Lore Headcanon Thread

[ElderShrub]

Any wiki page can only be so long before it starts to become unwieldy. As a result, many players have their own headcanons about particular cultures, races, institutions and other aspects of Massivecraft lore. These are not accepted lore, but instead just little tidbits that we make up to make things more interesting, and are too specific to be listed on the wiki page.

So, I thought I might make a thread to discuss these ideas, and spread our own.

Just as clarification, this is not a thread for deep lore theorizing, just those little very specific ideas about certain aspects of the lore.

 

[ElderShrub]

To kick this off. Here's a few of mine.

First, the one that prompted me to start this thread was because of an image of some Altalar armour ideas Scribbe shared. This concept art had very, very pointy helmets. Now historically, lots of the Crusaders who were wearing great helms at the time, have been found with neck injuries. It's expected because of the flat top of great helms, any direct strike downward would push all the force into their spine. So I conjecture that since Regalia definitely has some Crusader influence, the Altalar discovered this. It's become almost a meme of the idea that the best way to fight someone in a great-helm is to just boink them on the head. As such, it's become fashionable for Altalar to craft increasingly pointier helmets to avoid the problem themselves.

Now I've been playing Kathar, a lot, so I have a few fun headcanons for the Kathar navy. The wiki describes the Kathar Navy as being both primarily focused around boarding, and extremely fast. Able to outpace a Regalian warship. My headcanon reason for this? Piracy. Both of those traits would be extremely useful to pirates. The Kathar navy has groups that the Regalians refer to as "Dread Pirates", who take their fast warships and attack vessels along the western coast of Daen. Their goal is to capture new slaves that they can sell back in the Dread Empire (Because the Kathar are very slave-heavy). Most Kathar ships are built for this purpose, and whenever a naval force is needed the Kathar Empire just calls up the Dread Pirates into one big fleet.

 

[SevenBirds]

My favorite bit of headcanon that I've heard is something one of Vivamente's characters mentioned during a hunt - that Gallovians avoid killing wolves and, if they do kill one, make sure that it gets a good burial. I'd never heard anything about that before, but it made so much sense that I immediately accepted it and went with it, which I think is a cool little tidbit to keep in mind.
(Except considering my character was a shepherd, I kinda wonder how well that works out for him. (x )

As for myself, I like to include little nods to folklore and such in my Gallovian's habits and superstition. Maybe they're just local to his village, maybe it's a widespread thing, who knows? But I like to think that there are at least similar beliefs across the land, although probably varied in some regard. Some of these include a belief that blackthorn provides protection against magic, the practice of burying the dead under stones and/or a yew tree, concern about the order in which to bathe babies, and a suspicion of unfamiliar horses near water. So far only two of these have ever actually come up, but they're fun cultural headcanon for me, at least.

 

[Magivore]

• Dwarves have the lowest population of drug users (except for races that are immune) because half of the drugs that are fun and present at parties tend to be inhalants and other concoctions need way higher of a dosage to affect their round, fat-filled bodies.
• It's a compliment to slurp a drink in Dwarven territory because it means you can't wait to have another cup before you're even done your first one. Talking while eating is also fine because sometimes a stroke of genius can't wait for you to swallow your bread. This is why they're known to be the noisiest eaters, but the best pub-pals.
• If you told your average Altalar that Ailor families start at around age 18, they'd likely be mortified. This is a big driving point for Altalar conservatives to say Half-Elves have terrible families that must be ostricized because of the implications.
• Dorkarth has an entire alchemical team dedicated to finding ways to mix blood and food substances to keep older vampires sane and fledglings more accepting of the loss of their favourite foods. This is why Regalian Vampires are so hateful; they don't have that help.
• Despite most Allar looking similar to one another, they regularly have trouble telling the visual difference between Ailor, and it's especially hard for them to tell the gender differences between obese or exceptionally skinny humans. They tell each other apart by smell, so perfume and cologne on other races just convinces the Allar that the wearer in question is female.
• Unionism doesn't spread well not only due to the fact it's so violent, but because it's heretical just to translate one written Creed into another language without a clergyman doing so. This leads to the paradoxical need that a priest of a different race/culture must exist before they convert someone of a different race/culture, but most clerics turn a blind eye to this fact aside from the zealots.

 

[CyberMo01]

• Teledden fashion is all about making a statement. It involves a lot of decorative bits and bobbles, and is entirely impractical.
• Altalar helmets are so pointy because of their cultural preference for longer hair. After all, it has to go somewhere when their fighting. A pointy helmet provides that space.
• Oberon Altalar have the most practical Altalar fashion, and Suvidal and Lesarra prefer more comfortable clothing. Although, Suvial clothing is more revealing that Lesarra.
• Isldar fashion can be related to eastern European fashion.
• Most Altalar don't start families until their well into their hundreds. It's not entirely uncommon for there to be a two or three hundred age difference between parents and children.
• Most Isldar marriages are arraigned. This is due to them coming from higher class society, and most hold onto it as a tradition.

• More to come when I remember them!

 

[Speedl0rd]

kinda basic but I pretend like regular pop culture fantasy trope shit is actually just common stereotypes and misconceptions. like orcs being big dumbs and all vampires having red eyes and hating garlic etc. I use these to be a racist boomer in rp.

 

[KK134]

I only have one thing of head cannon
-The Grand Vigil Nicholas wrote a series of essays on magic and aberrants called the "Purity Papers" which are extremely influential in the training and philosophy of many Regalian Arcane Scholars.

 

[JResurrected]

• Colonial Ailor have developed the fashion of goatskin leggings, worn over breeches and secured above the knee, to protect the lower leg during activities in crowded forests.
• For Colonial families to record their lineage, general woodworking prowess has inspired some to make a literal "family tree". In some colonies this has even extended to include the entire town.
• With the abundance of flora, plant manipulation is common use for towns. For example, bent trees often point to nearby shelters.
  Spoiler: Sign Tree

  
• Because of the frequency of Seraph ruins on the Essalonian continent, the mineral Seraphalo is making an appearance once again.

 

[Speedl0rd]

Another minor thing I suddenly just remember about something that may not even exist anymore idk i havent read the page: The hair growth alchemy can also be used to regrow nails, since nails and hair are both made from the same material.

 

[GoodDreamer]

Given that Slizzar know Zasta as an instinctive language, it likely does not change over time like other languages. And it can be assumed that the Allar of Hadaria speak the same dialect, due to having lived with the Slizzar for hundreds of years.

The Allar of Sendras, however, have no Slizzar to represent an unchanging dialect of Zasta, and their own dialects have likely undergone changes over thousands of years. So in my head, Allar agents from Sendras view the Zasta of Hadar as an (at least) 5000 year old dialect, practically a different language. Like Italian to Latin.

 

[cosmoons]

Most Neflin races have variants of British accents, with Altalar having royal British accents, and Kathar having cockney accents

 

[BasilMediator]

• There are colonial communities/towns of Kathar outside the mainland that rely on cotton fields and tropical goods for trade.
• Allar storytellers used to gather around the Karfanthian Watergardens each week to share saged legends of Sendrass and the Civil War to hatchlings.
• Allar refer to most other races as "Warmbloods" which is slang/jargon for either being insulting or used as a descriptive trait in the moment.
• There are entire slums and shelters located at the bottom of Qadir Hadrityas where food is scarce, and disease rampant, as these locations are where most of the Hadrityas industrial waste is discharged to.
• There are still colonies and towns beyond the oceans that believe the Bone Horror Crisis is still a threat.
• Yanar societies employ military gardeners referred to as "Protectorates" who serve their lives protecting Groves within Fendarfelle; often busied with skirmishes between Yanar gardens and Lumber organizations.
• The majority of soldiers in Coven armies are Broods.

 

[Gwyndo]

• Although Mórrígan is primarily an Animist, he believes that the stars are the eyes of his ancestors watching down on him. This is why Lecgaen Amphitheatres shouldn't have roofs - and why the most important Lecgaen Tourneys should be hosted at night time.
• The Regalian art of Lecgaen is akin to BJJ and Freestyle Wrestling, whilst the Highland variant is more in line with Scottish Backhold, Sambo and Catch Wrestling. The best Lecgaenists (Stryngers) are those who study both.