Kitchen And Craft Wix Corner (Exciteable Bird, Enter At Own Risk)

What sort of creatures other than unicorns exist?

 

So far I've not decided for sure, especially since they still have myths and stuff, but presumably since Vela (Sindri's oldest daughter) wants to be a horsebreeding dragonslaying princess saving superhero one day, Dragons probably are, though idk if they are *exactly* like our dragon myths or if the dragons are mostly small ones that don't actually pose MUCH of a risk to humans but are more like Lämmergeier in actuality? but the myths of 'high dragons' or 'ancient dragons' or whatever still exists much like how people are convinced weird cryptid monster versions of normal animals exist?

 

How do the marriage laws/customs work? Since at least one of your guys has multiple spouses

 

They work entirely based upon my whims
The Jarldom allows basically infinite spouses (and handfasts!) especially for the purposes of better community building and raising stronger children etc etc. Sindri Eirsson, the current Jarl, is especially known to handfast girls who would otherwise bear children out of wedlock and treats these children fully as his own (because he's trans and didn't think he would have children by blood but Oops Divine Attention) so he has three wives (and a husband/boyfriend) (He and felici haven't really publically married or handfasted yet because The Pregnancy caused a lot of drama) who stayed with him after the handfasts ran out and is usually handfasted to a couple women living in his castle/raising children with him.

The Tsarity and Faust both have systems mostly involving the assumption there will be a Primary Partner and then sometimes (especially high status aristocrats) will take several more, secondary spouses and/or concubines, Though in the Tsarity at least some nobles even tend to just take Concubines and legitemize children if they don't feel like marrying. It's more hierarchical usually, at least in the legal filing stuff when it comes to nobility but Patroclus, Aulus and Servius consider eachother fully equal partners (initial assumptions from Servius it would be a V where Aulus just gets to have all the partners not withstanding, and they did get that worked out eventually)

The Duchy (where the vampire-descendants are from) are the only ones where I have specific commitment and courting customs nailed down lmao... Proposals are conducted by way of gifting your lover a specially fashioned ornate dagger. The really traditional version has the (often more masculine read or dominant seeming) proposing party mine all components and smith it themselves, which Curia was unable to do due to being extremely pregnant at the time he wanted to propose to Vibius. As a gesture of accepting the courtship proposal the proposed to party takes the dagger and cuts a semi circle into the side of the proposing party's hand licking away the blood. This is the official Mark Of Courtship. Upon the actual Marriage ceremony the circle is completed by also marking the other party (so it forms a circle/ring when the couple holds hands bc i htink that's cute). This actually forms a small blood magic bond between the couple if one or both are appropriately gifted, though Vibius doesn't feel his half of it bc no vampire blood.

 

i think there ought to be tiny dragons and also we ought to think about what animals are raised as livestock, kept as pets etc very soon

 

we REALLY should.
also hey do you think elves/whatever we end up calling them can have milk in general? I know felici doesn't like cheese until he's pregnant with the humanblooded twin menaces but i forget if that's because elves are supposed to not have dairy or if it's because he just really doesn't like it usually...
bc that kind of changes what animals the elven population tends to keep and for what reason. Same with eggs ig.

 

good question
I guess if we based them on cats that'd be a no, lmao

 

If based on cats, they could have low-lactose milk maybe.....

 

oh, and low-lactose dairy like hard cheese and certain types of yoghurt, then!

 

you know half-developed fertilized eggs are an elven delicacy tho

 

... we should probably also decide how that affects the girls. Since they're half-elven half human that's gonna do some weird shit to their diet
but my main proposal is they're just mad lactose intolerant and tend to need a high iron intake compared to their peers. which leads me to the following: Helia Sol and Luna Ylva live off of spiced almond milk for most of their teenage years for some reason.

 

they like their steaks really rare

 

YES

 

Also just very occassionally cannot *stand* certain vegetables, and may be lowkey allergic to them? but like not with much predictability.

 

mad late and i don't have like... A Specific Question
but. what's ur fave really weird worldbuilding thought about this
like, really weird

 

God i don't think so far we have something TRULY off the wall weird besides the Unicorn Virginity Definition Nonsense lmao

tho we just have worked on the necromancy/liching/life prolonguing magic today and it's something i am VERY proud of because it's quite severe and cool

Liches begin by choosing a tree sapling. They imbue their own life force into this tree sapling, and bind it to their being and soul. This already makes you a lot harder to kill. But it also changes the tree. The tree must now be fed with living sacrifices. This is done by burying people amongst the roots of the tree in a ritual.
It works better if you truly feel connected to the person. Protectiveness, love, possessiveness. It works best if you are blood related kin on top.
I have finally named Gydha's ex, the current Heir Apparent of Faust. Hortensius is not a Lich yet, as he had not had the preparation necessary while his mother held the throne -- oh that's another newer detail, Faust currently does not have an Emperor very much on purpose and as a soft power play. As the last Emperor (lich who ruled for centuries) never declared an heir or proper line of inheritance. Hortensius' Mother took the throne deliberately as Heiress Apparent to stage something of a ~we shall prepare things for when the great dark one returns to rule us again uwu~ court theater. She was working on Lich-ing herself as well and disposed of at least 3 of her own heirs (Heirs Presumptive) before Hortensius but by the time Hortensius was to make a decision everyone assumed Her Radiance would most likely ascend to calling herself Empress proper within his lifetime and he had no real motivation about trying to kill her and do the icky death magic shit himself. Only her Lich status didn't take properly and she messed a ritual up and died, leaving us with the second big upheaval in Faust's history in like half a century and more instability and Hortensius going off the deep end from sheer stress and how much power he is suddenly expected to assume and that he has to speedrun learn how to become Undead And Eternal

Another really fun weird aspect of the worldbuilding is that at least Faust really really truly tries to sort magic expressions into a Classic Elements System. Except even at the slightest glance the system doesn't work. Lich magic and most healing is earth usually, by process of elimination and having already sorted plant stuff into earth. Aulus' Bond And Tether Magic is sorted as Air officially, though even the officials doing this sorting had trouble with that decision, being low level army bureaucrats who are not encouraged to think on their own. I don't think anyone has ever even attempted to sort Syrus' empathic projection powers, tho i assume it mmmmay be Air as well by virtue of being intangible, but it could be water for the mirroring/illusion dimension as well, who knows, not me lmao

let me see, what else.... Oh there'salso something fun with some plants. The Duchy has two different temples two fertility and self-actualization deities Growing fruits that help with essentially hormone therapy, one to get E like effects and one for the effects of T. But besides like really practical useful stuff like that there's also a persistant myth in the Jarldom that Forget-Me-Nots only grow in a place that's considered A Home with capital letters. What does this mean? Fuck if I know, but if an estate suddenly starts having forgetmenots it's considered A Very Important Occassion and a sign you're doing well and have the blessing of the hearth and home deity.
It is not clear if this is mundane science reasons, if this is Magic, if this is Divine Signs or several of these things, or neither.

 

For the record:

Emperor Amaranthus, The Ever-Lasting, His Eternity
Heiress Apparent Hyacynthia, Guardian of the Imperial Gardens, Her Radiance
Heir Apparent Hortensius, The Unexpected, His Benevolence
Heiress Presumptive Vela Gydhasdottir, The Dragonslayer, Her Brattiness

 

I think my favorite thing about this clusterfuck is that that's just Yet Another Reason No One Can Tell Sindri About Faust
because it's already difficult, they already have to carefully negotiate how mcuh he may hear about, seeing as he is the Avatar of the Deity of Justice And Judgement. Because despite that, Sindri is still very much mortal and one mortal man can not beat an entire Empire into accepting his righteous judgement and wrath, no matter how big his biceps and heart.
But if he hears that not only do they mistreat people and unjustly sacrifice innocents to prolongue a tyrannical rule, subjugate other people and enslave even their own, but his daughter is technically the rightful heir to the place by blood, by oracle and by sheer suitability? And that Hortensius (who still thinks of Sindri's wife Gydha as his property and was going to use Vela as his first sacrifice) has not only mistreated Gydha, threatened to kill Vela, mistreated his husband Felici but also put Gydha's only other friend in the palace into a cage like an animal for 10 years because of uncontrolled magical powers and a bad temper?
Sindri would walk over there on foot and strangle Hortensius with the roots of his Hearttree.

 

And he'd be RIGHT

 

HE WOULD BE BUT HIS SPOUSES AND ASSLOADS OF CHILDREN AND THE PEOPLE WHO CHOSE HIM AS JARL KIND OF WANNA KEEP HIM AND THAT'S HARD WHEN HE'S TRYING TO 1vMILLIONS AN ENTIRE EMPRIE