Voices and the Great Spirit

Voices are on either side of death - very young, very old, or terminally ill, with one exception: elves can be voices for life. Voices are blessed as they truly understand the world. Knowing that no-one else does, they gladly give advice but rarely bother explaining themselves. They don't trade or sell their services. Instead they live off the communities' generosity, but many cities feature halls of the voices, which are kept in order by the ruler. Voices are always right; following their advice will always solve the problem, but it's often hard - still, refusing them is said to be a recipe for rotten luck.
Voices are marked by a sign on their throat.

"Akani in the desert is said to be a voice. You're not the first pilgrims to seek her, but most people I point her way come back crying and refuse to speak. Her advice does seem to work, though."
— Peqati, innkeeper, to his guests

The Great Spirit is the cosmic will that shapes the world. It is a force of nature rather than a person, does not perform miracles and has no priests. It never acts directly, only sets the rules. The Great Spirit is the world. Understanding it means understanding the world. The question is, how does one start when the thread's end is the ball of yarn?

"No, you don't notice how you loose your ear for the Great Spirit. When I turned eight, I began to misunderstand my fellows, took easier tasks on my own accord, and left the hall with ten without sadness. I barely remember now, but I know the voices are right, and that comforts me."
— Cirinall from the White Stones, scribe

Artist's notes
Many fantasy settings have detailed religions, which I generally like, but it seemed I had only two choices: one religion for all (boring), or teeny-tiny cults everywhere (too much work). So I turned to animism, with spirits providing supernatural plot-hooks, and kept the thing/being that created the world out of the equation. Hopefully, this way I will avoid "How could (insert name of deity) let that happen". In a way, the speakers in their desire to understand the world are indeed theosophic truth-seekers (which I suddenly realise is definitely a nod to the wizards of LotR).

What's not in the setting

Genius Loci is a subjective setting where I let my imagination run free. I do not want it to be "mainstream"; it is not planned to be liked by as big an audience as possible; therefore, I take a lot of freedom with many ideas, and like to change things away from the usual, the expected, and have added or changed common fantasy elements.
What does that mean? For you to better understand Genius Loci, here's what I deliberately decided.

• No race-specific cultures - practically all cultures are mixtures of several races, who all live together instead of separating themselves; e.g., no "elven lands".
• No dominant humans - some settings have too many humans for my taste. In Genius Loci, they are only one of many species.
• No overpowered elves - although I thought of Norse elves when I invented them, they are another race in the setting. Elves are no more intelligent, magical, or beautiful than others.
• No silly dwarves - too often fantasy settings reduce them to drunken miners. Dwarves on Kitas are as dignified as anyone else.

It was fairly important to me that non-human species aren't too exotic and as detailed as humans would be anywhere, not reduced to their racial traits.

• No prophecy - the art of fortune-telling (and horoscopes, birth-signs and so on) is unknown to kitaians. I hate the idea of foresight and have thrown it completely out.
• No inborn magical aptitude - speakers can focus energies from birth; but it can be learned, and there are no all-magical races.
• No black magic - or, more specifically, neither necromancy nor demons. Also, no lurking evil force that seeks to corrupt the good (no Mordor, no Dark Side).
• No dragons - really, there are none.

As with so many descriptions, I am tempted to be thorough and explain why a land would be called elvish anyway, why mages have no staffs, and why all intelligent races are called humans. But that will have to wait until it comes up individually, there's simply not enough room.

The Great Green forest

Commonly abbreviated the Great forest, it grows in tropical climates. Everything's bigger: trees grow hundreds of meters high, animals are the size of ships, birds carry wagonloads of passengers, cities fit on a single treebranch. While not generally hostile, the forest is ignorant towards its inhabitants, and some predators even hunt people. The tallest trees are kilometers apart and a cosmos in themselves. Many legends are shrouded in the misty depths of the Great forest; some of the biggest trees even have counterparts in the Area.

"The outlanders squeaked at the sight of the burrmos, and called us wild when they saw how we got rid of them. I wonder what they would call the darkdwellers down below, who we call wild."
— Erj Ilisess, Great forest hunter

Life resembles that on islands. Anything the Great forest's inhabitants need is on their own tree, and one tree can house several tribes or settlements, and many animal herds; navigating unfamiliar heights is difficult. Travel is all but impossible on the ground  - if it can be found in the first place - and is instead done on high roads, built on stalks, or with climbing mounts. The peoples are hardy, used to unchangeable surroundings, and look down on soft outsiders; due to animal dangers, even city dwellers can handle weapons. Clothes are thin but strong and decorated with prestigious jewelry.

"From the topmost branches, you can see the dryad tree standing out red-leafed against the green forest. Many tried, but no-one ever found it. Or maybe they have and the dryad spoke to them - but that can't be, they returned safely, after all."
— To-pile-mok, gderan merchant

Artists' notes
I've done more illustrations showing the Great forest than the others - this is the secondmost widespread forest next to the Lower Green. I look forward to inventing gigantic animals; riding insects, snakes the size of trains and so forth (even if there seems to be some kind of contest going on in fantasy media who dares use the biggest trees). And some of the most civilized parts of Gdera are here, like Clom Vah or Gderet.

Darkhearts

Maybe three in a generation have the dark mark above their heart, only two were ever unlucky enough to be born with it. It is a bad omen, its bearers often venture on difficult quests to be rid of it. Some say it can be acquired by coming too close to a placespirit, or refusing to become a voice, or travelling the Area.
Darkhearts hold speechcraft power rivaled only by elementarians and the Four. The minds of the dark mark's bearers quickly shatter. They become paranoid, vain, and cruel, all the while impressing an almost inescapable lure on their swiftly growing mass of followers, which they badly mistreat. Almost all darkhearts had to be brought down violently and usually called a placespirit into existence while dying, which laid further waste to the land.

"We loved our adventurous life. When Astinoi, who had always been gloomy and sensitive, discovered the dark mark on himself, that life shattered like glass. We searched feverishly for help, but when it covered his heart fully, he flung himself down the cliffs into the lake."
— Tirakanfar, traveller

That darkhearts are both dangerous and rare make them a scarcely researched subject; on the bright side, darkhearts can't be made on purpose, unlike spirit possession. The cause for their coming and probable cures are largely unknown, and they can't be anticipated or avoided. Until the mark covers the entire heart, there's hope; it doesn't grow by any known rules. Voices will help, by sending darkhearts-to-be on dangerous quests, which often claim their lives; but if successful, they die unblemished.

"Artifacts are hard enough to understand; if made by darkhearts, I wish there was a bottomless pit we could throw them into. Kanmarra's collar alone destroyed half the standing stones in Suyemor in only a day."
— Hinukaya aht Kanamm, whisperer

Artists' notes
Darkhearts put a firmly black spot on Genius Loci's bright and hopeful map. But I like the poor fellows somehow; and there aren't as many as the article may make it sound, mind you: only three per generation, in the entire world. Except that they will be known throughout it if they fully bloom.

Spirit of place - genius loci

"The city of Hammerfall only exists because of a spleen by the mountain spirits in the first place. More and more signs have arisen that it may, and soon, become the host of a placespirit - an event that, in regard of the city's size, must be averted at all costs."
— Counselor Tshiako Sagamiu

Where a mood becomes defining for a place, be it a festival place, city, or battlefield, a genius loci may come into existence. It is an entity of almost limitless power that borders on conscious intelligence - on which side of it is unknown. They rarely appear physically, but fill the horizon when they do, and almost never speak. If they do, they command.
The placespirit will possess anyone in its domain. The victims may dance until they drop dead, start erecting uninhabitable palaces, or dig a shaft. As unreasonable as all placespirits' commands seem, time and again the results have been part of turning points in history.

"It is the Violet Order's belief that the placespirits must be thoroughly researched, seeing as the survivors carry an uncanny wisdom out of their service to them."
— Headless Nakani, to Queen Jamora

An unchallenged genius loci can stay indefinitely, and must be driven out. This difficult task can only be performed by highly skilled speakers or collectors; there are very, very few who ever drove out a placespirit alone, among them the famous voice Asa and the collector Numkrichtahn.
The saved victims will, in any case, not be the same and may act irrationally on a whim years into the future, but to allow them the appearance of normality, they are often brought elsewhere to pick up their lives.

Artists' notes
The name-giving spirit of place (Latin: genius loci, German: Ortsgeist) is an important part of the setting, of course. It's more or less my remedy for not having dragons or orcs handy to devastate a land - instead the population will be mentally enslaved by a terrible willpower... uh-oh.
Since they are so hard to research, many strange folk have obsessed over them, and suffered horrible fates - different every time, there just seems to be no rule to placespirits.

Dustships

Dustships are called so because the main element of the airships' workings is the famous floating dust. Rocks lift a hull like a naval vessel, sideway sails provide thrust, the dust is the main adjustment tool. Aside from those general workings, little is known; dustsailors are a secretive lot and guard their ship's secrets with their lives. Regiment aboard is liberal, but closed to outsiders; dustsailors not even have darlings on land. It's a great honour to be accepted into the crew of a dustship. While many sailors are skilled fighters, the ships follow a code on nonviolence and are all unarmed.

"We are proud to have played part in the construction of some of today's greatest structures. I could do without all the spying engineers we have to pluck from the dustworks before they've figured everything out, though."
— Appandanurast, captain of the Upwards

Dustships transport all kinds of things; easily spoiled goods or passengers, or they offer messenger services. The "grounders" regard them with a mixture of joy and wariness - exotic goods for moderate prices, but the feeling of still being conned somehow.
Widely known dustships include the strong Upwards, and the great Gral-én'tach.

"The trip would take us fifteen days, unless we travel by dustship. I'll rather pay to be behind lock and key in luxurious quarters than make my way through the Red Desert this time of year. The view's nicer, too."
— Gutria, traveler

Artists' notes
I like flying ships as much as the next fantasy artist, and I am very fond of this particular idea. It's fun to figure out the engineering, how the crew handles the ship, what the captain is like and so on. It also provides nice storytelling devices for fast transportation, secrecy, and power. I play in a roleplaying group with half-magical wooden spaceships that are just awesome, and which made me bold in my choices of airships.
I have invented several ships so far which I am eager to employ, their captains and specialties, and plot ideas to use them for. 

The calendar

The kitaian calendar relies on multiples of four and five. A week has five days. Four weeks make a month (20 days). Twenty months form a year (400 days). One hundred years are a century; four hundred years a Great Circle, in which the Four come and go. Portions have own names, like a Lesser Quarter (5 months), or a Great Quarter (25 years).

"Sawrana has a theory that Great Quarters also have meaning, and is currently looking for an elven apprentice to live long enough to prove it, in case you're looking for a job."

— Malimai Gjadruun, to his friend

Furthermore, five subsequent years (a Great Fifth) are assigned to the five principles: fire, water, earth and air, life, and spirit.

• In the year of the east, fundaments are made or destroyed; willpower is high, plots go slow, mines produce better material. People are loyal and confident; it's the Year of Crafts.
• The year of the south sees the outbreak of conflicts and new beginnings. People fall in love, start living their dreams; it's not a good year to finish something. This is the Year of the Brave.
• In the year of the north, peace is made; reforms and improvements come easy now. The Year of All is a good year to marry.
• During the year of the west, everything seems possible. Visions are declared, children born; harvests are good and illnesses light. People are in high spirits in the Year of Moving.
• The spirit year sees many supernatural events; speakers and spirits gain more power, but everyone's mind seems at its best. Master works are created, discoveries made, and art and philosophy are at their best. In the Star Year, mental influence is easy.

Artists' notes
I knew that simply keeping our Earth calendar would never do but didn't care about it until recently, and was surprised how nicely it all fitted together with multiples of four and five. There are no holidays yet - they will be largely regional and it makes more sense to invent them when it comes up. Although year's end and beginning are very likely spots, and there are some related to the moons.