Hi! Here to ask more about Rodina. What kind of culture is there? Also is religion common place? What's the technology like?
Hi mate <3!
I am very happy to answer you and talk more about Rodinia my beloved, but before we start we must clarify something: there are animals, clearly as you saw in the moodboard there are plants, but not all beings that inhabit the planet are "humans". There are also dragons and elves, which are species of the genus homo. All of them are humanoids and look quite like us, although with their slight (sometimes more marked) differences, this to clarify certain aspects that will be mentioned later, also magic exists.
> Technology
Before the fall of the "moon", the technology was very similar to the present and even superior, futuristic as futurama or akira I suppose these could be a kind of example although space life was not a thing and aliens not exist in this universe sorry, but certainly there were fast ships, cars that fly and things like that, plus there were certain gadgets adapted to the specific needs of some group as the dragons (which often have horns, scales, even tails sometimes). Also the technological magic was weird but when the fall happens, and after the biggest disasters, that a few survive in the small piece of land that is Rodinia things change a lot.
As generations go by, a lot of knowledge is lost, sometimes due to the passage of time or the inaccessibility to certain zones and resources and other times it was intentionally by people who prefer to die without saying anything for fear of provoking "the end of the world" again. There develops a certain rejection of the most advanced technology that the three groups had before, and you could say there is a kind of "regression."
Things are more rustic, handcrafted and technical than ever, oh and mass production disappears. Oh yes, no phones, no computers, no motorcycles, no cars, and so on and so forth. Magic takes more strength when it comes to communication and other areas of life such as medicine, especially among elves. Humans, normally do not possess magic, so they must work with what they have, (some human groups are more extreme than others in this) and dragons do have magic but for reasons of faith, they are in fact more determined to use only their hands to survive than non-magicians.
One story that explores this issue is Requiem for Arkan, where Lullaby tries to explore many of the forbidden zones to "recover" this lost technology, and Lyns, her friend, is an inventor who tries to figure out how the relics she brings, work and invents others.
Ah!
Here comes the heaviest issue.
> Religion
Religion is a very big issue in this story. Our beloved main antagonist: Saturno (Eternal Spring), in fact starts a kind of religious cult. Most of the stories do not occur immediately when the second moon falls, it is after, much of the approach is that life can continue after a great destruction and how the aftermath impacts on life. A direct consequence is the birth of the dominant religion in Rodinia.
The gods of Rodinia, called the "mystics", do not have a defined form, the few times they have tried to describe them you get descriptions of eldritch horror, but no one is very interested in knowing their face. They are known to be "voices" of the earth, who can only manifest themselves through dreams, visions or the elements (water, earth, fire, air, light and darkness) and are credited by the three groups (especially the elves) for saving their lives after the destruction of the world they knew. Rodinia for some is sometimes seen as a kind of earthly paradise, and this vision has its credence I must say because it is a very biodiverse land with many climates in its interior and too much vegetation, although there are also those who say it is the opposite.
As I said the elves more than dragons or humans believe too much in the mystics, and they do not lack reasons to do so. The elven kingdoms are located where the soul shrines exist and have the reaper children (yes, it is somewhat related to the story: The children of Death). Quick summary, all beings have souls and fulfill a cycle to keep the earth alive, so the elves arrived where the souls lie, but no one can manipulate them more than the reaper children.
The magic is elemental in Rodinia; an elf with dark magic, an elf with light magic. One day began to be born children of these magics more powerful than the others, able to handle the souls and make the cycle is fulfilled. They were forced to live as reapers exclusively. They are separated from their families and are largely prevented from having an identity or personality and opinions of their own.
For better or worse, the elves are surrounded by phenomena that neither dragons or humans live, one of the reasons why there is a certain myth that they are the chosen people, and basically believe they are better than others in that sense, they are also a theocratic society with a very marked hierarchy to say the least and declared themselves guardians of the universal balance.
Dragons also believe in mystics a lot, and they feel guilty, because they were before the self-declared guardians of the world and well, we already said that a moon fell?, so they feel they must do penance (Yes I was raised catholic, how did you know? <3), they are a very small group, with very different customs than elves and humans, and they live in clans. They know exactly what happens with "the cycle" so they dedicate themselves to live quietly in the shadows, so much that humans think they are extinct and no longer exist.
Humans are a particular case, there are groups that believe in mystics, others are atheists, of the vibe "we survive by chance, there is no higher power that would like to save us" and live their lives without worrying about it, or there are those who created the cult of death, as they have come to see the reapers of the elves, so they perceive death as the only certainty of life and worship it.
> Culture
Culture is an almost impossible question, because this does not vary only between dragons, elves and humans, but between themselves, I know how it is but it needs its own post, but I will say here some curious facts as I remember them in compensation although culture has naturally already leaked out at various times in my previous answers:
-It is 100% true that humans think that dragons are all dead. There are scientists who are dedicated to studying "their fossils", their vestiges, among other things, and they want to reconstruct their "past existence." For me it's hilarious because three protagonists are dragons, and they come into contact with humans and humans ask them "are all of you still alive!?" and the dragons are like "actually I'm your neighbor but I used to go out in the sun every time you took a nap". The elves aren't sure if the dragons are still alive or not, they don't really care either.
-Dragons are shapeshifters, so there are dragon dragons, don't worry and they are also too different from their other companions, they take care of baby dragons communally, for example. They are children of the clan, not of their parents, even more: parents? what is that!
The clan is your family, but don't do anything romantic with each other either, you are fine without having that. And they are quite fine actually between them, although later there are problems, but it's more clan vs. clan, than something internally you know?
-Elves have a very marked hierarchy and are the ones who dress more pompous. There is something between renaissance- classics- courts- palaces- the porfiriato happening there but they are adorable with their super elaborate costumes.
-There is no school, there are unions for manual trades. So it's a privilege to know how to read and write, some of my characters are literate as adults or teenagers and others never learned but they're fine like that.
-EVERYONE VALUES LIFE ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE. Murdering people is like the worst, and totally unnecessary, just torture them or lock them up, dude /half joke
- We have the day of death, bc I need it.
-Primavera (Spring) humans accept gays and nb - trans people also a large percentage of them are vegan - vegetarian. Im not joking.
-Humans can have magic, if they have an elf or half-elf ancestor in their family. It is a recessive gene.
-Many couples, even heterosexuals, never get married. That is something more common for rich people or with position.
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