Rusty Gold

A messy master doc I made for a fantasy world that’s been rotting my brain for years now.

Most of this is very stream of consciousness as I was just trying to get my ideas down, and I’m just now realizing this is 10 pages of fantasy politics that most of the characters don’t even care about. This is incomplete and ever evolving with highlights sprinkled throughout that are just notes to myself, but have fun having a look into my brain ヽ(・ε・｀)

Rusty gold - pure gold does not rust or tarnish, so if it is showing signs of tarnishing, those are signs of impurities. Or it could be the other metals in the alloy tarnishing, seeing as gold is too soft to wear as jewelry on its own.

Possible theme of how colonization and war and the cycle of violence hurts everyone. It hurts those who are subjugated, those who are exploited for labor, those who fight in the wars. It hurts the planet, the plants and wildlife who have to deal with human greed and our need for expansion. It even hurts the people at the top, the ones who are benefiting from the systems of oppressions. No one will ever be truly happy in the system, and the only way out is to break the cycle, no matter how impossible that seems.

Worldbuilding

Races

Referred to as different species in-universe, but the “species” are all just humans with different manifestations of magic, but have divided themselves as if they are different species.

A lot later in the series there could be a movement to refer to them as different races rather than species, seeing as without their magic, their biology is pretty much identical.

Entomon

(greek for insect, or cut in pieces)

Just an excuse for me to infodump about insects
Have the wings of a specific insect that can be summoned at will. Not everyone is able to summon wings if they don’t have enough natural magic (essence).
Tend to be shorter and a bit wiry compared to humans, better for flight. Have some sort of facial markings, making them easy to identify even without wings. None of them grow facial hair because I said so.
Most insects are pollinators in some way or another so flowers are very important in their different cultures.
Each group has their own power, with varying degrees of strength from person to person
Based on all sorts of insects, but we’ll only focus on three types for simplicity and they're the only ones important right now. (Butterflies, bees, and beetles. the three B’s)
If a country is run by one group of Entomon, they’re not the only ones that live there. They're just the largest population or at least the population that has the most control.

Butterflies

Monarch Butterfly

Power: healing
All of them have the ability to some degree, but few have the strength to make healing their profession, so actual healers who work as doctors are still on the rare side.
Mariposa Monarca, sometime called milkweeds in a derogatory way
Based on South America (specifically mexico?)
Resistant to poisons and venoms, like how caterpillars eat poisonous milkweed and become poisonous themselves when they become butterflies.
Act as protectors to actual monarch butterflies when they travel south to hibernate for the winter.

Blue Morpho Butterfly

Power: divination
Some have the rare talent of divination, seers who aren’t usually believed for their prophecies. Even in a world of magic, seeing the future is assumed to be near impossible. Their visions aren’t set in stone, as I don’t like the idea of fate, but are more so a vision of what is most likely to happen if direct action isn’t taken. They are easy to discredit because of their visions not being absolute, but it also means that their warnings aren’t always listened to, sometimes with disastrous consequences. Most likely to have a connection with their deity. They might ask their deity to do something to stop a horrible vision from coming true, the deity saying they can only do so at a terrible price. The butterfly effect, doing something small can have disastrous consequences.

Bees

Honey Bee

Power: poison
They can poison their targets, Poison essence is usually made into potions to make them easier to administer.
Revere the honey bee and build their society off of the social structure of actual bee hives.
Matriarchal society, only having queens for their entire history (more of a reverse patriarchy, having social roles similar to actual honey bees)
The males and females are mostly equal physically, unlike actual bees where the drones only really exist to mate with the queen of another hive and then die. The matriarchy is upheld anyways due to the caste system of actual honey bees colonies, and that females are the only ones that have magic. Females are the only ones allowed to have royal jelly.
Royal jelly is meant to change a worker bee into a queen bee by making her fertile so she can lay hundreds of eggs, but that’s boring so we're making it magical.
Royal jelly instead makes young bees grow larger and stronger and gives them more powerful magic.
Those in the military and religious leaders are given small amounts of royal jelly (basically microdosing) to enhance their strength, but it’s reserved for the elite that devote their lives to service. Once royal jelly is taken there’s no way to reverse the effects.
The first beekeepers that we know of were from ancient egypt, which I am very happy to learn as it gives me the perfect excuse to draw from egyptian mythology.

Beetles

Firefly

Power: illusions
a lot of them use illusions to work in traveling entertainment groups and as traveling merchants.
Illusion magic doesn’t just trick someone’s sense of sight, it can also trick the other senses. Touch, sound, taste, smell.
Can create heatless and long lasting lights, an important technology that some make for a living. A lot of them might have been out of a job after advancements in technology are able to make lights that are cheaper and more easily accessible.
all over the world
Don’t have their own country, existing in other countries, usually in (but not exclusively) nomadic groups.
Not completely nocturnal, but more likely to stay up late into the night and sleep late into the day. Works with their schedules if they’re nighttime entertainers.
Revere the actual fireflies for giving them the gift of flight and lighting up the night. have festivals of light.
Small groups that are decentralized, small communities within other countries.
Their use of illusion magic makes them be seen as very untrustworthy, their magic being entirely based on fooling the senses. At the bottom of the pecking order in terms of Entomon, seen as useless and do nothing but look pretty.

Humans

Largest population
Have a tendency to look down on other species, seeing themselves as superior, seeing as human witches have the most magical power. Their only real match and possible threat is the Avians, but their population is smaller compared to humans and the Avians keep to themselves, neutral in global conflicts to a ridiculous degree.
Almost everyone is either a witch or a wizard.
Witches are born with natural magical talent. It is incredibly rare, and witches are easily able to gain social power because of their rare physical power. Innate magic in humans is quite rare to balance out how powerful it is. It can be somewhat improved with training, but for the most part you have to be born lucky. Wizards are confined to the laws of alchemy and equivalent exchange, but witches regularly break the laws of physics, like the laws of conservation of matter and energy. It is much more elemental magic and tends to deal with raw power and damage dealing. Good in fights of brawn, not so good in terms of societal progress and advancement.
Wizardry can be studied by anyone, human or otherwise, requiring no natural magic and can always be improved with more training and the gaining of knowledge. Is sometimes looked down upon by witches, seen as the school of magic for those who aren’t cut out for witchcraft. Looked down a lot more in Silph, believing that any kind of magic should only be used by people who are born with it and that wizardry is akin to blasphemy, also to push antiintellectualism. Wizardry is closer to science than magic, while a lot of witchcraft isn’t very well understood despite being such an important part of different cultures.
The hierarchy of human magic from top to bottom; sorcerers, witches, wizards, and everyone else. Wizards typically have no natural magic and gain power through study and training. Witches and sorcerers are essentially the same, a sorcerer just being a title that a witch can be awarded through a show of raw power and service to their people. All witches in important positions of power have earned the title of sorcerer, their strength and skill in magic being the justification for their position, whether or not they really are effective leaders.

(everything else in this section isn’t fleshed out, gonna come back around later)

Avians

Bird people

Peregrine falcon

Owl

True owl or typical owls.

Peafowl

Naiads

Fish people, named after the greek female spirits, but not really all that similar.
Often referred to as merfolk by others, but refer to themselves as Naiads.

Koi

Countries

Silph

Silphium- A type of Apiaceae, the flower of certain crops like carrot, celery, coriander, cumin, parsley, and parsnip. Silph may actually be extinct, but was used in classical antiquity as a seasoning, perfume, aphrodisiac, and medicine.
Could be a metaphor for the country idealizing the past and wanting to build an empire like those in the past.
Stated goal is working towards the success of this great empire of the past, back when they didn’t have magic, when seemingly no one on the planet had magic.
Large empire. Global superpower stretching across multiple continents. Trying to keep their control, but their grip is starting to slip as their empire is showing signs of collapsing in on itself from its sheer size.
The main story takes place during a war for independence, one of Silph’s territories would like to break away from the empire, and our characters get caught up in it while they desperately try to just live their lives.
Silph is run by a human empress, a witch who is ridiculously powerful and keeps her political power because no one dares challenge her. The entire empire has run this way, the ridiculously powerful royal family keeping political power through the show of magical dominance.
Marriages are always arranged in powerful families, love being irrelevant as long as you can produce a powerful heir.
Consider themselves a meritocracy. If you have powerful magic and work to hone your skill, it is expected that you can rise through the ranks and make a name for yourself, no matter how untrue this really is in practice.
Basically the British empire when they were at the top of their game, just more intimidating as their leaders are super powerful witches.
Entomon and avians are not permitted to fly in public areas.
Witchcraft being practiced publicly is a relatively recent development in terms of human history, only about 300 years old. Before that, witches were persecuted, seeing their power as demonic. Witches developed their own networks and secret societies, protecting those born with magic and practicing wizardry. Their numbers and power grew to the point where they were able to gain control, and now used their power to “bring their enlightenment and prosperity to the rest of the world”. Silph uses their new found power to expand and push back against the other countries that have been established for centuries with their own magic, going from a small island to a global empire in those 300 years.
They also bring their other ideas to these other countries, like how the practice of magic should be limited to the elite and those with natural power, keeping magic out of the hands of the common people and indoctrinating witches into the elite.
The current monarchy rose from a witch who pushed to have the secret world known. It wasn’t a well kept secret, so they might as well show their true power to the world. They shouldn’t have to live in hiding and fear anymore. These magic leaders are hesitant. They think it better to just keep to themselves as it’s more convenient than trying to be accepted in their society, and this way no one ends up dead.
There is an incident when a wizard who worked as a doctor in a small village was reported and executed for practicing magic, despite using it for the betterment of his village. This caused uproar in the wizarding world and civil war sparked. The witch who took power from this war believed that they were now responsible for giving other magic users across the country the freedom to be themselves, and no one had to be squashed for just wanting to exist. This dynasty loses the plot as the years go on, as it usually is with dynasties that go on for generations, and the current royal family is much more concerned with their expansion and conquests, not being able to see the irony that they recreated the power structures that had oppressed them generations ago. What they did learn from history was that the restriction of knowledge can go a long way in terms of stopping people from rebellions.
These witches have a tendency to not see the other races as “human” worthy of respect, sometimes not even as sentient beings (kinda like how Harry Potter treats nonhumans). They are simply tools they can use to further their goals, justifying slavery and genocide.

Ora Colony

Main setting
Trying to gain their independence from Silph.
Currently in an economic boom and is a magnet for immigration. Many groups flock to the area for the chance at better work or seeking refuge from their wartorn homes.
A lot of racism from the humans, seeing as the Silphion colonists were very white. Mellifera are sometimes spared this treatment, but not entirely. They are seen as “the good ones” when it comes to Entomon, not fully respected even though they are titans of industry. The Mellifera tend to be richer than the more powerful witches, but no amount of new money can buy respect from old money type families. Money can buy political power though.

Hikmah

Arabic for wisdom
A kingdom that’s basically the islamic golden age if they were never destroyed. They are the only ones to really stand a chance against Silph. They value the sharing and preservation of knowledge, contrasting Silph’s heavy censorship practices and revisionist history. They also value wizardry over witchcraft, having respect for the amount of work it takes to hone the practice when witchcraft seems to be a lot more about being born lucky. Responsible for the preservation of a lot of classic works and alchemy texts.
Ruled by Avians
A lot of different groups of fireflies make their way to the country to study astronomy and illusion magic. Studying here is considered very prestigious. Silphion students are prohibited from traveling to the country to study as the war comes to Hikmah’s door, the students who are already in the country are stuck in the country when the border closes. Silph spreads propaganda that those students are being held hostage.

Danaus

Danaus (scientific name for the monarch butterfly and a mythical king of Libya). Name given to them during their colonization.
Butterflies are pollinators so the country has a big agricultural industry and has a lot of exports because of it.
Gold is already very abundant in this world, to the point where it isn’t really valuable, but it’s especially prevalent there. There isn’t much practical use for it so it is used for decorations and ornamentation.
Fought for their independence against an invading force that had control for over a century (Silph) and the country still hasn’t fully recovered. While they are rebuilding they deal with the Mellifera who promise to help them rebuild, but are really working to push out the royal family so Silph can take over again.
In the present day their royal family has been reduced to a more ceremonial role, focusing on the protection of monarch butterfly populations and not having much control over the government.
The monarchy was more of a constitutional monarchy, where the head of the family is the head of a council rather than having complete control.
Large quartz(or some made up crystal I'll come up with later) mines help with the country’s economy, giving them some power but also gives Silph a reason to take them over.

Mellif

Mellifera (scientific name, latin for honey-bearing)
European Honey Bee
an amalgamation of eastern europe
The Mellifera are more an absolute monarchy, bordering on an authoritarian dictatorship. Their harmful intentions are clear to anyone in the elite class, but the common people are mostly unaware of it due to sneaky propaganda and good PR. The honey bees also do a lot to come off as sweet and docile and only fighting when provoked, when they're really the ones who incite violence and paint themselves as the victims who were just defending themselves. History is always written by the victors.
European honey bees are good for pollinating crops and producing a surplus of honey that can be harvested, but they tend to outcompete the native bees when they are brought to a new area.
The working class Mellifera are usually more equal, but there is still a bit of sexism against the males. The gender roles are much more extreme in the upper classes, males not having much in the way of rights.
The government is much more authoritarian, to the point where people are assigned jobs and only the elite get to have normal family structures. Children live away from their parents after a certain age, not having usual family ties once they are adults.
Those in the top forces have the chance at producing an heir to the throne. When the queen is growing old, or is planning to expand and build another colony, their children can be fed royal jelly when young to grow into a queen. Those children have no choice in the matter, so there’s room for angst. Once those queens have grown, they pit against each other in a fight to the death until there is only one. Like the career tributes in the hunger games.
When real world bee colonies need a new queen, they feed royal jelly to multiple larvae, and whichever one emerges first will go on to eat the others before they can emerge because there can only be one.
The potential queens fight when they are still pretty young, adding to the horror. They’ve learned enough about combat and magic to fight against each other, but not enough to fight against the system and escape it.
They used to wait until the girls reached maturity, but after an incident involving multiple queens banding together to try and take down the standing queen and stop these battles from happening, the practice was called into question. It failed and every queen who was raised for this battle was executed, even the ones that weren’t involved because authoritarianism. A single queen was raised after that disaster and took the throne through inheritance rather than the usual blood bath. She was considered a terrible leader and blamed for nearly losing the war against Silph, so she was taken down and the bloodsport was reinstated. The argument was that the queen who won in the battle would prove themselves to be a better leader and war general. The battle was then held with much younger girls so they were easier to control and less likely to revolt.
After a few more generations, Silph has taken over and forcibly removed the standing high queen.
Pretty brutal, but they tend to keep this practice a secret among the elite, away from the general public and the rest of the world, keeping up their appearance of being friendly and docile people who only attack when provoked. They tend to instigate conflict and seed internal conflict in less stable countries, forcing them to attack first so they can have the appearance of their disproportionate retribution being justified, portraying multiple invasions as them just descending themselves.
Honey is a huge export, being used more than table sugar. A lot of atrocities happened in our world for the trade of sugar, so it’s easy to imagine the atrocities that can be caused for the trade of honey.
There are other honey bee colonies, but they mostly keep to themselves and don’t try to create more colonies and expand.
Bee purity culture? Drones can only ejaculate once and then die. If the gender roles are reversed for Mellif, then would young boys be getting the talk about saving themselves for marriage or maybe they don’t get married at all since child care is done communally rather than a nuclear family unit. I like the idea of them not really having the concept of fathers, the way real drones technically don’t have a father.

Inyosi

East African Lowland Honey Bee
Inyosi (Xhosa for bee)
east and southeast Africa
The type of bees that were bred with european honey bees and became the Africanized honey bee in the americas.
Tend to keep to themselves, in the sense that they don’t try to expand. They are very violent toward intruders and outsiders, fiercely protecting their colonies because of living in a harsh environment and having to deal with the Mellifera in their past.
Export some crops and textiles, but no honey. They have enough trouble making honey from their environment and conserving their supplies.
Remain neutral in Mellifera and Nyuki conflict, knowing they don’t have the resources to fight against the Mellifera and the Silphion.
Their heir to the throne is mentored by the standing queen. Not necessarily the queen's daughter, but can be. As part of her education, she follows the queen as a sort of lady in waiting, serving the queen but also shadowing her while she works so she will be ready to take the throne when she is of age.
The queen acts as a mother not only to her heir, but to her people as well. There is a big emphasis on motherhood and taking care of children, as children belong to everyone and are everyone’s responsibility.

Nyuk

More of a city state than a country
Africanized Bee
Nyuki (Swahili for bee, since the original bees were taken from what is now Tanzania). Get called killer bees after them breaking away caused the death of a queen.
Group of bees that broke away from the European honey bees after being subjugated and used for forced labor. Not big enough to be their own colony.
Bees that were taken from africa and accidently let loose in south america.
The Nyuki are blamed for being too aggressive and invasive, ignoring the fact that they were brought over by the Mellifera and let loose in a habitat that they weren’t made for.
Fight back against Mellif, just wanting to be left alone and have their independence after being forced to have their labor used to benefit the Mellifera. Get labeled as a violent force that needs to be stamped out.
Only bee colony with a king

Religion

The gods of their world gave them all specific magic to fulfill different roles when they work together, but the people instead divide themselves based on those differences, making the gods a bit jaded and indifferent to humanity. What’s the point of stopping this war when another is bound to start up again before you know it? They gave humanity the tools to have a harmonious society, but they also gave them free will that gave them the choice to squabble over power and resources.

Orlaith

Basically the roman catholic church. Lots of justification for their imperialism.

Worship one God, who is believed to be the creator god. While other divine deities mess around with humanity on the regular, this creator God has never made their presence known. At least in a way that can be tangibly proved, having a creation myth on the creation of the universe and also why witches have absurdly powerful magic. They believe their magic is divinely ordained, human nations having a “divine right of kings” sort of government because of it.

Orlaith - golden princess

The Entomon Pantheon

The Entomon all have their own deities, but they all believe in the other deities that they don’t worship. All the Entomon deities are part of a pantheon that actually exist and interact with the Entomon from time to time, so there isn’t really the question of if their gods exist or not (objectively, they do exist, they just aren’t super powerful or all knowing). These deities act very human, similar to the greek gods, getting married and having children and making mistakes. They mostly show up in times of strife when nature is endangered. The deities are more or less indifferent to the problems of their worshipers, only caring about the state of the planet. The Entomon get the magic from their insects, so a lot of their religion is to protect the welfare of those insects.

The deities are much more concerned about the protection of the planet rather than the affairs of humans. They gave the entomon their power and the gift of flight in exchange for them working to protect the planet. The Inyosi are given the power to protect themselves against the Mellifera, not because they are being favored but because the Mellifera are actually hurting the planet with their honey production and industrial farming. The Nyuki aren’t helped by their deity to escape their enslavement because doing so wouldn’t help the planet all that much, seeing as the group of Nyuki are too small to make a difference in the Mellifera's power. The deities are pretty lawfully neutral and goal oriented when it comes to the protection of nature, and are literally incapable of empathizing with human suffering.

Entomon are able to have the choice to become one of the Gods after a show of great sacrifice and devotion, but choosing godhood means sacrificing their empathy and humanity. What good is living forever if you aren’t capable of human connection anymore? A question that could make for good flash fiction.

Bees

Gods of Fertility and Defense

The honey bees are very successful so they almost never have interaction with their deity. The European honey bees are closer to religious fanatics with their bloodsport to decide their next queen and their extreme gender roles. Most societies in this world and all bee societies follow a matrilineal descent system. This makes more sense than a patrilineal system. If the lineage is traced through the mother, you always know for sure that it’s her child because she’s the one that gives birth, so the issue of illegitimate children never really comes up. This is used as a reason by the Mellifera for their extreme gender roles. The queen is commander and chief of their military, but their religious leaders are the ones who actually have the most control.

Their deity is a warrior god.
Inyosi worship the same deity as Mellifera, but as a god of fertility, praying for the protection of their children and the success of their crops. The deity is both for war and fertility, they are just worshiped differently based on the needs of the bees.

Butterflies

Gods of Healing and Death

The monarch butterflies are in big trouble, so a main part of the plot is their deity trying to get someone to save the forests that the butterflies hibernate in. Believe that the actual butterflies that they protect are the souls of the deceased and their ancestors. The butterfly migration could be merged with a day of the dead type ceremony, using milkweed instead of marigolds.

Their deity is a healing god, who is considered a collector of souls. While healing magic can do what seems impossible is keeping people alive, everyone will die one day. So the deity is believed to collect their soul when their time comes, no matter how much you try to save their body. A lot of healing magic is meant to ease pain and suffering rather than extending life.
The butterfly who is chosen by their deity is given one wish in exchange for their service, whatever their heart truly desires. They are chosen very young and don’t always make the best wishes.

Beetles

Gods of Order and Balance

Fireflies tell a lot of stories, relying on oral traditions about the creation of the universe and lessons on morality, so stories tend to vary from region to region. Something about the stars would be important to religion. Possibly a trickster god, stealing knowledge from the gods and giving it to humanity.

Conflicts

Mellif and Danaus

The Mellifera came to settle in the Danaus, under the stipulation of helping them while they were struggling with their crops and protecting the monarch butterflies, the Danaids not knowing that the Mellifera are actually here to finish the hostile takeover that Silph started. Their government is overthrown and Mellif takes over, the monarchy being pushed to the side rather than executed as a show of good will.
A lot of assimilation happens during the time the bees have control, changes in culture and language
As the years go on, the Mellifera do help a lot with agriculture, but it ends up being to the detriment of the migrating monarch butterflies as the forests are cut for lumber and farmland. The royal family is adamant on protecting the forests and protecting the butterflies who rely on it, fearing that the monarchs will go extinct and their magic will fade.
Mellif argues about the loss of jobs the conservation efforts would create and the economy would practically collapse. A lot of economic growth has happened under their control, so it’s hard to get the public on the side of conserving the forests. The royal family argues that the monarch butterflies are a proud symbol of their country that they have sworn to protect. They don’t know for sure if the magic will fade, but they can’t take any chances. If their magic fades, their crops and way of life will suffer and the country really will collapse.
The conflict continues until the royal family has been pushed out entirely, losing the last control they had over protecting the butterflies. The conservation efforts are still happening, but they no longer have any support from the government and Mellif puts in effort to make the public not be in favor of the conservation, getting the people to believe it’s not in their best interest.
Mellif takes care of the agricultural industry, but doesn't know how to take care of the land and ruin the soil for a while before people notice and bring attention to it. With tangible evidence of the damage that the Mellifera are doing and fewer crop yields, the more conflicts start to rise.
The magic actually does start fading as the butterflies become endangered, causing more conflict and eventually war.

Ora Colony rebellion

The people of the Ora colony would like their independence from the rule of Silph. The main goal of the rebellion is to gain the support of the Mellifera. The Mellifera still have their queens in different colonies, but they don’t have a high queen or their own nation anymore after being taken over by Silph. The Mellifera were allowed to keep their queens and way of life as long as they increased the production of honey and helped to take a stand against Danaus. While the rebellion does not agree with the Mellifera caste system, they work with them anyways in a “hate the sin love the sinner” way. If they have the Mellifera’s support, they will have the power to wage war.
Some are against getting the mellifera involved, seeing as winning this war would give them the power to become a nation just like Silph. The Mellifera are rich off of their honey production, and will continue to grow in their wealth as the consumption of honey is so ingrained in everyone’s daily life.

Honey Bee conflicts

The Mellifera are the most powerful entomon, having the most land until they were conquered by Silph. Instead of having their country dismantled, they were absorbed and given resources by Silph to invade other groups of Entomon.
Inyosi are very strong warriors and manage to drive their forces out, so the Mellifera are given support to take them down so Silph could also have control over their honey production. It doesn’t work, but some Inyosi are taken to Danaus and the Silphion colonies, working as slaves to produce honey and other goods.
This group of bees in Danaus rebel and form their own city state, Nyuk, not being officially recognized by other world leaders. The Mellifera label them as a violent threat that must be exterminated, even though they are the ones that brought them in the first place.
Inyosi is similar to Mellif but they focus more on community and the betterment of the group while Mellif focuses much more on profit and expansion. While they are still white, they aren’t fully respected by Silph as they still aren’t considered “white enough”(the way that WASP’s differentiate themselves from other groups and western Europeans coming up with eugenics to discriminate against eastern europeans, laying down the groundwork for systemic racism and eventually the slave trade). The Mellifera were only more accepted in the time of Silph’s global conquests, attempting to turn the Mellifera against other entomon while refusing to acknowledge their past mistreatment of the Mellifera. Mellifera culture has historically been very collectivist, doing what’s best for the group and encouraging conformity. But as honey and other hive products became a lucrative business, upper class bees take on a more individualistic mindset.
The Inyosi are villainized for being too aggressive, when they are only aggressive when defending their hives from outsides and their harsh environment. Some of the bees that were taken by the Mellifera escaped this slavery, and these honey bees that go on to form Nyuk are somehow blamed for the economic and environmental collapse happening in Danaus when Mellif was the ones who caused it. The bees are made out to be killer bees, and the Mellifera paint themselves as the victims that couldn’t possibly be at fault.
The bees taking from Inyosi is similar to the transatlantic slave trade.

Hikmah and Silph

Fucking hate each other, but have a peace treaty for trade and so they don’t destroy each other.
Foils for each other. The freedom of knowledge vs censorship. The freedom of religion vs religious persecution. Looking to the future vs trying to recreate the past. Wizardry vs witchcraft. Respect for the humanities vs disregard for the humanities. Progress vs Antiquity.
While they are different, they are not complete opposites. They both believe strongly in their own superiority and need to expand their country to spread their greatness.
A big part of the series could be trying to get Hikmah to help in terms of conflicts with Silph, only to learn that Hikmah isn’t that much different when it boils down to it.

The Honey Industry is basically the real world Sugar Industry

Honey used to be a commodity, something that had to be traded for, usually with the Mellifera since Inyosi don’t trade much honey. Mellifera is taken over Silph, giving Silph control of the honey industry. Silph gave the Mellifera incentive to expand their honey production, starting the need for slave labor to increase their production to the level that Silph was demanding.
Hikmah uses a lot more sugar than honey, but their production of sugar isn’t very ethical either.
Present day the slave trade has ended, but honey production in Silph colonies still ran on labour from Inyosi. The Nyuki have their own city state, but don’t have the power to do much. The effects of this slave trade are felt for generations.

Worldbuilding question of the day - tumblr

What, if any, resources are the people of your setting running short of or in danger of running out of?

As technology advances, people might be looking to get their hands on quartz (or some other made up gemstone that’s a good conductor or maybe a power source). Danaus has very big quartz deposits and Silph invades to take control of those mines.

What festivals and holidays occur in the spring in your world? How are they celebrated?

Different cultures have their own celebration, but those that live in areas with four seasons would celebrate the spring equinox and the end of winter. Danaus celebrates the monarch butterflies going back north after hibernating for the winter, it should be an official celebration and it should have a name.

What festivals and holidays occur in the winter in your world? How are they celebrated?

Pretty much everyone celebrates the winter solstice seeing as it’s the shortest day of the year. There’s two weeks before the end of the year, and the solstice and the entire winter festival takes place during this time. The summer solstice is a much smaller celebration but still observed.

How do people in your setting explain where babies come from to their youth?

Don’t have an answer for this one yet, but I think it’s funny so I’ll come back to it.

Maybe it relates back to flowers for entomon. Mommy has a flower and daddy has a flower. They share the pollen from their flowers and they get a seed. They plant the seed and that seed becomes a baby.

What are common gender stereotypes in your setting?

The genders are pretty equal among most species, but men are usually stereotyped to be less hardworking than women. Girls develop faster than boys and noticeably outperform boys when they are younger. Men are also less involved in the process of creating children, women being the ones who do the gestating and breastfeeding, and are seen as the ones who actually give life and make the father a bit irrelevant.

Avian men are much more extravagant and flamboyant, being the ones expected to perform beauty to attract a partner while the women are expected to dress rather plainly. Similar to how a lot of colorful birds are the males trying to attract a mate.

The gender roles for the Mellifera are the most extreme, treating men as mostly useful for procreation and serving women.

The Inyosi are also a matriarchy. Not as oppressive towards men, but definitely not equal. More like our modern patriarchy, just flipped. Some men hold power but there is still a long way to go in terms of progress.

Does your setting have any technology or magic that can help people with poor vision or hearing?

Glasses are common, but for more intense vision loss, someone might have a familiar as a service animal. The familiar is not fully sentient, but can talk and express a limited range of emotions. They act on the will of their creator and can’t exist without the magic of their creator. If the creator does not use their magic to keep the familiar around, it will stop existing. If a person doesn’t have their own natural magic, someone else can create a familiar for them that is supported by a power source. They can read things aloud for those who are visually impaired or simply illiterate, and can act as an interpreter for those with hearing loss. Can also act as a guide for the visually impaired.

There is a treatment that a healer can do for some types of vision or hearing loss, but it's a very expensive treatment that isn’t likely to work anyways, so familiars are a more common solution.

What kind of lighting is used in your setting?

Candles and gaslights are still in use for the most part, although they use a magic blue flame that burns much longer than regular fire. Lampyridae are able to make a heatless light that lasts even longer than the blue fire, some merchants making a living selling these lamps.

A new type of light that runs on essence and can be easily switched on and off is becoming more popular, and will eventually make the other two methods obsolete.

How common is bribery in your setting?

Mellifera have managed to become very wealthy, and frequently engage in bribery to get their way in the Silphion government, mostly to pass laws that benefit the way they run their businesses.

How much leisure time does the average person in your setting have?

Mellifera have very little leisure time, most of their working class living in essentially factory towns.

Lampyridae have a lot of leisure in comparison, working only as much as they need to in their nomadic groups, and get labeled as lazy and con artists (to be fair, some of them are con artists).

Is abortion safe and legal in your setting?

Yes. As soon as a method was discovered by any of the groups, there was never much of a debate on if it should be used because I said so.

What kind of materials are censored and/or banned by your setting’s government?

Silph does a lot of censorship when it comes to materials from outside the country. Specifically stories about merfolk, entomon mythology, and lots of books made by merfolk. Silphion students who study abroad are confused with how much information is available, especially in Hikmah with their extensive public libraries. Silphion students are also confused about the view of merfolk in Hikmah, treating them as equals despite their garish appearance. Silph becomes more restrictive with the amount of students are able to study abroad, eventually Hikmah’s borders are closed.

What is your world’s greatest unsolved mystery?

What exactly happened to this fallen empire of the past. Silph idealizes them and tries to emulate their past success, not being aware that the empire had collapsed in on itself from their own hubris. In regards to hubris, Silph is following in their footsteps.

Have microorganisms been discovered in your world?

Yes, but it’s relatively new. Many healing practices are things that have worked for centuries, discovered through generations of trial and error and maybe divine intervention. Medicine that doesn’t require the magic of healers has always existed, but wasn’t considered very effective. More modern developments are being made to make that sort of healthcare more accessible in places that don’t have access to the more miraculous forms of healing magic seen in major hospitals and ease the workload of people already in the profession. Healing is somewhat of an uncommon talent, so those who have it tend to be overworked and a bit underappreciated.

Do/es your fictional species exhibit sexual dimorphism?

Some of them do. The wings of monarch butterflies differ in shade, but you don’t notice unless you're looking for it. Workers bees are stronger, but drones have better eyesight and are better fliers.

What extreme sports exist in your world?

There’s a large network of underground fighting rings. There are official fighting matches, but those have strict rules and regulations to put together fair fights, but in underground fighting it’s a true free for all and considered more fun.

Entomon and avians have some sports involving flying, displaying speed and agility.

Brain dump

Just some random ideas. brainstorming

Street magic vs studying magic. Not everyone goes to school for magic and has their own ways of doing things. Going to school for magic doesn’t immediately make you an expert. Not everyone pays attention in school either. Even if you're learning cool magic stuff, some kids are going to find that boring.

Witches can get a sickness from overusing magic, it’s actually frighteningly common. Sharp crystals grow in the body like tumors and are very painful. Can happen in other species that use magic, but less common since it requires the use of a lot of magical energy all at once, something that most other groups aren’t capable of.

A poison that can cause petrification, used as biological warfare.

A sickness where your own magic destroys your body from the inside out, starting with blindness and then the rest of the body shutting down. A genetic disorder, later discovered, can be cured if the person has their magic completely stripped from them, but it won’t erase any damage already done.

A poisonous honey made from the nectar of poisonous flowers.

A drug with the street name pollen. A golden powder. Cheaper versions with additives produce pink smoke when burned.

Food. there needs to be food

Honey, duh. Honey is used much more than table sugar.

Mead is the most popular type of alcohol with the prevalence of honey.

beebread

Most of the reason for the rebellion is to dismantle this very rigid cast structure, establishing equality between classes and species. Their ideology is a bit more extreme, believing that the only way to achieve the goal of equality is to physically put everyone on the same playing field. No magic, no flying, no undersea cities. Achieving the goal of severing all of humanity from magic would throw the world into chaos. Their entire way of life is built on magic, getting rid of it would be near apocalyptic. But it will take away the power of the elite. They argue humanity will recover, not in their lifetime but one day, and that the world would be much better for it.

There are other opponents of the Silphion government but don’t agree with the current rebellion’s ideology. They argue that nothing will change, that humans are bound to find new ways of categorizing and ostracizing people. There’s always someone at the top and someone pushed to the bottom. Burning the world down and starting over is not the answer, and they should instead work to improve the lives of people through options other than war. The rebellion is called out for being hypocritical, using magic to fight this war to end magic, but they call it a necessary evil. Fighting fire with fire works if it’s used to choke out the bigger fire, causing both flames to run out of fuel and oxygen and sputter out. Backburning.

A big part of the plot is to get three important artifacts that were thought to be lost, representative of the bee, the butterfly, and the beetle. The HoneyBee Comb, The Sword of Danaus, and The Elytron Amulet. Each item has a great power of their own(something cool sounding, blah blah blah), used by those chosen by the entomon gods, but have lost their power in recent years, reduced to fancy trinkets. It’s believed that if they are all brought together they’ll have their past power again and can be used against the tyranny of Silph. All three are golden and have tarnished over the years from their loss of magic, hence the rusty gold (it’s all coming together, big brain time). have something to do with getting rid of all magic.

Fantasy racism is always a slippery slope, and what’s important about depicting it is making sure that the issue is handled delicately. There is no real justification for racism, but there will always be reasons that are manufactured and believed by other groups. There’s always a group that needs to be blamed for the misfortunes that the masses are facing at any given time. In times of economic strife or famine. When people are hungry they get angry, and when they’re angry they need someone to direct that anger at. Should it be towards the government that has failed to protect them, the government that was the driving force for the poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer? No. Their hatred is instead directed towards those that are different, those considered outsiders or less than. “They’re the ones taking your jobs, your money, what is rightfully yours. They are the ones responsible for this, and things could be so much better if we could just stamp them out.”

The gods of this world bestowed their gifts to the humans, giving them the tools to help them build cities and become stronger, although they did not anticipate humans using these new found differences as a reason to hate each other. Categorizing themselves and believing that they should only mingle with their own kind. They thought things would be making a turn for the better once humans without magic finally stop prosecuting witches, only for the witches to make it their goal to eradicate those that they didn’t view as “human”. The gods threw their hands in the air after the rise of Silph, deciding that it was best to stay out of human affairs and focus on protecting the rest of the planet, mitigating the damage they had already done.

Witchcraft was the only innate magic that didn’t cause a drastic change in physical appearance, and used this as justification for how the other magic races weren’t human enough. Their first target was the Naiads, painting them as dangerous sirens and people who drown unattended children. Naiads used to come to Silph as tradesmen and dock workers, setting up their own communities, but they had all but disappeared in Silph in recent years.

Entomon are next on the chopping block, but most tend to ignore. Even as they are forced to hide their wings and barred from certain professions and called fairies or even changelings, some say that this is just the way things are. That it’s just something that they have to put up with. Bees are seen as money hungry as their work in honey production has made some bees very wealthy. The monarchs aren’t respected as doctors, being seen as the ones who aid doctors with the healing process rather than being knowledgeable enough for things like surgery or diagnosing ailments or prescribing medication. Fireflies are seen as untrustworthy con artists for their illusion magic, and are the most likely to be called changelings.

Witchcraft is a rare talent, and honing these powers is usually done through apprenticeship, one generation of witches passing their knowledge to the next in a very closed practice. Wizardry on the other hand can be studied by anyone since it doesn't require magic of your own, being taught in specialized schools. Silph restricts who can study there, only allowing humans and having a strict vetting process on top of that. Most witches don’t really respect thaumaturgy, saying it’s only called that to make it sound more important.

Short stories that I might write one day

Probably not though

A short story about the Mellifera choosing the new queen at the same time Silph is taking control. The horror of the new queens knowing they will have to try and kill each other in due time, all while the general public seems to have no idea how fragile their society really is right now. One of the queens makes a plan with a prince to run off before the games can start. When they are caught, they both have their wings taken. The young queen is forced to fight anyways, dying quickly and in shame for her treason. The prince is marked forever through his lack of wings, a reminder of what the Mellifera do to traitors.

The girl’s fate was sealed, no doubt, but the prince’s case was actually given some weight in court. How much involvement had he had in this? His father testifies, pleading for his son's life. He is but a child, and the father takes responsibility for not raising his child right. The prince does not take this as a kindness, saying they should have killed him rather than let him live without wings.

A short story of monarch butterflies that were taken by Silph as hostages, forced to work as healers for the royal family. The stipulation being that if the witch in their care is harmed by their treatment, they will be harmed in the same way. A high stakes situation to force the butterflies to provide the best possible care to the witches that have the tendency to overexert themselves, even when they are treated horribly.

One of the best healers gets taken to the empress’ chambers, giving her treatment to help her sleep. Before the start she invites the girl to have a bit of tea, saying it would be quite rude for her to refuse. The tea is a truth serum, getting the girl to say everything she really thinks and insult the empress to her face. The Empress doesn’t get angry, knowing she can’t control people's thoughts, especially the thoughts of her hostages. She instead makes a deal with the girl, saying she will be released and can become a citizen of Silph if she works as a mole among the other hostages. The girl says she knows nothing about a possible escape, which is true, but the empress insists that no one trusts her with those secrets because she is the best of the healers and gets preferential treatment. If she shares her privileges with the others, they might let her in on secrets. She knows she is in no position to refuse, and the possibility of that better life is enough to sway her towards betrayal. She is eventually found out as a mole, but the empress keeps her promise of rewarding her for her work. She is given expert training in medical practices outside of pure magic, but turns down a cushy job at the palace. The empress burns her face for daring to refuse her, but lets her go to live her life as promised. She makes no plans of ever returning home since she lives with the guilt of her betrayal forever. The empress gives her the HoneyBee Comb, a bit absent mindedly. The empress says it’s no use to her, but could be pawned for a pretty penny and help a poor orphan girl provide for herself in Silph until she got her footing. The empress makes it out to be a great kindness that the girl should be grateful for, despite making it known that she considers the comb worthless. The girl never did end up selling it, feeling that it’s something that she should hold on to.

A short story about a young soldier, Kamari, being horribly injured. Extensive burns, three missing fingers, and wings that will never fly again. He’s too young to have been fighting in the first place, treated by a healer who is also too young to be working in a combat zone. The two bond over their lack of family, and what led them to think that the only way to make something of themselves was to throw themselves into the throws of combat. They promise to find each other after they go home. They aren’t able to make good on that promise, as the healer is hit with a petrification attack. Many died in the initial blast. She survived, but barely, and her wounds are fatal with no way to reverse them. The soldier stays by her side while she dies, realizing there's nothing more he can do but sing to her as she falls asleep.

A short story where Silphion and Hikman college students having a class debate on the issue of interspecies marriage. These marriages are currently not legally recognized by the Silph government, while in Hikmah they are legally recognized and for the most part socially acceptable. Interspecies marriage is very taboo among more conservative groups, and even relationships between variations of one’s own species. More progressive groups are quick to point out how the different “species” are really all just human, with extremely similar biology and all with the same level of consciousness, and consenting adults should be free to have relationships with other consenting adults. Furthermore, mating between species does not produce a mix of both species, and instead produces one or the other. An entomon and avian who have a child would not have a hybrid child, but would have a child who is either an entomon or an avian, the chance of either being fifty-fifty. This is because their differences are caused by magic and magic is different from their genetics. Similarly, a bee and a butterfly would also not have a hybrid child, instead having one or the other. The idea of mixing blood is incorrect and discriminatory.

Some Silphion students walk away conflicted, but most are unconvinced since interspecies relations are prohibited by their Orlian beliefs and have spent their entire lives seeing that type of relationship as an abomination.

Dialogue exchange that could be expanded into a little vignette.

Looking at statues in a museum.

“Pretty, isn’t it.”

“Yeah. Can’t help but feel a little sad about it though.”

“How so? I thought you loved this nerd stuff.”

“I can’t help but be pissed about how my own culture will never be preserved and appreciated like this. The few exhibits they do have are horribly miscategorized. Not to mention stolen. Everyday that the war goes on is another day the Silphions erase what history we have left. They fight so hard to destroy that history. Our history.”

“I guess some badly preserved boats just feel like insult to injury.”

“That’s why all of this matters to me. The bad research, the poor presentation, the horrible preservation. Silph thinks they can go around and decide who is and isn’t civilized, what parts of history are and aren’t worth preserving, and always write themselves as the heroes. I’ve always wanted to know just a little bit more about every destroyed village, every burned book, every family torn apart. I need to do something to preserve those stories because no one else will.”

“That’s very ambitious. You’ve lost a lot to this war, haven’t you?”

“I lost everything. They shouldn’t forget that. You’ve lost a lot too.”

“That’s a bit presumptuous. Like assuming that any of this is supposed to make me feel better. We don’t really know each other.”

“We could change that. We’re both sort of alone. There's something about all the marble in this place that makes people want to talk.”

“Well it’s not working on me.”

A cool sounding line.

“You don’t call yourself conquerors, but that doesn't mean you aren’t conquerors. You don’t think of yourselves as colonizers, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t colonizers. You don’t say you are superior, but you clearly believe yourself to be superior. “

A story about how Silph came to power. I don’t know if it should be a narrative, or a history textbook. It could be both, using both to highlight how the revisionist history clashes with what actually happened all those years ago. The textbook version comes up in the main plot, some characters may comment on how it’s not accurate and the lack of primary sources, we already know that Silph is very controlling when it comes to flow of information. After that we get the narrative of how things actually happened, and it does seem like a nobel fight for freedom. But there is something rotten there, anger that persists for generations and leads to Silph’s iron grip on their colonies and plans to “unify the world”.