Category: Danraxelia

Danraxelia Lore: Festivities

(OOC: Say hi to another long post… This is no surprise anymore @@ ）

New Year: Birth of Vo’a and Danraxelia (the world)

Unsurprisingly, the biggest and grandest celebration each year is for New Years.

The citizens of Danraxelia believes that the city is a unique blessing to them, and has existed since the beginning of time. It makes sense to them that the world began at the start of the year, so New Year holds the dual significance of welcoming the year ahead, as well as celebrating the birth of their beloved city.

This last for about 10 days, from the last few days of the previous year all the way through the first week of the New Year. Aside from general feasting and merrymaking, the main event starts with a parade involving every race and social class in the city. Months are spent preparing the Carnival floats and costumes for the parade.

The trip of the parade starts from the bottom, with the simple floater done by the farmers, or the surprisingly detailed and delicate floater done by the crafters heading the parade. As the course of the parade winds up, it is joined by floaters done by industrial workers and merchants, entertainers and other organisations, some of which are sponsored by wealthy individuals. Even the Library, the Scribes and the Parliament each has their own float joining the parade at the end.

Of course, how could the biggest celebration of the year be without the participation of the Oracles? While they and their disciples never produced their own floats, they will join in the Parade towards the end as it pass around their level, up through the parliament level and finally ends at the Sky Gardens. This parade last for five days, and on the last day of the year, in the Sky Gardens, around the Bell Tower, the Oracles will lead the ritual of burning all the floats.

To the commoners, the construction of the floats signify their thanks to both Vo’a (OOC: the world they live in, if you recall) for letting them have another peaceful and abundant year, as well as to the Oracles whom they view as Gods that protect their city and guide them.

The final burning of the floats signifies Vo’a receiving their gratitude, and commoners usually dress in their best clothes to flood the gardens and watch the spectacle. After all, it is also one of the only chance most of them get to see the Oracles themselves and are allowed into the Sky Gardens. (Usually only accessible to working Parliament members and Scribes and Oracles, even individuals from the upper class are rarely allowed up there).

For most, the burning of the floats is the end of the large scale celebration. Usually the next few days in the New Year are for everyone to rest, recuperate, have fun in their own little circles, and of course, prepare for the new working year ahead.

However, the next five days are also the only chance for some individuals to see the Oracles one on one, and gain their advice on their fate. This is limited to 5 people, one on each day, and if you are chosen, it is considered a great honour as you are lead up to the living areas of the Oracles.

Yet aside from the chosen few, nobody ever hears about what actually takes place with the Oracles, and it is assumed that speaking of your experiences with the Oracles are forbidden.

Remembrance of the Dead and celebration of Living:

This is another significant festival when the Oracles appear, although unsurprisingly this is usually starts as a much more sombre “celebration”, if it could be considered that at all.

In the day, the Humans and Tierans makes a long trip outside the living areas and beyond the farms, all the way to the edge of the forest at the bottom of the city where the graves usually are. There, they leave food, gifts and offerings to their deceased loved ones. Some set lanterns and offerings into the rivers flowing into the forest, for those deceased who are sent off in the same way, as they might prefer.

For Giowels though, as their death are rare and signify their return to the elements, with no graves to mark their demise, it is usually a much more private affair. Perhaps with alters set up at home and quiet remembrance of the life of the deceased.

When nightfall, the Oracles will stand at 3 corners on the outside (balcony?) of their living level, facing the rest of the city below. Although barely visible, their voice will be heard by all, guiding them to remember the good of the life passed, the fortune of being alive, and the importance of celebrating life, together with death. Their voice sooth the emotions of the living and a sense of calm, peace, and quiet will come over the entire city. Many will claim that that would be the night they have the most peaceful and restful sleep in the entire year.

The next two or three day, festive markets and carnivals will be set up at various locations and individuals will go around to mingle, socialize and basically have fun.

The markets and carnivals have all sorts of interesting games, food, crafts, and any other unique creations the living might have come up with through the year. It celebrates life with all its blessings, innovations and creativity, especially in a city as peaceful and self-sufficient as Danraxelia.

Others:

Of course, there are other minor festivals that different people celebrates base on their race, social class, beliefs and significance they place on any natural events, but for City-wide large scale celebrations, it would just be these two.

Danraxelia Lore: Entertainment

The entertainment available in Danraxelia is as varied as the individuals living in the city, and one man’s job could easily be another man’s hobby. Most of the entertainments are not unlike the ones available in our own.

Central Library is a main source of entertainment for the citizens of Danraxelia. There are compulsory schooling in Danraxelia, and, as the school is a part of the Library, most citizens are introduced to it since young. Learning is not a boring process there, as individuals get to decide which topics or books they wish to study. Most come to grow up enjoying the company of books.

The library contains more books than one could finish in a lifetime, as well as parts of it which functions as museums that contain important relics of the past. All residents are allowed into the library from their residential level, although the top few level are almost exclusive to the upper class, and of course, the Scribes who works in the Library, both as followers of the Oracles and as teachers to guide the students.

Of course, it is absurd to expect all to love books, let along having that as the sole entertainment. Thus, the residential area surrounding the central library slowly developed to be the arts and cultural centre where there are theatres, dance and opera houses and circuses (Imagine the tricks Tierans and their animals, Giowels and their elements could perform~!).

Aside from cultural activities, mindless fun such as singing, dancing drinking at bars or gathered around a campfire telling stories are all valid forms of entertainment as well.

Individually, aside from picking up a new skill (Pick up a book from the library!), tending to pets and small mushroom gardens are popular past times as well. (Mushroom because unless you live inside the library or really close to the “corridors” at the outside of Danraxelia structure, there will be some difficulties for plants to get enough light..)

For those more inclined to sports, there are competitive sports and fighting rings. Watching the sports and fights are common entertainment, but the ones who participate in it are doing it either professionally, or occasionally to settle personal disputes. Fighting to the death are not legally allowed, but incidents do happen…

Worthy to note though, is that the games and sports in Danraxelia do tend to differ at least slightly from those in our world, due to the different environment and races.

Of course, in the dark corners of the city, there always exist unsavory forms of entertainment such as drugs, gambling and prostitution…

Danraxelia Lore: Crime and Punishment

(OOC: Law Lore Lol. *cough*sorry*cough* anyways.)

There exist no capital punishment in Danraxelia.

The harshest form of punishment are life imprisonment in complete isolation. This means no chance for parole and no contact from anybody aside from the prison guards. In this sense, they will be dead to everybody in Danraxelia, never to be seen again even by their friends and family, who are not allowed to visit.

Not that their family will ever want to visit anyways.

There are strong social stigma attached to this sentence and usually the families will be too ashamed to ever be associated with the person again, unless they want to further jeopardize their status in society.

While it this stigma might sounds extreme, it is perhaps only fueled by how rare this sentence really is, occurring only once or twice in several decades.

It is usually reserved for the absolutely unrepentant criminals, serial killers or the insane with strong malicious intent…in other words, unanimously deemed a “Lost Cause” by the respectable Judge and their panel of Jury.

Interestingly, this sentence are usually not even given to murderers.

Murderers will usually be sentenced to life imprisonment, but visiting from family and friends are permitted, and there exist the possibility of parole. However, breaking the parole or repeated offences will be what grantees them to become a “Lost cause”.

Blatant disrespect and rudeness to the Oracles will be considered a blasphemy which is unheard of, but not a crime on its own.

Other crimes are punishable by imprisonment and fines, with severity varying depending on the crime.

But as Danraxelia prides itself on being a civil society (It’s built around a library after all), rehabilitation are enforced together with imprisonment or fines. These are usually in the form of education and various manual labors to “repay their debt to society”. This could range from anything from washing toilets to arranging the books in the library.

They will not be confused with respectable individuals taking up the same jobs though, as their grey prisoner robes- not to be removed until they served their time- speaks volumes of their differences.

Once they do serve their time though, they are taken to be sufficiently re-educated with newly guided and corrected sense of morals. Thus, they will usually be re-accepted into society in time.

Danraxelia Lore: Architecture

(OOC: Complicated post. Thus no chapter update this week..hopefully will have more time and less things to think about next week ><”
Actors I admit this might be confusing due to my excessive amount of detailed headcannons but you don’t have to read everything…)

The buildings in Danraxelia… or rather, the entire basis of the city itself is fashioned from some sort of stone, seemingly hand carved from an entire giant block. However, the truth of who, or what, was capable of such an inhuman feat has been lost through the ages, theories intertwining between stories and legends.

IMAG5785
Basic top down view (Semi-complete), the bottom level is evidently the biggest ring, and the smallest dot in the middle is the tower.

The very bottom level of Danraxelia is considered the rural area, and has huts and cottages surrounding the main city structure. These are usually built with rocks and stones or even wood and straw. Cement are used sparingly to bind some materials together.

Inside the bottom city levels are a complicated mess of increasingly confusing and dark tunnels (OOC: which might be (part of) irrigation system but thats not something I want to think too hard about now @@) the deeper you go. But at the area closest to the farms and forests outside, there are rooms or even “apartments” separated out in the tunnels using the rocks, stones and cement. However, these rooms are usually use to store tools and other items farmers or workers might need for their jobs outside. People don’t usually live in these areas for long periods due to poor facilities and most usually have their own apartments in the lower levels of the residential areas anyways.

The industrial city levels consist mostly of factories and workshops. The heavy industries focusing on raw material processing and material recycling (For living in the middle of the ocean makes some of their resource pretttyyyy scarce) are at the bottom two levels while the more delicate crafting are done on the top level.

The residential levels are pretty hierarchic, with the poorer living on level 1-3, middle class 3-6, and higher class 6-9.

Although there are no hard and fast rule to who can become richer and more capable, the general trend is for farmers, manual workers and crafters to live in the most basic apartments, businessmans in the middle and the extremely rare upper class- those involving or once involved in the parliament- live right at the top.

The inside of these levels tend to be divided into different rooms apartments and streets between them. The most basic material used to construct additional (because of course the city structure has some walls or pillars of its own original stone to ensure the entire city will not collapse) walls are with concrete. Yet unsurprisingly, the richer you are, the more flexible your choice of size and material for housing will become.

Right in the middle within the residential areas, and extending to the level above it, is the central Library. It also functions as the school. Its walls are shelves carved from the original stones that make up the city, suggesting that the library has existed for as long as the city itself. Rather than describing it, please view illustration for a better idea:

IMAG5784

The top level of the library is where the Scribes work and live, and is inaccessible to most.

Equally inaccessible above it is where the Oracles and their Disciples live, and even further up, the parliament, and finally the Sky Garden with the bell tower in the center. The bell tower is the only thing made of red bricks (And not bricks of stone etc.) in the entire city.

IMAG5783
sketch of stairs possibilities

The outer most “walls” of most city levels (Except bottom two levels bottom) are mostly different types of pillars (Egyptian, Greek or Roman are all good references), allowing more lights into the deeper parts of each level or even the entire city. However, there are bits and pieces of actual walls on which lifts are built or stairs are carved into, particularly for the bottom two levels, to make transportation of both goods and people more convenient.

 

Danraxelia Lore: The Powers that Be

(OOC: Actors highly advised to read this~ Or at least the later part

Haish was gonna draw the symbol/logo for the parliament and oracle but I have no time. Perhaps adding in on a later date~)

On the surface, the main governing body of Danraxelia is the parliament, where the seats are somewhat fairly allocated between the three races. (~30~35 humans, 30~35 Tierans, 20~25 Giowels) through voting every 5 years.

As Danraxelia is a largely isolated city, the members of the parliament tend to argue more over the rights and benefits of their own races when situations arise. However, as the city is self-sufficient and large conflicts of interest has never arose, through the years the races have found a delicate balance co-existing.

With prolonged peace and self-sufficiency, becoming a member of parliament became as much an acknowledgement of individual’s social status and charisma as their actual purpose of maintaining Danraxelia’s various functions, and to be honest voting for the members of the parliament are not a priority to the people in Danraxelia.

At the head of parliament are the 9 Heads of Danraxelia, consisting of 3 Human Leaders, 3 Tieran shamans and 3 Giowel Elders (Yes, akin chiefs in the ships), who consolidates the opinions of parliament members and makes the final decisions over Danraxelia governing matters.

They also serve the additional function of the Judge when individual conflicts arise, and their position as judge rotates every month. They are usually the most respected members of their races. Of course, the voting for them are taken much more seriously when it comes round every 10 years.

Not beneath this regular governing body though, a form of almost religious respect also exist for “the Oracles”. 3 person who seem to have the same, if not higher authority than the government. However, they are almost never seen except during festivals, and when they do appear, they are always covered beneath a white, black, or blue veil respectively.

oracles 1
OOC: Speedpaint-ish again. Please imagine less flowers on their veils @w@”.

No one knows who they are or how they look like. No one even knows what race any of them are.

They are rumored to be Gods, having existed as long as the city itself, and are literally the heart that beats to keep the city alive.

They are in charge of the “library” which Danraxelia is built around, as well as the Scribes who work there.

And they are, supposedly, able to see all that is in the past, present and future.

(OOC: I will perhaps reveal more details at least about the library which is a big part of Danraxelia. But for now they are mysterious and although highly respected, command a different kind of authority than the mundane political sort.

They could be important, if you want more adventure… If not they are just these shadow entities that hang at the edge of normal Danraxelia lives)

Danraxelia Chapter 1: Brave New World

It was right before sunset when the sea dipped like a waterfall.

The mist before them had taken the pale tint of purple and the fading pinkish greenish hue of the darkening sky, and before they realized, the hazy horizon line had come unusually close to the ship.

Though panicked, sailing for 15 years provide most of them with ample experience reacting to the unexpected. All capable individuals got to their allocated positions where they knew they would be most useful as a member of the crew. The Giowels working their magic on the sails, wind and water current directions, some Tierans providing back up with their potions and strength where it is required. The rest of the people concentrated their efforts on the ship’s mechanics should that be their expertise.

They stopped the Ship from tipping over the edge with herculean effort.

brave new world
Hasty speedpaint: the ship is at the edge and the top of the city peaks through the mists

As a few stood and observed the cause of their predicament, the silhouettes of architecture and light peeks through the dissipating mist, yet it is impossible to know the full depths from which this city arise. Those with binoculars, or just binocular eyesight, seem to identify shadows of people visible through the thick mist, igniting murmurs of excitement amongst the passengers.

Yet, the Chiefs (2 Human Leaders, 1 Giowel Elder and 3 Tieran Shamans) swiftly and unanimously agreed that they should leave this unusual city behind.

It is too different from the land they were accustomed to, and they it is too dangerous for all of them to attempt getting off the Ship without ascertaining what kind of city lies beneath.

It will be way too strenuous for the Ship to remain where it is for more than half an hour without being dragged by the currents off the edge of the falls, and even with the unique potions of the Tierans, the Giowels cannot sustain their magic forever. It is in their best interest to turn the mast as soon as possible… while they still can.

However, unbeknownst to the excited crowds and the worried Chiefs then, two of their kin has already gone off the Ship.

IMAG5408
OOC: Its a magnified diagram from another diagram I have of the whole world. That inconsistent line is NOT a force field or something LOL
IMAG5409
Rough sketch of the lay out of Danraxelia from side view. The thick black lines are lifts to go up and down the levels.

How did Beam and Dom get off the ship and into Danraxelia (the city)?

Hint: Air magic alone is not enough. Gliders and mechanics OK. Free falling…er… well………….. XD

(OOC: The Chapter ends when you both are settled into the city. I estimate 2-3 comments required each, please and thank you~ ><

Also I like how one of you is 13 and one is 31 X”D)

(OOC edit: It seems having you both settle in in chapter one is a bit ambitious, so getting off the ship is progress enough~ Will continue in the next chapter! Thanks~)

Danraxelia Lore: Transport

Long post warning.

Danraxelia is just one city in this world (The world is called Vo’a; but this probably will not be very important in the subsequent story)

Water Transport

As this world is more than 90% water, the most common form of transport in this world is by ship.

In their homeland, they have a variety of different ships by different races and different purposes, but it has all been left behind.

The Ship (Maiden Arc)

That is the ship that they has been on for 15 years, and we can look at it as an example for how different races help to operate a ship.

It is a privately owned ship, and when the war escalated in their homeland, the owner (a Tieran) offered to take in as many refugees as it can possibly support to seek a new land.

Of course, individuals or groups who can aid in the journey were prioritized, as well as important people such as the chiefs.

The main division of crew work in the ship is as below:

Mechanics maintenance: Dominated by humans, sometime the help Giowels are required for their generation of power (water and fire, mainly.)

Doctors and Alchemists: Mainly Tierans playing a large role in creating potions that could help Giowels recover their elemental essence. 

Wingers: A small (~50) but special group of older (60+) Air elemental Giowels in charge of the wings of the ship. These are literal wings build into the sides of the ship.

Essentially, the wings catches the air currents the Giowels will generate beneath the ship, and levitate the entire ship out of the waters. Other personals will use their respective capabilities to help redirect the course of the ship. This is an emergency measure, for example, when they might crash, or gets pulled into waterspouts… or the waterfall approaching Danraxelia.

Although most jobs seems predominantly done by one race, the knowledge required for the jobs are not race exclusive, and at least the basics of a job could be picked up by any race.

The possibilities of transport under water has been explored only to a very limited extend, as they use to have contact with Tierans that lives underwater. Water elemental Giowels can also stay underwater for an indefinite amount of time.

Air Transport

Unlike the sea which is usually more calm, the skies are a much more dangerous place. This is due to the fact that most of the time, it rains sand here instead of water. The equivalent to snowing and hailing would be raining pieces of glass, which needless to say, proves a terrible threat to any aviation in misjudged or unpredictable weather.

This combination of gas, sand and glass in the “clouds” also makes it extremely dangerous to go too high up, as some Tieran capable of flight has found out under certain unfortunate circumstances…

Anyways, in this way, most residents of Vo’a has also developed a deep respect for the skies. Aside from Tierans born with the animal ability of flight, not even normal air elemental Giowels are capable of flight for any extended period of time, as flying are extremely essence draining, with mere levitation already draining 1 essence per minute.

Thus, it is much more efficient for Giowels and Humans to use tools such as hang gliders for short distance flight, where air Giowels have the added advantage of simply creating gust of wind to direct and speed up their flight.

On rare occasions, Tierans have tamed huge winged beasts to provide transport in the air for friends of other races, or for trade. However, it is not possible to bring any of them on the ship for 15 years.

Land Transports

Danraxelia layouts are pretty vertical, thus, lifts are actually a main form of transport. There are a few main lifts that passes through most of the levels inside Danraxelia, with a strict time table akin to buses and trains in our world.

Countless small lifts that function more akin to known lifts in our world also exist in various alternate levels. For example, only between the 9 levels of living area.

IMAG5409

Aside from that, trams and carts are also used, acting much like buses that goes wrap around the entire citadel like structure.

*Energy source: nope, Vo’a does not have any kind of magical stones that could generate power. Well, the solidified gathering of a Giowel’s essence could act as a power source, but usually such gathering of essence could only be separated from them in death. Giowels could, however, provide energy for any form of transport, while taking turns to rest and recover.

Danraxelia Lore: Shadows of the Races

(OOC: Giowels are the longest because they are the most confusing race setting I think X”D. Anything unclear about any race or setting we can explore together! ^w^)

Giowels:
Magic are cast with their essence.
Their total essence depends on their age, where

1-20 yrs: 1 essence gained per year (Age 20= 20 essence)
20-40 yrs: 2 essence gained per year (Age 40 = 60 essence)
etc.

And the elements of the essence already gained will not change.

As they are born from the essence of the elements, should their essence run out under any circumstances, they will dissipate and die. Lost essence usually recover 1 in half an hour naturally.

Giowels with multiple elements will have their essence will be distributed across the elements, meaning they have a greater variety of skills but each at a lower capability.

The distributions of the essence depends on their affinity with each element (Do they have a main element?) and their surrounding.

E.g. a Giowel with some form of water element would more likely be gaining water essence each year they are near the sea/water..

For Beam, 13 Essence in total, 4 essence in Fire, and 9 in Air. The fire is weaker right now because they are surrounded by the sea.
(OOC: Or that’s what I’m thinking, but if you’ll strongly prefer it another way, with some backstory to back it up, it can be considered~ More than enforcing the settings I want you to enjoy acting as Beam! X3)

Also, since Giowels are like “Force of nature”, their emotions are more… “artificially gained” over the years. A Giowel with no contact with other people might not have emotions at all, while the emotions of young Giowels tend to either very limited (lack of understanding to what emotions are), or very pure and strong.

Tierans:
Not all of them are filled with love towards the world. Some use their affinity with the animals and plants to sinister ends, creating unique poisons and bringing unsuspecting animals to cruel and untimely demises.

They usually also have the weakness and some negative traits of the animal whose attributes they share.

Humans:
Cunning and selfish, and they have used their resourcefulness to their biggest advantage and developed swiftly. However, most believes that the process of their development is what brought war upon the Old Continent.

Hurans:
Both Tieranes and Humans believe that Hurans’ birth are impure and unnatural, created from sinful unions that contaminates the earth and angered the Gods. Unsurprisingly, they usually live as outcasts.

Lore: Danraxelia

Lore:
It’s been 15 long years.

The ship is huge, with 2000 people there about. But after 15 years, there are few faces one won’t recognize.

The older ones often spoke of the beautiful but war-torn land they left behind, and the young ones listened intently as though it was a mere fairy-tale.

15 years is long enough for anyone to think of the land as a distant dream. Some has even begun to think that they are sailing towards the end of the world, and their ashes will forever be spread between the pink-green skies and the turquoise seas.

This was especially so on the day the sea dipped vertically beneath them.

And at the edge of the world, they saw a city.

(Revealed) Races: 
Each race will come with 2 additional stats on top of the 8 you are to allocate.

There are hidden race(s?). But. they will only appear depending on how the story progress. You might never run into them.

Even the revealed races have undisclosed weaknesses I will explain in subsequent Lore, after you create your character. (I want to play a bit on the luck and chances of birth. Humor me and good luck.)

Giowel (Pronounce Geo-well): 
Arising from the essence of the elements, their small stature belies their exceptional affinity with magic.

Magic are mainly based on the elements they are born from, namely earth, water, fire or air.

Giowels can have more than 1 element. Their skills with their elements depends on age as well as their surroundings.

(They can look anything like a fairy or elf or dwarf they are just. short.)

Intelligence +2
OR
Intelligence +1
Agility +1
(please indicate in character creation)

Tieran:
Legends has it that their ancestors were animals blessed with sentience and intelligence after their pure emotions and love towards the world touched the Gods.

They are very good with animals, plants and living things in general, and can have a familiar animal.

Decide what kind of animal attributes they have.

Strength +1
Agility +1

Humans:
Their intelligence and adaptability are their greatest assets. Skilled crafters and traders, they are the bridge between the races, and they benefit immensely from the connections.

They create unique weapons with the help of both the Giowels and the Tierans, and they used their own alchemy to bind themselves to individual weapons or tools, giving them special attacks with said items.

Weapons can be semi-magical or even with technology. Decide what they are and how they are acquired.

Strength OR Agility +1 (please indicate in character creation)
Intelligence +1

Huran:
Humans and Tieran mix. Weaker animal attributes but capable of weapon binding.

+1 on any 2 stats (please indicate in character creation. No dublicate of stats (any stats +2 NO.))

Class/Skills:
None. You may choose two or three things your characters have done for a living or are particularly skilled at. But it must make sense so this falls into the backstory of the character. You can choose to reveal them now, or as the story progress.

But it must make sense. E.g. Unlikely for any character to be an assassin when they have been stuck on a ship for 15 years of their life.
They can learn more skills as the story progress~

Inventory:
No limit. But again, must make sense.

You can’t carry more than 2 or 3 items in your hands/pocket.
If you have a bag how big is the bag (will it be inconvenient?)?

At the moment, a bag with a magical amount of space is not possible.

Decide on the race,age (Cap at 40) and inventory, and perhaps backstory (skills? pass time on the ship which is like a mini..town?) or looks (Not completely necessary we can discover the key elements later or through a drawing if you want OvO). The actual story begins in the Chapter I will post after.

Let’s have fun!! *w*