White Knights masterpost
GENDER
society is devided into two genders, red and blue, linked to the two moons (one redish one blueish obvs). red is seen as being more extroverted, lively, and irritable than blue, which is more introverted, uncomplicated and mild. not everyone follows these stereotypes though of course. red tends to dress more fancily and in particular hair is big and styled up, where as blue tends towards either simple long hair or short cuts, and more basic clothing. both genders use "she" pronouns but in different colours. gender is not in any way linked to biology and kids can switch freely between genders when young, only being expected to settle when they become adults. there's two non-binary characters because that's how I roll.
CLASS
there's different classes including witches, queens, monks. but maybe they are grouped together in bands in social standing? is there one religeon or lots? parents battle each other in formalised duels and tournaments to win a high rank for her child. every child is assigned a class before they are born and to deviate from it is really not socially acceptable. class is based on fighting, not job? so a queen might sew clothes and a monk might build walls.
CRIME
crimes are pretty standard earth type crimes of stealing, murder etc. but defacing symbols of rank is also a big one, reading someone's secret love letter (of type four mentioned below) is comparable to sexual assault, cheating in tournaments/duels is a very serious crime.
PASTIMES
everyone fights like, all the time, but it's all very organised and orderly. duels and tournaments are an everyday activity. they don't do jousts because they are basically unicorn people and horses on horses would be silly. obviously they spend a lot of time training too. a oerson is expected to work at something even if she is a queen, though higher ranking women are more likely to be allowed to slack a bit at their work to spend more time fighting/training.
poetry and song are huge, art not so much, though the monks do illuminated manuscripts and everyone has a crest drawn for them. this is seen as less of an art and more of a technical thing as there are so many rules to follow. there are lots of specialised forms of song/poetry with complicated rules for each. basically they love rules, and arguing about rules.
SEX
there's one biological sex and reproduction requires three adults, the mother, the dam, and the doe. you can physically be a doe as many times as you like, a dam a couple of times (maybe as many as four in some cases), and a mother only onece. a mother carries the child and dies shortly after giving birth, UNLESS she becomes a revenant.
socially speaking, the mother is the one who collects points to grant her child rank. the granting of classes is done by a council and is extremely srs bsns. the three parents engage in battles between themselves to decide what names the child will have in her title (every name ends in a title, e.g. ailenor of crystal forests), though the doe will only get to contribute a name if she does really exceptionally well. breeding triads are chosen based on eugenics and there's plenty of superstitious/pseudoscientific beliefs considered too. people make an application to the council when she want to be a mother. she can make suggestions for the dam and doe but ultimately it's up to the council.
LIFE STAGES
there are two cities, the northen city of children and the dead and the southern city of adults. mothers travel north during their pregnancy, give birth and generally die. some instead mature to the third life stage after adulthood, revenancy. they become slow and clunky looking, with stiff bodies? maybe natural armour? they are focused on looking after all children. they raise them all in a group, teaching them their roles in life and about the things they need to know as an adult. they also look after the dead.
when the kids are teenage, they move a bit south and live in towers of their own near each other. they are expected to maintain the towers and hunt for themselves and all that. then, after a few years? they head south as a group. it's dangerous because there's a lot of rough country, rough wildlife and even deliberately created challenges on the way. if they make it they are considered adult and take up living in the south city. it can be hard for them to adjust at first but no one is very sympathetic, there's just supposed to get on with it.
ROMANCE
there's five different recognised tyoes of romance. gender doesn't matter for any of them. they can all be sexual or nonsexual and I'm not planning to decide which of the relationships in the game are sexual because I don't really care. names will be changed.
type 1: the kissy kissy type
one woman chooses another to be her "kissy kissy lady". she must treat her sweetly, bring her gifts, fight for her honour, sing songs about her beauty etc. basically woo the heck out of her. the recipient of this affection is not supposed to return it with anything like the same fervour, that would be ~inappropriate~. you can be in two of these at once, one as wooer and one as wooee. any more would be frowned upon. these relationships are okay to break up and make a fair amount.
type 2: the mean type
one woman chooses another to be her "victim". she verbally bullies her, trying to make her socially awkward and unhappy. a partciular aim is to provoke public tears. it's very important to note that in a healthy mean type realtionship, the victim consents to this treatment! she really throws herself into being a martyr and hams it up a bit. obviously there's a lot of room for abuse here and there is a lot of social contention about it. you can be in two at once just like the kissy kissy type, one at each end. these relationships can be changed fairly frquently too.
type 3: the fanclub type
several "fangirls" get together, bonded by their intense interest in something or someone. they are expected to be very supportive of each other, particularly helping the others within their interest area. they hang out together a lot and must be very loyal to each other. this is a much less drama ridden type of relationship than the first two and is a solid base/family type deal. this is a romance for more than two people, just two would be seen as pathetic/sort of incestous. you can be in more than one at once, but you'd be spreading yourself pretty thin with more than two or three. they can change freely during life but in general you'd stay close with the people in your old fanclubs.
type 4: the episalatory type
two women "penfriends" exchange letters via some sort of secret dead letterbox system. they are not supposed to know each others true identity, though in reality it is often obvious and they simply pretend not to know. the letters are very intense, heartfelt writings about their true feeling on everything. they are supposed to accept one another unconditionally and always provide comfort and acceptance. reading a letter that wasn't meant for you would be a serious assault on the letter writer. you can only be in one at a time, and it's supposed to be unbroken until death.
type 5: the super secret type
one woman choses another to be her "special somepony". she loves her from afar, never giving a clue to her feelings on the surface. the better the love is disguised, to more proper this romance is seen as. the actual feelings of the lover can be like any of the romances above or somthing different, as long as it's felt very strongly and never expressed. lots of women struggle with this type of romance, seeing it as confusing and vague, but it is considered the purest form of love among interllectual circles. you can only have one ever, though you could be the recipient of many (you'll never know).