Ack, sorry, I posted that twice with slightly different wording...

I love languages, but sadly all I know is English and I'm working on Spanish. So Jaybells might have to take control of that. I do like mapping things out so I might do a little this weekend if I get a chance.

For weapons, I think the points of arrows and spears could be glass, but the shafts maybe shouldn't to strengthen them?

And shields- I think it would be so cool to create a heraldry almost, and certain families or groups have symbols on their shields. When I think of shields, I think of round ones, but if you all would rather they be rectangular like Roman, or something else, that's fine. The symbols could feature desertish animals, or signs like a raindrop to show water, another to show wind, sand, ect. The sand symbol could be used exclusively for the shamans, or the elite who believe they are the chosen shamans, even if they aren't. And then the reclusive tribe out in the desert could have another, strange sign, that people could come across and wonder, where have I seen that before? Perhaps they saw it in ancient writings in the scrolls of something or other. 

The scrolls could be a writing that they live by, that contains prophecies about things and instructions. What if there is a drought in the land, because the elite sand shamans are failing, and the sand is moving in on the oasises? In the scrolls, there could be instructions for finding something (not sure what, maybe the thing guarded by the monstrous evil entity from earlier?) that would restore water to the land. Maybe the elite class has neglected the teachings of the scrolls, but some insignificant people from the reclusive tribe come across them or remember the teachings, and decide to go on some kind of quest. 

Or, they could need to recover a different scroll that has the instructions for restoring power to the shamans or something. Even though their power is mainly intuative, they might need something like a magic ritual to complete because their power is too far gone. 

Sorry, my thoughts go all over the place, and I'm just making things up as I go. 

Ok, here's the map more fleshed-out, if y'all are fine with it. Obviously, it's not finished by any means, and everything's still completely open for discussion/suggestion! :) 

Just thinking, I really want a betrayal scene... 

(It's fine if it's later on and not super important to the plot, but I really want to get all that out of my system :)))))) 

Ok, so I've been considering the pronouns for Sarai's group, and I think "sa" would work. (As a refresher, we sorta got into a mess on the Prompt Thread on what pronouns to use, since they aren't human, and instead more spirit-based, which necessitates a different method of coming into being...) "Sa" is literally just a made-up one for our convenience, and is more of a descriptor than true pronoun, but eh... Tell me if you have any other ideas and we'll see if this sticks. 

As for other new stuff: Sarai technically uses a different, lost language that mostly only the spirits use now, as opposed to the Central Sands'(I'm changing the phrase to this from "Central Desert" in reference to the main place we'll be/we've been focusing on for the sake of clearing up confusion and because I think it sounds slightly more creative/natural) main/state language, but as an immortal spirit'y thing, sa has also come to understand the Cental Sands' Speak(or CSS?).

~~~~~~~~~~

For clarity and organization, here's a list! (The blanks are not yet decided, the superscripts indicate a note/point of contention/discussion at the bottom).

> Main Setting(so far/at the moment): Central Sands ____¹

> Main/official Language: Central Sands' Speak²

> # of characters(so far): 4

> #1, Name: Serai

>> Direct pronouns: sa; Indirect: san; Possessive: sars (Here he/she/etc. is = Here sa is; It's for him/her/etc. = It's for san; That is his/hers/etc. = That is sars). [We may want to put it in italics to prevent confusion: sa, san, sars /etc.]

>> Traits: Physical - Cat-like, dark colouration, a spirit(can influence the physical, but not be injured under ordinary circumstances with physical force/objects); Personality - Snide, typically lazy, self-centred, mischevious, morally ambiguous, chaotic-nuetral.

> #2 Name: 

> #3 Name:

> #4 Name:

And so on with Flamarestii's characters, which I don't have a great feel for and don't want to misinterpret, so she can catagorize them if she wants. :) 

¹ = Something like "Kingdom" for this blank-space, except I want to explore gender roles and don't want to be tied down by Earth's historically patriarchal past(the term "King" suggests a male automatically in the role of authority, which is why I'd prefer not to use "kingdom"). I'm thinking the smartest/most skilled would normally be appointed as ruler, at least in theory, so we could use a twist of the world "The Wise" as a ruler/"King"-figure, and apply that to "Kingdom." Therefore we'd get something like "Ruled by the Wise One"(but condensed) if we translate in place of "Kingdom", but since we don't have a language yet... Yeah. It'll probably be a while before we get a definitive solution on that.

² = It kinda sounds silly, now that I think about it, but maybe when translated(which is my plan for now) it'll sound much more cool. 

~~~~~~~~~ 

Also, would you people be comfortable with providing backstories at this point? It doesn't have to be super in-depth, as we can figure that out later, but just something simple like, "He got scratched by a wild cat when he was a toddler and since then has stayed near civilization, with a distain for the wild." or how they met the other characters, or something interesting to write side-stories about later, or as a tool to humanize and become more comfortable with them. Apologies if that's too much, it's just an idea for now. :)

Ok, and I forgot what else I was gonna say, so this is probably enough for now. Tonight I'll try to get some language stuff down and confirmed by you all... Yay!

And if there's anything anyone wants to do in particular, like draw drafts of the archetectural style of the Central Sands' region, write little draft-snippets for the story, refine the map a little more, make suggestions on the details, or anything else, please go ahead! <3

Stay creative, pepple!