Belsedori (Aurora)
Belasedori | |
|---|---|
| Biological Classification | |
| Designation | Sapient |
| Classification | Humanoid |
| Ancestral species | Auroran Humans |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Average height | ~183cm (female) ~140cm (male) |
| Skin colour | White, light peach |
| Eye colour | White, purple, lavender, green, blue, yellow |
| Hair colour | White; red; pale tints of green, blue, and lavender |
| Breathe | Air (general preference for high-altitude environments) |
| Lifespan | Unclear |
| Maturity | 18 years |
| Sexes | 2 |
| Distinctions | Feathered wings on lower back; feather tail; bird feet; luminescent irises |
| Notable abilities | Flight; innate magical aptitude |
| Sociocultural characteristics | |
| Place of origin | Belsegallia |
| Total population | ~2.0 million |
| Languages | Belsedori |
| Religion | Belsedori ditheism |
| Marital customs | Monogamous |
The Belsedori (singular: Belsedori; plural: Belsedori; adjective: Belsedori) are a race of harpy-like humanoids originating from Belsegallia in Terra Aurora, distinguished from humans by their large wings and other avian features as well as their high aptitude for magic. Due to the remote location of Belsegallia and the Belsedori’s preference for extremely cold, high-altitude environments, their society and culture remain relatively obscure and unknown amongst most of the terrestrial inhabitants of Terra Aurora. Magical arts are a highly prominent feature of Belsedori society, and virtually all Belsedori are adept in at least one form of it.
Belsedori are a relatively new race in Aurora, having only existed for approximately three to four hundred years. Their home nation and the only state known to possess a permanent population of them is the aerial kingdom of Belsegallia, in southeastern Terra Aurora.
Biology & appearance
Belsedori broadly resemble humans in general physiology, with two arms, two legs, a single head, and an upright bipedal posture; the primary distinguishing skeletal features are the presence of a feathered tail and two large wings attached to a specially adapted support structure on the L5 vertebra. Belsedori furthermore possess five-toed avian feet with four forward-facing toes and one rearwards-facing, opposable toe, each of which has talons typically 8 centimeters in length. Musculature on Belsedori is concentrated around the abdomen and upper legs to facilitate effective usage of their wings and talons; an adult female Belsedori is typically capable of rending up to approximately 2mm thick sheet steel with her talons when sufficient grip is available. The average core body temperature of a Belsedori is approximately -2°C.
Height and weight vary strongly by sex; the average height of a female and male Belsedori is 183cm and 140cm, respectively, and their average mass is 43.5kg and 21kg, respectively. Hair and feather colorations for Belsedori may be white or pale tints of green, blue, or purple; crimson feather coloration is also possible, but only presents on females. Belsedori irises are faintly luminescent and can be colorful or pale tints of blue, purple, and yellow, as well as blue-tinted white.
Sexual dimorphism
Belsedori as a species possess a moderate degree of sexual dimorphism, and male and female Belsedori can be distinguished from each other by several means. Male Belsedori are, on average, roughly 75% as tall and half as heavy as a comparable female Belsedori, possess moderately less muscle mass, and have noticeably higher-pitched voices. Belsedori women have vibrant feather patterns that are relatively bright and saturated, whereas male hair and feather colorations of the same hue are visibly paler and softer.
Excluding the aforementioned differences, male and female Belsedori both strongly resemble female humans in terms of proportions, facial features, and most other aspects, and are virtually impossible for non-Belsedori to tell apart without prior knowledge. This close similarity in physiology and appearance is responsible for the common misconception that all Belsedori are female.
Belsedori present a moderately less balanced sex ratio than is typical for humanoids; approximately 60% of all Belsedori are female, and only approximately 40% are male.
Culture & society
Clothing & attire
Belsedori clothing styles are heavily divided by sex and exhibit significant differences between men’s and women’s attire. The most common material used in their manufacture is silk, followed by wool, cotton, and then by alchemically derived fabrics. Despite the cold environment that Belsedori inhabit, cold-weather adaptations in Belsedori clothing are nearly nonexistent due to the cryophilic nature of its intended wearer. Clothing for Belsedori possesses multiple adaptations necessary for wear by them, most notably including slots to accommodate wings and a tail.
Female
Common types of clothing for female Belsedori vary widely and include short-sleeved and long-sleeved shirts and blouses, pants, skirts, and dresses. Female Belsedori clothing is generally durable, practical, and relatively simple in its construction and style of decoration, especially in comparison to its equivalents in Belsedori men’s clothing. Belsedori women normally wear full-length pants and either a blouse or a short-skirted dress as general-purpose attire, which may be accompanied by a cloak, gloves, and/or a belt; when a blouse is worn instead of a dress, it is customarily worn tucked into the pants unless in an exceptionally casual environment. It is uncommon for Belsedori women to wear jewelry or other miscellaneous accessories purely as a matter of fashion, and such objects are normally only worn when enchanted or used as a specific badge of office; articles traditionally used in this manner include necklaces, rings, and bracelets, as well as diadems or tiaras for nobles.
Shoes for Belsedori are made with separated toes to allow wearers to grip objects and otherwise move their feet normally when wearing them; additional features include a central sole under the foot and metal caps over the talons to prevent them from damaging the shoe. Shoes sized for female Belsedori are typically made of layered leather and intended to be worn outside regularly, with features such as waterproofing, reinforced construction, and high tops to support the ankle. Belsedori women’s shoes are also made to be compatible with canvas gaiters, which are regularly worn during spring and other seasons when the outside environment of Belsegallia is excessively wet.
Male
In comparison to the normal attire of a female Belsedori, male Belsedori clothing is generally less practical in nature and is more subject to the influences of aesthetics; broadly consistent features of clothing for male Belsedori include the heavy usage of frills and ruffles, ribbons, and bows, as well as manufacture from softer fabrics. The basic article of clothing worn by male Belsedori is a short-sleeved dress, normally accompanied by a large ribbon tied around the waist, shorts, gloves, and long socks or stockings, as well as a traditionally white apron when in a home or kitchen environment. Jewelry, including necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and rings can also be worn, with the addition of tiaras in the case of nobles’ consorts. Belsedori view pants as exclusively women’s clothing, and male Belsedori are explicitly prohibited from wearing them under any circumstances.
Shoes sized for male Belsedori are broadly similar in construction to shoes for women, with separated toes and metal end caps to cover talons. Unlike women’s shoes, however, they generally take the form of slippers or house shoes; men’s shoes for Belsedori prioritize comfortability of wear and are rarely waterproofed, designed with particularly durable construction, or otherwise made with the intention of being wearable outside. Shoes that are suitable for outdoor usage are relatively rare for male Belsedori to possess; most Belsedori men instead wrap ribbons of canvas cloth around indoor shoes or sheath them in galoshes for limited-duration trips outside of the house.
Due to the fact that Belsedori see males as inherently delicate and sensitive to minor discomforts, insulated winter clothing sized and styled for male Belsedori is much more common than its women’s equivalent. Cold weather clothing is often made of heavier fabrics, quilted, or otherwise insulated, and may be lined with fluffy fabrics on the collar, sleeves, or elsewhere; additionally, accessory garments like gloves, socks, and stockings are more covering in warming variations. Male Belsedori are highly resistant to cold environments, and winterized clothing is generally only worn at temperatures below -50° Celsius.
Cuisine
The cooking techniques and ingredients used in Belsedori cooking are highly influenced by the low preferred ambient temperature and special nutritional needs of Belsedori as well as the types of plants and animals that can be found in Belsegallia, where virtually all Belsedori live. Additionally, Belsedori are partial arcanovores and sometimes consume ingredients for their magical contents rather than their flavor or conventional nutritional value. As a result of these factors, food prepared by Belsedori typically diverges strongly from what may be considered normal by non-Belsedori and especially human standards.
Common types of ingredients include fruit and dairy, as well as some meat and fish; grain is rarely used, and derived staple foods like flour are typically replaced with starchy fruits or other ingredients depending on the specific application. Common sources of meat include boars as well as Fir Spiders and Four-Winged Moa.
Aside from starchy fruits, the most commonly used ingredient in Belsedori cuisine is Belsedori milk and derived dairy products like cream, butter, and cheese. Because of its high level of natural sweetness, most unprocessed Belsedori milk and milk products are used for desserts; milk intended for savory or other non-sweet dishes is typically de-sweetened by removing the sugar from it.
Spices commonly used in Belsedori cooking include salt, ground Witch’s Tourmaline, and honey. Honey made in Belsegallia is purple in color and tastes like a combination of strawberries, bananas, and cherries.
Belsedori cooking techniques are varied and influenced by both environmental factors and available technology. Oven-baking in a casserole dish or similar is the most common technique, followed by pan-frying in butter and then by grilling. Some dishes may also be deliberately frozen as either a preservation method or a part of the food preparation process itself; some varieties of dumplings especially are traditionally prepared this way.
Gender roles
Gender roles in Belsedori culture are built around and heavily influenced by its strict adherence to a female-led and dominated society. Acceptable norms and behavior for each sex reflect the general idea that women are the naturally dominant sex and are responsible for protecting and materially supporting men, which are relegated to being the subservient sex and are expected to serve women in return. Hierarchies in families, political leadership, and other major social structures are matriarchal in nature and bar male Belsedori from holding most positions, especially those of consequence or those involving decision-making. Prevailing customs and social norms in Belsedori culture treat women as the dominant sex and the only one deserving of dignity, respect, and agency, while customs related to male Belsedori serve to enforce the societal view that they are helpless, delicate, fragile dolls perpetually in need of being sheltered and coddled by women and incapable of succeeding as anything other than stay-at-home parents.
Male Belsedori of all ages are treated in an exceptionally sheltered manner, and men are normally expected to be attended by a wife, mother, sister, or other female relative or guardian when venturing more than two hundred meters away from home.
Appearance
Belsedori rarely use makeup, and most gendered expectations regarding non-apparel appearance govern the realm of hairstyles. Female Belsedori are customarily expected to maintain plain, shoulder-length hair with minimal styling, braiding, ornamentation, or other technique; men, by contrast, are expected to keep their hair as long as practically possible and can decorate it with hair clips, pins, ribbons, flowers, headbands, and other accessories. Male Belsedori typically keep their hair in updos when outside of the house or when attending formal occasions like balls or weddings, but this is not universally practiced.
Employment
Most work, including the vast majority of all physical labor, is performed exclusively by women in Belsedori society. This includes working as farmers, laborers, craftswomen & artisans, soldiers, priestesses, professional spellcasters & enchanters, and engineers, as well as other positions.
The range of extra-domestic professions allowed to be performed by men is small and includes alchemy, domestic cleaning, healing, tailoring, and teaching; even within this subset, allowed professions that cannot be performed at home are viewed by Belsedori as temporary arrangements rather than lifelong careers that might intrude upon a consort’s domestic obligations. Employment arrangements involving male Belsedori often come with strict limitations on work hours, prohibitions on activities like heavy lifting or other hard labor, intensive supervision by female managers, and other measures meant to protect them.
Gender roles in magic
Leadership
Leadership in Belsedori social groups is structured in a matriarchal fashion; positions of importance or authority and ones that involve any elevated personal risk are always restricted to being held by women only, and necessarily male title-holders like Belsedori nobles’ consorts are afforded the status of purely decorative ornaments with no decision-making power.
Noble titles in Belsedori society have clearly defined divides between female and male holders. Noblewomen like baronesses, countesses, duchesses, and queens are the ruling nobles and possess power to make decisions regarding governance, supervise subordinate nobles, and perform other governmental functions. Consorts of noblewomen are given subordinated titles like barescina, countescina, duchescina, and princescina; holders of these titles have no actual authority in Belsedori governmental structures like female nobles do and instead function as toys and status symbols for their wives to dress up and show off at social gatherings. In the event that a ruling title passes to an unmarried man through inheritance or other means, the title’s supervising noble selects a female relative of the new title holder to serve as an interim leader until a suitable wife can be found and placed into the position by marriage.
Most positions in the Belsedori religion, such as temple attendants, priestesses of Asahika, high priestesses, temple guards, and other titles, are reserved for women only. Men are allowed to hold some minor offices in specific areas, such as the worship of Yoruhi, and under the close watch of female superiors; these male members of the the Belsedori clergy are almost universally consorts of priestesses and other female members, and typically only serve a supporting role.
Mannerisms
Belsedori customs governing interpersonal interaction are myriad, and vary significantly by sex. Belsedori of both sexes normally stand approximately 80 to 90 centimeters away from an individual that they are conversing with or otherwise interacting with, sometimes 75 centimeters if familiar with the individual. The standard greeting from a female Belsedori is a handshake, while male Belsedori normally greet others by performing a curtsy.
Female Belsedori are sexist in the extreme and normally treat men with a mixture of effusive kindness, dismissiveness, and condescending self-superiority. Belsedori women in conversations will normally ignore men if another woman is present, generally limiting interactions with males in such cases to petting them, requesting miscellaneous errands like the provision of refreshments, or complimenting their appearance. Women, by contrast, can normally expect to be treated with at least a small amount of respect by female Belsedori and are less likely to be brushed aside.
Male Belsedori at large are raised to be passive, quiet, and submissive. Belsedori culture adheres to the idea that a well-behaved son or consort should stay quiet during conversations and let his female relatives speak for him when possible, and male Belsedori being accompanied by a wife, mother, or other guardian will normally remain silent and defer to them unless specifically addressed. During interactions with women, Belsedori men avoid making eye contact when possible.
Language
The Belsedori language is largely syllable-based, with most characters corresponding to either a combination of a consonant and a following vowel or just a vowel; some lone consonants also exist, but most are not often used. Belsedori script appears generally wavy, with most characters being able to be written with one to three pen strokes, and is read in vertical bars from top to bottom and then right to left.
Naming conventions
Belsedori given names vary, but are always gendered by the letter that they end in: female Belsedori names end in -a or a consonant, whereas male names end in -e, -i, -u, or -o; the ending -ia can be used by either. The same rule is applied to family names, which vary in ending accordingly; the combination of a given name and a family name that both end in -ia is also avoided.
Terms of endearment
The Belsedori language possesses a distinctively wide variety of pet names, terms of endearment, and diminution mechanisms, especially ones intended to be used in reference to male subjects; there are typically at least two to three different terms to be used for each combination of a subject’s age, height, sex, marital status, relationship with the speaker, and the speaker’s sex. Native speakers of the Belsedori language use diminutives and terms of endearment heavily in everyday speech, especially in interactions between speakers of opposite sexes.
Magic
Belsedori as a race are naturally predisposed towards a high degree of talent in magical arts, and numerous varieties of magic such as spellcraft, enchanting, alchemy, and magical forging form integral parts of Belsedori society. Virtually all Belsedori learn the basics of at least one type of magic as part of their education, and most possess extensive practice in at least either spellcasting or alchemy. Belsedori engineers and magical object manufacturers are highly skilled, and Belsegallia produces many highly advanced magical objects and devices.
Enchanting
Enchanters and other producers of magical items are commonplace in Belsedori society, and virtually all Belsedori can afford and make regular use of potions, enchanted tools, and other magic objects as part of their everyday lives. The Belsedori as a culture are highly advanced in this field, and Belsegallian artisans are capable of creating highly effective and complex magical constructs that combine magical arts with manufacturing disciplines like metallurgy, engineering, gemstone cutting, and smithing.
Marriage customs
Belsedori practice monogamous marriages; Belsedori refer to a married female as a “wife,” and a married male is referred to as a “consort.” Belsedori families are extremely unequal and are universally arranged in a matriarchal hierarchy, where the wife is considered to be the head of the household and holds authority over both her consort and any children they have together that are not yet adults. A typical Belsedori wife’s power over her consort in particular extends to her having barely below explicit, literal ownership of him; consorts in Belsedori society are treated well, but are seen as their wives’ property and are broadly denied equal standing with women or the ability to possess any significant amount of respect or independence.
Engagements & weddings
Belsedori practice monogamous arranged marriages, where an unmarried adult male’s mother picks a suitable wife for him and marries him off to her. Because female Belsedori outnumber males by a 3:2 ratio, and because marriage is viewed as an important life achievement for Belsedori women, the right to marry is exceptionally competitive in Belsedori society; young Belsedori women typically spend most of their free time practicing magic, combat skills, or artisanal trades in order to be able to impress bachelors’ mothers and be given a consort.
Once engaged, newly matched Belsedori couples undergo an elaborate wedding ceremony to formalize their marriage. The consort-to-be normally wears a white wedding dress, and customarily has an orange blossom in his hair to be given to the wife-to-be during the ceremony; the wife-to-be typically wears a white blouse tucked into black pants. After saying their wedding vows and being formally married, the consort gives a ring as well as the orange blossom to the wife as a representation of himself and receives the white wedding veil that married consorts customarily wear in return.
Married female Belsedori wear a wedding ring on their off hand, typically made of silver or another similarly-colored metal and unadorned with gemstones or similar decorations. Married male Belsedori wear a white collar or choker instead, as well as a white hair ribbon tied into a bow on the upper back of the head. A consort is further customarily expected to wear a translucent white wedding veil when around women other than his wife, daughters, sisters, and mother, though this is not always observed consistently.
Family life
Belsedori families typically follow the arrangement of female “breadwinner” and male “homemaker” roles. The wife and any unmarried daughters of sufficient age work in professions to support the family; the daughters normally learn the same profession as the mother and work in the same location, but this is not always the case. The consort is kept at home and is responsible for cooking food, cleaning, taking care of the family’s children, running miscellaneous errands for the wife and children when they are present, and otherwise fulfilling domestic duties. A married consort normally remains in or around the couple’s home and rarely leaves for an extended period of time.
A Belsedori couple’s children are raised by the consort, which performs the role of a stay-at-home parent. Daughters typically spend most of their time playing outside or helping the mother with miscellaneous work-related tasks, whereas sons normally stay indoors and help the father with housework. Belsedori children generally learn literacy, magic, and other life knowledge either at home from their parents or at dedicated schools.
Religion
Belsedori as a collective race practice the organized religion of Belsedori Ditheism, which is devoted to the worship and service of the goddess Asahika and her consort Yoruhi. Belsedori credit Asahika and Yoruhi as the creators of their race, and they feature prominently in mythology and other stories about the history of Belsegallia; in the modern day, Belsedori Ditheistic beliefs and the example of Asahika and Yoruhi’s relationship in particular serve as the blueprint for Belsedori society’s views on gender roles, marriage customs, and other cultural traits.
Notable features of practicing Belsedori Ditheism include attending worship services held by temples on the seventh day of each week, prayers, and tithing. Multiple symbols are used to represent Belsedori Ditheism on seals, buildings, and other locations; a sword with six wings around it or a sun shape both symbolize Asahika, a stylized water lily or a seven-pointed star are typically used to represent Yoruhi, and the union of both is normally depicted as a stylized picture of a sunset.