Qîélá's Many Wonders

This blog holds all the history, science, snippets, and other cool stuff having to do with Qîélá, a mystical world of strange and unique creatures.

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I stared my novel over for like the 5th time and I’m getting farther than I ever have so I guess that’s a good sign- to celebrate I drew Kétyé, our heroine, before the shit hits the fan and she just stops giving a fuck.

No she’s not a nun, that’s just how they dress where she’s from.

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This is just a really rough and fast idea of how big Ôrnês and Luāglŏn are compared to a 6′ human. THEY BIG.

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mythology on Qîélá: constantly throwing shade at every other species except the one the mythology belongs to

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The Beginning of the World

According to the Ôrnês, anyway. You can get a clear idea of the Ôrnês culture all from this honestly.

There are some notes that I’d also like to add before I get to the reading.

Culturally and linguistically speaking the word “it” is completely acceptable and non-insulting for Ôrnês when referring to someone with undefined gender. And “it" is always used when referring to an unknown individual (so as not to make assumptions since names hold no gender in Ôrnêstán). Technically speaking all their pronouns are versions of “it” (cé, cú, cá) denoting what reproductive capability someone has and the choice can be made NOT to divulge that to others by using the neutral “it.” Additionally, Ôrnês do not technically have gender as we interpret it, since sexual capabilities are not connected to roles within society in any way. Gender’s only use is defining who you are capable of reproducing with and thus marrying. Outside of that absolutely no thought is given about gender.

“Beast” in this case refers to any sentient being that is not an Ôrnês or Trémtónť and is only considered acceptable when speaking to one of those two species. The polite term used in mixed company is “Voice,” basically “a being with a Voice.”

The First Children are worshiped in their own right as minor deities, viewed as the ancestors of the Ôrnês in a given area. It is believed that their power has now stabilized in the land and they are often asked to relay wishes and prayers to Kërbát.

The entire story should be taken with a grain of salt, while it is of course wholeheartedly believed by the adherents of the religion its main purpose besides religious history keeping is propaganda. It gives a reason for Ôrnês supremacy, for Trémtónť enslavement, and for the reason Ôrnês are compelled to war and dominate all other Voices. This history is consistently referenced when Ôrnês give a reason for their aggressions upon others. Its status as propaganda is not, of course, known to or believed by the Ôrnês or Trémtónť.

Now onto the story:

In the beginning Kërbát slept. It had no beginning and would have no end, It always was and always will be. When Kërbát woke time began. First Kërbát thought of words and language was born. Second, Kërbát thought of matter and the heavens were born. And third, Kërbát thought of life and the world was born.

However, the first life was imperfect, for Kërbát thought of too much at once so that there were pieces missing from the plants and beasts, or pieces mixed and mismatched. While this did not displease Kërbát, It had found this life inadequate as it gave no prayers or devotion, it had no purpose given the nature of its fractured being. So Kërbát thought of another being to be its servant. It put all concentration towards this servant, thought of the arms and legs ending in nimble fingers and toes, thought of the torso with heart, lungs, and all other organs, and finally thought of the head and the mind. With this effort the first Servant was born, Tál, the crafter of the mortal world.

Tál was thus the first to give reverence to Kërbát and bowed before It, so the first words were spoken: “Mighty Giver of Life, I hear and see your thoughts. With these hands I would see your will done on the world and in the heavens.”

Kërbát heard these words and was pleased, for language was even more beautiful spoken. Yet when Kërbát moved to reply Its words shook the world so violently that the beasts were killed and the earth was thrown into a fiery tumult and broken. Kërbát’s will was too strong to be put into the mortal world through active means, thus It learned and instead channeled the thought of Its appreciation towards Tál, and Tál felt it like a warmth through his body and a peace in his heart.

Then Kërbát saw the world It had broken and willed Tál to calm the chaos. With his hands Tál smoothed the jagged rocks and stilled the seas from roiling. The bones of the misshapen creatures were sown into the rock and soil where they turned to stone. When the world was again calm Kërbát then directed Tál to fill it with life once more. Tál was pleased to be the instrument of Kërbát’s will, to make the world perfect from the thoughts of Kërbát.

First Tál made plants, shaping them from the rocks and his own hair, taking careful effort to craft every detail. Then Tál made the lesser beasts from his skin and saliva, shaping them so they resembled his own body in many ways while still taking delight in their diversity. In some he added the whisper of his own words and gave them the ability to think and speak. These bests gave praise and reverence to Kërbát, Master of Thought and Root of All Things, and to Tál, the Sculptor of Life.

For a time the worship of the beasts was enough for Kërbát to be content. And when the world needed altering Tál would do so gently so that the beasts would barely notice. However, after some ages had passed the beasts slowly forgot their beginnings and the hands and will that had shaped them. They began to worship spirits that had grown in the Void of the skies from the stray thoughts of Kërbát, spirits which promised them more than their rightful due as mortal beings. While these spirits were powerful, they were not true gods and Kërbát became displeased as more and more beasts turned their hearts and minds elsewhere.

Kërbát now saw that there would be no ways to keep the beasts true as long as It remained separate, yet knew that Its true presence would be too great for mortals to comprehend or witness and would cause another devastating upheaval. It was then that Kërbát made from Its own body the First Children, manifestations of Its power made physical. However, because the combined power of male and female, as Kërbát was, would be too powerful in the mortal world to hold physical being, Kërbát split the two and made instead several pairs to together rule over parts of the mortal world.

These First Children were the closest approximation of gods to be found in the living world. They had might greater than any of the false spirits and swept the wisps of thought from existence with little effort. The beasts at first resisted but the First Children were radiant and carried in them the Light and Fire of Kërbát; built of Its flesh their power was like none witnessed before. The beasts soon bowed to them, either out of fear or renewed reverence in the power of Kërbát.

After the world had been reclaimed and the hearts of the beasts turned back to Kërbát Tál created a people from the clay of the earth to be their Servants. In these people he placed drops of his own blood so that they walked, spoke, and venerated Kërbát and the First Children as he did. The First Children and the Servants mimic the dynamic of the gods- the First Children willed grand cities built and the Servants worked the land to build them. The First Children needed to eat, though sparingly, and the Servants farmed the land and hunted at the Children’s side. The Servants dressed and bathed the First Children so their countenance never wavered.

With their male and female separation the Frist Children felt the stirring of mortal passions and their curiosity led to the births of many more Children beyond counting. Their children were further diluted in power as they continued to split and diverge across the land, though they never lost the power to summon magic and alter matter as Kërbát allowed the First Children. Yet the more they bred, with each generation the Children lost their radiance until they looked no different from the beasts. Yet the Children flourished even so and aided the First in ruling all the lands of the mortal world.

For ages longer than the beasts had lived alone the First ruled and guided the world on the proper lines to truly honor Kërbát. Yet as the ages passed the First grew complacent and trusting in the devotions of the beasts, and though they never diminished in power their direct influence seemed less and less necessary. In time some beasts began to hear the whispers of spirits once more, new wisps of thought which Kërbát had continued to unwittingly let forth. These spirits planted in the beasts’ minds that idea that they might rule themselves and abandon all worship of Kërbát to instead worship the spirits who once again offered power beyond their means. The powers offered would never match the power of the First, but it was tempting enough to turn many of the beasts, though not enough to challenge the numbers of the Children.

Then the spirits motivated the beasts they had turned in secret to befriend the Servants and work subtly to turn them as well. It took several generations but eventually the hearts of the Servants were swayed. The prospect of ruling on their own proved too tempting. The Servants could change their physical forms thanks to the clay of their bodies and when the beasts had readied their forces the servants changed into monstrous and powerful forms. Many Servants did remain loyal, however, and gave their own lives defending the retreat of the Children.

The slaughter of the Children was merciless. Though huge numbers fell back to the grand cities of the First still many lived too far from reach and were lost. The First could have easily retaliated and destroyed the beasts, but their own Children were too populous. Had the Children not been present the First would have unleashed their full power upon the beasts, but love of their Children kept them from their full might, for their power would destroy the Children as well.

Before the slaughter reached its apex the First cried out to Kërbát, their progenitor and protector, to save their Children before they were wiped out. Kërbát heard them and answered with quick action. It made the First into pure energy to charge the lands with power and expel the beasts from the strongholds where the Children hid. In many areas it was too late and the names of the First are lost. Yet the Children still lived in many more placed than could yet be saved, and though the First were no more their strength lived on in the surviving Children and their presence could still be felt in many parts of the land. The beasts were driven out to the far corner away from the Children and their strongholds. The Servants, for their heinous betrayal, were punished by Kërbát directly. Their bodies were taken from them and they were cursed to be as the spirits were, unable to act on the world, trapped in seeing but with no power of doing and no escape, not even through death.

Yet the punishment of the Servants also affected the Children. With the First, their parents, gone and direct communication with Kërbát cut off the Children could do little else but live as beasts. Their strongholds that once gave them refuge from the hordes crumbled in the absence of the Servants’ hands and the Children’s thoughts. As the ages once again passed, the progeny of the beasts filtered back into the lands their ancestors had been driven from, though they were now docile in the worship of their false gods. And with the passage of those long ages the servants began to feel the extent of the pain they could tolerate. They cried out to Tál, their father, to take pity on them and end their suffering, if not through the return of their bodies then through death. Tál heard his children and would have given what they asked if Kërbát had not been the one who had taken it; for Tál could not undo what Kërbát had willed. So Tál beseeched Kërbát to return the Servants to the physical world, promising that he would limit their power so they could never turn against the Children again.

Kërbát saw the use the Servants might yet have and had seen that the suffering they had endured had been enough. They would learn their lesson well or they would be destroyed. Kërbát returned to them their bodies but limited their ability to change form to only creatures of similar size to their own natural forms. Additionally, Tál cautioned them not to change their forms lightly, only under threat of death of to protect another from danger. And the change itself now was much more painful than it had been before their punishment, when their forms could be changed with ease and barely a thought.

With their bodies restored the Servants sought out the Children and returned to their service. Kërbát told Its children to take the Servants back in visions and dreams, carefully did Kërbát implant these lest the Children be destroyed by the radiance of Its mind. With the two together again they sought to restore the Old Empire of the First. The Children who had found the Servants again set out across the Old Empire and returned the Servants to the Children who were still alone. Slowly new cities were built, though they never again would have the luster and might of the Old Empire. And to further keep the Servants and Children of a single mind Tál, by Kërbát’s will, began to move the earth with less care and gentleness, so that they would never grow as complacent as they once did in the Light of the First.

It was once the Children had restored much of their lost power that Kërbát came to them again in visions. They were now instructed to reclaim the world slowly, cautiously, and reintroduce the beasts to the power of Kërbát. Whether through conversion or death, it no longer mattered to Kërbát whether the beasts gave their hearts forever to It so long as the Children and Servants did not repeat the errors of the past. The Children began this venture, but it was slow work with much resistance. The beasts had worshiped their false gods for so long that they believed those gods had always been with them and would not lightly give them up.

This is the world in which the Children of Kërbát continue to endure and struggle, but never again will they fall so low as they had during the days after the loss of the First.

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Ah Kër, yes, right there.

I can’t believe I actually sat down and drew interspecies petting, and yes, the neck flaps are definitely an erogenous zone on Ôrnês, this is quite scandalous. Grannies turn away in horror at the idea, children are shepherded away to temples and their souls prayed for so that they might not even be TEMPTED TO COMMIT SUCH A SIN AS THIS.

This is the kinda thing that’ll get you imprisoned or killed for being a traitor but you can’t stop love, even if it’s culturally gross on all accounts.

And here I am, probably going to write a dozen stories about star crossed lovers overcoming the hate of their people just to get in a good neck rub.

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Things I draw at work: quick, rough Luāglŏn redesign

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Real fast and crappy to show that Ôrnês are indeed predators I mean I keep saying that but I never SHOW IT

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hello yes I am the horrifying hooved predatory monstrosity what oppresses an entire planet I can’t put my own clothes on but I’m better than you

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I made these a while ago for a project BUT I feel like I want to make them (and the others I never finished) more action-y. So I’ll just put them up as is. I’ll definitely work on sizing weapons better too. lol

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Preview of something I'm working on

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flockofflamingos replied to your photo: “Map included for ease of concept. The first five are found on #1,...”:

Trémtónť seem to be pretty dispersed across the world. Are they the most far-reaching of the races?

They moved where the Tásförê Ôrnês did; they were assimilated by the Ôrnês as servants over 6000 years ago in southern Qástánê and sort of swept north and west over 200 years with their masters "unifying" the Ôrnês subspecies (of which there are 7). Ôrnês had spread to the other continents ages before when they were a lot less refined (*ahem* intelligent...) which is why they have a lot more physical diversity compared to Trémtónť. The changes in Trémtónť coloration only occurred during their isolation in new habitats with native Ôrnês during the Time of Dark (which lasted 1700 years).

That isolation also prompted the cultural differences of each morph, adapting to the new environments and native Ôrnês of that area. By the time the Tásförê Ôrnês made contact with everyone again they were all doing their own thing and resistant to the Tásförê shoving their noses into their business again. It was a whole big deal.

In any case, to answer your question specifically, Trémtónť are no more widespread than Ôrnês or Rélîqûn, all three have a wider distribution than any other races on Qîélá

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Map included for ease of concept.

The first five are found on #1, Qástánê. Because it's the largest continent the five Trémtónť morphs are found in specific areas influenced by the very different environments they live in. "South" refers to the bottom chunk of the continent, "North" is the top.

The bottom three are found on smaller continents to the west. #3 is Ŗtgêrá, mostly tropical rainforest, #4 is Ņêráj, savannah and desert, and #5 is Tápŗén, temperate forest. #2, Méľônér, has a low population of Ôrnês and thus very few Trémtónť, the morph that is found there is the primarily Southern Plains. On #5, Tápŗén, and #6, Ĵímtábt, the same morph can be found due mostly to the same environment of the two continents and because the Ôrnês population of Ĵímtábt is small and doesn't settle in large groups outside of the islands of the channel between the continents.

#7 and #8 don't have any permanent populations of Ôrnês and Trémtónť and so do not any unique morphology.

Outside of coloring Trémtónť have very few physical differences between each area. Stripe patterns tend to to be an individual occurrence that can appear in any morph, but is more common in the areas it is depicted above.

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Trémtónť morphs native to the continent of Qástánê, the largest continent on Qîélá.

All other continents generally have one morph, due to the later settlement of Trémtónť in those areas.

(Northern Plains are changed from the last pic I did of them because it was too light before for me. lol)

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Just doodlin some more Trémtónť to get a feel for their ridiculous monkey faces but now I wanna color the drawing in every color morph Trémtónť can come in because I love coloring lol

This would be the morph from northern Qástánê (Álmêťêr, Dêrzánî, and Plérmá)

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I can't believe I never thought to reference mandrills and baboons when designing Trémtónť; like now it seems to obvious looking back that their face structure is pretty much exactly what I was aiming for. Sadly past self didn't get it and kept drawing things a bit too horse-like (a long time pit fall since horses were my bread and butt back when I first started drawing). Now I think I've done a lot better and gotten closer to what I've wanted.

However, since I've now made Trémtónť a bit more primate like that means I needed to to edit their fur patterns a bit. Will still probably tweak it, but I can't get away from a nice mane. I'll chock that up to evolution- like how male birds are often bright and pretty- Trémtónť have long manes because it's pretty. And well okay it also shows health, since you can't grow a luscious mane if you're sick or malnourished, so there's a nice solid reason, too. Yay.

Basically, more work to be done, but I've established some basics and I'm pleased.

Pretty primate analogous Trémtónť.

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zûblïvíş- to put your mind in another's, understand their motives or feelings, like empathy but more intimate.

Example: When an investigator puts their mind into that of a criminal to understand their motivations for committing a crime. Conjugated: "Nê zûblïvlê gónd méínóš."

Even with this closeness, the one feeling zûblïv does not feel these motives or feelings in their own self, it is a window for them, with a solid separation between the two individuals. Such examples as in humans: when someone dies, though you were not close to them you can understand the sadness and loss of those around you who were, even if you don't feel that way yourself.

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On Qîélá, pretty much 100% across all cultures, you're considered weird if you claim to only ever be attracted to the gender you are not.