Hallromms

Hallromm butterflies have thick pelt and long antennae, the six wings have a wingspan of half a meter, and the six legs are equipped with flexible toes that let them cling to nearly any surface. They are generally friendly and easily trained.
Dustships started using hallromm butterflies as messengers long ago, but nowadays they are popular everywhere, especially after new breeds proved to be more cold resistant. They carry letters in strap-on belly bags, and in some places heavy in short range messages the air is fluttering with hallromms. The butterflies insist on their own bushes to which they return faithfully - dustships keep those on one of the floating rocks.
Hallromms enjoy having their bellies stroked, leave tiny marks on elvish skin, and are mildly intelligent, at least enough to play with the omnipresent bugfairies.

"The bugfairies have painted the hallromms again. One almost lost an antenna trying to clean itself, but washing isn't a solution either, I'll break them to pieces. I'd ask the fairies to fix it, but I'm scared of what they'll do - probably paint the original colours back or something."

— Hetcal, Lozirian

Artists' notes
Originally hallromms (German: Hallrömm) were only found on dustships, but somehow a few years passed in Genius Loci while hallromms were around, and then they were popular on the ground as well. This is actually the first painting of them, I had just a few scribbles of their anatomy before.

Cities and settlements

Most of Kitas is rural, many peoples are nomads, and have settlements they only use half the year or even only tents. Notable cities are the three council cities for one - Gamahan in central Sawa, Plokin on Lozir's western coast, and Clom Vah in the Gderan Mahal Bay - gigantic cities dating back to the dawn of time, each over a million inhabitants large with uncounted visitors. It's here that all countries of the continent gather for talk and trade, and the council cities regard themselves not as power players but mitigators.
Secondly, the rhu'khach cities are the next oldest and therefore largest settlements. Recognizable by the ending -ei or -ai (like Agorisai or Eligei), their architecture is unmistakable, and their infrastructure is well-planned.

 "The architecture of Akosh and Ukosh is quite pleasant, even if the denizens are weird, but I like Nalvar's Isuanda best. It's beautiful at every time of year, and not as crowded as the council cities."

— Drasam Murish, traveller

There are many other notable towns and cities; there is some debate however, dating back millenia, if the likemindedness of city dwellers doesn't attract placespirits too easily, and thus, growth of settlements should be discouraged altogether. The inhumanity of seeing this through stops doubters from acting - usually - but the debate remains, and indeed, some peoples believe it firmly enough to not gather in settlements larger than small villages.

"The Discordant Cities have irked Zir again with a newly hired pirate fleet that Grimoga set on Henasset, but that attacked Ziranian traders, too. I don't think Zir will be forgiving about their idiotic politics much longer."
— Wekanar Hissomirr, Lozirian

Other famous cities are the powerful Nalsiir in eastern Gdera and Elisacett in its far south; the Tritowns Nini, Oryor, and Drani; Brighthold's capital Sokarnon; and the engineering school's home, Bargassa.


Artists' notes
Cities are such fun to invent and so painful to paint. Given that I arrived at a world pretty much littered with relics and ongoing spells like autumn leaves covering the forest floor, it might well be safer in the woods than in the cities, concerning otherworldly entanglements, where much fewer people have come through who could have left trouble behind.

Umarvas

Umarvas are creatures with rusty red fur, a dark dorsal stripe, and dark paws; they are about thirty centimeters high, have large bright eyes, and seem plump in their thick pelt. In the wild, these nocturnal animals are very shy; around humans, they can only be found in voice halls. Here, they are peaceful co-dwellers of the voices, ostentatively ignoring visitors. Umarvas can be found everywhere except southern Sawa.

"As if the voice hall wasn't creepy enough, around midnight all the umarvas got up, gathered in the garden and silently stared up to a dwarf woman in a frock, who had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, then collectively turned around and returned to the hall. I've never slept in a hall again."
— Enipomor, mercenary

As mysterious as the umarvas are is their unnamed queen. As all her subjects, she seems to only talk to voices. She can be seen travelling with them and is most often spotted in northern Gdera. As a human, she has the appearance of a dwarven woman with umarva-coloured hair, in simple clothing and hairdo. The queen has a habit of quietly standing at the path's edge and observing, but leaves when others than voices come near. She has been reported to behave the same way in the Area, where she has been spotted frequently.

"Maybe it's not important what she's called when she hasn't introduced herself. I think you'll know when you call her her right name."
— Huun, voice

Artists' notes
Another animal lord, or rather, lady. Umarvas are another strange addition to the voices, who harbour so many secrets - from what makes the world go round to why only left socks ever go missing. I also enjoy quiet animals in games that you meet in the wild and for a change do not want to eat you.

Art on deviantArt: Gahatenge

The lord of the gubras has been painted to accompany a later blog article, and can now be seen on deviantArt: Gahatenge.
It also appeared on cgsociety.com, where you can also see sketches and wips of Genius Loci artworks.

Animals and animal lords

Animals are not mindless beasts. The dwellers of Gdera's Lower forest maybe know this best - their beastly neighbours are smart, some even wise, and have a mind of their own; some are tricky, others helpful, yet others ignore people as long as they can have their way.
The animal lords are not their masters - as many examples have shown, beasts are strong-willed and individualistic. But they all acknowledge the undeniable power of their lords, and follow most commands. Gross mistreatment of a species may result in their tribe declaring war on the violators.

"I will not tolerate you mistreating my kindred so badly. You will release them by dawn. Fail to do so, and I will swear my people to follow and harm you any way they can, for as long as our brethren's suffering lasts. Do not test me."
— Asgaan, queen of the orlas

Bug fairies all know animal speech, and gladly act as translators. As most people don't understand beasts well, fairies help in repelling them from fields and houses, guard flocks, and protect children from being harmed by animals, but also talk beasts into becoming pets, not always to the joy of parents.

"Oh, for crying out loud. Get the fairies here, the naddis are ruining the vegetables. And make sure they don't use them for jousting this time, the poor things didn't give milk for two days after their last brilliant idea."
— Laqihe, farmer

Famous animal lords are the proud lord of the gubras Gahatenge; the mysterious umarva queen; and Eonorora, the sad and gentle lady of the neribrees. Most can take human shape but show features of their kind, like colouring or strength.
Not all lords are known (some even regard a lortsen lord as a ridiculous idea). Neither is it known if there is a hierarchy, or just one lord - or pair thereof - to each species. There seems to be a difference between the Crowned and the Uncrowned Lords, but what it is, remains unclear.


Artists' notes
I very much love stories that tell of the times when people and animals still lived together and humans knew they were just one kind of animal too, and understood the language of animals. So given the opportunity of my own world, I put Kitas in that era.

Art on deviantArt: Lozirian cave cities

A concept not previously published in the blog is now on deviantArt: Lozirian cave cities.
There may be an article on them someday, but for now, other articles take priority.

Sanity

Loss of sanity and various forms of lunacy are common in lands where you might fall into a parallel world at any time, or lose your mind to solitude. The different species are prone to various forms of mental issues. Some views are considered insane as well, like racism. The survivors of spirit attacks, either by the dead or placespirits, are never sane again, but results may vary.

Dwarves cannot endure loneliness and become erratic and obsessive when exposed to solitude; this is normally addressed by making sure dwarves need not be alone.
Elves easily suffer from delusions or paranoia. They often feel like they're missing out on some greater truth they could understand if only they opened up towards... something. It can be difficult to keep track of the longlived elves and their issues to get them help in time. These are but two examples; all species have their peculiarities.

"At first it looked like a simple poisoning, nothing to worry about. Then she started seeing things and talked to the forest. On the fourth day, she bit Relgaan and fled into the canyon; Relgaan has never spoken again."
— Orewasse, traveller

Time and again, people leaving the Area think themselves to be the servants of Starmaker, and of course her favourite. These raving lunatics pursue unfathomable goals, sometimes even violently, and almost always end up in the voices' care.
Goldfairies are hard to understand at the best of times. They all have secret goals and one together, it seems; they can often be found talking to themselves or the furniture, and stop in midsentence when they become aware of company. It requires patience to handle them.

"Sanity is a matter of circumstances. Are the Redforesters insane for living in poison? Is it mad to build on a volcano?"
— Hafana, scholar

Artists' notes
There are plenty of dangers - wild animals, illnesses, curses, volcanoes, elementarians... but I didn't want to leave out insanity. After all, it's a good explanation for some rulers' behaviour. And I like it better than them being eeeeviiiil; since I ruled out the Evil from Genius Loci, I thought it'd be better to blame it on loss of mind when rulers become cruel.