#lizzysam

[hellalambs]

⅀

Pleasant family life with a side of crack cocaine

[sheepnanigans]

What is known of the stars and plants in the DG world? Do they have one moon, or more?

Bleep bloop. I don’t know that much about the history of astronomy. But the world is loosely inspired by Victorian America, so I’m going to cop out and say they know about as much as people did back then. Which was not a lot compared to what we know now, but enough to get by on. The main tool of Victorian astronomers (as far as I’m aware) were big fuck off telescopes, and they would then try to hand sketch what they saw.

But the Eliopian pantheon is very much based off of celestial bodies. They only have one moon, and she’s part of the two-faced Sun and Moon Goddess. The Stars are also a God. I imagine that the world is at that delicate crossroads where science and alchemy are beginning to explain things that religious folk would prefer not to have explained, and that their understanding of the observable universe has started to clash with mythology.

[sheepnanigans]

Are there any superstitions in DG? Even if they don't make it into the story. If there are, what are they?

This is such a good question, I’m yelling!!! I hadn’t thought about superstitions before, but just for you, I came up with a bunch, and I separated them by culture, because I’m nothing if not organized:

Cross-culture superstitions:

Don’t grow more than three types of plant in the same garden bed, it irritates the rain goddess

Never step or jump over toadstools, or else lose a friend

Chase mice from the home but never kill them, or risk being the enemy of all mice

Destroying a spiderweb outside the home is bad luck, but it can be counteracted by taking two steps backward and spitting on the ground

Balancing coins on a pregnant person’s stomach will ensure a healthy birth

Spilling bath water or breaking dishes damages your chances of marriage

Eliopian superstitions:

Never give out the recipe for your family spice blend, it brings bad luck for three generations

Don’t look an owl in the eyes; bad luck

Fallen pine cones are good luck and used in blessings for children

Red in a sunset is a good omen

Artama superstitions:

Always clip loose threads, never pull, or you’ll be cursed with thin clothes all winter

Try to always give scraps to stray dogs, they’ll protect your family and bring you good fortune

Itchy palms means one of the demons is trying to take you, but it can be warded off by sticking your hands into a bag of uncooked rice

A bird landing on the family shrine is a good omen

[sheepnanigans]

What about your kindest character? Tell me about them. And where do they draw the line and go fuck shit up?

Haha, I am coming to the realization that I don’t have very many nice characters. Everyone is kind of an ornery fuck.

I guess Ciardha is the kindest. He’s the mom friend. Likes to have people over, likes to go on long walks, enjoys it when friends confide in him. He revels in the feeling of falling in love, with moments or music or places or people. His found family is what’s most important to him, and where he draws the line on kindness. He will go to war for those he loves.

Which is pretty much what happens, spoiler alert. But yeah, his kindness is sincere, but he’s much hardier and craftier than he appears on the surface.

[sheepnanigans]

Tell me about your crankiest character. And are they secretly a marshmallow on the inside?

I mean, yes though. Are the crankiest characters not always little marshmallows inside??

Starbuck is no-question the crankiest crank. She’s a person who likes to read adventure novels when women aren’t supposed to, and she takes notes on everything, and works alone, and sleeps in every day. She cooks for one. She’s a tomcat. She don’t fuck with people. She does what needs doing to get what she wants.

And then naturally, she falls ass over tits for a tiny whirly-gig ballerina who never stops talking, and is irreverent, and spends every weekend trying to convince Starbuck to wear hats because they’re in fashion god damn it, and why doesn’t she want to look good?? Hats look so good on her? She always refuses. Pippa wears the hats and Starbuck enjoys staring at her when she thinks Pippa isn’t looking.

[hellalambs]

lizzysam replied to your post: more media where addict or absentee parents don’t...

Co-signed

I’m so tired of it. Seriously. There’s always that initial moment when the long-gone parent shows up and the kid is like, enraged and tells them to go fuck themselves and I always cross my fingers and hope that’s how things go from then on. And twenty minutes later, there’s redemption. The one movie I think did this well was The Missing, but also that movie has eight hundred other problematic things going on because Westerns are gross and racist.