daelf-tapoti-blog

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had forgotten how soothing it is to draw and see this on my wrist.

#tapoti perpétuel #shh i'm not here #i'm writing

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… je pensais pas que ça finirait par être aussi euh… long. Et j’ai sans doute pas encore fini…

HÉROS & LÉGENDES DES NAIIMS Première Édition

Introduction, par Oyme Sarryn

0- Origines & Légendes Communes • Le Premier Œuf & la Marque • Les Premiers Outils & Artisans • Les Noms des Cinq et des Autres • Le Grand Vide & les Premiers Démons • Les Démons de la Mer – les Lásqaeyn • Les Errants – les Tsusœn • Les Géants – les Banesan • Les Écailleux – les Ekeden • Les Perdus – les Hjinzas des Îles Pont et de la Dernière Graine • Rites d’union entre hjas • Rites pour la pose d’un œuf de fertilité • Rites pour les naissances d’un enfant • Rites funéraires • Rites pour neutraliser un démon • Récompense des Enfants d’Ekeou au-delà de la Source • Confession & sacrifices réguliers ou exceptionnels à Ekeou et aux Cinq • Un développement récent : Temps des Morts et Temps des Dieux

I- Roche • Origines : la part de la Roche • Udim-Nethe découvre les métaux et pierres utiles • Udim-Tese reçoit le cadeau de l’agriculture • Udim-Dele apprend à garder les bêtes à son service • Udim-Ahene apprend à choisir les bons matériaux • Naheda domestique les shelps • Tsane sauve les troupeaux des démons • Detta reçoit le cadeau du travail du verre

II- Eau • Origines : la part de l’Eau • Vish-Nethe reçoit la connaissance des plantes soignantes • Vish-Tese reçoit la connaissances des plantes colorantes • Vish-Dele reçoit la connaissance des animaux • Detta reçoit le cadeau de la potterie • Vimnele et la plante changeante • Denoli découvre comment se protéger des démons • Tsewe et le démon trompeur • Tsewe et le Tsusœn

III- Air • Origines : la part de l’Air • Havah-Nethe reçoit la mission d’enseigner le respect des Cinq • Havah-Tese reçoit le cadeau de l’écriture et de la médecine • Havah-Dele reçoit la responsabilité du souvenir • Havah-Dele apprend comment relier et conserver les écrits • Ahene rencontre Ekeou et les Cinq • Un Monarque de l’Air reçoit et distribue la Bénédiction d’Ekeou • Nasele résiste aux démons ailés de plumes • Etjane découvre l’existence des démons trompeurs • Minalei reçoit l’inspiration du Temps des Morts et du Temps des Dieux

IV- Bronze • Origines : la part du Bronze • Shetut-Tese reçoit le cadeau de la métallurgie • Shetut-Dele reçoit la mission de protéger les enfants d’Ekeou • Tsele apprend à combattre les démons • Najethe découvre le pouvoir des amulettes • Tanahe sauve les Monarques des démons • Nereda racompagne un démon au nord • Denata trahi par un chasseur possédé • Nelena et la chasse miraculeuse • Oyme – voir VII

V- Feu • Origines : la part du Feu • Hasu-Nethe reçoit le don de rassembler les hjas • Hasu-Dele apprend comment mériter la protection d’Ekeou • Hasu-Ahene apprend à équilibrer les castes • Isaha et les hors-caste • Deleni et les hjas de la Roche rebelles • Nesaha et le démon trompeur

VI- Légendes mouvantes • Origines : la part des Nomades • Les premiers Monarques • Comment les Monarques s’équilibrent • Les démons intérieurs • Les Nomades reçoivent la mission de répandre les richesses des Cinq • Tsede gagne la confiance des lunes et des étoiles • Nelem reçoit le cadeau de la cartographie • Inera apaise un conflit entre castes • Les Tsusœn et la Mer • Au-delà du Pont du Nord

VII- Légende ou réalité : un témoignage Oyme du Bronze & Oyme Sarryn • Enfance et première formation • Deuxième formation et rencontres décisives • Quitter les Terres d’Ekeou, devenir Veilleur • Tharhya et les Pointes

Notes complémentaires, par Namdâe Kahald et Utje Kahald

#tapoti perpétuel #oyme #the book oyme wrote #collected legends #in french #+___+ #worldbuilding #long post

[daelf-tapoti-blog]

SAME

i do ALL of my best writing at 1 o clock in the morning,, this may or may not be because i write exclusively at 1 in the morning

#writing #;___; #tapoti perpétuel #perpetually at the wrong time of day and wrong time in general #urgh

[daelf-tapoti-blog]

this is the most passive aggressive thing anyone has ever done to me

#*snort* #artificial intelligence #hebrew #languages #perdu dans la translation #:D

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back in december, a friend told me he’d finished reading the Tapoti, and told me he didn’t have time to give me a lot of details and left me with two tiny bits of feedback, on which i carefully didn’t dwell. i finally got back to him just now to ask him for details, and we got to the elephant in the room: he can’t get his head around the agender aliens.

friend: “every time i see their pronouns i think it’s a character name, and when i read the story, in my head these aliens have a gender” me, not writing that in the chat: uuuurgh also me: “… plz tell me who’s what i’m curious”

… and now he has to go and can’t tell me rn i’m frustrated

(no, seriously, i mean it. some of these characters did have a gender when they were first created, so i wonder if they’re still perceived as what i had in mind back then… or what i catch myself at gendering them by mistake occasionally. they will stay genderless, though, because heck.)

#tapoti perpétuel

[daelf-tapoti-blog]

Writing tip that may or may not be helpful to you???

I tend to jump around when writing, so during the revision stage I use a stoplight system to help organize which sections of my writing need the most work. Green sections are passages I’m satisfied with and that don’t need any more revision. Yellow sections indicate areas I feel need to be reviewed at a later time and possibly tweaked. Red sections indicate areas I’ve only outlined, or chunks of dialog that need to be filled in with action.

It looks something like this (blurred because no spoilers):

I’ve personally found a lot of success with this method and thought I might pass it on <3

#… #useful #possibly #tapoti perpétuel #mmh #writing

[daelf-tapoti-blog]

… i’m gonna have to use tbatis as a pov character aren’t i. he won’t be the hero of these chapters, but he’s the only one i can think of so i don’t basically cheat the reader too much. i don’t feel confident enough to try and pull that off -___-

So a friend is making a one-writing-advice-per-day thing this year, and this is today’s Long french post short and in english: the main character of your novel should be the one who changes and/or suffers the most, and it’s not necessarily the narrator.

and… tbh, i’ve been having a bit of a problem with that in the tapoti. so i went over the possibilities again.

Oyme changes a LOT during eir life, but not that much in the time i am actually covering with the actual tapoti.

Syj changes, oh boy, but… the progression is supposed to happen as a bit of a surprise. And i really, really don’t want to focus on eir suffering, because it’s… yeah. no.

Then there’s Thawaht. i REALLY want to get some focus on Thawaht, monarch turned exilee turned sort-of-spy and then hopefully monarch again, confronting eir sibling to bring much-needed change to eir land.

these were the three i considered right off the bat, so i wrote them down. … and then i realized there was someone missing. someone REALLY IMPORTANT.

Olnij. who CHANGES EIR VERY NAME because what ey endures is so radical and traumatizing.

… i think i need to ponder this a little more.

#urgh #tapoti perpétuel #tbatis #… which… doesn't solve the problem of the *other* non human POV characters i was considering… uuurgh #WAIT NO these are already covered in the storylines of the others #mainly olnij #it's all okay #phew?

[daelf-tapoti-blog]

I’m a huge sucker for characters that chose to be heroic. Like, no big profecy, no great chosen one moment, just someone who consciously decided to do the right thing because someone fucking had to.

#hi there thawaht #took time to get there #i hope i can show what ey does right one day

[daelf-tapoti-blog]

Fantasy Guide: Common battle wounds and how to fix them

Arrow wounds: Now if the lung, heart, kidney, other major organ is hit, there may be little to do. The kidney has a back up, so maybe a skilled surgeon could save him, not exactly sure however. If hit by an arrow and not hit dangerously in an organ or artery, we can help. Firstly, DO NOT REMOVE arrow by yanking. Arrow must be worked from the skin by skilled hands. Once arrow is out, wash would with clean water/alchohol/herbal remedies. To heal slow, sew up wound and wrap in bandages. To speed it up, cauterise the wound with fire. It will hurt and patient pay pass out but now the arrow wound can heal faster. This works for crossbow bolts as well. On the gross side, arrows may be smeared with dirt or shit, so sepsis is a danger. This is how the great Richard the Lionheart died. Sometimes the mighty lion is killed by a shit arrow. But hey, shit happens. Arrow wounds take a couple of weeks to heal.

Sword slashes: if shallow, wash and bind up. May require stitches. If deeper, repeat process with more stitches and more bandages. Even if shallow, the cut must be washed using alcohol or clean water. May take a few days to weeks to heal depending on wound depth and severity.

Stab wound: Again don’t remove knife or object. If already removed, wash would and sew it up. You may need to cauterise. If guts, organs, brain, is falling out, there is nothing to do. This may take a couple of weeks to months to heal depending on wound.

Broken Bones: A break must be splinted with a board of wood and bandages. Slings can support arms and wrists. If your character breaks a leg, it may be worse. Breaks don’t heal great without modern medicine. Your character may have a limp or leg pain. In you’re are living in a hot climate, you’re pretty much fucked because infection sets in fast. These may take months to heal.

For @maslovianwench

#useful #research

[daelf-tapoti-blog]

So a friend is making a one-writing-advice-per-day thing this year, and this is today’s Long french post short and in english: the main character of your novel should be the one who changes and/or suffers the most, and it’s not necessarily the narrator.

and… tbh, i’ve been having a bit of a problem with that in the tapoti. so i went over the possibilities again.

Oyme changes a LOT during eir life, but not that much in the time i am actually covering with the actual tapoti.

Syj changes, oh boy, but… the progression is supposed to happen as a bit of a surprise. And i really, really don’t want to focus on eir suffering, because it’s… yeah. no.

Then there’s Thawaht. i REALLY want to get some focus on Thawaht, monarch turned exilee turned sort-of-spy and then hopefully monarch again, confronting eir sibling to bring much-needed change to eir land.

these were the three i considered right off the bat, so i wrote them down. … and then i realized there was someone missing. someone REALLY IMPORTANT.

Olnij. who CHANGES EIR VERY NAME because what ey endures is so radical and traumatizing.

… i think i need to ponder this a little more.

#tapoti perpétuel #T_____T

[daelf-tapoti-blog]

The Noltis have a saying: “Ask the banesan!” — meaning “I don’t know/I don’t want to answer/go bother someone else with this”, and, most strongly, “good luck getting an answer to that question/problem”. Obviously, it got its origins in the first official meeting of the Banesan with the newly arrived Hjinzas (few days after landing at most).

But the meeting had few witnesses, and the Banesan stayed a couple hours only, and accounts of what happened and was said are controversial at best, sometimes overtly mocked as ‘made-up’ (and consequently, the second official meeting of Banesan with Hjinzas, after the ‘rain of light and shadow’ in the Bridge Islands, often qualified of ‘even more made-up’.)

The saying is a bit rude and tongue-in-cheek, not used in polite company, mostly because right after it happened some people were already doubting the reality of the meeting, but insinuating that before someone who was actually there could get some very strong reactions.

(note: “making things up” and “lying” are two different things for hjinzas, and hjinzas usually don’t lie.)

The Naiims used the saying too, though its origin was forgotten soon after crossing the Separations Sea, and came to mean basically ‘ask the devil’ – with the same implication that you probably won’t get an answer, and the added meaning that if you do get one, you definitely won’t like it. “Banesan”, or a deformation of the word, soon officially became the name of the negative principle opposing Ekeu in the battle of forces on the surface of the planet — the thing that spawned all demons.

#tapoti perpétuel #sudden idea meaning i will go to bed at 1am. AGAIN. #worldbuilding

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Alors J'ai pas beaucoup avancé dans la création à proprement parler, mais j'ai des nouveaux noms pour toues mes espèces d'aliens, reste à voir si ça tient à l'usage. Aussi, j'ai une idée de plus en plus nette de tous les langages utilisés au moment où se déroule le #TapotiPerpétuel, et d'où ils viennent. Je vais pas développer une langue complète pour tous, mais il me faudrait *quelque chose* pour chaque. • Les Lyeryg/Lynsanat. Plein de voyelles, des mélodies/tonalités pour exprimer cerains trucs. Il faut aussi une version simplifiée pour les autres espèces qui ne maîtrisent pas le côté mélodieux. Je vais juste développer de quoi trouver quelques noms de personnages et autres mots utiles. • Les Ektde/Keratyeken, qui ont un bec et donc une phonologie très particulière, et trois "antennes" qui jouent un rôle visuel aussi. Pareil, une version utilisant des signes manuels existe, pour les personnes qui n'ont pas (assez) d'antennes (et probablement une version entièrement signée, aussi, pour ceux qui n'entendent pas… développement logique du précédent.) • Les Hjinzas/Alaytnis, çaycompliqué. Eils parlaient tous à l'origine un truc uniformisé à partir de plein de sources différentes, qui s'est partagé ensuite – dans la région où eils sont majoritaires – en au moins deux dialectes, voire deux nouveaux langages distincts, et au moins un (autre) dialecte. Ensuite ça devient encore plus pénible, parce qu'il y a une région où les langage se sont forcément beaucoup influencés les uns les autres : • Les Banesan (oui c'est le nom qui change (presque) pas ^^) • Les Dsàwa/Dsusœn • Un petit groupe de Hjinzas/Alaytnis Les deux premiers ont encore un language bien à eux, mais il y a aussi une proportion importante de Banesan (peut-être même la majorité) qui parle un créole des deux langages, qui à son tour influence fortement les Hjinzas/Alaytnis de la région. … someone plz kill me naow Parce que pour l'instant, j'ai tout fait au feeling, et les noms *ne marchent pas*. Et j'ai envie de bosser là-dessus. Et je vais avoir envie de bien faire. Et pour bien faire, il va falloir bosser sur TOUT ÇA. Même juste un tout petit peu. *fffffffff*

#conlanging #tapoti perpétuel #in french #yeah i just copypasted from fb because i'm a bit overwhelmed rn #i didn't even COUNT after making that list i'm that annoyed #mostly at my brain telling me 'yeah you're gonna have to formalize something for ALL OF THIS. ALL. OR NOTHING.' #wth brain #no. stop. :(

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Note:

Oyme’s naiim hjinzan is formal, eir nolti, much less so

#*blows on the dust* yes hello #tapoti perpétuel #conlanging #…ish #oyme #i'm cleaning my main blog's drafts #why hadn't i postd this

[daelf-tapoti-blog]

Two portraits I did today while Procrastinating All The Things: Thawaht and Oyme

I wanted to post them again side by side and make some comments, because… this is unusual for me no not the procrastinating

I actually tried to have these be proper portraits.

Usually, I draw generic hjinzas with a roundish face, like Oyme here, and I don’t pay much attention to the hair and details because… well I’m not that good at drawing, really. I rely on muscle memory for the most part – 3/4 face turned to the left, slight contraposto, etc. Look at that mess. Very formulaic. Plus, don’t do likeness well – also, symmetry and perspective; look at the thin hairclips in Thawaht’s hair, these are supposed to be on the sides of eir forehead, and it’s all… the one on eir right is over eir eye instead of behind like the other one ffs. and look at the structure supporting torsades on either side: not symmetrical at ALL, super botched perspective. ridiculous.

BUT One thing I did paid extra attention to this time was, indeed, how their faces looked. And some other details.

Thawaht’s face is thinner. Eir eyes are set wider apart and slightly inclined. Ey has eyelids. I always do away with these because they’re so awkward to draw, but look how smug this fellow looks! ey’s a VIP and ey knows it. Totally worth trying the eyelid trick for once. The sign tattooed on eir forehead is a mark of eir very high status. The lack of twisting/braiding right above it, when there’s some on the side, makes em look even thinner, by ‘closing’ the face on the sides but not above. Additionnally, this is a relatively complicated hairstyle: ey’s used to WAY more complexity, but now ey’s basically in exile so ey had to tone it down a lot. Ey still occasionally needs to advertise eir high status, though (not everyone knows about the tattoo’s meaning where ey is now) and so there’s still a small structure supporting hair torsades, and more than the usual couple braids/torsades on the side of the head, and the additional ones start higher, which is unusual too. Also eir clothing has en elegant drape element to it, hiding the top of eir thights, and it goes right up under what passes for a chin for these guys, which I think sets Thawaht’ face apart from the rest of eir body a little more and makes it look more defined. Plus, brooch. And lots of bracelets, and an arm pouch, and fancy lacing on the shoes. This is an Important And Elegant Person.

Oyme, on the other hand, is Round. And looks serious, and distracted. Oyme is always serious. And this time I didn’t cope out of making eir hair actually look like I describe them: all black, save for three bright copper coloured strands on the top of eir head (and this time i was careful of the perspective. no hairclip disaster here.)(also i didn’t add the actual colour, but. you can see the three stripes, right?) Eir clothing is just a wide cloth belt, and a bit of cloth caught into it at the back, spread at the side and brought back up at the front passing between the legs. It’s super simple and practical. This one is maybe done in thinner cloth than what Oyme was used to back when it was basically eir uniform and professional attire. Ey’s used to the garment, but now ey can afford to have a nice, almost fancy version of it. Ey probably wove it emself too, with yarn ey spun emself, because ey has aaaaall the time in the world now… The rest is very simple too: not a lot of accessories, very simple shoes – though eirs have long toes, unlike Thawaht’s. Slight anatomical difference, bit too complicated to explain here. And then there’s the Blade, which is eir special, one-of-a-kind weapon, and the most unusual thing in Oyme’s possessions, the one ey never goes anywhere without. ‘Normal’ blades of that kind don’t have holes, and the grooves – when there are any – are not decorative at all, and they don’t have that part where Oyme’s left hand rests – the wider part with the round cut-out. (I was lazy and ‘forgot’ to include the weapon’s sheath in the hairstyle though. Let’s say it’s hidden by All That Hair.)

So… for once, we clearly have two actual persons here, with their sartorial and, more importantly, physical differences. And heck, I don’t know if it’s obvious to anyone else, but it is to me, and I’m proud of having managed it even a little.

#chara design #alien design #hjinzas #tapoti perpétuel #thawaht #oyme #+__+ #happy me is happy. #that was long can you tell i'm still procrastinating? -__-°

[daelf-tapoti-blog]

about ten minutes ago, i thought hey this is good i have time and i’m awake and i’m ALONE so i’ll be able to do what i’ve been wanting to for a while now: read my own writing aloud and see how it sounds :D

so i went at the first chapter, the new version i did a few days ago… and i just. couldn’t. i looked at the words and thought ‘this is wrong. i can’t read this.’ i felt like i didn’t have a voice at all. maybe it wouldn’t end up too weird coming from someone else (a little, because it’s mine, and it would be the first time i’d hear these words) but I sure couldn’t read it.

and then i realized: maybe it’s not my writing that’s the problem, because I don’t dare read to Perco anymore these days…

now i’m singing, trying to fight the silence. trying to get used to my voice again.

#… idek how to tag this i swear.

[daelf-tapoti-blog]

so once more i seem to have hit a creativity wall re: tapoti perpétuel. i just. can’t. do. it. it’ll pass, obviously; i’ve been super stuck before and i still managed to get that darn first draft i’m trying to edit and expand now. but it’s super frustrating because i thought it would be easier than that – not easy, but easier. instead it’s much harder than i thought. urgh.

anyway, the other day i was talking to a friend of mine to see how i could get unstuck. she told me to just… improvise a story. something unrelated to the tapoti. i went ‘wut. HOW DO.’ so she helped: she told me to pick a name, and that was my character, and then I had to choose what that character was – human, animal, whatever. So I chose ‘Flavia’ and then saw a pic of an aurora borealis and WELL WHY NOT hello Flavia the aurora. Then this happened.

me — okay so auroras are actually beasties, no, groups of beasties that run around and since they’re Special it makes lights in the sky. brain — … okay we’re talking about a legend right? bc that’s… that’s not how it… me — I KNOW okay let’s say it’s a legend. i want to say they look like foxes, because arctic foxes are cool… brain — … and they have wings. me — … yeah why n— wAIT A SECOND. brain — … what.

me — ‘k this one is a fossa, but still. kindafoxeswithwings are lyerygs. from the tapoti. we said NOT RELATED. brain — it’s not related to the plot. me — … brain — … well, not directly, anyway. me — … brain — … me — … OKAY FINE it’s a lyeryg legend. it’ll be told by a child named Filaia, since 'Flavia’ doesn’t sound very— brain — you need to know more about them anyway. why the heck do they act like they do? why keep company with the noltis, who put them in danger instead of convincing the naiim to stop killing lyerygs? why don’t they just go away and leave the hjinzas to their problems? me — well they’re nice? i guess? like intelligent labradors with wings… brain — AH. now we’re getting somewhere :D me – … *headdesk*

… so this ‘refreshing’ exercice is just turning into more worldbuilding. I just. can’t. help. myself.

#… and this is how i get a complex world where i can barely find my own kittens anymore -__- #tapoti perpétuel #*sigh* #lyerygs #i'll go actually write it now #in french brain IN FRENCH OKAY do at least *something* like i need you to #*huff*

[daelf-tapoti-blog]

… so from time to time I use Google to check names I use in my tapoti, see if it gets some embarrassing results that would mean I really really need to change them. And since I’m thinking of changing my not-gods names, I checked again.

And of course once again I found that book… It was published almost ten years ago, has a character named Oyme, and it’s in the title. It’s “spiritual” stuff of the sort I find the most annoying, and on top of all this it’s vanity press. It’s like it was done specifically to irritate me… but I won’t change my character’s name because of it.

First because, duh. I don’t really care. It’s not something big.

Second, because I FINALLY remembered that Google translate is A Thing and I could check the results in cyrillic coming up when searching Oyme’s name…

well, it turns out “ойме” – written in the latin alphabet as “oime” or more often “oyme”, including for a musical group of the same name – is a word of Erzya meaning “soul”

… so, yeah, having stumbled on that by complete accident, I’m definitely not changing it now.

#tapoti perpétuel #oyme #yeah not changing it #you can keep your name buddy it's good