To go along with the idea of siren-like Mermaids and the possibility of never growing up as a Nautikan; Perhaps, to fully undergo the adolescent changes from mermaid-like creatures into human-legged nautikans you would need to frequently be breathing air. As the nautikans have a natural distain or even fear of mermaids the training of breathing above water would be very strict, particularly for the rich nautikan children, whose parents can afford lessons and permanent nanny care, it would be military-like. This can prove too much for some, they begin to surface less and so don't undergo those changes, or only partially go through them. The children who grow up early are revered as being intelligent, diligent and biologically better than the others. Poorer families who cannot afford nanny-care and whose mother and father have to work, can't care for their children as frequently and teach them to breathe above water, therefore they tend to develop later in life. This later leg development can also lead to these now teens running off, sneaking out etc, then coming into contact with mermaids as they get further from their home. As they can swim better than their legged parents they can't be stopped. This gives the impression that mermaids are misbehaving nautikan children who refused to listen to their parents and grew wild. It also further gives the impression that mermaids chose to be the way they are, because they were too scared or too weak-minded to breathe above water frequently. Which is not true, true mermaids cannot grow legs, but many nautikans believe they can if they had just tried harder as children. The nautikans may also begin to believe in a lot of conspiracy around mermaids. Some thinking that mermaids cannot have their own children as they are all female and so they steal the children of nautikans. Or the later developing nautikans may begin to fall in love with a mermaid and run away to be with them (which pushes parents to make their children grow legs as fast as possible, which can actually lead to a lot of rich children having leg defects as they were made to grow too soon, but the nautikans either hide these defects or are actually proud of them as they are a mark of early maturity).

What if the wetland nautikans being descendants of the old royalty are the only major faction of the nautikans were the majority still practice polygamy as it was traditional when they were still the kings

I love the new skin variance ooh

Wouldn't the Nautikan have these extra eyelids frogs have to protect there eyes under water

I absolutely love the Nautikans' view of mermaid reproduction, accurate or not. Despite thinking themselves so superior to mermaids, they see them in sort of a similar way that humans might see the faerie folk, it's fascinating. They look down on them for a lack of things like modern technologies, yet they're terrified mermaids will come up from the depths, seduce and rape their men and disappear into the abyss once more as if they were never even there. The Nautikans might even ascribe them various magical abilities like mindcontrol, or power to shape water, because they can't fathom how any intelligent life could live in the depths of the Abyss without them. It definitely has amazing storytelling potential.

About the Deep Blue Nauticans on the original island, what if it wasn't just a random grouping (there are plenty of ways people can be similar or different from each other that doesn't necessitate a class grouping without some push) but it started with specialization of different trades and whether they preferred salt or fresh water factored into who specialized in what and who spend more time in the water and as different trades began to be considered more prosperous than others, there grew a class difference. It would also be more realistic if there was some variation in opinions even if it wasn't mainstream but allowed to exist as long as it didn't affect the hierarchy in place.

So shark mermaid had me thinking of the ningen. A claimed sea monster off the coast of Japan that is basically a whale mermaid and it is horrifying and large

I know there is a lady-only species of whiptail lizard out there! So it is possible for your mers. Also, if you're thinking about angler fish mers... their males are... interesting. Something to look into, if only for the curiosity of it.

The idea of Nautikans who don't go through the metamotphoses could be a really interesting gateway into disscusion on gender, or enable a wider lense on gender and gender-fluidity in different cultures. Or the introducion of a third gender as more of a social construct, like you see in some of our cultures. Because they give of a very traditional vibe (as a species) it would be really interesting to see how different cultures give different social rolls to the non-metamorphosied indevidualls - one culture would make them oracles or train them as ambassadors and another would banish or view them with pity. There is a lot of play-room...

Hi! Might be just me, but an idea for a video is I would love to hear about their cuisine... I’m not really sure why. Also would love a short video possibly about more of what daily life would look like

My gosh! My gosh! I love the new changes to the Nautikans skin tones and the variety of ethnicities! The unearthly colours and patterns really hammer out the point that they're a fantasy race... and the way you woven these details seamlessly into their history is great! Can't wait to see more!

A set of thoughts: Maybe mermaids have a massive sex imbalance, so that males occur only very infrequently, leading to females simply filling most of the niches of their society. (Sexual ratio imbalance) Maybe mermaids have a similar situation to angler fish, where mating between males and females is life-long and permanently fuses the much smaller male to the female as a psuedo-symbiont. This would result in an "all-female" society. (Extreme sexual dimorphism) Maybe mermaids have a similar situation to seahorses going on, where it's the male that carries and oversees the eggs and young. Females would, at that point, be far more free to explore and roam widely than the males, meaning that males would naturally gravitate towards the "stay-at-home" roles while the females would gravitate towards the more "outward-facing" roles. (Sexual dimorphism feeding cultural norms) Maybe mermaids have a very low degree of outwardly-visible sexual dimorphism, meaning that they simply *look* like they're all female to outsiders. They might even understand a single species of land-dwellers as actually being two separate, albeit closely-related, species which have a closely-intertwined culture. (Minimal sexual dimorphism) Maybe mermaids have a culture wherein males are expected to take and hold a "territory" of sorts, with females being highly nomadic, naturally leading to their being seen far more often by both Nautikans and land-dwellers. (Cultural norms)

...I was not expecting to see my comment on here. Thanks for the response! Honestly "they were polygamous originally, but became monogamous over time, through contact with humans, and a desire for greater gender-parity" is a great way of explaining monogamy in such a society, and I'm eager to see where you go from here.

Hello! I wanted to say that I'm a big fan of your world building on both of your channels. Also, I had an idea for those that don't experience a metamorphises. Instead of it being trauma, maybe it's just a rare mutation that's actually revered. An adult Nautikan who has a tail will likely be better at swimming and thus catching young children whose tail makes them faster swimmers than their two-legged parent. They would essentially be great nannies or daycare workers, especially in older times when there wouldn't be a save dome enviorment for young children. Plus, they could outmaneuver more predators than other adults, allowing them to evacuate with the children and call for help. Sorry if it's rambly, it's late and this has been floating in my head insistently enough that I can't fall asleep, like I should be :-/ I can't wait for more of your content!

Just to comment on the polygamy aspect of the Nautikans, in most historic cases it was only really done by the elite as (especially in Patriarchy societies) having multiple spouses would become incredibly expensive and only royalty would often have Harams like how we imagen them with Hundreds of women, so it could be pretty easy to explain it away as just something the nobles do without having to go deep into cultural metamorphosis for way it isn't common place and is being fazed out.

Awesome video! I love the inclusion of the different skin tones and ethnicities. I would imagine if the deep blue nauticans were able to control the majority of trade for sea silk and stuff that they would end up becoming very wealthy over time. And if they were the ones to build and maintain the underwater cities, presumably they would also be the ones to maintain it. I would imagine this would give them a great deal of power in the new cities. It could create some interesting tensions between the deep blues and the yellow lake nauticans.

this is a bit off topic, but my sister had an idea for the people with the skulls- what if the skulls of beloved lost pets were placed outside of doorways or something to ward off bad spirits?!

One question that came up for me is “ why do the women have breast” surely two breast couldn’t feed larger hatches. So how then do the babies get nutrients. Also evolving breast seems to just be in the way underwater for swimming and such. I love how thought provoking these videos are ! Keep up the good work :)

This is very interesting stuff. I like the idea that the Nautikans can only give birth once in their life time with the change that you made. I also like the racial differences between them. With my lizard folk I'm thinking they will lay one egg at a time but a female can only lay an egg every 5 years but 1-3 children can be born, though over 2 is very rare. With The Jazill after the male hum gives the woman their seed.... they grow saplings in their pouch which after several weeks are planted in a sapling garden. Here I'm thinking males are the ones who only have a seed every few weeks but a female can turn the DNA from 1 seed into several saplings. But not all saplings will grow into children. The Jazill being a plant like species have different races depending on what environment they spent a lot of time in, and the more plant like races will have hair that can change based on season.

Just saying before I even watch the video, Your channel is what inspired me to start writing again and creating new worlds and stories!! so thank you a lot!!!

Maybe one important type of trade between mainlanders and nautikans could be maps? This would be very useful for both, since the mainlanders (if they are really basicaly human) would have a very hard time mapping the ocean (even with modern tecnology our maps of it aren't perfect) and nautikans wouldn't be able to map the land and civilizations that live above surface and far from water bodies. It could also be seen as a problem by some natikans, that would claim that selling (or trading) maps was dangerous because they need to protect their land by keeping it misterious for the mainlanders, maybe this group would be formed mainly by the older that still remember the war in land and the nobility, oposed maily to the merchants (island nautikans?), that woud benfit a lot from this trades. Just a thought.

Avians next, oh thank God I've been waiting for more. About the fish that's all female, I was told about a cat that's all female and mates with other breeds, but the chromones always make them pure bred of the mother's race and sex. Sirens were originally bird-women, they had human head and torso but with bird wings for arms and talons for feet. Probably cause songbirds r well known for their singing. Over time, they were described as mermaids cause they lived so close to the sea; and then it was human looking women who's bodies were seductive as their voices were enchanting. So that could b used for the avians for myth and magic. P.S. I read years ago online that before the myth of sirens came, merfolks (both sexes) sat on rock and sang to themselves, but sailors nearby would jump off trying to get the singers but unfortunately drowned. The men tried to reach for the mermaids and sailing women went for the mermen.

Every time you post a video I get more and more hyped about actually reading the story👀 it all just sounds so exciting!

This race sounds so interesting! About the underwater sign language, there is this community in The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss called the Adem that communicate their emotions with each other through sign language. Even though the can speak perfectly fine they consider vocalising emotion, and especially singing, to be a very personal thing only reserved for family and close friends. This causes them to be terribly misunderstood by other cultures, who consider them (yes) cold and unfeeling.

Just an idea I had for a terrifying sub species of mermaid. Could be dumb, but have you thought about an illusive type that has more octupus/squid like tentacles instead of normal tails. I imagine they would be more illusive, and sneaky when harrasing people in their waters, perhaps being considered more myth than real.

Okay so question: you mentioned that the upper class/aristocracy of early nautikans lived on an island. When the apocalypse came, they took heavy casualties and only a small fraction survived. I love this idea, and I have a question regarding it. What factor allowed some of them to survive? Are we talking warrior princesses or end of days bunkers? Did the upper class go out hunting originally as pageantry, and then transfer those skills for use when their infrastructure was destroyed? Is it possible that these same elements that allowed them to survive the apocalypse became tradition for their posterity and would eventually make their descendants more suitable to life in the wetlands? Just some bought, thanks for sharing your hard work with us, I love watching your world take shape!🤍🤎

Perhaps the mermaid reproduction thing could be the origin of the Nauticans, one mermaid that mated with a human, instead of making ”a clone”, made a half/half aka the first Nautican.

I just had a great idea! What if in the underwater Nautikan city 'Freshwater' would be a derogatory term used in the slang of the lower classes? (meaning something along the lines of 'wimp', 'wuss' and 'weak' in general: "What are you? Some freshwater guppy?", "Scram freshwater" etc.etc.) I mean it makes so much sense! 'Oceanics' and 'Islanders' are adapted to and thrive in the salty sea waters, whilst for 'Lakes' it's the total opposite (so I think submerging should be quite uncomfortable or even borderline painful for them). For this reason the higher classes pushed said groups, save for the wealthy and prestigious Islander families, into manual labour and outside of the dry neighbourhoods in order to hog all the space, also giving them an excuse to look down on them. Of course people were bitter, and as the prissy nobles are the worst, they ridiculed and mocked them in turn, to the point that the term 'being freshwater' itself has gathered negative connotations in modern day language. (discrimination against half-Lakes most likely will also be a thing) Let me hear your thoughts! (I know you world building isn't really meant to reflect or comment on rl issues and society... but in my personal, and admittedly inexperienced opinion I think adding said problems in these different contexts really helps developing the setting to be more complex, nuanced and compelling! (Both for the final result and the creative process as a whole) Plus after all sentient being are still people regardless of the fantasy species, and sometimes people really really suck. And we all love good villains to loathe!)

One thing that made me think with the multiple children and only once birthing is. What if siblings that haven't had children yet would help the one who has children to manage the larger amounts easier. It would also be good practice for when they themselves have children. A guy who is good with taking care of his nephews and nieces would probs be a very attractive partner, since oh yes, he could take care of our children well". And since older women can't have children anymore, they would naturaly be able to also help their own children with child raising. For example, let's call her Nauti. Nauti's children are old enough to not need her care anymore, so she does her own stuff, grows as a person. And once her children start getting their own kids, let's say daughter Tika, she could take a more permanent role as an extra parent, granny Nauti could potentialy be more important for the childs development since she has some extra life expirience than mommy Tika. Including grandpa's in there somewhere too probably. This could all lead to a very high valuing of elders and then giving them better care once the agey to, OLD old age. And also strong family bonds.

I'm glad you have been balancing your channels so well. I found you through historybounding, back when it was all one channel, but I love worldbuilding, and it is so refreshing to hear someone else with the same passion explore a very different set of ideas. Thank you for not ... I don't know, choosing to sever one side of your interests, for the sake of branding? I'm really glad to have two very coherent channels to choose from, instead of one. (Also, hearing you go back and talk about how your ideas have developed since your early videos, while born out of circumstance, actually creates a really interesting dynamic. I think a lot of people get frustrated looking back on the big worldbuilders and the ways they sometimes "flipflop" on things, while failing to recognize what it is to publish in a world that is in a continual state of growth and refinement. These are the people who get frustrated that (to borrow Tolkien as an example) they don't know where Celeborn comes from. As you noted, I think there is a kind of "publishing pressure" that makes people want things nailed down and static before they are released to the world. This format highlights that worldbuilding (like any kind of design) can be in Flux for as long as it is in development, and sometimes even after release into the world.)

I love these concepts and cannot thank you enough for re-inspiring me to return to my world, you are so creative and such a huge inspiration, both in sewing and worldbuilding. I also have a question: I wanted to ask about your world as a planet, as in, its place in whatever version of the universe you have and the rest of the continents on it. This is probably from my love of astronomy but I would really love to hear about how the solar system is structured. Unless I have completely misunderstood you, your world isn't Earth. This means it probably won't have the same planets and structure to the space around it. What I am basically asking is, how similar is this to Earth. How many planets can they see, how many suns do they orbit (if any) and moons. Moons can get interesting. I ask this because this impacted our culture so much, for example, the 7 day week could be derived from the 7 celestial objects that we could see (The Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) in ancient times. Additionally, the zodiac is based on the constellations and as for the cultural impacts of eclipses, moon phases and the planets, how religions, especially ancient ones, revolve around them: I'll let you do your own research. Thanks again ^^

Regarding sign language, I think Venezuelan sign language could be of interest to you because it developed under similar circumstances to how the Nautikan sign language would have developed (if I understand your timeline correctly, anyway).

just as an idea: Maybe the not growing up thing is more positive. Yes they can't or want comprehand adulthud, but because they basically stay Children they have more fantasy and are better at problem solving. And this ones could be go to peaple if something happens. Kind of a nerdy subcuilture.

I'm under the impression you're referring to the 'Amazon Molly'; they're actually from the USA and Mexico, not south America :) The name comes from the fictional Greek Amazon people, rather than the actual geographic region.

I've been thinking about this for a while after watching one of these, and when you mentioned the river nauticans and that one (i forgot her name) with the webbed-finger gloves. Woudn't the nauticans, as a species that spends a lot of time underwater, have webbed fingers, or at least more webbed than most humans?

YESSSS AVIANS SOON I have a question about the different ethnic groups do you believe that as the ethnic groups evolved their fins become different? Not so much when they were all together but as separate groups like the swamplands and river im not sure how to articulate it

so would skin cancer be a main cause of death for nautikans when they lived on land? because it can be a big big issue for people with very fair skin if they get too many sunburns (especially when they're young) they can develop skin cancer when they get older! something ithought about a lot with humanoid creatures in my world that lived in dark caves and get barely any sunlight.

This is exactly what I've been looking for; someone who delves into their thought process for worldbuilding. Not just "do this, & here's a few examples of how people have done it," but rather, "this is what I was going for, this is how I got where I did." Thank you! Very interesting worldbuilding!

loved you attitude towards the school assignment and blowing off the time limit. to me this is real learning. if you're passionate about something go for it.

Hi, thanks for sharing your story building ideas! I have a few suggestions for you: 1) Economy. You mentioned the wealthy Nautikans live on the surface while the poorer Nautikans live in the water. I’d like to see a reason for them to want to go to the surface in the first place, and who are qualified enough to go. Was it job opportunities that made them want to pursue material wealth? Trade opportunities with the outsiders? How about education? 2) Class. How do they treat outsiders versus their own kind? It’ll be interesting if there’s some internalized racism amongst some rich Nautikans who see their own people as just “smelly fish people” and the outsiders as people who have it all in terms of riches and fame. Of course, they can’t mate with outsiders, but it would be cool to explore some complex feelings and mentalities here and there. 3) Corruption. When there’s rich vs poor Nautikans, there’s always got to be at least one super-rich super-jerk who wants to exploit their own people for power. They may not be the main villian, though - they’re just there, unfortunately lol. How bad are the class divide? Are working class Nautikans ever allowed to speak up/fight for their rights, whatever that may be? How about crime? What’s illegal to sell/trade in their world? What’s the most valuable export/import and what are they doing to protect/exploit it? And of all the Nautikan people, which group would you categorize as having tension amongst each other than others? And how better are this/these other group(s) compare? 4) Royalty. Who are the royal families? If there’s no royalty in certain groups, what about political parties? What do one group prioritize more than others, and vice versa? How strict are they compared to others? Do they make the rules? Do people vote for their leaders? Are there some Nautikans who are actually excluded from voting? 5) Resource. Are the Nautikans mining something of value that can be shared with the world? Is it some kind of mystical object that can be used in their technologies? What about weapons of mass destruction? Or machines to help their people? Anyways, sorry for all the long text! I hope this helps and I can’t wait to see what you’re about to share in your next video! 😁

Do Nautikans have any tattoos? I am just wandering.

re: asexual mermaids - maybe they could be somewhat like selkies (I think a Celtic myth originally?) where the mermaids can "shed" their skin to go mate on land and then return to the water? Could even play into the mythos of maybe a mermaid mated with a human and didn't return to the water and their child was the first nautikan? And maybe it's only while in heat/able to reproduce or something? Also, does anyone know what island is at 26:26?

Great video! So much information and thinking, I love that. It's clearly one of the species most well-defined I have ever seen.

Perfect timing youtube! This video is wonderful, and I really love how you've thought things out!

All your ideas are great and I love them, minus the conversation part but that's understandable. I like how you went deep in detail in terms of biology and culture. I do have a few questions: 1. What is it like being LGBTQ+ in this world,? How do each race and region see them? 2. What other Races besides the Nautkians, merfolk, and Avians are there, and whether or not are based on any ethnic and racial groups? 3. You mentioned that Some Nautikans still live long, what is the average lifespan for each race (Avians and merfolk including), and how does the age system works? Do they become teenagers or adults at the same rate?

In previous videos you've stated before how you want to lean into duality and opposites (such as with the Nautikans and Avians) I think for the underwater city really playing up the social tensions between the lake and island Nautikans (as well as other minor culture groups) could be interesting and kinda realistic for an environment were multiple cultures have been forced together over a short period of time and are left to try and forge a new united Nautikan Identity. Your touched on this a bit but the Island Nautikans could function as the Neuveau riche, leaning heavily into industrialization, capitalisms, democratization, and maybe even more radical amongst them would want to abolish the monarchy? they could also be much more apprehensive about retaking the mainland, with many being apposed to it all together (this could probable be do to their biology as well as the new found power and influence they have gained in Nautikan society due to their technological power) The Old Lake Kingdom elite could almost function like the British aristocracy before WW1 with them in theory having a great deal of power and influence but at this point mostly being a paper tiger as they lost a great deal of wealth from the conquest (I'm guesting that they would have function similar to feudal lords?) and have only been able to maintain their positions due to historic significance, maybe do to this lose of wealth and the island Nautikans growing power intermarriages could start to happen and it could be interesting to expolore that dynamic as the lines between the different groups begin to blur.

A different level of sexual dimorphism would be fun for Nautikan biology! Also the "Water Succubi" potential for those parthenogenic Nautikans is so fun and interesting to think about!

I'm loving your worldbuilder videos, it has a different style and the development is very interesting. I hope that when it's the Enossi's turn, religious fanaticism will be just a hat, a stereotype placed on them, not being a total anymore a part of their society.

How do the different avian and nautical groups interact? What would cause conflict, and what would they agree on? How do they interact with the human population, and what do they trade for?

I love this channel, it inspired me to put more work in the cultures of my fantasy races. Thank you!

I am so happy you finally updated. I found you on ur other channel on an old Avain video. I was wondering if you wrote a book about your world because I would love to read it. Anyway hope ur well and will update when ur done on the next video. Can't wait.

Your videos have gotten so much better with each post! I just can't wait for the next one to become available!!!!

As someone who is interested in gender studies I think there’s a lot more room for speculation about gender/sex and how it affects their society. I feel like this is especially important considering your focus on clothes, since that is intrinsically tied to gender expression. So the 2 big points you made are: - gender expectations are heightened because of the importance of having children - Before children shed their tails, they are raised neutrally (I assume it’s because there’s no genitalia to differentiate the children’s sex) There would be a big hype around gender for both children and young pubescent individuals. It would be a big turning point in the family’s life, and a moment of self-discovery for the child, who themself wouldn’t know their sex until until they shed their tail. Gender would have a huge cultural influence and possibly affect religion. Similar to gender reveal parties, nautikans may have celebrations or rituals for their children on a grand scale. I think gendered fashion would ramp up during ideal mating ages, and become more slack as one ages, especially for women since they would be no longer fertile, and fertility is a basis of womanhood and femininity for nautikans. Nautikans might be susceptible to the neutralization of gender norms in certain circumstances due to that gender-less upbringing in early childhood, while simultaneously and equally susceptible to the extreme polarization of it. There would be problems with sexism and misogyny, which also align with your idea of nautikans appearing more traditional. This would cause gender revolution ideas to be more radical. The breaking down of gender roles would be common among certain groups-older less fertile nautikans, mainland nautikans who’ve assimilated into less gender-centric cultures, or aristocrats who have the flexibility to experiment and make fashion statements (this would be especially common among islanders and lake nautikans who had their roots in lower-middle class tide nautikan ancestry, and less so in the ancient yellow nautikan aristocrats where those norms were first established). Deep ocean nautikans would stay more conservative because of their lower-class background, which mimics real life. Wetlanders as well because they want to hold on to their past. When they migrate back underwater I would assume that their time on land and the natural want to break norms would influence their gender roles enough that there would not be as big a divide, except in the 5-30(?) age range where having children is a focus. Meanwhile, the wetland nautikans would have a very rigid gender divide. It would help give more contrast between the 2 groups, and hint at their vanity and traditionalism in a different way that doesn’t contrast with their new lifestyle. Oof that was a lot, I guess I got caught in the moment :) I doubt you will see this or read through it all but that was all my thoughts!! I came here from the avian video and love these worldbuilding videos! I’ve already learned a lot from them and can’t wait to apply it to my own worldbuilding, your stuff is just absolutely amazing!!! :) can’t wait to see more

idea: what if they have multiples but in certain females they can only have one or they have trouble conceiving like in the real world or like real world fish not all the eggs are fertilized

Wow I'm impressed 👏 👏👏 I haven't seen anyone get this deep Into the reproductive systems of creatures of their world...well maybe they do but haven't seen anyone talk about it. I clicked on your video to maybe help inspire me to come up with ideas for fashion and how it changes over time for my world. Kinda having a major artist block. But ended up getting more out of this video.

i dont know how i got here or how yt recommended three of your videos to me but we're here and we're loving it

I have only watched two of your videos, but I can tell you are putting a lot of thought and effort into these races and characters. A lot of it is very inspiring and creative. Excited to see where this worldbuilding journey takes you.

I just found this, world building stuff it’s very interesting does she have books or other material on this other than the videos

I have a friend who was doing some Abyssal merfolk to roleplay during her games. Her biggest problem was how to survive when she had to go to the surface. End up with something like, her body slowly adapts as she ascends, taking hours, and her jelly-like body becomes stiffer and viceversa when going down again. She needed a reason why she can survive extreme pressure.

I love your approach to world building! I can't draw to save my life, but I've taken a similar approach to designing my cultures! Actually you give me a lot to aspire to in my own work, I've been so focused on the histories of my various races that I haven't put much more than superficial thought into their cultural trappings.

you are both helping and making more work for my own stories, its expanding the basic idea I've had. I'm thinking more in-depth of what each species history was and what their importance of what they can give type of things!

All these wonderful videos just make me think "So much lore, not enough space". There's just so much to think of when creating a race let alone a whole world! My tiny brain would explode and wither.

This is a cool race (species?) that you've come up with! I've recently stumbled upon your channel and I've actually been working on creating a new fantasy group myself! They're called Axylids and actually happen to be aquatic as well. As the name suggests, they are based on axolotls. Your Worldbuilding series has really helped me develop the biology, culture, transportation, trade, etc. for my Axylids! Again, the Nautikan and the Avians are really cool and I'm looking forward to watching all your worldbuilding videos!

Very inspiring! I have always loved world-building and sub-sequent topics, but tend to focus on the actual environment and non-humanoid species. This and other videos of yours have definitely encouraged me to delve deeper into human-like species, fashion and culture!

I just want to say that I love your idea of turning different species of birds into avians and different fish into mermaids. The idea of creating human-like cultures and races around animals is so fascinating to me. I'm not a huge animal fanatic, but I do find it cool how animals form their own unique cultures that are different and outlandish in places that humans cannot reside in at the moment. I'd love to see you explore more avian races and your videos make me want to design avian species based on real-life birds! I'm definitely not as good you when it comes to that, though.

If the Nautikans went up in the mountains, and if the mountains are high enough, they will eventually encounter paramos and glaciers, two enviroments that are not the preferred for humans, but they may make a life in the chilling waters of the glacier lakes. Have you thought about a race of Noutikas living very issolated in those cold freezing waters?

This video actually solved a problem I was having with a game building project. I decided to do a pre-production project for a game. Hash out everything that would be needed before you actually make the game (partly because I suck at actually making the game, and partly cause I like coming up with game concepts) I decided on three races. The magic welding humans, the dog like Kobolds, and the Magicless, but mighty Arach. Humans, sentient humanoid dogs, and spider-human hybrids (search Arachene) I wanted there to be a unique specialisation system in the game. As you level up and gain xp the Arach and Kobold would "evolve" transforming into more powerful, but specialised variants of their race, whilst humans would develop Foci that shaped how their magic worked (same results, but different method) To explain this I described xp as "absorbed mana" that would cause the flesh to transform. Humans and Kobolds being able to project mana into spells would develop Foci, shaping the natural flow of mana in their bodies. However the Kobold also absorb mana as well (though less effectively than the Arach) And yet I never considered how this mechanic would effect their cultural progression. You see because the physiological changes were the result of mana being absorbed by the flesh and how that occured being a result of actions a person took, a child wouldn't gain these "evolution" benefits. As the dna never changed. The Arach being a created race by the ancient Kobolds haven't been around long enough to have a fully developed culture, as such despite their equivalent technological capabilites their culture is largely primitive. Valuing strength and might and fighting for dominance (and males as due to a genetic quirk they naturally hatch more females than males). The Kobolds on the other hand lost their ancient empire do to a mysterious event known as "The ancients fall", an event the humans barely remember as "the gods punishment". (Mysterious because up until now I wasn't sure how to make it happen) And the humans banished from their mainland empires discover the large island of their coast thanks to some ancient maps that were sequestered away in the Palace records vault. But after taking into account how the Island Kobolds would have developed culturally without interference from the aggressive humans emerging from the equatorial great forests. It all makes sense. To keep this comment short(er) the Island kobolds took advantage of their unique (then) ability to project magic, allowing them to establish themselves enough to argue over cast systems (as magic was what separated them from beasts this was valued highly) they had a long series of wars that ultimately taught them the folly of forcing evolutionary casts (as those that resisted would evolve to be better at it, creating a viscous cycle that benefitted no one). By then they had established dominance and spread to the seas encountering the humans. Who thought the Kobolds lesser as the Mainland Kobolds had been so weak magically and hand been forced to live in primitive tribes in the dangerous "wildlands". Eventually the Kobolds learned that human bones were the greatest known mana conductive material (being ignorant of the equatorial forests) and that if inserted into their bodies they're lifespans would be extended as they were no longer pulling mana from their organs whenever they cast a spell. Eventually the humans who held superior defences began to catch up with Kobold naval tech, inadvertently riling up local sea life (the resulting conflict only serving to make that sea life stronger) leading to resource shortages amongst the Kobold Islands whose elite fought over the dwindling supplies. In their arrogance turning their mighty mana collecting towers on each other, inadvertently destroying their civilisations. The last inadvertently spared total destruction by the humans moving to assault the largest and nearest of the Kobold islands causing the panicked elite to fire into their own harbour creating a tidal wave (amongst other things) so great that the mainland humans assumed they'd wiped themselves out as they lost most of their fleet in the process and couldn't get past the empowered and angry sea life to learn otherwise. Its really great to realise how dumb I was being.

keep up the good work, looking forward to seeing more of *your world*, there's lots of intrusive ideas disguised as recommendations with honeyed words floating around

This sorta reminds me of a similar fantasy idea I had been working on in a story called "The Night Prince". Long ago a God of some sort died and fell to the world where their body decomposed and started to become part of the landscape, forming mountains, Islands, caverns, valleys, etc... The injuries they had sustained caused the body to bleed out and their blood to mix into the soil and water causing the Plants, Animals, and People to Mutate in bizarre ways, at first seeming random but then took on more specific qualities based on group behavior. The most common group and considered least powerful are the Beast-folk who have subtle animal-like quality like growing the tails, ears from other mammals. There is also a division between the majority who call themselves Sun-Beast to the minority of Nocturnal Moon-Beasts, this is where the titular character of the series comes from. Next there are Sky-Folk who are smaller flying humans who have reduced in size in favor of having wings. Bird Winged Skyfolk are referred to as Putti and Insect Winged Skyfolk are referred to as Fae. As well as being short they also don't ever really appear fully grown much in the same vein as Axolotls to Salamanders The Mer-Folk were primarily coastal and island based societies who took to the sea and developed fish-like qualities, they also grow larger than the average human. The Forest-Folk became plant-like with skin like bark and some even growing as tall as trees The Earth-Folk are a subterranean people with bodies that seem to be composed of Rock and Gemstone The Wight-Folk dwell in cold remote places like mountains and tundras, they mainly keep to themselves and appear to be undead or some form of quasi-undead like a vampire. The Mountain-folk don't dwell exclusively in mountains like the Wight-folk but are nomadic giants. Their Hierarchy is marked by how many arms they grow, gaining or losing arms based on who they are able to topple. and lastly but not least are the Dragon-Folk. They are Large, Winged, Horned, Clawed, and Tailed Humanoids armored with a coat of scales resembling something like a classic Demon, and most races view them as such, however the Dragon-folk believe they are the pinnacle of the Divine Blood's Creation. They are a Warrior culture who dwell in harsh volcanic terrain and will conduct raids and hunts on the other races believing they have to maintain their superiority by consuming more divine Blood from those who were unworthy of it and sacrafice a majority of their prisoners to the Dragon King believing that if he gets enough divine blood he will ascend and take the place of the fallen god. The Dragon King and his children are also the only ones capable of transforming from Humanoid form into an actual Dragon

One thing about the Nautikan sign language :3 Though sign language may be unintuitive to those that speak verbally, sign language is perfectly capable of allowing users to "debate [or] share their feelings" in the same way spoken languages do! Sign languages in many cultures actually promote more of a refined sense of empathy, as many sign languages rely heavily on facial expressions to convey tone and context! Sign languages are often very expressive, containing alot more emotion and bombast on average than is often found in a verbal language :3 the idea that being restricted to sign language underwater would somehow "lessen [a Nautikan's] grip on empathy and humanity" isn't really realistic in how actual sign languages work in relation to verbal languages. the conveyance of tone and the existence of intricate debate is perfectly achievable with sign language! there's many aspects to different signs that allow for context, tone, and detail; there's the specific location of the hands in relation to the body, the shape of one's fingers, the expression one is using while signing, the specific directional movement of one's hands, and the orientation of one's hands (facing up, facing left, etc.) sign language is just as complex and nuanced as verbal languages, and while this isn't to say that you're a bad person or anything for positing it, I believe that the idea that being relegated to only sign language would sap at one's humanity and empathy is kinda harmful.

Is this for a book you are writing? If so will you be sharing your story one day cause I would totally read a book based on this society you created. It sounds so cool! 😍

You have a fascinating world thank you for sharing it.

Thank you for the upload! Glad to see you, hope you've had good time

14:42 I loved the girl finding the solution: "it doesn't fit, so open the damn box and make it fit".

Eyy you did a southern hemisphere continent! :O My world that I started in 2017 is also centered on a southern hemisphere continent. I don't know why I did it, perhaps because I was thinking a lot about Chile at the time, perhaps just because it was a way to "shake it up", as we take "north: cold and south: warm" for granted. (Also Ancient Egypt had "upper Egypt" being the south.)

You are insanely good at worldbuilding. I have to hand it to you! I love all your nuances about the culture and biology of this race.

Well the Cultural break down is very interesting and I would love to see how they evolve into a the final product(game setting, novels, ect.) I do have a few suggestions on the biological aspect to look into that could help you narrow down some developmental traits, or even help solidify some of your myth/history lore. You mentioned the Nautikan's developed from Mermaids an asexsual race/species, and your example images keep them in line with a main line view of mermaids. If you haven't already I think you should look into Undine a type of merfolk who had an extreme sexual dimorphism where the females look very much as a typical mermaid while the males would look more like "The thing from the black Lagoon" at their most disturbing depictions or a much more "fishy" male Nautikan like your revisited idea of how the Nautikan's that stayed in the ocean would look. A second point to look at would be the Celtic Faery/Fairy known as a Selkie. They are a race that is strictly female though breed with human males instead of asexually. While being more mammalian in nature as their animalistic aspect is that of a seal they are known to take on a human form by "shedding" their seal coat. While it is depicted as being a literal coat the Selkie wear to take on an animal form it did come to mind when you mentioned the Nautikan children shedding their tail in favor of legs as they grew. I would like to know that these are just thoughts one some aspects that can help shape the Nautikan and should only be taken as a friendly suggestion, not as a demand for change in the concept or even an idea that must be considered. This world is your own to make and I don't wish for you to loose control over your creation to other people just as I would never want people outside my own projects to try and take control away from me.

Mariah, your videos are such great inspirations to me, I love seeing your content!!! Your world building is so intricate and detailed.☺️

hey :D I love these videos; they're so entertaining and interesting. two things I noted- since Nautikans have been doing metalwork for so long I'm assuming they were doing metalwork while a majority of the species were still underwater- and I was wondering how they could do this without the use of heat (cause, y'know, water)? especially for their structures and such :) maybe I'm missing something but that just came into my mind. and also!! earlier in the species' lifespan, I was thinking maybe they didn't really use time as much? seeing as they were underwater, the night and day cycles would have been at least less harsh than on land, or even non-existent. so maybe as the Nautikans went onto land they developed a sense of time and such? anyway, thanks so much for these swag videos :)

thank you for showing your thought process on this

With the language, it could just be one, but multifaceted. For example, ASL and moris code still use English. Instead of just speech and writing, it would have speech, writing, sign, and sound. 4 ways to communicate the same things. As time moved, these would likely blend a little. Sounds(like clicks or stomps) and Signs(to gestures and body language) would bleed into the spoken language. They might even have unique written characters that express things they don't have words for, like emojis. Ultimately, it could evolve into one involved language with many ways to express the same ideas. Maybe even having performances that combine spoken, sound, and sign to communicate stories, like Hawaiian dance. These are just suggestions/theories. Do with them as you will.

This is very interesting and a great way to pass the time. Worldbuilding and other people being passionate about worldbuilding is my thing XD thanks for the video!

I love this! I see that I'm a year late to this party but I still want to share a thought. Nautikan reproduction: I don't know how human--like you want them to be when it comes to emotional connection but I can share this bit of pertinent info. Nearly all species be they aquatic mammal or reptile care for their young more the fewer there are. Generally if they lay many eggs that hatch the parent is less likely to have an emotional connection to those young while something that gives birth to one single child is massively invested. These levels of investment is an evolutionary trait. If they have only one child at a time it's imperative to the species to protect every one. If there are many children at once the parent cannot be hugely invested in every single one because there is a much higher likelihood they evolved to bare so many children at once because of a very high mortality rate and the parent can't break down broken hearted at the 1st death because that would likely lead to other loses. It's a harsh truth of evolution and A reason that species don't massively overpopulate. If you wanted to keep some form of multiple births you might need to do something along the lines of having a spawning grounds where Nautikans leave their fertilized eggs and eventually check in to see how many children are left later. It would be a very natural and transnational way of doing things even though it is way outside of human sensibilities. Another option would be to do away with the human monthly cycles. For Nautikans they can have a laying season or require some other sort of specific criteria to reproduce. For example a read a series where Elves could only become fertile with the aid of a pollen from a special magical tree.

I was so happy when I saw the notification! This series is super interesting.

A question relating to having multiple children at once, do nautikan mothers breast feed? If they do how are they able to produce so much milk for 4+ children? Do they need to constantly eat in order to produce enough calories for their children? If they don't breast feed then are babies born with teeth to eat with? I know it's a niche question.

Love your content. It helps me be conscientious in my own world building. Mermaids could be hermaphroditic like other sea creatures like anemone or like clown fish that can change gender. Maybe there is a chemical in the water that keeps their gender from becoming female in certain areas. Those that travel beyond become female. Being a twin I have always found it fascinating the being lumped together and desire to express individuality. Would there be a certain style that a first hatched might wear? Would a communal sense be more common and excepted? Being individualistic or single born make you more likely to be ostracized? Would there be shunning like among the Amish? A test to get back into the collective? Keep up the great work.

For the avian-humanoid race: are you gonna include separate kinds of avians? for example, when an avain originates from jungle/rain forests they are more colorful and parrot-like with a wider language range. I thought that your video on avians was something i was deprived from! after seeing your opinions and ideas about that type of world build, I was flooded with tons upon tons of other ideas for the race. I hope you consider making more videos on the avians and showing other parts of the race like the coastal, forested, and tundra avians.. Thanks for these amazing vids! I love them!

I'm curious as to the choice to make the sign language limited. Is it because it was not developed by the society/not preferred? I was fairly involved in the American deaf community for a while and learned the language (thought far from mastered it). While the language is limited in vocabulary (words) and relies more heavily on the visual, it is still complex and able to convey a lot. The language and culture leans to the concrete and direct (there's a bit of shying away from the abstract and philosophical at times), debates and complex topics are possible and common. Just wanted to give my few cents. Hopefully it helps.

Hey it's fine! As long as you are happy and healthy don't worry to much about constancy!

The freshwater mermaid could have been bred into the nautikan species like neadthals

For your concept of shark-like mermaid creatures, consider the Japanese mythological samebito. These beings were said to serve the great dragon king of the sea in a capacity similar to that of samurai for a human ruler in traditional Japan.

your world building series really makes me want to read a book about sea-people. does anyone have suggestions?

I love the world that your building, its wonderfully thought out, and thank you for sharing its evolution. As for the fertility issue, your initial premise isn't as bad as you think. The real world example of an aquatic creature that only reproduce once are salmon (wait for it), and certain species of octopi. The only problem with that, if you really want to go for realism, is usually those species die soon after giving birth. As for overpopulation, I'm guessing you're not accounting for natural population thinning events. Assuming an entire clutch of Nautikan survive to adulthood, they still have to contend with physical injury, predators within the sea that would eat Nautikan (which is a pretty good reason why they expanded towards the mainland), poisonous marine life, the various weather related injuries/ diseases that occur in the regions that they live, and if the competition for mates is as fierce as implied, I wouldn't be surprised if there were a lot of death from Nautikans killing each other over fights for mates, at least in earlier on in their' history, and it might still happen amongst those who don't have the benefit of a matchmaker. Then there is the rearing of the clutch itself, could be potentially fatal, due to the sheer amount of time and energy it would take to keep aquatic eggs alive (in the real world, many species with dedicated parents die of exhaustion/starvation). If they could even get the chance at all, from what you've described your world is frequently in conflict, and I don't imagine that makes for conducive conditions for finding a mate. I think this would go with the cultural theme of Elder Nautikans, especially those who are parents of a hatched clutch being revered, because not only did they survive the competition of finding a mate, and producing a clutch, they managed to survive hatching that clutch, which could be seen as risky at the best of times. Those parents who do die to hatch their clutch can shape the Nautikan attitude in a Spartan way (Spartans only received a headstone if they died in battle or childbirth/ they were viewed as a similar if not same thing). My proposal is that Nautikans who died in attempt to hatch a clutch, be honored by burial near an octopus monument, which in turn could be considered a holy site, maintained by the surviving clutches of the fallen and their families. In this case, the surviving clutches become a priest-like caste within the Nautikan culture, in which dying your clothes with Octopi ink is a clear indicator of honoring fallen parents who died giving them life. In turn this could also bring in the idea of tattoos, as a means to honor the dead, and the Nautikan "priest" being the ones that apply them.

i was waiting for a new vid from u. I decided to do world-building on my channel too! thx for the vidss

hmm, idk what to think about the metamorphosis idea. i don't really like it because many, many kids might not want to grow up and it's as natural as the kids who do want to grow up. a kid sees that he has restrictions and adults decide that, so he wants to grow up to be freer. or a kid sees that he is well taken care of and adults have to do that, thus have responsibilities, so he might not want to grow up. the latter is actually seen in more emotionally mature or gifted kind of kids. so, it's something normal unless it's extreme and could cause a big portion of the population to just stay mermaid-like. anyway i looove this worldbuilding idea, so interesting!

Would the Nautikans have webbed hands and feet? If not completely webbed, partially? It makes sense as they are semi-aquatic, I imagine the less aquatic nautikans would have less webbing, I wonder if theyd have underwater gear specifically for swimming?

This is so nice to listen to I love the creativity.

Idk what Mariah does for a job but from the sounds of it she is living the life

Lol I keep checking for update like just now and noticed the it only been too week since this video was released 😅 that how much I love your video/content

Ooohhhh this gives me so many ideas on language, religion, music, art, and dancing for their culture. I love the new skin colorations and tones. I was thinking for the yellow skinned race who’s skin is more in the sun, that they develop freckles and sun spots that become a beauty trend, showing not their wealth but their “humanity” as that’s what they strive for.