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Lore
Creation
Some individual species are created by the hand(s) of a Galaxy or the Creator, Milky Way. Usually made by Galaxies, they are made with fine detail, paying attention to their personality, physical appearance, mental stability, along with the future of all of those aspects. The future of the individual may be changed by their own doing, or by a flaw introduced by their creator. It is also possible for a creator to simply randomize their creation, leaving it up to where they are created within the terrarium to determine their biology and behavior. When a creator has decided their creation cannot be manipulated further, they are able to set the creation's birth to occur in an arranged location in the terrarium. In the specific location, their physical appearance will be nearly impossible to see, as they are like a microbe until they slowly grow into a more visible manifestation. This process is usually quick, taking around 2 months until the creation is at least a foot tall. It is from this point on their process is much like a human child's.
Souls who have emerged from corpses can be taken back to the top of the terrarium, in which they would be taken by a member from the Space element, and would be given to the creators or left to roam space as per the dead's wishes. When viewed by a Galaxy or Milky Way, they can sense a psychic overview of a soul's existence and what sort of karma they had collected while they were alive. From here, they can determine if they want to remake the soul into a higher being, such as a Air or Water being, if they had previously been from the Earth element. If that process is went through and the being comes to exist once again in the terrarium, they will be aware of their past life(s). If an individual had been particularly immoral, they may never be recreated or even forced to be alone within the universe, which could cause soul death.
Lifespan
Individuals who belong to the Air and Water elements all live for a long time, usually spanning from at least 80 years to 600 years. Space and Supernatural species live from 8,000 up to 13,000 years! Supernaturals, though, were created all around the same time and more do not appear after the Xanthonear era. These two elements cannot die from disease or poison, as they do not have the same organs as Mortals do, however can be affected by them. A way they can die is being killed by someone of the same element, but if they are merely stabbed, they cannot die of the infection. Another way that someone can die is that their soul decays abnormally faster than what is normally possible. This is usually caused by not treating the soul as properly as you should, meaning the individual had suffered lack of love, attention, community, connection. The disease can never be cured.
Mortals who are on the higher end of their rankings tend to live longer, around 100-190 years. Mortals who are on the lower end, tending to be peasants, live shorter, only around 50-90 years, depending on what species the individual is. A Mortal or non-Mortal who is created tend to live to the age they were set as, never able to die before or after that age.
Physically speaking, Mortals do not age like how older humans do, their physical aging process being much slower than how they chronologically age.
Death
When an individual from any element dies, their physical form decays -- disintegrates, piling up as dust. This process usually isn't immediate, happening gradually over a period of hours. Once they have fully turned to dust, the pieces of their corpse slowly break up to be smaller and smaller until eventually, there is nothing left behind. When an individual has died, their soul will have left their physical body. Souls can be captured by Mortals, however is difficult to keep encaptured. When in the hands of Mortals, they can be guided safely to their destination by any means, in which their destination would be to their creators or, if they did not want to be remade, into a comfortable spot in the universe in which they would not be harmed, manipulated, or detected. Normally dying, they would eventually find their way into the universe, exploring it if they would like or staying put, resting for however much time they want. Sometimes, they can transform into a Ghost, a relative to the Supernatural element. Not predominantly evil or malicious, they can interact with anyone, including Mortals, and even possess an individual for a period of time.
Reproduction
Anyone in the Space, Water, Air, or Supernatural elements can "align" their sex, meaning they can change it when they are first made, and at any point in time if they so feel like it. Mortals cannot alter their sex, however there are rare cases of individuals changing their sex via surgery to align with their identity and expression. There are 3 available sexes: the female sex, with developing breasts and a female reproductive system; the male sex, with a male reproductive system; intersex, with a mixture of both binary sexes but is inherently non-binary. It is possible for a Mortal, who is created, to have no sex at all. A biologically female individual can give birth after being inseminated by a biologically male individual, in which the birth process takes up to 5 months.
Religion
It is known by the general population that the Galaxy gods do exist and of their almighty creator, Milky Way. Since they are not aware of their presence outside of the terrarium, individual nations hold their ceremonies and rituals in which species can attend; to pray to the gods, wish for fortune and good health, and to secure a long future after their death. The religion surrounding the gods is called Doteraism (doe-teh-ruh-izm), in which its beliefs follow the ideas of being free of mortal wrongdoings like murder or lying which can make it more possible for an individual to live after death, a presence of the divine being within every individual, being reincarnated in a constant cycle, and that people exist autonomously but are never alone in their existence. The most common ritual is one where there are 4 portions: Meditating together, usually in groups of maximum 20 and minimum 6, holding each others hands, usually outside; doing a favored social activity like writing or playing together; praying alone; and finally, discussing grievances, personal issues, and reevaluating ultimate solutions and coming together to help each other as a connected community. Seeing or even meeting at least one god is said to guarantee an individual to be reincarnated with the most thriving life after death, which makes some groups fervent to meet a god within their lifetime. There are many, many individuals who do not believe in Doteraism and are not affiliated with religion or simply believe in something else.
Society
Most mortals live in communal villages and travel in large groups, however some choose to, or have to, live alone. Mortals have a choice to either mate for life, change mates periodically, or have no mate at all. It is looked down upon to have no mate, however one won't be shunned if they don't have one. There is no normal for having a single partner or having multiple at once. The system of dating and courtship is similar to humans, however the moment one has intimacy is when they become partners. There are no known gender roles and no gender is held in a higher regard than another. The hierarchy of the society is based off of the species, sub-element and element of an individual.
To become an actual adult as a Doterian, by the age of 20 years old, one must be able to stop talking and be isolated for 2 months. When that time has passed and they are still sane, they are declared an adult. For anyone outside of the religion, it's 22 that is the official age of adulthood.
A form of currency are coins, made of various rocks and metals melted together. When in forms of 10 or more, it is highly valuable. An individual that has less than 3 coins are considered poor, one who has 5 or 10 are considered middle class, one who has 20 or more are considered rich. It is generally considered weird and taboo to try to trade something for less than 5 coins if it is worth more than 5. One can get coins via jobs.
Elders are individuals who are at least 80 years old, in this society they're typically regarded to be useless and nothing more than dust. Sometimes, however, it depends on the family.
Jobs depend on place in hierarchy - the common ones in order of importance: merchant, cleric, doctor, scientist, and soldier. Merchants typically sell carbon rocks that they harvested, but can also sell valuable items like bundles of tree bark, packages of berries, a luxury treat, and other goods. People from Water and Air elements are required by law to be treated like royalty.
Law
Here's what's against the law and will get you severely punished: murder or helping someone murder, burning trees (especially small trees), destroying or tampering with someone's dwelling, getting into a fight, getting intimate with an individual under the age of 15, eating other mortals, setting public or private property on fire, setting anyone on fire, causing explosions/floods/avalanches, practicing any ritual that goes against the gods, getting intimate with a relative, stealing.
Here's what's against the law but will not get you severely punished (taboo): Disrespecting Doterans, disrespecting someone because of their species, manipulating a soul without having permission to do so, talking bad about officials or gods with no reason or reasonable criticism, being completely naked with sex parts showing.
Of course, there are certain nations who do not abide completely by these laws. Metabard allows practicing anti-god rituals, Woodala allows all taboos, Triui Blar allows fights and Neprunia allows disrespecting Doterans.
A punishment is decided by a court, led by Mortal individuals and certain Space individuals. A mild punishment for a mild offense (e.g. being involved in a secret society) would be fining the individual. A intermediate punishment for an intermediate offense (e.g. getting intimate with an individual under the age of 15) would be rehabilitation or mild incapacitation -- depending on the crime -- removing individuals from their communities or households temporarily. A severe punishment for a severe offense (e.g. burning or destroying a small tree) would be permanent incapacitation, removing individuals from their households permanently or even banishing them to either a desolate area or a different nation who would be aware of their crimes. This, again, obviously varies from nation to nation. Woodala and Metabard are lax on punishment, however Triui Blar and the Somu Islands are some of the most strict.
Leadership
Each city in every nation has a representative, and then each nation has a chancellor. There is no single leader for every nation. The representatives belong to the sub-element and element of their citizens, e.g. a city dedicated to housing all of the insect species of that nation having a Spider individual as their representative. Woodala has 12 cities, Neprunia has 15 cities, Triui Blar has 16 cities, Somu has 21 cities, and Metabard has 13 cities. Metabard has a chancellor belonging to the Water element because they see individuals from the Water element less like royalty and more like just normal citizens, since they have more Water species than Earth or Air species.
Names
If an individual is created, there is no preset name chosen for them. The creation will choose and/or create their own name as they grow up. Since the creation usually has no parents upon appearing, there are no guardians to choose a name for them. If an individual is born, the parent(s) should choose a name for their child. No one has a surname or family name unless they are a chancellor of the nation they are from, in which the name was given to them by royalty if they exist in that nation. Individuals born in Woodala typically have more exotic and uncommon names (e.g. Bejide), Neprunians having common names (e.g. Genesis), Blarish people having a mix of uncommon and Neprunian & Bardian names (e.g. Soren), Somuns having more unique names similar to those of people who lived in the Asian regions on planet Earth (i.e. Makoto, Dae, Alexei, Kashvi, Zhao), Bards having more oceanic names (e.g. Aurora). Individuals in the Water and Air elements have names based upon Greek mythology from Earth, it doesn't depend on being created or not. In their case, they will innately know their name once they have the ability to remember.
Anatomy
Most individuals have very humanoid bodies, with traits relating to their species and sub-element if it applies. Their organ systems are much like the ones humans have on planet Earth, with veins and arteries as well. However, skin on individuals, especially those who belong to the Air and Earth elements, tend to be frail and flaky if tampered with. Skin on all organs are also rather frail. This is why the body disintegrates post mortem. Individuals belonging to the Water, Air, and Earth elements all have organ systems. However, they differ between elements. First off, Water species have bodies equipped to live in water for their entire life. They tend to have blubber to surround their joints, rounding it out more or less. They also have gills, which connects to their stomach, but also have lungs, however they are small and means that Water species cannot be out of water for a long period of time without dying or at least suffering, unless they have a power which helps them withstand air for longer. Their arms, fingers, legs, and feet all have webs, and the sides of their bodies have fins to help the individual swim. If the individual is more accustomed to water, they tend to develop scales on their extremities first, then developing further on the arms and legs. Air species have normal lungs, and also have special air sacs to help oxygen enter the blood supply more easily. In addition, their hearts are also slightly bigger, meant to help the muscles working during flight. Their wings also tend to be big, unless a flaw in creation or birth mutation has occurred and their wings are too small to carry them far. Birds and Bats tend to be very light, managing an average 40 pounds, thanks to their hollow bones. Earth species have almost exactly the same organ system as humans do, of course not counting the special lungs and digestive system all species have.
Genetics and Traits
Two parents may be the same species, which would most likely cause the offspring to be the same species as their parents, as the species would be dominant. However, if both parents have the same recessive species allele, the offspring could end up being a completely different species than either of the parents. If a parent's species doesn't match the other parent, a species gene can have specific dominant and recessive alleles. Say one parent is a Timber Wolf, and the other is a Bengal Cat. The offspring between the two could be a Timber Wolf from it being dominant, and the Bengal Cat 'part' of them would end up being recessive. Traits cannot normally 'mix', as in a child could not have both a Timber Wolf tail and Bengal Cat ears. Societally speaking, it is not wrong to court a being with a species different from yours. It is generally known and scientifically confirmed that interbreeding does not cause mutations, and if one does occur, it would not be harmful. An example of a non-harmful mutation of species in a being would be the aforementioned blend of Bengal Cat and Timber Wolf physical characteristics.
Language
Every nation has their own language and form of speaking. Even most species have special dialects and ways of speaking which differ from their official native language. In general, most have different sounds that are incorporated into their languages. Woodala's universal language comes out softspoken and gentle, pillowy and not clicky or rough. They do not drag out their vowels and seem to end their words a little early. However, they speak slowly. Triui Blar has a universal language that is roughly spoken, with more harsher sounds being made on the front teeth and compression against the back of the mouth. They do not tend to speak inherently aggressively, but can be interpreted as aggressive because the language is more uptight sounding in nature. Neprunia's universal language has rather two divisive clear-cut opposites of dialect, one of which is soft and fruity, the other being more posh and raucous or loud. The softer dialect tends to have drug out vowels and trail off at the ends of their sentences, and the posh dialect has higher intonations in the middle of their sentences as well as more of a 'snarky' way of speaking. In the Somu Islands, there is no universal native language, as there are considerably more varied and diverse species whom have languages with long and deep pasts. Metabard has a universal native language, however, and it is unequivocally more common and shared among the Water individuals of the nation, not just among certain species. Their language sounds clicky, since they are underwater, clicking sounds are simply produced easier in the vocal cords. Guttural, deep groans, and whimsical sing-songy vocalizations akin to whales of the Earth also take hold of this special language. Out of water, however, they speak with a low tone, and have slurred speech almost throughout the entire element from the nation. Those who speak with no such slur to their voice are probably raising their voice and intentionally sounding more formal.
There are few recorded instances throughout the terrarium's history of species who have been unable to speak for one reason or another and created their own language. Some invented a language in which they spoke with their fingers and its different positions and palms, others invented a language that utilized mouth or other facial movements including body parts like the ears. The latter was seen to be more prevalent in Air and Water individuals, notably in the Somu Islands and Metabard respectfully. Air individuals may speak with only their facial movements due to the vocal vibrations in their chest causing complications during flight, but this type of speech only occurred while flying and never while on the ground as they already had their own language respective to the species itself. Water individuals may have chosen to speak this way because devoting to a language that uses singing, groaning or another type of vocalization may seem daunting, especially when looking at the long-term effects of speaking on land. In this format, these individuals have also taken to using hand speaking or, as it's universally referred to on land, "laakgnad (lAWk-na)" literally meaning "hand talk". However, when compared to Earth individuals using laakgnad, Water species tend to have fewer and less varied common phrases and words due to how difficult it may be to speak underwater with quick hand movements. Nonetheless, aforementioned Earth individuals seem to use laakgnad more often than any other element, especially in individuals who simply cannot speak because they have no vocal cords, their cords are deformed, or for another reason, such as psychological and neurological issues.
Creativity
Creative works and activities such as illustrating, performing, music, etc. are markedly rare in this universe. It is not widely distributed or even attempted as it is on planet Earth. Music and performances become somewhat known in the Issagan era, as during this time species were trying to process the inner destruction of the terrarium as it was unfolding in front of them, piece by piece. Art proves to be difficult as some species decide to pursue religion and careers instead of a hobby, but other species excel at it so much that it becomes their career. Such species make a relatively hefty salary by working as freelance illustrators and artists. Performing in plays or other theatre productions is extremely rare and hard to find terrariumwide, even during and after the Issagan era. During such a time, multiple plays are produced to essentially cope with the feelings species had - fear, anger, sadness. Other creative endeavors, such as musical performances and songs, are usually all performed in public and in bigger villages and cities in all nations. A lot of the popular songs are written as 'sad' songs or songs with no happy undertone and make listeners soak into negative emotions and reflection about the bad parts of life. These songs, despite their melancholic sound, resonate with many species. There are also an abundant amount of songs that are upbeat and unrelated to the situation to redirect thoughts from the societal chaos around everyone. Such musicians who perform these songs with instruments like the peom harmonica, striordai (a guitar-like instrument), and sipte. Some musicians prefer to have lyrics alongside their melodies, some prefer just instrumental songs. Nonetheless, both types of music are beloved by music enjoyers, however it still remains relatively unknown and indifferent to the general public awareness, as does art.
Aging
Time is different in the terrarium than how it was on planet Earth, all due to the differing gravitational fields causing the slightly off time dilation. Therefore, ages in all Mortal species also differ, with the created species developing years attributing to that. If someone wants to compare their species age to that of an Earthian, they can use the 4 - 1.2 - 1.5 year rule. That is, the species age subtracted by 4 is their "human" age. Then, as they get older (and depending on what species they are) the difference becomes noticeably larger and larger. When a species is middle aged, say 45 or 50 years old if they're of the Earth element, or 65 or 70 years old if they're Air, etc., then you divide 1.2 to the age to have their Earthian age. Once the species approaches their near-elderly years, the gap of time dilation is at its widest. A species of the Earth element could be around 80 years, while one of the Air element could be 90. This is where one would implement the last part of the rule - "1.5". Divide the age by 1.5 to get the compared age as if they were "human". Of course, this may seem difficult without knowing the specific timelines and lifespans of each species and sub-element. A tip would be to consider the species when it was alive on Earth and how it would fare in its natural environment, like a monarch butterfly or saber-toothed tiger. If they didn't last long in nature, the species would most likely die in their 50's or 60's, or if they could outlive their prey they would be around 90 or 100 in their venerable years. It is also not unprincipled to consider the species (person) themself and how they choose to live their life, what actions may or may not inhibit their ability to live longer.