UPDATED!! Ask me about characters, magick, setting, and I'll ask you, too

Wait…crows can learn to talk. It’s actually fascinating and creepy to hear a crow talk XD Does the crow know any words? What’s the meaning behind her name?

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Haha it is super creepy to hear them talk! :confounded: But it’s really cool how intelligent crows are. Nannaru doesn’t know how to say any words, but she and Crow understand each other. (All his crows understand him, in fact.) And she acts like she can understand Skye to an extent, too. Though she mostly communicates by pecking Skye in the face.

Crow named Nannaru after his super deceased wife. “Nannaru” is from a Mesopotamian dialect and means “moon.” Crow’s real name, Tamzi, means “sun.”

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So far, because I’m editing, the moment when the mean, bully, scowling Hunter named Valan can’t help but smile back at Pinti’s little sister Tendri. And then behind him, his brothers laugh because they think it’s funny that Valan can’t keep his tough persona up. And probably it was funnier to them because I would guess Valan would have boasted that he’s tough to everyone. Even children.

In that same scene, Pinti thinks, “huh, he smiles” and then Tendri says out loud, “I didn’t know you could smile!” And then everyone starts to laugh, except Valan, who looks embarrassed.

Pinti is fifteen (but it’s a week before her birthday), Tendri is seven, Valan is like twenty-one or twenty-two.

So far, my favorite scene.

Least favorite scene? Maybe when one of them dies :pleading_face:

Yes, but not common. There are a type of wild cat called forest cats or forest felines. Tendri owns an emotional support feline named Foof because she went through a traumatic experience when she was kidnapped by an enemy clan. Forest cats are kind of like Labradors in that they are in-tune with the emotions of those around them.

Her first enemy is Kalis who is the leader the swamp clan Prendai. Kalis is like the problematic YouTuber who craves any attention, even negative attention, so she would cause drama to get it. Makiista and Prendai are enemies because Kalis will not talk. She would rather fight.

Pinti’s second enemy are the Ilvagis, especially Thorn. He says means things to her and her friends to cut himself off, but Pinti believes in Thorn at first because he warned her about a coming disaster. And she believes that when she sees him again, they could become friends again. She believes in him so hard, so it’s devastating to her when he betrays her. They become enemies when he leads an army against her kind.

Sort of. There’s a place where all souls go before they pass on to the realm with the Lunar Goddess. It’s like limbo, I guess. A middle place. They don’t stay there for long though.

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@HKelle Mesopotamian dialect? That’s pretty cool! How does Mesopotamia play a role in your story besides Crow and his deceased wife’s name?

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She does! And that knowlegde has come in handy for taming shadows. :3

She remembers the relationship as good. She pretty much thought Dominic was her soul mate. Though, as the story goes on, she unburies more memories that reveal some dark truths about Dominic and their relationship.

They were high school sweethearts! He was a jock, and she was the nerd lol.

Oh I can and I do! But it’s usually estimates on the characters’ parts, rather than actual measured time.

The sky never changes! ᕕ( ᐕ )ᕗ

…this is a good idea. :eyes: But again, the sky never changes :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Hahaha so Crow was alive in the Mesopotamian Era. :smiley: He’s from the Akkadian Empire, to be exact. Like I said, he’s thoooousands of years old and his mind’s gone a little scrambled. Spoilers, lol ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ In life, he was a slave and died in an escape attempt. In death, he builds a ghost city which he called Aḫ-ḫur. (It was the predecessor of After.) Its construction was very much based on Akkad cities of the time, complete with a gilded palace and a ziggurat, and Tamzi becomes the king of it. It and all the ghosts who lived in it (including Nannaru) are all gone now–destroyed in an explosion centuries before the start of the first book. Tamzi/Crow and the guy who destroyed the city were the only two survivors.

The main characters (all from modern eras) all explore the ancient ruins of Aḫ-ḫur in the story, and it’s like a city frozen in time to them. It was inspired by the ruins of Pompeii because the silhouettes of the people of Ah-hur are permanently flash-burned into the walls and ground, in the pose they were in when they died. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

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FOOF. I love that. That’s adorable! :heart_eyes_cat:

…Less adorable.

I love the idea of a cat with a pet cat lol. :3

Yep, that’ll do it.

Ooooo what’s that like? :eyes:

What happens to them in this realm? Do they get judged?

@HKelle Btw, this is a Scottish Wildcat. The inspiration for the forest cats that live in the Third Ring.

Forest cats don’t climb trees, are only this color or darker. They can be found in burrows. This one specifically is Foof. She’s like a guard cat, too.

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That is cool :open_mouth: What inspired you to have the Akkadian Empire as part of your story?

Btw, how long can ghosts remain in After? Is there any limit? Do they stay there or get to go elsewhere after doing good deeds or whatever?

Right, so, you could have a thousand different ways of describing night or twilight :wink:

Tendri comes up with good names, doesn’t she? :wink:

I was initially not going to do that, but then I thought hey, forest cats live there. Why wouldn’t they have tamed some of them? It makes sense. They do eat similarly. Sharing prey with the forest cats could be how the forest cats are tamed. Why not? :wink:

Hmm…a vast expanse of ice and snow, or a vast expanse of beautiful flowery fields, whatever the Chief Guardian wants to do. But it’s not like it’s teeming with souls. It’s always empty. Souls just kind of evaporate and become part of the energy of Elgana, I think…not clear what happens to non-magical souls yet.

Nope. In the end, all souls are pure… although I’m not sure what happens to ones that are truly, truly evil. I think their existence is eliminated and their souls don’t even go to the realm of death.

Not sure.

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I wanted Crow to be really really old, so I wanted him to be from one of the first civilizations that came about, and you can’t get much older than Mesopotamia. And Akkad is one of the oldest societies within Mesopotamia. Also, I remember learning about it and cuneiform and stuff waaaaay back in high scholl and college and always thought it was fascintating.

There is no limit. And at the end of the first book, they’re free to leave the city of After however they please to see what else is in the never-ending desert. Buuut…they can also leave the afterlife entirely if they choose. At the end of the first book, Skye creates portals to the after-afterlife that ghosts can enter at their own free will, but they can never ever return. And not even I know what’s in there, lol. :laughing:

Good deeds or bad deads don’t account for anything in this afterlife. ¯_(ツ)_/¯.

And off to the nearest thesaurus, I go~! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

KITTY. I lub him. :face_holding_back_tears: They definitely look like a Foof, lol~

That sounds peaceful yet in an eeir and beautiful way. I love it. :0

  • Since Tendri and Pinti are siblings, what was their biggest fight? What was the dumbest thing they ever fought about?
  • What kinds of things has Chardi invented?
  • Who is your personal favorite character and why?
  • Who is your least favorite character and why?
  • Can magic in your world be learned or taught? Or is something you have to be born with?
  • How’s editing going, lol? Have there been any major changes to your story? I’m about to start editing mine real soon haha. :face_with_spiral_eyes:
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The only episode I have of them fighting about something is Tendri, when she was four or five, had this quirk of running on all fours. Tiny children go through a “four-legged” phase where they go from crawling around on their bellies to getting up on four legs…but Kattaluna are bipeds, so they have to learn to stand. Tendri went from standing to back down to four-legged because she taught herself how to run faster.

Pinti would see how others reacted to Tendri and ridiculed her. Tendri liked the attention. Pinti would get embarrassed. So, for family image, she would tell Tendri to not “walk like an animal” and then one day they had a fight about it.

Toys that could move if you turn a pully or crank something. A pully system to get water from deeper down a well. A support for older farmers to bend over when harvesting herbs (in the works). A wooden box-pouch thing that, with the pull of a lever, can open compartments so that herbs won’t get mixed up inside (in the works).

I also had a glimpse at her sketchbook and I think she might be trying to come up with a way to extend the roof for citizens to sit outside on the ground during summer.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
I like everyone :stuck_out_tongue:

Apart from the mains, I like the Arzonshua brothers. Aln, Kirlan, and Valan. They all have such different personalities yet are similar in a way. Among them, I do like Kirlan the best. He was initially supposed to be an only child. He’s really caring and has a big heart. He’s also a well-trained Hunter-Warrior. Can’t be fooled by his soft demeanor. I like him because he’s just so nice :stuck_out_tongue:

You know you hear about these people who are just so nice all the time? They appear in the news as doing a good deed just because they like to make someone’s day or whatever. It’s like the word “mean” has never existed in their minds. They won’t fight because they’re angry. It’s never personal gain. They fight for others and especially that special someone. But they also never boast and are always humble.

That’s Kirlan. The kindness character.

Least favorite in what way? :smirk: Hard to write would be Pinti. I had such a hard time figuring her out, she was my least favorite for a while despite being the main character.

In terms of the character would be Kalis. She’s the leader of the swamp Prendai clan and your typical problematic attention-seeker. She also is one of those “bad moms” in that she would exploit children left and right. She also treats children as adults, so if they do something bad, the punishment is the same harshness as what adults get. She’s like a dictator almost. She’s just bad. No one should like her.

Born with. If you have no magick, well, too bad :woman_shrugging:

Editing has been going great so far :grin: I’m actually having to rewrite and edit at the same time. If you go to my recent posts on the Struggling Writers thread you can see me talk about it more.

There have been some drastic changes compared to the previous version (on Wattpad). Pinti’s story used to start at a younger age (12) and she didn’t get to actually be a clan leader before her family was murdered. Now, Pinti starts at a much older age (16) and is the clan leader. The story goes on to introduce more character relationships within the clan, too. Makes more sense to the plot this way.

I also used to have a strange thing going on with the Ilvagi and Kattaluna relationships. It used to be so complicated to explain, so I simplified it. There really is no need for their relationship to be the way it was before.

Good luck with your editing! I’ll be back with more questions :wink:

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Hi :grin:

If you see this, Pinti, Kirlan, Aln, and Chardi are grinning at you from behind the trees, waiting for you to join them in the Moon Forest.


@Novel_Worm

  • What is the most common form of transportation?
  • What do the rich do for leisurely entertainment?
  • What’s the medical system like? How advanced is medicine?
  • What’s a big cultural taboo in Arya?

@lowarlo

  • How does a spirit cafe work? What do they do?
  • Does everyone know about the spirit cafe?
  • Can anyone go there?
  • What does Talwyn look like?

@alenatenjo

  • I remember vaguely, you had a bunch of planets?
  • Tell me about your favorite one and what is unique about it.
  • If I’m wrong, tell me about a creature you created for your world that you are proud of want to share.
  • I remember your characters are like, eons old, right? Why are they so old? Are they immortal or just long-living? Do they age slowly or the same as us?

@qualeshia3

  • What are you working on now and what do you like about it?
  • If you could swap lives with one of your characters, who would it be and why?
  • If you could live in any of your fictional nations, where would you live and what will you do there?
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Updated original post and blurb if you’d like to take a look.

Yes

Geez only one? :joy:
I don’t think I have a favourite. And they’re all unique in their own ways. Got worlds made of fire, worlds made from ice, worlds with a lot of land, worlds with no land, worlds that are toxic to us, worlds with more than one sun, the list goes on.

That’s a tricky one. I have more species than beasts :thinking:
I think my favourite would be the Thunderbirds. They’re giant, sparkly, phoenix-like birds that are the top predator of Lyriumia (one of the God Worlds).

Some are, but very few. The only things that fall under that category are the First Beings, Primordials, Elementals and the Beast

Different species have different life expectancies. Some are old, some are new, some have similar lifespans to us, some have slightly longer, some have far longer. It depends on the species

Most of them are just long living. Some are immortal.

This is a tricky question to answer.
Time is relative. Wherever you are, you experience it as “normal”. Add on top of that the fact that these are all different species with different life expectancies. So, depending on the species and where (or when) you’re looking from, they can age the same as us or they can age slower than us or they can even age faster than us

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Walking. Most people don’t need to go all that far, so they walk. For the special, rich people, though, there’s this thing called a ‘palkhi’ (pronounced paal-khee) which is basically a small curtained chamber of wood carried by 2-4 people on their shoulders.

So in this world, reading is rich people privilege, even reading news. So is playing board games, which is one of the ways in which the court negotiates things. They also watch hired entertainement, dancers, jokesters, the like.

Herbal, mostly. But it’s still very developed and scientific. (There’s an actual branch of medicine called Ayurveda, which is ancient Indian medicine, and there are certified doctors practicing only Ayurvedic medicine. There are degrees and the like for this in India at least, don’t know about the rest of the world.) The rich can afford to imbibe their treatements with magic, which makes the treatements work better and faster by quite a bit.

Not in all of Arya, but in the bureaucratic, rich circles, disobeying your husband or father is considered a sin. In the poorer circles, however, women are treated more equally, because their conditions mean the women have to go to work as well, and the women there get a chance to prove their worth.

Questions for you:
What was Pinti’s education like?
How did she learn to use her magic?
Does she make any friends with her ‘enemies’? Say a rival clan or the Ilvagi?
Are Hybrids more or less powerful than pure races? How are their powers decided?
How are interracial couples or friends treated?
What is Elgana’s education system like?

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@alenatenjo

Please elaborate :stuck_out_tongue: How does this work? What does it have if not land?

That sounds cool! What color are they? How long do they live? How big do they get? Are they quite common?

Are these like spirits? Or fairies? What do Elementals do?

Why do they have long lifespans? Do they heal quickly? Not get sick? Move slowly?

I suddenly wondered how long sloths live and why turtles live for so long :stuck_out_tongue:

That’s mind-bending science right there XD

Would you prefer to live a long life without suffering with sickness but where you do eventually die of old age, or would you prefer an eternal life where you never die, but you do get sick and have to suffer?

You can answer the above yourself, or you can pick a character and answer for them.


Interesting :thinking: I definitely have seen those in movies. The people who carry them in your story, are they servants of the rich people? Or is there a business that provides people who do that as their full job? Like a taxi service?

Then…those who are not rich, are illiterate? Can the lower class people read and write at all?

I have heard of that :grin: I think many parts of the world have some kind of ancient medicinal practices. Like Chinese medicine, Shamanic rituals that are for healing…can’t think of any others.

Quite a bit, huh? Can they completely heal a broken bone? Get rid of poison? Is there any injury or sickness that not even magic can heal?

I like this! I’ve heard about this similar situation back in the 1800s to early 1900s in Europe where women in poorer areas were not so discriminated against as we might think.

a tangent

When their husbands went to war, they would do the jobs their husbands were doing. So, like, being a smith or carpentry, any job traditionally for men were given to the wives. So, women weren’t just being midwifes or seamstresses and being discriminated against. In fact, some women made a name for themselves in the villages after they took over their husband’s jobs after the husbands died in the war. They were much respected.

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Water planets, lava planets, liquid planets, gas planets. They are actual things :tipping_hand_woman:

They come in every metallic colour there is but mostly in gold and silver. They get MASSIVE (easily taller than a five story building), They are common. Top of the food chain. But they don’t leave their homes unless they have to or want to.

Elementals are a sub-category of the Deities. They come as First Beings, Primordials and Elementals. The Elementals are the very essence of the elements. Every element in Creation, whether it also be a deity or not, comes from the Elementals

This only applies to the First Beings, Primordials and Elementals. They were created by something Beyond and are the creatures that made Creation. So long as they exist, Creation exists. They can’t be killed from any known form. They don’t get sick as far as I know and it’s very hard to injure them. And they move at the same rate as normal people

The Beast is a little more complicated. It actually came from Beyond into Creation. No one knows who made it or how old it really is, only that it sleeps in the Sun of the God Worlds.

:joy:

Welcome to the wonderful world of adding theoretical physics, quantum mechanics, and M-theory to your writing :joy: the parents are still trying to get me to major in a “real degree” like Astrophysics because I do a lot in my free time

This is actually the situations for my main characters. They’re all immortals and can’t die through any natural means, but they can still get sick and injured, and feel pain

Honestly, I don’t know which I’d prefer. But since a short and painful life is the one I’m stuck in, I don’t have much of a choice at all :sweat_smile:

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She went to school from 6-10, then was pulled out of school early to be homeschooled and trained by her father to one day become clan leader. She can read and write in Universal, Kattalunan, and she taught herself how to read and tailsign ancient Kattalunan as kind of like a hobby with her friends.

Her father taught her how to meditate and that’s how Kattalunae access their magick. Pinti also learned how to find that warmth feeling inside of her quickly without having to fully meditate. She has to swiftly put herself in a calm state. This became easier and easier as she practiced. As for healing, her father also taught her the basics before his magick faded. Pinti then learned through practice.

Yes, with the Ilvagi. Actually he’s introduced early in the story. Pinti made friends with Thornwings a.k.a Thorn. It’s an illegal, secret friendship. She shares this secret with her Kattaluna friends. As for the rival clan, not exactly friends, but she does learn to work together with a swamp clan warrior.

Native Elganians and Humans made Hybrids. They are just another race of Elgana. The thing about them is that they are no different from Humans, only that they have animal-like features and are typically taller than Humans. Just like Humans, sometimes Hybrids can be born with magick, and with the genes to access the magick in the air, making them Sorcerers.

How friends are treated in Elgana

So, it does depend on where you live. Sorcerers like Sorcerers, so it doesn’t matter if you are a Hybrid or a Human. As long as you’re a Sorcerer, it’s fine. No one will say anything.

But Sorcerers do not like non-magical races. If you are a Sorcerer who is friends with a non-magical creature, the non-magical creature is likely to be treated poorly by other Sorcerers (torture, ridicule, berating, etc.), and the Sorcerer will be discriminated against (name-calling, ridicule, ostracization). The term citizens like to use is “abomination” which comes from a time when Sorcerers first came about in Elgana.

Interesting, huh? Sorcerers take a word that was used to discriminate against them, to then discriminate against others.

But let’s say you are a Human who is friends with a fox-human Hybrid. Your fellow Humans will probably be like “eh, he’s weird for being friends with THAT” or just not care. Humans are well aware that it was their ancestors that created Hybrids. Hybrids who are friends with Humans are treated the same by fellow Hybrids.

Interractial couples among Humans, Hybrids, and Sorcerers

Couples are another story. Interracial couples don’t truly exist among Humans, Hybrids, and Sorcerers because their common ancestry is Humans and native Elganians and they are well aware of that. Sorcerers didn’t have to become a separate race because they are Humans and Hybrids just with magical abilities and longer lives. If any couples happen among Humans, Hybrids, and Sorcerers, no one thinks much of it.

Couples and friends among Ilvagis and Kattalunae

It’s unlikely for Ilvagis and Kattalunae to couple up with other races or each other mainly because they have been enemies for centuries. If any love or friendship did spark, both their races would go against them. That’s why Pinti has kept secret her friendship with Thorn.

I would guess, if they were found out, they would both be severely punished and their titles will be taken away. Pinti, because Kattalunae are under the control of Ilvagis, might suffer more than Thorn. Might lose a limb :grimacing:

Depends on what your race is and where you live, but everyone must learn Universal and at least be able to speak it or sign it. It’s been long enough since it’s introduction that there isn’t a single soul who can’t at least speak a few words to get around.

Children aren’t forced to go to school. Parents can choose to homeschool and depending on the race and class, homeschooling is sometimes encouraged. Some Hybrids still retain a tribal system, so the chief would appoint someone to teach the children.

Humans and Hybrids have an education system which ends at a local high school level. They follow an apprentice-mentorship style after that. So, I don’t think they have a university. They have specialized academies like police academy or fashion/textile academy.

Pursuing your passion and being yourself means you are more able to contribute to society in a positive way (and potentially decrease crime), so Elganians very much encourage children to pursue what they want.

Not every parent is, of course, flexible like this (especially a difficult thing for Sorcerers to keep up), but most Elganians won’t mind if the child does not pursue what the parents are doing. Exploration is important.

I highlighted that part because…I phrased Elgana’s value so nicely for the first time XD

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Like Neptune? What lives there?

They sound so pretty :grin: Would you care for a drawing? :wink:

I see… what are the uncommon, rare, or dangerous ones?

That’s so cool :grin: I like unknown things with potentially great power.

So, who discovered it? How do people know that it’s there?

:face_with_spiral_eyes:
I’ve never heard of M-theory before… Care to explain it to a noob? Just really simply. And how it relates to your story.


When you get the chance, some questions for me? :wink:
You can make me repeat myself, it’s fine and welcomed :grin:

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No idea. Haven’t entirely finished figuring it out yet :joy:

If you can draw, sure! I have no artistic skills on animals

They’re all unique. None are really dangerous. That’s not how it works

The Beast of the Sun was discovered aeons ago by a woman named Bellanaga. Scans of the Sun are done to this day to keep an eye on it. It’s said that the day the Beast awakens from its slumber is the day that Creation will fall to the Endfire.

Because it was discovered so long ago, a lot of people think it’s just a story but there are still a lot of people who know it’s real.

Multiversal theory. It kind of ties into the idea of the 10-12 dimensions. We are somewhere between the third and fourth dimension. We experience length, width and depth, and we also experience time but can’t actually interact with it meaning that while we have a perception of the fourth dimension, we can’t touch it. The higher in M-theory you go, the more possibilities open up to see universes beyond our own. You can see ones that have different laws of mechanics and ones that have different origins.

I’ve been into astrophysics since I was 3 so this stuff is pretty general knowledge for me :sweat_smile:

The God Worlds in my stories are at the centre of what we call the Megaverse (many multiverses (multiverse is many universes; universes are many dimensions. it can be complicated)) and are on what’s thought to be the second higher dimension well beyond the 10-12 we currently have theorized. The original inhabitants of the God Worlds (Lyriumians and Terpolites) can travel to the Lower Planes which contain the uni-and-multiverses through creating tears in the Walls of the Worlds. But this is kinda dangerous because they have to go through the In-Between. That and the Walls are the only thing protecting Creation from Void

Sure :+1:

What’s a bipedal feline? Sounds like some sort of cat and definitely looks like one according to your very cool drawing. And is luna magic like moon magic? How does it work?

Who made the barrier? What’s it for?

Oooooo can you tell me more about these?

Wondering if you got this idea from the Tangled animated series :joy:

Is the pendant important?

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:eyes:

What got you interested in it?

Did you watch Interstellar? (I’ve seen it three times and watched a lot of videos explaining the science in simple terms)


A feline that walks on two legs, has opposable thumbs, and can talk with the same intelligence as a human. Kattaluna are blue feline bipeds with stripes and manes. There have been other bipedal felines in history which have gone extinct.

Lunar magick 101 perhaps

Lunar magick is moon magick, but might not be like what you’d find online. It’s magick from the moon. It’s like moon energy. Light magick, basically, in contrast with shadow magick. Only Kattaluna, the blue feline bipeds, can use it as their (now extinct) royals used to worship it.

It’s basically healing magick at its roots. It can also ward shadows and darkness away by shooting beams of lunar light. It’s warm and can become quite hot appearing more like lightning sometimes. It can also gently warm things like a blanket. If you surround yourself in lunar light, you can protect yourself against the cold.

Usually activated by meditation, and can be projected by saying spells or just by concentrating on what you want to do.

The Ilvagis made it to keep Kattaluna from leaving their homeland.

Ilvagi 101. Enjoy.

Ilvagis are shapeshifting shadow beasts born from the shadows of lava. They are born as like cellular creatures (like amoeba) without any thought of their own and act as a collective. Only the stronger ones that come on top are granted individuality in differing levels as they progress. The individuality is explained as a kind of magick that is provided by the ruling king (that no one knows how it first came to be).

The more individuality, the more the Ilvagis can gain things like their own name, have their own opinions, and become a leader of some army division. The ones with high individuality can also shapeshift into whatever they want and retain that shape for however long they want. The lower the individuality, the shorter the time.

Ilvagis have a default shape of a black smoke blob with red pupilless eyes which no weapon can harm. Only lunar magick can hurt them. Those who cannot shapeshift are this default shape all the time. The lower and lower you go, they look like black transparent goop with red pupilless eyes and they crawl, eat each other, and are treated and act like simple cattle.

One Ilvagi. Two Ilvagis. They speak Ilvagien and Universal. They have genders which I haven’t decided yet if they can change their bodies to be more biologically male or female. They have “neutral” meaning without any reproductive system. Most Ilvagis are neutral because they don’t need to reproduce. I think maybe over time, to reflect the world around them, they take on gender roles.

They live in the Sixth Ring which is the outermost torus planet of the collective of six torus planets that make up Elgana. It is lava land in the south, and freezing cold up north. And the air is super toxic. Only Ilvagis can survive here.

Didn’t even know Tangled had an animated series XD

There are seven important stones in Elgana. The moonstone is one of them. It’s actually the most important :eyes:

It is, yes. It will be. I’m gonna make it XD

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