Thanks once again for the detailed answers! That should be enough for now to get me started (but you know I've got more questions).
Firstly (and not really a question), I'm aware of just how valuable the "whale press" would be.
Very good
I actually thought it in context of The Archivist (now Zahuel Lethnn Aueel Sikhuue Alzerry-Heahh (Lit: "That one of the clan Zahuel Lethnn Aueel, Sikhuue the-one-who-looks-back)) and their position within the city. Basically, since this is a young city primarily concerned with expanding and the export of raw servitor materials to larger, more established outposts I see two Deep Nobles holding the real power in the young metropolis, Huindentr Vashcoll Treimeey (The Little Eye of the Cavern of Hanging Stones).
I will be the first to admit that I don't know a good way to convey this in linear text, but something I was trying to convey in the Deep Noble Language section is that they make use of a lot of simultaneous vocalizations. Some of these Names sound a bit long (and also can be cumbersome to read) if you say them in a linear manner but probably would not if they overlapped.
You could probably reduce some of the clunkiness in reading this by taking some of the words and blending them together by having the first and last syllable of each component merged so that one takes dominance, or picking one of the more distinct single words and using that as short hand for referring to a character or place (as you do later in this post). I'd hate to have the Deep Noble's naming conventions get in the way of telling a good story.
Firstly, Wzeissaut Guoinrr Kroixxver Ooupi... *snip*
That one seems like an interesting character with motivations that may very readily if not endear them to an audience at least give people some view points onto the Noble Civilization they are familiar with. Which when combined with the paranoia of this human quality being something that could 'out' them in Deep Noble society driving home where the culture is different and bringing it into sharp contrast.
The second citizen of note in Huindentr Vashcoll Treimeey is Quaxxzven Zwiixuall Hdvuue Siia, ubiquitously known as The Quaxxzven Zwiixuall Hdvuue of Quaxxzven Zwiixuall Hdvuue, last living and oldest of the line. *snip*
The sheer age suggested here is something I'm leery of because it needs to be handled with care.
That is an age which means Siia predates the adoption of Deep Nobles Using Writing in most settings because it predates most human civilization. So if your going to throw around ages like that you need to be prepared to acknowledge what your saying with that sheer breadth of time, especially if they are going to be engaging with other characters.
That is deep enough history that if this character was on earth Siia would personally have seen the rising of all human civilization, would have intuitive knowledge of climactic shift and probably is aware of geological change/tectonic motion measured in miles based on their own memories.
Also they must be extremely risk averse and lucky besides, The Estimations of how long a human being could manage to survive if they never got sick or aged past 30 before the odds stacked against them for violent death/accident is only 3000 years. I'd put a guess that Deep Noble Robustness might double or triple that average life expectancy but that still means Siia is three times older then is probable.
Just would like you to have both eyes open if you want to descend that particular cliff
Now Zahuel Lethnn Aueel Sikhuue Alzerry-Heahh is well acquainted with both Siia and Ooupi and enjoys their patronage...
Definitely getting a lot of the stratification of Deep Noble Society across here, and in a personable way
I like it... also explains why the archivist is getting something comparable to a gold plated piano made of dodo-ivory and diamonds that has to burn a gallon of oil for every three chords played.
Few. That got a bit more out of hand than I thought it would. As a final note on the "whale press" I would add that it represents both the results of the above interactions and the culmination of Sikhuue's life's work. All as a framing device for a bit of exposition in the upcoming story.
Such a lovely artifact, would be a shame if something '
happened' to it
Finally, actual questions: We know that there are humans in the Deep Noble's world as well as normal animals that we would recognize. Are there other sentient races? Classic fantasy races +, entirely created races or none of the above? Are there "monsters" (dragon, troll, ogre, etc)? Are any cavern dwelling animals common?
Deep Nobles are portable, I am going to leave it open as far as 'canon' what their neighbors actually are, however wherever they end up their civilization makes no exceptions for the view of none-royal / none-Deep Noble life. Individuals can have their own personal perspectives on outsiders but as a majority/common interactions they make no exceptions to their attitude that ALL life no matter its form or origin is inferior to them and their royals.
The Royals: A Noble city can only really be built around a Royal, but what determines where these Royals are placed in the world? Do the nobles have some method for breeding and moving the royals or is it out of their hands? For such a large sessile creature as the Royals I can see a young motile stage where they wander about eating everything in sight until settling down in some suitably empty cavern. Basically, do Nobles scout around for a new site for a city and then somehow move a Royal or would they have to stumble upon a place where a young Royal had decided to go sessile?
I don't have the energy to encapsulate these tidbits in the main page tonight so I hope this suffices to answer your questions for now:
Royals are perfectly CAPABLE of moving, They choose not to for most of any given Noble's living memory and for reasons that they cannot adequately explain (HANDY PLOT DEVICES OF MYSTERY). These migrations though are actually something that terrifies any Deep Nobles that have seen it before and would strike terror into the hearts of surface folk if they ever witnessed it.
Royals do not care about obstacles of any kind when they are on the move, they spew acid that melts impediments and aggravating life forms (including Deep Nobles), their bodies rise to remarkable temperatures and melt through stone like it was butter... or they simply force their way into a wall and push/shove the rock out of their way causing great upheavals above and below..
In many ways Royals embody all the fickleness of natural disasters and chaos in the realm of Deep Nobles but as living breathing things that can be worshiped, objectively studied and at least theoretically placated.
Young Royals do occur, but the exact reasoning for, method of or requirements to induce are unknown to deep nobles, they simply happen occasionally with very little warning. Royals as often will split via mitosis as go on excursions to meet one another and produce 'little' whelps. Large Royals will some times fission into dozens of smaller ones and more or less destroy a settlement by leaving it with no source of Royal Blood.
The birth of a royal is an event that is a disaster for the resident Deep Noble population, because it will generally migrate through their city killing and destroying everything that impedes it and without proper warning there is little chance the unfortunates in its way will survive.
But it is also a new opportunity for the survivors as a newly born Royal will set out through the earth to find somewhere with the requisite food, water and raw materials to feed on, which pioneering young Nobles and families will often seek out to establish cities around.
So in closing for Royals its a bit like living next to a combination between Lavos and Godzilla that you can use for power 99.998% of the time but occasionally goes for a walk or gives birth to screaming burrowing babies of doom.
The two above questions are the most pressing, but as a final one: What do the Noble do for fun? *snip*
I imagine their actually very enthusiastic over many of the things we are and with the moral absolution that no living thing but another Deep Noble has immutable rights or any purpose BUT to serve them the degrees of their depravities can be far more extreme then I expect most human beings could be comfortable contemplating.
Also Armok has some excellent ideas as well that I think fit very well
What's the the attitude towards extremely intelligent (or at least exceptional in some mental attribute) servitors? Mathematicans using http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_computer s, artificial idiot savants with many hands and eyes and swollen brains for multitasking. Artists using as their canvass a mass of visual cortex made to grow cancerously into a large sheet and covered directly on octopus skin, trained to react in complex ways to the touch of the brush as, as well as preforming functions such as memorizing and recalling pieces. Series of humans with ever-increasing and more general inelegance, playing games against one another in a fiercely competitive display of their creators craft.
Damn You Armok! I'm going to have to do some bits on arts and crafts for Deep Nobles now
All of that stuff is GOLDEN.
I suspect however that they actually have a bit of difficulty in thinking up the more advanced mathematics themselves due to how much rigor and uniformity that would require among individuals, more often then not if they have observed humans performing complex calculations they would collect those, otherwise they probably string together brains/humans in great chains of simple number crunch/brute force counting batteries rather then anything as complex as calculus or linear algebra.
perhaps once every few thousand years they might develop a mathematically inclined Deep Noble that truly realizes the potential of human computers and create custom servitors to fullfill great sweeping dreams of engineering. Unfortunately all the notes of such a star would likely be rendered incomprehensible jargon by the time such was achieved.