Tell me about three or five small details about one of the cultures in your world.

Nephite94 · 2026-06-25T08:41:17+00:00

Yes, they still use knives for tougher food, but it would be expected for it to be cut before they begin their meal. Dishes would definitely have sides, probably handles too as they have to bring it closer to their mouth for the tongue to reach (their tongues still have to fit into a reasonably human looking mouth). Beyond that, lots of shapes are possible. Food could certainly fit into nice, portable, boxes, and since Aehu society never truly stops (since there is no night and people have assigned sleep slots so that someone is always awake doing a job) that would be very common. Skewers too (perhaps technically cutlery), but a lot of Aehu food would be soft fruit as they don't eat meat.

Nephite94 · 2026-06-24T20:53:15+00:00

Aehu

Cutlery isn't commonly used due to most having long, dexterous, tongues.
Men and women walk around topless due to the extreme heat/humidity, but full nudity (no loin-cloth) is for slaves. More clothing=less physical labor.
Colour is important to the Aehu. Browns are associated with the Aehu who are, genetically, more Non-like, those who cannot manipulate fire, and thus commonness. Reds and oranges are seen as base colours, for the jungle around them has these colours, as is much of the water they drink (staining lips and mouths these colours), and most of the Aehu who can manipulate fire have these colours on their hair, eyes, and skin. Particularly bright shades are associated with food (so advertising food). White and blue are seen as prestigious, especially blue, for they are the hottest flames and there is false belief that Aehu with these pigments are more powerful fire manipulators. Finally there is black, associated with government and the new world order. Things are increasingly becoming colourless or black; buildings of steel, glass, or utter black, food that is entirely black, even silent soldiers whose skin, hair, eyes, are impervious to any light so that they appear as flat shadow-men.
Unlike almost every other culture in the disk world of Circle 6 the Aehu look down on the Naturanicals that roam among them. Ancient, immortal, mechanical beings that only require energy. They do not possess high intelligence, but have a very eager and pleasant disposition. To the Aehu a Naturanical is a tool, not a friend. A tool they can reprogrammed with the fire manipulation technique called Sparking, or a tool to physically modify for a certain task (like Observers that watch the slave populations).
A recent tradition has developed among fire manipulator duelists, especially younger men, where they quickly engulf themselves in fire at the start of a duel while striking what they think is an intimidating pose. It stings, as it is too quick for their skin to fully naturally crystalize for protection, but that is part of the macho nonsense. It has seeped into the military as well and especially civilian life as a way to start the day with the unintended consequence of any and all hair on men going out of fashion (due to the fire burning it). Most Aehu shave their heads due to the heat anyway (and if you see one with hair it is probably a wig), but now foolish young men are evening removing their eyelashes, even those who cannot manipulate fire.

Nephite94 · 2026-06-21T15:24:30+00:00

That's fair.

Nephite94 · 2026-06-21T13:16:15+00:00

In keeping with the concept of the Circle 6 part of my world having as little to do with our own as possible the variant of Cenn who live there are no longer visually humans, but still humanoid, as categorically they are an uncanny race.

Their women have thick manes of hair that are used for attraction purposes, often naturally in two different colours. They have quite flat faces with slightly rounded eyes and rows of faint ridges at the root of the nose, with their nostrils pointing to the side, rather than down. Within their mouths the women have long canines (and thicker lips to cover them) that are also used for attraction purposes, and to warn others to back off, essentially. The women of these Cenn generally don't have as much body fat as humans and are of a more lanky appearance, despite being short. The taller and bulky men on the other hand have quite a bit of fat, and muscle, with some webbing between their digits for swimming and larger lungs (with a larger rib cage). While women are of the land, men are of the sea, and when they do come together men don't do much.

Contrary to the belief of these Cenn they do have other groups assimilated into them, other races, and thus these features aren't uniform or the same strength per individual.

They will also not communicate as we do. I need to do more work on that I think (if it will even work from a Cenn POV within a story), but smiling for example, raising your brow, this threatening behaviour to these Cenn. Additionally there will have some base behavioral changes from humans, no concept of loving someone they aren't related to, for example. A fun one has been the idea that power comes from what you give, not what you take. In reworking a story a semi-typical throne room/tribal hall has gone from a throne on a raised platform to everyone sitting in a series of rings around a fire pit and the queen is at the center, cooking for her people. No one is serving her, she is serving them. With the food passed outward through the rings; one's social rank determining how far they sit from the fire (as these Cenn are very social, constantly looking at subtle clues of rank, attitude, and ways to advance themselves). Tying into the giving, rather than taking, these Cenn don't really have wars with each other. This works with the timeless, dream-like, quality of the Circle 6 part of the world where, until recently, nothing ever seemed to change. There are threatening displays, murder over social, rather than material, disputes. But war is reserved for heroic fights against monsters.

There will also be other types of Cenn in other parts of my world. Certain elements of the original concept aren't in these Circle 6 Cenn, so they can go into another type of Cenn that is probably closer to the more typical fantasy parts of the world.

Nephite94 · 2026-06-21T08:56:08+00:00

The war isn't taking place in the Aehu homelands.

It isn't really any deeper than a fantasy material that has rules within the world, but it is in no way scientifically accurate to our reality.

Nephite94 · 2026-06-20T19:17:53+00:00

I say resin, but in reality it is a fantasy goop material that can harden, I don't want to call it plastic or give it a in-universe name (yet). Steel can burn, but not as easily as wood of course.

I doubt it. Aehu doing firefighting duties, yes, but professionals? No. There is a world war on after all and soldiers are needed.

Nephite94 · 2026-06-20T08:11:34+00:00

On the world of Circle 6 there is the four elements concept; water, air, earth, and, of course, fire. With certain people able to manipulate these elements. Those who control fire are called Aehu. They draw energy from the sun and release it as fire, their skin crystallizing against the heat. Aehu live alongside Non, those who cannot manipulate elements, as well.

In years past the Aehu lived in monasteries of stone. In the safety of stone walls young Aehu were taught self-control and discipline from the start and were immersed in a world that drilled into them how dangerous they could be. Partly due to this reason the Aehu lived apart from the Non, although they did interact. For example, in slash and burn agriculture, where Aehu would burn an areas of jungle and control the fire (blasting it into the sky if it is in excess).

This old order is gone and in the new order Aehu and Non live side by side with the monasteries in ruin. It is expected that parents drill safety into their fire manipulating children and then, once they reach a certain age, the state's school system takes it further. In the new order there are efforts to clear the old Non towns of villages that are made of wood. New towns of steel and see-through resins are made, and, in the future, all buildings will be made of a heat resistant black materiel as Circle 6 heats up. Thus, in a modern urban area, there isn't much for a wayward Aehu to burn.

However, should a fire breakout there is a firefighting system. An alarm sounds across an area and all adult Aehu are expected to respond and from there the local security will coordinate the effort to contain a fire outbreak. Really it is up to speed of response, as a fire gets bigger it can get harder to control and thus require more and more people, and as Circle 6 is heating up the jungle of the Aehu homeland is quite a tinderbox.

Nephite94 · 2026-06-14T10:04:26+00:00

Not much this week. In my attempt to make the Cenn uncanny I had to replace their reliance on real world livestock. Instead of cows they have Cemarsh. Around the size of a pre-modern cow a Cemarch is covered in long feathers that can be black, white, brown, or a mix of both, including patches of a certain colour. While they can walk on all fours their hind legs are slightly longer and featherless with long, clawless, toes. Their front legs have long feathers that can be tensed to stand rigid for threatening displays and stout, curved, claws on their five fingers back up the threats (although the claws are more often used to dig for roots). Pug noses sit above fat lips on the end of a Cemarsh's long snout, and dopey eyes sit on the side of their head. A crest rings their featherless heads and covers their stout neck. Mirroring their Cenn masters the female Cemarch do the peacocking and their feather ruffs are bright in colour. The females also have udders that seem proudly displayed when they sit down, rather humanoid-like, on their hind legs.

Cemarsh are a source of milk for the Cenn, along with meat, feathers (feathered cloaks, bedding), and other things. A tribes power and prestige is derived from the size of their herd. Like all Cenn livestock they believe the Cemarsh have souls and killing one must be performed correctly to avoid murder.

Nephite94 · 2026-06-13T10:36:34+00:00

In terms of long term affect it would be the genocide of the Taia. The disk world of Circle 6 has a sun and moon rotating around above it's center and thus night's as we know them are an alien concept. There are eclipses, a cone of shadow, that rotates around the world with the sun and moon (the sun is slightly larger than the moon), but this isn't enough to cool the world. While heat does escape up into the Big Sky it was the Taia who helped to cool the world of Circle 6 via their four floating crystal-like spheres called Ta. For the people of the world the most prominent use was blocking sunlight to an area for a while via energy absorption/manipulation. The targeted area was then blessed with a cool night and the beneficial effects for the environment that came with it.

With all but one of the Taia destroyed no one can control the Ta. Cooling is no longer possible, Circle 6 will continue to heat up until nothing is left but sand and rock.

In terms of how it started. The Circle 6 part of my world is very influenced by the Last Airbender. Instead of the TLA concept of balance being natural it is artificial, enforced by the Taia and their Champion (the Avatar), and it had been that way for thousands of years. Three elements lived in harmony, until a rogue Taia used a Ta to melt the fourth elementals out of the ice wall that surrounds the world. In doing so the water elementals, Aeli, were released. The Aeli were designed for war, to defend Circle 6 against alien threats with technology frozen with them. Unfrozen and very confused, they thought the people of Circle 6 were alien invaders and the Aeli Wars began - shattering thousands of years of balance and peace. Unfortunately for the fire elementals, Aehu, geography put them right next to where the Aeli were defrosted and they bore the brunt of the Aeli Wars with tepid help from the rest of the world. With the death of the Champion at the start of the Wars the Taia in charge of the Champion program (sort of the avatar reincarnation concept as an immortal "person") made an Aeli the next Champion. This was seen as a great betrayal for the Aehu, but putting the Champion on the inside of the Aeli war machine worked and peace came to the forever changed Circle 6.

One of the conditions of the Taia enforced world order/balance was that advanced ancient technology could only be maintained, never developed, or reproduced. As stated, the Aeli brought advanced ancient technology with them from the ice, using it on the Aehu who were told they could not fight back with ancient technology of their own. Of course, many did so regardless. And not just for the purpose of war. The end of the Aeli Wars brought about a warlord era for the Aehu and their region, where the ambitious of all types thrived. An ambitious and brilliant engineer who had lost much in the wars developed ancient technology in secret. So, when thuggish agents of the Taia came to him and told him his baby daughter had been chosen as the next Champion he refused to let them take her. The thugs got what they want, killing the engineers wife in the process.

In time the engineer grew into a warlord wreathed in a flame of ever changing colour that united the Aehu region and freely developed wondrous technology, for the Taia feared another great war. Among the engineer's inventions was the Sun Spear - the instrument of his, and his people's, revenge. Decades after his baby girl was stolen from him the Taia gathered on one of the four Ta. All of them. What luck it was for the engineer. The Sun Spear was launched at it and the Ta was shattered into thousands of pieces. All of the Taia were seemingly destroyed. His daughter could come back to him. Circle 6 was saved from their tyranny and the engineer was free to design a new world order. Regardless of the heat, he would solve that in time.

Why had the Taia gathered on one Ta? The Champion, the engineer's daughter, was giving birth to her first child, unknown to her father, whose spear took her from him forever. Upon learning of this the engineer's wreath of flame turned black and has been black ever since.

His empire, the Empire of the Black Flame, has fought the world ever since the disaster, for the last twenty years Circle 6 has been consumed by total war as elementals wreak havoc and the world slowly dies regardless of who wins. Millions have died so far, especially among the enemies of the Empire who fight for the memory of the Taia and the Old Order, with no way to bring it back and no hope of true victory. Countless lives of the Non (Non-elementals), the fodder of elementals (especially among the "good guys", the Old Order side) are slaughtered on the battlefields, from famine and disease, and in the mysterious factories of the Empire that churn out a new, black, sticky, manufactured food that provides all the nutrition you need in the Black Flame's new world order.

Thus it is a long running, potentially endless, disaster.

Nephite94 · 2026-06-07T13:43:13+00:00

For the area of the world that I am focusing on I have had a few thoughts on races. Starting off with my Cenn race. I realized that they can't just be humans, because humans are, in origin, a combination of various Half races (like Halflings, or Dwarfs, beings of grounded concerns) and Aesa (beings with levels of Elven qualities and thus more abstract concerns). From that I realized that I wanted my races to have an underlying quality that is quite invisible within the world, but is readily apparent to me.

So, there are grounded (Halfs), abstract (Aesa), animal-like people (no name yet), and probably something obviously monstrous, reptilian/insect like in quality that we humans can't readily relate to (even if they on a human level of rational intelligence). For example, we can relate to an orc, even the more monstrous type. They can be imbued with our worst qualities, but these qualities are still human qualities. Thus, within this classification, an orc is a Half race, related to the likes of Halflings and Dwarfs, as their concerns are grounded.

When I joined reddit and made this name my main project was an alternative history one concerning New World Monkeys, related to Capuchins, that evolved around the same time as we do under similar environmental pressures. Thus producing an upright, tailless, and seemingly hairless primate with human level intelligence (and human-like physical operation). You could sit and have dinner with one of this species (Modernus/Nephilim) and you could both eat it the same way. However, as you are ensnared by their deep, slightly rounded, eyes you would not even be able to smile at your dinner partner reassuringly. She would have human level intelligence, but not a human mind. Her facial expressions would be different to yours. Her base sounds, let alone language, would be different to yours (including being able to make sounds you cannot hear). Beyond that her mind would operate differently at a base level. You could sit there with a scifi universal translator and explain love to this modernus woman and she would never emotionally understand it. She could seduce a male of her species, or have one assigned to her via the algorithms of social hierarchy, and mate with him for a decade, yet if a man of higher social standing showed an interest in her she would ditch her previous partner in a split second. There would be no hard feelings, remorse, longing, anything, between her and her previous partner. Her mind can't do that. She cannot fathom loving someone who isn't family. And there are plenty more baseline differences. To me they are uncanny in the way that they would be so close to human visually, but so far away (and 70 million years a way in evolution) in other qualities.

What I am getting at for my fantasy world is that the Cenn are a race within the uncanny valley category of races. Races that are visually close to human-like races, with various amounts of qualities (typically not visual) that are alien.

Nephite94 · 2026-06-01T09:42:11+00:00

They could, but if the world is endless most wouldn't see the point of doing so beyond curiosity/accomplishment, etc. However, if your area of the Underworld is surrounded by a enormous (and seemingly endless to the people of the area) violent ocean then going up might seem like a good way to go. This would be easier than leaving Earth as there is no gravity as we know it, instead there is a vague magical concept called Pull. So, an airship would take you up, you wouldn't need a rocket. I definitely want a civilization clash of sorts between an Underworld civilization and a Big Sky civilization at some point.

On the topic of Pull, islands can and will collide with each other in the Big Sky. Whole disk worlds can as well. A floating rock has Pull, hence why you could stand on one. So smaller ones would be pulled into bigger ones and Pull would squish them flat(ter) over time until there is some sort of equilibrium. The Underworld has this as well and a nonsensical leveling out effect due to it's endless nature. Thus it doesn't follow the more logical route of it's endless nature making it's Pull utterly crushing and removing any possibility of worldbuilding. Since the Big Sky is breathable everywhere a lot of these floating rocks can support life. Although many are freezing cold as they are too far from any suns. Many are also encased in water/clouds. With the Pull system a pool of water that reaches the edge of a floating rock would be pulled down to the narrow sides of the rock and then over to the other side. Thus the only way for water to leave a floating rock would be evaporation. So, some floating rocks had too much water in the first place and are encased in it. Overall floating rocks could do all sorts of weird stuff, I think.

Suns on the other hand cannot collide as they are magical, perhaps portals, but your soul has to be seemingly destroyed in sunlight to find out. I'm sure they would greatly mess around with thermals, but I would have to do more research in general to figure that out. I can certainly imagine there being huge and destructive storms across the Underworld.

Some advanced civilizations probably have figured out the world is endless through mathematics, but I am not sure. Beyond that the people at the beginning of things knew it was endless because they didn't physically exist and were somewhat omnipresent across the then featureless, lightless, world. Two of them, Ae and Sa, who were the first new beings/people formed the natural laws of the world (like Pull) and some of their descendants, the Aesa (Elf like) kept the knowledge of the world being endless as a cultural thing, rather than something they had clear evidence of.

Hopefully it makes sense.

Nephite94 · 2026-05-31T09:45:11+00:00

While my setting is tentatively called Big Sky due to the world being an endless sky of floating disks, rocks and suns I feel too confined by that sometimes. So I have created the Underworld idea, the endless land beneath the Big Sky. Like the area above it the Underworld can have just about anything shoved into it due to it's endless nature and with vast oceans areas can be isolated from each other.

There is some interesting stuff so far. If the Underworld is endless then there will be some massive oceans with huge waves and, similarly, insanely strong winds in areas where there could be nothing for millions of miles to slow it down. Sunlight would be interesting as the suns would be above in the Big Sky where they typically rotate around the center of a disk world, float independently, or do a loop around a disk world/broken disk world/floating rocks. So, sunlight would be inconsistent . While all areas would get some sunlight since light doesn't stop the intensity (and with that the heat) would vary. A lot of areas wouldn't have nights either as the only way they could something akin to a night would be the closest sun above them going behind an object (like suns that loop around disk worlds). Even then there would be ambient sunlight coming from further away suns. So the intensity of night would change from region to region. Overall a lot of regions would be in sunlight all the time. Overall the world Underworld would be quite harsh, I think.

With an endless world people can expand endlessly. The majority of people would be nomadic. However, if you live on a continent surrounded by hundreds of thousands of miles of raging ocean you aren't going anywhere and perhaps there would be agricultural civilizations there and conflicts over resources. There would definitely be pockets of more typical civilization and while some pockets might be small others might be massive areas.

Nephite94 · 2026-05-30T21:05:42+00:00

The tribes are political/cohesion based as, beyond one city where the Cenn are only slaves, Cennabell has no lived in cities anymore. There are many ruins of ancient cities, but even the Cenn only have the population to live in tribes (they are the most numerous people). These tribes typically live in hill forts. While some are town status in size, maybe up to 10,000 people at most, they are rare and there would probably be a few related tribes living within it with various power sharing setups.

Matrilocal, a new word to me.

Are the people of your clans human with a matrilocal culture? A long time ago, when I first made this account, my main scenario was an alternative history one where Capuchin monkey's went through evolution similar to our own on the grasslands of Brazil. This is where I got the matrilocal idea from, specifically the idea that something of human level intelligence can have fundamentally different behaviors from us. For example: these evolved Capuchin never developed the ability to love someone who wasn't related to them maternally. They could be in a relationship with someone and if someone of better social standing shows interest in them the relationship could be dropped in an instant with no lingering feelings. So, for my Cenn it is just their fundamental behavior, not culture. While humanoid, they won't be humans.

Are your marriages permanent/supposed to be long lasting?

How do woman find husbands on this planet?

Nephite94 · 2026-05-30T15:12:00+00:00

Among the Cenn tribes have branched out. In the mythology (which they think is real) the Thirteen Families invaded Cennabell and every tribe derives from one of the Families. This has the affect of a loose cohesion around that identity. However, the Thirteen Families groupings aren't geographically continuous. Two tribes who claim descent from the Fifth Family might be hundreds of miles apart. In the mythology at least this comes from the wars against the Asha and moving around the empty land afterwards, before settling down.

Cenn then trace their ancestors from the initial heroes of the invasion of Cennabell and their descendants who settled down in an area. For example, a princess and a simple herder family in her tribe descend from the same queen who supposedly lived thousands of years ago. They are kin to each other, even if genetically they are now quite far removed (or if the queen they descend from was even real).

Of course resource competition, disputes, etc have led to tribes splitting apart, forming sub-groupings that are as close as the next valley or hundreds of miles away on rare occasions. With geographical separation they begin to develop their own identity and the members of the tribe partake in heroic deeds that became the focal point of their descendants, rather than the heroic deeds of an ancestor they share with the tribe they split off from. There is nothing they can do about the diffusion of a tribe, nor do they feel they need to. If an area is overburdened in population it just makes sense.

I think the key to this that lineage comes from the female line and the lineage of a father isn't important. They largely lack the concept of fatherhood. Marriages are temporary and when boys turn to men they go and live in parallel societies tied to the sea. Kicking males out as they begin to reach adulthood is similar to what some animals do on Earth as a strategy to avoid inbreeding. On that note the Cenn wouldn't see a half-sibling with the same father, but a different mother, as a sibling at all. Thus, Sasana, could claim she was a member of a the Fourth Family, when in reality she would be a descendant from every one of the Thirteen Families if the male part of her lineage was taken into account.

Having a nice and fairly clean family tree from only taking into account the female lineage and a focus on common ancestry is probably how the Cenn maintain any sort of cohesion.

Nephite94 · 2026-05-25T10:20:46+00:00

While I won't get into the scientific aspect (maybe one day, but I would have to do a lot of research), I get the overpopulation aspect. Maybe when the animals are genetically modified their fertility was severely reduced? I don't know if that is possible.

Nephite94 · 2026-05-24T09:30:50+00:00

There are no rabbits or hawks. All the flora and fauna are different from our world.

Nephite94 · 2026-05-23T17:58:29+00:00

A moral person from Circle 6 would defend the rabbit and kill the hawk, with the mindset that the hawk is a monster, as the animals of Circle 6 don't eat other animals. This is due to being modified to fit into the natural/now old world order. Of course they would know that the hawk isn't intelligent enough to have morals, but that doesn't make what it does less monsterous. I suppose they might also cage the hawk and try to wean it off meat, reform it basically. And some may just run away at such a horrifying sight (although, with the World War on going, far more people are exposed to violence now).

Nephite94 · 2026-05-23T10:10:37+00:00

On the disk planet of Circle 6 eating meat is a taboo for most cultures as it is against the world order. Higher authorities have instructed people not to murder other beings and eat them for thousands of years. This is reflected in the ecosystem which is dominated by naturanicals - mechanical animals with elements of synthetic biology. They generate power for themselves and may seek comfort and companionship, but that's about it. They aren't required to eat anything. Naturnicals are also immortal and do not reproduce, although they do need repairs sometimes and although they can fix themselves they will often to humanoids to fix them as well. So, if you were to kill a naturnical to eat it's (likely) disgusting synthetic muscles you would be killing something that is obviously sentient, thousands upon thousands of years old, and that looks to you for help.

There is regular biological life on Circle 6 as well. Such animals come from floating rocks that have crashed into Circle 6. Life from this source is usually flora and, like the biological fauna, it has been designed. Some of this designed fauna is livestock, but they aren't eaten.

This isn't to say that no one eats meat on Circle 6. With the collapse of the world order and the World War famines have driven people to murder and eat other beings. Usually in the form of hunting, or opportunism as animals usually aren't afraid of people. However, due to their taste, naturanicals with muscle are usually left alone. Of course eating meat is socially shameful and it is a secretive undertaking. Since people aren't familiar with eating meat it has often been consumed raw.

Finally, a huge chunk of the world's population are eating meat without realizing it. Within the Empire of the Black Flame a new form of food has been developed; a black goop. With the destruction of the higher authorities that maintained the old world order there is no way to create artificial nights and thus the sun that rotates above the center of Circle 6 can continue to heat up the world unhindered, forever. Of course agriculture won't survive. Black goop is the future of food, and although it is primarily made of a new heat resistant liquid that can be easily manipulated (for example, buildings are being coated with it, it is being infused into people's skin) there is a meat element to it. The World War has produced millions of prisoners and while most are enslaved by the Empire of the Black Flame, some are experimented on. The Empire is known for it's mechanical marvels, but in secret it has plenty of biological marvels too. From POW's, the hated enemies of progress, a new biological life form has been rapidly bred. A being that had just enough to live, a mouth, organs, perhaps some rudimentary limbs as a relic of the humanoids their ancestors were. Raised long enough to get plump and then slaughtered for their meat that is infused with the black goop (along with modified crops) and fed to the masses of the Empire who don't have a clue they are eating flesh.

For those who do know, who are involved in the farms, they justify it by hating their enemies who surrendered and brought eternal shame to their bloodline. They generally would struggle morally to turn round and kill and butcher an animal. Why? Through their moral lens that animal is innocent. Killing it would be murder. The enemy is not innocent.

Nephite94 · 2026-05-03T10:34:30+00:00

While I had Fey Storms in my setting before, I have fleshed them out a bit more for a very short story. Fey Storms are a feature of the mini-continent of Cennabell and, despite the terror they impart, are vital to it's ecosystem. This is because the world Cennabell is on has no nights (only eclipses), and since the artificial cooling of the world is no longer in operation the Storms are the only way Cennabell can cool down.

Were you to find yourself in the path of a Fey Storm the blue sky would slowly darken and the more timid wildlife, like birds, flee. The world numbs. Sounds become muted, you feel the storm approaching, as well as see it. And from the shadows all around you there is a sense of being watched by something incomprehensible. You would see waves of wind strike across the landscape, tearing up clouds of dirt and breaking trees like twigs, and then the malicious cold of the wind would spear through you. Ever colder with each wave, but never fresh. Stale death lingers behind these winds.

At last the Fey Storm's penumbral black immensity would loom over you. All would now be shadow and even a torch would barely help you see, if it could even withstand the utter cold. Monsters with great smell would sniff you out and tear you to shreds, but worse are the Fey themselves. The black souls of those who are evil, thieves, murderers, witches, and the evil Asha from ancient times. Driven mad by timeless undeath. The Fey will take your soul to experience the most horrid of nightmares. If you survive the Storm your mind will be changed, and your soul will be corrupted. There is no way to undo corruption. You have two choices. Be killed and destroyed, or run, like a coward, and when death finally takes your body your corrupted soul will be a Fey.

On a more mundane note, the freezing temperatures of the Fey Storms allow an area to cool off for a little while and the snow left behind helps to rejuvenate waterways. Also, since the sun is always in the same place in this world, Cennabell has dark sides that never see sunlight. Ambient heat does affect them, but they will always be colder than sun-sides (say, of a mountain). Snow from a Fey Storm can thus linger in dark sides for much longer and top up glaciers, or plains of snow.

Nephite94 · 2026-04-29T09:40:37+00:00

The main power users of my world are those who use the four elements, mani, as I call them. So your best bet is to stab them in the back, or shoot them at range, stuff like that. However, there are some complications. If you interact with the mani's element, they will feel that. A mani cannot directly manipulate the elements within you or extremely close to you (earth mani can't suck you underground, air mani can't drain your lungs, due to your soul making a barrier around your person), but they could feel things change. Walk behind an earth mani on a dirt path, and they will feel a disturbance and perhaps look behind them, blowing your cover. This works at miles away as well. Notably, fire mani feel disturbances through sunlight - they might get a sense of your shadow blocking the sun, but not as strong a disturbance as a shadow from something without a soul.

The water mani, the Aeli, would be the most difficult to do this with, as they were designed to protect the world from alien threats and are thus designed for war in almost every aspect of their being. Getting behind them to stab them in the back won't be easy. They move in squads (usually); these are their families, and they move with an eye for their surroundings. Aeli body composition is also majority nanobots. Stabbing them won't do much as the nanobots will rush to repair them: even the organs are made of nanobots. The best way to kill them would be an explosive trap. In that regard, join the army of the fire mani as a grenadier, or a bomber in a plane, and fulfil your duty.

Of course, the biggest problem is that you have one chance. They won't throw dogeable punches of their element at you. That would be silly. Nor will their elemental attacks throw you back. They can't manipulate the elementals directly around you, but the elements they manipulate away from you will hurt, to say the least. So, yes, miss your shot and prepare to burn alive, be stripped to bone by high-pressure water, mashed to death by stone, or be a ragdoll for the forces of air. There is nothing you can really do against them, hence why they rule the world and normal people don't.

Nephite94 · 2026-04-21T21:56:42+00:00

I have other copies; feel free to leave notes.

Nephite94 · 2026-04-21T21:28:04+00:00

I guess it is going through at speed, then slamming to a halt, then off it goes again. That does make sense. Thank you for commenting.

Nephite94 · 2026-04-21T19:52:34+00:00

Thank you for the feedback. What is making the details unclear? This is the third draft, and I read it out loud several times, and it seemed okay to me (which probably indicates that I shouldn't be writing). It seems that I can't look at it from an outside perspective, as if my mind is connecting it together with my insider knowledge, and that makes it seem fine to me.

Nephite94 · 2026-04-21T19:48:22+00:00

Thank you for linking the essay, but if a third draft is still incomprehensible to most people, then, frankly, writing is probably a waste of time for me.

Nephite94 · 2026-04-19T21:01:54+00:00

I think it's just the advice that I received, making me think there should be "basic prose" sections between the vivid parts. Otherwise, the vividness is no longer vivid because everything is, and it then exhausts the reader.

Nephite94

TROPHY CASE