#bcc worldbuilding

[karkkidoeswriting]

BEAR CASTLE CYCLE WORLDBUILDING

Íochiars and Cabalusian uniforms

Here's some worldbuilding regarding military and uniforms I've been thinking about lately. I'll present that through story relevant case studies - Marcus before the Civil War (first image) and Valeri (second image). Marcus was the general of the Cabalusian Guard, a personal army of the Mantgamia clan, which was under direct command of the Mantgamia clan and separate from the Imperial Army. And Valeri is in the Virénian army, which is part of the Imperial Army.

The Imperial Army

A little background is needed. The Imperial Army is raised from each province and therefore consists basically of four independent armies. The emperor is the supreme commander. Each province is allowed to keep an elite force under the command of the duke, since they tend to be too loyal to their local rulers and historically assimilating them to the Imperial Army has been met with heavy resistance. Imperial rulers who have attempted to do that have at worst almost caused civil wars, and at best lost battles to mutiny. So instead heavy restrictions is placed on the size and resources of these personal armies to ensure they can never be a threat to the imperial forces. Disbanding them entirely is for sure an option (and has been done sometimes as we'll get to), but keeping them around is beneficial to the empire since these personal armies consist of very skilled forces. The Imperial House also has it's own personal elite force, the Imperial Legion, or just the Legion more familiarly. There's no restriction for it, and it's kept always in higher numbers than the Provincial Guards.

Cabalusian Guard was of course fighting on the Mantgamian side of the civil war and fully disbanded after it. Prince Lucretius, uncle to the young emperor, became the Duke of Cabalusia and uses part of the Legion as his personal army.

Íochiars

Almost half of Cabalusia is steppe, therefore it has a strong horse culture and renowned cavalry. Íochiar cavalry class originates from there. It's a medium (or light) cavalry class and generally very flexible and can be used for a lot of purposes of both heavy and light cavalry, though usually it's more suited for light cavalry purposes. Cerfi (the majority cultural/ethnic group of Cabalusia) are on average pretty tall people, so even their light cavalry tends to have taller cavalrymen. For that reason the local Cabalusian horse is a bit bigger than the typical pretty small light cavalry horse. They don't use sabers, like most light cavalry, but instead carry Cabalusian style broadswords, which can be used fairly flexibly just as íochiars themselves. Their units also employ Cabalusian Bear Dogs, which are bred for hunting big game, like bears, but has historically been used for war too. They are primarily employed for skirmishing, scouting and pursuit.

Íochiars have a strong internal culture with long historical roots, which helps their units in operating effectively, even though they lack the discipline many other cavalry classes, especially heavy cavalry classes possess. That culture is heavily rooted in the Cabalusian Cerfi culture. Even though all of the provincial armies have íochiar regiments, most íochiars are still Cerfi. After the Civil War a lot of the officers of imperial íochiars were purged or demoted, since many of them were Mantgamia sympathizers or outright joined their ranks in the civil war, so more of the officers are now not Cerfi, while still majority of the troops are Cerfi. The Cabalusian army also has light íochiars, whose riders and horses are smaller and who carry sabers, but otherwise are the same. This version is not used outside Cabalusia, since scimitars, a class which originates from Merus, is the primary lightest cavalry used in the Imperial Army.

Uniforms

Finally we arrive at the uniforms. The standard imperial uniform has breeches, doublet and a tailed jerkin, but íochiar uniform as well as a lot of Cabalusian Guard uniforms has a short fur lined pelisse instead of jerkin. Pelisse is what Marcus is wearing on his shoulder and Valeri under his cloak. There's a bit of shift in men's fashion between the roughly 20 years that are between these outfits. The tops have become shorter and the breeches more high-waisted and the collars slightly taller.

Pelisse originates from traditional Cabalusian fashion, which is very wool based (the steppe economy in Cabalusia has long been relying on sheep a lot). The two traditional ways to pattern fabrics were felting and sewing metal decorations into it. Scale armor was developed by the Cerfi early on and was made similarly as the decorative method. They sewed small metallic scales overlapping to clothing, creating full body armor like that too. The result was fairly light and a pretty effective armor, which still had good movement and flexibility. Felted clothing with fur lining as the base for the scale armor provided padding and extra protection. Metal working has been integral part of Cerfi culture since ancient times, and before their conversion to Arkhonity, it was also part of their magic rituals. Gold magic was practiced by the Cerfi and golden pearls, amulets and lamellae were sewn into clothing to imbue them with magical properties. The scales for the armor (especially for a very fine armor) could be coated with gold to imbue them too with magic. While the gold magic is now considered heresy and it's practice has died out, gold still has a lot of cultural significance and it's thought of as a lucky and protective metal. That's why uniforms still heavily use patterns made with sewn in gold pieces.

Medium weight íochiars use pelisse, which has scaling on the front panels. It gives them a bit of armor for the torso, but is still much lighter than the plate armor the heavy cavalry uses. See Valeri's pelisse. Marcus however, being Merusian and quite short, was originally a scimitar, but after he joined the Cabalusian Guard, he became light íochiar. His pelisse on the illustration is a high ranking officer's pelisse with gold decorations though, since uniforms of the Cabalusian Guard are also were more influenced by Cerfi dress than imperial uniforms. Light íochiars also use pelisse without scale armor, though much less decorated. Valeri is wearing not a helmet exactly, but something between a felt hat and a helmet. The base is felt and like the clothes, it has sewn in lamellae and other metallic parts, in this case visor and other protective gear for the head. It's another compromise between light weight and protection, using metal only for the strategic spots while lighting it with felt, which also gives padding under the metal.

Cabalusian colours come from the Mantgamia clan, which has long been the ruling clan of Cabalusia, long before it was conquered by the empire. They are green and black, and gold for the broader cultural significance is of course also heavily used in Cabalusian armors. Horse is naturally a significant animal to Cabalusia and is in their coat of arms, but the Mantgamian coat of arms has a bear, and as the Cabalusian Guard was originally specifically Matgamian army, it's also in their coat of arms and heavily included in all it's symbolism. For example the pelisse of the general is lined with bear fur. Bear fur is only used by very high ranking officers though. Even though bear worship (which the Mangamias practiced before Arkhonity) is infidel, the superstitions around bears are still widely believed. Bear fur is treated with utmost respect and needs to be earned, otherwise there will be bad luck.

Valeri, being íochiar in the imperial army, is wearing the imperial red and gold. Due to their association with Mantgamia colours, black is also used in many íochiar regiment uniforms. Typically the pelisse at least is black.

Tag list under the cut! Let me know if you want to be added/removed!

BCC tag list: @siarven @worldbuildng @emilyoracle @frvnwrites @kainablue

@writingrosesonneptune @contes-de-rheio @faelanvance @outpost51 @dotr-rose-love

[karkkidoeswriting]

Happy STS! I hope you’ve had a good week :) What is something about your WIP that’s either on your mind lately or that you wish more people would ask you about?

Hi! Happy STS!

I haven't been writing in several months (I've needed to focus on uni), so I have been mainly thinking about worldbuilding. For a while now I've been quite obsessed with figuring out the fashion in far too much detail. It's honestly not that important for the story, but I love dress history so it's just extremely fun for me to come up with a hundreds if not thousands of year of fashion evolution for almost a whole continent. Figuring out Ahinian fashion has been most interesting and hardest part too, because I'm trying to base it less on anything historical and more trying to come up with something different.

I can best figure visual things like fashion out by drawing it, so I started with the royal siblings, Agrippa and Manoheahpi. Here they are showing of court fashions. Black, dark blue, white and yellow are colors of the moon cult and their clan, which is the head of the moon cult. Agrippa is wearing a formal gown and a headdress of the heiress. The extreme sleeves and the ribbon skirt are part of the formal court dress. Manoheahpi is dressed in a casual outdoorsy aristocratic men's dress. He is a sage, hence the tattoos.

I think it's very interesting to figure out gendered clothing because it reveals so much about the gender construction and gender roles of a society. Ahinians have technically five genders, voasin - a woman, deavin - a man, vašáin - a third and separate gender category, voasdár - afab or intersex person, who lives as a man (-dár is masculine suffix), and deavnei - amab or intersex person, who lives as a woman (-nei is correspondingly a feminine suffix). In their culture gender is less defined by the body and more defined by the spirit. Their society is not entirely egalitarian though (even if more egalitarian than your typical patriarchal binary society), since their society is theocratic and gender essentialist, not in biological way but spiritual way. Therefore magic is very gendered. They are matriarchal so women hold most of the political power. This is reflected in dress - upper class fashions are more feminine coded, lower class fashions more masculine coded, and religious attires are vašáin coded because they are traditionally sages. In more formal setting aristocratic men too wear long gowns, and lower class women also wear shorter gowns.

I'm still figuring out the details of vašáin dress, clothing of lower classes and ceremonial dress. But I do know that very warm layered clothing is considered finer and more upper class, since the climate is very cold and the upper classes live in large castles, which can't be warmed to very comfortable temperatures. On the other hand lower classes live in small log cottages that are filled with hot smoke that even in very low temperatures keep the cottages in near 30C temperatures, so their indoors clothing are basically one layer, which they see as underwear. So even in hot summer upper classes dress in a lot of layers for formal occasions, the layers are then just thin and made of silk, linen and/or nettle. They don't wear crowns, but they wear elaborate hair jewelry indoors (with caps when it's cold indoors too) and elaborate hats outdoors. Lower classes also wear more toned down and more practical hair jewelry, but mostly caps and hats.

Also this all applies only in the agricultural area, which is along the Vuolhú river (the area marked in the map). The societal structures are very different outside it (so most of the country) where agriculture is not possible and people are herders and hunter-gatherers and quite nomadic. Population density is quite expectedly much higher in the agricultural area, so people wise, it's most of the country.

[karkkidoeswriting]

Happy STS! Does your world have ghosts? What can people do to summon ghosts, or more likely, soothe them?

Happy STS very very late! Thank you for the question!

The world of BCC does indeed have ghosts! Ghosts are spirits who don't have material body and therefore are not tied to anything physical. They do tend to try to attach themselves to physical things as that's natural to spirits. Ghosts can also morph together especially if they are attaching themselves to the same thing and are similar in nature, then they can become sort of guardian spirits of the thing they are attaching themselves to. Guardian spirits can be malevolent or benevolent and especially of malevolent they are often called demons.

Ghosts or guardian spirits can't be summoned exactly, but like other spirits they can be channeled, though because they are not magically bound to anything physical, that makes them much more unpredictable and dangerous, so that's not usually recommended. Usually it ends up in getting possessed.

Ghosts and guardian spirits can be reasoned and negotiated with in theory like other spirits, though they are often not very reasonable. Same principles of trade and sacrifice applies to them as to other spirits, though their goal is often more specific, some sort of revenge usually. With ghosts it can be very specific and personal, but with guardian spirits it's usually more unfocused, since they have lost their individual identities. Because of that they are much harder to satisfy, as there's usually no determinate end to their goal. Since ghosts are not tied to physical things, they can decide to "move on", which basically means to be recycled by the spirit ecosystem. With guardian spirits it's not that simple, since their attachment is usually quite strong.

[karkkidoeswriting]

pie 🥧 for the october-themed writing asks?

Apologies if you’ve already got that one!

Thank you for the question! I haven't gotten this question yet! :)

🥧 pie: let’s talk about food in your wip. are there any special recipes or traditional meals? do any of your OCs cook or bake?

None of the main characters cook nor bake, only Valeri and Cassia can even do either, even though neither is good at it. Elpis though is a priestess, so she does cook and bake. One of her duties is to bake darkaos, a flat syrup almond cake, somewhat similar basbousa or ravani, which are bought by preyers and given to Skadi as a sacrifice. They are actually eaten still with afternoon coffee served by the temple to anyone, but mostly the point is to serve those who wouldn't have money for that.

Because the world is pretty huge and there's a lot of traditional local foods, I'll add maps here before going into them.

In Horegtos desert there's these massive water magic lizards, which are mostly bred for desert travel, but in some parts there's a traditional meal for big celebrations where they stuff the lizard with spices, vegetables and fruits and roast it. The roasted carcass is then placed at the center of the celebration and slices of it are cut as people eat it.

In Virén their traditional sauces are made from wine, broth, syrup and strong spices. There's various versions which range from sweet and mild to very strong and spicy. It can be a basis for a stew, soup or just used to coat the food. They also use a lot of goat milk to make cheese and yogurt and various foods and sauces from them.

In Cabalusia bear is very traditional food for special occasions. Overcooked bear, bear sausages and bear stomach stew are considered to be great delicacies.

In Dir'ahin raw fish cured with salt is traditional delicacy. They also have a lot of sour milk foods all over the spectrum from very drinkable liquid to cheese. Reindeer milk is very common in northern and eastern parts but a delicacy everywhere. Lamb, cow and deer milk are also commonly used in southern and western parts.

[karkkidoeswriting]

Bear Castle Cycle Maps

MASTERPOST

It seems fitting to post the first worldbuilding post after getting back to Bear Castle Cycle in Worldbuilding Wednesday!

So I have a thing for maps and years ago I made a lot of maps for this world, but since my break from BCC I've made some changes to the world and so I needed to do new updated maps. Previously they were not pretty, just functional tools of worldbuilding, but this time I went a little harder. It was so much fun. I used 18th and 19th century maps for inspiration for the color schemes and styles. The downside is that it took me a lot of time, so I don't have all the useful maps yet. I will be making zoomed in and more detailed maps for Dir'ahin, Víren, Horegtos and Civitas at least. I might do maps for cities like Amari, Abhlean and Sun and Moon City and may be separate for City of Civitas, depending on how detailed the Civitas area map would end up being.

Map of Mesia

Mesia is the continent the story takes place in. There's other continents mentioned, but never delved majorly into. The whole story takes place in Angusian Empire (were most of the story is spent) and Dir'ahin, but Manoa and Varosia are talked about a lot.

Map of Angusian Empire

Here's biome and place name maps of Angusian empire. The place name map also depicts the railroad and the provinces of Angusian Empire (plus Civitas area, which is the administrative center and not a province, as well as the Autonomous Area of South-Dirahin aka occupied area).

This map depicts the ethnicities of Angusian Empire. To be clear, no area in the whole empire is homogeneous, especially cities and the more populous areas are very diverse. The colors then should be taken more as where given ethnicities mostly live. Also these are mostly umbrella groups of ethnicities, comparable to like "Germanic peoples" and they have more or less distinct groups inside them.

Map of Cabalusia

Cabalusia is where the story begins, though we don't spend that much time there in the first book. For context Cabalusia is roughly 450 km2 big, so a little smaller than Spain.

Tag list under the cut. Let me know if you want to be added or removed!

@siarven @worldbuildng @emilyoracle @frvnwrites @kainablue @writingrosesonneptune @contes-de-rheio @faelanvance @outpost51 @dotr-rose-love

[karkkidoeswriting]

Trick or treat!

Have yourself a treat! Here's a bit of worldbuilding factoid to choose from.

In Mesia, the continent BCC takes place in, there's many different types of mounts used.

Horses originate from Merusian planes in northeastern Horegtos, but have also been used for thousands of years in Manoa, and all mid and northern parts of Angusian Empire

Deer were in Cabalusia traditionally mounts of kings, queens and generals, but now are mostly used for pulling carriages along horses, usually by peasants, most commonly in northern parts in the wetland area. They are also a common mount in southwestern parts of Dir'ahin

Great ibex is an ibex bred in the Dragon's Back Mountains to be a mount. It's commonly used all over the mountain range.

Sahavras, giant desert lizards from Horegtosi desert, look similar to komodo dragons, but bigger, and are able to use water magic to stay alive in the desert. They are domesticated and used as mounts in Horegtos.

Reindeer are used by Ahinians and Fatuirs (live in the tundra areas of Mesia) in most Dir'ahin and northern Manoa.

One Ahinian clan has half-domesticated jualiváldi, the giant very northern wolves, and they use them as mounts as well as for other dog purposes (hunting and guarding mostly)

[karkkidoeswriting]

The Mantgamia Siblings

Faerathos, Cassia, Valeri and Fiolev, in order from oldest to youngest, who are the main characters in Bear Castle Chronicles.

Some worldbuilding notes about their outfits:

Faerathos is wearing ultramarine blue cloak of academia. It's worn by all academics, always draped and shouldn't be used with any pins to hold it. It can be used in any setting, where using a draped unpinned cloak is possible (for example not when riding or something) and is approproate for indoors use.

He is also wearing golden oak leaf corolla, which is granted to those with commendable academic achievements (basically doctorate). It's only used in formal settings (which does not fit the rest of his outfit but I wanted to draw it too see how it looks).

Sandals are the standard inside/evening shoes, but also worn outside during summer, which is what Faerathos is doing. Evening sandals would usually be fancier than basic leather sandals, and his clothes are day wear. (Which is why he shouldn't be using a corolla.)

He's not wearing his cravat properly though. Firstly he doesn't bother. Secondly he doesn't like the feeling of a cloth around his neck.

Cassia is wearing men's day wear for sapphic reasons and having her hair open, which is inappropriate with long hair regardless of gender (currently short hair is very fashionable for men and there's a short hair trend for women too), but she is inappropriate (she's a courtesan and opera performer) so it's fine. She does wear women's clothing too, when she wants.

She's wearing a black cloak as a nod to the Matgamia house guards, who wore black cloaks. But also because of the aesthetics.

Valeri is wearing a red cloak of the imperial army, which is worn outside and with the uniform.

He and Fiolew are both wearing standard middle class day wear. Though Valeri is wearing boots, usually used for traveling and riding, because he's a cavalry man and therefore rides often.

Dangly earrings are fashionable for everyone, but expensive, so often used only by upper classes. Cassia is definitely not upper class but sex work makes good money so she has nice earrings.

Diadems/headbands are also fashionable for everyone. Lower classes often wear diadems made from cloth, upper classes ones made from precious metals and gemstones. Upper classes might also wear diadems of cloth, for example in a sports context.

Tag list under the cut. Let me know if you want to be added/removed!

BCC tag list:

@siarven @worldbuildng @emilyoracle @frvnwrites @kainablue @writingrosesonneptune @contes-de-rheio @faelanvance @outpost51

[karkkidoeswriting]

Happy WBW! What is the culture around friendships? Are there any traditions / special things for friends?

Happy WBW! Thank you for your question!

There's couple of traditions around friendship in the world of BCC, but I'll talk about a militaristic tradition, because I think it's fun (and it's quite relevant in the story). Angusian Empire in is very militaristic and it's imperial army has a large warrior cult with long traditions. There is a tradition of volucinaro, which is could be translated to a brother in arms, but it describes a much deeper relationship and a partner, but specifically in fighter context, is more descriptive. Volucinaro is a very close friend you have fought with, and who you share a deep connection with. Usually it is platonic, but the Imperial Army being very male dominated, you can imagine that sometimes it's very much gay, or at least homoerotic/homoromantic. Even the archetypal platonic volucinaro relationship does have a bit of homoromantic vibes to it. Physical affection is considered normal and accepted in volucinaro relationships. While there's no stigma in having multiple volucinaros, it's also thought of as understandable, if someone get jealous for their volucinaro having another volucinaro.

Imperial Army has also a large culture around traditional warrior tattoos. They are tattoos which are dark red and include much animal symbolism depicting every military achievement. If you know the symbolism, you can read their whole military history from their body. There's even official tattooers in the imperial army. One of the traditional tattoos is volucinaro tattoo, which both of the volucinaros take. It has two animals, which symbolize both of them (usually related to their names or if they have nickname or something else associating them with an animal, it can be for example a pun from their name). When the other dies, the surviving one takes additional tattoo, that frames the head of the animal that symbolizes their friend as a form of mourning. Flames, because in their religion flames are purifying and people are cremated so their soul can be purified and reborn anew.