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ookaookaooka said: Is there a common language between the Paski and the humans on Unity? Or does everybody have to learn everybody else’s language?
It’s easier for paski to speak English* than it is for humans to speak Raatasingh, so English is the main language spoken on Unity. Quite a few people do try their hand at Raatasingh, though. It’s considered polite not to cringe at their attempts.
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*Unity belongs to the Americas, thus English.
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adelein asked: How specifically do humans differ from you other races? What opinions do other races have of them?
Sorry for the wait— I had to think on how I was going to answer this. XD Listing all the specific ways that humans are different from paski would take a very long time, so I’ll hit the major ones and my thought processes behind them. TEXT WALL COMMENCE.
One really big one is that paski society is considerably more streamlined than human society is. The real reason for this is that it is literally impossible to create a species that is as diverse as humanity. We have literally thousands of cultures, based on country, ethnicity, religion, political belief, and more. It’s complicated.
In-universe, paski have four major cultures, one for each subspecies (there were five, but that one’s extinct). And as with what happened with Rome and now the Western world, there has been a huge degree of Raatasirazation that has gone on. When I make broad statements on paski culture, I’m talking about Raatasira culture. Raa paski aren’t stupid, they didn’t completely squash the beliefs of their conquered peoples (that’s how you get uprisings), but they made everyone similar enough to be able to rule efficiently.
Another major one is that paski are considerably more group-orientated than humans are. We are social creatures, but I wanted to take it to a more extreme level. Humans do poorly in solitary confinement, paski fall apart much faster and recover far slower. We have a tendency to shun and/or belittle (or worse) people who are different, and paski have been committing infanticide of “deformed” children for… a very long time. On a more positive side, they form very close family, friend, and workgroups, and are dedicated to making sure their group members remain happy and healthy. Selflessness is a prized trait in paski society.
The paski Us vs Them mentality is extremely strong. This is both a psychology-turned-society thing and very carefully cultivated by the Raatasira who run the Commune. If the ‘Us’ present a united front against the ‘Them’ (humans were a great Them for a while), then the Commune is much easier to run. Fewer dissidents. On a smaller level, Us vs Them helps breed competition and productivity in workplaces between workgroups, and also forges strong family bonds.
To further differentiate paski from humans, I look at aspects of our societies and try to approach them from a different direction. Many people knock on doors before they enter; paski sneeze. People point with their fingers, paski with their noses. In Western culture, 3 and 7 are lucky numbers, 13 is bad; for paski, 4 and multiples of 4 have positive connotations, multiples of 5 have negative connotations, and 5 itself is death (major cultural reasons behind that, including there being four extant subspecies and one— the fifth— extinct one).
Humans and paski have traditionally had a rather… rocky, relationship. It has since progressed through frigid, and is finally starting to warm up. The experiment that is Unity colony is proving that (early riots aside) humans and paski can coexist peacefully, and things are looking hopeful for the future.
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More of the critters from my last art post. They bond telepathically to certain individuals and serve as companions and assistants. Highly intelligent, endlessly curious, and able to speak fluently, they make excellent companions to explorers and are in high demand to serve aboard airships. Most owners (I’m waffling between calling them “hosts”, which sounds dumb, and “bonders”, which also sounds dumb) have two or three of these guys, though up to five is not uncommon. They range in size from kestrel to eagle, and have appearances that are analogous to raptors.
I’m trying to not use black while painting black, but it only turns out looking purple. XD More experimentation needed.
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Goshawk flying through small spaces
Too cool to not reblog.
Also fantastic ref for anyone with avian characters.
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More psychedelic color practice. I hate painting in green, so I made myself do it twice. XD
I make up new headworlds like some people buy shoes. This guy is from the newest one, which is vaguely steampunkish and has airships and stuff. He’s a bond creature and a smartass. I may draw more of his kind later.
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Psychedelic color practice. I’m trying to get used to working in darker colors, since I tend to get a little nervous when I’m laying my deeper shadows. Also, I am clearly most comfortable in the cooler colors, so I tried some orange and green nonsense for the chalku. I will definitely have to play with warm colors more.
Zenn belong to Alex, Watchers to Belle, and chalkurites to Silvermender.
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I really wanted to paint something that was blue, green, and yellow, but didn’t want to do any of my own guys. Then I remembered that I’ve been meaning to paint Jeih since forever.
For once I didn’t draw creepy Jeih. This must be after his rehabilitation. He’s chillin’ in someone’s garden, possibly waiting for Kyrin to come snuggle.
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Alex asked: What are the most prominent belief systems of humans at the time that they meet the Paski? Do an of them effect their interactions with other species? Is the Coalition united by a belief system? Do they have a unifying language?
Wolfy asked: What is the most prevalent religion in human society? Why? What did discovering a new, sentient race do to believers?
I’m going to say that Buddhism will win the award for largest number of practitioners, though just about everything that is around in our time is still around by the time my story happens. The God/Allah/Yaweh monotheistic religions continue to be extremely popular, for example. What religion is most prevalent depends greatly on region.
A lot of the same questions we have today about religion and morality cropped up again and became even more complicated when aliens were thrown into the fray. Should paski be subject to the same morals as us? If they act in a decided non-human or “non-moral” way, are they subject to the same kind of punishment in the afterlife as we are? And what about converts? Some paski (mostly found on Unity) practice Buddhism, and there is at least one paski (also on Unity) interested in Judaism, and there are a few humans (just about everywhere) who have expressed interest in both the Raatasira and Caandiki religions. What happens to their souls after they die? Do they follow their adopted religions’ rules despite being the wrong species, or do they float around in the nether for eternity? Or do they just end?
Things are even more complicated than they are today, that’s for sure!
English is the most widely-spoken language in Coalition Space. Spanish and Chinese are the next most widely distributed. Schoolchildren are required to master at least two of the three major languages in order to graduate from high school.
Humans still can’t agree on anything, and have to rely compromise and tolerance in order for as many people to be happy as possible, though there is still a lot of arguing over… well, everything. It drives the Commune nuts. Some group should just conquer the others and homogenize the whole species; make everything easier to deal with.
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Wolfy asked: What do the humans have: kings or presidents? What is some newsworthy shit they’ve gotten themselves into?
The Earth Coalition is actually an alliance between the three superpowers: United Europe, the Americas, and the Chinese-African Empire. They each have a section of Coalition Space under their jurisdiction; their responsibility is to provide for and protect both space stations and world colonies, who in turn must answer to their sovereign territory’s laws and such. (Dale’s home colony belongs to United Europe; Julian’s belongs to the Americas.)
United Europe is currently ruled by Queen Marguerite. Her mother, Queen Elizabeth IV, was monarch during the First Contact War, and has been immortalized by the warship, ECUE Elizabeth IV. Marguerite is younger than the other two world rulers, but has so far proven to have a cool head and a natural diplomacy.
The Americas are headed by President Santiago Roa. He lost an older brother in the First Contact War, and is known for his conservative approach to forming relations with the Commune. He has an aggressive negotiating style, but has a good sense of humor and is quick to laugh.
Emperor Fatima Ndiaye rules the Chinese-African Empire, and is the oldest of the three world leaders. She had just come into her title around the time that the FC War started, and has worked very hard to forge good relations with the Commune. She and Onan Udahayay Dar have met in person several times, and are affectionately referred to by the media as “The Old Women of Peace”.
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wyrd66 asked me what t’kodi warships looked like. sort of like this wyrd XD
These are all newer ships, so they contain more of their own style than the older cobbled together ships, but the influence of those days is still quite strong in their aesthetic.
I wrote a whole document on their fleet tactics and ship specs as I did this, but I don’t have the time to spellcheck it right now. another time perhaps.
Well holy crap. Those are beautiful.
Will you design my spaceships for me, CD? I need to get mine underway so we can have a proper Meeting of Aliens.
Also I desperately want to read about their tactics and specs.
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