This book was supposed to be done by now but man I'm lazy. Anyway.
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| Overhead |
THE CITY OF THE DRAGON WIVES
It had a name once, but no more. Time has eroded it. Time, and armageddon too.
Its culture is one part shadow and one part evolution. It is the result of countless eons serving as the afterlife for great hunters, as well as the endless war against the dragons themselves. This must be fully understood before one can grasp what this city means to its people. Hunting is a way of life for virtually every soul born here. Hunter souls are taken from countless worlds and reincarnated into this Heaven. As they grow up, they never regain their memories in full, but their latent wisdom as hunters--how to set traps, how to track prey, how to lie still as corpses--lies dormant in their minds until needed.
This is the main reason why this city has survived. The hunters born here were born under the purview of Huitzillah, God-Father of Hunters and High King of the Hunter's Heaven. Though he is now dead and his symbols consumed, the people born within his city-home are hunter heroes from many legends. Even the youngest child could hunt and kill something as vicious as a tiger or wolf if needed. It is unfortunate that dragons are quite a shade more difficult to slaughter then something so mundane.
Collectively, everyone here is working towards survival. This need to live is fueled by the passion everyone has for the act of hunting. They have structured themselves around the few remaining gods, the prophecies of the Handless Priests, the bravery of their Gatherers, and most importantly of all, the valor of their Dragon Wives. These women, spiritually wedded to their namesake and no longer able to bare children, are seen as saints by the denizens of the city. Certain Dragon Wives are named in prayers, in curses, in insults, and in jest. Offerings flow into their ziggurat-temples as water fills a basin. They are the greatest hunters the city has to offer, and they have given up everything they have for that title.
It is no question why the city has forgotten its name. It is no question why they have chosen their new one either.
THE BLESS'D
The people of the City of the Dragon Wives call themselves the Bless'd. As of late, many have taken to calling themselves Dragonslayers as well.
When a soul is reincarnated into the Heaven Bless'd & Burned, a woman becomes pregnant. It matters not if she was a virgin--here, the mother most capable of raising a child is the one to host the child. The child, once born, is unlikely to look like any of its parents. Instead, it will appear as it did when it was born in its first life, and grow up much the same. Thus, the City of the Dragon Wives is remarkably diverse in appearance--skin color, hair texture, size and build are all variables to the extreme.
Bless'd speak Faruasi. It is a tongue whose written form appears as heliographs, and is designed around adding several suffixes and prefixes to a base word to form sentences. Learning to read Faruasi is not a requirement in the City's education system, as it is considered both an art and a defining characteristic.
Because of the Hanging Gardens, dress is variable as well. Whatever is hunted from those gardens is used to create clothing. Usually men wear tunics, long robes, skirts, or loose pants. Women wear much the same, though with capes, aprons, and longer dresses. Both sexes often go topless, and shoes are worn only when hunting. Feathers define fashion. Different colored feathers in different amounts dictate both status and wealth. See the Feather Status chart below. Newborn children are always born obsidian, and all colors must be earned. Feathers are worn in a variety of ways, from headdresses to bracelets to weapons to capes.
Feather Color
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Meaning
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Light Green
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Criminal, dishonorable, earns little in the way of food and glory
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Obsidian
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Untested, young, has yet to begin an honest career, earns just enough to survive
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Jade
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Tested, skilled, an artisan, earns enough for some luxury, respected
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Sanguine
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Skilled, masterclass, innovative, very reputable, earns enough to live a life of luxury
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Midnight
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Beyond rich, perhaps a hero, an aristocrat, owns much, including life and property
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Nobles are known as the Midnight Plumed. They are, as mentioned above, aristocrats in a sense. They can get anything they want inside the city, own large domed estates, and are likely heroes of a sort or otherwise famed. While they offer much to their families and friends, their children must always earn their plumages, same as any other. Still, corruption often sees them rising faster than justified.
For more on dragonslayer culture, see XX.
The dragonslayer timeline below shows the typical cultural landmarks for a child as they age into an adult.
- Age 4: Enter into a school.
- Age 8: Begin working a trade. Still currently being educated.
- Age 10: Become an apprentice in their trade of choice.
- Age 13: Enter into adulthood via assisting with a Hanging Garden hunt.
- Age 14: Begin working a career in earnest.
- Age 18: Mean age of marriage, as well as attaining Jade feathers.
- Age 30: Mean age of child rearing.
- Age 40: Man age of attaining Sanguine feathers.
ARCHITECTURE AND LAYOUT
The City of the Dragon Wives sits atop a massive lake filling over 400 square miles of land. This lake is a miracle created by the God-King before his death and thus kept pure from radiance. Sprawling across the lake's surface like a spiderweb is the city proper.
Buildings are domed, and temples are built on top of and around ziggurats. Canals criss-cross the streets, and miniature forests and large gardens sprout up in between and on top of buildings. Engineering feats keep the lake's water in motion, and swirling farm beds known as chinampas are where most food is found.
There are no wheeled transports. Canoes or palanquins are used to get places quickly. There are also no beasts of burden. Streets are walked. At night, lamps are lit.
The City of the Dragon Wives is organized into Lodges. A Lodge is a faction of power in the city that owns a section of it. Usually this section is connected via stone bridge to the heart of the city, where the god's live and where markets can be found.
The following locations serve as adventure sites or places of interest:
- The Ziggurat-Temple Lodge of the Dragon Wives
- The Prophecy-Pit Lodge of the Handless Priests
- The Training Lodge of the Gatherers
- The High Lodge of the Gods
- The Gate of Metamm
- The Hanging Gardens (of which there are multiple)
- The Places (Markets)
Each will gets its own blog post and its own section in the book.
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