#ehlverse lore

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happy wbw (or thursday or whenever i suppose)!!! i'd love to hear about rillian warrior traditions :D what do they look like and when/how often are they performed?? are any considered lucky? or are any to avoid bad luck?? how does religion affect these traditions?? and if there are variations to how they're carried out, what are they??? hope your day is splendid~

hi, rose!!! happy super-belated wbw to you, too!!!

I got another ask about the warrior traditions this week, so the basics of them are here, if you’re curious about those! I’ll dive more into these specifics here, though :D

SO I’ll start with the religion aspect of your ask, since it plays heavily into all of this!

We’ve got six Goddesses overseeing the Ehlverse, which I’m in the slow process of introducing! Among these Goddesses, Luma, also known as The Daughter, holds domain over Battle, Siblinghood, and Entertainment, and she’s basically been the patron Goddess of Sieril since the Rillian Decay. I could get more into that, in how all of the others contributed to the decay that was supposed to wipe all Ehlves and Sharali of Sieril out, and thus have been either shunned or desperately worshipped ever since, but that’s a post for another day,,

So, Luma! Protector of Sieril! She’s got a lot of warriors devoted to her over there, especially considering the whole “a family always needs 1 warrior and 2 mothers (gender of both irrelevant)” expectation. Traditions most people follow are related to proving their ability or winning favor from their leader or Goddess, but the official Warriors of Luma and their highest subsect, the Whiptail Knights, have their own good luck traditions!!

The Warriors of Luma are mostly a religious thing, and a solid two thirds of all Priestesses you meet in Sieril are going to be among them! (Again, Priestess here is used as a gender neutral term; there are men and nonbinary people among the Warriors) One of the most important traditions to them is the one that represents Siblinghood: you must learn the names of each and every WoL you fight alongside, and you must share a meal with each one at least once a year, and you must choose a special few to let into your soul. This generally means that every Warrior knows their closest Siblings like they know themselves, every gritty and unpleasant detail included. It’s an exercise in trust; you are not allowed to spill the secrets of your Siblings, no matter how damning, just like you are not to spill their blood unless asked.

Generally, though, that tradition is done only once; you still have to remember names and eat with people often, but once you let your soul into another’s hands, those chosen few don’t often multiply.

Now! On to the Whiptail Knights and their more situational traditions!

First off, to become a Whiptail Knight, you have to tame a Rillian Whiptail. Not an easy thing to do, really helps to pare down the applicants, whether by them refusing to do it, or by them getting killed in their attempts.This is done once, when you enter, and hopefully never again. If your steed dies, you need to get a new one the same way you did the first. Many older Knights just choose to retire or die alongside their dragon. Many fallen Knights are sent off with their dragon in a canoe, to feed the cycle of life and return to Erra and please Lib.

Then, good luck traditions: the Knights have a battle cry that they use to both find each other, and to seek a blessing from Luma. It’s used during their routine scouting into the bayou, and also in the direst situations of battle. It’s essentially a rhythmic screech that’s weird enough to sound like an animal to the unknowing, and distinct enough from any creatures to be recognized by the Knights themselves. They do a few rounds of it before heading out, usually.

There’s also this idea that getting blood in your hair is an omen of Lib, and can mean a couple of different things. Whiptail Knights tend to believe it’s one of Death; whether it’s their own, or a loved one’s, or an enemy’s. Washing it out quickly is seen as a fight back against the inevitable, and can help give yourself or the other person more time. Most people would use the same water they would drink; Whiptail Knights are gone from civilization often enough that they just use the bayou water immediately after battle.

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Thank you again for the ask!!! This was super fun to delve into, and it’s something that’s quickly gaining relevance in Firebreathers, as they move on from Aree in the draft :D

I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to drop my worldbuilding taglist on here!!

Ehlverse Worldbuilding Taglist (ask to be +/-):

@charles-joseph-writes ; @violetcancerian ; @phiwrites ; @rhikasa ; @writeblrfantasy ; @talesfromaurea

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Happy wbw!! Tell us about the plants and animals and other life forms in the ehlverse. Do they resemble ours at all? What fantastic worldbuilding and backstory have you come up with for them? Also, I've been meaning to ask, are there any humans in the ehlverse at all?

:D happy wbw!! thank you for the ask <3<3

I’ll answer these a little out of order, so first up: are there humans in the Ehlverse?

Yes!! Most, if not all, of them are confined to the Maelands, right now, but there used to be an entire continent full of them! If I remember right (because i need to write things down more often a;lsdf) it was called Eqia, before it fell to a Decay, though that was so long ago that there are next to no surviving records of life over there. (I talked more about that in this ask from a few weeks ago!!)

Oh, and Arthur is the Human Eternal! Though, he would argue that some of the side effects of the immortalization have rendered him a bit... different than other humans. He’d argue he’s effectively an Ehlf, now, despite appearances.

Now, on to the plants and animals :D

A lot of the animals of the Ehlverse resemble things from our world, but only parts at a time, if that makes sense? You’ve seen my sketch pages recently, (the only one up is the Rillian Whiptail, though there are more to come) and what I’ve been doing is taking aspects of different real-world animals, and combining them to make the animals of the Ehlverse! Right now, I’m working on designing Dreamdancers, which are a nocturnal deer-equivalent that looks more like a funky unicorn than a deer. The current real-world inspiration for those includes Marsh Deer, Bronze Parotia, and Gyr cattle!

I also have plans for livestock animals made of a combination of Bears, Addaxes, and Cashmere sheep, but we’ll see how long those take to design ;alskjdf

I think the things that most resemble real-world life tend to be plants, because I have a much more difficult time coming up with plants than animals! The most weird plants so far in the Ehlverse are all trees, because I like trees the most ;LSKJD

This includes Rillian Cypress (which I still need to name something cooler), which is the tree shown on the Whiptail design! It’s essentially a normal cypress tree, but with the bark-shedding of rainbow eucalyptus, and veins of blue through the dark wood. It has some special properties in the magical healing rituals of the area - it’s very good at dispelling cancers and tumors early on in their development - but otherwise, there’s not much to it other than looking cool :)

And, of course, the Godtrees! If you’ve ever looked at pictures of Angel Oak trees, they’re kind of like that, but the size of mountains. Their wood is resistant to fire, and it tends to grow back where you mine it out, so it’s a renewable resource despite there never being any new Godtrees, or dead ones, or seeds.

Well, no dead ones except for the one at the ruins of Fahrial. But that’s the only one. They’re kind of a universal constant, assumed to be created at the same time as Ehl itself, and it’s a common idea that if they ever die off, the world is already beyond hope.

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Thank you for the ask!!! I’m just gonna drop the worldbuilding taglist here, since I keep forgetting it exists, and this is some fun stuff :D

Ehlverse Worldbuilding Taglist (ask to be +/-):

@charles-joseph-writes ; @violetcancerian ; @phiwrites ; @rhikasa ; @writeblrfantasy ; @talesfromaurea

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Ahhh, I forgot it was WBW again. Happy Wednesday! What is time even... Anywayyy, in the post you posted today you mentioned the priestesses of nimia and since I don't know too much about the great picture, I'd love to hear some more abou them since they sound very very interesting :o

;l;aslkdfj valid!! Happy WBW!!!!

SO the Priestesses of Nimia! AKA:

- the people who “Chose” Tieling Evergreen a thousand years ago - the people who research the Echoes of Prophecy and use those to predict future events - like the Great Decay - the ones who are all given the title of Priestess, disregarding gender and piety and also they have to give up their names while there - the ones who mainly use the pain of childbirth to induce Flexing and thus Prophecy, so they have sex literally all the time - also included: the highest religious leaders of Mayhism, including the High Priestesses of Delta, Venn, Lib, and Vii; super-high political influence bc Evergreen is a Child of Nimia; approximately 600 children being raised in the monastery at any given point

Historically, the Priestesses of Nimia have been actual religious leaders and holy women, but in the last few centuries, they’ve opened up their monastery to general study of Prophecy and magic. They still keep traditions like not using names, the title of Priestess, etc., but even if you’re an atheistic dude, you’re welcome to come study :)

Due to the nature of Prophecy only coming out in cases of extreme Flexing (u know adrenaline rushes irl? like how they can let someone pick up a car in dire circumstances? ya like that but with magic), there are a lot of uh. Ways to Kill People there, and lots of priestesses die each year - though those are the ones who have been doing it for long enough to either be careless, or actually ok with dying for it.

The safest thing to induce Flexing is usually childbirth - though there does have to be an actual fear of death, or else you won’t reach far enough with the Flex to tap into Prophecy. Thus, there are lots of kids running around, learning the ways of Prophecy and Mayhism!

Tieling Evergreen was one of those kids, once. It didn’t work out great for him; turns out being the Chosen one at, like, 13 really fucks you up. Especially when your mom Chooses you, then immediately sends you on a journey around the world to prepare to meet the Goddesses (aka die) without so much as a hug goodbye. no wonder he’s a bit of a villain now

Thank you for the question!! I know this is a bit all over the place, but hopefully it’s still understandable!! There’s a lot of things going on up in the monastery in Nimia, so i figured i’d give a bit of a brief overview :D

[magic-is-something-we-create]

happy wbw!! seeing you do this again put a smile on my face, not gonna lie :) history in fantasy novels and worlds is always on my mind, so what are some of the well known historical events of the firebreathers world? (besides the eternal three effing everything up 1000 years prior to fb) how much of the history/culture of the other species is touched on in the book?

:D!! happy WBW to you too, Lila!!! im glad to be doing it again <3<3<3

also this got super long so i’m putting a read more in the middle :D

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Other than the Fall of Fahrial, there are a few historical references in Firebreathers, yes!

The most prominent ones outside of that tend to be in about other past Decays or Growths! If I remember correctly, the first mentioned is probably the Vocal Growth - which is the basis for their current calendar, fun fact! - which is what brought about a magical Common form of all languages, as well as introducing other linguistic magics (i.e. Calling) to the world. This was almost two full Cycles before Firebreathers (the year is ~3994 at the start), and was kind of known for being the first real opportunity for everyone everywhere to connect with people outside of their locality easily.

Another Growth that’s mentioned a lot was the Bloody Growth, which,,, is a bit of a scary name, fitting for the pretty scary magic brought with it. This was when humans were given Runic magic, and was the Growth before the Eternal Three!

Decays also have a lot of influence on the world and history, and as such, they tend to take a much bigger focus when the characters are in the areas that were affected. So, in Sieril, there’s a lot of reference to the Rillian Decay, which hit in the year 1000, and effectively reshaped Sieril from a prosperous, populated land, into one swarming with dangerous creatures and ruins of civilization. Even now, nearly 3000 years later, the Sharali are affected by the diseases introduced, and Sieril only has a few livable cities overall. (Veratrum has spearheaded aid efforts to help the Sharali during her reign, but due to the magical nature of a lot of the diseases, they’ve hardly made progress overall.)

Another Decay that’s brought up quite a bit is the one that happened before year 0 - I haven’t come up with a great name for it yet, but for now, I call it the Eqian Decay, after the continent it affected.

It’s a good idea here to note that there is no Eqia on the Ehlverse maps.

Now, between the eastern Maelands and Sieril, there’s a massive ocean that’s probably around the size of the Pacific, and Eqia used to be in that area, not terribly far from the Maelands, and ran from up near the southern reaches of Emarye, down beyond the far southern reaches of Deltierin.

[here’s the current map for reference]

[it would kind of look like a big gash across the upper right corner, and it would end down in the bottom left, and beyond the current map scale]

Eqia is where humans in the Ehlverse actually came from, though a few had made their way to the closest areas of the Maelands by the time the Decay struck. Which is good, because otherwise, there would be no more humans.

But it’s been so long since the Decay that there are very, very few surviving records of what Eqia was like. All we know is that thousands and thousands of years of human history is gone, as well as anything else that existed on the continent. Which, according to some of the scattered accounts, there were other entire empires and peoples that weren’t human. Gone with the continent, under the sea and mostly forgotten.

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;aslkdfj;sldfk i got really excited talking about the growths and decays, didn’t i? there are other historical references - mostly to people like activists, scholars, warriors, etc. that are important to the characters, but i do believe those are stories for another day! thank you so much again, lila <3<3<3

[magic-is-something-we-create]

Inspired by this prompt ( i will be reblogging that in a bit, with the story added on, as well, i just want a post of my own for navigation purposes )

There are many ways to start the story of Hio Greyheart.

Some say he was a Scholar, a man of great curiosity, who wanted nothing more but to know and be known. Some say he was a Hero, one who taught the rest of us how to learn, how to become better. Others yet say he was a Monster - he forced himself through the Veil, took the Many by storm, and returned to the world with their corpses in the form of books.

And some say he was a Tragedy. A Fallen one, who longed to go home.

No matter how you start, though, it does not change the end.

Nothing can change the end, can it? The Void is inevitable, for those like you.

One way or another, he drew the ire of the Many. Whether it was getting too lost in the Halls of the Blessed, searching for answers; whether it was granting us our minds, when the Many were still experimenting with existence; whether it was killing their beloved and stealing their minds for his own.

Or he came home to find the Risen gone, disappeared, ruins of a world left behind littered with the corpses of his family, the Many standing in their place. And he wept, begged, at the feet of the Many.

No, no matter how you start, the Risen have Fallen, and it does not change the end.

Nothing can bring them back. You, of all, should know that, Hio.

The Many found him, of course. They always find him, they always will, they always have.

They found him, and they gave him a wish. What he chose does not matter - let them see, let them know, let them fear, let them love - for you cannot change the end. You cannot change the Void.

The Many can change the Void. They often do, for those they love.

The Void is empty. It is nothing, neither bright, nor dark, nor cold, nor burning. An endless, painless, excruciating expanse, made exactly for those like Hio. For those who searched, gave, stole, found. For those who yearned to be something greater, something whole.

For those like Hio, yes. And they will share the same end, for you cannot change it.

You cannot change the end.

There are none left like Hio. There have been none for a very, very long time.

They changed his Void; they granted his wish. They let us see him, they let us know, they let us fear and love him. His Void was endless, empty, nothing, until it wasn’t. Until it grew so much, so bright and hot and cruel and exactly what he asked for-

We still call the sun Hio. We still call our tragic stories Grey Hearted. We still remember, love, hate, forget.

We know the ending for Hio Greyheart, no matter how the story starts.

[magic-is-something-we-create]

happy wbw!! tell me about the history of firebreathers. what other prominent events/rulers/figures are well known besides the eternal three and the fall of fahrial? are there any legendary history books or books of legend that people refer to? what works of old do historians study? what history is common knowledge, for the ehlves, dwarves, whatever, and what is more obscure?

hi, happy WBW to you, too, lila!!! thanks for the questions!! <3<3<3

So, for things that most people will know off the top of their head, in regards to history: Most people can name the last three Growths and Decays off the top of their head, in order, and why they’re called that/what happened/who helped in the recovery or discovery/etc.!

For instance, everyone can name the Common Growth, which happened at year 0 of the current calendar, and introduced a magical common form of all languages and their variants. They’d know about Aio Starscribe, who translated thousands of documents from before the Growth into the Common tongue so that as little history was lost as possible; they might know about Sal Mitrit, who researched what did and did not constitute a fluency in a particular form of language, and how that affected the presentation of Common.

As for history books or books of legend - I haven’t really built those up yet :( I know that history books exist, and that some of my more nerdy characters read them and reference events in them, but I haven’t really determined what they are other than that ;alskdjf

As for what historians study, it’s usually the archives that are purposefully written in languages other than Common! Most “important” works are kept in both the local language of the time and translated into Common, so that those who want to study it have fewer translation errors - because Common isn’t perfect, and slang tends to get morphed into the current versions, and references are missed, etc.

Also: diaries! Most people don’t write in Common unless they know for certain that the person who will read it doesn’t know their language. They’ve become a bit of a treasure among the historian communities of the Ehlverse :D

And, finally, to answer what’s more common or obscure for different groups:

There are different things emphasized as “important”, depending on where you go to school! For instance, a lot of Dwarven education emphasizes the Forges, advancements in magical engineering, and only mentions rulers if they did something particularly significant. Meanwhile, a lot of Ehlven education covers the different “eras” of Tieling Evergreen’s reign, emphasizes developments in magical methods that affected Elementalism, and art movements in architecture, sculpture, painting, etc!

And then, of course, the Goblins try to teach history more through a lens of “what we were doing while the rest of the world fucked around with magic and growths and ignored us”. Lots of focus on inventions, political upheaval and leaders, and only the big picture of what other peoples were doing.

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Thank you again for the questions!! This was very fun to talk about, as always :D

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Happy WBW Pax ! Since we're all constantly writing (I mean, not me, but people), I was wondering what role stories play in Firebreathers? Are there famous myths? Scary stories to keep the children from misbehaving? Heroic songs? Go as small or big as you'd like :>

Hi!! Happy WBW!! Thanks for the ask!!

There are a lot of different stories brought up in Firebreathers! Partly because one of the MCs, Gab, is an actor, so he talks a lot about folk tales and stories that are adapted to the stage. :D

One of the ones that gets brought up the most, though, are the legends surrounding the fall of Fahrial! Essentially, as far as most people know, the old capital Fahrial was built into a Godtree, and when the Eternal Three were immortalized, something happened that killed the tree, and every other living thing around.

The stories vary, because the only people who lived are, of course, the Three, and it happened almost 1000 years ago. Some people think it was a devastating fire; other stories say the Goddesses themselves smote the city to balance the Three’s immortality with the rest of the world. Still others think it was a sign of apocalypse (Godtrees are believed to be fixed points in the universe, unchanged, except for the end of the world), damnation of the leaders at the time (records say they were pretty awful), or just a straight-up show of disapproval from the Goddesses themselves.

We do learn the truth of what happened there, of course. It’s shown from each of the Three’s perspectives during between-part interludes, like this one!

Other stories around the Ehlverse are touched on in other WIPs, too!! Hio Greyheart’s story is one I’m particularly proud of, too :D

Thank you again!!! It’s always fun to delve into the mythos and legends of the Ehlverse :D

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Happy wbw my guy!! Here's a question that ive always wondered: why are the rebel group called firebreathers, and how did you come up with it?

Happy WBW, Lila!!! And happy early new year!!! <3<3<3

This actually gets into a bit of lore, so buckle up for an info dump!!!

Okay, so, the main religion on Ehl (Mayhism) is based around six Goddesses, right? The oldest of which is Delta, the goddess of change. She’s generally the patron goddess of those who are attempting to better themselves or the world around them, and the way you traditionally show your devotion to her is by growing out your hair. (This is why so many of the rebels have long hair, btw!!)

As the oldest of the goddesses, she’s also got power over creation, and when Ehlves were given the powers of Elementalism, she asked Venn (the goddess of magic) to bless a lot of them with fire, which is part of why Fire Mages are so common.

Now, she’s symbolically related with the number 3, triangles, and flames, which is how the Firebreathers came up with their symbol - essentially, it’s a triple-hit of religious significance and calls to action. As an added bonus, she and Venn are the creators of the Millennium Cycle, so it’s also a little bit of a call back to why Evergreen is in power in the first place.

But their name also comes from association with Vii, the goddess of life, and Lib, the goddess of death. See, a big part of why the Firebreathers formed in the first place was due to King Evergreen’s insistence on starting a war in Deltierin to regain his control over there. And while death itself may not be seen as a bad thing in Mayhism, war very much is.

Now, life makes sense in this context, but involving the goddess of death might seem a little weird. My explanation, however, is that Vii and Lib share power over air - Vii specifically gives the first gasp of life, and Lib is called through the final dying breath. So, the ‘breathe’ in Firebreathers, paired with the symbolism of Delta, is kind of a double meaning? Like, it’s calling for a rebirth of sorts, but also asking for the old ways to die out and give way to the new.

At the end of the day, the name ‘Firebreathers’ is just a big ‘fuck you’ to the religious institution that demands unquestioned obedience to Evergreen, using their same language and ideals to drive the point home :D

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Thank you so much for the wonderful question, Lila!!!! I hope you don’t mind that I wrote A Whole Essay™ for it a;slkdjf;alskfj

Ehlverse Worldbuilding Taglist (ask to be +/-):

@charles-joseph-writes ; @linariouswrites ; @violetcancerian ; @phiwrites ; @hannahs-creations ; @rhikasa ; @writeblrfantasy