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[annarti.livejournal.com]

I'm stealing and modifying a meme from the Saku, because I don't have different species in terms of people.

Some people invent their own species in their stories and Roleplays. Some people create their own spin on already established ideas such as angels, vampires and etc.

List a few of your species, and answer any questions that you are asked about that species in particular.

I make up animals occasionally, but not like elves or dwarves or anything like that. My characters are all just plain old humans. Instead, have some kingdoms.

Raykin being riverfolk and desert people
Kazin divided into the northern tropics and southern mountains, as well as the island of Tisadez off to the west
Llayad being... well, peasants and nobility, really. Not so much in the ways of regional differences for them
Tsayth being the land people and the seamen (...lol *is eight*)

Comments

[drazzi.livejournal.com]

Lol, seamen... Also yay, Narti <3

So, the Tsaythians... what is their society like? Is there royalty? What's the class system like? What do they think of magic?

[annarti.livejournal.com]

According to the other nations, Tsaythis are BORING. I'm sure they can have fun somehow, but I'll be buggered if I've invented it yet. They're an insanely practical people, never waste anything and have a lot of trouble just lying back and relaxing ^^; They don't really have much of a society, as such. There's not a whole lot of cohesion between the people unless they're actually physically together. See a boat on the horizon, wahey~ people! Exchange goods! Talk about what's over the horizon! Exchange crew members maybe! But they don't go actively seeking other boats unless there's one hell of a big reason for it.

The other nations also make a big deal of the might of the Tsaythi navy, but they technically don't have a navy. Everyone in the kingdom can fight, mostly because they have PIRATES, but it's totally not a military thing. Their practicality, tho, means they've got very sharp tactical minds, so a small fleet of them would quickly assign a leader and off they go being all formidable and stuff.

They have a royal family with the king, the queen, their parents and half a million offspring. There are three ways of becoming king/queen, yasee: either be, kill or marry the best of said royal offspring. The current king and queen will then pick the best, and when s/he turns 20, s/he's crowned king/queen. At that point they're hands off in terms of killing. Anyone who lays a hand on the reining monarchs is of course killed.

Class system, meh~ don't really have one, though the people with boats are generally seen as being better off than those on the land, and a bigger boat is obviously something to brag about. They've got ranks on the ships, with the captain and... the other people, but that ranking is subject to change. As a result of practicality, of course. Tsaythis aren't really power hungry people, apart from the weird little microcosm of the royal family. Power just causes wars, and wars are impractical =|

Magic~ ooh that's a fun one X3 SO MANY ATTITUDES. Probably three-quarters of the population just think it's another silly Llayan idea (them being the only nation that actually flaunts its 'magic') that has no basis in fact. The other quarter have maybe heard of or seen magic in practice (Raykinian desert people maybe, or a genuine Llayan fortune teller. Oh yes, they exist) and are mostly dubious at best.

Then there are the wind witches: a select few Tsaythis who can control the wind, which is such a practical application of magic that it has to be Tsaythi. Again, most people are dubious of how it actually works, but a select few ships have a couple of wind witches on board. It's by no means a widely practiced form of magic, because most people have only heard of it in rumour, same as Llayan fortune tellers, or not at all. Relatively new form of magic, I think.

YAY LONG RAMBLE IS LONG.

[drazzi.livejournal.com]

I like to make Narti ramble :3 And I like Tsaythians.

How about their diets? Do they like spicey food? I imagine they get a lot of fish.

What are the fashions like? Are there high fashions for richer merchants? Is it really mostly a place of merchants and workers? Are there some lazier jobs?

What's taboo in their society? What's the policy on homosexuality? Or being disabled? Marriage and divorce? How about kids before marriage? Kids from other marriages? Illigitimate babies?

Do their healing methods differ widely from Raykins?

[annarti.livejournal.com]

Diet = fish sashimi style and seaweed, that's it. They have no wood of their own and have to buy it from Llayad (at discount mates rates, of course) so it's pointless to spend money on something you're just going to burn anyway, when eating raw fish is still perfectly tasty. Spices are Kazinian, EXPENSIVE and therefore pointless, so they don't bother with them.

Fashion, again, no variety. Basically a big sheet with a hole in it for the head and a tie around the waist, sole purpose of which is to keep the sun off. Oh, and the bandanna. The merchants who trade primarily with Raykin or Kazin might adopt some of the local fashions purely because they look more trustworthy, but yeah, not fashion so much as practicality.

They don't really have jobs that extend beyond their job on the ship. They're primarily a barter economy, and only use coin when dealing with foreigners who don't trust the trading of stuff. The captain might have a specific knowledge of some area, like spices or fabrics or jewellery, and keep track of those markets so they know when and where to buy/sell for the best profit, or the ship might do their own stuff, like pearl diving, fishing, whatever they think will sell.

On land there's pretty much piss-all. You work in the distillery (turning sea water into fresh drinking water) or you fish, and that's about the extent of it. Land people don't have much of a life.

Taboo~ basically lying. Lying is BAD and is punishable by whatever, depends on the size of the lie. Swordfight to the death, chuck overboard, whatever works. The worst tho, as far as I've decided so far, being an illegit kid. Most of the people on land are illegit kids, or mothers of them, because no ship would take them.

Kids before marriage, no issues, same with kids from other marriages. Kid with another person who's not your spouse? BAD LIEK WOAH. Nice ships will take them to shore and dump them. Not so nice ships will just chuck them overboard right then and there.

As far as the traditional ugly things go, rape is BAD because that'll lead to illegit kids. Murder is bad until a good reason has been given for it. 'He killed my dad' is not a good reason, because that's revenge and that solves nothing. 'He threatened to kill my dad' on the other hand, that's fine because that's protecting your family, and Tsaythis are big on family.

Homosexuality, meh, no issues. A few select individuals see them as people who've chosen not to have children, but they're weird people and that's as far as anything prejudice goes, really.

If you're disabled, so long as you're still useful, there's no issue, but if you can't pull your weight on the ship then it's off to land you go. For example, someone who's deaf could still be one hell of a diver and be able to bring in pearls, but someone who's lost their right arm when they were right handed could well be more trouble than they're worth. Temporary disabilities (like a broken leg) are no issue, since they know the person will get better again.

Healing I have NO idea. I imagine that the ships who deal primarily with one of the three other kingdoms might buy medicines there, but as far as their own healing knowledge goes... They don't have a whole lot of plants to get medicinal stuff from, so I wouldn't imagine it to be much more developed than bandages and bed rest. Whatever the individual ship picks up from the other kingdoms, I think.

[drazzi.livejournal.com]

Much as I love you and want to learn more and want to see what you think of blonde boy - I must say "GO TO BED" unless you already have.

ANYWAY... Hmm... more learning...

So they have like pirates/theives, working classes and royalty? What are the Royalty like? Are they liked? Are their lives so much more different to everyone elses?

[annarti.livejournal.com]

Royalty I haven't developed in terms of characters, I just know the current king and queen are only a smidge over twenty themselves (older or younger than Nol? No idea). But yeah, people wouldn't have formed an opinion on the current rulers just yet.

Royalty in general tho, they think this is a good idea. It all ends up giving them cheap wood from Llayad, makes trading with the other nations nice and flowing. Sure, they have taxes, but the general consensus is that they get what they pay for.

In terms of lifestyle, the princes and princesses are pretty much left to do their own thing. If they want to stay and help with admin or work their way up to succeeding the throne, spiffy. If they want to shun all things royal and go live on a ship, they can do that too.

The king and queen ALWAYS live in Ryas (the capital city) so it's easy for foreigners to find them when they're needed. They live in the only stone building in the kingdom, but it's not a particularly big or impressive palace. Like a large house by our standards, with bedrooms for all 600 royal offspring and a dining hall for making the foreigners feel like they're not in such a backwards country XD;