Elcenia Spoilers

[DanielH]

I’d really like to study historical linguistics in far more detail than you’re likely to have made it.

I’ve also thought about potentially doing an audiobook-style thing for Elcenia (probably closer to the HPMoR podcast than a traditional audiobook). I’m pretty sure I could do a convincing Leraal aa with practice, but (if I actually do this project, which is by no means certain), do you have any advice on how to do the vampire stuff? So far my best ideas are “see if there’s text-to-speech software that can attempt that” and “say things separately and then cut the audio together so it sounds like I managed to say the entire word as a word”, and I expect neither one would work well.

[Alicorn]

I can send you recordings of how I tend to pronounce the names, but of course my vampire accent is atrocious.

(I'd actually want to send you pronunciation guides for basically everything. When Earthfic was podcasted they pronounced "Lanie" as a strict shortening of "Melanie", which it is only in writing.)

[DanielH]

I will solicit these recordings if/when I start the project. Now that I know I will have such recordings if I do it, I’m more likely to do it, but I’m still not promising anything and I probably won’t start until at least June even if I decide tomorrow that I will do it.

If the recordings already exist and are easily accessible, I would appreciate them anyway, though. I attach pronunciations to everything I read, and I prefer if they’re close to the intended ones.

[Alicorn]

They do not exist yet. Anything in particular you want a guide for?

[DanielH]

Most of the pronunciation guides are on the site already, and I can’t think of anything in particular I want that isn’t. I’m sure I’m mispronouncing something, though, I just don’t know what.

[Lambda]

What happens if someone calls a tucked communication crystal? Can the tucker tell that they're being called? Can the caller tell that the counter-crystal is unavailable?

[Alicorn]

Probably depends on what brand you get.

[DanielH]

From the Elcenia Mafia game:

Ooh, also: does Alicorn's deathpost for Rhysel confirm that Barashin souls have an afterlife even if they die in Elcenia? I know this was a question raised but not answered in Chapter 38 of Blood...

I was wondering the same thing myself. The game has an afterlife with the gods Alicorn and Nemo, of course, but it’s implied that Elcenia doesn’t (and confirmed that way in a few sandboxen, though the rules might be different there).

Also, what causes all the dragonishes to have similar religious beliefs, and are these beliefs generally correct? Is there a mechanism beyond “everybody listens to the Dragon Council and they have a pretty good reason” for keeping dragonishes from telling others about their religious beliefs?

I guess I could ask the same questions about vampire religion, too. What prevents vampires from deconverting, and if any do deconvert why have none of those told the outside world?

[Alicorn]

Dragonishes do not wish to start holy wars by saying things like "look, we were around when one of us got drunk and knocked up a bonobo, we know Sennah did not make you in the described manner".

Vampires can deconvert on an individual basis but if they try to raise vampire children in not-the-religion this is a very good way to get those children taken away.

[Kappa]

I mean, a deconverted vampire who told anybody would basically be saying "the reason you can one hundred percent for sure trust that every single vampire is going to totally respect your blood-related consent no longer applies to me whee!!!!"