cats. Which are tiny, snow white or light gray felines with darker gray spots resembling the pelt of a miniature clouded leopard, but with thicker, more fluffy fur much like a Maine Coon or Ragdoll, larger, broader ears, & long claws.

These cats are the cousins to the Gel'gàtï, Sand Cats, of the Gerudo Desert. Instead of white or gray, Gel'gàtï are light yellow with white underbellies, brownish or blackish spots, & short hair. Though, they keep the large, broad ears & long claws.

(Just with Cheetah spots instead of stripes.)

Both species are known for their stealth, hunting, & tracking abilities as well as for being terrifyingly fast & excellent, very affectionate companions. The Gàtï are small, even compared to most house cats, but extremely vicious. They are basically domesticated attack honeybadgers. They will fight the gods given a good enough reason & will not even hesitate.

Sassy little stinkers, but, again, extremely affectionate. The fact that they are positively miniscule when perched on the shoulders of such giantesses as the Gerudo, just makes them all the better. Both species tends to burrow as wild ones build their own dens.

The Fïwa'gàtï came to be when the 1st Gerudo broke off from the main Gerudo society to live in the Gerudo Highlands around 30,000 years ago by the time of BotW/TotK & brought their little hunting buddies with them.

(It's very possible that the Gàtï way have a common ancestor in the Remlit.)

Anyway, the Ealiyans also have immediate access to Cool Safflina, Chillshrooms, Ice Fruit, Wildberries, Nayru Pears (Freezeproof), Frostbite Mint (Biting), Freezia Gardenia (Freezeproof), Stamstalk Stevia (Energizing), Frostbane Blossom bushes (Spicy), Gleam Ginger (Sunny), Ice Roses (Freezeproof & Amorous; extremely rare), & even a small amount of Vital Sage (Enduring). Vital Sage being great for flavoring meat, which the Highland residents tend to eat a lot of.

The caves around the Highlands also grow quite a lot of Cavern Sorrel (Dark/Warding) which is good for making soups & stews.

As a matter of fact, Ealiyans are quite adept mushroomers as the caves around the Gerudo Highlands tend to be very good for cultivating a variety of mushrooms. They are also the perfect places to brew alcohol, some of them even being set aside specifically for just such a purpose & referred to as Brewing Caves.

Not to mention the Snowcoat Foxes, Cold-Footed Wolves, Tabantha Meese, Grizzlemaw Bears, & Snow Pidgeons that live around there, thus they have quite a lot of Prime & Gourmet Meat & decent quality Bird Meat in their diets. Plus, the furs of these animals make for such excellent, warm clothes, perfect for guarding against the frigid air of the Highlands.

They also have the benefit of relatively easy access to 2 Satori Trees, 1 in the Gerudo Canyon & the other on Satori Mountain, which gives them a good amount of Satori Cherries (Hasty) & Satora Blossoms (Hasty & Amorous) during spring.

Ealiyan grocers tend to hire workers to go hike to Gerudo Canyon to gather things such as Sunshrooms, Warm Safflina, & even Fire Fruit & Shock Fruit, & the village itself has a strong trade alliance with Gerudo Town where they trade them a large variety of booze, Cool Safflinas, many different types of mushrooms (especially Chillshrooms), Bōsa (Highland Yak) products, textiles, dyes, & other things in return for Warm & Electric Safflinas, Voltfruit, Moonblooming Arguses (Dusky/Dawning; flowers that grow from Voltfruit Cacti), Shock Fruit, Oasis Honey (Recovery), Sàbaar Fruit (Recovery), Hydromelons, Zapshrooms, ect. Though, only after TotK Ganondorf was sealed away & they stopped performing Feminization of the Enemy upon foreign men. Not to mention abolishing slavery & freeing the Vo'màzren (male concubines) that they kept captive for the purposes of breeding.

Of course, that doesn't mean that all the men left, a handful remained due to their own issues. Either as horndogs themselves or just with their own senses of self-worth telling them that they don't deserve better lives. As such, the sex industry still lives on, but at least now the men aren't slaves & are actually paid. All other Surré Qasrehsen (Pleasure Palaces) have been dismantled, leaving only the one in modern Kàra Kàra Bàzaar, which is swiftly growing into Kàra Bàzétto. Bàzétto being the Gerudàn term for Market Town or Martown.

This is due to a recent change in Desert Gerudo policy. While men are still not permitted inside Gerudo Town proper due to it being classified as a vaidina or sexually segregated town where only women are allowed entrance; however, men are more than allowed to stay in Kàra, which has led to the husbands & fathers of many Gerudo to take up residence there.

Several even taking up positions as venders, store owners, & even guards. This, along with an effort to produce their own food in the form of Hydromelons, Shock Fruit, Fire Fruit, Dazzlefruit, Voltfruit, Safflinas, Zapshrooms, Wildberries, & Spicy Peppers by one Dālia (now an adult), who along with her Gopongan husband, has discovered new agricultural practices, including the introduction of hydroponic gardening in Gerudo Town itself & the strawgrid planting method in Kàra. Which has allowed the Desert Gerudo to begin producing their own crops. This has resulted in rapid growth for them as a culture.

The things that they are now able to grow there that they hadn't before, includes Tabantha Wheat, Hylian Tomatoes, Stambulbs, Sun & Fortified Pumpkins, Swift & Endura Carrots, & Hearty & Big Hearty Radishes.

As well as the things that I've made up for the purposes of fleshing out the desert, Shadow Yams (Dark/Warding; grows in shade), Càrïtàn Beans (Toxic; for bathing products & caring for Everlost Silkworms, not for eating), Zonai Cocoagranos (Spicy & Amorous), Zonai Cofégranos (Energizing), Zonai Corn (Mighty), Desert Queen (Chilly; Mangosteen), Faron Pineapples (Spicy & Hydrating), Pyre Beans (Scorching), Brushberries (Sanddrift & Hydrating; evolved from Wildberries), Amorous Figs (Amorous), & Bloodberry Grapes (Chilly & Hydrating) that are, likewise, able to survive easily in the desert. Then, there are the 4 Cactus plants I made up, such as Prickly Peaches (Chilly & Hydrating), Desert Aloe (Chilly & Recovery), Boltshield Houseleeks (Lightningproof), & Sàbaar Fruit (Recovery; Agave Fruit). As well as a few flowers, herbs, & spices, such as Rainfall Pansy (Hydrating), Paradise Bird flowers (Aerodynamic), Wave Saffron (Gills), Hoy Mustard Greens & Seeds (Spicy), Gleam Ginger (Sunny), & Sand Cistanche (Vitality & Amorous). As well as Cavern Sorrel (Dark/Warding), though they only grow in caves.

There's also Arrōyorice (Sanddrift) which is a type of Farrow, but this is actually Tabantha Wheat that has fully adapted to the desert. It's a very new discovery, so it's still being learned.

Not to mention Water Cabbages (Gills & Hydrating), Bayou Bellpeppers, & Freshwater Cucumbers (Rapid & Hydrating) that can only be grown in water. So, they are grown in the oasis itself.

Which the Ealiyans will also gain access to via trade.

---

Anyway, Sunshrooms are always appreciated as they are one of the only mushrooms that Eaylians can't grow in their mushroom caves.

Due to Stamstalk Stevia (Energizing) growing in the Highlands, Ealiyans simply don't use Cane Sugar in their cooking, instead replacing it with Stevia.

Highland Gerudo also don't tend to use Cool Safflina or Chillshrooms in their cooking as the effects are pretty counterproductive to living on a block of ice 24/7 &, in fact, tend to make you freeze quicker. Instead, they tend to sell them to Gerudo Town, who has much more use for it, or make the Safflina into alcohol & then sell it to Gerudo Town.

—

Living in a colder climate, Ealiyan Gerudo don't focus as much on jewelry as their desert sisters. They do wear some, but it usually has a simple elegance to it & is functional, such as a simple pair of ruby earrings to help keep the cold away.

Some also enjoy light, if modest, makeup or even in some cases, none at all. Usually just a touch of brown kohl to give their eyes a nice smoky look. The same shade that Riju features.

And while they don't wear much, if any, makeup, on special occasions it is common practice to wear a type of rogue made from dried Wildberries. The color is considered to be sultry & intoxicating, while still managing to be very refined & tasteful.

What isn't diminished, however, is their love for textiles & vibrant colors, which is every bit as present in the mountains as it is in the deserts.

As a result, despite not having many in the Highlands, they have a great love for bright, exotic flowers, which they use to make lovely dyes that they ship to other villages.

Along with this, much like their desert sisters, a lot of Ealiyan Gerudo have a very well-developed instinct for brewing & mixology. Thus, they have an appreciation for herbs as well.

A Highland Gerudo actually invented the technique used to make daiquiris & other frozen cocktails by using Ice Fruit.

—

Some of the dyes they are well-known for are Wildberry Burgundy from Wildberries, Frostbite Mint-Blue from Frostbite Mint, Cobalt from Cool Safflinas, Freezia Sky from Freezia Gardenias, Blossom Red from Frostbane Blossoms, Truffle Brown from Hearty Truffles, & Pear Green from Nayru Pears.

These are all made from the local flora & are common colors to find people wearing in Ealiyah.

Pear Green is actually a favored shade for Desert Gerudo lipstick & the Cobalt for kohl. Cobalt, on the other hand, is the favored lipstick shade of Riju.

The Highland residents also regularly trade with Lurelin, Ordon, & Gerudo Town for other flowers & fruit to make dyes with. Such as Electric Safflina to make Electric Yellow, Warm Safflina to make Brick Red, Lovely Roses to make Rose Magenta, Sweetheart Pink from Sweetheart Orchids, Voltfruit Fuschia from the hulls of Voltfruit, Silent Princesses to make Maiden White, Thunder Chartreuse from Thunder Buttons, Light Indigo from Swiftsail Lavender, Hyrule Herbs to make Herb Green, Hydromelon Orange, Sunrise Orange & Pink from Valiant Gladiolus, the hulls of Desert Queens to make Royal Purple, Violet from Swift Violets, Amethyst from Armoranth, Sunshine Yellow, Sunset Orange, & Gold from Sundelions, & more.

Not to mention Sunshroom Orange from Sunshrooms. Also blending Truffle Brown & Brick Red to make that lovely Smokey Brown that Riju uses, which is also the preferred kohl shade in Ealiyah.

(If you'd like to better understand the flowers, herbs, fruits, vegetables, ect. that I just listed that don't appear in the games, go here.)

—

It's still tradition for Ealiyah Gerudo to leave the village to find a husband once they come of age (though, it's possible for them to have already found one in the form of another Gerudo's stepson or stepbrother or even half-brother & in such cases, they are allowed time to figure out if the relationship will work out), the only difference here being that they're not expected to leave their husbands behind when they & their daughters are expected to return to Ealiyah. In fact, it's encouraged that vaien bring their husbands & their stepchildren (in the case of a widower) along if they so wish.

Any stepchildren that come to live in Ealiyah are treated no different than the Highland Gerudo vaivïn born there & are even allowed to train in the ways of the Gerudo. Regardless of sex.

Ealiyah, despite its location, is a very warm & loving community full of happy families & stalwart, hearty, hardworking personalities. Part of the reason for this being that one of the ideas that Ealiyah was founded on was the idea of keeping families together rather than separating them as has been tradition for the Desert Gerudo for generations.

—

Whereas the Gerudo of Gerudo Desert worship the Goddess of the Sand (al'Geru'è Vallah, referred to by the proper title of Vah Gela when her name is used) & her demi-goddess daughters, the 7 Heroines (al'Zaf Vahshô'làran), & it's debated as to whether there even was an 8th at all (some even regarding the speculation of there actually being one as sacrilegious), Ealiyans worship the 7 as well as the 8th definitively (the 8th & the 1st above all the others), who was actually a lesser Hylian oni god of heroism, a Kishin or as the Highland Gerudo referred to him, a Voh'lawàr (look up the Buddhist Pāla), who'd once worked as a retainer for the late Fierce Deity. He was on a pilgrimage to find his new life's purpose after his master had willingly given up his immortality in order to act as Hyrule's Legendary Hero in a never-ending cycle of reincarnation with his wife, twin sister, & their sworn enemy. On this pilgrimage, he made it a habit to aid those in need.

As a result, while traveling, he came across the Gerudo who were being besieged by some great strife & went out of his way to lend his aid to the 7 Heroines. While the Heroines had been doing extremely well on their own, it had been his wisdom & military expertise from having spent years at the Fierce Deity's side that ultimately tipped the scales in the Heroines' favor.

This resulted in the Gerudo tribes being saved, but he was still forbidden from entering Gerudo Town due to being a man. The Voh'lawàr himself was understanding of their traditions, if a bit stung by their rejection.

This all takes place around 10-20,300 years after Ocarina of Time as the "no men" rule became an official law around when the next Centennial King, after the 2nd Ganondorf (FSA), was born. At that point, they were only just beginning to transition away from a life of thievery & banditry. (Keep in mind that it was specifically said that there had been no male Gerudo leaders in centuries, not that there were no male Gerudo at all.)

It was soon after this that the Gerudo Tokens turned from a simple membership card into a sort of visitor's pass for certain men who had proven themselves trustworthy.

(I hc that Wild Link is given one after BotW even though that didn't canonically happen.)

Anyway, it's because of this that the 7, or at least the 6 younger Heroines, are sometimes (often) regarded by Ealiyans with a certain degree of harshness & even hurt & bitterness, as a result of what is perceived as betrayal & ingratitude.

The 8th is referred to by the Ealiyans as the Forsaken Hero (al'Mà'trook Voh'lawàr) & regarded as the God of Unsung Heroes (Nàreq'lawàren'è al'Vollah). So, to remedy this fact, they sing his praises & praise other such unsung heroes. It's due to this fact that Ealiyans have a Library of Myth of sorts filled with an abundance of extremely old legends depicting heroes that have been largely forgotten by other societies. Including decently detailed stories of the previous Links (though, not their names; that seems to have almost been entirely scrubbed from history, which Ealiyans see as suspicious) & the Legend of the Birth of Hyrule via the 3 Golden Goddesses, who had been largely forgotten since before the arrival of the Zonai. And even a very vague folktale of the war between Hylia & the Bringer of Demise. Though, only Hylia's name is remembered.

They also have a small Shrine of the Unsung Hero (al'Nàreq'lawàren Devïdán'è) in town that is treated similarly to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in America. It always has a guard standing there guarding it with an extremely strict patrol protocol. And when the guard changes, they go through a routine that is very different from the Unknown Soldier, but is no less important. These guards are a known part of the Shrine Guard (Devïdàn Mèdja or Dán'ja for short). Every Shrine Guard is strictly a volunteer & to be accepted for the position of Shrine Guard for the Unsung is considered one of, if not the, highest honors.

So admired is the respect given to such unsung individuals that Hyrule had a shrine of their own built in Hyrule Castle Town before the Calamity destroyed it 100 years ago. It's architecture is directly inspired by that of the Shrine of the Unsung Hero, though Hyrule's is mostly for honoring soldiers who've died in battle. It is protected & treated with similar diligence, honor, & reverence as the Shrine of the Unsung, just in a different way.

As a result, Ealiyah tends to produce numerous Àliqologists, which are like historians, mythologists, anthropologists, archeologists, record keepers, & librarians combined.

(Which tends to be why Ealiyah gets a decent number of researchers visiting.)

Anyway, it's because of this that Ealiyans have grown to become natural storytellers.

And if anyone were to notice the pattern of the Demise-born Centennial Kings, it'd be an Ealiyan Àliqologist.

In fact, it was an Àliqologist who made the discovery that the Gerudo kings most likely to become tyrants have always been born under the sign of Khinzïr, the Boar.

In fact, Ealiyah has a decently-sized town square where there is a large stone fire pit, inside of which is a bonfire that is lit every night. This pit is surrounded by a stone amphitheater that's recessed into the ground. Beyond that, along the edges of the actual square are little stalls that sell goods. During festivals, they sell foods & snacks.

And bi-monthly, the residents, especially children, come out to settle into the amphitheater with blankets & hot drinks to listen to the elders tell fables, legends, myths, parables; any sort of story you can think of. Whether actual history or a work of creative fiction. So long as it's acknowledged as such at the beginning, you can tell whatever story you wish. Acting & the theater having even become a large part of their culture.

They are also known to weave splendid, vividly-colored tapestries that depict these same stories, which are regularly used by storytellers as visual aides. Though, those are more for home use.

Theater costumes are also a decent industry there.

At the same time, this also tends to produce elderly folks who are... a bit long-winded & chatty. Even a bit gossipy, but normally not in the mean way. The kind of elders that always have a story or lesson up their sleeves. They will lore-dump on you real quick!

—

Despite their patron being the Forsaken Hero, they are also known to pay special respect to Vah Kàvtrïna, the Goddess of Love, Passion, Pudicity, & Family, as well as the Home. As well as the Hebran deity, Hebrogar, who also has many domains of his own, some of which being family & fatherhood.

Which, as discussed before, are all very central & important concepts to the Highland Gerudo as a culture.

Of course, the Highland Gerudo have also taken on several aspects of Hebran theology & even a handful of Ordonian ones as a result.

In particular, the idea of the gods preferring self-reliance in their followers. Meaning that the gods are more likely to help those who help themselves, tending to see incessant praying without action as whiny. This being a particularly Hebran belief that meshed quite well with the Gerudo's own self-reliant tendencies.

---

Ealiyah's interior style tends to be very Bohemian-Tibetan-Russian, being very colorful & eclectic. They are also known for their mosaicry, weaving, knitting, & crocheting.

They also tend to have a liking for organized clutter.

It's said that the original founders of Ealiyah were Gerudo who were disgusted with the injustice visited upon the Forsaken Hero & thus broke away from the Gerudo Culture in order to found a settlement where he would be properly exalted. At least partially.

Anyway, while the Desert Gerudo simply assume that the 8th was a woman just like the other 7, the Highlanders know the truth, but don't go out of their ways to correct the mistake.

Now, admittedly, part of the reason why this belief became as such was due to it simply being the style. Much like it was the style in ancient Egypt to portray Pharaohs with beards even if the Pharaoh happened to be a woman.

The Desert Gerudo simply portray all heroic warriors with breasts. (This wasn't the case before the female-only curse, but thousands of years of only female heroes tends to cause certain habits.) However, the Ealiyans realized that this leant itself to inaccuracy & began to change this trend in the Highlands. While tradition is important, if it is a detriment to a society, then those traditions should be adjusted.

In my hc, the 7 Heroines are the daughters of Vah Gela, the Goddess of Sand (al'Geru'è Vallah), who birthed them from her many mortal concubini (male concubines) or Vo'màzren.

This reflects how IRL sultans would have multiple wives, concubines, or a harem. Gerudo women, especially back in their thieving era, had multiple slave men who they'd kidnapped & forced into sex in order to have as many daughters as possible. It was believed that the stronger the man, the stronger the daughters.

(However, the facts surrounding these individuals as actual deities have largely faded from desert theology.)

As such, the men of other cultures were both coveted, as well as seen as less than to a degree. This is another reason for why the ancestors of the Ealiyan Gerudo broke off from the Desert Gerudo.

Thankfully, this practice has long since been abolished, but it remains a black spot upon the Gerudos' history.

As mentioned above, the Forsaken Hero was just a lesser Hylian god & a retainer of the Fierce Deity, who wished to help & in the end, he & the eldest Heroine ran away together (along with their followers) to marry & help found Ealiyah. As such, Ealiyah's Chief is always the vai descendant of the eldest demi-goddess Heroine & the Forsaken Hero. (Though, the fact that they have the blood of deities is more so a rumor by now.)

Examining the timeline, if we follow my hc, we know that this takes place after the Gerudo-Hylian War that resulted in the Gerudo's women-only curse (al'Sûl'si Nàshàlay'è, the Curse of Castration) that took the lives of all their voen, which itself takes place not long after the Bringer of Demise was finally defeated in Skyward Sword. However, it also has to have taken place after at least the 1st Ganondorf made his attempt on Hyrule.

It was between a hundred or so years after the 1st Ganon's death/sealing/victory & the 4th Ganon's sealing, which is a 30,000 year range.

—

Aside from leaving to exalt the Forsaken Hero & to get away from a culture that exploited men, there were many who also left due to having found the social expectations of the Gerudo traditions stifling. Not necessarily the need to find a man, as such was essential to the continued existence of their people & culture, thus making it a tradition founded on necessity; but more so the strictness of needing to break up their families to keep their daughters separate from men, including their own fathers.

Many felt it unnecessarily cruel & a holdover from a misandristic bias & a rather extreme attempt at overcorrecting after 4 of the Centennial Kings (Ganon from OoT, Ganon from FSA, Ganon from HW, & Ganon from TotK) grew to be psychotic warlords hellbent on "ruling" Hyrule. (Read as destroying then salting the earth so that nothing can grow there again.)

Which inevitably ended in renewed prejudices towards the Gerudo & left the desert amazons to pick up the pieces & deal with the consequences themselves. This nurtures a bit of internalized, generational resentment towards males of their own kind which, unfortunately, can somethings spill over onto the men of other races as well. (They are most definitely getting better, but they still have a ways to go.)

As a result of this bias, a lot of the Mafzīnàla Voe'attàren (Centennial Kings) are often either culled as soon as they're born or grow up hermits & outlaws of the Desert Gerudo. This is a secret that not many Gerudo below a certain rank even know. The few who do tend to be very high ranked & keep the secret with their lives. Buliara specifically has kept it a secret from Riju to give the girl plausible deniability. It is the secret that the Gerudo are most ashamed of.

Luckily, Gerudo mothers who do not wish for their sons' lives to be cut short, will often travel to Ealiyah Town to take refuge there among those who've allowed themselves to move on from that old hate & hurt. There are still whispers & some wary looks, but no outright hate.

Others will instead choose to move to other areas or, in desperate situations, will even leave their sons with their husbands before returning to Gerudo Town to make a show of having lost their child. Either through miscarriage or stillbirth.

As a result, many Centennial Kings tend to live much more humble lifestyles than those of the distant past. Some are even lucky enough to be born Ealiyan. On extremely rare occasions, they are even born to the Ealiyan Chieftain.

Unfortunately, politics still play a part, so it isn't uncommon for the next Chieftain & a Centennial King (so long as they themselves aren't also related to the Chieftain) living in Ealiyah to marry. Fortunately, most have resulted in long & at least pleasant marriages rather than misery.

It's only recently that the Desert Gerudo have managed to pinpoint that the tyrant is always born on the 21st of February, under the Sign of the Boar, the Khinzïr constellation. Thus, those who are aware of the trend have begun to refer to them as the Vōton al'Khinzïr'è (Sons of the Boar) or the Mafzī'àlfankha Sûlfetànïren (Myriennial Tyrants).

(I sort of hc that TotK Ganondorf was the son of an Ealiyan Gerudo & her Ovelian Hebran husband. TotK Kōme & Kotake are worshipers of the Bringer of Demise who sought him out specifically because they are some of the few out there who know in intricate detail when exactly the bearer of Demise's hatred would be born. So, they kidnapped him as a baby & killed his parents. He doesn't know, if he did, he would've killed them himself. In fact, all Ganondorfs are kidnapped by Kōme & Kotake. Thus, making him an unknowingly tragic figure.)

---

There's more, but I'm still figuring it all out.

LoZ Cultural Masterlist

#loz #botw #totk #legend of zelda #breath of the wild #tears of the kingdom #loz wild series #gerudo #gerudo culture #gerudo highlands #highland gerudo #ealiya town

12 notes · View notes