Steir Development, Symbols and Weaponry news

Has it really been that long since my last update? Jeez. Anyway, I had a good few days away last week (tuesday-thursday, methinks), and now i'm all energized again - and sunburned.

Before I went away, I actually scribbled down a bunch of the language stuff into a big notebook I keep for MyWorld development and managed to get some stuff done, such as what weapons the species use, Steir language structure, Steir musical notation structure, Ghul Symbols and Steir Symbols. Not bad, huh.

I've just drawn up the symbols roughly so you can see what it looks like. First one is Steir, second is Ghul.

On the second image, notice the little N-like thingies - they are vowels. Everything else are consonants.
Notice on the Steir symbols (first image) that there is one with two wavy lines and a V with a dot at the joint - that means air and bird. I should probably explain the Steir Language Structure before getting into the symbols, though.

So far, I've been using the vowel-consonant structure with free movement between the two in the creation of words (Ghul, Vapiole, Neonni). With the Steir, though, they have four groups of words - rather than the two. I call these A, B, C and D.

All words begin with words from A, then B. Then you choose a word from C and D - then you are able to repeat the process to make the word longer, if required.

A words all begin with G, S, T, L, J, R, D, N, B or T, and end with non-stop letters, letters than are easy to slide onto another letter (bA, laR, shE, bE, etc).
B words are stop-letters, ones where no other sound can be made at the same time, (K,P, T, D, B, G, C, N) - these are called "Plosive" in the study of Phonetics.
C words begin with vowels and end in consonants (Ow, Ar, On, Ag, Op, En, Ebb, Et).
D words are vowels-only (A, E, I, O, U, Ae, Ei, Ia, Ou, Ue).

With that, you can make words such as Lardare, Bogen, Tonano and Shepiane - not too bad a selection!

A-group is the largest of the groups, and have a far more random/varied symbol design. Some have squiggly lines, some have Ns and Ms, Os, Vs and ^s, and have no real order.
B-group words have a V or ^ under a curved-upward dash, curved-downward dash or straight dash, whereas C and N have dashes with a V and ^, plus a dot.
C-group has no specific order to their symbol design.
D-group single-letters have diagonal, horizontal and vertical dashes and dots, whilst double-letters have more "interesting" symbols, but follow the same rule.

Whilst Steir follow a simple system of Symbols, using easily-relatable symbols (M, N, V, -, ^, O, etc) the Ghul symbols look more like they were painted by somebody with a twitchy wrist, and rarely have any relatable symbols.

With the Steir language done, I've been able to name and add their three city names to the World Map - four down, two to go!
Capital: Jetenei
Others: Ribein + Desgarae

Seeing as Steir live in their hives and rarely go above ground, they don't have "Province names", only Hive names.

Oh Snap, I nearly forgot. I've also done the Weapon Design, or at least, what kind of weapons the species use - I've split them into three groups, close, near and ranged. Close is where the combatants are in close-quarters, drawing on maces, swords and wrist-mounted claws. Near is where the combatants are several paces away, drawing on spears, halberds and staves. Ranged is where bows, crossbows, throwing spears and such are used.

Note: The names are general descriptions. ie, they're examples of what the weapons are like - not are.

Now, Ghuls are warrior-peoples, bloody and aggressive. They make use of Morning Stars, Claws, Halberds, spears and shortbows.

Neonni are magic-wielding wizards and rely heavily on that. If it comes to it, though, they will throw rocks that are enchanted to causing a fiery explosion at range, staves and magical staffs at near and daggers as a last resort if the opponent can get past their previous barrage. Some Neonni excel in their dance-like movements with a staff, in combat, where their snake-like body allows them to bend and twirl easily.

Itsek are more wild than settled, crafting their own weapons in the wilderness. Their weapons are relatively simple - poison-tipped throwing spears, long and shortbows, whips and cat o'nine tail whips, spears and swords.

Steir are industrious and peace-loving and have never been exposed to war. Their weapons have only been used in the defence of their underground Hives against wild creatures and such. They make use of crank-operated gear-crossbows, spears, greatswords, picks, longhammers and warhammers.

The amphibious Vapiole have a disadvantage when it comes to weaponry, seeing as bows and other such ranged weapons are useless underwater, which is where they mostly need their weapons. For the ranged weapons they do keep, they are small and easily handled - pipes. Pipes and venom darts, at least. Tridents and spears make excellent use against charging sea carnivores, and when it comes down to close combat, handaxes and shortswords and drawn.

Finally, the molerat-like Tatoime that live in their desert burrows. Shortbows and slings are used for ranged warfare, spears, shortswords and nunchucks.

And that's pretty much it... I've cleaned up the To-Do list, somewhat, and updated it with what I have done thus far - oh, and, the website is down. It's been suspended, apparently due to mass-emailing, which I havn't a clue what is about. I'm awaiting a reply on the issue... Who knows, by the time ModDB let this news through, the website might be back up again. Let's hope!