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 flying, 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, many details of 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 are humanoids loosely resembling humans in basic physiological structure, possessing two arms and five-fingered hands, two legs and feet, a single non-segmented torso containing both the abdominal and thoracic organs, a single head, an internal endoskeleton, and an upright bipedal posture. Distinguishing features are avian in nature and generally intended to facilitate aerial flight; these include two large, feathered wings extending from a heavily adapted bone structure substituting the L4 vertebra, as well as a short, 10cm tail possessing stiff, elongated feathers for flight control purposes. Belsedori furthermore possess five-toed avian feet with four forwards-facing toes and one rearwards-facing, opposable toe, all of which possess hardened talons roughly 8cm in length; these feet notably lack the scales present on the feet of other birds, necessitating the wearing of shoes for protection. Belsedori musculature is concentrated primarily on the abdomen and upper leg areas in order to facilitate effective usage of their wings and talons; a typical adult female Belsedori possesses sufficient leg strength and talon durability to rend up to 3mm thick sheet steel with her talons when sufficient grip is available to prevent slippage, with greater penetration capability being possible in some cases.
Belsedori possess a variety of physiological adaptations necessary to live in the high-altitude environment that they are native to. They are extremely psychrophilic in nature, with an average core body temperature of -2°C, a comfortable environmental temperature of roughly -20 to -25 °C, and no minimum safe temperature known to be recorded. Belsedori are also highly tolerant of low-pressure and hypoxic environments up to an altitude of 11km ASL, but are conversely susceptible to experiencing discomfort and mild to moderate dyspnea at higher air pressures found below 2km ASL.
Height and body mass of Belsedori vary widely by sex; the average height and mass of an adult female Belsedori are 183cm and 43.5kg, respectively, while the corresponding metrics for an adult male Belsedori are 140cm and 21.0kg. Skin color is most commonly chalk white, though approximately 20% of Belsedori possess pale peach-colored skin. Hair and feathers share color and may be white as well as pale tints of blue, green, or purple; bright crimson coloration is also possible in female Belsedori, but is rare in occurrence. Irises are faintly luminescent and can be pale or colorful tints of blue, green, purple, and yellow, as well as blue-tinted white.
Diet
While a primarily omnivorous race, Belsedori are partial arcanovores and must regularly consume magic-imbued materials as part of their diet in order to maintain good nutrition. Any sufficiently enchanted and otherwise safely edible material can be consumed for this purpose, with the most commonly used supplement being powdered Witch’s Tourmaline.
Sexual dimorphism
Belsedori physiology exhibits a moderate degree of sexual dimorphism, and male and female Belsedori present multiple consistent, identifiable differences in physiology from one another. While both sexes exhibit a strong resemblance to female humans in terms of general figure and body proportions, adult male Belsedori are, on average, approximately 75% as tall and 50% as heavy in comparison to a typical adult female Belsedori. Females also possess moderately more muscle mass as a fraction of total body mass in comparison to males, especially in the muscle groups used by their talons. Male Belsedori have voices of noticeably higher pitch on average in comparison to females. Coloration and patterning of hair and feathers on Belsedori is also sex-specific; Belsedori women possess relatively vibrant and saturated coloration, while male hair and feather colorations of the same hue are much paler and softer.
Excluding the aforementioned characteristics, both male and female Belsedori strongly resemble female humans in terms of figure and proportions, facial features, voice pitch, and most other attributes, and are nearly impossible for non-Belsedori to distinguish from each other based on physiology without prior knowledge. This high degree of resemblance, in conjunction with certain Belsedori cultural traits, is believed to be the origination of the common misconception that all Belsedori are female.
Belsedori exhibit a moderately less balanced sex ratio in comparison to that typical for humanoids like humans; roughly 60% of all Belsedori are female, while only 40% are male.
Culture & society
Clothing & attire
The styling of Belsedori clothing is highly divided by sex; articles of clothing designated as men’s and women’s attire exhibit strong differences in fabric, garment type, and sometimes color, as well as variations in intended wear environment. The most common material used in their manufacture is spider silk, followed by alchemically synthesized fabric manufactured from milk, followed by wool. Despite the extremely cold environment that Belsedori inhabit, their highly psychrophilic nature means that their clothing only rarely shows specific adaptations meant to keep the wearer warm; however, protection from humidity and water is widely applied. Clothing intended for wear by Belsedori requires multiple adaptations specific to their physiology; this includes slots to accommodate wings and a tail, as well as the avoidance of features that may catch on talons or inhibit the movement of wings during flight. The risk of entanglement with a Belsedori’s talons precludes the wearing of long skirts in particular.
Female
Types of clothing worn by female Belsedori vary widely in shape; common garments include shirts and blouses of both short- and long-sleeved varieties, pants, short skirts, and dresses. Even expensive clothing intended for wear by Belsedori women is generally durable, practical, and relatively simple in overall construction and style, especially in comparison to the types of garments commonly worn by male Belsedori.
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. Blouses and similar attire may be full button-ups, have partial buttoning on the upper half, or possess no buttons, rarely possess breast pockets or other fixtures, do not typically possess a shirt collar, and may have sleeves of up to wrist-length; Belsedori women furthermore customarily tuck blouses into pants in most non-casual environments.
It is uncommon for Belsedori women to wear jewelry or other miscellaneous accessories purely as a matter of fashion. 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, bracelets, badges, and collar devices, as well as diadems or tiaras for nobles. Married Belsedori women also customarily wear a plain metal wedding ring on their off hand.
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 to protect shoes from mud and slush during spring and other seasons when the outside environment of Belsegallia is excessively wet.
Shoes for Belsedori are sometimes made with their talon caps either removed or sharped in order to allow the wearer to use her talons normally. This design choice introduces the drawback of risking damage to floors and other surfaces that the wearer’s sharpened feet may come into contact with, and is thus mostly restricted to military boots and similar footwear.
Male
In comparison to the normal attire of a female Belsedori, male Belsedori clothing is generally less practical in nature and is significantly more subject to the influences of aesthetics; broadly consistent features include the heavy usage of frills and ruffles, ribbons, and bows, as well as manufacture from softer fabrics such as milk fiber-based angelwing. 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, both inert and enchanted, is commonly worn by male Belsedori for decorative and utility purposes; this includes rings, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and hair ornaments, as well as tiaras in the case of noble consorts.
Belsedori view pants as exclusively women’s clothing, and male Belsedori are explicitly prohibited from wearing them under any circumstances. This prohibition also influences the designs of skirts and dresses for male Belsedori, which normally end approximately 5-7cm above the normal cut line for common socks and stockings in order to show that the wearer is not wearing pants.
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 heavily prioritize aesthetics and comfortability of wear over weather resistance, and they 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. Like their female counterparts, male Belsedori are highly resistant to extremely cold temperatures; winterized clothing is made for comfort only and is generally only worn at ambient temperatures below -50° Celsius.
Cuisine
The types of cooking techniques and ingredients used in Belsedori cuisine are highly influenced by the low preferred ambient temperature and unique nutritional needs of the Belsedori, as well as by the limited variety of edible plants and animals that they have access to in their native environment of Belsegallia. Food prepared by Belsedori typically diverges strongly from what may be considered normal by non-Belsedori and especially human standards: common themes include the usage of changes in preparation methods to produce different dishes from the same limited variety of cooking ingredients, the addition of “spices” such as Witch’s Tourmaline for their magical content rather than their flavor or nutritional value, and a universally high proportion of dairy products such as milk, cream, butter, and cheese.
Common types of ingredients include fruit and dairy products, as well as some meat and fish; traditional grains such as wheat are normally omitted due to the difficulty of growing them in Belsegallia’s perennially snowy weather, 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 dairy products derived from it like cream, butter, and cheese. Nearly all food in Belsedori cuisine contains large quantities of at least one type of dairy, covering every kind of meal in the day as well as snacks, beverages, and especially desserts. Because of its high level of natural sweetness and richness, most unprocessed Belsedori milk and milk products made from it are used for desserts and intentionally sweetened foods; milk intended for savory or other non-sweet dishes is typically de-sweetened by removing the sugar from it, after which the sugar may be used elsewhere.
Belsedori cooking uses a limited variety of spices that are available in Belsegallia; the most common ones include salt, honey, and pulverized Witch’s Tourmaline. Honey made in Belsegallia is purple in color, with a taste often described as resembling a combination of bananas, cherries, and strawberries; it is often used in desserts and is a traditional flavoring syrup in Belsedori milkshakes due to its highly sweet, fruit-like taste, but it is also used to glaze some varieties of ham and other cured meats.
The universal traditional beverage of Belsedori cuisine is whole Belsedori milk. This is commonly consumed either plain, where it is described as being similar to sweetened heavy cream, or mixed with other flavorings such as fruit syrup and honey. Other common Belsedori drinks include pine needle tea, which is commonly mixed with cream, and various fruit juices. Belsedori cannot become intoxicated by alcohol in the manner that other species such as humans can due to metabolic differences, and therefore do not consume beverages such as wine specifically for their alcohol content; nevertheless, some Belsedori fruit-based drinks contain a small amount of alcohol as an incidental product of their manufacturing processes.
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
Belsedori social groups distribute positions of leadership in a matriarchal fashion; titles of importance and those of authority, such as ruling noble titles, most positions in the Belsedori religion, and especially all ranks in Belsedori militaries, are always reserved for women only. Positions of prominence that are necessarily held by men, such as Belsedori nobles’ consorts, are devoid of any influence or power; instead, such offices and their holders are treated as being purely decorative in nature.
Noble titles in Belsedori society are divided by the sex of the holder, and titles for Belsedori women and men are highly divergent in the nature of their power and the respnsibilities delegated to them. Titles for women, such as baroness, countess, duchess, and queen, are ruling titles that confer upon the holder the authority to administer a subsection of a higher noble’s land, exercise decision-making and governance powers over that land, hold supervisory authority over subordinate nobles, and execute other powers corollary to the aforementioned. Male nobles, primarily consorts of noblewomen, are instead given subordinated titles such as barescina, countescina, duchescina, and princescina. These titles do not possess any governing or other authority as female titles do, and holders do not perform any administrative functions in Belsedori government; male nobles of all ranks instead function as primarily a way for Belsedori noblewomen to display wealth and power, and are commonly used as toys and status symbols for their wives to dress up and show off at social gatherings. In the event that a ruling title is passed from a woman 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 by law. Men are, however, 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
The Belsedori language has three sets of common given names that may be divided into female names, male names, and a handful of names that can be used for individuals of either sex. These conventions correspond with the grammatical gender of each word, which is indicated by the name’s ending: female Belsedori names end in -a or a consonant, male names end in -e, -i, -u, or -o, and shared names use the normally feminine ending -ia. The same ending rule is also applied to family names, which change their ending between female and male members of the same family; the combination of both a given name and a family name ending in -ia is, however, avoided.
Terms of endearment
Belsedori possess a distinctively and extraordinarily wide variety of pet names, diminutive phrases, and other terms of endearment, especially ones intended to be used to address or refer to male subjects, as well as many honorifics. There are typically at least two to three different terms available to be used for each possible combination of the subject’s age, height, sex, marital status, relationship with the speaker, the speaker’s sex, and the speaker’s height and age relative to the subject, while more common combinations thereof may have as many as seven. Native speakers of the Belsedori language make heavy usage of pet names and honorifics in everyday interactions, especially those between individuals of opposite sexes.
Many Belsedori pet names have a figurative meaning that diverges greatly from the literal meaning of the word(s) that it is constructed from, often resulting in severe mistranslations between Belsedori and other languages if magical translation is not applied carefully.
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.
Alchemy
Belsedori make extensive use of alchemy and related magical processes in the production of raw materials and finished items. In addition to commonplace applications such as the brewing of potions and similar magical liquids, Belsedori alchemy is widely used in the production of exotic, synthetic metals, gemstones, and other such materials which cannot easily be acquired from natural sources in aerial environments. These synthetic materials are widely used in Belsedori magic items in order to take advantage of favorable properties such as their ease of enchantment, highly tunable mechanical and magical properties, and compatibility with most common magic-based material processing methods.
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 culture uses a marriage-based, monogamous family structure. A married Belsedori woman is referred to as a “wife,” while her male spouse is commonly referred to as a “consort” rather than as a husband. Families in Belsedori culture are strictly hierarchy-based and are arranged according to gender and age: the wife is universally regarded as the head of the household and holds authority over both her consort and any children they have together that are not yet adults, followed in rank by the couple’s adult female children, then the consort, and then all other children. A Belsedori wife’s authority over her consort in particular is nearly absolute and extends to her having barely below explicit, literal ownership of him. Consorts in Belsedori society are heavily coddled and are treated well in material terms, but are entirely denied equal standing with women and are universally viewed by Belsedori society as rightfully being their wives’ property and personal playthings.
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 large 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 earn money and 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, by contrast, 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.