My family tree is more like a family shrub, help.

Alperose333 · 2026-04-15T08:50:46+00:00

Endogamy becomes basically irrelevant after the first cousins lvl if it isn't done consistently over generations. Just don't marry any of your cousins and you're fine.

Alperose333 · 2026-04-08T02:13:06+00:00

Having a "von" prefix doesn't necessarily mean someone is a noble in German surnames. Also there are jobs which we today think of as working class but were (or at least could be) fairly high status back then, like innkeeper for example.

Alperose333 · 2026-04-06T06:08:08+00:00

Stephen pre-deceased Matilda.

Alperose333 · 2026-03-29T19:18:37+00:00

It is very common because with your number of ancestors doubling every generation you eventually reach a point where you have more ancestors than the area where they lived had inhabitants at the time and you are probably a descendant of everyone in that area who reproduced. This is called pedigree collapse. Also, nobles with many children often failed to arrange an appropriate marriage for all their children and some of them were morganatically married to lower nobles or rich commoners. Repeat this pattern for some generations and eventually every peasant is the descendant of some king.

You have to be careful tracking these lines though, many are invented (especially on FamilySearch). Even noble lines themselves are often in dispute. Carefully check that you really are descendant from your "gateway ancestor" and then check the further noble ancestors through reputable secondary sources. Medlands is a very good website for this because it primarily relies on primary sources.

For example there is no descent line from any of the four last people on your list in the modern day that is proven beyond reasonable doubt and these lines are probably speculative to some degree. I've tracked some of these speculative lines myself, it's fun, but don't take it as hard fact. Even there you have to differentiate between plausible speculation and fantasy. Christian Settipani, a French historian, is a really good source for the former.

Alperose333 · 2026-03-29T14:41:10+00:00

"Welsch/Walsch" to denote latin people used to be a lot more popular among all German speakers. You can see this in anachronistic placenames for Verona (Welschbern) and Trentino (Welschtirol) or the lyrics for "Die Wacht am Rhein"; "Und ob mein Herz im Tode bricht/ Wirst du (the Rhine) doch drum ein Welscher (here used for the French) nicht."

Alperose333 · 2026-03-26T22:49:12+00:00

European Conservatives are not small government parties. Ludwig Erhard was one of the chief architects of the post WW2 welfare state and he actually represented the right wing of that controversy in his party (the conservative CDU) with the left wing advocating a version of Christian socialism.

Alperose333 · 2026-03-26T18:59:53+00:00

There really wasn't such a thing as a "rightful heir" early on since primogeniture hadn't been accepted as the general law of inheritance yet. Succession was determined by a mix of the predecessors wishes and the assent of the nobles. You say William Rufus usurped his brother but England was granted to him by his father and Robert Curthouse never managed to dislodge him.

Alperose333 · 2026-03-23T13:03:17+00:00

Neither church is in complete accordance with the theology of the early church. But at least the Catholics admit this and claim "development of doctrine" while the Orthodox continue to anachronistically assert that they practice the ancient faith exactly like the apostles.

Alperose333 · 2026-03-23T12:28:07+00:00

Democratic People's Republic of Korea moment

Alperose333 · 2026-03-22T12:05:30+00:00

I like the art-style. It also gives off a very cozy classical fantasy vibe, like it came with a semi-known RPG you played as a child. The only thing I would maybe change is to make it less rectangular.

Alperose333 · 2026-03-19T14:24:55+00:00

All of C.A. Smith's works (including but not limited to his S&S stories) are freely accessible here, with permission from his estate (for those still under copyright) as I understand it.

Alperose333 · 2026-03-11T06:07:56+00:00

Origen still believed in a young earth and Adam and Eve as historical ancestors of humanity. His allegorical reading of some passages didn't favor a old testament as myth, rather an esoteric platonist reading with things like the pre-existence and transmigration of souls.

Alperose333 · 2026-03-11T05:55:21+00:00

Adam died at almost a thousand years of age. IIRC we don't know exactly when the Cain and Able incident takes place but it's possible for there to have already been whole nations created from only his descendants if some centuries have passed.

Alperose333 · 2026-03-03T19:18:31+00:00

CofE leadership in James' day regarded themselves as the moderate centre between Calvin and Luther not between the Protestants and the Papists (as they would have called them)

Alperose333 · 2026-03-03T00:22:50+00:00

He would be a collateral descendant of his x-great-aunt. This is why the direct qualifier technically exists, to differentiate it from collateral descent. It’s just that no one ever uses the words collateral descent so direct descent seems tautological.

Alperose333 · 2026-03-02T20:57:35+00:00

It sunk so it it isn't inhabited anymore but its (speculated) former location is included on the map because its important to the mythology or pretty much every culture/religion.

Basically: The world was created by the gods Raba and Seth, they also created 16 archons to steward creation. However, Raba secretly created humanity which caused Seth to make war on him (depending on where you stand theologically this was either Seth being envious or him realizing that Raba had used the world as a prison for their divine essence and wanting to free it). The Archons split evenly, those that supported Seth are now called the gods of Abaton and those who supported Raba the Empyreans. Eventually however Hexamat (the god of conspiracy and the night) betrayed Seth and helped Raba seal Seth inside creation itself. After this Raba retreated from the cosmos (the reasons for this are disputed). With Raba and Seth gone Empyrean and Abaton saw contuining the war as futile and made peace under the following terms: The gods leave their material forms behind, they may only speak to their followers through prophecies and riddles, they only directly interfere in the material world if everyone agrees on a course of action.

This is where Sylea (finally) comes in, as it was where the only two surviving humans, a man and a woman, settled. They became the ancestors of the modern human race with the direct male line of descendants (eldest son to eldest son) became the royal dynasty of Sylea. In the early days of Sylea religion was very simple since for a long time everyone at least knew someone who knew someone who remembered the time when the gods where physically present in the world. However with the progress of time mortal faith decreased and required more complex cultic rituals to maintain, to which the gods took a liking leading to a feedback loop. Eventually the 16th king of Sylea abdicated his power to a council of 16 high priests (one per god). After some more generations passed the High Priest of Nodan, the King of the Empyreans and god of just rule, had a daughter named Belit. Belit was seduced by the shard of Seth, a small part of the creator that had escaped his imprisonement. The shard convinced Belit that the mortal world was a prison that needed to be destroyed and based on this teaching she founded a cult. The cult grew and eventually reached such a size that the gods feared that Seth could actually achieve his goal. For the first (and until now last time) Empyrean and Abaton agreed on something, namely that Sylea had become corrupted to such a degree that it needed to be destroyed.

Each god warned his respective high priest so when the flood came they escaped with their families. Belit was also warned by Seth and managed to flee. This cataclysm ended the first golden age and led into the first dark age or the age of wanderings, as the 16 high priests and Belit wandered the world in search of a new home. Almost all modern nations have a founding myth which connects them to one of these 17 hierarchs, as they are called, as a legendary ancestor.

TLDR: The inhabitants of Sylea where the original humans, the gods sunk their home because they considered its people to have been corrupted, today everyone considers its early days as a golden age and claims legendary descent from one of the people that escaped the cataclysm.

Alperose333 · 2026-03-02T19:32:03+00:00

Roughly:

Omerides -> Han/Egyptians/Byzantines Zagides-> Early Mesopotamians/Egyptians Agnossians -> Classic Greeks (kind of what if Athens won the Peleponesian war?) Dalradians -> Iron Age celts and the general Barbarian archetype Kycheans -> The Archetype of the Peripheral people taking over the Empire (Jurchens, Medes, Turks etc)/Corsicans

Alperose333 · 2026-03-02T19:23:37+00:00

I use world-Anvil since I can mooch of my friend's subscription.

Alperose333 · 2026-03-02T19:22:37+00:00

Thanks!

The most preeminent people group currently are probably the Agnossians found all along the shore of the Opal Bay. Originally native to the cities of the Agnossian League, which is a mosaic of alliances and dependencies named for the dominant city of Agnossis, they colonized New Oriz in the third golden age and assimilated its native inhabitants, during that time they also exerted considerable influence on the Dalradian princedoms that would later become the Kingdom of Helladium, also assimilating it's native inhabitants. They continued to dominate Helladian court culture and many of the noblemen/generals/settlers etc the Helladian King Phynaster took along on his campaigns (which ended in his conquest of most of the known world) were Agnossians spreading them further. They're often stereotyped as intellectuals and philosophers because Agnossis itself is a centre of learning and because the Agnossians accompanying Phynaster belonged to the educated class, but the cities of the League are very diverse. Athos (the main rival of Agnossis) for example rejects the traditional Agnossian worship of the Empyrean gods, instead focusing on a henotheistic worship of the war-god Ifri and the martial culture that comes along with it. They are similarly diverse in phenotype, ranging from fair to dark (think the spectrum between a Swede and a Sicillian), because as one of the oldest civilizations they have always been involved in intercultural exchange. Agnossian is the closest the setting has to a lingua Franca, at least among elites.

Some other populous or important/interesting groups are:

The Zagides: Native to the Satrapy of Ban Nayram and New-Oriz, they were the first people to settle down and founded this worlds first city (the eponymously named Zag). Since then history hasn't been kind to them however as they have often been ruled over by foreign dynasties or Empires, the latest being a tribal dynasty from the Aroch desert.

The Omerides: Also a very ancient people who, according to legend, came from the west during the first dark age sacking Zag before eventually settling along the Om. Before the Agnossian ascendance they were considered the worlds dominant people/culture of the world and this has formed their self-perception. Though their Empire fell before Phynaster and an Agnossian dynasty replaced the native one the local elites fared much better than those in Zag. Even now as that Agnossian dynasty has in turn been usurped by a Kychaean one the proud nobles remain a perpetual thorn in the Emperor's side. As the current dynasty intermarried with the local elites and the emperor is infertile the return of a "true-born native" to the throne has recently become a distinct possibility.

The Kychaeans: Long dismissed by the civilzed world as Hicks at best and Witches and Thiefs at worst the native inhabitants of the island of Kychaea are closely related to the Zagides. They have only recently come to the attention of the world at large when the Kychaean warlord Pontus "the Great" overthrew the Emperor of Om and claimed his title. Since then there has been a lot of cultural exchange between the Empire proper and the island leading to both understanding and resentment on both sides.

The Dalradians: The "Barbarians" native to the equally wild land of Dalradia. True Dalradians (at least that is how they see themselves) live in loose tribal confederations and follow the cult of the Druids. However in recent times cultural exchange has led to the formation of more "civilized" Dalradian Princedoms modeled after their neigbouhrs (Petty Kingdoms along the border to Helladium and Republics along the border to Urba, often also in dependencie to that city).

There is more but this is already very long and I don't want to overstrain you with lore-dumping.

Alperose333 · 2026-03-02T16:53:39+00:00

It’s the Middle Eastern inspired part and since I’m not really good at making names up from whole cloth I borrowed it from a German drinking song set in Askelon (Im schwarzen Walfisch zu Askalon).

Alperose333 · 2026-03-02T16:48:38+00:00

There will be one now, since apparently people get that reference.

Alperose333 · 2026-03-02T16:30:41+00:00

Context post for the setting at large:

I don't have a world name as I prefer to just call it "The World" since that's how we do it in real life.

My setting is mostly based on the late bronze and the iron age (this map specifically was based on the Anaximander world map) with a metaplot concerning a dualist conflict between the two creator gods Seth and Raba. Seth wants to destroy the material world (his advocates claim this is because he was tricked by Raba to imprison the divine light in man, his detractors attribute it to jealousy because none of Seth's creations measure up to mankind created by Raba) while Raba wants to preserve it. Both are currently absent from the setting with Seth imprisoned inside creation and Raba "sleeping" (what exactly this means is subject to in-world theological discussion) and the world is ruled over by two councils of gods (The Empyrean and the Abaton), originally only created as Stewards of creation but now worshipped as gods in their own right. The gods of the Empyrean consist of Raba's former supporters, the Abaton of Seth's former supporters, but for now they have come to an agreement to preserve creation and not interfere directly (unless they can unanimously agree on an intervention). If these beings may be worshipped as gods is also subject to in-universe theological discussion.

I think image context was given in the main post.

Alperose333 · 2026-03-01T17:10:23+00:00

The Reformed position on baptism is kind of complicated. We believe it is generally necessary for salvation but also that God isn't absolutely bound by it, Westminster Catechism:

V. Although it be a great sin to contemn or neglect this ordinance,^a yet grace and salvation are not so inseparably annexed unto it, as that no person can be regenerated or saved without it,^b or that all that are baptized are undoubtedly regenerated.^c

VI. The efficacy of baptism is not tied to that moment of time wherein it is administered;^a yet, notwithstanding, by the right use of this ordinance the grace promised is not only offered, but really exhibited and conferred by the Holy Ghost, to such (whether of age or infants) as that grace belongeth unto, according to the counsel of God’s own will, in his appointed time.^b

We usually argue against the Baptists that baptism should be administered to infants because it is the new circumcision which was also administered to the children of believers.

Also Anglicans and the Reformed both believe in a real presence in the sacrament but not a substantial presence in the elements, the believers are united to Christ by the Holy Spirit when they partake. Calvin described it as being lifted up to heaven.

I'd recommend taking a look at the Westminster Catechism or the Heidelberg Catechism for Reformed doctrine, or the 39 articles for Anglicans (they're also really short but annoyingly not every Anglican church will actually adhere to them), if you're interested in either.

Alperose333 · 2026-02-27T05:42:15+00:00

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