on this feast of annunciation I will think about how a similar day is observed across the citadels after ruina's passing as part of her veneration as the holy deathbringer. #ruinalore

ailred, ruina, and his spectral cock #ruinalore

#verrotlore #ruinalore

these are common in my worldbuilding : unconsummated marriages leading to advantageous lovers in the sidewings, courtesans selling information that would come to see entire batallions slaughtered. the most obvious, however, was ruina's intentional pregnancy by melomaneu blood

[ #almirelore, #verrotlore, #ruinalore ]

mattokian beauty customs are as vast as the people themselves, but some core elements translate across the clans and across the vast tracks of land. these are typically predicated on appearing "obscurum" ; dark, night, void-touched. black pigment is key.

[ will qrt for the latter half later, but first #ruinalore ]

ruina was born in a waterway outside of the shroud, between the hathoeva and yug'ram rivers. her clans territory had traditionally been that of the shrouds watery caverns and riverbeds, but eventually they were pushed out.

#ruinalore

per clan tradition, ruina would describe herself as a maiden [a genderless order of astronomers] or more aptly, a "gnomon," a gender identity named after the part of the sundial which casts a shadow. typically associated with feminine identity, "gnomon" relays a sense of centeredness

#ruinalore, #verrotlore

ornament is the mattokian way ; they are living reliquaries meant to embody grave goods given form. nail art is common amongst the various clans. while verrot keeps his naturally black claws plain with laborious upkeep and external rings, ruina paints and decorates hers.

#ruinalore #verrotlore [ephemera]
robert frost, the witch of coos.

#ruinalore

matsiiyiisaipi ; the loon. she is so water & sea-aspected that when I imagine her as a bird I can only think of water fowl. but the loon looks like the night sky, and is known for its child rearing techniques and beautiful song-making.

#verrotlore, #ruinalore

some favorite mattokian death customs. clan antrum, mak'nimus. those who pride themselves on remaining in caves, create "ghost-cities" above ground with the bodies of their dead. entire, "lived" in villages like dioramas filled with dead people. known to bait non-mattokians

[ #verrotlore, #ruinalore ]

some mattokian jewelry lore. the introductory page of many detailing the customs, rituals, and aesthetics of ornament. customs vary between the 13 mak'nimus clans, as well as the 6 ostsiksinum clans, yet remain intelligible to one another.

#verrotlore , #ruinalore

The garlean empire is responsible, in conjunction with adjacent xenophobia in complicit nations (like gridania), for the culture-choke and slaughter of the eorzean mattokian people ; and more personally, the murder of two of verrot’s grandparents.

#ruinalore

ruina enjoys most touch, especially the effortless and commanding type. a heavy caress at the shoulder, a grip at the waist. but the way to her heart is a sloping touch from neck, to collarbone, to chest. she needs some degree of breastplay to reach finish.

#ruinalore [catching threads I have missed]

#ruinalore

while her primary instrument for playing is the lute, I associate her thematically with hoof and bone rattles. they are are living heartbeat. upon them, all dance and music is built. they are associated with ritual and fun. they are a piece of a larger sum, but carry the sum's weight.

#ruinalore

a texture she favors is what I can best describe as "thread." spun yarn for her looms, thin thread for sewing, cornsilk, hanks of animal hair, and the hair of a lover's head. things that can be brushed, braided, oiled, woven, and kept. she also likes the feeling of skin, leather, hide.

#ruinalore

(for those unfamiliar, afet was an ananta girl and ruina's first love) one of ruina's most formative memories was the time she had been crossing the river with afet. one of ruina's necklaces broke and was carried off by the current. at the shore, afet tore off one of her own scales

#ruinalore

she is a woman of immense faith and ritual, but ishgardian practice bores her. its a bit amusing, in its violent mundanity. she saw vespers as a means to socialize and to keep allegations of heresy at bay. she kept a comedically ugly statue of halone on the grounds for good measure.

#ruinalore

in the abstract, mattokia. wherever the nightsky can be seen, wherever death touches. she finds dearness in everything, everywhere due to this. but between the hathoeva and yug'ram rivers was where she was born, and those skies where thanalan and the shroud met were her perfect heaven.

#ruinalore

when ruina immigrated to ishgard, she brought a trunk. within it, she brought clippings of her favored herbs from home and an ancestral beehive. when she was evicted to the brume, she collected rain water run-off and used dark magick, in secret, to grow and keep her herbs and hive.

#ruinalore

she worked a fate loom and was constantly weaving. large, illustrated rugs and tapestries called "counts" were intrinsic to mattokian culture, blending prophecy with past. but ruina often veered off-course. she would illustrate and create beyond fate's design. she created hundreds.

#ruinalore

the chaste answer are her rituals of vanity. there is little she adores more than lighting a beeswax candle and sitting before her favorite mirror, doing her hair and face. the nsfw answer is, unashamedly, masturbating. her favored places are in the bath, or beneath the stars.

#ruinalore

patience. with verrot, she will lay a tray of food outside of his door when composing rather than intrude. with a lover, she will stay up late until they return and welcome them with intimacy — deep, and like the turning of seasons, slow. she will weather any bad mood or conflict.

#ruinalore

in many ways, she is a tried and true mattokian. long braids with belled hair clasps, beadwork embellishments, opulent black fabric adorned with bones, silverwork. she favors dress forms that accentuate her chest and waist. she doesn't like wearing gloves, she prefers bare touch!