#giaea

Hey, thanks for the ask!

It actually is something of a non-issue in Giaea; homophobia and transphobia are nonexistent except in people considered extremely outdated and horrible. Marriage is for love and alliance, with reproduction an afterthought, and gender confirmation is easily done through magic.

Gender and sexual orientation are completely accepted even in the establishment. For example, the ruling family of Sonina currently consists of Lady Nadia Rindaryen, a butch lesbian; her wife Lady Mairee Rindaryen, a trans woman; and their children: Yenica Rindaryen, a bisexual woman; Cohr Rindaryen, a bisexual nonbinary; and Korbiy Rindaryen, a gay man.

Honestly, consent is far more important than who is consenting.

Wow! It’s not Wednesday here yet, but I’m always glad to have a question about worldbuilding. I’ll answer for Giaea, the D&D setting I’ve been building.

The initial inspiration behind Giaea was the overarching story of a campaign, which, unfortunately, I can’t get into here, seeing as literally every one of the people who are playing in said campaign follows me here. Suffice it to say: a large, interconnected family across the continent with...not-so-good-aligned origins.

Something cool? Probably the inspirations for the countries of Giaea. For example, Alambra was born from me going “wow Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon were real assholes for kicking the Moors out of Spain instead of, idk, agreeing to share the land and their cultures with one another?” So there’s Renaissance Spain but also Arab and Berber influences there.

A lot of the countries were born from solely Earth-based influences, like Alambra was, but I had a lot of fun digging into (and completely fucking with) D&D lore for their histories and cultures too. For example, the inception of the island nation of Reynir was me going “FEY MAGIC ELVEN VIKINGS, FIRBOLG SHIPBUILDERS, AND AN ISLAND STILL HALF IN THE FEYWILD? HELL YEA”

only a bostonian could ask that last part of the question

Serrea tends to be the butt of jokes, usually ones based around not being able to keep hold of things (their own dicks included). “Poor as a Serrean whore” is a fairly vulgar saying in countries near Serrea; the thought is that, since serrea is a comparatively poor country, no one has money to pay sex workers.

Both Nalonians and Amynto-Zakrians are proud enough of their countries to be angry if jokes about their country are made in their hearing. Most of said jokes are about being uptight; “an Amyntian spear up the ass” is a more intense version of a stick up the ass.

Serrea is probably also the New Jersey. They tend toward xenophobia and hostility. The Minnesota (corrected from your obvious misspelling) is probably Nalone: prides itself on high culture and learning, usually deservedly.

🌹 He was enthroned in Serrea as a child while his mother was still alive in Balimor. She died while he was still a minor, but Michal was an adult and ascended the throne of Balimor before Byron’s council could make a serious claim to it. Now that Byron is an adult, he is making war against his sister for the throne he sees as rightfully his.

🌹 The most recent conflict in either city came when Lord Makari of Sonina died—or was murdered. His daughter and heir Nadia was still away adventuring, and his nephew Radomir seized power and immediately began a purge of the non-human populations in Sonina, determined to oust the drow and other “evil” races living in the city. Lady Nadia raced back to the city and, in a heroic effort, aided by allies from across the continent made while adventuring, deposed her cousin and reclaimed her rightful rulership. She keeps a wary eye on her sister city, knowing that Krivat did nothing to either condemn or stop Radomir’s xenophobic mandates.

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