Miscellania
So last night, when I was trying to get to sleep, I was instead thinking about rituals invoking the 9 Yahgahn elements and directions. I was even pointing at the different directions. While making gestures for Within, Without, and The All, something struck me about these gestures, and I started thinking about deaf Ah'Koi Bahnis and an AKB version of sign language. I experimented with a few signs. So far, all I have for sure are signs for Within, Without, and The All/Everything. I won't even try to describe them, I'll just make a video at home of the signs.
Wait, no... I did also come up with signs for "day," "night," "morning," "noon," and "evening" (or late afternoon). They differ from what I know of ASL's signs, but they're still recognizable, I think.
Okay, now I'm wondering what deaf Duenicallo do. I mean, deaf Shaokennah could also have a sign language. I suppose Duenicallo could, too, but... how does one sign with one's hands, when one has to walk on them? Hmm... I think deaf Duenicallo would have to walk on their hind legs more often than Duenicallo usually do, to sign. But if they had to run, signing would no longer be possible.
~ ~ ~
I've also took some other inspiration from the real world lately, too. For one thing, I've decided that the Shaokennah have extra cones in their eyes, meaning they can see millions more colors than the AKB, Duenicallo, or humans... just like that one woman in the news recently. I've even made this relevant to their enslavement before The Reformation... that even now, thousands of years into The Reformation, the AKB and Duenicallo still struggle to tell Shaokennah apart from one another; it's a more realistic case of "they all look alike to me." And sadly, it would be a lot simpler for them if they had the extra cone(s) of the Shaokennah eyes, because Shaokennah skins have incredibly complex and unique patterns of colors, like fingerprints in color, that are only visible to those with the right number of cones in their eyes. So yeah, the Shaokennah have no trouble telling each other apart.
(Shaokennah are the race of Traipahni sophonts that look a little like the velociraptors in Jurassic Park. But their snouts are shorter, their brains are larger, they have five digits like a human hand but with retractable claws, their skin tends towards greens and purples, they don't have the giant toe claw, and they're taller. Whereas the Duenicallo are about the size of a polar bear or a pony, are furry, and are predators. Their snouts are much thicker than polar bear snouts.)
Although I suppose the Duenicallo could tell the Shaokennah apart easily enough, by scent.
Oh, that reminds me of another interesting quality of the Shaokennah. Their faces don't have much expressiveness to them. They can grin, frown, and look neutral. Which could possibly have been another ancient excuse for enslaving them. But they *are* people, and *do* have emotions. They just express most of their emotions through various tail gestures, arm and hand placement and movement, head position, and sounds like growls, purrs, and so on. The Shaokennah language is such that humans could not hope to speak it. Even the AKB can't speak it; the best they can do is a simpler, constructed pidgin language called Krai'Ahd. But Shaokennah can learn how to speak Trai'Pahg'Nan'Nog, and even English.
By the way, the Shaokennah don't call themselves that. "Shaokennah" is an ancient AKB name for them, that means "slave." But the Shaokennah are reclusive enough that the name hasn't been replaced. The Shaokennah name for themselves is something like this: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1847428/shaokennah_name.mp3
This was cross-posted from http://fayanora.dreamwidth.org/1098886.html
You can comment either here or there.
Wait, no... I did also come up with signs for "day," "night," "morning," "noon," and "evening" (or late afternoon). They differ from what I know of ASL's signs, but they're still recognizable, I think.
Okay, now I'm wondering what deaf Duenicallo do. I mean, deaf Shaokennah could also have a sign language. I suppose Duenicallo could, too, but... how does one sign with one's hands, when one has to walk on them? Hmm... I think deaf Duenicallo would have to walk on their hind legs more often than Duenicallo usually do, to sign. But if they had to run, signing would no longer be possible.
~ ~ ~
I've also took some other inspiration from the real world lately, too. For one thing, I've decided that the Shaokennah have extra cones in their eyes, meaning they can see millions more colors than the AKB, Duenicallo, or humans... just like that one woman in the news recently. I've even made this relevant to their enslavement before The Reformation... that even now, thousands of years into The Reformation, the AKB and Duenicallo still struggle to tell Shaokennah apart from one another; it's a more realistic case of "they all look alike to me." And sadly, it would be a lot simpler for them if they had the extra cone(s) of the Shaokennah eyes, because Shaokennah skins have incredibly complex and unique patterns of colors, like fingerprints in color, that are only visible to those with the right number of cones in their eyes. So yeah, the Shaokennah have no trouble telling each other apart.
(Shaokennah are the race of Traipahni sophonts that look a little like the velociraptors in Jurassic Park. But their snouts are shorter, their brains are larger, they have five digits like a human hand but with retractable claws, their skin tends towards greens and purples, they don't have the giant toe claw, and they're taller. Whereas the Duenicallo are about the size of a polar bear or a pony, are furry, and are predators. Their snouts are much thicker than polar bear snouts.)
Although I suppose the Duenicallo could tell the Shaokennah apart easily enough, by scent.
Oh, that reminds me of another interesting quality of the Shaokennah. Their faces don't have much expressiveness to them. They can grin, frown, and look neutral. Which could possibly have been another ancient excuse for enslaving them. But they *are* people, and *do* have emotions. They just express most of their emotions through various tail gestures, arm and hand placement and movement, head position, and sounds like growls, purrs, and so on. The Shaokennah language is such that humans could not hope to speak it. Even the AKB can't speak it; the best they can do is a simpler, constructed pidgin language called Krai'Ahd. But Shaokennah can learn how to speak Trai'Pahg'Nan'Nog, and even English.
By the way, the Shaokennah don't call themselves that. "Shaokennah" is an ancient AKB name for them, that means "slave." But the Shaokennah are reclusive enough that the name hasn't been replaced. The Shaokennah name for themselves is something like this: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1847428/shaokennah_name.mp3
This was cross-posted from http://fayanora.dreamwidth.org/1098886.html
You can comment either here or there.