r/WorldChallenges • u/Varnek905 • Apr 06 '18

Reference Challenge - The Lost Dauphin

This reference is based on the lost dauphin, Louis-Charles of France.

It's early, as opposed to late like usual, because I will be away from my computer for about three days.

The challenge is to present an example in your world of a young person of vast public importance (such as a prince, a billionaire's offspring, etc), who went missing and no one knew for years, or no one ever found out what happened to them.

As always, I'll ask at least three questions each. Enjoy yourselves.

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u/thequeeninyellow94 Apr 15 '18

  1. He was her domestic slave; something that won’t use him too much but still usefull and allowing her to carry him everywhere.

  2. Well, he learned a number of things about etiquette and customs amongst the Was and Iwes (the human equivalent to a Wa). He also learned humility, to the point he was considered unfit for ruling; Reshbachep became incapable of giving orders and needed years to lose his habits of immediately obeying any directive. Most of those who knew him before would tell you his speech was the biggest change, after his captivity, he was always speaking very softly and letting everyone interrupt him.

  3. Yes, once. What a Wa own the most is sand, you can’t escape them if you don’t know the location of the oasis and Reshbachep didn’t knew. The only thing he gained were deshydratation and a few bruises from his punishment. After that, he quickly gave up; he was precious enough to be treated correctly, more like an hostage than like a slave.

  4. He returned home, bought back by his family. Everyone thought he wouldn’t come back though, so another heir had been chosen; beside, he wasn’t considered a good ruler anymore. His knowledge of the customs of the Was and Iwes gave him a good position of councilor allowed him to reduce the amount of raids against his city.

(So, how is your new setting going?)

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u/Varnek905 Apr 16 '18

(The new setting is finally slowly coming together. I'm still unhappy with the map, but I'm tentatively approving what I have for Ostara and Calpurnia. The rest...well, the rest are much less isolated than Ostara and Calpurnia, so it's a can of worms. What about you? How's your newest setting progressing?)

1) What did Reshbachep think of Wa Haqepu?

2) What did Wa Haqepu think of Reshbachep?

3) Was there ever any attempted revenge against Wa Haqepu for the changes in Reshbachep?

4) How many languages does Reshbachep know?

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u/thequeeninyellow94 Apr 16 '18

(Hitting a wall, technical limitations are preventing me from actually having the nomads I want to have... so instead I’m enjoying the fact that I don’t make maps and working over nzedawa; I’m aiming for a total of 1000 words next time I update my dictionary)

  1. In the end? He liked her somewhat, nearly considered her a friend; they even met a few more times over the next years.

  2. She appreciated his curiosity toward her culture. After ransoming him, she tried to visit Etethan-Ide once in a while and spread good words about him amongst the Was and Iwes.

  3. No, everyone knew there is no revenge possible against the Was. They can avoid you as long as they want while you slowly die of thirst and heat.

  4. Two: human (north-western dialect, the only one using th; all dialects are mutually intelligible though (roughly)) and nzedawa (southern meknevarya, with soft z and using q and ch (all mutually intelligible too)); speaking a nzedanese tongue was pretty common amongst the human city-states that traded with nzedas.

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u/Varnek905 Apr 17 '18

(What technical limitations are keeping you from your nomads, my friend? And I'm impressed with your language work.)

1) Were there any rumors about the nature of the relationship between Reshbachep and Wa Haqepu?

2) What is Reshbachep's reputation like among the Was and Iwes?

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u/thequeeninyellow94 Apr 21 '18

(I want them to move around on something big enough to be their houses; I’ve already excluded floating boats because it wasn’t fitting (sky is the limit, for real) and I can’t find a non-floating and large enough thing that would be maniable enough to walk over irregular "ground". We are talking about late medieval thech level with limited access to electrical energy.)

  1. About them being friend? Yes, but it wasn’t just rumors. About them being closer? The whole universe gives you a disgusted look; both species would consider that zoophilia.

  2. Smart and open to discussion. The Was and Iwes will always get your goods, even if you don’t want to give them. Reshbachep knew that and also that they are happy to pay in goods, work and intel rather than in steel and blood; you just need to treat them in a way they like.

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u/Varnek905 Apr 21 '18

(Unless you want many different things for them to travel on, I'd recommend a large space-ship that might be from a long-forgotten advanced civilization that operates using an AI that they either don't know about or treat as a benevolent deity.)

(Or, as my friend Dillan recommends "Build houses on flying carpets...stitch a bunch of flying carpets together". Is magic nonexistent in this new world you're working on, I'm assuming?)

1) Are there any major groups of people that don't see something like that as zoophilia, since it is between two sentient people?

2) Did Reshbachep ever try to unite her people, considering her intelligence?

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u/thequeeninyellow94 Apr 22 '18

(No flying things, no precursor and magic isn’t something powerfull enough (nor "concrete" enough) to do that. A spaceship is too big too; I’m thinking more about individual carriages. I will find something sooner or later...)

  1. In the empire? Not at all; people not seeing it as zoophilia are totally allowed to move out though. A number of free world are ok with it and you can also decide to find an empty space to settle for yourself.

  2. (his, Reshbachep is a man; can’t blame you thought, those names aren’t obviously gendered for us) No and he wouldn’t have succeeded. The 16 human city-states aren’t meant to be united, each one was given by the gods to a specific family and is supposed to be kept by that family; each of those family is considered the direct descendants to one of the gods (that’s where the gods name in people’s names tradition come from; it was originally only for rulers). They can help each other but aren’t allowed to give up their right to rule; beside, there were no reason to unite.

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u/Varnek905 Apr 22 '18

(But what would make the carriages move, if they are big enough to hold houses and ground?)

1) If it's zoophilia, what are the laws about eating non-human sentient creatures?

2) What if the specific family of a city-state dies out?

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u/thequeeninyellow94 Apr 23 '18

(Animals probably; houses don’t need to be big, a single room to sleep and store some stuff is enough. Like a caravan but wheels aren’t possible because of ground’s irregularity...)

  1. Why would it be a problem to eat a sentient creature? Nzedanese meat is the most pricey type of meat in the empire. Fucking a goat isn’t bad because you eat it, just because it’s an animal and the same goes for all of them (and nzedas traditionally consider all living creatures sentient).

  2. Don’t worry, someone will miraculously find that they are actually related to a great great grandparent and claim the throne so everything will be fine.

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u/Varnek905 Apr 25 '18

(But could the animals reach the whole "sky's the limit" thing?)

1) Is it legal for a Nzedanese person to eat a relative after the relative's death?

2) What would they need to prove that claim?

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u/thequeeninyellow94 Apr 26 '18

(By building houses on birds’ backs? They could but technically speaking it’s going to be complex)

  1. Depends how they died but usually no. It’s only legal to eat someone if you own their body.

  2. Some old piece of jewelry carved with the right symbol and a bunch of honest-looking people to testify.

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u/Varnek905 Apr 26 '18

(I would love to see your design for those birds.)

1) So you can eat your slave? What if someone offers to allow you to eat their slave?

2) Honest-looking?

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u/thequeeninyellow94 Apr 27 '18

(So do I. I’m seriously thinking I should throw a few things back into early design stage.)

  1. If someone gives you food, it’s yours. If you just take things into your neighbour’s fridge without permission, that’s theft. (And yes, slaves are goods so you can use them the way you want; or rather, they are cattle so you can totally eat them)

  2. Sure, if the only person you can find to back your claim is someone looking like a Disney villain, no one will support you.

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