#infernii

Could you share a cultural/social custom in the part of your world where your story takes place? Or a different part of your world, if there's something specific you're dying to share :)

hi saran! ty for the ask!

it will surprise very few that i’m going to once again take the chance to ramble about my beloved infernii, because even though the first Valloroth book doesn’t really have a lot of it set in Infernus, it’s my baby and i love it so there :p

So Zashi are the nomadic infernii, and it’s a social norm to sleep communally for them. They’ll share tents, and sleep in big, tangled piles—those that go to Valloroth can find it hard to sleep in many parts, where there are separate beds and rooms for everyone, or only sharing with one or two people.

(for this ask game)

hi wasps!

i answered this one in fox's ask, because he asked like half the zodiac, but i'm gonna expand a little because, why not!

aquarius: what is the most unique thing about your current wip?

i'm going to say the infernii, because they're my precious babies and i love them. I know I joke that they're knock-off tieflings, and demon-people have been done before but...i don't know, I just think the things I put together for them ended up with something a little bit special.

Their naming conventions, the two distinct social groups, their history with the Archdemons, their culture around horns and heritage, the power dynamics I play with for their relationships...and all the worldbuilding I've done for Infernus as well.

(for this ask game)

hi fox! ty for the asks~

10 Does your oc celebrate Pride? How?

oooh, you know, i haven't actually worked out any Pride or pride adjacent celebrations for a lot of Valloroth. for me, for them to have that, there needs to have been something to trigger an Original Pride Riot.

closest thing i can think of that currently exists, is Zashi gender celebrations, when they transition, which are just like. big parties. (Zashi can and will take any excuse for a celebration, to be honest)

20 Have your ocs helped you in self discovery? How?

OH BOY. so. not so much the Renegade Prince characters, because I figured (most) of my shit out before I wrote that book, but may I introduce you to one Garaszk D'Marr, LARP OC and protagonist of a comedy-hijink sci-fi adventure novel I wrote many many moons ago? origin of my main blog username (thespacelizard), nonbinary lizard queer and sparkly idiot. beloved menace.

the thing about larp is that it can be a very safe space to try shit out, because everyone is playing pretend and you can take it off at the end of the event.

and then when you realise you don't want to take off the makeup, the character, the pronouns at the end of the weekend, then you are forced to admit that you maybe, might be, a little bit transgender.

21 Free ramble card wee!

OH BOY I'M GONNA POST ALL MY INCOHERENT NAAZGARAN GENDER POLITICS LORE!!

What's a part of your story (character, worldbuilding, plot, lore, myth, random detail, anything!) that you love but don't get to talk about much? Tell me about it! :D

happy sts!

infernii writing, my beloved! they have two: emblazing, and mazegansk (or knot writing).

Emblazing is the infernii version of pen and ink. They use a writing implement (usually kind of like a dip pen/nib pen) made of specially treated blazewood (a particular type of infernal tree), and use it to burn letters into a surface instead of using ink. They write on thick parchment, thing sheets of stone or metal, or sometimes even wood. Parchment is usually used more by the upper classes, and merchants/business-folk prefer the permanency of metal or stone.

You can also use emblazing pens to write on flesh, which for infernii the light burn of it is like scratching a nail over your skin. Young infernii in school often doodle on themselves, and specialist pens exist for 'temporary tattoo' type markings. (and also ones for more intimate purposes that i know im writing fic about one day :p)

Mazegansk or knot writing was developed as a way of communicating non-verbally whilst under the rule of the Archdemons. It kept the Archdemons from interpreting their words, and it's inspired by real life knot writing (i'll leave a couple links at the end of the post). A mazegansk consists of a long horizontal strip with many vertical knotted strips hanging off of it.

A combination of colour, fiber, size, and position/relative position along knotted strips create the message. The knots relate to syllables, and more simplistic mazegansk are numerical tracks, used for tracking things such as payment or stock.

The position of the knots in contemporary Zashi mazegansk relate to pitch in specific compositions, and can function as an additional layer of security—if one knows the song or story the main thread is referring to, each vertical strip represents a line in the song, and therefore each knot a word or syllable within that line. These can be used to send songs back and forth, or as encoded messages.

Older mazegansk were traditionally made from knotted leather strips, as these were more fire-resistant. Modern strips utilise a variety of materials, as contemporary enchantments and material processing allow the fireproofing of many more fibers.

(I was reading Temeraire whilst working on Valloroth stuff, and that's where I first learned about Khipu/Quipu, and I thought it made so much sense for infernii to have developed something like that, so I adapted it to fit their world)

i'm doing okay! i have brain weasels this week a bit, but not for writing, so i'm glad to have more valloroth asks ^_^

i can will must and am taking any available opportunity to talk more about infernii gender and gender magic!

So, for pronouns, typically it's like this:

Vekyar - he/him/his

Kidanza - she/her/hers

Eztle - they/them/theirs

K'dezt - xe/xem/xirs

But I imagine that, as with humans irl, folk can play around with pronouns, identity and presentation. In the books i don't know that I'll dive into it too much, because the main story isn't a fantasy gender lecture, so there might not be any he/him girls (unless one appears in my brain and decides to join the plot) but they exist!

re: magical transition - if you're a caster, you can definitely cast it on yourself! That's what Zander did, he essentially crafted a ballad of True Self and sang himself into existence.

it's definitely possible to customise the transition. Witches take into account the desires of the person and would alter it that way, and wizards can get very granular using precise wording and component alterations. I'm inclined to say getting really particular would be easier for a wizard to do than a witch, purely because they already have this academic background around understand spell structure and how small things can alter it.

so it took a hot minute to answer this, because i don’t actually have like. strict rituals written down for this! but it’s a very good question, and to answer it i kinda get to explain some of the Valloroth magic system a bit, which is fun! (i should make a proper Post for that someday…)

anyway. in Valloroth-the-series, magic is a semi-sentient force that infuses everything. it’s a building block of reality, and there are three ways to access and use it (for mortals, anyway): wizardry, witchcraft, and bardic magic.

now under a cut, because this got long TT_TT

it's time for another ~terrible presentation~! this time i wanted to make a lil thing about infernii, my totally-not-tieflings-honest race of demons from Valloroth.

i had so much fun coming up with them, and there's so much lore I have for them that I'm really excited to work into the books, so i hope you enjoy this little look at them!

also, if you want to check out Elf Genders, the supplement i used as a starting point for all the gender nonsense in Valloroth, you can find it here.