#llayad

MEERKAT.

Llayad has sheep, which are basically the Afrikaner sheep (dark one) native to South Africa and the damara sheep (white one) native to Namibia. Both geared for living in the desert, they have fat tails which function like a camel's hump, and they're a particular delicacy to Llayans. Their hide makes for particularly soft leather and is used as gloves and soft shoes. The rams of both breeds have curly horns, which continue to grow through the animal's life. After their death, the horn is used for anything from buttons to serving spoons.

The wooly one is farmed in the mountains, where their wool is used as both the fibre and as the floofy hide for lining boots and such. They have short hair in summer, not as short as the plains breed but enough to keep them cook, then it thickens out to dense wool in winter before being shed in spring. They get brushed every day as they're moulting and their wool collected to be washed and spun as fibre or matted into felt. The hairs are thinner and softer than real-world sheep just cos I find wool can be kind of itchy :< also in a world where they have marsupial fur as a standard soft textile, sheep have something to live up to.

The zahnenzaun, or fence of teeth, is a semi-mythical creature living in the Llayan Great Lake. It's seen rarely enough that nobody knows what it looks like, just general impressions of brown fins and the holy shit teeth fencing off that gaping maw. It has been known to attack people, lending credence to its existence, but it still has almost Loch Ness Monster standing among those who don't live on the Great Lake.

LEAF DRAGONS! I've been really looking forward to drawing these little guys <3 They can grow to be huge, with the oldest, Oak, the size of a small forest, but these ones are just little, the thickness of your index finger. Llayan dragons all share their appearance with the trees around them.

I always associate Llayad with golden colours, therefore autumn, but deciduous trees from Australia are thin on the ground (there are two, one of which is subtropical) and I've not found one at all in South Africa. The single temperate deciduous tree I've got is the tanglefoot fagus, represented by the middle dragon here. Llayans therefore refer to autumn as the 'turning of the fagus.' There are three other related faguses (fagi? idk), all of which are evergreen and one of which is actually Kiwi, but screw you I'm bringing them into Llayad and making them deciduous: the myrtle fagus, flat-leafed fagus and the silver fagus.

Red moulmein cedar, represented by the top dragon, is the one that's technically subtropical but I'm stretching it into the Llayan mountains so it can also be temperate. Ditto the white lilac, which is more of a tropical tree that goes gold when it feels like it (so far as I can tell). There's one next to the cafe I often have lunch at and I had no idea it was Australian. Definitely not native to my area but there you go, Llayad can have them.

Finally the, almond of flame, represented by the bottom dragon, is again a straight up tropical tree I'm making temperate, native to south-east Asia so y'know what it counts. That's as native 'deciduous' as I've managed to get.

This is all relevant to the dragons, because the deciduous ones will turn to autumn colours and subsequently lose their leaves in winter, so they can no longer fly until they get new bright green growth in spring. They have seedpods which grow at the tip of their tails, which they'll then drop in the ground and let it grow into a tiny new sapling of a new dragon!

Dragons are very much creatures of magic, nothing to do with fire (though, idk, maybe those which do well with fire and need it to germinate seeds do make fire) but they have some connection with the wind and the weather. I know exactly what that connection is but that's spoilers, so shh. They communicate with twists of wind around the ankles, an uncomfortable breeze up the back of the neck or a soft waft through the hair, up to destructive gales and dark clouds full of lightning.

A few months ago I watched a doco about Australian extinct megafauna, one of which being the short-faced kangaroo. Bugger was huge, and had chonky bones. Through some mathsing and 3D modelling, the researchers showed it could have hopped, but only comparatively short, cumbersome hops, nothing like the effortless efficency of modern roos. So the theory is that they walked, one foot in front of the other, more like a t-rex. They were striders, not hoppers. So this was my gateway into getting kangaroos into Tsyllaes without them screaming 'Australia' too loudly. Striders!

This is the Raykinian strider, size of a red kangaroo and runs very fast. The face I've made more like a llama, purely because makakis, my other large marsupial, have very much been inspired by camelids in their general shape and also their faces (just add trunk and tusks) so to tie them together a bit more I've given the striders camelid faces, too.

Up north, the Kazinian striders are the size of grey kangaroos, because they're in the mountains instead of open desert, and they get faces and floof from alpacas :D Tropical Kazin also has striders, but these will just be straight up tree kangaroos under the name of tree strider so I can't be arsed drawing them.

Finally, Llayan striders are mid-sized between the other two, and they're more heavyset because there are more and bigger predators in Llayad than in Raykin or Kazin. They get the markings of an oryx, because they're cool, and therefore also horns because why not make a cool animal even cooler? Possibly I also needed it to look less like a kangaroo when it was just standing there, but mostly it's just cool. Oh and it gets the face of a guanaco, another of the camelids I use for makaki refs.

NAME Prince Domasson WHO IS THIS PERSON Adoptive son of Crown Princess Evelandel and Crown Prince Jeorgenig of Llayad GENDER Male AGE 5

Llayad has a tradition of adoption, most especially amongst the nobility and, of course, same sex couples because they haven't invented IVF yet. Evelandel herself was adopted (new info since I created her), not because she was an orphan but because she was born on the most auspicious day ever and that's clearly going to make a good queen. Her whole family came to live at Wensleydale Castle with her, so she still has both her parents, as well as the king and queen as adoptive parents. She therefore always intended on adopting a child, though she did so traditionally by adopting an orphan.

Domasson was adopted at age three, after his mother died giving birth to who would have been his baby brother, and his father, idk, got some disease or something. He knew he was gonna die, heard the crown princess was looking to adopt, and took his son to the castle. Evelandel took little Domasson in and allowed his father to live there until he inevitably carked it.

Domasson himself is a happy, bouncy kid, though he does get the sads on occasion and cries for his daddy, mostly when he's alone in his bed at night. It's been happening less and less as time goes on, though, and he's recently started calling Evelandel and Jeorgenig Mama and Papa, so progress is happening. Also he has ADHD because why not.

NAME Prince Nicolinaus WHO IS THIS PERSON Son of Crown Princess Evelandel and Crown Prince Jeorgenig of Llayad GENDER Male AGE 6

Time for the final art of the Big Book of Stuff, about a dozen headshots for characters. They're all pretty random and, plot-wise, extremely minor, so I'll group those together who make sense, starting with Sebastien and Florien! Sebastien is Sallie's, and in hindsight his eyes might be a bit wonky. I do quite love his shirt and hair, tho.

NAME Sebastien WHO IS THIS PERSON Sebastien belongs to Sallie! He was created to be a boyfriend for Kurae. Lucibella is his little sister GENDER Male AGE idk, like, early 30s? We never gave him an age, I don't think.

Sebastien was a chef in a Llayan castle, which is the dream job of any Llayan chef because of the financial security and also your budget is huge and of course you have to at least taste everything you're making. The best nobility will even let you eat the same stuff you're making for them, omg. For Seb, though, he ended up with extremely picky eaters for employers. Sucks arse. When his parents died, they left their inheritance to Sebastien's older brother, Florien, who used the money to move them all to Ni-Yana where Seb could open a restaurant where his food would be appreciated.

For this, Seb is eternally grateful. He spends most of his life caring for his critically ill big brother, the rest of the time working on new recipes and building the restaurant he's always aware is owned by said brother. It's a hard, hectic, literally thankless life, until finally opening night arrives. One of his patrons, who is there at the opening of every new restaurant in Ni-Yana, is King's Own swordsman, Kurae. He's quiet, unobtrusive, but Seb can tell he likes what he's served. He comes back, again and again. He brings the other swordies to show off this new, Llayan restaurant.

After, like, three years, Sebastien finally approaches him. In all this time, Kurae's never ordered wine with his meal, only ever Raykinian beer, so Seb offers him wine. Kurae allows it. At the end of the night, Seb offers him a kiss. Kurae allows it. And there was much rejoicing =3

Florien is Ku's! I originally had him properly pallid and grey, but he looked more zombie, more dead than chronically ill, so I gave him a bit of a fever-induced flush to his cheeks and some sweaty shine, cos it's a lot of work being in constant pain. Also stringy, sickly hair. Still a handsome man, though.

NAME Florien WHO IS THIS PERSON Florien belongs to Saku! He's Sebastien's and Lucibella's older brother. GENDER Male AGE A few years older than Sebastien

Florien has some unidentified illness which has him in constant pain. Yamin has tried healing him, but whatever it is basically just constantly eats at his flesh, so Yamin's healing will give him relief for like ten minutes, but the added pain of the actual healing process lingers (Yamin calls it the memory of pain) for long enough that it pretty much means nothing. Until she can figure out what the actual illness is, all she can heal is his symptoms, so. Suckage.

I know I've been doing oils for the other religious art, but I just wanted to draw the Llayan horoscopes in medieval style because it amuses me =3 The basis for the signs came from three sets of opposite character traits: extrovert/introvert, relaxed/alert and cautious/impulsive, then mixing and matching those to create the eight unique signs and matching a creature to them. Extra flavour then just comes from how the creature itself behaves in the wild.

Llayans also believe in reincarnation, and the sign you are in this life indicates what animal you'll be reborn as in your next. This conveniently explains away why your personality may not perfectly match your sign, cos it just means you were a different animal in your past life.

MEERKAT | Early Summer Extrovert, alert, cautious Meerkats are extremely family-oriented, often having large families and many children, because they love children. They can tend towards anxiety, when the alert and cautious interact a bit too strongly, but they're always willing to help and always putting others before themselves.

SNAKE | Late Summer Introvert, alert, cautious Snakes tend to be quiet and patient people, but will strike with enough provocation. They like their alone time and, in bigger groups of people, tend to sit and listen rather than participate in conversation. Mithé is a snek.

GRIFFIN | Early Autumn Extrovert, relaxed, impulsive Griffins are extremely loyal to their friends often to the point of being blind to their faults. They can be a little naïve but mostly they're just awesome friends to have. Lynnlita is a griffin.

WOLF | Late Autumn Extrovert, relaxed, cautious Very strong family bonds, strong loyalty to friends, optimistic and probably a bit too naïve and trusting, possibly to the point of being outright stupid but they're loveable idiots.

BAT | Early Winter Introvert, alert, impulsive Bats live the night life, sleeping in late and staying up into the night. They can feel a little distant on first meeting and it can take a while for them to open up, but once they do you'll feel special to be in their inner circle. Bats are homebodies and often have lovely homes.

LEOPARD | Late Winter Introvert, relaxed, cautious Leopards don't waste their words, they're quiet but when they speak they're worth listening to. They have phenomenal patience, but once it wears thin you'll want to get out of their way. Also brilliant hunters, whatever context that means in people. The twins are leopards.

HUMMINGBIRD | Early Spring Extrovert, alert, impulsive Hummingbirds are always on the go and find it hard to sit still or relax. They love being in nature, often having jobs in the garden or floristry or something. They like shiny things =3 Assili is a hummingbird.

RIGAFFE | Late Spring Introvert, relaxed, impulsive Rigaffes tend to be friends with everyone wherever they go, but very rarely on a deep level as they don't like sharing. They're social butterflies. They will always try their hardest to be the absolute best and can be perfectionists and, if they get it right, they will absolutely lord it over you. Nol is a rigaffe.