You know. I often said that riakhou are a 99.9% aromantic species (there are neurodivergencies and exceptions like Wíla for example). But a big chunk of riakhou population would also fall on aplatonic spectrum.
It’s not that riakhou don’t have friendships. The term, or sometimes a close cultural equivalent exists, of course. But it is understood as something that requires effort and upkeep, rather than just. A bond that two riakhou have. Unless you are neurodivergent as a riakhou, then bonds are something that your brain does. But it affects a relatively small part of the overall population.
please tell me more about the stuff in the tags of your last fic, I love xenolinguistics! What if brother and sister were just correlated do to our gendernorms? What is sister in Alternian?
I mean, to be clear, that post is an excerpt, and far from the full fic which is still in process! But uhhh let's see. So in the tags you're addressing, I said
"what if 'motherfucker' and 'brother' are translated different but they're related words in alternian….
#what if 'brother' and 'sister' aren't different words theyre just translated in english based on gender but there's no distinction actually
#it's all the word I tend to translate as 'kin'/'family'/'fam' but gendered by english-speakers for comprehension"
My thought wasn't that there was a word for "sister" in Alternian, any more than a word for "brother"! In keeping with the minimal amount of gendering I try to do when I write trolls, I was thinking there could be a single word that just basically means "troll who is part of my 'family'", (although "family" here is its own kettle of fish on Alternia, more on that later). To a conversational learner of Alternian, it would be fairly natural to translate it according to the gender of the person being addressed, since calling someone "brother" or "sister" has more linguistic precedent than the gender-neutral address I've used in clown-fics before, which is "kin".
(I don't think I got that from canon, as far as I remember I came up with that because I wanted more queer characters and needed a gender-neutral church term of address for them, lol).
Bear in mind my worldbuilding is also partially predicated on the way I tend to write the clown church, which is a little more based on real life juggalos than some clown churches I've seen written in fics--I like the idea that purplebloods are still violent assholes to each other, but that they have a weird kind of cohesion, a default allyship with each other via the church that isn't quadranted and isn't necessarily in cahoots, but just expects a certain amount of kinship. "Family", or "troll-closer-than-friend", something that's not quite a quadrant but is closer than the average troll gets to have with other trolls, usually. I like the thought of other blood castes finding that deeply unsettling--and I also feel like it makes a certain amount of sense; both for the sort of weird troll equivalent of an ethnoreligious group and also for a comparatively smaller ruling class that has to keep the much more numerous, psionically-gifted masses in line.
But also as individuals they will certainly still challenge, undercut, and murder each other sometimes haha. They're Alternian trolls after all. ANYWAY
Terms of address in Alternian are actually a really fun concept, especially if I was playing around with the concept I talked about a little in later tags on that same post--that you can present yourself as a superior, inferior, or intentionally give zero inflection either way, which is risky in its own way if the person you're speaking to doesn't agree that you're equals. That actually meshes nicely with one of the few bits of xenolinguistics we do get in the comic, which is that apparently the troll word for "friend" is the same as the word for "enemy"! Which you could work in a couple of ways!
the word just essentially does mean "friend"/"troll I'm close to"--if you are actually friends, then cool. If not, it becomes more like a guy in a bar calling you "pal" and stepping into your space. Humans have their own dominance and submission tone indicators, and imposing closeness or familiarity on a person you aren't familiar with to that degree can be a threat in any language, so it would feel right to me if Alternian had the same thing but much more aggressively codified.
The word is understood as "friend" when it's said in a submissive/friendly/fawning stance, and "enemy" when it's said by a superior or dominant troll. This is actually also fun because it means that unless a highblood is explicitly lowering themself to use a less dominant tone, they're speaking to their social inferiors with pretty overt hostility.
To bring it back around to the original topic, I honestly like option two a little better--if any term of address can be dominant/hostile, submissive/fawning or neutral/equal, then Gamzee when he's introduced using the "equals" inflection of "brother/sister/etc" would carry on his canon vibe of not really acting like A Real Highblood. And then when murderstuck hit, he could drop all the way to a supposedly super friendly and harmless inflection on the "it's me :o)" sentences and an aggressive one on the "AND ALSO ME :o(" sentences.
"Motherfucker" is a fun one because carrying on the thought I was having in those tags, I was imagining "motherfucker" would be a very similar word in Alternian to "kin"--but smushed together with the Alternian for "fuck" and used in all sorts of ungrammatical ways. "Motherfucker" would make sense to me as an Anglicization of a word that in Alternian might mean something more like "(friend-closer-than-friend)fucker". After all, trolls don't have mothers--I think I've written before with the alternate headcanon that it refers to the Mother Grub, and is kind of profane/gross in that sense, but I also like the concept that part of the reason that we see so many purplebloods throwing "motherfuck(ing/er)" around is because they're also the ones who have a concept of "family" via the church, and a nonexistent translator was like "for readability I have not translated this literally but have instead used the nearest human equivalent" lol.
so when trolls are fighting. (not dueling. thats a spades term) its custom to at least try to avoid to leave any visible markings – scrapes, bites, bruises – that can't be easily covered up. visible scars have Implications; it's the loud statement that you don't like each other –and you don't like each other so much that you're physically fighting over it, oh and one more thing, YOU'RE WINNING, and you want this to be painfully obvious to anybody who glances either of you down on the street
it's not explicitly kismetic, but it's One Of Those Things, the same way a human may decline an offer to go have dinner with someone because it's awkwardly a step too far into 'being a date' – even though by all counts it's just food, man.
like the majority of esoteric social customs, they are practiced by and large by the bluebloods – when you've not spent all your energy on "i need to make sure he doesn't kill me" you can start thinking about "did the way i punch him look, um, weird to anybody else?"
So it bothered me that the Alternian alphabet didn't have unique symbols for numbers, so i decided to create some. This lead to me adding in some of the Greek alphabet, since you have Ψiioniic, I figured it made sense. I also added in a few more punctuation symbols.
I plan to find a way to convert these into actual working ttf files, and also make a few font variations. But I have to get ready for DnD now, so another time.
I’d love to see a “carnivore/herbivore social schism” story that plays around with how easy it is to poison carnivores, as a Hobbesian way to balance the scales and make it more about different forms of power rather than a clumsy Oppression Metaphor
You could have radical herbivore groups with holly berries and yew trees as their symbols, it’d be great
Nonhuman culture where showing skin is a sign of trust and comfort.
Cross-species interaction where one person is getting more and more scantily clad over time and the other one has to go “I have been noticing a thing that you are doing, so cultural check-in time. I’m gonna write down what “wearing less clothing” means in my culture and you do the same. Then we’re going to compare notes, discuss the intended meaning, and how we’re going to each act out and/or interpret that behaviour in the future.
Actually, more cross-species interactions where that’s standard protocol cause cultural miscommunications are going to be happening all over and some people are going to stick to their own culture’s stuff and other people are going to try to code-switch and everything will be confusing for everyone otherwise. Especially for non-integrated cultures where they aren’t used to each others’ idiosyncrasies or when there’s no Database of Cultural Differences to consult, and Double Especially for first contact.
A little tidbit on Wuvumian Riakhou naming system, featuring several characters I've introduced in passing on this blog already. Nonàmiv, Dr. Wíla Rem, a nd Kje No Mŷn as well as 2 new characters.
Wuvumian riakhou naming system uses the following paradigm:
Prefix'Kàna Name Title (Optional) Personal Name Clan Name
We'll delve into riakhou societies, explain some concepts (such as a very prevalent on Wuvum and among spacer riakhou concept of kàna) and examine a couple outliers for a good measure
Let's dissect this by examining Wíla first.
Ao’Mikanohi Dr. Wíla Rem
Ao — a prefix explaining a riakhou’s relationship to their kàna, separated from kàna’s name by an apostrophe. Not all riakhou will share with outsiders what their relationship to their kàna is or what the prefix they use means.
Mikanohi — kàna name. Kàna name is sometimes translated as ‘Allegiance Name’.
Kàna is a religious concept which serves as a basis for several riakhou religions. (Collectively referred to as kànaic religions) The most common explanation for kàna is the universe exchanging a part of itself with a part of a riakhou’s soul. Although Wíla themself is agnostic, they still adapted a kàna name due to the cultural zeitgeist they grew up in. (Depending on how conservative the place is, riakhou without kàna names may be given less opportunities or be seen as less trustworthy)
Dr. — that’s Wíla’s academic degree. They have a doctorate in Nanoscience and Nanotech Engineering.
Wíla — that’s their personal name.
Rem — the last name in riakhou is sometimes translated as clan name. In Wíla’s case it’s the last name that all riakhou who emerged from the same pool as them got. Some of them are Wíla’s clutchmates, others Wíla is not related to. But they’re all Rems. Given that they live in roughly the same region and some of them are related, could they be classified as a clan? Perhaps! Not all of them will see it that way though.
It’s not uncommon for Wíla to be referred to as Dr. Rem by their human colleagues or as just Ao’Mikanohi by their fellow riakhou.
A little outlier, given that Nonàmiv is a spacer riakhou, but their name still follows the formula. Nonàmiv usually goes by a nickname created by mashing their kàna name and their personal name together. Mashing up different parts of their names (not just kàna / personal) is a fairly popular thing to do among riakhou.
They also have changed their kàna name at one point in their life.
Unlike in Wíla’s case, we do know the meaning of the prefixes describing Nonàmiv's relationship to both of their kàna.
W — the prefix W can be most often translated as "from", but it will vary depending on what the kàna name it's paired with is. In Nonàmiv's case it's more akin to "child of".
Nonàroh́i — Nonàroh́i was a riakhou vessel that Mivouḧn spent the first years of their life on. Until descending upon an alien planet to conduct field research, Nonàroh́i was all that Mivouḧn had known.
Dzḯ — the prefix can be translated as "one who cultivated since planting". It refers to an escape pod split from Nonàroh́i, called Nonàmaqi.
Nonàmaqi — Nonàmaqi was an escape pod which could be — if need arose — grown into a new ship. It was cultivated into a base camp by Nonàmiv after crash-landing on an alien planet. Nonàmiv felt connected to Nonàmaqi so strongly that they took the pod's name as their new kàna name.
Mivouḧn — their personal name. They only let people close to them call them that.
Xuq — Nonàmiv's last name.
Kje No Mŷn (ケーのミーン) (Kje Mŷnqir̄ / Mŷnqir̄ of Kje)
And yet another outlier, for a good measure. Kje No Mŷn, despite being Wuvumian, doesn't follow the traditional Wuvumian naming scheme (at least for their species). Although the No in their name could be derived from the city they’re from (Novipom), Mŷnqir̄ uses it like a particle (as to say they're Mŷnqir̄ of Kje), thus, their name aligns more closely with human naming convention on Wuvum, which goes.
Title (Optional) Last Name Signifier First / Personal Name
Signifiers differ slightly among human cultures of Wuvum but usually indicate whether a person chose their surname, inherited it (from which parent's side also), or took it upon marriage. We'll examine that with the help of two human characters.
Just like in Wíla's case, Mŷnqir̄'s last name is derived from the pool they hatched from. Said pool is located in the Kje district of the city of Novipom.
And now for 2 new characters to be introduced! Wíla's research partners, Oscar and Yasemin!
Mg. Vuota teu Oscar
Mg. — Magister, Oscar's academic title. On Wuvum Magistrate is equivalent to Master's Degree (there's no equivalent to Bachelor's). Oscar has a magistrate in astronomy.
Vuota — Oscar's last name.
teu — The signifier. In Oscar's case it denotes a partner's surname taken as one's own.
Oscar — his personal name.
Dr. Majdlénchatt' mian Yasemin
Dr. — Yasemin's academic title. She has a doctorate in Astrophysics.
Majdlénchatt' — Yasemin's Surname. In the culture Yasemin comes from, the surname given is the surname of the mother + order in which child was born. In Yasemin's case, her mother's name is Majdlén and Yasemin is her fourth child.
mian — signifier, denotes that a surname is mother's name + birth order.
