Ask: How does height affect the sophonts socially and culturally, and home wise?anonymous asked over on Tumblr : do you have a comparison chart for the size differences between the species? im curious about the average size differences between them, and maybe some of how that might effect them socially or culturally? since you said somewhere that many modern buildings are usually made to accommodate for all sizes Text posted in jully 2025 I do have one! The height conversion in feet may be off since it isn't a metric I use.sophont height chartWhen I say buildings accommodate both, it's not a worldwide thing yet. Species cohabitation between mierthri and kyhuines have a longer history as they share connected biomes where contact was established earlier on. So kyhuine and mierthri settelment and homes having spaces for both is an older concept, thus more spread out.Kyhuine homes, in the inland south near the biome mierthri originate from, have more perching porches, landing platforms for mierthri to land on and glide to another. The home often has what would be translated as "Harpy/angel's window", a platorm over the main entrance of the house with a little circular window that can be opened. Miethri lands there and opens it to enter the house, the little visitor.Homes are very often a generational thing across cultures, especially in kyhuines, considering how their family structure and social groups are formed with around 20-100 members. They're homes where you live and die in, and they find it more convenient as it keeps the younger generation in the same place as the elders.These homes will often not be rebuild because a new family member is a maanul and cannot fit in the, for example, mierthri home. But homes can be expanded, and things can be built for the newcomer in the family if they're able to do so. If not, they will live separately but nearby. In the case of the smaller sophonts living in maanul's home, they fit in obviously, but will need special furniture to make their lives easier in those environments.In cultures where people are expected to leave their homes once in their adulthood, or when married in, then homes can be built to accommodate the three more easily. Although sometimes they will just be built like the older homes with few changes, it depends on the population. A colony that only has kyhuines and barely has a maanul pass by will not have its homes revolve around accommodation. if you wish to invite them over as a kyhuine for tea, or mierthri in this image specifically, you'll have to take out the table and seat outside.tea outsideMost commonly, what people have is furniture to accommodate others. Like a seat, but it mostly revolves around dishes, as it is more convenient to acquire. In maanul's, people will re-use furniture destined to younger family members if they have someone of the other species coming in. Tho when the furniture has childish patterns, it can feel insulting for the other party. But forgiven for places where they're isn't a high population of kyhuine/ mierthri to begin with.In high mixed areas, furniture for the other would be seen as a universal thing to have, so it can be intentional to give the bowl destined to a toddler to the invited if you wish to disrespect them. Food is used as a welcoming gift there, and can be reduced in size as an insult too. A wealthy kyhuine inviting a maanul in, who can give them a plate and portion adequate to their size because they have the resources, but chooses against it, is a sign of disrespect. Kaar'kchir love having many ways to tell someone they are not welcome without using spoken or written words. Preparing meals for an invited guest requires knowing their diet. There is widely known safe food around, but getting more specific with whatyou wish to cook would require deeper knowledge on what the other can eat and digest well.Again, for kaar'kchir it is seen as rude to ask what the person cannot have, as people deem you are to know it all in advance. Each eats differently sized portion, for the sister cities people get portions that correspond to their species' requirement. But in the northeastern coasts, Puy'ul, a maanul is to give an invited of the opposite species, something as large as what they would have even if the person is incapable of eating it all. The gesture itself is wishing prosperity for the invited. For the opposite, a maanul invited to a kyhuine home will have as much food as they require, but the kyhuines will also have the same portion as the maanul. Again same significance. Keep in mind that this isn't something the average person is usually able to present. This is a more common gesture in regions where there isn't social insecurity and food scarcity going on too.For somewhere like in Juan region, western coasts, that is currently undergoing wars where civilians may go through famines and have their overall food be cut in half, they cannot afford to give someone a large meal. Thus, a maanul getting a small portion when invited in will not be seen as insulting in these situations. Regions where the culture used to be to give as much as possible, that are now going through food scarcity, have their culture changes to just give the minimum, without anyone making an announcement about it, the rules shift quietly in the common people.When food was scares but became abundant, the rules changed to serving plenty for celebrating the current prosperity. Ect. in Kaar'kchir, in districts that were built once maanuls were in the picture, the buildings are large enough to fit in all three species. they may still be a bit cramped for maanuls sometimes, especially older ones. As kyhuine constructors who didn't have maanuls supervising the plans, they underestimated how large the spaces should be. But they can still enter them at least somewhat easily, at worse they may need to squeeze in some turns. Traditional maanul homes are very large, someone used to living in one and visiting their cousins in kaar'kchir may not enjoy the smaller given spaces. Maanuls who are used to it find it normal, and for kyhuines they enjoy cramped areas, mierthris usually resides in homes built on top of maanul and kyhuines for their needs and access to open spaces whenever. But Kaar'kchir is old, and other old inland metropolises sometimes do not have pathways for mierthris or maanuls in the old districts of it, as kaar'kchir itself was a kyhuine settlement that expanded until centuries later it became what it now is.For mierthris in those districts, they instead climb onto people and jump from a person's back to another if they desire to travel around. As walking in the common street would get them pushed around if not accidentally hurt by being stepped on. Maanuls simply cannot go in the tight old streets, there may be recent tunnels made for them to pass by though.Kaar'kchir wishes not to change the older district much for historical preservations, even if it means making parts of it non-accesible to 2 species. Civils will modify places completely in response, losing some historical parts that could be preserved, but still fit for every sophont. This is a topic people love to discuss, sometimes argue about in a literal public discussion, a bunch of people debating at the fountain, where anyone can join in or watch the topic of the day. Metropolis will require a permit for people to start building, but the paperwork is sometimes intentionally confusing if you're not familiar with how it is there. It takes so long that many will just do it without one, because if they apply, they might not even be guaranteed a yes. Civils will turn a blind eye and pretend nothing is happening when seeing someone build something for their own specie's comfort. Snitching would make you an asshole to the neighborhood. Usually, its mierthri will expand homes onto other sophonts' walls and roofs. People live on top of each other in cities.Pathways exclusive to mierthris are built by mierthris wanting a faster, safer way to a destination. Again, built on peoples rooftop, sometimes its with their accord or not. They use scrap materials for it.Some routes get "owned" by certain families or group of people as they were the one to build it. Tho sometimes people will fight over ownership, or have several owners. The so-called "path owners" may charge people a small fee before they can pass through. Usually a coin, or three. Most scandalous prices range from 5 Kamas to asking for a sugar cube. Sugar is a type of currency among civilians because of its production cost. Children and teenagers claiming they own a path may ask for silly prices, usually, a snack from the nearby granny appeases them to stop. The size difference does impact some people's view on one another, like how infantilization is common towards mierthris. Inconsiderate people are getting the idea that you can just pick and grab them because of how small they are, without asking to do so first. This behavior is more common than one might think. People don't usually recognise themselves in "grabbing a mierhtir" type of guy, but it's because it is the extreme form of it. They will subconsciously walk over mierthri's boundaries in subtle ways, it isn't done maliciously, but it is still an issue to correct people about.hold mThere is the idea that their small size doesn't have to be accommodated to as much because they can just figure it out themselves, "if they can fit in every space, then they can manage the rest fine," sort of deal.Yes, they will find a way to, because they're pushed to build things intended for their comfort in places that didn't think of them being included in the picture. They get the image of stoic people who work through it all, that they're not that bothered by something not made for them, because you always see them make it through without asking people anyway. I think this post is long as it is, i yapped about things here and there and went off rails. much of the focus was on mierthris for today but i will sprinkle out how the others are impacted by their height socially in other posts.trophyask: what jewlery do maanuls and kyhuines have?this is a repost of a tumblr ask posted on the 14th of august 2024 anonymous asked over on tumblr: What jewelry do kyhuines and maanuls have? and what jewelry do humans have? many various ones that are influenced by the environment, history in terms of current fashion, current movements, beliefs and etc... same goes for them! but aside from the boring answer: pre-alp traverse traditional jewlery by maanuls might share a common theme of being centered around the sea despite the various cultures, because maanuls lifestyle and everything they need revolve around the sea. People live near it, people live in structures at shores or in the sea, people may be part of sea-fearing ethnic groups who spend their lives out there on boats. some seafearing communities are more stationary than others but the life on a boat remains. Pre-alp traverse and first contact with kyhuines, maanuls lives depended on the oceans only. and it reflects in their art forms and folklore a lot. which include jewelry, from literal depictions of an animal from the shore to just more vague imagery, or usage of shells, the ocean can be found through many pieces of jewelry across the globe. earrings are very common among maanuls, the triangle skin hoods over their ears can be pierced. Although that defeats their purpose of blocking water once flattened against their temples, not that it was efficient at its job to begin with either way, so it's not a big loss of functionality in the end. Much like human lobes they have to be careful with the weight of their earrings. Because they can always risk having it slowly rip because of gravity. I guess for them it might take longer. Since gravity is lower its not pulling on it as hard as it is on earth. And the pierced ear hole sits on top of a cartilage ridge. piercings? yes, maanuls are half made out of skin, and piercings are plausible on many parts of the body. Such as the face, but piercings on the face are restricted to certain areas, and all of them are temporary. They're surface piercings and they'll come out rather fast because facial muscles are constricted a lot in maanuls for facial expressions to communicate. just like how a bridge piercing in humans don't last long because we move our eyebrows constantly.The "nose " isn't an area they can pierce, the skin there is rather tight against the structure, its hard to pull any for a surface type. Piercing through it is quite horrible and will in almost every case end up in a bloody injury. Sometimes leading to an infection too. Its literally a cartilage hell with so many blood vessels hanging around. also, this is a sensory organ they use for facial interaction with one another, so they rather have it "untouched". And the nose is never pierced successfully. Then the person with it will be seen as a masochistic. A "nose" piercing for them wouldn't look like a hoop passing through it, but more so probably a curved bar inside the structure, with each side of the nose protruding with a little piece of jewelry. traditional kyhuine jewelry dating before the alp traverse and first contact with maanuls, does not have an overarching theme like maanuls does. Their lives do not revolve around one big thing, as kyhuines as a whole can live in incredibly diverse biomes from each other, think of the biome variety found in SWANA. if you know you know then. However, things such a jewelry based on bugs (domesticated species or not) can be a common recurring thing because of how bugs are a big part of their diet + they have many domesticated species. Some domesticated themselves because kyhuines let them in their homes for various reasons. pierced ears in kyhuines? its impossible to find. why? because kyhuines do not have external ears. what they have on their head is just some sort of "plumicorn", identical to what prairie chickens have. just growing at a different angle. The plumicorns in kyhuines are raised up for the neutral expression all the time. If you plucked a kyhuine their heads would be smooth, and you'd find the ear holes near the eyes. If you find old art on my blog with kyhuines having earrings that's just me being indicative of what I wanted. But yeah, in conclusion, no earrings for kyhuines can be found.piercings in kyhuines are rare because they're covered in feathers everywhere apart from the pelvis, gular sack, around eyes and snout end, and keel. and only the facial skin can be piercable, mainly piercing under the eyes by pulling the extra saggy skin if there's enough. they last longer than they do with maanuls, because kyhuine facial muscles are stiffer. they emote emotions via opening their mouths, tahofah fans, sounds, inflating gular sack, and piloting/ flattening their plumicorns. not a lot of contracting facial muscle is involved in it. I'd say they're much more common in plateau/mountain flank groups, where the dulls have wattles under their eyes. Its just extra skin that can receive piercings or minimal dot tattoos. one of the few ethnicities to be able to do tattooing because of this extra skin bit example of a haut-plateau / moutain flank dull ("dull" being an afab individual) kyhuine. sketch from some months ago i never finished but you see the idea ->dull kyhuine with wattles i do not think they could pierce their gular sack safely, perhaps if the jewelry in the pierced hole is flexible? after all pierced holes will close back. But i don't know about this one yet.necklaces usually are lose enough that they hang under the gular sac area, just to be safe and not break it if they inflate it for whatever reason. although necklaces that are several decorative hard pieces on a stretchable threat where it can widen in case the person inflates their sac is also a thing. but the first option is the most popular and spread out. Plus, several ethnic groups will consider it indecent to have a gular sack exposed, leading to covering it with tight necklaces, or much more commonly just tissue. as its more convenient and can be a part of a larger piece of cloth. in mierthri kyhuines, jewelry is considered as clothing for them. average conception of clothes as in like sewed tissue together is a no for them. as it might weigh them down and restrict movement during gliding. if they wear clothes its super minimal and most of them just do not wear anything for convenience, and when they do its 1 piece where they just have to slide their head in, the sides are cut so they dont restrict any arm movement. And even then, these clothes are mainly used for events only and not as a day-to-day thing. although exceptions can be seen in kaar'kchir immigrant mierthri communities. Not because they're forced to, but because of cultural exchange and cultures evolving and merging together.the jewlery in mierthri kyhuines is either at their necks as a necklace or ankles as a ring or band. ribbons are used too, even if they're cloth are still a decorative items that for mierthri kyhuines count as a full piece of clothing. ribbons are attached to the ankle of the end of their tail. when they fly around gliding, the ribbon, or necklace, ankle jewlery are mainly used for quick identification in the community. for example, spotting a paramedic. after the traverse of the Alps and first contact between the two cousin species, many cultures merge through immigration and create new ones, many communities become of mixed species, and people bring their cultures where they go. which will include the jewelry! and it will evolve, its adapted into new etnic groups or modified to be more in the taste of the people living here, new fashion movements get created and so on with variants like this. i could think of more to yap about, but i think that's all for this one. thank you for asking!ask: can kyhuines and maanuls share food?this is a repost of a tumblr ask posted on the 12th of august 2024 annonymous asked over on tumblr: You might have answered it before, I tried to search for it but got no results, do kyhuines and maanuls share a diet? That is, is there anything that one can eat that the other can't digest? i think i did answer that a while ago, or maybe my memory is failing and I only did it with friends. but even if this is a repeat, i don't mind it! yes, maanuls and kyhuines can eat each other's food, at least they can eat the majority of it safely. Some products may cause one to be sick, and a few may be lethal. And when it's lethal it's mainly because of the quantity of a toxin found in the food that the other can't process because of their biology. for example, many bugs, which are a large part of a kyhuines diet, cannot be safely eaten by maanuls because of their toxins. some species can be processed in various ways to remove said toxins and become safer for maanuls to consume.Things like kelp are things kyhuines can eat safely. And are quite a common dry snack to import inside the mountain alp ring, once trading routes are open between the "inner" continent and the "outside". However, Kyhuines will digest it worse than their larger cousin counterparts. their digestive system does not take as many nutrients from it as maanuls, because maanuls have evolved to process it better since kelp has been used a lot in their cuisine for thousands of years. Kyhuines are better at having a lot of starch in their diet too because of the way their agriculture was and what species they'd cultivate compared to maanuls, and so on with things like this. its quite a fun subject honestly! in areas such as kaar'kchir and its sister cities, where the population is of mixed species, meaning the area has on average as much kyhuines that there is maanuls around. food stands and other services involving food, will prefer serving food that accommodates both so they can have more clients (kaar'kchir and the sister cities live under different systems that utilize money compared to the majority of the world). But also out of consideration, because establishments and even houses are expected to be able to welcome both species inside. Food stands that only offer foodMore recently built infrastructures in kaar'kchir are rather large to let maanuls in, while older still standing builds from before the traverse of the alp and first contact are too small for maanuls. The older ones are usually familial homes that are still living here or have been repurposed for storage. kaar'kchir was a kyhuine colony for info, build before first contact and the traverse of the alp expedition. So old buildings never had maanuls in mind because they didn't even know they existed. even between the non-gliding kyhuine species and mierthri kyhuines there is food that the other cant consume, many fungal species from the mierthri biome is used by the mierthri kyhuines to ferment food and have it last longer. Their guts are better suited to eat the weird things that grow near the mierthri biome, while non-gliding kyhuines may get extremely sick from it. on a silly note, because of the size difference between the two (actually 3, since miethri is a different species but in-world they don't categorize it as such. but even then myself ill just say the 2) alcoholic beverage and how fast it affects one is quite silly. the percentage of alcohol in maanul fermented drinks is very high on average even for a human because of their size being larger they can take up more, kyhuines are much smaller than maanuls (kyhuines are smaller than you are for info). So 1 glass of a medium alcoholic drink that is of maanul origin to a kyhuine can be enough to make their head feel warm and funny already. mierthri kyhuines do not drink alcohol made by maanuls. Theyre 120cm (1 ft tall) so if they do they're KO quickly. unless its very light and made with kyhuines in mind, including the gliding kyhuines (mierthri), but then its so light that it defeats the purpose for maanuls. if they care about that to begin with. i had fun writing ask answer, thank you!(repost) symbolism behind "tamtam fever"ctheriks ctheriksThose are "ctherik", or "familial charms" for lack of better terms, they are long wooden rectangle slabs. Sometimes they're so long they get segmented and tied together with ropes so they flow better in the wind/easier to pass through. They are a thing in southern valley, and may vary in how they're displayed and made depending on the ethnic group. but that's another story.The first one is the piece his family gave to Tamtam before he immigrated to kaar’kchir. on it, is carved his generation. which includes the litter of his sisters and himself at the bottom. It's an important gift, taken from a long strand it used to be tied to, a token so he always remembers who he is and where he comes from. That he is always welcome back home.It can also act as a protective symbol to give, as if he dies out there, that his body cant be send back to his family, they cannot do their traditional burial. Thus in mirih culture (southern valley group), this means he cannot rejoin the cycle. the token can act as a guidance for his soul. It is said that if you're far away from home the ctherik, your soul won't wander away and get lost, because the ctherik will make it remember to come back home. You cannot rejoin the cycle, however now you're acting as a protective spirit of the home to watch over your people.Kapone, (second eldest sister) while giving it as protection out of genuine care, also just hoped that this thing will make tamtam remember the culture he's from because she's aware of how kaar'kchir is notorious for making immigrants "lose their identity" to conform to the place better. Funnily enough, kaar'kchir is a huge mix of various kyhuine cultures, and now more recently some maanul ones too.The second ctherik (which does not exist in world) is a small ctherik, with only 1 member on it and the bottom having a crack. This one just represents when Tamtam slowly isolated himself from his own family, giving them radio silence for extended periods of time. not answering any letters anymore, not visiting them. In his world there's only him. The crack is for when he cut ties completely. After years of just making the worst decisions over and over.The crack is about how he can never come back to them. He is not welcome home anymore. (He could be if he worked on himself a lot, but in his brain, it's over)He feels immense shame whenever he looked at the ctherik he was gifted, so much so he hides it in a container under where he sleeps. It used to be hung in his dorm near the window at all time. The closest thing to a family he has after is kaahmir's, which he gets invited to spend holidays at. But even then he feels like a disgusting parasite among them, the cultural difference doesn't help in terms of making him feel out of place. Bronze talon maanuls bronze talon maanulMaanul part and why its half stylized to western knaan'tak art proportions, the individual who was wounded was a western maanul of knaan'tak ethnic group. Tamtam visited these coasts years later. Despite it being under red troupes control he still went. The art found there impacted him.This is a sort of call back/flashback to him using gunpowder invention for the first time. Tamtam created naahrun prototype (which looked like a bâton à feu back then) and kunsip (gunpowder). The person he shot was from bronze talons (previous name before red troupes). He was a mere front messenger back then for section 4.Looking back at it he's not proud, even in the moment right after he was in shock. "i just hurt someone with this thing I never used on a living being prior".there's forever the guilt of it that follows him everywhere. it doesn't help that his inventions was picked up by kaar'kchir, that section 4 weaponry sector lived a huge resurgence because of it, that what he invented led to the death of so many people. Naahrun was made when he was around 16-17 for human age equivalent.fun fact, maanuls and kyhuines, cry by secreting a bunch of mucus from the tahofah holes and their mouth. tears from eyes are not natural behavior and are associated with certain sicknesses. the dolls dollsThey're little toys tamtam had. But they're a little modified to be a couple. He yearns to interact and seek physical comfort, however, he can't because of the mental barriers he made.A lot of relationships he had in his adult life were bad, and sometimes violent towards him. But the dolls are gentle with each others, contrasting with the violence of the rest of the piece. They're idealized figures of what he wish for, if that sounds clear.They're also made out of ceramic because all his current relationships are so fragile. burnt paper burnt paperits burned paper for self destructive habits, and the blood of the maanul is smeared on it for how the guilt follows him around. writings writingIn temples of kaar'kchir, you can write down things you feel guilty about, stuff that haunts you, and mistakes you've done. They're hung in a special room and burned at the end of the first lunar year during a holiday for symbolism.While tamtam isn't that religious, he still went there to write a bunch because just writing it down his thoughts would help sometimes. He wrote them in south valley conlang (at least in how it should look like cause I'm not doing conlang ever im scared) so no one can understand reading unless they know. Kaar'kchir uses their own modified calligraphy for info. hanging charm charmLittle charms they make in kaar'kchir new years, tamtam and kaah made a few together when he lived at his family's home. The thing with those is while making them, you make a wish for your loved ones ,but you don't say it, if you do it says that your wish will not happen. doing the final ties seals the wish. They're made with the family, while they sit around and chatter about things that happened this first moon lunar year.trophy