#worldbuiltober

[katjapetersart]

Worldbuiltober Day 16: Weapon. Traditional dragonborn life in the north of Treniskoa is harsh. They have many ways of arming against the cold.

Dragonborn wear very thick, leather clothing in the long winter. They often wear their traditional embroidered tunics over it. Drakelets are naturally more protected by a coat of rough feather-like fuzz. There are plenty of huge, furred beasts around for high-quality fur. Dire wolf is a common choice.

Dragonborn live together in large homes. They are well-insulated by a layer of earth, heated by fire and the general presence of people. Food and its preservation is a huge weapon against the cold. Well-fed dragonborn can use their ignitious venom. That fire is one of the most important ways dragonborn have been able to adapt to the tundra. Some cultures even bottle the two types of venom to use as a convenient liquid firestarter when poured together.

Dragonborn food is traditionally mostly carnivorous, and very spicy. Being immune to most of the compounds that make velyonal plants inedible for terramporhs and sylvanoids, they use the strong flavours as preservatives. Humans have reported traditional dragonborn food as way too spicy and pungent to eat. Dragonborn kitchens draw much negative attention with their pungent smokers. The quisine includes alcohol, spicy dried large cuts, pickles, (smoked) sausages, frozen raw meat, grilled cuts, and the occasional mushroom or fruit. The velyonal plants that appear in polar night are an important source of food, preservatives and most importantly flavor.

[katjapetersart]

Worldbuiltober day 23: Massive. A smallish adult dragon rears up to display.

Dragons in Lanjari can reach sizes that rivalled large dinosaurs. Once they reach adulthood, they mostly lose the ability to fly. Their wing fingers stop growing, broaden and thicken, their front limbs becoming more pillar-like. They become much more obligatory quadrupedal and only rarely rear up. When young, they fill a large aerial diving predatory role. Once adult, they fill a lair-building ambush role. Many have at this point gotten a support structure for their large size through statecraft or habitat and animal control. Their new limbs become more suitable for digging, especially their first digit on their first set of limbs.

It is not a hard cut-off: some retain gliding into adulthood. A good chunk do still choose to fly through arcane means, which is an incredible sight.

[katjapetersart]

Worldbuiltober day 21: Diverse.

A representation of The Many in its diversity.

Elves call themselves "The Many" in Elvish. They are a very diverse species, with several ethnicies and depending on who you ask, a subspecies too! High elves, tall and slender. Wood elves, curly-eared and rectangular. Cavelves, small, stout with their whiskers, fur and big ears. Their mixtures: plains elf, tundra elf, deep elf... and that's just describing a part of their genetic heritage.

Sun elf, high elf, tundra elf, coastelf, plains elf, northern woodself, southern woodself, Mixed- even drow. The Many has various names for its cultural groups.

Cavelves have historically never belonged to the Many. In recent times, with a clearer seperation between the species group cavelf and the cultural group drow, they have become more accepted. Even now, the politically correct term for cavelves is "The Few". Most other terms for them in Elvish are (originally) derogatory.

Left to right. Not including cultural groups- many of these people would not call themself the names given here.

Back row:

Plains elf tossing their child. A fey-blooded elf with a head covering and glasses. A chubby plains elf. A wood-elf with low ear curling expression. A high elf with bodymodded ears. A wood elf with a head covering. A very thin tundra elf. A high elf with cropped ears.

Middle:

A wood elf with dreadlocks.

Front row:

A cavelf with a sun hat. Wheelchair using high elf with glasses. A plains elf child with their dog. An elderly plains elf. A baby high elf. A teenage cavelf wearing furs. A power wheelchair using high elf. A fat high elf. A cavelf wearing a sun hat. A cavelf with dwarfism.

[katjapetersart]

Worldbuiltober day 5: Dance.

Many cultures dance. The dances are as varied as the people that perform them. In Lanjari, there are more dances than names for them! From top to bottom, left to right:

Dragonborn stomping dance. Performed in trios, this earthshaking rythm dance focuses on in-out movements, keeping beat, power, and generally having a very loud and fun time!

Elvish autumn dance. This duo dance is performed in four parts, one for each of the seasons. It is a graceful, illustrative performance that requires the dancers to be in sync, daring and very flexible. Dancers go lower and lower, all while keeping their leaf-shaped dangles spinning.

Dwarvish wrestle act. Some might call it a performance, some a dance, some a wrestling match- this powerful display of strength requires mock wrestling the partner with specific steps until a winner is declared by the audience. Moves include pushing, pulling, stomping in rythm, mirroring each others movements and loud yells.

Orc chant performance. This dance, performed with voice, shield and spear, is used to summon good luck and ferocity. It is an awesome display of weight, power and fast spear movements. Some call the chanting deafening, especially when performed in a large group.

Halfling jumping jig. Halflings specialize in fast-paced, tap-dance like footwork. This dance is focused on jumps with increasing complexity, all while keeping very tight beat! The first to lose their rythm and not make their way back to the dancing surface on the beat loses.

Bluebolt seated ribbon dance. Thought to have originated in a way to symbolise wings and soaring flight, this thin ribbon dance involves rolling and posing all while keeping the ribbon flowing beautifully.

Orc chant dance inspired by the Fairmeadow comic by Kendra P.

[katjapetersart]

Worldbuiltober Day 17: Rage.

An elf parent gives children who played too rough some advice.

Elves are very caring for their young children. Elflins ears stand up at around 12 years of age. Until then, most elves in a community will care for elflins, but especially their parents or direct family. They are relient on parental care for the first twenty or so years of their life. Once they enter their centurling stage between twenty and adulthood, they are integrated into the community. The focus shifts from general education to finding their career, identity and adult purpose. They usually self-proclaim adulthood at a century of age, and take an adult name.

The sylvanoid sorrow response is wailing through the nose and chattering teeth. The lips tighten and the eyes can squint close on particularly intense moments. On adults, the ears will fold. Elflin ears are already folded, making them look the equivalent of puppy-eyed at all times.

The angry facial expression is sometimes misinterpreted as a smile by humanoids. The wrathful snarl usually isn't.

[katjapetersart]

Worldbuiltober day 10: Ship.

A Bluebolt warehouse. Seems it's busy as always!

Dclfin Trricti, or the Bluebolt Trading Company, is a huge kottold-ran trading company in Treniskoa. They are fast, efficient and low-profile runners of goods. They are suppliers of pigments, fabrics, secondary production materials, tools and especially buttons and other small crafting neccesities.

They are most well-known for running relay shipments. They can get a fish from the shore to the mountains faster than the local train. Their dog-like size means even rough roads are accessible to their little carts. Their wide-spread network mean they are nearly universally accessible.

Many higher-up Bluebolts also run trading caravans, with other species under their lead.

[katjapetersart]

Worldbuiltober Day 4: Ancient.

The Azure Arcanist: Trricticiuaen. The Azure Arcanist is one of the great Dragons in Lanjari. She is considered a force of nature akin to a god, ruling over several kingdoms to fuel her need for arcane understanding. Some raise offense with her magical power over others, as she’s the financial overlord of all the trade routes in the region, and has mental influence over the significant leaders.

Her arcane work makes her highly interested in materials. Her insatiable curiosity makes it so that the towns and cities around her are a source of intrigue and materials rather than prey. Her huge clan of kottolds are more than willing to make trades and expand the empire.

As long as the local peoples give her and her clan tribute, space and suitable materials for her wizardry, she extends protection. Her influence extends to directly mentally influencing the people of local towns and villages. It is well known that she magically influences others to gain her goals of more arcane knowledge and power. But her influence makes trade good in the region, encourages working together with her and the Trricti Clan, and for the last few centuries, has made peace in the region.

Her clan of kottolds is known as Dclfin Trricti, or the Bluebolts in Common. They treat her like a benevolent leader as much as a god. They, and the Azurist herself, are known for the invention of phtalo blue. Many dyeshops and paint producers are relient on the Bluebolts for their blues. "Dragonblue", a specific shade of saturated, dark phtalo blue, is prized for its beauty all around the continent Treniskoa. Bluebolt kottolds use it for their cultural facepaint.

Their name, Bluebolt, comes from the blue bolts of fabric they first became famous for.

[katjapetersart]

Worldbuiltober day 11: Soar.

A Lemmet model airship races across the skies. One of the pilots hangs from the trapeze to try and control its roll.

Airships are an experimental, up-and-coming technology in Treniskoa. They're powered by specific spells that make anything they touch fly. By putting these gems in balloons of gas, their output can more easily be controlled. The helmsfolk controls the lift and power on the gems and the single propellor. The Lemmet, from the Skyrent AeroWorks Company, is one of the few practical airship models out there. After the creation of the famously dangerous Dragon, the very first airship, it has taken around fourty years to get to a point where they are reaseonably safe.

If your crew is highly skilled, very agile and very capable, of course.

The development of air vessels has led to a push for innovation in the train and road industry. Airships are not considered a threat to land-based industry, but many believe they soon will. The Lemmet can transport around four people. The preferred crew has been two people and cargo. Crew wear harnesses of Feather Falling. They are also magically tethered to their ship, next to physical ropes.