Apparently a lot of people get dialogue punctuation wrong despite having an otherwise solid grasp of grammar, possibly because they’re used to writing essays rather than prose. I don’t wanna be the asshole who complains about writing errors and then doesn’t offer to help, so here are the basics summarized as simply as I could manage on my phone (“dialogue tag” just refers to phrases like “he said,” “she whispered,” “they asked”):
“For most dialogue, use a comma after the sentence and don’t capitalize the next word after the quotation mark,” she said.
“But what if you’re using a question mark rather than a period?” they asked.
“When using a dialogue tag, you never capitalize the word after the quotation mark unless it’s a proper noun!” she snapped.
“When breaking up a single sentence with a dialogue tag,” she said, “use commas.”
“This is a single sentence,” she said. “Now, this is a second stand-alone sentence, so there’s no comma after ‘she said.’”
“There’s no dialogue tag after this sentence, so end it with a period rather than a comma.” She frowned, suddenly concerned that the entire post was as unasked for as it was sanctimonious.
Åskorhal-
N/A shit doesn't really happen there
Avianaen- War of Bloodied Storm
So during the early Minor Wars era they had their own shit The Sky Lords were their leaders, being Aenirel, Lord of Rain, Enthivar, the Dragon Lord, Ilravoin, the Traveling Lord, and Thiroaven, the Lord of High Clouds They were basically viewed as divinity and were powerful enough to be seen as such, having forgotten their roots as elves and were really more like elementals. Thiroaven was the most respected of the bunch since he was basically viewed as the embodiment of the sky But of course, as they were still elves by soul, they still knew greed. Aenirel, Enthivar, and Ilravoin could keep their act together for the good of the new Avianaens, but Thiroaven could never settle for his reach being limited only to the air-lands of Syklari So yeah he betrayed everyone and tried to kill the other Sky Lords so he could hold sole control and scheme from there Whole war broke out and it ended with all the Sky Lords being dead and the Avianaens are still trying to figure out their purpose to this day since they feel lost without the leadership of the Sky Lords Since then they've created the Triumvirate of the Skyborne with three seats to represent the three Sky Lords that remained noble, and these seats are held by the priest families that once stood by their sides
Dalirna- Origins of the Nalgira and the Weathermagi
There was a very minor(?) crisis where when Dalirna was first established, some mages tried to make the deserts more habitable and made whole squadrons for it creating a new type of mage called Weathermagi(pre-Fall they imbibed pillars to deal with weather) That backfired pretty badly, and they're the reason why all the cities have to be covered by an Asurei barrier at all times because of the frequent strong sandstorms created from fucking around with the environment Some of those squadron members had their new magic backfire on themselves because no one was quite used to elemental energies yet, so they became poisoned by their own magic and mutated to become Nalgira which were not very intelligent but had very chaotic magic So that's the story of how Dalirnans figured out that even though they have better Asurei adeptness than the other surface kingdoms, they're also the most susceptible to being poisoned by it(compared to Lustariseans that are basically the masters of it and also immune(as far as they know) to the radiation-like effects of being exposed to too much of it) Any Nalgira that are discovered have their magic sealed off and sent to the desert to eek out a living and it's generally considered a crime against public safety to try to keep a relative that turned into a Nalgira in your house, especially if you live in a city
Weathermagi still exist to control weather and they're better at it, but generally the duties rely on elemental magic more than pure Asurei so it's left to Zodianans and Avianaens
Flaerna- The Ligniar Elthir and Tale of Asharena, The Warrior of Earthen Flame
Shit happened When the Solarian survivors of The Fall were figuring out life in the new fiery hellscape of Emorscal, on top of trying to understand their new fire magic, they had to deal with primordial giants(not the same as elementals) coming out of volcanoes that would terrorize the new towns The most powerful ones were coming from the volcano at the center of the land and it seemed to have some sort of "core" that was triggering the birth of more giants in the other volcanoes In underground caves it was less bad, they found half elves(hey it's the surviving pockets of elves post-Fall) that were like coal, and the half elves were willing to help from a shared sense of kinship They were skilled at making do, but mostly kept to the underground since they were very physically fragile and prone to burning out their lifespans whenever they used magic
The new Flaernans initially tried to fight back against the giants with the help of the coal half elves and had scrounged out a military to cull the giant population, with the charge being lead by a young Flaernan named Asharena Zhirkiyen
This lasted for about two centuries and as people got more desperate, the coal half elves were basically taken out of their caves and enslaved to become conscripted soldiers despite their physical constitutions being naturally terrible The Flaernans were considering leaving and moving to the surface of Cevris Atsal or joining the Dalirnans out of fear that no one could solve the giant problem, but Asharena got sick of the giants' shit and decided to charge into the central volcano alone to break the core, basically burning herself from the inside by letting her fire magic burn up her lifespan in exchange for power to charge through many giants and surviving plunging into pure elemental energy for just long enough to destroy the core surrounded by infused lava
The remaining giants would begin to crumble in the week after and the central volcano would become dormant, then solidify and be nothing more than a big hole in the ground
Asharena would be celebrated as the first warrior of Flaerna and become an example of duty to the kingdom and courage to the people that came after, with the city of Embylviska being established in the former central volcano No remains were ever found, so it's believed by everyone that her bones burned up in the lava and her soul became part of the land to watch over the kingdom
As for the coal half elves, only the Flaernans ever knew they existed, and they don't talk about it as it's considered a shame upon their history. The half elves themselves died out during the war against the giants
Floernia- The Tale of Lynaea and Cirania, the Speaker of the Forests
Okay they have less problems than Flaerna
So Cirania, a Dysheraln, lead the group of survivors to what would become Floernia out of benevolence, but the other Dysheraln did not respond so kindly Nature does not forget, and the memories of the Dak-Shan never faded. Cirania was willing to set aside the old grievances between the elves and Dysheraln, but the others felt that the elves culling Dak-Shan when the Dust Era ended, the Fall destroying land and rearranging continents, then the fallout poisoning the world with new elemental energies were all slights against them
Some of the Dysheraln, out of respect for Cirania, would move into isolation so they would not have to suck up to elves but also not be able to cause them harm Some of the other Dysheraln held onto the old hatred and would wage war with the new Floernians when they tried to settle in the forests A few were willing to set aside the past and actively ally with or at least advocate for the Floernians to the vengeful Dysheraln, but they'd be socially ostracized by the other Dysheraln
Now is there another war? No actually which is probably shocking
So even though the Dysheraln are technically not elementals(at the same time they kinda are, but are counted as half-elementals), they have their own little realm limited to a little half-plane above the land of Floernia and there's two big trees, The Ebon Cypress and The Cedar of Life The Ebon Cypress is what dictates natural death for the Dysheraln, and each of them that passes grows another branch upon the tree The Cedar of Life is what dictates the birth of Dysheraln and memories of nature Now this realm is supposed to be just pure nature, but the long forgotten past that even nature does not remember comes back to haunt them
So the Ebon Cypress actually doesn't do much load bearing, the Cedar does which means it's also more prone to problems Usually these problems are fixable, but this time it was hidden darkness that spread in the core of the tree and spread this darkness into the cores of the Dysheraln This darkness has always existed but never really spread until now, and it stored the malice from the memories of the past which became contagious and was why many Dysheraln could not move on
The new Floernians were told this by Cirania, who despite her great power was not immune to such corruption either, and all of them would gather to use their newfound control over nature to create a birch seed enchanted with their goodwill, with the nicer Dysheraln joining them to teach them how to keep the magic stable
As the malice continued to bleed into the wills of the Dysheraln, it was found that the process would accelerate if a Dysheraln was in the realm compared to outside of it, so many would remain in Floernia and didn't dare to venture into it Floernians that tried to go in were drained of their very essence by the trees as they were not elementals in any way, so some of the Dysheraln would choose to "reproduce" with some willing Floernians by pouring their essence into a pregnant Floernian, which would lead to the births of the Nynphor, a new variant of half elves that were free from the binds of the Cedar and Cypress and could also withstand their power better than Floernians could
As they grew up, Lynaea would be marked among them as the one with the most potential to bring the birch seed to the trees and plant it between them to purify the corruptive malice, as she was one that gave love and kindness freely even to a bitter darkness
When she was a century old, she took on the birch seed and acknowledged that she would likely not come back, with Cirania following her to guide her to the space between the Cedar and Cypress
Though the draining properties of the trees made her weaker with each step, she powered through and would clutch the seed closely, using her essence to plant the seed and allow it to take root from her own goodwill Cirania would sacrifice herself and become a shell for Lynaea's essence and the seed to protect them from the corruption for as long as it took to reach the roots of the Cedar, and thus would begin the process of the reversal of the corruption
Lynaea would never come back, but the Dysheraln knew her and Cirania's sacrifice as they felt the darkness that clouded their wills dissipate, and the majority of them would gradually return to their realms with the ones remaining choosing to tolerate the Floernians
The Nynphor still exist as the symbol of goodwill between the Dysheraln and Floernians, and the names of Lynaea and Cirania are still celebrated every thousand years as the ones that brought peace and unity
Föllen Alatsa- The Cave of Bloodied Quartz
No long story I swear So during the Ember War, there was a cave that was mined into and it was filled with bright red quartz that glowed and had an ominous feeling to them People that saw the crystals felt sickened on sight and could not be in their presence for very long Some people thought that these crystals had a new source of power and went in, and basically found out that those crystals are like an elaborate system of magical parasites and drove people mad if exposed to them for a long enough time in high amounts The cave was quickly sealed off and guards placed around the tunnels that led into it, and samples brought from the cave were quickly destroyed with the people exposed to them thrown into the cave Everyone exposed would mutate and go mad from the strange power of the crystals, and this actually warranted Lustariseans stepping in to magically seal off all the stone around it to prevent the cave from growing bigger through erosion and prevent people from mining into it by accident
This is a note to myself Elementals- foreign beings from the elemental planes Primordials- beings that sprung from Elvaria when elemental energies started bleeding into the world Elementals aren't like fully sentient beings from the view of a regular person, they're more than that but sort of in a lower dimension way(?), like if people think in 3D(concept of length width and depth so having a tangible idea of space and being limited to what can be seen from a point on a 3d object like a globe), elementals think more like 2d where they're missing the idea of "limits" and inherently will not understand strictly 3d concepts unless they fuse with something 3d(so like half elves on Elvaria just think normally but with a different perspective of existence compared to before they became half elves) Abstract ideas to us are not abstract to elementals, that's how they think normally and vice versa with regular beings
They're not quite simple and have different needs than Lower Realm beings so they don't need ideas like distinct cultures or individuality, but rather the desire to spread influence Bringing elemental energies to Elvaria to them was extending a gift to the elves and embracing the world's "potential" as it now had the energy(asurei) to "reach" and break through limits, while the elves at the time saw it as making their problems worse and the elemental energy as bleeding into the world instead of a gift for them to prosper The elves in the modern day think of elementals as cryptic and foreign beings but elemental energies are now widely used and there is definitely more appreciation towards it
Primordials are not that smart and were never meant to be, they're basically when things in the world have the spark of "potential" and elemental energies will seep into them to create a core in something, which will spring out a primordial from similar structures(ie volcanoes created the fire giants but the main core was in Embylviska) Since they lack the kind of spark elementals have, they're very simple and think like animals even if their thoughts are "3d" Half-elementals are right in between, since by technicality they're from the world but were created from outside means that didn't come from the elementals. Their intelligence also varies since it's determined by whoever created them
So what is the "potential"? Honestly I have no idea yet, but for now the idea is ability to adapt or if it's at a certain threshold that makes it distinct from others of the same kind The ability to adapt doesn't necessarily have to have been there from the start, it can be triggered from a specific event that gives everything in the world "potential" and that "potential" will attract elementals to it naturally Not every world in the Lower Realm will have "potential", so not every world has an elemental presence. There still may be elements, but they're just regular elements like in the real world Half elves aren't necessarily elves with more "potential" than others, but rather what's most convenient for an elemental seeking to assimilate because of its core losing energy
Whenever I finish the stupid elemental planes post I'll pretty much be only posting shorter content and stories because writing what's basically a thesis about realms is giving me horrible burnout on top of actual thesis essays for school. Fun.
I finally took the time to photograph my vintage dip pen nib collection, and I need to share with you all how wonderful and diverse their designs are.
These two are my favorite. Just look at them! One of them is named Gorille and the other Mephisto, but to me they're little pumpkins.
And of course you gotta love the Pinocchio nib. You get to write with the nose of a tiny guy! Just not something you get to do anymore.
I have blocked and reported 11 prawn bot accounts in the past 2 weeks, this is ridiculous They don't even have funny bios and my account isn't even a month old, wtf
Hello, my account right now is still pretty young so I haven't posted much yet, but if you're interested in a high fantasy worldbuilding project then I'm also looking for mutuals! Most of my posts will be informal though(unless there's requests for more formal writing) so if that's not your thing then it's perfectly understandable.
If you're a writer of fantasy, horror, or speculative fiction in general, reblog this! Looking for kindred spirits to follow!
"I do not hide knowledge from my people, the Spaelculans, as there is not much to hide and not much very relevant to the duties we preform in maintaining this existence. "You may think of us as weavers or artisans, if that makes it simpler to understand what we are and what we do. All the fabric and tarps that mortals use for their clothing or tents come from the work of weavers, and the work of artisans give others the ability to build complex structures with the processed goods.
"In the same way societies and civilizations are built on the backs of craftsmen, the elaborate 'tapestry' all celestial bodies rest upon is created by us. This tapestry is very durable, but the fine threads it is built with are still fine threads even when woven together.
"When these threads begin to snap from the "weight" things in existence upon the location possess, it creates gaps that you may know as black holes. These are not created from the natural processes of stars, so they are not true black holes, but rather better described as spatial rifts. They function about the same as black holes, so there is no need to keep that distinction in mind, as you are not one of my people that have the ability to fix such rifts.
"Why I am telling you this?
"To put it simply, we, or rather I, did not always need my own people to aid me in the repairs of spatial rifts. In the many, many past Cycles, I was able to very easily manage the opening and subsequent sealing of the rifts myself. They occurred in very predictable locations and were few and far between that I could anticipate the rifts before they happened. The few that formed in an unexpected location were manageable as well.
"But in this Cycle, for some strange reason, these rifts form in completely absurd locations that I'd never have been able to predict. Locations where across the whole of existence, there is nothing that can feasibly pierce through the plane so violently and suddenly and in multiple locations at once- and I have witnessed the birth and end of an innumerable amount of universes.
"In the first 4 or so billion years of this Cycle, it was random but I could still handle it on my own, though it stretched my presence thin in the later end of that period. I refer to this as the Heralding Eon, a time where it was unusual but it was not a concern to me yet, but I now know it was a warning of more tumultuous times ahead. "By the next 5 billion years, repairing the rifts no longer was a task I could handle alone, and so I looked towards my kin Avaas' creations as inspiration, creating the Spaelculans by imparting traces of my essence into spatial energies.
"Them forming into a reflection of my image was entirely incidental, but my form is best suited to this task, so it was most efficient for them to have the same limb arrangements. After all, you do not see fish or birds weaving the webs of a spider- but to return to the story of why I am in my current predicament and why Derizaren exists...
"My people are not perfect copies of what I am. They were never meant to be, as their duty is to simply weave the threads of space and repair them in the locations where rifts form. They are also to monitor designated spaces that I cannot keep in my peripherals. But of course, the Lower Planes are unable to see the threads that make up the metaphorical tapestry- not the inhabitants being unable to, but that the threads are entirely unviewable in the Lower Planes to anything that is not me.
"They may hold the Lower Planes, but they are in a sort of phase state for the lack of a better term. The threads are formed by spatial energy which is automatically in the phase state, making them only visible through a sort of "screen".
"The realm of Derizaren was only partially made to shelter my people. Its proper purpose is to act as a "screen" that allows my people to directly view each of those strings, and the power I have imparted to my people allows them to perform their duties from there. Very rarely do they ever need to have a physical presence in the Lower Planes, and that is usually either when an Altersaean requires aid or some race that cannot be sheltered in Anarexen has to be sheltered here.
"But we do not shelter any race. We cannot afford to be philanthropists and preservers to beings, only the fabric of space itself. If a race does not contribute in any way to the progression or maintenance of this existence or cannot so much as grasp the information carried by the threads, we do not take them. If they can grasp the flow of information carried by spatial energies, I choose to impart some of my power to them so they become a pseudo-Spaelculan and can contribute to our work. This can, of course, be revoked at any time.
"As to those of the former group, the best and more relevant example would be survivors of the Tearing of Boriasonde. Tilisnet has essentially vanished from this existence somehow, and whatever realm I or Avaas could create is not suitable to the aspect of time that the Tilemgians are, so the most we can do is grant the ones we could find among the Lower Planes and give them sanctuaries in our realm that they may shape to be more habitable to them. But this is not a perfect system, and many more Tilemgians are scattered throughout existence.
"Avaas believes that I should pay some more care towards the Tilemgians, as they are essentially the successors of Tilisnet until he reappears some day. I will admit that without them, time would not be flowing right now and the whole of existence would be stuck in a time loop, indefinitely frozen in time, or collapsing onto itself as the absence of time means the concept of progression and regression disappears, but there is nothing I can do.
"My domain is space, not time, and I and my people are spread thin enough already in this eon I have named the Turbulence Eon. Since the disappearance of Tilisnet, more of the threads of space are breaking and some have even disappeared- I cannot monitor both the Tilemgians and Spaelculans, and Avaas does not tell me anything. What little I know is what my people know as we are spread very thin trying to quite literally be everywhere at once. "Avaas is growing paranoid and irrational, and he does not let me know of anything. From what I can tell by his behaviour, he knows something very critical to the current events, but he doesn't believe it himself and hasn't spoken a word to his people.
"I can respect him as kin, but when this involves one of us disappearing, which has never happened before, I and my people reaching our limits of what we can do to prevent the total collapse of this existence, an entire High Realm collapsing and the survivors being scattered throughout existence, and the Altersaeans not knowing what is going on themselves and following orders blindly- that is where I draw the line. "This is not preservation, this is madness, and this is why I cannot do more. Derizaren and the Spaelculans exist to maintain the fabric of space, nothing more and nothing less, and the fact that I even had to create either is enough to show the state of the Cycle's order right now.
"If this existence continues to last even a billion years more, I would be very surprised and frankly the odds are very close to being zero. There used to be one of us that could likely be able to fix this problem, but I have not seen him since this Cycle was started. He may have disappeared like Tilisnet did, but I would not be able to sense him as he is the embodiment of nothingness, and nothingness does not leave a trace.
"Avaas turns away when I mention the name of the Fourth. This is how I learned for certain that he has been hiding things from me, but as to what, I will never know unless he confesses.
"Forgive me for a tirade unbefitting for a being such as I, for my frustration runs deep-
"But his silence will be our doom- there is no other way to phrase this."
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Taglist for writing-
@aneci
If anyone else would like to join the taglist, feel free to DM me or send in an ask! I will also have a separate taglist for art posts.
I finally got my shit done back to elvaria I'm (temporarily) free🙏🙏🙏
I don't want to jump straight into it if there's no need for it besides basic details, so I'm using strawpoll for this Also shameless discord server plug https://discord.com/invite/t4ch8K63xP
A fantasy worldbuilding project focusing mainly on elves. This account has been retired, my posting account is now @ilisteria
99 posts