Michael Dharma

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Day 6
#Tirial

The way desert dwellers survive is mostly by sticking to areas with water: oases, rivers, and underground aquifers. They also have individuals with the ability to cast invocations.

Got questions about the deserts of #Tirial or one of my other worlds? Feel free to ask them. /13

The Horrors allegedly gained their knowledge after discovering a place called the Nameless Library buried in some desert ruin. They read the ancient books and it scarred them mentally, spiritually, and eventually physically. /12

The knowledge so granted has the potential to do enormous damage to the sanity of their victims the longer the process goes on. Some die screaming. /11

They all rose as undead nightmares. Their goal is to share their terrible knowledge. They do this by entrancing mortals and inserting their long tongues down the throats of their victims. The knowledge is transmitted directly into the mind via this disgusting method. /10

A desert myth concerns a form of undead monster called the Horrors from the East. These monsters were formed from some of the now-extinct humans who journeyed Eastward in search of "forbidden knowledge." What they learned wouldn't allow them to rest peacefully after death. /9

As for plants and animals, the Ilevar and Khetem Deserts have plants analogous to cacti. But one species of cacti can be tapped for a kind of syrup. Farms of this variety have sprung up.

There is a large desert feline called the Serapi. Harath have domesticated them. /8

As for desert architecture, let me simply show you a map of a desert oasis town by both day and night. /7

The Omites are rarely seen outside of the Ashiriat Canyon and the surrounding mountains. The Tethlim are mostly fine with leaving them alone and concentrating on their Harath enemies. /6

Omites are incredibly tough people. They are born so used to hardship that too much comfort and luxury is actually physically and psychologically harmful to them. For example, they much prefer to sleep on a stone floor than in a bed with a fluffy pillow. /5

Then there are the Omites who live in and around the Ashiriat Canyon. This is one of the driest, hottest, and most inhospitable regions of Tirial. Omites are sallow skinned folk with dark circles under their eyes. /4

The Harath are enemies of the Tethlim folk. Tethlim have red skin, long pointed ears, and a third eye. All of the live to around 500 years and have the ability to cast invocations. Essentially, a race of "sorcerers." /3

The Harath are humanoids with catlike characteristics. Remember the old Thundercats cartoon from the 80s? It's a similar concept but add whiskers, tails, and pointed ears. However, they aren't true cats like the Neyeru cat folk on the world of Sadrim in the city of #Talisrain. /2

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Days 2-5
#Tirial

Desert society varies by which folk race one is referring to. In the Ilevar and Khetem Deserts there are 3 main ones. /1

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Day 1
#Tirial

The Khetem Desert stretches over a large swath of the continent of Dadithaer.

Umaryn's favorite Season is Blossomcrest.

Side Note: The reason the year is divided into 8 seasons is because most Tirialan folk races find 8 to be a psychologically satisfying numbers, similar to how we humans regard number 10. /4

Harvestmeet-Analogous to late Autumn. A time for all the harvest festivals.
Icefall-The start of the cold period. Much like Early Winter.
Snowhelm-The coldest time of year. Analogous to the Dead of Winter.

So yeah, 8 seasons. /3

Blossomcrest-Best weather of the year. Similar to Late Spring.
Sunhelm-Start of the warm part of the year. Analogous to Early Summer.
Firecrest-Hottest part of the year. Analogous to Late Summer.
Amberhelm-Analogous to Early Autumn. /2

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Days 2-7 (Seasons)

Seasons are divided differently on #Tirial.

Raintide-Rainiest time of the year. Often still a bit chilly. Very similar to Early Spring. Considered the start of the New Year by
most Tirialan cultures. /1

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Day 2
#Tirial

Saga of the Misbegotten takes place during the Blossomcrest Festival Week, although it gets ruined by the arrival of the Rot Freak.

#AugustWorldbuilders #writingcommunity #readingcommunity #Booksky
Day 1
#Tirial

Saga of the Misbegotten takes place during the season of Blossomcrest, which is analogous to Late Spring.

As for Umaryn, she feels no connection with the Dunsairk gods and her prayers are in vain. She does get desperate enough to pray to Yvnos, the Dunsairk trickster god and actually gets an answer. She commits heresy by making a deal with him. /4

One of the most amazing deeds performed by gods is to simply show up in person and speak for themselves, unlike gods people worship on Earth. It's rare but it does happen! /3

Gods give boons usually as a stroke of luck if they're feeling nice. If they're upset with you? A stroke of misfortune might befall you as a warning. Gods are usually subtle about these things. /2

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Days 9-12
#Tirial

Gods tend to interact with the mundane in subtle ways... most of the time. One typical way is to send dream visions to the clergy as a way of communication. /1

When I get a website, I'll post more details there. But for now, if you've got questions, feel free to ask them. /11

Finally, gods with enough pull set the framework for mystical abilities over the worlds they control. This allows for different "magic systems" on various worlds. Example: The Serach were given leave to set up an orderly system on Tirial while the Lords of Risk set a dangerous one on Nhimidar. /10

Gods can also take on a physical or possibly quasi-physical form if they wish. In this form, they can even mate with mortals, producing half-divine demigods. But this is rare and usually done with some purpose in mind. /9

Nobody knows why he did this, not even the Primordial Gods. Or if they do know, they aren't talking.

His starry corpse lies atop the Cosmic Egg. Everything is an echo of his existence, especially the gods themselves. /8

Finally, Aeton should be mentioned. He was the most powerful god to ever exist. He was the only being in existence until he committed ritual suicide. From his wounds spilled forth infinite potential which coalesced into the Cosmic Egg multiverse. /7