I might have mentioned that Seggin is one of my favourite guys to use for exploring some more high concept Zora lore. Here he is modelling for my musings on Zora casual/military wear.
Read more for details~~
First pic, going from top left.
Bazz - he's here in his standard casual set mostly for reference. He's actually a bit shorter and bulkier than Seggin was at his age (he might have that Seggin Look, but some of his mom's genes do show through).
Young adult (casual outfit) - very standard look for a young man of a highborn family. Includes arm and ankle braces, elaborate belt and (most prominently) really fancy neck piece showcasing the family crest. It's common for nobility to have multiple jewelry pieces of each type and swap them around for fashion reasons. The family crest always stays though.
(By the way, this jewelry logic is specific to nobility. Royals have their own, different ways and common born folk usually don't bother with most of this stuff at all).
Young adult (standard issue armor) - Seggin joins the army at the usual age of around 70 and thus gets outfitted in the standard armor. He has to use the basic design belt, as at this rank he's not allowed to stand out.
Adult (married) - Seggin gets arranged married to another highborn military Zora, Yatga, in his 110s (more details on the wedding later in comments to pic 2).
Non-royalty Zora women follow the princesses in giving their fiances "armor" as an engagement gift. "Armor" is usually a custom jewelry piece, bigger and more elaborate depending on the woman's wealth. Yatga's "armor", the belt adornments, is actually rather modest for her social standing, as her family doesn't possess that much cash (part of the reason why she got married to much wealthier but lower status Seggin).
Additionally, their family crests get combined into a new one to signify a creation of a new household.
Seggin's casual outfit now includes his engagement adornments and a new crest on his necklace. He keeps his belt with an old crest, which isn't that uncommon. With a bit of heraldry knowledge you can tell a highborn Zora's life story just looking at their jewelry~
Adult (Royal Knight) - Seggin is talented (and good looking) enough to get assigned to the royal knight branch of the military (in the past the Zora army was much more extensive with many specialized branches, after the Calamity it shrunk to just the Guard).
The royal knight armor is purely ceremonial and is only worn for looking good around the palace. This time Seggin is allowed to keep his personal belt jewelry.
Adult (early Calamity - Sergeant) - Seggin dons the standard armor once again, as it is the more practical outfit. He is now high enough rank to keep the fancy belt, but ditches the engagement "armor". At this point in time his wife is already dead, their relationship was never particularly good and the bulky adornments aren't great for fighting.
Adult (late Calamity - acting Captain) - Seggin was never anyone's first choice for a commander, but he proved astonishingly difficult to kill (despite his best efforts) and eventually kinda found himself the highest rank officer left on the battlefield. He's wearing a captain's finned helmet and a captain's sash fashioned in the improper way (as it was not officially bestowed on him) taken from some poor deceased superior.
Adult (post-Calamity) - after a few years spent exclusively in armor, Seggin is back to a casual outfit. It's basically the same as his married one, minus the engagement adornments.
Adult (Guard Captain) - after the Calamity the army is decimated and the Zora have only enough resources to keep one branch functional - the Domain Guard. Seggin gets the Captain position by default, as he is the most experienced soldier left available. The Captain armor is a cross between functional and ceremonial; it has to signal power and status (it is the Domain Guard, part of the job is intimidating the citizens) but also be comfortable enough for actual fighting. Seggin keeps his personal belt, as usual.
Elder (Council member) - current day Seggin, after getting forcibly retired from his Guard Captain position. The outfit consists of casual jewelry (although the necklace has become more elaborate) with the Council member sash on top. The sash is tied in the way reminiscent of the Guard Captain style (it's customary for councilmen to fashion them after their previous positions) and is decorated with a "military" brooch. As an elder, Seggin can now also wear a tail adornment.
Pic 2 - the wedding of Seggin and Yatga.
The highborn Zora life kinda sucks when it comes to relationships, as they have to navigate a very annoying set of social expectations and arranged marriages are the norm.
Seggin's and Yatga's marriage is a clear example of this - they had no interest in each other outside of some respect in terms of fighting skills. Her family was extremely high status in social terms (ties to royalty, Ocean blood, long history) but not too wealthy, Seggin's was less fancy but held considerably more actual wealth. Yatga got married off as soon as it was proper (at 100), while Seggin was a bit older (late 110s).
They were married under Nayru (the most proper, old way, typical for the high nobility. no divorces.) in the military custom, so armor + best jewelry + (in Seggin's case) engagement "armor". Yatga's wearing a cape, as she already holds a minor position in the Zora Diplomatic Mission to Hebra.
Their family crests got combined into a new one (or, technically, two, as every crest has a male and female design, another annoying part of the highborn culture) and they both had to swap out their old necklace centerpieces (it's even part of the ceremony and all).
(Seggin's old family crest is still in use actually, but in female version, as his younger sister did the smart thing and never married. They're no contact though so who knows what she's up to these days).
After the wedding Yatga waited for the first moment having a kid wouldn't be too inconvenient, stayed with baby Bazz just until it was mostly sure he would survive tadpolehood, and immediately ditched the whole family business to go back to Hebra (possibly with the person she actually liked). Seggin was, if anything, a bit offended, but ultimately took it well, as he had no interest in relationships in the first place. All this resulted in Bazz being raised by the extended family and later Rivan's parents.
Pic 3 - since I was in Seggin mood I drew a little scene of the man showing actual genuine warmth. Shame it's not your son, dude >:U The princess already has at least two dads, she doesn't need you unlike -some- other kids.
der Kulturpalast...von außen und innen (aus dem Raum der Tontechniker heraus gesehen)
Ausstellung verschiedener Kunstprojekte der Schüler in einem der Vorräume
3.-5. Klasse beim gemeinsamen Flötenvorspiel...wir hörten: Die Europa-Hymne (”Freude, schöner Götterfunke”) - man beachte das neue Emblem der Schule im Hintergrund
Schauspiel der deutschen Theater-AG (also die teilnehmenden Schüler sind natürlich mongolisch, aber es gibt auch noch eine englische Theater-AG, daher die Spezifizierung) - es gab “Schneewittchen” [mit Judith als böser Stiefmutter-Königin] ...und den sieben mehr oder weniger “zwergigen” Zwergen
Gwen mit ihrem “naiz” - also Freund...interkulturelle Beziehungen pflegen nennt man sowas, glaube ich
ein traditionelles mongolisches Musikstück - die Schülerin spielt auf einer “Yatga” bzw. “Yatuga”, einer Art Zither - ich weiß nicht genau, ob da ein Unterschied gemacht wird, ich denke, es bedeutet beides das gleiche
[für mehr Informationen zu traditionellen mongolischen Instrumenten: http://www.face-music.ch/instrum/mongolia_instrumde.html ]
die Mongolen turnen gerne und gut - auf Wettbewerben natürlich auch...außerhalb der Mongolei haben sie - wie bekannt sein dürfte - allerdings direkt um sich herum so starke Konkurrenz, dass man sich doch lieber auf den nationalen Vergleich beschränkt
This was a surprisingly short-lasted meeting. We all gathered in the conference room, paired ourselves up, and then they took us right on home with them.
Khandaa and Bolormaa were there to pick me up. Khandaa was wearing her hair up and her black/white speckly winter coat. They were both really nervous/quiet, which was interesting because I was the same...
I sat in the front (left side) of their little blue SUV. They asked me if I spoke other languages. I said French. Bolormaa said darn, she speaks German. Khandaa pulled our her iPhone (a Chinese knock-off) and immediately asked if she could have my number. I didn't have a phone yet though... When we got home and parked Laura and her host dad and sister got out of the car that had just parked next to us haha. Apparently her family lives in the same building as mine, a couple entrance areas down. I was super relieved and happy to have her so close by.
We walked up to the third floor of the entrance area all the way to the right. I met the grandparents. They were really young, only in their 50s (barely older than my own parents...). But they seemed like grandparents. Khandaa tried to teach me some exercises on her yatga*, which is a zither, I think? [I am not a musician, I barely even know what a zither is, but I believe the internet]. Everyone was really nice but I think we were all really nervous. I was given Khandaa’s bedroom, which I felt sorta bad about. The grandparents had their own room and Khandaa just slept in the same bed as Bolormaa. I desperately wish I had pictures of this room (as if I’d ever forget it), but if I ever did have any they were all on my camera. [So, again, I don’t have them. but that story will be saved for June.... jesus christ that seems like a long ways away. can't believe i'm going to go through all of this...]
Khandaa is the sweetest, and she can speak English really well considering she's only been studying it two years. She made camomile tea for us when we got home. And then she made me an orange bracelet out of beads. :3
She asked me what kinds of music I listened to, and I INEXPLICABLY was like "rock music? justin timberlake?" ... which is the most ridiculous/inaccurate thing I could have possibly said. But I didn't think she would know the terms "hiphoptronica" or "experimental/industrial" or "dream pop"... So her response was: "Oh. I listen to Eminem." :D I seriously just love this girl, I miss her so much. I can't believe it's been a year since I met her.
*yatga is pronounced "yat-ag", roughly. the vowel at the end is...weird. I haven't had enough sleep to be able to speak English yet today. But when there's just a short vowel on the end there you switch it with the previous consonant. Don't even ask, I couldn't tell you.
