My Fantasy World

[John Red Beard]

It's more on the being socially shunned side of the scale, but it wouldn't be unheard of for a magic user or suspected magic user to be attacked and beaten, especially if there was a disease going around, or a bad harvest, or something like that, that could be blamed on them. And in some cases, someone caught doing magic or alchemy, or printing or distributing unapproved books can be arrested and punished by law.

[John Red Beard]

Language

There are three language families in my world, draconic, elvish, and lemur.

The draconic language was originally invented by the dragons and continues to be their native language, but forms of it are spoken by many of the people of the continent. These versions are called northern and southern liturgical draconic, and they hold the same place in society that latin held in medieval Europe. They are languages of religion, ceremony, and higher education.

Elvish-based languages are spoken natively by almost all the people of the continent, with each nation having its own language/dialect. Broadly they are devided into northern and southern varieties.

The only nation (besides dragons) that doesn't use an elvish-derived language is the lemurs. They have their own language that's not related to any other known languages.

[John Red Beard]

I haven't written in a while and I realized that I haven't talked about how the leoren and the rest of the intelligent animal species came from, so here we go.


Where They Come From

Thousands of years ago, there were only two intelligent species in the world, dragons and elves*. For a long time they lived in peace, but eventually a rift in the elven community started a war between the elves of the north and the elves of the south.

In those days, the elves had powerful magics that were later lost, which allowed them to create armies to fight their war for them. They imbued elven attributes, like bipedal walking, speech, and hands capable of using tools, to the animals of the land to create soldiers, laborers to supply those soldiers, and servants to care for their own needs and wants.

The elves of the south used big cats, so the ones in the north used wolves, the ones in the south used buffalo, so the ones in the north used bears, etc. By the time the war was done, there were a dozen or so new species in the world. They eventually left the elves' service and founded their own kingdoms.


* as far as they realized, but that's a story for another time, as well as the story of where the dragons and elves came from

[KeahiNimbusLeHyena]

I like this a lot! Will keep an eye on the thread

[John Red Beard]

I haven't updated this in a while, so long that in that time, I changed the spelling from leoren to lioren. This comes from the overhaul I'm currently doing to their language. Anyway, I thought of something new to add:

Lioren Cuisine

Cats are obligate carnivores. Elves are omnivores. Lioren are in between, omnivores with a meat-rich diet.

Fish, chicken, and pork are the most widely available meats. Game animals include rabbits, antelope, and various wild birds. Beef is not commonly eaten because cows/bulls are valued more for dairy, for doing work, and as mounts. In addition to meat, Lioren also eat vegetables, rice, bread, and cheese. They cultivate fruit orchards as well, but mostly use the fruit for export and for making alcoholic ciders.

Lioren sense of taste is not as keen as that of elves (or humans), though their sense of smell is better, so they tend to heavily spice their food, with a special focus on making it smell good.

[John Red Beard]

Lioren Government

The lioren kingdom (called Yashako Najonam or just Najonam) is currently ruled by Queen Nemve VerSanna. Her husband has passed away, but even when he was alive, she was the primary ruler, having inherited the throne from her parents. She has two children, an older son Kime and a younger daughter Sasha.

The bulk of the kingdom is divided among 12 provinces, each ruled by a governor or governess. Technically they rule at the pleasure of the monarch, but by tradition, the position is usually inherited. The provinces are further divided into many counties, each ruled by a count or countess. They rule at the pleasure of their respective governors but their post are also usually inherited.

Each noble family owns an estate which is inherited. Grown children who do not inherit or marry into an inheritance keep their titles but don’t pass them on to their children, unless they acquire an estate of their own. Estates usually include one or more villages.

Towns are another matter. Each town is collectively owned by the guilds that operate there, being established by a charter with the county, province, or kingdom. They are governed by a mayor and/or city council elected by the guilds.

There is a part of the kingdom outside the provincess and not ruled by any governor, but that’s for next time.

Edit: Updated names

[John Red Beard]

The Outerlands

The outerlands are the part of the lioren kingdom that is (ironically) the farthest inland. It’s called the outerlands because it’s outside of the provinces. It’s still part of the kingdom but it’s not part of the usual governmental structure. Because of this, it’s more independent than the provinces, but receives less support and guidance from the power structure and has no official representation at court.

The weather in this region is drier than the rest of the kingdom and many crops don’t grow well. Between that, the lack of much trade with the rest of the kingdom, and the lack of infrastructure, the outerlands are quite poor.

In outerlands are very clannish, with many small regions ruled by powerful or charismatic chieftains, or sometimes councils of elders. There is frequent fighting amongst the clans.

Last but not least, the outerlands are on the border between the lioren kingdom and the maogren kingdom, and they suffer frequent raids across the border.

Despite all of this, or perhaps because of it, outerlanders are very proud, and most would never want to live in the provinces. They are tough and scrappy, and consider themselves morally superior to the provincials, who they consider spoiled, soft, and too tolerant of magic.