in these warring times

Here there be story in words and comics. Here there also be extensive world-building and art. Feel free to ask anything!

[highfantasyhaikyuu]

a short note on shiratorizawa

It’s a collection of states which for historical reasons submits to Greencastle (Seijou) rule, but is pretty much an alliance in actuality. It’s ruled by the military with the top general basically being a pseudo-king, except that succession isn’t inherited, but is decided by power politics or straight up duels. 

The northern and central parts are largely agricultural and textile. There is some mining in the west, which is the edge of the empire and basically borders non-allied states (though strictly speaking, the western lands don’t conform to the typical state structure). These states have more emphasis on military prowess. The south, coastal states, are fishing and trade based, but also very military. 

Ushijima is from central Ivheron (shiratorizawa), from a family which has a little military history on his father’s side but is very much still a farming family. As a central state lad, he was looked down upon when he joined the military and visited other states for joint exercises (mostly when the Greencastle emperor was visiting). 

Later on (spoiler???) Ushijima rose up the ranks, and his farm boy background makes him very popular with most of Ivheron. His rise made a nice narrative about meritocracy and potential coming from anywhere. It was excellent for military recruitment from populations which were previously reluctant to send their best kids to the military when they could be merchants or take over the farm instead. 

Anyway the point of this background dump is --  please consider war propaganda posterboy ushijima 

(AND IF ANY OF YALL KNOW WHERE I CAN FIND PICTURES OF THIS P L E A SE LET ME KNOW THNAK)

[highfantasyhaikyuu]

HAPPY BELATED B’DAY IWA-CHAN im not gonna lie i forgot until i saw all the posts this morning in my timezone 

[highfantasyhaikyuu]

preview for a kags backstory comic! linework for page one is done, i’m hoping to colour it tomorrow. still haven’t managed to transfer my WIPs including my kurodai comic so I’m afraid I can only work on new stuff for the time being. sorry to anyone waiting on that 

[highfantasyhaikyuu]

Every time they clasp hands in greeting no one can tell if they’re weirdly enthusiastic or just trying very hard to break the other’s wrist. Kuroo always makes it a point to lean down with all his weight, but Daichi is always very well braced so he never budges. 

[highfantasyhaikyuu]

Pencil sketchy sketch ~

WIP Kags crown and oikawa business casual outfit redesigns

WIP redraw of hinata -- i like the look of it but the body lang is a bit too defensive so i’ll prob scrap it and start again 8′D 

Have a great day!

[highfantasyhaikyuu]

“Hey, your armour’s pretty uncomfortable, Iwa.” “It’s less uncomfortable if you’re not leaning on it, Your Majesty.” 

[highfantasyhaikyuu]

kurodai backstory page 1 of 4 

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[highfantasyhaikyuu]

sketchysketch sorry 4 low qualitea i wanted to queue this before i disappear on my travels

wip akaashi modelling the shoe spikes =w=

wip these two idiots ahahahaha <3

[highfantasyhaikyuu]

in which kuroo attempts to do some friendly flirting with his best bro and does not consider the implications of his words to someone from a culture where they use hella dangerous spikes on their boots to climb gigantic trees every damn day 

[highfantasyhaikyuu]

HE’S SO HANDSOME IT’S SUCH A WASTE TO PUT ON HIS MASK BRB GOING TO FIGHT PAST ME FOR NOT THINKING THIS THROUGH 

[highfantasyhaikyuu]

Love the new update! I was wondering, what does feytouched mean?

hiiiiii aaaaaa so nice of you and thanks for the question! =w= i hope you were asking for a bunch of history/cultural stuff bc thats what youre gonne get anon 0u0 but just in case you werent

tldr version– feytouched means they aren’t attacked by fey unless they do something stupid

So Karasuno used to be considered such a huge military power bc they had the guts to have an unfortified border with the north, which is fey territory. Of the northern countries, karasuno is the oNLY ONE who doesnt have crazy defences hhahahahahah. nekoma has a labyrinth and dateko has a fortress. the crazy crows just have normal patrols (though defence is more of a problem now that the capital moved north and their military/economic power waned sadly)

now because of that proximity, there are both rumours and evolution at work through generations of karasuno citizens who didn’t die on those patrols

there are some people, especially those from the northern mountain villages, who will not be attacked by fey unless they initiate. it’s not certain why, but these people tend to have unusually bright hair and/or eyes, similar to the fey.

the superstitious explanations are that they were marked by the fey, and feytouched are usually treated with wary respect in the north. another explanation is that these are changelings (the fey stole the child away and left a fey in their place) but no one will say that to your face.

noya’s predecessor had a lot of problems nominating him as the next head of the church bc noya is feytouched (well feytouched is the official reason they gave but mostly their issues were that noya is young… and ‘undignified’… which means he can catch a fish with his mouth in a freezing river and also runs around without a shirt most of the time pfft)

most of this cultural baggage/ feytouched terminology is confined to the north/ karasuno itself but! it’s subtly made its way into beauty standards

in the east (shiratorizawa, seijou, etc– the Origin Empire) they prefer non-feytouched because the prevailing superstition is that feytouched are marked as an enemy of a specific fey, or owe the fey a boon in exchange for escaping with their life. and because karasuno people tend to be pretty (exotic but not tooooo foreign) and popular as royal brides etc, you don’t want the royal firstborn to be taken away by the fey. hahahah so what that means is that people like Daichi, Kags, and Kiyoko are the aesthetic

in the west! (nekoma, fukurodani, nohebi etc which have a more unwalled city culture) they believe its useful to have a feytouched in your party as a scout, and because the hair/eyes tend to be hereditary, if you marry one and your kid turns out feytouched it means they wont die!! nice! So tsukki, yachi, and hinata are aesthetic

[highfantasyhaikyuu]

style experimentation? 

kags hasnt even gotten his feathers yet in the story but i had to 8′) shhh

noya goes around without his shirt a lot even though its cold enough for kags and tsukki to wear blankets lol 

hinata and noya are both feytouched, easy to tell by the eyes. tsukki is too, but he stayed in the city so long who knows if its even an asset anymore 

[highfantasyhaikyuu]

The City of Cats has no king, but they have a prophet. His word is not so much law as it is inevitability. 

(culture notes under the cut) 

Kozume Kenma “Stoneclaw”

Kenma’s job is literally to tell people what to do and draw on walls. He likes the drawing on walls more though because then he doesn’t have to talk to people.  

Stone in nekoma is brown rather than grey so “Stoneclaw” isn’t so weird because stone is nearly skin colour for a lot of people. 

The mage ability of the nekoma prophets are all the same-- to “see” very well, through stone and even time. Not necessarily at will, but Kenma’s unusually good at controlling his power. 

Kenma once described the ocean to Kuroo when they were young. It became Kuroo’s dream to see the ocean. Kenma knows Kuroo never will. 

The prophet is not permitted to leave the city unless in imminent peril. Kuroo is convinced it’s so the prophet can’t run away, and offered to help. Kenma was like eh I don’t mind.

those wall scribbles are actually plot 

[highfantasyhaikyuu]

He fought in the last war and was never quite the same.

[highfantasyhaikyuu]

not confirmed for canon

I have some ideas for fukurodani standard wear it’s taken me like a year but I finally have something i think i like concept-wise

if anyone was ever curious about my worldbuilding factors for clothing, it’s usually where do they live, what do they need, how do i make it aesthetic while remaining practical, what history can i incorporate into this, what cultural superstitions can i incorporate

fukurodani lives in giant trees and goes galloping across wide plains/ deserts and possibly up to the mountains i crai trying to incorporate tree climbing gear into aesthetic multi-climate outfits 

[highfantasyhaikyuu]

Oikawa at 12 thereabouts he gets pretty quiet if he’s alone and thinking about something 

[highfantasyhaikyuu]

testing out bokuto! not confirmed for canon yet but im quite happy with his mask, it makes me think of milk tea hahaha 

fukurodani has been the hardest country to pin down in terms of appearance and clothing, i have TONS of material culture-wise but cant seem to visualise. 

kuroo gave him the lil red cat earring half as a joke but bokuto likes it and wears it almost all the time