Océano de la Vida: 3 years later and much has changed

Substantial postings about constructed languages and constructed worlds in general. Good place to mention your own or evaluate someone else's. Put quick questions in C&C Quickies instead.
User avatar
Xhin
Sanci
Sanci
Posts: 53
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2005 7:05 pm
Location: Elsewhere
Contact:

Re: Océano de la Vida

Post by Xhin »

And now onto the anthropological update. Here is a list of Kings

First of all, the language spoken by the people of Océano de la Vida is primarily a pidgin of Bantu and Spanish, with loan words from other worldwide languages. I'm not going to go into their language in any depth, instead all words I've described about the world are either English portmanteaus or the Spanish terms they actually use. Names which I'll start using will be completely made up and have no connection to either of the languages of the pidgin, or they'll be Spanish portmanteaus. I realize the irony of doing this in a forum about conlangs, but I think that the feel of the conworld is more important than getting the language accurate. If you want, think of it as a transliteration of their language rather than what they actually say or what they're actually named. The Spanish is totally accurate though.

Human Settlements of Océano de la Vida

The Tent City is the largest of the human settlements, but it is not the only one. At the time the mindfuck update takes place, there is also an underwater settlement known as Sirena Capitolia and several floating island settlements, the largest of which is known as Montaño. I'll go over how they are constructed and a rough estimate of their population.

The Tent City Revisited

The Tent City is a connected network of gold-tinted Silk tents, about thirty feet high at their highest and generally the size of houses from end to end. Keeping them upright is Aquamarine dust weaved into the corners, and they are also tied to one another with Silk ropes for stability. All four corners are tied to Underwater Islands by Silk Ropes, or to what are known as De Lastre Mundos, Sapphire/Onyx crystals surrounded by Silk. Over time, De Lastre Mundos accumulate mugre, and the oldest are practically underwater islands in their own right (although much smaller and not covered by Oak). Silk is porous enough to allow air to pass through it, so wind does not usually topple Tents. There is a method of making Silk more porous; it's the same process that goes into Globos. Harder silk is more useful for containers or De Lastre Mundos. Anyway:

Connected to Silk tents are Oak boats and rafts, which form a kind of floating makeshift floor. By hanging silk curtains, one can set up makeshift rooms. Tents that are connected to one another will have 10-foot-long holes cut out of their sides, and travel between tents is accomplished by rowing Oak boats. Porous silk that's thin enough will let light in from Mar Tercero, giving the tents an orange glow to them, so light isn't really an issue, although since the discovery of Amber, there's been a trend towards making the tents out of harder Silk and using amber's lightning as a light source.

Because of the stratified nature of the society, Tents of a single caste are all kept together, while other castes will be in other areas of the city, connected with smaller tents that serve as tunnels (although the tunnels aren't really used unless there's a Tormenta Empíreo). A typical caste will have 50-100 tents. While newer members of the caste, slaves, and hedonists will share tents, most of the caste will have their own tent or two, and the oldest members of the caste will have lots of tents.

This isn't necessarily universal; Gran Esclavos and Gran Hedonistas can have their own tents and sometimes there are mixed-caste sections of the city (especially among people who are working on something for the Gran Cacería). Concubinas also keep a loose tent complex of their own, but usually do not live and work there.

Surrounding the Tent City and tied off to it at various points are Oak boats that have light mugre and plants such as Lechugo growing in them. Every caste has their own, since they're extremely easy to grow. There will usually be hard Silk covers for them somewhere inside the boat. During a Tormenta Empíreo, people will cover their crops and bolt the covers in so the mugre isn't destroyed.

While boats are usually paddled either by the person in them or a slave, you'll sometimes see trained pigs pulling a boat behind them. Trained pigs will also ferry Oak, silkrock, and other things. They are essentially the world's beasts of burden.

The process is much slower than paddling, but it's leisurely and cheap labor. Like everything else in a world with 144-hour day cycles, leisure is valued over hurry.

Sirena Capitolia

As I explained before, Sirenas are a caste who have developed extensive meditative techniques so that they can stay underwater indefinitely without feeling as though they are drowning (which they are, except that Agua replenishes oxygen levels). Their culture is built on meditation in a lot of different ways, but I'll cover that later. While they have a tent complex in the Tent City, they practice extreme self-sufficiency, so have built a city underwater as well. On a large underwater island deep beneath the waves they have built a city of rooms of Oak and Oak curtains, with a large spherical Oak room as its centerpiece.

This room is a hundred feet in all directions, and as close as perfectly spherical as they can make it, and carved into the "rock" of the underwater island. Hand-held Amber provides illumination, and the purpose of the room is for group meditation and prayer. Once every Tormenta Empíreo, all Sirena and those wishing to become Sirena will gather in this room and seat themselves on the "floor", "walls" and "ceiling", equally spaced throughout the watery sphere. A large piece of Amber in the center of it illuminates the entire thing with gently shifting patterns of lightning. Unlike everywhere else in the city, no fish are allowed in the Sala de Reflexión at any time.

Growing crops inside the city is not practical, so they use either their section of the Tent City or settlements they have set up on floating islands that have lakes.

Floating Island settlements

Floating islands, as I've explained before, can be between house-sized and city-sized (we're talking modern cities here), depending on how far away from the surface of the ocean they are. Reaching them is done by small silk balloons known as Pequeñas

Allas, or Allas for short (yes I realize the spanish word is "ala", not "alla" but I like this better. Allas is the plural, and Ala is the singular.). At one time there were Oak ladders set in underwater islands, but those were laughably inefficient so they were discontinued. You can still occasionally see Oak poles sticking out of the surface of the water though. They make good landmarks in an otherwise homogenous ocean.To say that Allas allow you to fly is an understatement. Every single person who lives on Océano de la Vida gets at least an hour of flight a day. Gran Hedonistas are renowned for spending full day/night cycles in flight. Wouldn't you?

Human flight (because it deserves its own section really)

An Ala is a system of three silk balloons held apart by three spokes of Silkrock, tied at the ends to an Oak piece that you are attached to. Control is handled by activating Ruby crystals in any of the three balloons, which hits an insulated gold wire, causing the Aquamarine/sapphire dust within a piece of Silk to rise. The angle of the three balloons allows horizontal motion and 2-dimensional turning. Unactivating all crystals will make the balloon slowly sink, as the aquamarine/sapphire dust within returns to normal. The sapphire dust is there to make sure that ordinary sunlight and other heat sources don't cause the aquamarine dust to inflate, but is a small enough amount to not interfere with the Ruby heating setup. Provided that the hard silk around the "wiring" does not break, the entire contraption is also completely waterproof, which is generally a good thing when you're flying over an infinite ocean.

When you strap yourself to an Ala, you are basically in a cloudsilk harness with your stomach pointing towards the ground. Two balloons are in front of you to either side that you control handles with each arm, and one balloon is behind you that you control with your legs. Control is done by pulling levers with your hands, which push a certain amount of ruby crystals to a certain amount of gold wires, causing a certain amount of aquamarine dust to heat up and cause a silk balloon to float. It is possible to angle the two balloons in front of you by changing the orientation of your arms between straight in front of you and out to each side. Doing so controls the speed at which the balloon flies horizontally, while the amount you pull controls the speed at which you fly vertically (also horizontally, but you can correct that via the arm-orientation movement).

Turning, then, can be done by pulling slightly more on one balloon than another. Strafing can be done by moving one of your arms more towards the other arm, which angles the balloon out to that arm's side. The balloon you control with your legs determines your vertical orientation. Your legs are normally slightly apart, allowing a certain amount of rise from the balloon in the back, keeping your vertical orientation level. Pulling your legs apart will take the ruby away from the gold wires entirely, causing the balloon to stop rising and angling your vertical orientation up. Making your legs straight will push the ruby onto the gold wires, causing your orientation to fall into a dive.

There is also a safety feature -- a Silk bag full of Agua strapped to your stomach. If you should fall for some reason and not land in the ocean, the bag will explode, and the Agua will cure your wounds.

Flying can take some getting used to, but is well worth it.

Back to the floating islands

Anyway, these machines will let you reach floating islands, which are hundreds or thousands of feet above the surface of the ocean.

Floating islands, as I've described before, are land masses of Cloudsilk and Silkrock, with lakes and pockets of light mugre. The surface of them is stained a multicolored color from previous Tormenta Empíreos and resemble the color of the fish that swim in the waves below. Yes, I realize I said that they're almost completely white, but this is cooler and makes more sense. The Silkrock and Cloudsilk are still almost completely white themselves though.

Floating Islands are excellent farmland, both because of the amount of natural mugre they have (that's replenished every Tormenta Empíreo) and because there's actual landmass to them. The crops of Océano de la Vida (and there's a reason I keep putting emphasis on Lechugo) have no predators and do not have to compete with weeds, so they practically grow themselves. Largescale farming is done by converting mugre to the light tannish mugre the vegetables need to grow with Aquamarine crystals and harvesting their spores and replanting them methodically in it.

As far as actual cities are concerned, moving Oak to floating islands is prohibitively dificult, so houses are usually built out of Silkrock with Silk tarps stretched across the top. It's important to build on top of silkrock, as foundations laid over Cloudsilk can collapse, so most of a floating island is actually uninhabitable. Floating Islands are excellent places to do complicated craftworking because of the lack of bobbing when on the sea. The silk caste live almost exclusively on floating islands. One problem about building elaborate cities on floating islands is that they do eventually break into pieces and sink, so buildings are kept practical.

Because of their landmass, religious ceremonies and cultural festivals are conducted predominantly on floating islands. There's also psychological comfort to be gained from having firm ground under your feet, even if it's spongy and looks like something out of an acid trip.Now for something more human:

The Caste Economy of Océano de la Vida

Because of the low population and the fact that technology is only needed to advance human comfort rather than basic animal needs, a unique economic system has evolved on Océano de la Vida. To an unenlightened observer, it looks like communism, but the reality is much stranger.

First of all, different skillsets have evolved to belong to different "castes", which are social groups centered around a certain skillset that function a bit like tribes. Members of a caste live together, work together and think of a Caste as their immediate family. There is a hierarchy that is based on how good someone is at a particular skill, which due to immortality is usually the oldest member of the caste.

Those in the highest part of the hierarchy function a bit as leaders, interacting with other castes and having those lower on the hierarchy do work for them. They are also revered somewhat, but the system is nowhere near as formal as though they were royalty.

The majority of a caste belong to the middle of the hierarchy, where they will have their own tents or houses and occasionally slaves and concubinas.

Those who are the least inexperienced will be at the lowest end of the hierarchy, and they must live together in a single tent or house. Hedonists (usually the people who are new to Océano de la Vida) are treated as permanent members of the lowest part of the hierarchy, as long as they remain normal Hedonists. They are taken in by a caste and taught things about the world and taken care of until they inevitably want to do something with their (infinite) lives.

Work and Debt

First of all, anyone who isn't a Hedonist is going to do work in whatever caste they are in. Work keeps the mind occupied and feeds the soul. Ordinary products that are produced are free for all castes to use, though a caste cannot demand that another caste create more than they would normally create unless they incur a "debt" to them. When new technologies are developed by a caste, all castes who wish to use the technology now have a "debt" to that caste.

Debts can be paid off in a variety of ways. The caste in debt(usually the top members in the hierarchy) determines how they wish to pay off this debt. Because of how technology develops over time, every caste will have multiple debts to multiple castes, and other castes will also have debts to them.

What emerges from this is a debt-based system of barter; if the Silk caste has a debt to the Gold Harvester debt but the Clothing-maker caste has a debt to the Silk caste, the Silk caste can request that the Clothing-maker create extra or elaborate clothes for the Gold Harvester caste, solving both debts at once. Debts happen all the time as castes expand their business, which requires additional products than they can normally acquire.

Another way debts can be paid is by turning those low in the hierarchy into slaves. Craftworkers would usually rather focus on their work rather than the manual labor involved in it, so a system of slaves exists so that they can focus on the better parts of their work. If the Oak Shaping caste needs someone to carry logs from the Sirena caste to them, and the Chef caste owes them a debt, they can request that the Chef caste provide them slaves from the low-end members of their hierarchy to do the work they need done. Slaves will live with the new caste for a period of time not to exceed one Tormenta Empíreo, depending on the debt they are paying or incurring. They are free to visit their home caste or do whatever they want really during their off-hours.

Products that a caste makes normally are generally stacked or stored outside of their tent complex. Again, these are free to use for anyone, although they have to be able to get it back to their house via pigs or slaves or their own labor. If a caste is making extra product for another caste to pay off a debt or the other caste is incurring one, then the producing caste must transport the product there, although they'll probably use their own slaves for that endeavor.

Because every caste uses this system of debts and every caste is reliant on every other caste, "prices" are fixed pretty fairly between debts. Slaves are, however, freed at the start of every Tormenta Empíreo according to tradition, and they cannot be made slaves during the next 3-year period unless they volunteer.

Castes aren't necessarily fixed; people are socially encouraged to join new castes every so often, and the older people are practically members of every caste (except some of the newer ones) though treat whichever one they're currently in as their "home caste". Castes develop their technologies and skills partially in order to lure new members in, because having more people at the low end of the hierarchy means they can create more slaves to pay more debts.

Some special individuals that don't fit inside "caste" structures

* Gran Esclavos are those who become highly skilled at manual labor and prefer it over craftworking. When used, they are typically given their own individual tent and can choose the tasks they work on freely. Castes can request them, but since they do not fit into the debt system, it is up to them whether they wish to work for the Caste or not. Castes will often make lavish offers, like having their own slaves and concubinas in order to enlist Gran Esclavos.

* Gran Hedonistas are Hedonists that typically live apart from castes and provide entertainment or un-practical art to their followers, who work as slaves and provide products for them on an informal basis. They are typically very charismatic and extremely popular, sort of like the pop stars of Océano de la Vida. One of them, for example, has turned human flight into an art form, and will perform ridiculous stunts for his audience.

Another group of Gran Hedonistas that Torco and Rainlander will like is known as El Golpeadores de Caras, a group that will violently attack and kill one another, only to be resurrected by Agua. Mock battles, dressed in extravagant Silk clothing with gold or crystal weapons, are especially popular. It's all the fun of a gladatorial arena, without your favorite gladitors dying forever. Because of their art, they have a ridiculously high tolerance of pain. At the time the mindfuck update occurs, they're practically a caste in their own right, as their followers have gone so far as to try to become them.

People who are born on Océano de la Vida / Concubinas

As I've said before, giving birth successully on Océano de la Vida is extremely difficult. Almost all of those born on this world will be female, with a small number born male. It seems to be more likely for males to be born if his two parents are genetically very different from one another, which fortunately isn't too hard to do since the non-natives come from all around the world. This is part of the reason why the "original" population (pre-conquistador) was matriarchal and why there were significantly more women than men.

The true natives age at a factor roughly three times that of earth children. Like everyone else, once they hit a certain age in adulthood, they do not age any further. For the ~36 earth years before they reach puberty, they may be raised in a caste, probably as a Hedonist (although they'll at least live with their family). Once they hit puberty, they are sold to another caste as a Concubina.

Concubinas are essentially sex slaves. Unlike other slaves, they are only freed after 6 Tormenta Empíreos have gone by. There is a sort of unspoken rule that they must be sold to another caste every few months. The reasoning behind this structure, however, is so that they can experience all of Océano de la Vida and get to know (in more ways than one) everyone in it.

Next up?

I have a feeling this post is already too long, but I'm not done with the update yet. Still to come are descriptions of the castes and religions/festivals. I'd also like to go into their technology in a bit more depth.

Thoughts so far?
Image

User avatar
Torco
Smeric
Smeric
Posts: 2372
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:45 pm
Location: Santiago de Chile

Re: Océano de la Vida

Post by Torco »

These are very good questions, Torco! Looking forward to more!
the world deserves them. Very interesting anthropological stuff. however:

why are oceanborns considered sex slaves? are they hotter? is the fact that they were born in the ocean a sort of fertility-thing turn-on for the oceaners? wouldn't they be sort of extremely valuable individuals and thus, wouldn't some incentive structure develop for women, couples or castes or whatever, to how is babby formed?

are there local authorities on top of the caste thing? are two gold harvesters, one from tent city and another from a random floating island, members of the same caste, or different?

User avatar
Qwynegold
Smeric
Smeric
Posts: 1606
Joined: Thu May 24, 2007 11:34 pm
Location: Stockholm

Re: Océano de la Vida

Post by Qwynegold »

Xhin wrote:There's definitely a higher-than-normal number of Spanish Conquistadors, but most of the population besides them is extremely diverse and from around the world. Something as stupid as going a mile off the coast of brazil to fish can get you to end up in Océano de la Vida. The earliest seem to be settlers that were trying to reach Madagascar, a population of more women than men.
Oh, they didn't all get there from the Bermuda triangle or something.
Xhin wrote:Pigs are fucking ridiculous. If you kill a pig, and cook it, and cut it into a hundred pieces that a hundred people eat (and pork passes completely through your body untouched here), and then push the undigested pieces together and sprinkle Agua on them, you'll get a miraculously alive pig (sometimes more than one). There's a reason they're worshipped!
Wait, pork does not get digested at all?
Xhin wrote:Agua seems to have a kind of contact viscosity. If any part of Vida touches it, it will become viscous. If something touches Agua that is incomplete (say, a missing limb), Agua will become ridiculously viscous and stick to the body part until it is healed. It is possible to touch a missing limb to Agua and then float up in a Globo and bring the surface of the ocean with you, although that's impractical since it exterts pressure equal to the amount of mass above the surface.
Wait, what happens if you cut of a finger and toss it into the sea while you stand on dry land?
Xhin wrote:Image
Scary shit. It looks like people dancing.
Torco wrote:why are oceanborns considered sex slaves?
Yeah, why would their parents sell them?
Image
My most recent quiz:
Eurovision Song Contest 2018

User avatar
Xhin
Sanci
Sanci
Posts: 53
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2005 7:05 pm
Location: Elsewhere
Contact:

Re: Océano de la Vida

Post by Xhin »

why are oceanborns considered sex slaves? are they hotter? is the fact that they were born in the ocean a sort of fertility-thing turn-on for the oceaners?
Yeah, why would their parents sell them?
There are two social dynamics in play here.

The first is that Agua will prevent aging beyond a certain point -- but will not reverse it. The basic dynamic seems to be that you will not age past 55-65, though it's difficult to tell what exactly the cutoff point is. Some of the effects are stranger, for example women will not go through menopause, and if they have already, they will regain their reproductive ability (though reproducing is difficult as I pointed out). If you're 80, you will be restored to how you appeared at 55-65 and will feel like you're 20. So the factor here is that physical youth is prized sexually, and Concubinas have the added benefit of aging roughly three times as slowly as normal people.

The second factor is that there is a pervasive social idea that the "natives" of
Océano de la Vida are inferior (women especially). This probably goes back to the group of people who wish to escape; in their view the natives would lack the motivation because they have lived here their whole life. Some religious beliefs have a vague idea that the natives are "corrupted" or "impure", although this doesn't translate into blatant xenophobia because natives are simultaneously and contradictorally prized.
wouldn't they be sort of extremely valuable individuals and thus, wouldn't some incentive structure develop for women, couples or castes or whatever, to how is babby formed?
Yes, until you realize that there's 36 years of a half-child half-adult Hedonist the caste would have to deal with until they become useful. The pros don't really outweigh the cons, so reproduction occurs through natural reasons, ie "I want to have kids!".
are there local authorities on top of the caste thing? are two gold harvesters, one from tent city and another from a random floating island, members of the same caste, or different?
It depends on various factors. With older technologies (ex-- Gold Harvesting), they will usually be part of the same caste originally, although the new one might split off. With newer technologies, they're more likely to be different castes if the new technology is common knowledge. It also depends a lot on what the settlement is used for; so for example, Sirenas use floating islands for agriculture but do not typically stay there for extended periods of time, so the floating island settlement is still a a part of their caste.

Different castes of the same type generally have an informal relationship where they share technology and techniques with one another without incurring debt, unless one of them has split off into a new direction. The Chef castes, for example, both use fish, crystals, and crops, but the ones on floating islands have specialized more to the use of crops and floating island crystals, so technological trades incur debt. With Gold harvesting, the people in the tent city have easier access to mugre but gold is more difficult to obtain than the people of Montaño, but the basic techniques are still the same, so they still have that kind of working relationship. Meanwhile, gold harvesters on floating islands closer to the Tent City are still part of that caste.
Oh, they didn't all get there from the Bermuda triangle or something.
No. There IS a substantial population of Spanish conquistadors though. It's difficult to tell whether it was the area or the time period that got so many of them in, though no one really knows how Océano de la Vida "chooses" people anyway.
Wait, pork does not get digested at all?
Not substantially, no. If you drink Agua with it, it won't digest at all, but you'll get a little bit from it if you don't. No one has any idea why pigs are singled out.
Wait, what happens if you cut of a finger and toss it into the sea while you stand on dry land?
The finger will instantly dissolve, while you'll start bleeding. In my quote I meant that the stump is what's touching Agua, not the limb itself. With pigs, not only will the hoof or whatever fail to dissolve, but if it's a big enough chunk of the pig, there's a chance it'll turn into a new pig.
Scary shit. It looks like people dancing.
"Terror Beauty" wasn't what I was going for with the art, but it definitely fits the premise of the world (and Mar Tercero especially) :P

I think I'll go ahead and cover the next anthropological update.
Image

User avatar
Tropylium
Avisaru
Avisaru
Posts: 512
Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2005 1:13 pm
Location: Halfway to Hyperborea

Re: Océano de la Vida

Post by Tropylium »

As far as influences go, this is reminding me a lot of the conworlds in Jennifer D. Reitz's comics (ie. Tryslmaistan & Pastel)
—Surface-level conphysics
—A cosmology that apparently differs from our gravity-bound-spherical-objects-in-space model
—Nonstandard weather phenomena
—A set of highly useful rainbow-colored minerals (…I don't really like the term "crystal" used in an overly general sense)
—Lifeforms (incl. several human cultures) transplanted from Earth against their will, only a few of which have survived
—Pigs as the main livestock

I might predict they're next going to discover archaeological remnants of another imported civilization, of non-Earth origin…

I like it a lot, anyway :D

Also, a few questions:
1) Apparently at least two recent mammalian species (humans, pigs) have been judged Vida. Apparently the fish are also imported from Earth a long time since. Under these conditions, I would expect a fair spectrum of Earth aquatic life to have survived actually; certainly there ought to be some species of microscopic plankton around? Probably without the humans knowing about it, but still.
2) Is it possible to work out / diet / gain weight / etc, or does Agua (or just the low amount of actual food available) keep everyone's body type constant as well? I'm assuming Gran Esclavos might at least be a more muscular type.
3) Was the Concubinas system instigated only the arrival of conquestadors? If newborns are mostly female, as was most of the imported population at that point, and the incidence of homosexuality was at Earth levels, I can't imagine how it would have come about before that.
4) For that matter, is there any major gender/ethnicity/etc. skew to the makeup of castes? I'm particularly wondering about the more specialized ones like Sirenas.
5) How far apart are islands (of any type) spaced? Tens of meters? Tens of kilometers?
[ˌʔaɪsəˈpʰɻ̊ʷoʊpɪɫ ˈʔæɫkəɦɔɫ]

User avatar
Xhin
Sanci
Sanci
Posts: 53
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2005 7:05 pm
Location: Elsewhere
Contact:

Re: Océano de la Vida

Post by Xhin »

—A cosmology that apparently differs from our gravity-bound-spherical-objects-in-space model
Well, gravity and other earth physics still work as usual, the difference is that crystals will weigh down or keep objects afloat depending on their properties.
—A set of highly useful rainbow-colored minerals (…I don't really like the term "crystal" used in an overly general sense)
I do though! :P

I tend to use crystals a lot in my conworlds because I like them and they make cool energy sources or programming crysals or whatever in irl conworlds (though I can't remember which ones specifically.
—Pigs as the main livestock
Pigs aren't necessarily livestock though. I'll get into their various uses in both the caste and religious updates. Eating them is generally pointless, which is why it's usually only done once a Tormenta Empíreo, and they tend to be kept as pets predominantly.
I might predict they're next going to discover archaeological remnants of another imported civilization, of non-Earth origin…
That's a good guess! Originally, I said that Océano de la Vida imports things from various worlds, but I could never get that to work, so it's safe to assume that it's exclusive to earth.
1) Apparently at least two recent mammalian species (humans, pigs) have been judged Vida. Apparently the fish are also imported from Earth a long time since. Under these conditions, I would expect a fair spectrum of Earth aquatic life to have survived actually; certainly there ought to be some species of microscopic plankton around? Probably without the humans knowing about it, but still.
Plankton have been universally judged as muerte, although it's possible that they have the same property as bacteria (where it depends on what they're surrounded by). The lack of micro-organisms is one reason why Agua remains so clear for such ridiculous depths. There also isn't any algae, which due to the scarcity of crops, would lead to a problem of oxygen, except that oxygen is electrolyzed every Tormenta Empíreo from Agua.

Vida is the exception rather than the rule. As I explained before, chickens are treated as muerte, even while still alive, while wild birds (like parrots) seem to do fine. Bacteria depends on whether it's surrounded by Vida or not. Crops can be muerte under certain conditions while still alive, and humans obviously become muerte at some point. Earth wood is muerte, but depending on the type and condition of wood can dissolve more slowly in Agua. Pigs seem to be truly immortal regardless of their condition. The rules seem arbitrary, but there is a hidden dynamic at work I'm deliberately leaving secret.
2) Is it possible to work out / diet / gain weight / etc, or does Agua (or just the low amount of actual food available) keep everyone's body type constant as well? I'm assuming Gran Esclavos might at least be a more muscular type.
It IS possible to get fat, but even Hedonists have trouble with that feat because very little water is stored in the body and food tends to be very lean, also there's a lot of physical exercise involved in the world. One strange property of Agua is that it digests much more slowly than normal water, so you do not get hungry nearly as often. If you drink enough, you can go for days (and we're talking the 144-hour days here) without being hungry. This usually isn't practiced though because of the human need for solid (and flavorful) food.

You can definitely gain or lose muscle mass depending on activity. And you are correct than Gran Esclavos are much much stronger than other people.
3) Was the Concubinas system instigated only the arrival of conquestadors? If newborns are mostly female, as was most of the imported population at that point, and the incidence of homosexuality was at Earth levels, I can't imagine how it would have come about before that.
That's a very good question. First of all, the imported population tends to be more male if anything, especially during the time the Conquistadors arrived. The people that were trying to reach Madagacar were only slightly more female, but by the time the conquistadors arrived in Océano de la Vida, they found a population mostly female with a very strict matriarchy.

And no, the incidence of homosexuality was not at earth levels. The pre-conquistador females were almost universally bisexual, while the pre-conquistador males were heterosexual. It's difficult to tell how much of that was natural, because of the strong cultural emphasis on lesbianism and the rejection of male homosexuality.

There was definitely a proto-Concubinas system, although the irony is that the sex slaves were all male. Generally speaking, males were both sex slaves and normal slaves that were traded with other proto-castes ruled exclusively by lesbians. Male homosexuals couldn't be put to death, so they were instead deprived of human dignity by being kept in Oak cages when not "in use". There was definitely some infanticide of females going on too, though not as much as you'd expect.

There was definitely some culture clash as the strict patriarchy of the conquistadors encountered the strict matriarchy of the "natives", but the system has over time turned into an aggressive egalitarianism that I will explain in more depth soon. Male homosexuality is also recognized, only because so many pre-conquistador men had themselves become bisexual despite the penalties associated with it, while female homosexuality is still extensively practiced in mostly-female castes.
4) For that matter, is there any major gender/ethnicity/etc. skew to the makeup of castes? I'm particularly wondering about the more specialized ones like Sirenas.
Yes, and I will cover that in the castes section. Sirenas, for example, are slightly patriarchal but have slightly more women because they have a higher birth success rate underwater. Silk makers are almost exclusively women because the pre-madagascar population kept silk making a secret from the conquistadors for a long time due to the power they could exert over them (which ended up not working, but that's a story for another time).
5) How far apart are islands (of any type) spaced? Tens of meters? Tens of kilometers?
It depends on the type. Underwater islands are extremely numerous, and can often be tens of meters apart. I haven't quite worked out the distance from the surface to Segundo Mar yet, but it's between thousands and tens of thousands of feet. Underwater islands will typically start at about a hundred feet near the Tent City, because the ones closer to the surface have already been harvested. There isn't really homogenous spacing of islands; some known as "filaments" can be so close that their Oak trees are interwoven, while there are places known to the Sirenas as "voids" where islands can be hundreds of feet apart. (and the void covers a section of 10-20 islands that are spaced this way). Typically the medium- or far-separated islands are harvested because of the near-certainty of pissing off the fish in the Oak trees near you. They tend to be more aggressive in filaments, even to Sirena who have trained themselves to work with them.

Floating islands, meanwhile, are much much more spaced out. There isn't a 1:1 correlation between underwater islands and floating islands; some become floating islands beneath Segundo Mar and most do not. There's also several miles of air and floating islands will change position a lot due to wind. Generally speaking, if you're on one of the giant floating islands, you'd be lucky to find another one at any point on the horizon. Smaller floating islands are more numerous because they break off of larger ones, so if you're on one you can definitely see more in front of you, and they're typically between a quarter of a mile and half a mile apart from one another. Due to wind, spacing is very haphazard, but floating islands are at least about 500 feet above the surface at all times. During a Tormenta Empíreo, floating islands will tend to line up into "filaments" and "voids" because of the polar and electrically-charged nature of the wind. They might even collide.

Good questions, guys. Keep them coming!
Image

User avatar
Xhin
Sanci
Sanci
Posts: 53
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2005 7:05 pm
Location: Elsewhere
Contact:

Re: Océano de la Vida

Post by Xhin »

And now onto the Castes update. First of all, it is important to note that castes are not static -- new castes will split off of old ones as technology develops or because they're too far away from the home caste to be managed effectively. New castes will also form due to new technology. Lastly, castes can merge into each other (especially notable with the Sirena caste which came from a diverse background of castes).

Before I get into castes, I'd like to revisit the uses of crystals, since their unique properties are useful in all castes (sometimes in different caste-specific ways), and I've finally worked out what all of them do. They are separated here by which type of island they're found in, although floating islands will rarely have crystals in them of underwater island types. Flavors will be covered in the Chef Caste section.

One important note about crystals is that temperature effects only apply to muerte. Gold is usually used as a conductor of heat or cold when Vida needs to be heated or cooled. As crystals are themselves Vida, they cannot affect one another directly.

Underwater Island Crystals

Underwater crystals will all transform slowly as long as they are surrounded by Agua, though the process will take decades. It is possible to manufacture crystals slowly by keeping the previous crystal of the cycle in a container of Agua.

Onyx -- Onyx crystals are solid black and found at the deepest depths of the sea. Unlike other crystal types, they rapidly change into Sapphire so finding them in newer islands is extremely rare. They are also the largest crystals, and can be a foot or more across. Like Sapphire, they can absorb heat and light to a ridiculous degree, though the effects are slower and they can cool things to much colder temperatures. They are extremely strong and usually quite sharp, so are useful for cutting other crystals into tools. Cutting Onyx itself is equivalent to cutting diamond on earth. Their cooling properties are more useful while Onyx is dust, which can be made by scraping Onyx crystals together.

Sapphire -- Sapphire crystals are a deep blue, and are found at the same level as Onyx crystals, but are more numerous. They are also smaller than Onyx, as there's a process at work that breaks Onyx crystals into multiple Sapphire fragments. Sapphire crystals are extremely heavy, far more than an Onyx crystal of the same size, so are useful for weighing things down. If enough of them are gathered on a floating island, that island will eventually sink down and crash into the ocean, although this is tricky because the floating island will more likely fragment around the crystals. It can still be useful for harvesting Silk though because of this. Sapphire will also rapidly cool stuff, but not to the degree that Onyx will. Also unlike Onyx, it is incapable of turning Agua to ice. The temperature change is much faster than Onyx.

Amethyst -- Amethyst is a deep purple (though not as deep as Sapphire) color. Amethyst crystals will typically be more fragmented and resemble pieces of their Earth equivalent. Perhaps because of this, these are the easiest crystals to break, which is done by smashing Onyx against it. Smashing Aquamarine against it is also good, as Aquamarine is also brittle and you can get valuable Aquamarine dust at the same time. Amethyst is found most commonly in underwater islands in voids, and extremely extremely rarely in filaments. The distance of other islands seems to have a role in turning Amethyst into Ruby. Amethyst is a strange crystal because more and more effects are discovered about it as time goes on, unlike other crystals which have very basic uses. Because of this (and one of its effects) it has religious connotations. There are two provable effects of Amethyst:

First of all, in its dust form it is a powerful tranquilizer. This is part of the reason why fish are so aggressive in filaments (there is very little amethyst there). Its medicinal properties are useful for humans, and it is also a good way of catching fish or calming down pigs. As a crystal, it also has a range effect of serenity, which is part of how Sirenas became so meditatively-driven. However its effects in crystal form are much less potent than eating dust.

Secondly, Amethyst seems to give off some kind of field that keeps muerte from dissolving in Agua. Sapphire and Onyx do this too (which is why muerte will solidify in underwater islands), but Amethyst has the strongest effects, especially in its dust form. It is very useful for staining technology (which turns Silk different colors), because multicolored muerte usually dissolves in Agua, and Agua is needed for the staining process. It's also useful for keeping tattoos more permanent, although cannot prevent them from washing out eventually. In its crystal form, it is only slightly stronger than Sapphire and Onyx fields, but in its dust form it is considerably stronger.

Some believe that its influence is responsible for slowing down aging in people who are born in Océano de la Vida, because the mothers must be kept close to isolated underwater islands. However, this, like other theories about Amethyst, is speculative and has yet to be demonstrated. Mothers are generally given amethyst dust anyway during the process due to its medicinal effects.

Ruby -- Ruby is a fiery red, found in the underwater islands closer to the surface, and more commonly in filaments than in voids. Ruby and ruby dust both heat up muerte, but do not touch Vida. Typically, Oak bowls are used for heating, with a layer of ruby dust coating the bowl so the Oak itself does not get heated up by whatever is cooking (usually gold). Unlike other crystals, Ruby and ruby dust both have the same quality to them, and ruby doesn't seem to have any other effects other than generating heat. Ruby also does not affect Agua, although can indirectly if used with a fuel source. Ruby crystals will retain the shape of amethyst (highly fragmented), but are considerably stronger, in fact one of the stronger crystals there are. This tends to make them useful as bases to fragment other crystals.

Ruby that has reached a certain age will still have all the properties of Ruby, but will make Blackstone sink rapidly. As this is a useful effect (and you'll see why), Ruby crystals are usually kept in a container of Agua with a small piece of air-filled blackstone attached to it. When the Ruby has transformed, the blackstone will break through the container and anything underneath it, draining out the water. At a certain distance (about 10 feet), the blackstone will stop sinking because it is no longer in the presence of Aged Ruby.

Blackstone -- Blackstone is worth mentioning even though it is not a crystal. Rather, it is a rock made from mugre that acts as Vida rather than Muerte. Blackstone is extremely extremely hard to find naturally because it can only be found at the end of the life cycle of underwater islands, and then only for a few hours. It looks a bit like volcanic rock. When acquired, care must be taken to remove the aged ruby crystals within, or else once it's full of air, it will sink to Segundo Mar, taking anything underneath it with it. Blackstone is extremely porous, and is either filled with Agua or air. If exposed to air, the Agua will drain out and it will be filled with air.

Blackstone is extremely hard, but if heated up will become more malleable as the Agua or air within gets released. For some reason, the Agua will not turn to steam and the air will keep the same temperature, but both will be pushed out. When the heat source is removed, whatever its surrounded with will be used to fill it back up. The main use of Blackstone, then, is to give a source of oxygen to people underwater. A normal piece of blackstone (about a foot in all directions) can give someone oxygen for several hours by touching ruby to it, though one must be careful that the Ruby isn't aged, or keep it from contacting the blackstone via insulated gold wires. This object is known as a pulmón pequeño, or pulmón for short.

Because it fills up in the presence of air, Pulmóns can be refilled within a few hours, so are reusable. Outside of Sirenas, this is the main way women are kept close to isolated underwater islands while they are pregnant. Pulmóns can also be used as a container of Agua, sort of like a sponge that drains very slowly, they can be used for pouring small amounts of water, which is useful with crafts that only need a few drops here and there.

While Blackstone is hard to find naturally, it is possible to create it by creating De Lastre Mundos with Ruby in the center of Silk balls instead of Sapphire or Onyx. Over time, De Lastre Mundos will accumulate Mugre, which will turn into Blackstone. This process is actually better than finding it naturally because the Silk can be burned to ash, making the removal of Ruby easier. However, the process still takes a good decade to go all the way through, and Young Ruby is chosen because of the risk involved. The Crystal Caste creates Blackstone almost exclusively.

Another use for Blackstone is intentionally connecting it to Aged Ruby, which will puncture through many different types of material on its way to Segundo Mar. The Lumberjack Caste uses this technique to drill through Oak in order to make boats, because it's much faster than cutting it with Onyx knives, though care must be taken to get them removed from one another once they hit a certain point or both will sink to Segundo Mar.

Floating Island Crystals

Unlike underwater crystals, floating island crystals must be surrounded by Cloudsilk or Silkrock in order to transform (depending on the crystal), and they do so over a much longer timespan, so manufacturing them generally isn't practical as it would take hundreds of years to, say, turn Aquamarine into Sapphire. As there is more landmass and floating islands are easier to access and dig through, there really isn't much point anyway, although the Crystal Caste still tries.

Aquamarine -- Aquamarine crystals are a light clearish teal color. They tend to be in cubic or pyramidal chunks that are stuck together, usually between 1-3 chunks per crystal. Aquamarine will turn dark mugre into a very light tannish dust suitable for farming, which is actually composed of all different colors of mugre. It is known as Cielo Mugre. Unlike underwater mugre, Cielo Mugre will never harden and will stay very fine like sand. Aquamarine, therefore, is useful for breaking through underwater mugre in search of crystals or to uproot Oak trees, though the harder the mugre, the slower the process. Aquamarine does not affect Blackstone, which is a completely separate mineral to the mugre that it used to be.

When heated up, Aquamarine will become lighter (not that they're that heavy to begin with). As dust, it will be more effective in turning fine mugre to cielo mugre, and when exposed to heat, it will act similar to helium and try to float away. Extremely fine dust can even float away if exposed to a cool heat source like sunlight (though they are weaker), so Tent corners are coated in the thinnest variants of it to help keep them upright. Larger pieces of dust are used with Globos and Allas; they take more heat to become buoyant, but are much stronger so can pull a lot more with them.

Emerald -- Emerald is a light clearish green crystal with the strangest shape of all the crystals. Over time, its chunks will curve over itself (though keeping some space in between them). They can resemble snails or shells to some extent because of the space that spirals deeper and deeper into the crystal. As the crystal becomes older, the amount of space becomes paper-thin and the amount of "layers" rises as the chunks continue stretching. Emerald has a "separating" effect to it, so is very important to Gold Harvesting.

If submerged, Agua will start bubbling as the oxygen dissolved in it gets separated from the water and rises to the surface. If Emerald Dust gets flung in a container full of Cielo Mugre and the lid closed tight, the mugre will explode, coating the walls of the container with its different colors that have separated from one another (though the gold is still kept within colored mugre). Gold can be removed from colored mugre through a similar process that I will describe when I get to the castes section (though it's sometimes easier to just heat the mugre up). Care must be taken with Emerald Dust, as it is capable of causing Oak to crack and fragment because it is not a homogenous substance.

During a Tormenta Empíreo, Emerald becomes very useful for purifying Corrupted Agua, though it is a slow process. One great thing about this is that the corrupted Agua will separated into mugre and Agua, which will make the Agua regain its strength and get rid of the rest of the mugre dissolved in it. If you can get some corrupted Agua that is a tannish color, and pour it into the snail-like folds of an emerald crystal, it will fragment as the mugre within gets separated from the Agua and then by color. This is the most useful way of fragmenting an Aged Emerald crystal, and Corrupted Agua is actually possible to manufacture:

Amber -- Amber is the final stage of the crystal process. It is a light yellow or orange, and the clearest of all of the crystals. In most cases, it will be perfectly spherical, although if an Aged Emerald crystal is fragmented (and this can happen naturally during Tormenta Empíreos if Emerald is exposed to the surface) it will instead be a thin hemispherical sheet. The latter ones are more useful but rarer to find naturally and it takes decades to make from Aged emerald. Manufacture is still done by the Crystal caste, however, because unlike other sky crystals, it's very easy to tell the age of Emerald. Emerald will start out in cubic chunks like the Aquamarine that preceded it, and will gradually become more and more spherical. Anyway, this section is about Amber, not Emerald:

Owing more to its shape than its hardness, Amber is extremely hard to cut, even with Onyx, though as it gets less spherical it becomes easier. Amber seems to have the ability of absorbing sunlight or other light and releasing it as a vague luminescence when in a spherical shape. This luminescence can last for days, and its strength is reliant on how strong the light source was. As a result, it is possible to create very strong Amber crystals by surrounding them by other amber crystals infused with sunlight. The Sirena are particularly reliant on them for illumination deep underwater, although they prefer the strong directional lighting of crafted Amber crystals rather than the weak omnidirectional lighting of spherical amber crystals.

When cut into long and thin shapes, Amber will instead give off its lighting as directional flashes of persistent lightning. This lightning, however, only lasts for a few seconds as a time (unless combined with gold dust in a Tercero Stick). By curving the amber piece, you can get the lightning to curve in an arc. The Sirena prefer this arc lightning because while the amber is charged, it is a continuous lightning bolt that shifts subtly and curves back to the amber, replenishing it somewhat. Its gently undulating structure is also useful for deeper meditation.

Lightning does not diffuse in water, so stays as lightning in Agua. It also does not harm Vida, so it's perfectly safe to touch and move through it, which one religious ceremony requires. One curious property of it is that it is capable of separating cielo mugre into an extremely extremely fine substance that can fit in through the molecular cracks of Agua and not get dissolved, corrupting it. This lends credence to the theory that Amber is responsible for the lightning during the sky and during Tormenta Empíreos. In any case, this is one way to dilute Agua or manufacture corrupted Agua.

Corrupted Agua -- Corrupted Agua is worth mentioning on its own as well. As I explained before, during a Tormenta Empíreo, Mugre from the sky will get into Agua and corrupt it, making it have less effects (although it still has some, which is how it purifies itself eventually). It's possible to manufacture it, as I said above. One good thing about it is that it has all the properties of water without having the effects of Agua, so the Chef Caste uses it to boil food without destroying it. It can be useful in the steam production process of Silk crafting because it doesn't have to be kept separate from the gold fuel, though it will stain the Silk various colors and corrupt the gold as well.

One place it is extremely useful is in separating mugre into different colors; if a watertight container of corrupted Agua has emerald dust poured into it, the mugre won't be able to get separated from the Agua, but the colors will still be separated into variously colored water. That water can then be stored in separate containers and the emerald removed. The mugre usually isn't removed because colored Agua has its own uses in color working, which I will explain in that caste's section.

Conclusion

God, these updates are ridiculous. The world seems to expand faster than I can finish a single update. Anyway, the next update (which I still want to do tonight) will cover the actual castes, barring any more preliminary stuff I have to do.

Thoughts to any of the above?
Image

User avatar
Xhin
Sanci
Sanci
Posts: 53
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2005 7:05 pm
Location: Elsewhere
Contact:

Re: Océano de la Vida

Post by Xhin »

Okay, onto the actual castes. There are 17 types in all, though there can actually be more castes than that depending on which ones have split off. Note that my Spanish is intentionally grammatically flawed. Anyway, in no particular order:

1. Cartógrafos (Cartographer Caste)

Cartógrafos are almost exclusively men, and conquistadors at that. When not drawing up plans for the Gran Cacería, they are exploring and appraising land in Océano de la Vida for resources the other castes can use. They wield considerable influence over Océano de la Vida because they know where useful resources are, and spend their days exploring even farther reaches of the sea. To communicate with one another over vast distances, they breed Palomas (or at least try, they have issues with their eggs too), large white birds (they're not actually doves) that they have trained to travel to their home Tent complex.

Because the Sea is very easy to get lost in, they have built a system of navigation over time that all castes use throughout the human-explored portions of Océano de la Vida. Basically, spaced in seven directions from the Tent City are what are known as Oak Banderas (or Banderas for short). These are giant Oak sticks that are bolted into an underwater island, and stick about twenty feet from the surface (although that amount changes over time as the underwater island moves up). All seven of them have the tops wrapped in silk that is either blue, green, yellow (golden silk is used instead of yellow mugre), red, purple, brown, or white (and I'll get to colors in a bit). Before color technology, they had three notches, and each notch either had Silk or Golden Silk tied around them. With color technology, the markings are much clearer and easier and can cover more space on the Bandera as well.

Anyway, at the top of a Bandera, a branch of Oak is preserved that will point back towards the Tent City. Additional Banderas are spaced haphazardly away from a Home Bandera that will point back towards it and have markings of their own, and other Banderas can point towards those. What you get, then, is a network of Banderas that point inevitably back to the Tent City. You can get to a specific Bandera by knowing the color coordinates of it, for example [][][] means you go to the blue bandera, then the green bandera near that, then the red bandera near the green bandera. Banderas are fixed as long as the underwater island does not turn into blackrock, so replacing them does not happen very often, while the colors have to be replaced every few Tormenta Empíreos because they will get stained different colors in some places. However, the ones composed of Golden Silk will not.

The rough position of floating islands (they do move around slowly) is mapped by two angles from a specific bandera.

At waist level on the Bandera, there will be a carved notch set into it known as a Brújula, with lines going vertically and horizontally around the Bandera. You can stick a wooden tool known as an Angulo into the Brújula and line it up with the vertical lines to figure out the vertical angle of a floating island, and line it up with the horizontal lines to figure out the horizontal angle of a floating island. Together, you can get a rough idea of where a specific mapped floating island is, although you're usually able to see it anyway. Beneath the surface, there are additional Brújulas which can be used to find the location of underwater islands, whose position never has to be re-measured. The system isn't perfect, but it generally works very well and prevents people from getting lost as well so long as Banderas are maintained.

Cartógrafos that are out exploring will take a Paloma with them, and send it back home once they have found something interesting and mapped out its coordinates. Back home, the coordinates and item of interest will be carved into pieces of wood, or more recently, mapped out on Silk via colored mugre. This information can then be traded with other castes. What Cartógrafos look for in floating islands are exposed crystals, amber or aged emerald (because of their rarity), large Silkrock formations, large mugre fields (especially if they're a homogenous color), definitely new crops they haven't seen before if there are any, etc. In underwater islands, they look for exposed crystals (especially Onyx), large Oak trees, underwater islands without Oak trees (because those are easier to harvest), etc. Blackrock is a priority because it does not stay exposed long, and they will attempt to gather some of it themselves. Same deal with floating islands that are particularly close to the surface. If there is an underwater island a good distance away from a marker and close to the surface, they'll use that as the place for a new marker, which they will try to place that very day provided they have some on hand.

2. Leñadores (Lumberjack Caste)

The Leñadores are responsible for working with Oak. They have mixed genders, but there's a trend towards more males recently, as well as valuing male slaves due to the amount of physical work involved. Originally, they also brought Oak up from underwater islands, but that task has been taken over by the Sirena who are better at it. Oak trees are massive structures that resemble the size of their earth counterparts (hence the name). The Sirenas typically leave them out to dry so the fish eggs will get cleared out and they will at least float. The Leñadores, meanwhile, will take the Oak back to their tent complex, which tends to be a little larger than usual due to the amount of Oak in it. There, they break it down into pieces by size, and further work on it. The largest pieces are made into wooden floors for the Tent City and boats. Medium-sized pieces are used for containers and bowls, while smaller pieces are used for spears, tool handles, given to the Cartógrafos so they can make Angulos or wooden maps, etc. Large branches are notched in a specific pattern, and passed onto Silk Workers, who will "glue" them together with expanded Silk for use in structures (like banderas) that are larger than the Oak tree.

New Oak is typically carved with Ruby Knives, that will have the added effect of burning muerte lodged within the wood (like dead fish eggs). This does not burn hot enough to start a fire. With older or more dried Oak pieces, Onyx knives and saws are used for cutting. To take large holes out (containers, bowls to some extent, boats especially), Blackrock attached to Aged Ruby is utilized. In this process, the piece of wood will be suspended about ten feet over a bed of jagged Onyx. A piece of Blackstone will be attached to Aged Ruby, and it will violently sink through the wood, crashing into the Onyx below that will separate the two. A bottom wooden piece is then silk-glued to the bottom of the hole to make containers, bowls, or boats via the Silk Worker Caste (they'll normally just send one of their workers over). Before you worry that the bottom would fall out of boats, expanded Silk is extremely durable, especially with the way the Leñadores notch the wood that it expands into.

Wood is used for all kinds of things that I will cover in the sections of other castes. The Leñadores are responsible for carving it into the specifications other castes have. They tend to owe Silk Workers and Sirenas the most debt, but it's quickly paid off since both of those are heavily reliant on Oak as well.

3. Prismas (Prismatic Caste)

This caste is responsible for sorting colors out of mugre. As it is a relatively new technology, the genders within it are roughly equal. Mugre, as I've explained before, it either a dark brown or light brown substance. Dark brown mugre is treated as homogenous by emerald, so it must first be treated by Aquamarine. Dark brown mugre is, however, the most easily obtainable, so the Prismas use it and trade off a certain amount of it for those who want to use it for farming. The process here is to take the mugre and expose it to an aquamarine crystal, which will soften and break it up into manageable dust. Then, Aquamarine dust is sprinkled in it to do a more thorough change to Cielo Mugre.

Cielo mugre isn't actually brown, it's just a combination of all the different types of mugre and gold. There are two main processes they use for separating it further, which I've talked about somewhat.

The first process is to take an Oak container which has six equispaced holes cut into the walls of it. These holes are extremely close together, leaving only small pieces of wood to hold it together. Silk cloth is then wrapped to each of the holes, in such a way that it makes pockets. Emerald dust is then set up at the bottom of the container and Cielo Mugre is slowly poured through the top. The emerald will cause the mugre to split apart into six colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple) which will fill the pockets in a mostly uniform way. The pockets can then be detached and refined further, making the colored mugre a pure color. It can take up to 50 refinements to get a color pure, during which time it will also start splitting according to the brightness of the the color, allowing further refinements to get different shades of the same color. The colored mugre produced this way is known as Teñir Mugre, or Teñir for short.

The second process is to use Amber to electrify cielo mugre, and push this fine powder into Agua, creating Corrupted Agua. A large container has the bottom coated with Emerald dust, and corrupted Agua is slowly poured into it. The Agua will explode out at first, but if the pouring is kept at a slow enough pace it will instead start to move apart into differently-colored Agua. Unlike the other technique, this does not always create colored patches in a uniform way (probably because Agua is liquid), so flasks are instead dipped into the corrupted Agua to bring out specific colors. These can then be poured into another container for further refinement. Unlike the dust, it's harder to get finely different shades of color, so every color will typically only have about four or five shades that can be refined from it. The colored corrupted Agua produced this way is known as Agua Pintada (or Pintada for sort).

Colors can be combined by electrifying one color with amber and adding it to Teñir or Pintada in a container and then shaking the container. It's possible to get all kinds of colors this way, although there's only a certain amount of shades to work with, so depending on which ones are used, combined colors can have much more shades available to them than primary colors. One strange thing about colored mugre is that colors that are not close to one another (ex -- blue and yellow) will not mix. So you can't make green from blue and yellow, but you can make cyan from green and blue. Combined colors will also mix with anything close to either of their original colors, but will turn into shaded tan. Tan and shaded tan are usually not desirable.

Roughly speaking, the shade of Teñir or Pintada has to do with how much gold is in it. In very fine and spaced amounts, gold is solid white and will brighten mugre, which without gold is a very dark color.

4. Espléndidos (Ornate Caste)

The Espléndidos compete with the Leñadores to some extent. They were originally part of the Leñadores which broke out to create Oak for its aesthetic value rather than its practical value. They create the same Oak tools, containers, and boats as the Leñadores, but they focus on the ways they can weave colored Silk, gold, and crystals into them and carve them to create more ornate versions. Gran Esclavos and Gran Hedonistas will decorate their houses with things created by Espléndidos, as will those highest in the hierarchy of castes. Their ornate pieces are also used in religious ceremonies. On the practical side, they do make Oak bowls that have ruby dust already embedded in them for easier heating. Due to being an offshoot of the Leñadores, the Espléndidos are mostly men.

5. Cielo Recolectores (Sky Gatherer Caste)

The Cielo Recolectores, or Recolectores for short, are responsible for gathering materials from floating islands. They are mostly female, but it has at least become popular among men more recently for some reason. Most of what they do is gathering Silkrock.

To do this, they first find a floating island via the Cartógrafos that is either close to the surface or has a small amount of Silkrock, so they're not harvesting from an island that would otherwise be inhabited at some point. Silkrock may look uniform on the surface, but it tapers to a point near sky crystals due to its effects of solidifying Silk. Silkrock, therefore, is composed of inverted pyramidal chunks about ten to thirty feet across and six to eight feet deep. First, they must burn the Silkrock in an area to reveal the cracks underneath that separate chunks. They do this by pouring gold over the surface and melting it with Ruby crystals attached to long Oak sticks. Once they reach a certain depth, they then cool the gold with Sapphire attached to long Oak sticks and remove it. Once a Silk chunk is revealed, they dig through the sides of it a couple inches and then saw into it about three feet. Inside the Silk they place corrupted Agua and Aquamarine dust, and seal the hole with insulated gold wires. They then use their Ruby sticks to heat the gold wires, which heats the corrupted Agua and Aquamarine within. Over time, this will cause the surface of the Silkrock to expand like a balloon, pulling the Silkrock chunk the rest of the way out. The balloon section is then cut, and it can then be carried to whoever requests it via attaching it to Globos.

They also will retrieve the crystals at the base of Silkrock chunks. Lastly, they also harvest Cloudsilk, although there is tons of it around and not much demand for it. If there is demand, they will cut through it with large shear-like tools composed of interlocking Onyx knives. It is then wrapped in Silk and transported to the Sirenas or Pescadores.

It can take years to harvest a single island, but they generally prefer harvesting from new islands after they've cleared the surface Silkrock because deeper chunks are harder to remove.

6. Seda Trabajadores (Silk Worker Caste)

Next up are the Seda Trabajadores, which I'm instead going to call the Silk Workers as I have been. They are not "mostly female", they are *all* female. If they marry into another caste, they exclusively live there. Silk working is a closely guarded secret, unlike other technologies. This caste is responsible for refining Silkrock into different types and shapes of Silk, as well as creating Globos and the smaller ones used in Allas. As Silk is so essential and has so many different uses, this female-only caste wields considerable influence over Océano de la Vida. There have been some attempts to establish new castes that aren't related to it, but that turns out to be impossible because of the skill that is required for Silkworking.

The process is simple enough. Take an Oak bowl and fill it with Ruby dust (if it isn't already), then sprinkle Gold onto the ruby dust. A piece of Silkrock is suspended over the bowl and as the gold heats up, Agua is slowly added so that it turns to steam and goes in through the pores of Silkrock, turning it into Silk. Adding the right amount of Agua can be tricky; add too little and the steam won't do much, and add too much and it won't turn into steam quickly enough and will fall below and dissolve the gold. The really hard part though is directing the flow of the steam and the temperature of the gold fire to produce Silk with different hardness levels. To control the process, a Silk Worker holds two Reguladores in each hand, which are a stick coated in emerald or amethyst dust (the only truly neutral crystals, which keep the Oak from burning) attached to two Ruby crystals, and one attached to a Sapphire crystal on one side and an Onyx crystal on the other.

The Ruby regulador will heat up gold, while the Sapphire/Onyx will cool it down in different ways. The sapphire/Onyx crystal is also used for condensing steam to some extent, which due to Agua steam's peculiar properties, will drag it in a certain direction. Slaves or low-ranking members of the caste will usually pour the Agua slowly, as the Silk worker controls how the Silk forms. Silk made this way will turn a slight golden hue due to the gold dust that no one knows about (except that one chick I described before who discovered it).

Silk can also be colored by a process known as Staining. In this case, it's important to add some Emerald dust to the gold to make sure it doesn't get absorbed into the steam and the Silk created will be completely white. Then, instead of pouring Agua, you pour Pintada. If you do it right, the mugre won't fall and corrupt the gold. And the Silk will be colored whatever the Pintada color is. While Pintada will eventually dissolve, Silk colored this way does not uncolor itself because the steam is diffuse enough in the Silk to not regain its healing properties. This is also why the surface of Silkrock will be stained a certain color.

Thinner silk can then be woven into rope or kept as it is and passed along to Clothing makers or Tent builders, while thicker silk can be worked into containers or Silk balls which are useful for various things (like De Lastre Mundos).

In order to make Globos, a LOT of heat is needed, and typically a full Silkrock chunk is used rather than a small section. If they don't want to ask Leñadores for a favor, Silk workers will use the boats they already have. The process is the same, except more Ruby dust and gold are needed, and Aquamarine dust is also added to the mix. Globos are not fully buoyant, they will drift down like balloons in earth that have lost some air. This is important so that insulated gold wires and ruby crystals can be added so the Globo controller can handle how their balloon moves.

As far as Silk "glue" is concerned (what holds boats and containers together, as well as provides for Banderas), Oak is notched by Leñadores a certain way on both ends. Silk Workers will then push soft Silkrock in the cracks and inflate it with the normal process, keeping a hard Silkrock that has nevertheless expanded through the Oak. It will also expand the Oak slightly, drawing the pieces of wood close together. The resultant piece is stronger than the wood itself because the Silk is actively pushing the wood pieces together.

7. Oros (Gold Harvester Caste)

Oros are gold harvesters. Oros are predominantly male, ex-conquistadors especially. As you can tell, Gold is a valuable fuel source, ornate decoration, and is useful in wires, etc. Oros are responsible for harvesting and developing it. The first thing is to get some natural Cielo Mugre, as it's naturally rich in gold. Ruby crystals are then added to it, which will cause the gold in it to melt and sink to the bottom, which is then cooled with Sapphire crystals and the rest of the mugre removed. Done a few times, pure melted gold can be gathered. To create the highly useful powdered gold, solid gold is scraped against fragmented Ruby crystals. The heat from them keeps the surface of the gold loose, and the shape means pieces are scraped off more easily.

To create insulated gold wires, there is a Sapphire crystal that has a wire-shaped hole cut in one side. Melted gold is then poured inside and the wire is removed after it cools. It is coated in Onyx dust and wrapped with Silk. The silk keeps the wire from dissolving in Agua, and the Onyx keeps the outer part of the gold solid and keeps the Silk from burning. Insulated Gold wires are a great way of heating Vida or heating Muerte without having to heat it directly with Ruby.

8. Sirenas (lit. Mermaids)

Sirenas are a combination of a bunch of older castes, one of which still exists. They are slightly patriarchal because they had more men at one time, but due to their higher birth rates, they now have more women than men. They are notable for their self-sufficiency and for immediately training their young, rather than keeping them as Hedonists who become Concubinas. As they have learned how to breathe underwater without drowning, they spend most of their time underwater and have a near-complete monopoly on all the underwater resources. They also know how to bring Oak to the surface without disturbing the fish within, which is a remarkable feat considering that doing so kills them.

The first piece of underwater tech is getting rid of Oak, as it makes further harvesting of underwater islands difficult. On the surface they will have a Globo that has Aquamarine dust in it but is not floating, so it will bob on the surface. Attached to the base of it are long ropes. Using spherical Amber for illumination (the lightning versions would disturb the fish), they will attach these ropes to branches of the Oak tree. They will then cut into the tree slowly and fill it with Amethyst, which will knock the fish out. They tell no one of this technique, because they prefer to be thought of as able to coax the fish, rather than simply drugging them. A team of them will then go in and apply Aquamarine to the base of the tree, loosening the mugre that is holding it in place, as a team on the surface will connect Ruby to Gold wire on the Globo and cause it to rise up, slowly bringing the Oak tree up with it. Fish will scatter everywhere, so this is a good opportunity to do some fishing, the technique which is identical to that of the Pescadores, so I'll cover it in their section. It doesn't take more than a few hours to dry an Oak tree out enough for it to float and its eggs to die, if Ruby is applied to key points that the Sirenas know well. The ropes are then unattached and the Leñadores retrieve the tree.

The next piece of tech is pulling Mugre up from underwater islands. This is actually pretty complicated because it tends to dissolve if separated from its crystals so it can't be haphazardly carved out, and cielo mugre dissolves instantly in water but turning mugre into cielo mugre is necessary to get a chunk to actually loosen up. How it's done, then, is to apply aquamarine to the middle of a section and go deep within it, and then plant a Sapphire crystal. Amethyst dust is then used to coat the surface of it, and as Aquamarine cuts into it, more amethyst dust is applied. Eventually, you have a section of Mugre a few feet across that has been cut down, and you can cut it the rest of the way, applying amethyst as you go. Silk is tightly stretched around it and tied together, and the package is carried to the top. You'll lose some mugre this way, but not enough to make a difference.

Once on dry land, Aquamarine can be used to cut into the mugre and remove the crystals within (including the one that was planted).

Like with floating islands, it can take years to fully harvest a floating island, though again, newer ones are usually preferred because the process is easier if crystal is exposed (plus you know what you're getting).

9. Pescadores (Fishermen Caste)

Pescadores are fishermen. They are mostly male. They compete heavily with the Sirenas, mostly by spending all their time fishing rather than doing other tasks. Since they really only have one useful skill and they're in competition with Sirenas, they are slowly dying out as their caste becomes poorer and more of them leave to do other things. Their technique for catching fish is to go to where a group of large ones are (at least a hundred feet underwater; they simply refuse to go higher on their own for some reason), and stab them with Oak harpoons, which will hurt them but they will heal back up instantly. They will, however, move away from the harpoon, so they can be repeatedly stabbed. When they get near the surface, they are caught in Cloudsilk nets and then killed the rest of the way with Onyx knives. Via this technique, they can usually catch 10-20 at once, which are then killed and dried (to make sure they're dead). When they're dead, agua is sprinkled over them to dissolve the undesirable parts of their bodies, and the rest can be traded to other castes as food.

10. Allas Fabricantes (Allas Caste, aka those cool things that let you fly)

Allas Fabricantes were one of the castes that tried to duplicate Silk Workers but failed. They are predominantly male. Along the way though they did learn how to craft Allas, which are extremely useful for personal transport. They do craft their own balloons in a similar process to that of the Recolectores. Their processes are considerably more advanced than that of the Recolectores, however.

Taking a long thin chunk of Silkrock (Allas are made in different sizes for differently-sized people, so this size can vary), they will cut a slit a couple inches from one end of it and fill it with a mixture of five parts Aquamarine dust, one part Sapphire dust, and four parts Agua. They will then close it with insulated gold wires which are held together in a wooden clamp which is notched in a similar way to the bottoms of boats. Pieces of the Silk around the slit are carefully pushed into the notches. Ruby is then applied, simultaneously heating up the aquamarine and Agua, which causes the Silk to reach its natural buoyancy levels and simultaneously be pushed into the wooden notch, gluing the whole contraption together. This is done three times, giving the Ala Fabricante three mildly buoyant balloons naturally attached to Silkrock.

These are then spaced in a Y-shape and attached via the same Silk-glue method to a wooden brace. Branching from it are hinged wooden levers which either push the balloon or connect Ruby crystals to the gold wires near them. This is sort of difficult to describe without a flowchart, so that's why I haven't gone into too much detail about how the levers are constructed.

Allas Fabricantes also add the finishing touches to Globos (the sealed wires and Ruby).

11. Chancho Entrenadores (Pig Trainer Caste)

Humans have a strange relationship with pigs. They are kept as domesticated pets, used as sources of cheap but slow labor, occasionally worshiped, and
once a Tormenta are cooked and eaten.

Chancho Entrenadores are responsible for training pigs. I won't go over the techniques they use, mostly because I haven't developed them and I doubt I'd be able to do, but needless to say they are the ones that make them responsive to the commands of their human masters, whether in a working or ritualistic context.

Chancho Entrenadores were originally predominantly male (because pigs were imported from Conquistador ships), but have turned into being predominantly female as the males don't consider it worth their time, and more females tend to have pigs as pets than males.

12. Cristalos (Crystal Caste)

Cristalos are responsible for creating and shaping crystals as well as Blackstone. As I explained previously, crystals can be shattered easily by bashing them between fragmented Ruby pieces. They can also be cut with Onyx saws. Shaped crystals are attached to wooden handles, a layer of emerald or amethyst dust, and wrapped with Silk. For crystal tools that won't be used in hot or cold environments (like for Pescadores), the layer of Amethyst dust is not necessary.

Cristalos also work on creating Blackstone by suspending De Lastre Mundos with ruby in the middle. When one rises to the surface, they quickly burn through the Silk, release the Ruby, and mold the Blackstone. They also slowly convert crystals by keeping them in tanks of Agua.

Cristalos are mostly female, although there are a few male Cristalos and always have been.

13. Clérigos (Priest Caste)

The Clérigos are notable for all belonging to the same caste, despite being priests of wildly different religions. The reason for this is so they can share their expertise and rituals they have learned to do more effectively with other religions. They do not spend much time in their Home tent, instead going to the Tents or Houses of their worshippers or general areas that can hold many followers. Sirenas, while fiercely independent, also have representation in the priest caste. Perhaps it is the lack of a requirement for staying in the home tent that makes it easier for them to join the ranks of Clérigos. Whatever the reason, they add their rich heritage to other religions in various ways.

Clérigos are aggressively egalitarian; depending on the religion, they are either all female or all male, or there are specialized roles for males and females. The makeup of the Clérigos caste is roughly equal, however, with a slight emphasis on men.

14. Contratistas (House/Tent Builder Caste)

The Contratistas are responsible for actually building Tents (on the surface) and Houses (on floating islands). I have explained how those are built in different sections (and this post is far too long already to repeat myself). Because of the amount of physical labor required, they are predominantly men.

15. Gran Cocineros (Chef Caste)

The Gran Cocineros are responsible for cooking. As I explained before, Agua is capable of keeping you from hunger, but food is necessary for basic human comfort. As food does not decay, the Gran Cocineros will usually keep huge containers of food in boats outside of their Tent complex, free for all to take. For large elaborate feasts (for example, the Festejo de Cerdos) or specific dishes that are not available outside, favors are called in by castes. Powder of various crystals is a good flavoring agent. Here is a list of kings crystals and their flavor:

Onyx -- metallic, generally not used in food except in more recent techniques.
Sapphire -- bitter but rich, sort of a combination of hazelnut, pine nut, and other flavorful nuts.
Amethyst -- These crystals are wondrous. While they have a vague jasmin taste to them, they can taste like completely unrelated spices (like basil, mustard seed, paprika, etc) for completely arbitrary reasons. Crystals seem to have a uniform flavor, however, so it's theorized that the flavor has something to do with the shape of the crystal. Milder-tasting crystals seem to have less fragments in their shape, so those are used as the actual tranquilizer, while a small sprinkling of flavorful amethyst is enough to give something a robust taste without knocking out its consumer.
Ruby -- spicy, sort of a cross between black pepper and cinnamon.
Aquamarine -- extremely sweet and leafy, sort of like spinach and kiwi with a bunch of sugar added.
Emerald -- Emerald has a kind of sour fruit taste to it, sort of a cross between green apple and cranberry.
Amber -- Amber tastes like honey, until you cook it. Then it becomes rich slightly-salty umami.

I haven't really worked out the dishes they serve precisely, but I will cover that in the revamped agriculture section. Gran Cocineros are mostly female, although there has been an upsurge in the number of males recently.

As Gran Cocineros are highly specialized in cutting food, and often have the sharpest Onyx knives, they are tasked with El Mil Infiernos, which thankfully doesn't happen that often.

16. Lechugores (Lechugo Caste)

Ah, Lechugo. I keep mentioning this without mentioning what other vegetables are (which I will also cover in the agriculture section). The importance of Lechugo is its psychoactive and hallucinogenic properties, which the Lechugores cultivate and process into usable forms. Once dried and dead, Lechugo can be filled in an Oak pipe and set on fire with Ruby. After that -- use your imagination.

Lechugores also experiment on formulas of Lechugo with Amethyst dust and Extracto de Café, as well as other psychoactive plants that have been discovered over time.

Lechugores are mostly males, as they originally started as the husbands of Gran Cocineros. It is rapidly becoming more egalitarian, however.

17. Ropa Fabricantes (Clothing Caste)

This caste is responsible for creating clothing from thin Silk. Generally, both males and females wear pants-like and shirt-like clothing while working, while robes are also unisex and used for leisure and ritualistic purposes. The main difference between the sexes clothing-wise is the colors they wear. Men tend to have much brighter and fiery colors (red, orange, yellow), while women have darker hues and cooler colors (green, blue, purple). As Prismas are a relatively new caste, the color choice is based on religious beliefs (the fiery colors and day sky are said to reflect men, while the cool colors and night sky reflect women), which quickly turned into fashion.

Ropa Fabricantes will begin with colored Silk that Silk Workers have crafted (white is reserved mostly for religious purposes). They can stain Silk clothing in a very controlled way by using Teñir (colored mugre). The way they do this is by filling a pipe with Teñir and shooting lightning from Amber through it. The mouth end of the pipe is then pushed along the Silk, the smoke staining the Silk in a much more controlled way. They use this technique to create patterns and overall change the color of a piece of clothing.

Sandals are also created via thin pieces of Silkrock and Silk ropes, although a considerable number of people in Océano de la Vida (especially near the sea) go barefoot.

Ropa Fabricantes also create tattoos through a similar technique, except the skin is simultaneously cut and then healed with Agua. This is a very painful process, but often very worth it. Tattoos do eventually wash out (the Agua in your bloodstream seems to be drawn to it), but this process can be slowed via amethyst dust.

Conclusion

So yes, hopefully this will give you some idea about what all of the castes do, and how reliant they are on one another.

Thoughts? Comments? Questions?
Image

User avatar
Qwynegold
Smeric
Smeric
Posts: 1606
Joined: Thu May 24, 2007 11:34 pm
Location: Stockholm

Re: Océano de la Vida (7 crystals and 17 castes on page 2)

Post by Qwynegold »

Xhin wrote:So the factor here is that physical youth is prized sexually, and Concubinas have the added benefit of aging roughly three times as slowly as normal people.
So they have sex with people who look like children? oO
Xhin wrote:
Wait, pork does not get digested at all?
Not substantially, no. If you drink Agua with it, it won't digest at all, but you'll get a little bit from it if you don't. No one has any idea why pigs are singled out.
Ewwwww!
Xhin wrote:I tend to use crystals a lot in my conworlds because I like them and they make cool energy sources or programming crysals or whatever in irl conworlds (though I can't remember which ones specifically.
In Stargate they have these computer crystal thingies. I don't understand at all how they work. :/
Xhin wrote:First of all, in its dust form it is a powerful tranquilizer.
So one could use this when doing surgery to remove something that has become alive inside one's body?
Xhin wrote:Secondly, Amethyst seems to give off some kind of field that keeps muerte from dissolving in Agua.
So why not attach amethysts dust to everything you don't want dissolving?

What was the transformation cycle of crystals again?
Xhin wrote:they breed Palomas (or at least try, they have issues with their eggs too), large white birds (they're not actually doves) that they have trained to travel to their home Tent complex
So what birds are they, and where did they come from?
Xhin wrote:In this process, the piece of wood will be suspended about ten feet over a bed of jagged Onyx. A piece of Blackstone will be attached to Aged Ruby, and it will violently sink through the wood, crashing into the Onyx below that will separate the two. A bottom wooden piece is then silk-glued to the bottom of the hole to make containers, bowls, or boats via the Silk Worker Caste (they'll normally just send one of their workers over).
I don't understand what the onyx is for. Why not just measure the exact distance a certain ruby makes a certain blackrock fall, and then place the piece of oak underneath. So for example if you have a blackrock that will fall exactly two meters, and you want to make a bowl that has a 5 cm thick bottom, just suspend the blackrock 205 cm over the floor and let it sink into the piece of oak.

You need to make pictures of cloudsilk and silkstone. I also want illustrations of crystals. ;)
Image
My most recent quiz:
Eurovision Song Contest 2018

User avatar
Xhin
Sanci
Sanci
Posts: 53
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2005 7:05 pm
Location: Elsewhere
Contact:

Re: Océano de la Vida (7 crystals and 17 castes on page 2)

Post by Xhin »

So they have sex with people who look like children? oO
No, they have sex with people who look age 12 or older. This isn't Pitcairn Island! :P

Puberty, basically. Mentally, they're 30-year olds who haven't gone through puberty yet and have been treated as spoiled children.
Ewwwww!
Yeah, it's better to not go into that kind of thing in this world.
In Stargate they have these computer crystal thingies. I don't understand at all how they work. :/
Yeah, that's probably it. I watched a lot of stargate back when I started using crystals in conworlds. Cool system!
So one could use this when doing surgery to remove something that has become alive inside one's body?
Because amethyst dust is a tranquilizer, not an analgesic. It'll remove mental issues (the idea in fish of dying once the Oak tree gets removed; the idea in pregnant women of drowning or getting attacked by fish while staying mostly underwater for nine months), but not pain. Part of the reason the Lechugores have been experimenting with their various drugs is to try to find an analgesic, since they have to see their wives perform El Mil Infiernos when the situation arises.

It's possible that it would calm, say, the fish down. But you'd have to get the fish to eat it, which would take time and it's obviously better to do El Mil Infiernos immediately.
So why not attach amethysts dust to everything you don't want dissolving?
Beause its effects are too weak. It's more that it slows down the dissolution of muerte, rather than preventing it. With tattoos, it'll keep the tattoo from dissolving longer, but won't prevent it entirely. With the process by which Sirenas cut rocks off, it'll slow the rate at which mugre dissolves (but the crystal in the middle and the hardness of the mugre does that too), but some will still dissolve. In it's powdery form, it's most effective if the thing you're trying to protect is also powdery, though that's true with all powdery crystals and their effects.
What was the transformation cycle of crystals again?
1. Onyx is formed in Segundo Mar by a process I haven't covered yet (saving that for the mindfuck update). Onyx are black giant foot-long crystals.

2. Onyx will shatter into Sapphire crystals, which look like deep blue broken crystals.

3. Sapphire will turn into Amethyst, which are fragmented-looking purple crystals (like irl amethyst).

4. Amethyst will turn into Ruby, which look the same but are harder and reddish.

5. Ruby will sink back into Segundo Mar, and a process there will turn Blackstone into Cloudsilk and Ruby into Aquamarine, which are light clear teal cubic/pyramidal chunks stuck together.

6. Aquamarine will turn into Emerald, where the chunks start curving over themselves like a snail and the crystal itself is light clearish green.

7. Emerald will turn to Amber, which is a perfectly spherical (unless the emerald shattered) light and highly transparent yellow crystal.

8. Amber will sink down into Segundo Mar, where who knows what happens to it (just so you know, it does NOT turn into Onyx, causing the cycle to repeat).
So what birds are they, and where did they come from?
From earth. Someone was lucky enough to have two of them, unlike other birds like parrots that exist but are by themselves. Also, they're those white tall birds I can't think of the name of. I want to say birds-of-paradise, but those aren't usually white and I think that's incorrect.
I don't understand what the onyx is for. Why not just measure the exact distance a certain ruby makes a certain blackrock fall, and then place the piece of oak underneath.
Because in the Oak container example I gave (telling when a ruby has become aged), the blackstone isn't attached to the ruby. It'll still get affected, and bore a hole through the container, but after an inch or so its boring effects will slow down and eventually stop at 10 feet (although gravity will still take over). If the blackstone is actually attached to the ruby, then it'll continue boring down as long as there's something underneath, so you need Onyx at the bottom to break the two pieces apart violently. Blackstone will still bore through things in the ten foot range, it'll just do it extremely extremely slowly, as the field's power seems to be exponential or even logarithmic.
You need to make pictures of cloudsilk and silkstone. I also want illustrations of crystals.
Yeah, I might be able to do that. Drawing isn't really my forte though.
Image

User avatar
Xhin
Sanci
Sanci
Posts: 53
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2005 7:05 pm
Location: Elsewhere
Contact:

Re: Océano de la Vida

Post by Xhin »

Image
Image

User avatar
Torco
Smeric
Smeric
Posts: 2372
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:45 pm
Location: Santiago de Chile

Re: Océano de la Vida (Crystals & Landscape Art/Chart on pag

Post by Torco »

this world sounds awesome for a Ocarina of Time style Adventure RPG

Kezdő
Sanci
Sanci
Posts: 44
Joined: Thu Apr 19, 2012 8:08 pm

Re: Océano de la Vida (Crystals & Landscape Art/Chart on pag

Post by Kezdő »

Torco wrote:this world sounds awesome for a Ocarina of Time style Adventure RPG
Tell me about it, I'm getting incredible Terraria vibes from this.

User avatar
Torco
Smeric
Smeric
Posts: 2372
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:45 pm
Location: Santiago de Chile

Re: Océano de la Vida (Crystals & Landscape Art/Chart on pag

Post by Torco »

oh, yeah, a sandbox! soo-weet!
also, decide on a name already xD

User avatar
Xhin
Sanci
Sanci
Posts: 53
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2005 7:05 pm
Location: Elsewhere
Contact:

Re: Océano de la Vida (Crystals & Landscape Art/Chart on pag

Post by Xhin »

You guys aren't far off; the crystals system was inspired partially by the crystals system in an adventure game I was working on a while back which itself was heavily inspired by twilight princess.

Also, the limited resources/technology was based heavily off of minecraft. The world was designed in such a way that it would make an excellent minecraft mod (although that wasn't the intention).
Image

User avatar
Xhin
Sanci
Sanci
Posts: 53
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2005 7:05 pm
Location: Elsewhere
Contact:

Re: Océano de la Vida (Crystals & Landscape Art/Chart on pag

Post by Xhin »

The mindfuck update -- Part 1

Gran Cacería -- to Segundo Mar

As she had spent several years already working to become a Sirena, it only took Ora a few extra weeks to complete her training. Finally, she was ready to explore Segundo Mar. Accompanying her were three Sirenas.

They dove to depths even Sirenas didn't dare venture to; the bottom layer of underwater islands, only a few hundred feet above the swirling gray mass of Segundo Mar. At one of the islands they tied a long Silk rope; two of the Sirenas would bring it with them as they went down so they didn't get lost. On her back, Ora carried a container of Agua. While everyone had flasks of their own, as Segundo Mar was sure to be corrupted Agua, if not worse, Ora's intuition told her to bring an entire container for some reason.

With their Tercero Sticks in hand, they dove to Segundo Mar. They were the first to truly experience it up close -- towering waves tens of feet high that would undulate up and down slowly, carrying the muerte of the second sea with them. Every so often there would be one wave taller than the rest that would move quickly, rippling over the surface. Segundo Mar was coarse to the touch, but seemed to be no different than a sea of Mugre. Strangely, trying to bring the substance out of Segundo Mar would cause it to dissolve and stream back down through your hand or anything you were trying to carry it in.

Despite the safety of Segundo Mar, there was still a tangible sense of foreboding. Every explorer could feel it, a pounding sense of "Avoid this place". Nerving themselves, the explorers dived into it.

Segundo Mar

What lay beneath the surface of Segundo Mar was a different world entirely. Here the waves were stronger, threatening to carry you along with them. All explorers clutched the Silk rope tightly and continued to swim down. The tercero sticks proved to be useless -- the lightning would only agitate the mugre and cause it to vibrate violently. So they swam in darkness, deeper and deeper. The waves slowed down again, though Tercero sticks were still useless. They began to hear deep rumbling noises that preceded the slow waves of Segundo Mar. The deeper they went, the louder the noises were, until wave and noise were one and they were carried by the sound.

After one particularly strong wave, Ora felt the water pressure leaving her. She instinctively looked down-- and spun through air towards a glittering surface.

Below Segundo Mar

A second of blinding pain, and Ora was standing up. She was standing on a gleaming jagged field of clear crystals. Her Agua container had ruptured, instantly healing her as she had smashed onto them. She looked around. Above her head, a few hundred feet up, was a shifting solid black mass -- Surely Segundo Mar. As far as she could see, there was a field of clear jagged crystals in strange formations, sometimes halfway to Segundo Mar, other times there were pits that went deep below. The horizon was bizarre -- unlike the surface world it did not curve but instead there was a shifting luminescent fog between endless crystal field and endless segundo mar.

As the Agua stopped healing her, she slowly became aware of a bitter cold, mixed with vague breezes of extremely hot and humid air. Her feet were freezing too, as though she were standing on ice. And as she lifted them up-- the crystals melted below her. Yes, she was standing on ice; the entire field was Agua ice in scintillating formations. The very air itself seemed to glow with an electric radiance that would sparkle in the endless facets of the Agua ice field.

Only then did she decide to look around for her companions. Two of the Sirenas were sitting on Agua ice near their dangling Silk rope just looking around at everything, while the other -- ouch. The ice did not seem to heal him, so she poured what Agua she could find to bring his shattered body back to life.

They just stood there, not saying a word, for a few minutes. But this was interrupted when the rumbling began again, and this time they couldn't ignore it.

The Electric Train

The rumbling began far off in the distance where the fog began shifting violently. Through the clear crystals far away they could see a bright yellow light move quickly beneath the surface of the field. Electric sparks shot out of it, burning Agua Ice solid black as they shattered off the main formation. And this electric train was moving. right. at. them.

Without thinking, Ora grabbed the rope, and started climbing, her companions not far behind her. From the looks of things, they had less than a minute to get back to Segundo Mar.

As the electricity moved towards them, they could see whole chunks of Agua Ice shift position and slam into one another, tectonic plates of ice floating on electric currents. In gaps in between them sparks would fly out, burning the edges of Agua Ice black and turning them into what could only be Onyx. The sparks would also drag Segundo Mar down in a swirling vortex, Agua turning to steam and the whole area turning into a hot humid wind which would push its way towards the explorers faster than the electric train. As the gap slammed back shut, Segundo Mar would rise back up and form a wave. As if this were not bad enough, storms were rapidly forming in this deep underground as the hot humid air and the freezing cold air swirled together. Ora climbed quicker, driven by adrenalin and the chaos brewing below her.

At the last possible second, the electric train dimmed and faded, only a few hundred feet away from their fragile little rope. The crystal shifting slowed, but the storms only seemed to pick up more pace, swirling together into a huge tornado that lifted the shattered Onyx pieces up through it and through Segundo Mar, presumably forming underwater islands as it went. After a while, this too died down and the breezes slowed. Ora breathed a sigh of relief, and her and her companions went back down the rope.

Gran Cacería -- Into The Core

When the electric train started, Ora felt fear and a powerful adrenalin rush. But she also felt that same sense of foreboding that she had felt before venturing into Segundo Mar, and this time it was focused on whatever that energy was. She was afraid of it, but she was drawn to it. Her companions didn't want to admit it, but they were too. She knew this was her best chance for reaching the core -- whatever the electric thing was, it had separated formations of Agua Ice into deep ravines and created a way down.

As she carefully walked towards the closest ravine, she noticed the explorers weren't the only one seeking it. Pieces of blackstone she kept in her pocket to help her breathe underwater just in case her training failed ripped their way out of her pocket and slid down the crevasse. Unlike on the surface world, they did not sink straight down, but rather angled for the closest ravine. Small pieces were also falling from Segundo Mar, angled straight for the ravine. Her tercero stick also yanked itself free from her hand and bounced its way down into the ravine. All around her, pieces of silkrock with deeply embedded Amber were flying out of Segundo Mar and falling into ravines. Who knew from how far away they had come. Like the blackrock, they were completing their cycle, falling into The Core. She felt herself guided to it as well, as though she too were part of the cycle.

She stopped at the edge and looked down. Her companions did too, and what they saw made them flee, giving excuses like "Well, we DID go below Segundo Mar. We fulfilled our part of the deal." as they ran back towards the rope and shimmied up it. She couldn't blame them. She'd have to do this part alone if she did it at all. Hearing rumbling out in the distance, she knew she had to make the choice right now. So carefully, she began climbing down the ravine, holding onto jutting Agua Ice.

Into the Ravine

The going was slow, but the ice became warmer the deeper she went, yet refused to melt into Agua. It became less slippery too; easier to hold onto and less cold to the touch. After what seemed like forever, she was at the bottom -- the crystal field abrubtly stopped here with only air below her, and she found herself gazing once again into the face of Mar Tercero.

She had always wondered why the stars in the night sky never changed position, no matter how many Tormenta Empíreos had passed. Lowered by a Silk rope attached to the bottom of the crystal ravine, now she knew. The bottom of the crystal field was perfectly smooth and black, but coated with giant Amber formations. Those spherical crystals had fused together into massive spherical rocks. Below her was a very familiar swirling sea of colored mugre. Somehow the bottom of the world was also the top of the sky.

All around her, lightning bolts would shoot out of the "stars" and form kaleidoscopic formations in the gold-enhanced mugre below. What she was seeing was the night sky, as beautiful from above as it was from below.

She had dived below the First Sea at the end of the night, wanting to enjoy it one more time before going below. As she and her companions dived through the Second Sea, the night was ending. And as she found herself face to face with the Third Sea, the day was starting. To herald its approach, a strong rumbling began to shake every bone in her body.

The Sun

In front of her, a massive train of energy was moving below the crystal field, causing changes in the world above. But this train of energy was only a small wave of another far more massive mountain of energy, the sun itself. And this seemed to be purposely coming towards her. Gravity became strange, and she was no longer dangling from the rope but floating in the field of this thing, both the core and the sun of this world. Blackrock islands floated in front of it, and as the sun reached them, they melted, turned white hot, and violently expanded through ravines as Cloudsilk, rushing towards the surface as the gravity switched. Amber and Silkrock pieces would swarm and fly up to the stars, shooting lightning as they went.

Like her experience with Mar Tercero, she could feel millions of -- entities in that sun. Watching her. Waiting. As the sun came towards her.

End of Part 1
Image

User avatar
Torco
Smeric
Smeric
Posts: 2372
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:45 pm
Location: Santiago de Chile

Re: Océano de la Vida (Mindfuck Update pt 1 on page 2)

Post by Torco »

sooo... toroidal [hypertoroidal?] spatial geometry ? nais! gives it a 'pocket' vibe, a self-contained parentheses in the multiverse. me likely.

what's this about electrical trains, though? how does Ora know anything about electricity?

Astraios
Sumerul
Sumerul
Posts: 2974
Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2010 2:38 am
Location: Israel

Re: Océano de la Vida (Mindfuck Update pt 1 on page 2)

Post by Astraios »

You can very easily know what electricity is without knowing how to use it.

User avatar
Torco
Smeric
Smeric
Posts: 2372
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:45 pm
Location: Santiago de Chile

Re: Océano de la Vida (Mindfuck Update pt 1 on page 2)

Post by Torco »

Astraios wrote:You can very easily know what electricity is without knowing how to use it.
Ya think so? I mean it's invisible, and pretty counterintuitive! wouldn't she have gotten electrocuted, or doesn't Agua conduct electricitiy? also, trains? didn't inhabitants hail from the fifteenth century or something? what do they know about trains, let alone electricity?

I know, I'm nitpicking, but nitpicking about your work should be considered flattery.

User avatar
Xhin
Sanci
Sanci
Posts: 53
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2005 7:05 pm
Location: Elsewhere
Contact:

Re: Océano de la Vida (Mindfuck Update pt 1 on page 2)

Post by Xhin »

sooo... toroidal [hypertoroidal?] spatial geometry ?
Well, if you noticed, there was no curve in the crystal field. The area from the bottom of the crystal field to the top of Segundo Mar is completely flat and curved through the fourth dimension onto itself, like some kind of tesseract. Because of the way it works, the rest of the space (from the bottom of the crystal field/top of the sky to the start of segundo mar) is curved like a normal planet. Some of this curve is actually distributed the other way in Segundo Mar, which is why blackrock and silkrock were coming from all over the place despite there being no blackrock or fallen silkrock anywhere in the human habitated area.
what's this about electrical trains, though? how does Ora know anything about electricity?
Ya think so? I mean it's invisible, and pretty counterintuitive!
It's more like a giant ball of lightning than it is "electricity". I call it a "train" because that's the shape it's in, a few thousand feet across but miles and miles long. The radiance is a combination of lightning and sunlight, sort of a bright yellow rather than a solid white or orange/yellow. The "sun" in general is bright but it doesn't blind you to look at it.
wouldn't she have gotten electrocuted, or doesn't Agua conduct electricitiy?
regular water doesn't conduct electricity; you're thinking of either the solutions in it (like salt) or electric potential so high that it breaks the covalent bonds and EVERYTHING at that potential conducts electricity.

In any case, for some reason none of the lightning on the planet affects Vida. In the case of Agua, lightning will go through it as though it were air rather than get conducted. This is due to the fact that crystal effects do not affect Vida, so like how Ruby must go through gold (which is muerte) to heat something, Amber lightning does not affect Vida either.

It's also worth mentioning that the lightning isn't what it appears to be, although that should be pretty obvious once you realize it's persistency and inability to electrocute Vida.
also, trains? didn't inhabitants hail from the fifteenth century or something? what do they know about trains, let alone electricity?
Again, "train" is the best word I could come up with to explain what the giant electric wave was. It's not a literal train.

Also, the inhabitants come from all over the place time-wise. Most of them did come from the 15/1600's, while the population before that came from africa/madagascar a while before that (I won't say how long just yet). There are some later arrivals too; at the time of Ora's exploration people are coming in from the early 1900's.
Image

User avatar
Torco
Smeric
Smeric
Posts: 2372
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:45 pm
Location: Santiago de Chile

Re: Océano de la Vida (Mindfuck Update pt 1 on page 2)

Post by Torco »

oh, cool, so it was like a giant work made of lightning bolt? that fits much better. I was actually imagining like a subway cart rolling through the mugre and the agua, which was weird. :D

kudos kudos

User avatar
Qwynegold
Smeric
Smeric
Posts: 1606
Joined: Thu May 24, 2007 11:34 pm
Location: Stockholm

Re: Océano de la Vida (Mindfuck Update pt 1 on page 2)

Post by Qwynegold »

Xhin wrote:Also, they're those white tall birds I can't think of the name of. I want to say birds-of-paradise, but those aren't usually white and I think that's incorrect.
Storks?
Xhin wrote:Because in the Oak container example I gave (telling when a ruby has become aged), the blackstone isn't attached to the ruby. It'll still get affected, and bore a hole through the container, but after an inch or so its boring effects will slow down and eventually stop at 10 feet (although gravity will still take over). If the blackstone is actually attached to the ruby, then it'll continue boring down as long as there's something underneath, so you need Onyx at the bottom to break the two pieces apart violently. Blackstone will still bore through things in the ten foot range, it'll just do it extremely extremely slowly, as the field's power seems to be exponential or even logarithmic.
It's probably best if you draw a diagram. @_@ ;)
Xhin wrote:Image
Aah. :D

I would also need a diagram to understand how the space thing works. ;) Are stars holes on the sky dome/bottom of the crystal field?

I think this could become an interesting book. But it would need a lot pictures. ;)
Image
My most recent quiz:
Eurovision Song Contest 2018

User avatar
maıráí
Avisaru
Avisaru
Posts: 362
Joined: Sun Dec 27, 2009 4:45 pm

Re: Océano de la Vida (Mindfuck Update pt 1 on page 2)

Post by maıráí »

Can I just say I absolutely love all the thought that has gone into this. Océano is one of the most interesting conworlds I've ever seen.

User avatar
Xhin
Sanci
Sanci
Posts: 53
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2005 7:05 pm
Location: Elsewhere
Contact:

Re: Océano de la Vida (Mindfuck Update pt 1 on page 2)

Post by Xhin »

Storks?
No.. I wish I could think of the name of them, they're white and very tall, they might have black/brown spots, the head is similar to that of a quail. One big thing is that their tail/back/whatever feathers go down a long ways.
It's probably best if you draw a diagram. @_@
Image
I would also need a diagram to understand how the space thing works.
Yeah, that's coming eventually. Have to figure out how to make it look cool artistically first. With your thing I just slapped a diagram and some background art together.
Are stars holes on the sky dome/bottom of the crystal field?
No, they're dense spherical concentrations of Amber. The bottom of the crystal field is coated in a pitch-black substance called Sombra. I will cover more of this in my next update (hopefully tonight).
I think this could become an interesting book. But it would need a lot pictures.
Yeah, I was thinking that too. Too much work to put it together though :P
Can I just say I absolutely love all the thought that has gone into this. Océano is one of the most interesting conworlds I've ever seen.
Thank you!
Image

User avatar
Kereb
Avisaru
Avisaru
Posts: 463
Joined: Sat Feb 12, 2005 12:59 pm
Location: Flavor Country™
Contact:

Re: Océano de la Vida (Mindfuck Update pt 1 on page 2)

Post by Kereb »

your night sky looks like projector visuals from a rave and one of your elements is called Blackrock

... are you a Burner?
<Anaxandridas> How many artists do you know get paid?
<Anaxandridas> Seriously, name five.

Post Reply