The Diaemus Project

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

I started with made-up words, but then I got stuck and just grabbed a list of random Basque words to tweak whenever I needed a new name for something. It looks pretty good, but I'm sure that if there are any Basque speakers out there, they'd think it was pretty funny that the word for "flatbread" is being used to denote a class of ceremonial swords.

Hey, flatbread swords are a fantastic idea!

*Commercial narrator voice* Have you ever been lost in the wilderness with nothing but the clothes on your back and a sword at your waist? Ever thought, "If only I could take a bite out of my sword, I could make it home"? Well now you can! With the new flatbread sword from Muncheez Fine Weapons, you can do just that! No more will the world suffer under the rein of inedible swords! Order now and you'll receive a sample pack of knife-shaped dipping sauces absolutely FREE!

....

I think I'm hungry today.

[Kobold King he/him]

I started with made-up words, but then I got stuck and just grabbed a list of random Basque words to tweak whenever I needed a new name for something. It looks pretty good, but I'm sure that if there are any Basque speakers out there, they'd think it was pretty funny that the word for "flatbread" is being used to denote a class of ceremonial swords. 

 

I steal a lot of names from Latin, myself, typically garbled just enough to be more-or-less unique.

 

Also, behold the greatest warrior of all Diaemus!

 

 

 

Fire drugas and water drurgas, maybe? Does that sound good or dumb?

Friendships are good. The drurgas would rather befriend visitors than make new enemies; survival is a common concern, and although they've adapted well and their magic prevents frequent deaths from the elements, they still know that making too many enemies in their territory is a quick way to suffering. They do have different levels of friendship, so these occasional visitors wouldn't be treated to too many of their secrets; however, they would be treated hospitably.

If the tapestry is a few centuries old, the drurgas wouldn't jump straight to vengeance. Children are never punished for the sins of the father....unless that child commits the same sin or expresses a desire to. So if said Noble was proud of that tapestry and would jump at a chance to make a new one, well....

The drugan religion forbids torture. So once they caught wind of the Noble's intentions, they'd end it pretty quickly. 

 

I like that. Personally I think it would be best if you went with either drudge or drurga for both, though, just to stay consistent.

 

I think for the most part the Ice Kin and the coastals will remain pretty distant from each other, so reserved hospitality sounds reasonable.

 

As for the tapestry: the Noble Packs treat hunts like other races treat formal balls or dinners. They're not really interested in a fair fight or competition, for the most part--the preferred targets are animals rounded up and injured in advance, for an easy kill by one of the Nobles. Fortunately they consider the hunting of sapients to be barbaric, so unless early Ice Kin weren't aware of the water drurga's level of awareness, and unless there was an injured drurga incapable of escaping from a pack of morbidly obese raptors in a sled, seal skin luxuries probably won't be available to them.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

I like that. Personally I think it would be best if you went with either drudge or drurga for both, though, just to stay consistent.

I think for the most part the Ice Kin and the coastals will remain pretty distant from each other, so reserved hospitality sounds reasonable.

As for the tapestry: the Noble Packs treat hunts like other races treat formal balls or dinners. They're not really interested in a fair fight or competition, for the most part--the preferred targets are animals rounded up and injured in advance, for an easy kill by one of the Nobles. Fortunately they consider the hunting of sapients to be barbaric, so unless early Ice Kin weren't aware of the water drurga's level of awareness, and unless there was an injured drurga incapable of escaping from a pack of morbidly obese raptors in a sled, seal skin luxuries probably won't be available to them.

I am a fan of consistency. My phone's autocorrect is not.

Agreed. For their part, the drurgas will find the thought of staying in an ice fortress and studying magic all day to be a fantastic waste of time and magic. So they wouldn't be tempted to visit.

Poor Great-great-great One Phil. He never should have tested all those flatbread swords. It would have to be an injured one, or one that was sick or weakened in some other way. The leopard seals I'm basing them on are quick enough to swim underneath a man on skis and beat him to the next hole in the ice, so Noble Fatty McFatterson would need a serious advantage in that fight.

[Kobold King he/him]

I am a fan of consistency. My phone's autocorrect is not.

Agreed. For their part, the drurgas will find the thought of staying in an ice fortress and studying magic all day to be a fantastic waste of time and magic. So they wouldn't be tempted to visit.

Poor Great-great-great One Phil. He never should have tested all those flatbread swords. It would have to be an injured one, or one that was sick or weakened in some other way. The leopard seals I'm basing them on are quick enough to swim underneath a man on skis and beat him to the next hole in the ice, so Noble Fatty McFatterson would need a serious advantage in that fight.

 

Oh.

 

Ah, so we have a case of mutual contempt then. Much better than war, at least.

 

The earliest Dromeans to visit the tundra, after a failed drurga hunt:

 

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Oh.

Ah, so we have a case of mutual contempt then. Much better than war, at least.

The earliest Dromeans to visit the tundra, after a failed drurga hunt:

When I missed a letter in "injured," it thought I meant "in donut." It tries to be helpful, it just....well, it tries. It really tries.

Yep. They just hate each other in secret like middle school-age girls.

That's probably how it went, yeah.

[Lindel he/him]

The Kashora'an Desert maybe, to fit Venture's suggestion.

Thanks!

Mek, I do that too. Meran came from the word for otter in another language(though I forgot which one.) and Sarmu came from the Estonian word for otter.

 

I like that! More information on cultures, religion, and wildlife in the Kashora'an coming soon. (Hopefully.)

 

EDIT: I'm trying to name a huge Rachnyx empire of ancient Diaemus, whose capital was once under the Kashora'an Desert. Could I get some opinions on which look and/or sound better? I have two main prefixes right now, (Hrak-) and (Shrak-) with a couple possibilities for the suffix.

 

-Shrakylen, Shrakyln, Shrakeelen, etc

-Hrakylen, Hrakeelen, Hrakilen, etc

 

Thoughts?

Edited September 23, 2015 by Lindel

[Grey Knight]

Right! Before I start, I would like to give credit to the Wolves of the Beyond series for the culture of my race.

 

I'm going to base my race roughly off of a mix between axehounds and wolves. The name of the race is Segai. This will most likely change.

 

An average Segai is the size of a large wolf, and is insectoid in appearance. It has six legs, and is covered in a thin, strong exoskeleton of plates. Segai are distant cousins of the Rahnyx, and so are heavily infused with orange and green lumoles. Any other type of lumole is fatally poisonous to them.

 

I don't have a lot of time to explain too much more. The Segai's magic powers are manipulation of sound. They can fire off supersonic blasts at enemies, and are able to comunicate over long distances by compression of sound. Segai are highly intelligent.

 

Here's what they basically look like: http://www.empireofasperslag.com/_/rsrc/1374277311804/home/3d-Modelling/axehound/Axehound_Side.png 

 

Winter, could I take you up on that offer to draw my creature? I would like it to look like an axehound, but a little more menacing.

[Mckeedee123 he/him]

Every time I type in the word "pyromancer," I get a mental of image of some guy taking a pastry in a wig out on a dinner date.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

I like that! More information on cultures, religion, and wildlife in the Kashora'an coming soon. (Hopefully.)

 

EDIT: I'm trying to name a huge Rachnyx empire of ancient Diaemus, whose capital was once under the Kashora'an Desert. Could I get some opinions on which look and/or sound better? I have two main prefixes right now, (Hrak-) and (Shrak-) with a couple possibilities for the suffix.

 

-Shrakylen, Shrakyln, Shrakeelen, etc

-Hrakylen, Hrakeelen, Hrakilen, etc

 

Thoughts?

I like Shrakyln. 

 

Here's what they basically look like: http://www.empireofasperslag.com/_/rsrc/1374277311804/home/3d-Modelling/axehound/Axehound_Side.png 

That link doesn't work...

[Young Bard he/him]

An update on the Diaemus subforum.

 

Chaos seems to have read it, and forwarded it on to Rubix. I presume that means that he'll do something about it, either soon or at the next big update.

Edited September 23, 2015 by TheYoungBard

[Curious Anamaximder he/him]

I like that! More information on cultures, religion, and wildlife in the Kashora'an coming soon. (Hopefully.)

 

EDIT: I'm trying to name a huge Rachnyx empire of ancient Diaemus, whose capital was once under the Kashora'an Desert. Could I get some opinions on which look and/or sound better? I have two main prefixes right now, (Hrak-) and (Shrak-) with a couple possibilities for the suffix.

 

-Shrakylen, Shrakyln, Shrakeelen, etc

-Hrakylen, Hrakeelen, Hrakilen, etc

 

Thoughts?

Hyrakyken sounds good to me.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Parts 3 and 4 as well as Meran Prayer tablets.

 

Part 3: The Split

Niran was angry when Eloa did meet the sea. He did blame Meran for not taking care of their sister, because Meran was the eldest. Meran was sad and he did think that it was Niran’s fault for spitting Eloa’s gift back in her face. Niran did fight him and did take the part of the sarmu herd that did use dead-grass-specks and did leave the Ferian forest and did go to the dead-grass-land across the sea. Niran named his land Niranel, being focused on himself. He did kill the others that were living there and did take a woman to be united with him. They did have many children, and began the Niran people.

 

Meran and Sina did stay in the forest to live. They each did have sleep-friends and did begin the first generation of Meran. Sina did have many, many children, more than trees do have leaves. She did love many men and did have many sleep-friends. Meran was more saving and did have only a few sleep-friends and did unite himself with one of them. The Meran did not friend the Niran again.

 

Part 4: Early Descendants and First Mirani War

The children and the children-children and the children-long-children of Meran did keep their herds of sarmu and did protect them from the many-teeth and from the Niran who did want to take the sarmu of the Meran. Riten was one of the early Meran herd-fathers. His sea-body was strongly powerful in changing and he did wind-move very strong. He did have anger of Niran but the anger was anger at Niran. He did fight the Niran with his sarmu and some of the strongest powerful of the Meran. They did fight and did kill many of the Niran, Riten killing many on his own. But when Terule, the son-son of Niran, did fight, he did kill Riten with his strong quick-hurt power. Terule had been the first of the Mirani to have quick-hurt power in his land-body. Only dead-grass sarmu had the powers before, but now some of the Niran did too.

 

When Riten was killed, the other Meran did stop fighting and did leave the Niranel grass and did come back to the Ferian forest. Terule did feel the more powerful and did come to fight the Meran in the forest to kill numbers even to the killed Niran. He was killed when the sarmu, Meran sea sarmu did surround him, making him to happy to see the sharpened sticks that the Meran fighters did have. They did kill him quickly and did send him to his sea-meeting. The Niran did stop fighting and the Meran did stop too.

 

A portion of a clay tablet on which the Meran did write prayers:

Praise Marino, All-Father, for courage. Praise Meran, First-Father, for the land and for justice. Praise Reli, All-Mother, for family. Praise Sina, Early-Mother, for fertility and love. Bless us not to be angry as Niran. Bless us not to be weak as Eloa. Bless the herds with protection and strong harvests.

[Sir Jerric he/him]

Feedback request:

(For everyone, with an additional request from those interested in a claim on the north lands.)

Is this legible? As in, does looking at this give you an idea of how the pieces fit together?

(Spoiler because big)

 

TheYoungBard: Right and bottom margins have not changed, so you can use that to align your claims map.

 

EDIT: Also, if anyone who has a land claim and has a scholarly culture wants to claim the 0° longitude line, that will be useful soon. Just pick a "vertical" line that runs through your region (to be the site of some landmark of your choosing). First come, first served. And if some other player's culture doesn't like it, you can have something else to negotiate in-world.

 

For North land claimants:

I am thinking a pair of continents near each other with a large gulf dividing them. No land crossing (though ice cap crossing may be an option). Do you like this option?

 

Also, again, any preferred climates? I believe Seonid was thinking grassland near an inland sea, but that could be Aw, BS, C*, D*, or ET rather easily. You are welcome to use terms like warm, hot, humid, dry, wet, cool, frigid, long summer days, wet-dry seasons, and the like if you don't read Köppen codes. I can translate.

Edited September 23, 2015 by Sir Jerric

[Mckeedee123 he/him]

Feedback request:

(For everyone, with an additional request from those interested in a claim on the north lands.)

Is this legible? As in, does looking at this give you an idea of how the pieces fit together?

(Spoiler because big)

 

TheYoungBard: Right and bottom margins have not changed, so you can use that to align your claims map.

 

For North land claimants:

I am thinking a pair of continents near each other with a large gulf dividing them. No land crossing (though ice cap crossing may be an option). Do you like this option?

 

Also, again, any preferred climates? I believe Seonid was thinking grassland near an inland sea, but that could be Aw, BS, C*, D*, or ET rather easily. You are welcome to use terms like warm, hot, humid, dry, wet, cool, frigid, long summer days, wet-dry seasons, and the like if you don't read Köppen codes. I can translate.

Are you planning to do any islands?

[Curious Anamaximder he/him]

Feedback request:

(For everyone, with an additional request from those interested in a claim on the north lands.)

Is this legible? As in, does looking at this give you an idea of how the pieces fit together?

(Spoiler because big)

 

TheYoungBard: Right and bottom margins have not changed, so you can use that to align your claims map.

 

For North land claimants:

I am thinking a pair of continents near each other with a large gulf dividing them. No land crossing (though ice cap crossing may be an option). Do you like this option?

 

Also, again, any preferred climates? I believe Seonid was thinking grassland near an inland sea, but that could be Aw, BS, C*, D*, or ET rather easily. You are welcome to use terms like warm, hot, humid, dry, wet, cool, frigid, long summer days, wet-dry seasons, and the like if you don't read Köppen codes. I can translate.

I have no plans for the continents, but I suggest wet-dry seasons.

[Sir Jerric he/him]

Are you planning to do any islands?

Yes, but I did not want to distract from the question I asked.

 

You wanted to claim an archepelagio? There will be multiple. Did you want to pick an area on the map (or climate style) for yours?

 

Also: added an Edit request to the post above:

 

EDIT: Also, if anyone who has a land claim and has a scholarly culture wants to claim the 0° longitude line, that will be useful soon. Just pick a "vertical" line that runs through your region (to be the site of some landmark of your choosing). First come, first served. And if some other player's culture doesn't like it, you can have something else to negotiate in-world.

[Young Bard he/him]

Looks good, thanks!

 

McKeedee, if you get your islands, do you want me to remove you from your current spot? (Although, I think for now you can have two spots until more people join, and then you can make up your mind.)

[Mckeedee123 he/him]

Looks good, thanks!

 

McKeedee, if you get your islands, do you want me to remove you from your current spot? (Although, I think for now you can have two spots until more people join, and then you can make up your mind.)

 

Is that a thing? I only get one spot?

 

I'm currently working on a pretty comprehensive description of the coastal mediterranean climate region, as well as the section of steppe above it. I do, however, also have plans for the general settlement patterns of the islands, and some ideas for how to set up a large archipelago. I'd love to have two areas to work with, but I'd keep the one I have currently over the island one if it came down to it.

[Seonid he/him]

Kobold, hope you don't mind the additions I made to the Dromean biology - the reproductive portion. I'm wondering if it might be better for the non-pregnant females to have a mating season twice a year or even once a quarter instead of just once a year. Your thoughts (or anyones) would be appreciated.

 

Also, it looks like most folks like Sorukaan (plural: Sorukaana). I prefer the plural form to the alternative (Soruukana just looks weird to me), so that is the official name of the Empire going forward.

 

 

Feedback request:

(For everyone, with an additional request from those interested in a claim on the north lands.)

Is this legible? As in, does looking at this give you an idea of how the pieces fit together?

(Spoiler because big)

 

TheYoungBard: Right and bottom margins have not changed, so you can use that to align your claims map.

 

EDIT: Also, if anyone who has a land claim and has a scholarly culture wants to claim the 0° longitude line, that will be useful soon. Just pick a "vertical" line that runs through your region (to be the site of some landmark of your choosing). First come, first served. And if some other player's culture doesn't like it, you can have something else to negotiate in-world.

 

For North land claimants:

I am thinking a pair of continents near each other with a large gulf dividing them. No land crossing (though ice cap crossing may be an option). Do you like this option?

 

Also, again, any preferred climates? I believe Seonid was thinking grassland near an inland sea, but that could be Aw, BS, C*, D*, or ET rather easily. You are welcome to use terms like warm, hot, humid, dry, wet, cool, frigid, long summer days, wet-dry seasons, and the like if you don't read Köppen codes. I can translate.

 

Alright. That map looks excellent. I can follow it rather well, I think.

 

I actually quite like the option of two continents with the large gulf! Would it be a shallow gulf, or would it be quite deep (as in oceanic floor, rather than continental crust at the bottom)?

 

For the north continent, I don't really care whether the inland sea is landlocked or if it connects to open ocean at some point. Since I don't have specialized geography or climatology training (just physics, sorry!), I'll describe what I was thinking of.

 

The grasslands are temperate and warm during most of the season. It rarely gets cold enough to snow, and the humidity is relatively high due to the nearby inland sea. I'm thinking almost a Mediterranean climate, if that fits. I don't know enough to say whether that's a possibility. Rain is not exceptionally frequent, but the area isn't arid. I do need the grasslands to be near a mountain range somewhere, but I'm not too fussed about where that happens.

 

I'd also like to claim part of the northern shore of the inland sea, if that's alright. It would be heavily forested (mostly evergreen), and frigid. Short summers and long winters, as well as high humidity due to the "lake effect" (well, more of an inland sea effect). If that can fit in. So basically, a swathe of warm, mediterranean land along the southern shore, and a small portion of frigid conifer forest along the northern shore. I have in mind something similar to Minnesota in terms of climate.
 

Also, I'm not going to bother sending you the part I have mapped out. It's not enough to worry about - I can adapt my civilizations to your map.

[Sir Jerric he/him]

Alright. That map looks excellent. I can follow it rather well, I think.

 

I actually quite like the option of two continents with the large gulf! Would it be a shallow gulf, or would it be quite deep (as in oceanic floor, rather than continental crust at the bottom)?

 

For the north continent, I don't really care whether the inland sea is landlocked or if it connects to open ocean at some point. Since I don't have specialized geography or climatology training (just physics, sorry!), I'll describe what I was thinking of.

 

The grasslands are temperate and warm during most of the season. It rarely gets cold enough to snow, and the humidity is relatively high due to the nearby inland sea. I'm thinking almost a Mediterranean climate, if that fits. I don't know enough to say whether that's a possibility. Rain is not exceptionally frequent, but the area isn't arid. I do need the grasslands to be near a mountain range somewhere, but I'm not too fussed about where that happens.

 

I'd also like to claim part of the northern shore of the inland sea, if that's alright. It would be heavily forested (mostly evergreen), and frigid. Short summers and long winters, as well as high humidity due to the "lake effect" (well, more of an inland sea effect). If that can fit in. So basically, a swathe of warm, mediterranean land along the southern shore, and a small portion of frigid conifer forest along the northern shore. I have in mind something similar to Minnesota in terms of climate.

 

Also, I'm not going to bother sending you the part I have mapped out. It's not enough to worry about - I can adapt my civilizations to your map.

I'm glad the puzzle piece system is meeting with general approval. It was the simplest method I could devise. I do wish I could paint on a digital globe though. Even if it didn't have layers, the ability to screen capture a picture centered on any area at will would be amazing. Though displaying a grid would be essential, too. (Anyone know of software like that?)

 

The gulf could be what ever depth people wanted. If deep is unnatural, then perhaps Great Lumuole magic did it?

 

Landlocked is up to you. My working resolution has pixels of 8 miles by 8 miles (12 km) or more (curvature), so I am just ignoring rivers (unless you see a lot of eight mile wide river crossings?).

 

Minnesota is solidly in a Dfa / Dfb region. Europe has adjacent Csa / Dfa regions by the Black Sea. I'd say it is a plausible enough arrangement; although I'll need to play with the placement to make the Csa region sweep east enough to work out. (The 's' means the summer is notably drier than the winter, and the 'a' means the peak of summer is usually above 72°F. The depth of winter is why the 'C' or 'D' applies; 'C' can freeze, but an 'a' means it is unlikely; 'D' will fall below freezing.)

 

And as for mountains, the exact topography is flexible. I need to mark the extreme changes in elevation for my climatology, but lone peaks, scattered peaks, and low ranges are not worth marking at my scale.

 

Note that the above river and mountain comments apply to everyone. For forests, I advise checking which types grow in your climates via Google research, and placement is again mostly your business.

[Seonid he/him]

My sections don't need to be adjacent - in fact, I was thinking that they were across the inland sea from each other. If it works better for you, feel free to put a climate band or two separating them.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

Does anyone with a society near mine have an emphasis in agriculture? Pastoralists tend to barter with agriculturalists for grain and such and I'm wondering if any of the existing cultures would fit that group.

[Young Bard he/him]

Is that a thing? I only get one spot?

 

I'm currently working on a pretty comprehensive description of the coastal mediterranean climate region, as well as the section of steppe above it. I do, however, also have plans for the general settlement patterns of the islands, and some ideas for how to set up a large archipelago. I'd love to have two areas to work with, but I'd keep the one I have currently over the island one if it came down to it.

 

Pending space, yes. There's still plenty of space on the map now, but there are a lot of author-y people in these forums, and if they join, then we might have a few problems. For now though, it should be fine. (In fact, looking at the rate of people who have joined up, it will probably continue to be fine, and if that's the case, you can keep both. Maybe I'm just a pessimist.)

[Curious Anamaximder he/him]

Does anyone with a society near mine have an emphasis in agriculture? Pastoralists tend to barter with agriculturalists for grain and such and I'm wondering if any of the existing cultures would fit that group.

Does anyone with a society near mine have an emphasis in agriculture? Pastoralists tend to barter with agriculturalists for grain and such and I'm wondering if any of the existing cultures would fit that group.

Where are you?

[Young Bard he/him]

@Venture: You're about as far away from each other that you could possibly be.

 

The possible contendents for Mailliw's trading could be Morzathoth, Honey Badger, gwslow, Crooked Warden, or Edgedancer.