#the rewrite.

[calormen]

Anyhow, the Archenlanders are more dryad/naiad/faun mix than human at this point. The Calormenes are more human leaning, though there are flecks of dryads and naiads of oasis and cacti and other desert native foliage. Telmar were humans mixed with selkies, merfolk, and other oceanic creatures.

Humans are rare in Narnia, so much so that even exposed time in Narnia once accepted by its magic will change you.

This is why the Caspian line are so very human until Caspian X is born, raised with Old Telmarine and Narnian tradition in secret opening his heart. The Caspians are colonisers, rejected by Narnia's magic due to the harm they caused since the first Caspian stumbled into Narnia and started these terrible acts.

[calormen]

I'll have to show my designs at some point, but Aravis has Oasis Naiad blood-- water has memory, and I think something like that fits with her skills in storytelling. Lasaraleen has cacti dryad blood, and her flowers bloom consistently and are lauded as some of the most beautiful in the Calormene empire.

Cor and Corin are dryad blooded, their designs reflect it easily. It doesnt very much tie into their personalities, but it serves as a sort of parallel-- how Corins dryad blood lauds him in Archenland vs how it does nothing for Cor in Calormen.

Nature magic is just inherently normal in certain people in Narnia ( the world ), it's a land of magic, but the gifts generally come through blood and how genuine a person is. It really reflects general need and environment. For example, Caspian X's power awakened when he started boatmaking-- something latent from his mothers side of the family ( she was an Old Telmarine, someone who kept the old practises of her people alive despite the Caspian rule alongside others of her people, and passed these stories and traditions onto Caspian X ) that allowed him to navigate easily, manipulate waters and the breeze to fill a sail. It's something he spends his life cultivating and passing down to his children.

But yeah, I'm relatively insistent in the kingdoms not being Human occupied in the way the Pevensies are human unless its specifically stated, and visual designs and such will be released and these ideas will be expanded on in full worldbuilding posts on my respective blog soon 🥰

[calormen]

                                                         AS  THE  POETS  SAY  .                 backs turn from vertical waves  &  narnia enters a new age of lovers .

[calormen]

I have a bunch of creatures and beasts in Calormen aside from dryads and naiads ( they're rather rare, since unlike in Narnia and Archenland there aren't grove dryads and such), such as Mirages ( beings of pure magic that can communicate telepathically and such, creating the mirages of the desert ) and salt nymphs and things like that to name a couple which I'm excited to go into.

[calormen]

in which, certain people do not die in a mass of crumpled metal, jagged railway lines, and so much ashen coal. in which peter stays on with susan in new york city, earning his doctorate to save those he once could not. in which susan sits and corresponds with polly, in which she explores a second womanhood and comes into herself-- finds purpose in women’s studies and holding a hand to those who need it. in which the pevensie’s parents are members of the community, a scholar and a nurse.

in which polly and digory live another 5 or 10 years and greet the elder two with smiles, along with a cousin, lanky now, learned, and his dearest friend. they did not perish, either. they thrive in school, further education, assisted by the pockets of now endeared family friends in exchange for gatherings on the holidays.

in which, only two perished on that train on the way to the professor’s home, after spending a heart warming night of story trading and letter writing in the scrubb’s household, eustace, edmund, lucy and jill huddled up in eustace’s room, windows wide and air almost crisp. 

in which, edmund and lucy have been feeling that wardrobe-train-station-painting pinch of magic for a month prior, and the light had returned to their eyes and the spark to their tone and the vigour to their movement. in which they make their peace, with anticipation of a true home to revisit in their stomach, and leave with no regrets ---- written books in the forms of diaries on lucy’s nightstand back in new york, and diaries in the white-out pages of old books in edmund’s.

one is published, fifteen years later, by a sister filled with comfort and a brother given closure, from the comfort of inherited estates turned school-boarding house. the originals of each sit in a wardrobe, dutifully dusted each week.

[calormen]

what do u think is the difference between a king and a high king of narnia?

when there is more than one monarch, one is given the term ‘high’ to express seniority / the fact they’re the figurehead of the current monarchy. it doesn’t necessarily give them the most power, it simply grants them the ability to be the face of the country. 

for example ( in regards to my headcanons & rewrite ), i don’t believe peter holds the most power in the pevensie quad. susan and edmund do. however, peter was the eldest at time of crowning, and so he had a sense of seniority. it developed into him becoming the face of the pevensie reign, despite him arguably holding the least power. he retired from military after maybe five years, so at eighteen, and doesn’t have the finesse edmund and susan do in court and holding court. of course, he holds high court on a script and works on instinct there for most of the reign, but mostly he’s tasked with visiting countries and keeping things civil and friendly, while susan keeps cair paravel and all visitors. he is outsourced. 

it’s essentially a title so people know who to defer to as the head of the monarchy, even if they aren’t the actual head. it’s important people know there is one, to show structure and lack of a power struggle.