#mikrona

[magic-is-something-we-create]

happy wbw!! very curious about the shifting/blending magic system 👀

hi!! happy wbw to you, too, scribble!! :D

ok SO:

Shifting is basically what it sounds like: it means you can shapeshift into any creature you want, though some people have a preference.

There are different skill levels within Shifting itself, though, and the naming can be a little confusing at first. Lesser Shifting is the basic skill, where you can Shift into a completely different creature than you started as. Greater Shifting, though, is when you've gotten a lot more skilled and are able to fine-tune what Shifts and what doesn't!

And Blending is both a super-high skill level of Shifting, and a form of religious worship in southern Deltierin!

So, in southern Deltierin, there's a people called the Mikrona, who are innate Greater Shifters! They're born with the ability to Shift, they grow up Shifting their body parts, and walking through Mikrona societies will often feel like you're surrounded by constantly-changing kaleidoscopes of people!

Blending is a constant thing for the Mikrona; it's their connection to the world around them. They'll never have the same features for more than a few minutes, though common courtesy is to keep your voice and eyes the same so that you don't get completely lost in the crowd. Their skin becomes a living canvas of color and texture and pattern, where Greater Shifters would usually only manage changing hands into clawed paws or growing fur.

Shifting isn't limited to just Mikrona though! Anyone, barring Goblins, can be born with the ability, it's just a lot more painful to Shift for those who aren't evolutionarily inclined to it. And anyone can eventually learn to Blend, but it takes a very, very long time and very, very high pain tolerance :)

[magic-is-something-we-create]

Happy WBW from writingamongthecoloredroses! What are places of worship like? Are there small churches or massive temples?

Heya, @writingamongthecoloredroses!! This is an older ask, but I just COULDN’T let it go unanswered, so!!! here we go, my first WBW infodump after my hiatus!!!! shit i have to remember my own tagging system now FUCK

The places of worship on Ehl vary a bit from religion to religion - for some, there aren’t even designated “places”!

In Mayhist towns, you can usually find at least one temple in the area, but they’re usually not very big. In bigger cities like Aree, there are usually upwards of 5 in the city limits, where in small towns with smaller Mayhist populations, the “temples” could just be small shrines set up by a Priestess.

Most Mayhist temples are open-air, kind of like large, stone gazebos, most of the time with plants wrapping around the pillars and hanging from arches, and a fountain in the center. If they’re in a city with a larger population in poverty or homeless, they’ll have basements underneath with beds and stocks of food - one of the core aspects of Mayhism is an obligation to help those in need, and Priestesses will always offer shelter and food.

In the as-yet-unnamed religion of the Mikrona, they kind of sit on the extreme end of the “giant churches on every corner vs. worship literally anywhere who gives a fuck” spectrum, because their form of worship is basically just. Blending.

Actually, I’m not sure I’ve talked about Blending before on here, so quick rundown:

- some people can shapeshift, but most can only do it in broad sweeps (like going from a person to a Literal Bird) and this is called Lesser Shifting

- getting really good at Lesser Shifting and being able to focus changes to specific areas sends you down the road to Greater Shifting

- Mikrona, unlike other people, are 1) guaranteed to be Shifters and 2) natural Greater Shifters.

- Blending is basically Greater Shifting but constantly. a lot of them, especially in cities, just walk around like living, 3D kaleidoscopes, with ever-changing faces and body proportions. it’s a way for them to connect to the world, which is the biggest, most important part of their religion.

- in more rural areas Mikrona will often walk around with a wild mixture of kaleidoscope skin and Basically Invisible due to camouflaging

- also dont even try to remember a Mikrona by face alone - they have a general rule of not changing their voices and eyes, but literally everything else is up for grabs

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PHEW i forgot how excited i get about WBW LMAO

also i am 100% invoking the taglist cause this was fun and also Mayhist Temples are important in Firebreathers so:

Ehlverse Taglist:

@charles-joseph-writes : @adaparkwrites : @overlap : @linariouswrites : @violetcancerian : @apricotwrites : @hannahs-creations

[magic-is-something-we-create]

Happy Worldbuilding Wednesday, and Happy Pride Month! Tell us a little bit about how gender and/or orientations are expressed in your world

Thank you! Happy Pride ^_^

Gender and orientation are expressed differently depending on the people, but most of the time, for the races with less sexual dimorphism, the difference between the human definition of gender is less obvious, and therefore, much more fluid! The people’s with less ‘obvious’ signs of genitalia include, but are not limited to Ehlves, Fairies, and Sirens!

However, Ehlves have been more heavily influenced by Human culture, meaning that certain places where there has been more consistent contact with Humans have taken on similar gender expression and standards. This essentially means that the closer to Impalfahr one is, the less accepting of trans and nonbinary people the cities get. However, that influence has not been a one-way street; before Ehlves and Humans were so heavily involved in each others’ business, Human society had much stricter gender roles. 

Sexuality, on the other hand, is pretty undefined for most of the world. Humans, Mikrona, and Atali, in particular, are a bit more inclined to pressure people into heteronormativity, but that’s still a looser guideline than the real world.

Worldbuilding taglist:

@charles-joseph-writes ; @adaparkwrites ; @vioaeon

(I figured this sort of stuff is important to the plot of Firebreathers, as well as future WIPs i’ll be introducing soon, including Whispers and Forsaken)