#nornlain

[mrcatfishing]

“🖊“ francis, specifically in how accepted is she in her world? How far along are trans rights in the world of whist?

Francess did not publicly transition, and is out only to her parents and later Asher and Xandra. Most people, if they knew she was trans, would be deeply invasive, dismissive, and insensitive.

Transitioning is largely only heard of in two contexts among the cultures of Nornlain.

Among the old Merkish cultures, respected elders and leaders are assigned a gender seperate from male or female, which is also used to refer to god, wist, and horses. To achieve this status requires the elder/leader to declare themselves no longer a man or woman, and excludes them from the customs and laws that apply to gendered people, most importantly of which being marriage, though many other systems are also affected.

Among the Chaillons people in the Republic of Sannes, it is known that some men choose to live like women. They are known as "Asyi", a sort of third gender that is deeply tied to systems of homophobia and misogyny that pervades their patriarchal society. Asyi cannot inherit anything, cannot be wed, and are the only people allowed to work as prostitutes.

Francess is not from either of these cultures, she is Gedaran and knows of the Merkish and Chaillons people only through texts written about them from people foreign to those cultures themselves, and would not imagine herself to be a part of either category.

She rarely encounters people that knew her before transitioning, as after she came out to her parents, they whisked her off to a boarding school across the sea and pretend they still have a son when asked. Their plan was to allow Francess to grow up out of sight, and then when she returns pretend that she is their niece. Perhaps they would even have her attend the funeral of their late son, who died of a sickness far from home.

Of course none of that plan happened after Francess was expelled from school, disowned, and taken under the wing of Xandra Windbritches. I do not know what happens to her from there, to be honest.

[desertsoftime]

I still make youtube videos! Check out this one, a comprehensive primer on Wist, the magic system for my fantasy setting, Nornlain.

[mrcatfishing]

🖊

John Astentia is heavily inspired by how bad RWBY fanfic chatacterize Jaune. He is a hopeless romantic who wants a powerful woman to be his girlfriend, but doesn't do anything to meaningfully improve himself.

He is also the biological father of Asher Scrubtover.

Getting with Maria Halvtover, a girl well out of his league, was easy, because he happens to be the favourite student (linchpin of a eugenics scheme) of the headmaster (Arch magistrate and Grandfather of Maria Halvtover), he ends up always by her side. Every field trip, group project, and school social, he's there.

Whenever she tries to push him away, or shows interest in someone else, she gets in trouble. And who's in detention right next to her?

Eventually, she relents, gives him what he wants, and they are a steady power-couple of student prodigies turned competent mages. She doesn't love him, but she's also never had the chance to be with anyone else. When he first proposes, she rejects him. When she learns he won't give up, because their relationship was demanded by her grandfather, she runs away.

But she's already pregnant.

And that's how Asher was born.

[mrcatfishing]

🖊

Asher Scrubtover has 3 living great-grandparents.

Barlan Baggatrix, 105. Had 6 children, 3 died during their wistpulling, the other three didn't have their wist pulled. His youngest died at age thirty seven, almost exactly thirty-five years ago.

Salliestra Morginia, 107. Had 7 kids, 1 died during his wistpulling, the others were alright, and one even managed to become a professional mage.

Axel Voltover, 121. Had 1 kid, who took Semisha Kirskenful, the greatest wistmage of a generation, in childbirth.

As it turns out, a strong connection to the wistfield leads to a resiliance against illness, and being a powerful mage makes one unlikely to die in war or famine.

However, when two powerful wistmages have a child, that child is almost always born with a frail connection to the wistfield, leading to death either during wistpulling, or from illness. As such, while Asher has 3 great-grandparents all of an extremely advanced age, he only has the one living grandparent.