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Is the Vodyanoi from a Book of Creatures a hear me out?
Yes
Yes, but I get it
No
No, but I’m judging
[Clarification; yes = yea, that's a choice & no = that's rather tame/vanilla pick]
[This poll was submitted. If you'd like to submit a character, please send it over here to the askbox]
[Only requirement for submissions is that the character is fictional]
wow, i drew a merperson during may for once! 🧜♂️
More on Vodya Houses:
[Massive trigger warnings for racism, slavery, ableism, eugenics, AI, unethical science.]
The concept of Value: idea that every living being has to contribute towards global "value" in some way: either by production of goods, maintaining the ecosystem, research (production of global knowledge) or, failing that, slave labor. Value is often perceived egotistically, with whatever benefits the Vodya House being "valuable" and the rest, not. This leads most Vodya Houses to harbor an innate disdain for other forms of life, especially those that take no part in Vodya's own ecosystem and thus, serve no purpose in its existence. According to the Value Doctrine, the only type of value to be had from such life forms is slave labor.
Beings that are considered unable to provide Value legally lose rights to their own existence. This belief leads to horrific ableism, both mental and physical, among the Vodya, with heavily disabled individuals often being culled. Lesser degrees of "devaluation" predispose the individual to be shifted lower in the work hierarchy, eventually leading to slavery. Most proud members of the Vodya race would much rather die than be reduced to servants, however. This is hypocritical towards their own beliefs, as they openly preach slavery to be the more valuable alternative to death.
The Council of Value: each House possesses their own Council, which usually consists of the Chairs of their respective Cathedrals (with Cathedrals as homes to specific fields of scientific research, such as: Biosynergetics, Technosynergetics, Logistics, Physics, Chemistry, Thaumaturgichemistry, Mathematics, Geosystemics, Medicine, Social Systemics.)
A Chair is most often the lead Mind of their respective field, as in the scientist with the highest overall equivalent to our "impact factor", which is a scoring system used in science.
The Council of Value is the defacto ruling body of the House, the advisors of the Head of the House, who is a political representative and practically always a Chair themself. The Council's job is to decide on the optimal course of action for the House's development, as defined by the maximization of Value. The Council decides whether to approve experiments and pathways of development, evaluating the resource cost vs potential resource production. For this purpose, they often employ the House's Nexus Mind, an advanced risk management AI program.
Notable Vodyanoi:
Pist Shaz XI, Eleventh Head of Shaz. Chair of Technosynergetics, with multiple advanced achievements in related fields. A self-proclaimed Lord of the Seas, he ran House Shaz in an authoritarian manner with several contigents of neural-chipped and bioengineered thralls at his command - couresy of his collabiration with the Shaz Chair of Biosynergetics. He also possessed several squads of specialized Wonderlandian mercenaries as his private army. Ever since he began work on the Ocean Puzzle, he had spent most of his time in a private palace away from the main settlement of House Shaz, both for safety reasons and out of vanity. He was 300+ years old at time of death.
Xel Ort V, Fifth Head of House Ort at tender young age of 37. Heir to the House as per aristocratic nepotism - Ort are more traditional and value genetic lines. Royal children tend to be genetically engineered to inherit most desirable traits, maximizing intellectual ability. She does not yet possess Chairhood in any of the Council's fields, being an undergrad in the Cathedral of Thaumaturgichemistry. Despite this, her achievements are already remarkable and she had set out to further her Mist research in Wonderland, finding work with Anarchy. Still, being saddled with this much responsibility at a young age had left her with major anxiety issues and shaken her personal Value, as well as her political position. Currently on a quest to reaffirm her worth both to herself and to the Ort Council; Struggling with the concept of Value versus morality.
Gwent: The Witcher Card Game | The cards that could’ve been 56/?
Vodyanoi by:
Damian Żukowski, Freddie Littlewood, Gennadii Aiupov
Vodyanoi
Vodyanoy
Location: Russia and Eastern Europe
Threat Level: 5-7, depending on the type of Vodyanoy
Physical Description: Many different stories tell different physical appearances. Some can appear as a humanoid with horns and a tail. Some even look like a man in a red shirt, a pig, or even as a large fish. Some say they appear as a naked old man with a frog-like face, greenish bear, and long hair, with his body covered in algae and muck.
The Tsar Vodyanik, is the ruler of the Vodyanoy, or so to believe. He appears as an old man with a club. This club can create new rivers and lakes when the Tsar is risen to the sky and sits on a black cloud.
Local Stories: In Slavic mythology, these are known to be vindictive water spirits. They tend to drown humans and animals in the body of water they inhabitant. Many tend to live alone. Vodyanoy favor rivers with strong currents and swamps. It is dangerous to approach a body of water after sunset since this favors in the Vodyanoy. Worse during winters when the rivers in Siberia are icy.
Vodyanoy can break dams, wash away water mills, and drown humans and animals. Sometimes they can drag their victims to their underground homes to serve as a slave. To keep them at bay, fisherman, millers, etc. would leave them offerings. They would even ask the water kings (Vodyan Tsar) to refrain from washing their crops and homes each season.
Citations:
Britannica Atlas Obscura Wikipedia
Basics of Vodyanoi tech and resource exchange
Behold, a HC for one of the side species this time. Designing Xel's gear made me think about the similarities and differences in her equipment compared to that of Pist.
Mostly, it's differences. This is because the Vodya Technocracy is comprised of competitive houses that share their designs with extreme reluctance, leading to vast discrepancies between their technologies and advancement levels. In this scientific arms race, stragglers are quickly eliminated, leading to a cutthroat society that values innovation above all. The houses range from isolationist to actively xenophobic, both against other races and members of other houses. Some notably utilize slavery, seeing the "lesser races" as more akin to animals of burden than civilizations existing alongside them.
Example 1: Shaz technological style (sleek, purple/dark hued, streamlined, futuristic)
Example 2: Ort technological style (blocky, brass-colored)
The extreme exclusivity and arrogance of the Vodya people prevailed after the fall of their planet, bringing the already massacred population ever closer to complete extinction.
What irony for such a brilliant, long lived race, gifted by nature with a close approximation of immortality.
