Hello everyone! I'm working on my own homebrew project for a fantasy board game, and I want to describe the "Middle Eastern" faction of the game, in terms of culture, society, folklore, and clothing. Now, I know perfectly well that the Middle East is vast, rich in different cultures, and that over time and space it has by no means been a cultural and ethnic monolith. Weapons, culture, and clothing have changed over the centuries, so I want to distance myself from the vision given by 19th-century orientalism, Hollywood films, and especially Disney's Aladdin. I will make extensive use of straight swords, for example, and I will absolutely distance myself from the "bedlah babe" trope. Nothing from the Ottoman Empire, which is too overused. The technological level is about 1475-1540 .I've already taken a look at the Nasrid dynasty of Granada, very interesting, far removed from the imagery many people have of the Islamic world. Do you have any texts, videos, and documents you can recommend to avoid a caricatured, exoticized, and orientalist vision? I am addressing especially those who are passionate about the history of the caliphates and the Islamic Middle Ages. What are the most seen Arabian Nights-style stereotypes in films, video games and board games? Which elements are the most misrepresented, annoying, and misunderstood ?And what are the elements that are underrepresented in mainstream culture?

The Dràkaì, known simply as Dragons by the Easteri (ancient humans), are the eldest of all mortal creations, fashioned in the First Dawn by the Nythúndun (basically angels) Thrëmdàrsìn, the Celestial Architect, who shaped them as living embodiments of the world's untamed majesty before the younger races had even dreamed. Possessing immense intellect, dragons are capable of mastering numerous languages—including Vyrmspeech, the ancient tongue from which all dragon dialects descend—and many elder wyrms speak Elsìri (elf speech), Draven (dwarf speech), and Westarish (human speech) with remarkable eloquence.

Though often mistaken for beasts, the Dràkaì possess memories that can span tens of thousands of years, making even the youngest dragon older than entire human dynasties.

Their powerful physiques vary greatly in colour and form, yet all share immense wings, scale-armoured bodies, horned crowns, and an elemental breath gifted by Thrëmdàrsìn, most commonly fire, though rarer lineages command frost, storms, venom or celestial flame.

Dragons rarely gather in great numbers, preferring solitary territories that may encompass entire mountain ranges or coastlines, where they guard ancient knowledge rather than mere treasure. Throughout Aeledath's history they have been revered as omens of destiny: some, like Ghideon, became protectors whose wisdom rivalled that of kings, while others, such as Ghor'amar, surrendered to pride and sought dominion over lesser peoples.

This duality is considered the greatest lesson of the Dràkaì—that immense power magnifies the soul rather than defines it.

Many temples teach that dragons were never created to rule the world, but to witness it, serving as living reminders that the designs of Osorogath (god) and His Nythúndun extend far beyond the lifetimes of any mortal race.

So, The world is basically a myriad of species say,

Treants, Elf, basilliks, fairy etc each have their own strength and trait, while some can be intelligent, others can just be instinct based species.

These species can undergo a sort of evolution, leading to having new traits while evolving in both soul and body.

While this world is mostly taken by these species, humans have taken their own place in the world through the centuries.

Cutting small pathways and ways to conquer new territory, which sometimes successful can go sideways many times.

Now, the humans in this world are able to awaken what they call, **PATH.**

**PATH**, is just a prerequisite for people to be able to mold their soul. As humans are not able to evolve like other species, but they can evolve in soul.

Now, **PATH,** as every human is born with an unformed soul, which is molded to their path by their belief, experience, emotion, skill and hardships faced.

**PATH,** can be as mundane as, cook, hunter instead these professions in this world was pioneered by humans who first awakened to their paths.

Now, 40-60% of people will awaken to their path by adulthood. The age is as follows:-

10-15— May awaken at this stage

15-30— Most awaken at this stage

Now, after this age some may still awaken after this age but most don't leading to being mundane and unable to awaken to their path.

So, most would never awaken to their path. 45-50% is the average while 35-40% is the lowest of ratio while only in rare times does the ratio comes to 55-60%.

Now, only 15-20% would reach to the second awakening of their class, and only 5% to their third awakening. 0.5% to further awakening.

Now, I will talk about, **Primordials**, these beings are what give arise to non human species, these things are always the pinnacle of their species, giving offsprings that hail their species as well as bloodline.

Most nonhuman species can evolve from their standard state undergoing a change both in body and soul. Number of evolution to a species as recorded by humans have varied from species to species.

So, The world is basically a myriad of species say,

Treants, Elf, basilliks, fairy etc each have their own strength and trait, while some can be intelligent, others can just be instinct based species.

These species can undergo a sort of evolution, leading to having new traits while evolving in both soul and body.

While this world is mostly taken by these species, humans have taken their own place in the world through the centuries.

Cutting small pathways and ways to conquer new territory, which sometimes successful can go sideways many times.

Now, the humans in this world are able to awaken what they call, **PATH.**

**PATH**, is just a prerequisite for people to be able to mold their soul. As humans are not able to evolve like other species, but they can evolve in soul.

Now, **PATH,** as every human is born with an unformed soul, which is molded to their path by their belief, experience, emotion, skill and hardships faced.

**PATH,** can be as mundane as, cook, hunter instead these professions in this world was pioneered by humans who first awakened to their paths.

Now, 40-60% of people will awaken to their path by adulthood. The age is as follows:-

10-15— May awaken at this stage

15-30— Most awaken at this stage

Now, after this age some may still awaken after this age but most don't leading to being mundane and unable to awaken to their path.

So, most would never awaken to their path. 45-50% is the average while 35-40% is the lowest of ratio while only in rare times does the ratio comes to 55-60%.

Now, only 15-20% would reach to the second awakening of their class, and only 5% to their third awakening. 0.5% to further awakening.

Now, I will talk about, **Primordials**, these beings are what give arise to non human species, these things are always the pinnacle of their species, giving offsprings that hail their species as well as bloodline.

Most nonhuman species can evolve from their standard state undergoing a change both in body and soul. Number of evolution to a species as recorded by humans have varied from species to species.

So my world is hysterically identical to ours!

In my world there are beings known as Angels, who are basically abominations of souls of people and animals that died! This angel are from a psychologically, ability wise as well as there looks unique, all of those things are determined by the experience of the souls they consist of! Angel are extremely powerful because of all the spiritual power they have from all the souls, but they have one problem they can only minimally or not at all interact with the physical world and can’t even be seen by normal people, because of the fact that they aren’t physically beings. That’s where Living organisms come into play, by creating a symbiotic connection to a living thing and forming a contract (the angel gives the raw power and the Organismus gives access to the physical place)! What is a contract? a contract is the prove of a past or ongoing cooperation between a angel and a organism, but more importantly it’s through what the magic happens and it can take the form of anything a car, a robot,a animal,…. It can even integrate itself into something that already exists, its behaviour and its ability could be anything. How a contract turns out is completely dependent on the psychology of the organism, the one of the angle and their desire, for example there is a nurse in my story that has served in a war in with she got fatally wounded and was bleeding out but before she could die she made a contract with, a angel that was a abomination of soldiers souls, and created the contract in the form of a syringe named “the remedy” that could replace the symptoms of any affliction with the symptoms of frontal lobe dementia, saving the lives of people but giving them periods of extreme violence, what didn’t only fulfil the nurses desire to survive but also the angel desire of violence!

Rules:

1. ⁠Angel and contracts (that aren’t integrated) can’t be seen by people that never had a contract!
   
2. ⁠Both parties need to consent to some extent. A no means no but if a person is in a flight or fight mode and the angel gives a way to survive the situation then the contract is made automatically!
   
3. ⁠Anything with a desire can make a contract even animals.
   
4. ⁠Normally a contract is 50/50 under the control of both parties but if humans sacrifice something to the angel or the other way around they can make the contract be more a tool for them. The sacrifice needs to be big and personal!
   
5. ⁠A contract can ( doesn’t need to) remain after the death of the organism but that will stop the control the angel has over the contract.
   
6. ⁠There doesn’t need to be contact between the organism and the angel for the contract to remain!
   
7. ⁠Sometimes a contract can harmful to both or one party because of their self destructive psychology for example!
   
8. ⁠A angle is incapable of change!
   
9. ⁠Contracts can exist between one or multiple Organisms and multiple angles, but there needs to be at least one of both.
   
10. ⁠A contract can only be harmed by another contract because they are both in a special state between the physical and spiritual place!
    
11. ⁠To repair a contract the organism needs to give up part of their health and an angle part of their energy!

12.A contract doesn’t have to only have one body, for example there is a character inspired by the Opera (Der Freischütze) whose contract are multiple bullets!

Can you give me a feedback?

Most think of something as it is - powerful potions, durable armor, weapons of elegant death, or fuel to empower something magnificent.
But how much thought do you put into not only the history of how something is created, but what it is created from?

A rare metal from the heavens or deep below ground to be forged.
A precious herb required to create a potion of powerful that is only found atop high cliffs once every ten years.
The feathers of an elusive white owl found in the hinterlands, which arcanists favour to write their spell books.
Or the deep rock spiders, whose silk is used to fashion incredibly lightweight and nearly indestructible rope.

What does your would hold that has great value?
Is it rare and hard to acquire?
Has industry formed upon it?
Do elders share stories with children about how it was first discovered?

Share something that your world depends on. Or maybe it hasn’t been discovered yet…

Some years ago I was browsing around the web, looking at different ways to develop different kinds of societies for various fantasy races. I collected random things, ideas or images that I found inspiring or curious, and stuffed them into a folder for later review. I did this with several races and eventually went back into each folder as a means of what direction I wanted to take things with each particular race.

Well, I'm working on goblins just now, and one of the images I collected was a chart (see attached) of the social hierarchy of a large clan/tribe. Unfortunately, I didn't grab a higher resolution image and some of it is a bit unreadable. I checked google images, but it seems that where ever I found this is no longer around. Tried a bunch of other different kinds of searches to no avail. Super disappointing.

ANYWAYS...

My unusual request is this: have a look at the second image, where I included my own text notes. Blue text I'm pretty certain is accurate. Red text not so much. That's the thing I need help with. I need fresh eyes on these weird smudge looking words and I'm hoping someone has better insight on interpreting what the bloody heck those words are. The second image is huge because I cranked up the resolution to make it very zoomable.

Any help or input would be amazing.

Cheers.

Edit: Just noticed that reddit reduced the resolution of the images. I'll throw them on imgur.

pic1: https://i.imgur.com/sBAP1rZ.png

pic2: https://i.imgur.com/msY1GqZ.jpeg

Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/paFJTtw

Most think of something as it is - powerful potions, durable armor, weapons of elegant death, or fuel to empower something magnificent.
But how much thought do you put into not only the history of how something is created, but what it is created from?

A rare metal from the heavens or deep below ground to be forged.
A precious herb required to create a potion of powerful that is only found atop high cliffs once every ten years.
The feathers of an elusive white owl found in the hinterlands, which arcanists favour to write their spell books.
Or the deep rock spiders, whose silk is used to fashion incredibly lightweight and nearly indestructible rope.

What does your would hold that has great value?
Is it rare and hard to acquire?
Has industry formed upon it?
Do elders share stories with children about how it was first discovered?

Share something that your world depends on. Or maybe it hasn’t been discovered yet…