Isleenaris

Dedicated to my fantasy world, Isleenaris

[isleenaris]

This is Isleenaris, my fantasy world. I'm working on compiling everything from creatures and trees to cultures and history into this blog. It's probably going to take a while.

Isleenaris is my home. I'm here to tell its stories. Care to tag along?

[isleenaris]

Started plotting out a new story and somehow it ended up as the most chaotic dnd campaign ever. I'll take it.

[isleenaris]

Thinking about the fact that humans are the only animal to cook their food. I really want to incorporate that into a culture somehow, in that cooking is seen as something very sacred and even intimate.

[isleenaris]

Marelian Marriage

In the earlier years of Marelian history and culture, marriage was a common custom that almost everyone participated in. Marriage was not just limited to lovers; it was not necessarily a romantic affair. Friends would wed, as would siblings and other familial relations, as is common in the whole of Isleenaris. However, as time went on and Valtameri became more and more distant from the rest of the world, it began to be limited to only lovers, and gradually it faded out of use. Marriage is seen as an old, fading custom which few people undertake.

Even with its uncommon usage, there are a strict set of customs and traditions that are adhered to.

Proposals

When proposing, one individual will create a sea-bracelet (here) made of toun knots and gift it to their intended. The knots typically read in Old Marelian: I return to you like waves to the shore, a line from a famous Marelian poem.

If the second individual accepts, they make their own bracelet, this one reading I will greet you as the sun meets the horizon at the end of the day (a line from the same poem). If they do not accept, they will make a different bracelet, which says unfortunately the tides must carry me away.

Courtship

After a proposal has been made and accepted, there is a period of three months where the couple is tested with one trial each month. First, they are instructed to make a boat together (see more on Marelian boat making techniques here). The second month, they are seperated for the time. Finally, right before the wedding, the two are dropped in two different locations and must find their place to the chosen location of the wedding.

Marriage

There are two parts of the marriage ceremony—the isyan and the melsyan. The isyan is a public ceremony, and anyone is free to attend. It is here where the couple sign and acknowledge that they will be married. It isn't fully binding—either individual may leave whenever they like. However, this rarely happens, as it is frowned upon, the three trials preceding marriage ensure that they can work well together.

The second part of the ceremony, the melsyan, is private. Only close family and friends attend. It is here when the couple exchange their vows, which are generally written by themselves. Prior to the wedding, each person made a sea-bracelet for the other, which they then exchange.

[isleenaris]

There is a city without a name that has been forgotten by the world. It sits in a desert between rolling dunes of sand. The city is made of colour. This comes of course, from the elaborate tiles that make up the streets, the buildings, the houses. For the upper class, these tiles are intricate, made of different stones and materials, marble, gold, silver, and precious stones. For the middle class, they are equally beautiful and bright. But there are only smatterings of different materials—most of it is painted on. Still, they are bright and lovely. For the lower class, they are entirely painted. And the colours are a little less vivid, a little more faded and weathered. Still, they are beautiful. This is a city devoted to art. Even at its worst, this city maintains beauty.

[isleenaris]

Making Picrews of the MC's in my WIP

Because I can't draw to save my life

Arris

Kalsyen

Sirke

Varyel

Yelena

I'm not sure about Arris, and Sirke's eyes are supposed to be more grey than blue. But I'm happy with how they came out!

[isleenaris]

I completely redid Isleenaris' map because the one I had just wasn't working for me. So this is the new one.

Here's a globe version (the poles are a little messed up because the map isn't the right size): https://www.maptoglobe.com/HkzqypT49

[isleenaris]

Soulflower

Called the Soulflower by the Ithari people, for its red petals, the colour which represents the spirit, and rhombus centre, which is the shape of the soul according to their beliefs.

[isleenaris]

Evenstar Lighthouse

Lighthouses are an integral part of Valtameri, and without them, the island would be completely different. There is a rich history that surrounds every lighthouse, none more so than the Evenstar Lighthouse.

Built over a thousand years ago, the lighthouse is now old and decrepit. Though the other lighthouses are just as old, this one has fallen into disuse and decay. It is said to be haunted, though no one quite knows what, exactly, roams its rooms. About a hundred and fifty years after it was built, the lighthouse burnt down in a fire, but it was rebuilt due to its important location. But after being rebuilt, the Evenstar Lighthouse changed. For years, before it was abandoned, tragedy struck the keepers and those who lived near it. Plants withered and died just before the harvest, fish remained in the ocean, and keepers fell from the tower in the middle of a storm, leaving sailors to crash upon the cliff. Valerian, the lighthouse keeper when it was rebuilt, was murdered by his daughter, who then threw herself from the tower into the seas. It is said that the two now haunt the lighthouse together. A mere two hundred years after its creation, the Evenstar Lighthouse and Evelin, the town beside it, were both abandoned to time and to the elements.

Now, the Evenstar Lighthouse is an urban legend, a tale told when storms lash at the roofs and the waves pound against the cliffs.

[isleenaris]

Valtameri

(Where my current WIP is set)

Valtameri is a small island in the Unknown Seas, which seldom interacts with the outside world. It's coast is lined by rocky cliffs and dangerous waters, and lighthouses are an important part of the island's culture.

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Common Gods of the Follower Pantheon

There are many different religions in Isleenaris, but many of them share a common pantheon, called the Follower religions. There are numerous different deities, and every culture has different beliefs and interpretations. But here are a few of the more widespread ones:

Rhanion, goddess of nature

Lucin, god of light

Arine, deity of death, also called Aried

Maia, goddess of the ocean, in some cultures representing water as a whole

Yienna, goddess of energy and light

Ethrath, god of fire and war

Galaran, deity of fertility, rebirth, and the harvest

There are many more, and each culture has a different view on them.

[isleenaris]

Wish Bracelets - A Tradition from Valtameri

In Marelian culture, it's traditional to gift people with bracelets woven from ardu (a deer-like animal used for transportation) hair to friends and family. The receiver ties it in three knots onto their wrist, sealing a wish into the bracelet with the knots. It is thought that when all three knots come untied and the bracelet falls off, the wish will soon be granted.