#pokians

[alkhale]

So what are Artopoki's stance on adopted kids, like are they allowed to have coming of age marks as well, despite not having magic blood or hair? Or are they more strict in only those who have Pokian lineage can have those marks?

Artopoki allowed for adopted children on the rare chances it happened. Children not of Pokian descent adopted by Pokians were granted marks by their parents, it was actually rather customary of some Pokians to give non-Pokians marks out of deep friendship, admiration, love or other reasons. Pokians who fell in love with non-Pokians would even sometimes inscribe their marks onto their lovers (with their consent) on some part of their body as a sort of promise/binding.

Different Pokians sometimes had different stances on this, the more conservative would feel it was disgraceful or tasteless. Others with more open-minded views saw no issue with it as long as the marks were treated with respect. Artopoki, culture loving and open-minded as it was, has its own history of varying beliefs and laws instilled in the island. The last group of elders overseeing the islands governing before Artopoki fell was an even split between more conservative and less.

The people of Artopoki tended to stay within the island with the exception of leaving on excursions, travel, work, etc. However some Pokians longed for more and would settle off island or found themselves places and small communities they liked more, it was also customary for many Pokians to make a sort of pilgrimage away from the island to see the rest of the world and it was up to them whether or not to come back. Manu and Mahina were prime examples of Pokians who had a calling, but honed their life’s work off the island before finding their way back to their goddess call.

[alkhale]

So for Pokians is there signature sort of like there trademark? Like is there some registry to keep from people having repeat designs? And if so what happened to it

Yes! Their mark would work in place of a signature. Typically it would be recorded once in the island’s registry when they received it. This registry was burned to protect any Pokians from being discovered when the island was under siege and is now lost. Hoku does, however, have several documents from Artopoki stashed away on Dawn Island. These may be the last remaining documents the island has of their registry.

[alkhale]

May I know what happened to the blood Hoku gave to Law.? Did he use it for his tattoo or smth.??

Hahaha, he just used it to study! It was a small vial of it he ended up doing some research on. He’s learned quite a bit for it and that meeting’s sparked an interesting focus for him as a doctor in learning more about Pokian anatomy and Pokians themselves.

[alkhale]

I LOVE MAHINA PLEASE GIMME SOME RANDOM FACTS ABOUT HER LIKE HOW TALL WAS SHE FAVORITE LEAST FAVORITE FOOD WAS SHE AFRAID OF INSTECTS DID SHE LIKE FLUFFY MIHAWK HAT DID SHE PLAN ON HAVING KIDS BEFORE HER DEAL WITH MANU HOW MANY SWORDS DID SHE MAKE DOES SHE LIKE COLD WEATHER OR DOES SHE HAS COLD FEET BIG SPOON OR LITTLE SPOON DID MIHAWK AND HER HAD A ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP OR PLATONIC IF SHE GOT TO LIVE WHAT WOULD HER GREATEST SWORD LOOK LIKE DID SHE HAVE A FAVORITE COLOR thanks and sorry ilovya!

HAHAHAHAHA I LOVE THIS MAHINA LOVE, I LOVE HER AND MANU TOO OKAY THANK YOU FOR LOVING THEM <3

I know sometimes stories that get too bogged down with OCs can turn some people away, but I’m really happy and thankful and GLAD you guys liked them so much ;-;

(I have to be wary of spoilers, but here you go!)

Mahina

- Her favorite food was grilled seafood, specifically the best kinds you could eat skewered. Her least favorite is anything too sweet. She likes kalo berries more than kiionohi because they have a more subtle favor and nutrients.

- Insects don’t bother her! Mahina was always the kind of woman who could shove her hands into a hole in the ground to find good ores and pull them out covered in worms and creepy-crawlers but she just brushed them off. 

- She was particularly fond of the birds and the horses that were native to Artopoki. The cremellos and palaminos that live there are wild horses, but many are painted with different coming of age markings because from time to time, a Pokian will live beside the herd and slowly try to form a bond with one horse, build a working relationship with it and in a sense, “ask” it for services for however long before releasing it back into the wild. It was customary to paint your marking somewhere on the horse to show you owed it a life and debt. (The horses with more markings are especially proud because they feel they’ve done a good service)

- She loved the flowers of Artopoki, especially the sea lotuses. (They grow in small, still lulls of seawater along the island coast or on sandy shores) They tended to grow white but could inherit the color of something around them. 

- They were her favorite flower to carve into her markings and Mau’s original guard was in the shape of one until she changed it to a star shaped guard when she planned to give it to Hoku. 

- Her mother passed away giving birth to her and her father was a man of the forge who worked himself to death and drank a lot, he never hurt her though or treated her particularly bad, they just were never very close. Mahina grew up around fire and brimstone and the heat of metal, and she was more of an apprentice to him than a daughter. He did leave her with some valuable skills and parting words she kept with her.

- She and Manu are childhood friends, they’ve known each other since birth. She thinks Manu’s drawings are always the best.

- Manu’s brother wanted to marry her once, she told him if he could ever kill her in a sword fight she’d do it. (He never could.)

- Many Pokians advise against the practice/habit but it wasn’t uncommon for rowdier, wilder Pokians to bet a life on the sake of something. Mahina was one of the rowdier ones.

- “If that sword breaks on you, you can cut me down.”

- Mahina was considered one the greatest weapon crafters Artopoki had seen in a long time. Her weapons were classes and grades above others but specifically her swords. They thought her father taught her some kind of skill, but Mahina says, “The forge and the metal were the first voices I ever heard.”

- She developed her own coating technique. Every Pokian who coats uses different mixtures based on their blood they make themselves, but hers were on another level.

- Women of Artopoki tend to lean toward crafting and the forge while the men were actually often more inclined to be artists, both work places and schools were always fairly even, but there tended to be a bit more of the other respectively. 

- Mahina was the type of Pokian to have more feline features (sharper canines, very agile movements and balance, the gold in her eyes tended to be an almost feline-like slit) some Pokians tended to inherit that trait but they’re not really sure of reasons but they have speculative sayings like, “More of the goddess in that one.” or “You’ve got her touch.”

- She loves Mihawk’s hat. Originally it didn’t come with the plume and she found it and felt like it really completed the look. He never said no.

- The cross-knife was one of the first things she ever forged for Mihawk, he wore it with him always and preferred not to use it. When Mahina had to return to Artopoki, he gave it back to her to hold onto and when they met again, she gave it back to him.

- She and Mihawk traveled together for many years while both building names for themselves, they had to find funds to make their travels around and often set up shop like the scene with her and Tsuru where Mahina would sell weapons and swords and Mihawk would demonstrate how well they cut.

- They’ve traveled to many places, I wonder where?

- Mahina is a few years older than Mihawk!

- Was it romantic or platonic? Mmm, this question has been asked many times and I’ll answer like always by not really answering--they were very close and each other’s greatest friends, they trusted each other more than anyone else. Partners through and through.

- Mahina never really thought about having kids but she didn’t mind the idea, her swords were always her children first.

- Mahina is terrible with cold weather but Manu always seemed to move just fine in it.

- How many swords? Hahahaha I wonder...

- I guess she’s the big spoon? She always fell asleep with her head against her swords and the swords in her arms.

- Mahina was the more easy-going parent. Manu was usually the stricter one between the two and more ferocious and protective, Mahina’s the kinda mom that would let her four-year-old hold her swords and sit next to her while she sharpened them.

- Her favorite color is any shade of metal.

- She was never sure what the greatest sword would ever look like, she figured she’d know when the time came for her to make it, but she did know what she wanted to name it and the epithet she wanted it to carve and cut for itself.

- She wanted to name it Hoku. A sword that could cut through stars.

[alkhale]

Hear me out, okay? I theorize the reason why Hoku is so lucky is due to her having been reincarnated before. She has 9 lives in this life, yeah? Hoku essentially has 10 lives if you include her past life. Most Pokians we've met so far aren't so lucky (dead, hiding, slavery). Pokians also have 9 lives (which depend) and 9 is considered an unlucky number in Asia. Hoku is the only Pokian so far who avoids these unfornate fates. Our girl really was borned under an auspicious star.

OMG YOU’RE ON THAT SHIT TOO YES YES YES

I’ve been using nine as an unlucky number for some of the things she avoids and luck/superstition/lore are bigger themes in Memos fo sho. Hoku’s luck theme is mostly centered around the idea of believing she’s unlucky because she’s met w Luffy and co but actually being lucky because, yknow

The nine lives and cat theme was a choice on my part because of a certain phrase people say from time to time ;)

[alkhale]

But I've to ask : Imagine someone has a very dilute Pokian blood (but he's destined to be an artist), the goddess can call him or not ?

It would definitely depend how far down the line this person was. Say, if their great-great grandmother was Pokian, then there’s a chance. But if it was their great-great-great-great grandmother, the line may have thinned to much. But perhaps the kid would be born with a pretty good artistic sense/crafting talent or so, etc.