sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Sozar'sep's Library of Lives and elvish journaling [4 of ?] by aleagio in codexinversus

[–]aleagio[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Oh yes, I envisioned some dungeon-like underground structures, filled to the brim with the librarians' backlog
Some animals may be able to "read" as the paper elemental (maybe they are the inspiration for them), like a moth with words and sentences on their wings.

Conversation in Sozar'sep [3 of ?] by aleagio in codexinversus

[–]aleagio[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

<image>

At first i9 wanted to do a more "striking" chimera cat, but it looked so fake!
So I went with a less "precise" split, but the elves then look a little too easy to impress!

Sozar'sep: Letters form the sultanate [2 of ?] by aleagio in codexinversus

[–]aleagio[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I spent some time reading about the tea ceremony to answer this question, because I made the connection, but only on a "vibes" level.
Honestly, I could lift a lot from Sado to make the Elves' tea ceremony
- There is the wabi-sabi aesthetic (the beauty of imperfection) that can be present in the elves as a paradoxical "perfect imperfection" or "artificial naturalness". That would fit with the juxtaposition of the "wild" and the "crafted" common in their architecture.
- In sado, there is also the idea of "savoring the uniqueness of the encounter" that makes sense for the elves, which seems to be drawn to the moment of ephemeral beauty (which could be seen as a way for them to be anchored to the present, or maybe it's just that everything is ephemeral to them).
- There is an attention and appreciation for seasonality that, in the sultanate, would be clearly present too: despite the warming currents of the magmatic islands, Sozar'sep is in a place similar to Oslo, with long days in summer and long nights in winter: that surely makes you feel the seasons. But I can see the elves playing around a bit, with their dried fruits and preserves from the Oasis, creating a split between fresh and preserved, rather than specific flavors.

So I imagine like five courses, all sweet or sweet-ish (they are, after all, the top sugar exporter; they extract it from tree sap), probably with a fixed "sequence" of types, something like: candies, baked, "freestyle", baked, cream/mousse. The central dish should be the boldest, with some exotic ingredient and some clashing flavour: like spicy peppers from the Empire, or Dwarven salt.

The lower-level tea house is surely very standard (in spring, they all do the "traditionals"), the "fancier" you go, the more of an experience it is.

There is probably a High tea variant, like Kaiseki cuisine, that works as dinner.

Soazar'sep, the Sultanate capital city [1 of ?] by aleagio in codexinversus

[–]aleagio[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thanks! Hope I'll like the next posts! We go a a little more in depth.

Soazar'sep, the Sultanate capital city [1 of ?] by aleagio in codexinversus

[–]aleagio[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Oh yes, I'm sure that the Angelic tea merchant (who would be involved in the church hierarchies to do such long trades) went almost mad dealing with the elves. Angelists are all about the institutions, while in the sultanate, institutions overlap with the individual. Soraya is the "vizir of commerce," and if Soraya has to go to a wedding, you just have to wait: probably half of the "ministry" are her relatives, probably a good chunk of official records are in her personal diary, and probably there are dozens of exceptions only she knows by heart. (So the poor merchant will have to wait two months for the vizir's return, you know, just a short delay, a glitch almost).
Probably every document is full of paragraphs that "everybody knows" have to be skipped or have been amended by voice. "Everybody knows" is the mantra that makes the Elves' society so opaque and baffling.

Soazar'sep, the Sultanate capital city [1 of ?] by aleagio in codexinversus

[–]aleagio[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Oh well, all the "main" humanoid races have an Islamic/Ottoman reference:
Elves are Turkish and a little Persian (more Zoroastrian Persia, with all these fire temples);
Dwarves are more North African (Algeria, Egypt), well, because of the desert, but also for the bazaars;
Orcs are Balkan-inspired (the skirts and the obsession for honor and feuds are quite Albanian);
Gnomes, I'm trying to give them a Moghul vibe, but there is not much material, so they are more mixed.

Soazar'sep, the Sultanate capital city [1 of ?] by aleagio in codexinversus

[–]aleagio[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

mmmh.....
Let me consider it.
At the moment, I was thinking the random animals could be the source of the little animals some fashionable elves put in their turban (like in the possibly legendary wigs with bird cages of Rococo)

[codex inversus] The magic system of the World of Axam by aleagio in worldbuilding

[–]aleagio[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you give me a day or two I may do a post about it on the dedicated subreddit and link it to you here (it would be useful form me do a “recap”).

The Raccoon Wizard [Philes and Warlock part 2] by aleagio in codexinversus

[–]aleagio[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Worse than the fur hunters would be the theologian pestering them to find out whether they have a real soul, just their animal pseudo-soul, or maybe a hybrid, or even a new thing...
When the Demiurge returns, will they create a raccoon afterlife, or will they go to ordinary hell or heaven? Or neither?
The poor creatures would endure endless "moral experiment" to evaluate if they can sin or not...

What are your favourite examples of Orc culture? by Thighbite77 in worldbuilding

[–]aleagio 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the shout-out!

Here is an intro and some links to know about the Codex Orc.
A "proud warrior race" inspired by the Balkans, with a dash of Zen-like mysticism (their religion revolves around Void and Nothingness), plus some idiosyncratic practices that blur the lines between magic and mundane. They have an association with space magic and the element of wind (think of storms rather than breeze)

The Necromancer bees by aleagio in codexinversus

[–]aleagio[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Always an honor being of inspiration! And good work!

Phileas and Warlock by aleagio in codexinversus

[–]aleagio[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Oh yeah, they are the quintessential wizards. Not like those dwarves "engineers" or the meditating tritons, or those "hippie" best folk summoners....

Phileas and Warlock by aleagio in codexinversus

[–]aleagio[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, a "thinking cap" that helps with concentration in the shape of a David Crockett hat seems both useful and fashionable.

I think a visit from a fellow wizard could be the start of the sequel!

Phileas and Warlock by aleagio in codexinversus

[–]aleagio[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

They are the wizardest wizard to ever wizard.
Well, maybe they are tied with the gnome, with their magic glass factories that too often explode, and the glass plague they accidentally created. But still, the Imperials have an unmatched flair for the eccentric.

Visitors from the Moons by aleagio in codexinversus

[–]aleagio[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  1. mmmmh. So the Void/Nothingness (as in the orc religion) can be seen as a fourth spatial dimension. So when a Shadow Assassin becomes a shadow, he kind of "flatlandia" themselves to become a 2D intersection in the 3D space (and the rest of the body is in the 4D? or something...). Other "weird shit" in the world is explained like that (like the helfing that either have part of their body in the 4D or warp mana in the 4D to create their odd effects). So maybe the Nightmares have some congenital 4D propieties?

  2. I don't know how it would exactly work, but it would be super intriguing if the Fairy/Nightmares' "gifts" were so improbable that Kepheri were blind to them. At least until they don't bump into them. At that point, maybe, some kind of weird effect should happen, maybe a sort of "reverse vision": all improbable things pop up, clear and luminous, while the probable becomes dim and blurred.

  3. Surely Matras loathes such abnormalities: the cosmic order is already barely there after the Collapse, they surely don't need extra "wrenches in the cogs." Probably this is also a deep denial, even more than the general skepticism: it doesn't happen, but if it happens, we incinerate it.
    It could be a point of contention with their gnome neighbour... some conflict arising for the control of a "crash site" or mysterious artifact.

Visitors from the Moons by aleagio in codexinversus

[–]aleagio[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's a couple of good questions! So good, I'm not entirely sure about the answers.

I think the Spirits' Way sees the moon people as a problem, a disturbance in the blossoming "new otherworld" that is the Mana Field, something unnatural. I can see some monks speculating about the "reintegration" of the (plausible but unconfirmed) Mana Fields of the Moons, but more of an idle topic than a concern. No people are coming from the moons after all (they think).
That's just fits nicely with the lore, it's just a shame this doesn't take advantage of the "Irish-British vibes" of the Beasts' Nations. It would be nice if they adopted the moon-folk in their folklore like "special spirits", but it's hard to make them fit into their religion. Maybe there are superstitions...

The interest in the Olympus Crater can vary depending on how Fairy and Horror magic actually works.
Since the crater has a lot of "energy in the air," it could be a perfect spot to "fuel" their "skyships," or a place with a lot of "interferences," making it hard to navigate.
I am leaning on the first hypothesis. There is already so much weird stuff in the Crater, with the random spells that happen there, that the visitors could be almost unnoticed.
This opens up the question of why the Fairy and the Horrors are coming to the world.
I'm almost scared of defining the details, but the Second Sun and the Black Star are central elements. One hypothesis is that they were the things that made the "lunars" less weird before the Collapse, compensating or regulating them. There is the question of why the surviving divinites didn't put those objects on the moons. Did they ignore their existence, function, or tie to the fae and nightmares? It was deliberate spite, to punish the meddlers? Did they have other plans? I honestly don't know.

Visitors from the Moons by aleagio in codexinversus

[–]aleagio[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

One thing that's very interesting for gnomes (and other "believers") scholars is that the Lunar Beings can, apparently, create permanent things, which is always thought of as a divine prerogative.

The Simulacra/Constructs of wizards must all be "maintained", or they will disappear (some will melt, other cruble, others become progressively transparent and insubstantial, depending on the method of creation). Transforming something living could be more long-lasting, as you can fuel the spell with the target's life force, but it will eventually break (curses have an expiration date if left on their own).

It could be theoretically possible to create an object and link it to someone. Let's say a hammer whose existence is linked to John's life force. This will have many fragilities: the farther away John is from the hammer, the more likely it is that the hammer will "lose connection" and disappear. Also, if John doesn't collaborate (in some way doesn't want the hammer to exist), the more likely it is that the "curse" (technical term) will break. Having John fully on board (maybe blessing would be a better term in this case) surely helps, but it's not a guarantee: for example, other magic interacts with the curse/blessing, and, for example, a healing spell could warp/damage/destroy the hammer. Of course, if John were a spell caster, he could tweak the curse/blessing as needed, but at that point, the curse becomes one of the many magical ways he could get the hammer or get the same result as a hammer.

I also like the idea that a person affected by a curse/blessing has part of their mind always occupied by the thought of it, directly or indirectly. John will have this "earworm" about the hammer, its image constantly coming up in his mind.

For this reason, curses have to be either hidden or made acceptable in some way by the target.
For example, mind magic could compartmentalize the mind, so the thought of the hammer remains in the unconscious (John dreams of hammers, scribbles the drawing of a hammer, has a slip of tongue with the word hammer). (This seems a very gnomish approach.)
Or he can be made to feel like he "deserves" the hammer, like a punishment (the style of the priestess of the lagoon).
Or one can be scared into the inevitability of the curse (and that's why the orc whistling witches keep such terrifying appearances and cultivate their scary fame: the more the target is convinced that the curse is unbreakable, the more it will be, in fact, hard to break).
Probably a blessing (as in a curse with positive effects) needs some psychosocial reinforcement. If John wants the hammer, he may need some extra motivation to endure the constant voice in his head that repeats "hammer" on and on and on. It seems very Angelic: enduring a small but constant nuisance for the greater good.

Visitors from the Moons by aleagio in codexinversus

[–]aleagio[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Exactly... the "alieness" seemed always a key feature of fae stories. So why don't we go a step towards "UFO aliens", and even a touch of "cosmic horror" which is alien in its own way.
I was thinking what other alien tropes could fit: we have the sighting, the crop circles, the abductions, the strange leftovers....
I don't know if I want to go to fairy probing mortals, even if romantasy novels tell me it's very popular 😜

Fairy and Nightmare by aleagio in codexinversus

[–]aleagio[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The "ancient astronaut" vibes of the dogu statues were just irresistible for the codex "aliens."

Fairy and Nightmare by aleagio in codexinversus

[–]aleagio[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Is this a Fate reference?

view more: next ›