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pandoramusicbox · 2 years

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Fish people

Sea kin, theres three kinds of fish people in my setting, mermaids (called mers), finfolk (also called neptonians or neps), and sirens. The main difference between the three species is body shape or more accurately the way they move. mermaids move like dolphins, sirens move like snakes/eals or fish, and finfolk possess legs like a person so they can walk and often use a mix of swimming styles including swimming like a seal, like a person, floating, and swimming like a frog. All of them can be bioluminescent and many of them have some ability to change color all. The three species (technically in taxonomy the same family) live a long time anywhere from 350 years to 600 years

-they also don’t stop growing. so some of the oldest members of the species can get massive they don’t grow at the same rather through their life

so theres that, but because they don’t stop growing, they a bit like trees, have good years they grow more than bad year where they grow less, some species grow at faster average rates than others.

-hhhmmm I wonder how that works for hybrids. ill have to think about that. because instead of growing every year they might just grow every few years or so. would probably depend on the hybrid too. ill cover that particular can of worms at some other date.

Meanwhile I should cover the hair issue---

-Some of the fish people have hair, and as someone who has had long hair and swam, I can tell you it creates drag. That is a bit of an issue for things that live in the water. So for these fishies the hair actually has another use. For one thing its rather different then human hair in texture and structure. its usually black or brown in color. the hairs themselves are sort of hollow and can fill up and be drained of water really quickly. when the hair is exposed to water it has an interesting property of being able to slightly change texture. sort of like an octopus's skin but not as dramatic. another interesting property of the sea folk's hair is its ability to change color. the hair can change to blueish- greenish hair tone or sometimes even a more reddish color. this ability is actually very useful for the sea folk who use ambush as their main form of hunting. using their “hair” as camouflage generally making it look like sea weed. theirs ability to change the hairs texture is nonexistent when their hair is dry but the color-changing property is still there. other seafolk with other hunting methods tend to not have hair, and instead are a much more streamlined body. they dont really have body hair either, made clear by a lack of eyebrows. (though they do have short eyelashes)

the normally dark hair color is rather important to the seafolk because most cases where they naturally have lighter or diffrent hair colors can affect tier ability to use their hair as camouflage, famously blond or white hair is a rather detrimental mutation that prevents the ability to change hair color. the current empress of the Neptonian empire is blond, the mutation is relatively rare still in modern times but at least within the Neptonian empire it is not as detrimental due to strong social networks and not needing to be the sole primary hunter in a family. other examples of nonfunctioning mutations of their hair is for the merrow; a fin folk who live just off the coast of Ralunjas, in a place called the red kelp forest. where their hair has more reddish to maroon-ish pink coloration, though some of them have functional brown hair, their adaptation for that specific environment makes it difficult for them to live outside of that environment. the other major group of sea-folk with strange hair mutations are the sjofru of the northern sea and the ice pass. their hair has none of the camouflage qualities so is generally lighter and thinner than what it is for others, their hair often has colors ranging in the blues, grays and greens to soft reds and oranges that tappers out to a near transparent color at the tips. unlike their warmer sea cousins who use the hair for camouflage the tips of the sjofru hair is covered in tiny poison filled stingers, essentially they have jellyfish tendrils for hair. the potency of the venom depends on family.

-The humanoid appearance of the sea-folk is only skin deep and even then, its barely skin deep as demonstrated by their hair. The first thing that separates them from humans is the fact that they have a hexapedal body plan verses a humans quadrupedal body plan. then theres the whole bioluminescence thing. they generally have a few patches of this bioluminescent skin when they do have it. some sea kin depending on species can have other features like antenie or exess fins or scales or other things.

All regular sea folk have these hexapedal body plans though on some species it is more obvious than on others. the fin folk are usually the most easy to the the six limed body as they have their primary arms, secondary arms (usually just called their fins) and their legs, for sirens and mermaids their “ legs” are internal and generally not easy to see but they do have them.

-Sea folk nails are sharp and claw like, and their teeth are sharp too. most species have at least two rows of teeth. Some larger species have three rows. The only species with a singular row tends to be some fresh water ones, but they still usually have some indication of their second row of teeth. Like sharks if they loose a tooth a new one from the back row just moves up to take its place.

They have webbed hands. and for the neps their feet are long and webbed too. some deep sea species that rarely need to use their hands have more fin like hand. that work better as paddels. the webbing is not all the same either. sometimes it is skin that is elongated and stretched between the diddgets, other-times it is a filament mesh of keratin, other times it is a thin mucus producing membrane. for most species getting the membrane torn is not too painful but is rather avoided non the less and the webbing will grow back in some capacity.

They are all amphibious, able to breath both air and water, though it’s not the most pleasent experience to move between the two substance. As they have to force all of the previous substance out of them, like coughing out all the excess water, with some practice they can do this change in a few seconds as opposed to a few minutes for one who is not accustomed to the change. they are also capable of “holding their breath” for either substance as well. They can have gills in either one or two place. The most common place it right along the neck or where the ribs are located, but some less common but still possible places are, right along the face such as the cheeks, right below/in the armpit area, or the collar bone area. Speaking of collar bones. they dont have them, or at least not in the same way humans do, like most sea mammals they lack them. instead they might have a more flexible cartilage matrix that has a simmular function when they are on land. they also have a bit of an odd structure to their rib cage, they are able to sort of temporarily "collaps" their sternum enabling them to more or less squeeze through spaces they can fit their head through.

The sea folk are able to move between fresh and salt water unlike most regular fish and sea life, but they rarely do this as the transition, especially if it is a fast transition, this can make them very sick. they are also able to temporarily “close up” their gills when they are on land, some species are capable of this for their nosterals as well, and most species have a second eyelid that they close when in water to protect the eye.

the absurd length of their feet makes it difficult to move around swiftly on land when walking. so for fin folk they tend to walk on their tippy toes and can do so quite easily, but when they stand they go down on a flat foot. unlike humans they can stay up on their tippy toes for extended periods of time. some finfolk species often have shorter feet then their other relatives, these are generally the species who spend more time on land, like the kappa who are primarily river dwelling fin folk, other fresh water fin folk also have shorter fins. though they are not the most agile on land they are quite fast in water, the average sea folk usually have their top speeds somewhere in this range. -finfolk: 20-30 mph ( 32.2- 48.3 kph) - mers: 31- 37 mph ( 49.9- 59.4 kph) -sirens: 35- 45 mph ( 56.3- 72.4 kph)

- Sea kin can reach great depths. most surface water can regular reach depths of 6600 ft (2000 m), while species more adept for deeper water can comfortably make it to 15000 ft (4500m) while mysterious deep sea sea kin can reach depths of 19685 ft (6000 m). though they can reach these depths they can be in trouble if they try to leave those deep pressures once they have reached them. most deep presures are easier for older and larger individuals to reach and individuals with deeper blood colors. - speaking of blood color i nearly forgot one of the most important differences between humans and sea kin, and one of the main things that diffurenturates them from other kins, their blood color. For one thing each individual of any of those species can have one of three blood colors. the first and most common blood color is red but not the same kind of red as human blood. the red seakin blood is a darker almost maroon or burgandy color. second color is a purple, a very reddish purple like wine, plum or mulberry. the rarest and final color is pink a richer dark pink, like magenta or royal fusia. each blood color results in some slight differences, the main most notable one is lifespan and apparent durability other than that not too much. as blood color is more important socially among the sea folk.

-They have an ability to create a strange calcium mixture that the use as a glue or cement. this is not an ability possessed by every species or even individuals among species. they do use this ability to create safe nesting grounds for themselves. some species like the kappa have adapted this ability for other pourposes. this is an ability that seems to be shared with a strange sea kin called shell people. one of the downsides of this is the need to eat excess calcium for this sticky mixture, but they do that by eating seashells and bones from whale falls and such. the substance is soft and malmble for the first minute it is created, exhibiting some properties of a non-newtonian fluids, but if produced right it quickly hardens to a solid regardless of being under water or in the air. it hardens more quickly when exposed to air. -Singing, all of sea kin are known by land dwelling people for having haunting voices able to resonate great distances. and that is true even the worst of their singers can be louder and sound more haunting than any human. this is in part due to a general cultural value of singing as a courting ritual, but also due to having a hollow cavity somewhere in their chest they use to create these higher resonances, this is sort of like whale song. at a smaller scale. they also poses more complex vocal cords. They are only able to produse sound with air. some species can come up for air once in a decade and store and reuse the air for sound, but most of their close corders communication is done through a sigh language. so this is a condensed and hopefully understandable description of the primary seakin.

TLDR; Sea Kin and the three sister species of mermaids, finfolk and sirens are rather human looking but the recemblence is not skin deep, they have diffrent hair, blood colors, and skeletal structures. they are good at singing a lot like whales and they can swim fast. main difference between the three spesies is how they swim, like a dolphin, like a shark or like a frog.

#worldbuilding #worldbuildingculture #mermaid #fish person #fish people #siren #fantasy biology #finfolk #fantasy creature #fantasy kingdom #fantasy empire #river mermaid #gills #webbed hands #webbed feet #mermaid tail

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pandoramusicbox · 8 months

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Alright.

Long eared

(A big WIP)

So someone I know one day said that they liked that my “elves” where not like other elves, I laughed a little bit. As what I had been talking about where my creatures called long eared.

But it made me smile and laugh so I decided to just go along with it. So first of long eared are actually more like giants and trolls than they are elves. Trolls, giants and long eared are all cousin species. They all have two hearts (sort of) and tails.

A lot of long eared don’t have tails anymore as they have had hybrids with humans, so over the generations they have lost their tails. In some regions more than others.

(Simple punit square, tail is a recessive trait)

The north eastern region of scalipia is one of these.

So here is where the “elf” part comes into play. I decided to develop the cultures of the long eared of this region so I basically decided that if they’re already going to be seen as elves, I might as well play around with that. This comes in the form of this region of the world having long eared that have very similar cultures, or at least aesthetics to the typical DND elves or generic fantasy elves.

Let’s establish some history. About 1500-ish years ago the evutrophian in empire fell apart and a few centuries later the fairy empire began its decline. (Give and take the time line is shaky for that part is more like between 3000-1000 years ago.)

In thier absence the long eared and humans begin to stick claims to different territories. The long eared having been favored by the fairies. who were in power after the fall of the empire, because of this they gained access to better resources and territories on a earlier basis than the humans who had not had such favor from the fairies.

Resulting in the long ears established their cultures and their own kingdoms and empires within the territories that had been abandoned by the fairies.

And this map is a map that shows the long eared empires at their height of power.

Do you note that the longears shared the territory with centaur’s and giants, at the time with a majority human population to the west, and a population of gray ghouls who were in and eastern corner. Jiants in the south…and soqut the kingdom of the trice dead king is there too I guess.

The hunting grounds is undisputed territory. Held by the countries of Kanasi, Llorial, and Senik, along with claims from the jiants and the human principalities.

Onto the different cultures of the long eared groups of the region

-Asisati: sun preps, they are the biggest group of long eared when they dominated the region. The asisati long eared had one of the least ethnically diverse groups in all of scalipia. All of them having a similar look. All genders keep their hair long. Blonde and Ginger hair and red-orange to golden eyes with tails that end in a tuft like a lion tail.

Long hair is a symbol of luck, longevity, loyalty and beauty so cutting it is seen as inviting misfortune and as creating an opening for a person to become possessed by a spirit. (Note: loosely inspired by Filibusterfrog on tumbler, their (??? Don’t know gender) post on elf hair has been floating around for a long time so it’s influenced me.) hair is worn in braids for the unmarried and once an Asisati marries they wear their hair up in a bun or top knot or veiled if it’s winter.

They encourage large families and have strict social expectations for every role of a family member. It dose help a bit that long ears like trolls tend to have multiple kids at once (45% one kid, 35% twins, 20% triples) the rigged family roles can be stifling. Especially when not living up to the role. They also have rather ridged and strict gender roles. Men, women and enbies all have their roles.

Thier country is modeled after a solar system. The capital the sun that the whole country revolves around. They share a good chunk of thier territory with the moor centaurs who they have been in an on and off conflict with for centuries.

None of the long eared kingdoms had really strict boarders.

Everything the Asisati make is overdecorated. Highly intricate with sweeping and layered arches and elegant designs. Clothing is similarly highly ornate. With rich embroidery of geometric patterns. The main body of clothes tend to traditionally be rather plain, almost puritanical in design, though coats, veils, collars and aprons tend to all be highly ornate. Though specific amounts of ornaments has varied through out the years, often in cycles of 50 years where either highly ornate or highly simplistic fashion is preferred. With a transition period between them being common.

-Senik: moon art majors, emotions are seen as king among the Senik. This causes them to let their emotions be known but also to control thier emotions. a common philosophy among their people is that “the world works on logic, but people on emotions”. So they keep the idea that emotions drive the motivation of every other person when interacting with others. They are the most open to trade and diversity of ideas in their communities. They have a higher amount of tailless long eared than the other populations, only rivaled by the Llorial.

Each winter they have a giant festival called the procession of the moon hunt. Everyone dresses up with twigs and cloths and ribbons, often carrying lanterns made from animal skulls. They ride through the country side with candles and singing songs that are said to haunt those who hear them. It’s believed that the spirits of passed on loved ones join them in this persuasion. Though most people brush that off as superstition because ghosts don’t exist.

After the procession is a grand hunt for the community and a feast of the frost. Some communities have different practices.

They have come to worship the triad pantheons (worship of the powers of dread, ambition and passion) over the years. Though the eye cult also gained a lot of followers among them.

Also tend to wear rather plain clothes. Though they also wear highly embroidered coats and aprons similar to the fashion of the Asisati. They forgo patterns on their main body of clothing but often have it in things like their cuffs and collars. They use different colors to communicate the intended emotions of the wearer. Even learning how to create color changing cloths with magic. During the summer they tend to wear light silky clothing that billow, while fall and winter thicker and stiffer clothing is favored, along with less colorful clothes.

Fish ponds and fish husbandry is a common symbol of wealth and plenty. The Senik practiced early forms of aquaponics. Ponds where often made round to reflect the moon, though crescents where common too.

The Senik wander a lot, they are often found in other communities and places. Their own communities are diverse and full of trade.

-llorial: wood hippies, the most isolationist of all the group. They build ornate homes up in the tops of giant trees or when the trees are not available they build wooden homes in forest glends. Thier homes are often covered in strips of bark.

They are known for their carpentery and wood carving skills. They see trees as sacred so when a tree is feld for work it is respected and used to its fullest extent. For bows, bowls or buildings it’s all respected as important. They replant trees they fell. Seen as a bit of a nuisance by other people as they aggressively plant trees.

They also have a breed of domesticated deer and practice falconry. Archery is an art form and sport. Have a wide array of board games. Like threes dance, pick sticks, checkers, chess and inner walls.

(Threes dance, played on a checkered board with three pieces to start with. Each pice has a different set of moves it can make. The goal is to get nine pieces on the board and or remove the other players pices first.

((Pick sticks, is sort of like snakes and ladders but you are trying to get to the other side of the board while the the other players will add and remove obstacles.

They also play pick up sticks though the two games should not be confused for the other

(((inner walls. Up to four players, each starting in the corner. The goal is to get all four of your pieces to the center of the board. While pushing the other players off the board.

They keep long hair as a sign of longevity, seeing their hair much like the roots of a tree. To cut your hair off would be like severing your roots. Though they do on occasion use hair in rituals.

They are a pain in the ass of the human kingdoms. As they don’t get along. Claiming the hunting grounds as their own, while the humans and giants do the same.

They tend to have dark brown, brown to golden copper hair, sometimes they have blond hair or blond hair to orange hair tips. Teal and blue green hair is common too.

-Irrine: pale people fight club, this ethnic group is a warrior culture. They traditionally don’t fight to conquer. Though are not opposed to it. Generally they fight for defense and for the joy of fighting. They are a people who value physical abilities as well as disability.

They are also well known as excellent weapons smith, being the first to rediscover the technique of making blood iorn swords when that technology was lost with the fall of the eoutrothian empire

Long hair is worn by everyone as it is a sign of battle honor. They take trophies of hair when they defeat an enemy. A long ponytail is essentially an advertisement of “come at me bro, if you dare”

Married partners will often braid all of their hair together before they cut it of as a symbol of their Union of body, family and spirit.

They cherish life, and celebrate it with vigor. Because of this they do not see death as a sad thing. Mushrooms, bones and weapons are common motifs in their art.

Each year in autumn they hold a paper lantern festival that involves lighting the lanterns that will guide the souls of their ancestors through the thick fog of the afterlife.

They believe the foggy moors, woods and hills of their homeland is full of illusions. So many of their studied magic is to do with illusions.

They have an unusually high population of albinism. They generally have pale hair colors of pink, lilac, blond, white, gray, sea foam, tawny or clementine orange. They have red, purple, maroon blue or pink eyes. If their eyes are dark in color they are usually black. Their favorite sparing partners are gray ghouls when they can fight them, but giants and moor centaurs are good too. The lupindi also make favorites for competitive combat.

A lot of countries in northeastern scalipia hire the Irinne as mercenaries.

-Kanasi: Dark emos. The kanasi worship the spider goddess Anannsii and to a lesser extent her husband Fiveiist and her wife Kalastya. There is some minor local worship of their ten sons (Though not much of Organdir the betrayer) each major city claims one of the sons as a patron, the three city capital claims each of the parents as their patron.

The Kanasi value patience, craftsmanship, leadership and cunning. These are all things that Anannsii was said to have gifted and taught the Kanasi with her webs. At least that’s what the legend said. The animal that symbolizes the Royal family is the moon back spider.

Armor and spider webs where are often incorporated in their fashion

- Demepr: sea jocks, a harsh and windswept terrain is what they call home. The only saving grace of this foggy land is it’s prime location for trade. A good distance between the coast of aukulir and the Black Forest in julner.

The Demepr are the only northeastern scalipian long eared who don’t value long hair. So they often cut it short when they become adults. Thier hair is usually gray, black, white, teal or blues.

They live in towns often built on the sides of cliffs. Here they spend time diving for oysters, farming kelp, fishing and sailing.

The Demepr have a long tamed cliff fisher wyverns who they ride in the backs of when they are fishing.

They also have a live hate relationship with fisher harpies.

((Fun fact about the long ears, they are named and based after my little sister’s stuffed rabbit toy she had as a little kid))

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pandoramusicbox · 1 year

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Drowcember part 3

ok so these are

ok so here's prompt & , flora, fauna, and fungi. so here's me testing out some of the ideas for plants and fungi along with drawings of the three animals that represent the three different cities. here's what some of the

Prompt , flora and fauna- lots of flora and fauna can be found in the caves of the underground, all of the plants and mushrooms I showed here are edible and often used and eaten in the in the cities of the underworld. - Sivin Bloom; grows near the surface, it blooms white to golden and then will grow a sweet golden berry - Rensustall antenna mushroom - Broad leaf mushroom - stick twal - Underworld orchid - inkling lantern mushroom - ink drop glowshroom -stoopospors -lusmoss -Pomber -dinsm berries -drip leaves - top duster Fauna wise I drew the three animals that are the symbols of the different cites: the symbol of orai’ral, the dual Millapede symbol of Elgar, the cavern bats symbol of black chowl, the black cowled spider.

Prompt 7, lgbtq+ here we have a bit of a messy picture it shows two lgbtq cuples. the first (on the left) is a historical couple, one of the two brothers that established the dark fauth as what they are today, Calvive and his husband who is actually the founder of the black scorpion den, and is a Robin Hood like legendary figure in his own right. they are both legendary figures on their own, but their love story is a tale involving pirates, kidnapping, a darling rescue from a tower and a bunch of shenanigans. the other less exiting love story is That of lillygaurd the mayor of cavern bat city and her laquiam girlfriend. they just are a lovely and quiet couple with no intense story around them, but that's the way these two lesbians like it. - other things also in that photograph are a drawing of the lush caves.. still thinking about copying a bit of Minecraft's homework... and part of a sideways map of the continent of O’sten. the part of the map that has no labels on it what so ever is the one where most of these cave systems that make up the under world is located.

Prompt , some one else’s drow, so originally I was not intending on doing this prompt, mostly because the dark fauth are only baised on drow and are not drow in and of themselves in the dnd sense of the word, most of them are not even elves. But at some point or another that changed because I made some loose scetches of what other cities are like from some of the other designs floating around on the drowcember tag. So pictures 3&4 from left to right, here’s credit to who gave the inspiration for the design:

1. Dragon fish city, inspired by the elegant and flowing artwork of @j--mno-art. The moon crescent coat on thier oc xaston is so fun. As for the what I decided on for the people of the dragon fish city

- weird genetics as they accept anyone that needs a place.

- fashion tastes are the closest aligned with that of the taste of the surface world of that region.

- often wear familial tattoos or make up.

- lots and lots of pirates

- worship of the moons are commonplace

-live in a grotto by the sea so have easy access to the ocean and surface

2. The blood spot millipede, inspired by the rigged and delicate design of @linaswalaf their art is so technically excellent and the red and grey color schemes prevent in a lot of the drowcember art was so pleasant. I just adored the overall aesthetic that thier drow art had. As for the bloodspot millipedes, the city is called Teri

- fuzzy ears are common as there is a good deal of troll blood in their ancestry.

- are cavern dwellers and do not venture near the surface unless nessesary

- known to be excellent scholars and jewelers as they mine a lot of precious materials

- despite not going up to the surface often they have extensive trade with the surface world.

- well infamous as relentless and absolutely brutal warriors

- weavers of kelper cloth.

3. The black scorpions, inspired by the drow of @eaglewind13 the colorful drawings of hers was a delight to see. But this design was most heavily inspired from the family day prompt, so the information

- simple genetics, an interesting thing about the city of the black scorpion is that most of its citizens are not permanent residents. Instead a lot of the people of the city will travel around the surface world and then hide out in the city come winter or due to other circumstances

- grey extremities, because of the rather migratory nature of a lot of the cities citizens the magic radiation that has changed the appearance of the people of the other cities has not been able to as effective in the people of black scorpion, though people who’s family has been in and out of the city for generations tend to have grey fingers, toes, hands, legs, or freckles and thier hair tends to be pale or purple in color.

- they interact a lot with the surface world and the underworld

- den of thieves, the city is full of thieves and robbers who use it as their hide out from the law of the surface, the “other circumstances” mentioned earlier. The city can be a bit chaotic.

-they make some strong booze.

- large cape like coats are common so that no one is aware of what you are carrying. Along with spikes on shoes to help access and climb walls of the cave. Also honor among thieves and all that, there’s unofficial rules a person needs to follow in order to get to stay in the city as a hide out.

4. The violet visage spider, this one is inspired most hevely on the normal dnd idea of the drow. All the good all the bad. It’s that one city that the other cities tell you to avoid if you are traveling the underworld. (The inspiration for the design in this one is the same as the ghost spider so I’ll get to that later)

- eugenics, awful, but let’s go with it. So for this city they are very particular on what kind of people are welcome to live here, and much more selective on who can have a family. Raquesasha, vickor, the few eyes of the region, the allets, troll blooded and so on and so forth are not allowed, and if they are they live in very specific areas of the city and surrounding villages (they got dibs on the largest cave in the know underworld)

-dark/grey skin. They have a few very set looks.

-spider worship, so I’m thinking that backstory wise the reason that these people are down here is because they were a really big cult that had some views that didn’t mesh well with the popular religion and opinion of the surface world and the violet visage moved to the underworld as a result

-matriarchy. And a really controlling and violent one. So what I’m thinking is that there is a bunch of family house and that they are in constant competition with each other and such to rule over the largest swafts of city territory. Basic but workable.

- sexist hiarchy, why not let’s throw all the bad tropes in here, slavery why not, badly treated harems, shure. I can play it straight but I might try to do something different with them even so. But for now the violet visage spiders are the closest dark fauth to Dnd drow. At least those imaged in the 80s-2010s

5. Ghost spider city, the city is called elisk and is actually the oldest parts of the idea regarding the dark fauth, a group of people who lived in the caves of the continent of O’sten and have a relation ship with large spiders called ghost spiders, at some point someone commented on how they where like dnd drow and I decided to embrace the idea. Now I also stumbled upon the ideas of @fantasy-anatomy-analyst and her (?) blog by a comparison of her(?) drow to the drow of mainline dnd. And I have to say the monkey like drow are so neat and cool. Unfortunately the picture I drew for the inspiration I was taking is too close to the reference image for my liking. So apologies about that, I’m trying to make them more distinct so it’s less of a copy than it is inspiration.

-oldest of the underworld tribes, they and the silver centipedes are the decedents of the people who lived in the underworld before the two brothers claimed it as a place of the forgotten and forsaken.

-have the most adaptations to the caves as they have live here the longest, including motion sensitive whiskers/eyebrows and a keen sense of hearing, also their hair can glow slightly in the dark. Slightly short on average.

- cultivate spider silk, and some of it glows (because that is so cool)

- respectful to elders, matriarchal mothers, lots of sibling rivalry, some different gender roles and identities than those of the surface world.

- wear clan markings, either painted on or as tattoos.

Prompt 19, exploration, some bat cavern people exploring some tunnels Prompt 27 nobility. here's the different current leaders of the cities lillygaurd is the youthful leader of the cavern bats. youthful and youthful she's in her mid 30s, got a girlfriend and a city to be concerned about. she was a well known zordezoth in her youth, (zordezoths are robin hood or Zorro like figure, they are called Zozoths for short.) she was elected into her position ilnor, the hereditary leader of the black chowl caverns, she was chosen from a group of cannidents by the elder council, she is in her late middle age, also shown here is her daughter Rät, more on her later. Seven, the three armed king of the Duel millipede, he was born with three arms and lost his eye in the duke to become king. Prompt 22, half drow, this was also originally not a prompt I was planing to do as I simply did not know how to do that with the fauth as they are all technically humans sort of, and vickor are also considered fauth. the raquesasha on the other hand are not, they may live among the dark fauth, but they are jevels according to O’sten and O’ller (they are heaven kin in the kin system) but then I drew Rät, she is half dark fauth and half Raquesasha. the daughter of ilnor, and the raquesasha horek. she has a few of the abilities of raquesasha with the ability of teleportation and surounding manipulation with a plum colored core. only half of her mouth is sealed when closed. she is rather asymmetrical, but lacks the excess limbs of most raquesasha. though many raquesasha on the O’sten do not have these extra limbs. Prompt 15+16 villains and heros. the legend of the lek brothers. two sons of a witch, they lived centuries ago as slaves to the people of the cricket lands. They stayed together, through thick and thin. They eventually grew into a pair of rebellious trouble makers who stole a power and dangerous magical artifact called the fifth moon. They used their cunning and hard work they freed hundreds or thousands of slaves and moved them into the safety and freedom of the underworld. Then more impressively they stayed free against the might of the sun king. It’s much more of a legend these many years later than it is entirely historical events.

(I’ll finish this later but I want to upload in December)

#worldbuilding #pandoramusicbox #fantasy #worldbuildingculture #fantasy creature #fantasy species #fantasyland #drowcember #dnd drow #lgbtq #lgbtq characters #cw spiders #cw slavery

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pandoramusicbox · 1 year

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A cobbled together drawing of what a fairy hive city looks like.

#pandoramusicbox #fantasy #worldbuildingculture #worldbuilding #fantasy culture #fantasy race #fairy aesthetic #pandoramusicbox fairy #fairy creature #fairy #fairy house #puck fairy #gnome #pixies

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pandoramusicbox · 1 year

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I know I have posted this on other platforms, but perhaps not here.

Here is the information on the Angelics

Very specifically the stone tree Angelics

Also known as the A-holes. There’s actually a rather wide range of Angelics. They can fly so they get around.

Ok ok, the stone tree Angelics are not that bad, though I do have a bingo card for them filled out.

They are isolationist who live in the stone trees, they believe in purity and have rather rigged gender and social roles. Their society is one based around the idea of moral and physical perfection. With the greatest purpose of life is to strive to be a master of yourself and your world. A bit like the stoicism of Rome married to the renaissance man.

They are well known for their excellent metallurgy. Crafting gorgeous jewelry, silverware, cookery, armor and weapons that are delicate and durable. They weave clothing too. It’s called feather weaving and is often traded to the neptonians of the neptonian empire. Traditionally the cloth is woven from material gathered from a Cotten like flower that grows on the slopes of the stone trees, or the striped bark of the wind willow that also grows in the stone trees. Nowadays the angelics trade for a wide variety of threads and dyes. These weavings often tell a story of sorts, though reading these woven stories are an art form of its own.

Thier language is read on a similar way, though is written out on long scrolls, once made from cloth but nowadays made from paper. Read from left to right it’s taught to all their children, poetry is very valuable and taught as well. Their poetry is so complex that it is often used in torshii to communicate secret messages

Another reason poetry is valued is because it’s part of the traditional flirting rituals. Along with song. Someone good at singing is considered very attractive.

Gender role wise ( let’s see if I can remember off the top of my head)

-males: leaders, head of the family, hunters and warriors, cooks, law makers.

-females: architects, archers, archives, cleaners, scholars, prepers, councilors.

- both: weavers, child rearing, metallurgy, scribes, magician.

If I where to describe the architecture of the stone tree Angelics I would call it a strange mixture of perpendicular gothic, saint basils cathedral in Moscow. Moorish architecture in Spain and last but not least Native American pueblos.

They are also related to harpies, grip, and griffons.

This page also has some general information on their biology. Things like that they have waterproof feathers, their bones are hollow, they have two lines of eyelashes. Though this is true of all thier cousins species as well.

Though thier ears are quite neat, they are able to fold up like a morning glory or seashell when flying, it keeps thier hearing i tacked and prevents frostbite/ wind burn as they tuck the ears into thier hair.

Their toes are longer than those of humans and able to grasp things. They have feathers covering their shoulders and back and their hair is actually feathers, though of a very downy sort. They grow feathers all along their back, under their arms, and sometimes along their necks. In winter it tends to grow all along the arms and the upper legs.

Among the stone tree Angelics they tend to pluck the feathers that grow everywhere that isn’t the wings and head. They also crop off the small tails that Angelics are naturally born with. Though they are not the only Angelics that do this.

Their eyesight is also interesting as they have a sort of tinted vision where the top portion of their vision is tinted a yellowish hue. And acts as sunglasses preventing glare. So things get dark if they look up but brighter it they look down. This dose also unfortunately mean that they are essentially blind in the night. They do have very sharp vision able to spot small things at great distances and adjust the focus of things in their eyesight. They are also able to see more colors than humans as they have one more cone in their eye for color. They call this color ib and when mixed with red light is called sant.

That bit up top about the angelic being related to the holly is true too. Their closest relatives are harpies, but millenniums ago there was a handful of Hollies and harpies who lived together the magical offspring eventually became the angelic.

The many nobles of the stone tree Angelics often have multiple wings.

#worldbuilding #pandoramusicbox #worldbuildingculture #fantasy creature #angelic #angel #angelkin #angel wings

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pandoramusicbox · 2 years

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theory of expression.

also called the theory of song, or alternatively the theory of motion. this theory of magic is more common in the western hemisphere and is often inter-woven with the theory of elements and color theory. its main assumptions is that magic that is in the environment can only be used by beings when it is manipulated to do something through a medium. such as singing, dancing or crafts. both the crafting process itself and the outcome are magic. if the intention of the maker is disrupted it can disrupt the maker. (this is all a wip idea) *magic in music box is of the softer variety ** theory here is more used in the vain of philosophy or hypothesis as opposed to scientific theory bases of expression theory - magic is energy and energy can never be created or destroyed only change form (rule of magic in setting) -Mages closer and into the Euphorian and the Jaguar empires often carry simple instruments like drums, shakers and whistles to quickly cast magic. -harmony and dissidence is important when trying to manipulate magic using this method. understanding the cords and when silence is needed helps elevate the potency of a spell. (technically all music has some magic to it, but its often so weak that it is nothing more than vibration) in order to create potent magic the caster has to be aware of what they are doing. -it is thought that each cord of music has a unique color associated with it, as some people are able to see these colors, and a lot of people/creatures able to sense the presence of magic talk of it in terms of sound, color or feelings like vibrations. so the theory of color has some overlap with the theory of expression. -in o’llere and o’sten they have a similar version of this where they believe magic only has five distinct forms and that anything deviating from that is dark magic. their form of expression often comes through in weaving and in an equivalent to martial arts. -magic channeled through dance is held close to the body, and brutally physical in nature, though this form of magic is thought of as dance it can also be equated to martial arts or physical training, it is about understanding your own body and physical limitations. and through that you can move magic. this form of practice is common in o’ller and o’sten, but is also used by the hidden schools of kaliwafitsu, and by certain tribes in the islands of heaven and inilsue. (in a lot of ways this magic is like bending from avatar the last Airbender, or I guess a monk from dnd) -the prevalence of magical crafts through out the world is lends some credit to the theory of expression, as a person dose not need to be proficient in other arcane magics to create for use objects made to be magical -for example a craftsman who is a master at their craft may begin to imbue their thoughts about what they are making or what kind of person will receive the object they are making, for example if a person makes a cabinet they think will belong to an important leader, the cabinet will begin to take on qualities fit for such a person, and if it finds an owner with any of the qualities it looks for it will passively strengthen such qualities. or if a hat is made to be worn by someone beautiful, it will strengthen these qualities, though this is a two way street, people with these qualities will often unconsencly seek these items with such qualities. though this magic is generally very minimal. -items with such qualities might not nessesrly have good qualities, attributed to them, a crafter of spears might think the owner of a certain spear is a coward for example. a way to identify such items with minor curses/charms on them is if ivelar and other spirits seem to be attracted to an item. these minor charms and cursed objects tend to have their magic fade over time if the item is not “fed” more on a certain intent. (this idea is some what similar to Sophies magic from howl’s moving castle, but is far less potent as most craftsmen will only make a few items with a cures or charm in their lifetime) - notably seakin rarely are able to do this and even kin are more likely to do this.

-a more potent form of crafting magic is the magic of forgery, this is a much more potent version of created charmed and cursed object magic, this is when someone actively imbues magic into an object, such as weaving cloth that will be able to endure a slash from a spear, or bend light around a person. another way to manipulate forging magic is by creating a seal for an already existing object, a seal is similar to magical “instruction” allowing the object to do things it could not before (the object is like computer hardware, the seal is the software) there is only so far you can push the change in an object. - the seals of forging magic later on became spell tags which where mass produced spells used during the witch war. though spell tags and forging seals are often more attributed to the theory of language. - the magic of crafting is generally under-utilized in the central hemisphere and is but is exploited heavily in the west. with a lot of passively magical objects passed around, especially in O’ller and O’sten where the trade of magic imbedded cloth has made the people of that area the best weavers in the world.

#worldbuilding #worldbuildingculture #fantasy magic #magical thinking #Magic System #Magic #magic as craft #soft magic system #soft magic #magical cloth #magic clothes #magical crafts #bard #musical magic #howls moving castle #avatar the last airbender

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pandoramusicbox · 1 year

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Drowcember prt 2

Ok a continuation of the drowcember that expands the world building of my drow-like society of music box, the Dark fauth of O’sten

these ideas are work in progress and so are these pictures but I wanted to share them before December was over.

So prompt 5 family, a lot of different ways that these people think of family the most interesting is that of the cavern bats, where they do not do nuclear families as much and instead there is a tradition of mutual adoption among people. These adopted families tend to all live together in a home called Otoram. Which has a central atrium all connected to a bunch of rooms. in the duel millipede city and the black shawl spider city families are divided however they need to be, most often by multigenerational or nuclear families, cousins and relatives tend to live in the same neighborhoods or in apartment style buildings. often people will move into the mother’s neighborhood, or will spend some of the time in the fathers childhood neighborhood and the other in the mothers. other times families will strike out on their own to settle themselves in a different neighborhood all together or create a new one on the cities boarders. this being said there are also plenty of less conventional families as well, single parents are not uncommon (in part because of death or divorce but just as likely that the parent wanting a kid might go and have an arrangement with someone for a while and then sett out for themselves after.) neighborhoods made up of friends who formed a family are not a strange practice either. notably the surface dwellers of the continent do find these practices strange and in their lack of understanding tend to call them some rather choose words. (for example, it is thought that dark fauth keep harems, and rumors of the dark fauth being inbreed)

Prompt 6, festivals and celebrations, for some reason I only came up with festivals for the black chowl cavern city... I may need to fix that at some point but for now they have two! they have the festival of the pillars. a celebration that takes place once a year and celebrates all the achievement the city and individuals of the city have accomplished that year. it is a celebration of goals and survival. for the celebration a large wooden pillar is carved and decorated with all the noteworthy events of the year, including the death and birth of people of the city. the pillar is then lifted up and carried upright to its resting pace in the pillar gardens where pillars from the previous years are placed to rot and decay (as they are made of a single tree trunk) it us carried in a lavish parade and it is a game to keep the pillar upright with ropes as it is carried along. it is considered bad luck if the pillar falls on its way to the garden. the day is also a day of feasting, music, dancing, fun costumes, games, lotteries and trading of wares. its not unusual for outsiders of the city to be allowed in for these celebrations, and even surface dwellers have partaken in the celebrations before. The Chowl ceremony is a much more private and interment event, that is a coming of age ceremony. the children who are roughly of 12-15 years of age (or for raquesasha the equivalent is ~27-32) to go to the temples of the city to undergo a series of ceremonial trials, and decide on what path in life they want to take, before finally receiving their shawls and ribbons. these are the marker of the citizens of the city. some adults who move into the city from elsewhere will also undergo these rituals. note: the shawls and ribbons is a declaration of what gender(s) a person wishes to present as, because all children wear unisex clothing. the shawls are considered more feminine and the ribbons masculine, but a child can choose to take both ribbons and shawls and there are certain types of ribbons and shawls that denote other gender roles for them. a person can also reject taking either, or go through a new set of rituals to change whether or not they have ribbons or shawls. Prompt 14 caves and cites, back ground, so this is a bit of an off one. here we have a collection ton of rough outlines for what the cavern city of the bats might look like, what an otoram might look like from above. along with some street outlines of the three cites I am working on: above a picture of a stalagmite and stalactite cave. I may or may not be borrowing some ideas from the different cave biomes in Minecraft, because as cool as caves are, I do not know a lot about them. though interesting note about the city of the bats that I decided on while creating this, was that the city has a lot of bats. The bats are seen as the symbol of the city so it is disrespectful, and bad luck to harm a bat, but lots of bats sleeping in a grotto brings with it some issues. such as.. oh I don't know, guano. but this is not seen as a bad thing by the citizens. (well it is the reason a lot of them west large wide brim hats, and the smaller pointed caps, and wear respirator like devises and face coverings) no the guano is cleaned off and collected to be used in a number of different things, such as fertilizer and as an ingredient in alchemy products. the other worry is decease, but the city has simply compensated for this with its excellent healthcare system and medical alchemy. there is also a general effort to place bat boxes away from the places that people frequent. Prompt 4: intrigue/ thievery, I have got to admit I almost removed this one from the list. but I drew this guy. imagine with me for a second: you are a person who lives in the city of esta, grand city of the keritok kingdom in o’sten. you need something stolen, or smuggled out of the city, perhaps a valuable and irreplaceable family heirloom or perhaps you got in a spot of trouble with the city officials and you ned to skip town, real quick and quiet. you get some contacts and they tell you they found you a guy, a guy who can get you exactly what you want. so with some trust in your confidant you steal away to one of the dusty and dilapidated inns of the city, a place where normally you would never find yourself caught dead. but your confidante assures you this is where you can meet the guy. so you step in on the creaking floorboards of the dock side inn, and enter a sidereal through one of the many sliding doors that separate spaces out to rooms. you continue through these rotting rooms until you are lead to where you need to go, and through a secret door you enter a small, smoke filled chamber, a sweet smell mixes with the salty rot of the docks, and there all draped out on a cushioned filled sofa is a Dark fauth smoking a long slender pipe. wearing that strange segmented clothing of the city of . the armored braces, and metal gorget to protect his neck. he blows more smoke forming strange shapes with them that you assume can only be done by the creature’s vile magics. He finally acknowledges you entering the room. he leans forward. with all the draping shawl coming along with him. In a strange but familiar accent he asks “ So, you are here to do business with me?” anyways enough imagining for now. that's some intrigue, though I'm not one that great at intrigue plots.

#worldbuilding #pandoramusicbox #worldbuildingculture #fantasy culture #drowcember #fantasy festival #cw smoking #cw inc*st mention

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pandoramusicbox · 1 year

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Bones

in the current era of the world large skeleton of leviathan sizes dragons are scattered throughout the lands. the largest of these skeletons are found in the ocean making large islands made of bones. the way these bones are treated by the local population vary, depending on the attitude of the locals towards dragons and their kin. in the region of ellora and casterfoster there are no bones, not because dragons did not die there but became the bones where broken apart and made into object centuries ago. it the south in agoura there is a particular large skeleton that houses a large city called Bones. the city both reveres the bones but also mine them for resources. in the island chain of koket, there is a large collection of these sometimes called the boneyard (because i don't need to be expected to be original). there are roughly five giant dragon skeletons in the area. Dragons are sacred creatures to the islanders, so they do not want to disturb the skeletons by mining them for resources. in fact they respect, fear and do not go near the bones most of the time. many festivals are held celebrating the peoples relationship to the bone yard as they "burry" their dead on these skeletons. by giving the bodies of the deceased and soon to be deceased to the ferry men who would ferry them to the islands where the ferry men will ritually place the bodies there. constantly growing the islands of bones.

#a bit morbid but neat #pandoramusicbox #cw bones #cw funeral #worldbuildingculture #worldbuilding #world building islands #Fantasy Festival #fantasy funeral

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pandoramusicbox · 2 years

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Ok! Finally I am introducing the system of the Kins.

The Kins are categories used to differentiate different species and groups of species together

The Kins generally only apply to sentient and sapient creatures. Though some animals fall into another grouping for creatures.

Each kin is categorized by two main factors, Magic and corporealness.

There are some other thing as well, like ability to shape-shift.

Other times it’s things such as what of the two great magical creatures of the past they take after, dragons or Hollis. Chaos or order or sometimes devided along axis of thier alignment with the magic theory of perception placing them in categories of blood,light, and shadow. Though this is not to important for what I’m discussing today as I am covering the basics behind the kin system.

The Kins are broad categories that encompasses a wide variety of creatures who live and have adapted for a number of different environments.

There are six different Kins cattagories.

Spirit kin

Demon kin

Heaven kin

Human kin

Anama kin

Sea kin

Of these categories the majority of creatures fall into part of the middle four. Demon, heaven, human and anima (also spelled anama). These creatures all share some form of corporeal body and some degree of natural hereditary magic.

Sprit kin is made up of highly magical creatures that generally have incorporeal or semi-incorporeal bodies on a regular basis

Sea kin are creatures with bodies that possess little to no magic but have extreme physical abilities. They also tend to be sea dwelling.

- Magic within the four middle cattagories can be visualized as two axis.

Axis X- a scales how organized and predictable the magic is. On one end is highly predictable hereditary magic found among heaven and anima kin. Where if they have magic it is most likely similar, if not exactly the same as anyone else of the species. On the other side is the unpredictable chaotic magic of demon and human kin. If you where to gather ten individuals of the same species in human kin who all where born with magic and asked them to show or tell you what thier powers are you would learn that none of them have power similar to each other. In a group of a similar sample but with 100 individuals you might see three to five individuals with similar (but not the same) abilities. Generally the line drawn for being on the order side is 50% of any given population displaying a similar hereditary ability to one and other.

Axis Y- is representing the prevalence of magic. On top with the most magic of the four are demon and heaven Kin where the majority of their populations are born with some form of natural magic. For heaven kin this takes the form of regular magic abilities while in demon kin this often takes the form of an ability to shape-shift. Shapeshifting is not fully considered a kind of magic in this setting as it is a bit of a natural process like an electric eal’s static or an axolotls ability to regenerate, but shapeshifting is often a natural process facilitated by a bit of magic. The other side of this axis is low magical prevalence with human and anima Kins. Here different species can have as low as one in 200,000 individuals or more having hereditary magic or as common an 32% of a given species population but the number is always below the majority of a given species population.

There are a few species that are Inter-Kin where they fall into more than one kind of kin for any number of reasons. Inter-kin species are not common but they do occur. Most times Inter-kin ocurres in hybrids or species that originally descended from hybrid creatures like the eoutroths.

- physically there are several notable differences among the different Kins but they can also be very similar. Often presenting bilateral semidry

One of the most homogeneous Kins is human kin. Named impart due to their physical homogeneity contrasted to their chaotic magic.

There are two major body-plans among creatures of music box (excluding spirits as they lack proper bodies)

> quadrupedal (four limbed)

> hexapedal (six limbed)

Some species with more or less limbs are generally insects, arachnids or other similar creatures

Hexapedal body plans are common among heaven, anima, and sea kins, with sea kin being near exclusively made up of species with hexapedal body plans.

Quadrupedal body plans are more common in demon, human and anima kin. Human kin exclusively has species with a quadrupedal body plan.

Anima Kin is often divided into subcategories based on body plan and sometimes similarities to human kin.

Sea kin is also distinguished by the presence of multiple blood colors between members of the same species, these colors are often linked to physical abilities and lifespan.

Some legends and religious thought proposed that the different Kins arose from the death of god. Sometimes it’s the god whose body is thought to have created the forest, sometimes it’s the forest’s lover. Other times it’s a different god entirely, and sometimes the Kins came from the dreams of a great god or didn’t kill the god who created them. Often if it is the god of the forest then the different Kins are said to have come from its Eyes, Scales, Flesh, Bones and Blood. Corresponding with heaven, demon, anima, human and sea kin while spirit kin is thought to have come from the god’s mind.

InterKin hybrids exist. They are a tricky thing, generally only able to exist as they do thanks to magic. Intrerkin hybrids often have a slew of health issues and often are infertile. The further away two species have their Kins from each other the more difficult it is for a viable child to be conceived another thing that makes certain types of hybrids difficult is if there is a difference in body plans. Regardless if the parents are interkin or intrakin. Though some creatures (like dragons) seem to ignore this rule.

To summarize: the difference Kins are broad categories these are

-spirit kin: incorporeal highly magical beings and creatures.

-demon kin: corporal shapeshifters with a chaotic relationship to magic

-heaven kin: corporal highly magical beings with ab orderly heretical magic

- human kin: rather homogeneous being with rare but chaotic magic

- anima kin: a diverse aray of creatures with rather rare but orderly magic.

- sea kin: physical being that have little to no natural magic

#worldbuilding #pandoramusicbox #fantasy #worldbuildingculture #fantasy magic #fantasy creature #fantasy species #magic system #fantasy taxonomy

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pandoramusicbox · 1 year

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Neptonian rulers

the Neptonian empire is old and has had a number of rulers throughout the milleniums. in part due to the extrodinairly long life spans of even the regular sea folk, not to mention the pink blooded that are the traditional rulers of sea folk have nearly doubled the length of their lifespans. name of emperor/emperress, length of reign (date of reign) -other notable information.

1. Neptunia, (v453-v432) 21 years- the empress who united the seven sea kingdoms to form the empire.

2. Paio (v432-v93) 339- suspects to have been the empress who's blood made the imperial crown and rumored too have made the sword jiné as well.

> the year of chatastrophy. The sudden death of the previous empress threatened to cause the empire collapse back into the five kingdoms as no one took over the throne. and a civil war threatened to break out.

3. Talia (v91-v1) 90 a notable empress for being the first violet blooded empress and was the granddaughter of neptunia, she reunified the empire and got two more nation states to join.

4. Delphine, (0-215) - the empress that established the Delphine calendar, the modern calendar used by the Neptonian empire

5. Oceanus (215-699) 484 years- expanded the size of the empire. Is also known for having a harem of six different pods, { one pod has between 3-10 individuals in them on average, and most people only have one or rarely two pods they stay with}

6. Bay (700-1388) 688 years- a half dragon half neptonian that had the longest reign in history

7. Seatulin [aka lil] (1389-1470) 89 years- standardized the writing system (previously been four different systems) and established higher learning institutions and built the first colosseums. Had a son who was the Astoria of Capricorn.

8. Biny (1470-1684) 224 years- transitioned from a male emperor to an empress during her reign. Established an alliance with several siren kingdoms and established several new cities.

9. Anglerfish (1685-1750) 66 years- is known for her successful and very prominent campaign of privateering, created a froth relationship between the the islands of Thero and Thera as well as the kingdoms of Gargoraqin continent. Was eventually caught privateering a ship with her pod and was executed by a king of Thera.

10. Philipia (1751-1840) 90 years- she established the current capital for the empire daughter of anglerfish, she had to creat safety nets and hiding places for her subjects to not be terrorized by the land people.

11.Bo (1841-2286) 446 years- a very religious emperor who introduced the ayasi faith as the state religion, though it didn’t stick as the state religion the ayasi faith is commonly practiced in the empire.

12. Minnou (2287-2309) 23 years- brought two mermaid kingdoms into the empire, one through Marriage and one through force. Undid the ayasi fate as the state religion.

13. Conwhani (2309-2331) 22 years, depicted with a great pair of horns as she had vicker blood in her, sought to establish a precisen of tolerance for hybrids with the empire, under her time the economy with the land people flourished

14. Eal (2331-2721) 390 years transitioned empire to and emperial republic, and established voting for representatives for the congress and the collation.

15. Posidon (2721-2857) 136 years- first mermaid emperor, student of astronomy and alchemy and had many places of learning built as well as having hand in the making of the architecture that allows for their modern cities with accessibility for creatures of all shapes and sizes.

16. Merrow (2857-2906) 49 years, reformed rather draconian law system to be less in corporal punishment

17. Cari (2907-3014) 108 years - switched the capital to nessrosa ( means water roses)

18. Crab (3015-3088) 74 years - emperess who established about half the laws on the books

19. Dawnturtal (3088-3492) 404 years- won the throne through a javelin throwing contest. Was a lover of nature and created the first emperial ecosystem parks. So nature could be enjoyed by all their citizens, now and in the future. Expanded voting rights. Fought and won a war against a few United sea gorgon hives.

20. Scillia (3493-3750) 258 years- mermaid who reorganized the military and military service

21.Hipocampi (3751-4229) 479 years- a mermaid empress who established extensive healthcare and public works systems throughout the empire

22. Cybircma (4230-4263) 34 years a rare sea witch. Won the throne through a game of wits.

23. Phillia (4264-4377) 114 years- the emperor who established the lily codes, a set of codes of conduct on several things, proper ediquet, how nobles should treat non-nobles [like people], how to properly introduce their culture to conquered lands and the proper way to do some traditions in court. Several of these things where already established but written down in the lily codes, that are still kept up to date to this day.

24. Shark (4378-4627) 250 years - empress that conquered the iles of heaven waters as part of the neptonian empire

25. Hydra (4628-4639) 12 years- empress that negotiated for the union of 13 additional sea kingdoms to join the empire

26. Sonrax (4640-4738) 99 years - created hundreds of amphitheaters, learning squares and libraries, also responsible for a narsin siren genocide

27. Oaraiora (4739-4796)158 years- switched the capital back to phillhimestarn (means moon princess mist)

28. Thnami (4796-4875) 79 years - conquerer gargoraqi waters for the empire and established seaside colonies

29. Serina (4876-5045)169 years- a rare neptonian duelo, who’s alternate self was a red blooded mermaid. Started to grow insane by the end of her reign due to paranoia. Lots of deaths.

30. Orka (5045-5114)69 years- lead a violent revolution against previous empress, died in a violent revelotion by the people to install next emperor

31. Fil (5114-5243) 129 years -outlawed slavery within the neptonian empire boarders, and created a process for removing empresses and emperors less violently

32. Darb (5244-5293) 49 years- tried to unify traditions and religious practices failed missably. Though some of the court songs and rituals they established have stuck around. Also fought a war with some thero heroes.

33. Elumiga (5294-5355) 61 years a violet blood who took over after her sister died to the Theron heroes. Negotiated peace and a treaty that the empire could only go so far into Theron and Theran waters.

34. Clam (5355-5541) 186 years - made a guarantee of civil rights for all neptonian citizens

35. Kimopheia (5543-5857) 314 years known to have turned into a demon at the end of their reign as they tried to extend their life to live forever. Also imposed unfair laws against mermaids but not sirens or finfolk, ignoring ruling’s established by clam the previous empress

36. Perigenia (5857-5921) 64 years- saw the eastern mermaid kingdoms leave the empire

37. Borsesis (5921-5933) 12 years - killed hiers to the throne, was seceded by her cousin. Violently.

38. nemorin (5934-6248) 314 years - violently conquered eastern mermaids, cousin to Borsesis

39. nemora (6248-6381) 133 years- daughter of the conqueror nemorin, was a tyrant who killed of any potential heirs to the throne

40. Nautelus, 64 years but ongoing (6381-current year 6445 ) - the current reigning empress, she fought in the mermaid revolution and was part of an organization known as the nypon-rose

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pandoramusicbox · 2 years

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(what was tumblers policy on boobs again??? hmmm I can't remember but I think this is fine) Mergo! A distant continent I barely talk about on here, (I should change that) these are two people from two of merges powerful southern empires. this picture is of a magician of the mountain people and a noblewoman from the empire of the heavenly bodies (also known as euphoria). though these cultures are geographically distant, there is a jungle in the way, they still meet up to have agreements of trade and diplomacy. the garnlan is a symbol of peace. the magicians of Mergo tend to do the majority of their magic by the theory of Expression. the Mountain people (their empire is not yet named ) gives their magicians a wide array of freedom as they are only ever asked to give one gift to the betterment of the empire. The magicians distinguish themselves from regular people of the empire by the “shield hat” that they wear. they are called by Pocilla (masc. pocillo) the Euphorian empire is relatively modern and is seen as the successor to a number of empires that came from that region before their main competitor is the empire of jagandi, the empire of five kingdoms. Euphoria is ruled by a male emperor who is elected by the four Queens, the four queens are chosen from the nobility and are elected into their position by the different noble families. the queens serve for life unless they willingly retire. the empire used to have a dual monarchy, but that monarchy closed when the last rulers betrayed the other so the council of queens was formed instead. the Euphorian empire places a great deal of emphasis on gender roles, Mergo is a distant continent located in the western hemisphere.its vast amount of cultures and technologies has been independently developing sense the fay folk fell. the continent is connected to endless forest. but it is surrounded by even more forest, and those few visiting fay do not stay long, and if they are seen they are usually thought of as ghosts or claimed souls of the forest. the designer of the people are loosely inspired by the Aztec and Minoan civilizations, while the one on the left is entirely inspired by a tapestry I saw in a restaurant in the middle of nowhere. Mergo is a large continent that is heavily inspired by the Americas, both north and south. in the far north you reach the fragmented, friged lands of ins-qua-rî which are more heavily inspired by vikings and slavic cultures. disclaimer: truth is one of the reasons I hesitate to share more about mergo is because it is so heavily inspired by the americas, and i don't have great confidence in my knowledge of mesoamerica and southamerica, there Is some cultural overlap between my tribe and some of the practices of other southern culture, and I don't seek to recreate South America one to one. simply I have a lot more to learn, though I do hope to do it well as mergo was created to mesh my cultural identities.

#worldbuilding #pandoramusicbox #aztecempire #aztecinspired #worldbuildingculture #music magic #mesoamerica #minoan

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pandoramusicbox · 2 years

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here we have a few members of carnival 14. the way circus tends to devide up their large group to smaller units for safety and ease of movement. they are often called troops or units and these troops tend to have their own nicknames. these guys calls themselves the heathens. here is some info about all of them. (from top to bottom) ivy she is a human, but she also happens to be a witch. witches are those of human kin born with an innate magic ability. Ivy happens to have the ability to summon a magical bow made from light. she is an optimist. she tends to prefers guys but is not apposed to date girls. she is kind hearted, she is a rather serious person, not opposed to jokes, but rarely participates. she wants to care for everyone, and in that pursuit can stretch herself a bit thin. Is quick to anger. and will defend her ideas, violence with reason is fine in her books. she is from the Agura region of scalipia spruce. his species is an eyed, nothin to special about eyed beyond the fact that they have less or more eyes than humans. he is also a demon, both by title and by actuality. true demons are awful creatures. no demon is born* a demon, all demons have to be made. any creature has the capability to become a demon. anything from a god to a humanoid to even an animal. true demons are characterized by glowing eyes many true demons go through other slight physical changes beyond the eyes but its not a guarantee now spruce is a jerk. he is bisexual he enjoys scaring the wits out of others, finds (light) torture fun, is assertive, he can be reasanaberle, avoids displaying his true emotions, thinks himself better than "normal" humans, could care less about anyone he dosen't consider to be within his inner circle, has bad control of his emotions.has a soft spot for children, and considers harm to them the most despicable thing ever. he is from the Torshii region of scalipia fjord sharp teeth, blue fur, and the ability to create frost from the water in the air around her. she is something called a blue frost fox. a rare specie that only exists on juliner within the blue forest. the blue foxes are anima kin as their ability to freeze the air around them occurs by physical means and not majical ones. fjord identifies as female.she is motherly, kindhearted, protective, wants those around her to succeed in life.nurturing, but also strict followers of rules.she is not a big fan of leading.she considers ivy her best friend, and is interested in expressi. expressi a fairy, fay are all genderfluid, but many of them lean to one or the other of the binary. expressi is specifically a pix. the pix have the unique ability to create pocket dimensions, where they usually store their things. pix are the most common remaining high-fay.

expressi like the majority of fay is pansexual. she has a crush on fjord. expressi is actually her second name. her original name was expresso, expresso loves to present themselves as feminine. she is a riot, she loves to flirt, adores making others blush. she loves to help others relax, she tends to not form emotional attachments. she was born in the cosmerian mountain region bordering the endless forest of scalipia. elm A kind of magic cat that can gain power from metal objects. for elm he has two brass earrings different metal give them different powers they can not touch pure iron. (no i have not read mistborn, and it did not inspire this power) they can also create contracts of magic with other creatures.(I can't remember specifics) the species can come in any pastel color with a wight/off wight coat. those things in the ears are "arms" called the scarf by the members of the species. they are also antropermorphic, ie stand and walk on two legs. except elm is floating in the picture. because that's a thing they can do. (based on the demon cat curbi from madoca-magica and silvion from Pokemon) elm is asexual/aromantic. uses they/them and he/him pronouns he is quite the asshole, smart, indifferent, smug, and quiet. loves causing trouble for others, snide (un-harmeful) comments, but will never let things get out of hand. if anyone actually got hurt in one of their escapades they would never forgive themself. loves to read, the older and more difficult the language the better. because of this love for old langages and reading they are a linguist and over their lifetime has learned about fifteen langages. tends to laze about most of the time.(like a cat) they are from the endless forest in scalipia, but have lived a great deal of their early life in torshii. Max max not their real name but the name everyone knows them by it. this is not his true appearance but the one everyone knows them by it. he is a spirit kin. said to be related to the great serpent they are often semi-incorporeal monstrosities of immense majical ability. spirit kin are strange and varied the most well known kind of spirit is called an ivelar. there are the dragons and the sereth (holly)there are the gods, and there are the phamtasmics. he has the ability to summon a lesser-fay, fly, change shape.and temporarily control minds.he is also really good at disappearing. max generally avoids emotional and romantic attachments.max generally goes by male pronouns. he is quiet and reserved. vengeful, overly proud and confident.protective of those who he dose rarely form an emotional connection too. believes himself to be never at fault. as a spirit he is born of the endless forest. * there is one demon in existence who was born.he was not born during spruces lifetime. and he has some complicated situation to his birth.

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