Runaway to the Stars: Page 36
Added 2023-04-23 04:12:11 +0000 UTCI'm not totally satisfied with the text on this page but it will do for now. Summary is hard when you have an encyclopedia's worth of random facts to draw from,
Also, my print tech was very generous and let me make these insert pages in between chapters full color. It works great for me, who doesn't want to color the whole comic and loves plate-illustration style inserts in books.
Comments
Wait, I thought green was an undesirable colour for avians. Is that just for their crests? Why the difference?
Alight
2025-09-10 23:11:15 +0000 UTCI've been wondering- do polar avians have a crest structure under all that fluff, or did it fade away into the lil vestigial nubbin we can see poking out?
Wolfcat
2023-04-24 20:57:46 +0000 UTCAvians walking on their forelimbs makes me think of a horrific scenario where an absolutely clueless human being needs to raise an avian and that poor child thought they were supposed to walk on their hind limbs like their human caretaker. Terrifying
SkeletonWick
2023-04-24 16:20:29 +0000 UTCThe Tiiliit having a crest mutation is fascinating in light of strict avian gender standards. It’s wrong to be different, except in this one societally approved case! It feels very real, tbh - IRL cultures have all kinds of bizarre exceptions to their taboos.
honorarycassowary
2023-04-23 18:39:03 +0000 UTCSorry about all the questions, I just get so excited! Thank you so much for answering all of them. I'm surprised that the Tiiliit's green crest is an actual mutation, I just assumed it was makeup, not the Thing That Allows Them To Be The Tilliit. I'm also super curious about Wiarii, but I'll show some restraint -- I don't want to spam you with a hundred more questions, haha. Again, thanks so much!!
Shield
2023-04-23 17:19:09 +0000 UTCThat's an awful lot of questions. The Tiiliit is an an autocrat, but their empire is so huge that having semi-elected governmental bodies is more or less a necessity. The Dominion of Tiiliit is a relatively recently formed nation that was founded on the principle of a secular monarchy and government (splintering from their sister nation, Wiarii), pushing enlightment and scientific ideals and heavily colonizing local space. Ironically, the monarchy hasn't changed too much, now using pseudoscience about superior genetic heritage instead of divine right to justify its existence. All Tiiliits have been blood-related to the original Tiiliit (and all have the royal green crest mutation) although the pool of dun-mates the Tiiliit has is much bigger than in more traditional cultures. Essentially their aristocracy has widened to include those from newer wealth. Also, there's so few pygmies because they were from a small, isolated volcanic island chain that was only encountered (colonized) a few hundred years ago. Their original population was about a million, which dipped to under half that from colonization, and it's slowly been recovering since they regained sovereignty and some groups began emigrating to space and the Hotsuuv continent.
Jay Eaton
2023-04-23 16:14:32 +0000 UTCI'm not sure about the Tiiliit specifically but avians have more in common with humans than bug ferrets. There was some amount of relief upon finding a third sophont that weren't all hyper-gregarious communist nudists. The Dominion of Tiiliit operates like a lot of large modern monarchies, where the pagentry of the royals is an important source of national pride, but nitty gritty policy stuff is mostly handled by a senate, parliament, and other semi-elected groups. The Tiiliit still has final say as an autocrat but rarely steps in to veto or push policy personally (because there's more subtle ways to get what they want).
Jay Eaton
2023-04-23 15:53:06 +0000 UTCAbout 9 billion avians live on the homeworld, if that's what you mean.
Jay Eaton
2023-04-23 15:44:57 +0000 UTCwow there's uh a lot of these guys. how much of that is in-world?
Guilherme Töws
2023-04-23 13:31:03 +0000 UTCThe amount of research and learning you do for world building is WILD!! I love it sooo much
Skeletalcat
2023-04-23 06:03:19 +0000 UTCOh, I almost forgot -- this isn't directly related to the Tiiliit, but is there a reason pygmy aliens are so much fewer than the other main subspecies?
Shield
2023-04-23 05:06:16 +0000 UTCWow, this is so cool! I'm curious about the Tiiliit, they're not a figure I think you've mentioned before either here or on tumblr. In human terms, are they a more religious leader (like the pope), or a more secular one (like, for example, the British monarchy)? (I know that example isn't perfect because most monarchies are inextricably tied to religion, through divine right and religious majority and whatnot, it's the best way I could phrase it.) Is the Tiiliit only part of the government i.e. a constitutional monarchy, or are they The Government? Is it an elective or hereditary role? Is other royalty related to the Tiiliit in some way, or related to past figures from the empire's history like in most earth cultures or is it also elective? Or are you keeping your cards close to your chest and don't want to answer? Sorry if these questions are kind of incomprehensible, I'm just super curious about this world and every part of it!
Shield
2023-04-23 05:05:04 +0000 UTCHow do you think the Tiiliit responded to first contact with humanity? And how does the government work, is it an absolute monarchy?
Erika Spooner
2023-04-23 04:57:17 +0000 UTCfixed
Jay Eaton
2023-04-23 04:28:47 +0000 UTCUnfortunately, it looks like you are missing a word in the final sentence of the second paragraph.
David Helmer
2023-04-23 04:25:30 +0000 UTCLooks good. I like the Tillit's outfit.
David Helmer
2023-04-23 04:24:41 +0000 UTC
