#mar'ether

[fatal-blow]

Biome map of Mar’ether, since it was in dire need of being redone.  Subject to change, of course, but I’m pretty happy with this.  I’ll prolly keep working on it and add some important landmarks etc

[fatal-blow]

Some notes on a few Mar’ethan languages (because I was watching vids about language last night on youtube):

Kanivan: Huge emphasis on lengths in their vowels, but always medium to long, never short .  Slow language, tends towards more monotonous tones.  No glottal sounds-- H sounds, basically, like in house or the pauses in uh oh.  Lots of words get shortened or mashed together.  However they can and do use pharyngeal sounds despite their difficultly (PF (like in the German word pferd) is the most common).  Trilling is a very common sound as well.  Tends to sound breathy.

Bonus: The South Pauzolian dialect is even SLOWER spoken.  Words tend to slur into one another on top of the multitudes of shortcuts in their speech.  Generally acknowledged as the hardest to understand accent on Mar’ether for any language.

Bettadian: Pretty labialized, so lots of W’s after certain consonants and whatnot.  A loud language because they have to compete with the mountain winds.  SOME clicks, but not nearly as common or as varied as Rhandrian.  Tends to sound creaky.

Rhandrian: Most of the language is unvoiced (vocal chords are not engaged (basically the difference between vvvv and ffff sounds)).  Overall a quiet language (due to the thick vegetation in Rhandra, loud sounds aren’t necessary).  Rhandrian is a click language, so they use the sounds like when you’re mimicking a horse walking or making the tsk tsk sound.  Gives Rhandrian a VERY distinct sound, probably the most recognizable of Mar’ether’s major languages.

Kappin: Quite similar to Rhandrian; although includes some louder sounds and the clicks have been “edited” out of the language for the most part.  More voiced than Rhandrian and tends to come across as guttural.

Agniparan: Basically the Esperanto of Mar’ether (heavier Kanivan influences though) and kind of awful to learn because the language varies so vastly from dialect to dialect.  Tends to have a twang to it, though.  Slightly nasally.

Dramian: These stupid fuckers literally use overtones (reaching two tones at once with your voice basically) in their language and it is universally agreed that Dramian is the fucking hardest to learn because all of its sounds are stupid and impossible to make.  Tends towards deeper tones, rough sounding.  Many people complain that Dramians mumble.

[fatal-blow]

Some notes on the Kanivan language so I don’t lose ‘em:

The Kanivan alphabet consists of 20 letters (atm, might change in the future).

A, D, E, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, R, S, T, V, IN, NI, TH, ST

However despite having an alphabet, they have individual symbols for nouns (with some exceptions ofc).  So words like door, grass, cat, etc. would have individual symbols rather than being spelled out.

Naturally this makes Kanivan a bitch to learn.

J is only seen in names OR some words in Pauz Kanivan.  Some words with J in it were adopted from Ander Dose, one of the languages spoken in Korlesia and the Anderkin.

H sounds are pronounced with a bit of an F sound.  On the Pauzolian Islands, however, it’s dropped completely.

R’s are usually rolled.

Last names have individual symbols too, just like nouns.  It’s easy to tell someone is a foreigner because they have to spell their name.

Since people aren’t going to know how to pronounce your name by just looking at it, it’s a common activity in school for children to introduce themselves by writing their last name on the board and telling everyone how it’s pronounced.

On official documents, the symbol precedes the actually spelling of it.  It’s almost like a coat of arms?

Also, changed Jon’s name to make it seem less earth-like.  His full name is Hillisin Ardenni Ellis Jonston.  If I were him, I’d change it to Jon too.

[fatal-blow]

anyways now i’m gonna talk about naming stuff on mar’ether (well, Kaniva) cus i have Ideas

-in is an extremely common ending for names in Kaniva (about 90% of names in Kaniva end with -in, -ni, or have that somewhere in the name).  Naturally, the South Pauz (about 60% of their names) and the North Pauz (40%) see a lot of that in their names as well.  the North Pauz sees influence from Dhruva, though, hence why there’s less.

In short, though, it’s a little charm/prayer tied into the name that wishes well on the name bearer.  -in was originally brought in by Promise worshippers and -ni was brought in by Full worshippers, but they were so similar that they melded pretty seamlessly.

During the time of Lionheart, Abbedin is an insanely popular name.  You’re bound to know about 5 different Abbedin’s at one point.  In fact the naming pool for Kanivans is...not that big?  There’s a lot of repeat names.  Another reason why nicknames are so damn popular, I guess.  Modern day Kaniva gets a little more creative, but nicknames are still all the rage.

As for last names, there are always two.  The first denotes your family name, whatever that is, and the second denotes the town/city/area your family came from.  Abby’s last name is Dall-Shii, so Dall is her family name, and Shii denotes that her family actually originates from the middle of Kaniva, near the Shiiniini River.

Dose last names, however, are all the same pretty much no matter where you go.  Due to their past as lesser class citizens (as people feared that because they were part animal they would be a danger) they were named according to their caretaker.  So you would be _____ of _____.  For example, Marcy is Marcellennia of Sier.

In the time of Lionheart, though, dose are more equal, so instead they take the first name of the parent who adopted them or, on the off chance they were taken in by a human, the last name of their human family.  If they’re raised in an orphanage, they’ll take the name of the orphanage.  However, some dose aren’t raised in either, so they take the name “of Null” to signify that. Kastor’s like that!

[fatal-blow]

Kanivan (and by extension, a lot of South Pauz) food is just, stuffed everything.  You can’t eat anything without it being stuffed with something else.  Stuffed potatoes, stuffed chicken, stuffed bread.  Damn, it’s just so much easier to shove your entire meal into one other thing and eat it like that.

[fatal-blow]

Descriptive Language on Mar’ether

Thinking about terms and whatnot that Mar’ethans use to describe people, since they don’t have the same views on gender and whatnot that most of Earth does?  They’re much more open about gender identities and whatnot, so the language kind of evolved to represent that.

So along those lines, the words Femme, Masc, Andro, and Flip are generally used to describe people’s styles of dress, personality, and overall have very little to do with gender.  Some places connect the two, or at least aspects of each, to each other, but for the most part they’re separate.  They are, however, frequently used to describe a person’s tastes (ex. “I prefer Masc women” or “I’m super into Andro people”).

I’ll put the terms under the cut if you’re interested in reading about them.

Femme - Think soft pastel colours, whites, flowing clothes, subtlety, elegance, introvertedness.  Femme style is usually associated with slender builds, small breasts, longer limbs, round faces, and wider hips.  It is occasionally associated with long hair, but that’s not a hard and fast rule.  Alice would be considered pretty Femme, although her love of bolder colours makes her stand out a bit.

Masc - Think bold and loud colours, blacks, thicker fabrics, practicality, boldness, extrovertedness.  Masc is usually associated with large or muscular builds, large breasts, chiseled features, and broad shoulders.  It is occasionally associated with short hair, but again that’s not a rule.  Tom is considered very Masc.

Andro - In the absence of Femme or Masc, you find people who look more Andro.  They might have a combination of both features, but in a way that doesn’t stand out like Flip would.  Andro style is usually used along with descriptors such as Femme/Masc leaning.  Jon would be considered Femme leaning Andro.

Flip - Style incorporates aspects of both Masc and Femme in a bold, in your face manner.  Whether your style swings from one to the other or simple takes from both without changing too much, you’d be considered Flip.  Flip is occasionally associated with genderfluid people.  Flip style is usually used along with descriptors such as Femme/Masc dominant, or an Andro-Flip (switches between Andro to either Masc, Femme, or Flip).  Bella would be considered Flip.

There...are no words to describe people’s junk because A) it’s not really anyone’s business and B) most people don’t really care what you’ve got going on downstairs as long as they’re attracted to you/your overall style?  Obvs. there’s the occasional person who has preferences, but it’s not a problem that people run into often.

Gay/Bi/Straight/Ace/etc are all still used to describe sexuality as, like, a sort of quick and vague description?  They’re not used or debated as much as they are on Earth and many of the labels that are more descriptive don’t exist because getting into the nitty gritties of one’s sexuality is saved for extended, often more personal conversations.

Along those lines, transgender people DO exist, but it’s not the big coming out deal that it is on Earth.  To many Mar’ethans it’s not even noteworthy enough to mention except for the occasional offhand “Hey, I go by this name/pronouns” or “Yeah I need time off I’m getting top surgery that week.”

As for what pronouns people use for children, that’s more a subject of personal choice.  He/him, she/her, and they/them (they/them being used for babies with ambiguous bits) are about as close as you get to language that references ya bits, but only when you’re a baby.  It’s the easiest way to go about it since the majority of children don’t really end up feeling disconnected with their bodies/gender identity.

Canonically, though, there might not even be a difference in pronouns for at least some languages.  For the sake of clarity, though, I’ll keep using all three.

[fatal-blow]

Did y’all think I was done?  Wrong.  This is the last one I got, though.

Finally put colour onto something!  Anyways, here are the aliquids that belong to Tom, Jon, and Alice (respectively, left to right).

Dominic is the ginger boy on the left, a sweet happy fluffy boy who loves anyone who will give him food and/or pets.  Tom got him through the gang, who occasionally deals with exotic/rare pets.  Dominic’s a pretty rare boy.

Saemus is the scrawny boy in the middle.  He’s a grumpy, snarky boy who will only like you if you’re at least 100 metres away.  Yeah, definitely Jon’s pet Only; Jon’s the only one allowed to hold him.  He used to be feral before Jon picked him up and took him in.

Sillen is the tall boy on the right, and she belongs to Alice.  I’m not quite sure what her breed is used for.  Hunting, maybe?  She’s very calm and dignified, though.  Well, up until you wave her favourite toy in front of her face, but we all have our weaknesses.

[fatal-blow]

South Pauzolian Fashion

Light sweaters are real common in the Southern Pauzolians, even though it’s tropical.  The light colours plus super breathable fabric they use mean that you’re generally not dying.  Baggier clothes are common in older generations, but younger generation are easing towards tighter clothing (possible influences from the north?).

No idea about shoes, but probably all slip-ons.  Southerners don’t wanna bend over and do up their shoes god dammit.  Open toes aren’t that common?  And when people do wear them the straps are pretty thick.  Nothing like flip flops or anything.  Apparently I do have an idea about shoes lol

The only time they wear shirts beneath their sweaters is in cooler weather (rainy seasons basically), which is absolutely abominable if you ask me but whatever.  When it’s REALLY hot, they just wear stuff with bigger holes in it.  Tank tops are considered gym wear, not casual, and if you see someone wearing tank tops a lot (coughTOMcough) it’s pretty safe to assume that they’re very active.

Pale colours are preferred as a base, but rich coloured trims are very popular.  There’s basically no black in the wardrobe, the closest you’ll get is a medium grey.