happy wbw! tell me a bit about the world of whispers! what is the culture of the country where it takes place compared to the culture of the firebreathers world? are there any tongue in cheek references to the two places being related that we the reader would understand but the characters wouldn't? whispers doesn't get enough love, so tell us all about it <3
happy wbw!!! :D
Whispers and Firebreathers actually take place in the same world!! The biggest difference between them is just that Whispers is in Emarye, where Firebreathers is mostly in the Maelands :D
(Map for reference:)
One other difference between them is that Whispers is set between several years to a decade before Firebreathers!! (probably, don’t quote me on that quite yet a;lsdjf)
There are several references to The Whispers (the crime ring) in Firebreathers!! Ember has actually considered getting help from them before, but didn’t, due to the threat of the debts being too much for them. Also, parts of the climax of Whispers will be mentioned, but unless you read both, you won’t understand them ;)
But!!! In terms of general culture, Emarye and Maelani/Sieril are very different places.
For one thing, Maelani is very densely populated, compared to Emarye, and the people there tend not to travel too far, because travel is fairly inaccessible to most. I mean, a lot of the railroads there have to either go really far out of their way to get around Godtree roots/prairie colonies/desert drifts etc., or avoid routes that would bring that entirely. So, people can be pretty wary of outsiders, and most everyone will have connections throughout the town they live, and if they disappeared, their paper trail would be traceable.
Meanwhile, Emarye has far fewer habitable zones, especially once you get past the southern mountains. A nice side effect of that, though, is the sheer intricacy of the railroads, and that means people travel more, so strangers are expected. And if a stranger just shows up one day in your small town and decides to stay, it’s not that weird. People can fake papers easily, or get on without any just fine.
And, in terms of differences on a country-like scale: Maelani has several different governments that choose to govern people and cities more than land, while still having centralized powers. So, for example, existing in an Ehlven city like Impalfahr will mean you have to follow city laws, but if you’re not an Ehlf, and you don’t live there full time, you’ll go through a non-Ehlven judicial or prosecution system if you break those laws in a significant way!
Emarye, on the other hand, works in a city-state format! So, each city is in control of the area around them, and the people in charge of that city make the laws there, but there’s no central governing force outside of that!
That’s part of why Fowden is Like That™ - the people in charge haven’t been particularly good in decades, and because of the laws they’ve thrown out over time, it’s become a bit of an easy base of operations for crime lords and outlaws.
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Thank you for the questions, Lila!!! And thank you for letting me rant about the ehlverse again a;sldkjfa;sldfj
Happy wbw, pax!!! since I’m suffering a heatwave right now, I want to know what the climate is like in the ehlverse!! what weather phenomena happen where, and when? What storms hit annually? Are there any superstitions surrounding the weather, and is there anything people can do to prevent them??
happy wbw to you, too, lila!!! heat waves suck, we're having one over here too </3 i hope your AC is able to keep up!!!
To be honest, I haven't thought about weather very much!! I know that there are frequent sand storms down in the Lellan desert of the Maelands, and the occasional hurricane sweeps past the western edges of Sieril. Also, earthquakes over there, and in the southern reaches of Deltierin.
There would probably be tornadoes once in a while across the Melkan prairie, but I still need to decide on that a;sldkjf
There are some superstitions regarding stormy seas and how to 'prevent' them! There's this idea that as long as you have a Water mage on board, your ship will be safe. It's not entirely true, but it helps some people!
And the people of Sieril tend to perform dances for Lib and Vii to appease them before each hurricane season/storm season!
thank you for the ask!!! this one's a bit short, but hopefully that's ok!!! <3<3<3<3
i was gonna post this a couple days ago but now we’re here and i forget what i was gonna say so have a mostly-casual Map Update!
This is a mostly-updated version of the Maelands (or Maelani, as they’re otherwise known!). What bits of linework I’ve done so far have taken hours, and i have yet to do the linework for the Godwoods, the Lellan Desert, or the Melkan Prairie, so the ehlverse map won’t be completely updated for quite a while a;lsdkfj
I’m planning to have the map work with several layers on WorldAnvil, so that you can see biomes/linework/landmasses separate from one another, but that’s still a ways out. Hopefully y’all like it when it’s done!
Happy WBW from @norahammen! I'm very curious about this trio of monarchs so I'm gonna ask about that. What makes them special in the eyes of the people? How have they kept control for so long? Why is only one ruling the government? Tell me all!
hi!!! happy WBW, @norahammen, and thank you for the ask!!!
i warned on my profile that i go all out, right? either way, sorry this is so long a;sldfkja;sldfkj
So, the Eternal Three are special, for the most part, because all three of them are immortal! However, one of them, Tieling Evergreen, is also special because way back when he was still mortal and A Literal Child, he was Chosen by the temple he was born in to stop this destruction of magic they had predicted. And because Prophecy and the temple he belonged to are major facets of the religion of the area, he’s considered a major holy figure.
And I realize now that the way I phrased it in my WBW profile was a little misleading, but each of the Eternal Three rule their own government/people! Tieling Evergreen is the one, in particular, who has a revolution that’s ready to yeet him out of the picture, but the other two (Veratrum K’Ron and Arthur Coldstone) are pretty well-liked among their people, and also much better at taking criticism than Tieling. Each of them has a different reason/strategy for staying in power for so long, too!
Tieling, for one, has relied heavily on his religious status, sweet talking, and damage reduction skills for most of his reign. This isn’t the first time he’s had a rebellion amongst his people! This time is just the worst, because it’s happening right when he needs to pull things together to actually stop magic from being destroyed. Also, there’s, like, twenty other really bad things going on for him, right now, and he’s overwhelmed. I’ll include the details under a readmore, cause I actually have a slide from my reintro that’s relevant for this a;lskdfj
Veratrum K’Ron, however, is the queen of a very different culture (i.e. chaotic but in a different way), one that values parental bonds and physical strength more than Tieling’s court does. She was immortalized after having a kid, so she has a line of direct descendants, which helps her credibility. She’s also dedicated a lot of her immortal life to learning all she can, with a special focus on battle, which she does so that she can protect her people single-handedly.
And Arthur never wanted to be 1) immortal or 2) a king. He’s the most down-to-earth of the three -- where Tieling sees himself as the Only One Who Can Save The World, and Vera sees herself as a demigoddess powerhouse, Arthur just sees himself as a dude who was unlucky enough to be caught up in the mess of religious Ehlven drama that birthed them. His court is famously casual in comparison to pretty much every other court in the world, and he’s generally pretty humble, kind, and fatherly to whoever crosses his path. He’s also still really traumatized by the whole immortal thing and how it happened.
The important difference in their levels of power, really, is that even if Vera and Arthur weren’t immortal and holy-adjacent, they would both still be loved and respected by their people. Tieling, on the other hand, thinks he’s nothing without those aspects of himself.
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oh god that got really long
TL;DR: These three are REALLY important in religious and historical contexts for the world, especially Tieling. They have really different ruling styles between the three of them, and Tieling’s has a tendency to piss of his people, despite his religious significance, to the point of them doubting said significance. And for Firebreathers, specifically, we focus on Tieling’s government for the most part!
the relevant slides from my reintro are below the cut, and they feature art of the Three, as well as a little bit about each of them, and also all the things going wrong in tielings life right now ;sladkfj;alfdkj
[id:
The slide is titled "tell me more about these 'Eternal Three'...". Directly to the left, in a very light font, is text that reads "repost my art and you'll die by my hands i swear to god. hasn't happened yet but this is insurance.". Below the title, there is a note that says "i'll get more detailed in a proper intro down the line, but for now:".
The middle stretch of the slide has three portraits aligned in a row, each labeled with the subject's name, title, and a small caption of important information.
The image on the left is a square portrait of a white human man in his late forties, with blond hair and beard that is starting to go grey. His eyes are a deep brown, and his nose appears to have been broken and healed incorrectly. He wears a simple wooden circlet on his head and a blue cape. There is a cobbled stone wall behind him, with a window that looks out onto the night sky. This portrait is labelled "King of the Mae Humans" and the caption reads "This is Arthur Coldstone. What you should know: 1) he didn't want to be immortal. 2) actually a p chill dude, would die for his people but cant anymore. 3) wasn't gonna be king but then the king died and he was suddenly immortal and he's still mad about it".
The middle image is slightly taller than the other two, and features an androgynous man with long, vaguely round ears that stick out past his shoulders. His hair is a dark teal that fades to a bright cyan and then to a cool grey at the tips. He is wearing a maroon robe with a pale magenta collar, a translucent golden capelet, and an ornate metal crown with a yellow jewel embedded into the center. His expression is carefully neutral, with an air of condescension. He is standing in front of a large window of blue stained glass, which is embedded into a wall that looks to be built into the side of a tree. This portrait is labelled "King of the Mae Ehlves" and the caption reads: "This is Tieling Evergreen. What you should know: 1) he's technically the villain. 2) rolled a nat 20 to persuade the coddesses to keep magic around until he could fulfill their requests. 3) he was Chosen at, like, 13 and it really fucked him up. still a Bastard tho."
The portrait on the right is a square of the same size as the portrait on the left, and it features a brown-skinned woman in her early fifties. Her ears are shaped like cresting waves, and stick out from her head. She has freckles on her exposed shoulders, on the tips of her ears, and a few on her cheekbones. Her hair is a deep, velvety purple with streaks of grey. She wears an ornate crown of woven vines and wood that has streaks of blue along the bark. Leaves, feathers, and large claws stick out from the crown to frame a large red jewel at the center. A similar, smaller jewel hangs from her necklace, strung with teeth and claws. She stands in a swampland, with vines hanging from branches behind her. This portrait is titled "Queen of the Rill Ehlves" and the caption reads: "This is Veratrum K'Ron. What you shuold know: 1) she uses immortality to learn as much as possible about everything. 2) has a direct line of descendents because she had a kid before all this. 3) duels ppl before they're allowed an audience to keep shit interesting."
/End slide one.
/Start slide two.
The slide is titled "ok, cool, so what's happening??" with two question marks. The subtitle is in a dark magenta font, and reads "big picture? a lot of stuff at once, really." The body of the text reads: "the Goddesses asked Tieling to prove that magic could be controlled, that people would stop getting hurt. He had been told all his life that his task would be to unite the Ehlves, so that's how he's trying to go about fulfilling their request. Things have gone downhill about 8 years before the due date, though…" and what follows is a bulletted list, with accompanying text boxes.
The list reads: "1) the Ehlves in Deltierin have broken away from his control, so he needs to get them back." The accompanying box reads: "his solution: war." "2) Veratrum's heir, who's required to have a high seat in his council in order to keep her as an ally, has gotten on the bad side of Vera herself. 2a) also, she disowned and banished her OWN heirs." The accompanying box reads: "his solution: do his best to keep from pissing Vera AND her heir off when they're both v important in these last few years of prep." "3) the Ehlves in Emarye don't have any central government anymore, so he has to convince all of them to unite somehow." The accompanying box reads: "his solution: beg the current governments over there to enter a compact with him."
The fourth bullet is circled in red and labelled "this is the big one". The bullet reads: "someone has started a fucking rebellion among the people he already rules" and the accompanying box reads: "his solution: quell the insurgents ASAP".
The fifth bullet is back to the usual format, and overshadowed by the circle above it. It reads: "and, the one that hurts most for him right now: Arthur stopped talking to him for valid reasons." The accompanying box reads: "his solution: cry".
The top right of the slide is on a slightly darker shade than the rest of the slide, to draw attention to it. The text within reads: "too long, didnt read: Tieling's starting a war, the people are angry about it, there's a rebellion ramping up. Almost every ally he had has abandoned him in the last five years (approximately), and most of them are now helping the rebels.
I spent about half an hour earlier adding in a bunch of the important, but smaller stops throughout Whispers, and a few places that are important in Firebreathers and Lifeblood! Each pin has a name and description when you hover over it, though some are more ~important~ than others!
If you want to check it out and get a little bit of a feel for the basics of the world, you can find the map on WorldAnvil here. I’ll be updating the key in the bottom left in these next few minutes!
(Sidenote: I forgot yesterday was WBW, so I’ll be sending those asks out in a little bit!! Keep a lookout in your inbox!!!)
happy late wbw! Let's talk royalty. what are the titles of the people who rule in your world? what is standard dress for them? do they wear crowns at all, and if so, how often? what is succession like? is the country matriarchal, patriarchal, or neither? or do the people vote?
:D Happy WBW!!! thank you for the ask, Bean!!!
So, there are a lot more rulers on Maelani than I talk about usually 😅, but there are four different governments there, so!! time to talk about more than just the humans and ehlves :D
Okay, for starters, I haven’t delved too deep in the lore for the Goblin and Dwarven governments, so for now the leaders still hold titles like King, Queen, Prince/ss, and whatnot, but the rules around who leads and how laws are made are different for all of them, so those are pretty much just placeholders right now!
In terms of standard dress and crowns, though, there are a lot more obvious differences between them.
For a kind of baseline, King Coldstone of the humans does his best to wear clothes that aren’t very far removed from what most of his people wear. He’s almost always in relatively simple and colorful clothes, with maybe a more ornate, striking cloak to separate him from those around him. But he doesn’t wear a crown, out of personal choice. And because he’s been ruling for so long, with no options for succession, there hasn’t been a crown for him to wear in a few hundred years.
On the flip side, Divine King Evergreen wears the most ornate shit. We’re talking robes of embroidered velvet in winter, and gradient-dyed silk in summer; ridiculously well-made and layered shirts and jackets tailored to him; not to mention the jewels in his buttons and the gold in the threading. He’s where fashion designers turn to for inspiration each year, and most of the nobility do their best to mimic his tastes, albeit with smaller budgets. Despite his stupidly expensive fashion, the crown he wears is a relic from before the fall of Fahrial - a simple wooden circlet carved to look like woven sticks. He’s been approached a few times with offers to design a new one, but he refuses to let go of the thing.
Now for the people I haven’t talked about as much:
The Goblins have a very different society from the others on Maelani - they mostly keep to themselves, and because of that, they don’t really meet with other leaders very often, so their fashion is wacky compared to them. King Sayell, for instance, wears a lot of... geometric(?) clothes, and most of it is white, with black accents underneath. It’s a lot more scifi-esque over there. And instead of a crown, the current ruler is tattooed along both arms, with a pattern that acts almost like a QR code, except more ~advanced~ (I’ll post visuals at some point).
Succession works a bit different with the Goblins, too. While technically there is a “Crowned” person, there is also an elected parliament that represents every ~10,000 people in every Goblin city, and 1 representative in Wasi from each parliament. This group of representatives is, ultimately, more powerful than the Crown themself, and each city can decide through voting whether they, personally, are going to recognize the current heir as “legitimate”. If enough cities vote against the next heir in the family line, an election will be held to see which city will become the new capital, and thus, which representative is now the Crown.
Currently, Wasi has been the capital for about 60 years, but Princess Ahndi is really controversial as an heiress, and King Arrya is getting old and sickly, so who knows how long that will last.
And, finally, the Dwarves. The royal family is a lot more simplistic in their dress than King Evergreen or King Sayell. They’re kind of on a healthy point between Coldstone and Evergreen - it’s rich and clearly stand out, but it’s not overdone or ridiculous. Mostly vibrant reds and yellows, nice dark leather, and white fur accents. The current ruler wears a crown carved from a geode, which is the most eye-catching thing, usually, and succession is passed from parent to oldest child, with only a few exceptions in their history, usually due to intervention on behalf of the Forges.
If an heir is deemed too likely to spill the secrets of the Forges, the current Smithmaster makes their pick of the other options, or nominates someone else if the options aren’t promising. But the royal name of Kar is added on to the ruler’s name regardless, so it seems completely congruous to outsiders. Just don’t look too closely at the portraits in the great hall ;)
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OK this one got really long a;lskfj;aslkfdj hopefully you don’t mind the infodump!!! I had a LOT of fun with this, thank you so much for the ask!!!!!
Happy WBW from writingamongthecoloredroses! What festivals does your world have, besides/if not Pride?
thank you for the awesome ask, @writingamongthecoloredroses!!!
There.... isn’t really a concept of Pride on Ehl? Gender and sexuality are pretty fluid almost everywhere, and those places where they aren’t are still much better than the real world, so there hasn’t ever been much need to protest/riot on behalf of the LGBT community, so I doubt it would have ever started.
However, there are definitely a few other festivals, especially in places that are primarily Mayhist!! Mayhism is one HELL of a celebration-savvy religion.
The first example we see in Firebreathers is the Festival of Magic, which is held in Aree every year starting in the beginning of summer, and lasts for about 3 months, usually ending once the Godwoods’ leaves start turning. It’s a very important celebration, both in terms of religious relevance, and also in the fact that it’s one of Aree’s biggest tourism moneymakers.
The Festival of Magic consists of a night market filled with local artisans, creators, and smiths of all kinds, a weekly firework show, nightly Central City Circus performances, and magical entertainment of all kinds. Masters are invited to perform weekly, showing off their skills and the possibilities of magic. Libraries often show off their textbook collections on the machinations of magic, summer camps and school extracurriculars educate kids about all the different ways magic can manifest, and local temples are full to the brim with Venn’s Priestesses and followers.
Another interesting note: due to the nature of this month-long holiday, most protests in favor of Dark Mage rights happen during the festival. The common talking point of the nature of magic is really helpful in getting the point across to the public.
Hey, happy WBW! Are there any places or events in your world that are historically significant for the characters?
Thank you for the ask, lana!!!
I’ve talked a little bit about the Ruins of Fahrial in a previous WBW ask, but I haven’t really talked about them since! And Fahrial is vastly significant on Maelani, and to anyone who practices Mayhism on Ehl!
At the most basic level, Fahrial was the capital city of the Ehlves, and it was founded around 1500 PCL (about 2500 years before firebreathers takes place) when Ehlves first found their way to the Maelands.
Note the past tense.
When Tieling Evergreen and Arthur Coldstone completed their divine journey, they were blessed by the Goddesses to live forever. But, in order to maintain some semblance of balance, a smite fell upon the city, killing all 50,000 people in it - except for Tieling and Arthur. Everything within a three mile radius of them was killed almost instantly - they were the only survivors, and since they’re immortal, and it’s been almost 1000 years, their word is the only thing anyone has.
But since Tieling and Arthur are considered Divine in Mayhism, and are generally accepted as at least a little god-like, their word is never challenged.
That’s how the story goes, generally. But some people are starting to think that something far, far more mortal caused the disaster - at least, mortal at the time.
