#solians

There are a lot of team sport style games found throughout Muunfel. Regional variants of (European) football are common in Korvasin, Genfierz, and even Meraev after the Solians picked it up from their human neighbors. There aren’t very big tournaments for it (yet), but it’s a good source of entertainment in many communities.

A sport a lot like American baseball is prevalent in the east and north, with a more volleyball-like game gaining prominence in Rutan and the Northwest. In the latter cases, any game that doesn’t rely on the ground being flat and solid is more likely to be played.

Besides team games, individual pastimes for those with the leisure time to pursue them range from art to education to trades. There are few limits to the hobbies people can take up if they have a mind for it. Communities will often share in a few of these as well, usually headed by the socialites who don’t care what they’re doing, so long as they’re with other people.

Favored Hobbies by Region:

Korvasin - wandering/exploring, drawing/painting

Genfierz - Tinkering, building, researching

Rutan - Street sports, glassblowing, gardening

North - Building, cooking as art, social gatherings

Faelands - social gatherings, singing/dancing

Muunfel is a broad continent with a few climate zones. The island as a whole has three notable offshoots defining part of its shape:

Scytheshadow Cape to the southeast; forms a significant bay and has a view of the Dragonrest mountains, a very jagged and tall range that forms the border between the Timewilds and Heptaena.

Meraev; the crescent-shaped home of the solians is an island connected to the mainland by a narrow strait in the southwestern region of Muunfel, and its point very nearly touches the southern shore of Genfierz, forming the Moondrop sea between them.

Sun’s Escape Archipelago; an icy collection of islands extending from the north of the continent, these reach into the arctic latitudes and are thus largely unexplored.

The geographical regions within Muunfel’s borders include:

The vast mixed forests of the Faelands, taking up much of the northeastern quadrant of the continent. A smaller deciduous forest stands nearly in the middle of the continent, and is part of the Faelands despite being disconnected from the main forest.

Purin Lake in the middle, a vast body of water that, in addition to the smaller Faeland exclave, separates the southwestern wilds of Genfierz from the north.

Matton Desert to the west, a vast and unforgiving land that is bordered on the north by a long, narrow mountain range and to the east and west by more fertile farmlands.

Two days in a row! Wow! Mostly I wrote a neat lore thing today that I wanted to show off in an excerpt. Also, since the letter yesterday didn’t include yesterday’s count, it looks like I made a more impressive jump. ;D

Word Count: 4159/20000

Excerpt:

“Many of my people--desert dwellers before exiles came--use hand-speak.” Calista pointed at the side of her head. “Many born who can’t hear.”

After a pause, he mimicked her gesture and pointed at his ear before signing, “Can’t hear? Why?”

“The Cataclysm” is a name retroactively given to Malachai Sunem, a shapeshifter Tam of considerable ability. He is around 600 years old, and keeps away from most conflicts in order to stay alive longer and find some semblance of easy living. He is very good at reading people and thus imitating them, though most of his pranks are fairly harmless.

The only battle he’s known for fighting was over in minutes. Malachai’s meditation technique (reminder that Tam need to replenish their magic stores somehow) is to eat something; that’s it. He’s very lucky in this regard.

In a battle that he was dragged into, other solians helped enhance his ability for a short time, and he shapeshifted into the entire battlefield. Then, when the opposing army marched into place, he swallowed them all. It was both draining and empowering for him, and the result was a several-weeks-long coma for Malachai but ultimately a victory for his allies.

Underneath the capitol of Rutan, there is a dungeon chamber that has existed since the solians built the first part of the city. For almost 1000 years (as of the current year in Muunfel), a solian of considerable power has been imprisoned down there.

Her name is lost to the records, and even she scarcely remembers being called anything but “The Winged One”. She is trapped in a circle with manacles leading to her limbs, with extras on her wings. She is fairly free to move around, but within the circle she’s unable to use her magic. She could even pull free of the circle if she really desired, but the Sunforged Steel chains are latched on in such a way that this would tear her wings beyond repair.

Tamkind are beings born of the energy of Magic. There are not many varieties among the Tam, and the lines between them tend to be more blurred than among other groups. One of the most common and notable varieties are the Solians.

The Solians’ ancestral home is found in Meraev, across the Moondrop Sea south of Genfierz. At one time, they had an empire that extended over the western third of the Muunfel continent, and only when the empires of Mankind began to expand did they retreat back to Meraev.

However, ruins of their once great cities are dotted throughout the modern day countries of Genfierz and Rutan, and with minor maintenance their magically built feats of engineering are operational again. Notable among these cities are the capitols of both nations: The City of Exiles in Rutan, and the Silver Fortress in Genfierz.

Solians, as Tam, have a constant connection threading them to Magic. They utilize their magic in an infinite variety of ways, often unique to each individual. However, if they use more magic than their bodies contain, they will perish. For this reason, every Solian has a meditation technique to tap into their connection to Magic and replenish their stores.

The meditation techniques are as varied as the individuals. Dancing, singing, hunting, praying, running, or some other repetitive, meaningful activity can open the rear floodgate, allowing more magic to flow into the Solian and replenish them. Using their magic depletes the stores. Every Tam has their limit, and though a Solian could potentially meditate indefinitely and continue to restore their magic, they can die by other means.

Solians tend to have very tall, thin builds. Many of them have tufted tails. Their ears are pointed (more so than the elves) and are also tufted. They tend to have a variety of skintones, and usually have bright hair and eyes. Solians are more aggressive than humans at their baseline. They are more likely to react in a “feral” way to a threat.

Fun fact: If a solian smiles with their teeth, it is very much a threat display.

“The Lady Knight is smiling at me. I think she likes me.” - A Very Unfortunate Soul

Notable Solians:

Branwyn Damascus, “The Witch”, Lady Knight of the Damascus clan and Tamer of the Cataclysm

Cira Dawn, while born a human, was changed into a Solian by Biim, the God of Body

Fennelin Sieve, married into the Rutan royal family

Muunfel is commonly known as the land of the gods because the gods themselves walk the earth there more than on any other continent. Rumors abound that it should also be known as the Land of the Three, because of the three towers found on the far ends of the vast island.

Time, Nature, and Magic each have a strange tower dedicated to them. They are immune to the elements and remain very plain. No known peoples can claim responsibility for their construction. It is believed that they existed as soon as the world did to stand tribute to the energies that made all things.

The Tower of Time is located in the wilds of Synka. The Tower of Magic is located in Meraev, and is a common gathering place for the solians. Not much is known about the Tower of Nature, but it rests somewhere in the Faelands, guarded by the fairies.

Elias Dawn, in life, was a human bard and interpreter to an oracle in Meraev (solian homeland). His demigod heritage gifted him several abilities, when he chose to use them. However, the trickster side of him could tend to overwhelm him if he did this too much, and Elias did his best to rein that in whenever he could.

After ascending to godhood fairly recently in Muunfel’s history (a story for another time), Elias gained much more control of his abilities. He was able to find more inner peace, as well, as he took on his role as the god of storms. His other domains include the hunt and protection.

His laid back but mischievous nature remains. Elias isn’t officially a god of mischief (there isn’t one), but he’s one of the tricksters of the pantheon and he’s probably the most active in that regard. He likes to mess with people just the same as he did when he was mortal.

In most places, Elias is prayed to out of fear of the destructive storms he can bring. However, in Rutan, where the deserts are harshest, Elias is given his own holiday in the hopes of drawing his eye (and a few rainstorms).