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[loominggaia]

darkwingphoenix Sorry, sorry: What I meant by the last one is this: How much damage can be cause by the average ogre/centaur/minotaur when they just go berserk and just start smashing everyone/thing within grabbing range, assuming a normal, say, Evangelite village plaza? Asking for a friend. Me. I'm the friend.

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I see! I think it depends heavily on the individual person and the area they're rampaging in.

A raging adult centaur in a small cafe? The whole interior is getting wrecked. Furniture smashed, windows and doors broken, people thrown, the works.

In the middle of a wide open street with no vehicles around? Some windows might get smashed, maybe a stop sign bent, but overall the infrastructure is going to be too tough for them to damage much. An ogre or minotaur might be able to head-bash some cracks in a cement wall.

Overall I'd say "Imagine a horse, bull, or silverback gorilla going nuts" and that's about the level of damage we're talking about.

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

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[loominggaia]

If Fey can't tell lies, can they become actors?

Yep! A fae's inability to lie is purely psychological. They can play a character in an act, so long as everyone involved is aware that it's an act. They cannot purposefully deceive others with untruths, their brains won't let them.

An act may require a fae to say things that aren't true, like "I was born in Duali". Maybe they weren't really born in Duali, but the character they're playing was, so in this case the fae is not telling a lie.

A fae can't just stroll into a random situation and pretend to be someone they're not, making false statements that only apply to their character and not them. They have to be aware that others are aware that they're pretending.

They may make a statement like, "I'm getting into character" before playing their part. But I think in the context of a film set or stage play, this goes without saying. Everyone knows that they're acting, so the fae is free to play their character without hassle.

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Questions/Comments?

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[loominggaia]

Out of all the inter species relationships between the peoples, which combination is the most common?

I don't know if I can give an exact answer because there are just too many of combinations to consider. But in general, I would say species that are most similar to eachother tend to hook up the most.

For example, this means a pairing like troll/ogre is more common than elf/ogre. Species size is one of the biggest obstacles couples must overcome, but there are other factors that can put strain on their relationship too.

Environment is a big one. Sirenes need to live in the water, while Terrian species must live on land. Dworfs are sensitive to light and heat, so they prefer to live in cold, cloudy regions. Gorgons are the opposite, they don't do well in the cold and prefer warm climates. Cecaelia are naturally nocturnal, but most other species are diurnal, so it would be hard for a cecaelia to adjust to their diurnal partner's schedule and vice versa.

Politics is another factor. Depending on what kingdom we're talking about, some interspecies relationships are uncommon simply because they're illegal. In Evangeline Kingdom, for instance, it's illegal for people to have sexual relations with different species of people.

So overall, I think the answer to this question varies greatly depending on a lot of different factors. Like human/roshava is very common in Matuzan territories, but basically nonexistent in Evangeline territories. It varies a lot by region.

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

[loominggaia]

what would the average cecaelia nursery look like? I think to stay there their whole life it should at least be big

It really depends on the culture. Some are contained in massive undersea cave systems. Others are inside globeholders. Some are constructed from stone or other materials, or even contained within old sunken ships.

Some are very large, like the size of towns, while others may be no bigger than an apartment building. Cecaelia don't generally suffer from claustrophobia like humans do though. Small, dark spaces are actually comforting to their species.

That said, scylla can't just be stuffed into crowded, poor living conditions because the stress will cause them to miss egg cycles, defeating the purpose of the nurseries entirely. So the nursery overseers are constantly expanding and making improvements to these conditions. It's a very high priority in all cecaelian cultures.

[loominggaia]

I really want to know how trans woman/men deal with the dangers of living in evangeline.

Good question! In Evangelite society, there is a lot of overlap between Miss Marys and transwomen, to the point that Evangelites don’t even have a word to distinguish the two. Transwomen are either called “Marys” or just “women”, depending on how well they pass. Your average Evangelite is ignorant to this stuff and can’t differentiate between a male dressing in drag and a transwoman dressing like herself, so they’re kind of just lumped into the same category as far as laymen are concerned.

However, there are differences between Mary culture and transwoman culture in this kingdom. Marys are putting on an act--transwomen are not. Marys use female pronouns outside the home, but don’t continue to do so among friends or people they trust. At the end of the day, the dresses and makeup comes off and the feminine behavior stops.

Meanwhile, Evangelite transwomen are not putting on a disguise or an act. They’re just being true to themselves, so they look and behave like Evangelite women 24/7, use female pronouns in earnest, and probably hang out with cis women who either don’t know or don’t care that they’re biologically male. In Evangelite culture, it’s extremely taboo for women to socialize with men outside their family. Most Marys don’t bother socializing with women because it feels awkward for them, but transwomen do.

Now, things are quite a bit different for lesbians and transmen in Evangeline Kingdom, since they have a much harder time passing as men to get around the law.

In the case of lesbians, they’re women and therefore very restricted by the culture around them. It’s very hard for a single women to get by in this kingdom, since it’s taboo for them to work normal jobs and most places won’t hire them. Women are expected to take care of the home/children while their husbands bring the income. So, a lot of lesbians rely on teamwork with gay men and vice versa. They’ll often marry a gay man and live with him, taking care of his home while he generates income, but also living with her real lover who she might tell people is her “sister” or “cousin” or “friend”. Meanwhile, the man’s lover probably also lives there as their “son” or “uncle” or “brother”, or live as a Mary and be their “other sister”.

Some lesbian Evangelites just go feral and live completely off the land, evading taxes and withdrawing from society. These women are called “forest witches”, as they usually live isolated, mysterious lives deep in the forest. People leave them alone for the most part, either because they’re afraid of being cursed or they don’t care. (The word “witch” is used to refer to lesbians in general in this kingdom, the way “merry/Mary” is used for gay men.)

As for transmen, I imagine they have it the roughest. Evangelite culture puts so much intense pressure on females and non-conforming men, and if these transmen don’t pass 100%, no one is going to treat them like men or even treat them respectfully. Women in this culture are pressured to defer and cow to men, but they don’t do so to other women. In fact, Evangelite women can be pretty brutal to eachother. They tend to cow to Marys and transwomen--who they ultimately see as men--but they won’t do the same for someone they see as female, no matter how that female presents themselves. Transmen are put into a position where men treat them like women and women treat them like garbage, so most of them opt to either settle down and live as a cis woman, or leave the kingdom altogether. Neither option is easy, but those that leave live much more fulfilling lives elsewhere.

This is why transmen don’t really have their own culture in this kingdom. They’re the ones who say “fuck this shit, I’m out” and take a hike to Matuzu Kingdom to the south, where they’re loved and celebrated for who they are.

[loominggaia]

Given how Roshava skin color is based on their gender, does this effect their trans or non-binary cultures in any way?

Great question, I didn’t even consider this! I imagine it might make passing as the opposite sex quite a bit more difficult, but then again, changing skin color can be a relatively inexpensive procedure in Matuzu Kingdom. It can be performed chemically or magically.

This is a bit of tangent but I’ll mention it anyway:

For example, Ivy used an illusion spell to permanently change Lilian’s hair color from white to black in “Ghoul Beneath the Guise”. Illusion spells are a lot easier to perform than transmutation spells, and since it is only an illusion, Lilian’s hair is not actually black. It only appears that way to the untrained eye. But if you were to look at her through a mirror, her reflection would show her true white hair color.

Changing one’s skin color using illusion magic is pretty inexpensive. But illusion specialists and transmutation specialists are nowhere near the same class as far as magical ability goes. Transmutation actually changes the physical properties of something, it doesn’t just cast a facade over it. It’s an extremely difficult and risky school of magic to master. Likewise, these mages charge a lot of money for their services.

So if you were a poor transgender roshava who wanted to pass better, you might save up for a chemical or illusion treatment for your skin. But if you have the money, you can just throw it at a transmutation procedure and change your whole body while you’re at it. That way a mirror couldn’t even reveal your “true” form, because what you have become IS now your true form. Hope that makes sense!

[loominggaia]

I don't remember if you've talked about trans people in Mituzu kingdom before but you're comment about them being celebrated for who they are there has me intrigued. Are they literally celebrated there? What's life like for them?

I think it was in “Evangelites Skip, Matuzans Sway” where Jelani mentions that they’re “all a bit merry” in Matuzu Kingdom. Also in one of the extra short stories, Lukas says his peers would actually make fun of him if they knew he’d never messed around with another dude. So in Matuzan culture, bisexuality/pansexuality is considered the default, and in fact if you claim to be 100% straight, then you’re kind of a weirdo there.

I think the majority of Matuzans do eventually settle into opposite-sex marriages, but their culture is so open to the idea of same-sex relations that nobody is afraid to experiment. Matuzan culture is very liberal and sex-positive in general. This is the kingdom known for its reverence of creativity, beauty, and romance, after all. There’s actually a stereotype that all Matuzans are just horny hedonists who will fuck anything that moves, which obviously isn’t the case, but that stereotype does come from somewhere. This stereotype was mentioned in a few stories, like there was one where a Folkvaran guy said something like “I’m not into that kinky Matuzan stuff” when he was solicited by a prostitute who wasn’t even Matuzan.

That said, this open attitude towards sexuality extends to gender expression as well. By comparison, Evangelites are extremely rigid in how they’re expected to express their gender. In their society, there is only man or woman, and you must behave according to society’s expectations for either, otherwise you’re ostracized or even arrested.

Matuzans, on the other hand, actively encourage people to deviate from the norm and express themselves any way they wish. They appreciate creativity and self-expression probably more than anyone, since creativity is the backbone of their art and music-centered culture. Transgender folks are not only accepted, but celebrated here for expressing themselves. This kingdom is well-equipped to handle gender dysphoria using both technology and magic. Being trans isn’t seen as a “problem” in this kingdom the way it is in, say, Evangeline Kingdom. Gender dysphoria is something that’s casually talked about in public and dealt with like getting a tooth pulled or an eye exam. It’s just not a big deal because Matuzan society doesn’t make it a big deal.

Predictably, there are a lot of “gender refugees” who flee to Matuzu Kingdom from Evangeline. Matuzans love to welcome these people with open arms because it’s their chance to show off how great their culture is in this respect. If you’re a transman from Evangeline Kingdom, and you just stepped off the train somewhere in Matuzu territory, all you have to do is tell any random person “hey I just escaped Evangeline oppression, can you tell me where I can trans my gender?” and chances are, you’ll get a crowd of enthusiastic people willing to help you out. Nothing offends Matuzans more than someone’s self-expression being stifled. This is why they have such a sour view of Evangelites in general, they just can’t stand that puritanical, black-and-white shit.

Matuzan culture has a lot of flaws, but this isn’t one of them. It’s pretty damn cool in this respect.

[loominggaia]

honestly so far the unseelie court sounds like an absolutely baller place to live (barred that you arent a kobold). what are some NEGATIVES about living in the unseelie court? do they have the same thing where only fae are allowed, or nah?

Kobolds aren’t really treated nicely anywhere, but I’d say they have the most rights in the Unseelie Court by far. I mean, they have legal rights, but people still kind of treat them like shit, so...

Technically commoners and gaians are allowed in Seelie territory, they just don’t have any legal rights. So they can’t own property or get married, and there are no laws protecting them from crime and slavery. Once they arrive here, they’re on their own. The court regards them the same way they regard wild animals. They can never become citizens.

The Unseelie Court, however, accommodates these classes a little more openly. They can become Unseelie citizens with full rights IF they’re married to an Unseelie fae. If they get divorced or widowed, they lose those rights again. As much as the Unseelie love the idea of personal freedom, both courts are very suspicious of foreigners, especially commoners and gaians, considering what’s going on in the world around them. They saw what happened to the red elves and they were like “nah fam we good”. They’ve been paranoid ever since.

The Unseelie Court sounds great on paper, but I imagine that in reality, it’s a very chaotic place to live. If chaos is your thing, you’ll like there. But here’s some things you’ll have to deal with on the reg:

-Your neighbors might be pixies or kobolds, who have naturally low IQs and are loud, rowdy, unemployed, and unhygienic because of it. The Seelie Court deals with this by restricting these monsters to their own slums, but the Unseelie Court allows them to live wherever they want. You can’t sleep because they’re shouting and partying at 3am, and when you go out to get your newspaper you step in a pile of kobold shit left on your doorstep. A pixie has also stolen your mail. The law can’t really do anything because Unseelie hates the idea of police, there’s too little police and too many criminals, and the Unseelie Guard has bigger problems to deal with. If you’re the victim of a crime, you’re pretty much on your own.

+That said, if you commit a crime, you can most likely get away with it. There’s a plus...I guess.

-The reverence of necromancy. I hope dead bodies don’t gross you out, because they’re everywhere. You sit down at your favorite cafe. Elf bones and shrunken heads decorate the walls. The barista is a bonewalker. Yes, an animated skeleton, touching your food and handling your money. You go to the park afterwards and see some teenagers dragging the corpse of a homeless guy around, practicing spells on it. No one bats an eye at this.

-The Unseelie hate the idea of rules and regulations. Thus, there is little consistency when it comes to things like building inspections, food safety, etc. You’re at the mercy of other peoples’ competence and hand-washing habits at all times.

-There is also very little regulation when it comes to magic use. Most Great Kingdoms restrict what spells you’re allowed to use and where. Casting a hazard spell is treated like firing a gun in those places. Not in the Unseelie Court. If someone pickpockets you, it’s within your right to turn around and cast a lightning spell at them, killing them instantly. Will you be taken to trial? Not if you get out of there fast enough. Like I said, there aren’t many police and they’re mostly tied up helping rich people. (Don’t worry about the pickpocketer’s corpse, some teenagers will drag it away soon to practice their necromancy final.)

I could go on, but i think you get the idea. It’s like the Wild West out there. Do whatever you want, but don’t be shocked when other folks do whatever they want to you. This kingdom isn’t for the weak and faint of heart. If you’re strong and/or clever enough to survive here, I imagine it’s a pretty freeing experience.

That said, most Unseelie citizens are decent people who do want some semblance of order in their lives. People behave, for the most part. But those groups that don’t still need to be dealt with daily, so watch out.