CJ24: Counterfeit Mage, Honest Illusions, Dodecahedron Duels

Is your world split geographically? (e.g. rural and urban, north and south, etc.) If so, how? There are three main continents. Two are becoming more and more urban while the third remains sparsely populated, perhaps in part due to its proximity to the north pole.
Describe the population density of your world. Are people forced to live in close proximity, or are they spread far apart? It’s a mix. Some people live in cities where they live in close proximity, while others live in rural areas where their nearest neighbor can be a full day of travel away.
What does the architecture look like? There are a lot of geodesic domes! Buildings are also constructed in the form of various prisms and polyhedra.

The Nineteen - together, they rule the capital city and the country
The Three - highest rank possible in this country. they have the final say on any matter pertaining to the city or country
The Six - equal in rank to the Ten. govern the city (each is assigned a sector, though they collaborate on decisions that affect the city as a whole)
The Ten - equal in rank to the Six. govern the outside (six for the other states of the country, four for relations with foreign nations)
(3, 6, and 10 are triangle numbers)

Sectors of the city
Government, politics, administration (center of the city)
Artisans (creation of goods and illusions) (artesanal sector)
Merchants (selling and trading of goods and illusions) (mercantile sector)
Residential (upper and middle class) (residential sector)
Entertainment (might change and combine this with merchants if I come up with a better idea for a sector)
Slums and waste disposal

Illusions
everyone has access to illusions and can create them. however, while everyone can create simple illusions, one must find an artisan to request a more elaborate illusion, or buy one at the mercantile sector if it’s a popular one
there are illusion trends, like social media filters. for example, an illusion to make one’s eyes into crystals might be popular for a bit, and then an illusion to put mini galaxies in them might be the next trend
illusions never fade. however, they can be layered over with another illusion to be hidden.
the Nineteen are in possession of nineteen artifacts that can remove illusions completely. these have been passed down through history, and no one has been able to recreate their properties, at least until now…

How do the laws of physics work?
Reality is a fusion of two planes: the immortal and the mortal. Asfadans live on the mortal plane, where the laws of physics work mostly as they do on Earth (except when the deities intervene, such as to shape stars and planets into polyhedra instead of spheres). The dodecahedrons of each asfadan exist in the immortal plane, where the deities live. "Immortal" may be a misnomer, as dodecahedrons and other polyhedra can be destroyed. However, it suffices to distinguish the planes.
Nothing in one plane can directly touch the other, but they can both be seen, and can indirectly influence the other. For example, in a dodecahedron duel, when one combatant destroys enough core dodecahedrons of the other, the other enters the state of sevaz and no longer has a consciousness on the mortal plane. Deities can also leave the immortal plane to work in the mortal plane, and can then directly affect it.
Physics are different in the immortal plane: there is no friction or change in temperature. Surfaces are perfectly smooth and atoms vibrate at a constant speed. However, a form of gravity does exist. Polyhedra with fewer faces are attracted to those with more faces. In the mortal plane, this manifests as asfadans being involuntarily drawn to any deities that choose to manifest in the mortal plane, unless the deity cloaks their presence. This also manifests as animals being drawn to cities and flowers turning towards asfadans as they pass.

What celestial beings exist (suns, stars, moons, etc.) and how do they relate to the world?
Every celestial being is an Archimedean solid.



A star can be: a snub dodecahedron (snub icosidodecahedron), truncated icosidodecahedron (great rhombicosidodecahedron), or rhombicosidodecahedron (small rhombicosidodecahedron)
A planet can be: a truncated icosahedron, truncated dodecahedron, icosidodecahedron (pentagonal gyrobirotunda), or snub cube (snub cuboctahedron)
A moon can be: a truncated cuboctahedron (great rhombicuboctahedron), rhombicuboctahedron (small rhombicuboctahedron, elongated square orthobicupola), or truncated octahedron (truncated tetratetrahedron)
A smaller body (like a comet or an asteroid) can be: a truncated cube, cuboctahedron (rhombitetratetrahedron, triangular gyrobicupola), or truncated tetrahedron
Generally, the larger the celestial body, the greater the number of faces. However, this is more of a loose trend and not a rule.

How does the solar system move?
Asfad is the fourth planet away from its star. The following displays the Tatzian system in the format of [category] | [name] | [polyhedron] | [additional info]

Star | Tatzi | snub dodecahedron
Planet | Zusu | snub cube
Planet | Podu | truncated dodecahedron
Planet | Favez | icosidodecahedron | has one moon (Fez | truncated octahedron)
Planet | Asfad | icosidodecahedron | has two moons (Aad | rhombicuboctahedron, Esfa | truncated cuboctahedron)
Planet | Shevzi | truncated dodecahedron
Planet | Isfoust | truncated icosahedron | has ten moons (Ist, Usfo, Fou, Ous, Souf, Tus, Tof, Ifu, Sosui, Oftso)
Planet | Peatvu | truncated dodecahedron | has four moons (Pevu, Atpa, Eta, Teve)
Planet | Aotiza | truncated icosahedron | has nineteen moons (Ao, Tiz, Za, Aoza, Otiz, Aza, Itza, Zoi, Toa, Zata, Ito, Azu, Aia, Zio, Aoit, Tazi, Ootza, Aitaz, Aez)
Planet | Veetsuvi | truncated icosahedron | has one moon (Vuvi)
Note on naming: The asfadans have named their star using only surface and vertex letters, indicating that it is a being of great change.

What does the night sky look like?
Aad is the smaller moon, and it rises first. Esfa is around 1.7 times the size of Aad. There are myths relating the adventures of big sister Esfa and little brother Aad.
At certain locations or times of year, the other planets can be seen. Podu, Shevzi, and Isfoust are particularly bright.
Constellations are also visible. Some notable ones are Vatzi (the scientist) and Sidshuvi (the artist). Vatzi represents reason and logic, and she is sketched in the sky with a compass and pen. Sidshuvi represents imagination and beauty, and he is sketched in the sky with a canvas and paintbrush. Both of them represent discovery and creation. Other constellations are named after animals, plants, mythological figures, or deities.

What intelligent species or races populate your world? Dwarves? Elves? Xenomorphs? Other? How did they come to exist? The dominant race on this planet is that of the asfadans. They are humanoid, although their features may look sharper or more angular than the average human.
How does each race or species perceive each other? How do they co-exist? The main intelligent species on this planet as of now are the asfadans. When the deities return with the irregular polyhedra beings, the asfadans have a variety of reactions. Some feel threatened. Some are excited at the discovery. Others bide their time, waiting to see how it all unfolds. Annnd to say any more would be giving out spoilers
What is their average life expectancy? 110 years. One asfadan year is approximately 1.25 Earth years due to their planet having a larger orbit, so this is about 137.5 Earth years.

Okay, so this one has some sketches for HI too. (Also ignore the temple sketch– that’s something cool I saw while working (at a summer camp), not related to Camp NaNo, lol.) I actually brainstormed some stuff for HI’s magic system on 7/7 I think, but I typed it out on 7/8? Ramblings below:

How illusions work

• come in the form of bottles w liquid in them, like perfumes. can be dabbed or sprayed
• have scents (this is how they work– chemicals in the air, ppl inhale them and it makes their brains see smth different. aliens might not be affected)
• each illusion needs anchor points. the more anchor points, the more vivid the illusion. for the face, recommended one on the forehead, tip of each ear, chin. for body, hands (anywhere there’s skin not likely to be covered). there’s a science around optimal placement of anchor points
• each artifact is different. some mute all illusions in their vicinity by either releasing smth that reacts w illusion chemicals or sucking in those chemicals then later releasing them. others remove illusions by reacting w them. burst into flame? don’t need to actually touch anchor points, just be close
• the Nineteen lend their artifacts to the guard to catch criminals sometimes (otherwise criminals could find an illusion that makes them invisible or smth)
• if an illusion is on smth long enough as the top layer, it starts to become that way? starts to match the illusion

The triangle and circle sketches are related to the layout of the city. The Ten ambassador-equivalents of the Nineteen live on the western side of the main complex, facing the ocean. The Three have the northeast and the Six have the southeast. The city is divided into six sectors, each of which is under the view of one of the Six.

Then the upper left and bottom right parts of the page show my brainstorming for the conlang of DD as well as names for deities. 5 points for the page, 4 points for the magic system ponderings.



This is my cleaned-up version of the script of the conlang as well as some deities written in that script. Just as letters are divided into four categories (edge, vertex, surface, and interior), so are the deities categorized. Ahaehu is the only interior deity and represents the universe. There are thirty edge deities, twelve vertex deities, and twenty surface deities. Edge deities represent concepts that are roughly related to creation or stability, vertex deities represent slightly more destructive or turbulent or prone-to-change concepts, and face deities represent physical things like features of the landscape. I also noticed how words like uto and utzo make faces, which is kinda cute… >.> 7 points (I awarded myself a point for every six deities or words written, plus one extra for cleaning up the script).



City names, wheee! :> If cities are named after deities, they may or may not have the ‘h' letter. In any case, ‘h' is only used when referring to a deity or something directly named after a deity. And a couple of plot notes here as well~ 2 points.



Verbs! I’m taking inspiration from Spanish in having a format for infinitives. Verbs in the infinitive form end in ‘z'. So far, I also have conjugation notes for past and future tense, though I’m not sure if I want to add conjugations for more complex tenses or use separate words like in English instead… At the bottom of the page are a few adjectives. 4 points, since I thought about tense and grammar rules along with writing some verbs.



Pronouns and nouns! 3 points.



Sample sentences. 2 points. I think not leaving spaces between words and just letting the letters flow together looks better, but how would people be able to decipher which letters belong to which words… Perhaps some kind of marker? Or everyone just learns to infer based on context? Needs more thought.

I added a few vocab words to the DD conlang and decided that plurals are generally not indicated, but can be shown through stress on the last syllable of a noun (when spoken) or the last letter being bolded (when written). Generally, stress is on the second-to-last syllable. 2 points.



Made some more example sentences. 2 points.



Started working on a conlang for HI. Kinda got inspo from Korean in having multiple letters be grouped into syllables. I tried writing possible names for the two main characters… Originally, in my notes, they were Celyrche and Rosalynn. However, those didn’t look too great in the conlang. So, I might rename them to Selkyr and Rusume. Everything about this conlang is up for change right now, tbh. Oh! I also remembered reading a little about clicks in the linguistic anthropology class I took recently and wanted to include them. Will have to research how they’re used in Earthly languages though. Anyways, these are the notes and thoughts I came up with today. 6 points.



Rough sketch of a map for CM! The story takes place on floating isles. Top right has a sketch of some buildings, maybe. Yes, there are mountains. No rain though bc they’re above the clouds. No deserts either. Water is collected from the clouds right underneath and to the sides of the isles. Also, one of the islands will be drifting north due to an engine failure on one side of it… Magic has been used as a temporary fix, but of course, that’ll fail sometime in the middle of the novel. ;D 2 points.



So, the classes I TA for were talking about the Hero’s Journey and conflicts today. I took the opportunity to sketch out a Hero’s Journey for CM! I used a circle and a star in place of names for the main characters, because I’m getting a little burnt out in terms of naming things, lol. 4 points.



Notes on some conflicts in CM. Organized into general conflicts and character-specific conflicts. 2 points.

I had fun making some sketches of plants in the world of HI! 5 points.



Researched how perfumes are made, then thought of how illusions would be crafted. I’m thinking there’s a scent when illusions are first anchored, though since the scent doesn’t need to stay unless it’s a scent illusion, there probably doesn’t need to be musk or ambergris? Idk, still need to research more. Also, used the plants I drew in different kinds of illusions. 5 points.

What are the major cities in your world? Ports? Most populated metropolises?
Cities in order of age (oldest to youngest):

• Ihotu - city of Iho; sky city
• Zuitu - capital city of Asfad; renamed from Hatu when it became the capital
• Daetu - trade city; commerce hub
• Ihaetu - desert city
• Ehitu - mountain city
• Ahoatu - city of storms
• Hazetu - flying city
• Iotu - city of light

Cities destroyed to make room for new asfadans: Zuitu, Iotu, Ihaetu
(Deities casually flatten them for space in the prime living areas of the continent)
Most populated, from most to least: Zuitu, Daetu, Iotu, Ihaetu, Ihotu, Ahoatu, Ehitu, Hazetu



The asfadans use a number system of base 16! They have both a letter and numeral form to write numbers. The numeral form is based on circles with lines. The circles are written counterclockwise. Uhhhh too sleepy to say much else rn, but I did put some thought into this xD 5 points.

Added a few vocab words to my DD conlang list (on the two planes) and kinda gave up on having all nouns start with consonants. Thought about declensions– subjects end in a, possessives end in e. 1 point.



So, there's a circular form of writing (see the da ashoz ua example). A few scholars in Ihotu or artists across the continent may use this form, but it isn't super common. Also came up with two phrases ("in no plane" and "not until Ahaehu loses a duel") that are synonymous with "in your dreams" and "when pigs fly," respectively. 2 points.



Thought about the three main characters, as well as strategies for dueling. 6 points.



Drew a map of the continent of Iotza, one of the three main continents on the world of Asfad. Some of it is blank for now. 3 points.



Created some myths! Just have some sketches/main ideas as of now. May or may not actually write them later. 4 points.

Was kinda tired, so just did some sketches of the academy. Also thought of glurps, which are little tentacled creatures that like to attach themselves to emeralds. 4 points.

Came up with some new vocab. 1 point.



Symbols for a potential abjad for the world of DD. 2 points.



Idea for another conlang. 1 point.



Eventually was able to think about the main characters for CM, at least. 3 points.

Added notes on a third main character of CM, as well as on the first two main charries. Also came up with phrases of the Isles. 4 points.



Came up with cohorts (name will probably change) for the academy of CM: Dawn, Noon, Dusk, and Midnight. Also courses of study. 4 points.



Made character notes for my HI characters. Also notes on the Nineteen. 7 points.



Redrew my city map and added notes on other countries. Currently have four sources of power in mind, and possibly a plot involving time travel… Still is the barest spiderweb of an idea, tho. But I’m excited! 3 points.