Might as well make a con-relevant post to explain my avatar and title.
One of my more recent tidbits is how the Kančel, kin to the Kanǰe of Kortuğ, the autochthonic inhabitants of the *Far Isles (creative name, I know...the languages its name could be from are either currently planned-but-no-details or guts-torn-out-of-its-proto-language-several-tiers-up) came to include Ḥonuxelọ, the Great Turtless, in their pantheon.
Ḥonuxelọ is a goddess of the open ocean crossing, and all deep sea creatures; she appears as a turquoise-silver skinned female with permanently wet hair when she takes human form. The ancestral Kančel were blown off course during a titanic storm, and when the sky calmed they found themselves out of the sight of land. Battered but alive, they did the only thing they could: put their nets out to try and catch food to survive. They caught a sea turtle in their nets; this was a lot of meat, which could feed them for an entire day. They argued over it, but in the end they released it back into the sea, (scaled animals are sacred in the lands they hail from). For this act of kindness, Ḥonuxelọ appeared to them in the form of a great sea turtle, and guided the fishing crew to the Far Isles, saving them from gruesome deaths at sea. Thus did the original pantheon of the Kančel begin to differ from their continental relatives.
One of my more recent tidbits is how the Kančel, kin to the Kanǰe of Kortuğ, the autochthonic inhabitants of the *Far Isles (creative name, I know...the languages its name could be from are either currently planned-but-no-details or guts-torn-out-of-its-proto-language-several-tiers-up) came to include Ḥonuxelọ, the Great Turtless, in their pantheon.
Ḥonuxelọ is a goddess of the open ocean crossing, and all deep sea creatures; she appears as a turquoise-silver skinned female with permanently wet hair when she takes human form. The ancestral Kančel were blown off course during a titanic storm, and when the sky calmed they found themselves out of the sight of land. Battered but alive, they did the only thing they could: put their nets out to try and catch food to survive. They caught a sea turtle in their nets; this was a lot of meat, which could feed them for an entire day. They argued over it, but in the end they released it back into the sea, (scaled animals are sacred in the lands they hail from). For this act of kindness, Ḥonuxelọ appeared to them in the form of a great sea turtle, and guided the fishing crew to the Far Isles, saving them from gruesome deaths at sea. Thus did the original pantheon of the Kančel begin to differ from their continental relatives.
I can't rule out there being passive influence from some myth or another, but it started with a collared shirt my mother gave me. It has a stylized turtle on its chest, with honu (Hawai'ian, 'turtle') written above and Hilo below. I was trying to write something about the Far Isles when I happened to look at that shirt, ran the words together in my head, and the greater part of that myth sprang forth. I'm definitely going to go for a Polynesian flavor for the Kančel mythos, since it is a most awesome model (and Pele has been one of my role models as a strong independent woman for years). As for her human coloration, those are just my favorite combo of colors 
Hilo is one of my favorite places, it's managed to be a decent-sized (for the Big Island) town and retain its relaxed small town attitude. And the showers that its eternal weather forecast of partly cloudy with a chance of rain gives are usually light and wonderful to stay out in (unless you're the Wicked Witch of the West, of course).
Hilo is one of my favorite places, it's managed to be a decent-sized (for the Big Island) town and retain its relaxed small town attitude. And the showers that its eternal weather forecast of partly cloudy with a chance of rain gives are usually light and wonderful to stay out in (unless you're the Wicked Witch of the West, of course).
I've decided to go on a posting spree to see what happens... and this is where I'm going to start.
The last time we talked privately about Šaol stuff, you were looking at Salanjan grammar. What sort of plans do you have for developing the other cultures on the world, such as those of the *Far Isles?
Also, I know you still have a lot of deep background world-formation stuff that hasn't been written up or posted anywhere. Any thoughts on when we'll see that?
The last time we talked privately about Šaol stuff, you were looking at Salanjan grammar. What sort of plans do you have for developing the other cultures on the world, such as those of the *Far Isles?
Also, I know you still have a lot of deep background world-formation stuff that hasn't been written up or posted anywhere. Any thoughts on when we'll see that?
Hey look, snowballs! I decided to write up a bunch of the stuff I've got in various parts of the oven instead of anything like a short, reasonable response.
Lately I've been working out how currents should form, and wind patterns as well (for the record, Šaol has a retrograde spin with regards to Earth). This has involved delineating the exact size and location of the various areas I focus on most exist, climatically, so I can line them/their continents/ up right latitudinally. Actual continent sizes will soon follow (I've got rough land areas for most of the states of the Kanašu already, based off of all things various Turkish province and/or European country combinations).
I recently began drawing up a map/story semi-combo with more geologic and geopolitical details for Kortuğ (the rightmost continent on the map above); the northern reaches are covered by the aftermath of a flood basalt event 34-25mya, presaging the rifting of Rašau and Kortuğ. Got a story in a Sanafwe state of Southwestern Kortuğ started as well; if I'm ever happy with it I'll try to post it.
Far across the equatorial seaway from the Kanašu and the Xatsan Peninsula lies the continent of Htelui. the strong West to East pull of the circumplanetary Equatorial Current means travel there is somewhat risky, but possible to complete safely once the Kanaši develop hulls able to handle open ocean travel versus coastline-hugging. The northern shores are mostly populated by the Tyətrei family, which had a fair amount of development at one time but that got gutted in one of my major purges several years back. Cusren shall rise again…
Htelui's eastern coasts are subtropical (I hope), from its position straddling the equator (the continent is nearly bisected by it), and the gyrations of the split in the Equatorial Current once it pours into the mostly land-ringed sea which washes Htelui's shores. I really want to get back here once I've got the currents and climates worked out better.
The *Far Isles are a large chain of 9 primary islands and assorted smaller ones, being the peaks of a mostly-submerged continental mass which rises in the world-ocean facing the west of Rašau. It was settled by seafaring groups which rode the Equatorial Current east from the Littoral reaching from Nuoral up towards Kortuğ, first by Kanǰe (here known as the Kančel) speakers who make up the fairly primitive groups in the archipelago's remote reaches, then by Sanafwe speakers ancestral to the bulk of the population, and finally a Central Vuafane people originating from Nuoral, who installed themselves as the ruling class of most of the islands' societies. Then approximately 300 years before the present, the Čal (a highly industrious merchant people of the western Regil coasts, who rose to nearly equal the catalysts of their culture, the Kanaši) made landfall on the more easterly islands and, having a rather lopsided technological advantage (think Byzantium meets Polynesia for a rough approximation), almost inadvertently ended up taking control of large portions of the archipelago; expect Interesting Times.
Along with the continents' permanent affixation mentioned above, I'm planning on pulling the few etheric strokes I have about the *Southron continent (placeholder name until I create actual details for it) into concreteness and at least roughly sketch out the continent and some geographic/geopolitical/climatic info (I really want there to be an entirely landlocked ice cap, if I end up finalizing the planetary temperature ranges to be such that ice caps are possible).
I've actually got a nice chunk of orbital, planetary, and star data laying around (Šaol's star is a K3V-class, for example, which of course requires adjusting the Goldilocks Zone, stellar ages and coloration), but it needs a lot of work to be presentable, I worked it out years ago and can't exactly recall how I arrived at some of it (there's enough sourcing though to mollify any doubts about the veracity overall). I also really, really want Šaol to have two moons, and that is horrifyingly complex to make happen. It will happen.
Global
Lately I've been working out how currents should form, and wind patterns as well (for the record, Šaol has a retrograde spin with regards to Earth). This has involved delineating the exact size and location of the various areas I focus on most exist, climatically, so I can line them/their continents/ up right latitudinally. Actual continent sizes will soon follow (I've got rough land areas for most of the states of the Kanašu already, based off of all things various Turkish province and/or European country combinations).
Kortuğ
I recently began drawing up a map/story semi-combo with more geologic and geopolitical details for Kortuğ (the rightmost continent on the map above); the northern reaches are covered by the aftermath of a flood basalt event 34-25mya, presaging the rifting of Rašau and Kortuğ. Got a story in a Sanafwe state of Southwestern Kortuğ started as well; if I'm ever happy with it I'll try to post it.
Htelui
Far across the equatorial seaway from the Kanašu and the Xatsan Peninsula lies the continent of Htelui. the strong West to East pull of the circumplanetary Equatorial Current means travel there is somewhat risky, but possible to complete safely once the Kanaši develop hulls able to handle open ocean travel versus coastline-hugging. The northern shores are mostly populated by the Tyətrei family, which had a fair amount of development at one time but that got gutted in one of my major purges several years back. Cusren shall rise again…
Htelui's eastern coasts are subtropical (I hope), from its position straddling the equator (the continent is nearly bisected by it), and the gyrations of the split in the Equatorial Current once it pours into the mostly land-ringed sea which washes Htelui's shores. I really want to get back here once I've got the currents and climates worked out better.
Far Isles
The *Far Isles are a large chain of 9 primary islands and assorted smaller ones, being the peaks of a mostly-submerged continental mass which rises in the world-ocean facing the west of Rašau. It was settled by seafaring groups which rode the Equatorial Current east from the Littoral reaching from Nuoral up towards Kortuğ, first by Kanǰe (here known as the Kančel) speakers who make up the fairly primitive groups in the archipelago's remote reaches, then by Sanafwe speakers ancestral to the bulk of the population, and finally a Central Vuafane people originating from Nuoral, who installed themselves as the ruling class of most of the islands' societies. Then approximately 300 years before the present, the Čal (a highly industrious merchant people of the western Regil coasts, who rose to nearly equal the catalysts of their culture, the Kanaši) made landfall on the more easterly islands and, having a rather lopsided technological advantage (think Byzantium meets Polynesia for a rough approximation), almost inadvertently ended up taking control of large portions of the archipelago; expect Interesting Times.
To the ends of the earth
Along with the continents' permanent affixation mentioned above, I'm planning on pulling the few etheric strokes I have about the *Southron continent (placeholder name until I create actual details for it) into concreteness and at least roughly sketch out the continent and some geographic/geopolitical/climatic info (I really want there to be an entirely landlocked ice cap, if I end up finalizing the planetary temperature ranges to be such that ice caps are possible).
…and Beyond!
1I've actually got a nice chunk of orbital, planetary, and star data laying around (Šaol's star is a K3V-class, for example, which of course requires adjusting the Goldilocks Zone, stellar ages and coloration), but it needs a lot of work to be presentable, I worked it out years ago and can't exactly recall how I arrived at some of it (there's enough sourcing though to mollify any doubts about the veracity overall). I also really, really want Šaol to have two moons, and that is horrifyingly complex to make happen. It will happen.
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1. I'm aware this isn't the world formation stuff you were talking about. That's…it'll come. Someday soon, hopefully.
1. I'm aware this isn't the world formation stuff you were talking about. That's…it'll come. Someday soon, hopefully.
there really needs to be a map here
even a shitty MS paint prototype will do, nort has been running on that for years
even a shitty MS paint prototype will do, nort has been running on that for years