Ar'Sorai and Atarnor World Building.
Alright, so here goes nothing.
(P.S. This worldbuilding is for my story's purpose. Enjoy it if you will, and criticize me if you see something illogical. I also won't include history. I want it a secret. >_> )
The Ar'Sorai
The average Ar'Sorai lifespan is 130 years. Old sorai typically have silver hair and narrowed eyes, and grow short in structure. The closer the Ar'Sorai comes from their grave, the weaker their memory gets, but instead of growing sicker, they grow more humerous, as if the world became a big joke. Many become storytellers--how the fact they hardly remember anything help with storytelling is yet, a mystery.
A sorai is considered an adult when they reach 28, where they will undertake apprentanceship from a crafting guild, or join the army.
All Ar'Sorai are trained in battle since they are eight in preperation to become a Hunter or a Judge if not another occupation chosen by the time they are adults, each profession takes five years after being an adult to perfect.
Ar'Sorai share a curious thing with Men, called "Heroes Legacy", "Hero's Blood" or simply, "The Dawn's Blessing", which would freeze time at where their legacy began. Assador and High King Maradar are examples of such, each of which are 500 years old and still able to fight.
Ar'Sorai Community
The average Soray society is very homey, and their cities are build as so--unlike human societies, where cities can get extremely big and complex, the soray town/city/village is simply a bigger version of the original blueprint--A circle of houses (like a stadium) with the center being the square, where the soray spend nearly 60% of their time socialising.
The sun is part of their lives, as well as plants--but not jungles--but ferns, flowers and vines intertwine through their structures, which are a mix between gothic arcitecture and Spain under Islamic rule. I am *not* an artist, so I will let these things to your imagination.
Since they like the sun, they live near the mountains, where pine forests and foothills meet, preferably where there is an abudance of water or at a stream mouth.
Above their houses run a stream derived from the original source of water in place. When needing water, a sorai would point at their ceiling, from where water will stream down.
Ar'Sorai Workplace
The soray economy revolves around weaponforging, stonework and argiculture. Their main arms are blackwood bows--
Blackwind arrows are unusually thick and somewhat long (the above arrow is short) for arrows, but Blackwood bows are also extremely powerful--think a crossbow with metal wire. Blackwood bows are reinforced by silver (for its flexibility (and to a lesser extent, a tribute to Mithril)) and the bowstring is braided metal wiring--it's often hard to string it.
((I was thinking of making it beaded silver, but rust is ALWAYS a problem I have to look out for--I don't want "Stainless silver by magic." It's just boring.))
What matters, woodwork is also a craft, which could be found near their stonesmiths.
Bow-making, stoneworks (mostly carving) is a prized art--thus at the squares of the Ar'Sorai one may find themselves sheltered by a beautiful stone dome opening at the sun.
Metalworking is a shortage with the Ar'Sorai.
Ar'Sorai Diet
The average soray diet is very similar to Men--they prize spring water and where wine is for Men, they focus on flavoring water with roses, various sweet herbs and berries.
No soray is vegitarian--they prize meat highly and consider it a table neccessity. Fruits are optional, but when avalible in Ar'Sorai tables, they are used for flavoring, and not direct consumation. One may notice bottles and vials containing extract of fruits and jelly, which they use to season their meat along with mountain-found herbs and leaves. Eggs are also for additional flavor and not direct consumation--sliced eggs on meat is an act of great hospitality.
For dessert they toast a sweet mountaous fruit called Yava and season it--the result is a white jelly ball that is sprinkled with rose water and eaten with a spoon or (when toasted little) drunken. There are many ways to make sweets with Yava and the Ar'Sorai like to experiment.
Ar'Sorai Culture
When a sorai is born, their parents (or previously appointed guardian) set off with the newborn child to the mountains at the eve of his birth (And when born at night, they wait until the next day's sunset). There they stay for two days in religious practices, the traditions told only to newly-weds. A rumor among Men is that if a soray does not travel to the mountains and prays there, they will be plagued with nightmares when older--a rumor shot down by High Prince Thonoir.
Marriage is a highly thought of notion at the Ar'Sorai. When a sorai reaches adulthood (24 years by Man's count) they are given a jewel to craft, either with magic or physically. Males craft a fist opening upwards, and females craft a thorny rose. The process of crafting is very intertwined and prepared for years before execution--youth are told to focus everything they are into the jewels--whether it be change of color, number of reflections, whether the hand (males) be closed or open, upright or downward, and for females the type of rose, the number of thorns, their positions, etc. Every piece of the crafting displays a shade of the sorai personalities. The jewels, (the hand and the rose) represent an old tradition, and the most different couplings result in initial engagement.
Engagment lasts for three years, and could be broken at any time, for any reason. High King Maradar was not able to preform this tradition, thus had to do it late in his life. It is uncommon for a Sorai to be single at the age of thirty.
Curiously, when the leader of Men, Assador first met the the High King Maradar, he noticed that they shared many religious rituals though they fist met at the time. The Ar'Sorai clerics acknowledged the fact without question.
Ar'Sorai Religion
The only differences in practice between the religion of Men and the Ar'Sorai is the emphesis on the Nightmare and the dangers of heading out after dusk. Twilight is known not as a daily occurance in their culture and simply refrain from calling it anything other than dusk, even when speaking Common. In their knowledge, Twilight is when the Adorai are strongest, and thus refrain from letting their children out during sunset--yet they allow leave at night until dawn, a time blessed in both the religion of Men and Sorai.
Ar'Sorai Law
Ruled mostly by scripts and "Sought", where their men of law (Judges, clerics and chosen people of the community) discuss their law and justice system within the boundries of their scripts. Sometimes but not often, they might appoint a Paladin from Men to discuss with them, as what happened with Assador, some ambassadors and recently Prince Arrious.
Their highest punishment is execution, but executed ones are given High Burial, an honor reserved normally for men of law and heroes. The reason behind this is their philosophy of "redemption". The more common punishment is community service, a thing practiced by so many volenteering Ar'Sorai that one may serve their debts for years and not be noticed as a criminal, but only thanked as if a volenteer.
The ones who serve the punishment is one Judge and observing are many men of law. The criminal is never brought to trial or even mentioned (or hinted) the name, but the communication between the Court and the suspect is always by writing. Men usually see these trials as obseructive, seeing that the lack of presence of the suspect prevents their history of service to be recognized; a thing the Ar'Sorai legal community wants to not happen. Ambiguity (in their opinion) prevents preconcieved notions to "touch the process of justice". The argument between seeing and not seeing is an ongoing debate between Paladins (Judges of Men) and Judges (of the Ar'Sorai community).
A Judge in training is often given trials that actually involve people of their class, both in Man and Sorai communities. The ability to meet out justice across the board and not giving in to peer pressure and reluctance is a prized thought.
Ar'Sorai Art
Ar'Sorai art focuses on building (stonecrafting, wood work) and weaponcrafting. The Ar'Sorai economy flurishes in the time of war, but is fairly stable in times of peace, focusing more on improving community functions (such as building greenhouses, carving in mountains for places of worship).
In other areas, Ar'Sorai trade with Men for painted glass, portraits and sometimes invites bards and poets to festivals.
An art shared by Men and Ar'Sorai is also handwriting--Ar'Sorai runes are very flexible and can be tributes to people--sometimes walls of the Ar'Sorai city square are prepared for writing, where artists and clerics write advice and words of wisdom on the walls. Sometimes, one may notice the words glittering with water--a Sorcerer's mark that he/she liked the word.
Ar'Sorai Military.
Ar'Sorai military is divided to four groups, each a higher "grade" which a good soldier can be promoted to.
1- Melee group:
2- Long-Range group:
3-Magic group:
4-Support:
And supply trains.
1-- The shock troops of the Ar'Sorai are the Warriors--heavily shielded and armed with Truesilver spears. The higher grade of the warriors are armed with swords, who stand behind the shielded troops when the enemy chavaly are out of sight. The last grade are the Lothari Knights, Ar'Sorai armed with lances and astride Sun-bred horses. Lead by a Knight-General.
2-- Archers are depended as the signallers and do the majority of the damage with Blackwind arrows which can puncture mail and plate. A higher grade of the Archers are the Bombers, which used to be part of the support teams but were armed with cannons after the alliance with Atarnor. Lead by a Ranger-General.
3-- Magic group, which is only one grade, seeing that only powerful wizards are allowed to be in combat. These ancient Ar'Sorai use their powers in manipulating their surroundings and smiting their enemies. They are usually lead by an Archmage.
4-- Support, who are mostly clerics, and siege engines.
Special troops are those only deployed for extreme cases. Royalty and rulers receive training such as this--Judges are known for leading historical battles against the Adorai. Their holy magic is shared by Paladins of Atarnor--their strength isn't much in combat as it is spiritual and in-battle healing. There is a legend of old; of a Judge who brought back an entire legion from the march of Dusk, ready to fight once more.
The stronger the conviction of the Judge/Paladin in question, the stronger they will be in combat. The Adorai in the First Age used to isolate the soray judges and bombard them with ambiguity, trying to shift their faith.
Another of the Ar'Sorai special troops are known to Men as Hunters, who share the job of Judges, but are less common and less appealing to the eye. Hunters specialize at a more extreme path of Judges, and do not interfere with law and Ar'Sorai affairs, but roam the land "Like wraiths" hunting down servants of the Adorai and all manners of creatures that roam Annanor which harbor misery to Men or Ar'Sorai alike.
Unlike Judges, who are clad in heavy plate armor and armed with warhammers, Hunters are clad in black wide leather jackets and pants, cloaked with black wool and armed with longswords and Blackwood bows and are each given a long, rectangular bell etched with their favored words of wisdom chosen from Ar'Sorai scripts. Their presence in human lands is thanked, but humans prefer if Paladins of their own race tended to their woes rather than "mysterious individuals".
Soray-Human Relations.
The Ar'Sorai are most comfortable and common in the kingdom of Atarnor's outskirts, near farms. Some share argiculture, teaching and learning from Men, and some, mostly Hunters roam the land alone, resting in taverns and abandoned fields, feeding on rumors of mysterious dangers to exterminate. Judges are welcome in human cities, especially in Atarnor. Ever since Assador's flight to the western lands and his alliance with High King Maradar, the two races shared a brotherhood honed by their shared likes and religion.
Paladins from Atarnor sometimes learn from Ar'Sorai judges and take apprentanceships under them. It is a widely growing trend which is also extending to jewelcrafting guilds.
Relations with the Human Kingdom Dardeep are very rigid, since Dardeep's economy also depends heavily on stone smithing. However, their skill in metal smithing is something the Ar'Sorai desperately need, and the political rigidness extended to traders, who doubt their clients from gems even to quality of Dardeep copper. The Dardeep's allies, Hajaarai are also dislikeful of the Ar'Sorai, but not for political reasons, but rather the Ar'Sorai's love of digging deep into mountains and mining gems to use in marriage rituals.
Relationships with Tharnil are an improvement from Dardeep, thanks to the Explorer's guild, where Ar'Sorai scholars assist in writing the history of Annanor. Trade is flourishing between Atarnor and Tharnil, and the homey relation between King Assador and Queen Listita encouraged the Ar'Sorai to send more of their people to perfect sea-faring and fishing.
The North Kingdom shares with the Ar'Sorai hardships with Dardeep, yet their love of beer and wine does not go well with the average sorai diet nor beliefs.
Woah. That was long.
It was enjoyable, though. I'll do the Hajaarai next.
I didn't involve any secrets of the Ar'Sorai, such as their way of ruling and chosing kings, their history and other secrets. :
Why?
Because I'm crying single tears.
<3 Anti-Shur'tugal.
(P.S. This worldbuilding is for my story's purpose. Enjoy it if you will, and criticize me if you see something illogical. I also won't include history. I want it a secret. >_> )
The Ar'Sorai
The average Ar'Sorai lifespan is 130 years. Old sorai typically have silver hair and narrowed eyes, and grow short in structure. The closer the Ar'Sorai comes from their grave, the weaker their memory gets, but instead of growing sicker, they grow more humerous, as if the world became a big joke. Many become storytellers--how the fact they hardly remember anything help with storytelling is yet, a mystery.
A sorai is considered an adult when they reach 28, where they will undertake apprentanceship from a crafting guild, or join the army.
All Ar'Sorai are trained in battle since they are eight in preperation to become a Hunter or a Judge if not another occupation chosen by the time they are adults, each profession takes five years after being an adult to perfect.
Ar'Sorai share a curious thing with Men, called "Heroes Legacy", "Hero's Blood" or simply, "The Dawn's Blessing", which would freeze time at where their legacy began. Assador and High King Maradar are examples of such, each of which are 500 years old and still able to fight.
Ar'Sorai Community
The average Soray society is very homey, and their cities are build as so--unlike human societies, where cities can get extremely big and complex, the soray town/city/village is simply a bigger version of the original blueprint--A circle of houses (like a stadium) with the center being the square, where the soray spend nearly 60% of their time socialising.
The sun is part of their lives, as well as plants--but not jungles--but ferns, flowers and vines intertwine through their structures, which are a mix between gothic arcitecture and Spain under Islamic rule. I am *not* an artist, so I will let these things to your imagination.
Since they like the sun, they live near the mountains, where pine forests and foothills meet, preferably where there is an abudance of water or at a stream mouth.
Above their houses run a stream derived from the original source of water in place. When needing water, a sorai would point at their ceiling, from where water will stream down.
Ar'Sorai Workplace
The soray economy revolves around weaponforging, stonework and argiculture. Their main arms are blackwood bows--
Blackwind arrows are unusually thick and somewhat long (the above arrow is short) for arrows, but Blackwood bows are also extremely powerful--think a crossbow with metal wire. Blackwood bows are reinforced by silver (for its flexibility (and to a lesser extent, a tribute to Mithril)) and the bowstring is braided metal wiring--it's often hard to string it.
((I was thinking of making it beaded silver, but rust is ALWAYS a problem I have to look out for--I don't want "Stainless silver by magic." It's just boring.))
What matters, woodwork is also a craft, which could be found near their stonesmiths.
Bow-making, stoneworks (mostly carving) is a prized art--thus at the squares of the Ar'Sorai one may find themselves sheltered by a beautiful stone dome opening at the sun.
Metalworking is a shortage with the Ar'Sorai.
Ar'Sorai Diet
The average soray diet is very similar to Men--they prize spring water and where wine is for Men, they focus on flavoring water with roses, various sweet herbs and berries.
No soray is vegitarian--they prize meat highly and consider it a table neccessity. Fruits are optional, but when avalible in Ar'Sorai tables, they are used for flavoring, and not direct consumation. One may notice bottles and vials containing extract of fruits and jelly, which they use to season their meat along with mountain-found herbs and leaves. Eggs are also for additional flavor and not direct consumation--sliced eggs on meat is an act of great hospitality.
For dessert they toast a sweet mountaous fruit called Yava and season it--the result is a white jelly ball that is sprinkled with rose water and eaten with a spoon or (when toasted little) drunken. There are many ways to make sweets with Yava and the Ar'Sorai like to experiment.
Ar'Sorai Culture
When a sorai is born, their parents (or previously appointed guardian) set off with the newborn child to the mountains at the eve of his birth (And when born at night, they wait until the next day's sunset). There they stay for two days in religious practices, the traditions told only to newly-weds. A rumor among Men is that if a soray does not travel to the mountains and prays there, they will be plagued with nightmares when older--a rumor shot down by High Prince Thonoir.
Marriage is a highly thought of notion at the Ar'Sorai. When a sorai reaches adulthood (24 years by Man's count) they are given a jewel to craft, either with magic or physically. Males craft a fist opening upwards, and females craft a thorny rose. The process of crafting is very intertwined and prepared for years before execution--youth are told to focus everything they are into the jewels--whether it be change of color, number of reflections, whether the hand (males) be closed or open, upright or downward, and for females the type of rose, the number of thorns, their positions, etc. Every piece of the crafting displays a shade of the sorai personalities. The jewels, (the hand and the rose) represent an old tradition, and the most different couplings result in initial engagement.
Engagment lasts for three years, and could be broken at any time, for any reason. High King Maradar was not able to preform this tradition, thus had to do it late in his life. It is uncommon for a Sorai to be single at the age of thirty.
Curiously, when the leader of Men, Assador first met the the High King Maradar, he noticed that they shared many religious rituals though they fist met at the time. The Ar'Sorai clerics acknowledged the fact without question.
Ar'Sorai Religion
The only differences in practice between the religion of Men and the Ar'Sorai is the emphesis on the Nightmare and the dangers of heading out after dusk. Twilight is known not as a daily occurance in their culture and simply refrain from calling it anything other than dusk, even when speaking Common. In their knowledge, Twilight is when the Adorai are strongest, and thus refrain from letting their children out during sunset--yet they allow leave at night until dawn, a time blessed in both the religion of Men and Sorai.
Ar'Sorai Law
Ruled mostly by scripts and "Sought", where their men of law (Judges, clerics and chosen people of the community) discuss their law and justice system within the boundries of their scripts. Sometimes but not often, they might appoint a Paladin from Men to discuss with them, as what happened with Assador, some ambassadors and recently Prince Arrious.
Their highest punishment is execution, but executed ones are given High Burial, an honor reserved normally for men of law and heroes. The reason behind this is their philosophy of "redemption". The more common punishment is community service, a thing practiced by so many volenteering Ar'Sorai that one may serve their debts for years and not be noticed as a criminal, but only thanked as if a volenteer.
The ones who serve the punishment is one Judge and observing are many men of law. The criminal is never brought to trial or even mentioned (or hinted) the name, but the communication between the Court and the suspect is always by writing. Men usually see these trials as obseructive, seeing that the lack of presence of the suspect prevents their history of service to be recognized; a thing the Ar'Sorai legal community wants to not happen. Ambiguity (in their opinion) prevents preconcieved notions to "touch the process of justice". The argument between seeing and not seeing is an ongoing debate between Paladins (Judges of Men) and Judges (of the Ar'Sorai community).
A Judge in training is often given trials that actually involve people of their class, both in Man and Sorai communities. The ability to meet out justice across the board and not giving in to peer pressure and reluctance is a prized thought.
Ar'Sorai Art
Ar'Sorai art focuses on building (stonecrafting, wood work) and weaponcrafting. The Ar'Sorai economy flurishes in the time of war, but is fairly stable in times of peace, focusing more on improving community functions (such as building greenhouses, carving in mountains for places of worship).
In other areas, Ar'Sorai trade with Men for painted glass, portraits and sometimes invites bards and poets to festivals.
An art shared by Men and Ar'Sorai is also handwriting--Ar'Sorai runes are very flexible and can be tributes to people--sometimes walls of the Ar'Sorai city square are prepared for writing, where artists and clerics write advice and words of wisdom on the walls. Sometimes, one may notice the words glittering with water--a Sorcerer's mark that he/she liked the word.
Ar'Sorai Military.
Ar'Sorai military is divided to four groups, each a higher "grade" which a good soldier can be promoted to.
1- Melee group:
2- Long-Range group:
3-Magic group:
4-Support:
And supply trains.
1-- The shock troops of the Ar'Sorai are the Warriors--heavily shielded and armed with Truesilver spears. The higher grade of the warriors are armed with swords, who stand behind the shielded troops when the enemy chavaly are out of sight. The last grade are the Lothari Knights, Ar'Sorai armed with lances and astride Sun-bred horses. Lead by a Knight-General.
2-- Archers are depended as the signallers and do the majority of the damage with Blackwind arrows which can puncture mail and plate. A higher grade of the Archers are the Bombers, which used to be part of the support teams but were armed with cannons after the alliance with Atarnor. Lead by a Ranger-General.
3-- Magic group, which is only one grade, seeing that only powerful wizards are allowed to be in combat. These ancient Ar'Sorai use their powers in manipulating their surroundings and smiting their enemies. They are usually lead by an Archmage.
4-- Support, who are mostly clerics, and siege engines.
Special troops are those only deployed for extreme cases. Royalty and rulers receive training such as this--Judges are known for leading historical battles against the Adorai. Their holy magic is shared by Paladins of Atarnor--their strength isn't much in combat as it is spiritual and in-battle healing. There is a legend of old; of a Judge who brought back an entire legion from the march of Dusk, ready to fight once more.
The stronger the conviction of the Judge/Paladin in question, the stronger they will be in combat. The Adorai in the First Age used to isolate the soray judges and bombard them with ambiguity, trying to shift their faith.
Another of the Ar'Sorai special troops are known to Men as Hunters, who share the job of Judges, but are less common and less appealing to the eye. Hunters specialize at a more extreme path of Judges, and do not interfere with law and Ar'Sorai affairs, but roam the land "Like wraiths" hunting down servants of the Adorai and all manners of creatures that roam Annanor which harbor misery to Men or Ar'Sorai alike.
Unlike Judges, who are clad in heavy plate armor and armed with warhammers, Hunters are clad in black wide leather jackets and pants, cloaked with black wool and armed with longswords and Blackwood bows and are each given a long, rectangular bell etched with their favored words of wisdom chosen from Ar'Sorai scripts. Their presence in human lands is thanked, but humans prefer if Paladins of their own race tended to their woes rather than "mysterious individuals".
Soray-Human Relations.
The Ar'Sorai are most comfortable and common in the kingdom of Atarnor's outskirts, near farms. Some share argiculture, teaching and learning from Men, and some, mostly Hunters roam the land alone, resting in taverns and abandoned fields, feeding on rumors of mysterious dangers to exterminate. Judges are welcome in human cities, especially in Atarnor. Ever since Assador's flight to the western lands and his alliance with High King Maradar, the two races shared a brotherhood honed by their shared likes and religion.
Paladins from Atarnor sometimes learn from Ar'Sorai judges and take apprentanceships under them. It is a widely growing trend which is also extending to jewelcrafting guilds.
Relations with the Human Kingdom Dardeep are very rigid, since Dardeep's economy also depends heavily on stone smithing. However, their skill in metal smithing is something the Ar'Sorai desperately need, and the political rigidness extended to traders, who doubt their clients from gems even to quality of Dardeep copper. The Dardeep's allies, Hajaarai are also dislikeful of the Ar'Sorai, but not for political reasons, but rather the Ar'Sorai's love of digging deep into mountains and mining gems to use in marriage rituals.
Relationships with Tharnil are an improvement from Dardeep, thanks to the Explorer's guild, where Ar'Sorai scholars assist in writing the history of Annanor. Trade is flourishing between Atarnor and Tharnil, and the homey relation between King Assador and Queen Listita encouraged the Ar'Sorai to send more of their people to perfect sea-faring and fishing.
The North Kingdom shares with the Ar'Sorai hardships with Dardeep, yet their love of beer and wine does not go well with the average sorai diet nor beliefs.
Woah. That was long.
It was enjoyable, though. I'll do the Hajaarai next.
I didn't involve any secrets of the Ar'Sorai, such as their way of ruling and chosing kings, their history and other secrets. :
Why?
Because I'm crying single tears.
<3 Anti-Shur'tugal.