The Home of JT's Ideas

Random Ends and Odds of Negav Culture

Just some random ideas for stories in Negav if you want to use them. Was just thinking of more mundane, everyday things.

Games and Recreation

Quol – Quol is a very popular board game in Negav, played on a 15x30 board, with 22 pieces a side and a set of pyramidal dice. The object of the game is to capture all of your opponents pieces before they capture yours. Early versions of the game can be traced back to the elves, but it was the Dridder Empire who popularized the game and introduced it to humans.

Chess – Chess is a relatively new game to Negavians, first brought to Negav by the Vishmitals, who themselves learned the game from a conquered culture during the days of their interdimensional Empire.

A variation of the game unique to Negav is “Hell’s Chess.” In this version all the pieces, each player supplying his own, are made of precious metals, with the “king” piece being made of ascarlin, or having ascarlin embedded in it. Players may keep, after the game, the pieces that they capture or checkmate. This introducing the exterior force of greed into the game, something players try to exploit in their opponent.

Negavian Cards - This refers to the 64 card decks of brightly decorated cards common in Negav. They can be used to play a variety of games, often gambling for money.

Arena Fighting – Arena Fighting is the closet thing in Negav to an official organized sport. Whether in large or small venues, Negavians love to see combatants demonstrate their particular skills. The popularity of Arena Fighting is probably due to the numerous colourful adventurers and other such sort that go through Negav on a regular basis.

Kajé – Kajé is a fairly popular sport in Negav. The rules are simple. There are two teams, each with a goal usually represented by a brightly coloured basket. There is one tough and very bouncy ball. Whichever team gets the ball into the other teams basket wins. In the lower areas of Negav, games of Kajé can get incredibly violent. As well, the game can range from a single alley to street with a few friends playing, to having goals in different parts of the city with whole neighbourhoods fighting against each other.

Popular Recreational Drugs

Filn – A fairly weak alcoholic beverage. It is made from a particular breed of mushroom that is very common in the Negav Underground. Though weak and rather bland tasting, it is incredibly cheap to purchase and near ubiquitous amongst the poorer denizens of Negav.

Stamroot Vodka – A drink made from the root of the Stam Plant. A generally common brew made at Negav establishments, it gives a nice energetic kick to the imbiber.

Fumac Liquor – A popular liquor made from Fumac and a touch of Miaxi Honey, with a bittersweet flavour said to be able to wake the dead. However, drinking it increases aggressiveness along with strength and some taverns don’t sell it, despite loosing potential profit.

Miaxi Honey Wine – A difficult to procure drink sweetened with Miaxi Honey and other difficult to acquire spices. Only available to those willing to shell out a large amount of money.

Gizer – Gizer is a thick, dark brown syrupy substance with alcoholic effects. These effects are, however, massively potent – drinking Gizer straight will usually kill whoever does. It is generally mixed with plenty of water to make “Gizerbrew” – drinking more than 3% Gizerbrew is generally seen as insane. Gizer itself is traded from forest tribes – it seems to be most common in the Oloonde Lakeland.

Fairy Milk – A powerful hallucinogenic drug that looks like, as the name suggests, a milky substance. It is unknown if it really the milk of fairies. It causes the imbiber to undergo a series of hallucinations, which often cause them to think that things are much larger or smaller than they actually are. It also has the strange side effect of increasing the magical power of the user. Unfortunately, on “bad trips”, Fairy Milk also creates intense paranoia – more than one mage has caused intense damage after drinking it, babbling about the “giant women trying to eat them.”

Lash Pills – A general catchall term for a family of popular drugs in Negav. Pills are small capsules that give a strong high, along with feelings of energy or strength. Over-use of Pills can cause nausea and a feeling of illness, however. Pills are most popular with gangsters and riotous youth.

Silverthorn – Silverthorn is a bitter herb that is usually rolled into small cigarettes and smoked. It produces a mildly bitter scented, silvery smoke that has a relaxing effect. It also has the effect of deadening the cravings of the user, either hunger, thirst or craving of an addiction.

Miscellaneous

Newspapers – Negavians follow two main newspapers – The Negav Eye, produced by the Negav Eye Company and the Isolon Herald. The Eye generally relies on sensation, and ignorance about the jungle and magic, to sell bizarre stories about supposedly true goings on. The more dry Herald tries to be an up to date and respectable political newspaper with a balanced view, though many accuse it of a more Magiocratic leaning.

Theatre – Having few televisions, the Theatre has also been a place of entertainment for Negavians. From small smoky theatres in the underground to the Sphinx Theatre on the higher tier, Negavians enjoy the escapism of a good play. With the arrival of the Vishmitals, there has been an issue of using technological equipment to record plays. Some theatres resent this spreading of their art, others have caught on and sell recordings to those who can’t afford a ticket. A few small companies who can’t afford to rent a theatre, produce only these recorded versions. These “video-theatres” sometimes go beyond plays, such as the News-recordings sold by the Negav Eye. Originally meant for Vishmital computers, and most popular with Vishmitals, a few Negavians are experimenting with magical recording.

They're pretty good idea for some form of entertainment and alcohol. I still wonder if some form of rice wine could work.

those are good ideas here, especially the games.
The hell chess in particular is nicely though out.

Thanks.

I figure in hell the pieces aren't quite the same though... and its a different sort of greed being played upon...

Speaking of Arena fighting, do you think the idea for the Arena I wrote would work out in Negav?

I could see it working. Some of the more elite fighters may not want to bother with the arena scene but I imagine a lot a scrappy street fighter/mage types might be attracted to the prospect of making some nice change.

Same here, I think it make sense.

The Arena will only work if there is a scrappy little boy with flaming hair that harasses the champion at any given time.

At any rate, I like it. I think Negav should have as many recreational areas as possible, as I'm sure the escapist mindset is very prevalent within the walls.

Mhm. But I'm more refering to the particular arena idea i had on the last page.

(Oh, and check out the other stuff there too, I say, as I shamelessly self-promote. But there's a lot more Negavian stuff there.)

I know, I checked it out, just wanted to make that joke ^^;

At any rate, it does look pretty good to me. I like the low mortality rate; makes it more civilized, I'd say o:

MOAR Random Negav Cultural Bits and Bobs

Gates of Negav

There are many entrances through the walls of Negav, but some larger ones are of more note. The Waylight Gate is the one that faces out into Felarya, at the north. It is always heavily defended and can only be accessed by the Motamo Bridge. Through here come many travelers from within Felarya and large shipments of Ascarlin from the Ascarlin mines. To the North East is the old Spinner's Gate. The archway was originally designed by dridders during the formative years of Negav - this section of the wall survived the Great Destruction and was maintained and reinforced. The arch has intricate web designs all over the interior. This gate is usually only used by police forces, however - it leads out to the Motamo Docks, and the inhabitants there are not allowed to pass through it. A good many tailor shops, however, are near it, trying to cash in on association with the name. The Travelers Gate is on the South side of the city and is mainly used by people who arrived by the dimensional gate. It is always crowded inside and out with people trying to sell to or take advantage of new arrivals.

Popular or Notable Eateries and other Entertainment Establishments

Of course, firstly, The Archmage Cafe (See AnimeJunkie's Idea Thread)

Pileuda's Fried Glouteux - Not a single restaurant, but a chain of establishments very common in the Lower Tier and in the Underground. Who Pileuda is exactly is uncertain. She, however, has taken advantage of the incredibly stupidity of Glouteux. Her employees man spiked pits right on the edge of the influence of the Negav eye. Glouteux are drawn in droves by swift neko runners and then led to tumble to their dooms. This mass hunting technique has led to a profitable industry as Glouteux is fried up and served speedily to hungry customers. It's not exactly healthy, but due to the healing factor that matters little.

The Drunken Chilotaur - A popular drinking establishment in the Motamo Docks, run by a family of chilotaurs. The brew is strong but delicious and the hospitality is warming. It has even drawn some more adventurous Negavians to explore their often misunderstood suburb neighbours.

The Neko's Tail - A small bar located right between the Low and Middle Tiers. Seemingly only memorable for the rather lewd sign and the frequent shows by neko dancers. However, the bar is known in the underworld as a meeting place of various neko gangs, who plot crimes here for profit or to strike back at their human oppressors. It's also rumoured that the barkeep can get nekos in touch with the illegal neera market... for a hefty price.

Jemella's - A underground establishment, with very poor lighting and strangely pale customers. In actuality, it is sort of an informal meeting place for the small vampire populace of Negav. Normally such creatures are intensely competitive when it comes to one another, but when there are so few of them, and no way for them to "reproduce", they try to stick together. More importantly, this bar is one of the few places to get some good blood in Negav.... often from oblivious non-vampiric patrons.

Falla's Tea House - An establishment located right outside of the Elven District, selling Elven teas and herbal drinks to the people of the middle tier, while attempting to create a floral "elvish" setting. Very popular, but very few actual elves drink here...

Citroise Smoothie Stands - Very common. But citroise smoothies are ever so refreshing and delicious.

Chanossa Smoothie Stand - A perhaps mythical seller of smoothies. These are no citroise smoothies, but a particular blend of exceedingly rare fruits from the dangerous Chanossa Mangrove. It is said to not only be delicious but to give the user a boost to magical resistance, allowing even rather nefarious curses to be shrugged off. If it does exist, the proprietor never opens shop in the same place each day...

The House of Dreams - A popular venue to be found on the Street of Red Flowers. Calling it a bar or a brothel would be selling it short. Needless to say, your fantasies can be played out here, if you have the money. A source of a great many rumours, especially circling around the girls who work here - whispers that some are not entirely what they seem to be...

The Tower - Perhaps the fanciest restaurant in Negav. Situated at the top of a spire in the Higher Tier it gives the best view in Negav, next to that on top of the Isolon Eye, of course. The sides of the restaurant are all glass, allowing the wealthy to gaze out across the city while dining on the various local and imported delicacies.

Azarra's Coffees - A coffeehouse in the Middle Tier owned by Azarra, who claims that she is an Akaptor Nomad and her coffee a secret recipe of her people. The coffee here is very strong, said to be able to make time stand still for the drinker. This may be true... or it may just be a perceptive side effect of the high caffeine content.

Nekos and Cream - A curious establishment in the heart of the naga area of the Motamo docks. Essentially a stripclub, for lack of a better word, it employs not only naga dancers but neko girls as well. They must be pretty good as the patrons seem to literally drool over them... The rumours goes that part of the show may include a naga dancer eating a neko one whole, temporarily of course. Strangely enough, this seems to attract a sizable clientele of humans, of a particular, peculiar sort. The creeps must have a weird fetish or something.

Llon's - A waterfront restaurant in the Motamo Docks that serves dridder cuisine, and of course, tea. It is an elegant building, built to try and replicate old dridder architecture. Inside the walls are hung with old paintings and relics from a bygone era. Is a cultural meeting point of the local dridders.

Those are pretty nice ideas. Where do you keep coming with all those?

Sounds delicious O: Sounds like the residents of Negav would have no shortage of tastiness o:

More Negavian Cultural Centres

The Felaryan Archaeological Institute - Located in a tower in the higher tier, the Institute was recently created to bring focus to Felaryan History and Ancient Culture. It was founded through funding by a group of Higher Tier Nobles. Normally, no adventurer is going to bother endangering themselves just for history, looking for profit instead. The institute offers fine rewards for authentic artifacts and occasionally puts together its own exploratory teams. The Institute also offers advanced classes in History and Archaeology for those who can pay the tuition and holds meetings to discuss findings. The current Chairman, Eketel Lunamon, is known for his work that radically changed perception of the Sinerian Era Dridder Empire.

The Sphinx Theatre - The oldest, and most popular, theatre of the Middle Tier. It is actually a few stages together in a single complex, often hosting multiple plays and shows at the same time, and often putting on the same play more than once in a day. This expanded business has meant the Sphinx has always been a profitable venture.

The Negavian Gallery of Art - The Gallery of Art was not always that. In fact, there was never much intention to open one central gallery of art at all. The Gallery was, at one time, an expansive mansion in the Higher Tier, owned by a powerful mage. One day he stopped coming to Magiocrat meetings. Weeks later, his house was investigated. There was no one there, but the entire place was packed with Felaryan sculptures and paintings. The civil authorities decided to maintain the building and charge the public an entrance fee. What exactly happened to the original owner is still unknown. It is interesting, however, to note that the Gallery has no form of advanced security, yet nothing has been stolen from it. Famed burglars who claimed they were going to try haven't been heard from since...

Yeees, Negav needs those. I really want to think that the Negavians are a cultured bunch with music, history, theater, and the fine arts. :3

THANK YOU! I was thinking of having an archeologist character, and another who is a huge fan of said archeologist who wants to attend her classes. The fact that it's in the High Tier makes perfect sense for the, "character wants something, badly but has problem attaining it", since tuition must cost like a thousand Faldong Gems.

Sean Okotami wrote:

THANK YOU! I was thinking of having an archeologist character, and another who is a huge fan of said archeologist who wants to attend her classes. The fact that it's in the High Tier makes perfect sense for the, "character wants something, badly but has problem attaining it", since tuition must cost like a thousand Faldong Gems.

Yep, it should work then. In Negav, something like Archaeology is probably restricted to the wealthy (sort of like Archaeologists in the 19th Century, I figure. No real rules governing it - looting for history!)

Really nice job on developping the culture side of Negav here. For now I would like to add some games such as the hell chess, if that's ok with you and you agree with the disclaimer ?

oh hey! I already wrote about Fairy Milk! >.> mind you mine was more literal.


The Felaryan Archaeological Institute though, Neia, my naga would be very much into that. Unlike many of he kind she values knowledge and exploration for its own sake. Also she can follow the rules of civilization and tries to be a part of it (when it lets her).

@Karbo - Sure, add what you will. I'm glad some of it fits

@asaenvolk - Hehe, I see. Don't remember what you had Fairy Milk being used for.

Sadly, nagas aren't allowed in Negav... though if she made a cunning disguise... She would probably have to befriend a member of the society who was open-minded.

Some Stuff

The Doom of Maballa

Though dridders and nagas had fought before, the true beginning of the bloody war began with the death of Dridder Princess Shalara. She was very well loved by her people, known for being wise, kind and very brave. When she was killed by a naga ambush in 1491 B.U., her mother, Maballa, was driven to incredible grief. She declared an Eternal Blood Oath for the entire Dridder Royal Family. Her rule was one of great advances in the structure of the Dridder Military. She led many expeditions against naga tribes herself, always needing more violence to sate her grief. Maballa herself was eventually felled in battle, though the circumstances of how she died are mysterious and dark. She and her personal guard were almost killed to a dridder, with only one escaping. The remaining soldier told of how Maballa had pursued a particularly evasive naga tribe into a deep thicket of the jungle. They eventually found the tribe - all already dead. It appeared that the small tribe, every one of them, had committed ritual suicide. It was night by then and the rain ran heavily. And then, silently and swiftly, death came. It came in the form of a slithering naga, but one seemed to be made of shadows, though with eyes that burned brightly in the dark. It made the very jungle turn against them, vines moving to block escape, picking the dridders off one by one, whispering through the night Maballa's name until she was driven mad. It would hang down from branches, some sort of sharp blade gently cutting throats or piercing hearts. Maballa cried out the meaning and purpose of this shadow, but her Doom would only whisper her name as it came and went. None knew wether to believe this story, but the survivor was able to present the severed hand of her queen as proof. To this day, the Doom of Maballa is used to frighten dridder children, and often adults as well. The less superstitious say it was only a very sneaky naga whose skill was exaggerated over the yeas. Others whisper it was a dark spirit of vengeance raised by blood. Some say it still stalks the jungle to this day, gently whispering names into the night breeze.

The Book of Significants

This interesting piece of Negav culture has been around since before the great destruction. It essentially lists the 200 Noble Families of Negav. There are publications made every year which update - if a family falls too low in reputation or fortune it is liable to be replaced. The competition among the lower families to get on can get very cutthroat at times. Since the Destruction, the Magiocrat Council and Vishmital High Officers have also been included.

Ah yes, I'd imagine that the dridders have a lot of bogeyman tales regarding nagas. That would certainly fit with their culture, I'd think XD

And the book, it sounds odd. I guess the satisfaction of being listed as noble would be enough for people to want it to continue being published o:

Overall, looks pretty good o:

Though the book sounds odd, and in a way is, such things did actually exist in Earth's history. Like the Libro D'oro in Venice and other Italian cities.

The Doom of Maballa is pretty cool.

Redo - With all the work on the Tobol Mountains and Shimmering sea I think I need to keep working on this...

Sub-zone - The Carmine Canyon

The Carmine Canyon, and the river in it, runs from the Tobol Mountains down to the Shimmering Sea. It runs between the Direwind Hills and the Elifga Valley and creates a natural barrier between them. It's name comes from the dark rusty colour of the rocks that make up the walls. It is wide and deep and can only be crossed at the Carmine Falls, where the canyon starts, right at the Tobol Mountains - even this is a very hazardous path. From here the river below runs fast and tumultuously, all the way to the Shimmering Sea.

The Canyon itself is home to many Rock Harpies, who make their nests along its walls. At the start of the canyon, Sledgewyvers are also a concern for travelers. At the mouth of the Canyon, a small sandy island has formed. It is notable as there seems to have been some sort of base here - now it is only empty ruins, however.

Ah yes, a big waterfall, a deep red canyon, harpies, and a raging river. Just like I remember XD If I didn't know any better, I'd say my story helped out a bit with this, but that's just my personal bias... ^^;