YUMENARI LORE: LIFE IN THE COVE
MAP AND LOCATIONS
COMING SOON...
MIASMA IN THE COVE
MIASMA is a special form of cloud that is imbued with the potent power of the Cove. It originates from the very first Yumenari, the Goddess Nemuri. Nightmares, created from the Goddess Kannazuki, are naturally imbued with this power and thus, live closer to the base of Mt. Nemuri where Miasma gets thicker the closer you are to the mountain. They absorb this miasma from birth, and it get stronger as they get older; old Nightmare Yumenari with many tails have tremendous Miasma, and must take care to limit their interactions with the young, or weak Dream Yumenari, in order to limit their exposure to dangerous levels of Miasma.
Dream Yumenari, on the other hand, are more delicate; and younger, weaker Dreams cannot tolerate miasma in large doses. It would be detrimental to young Dreams to be exposed to Miasma for a prolonged period of time and why the Cove is structured to have two villages for each type of Yumenari, although there exists a special suburb between the two villages where both can live together.
YUMENARI LIFE CYCLE
DUE TO BEING MADE FROM THE MAGIC OF THE GODS, Yumenari are immortal beings. However, what the Gods may give; they can also take away. If one is disobedient, or commits evil acts, they can be sentenced to death and thus, be returned to the Gods. Ususally, this only happens when they are causing havoc in the Human Realm, such as giving vulnerable person horrible nightmares and won't stop, for example. This may also happen if they are trying to harm humans or other Yumenari.
However, Yumenari don't only "die" for punishment. Just like humans, old Yumenari may get tired of living and want to rest. These eldery Yumenari can petition to the Gods to return them to the reincarnation cycle, and their magic will be used to create new Yumenari!
YUMENARI DISCPLINE
ALTHOUGH THEY DON'T HAVE MANY RULES, the ones they have are strictly enforced by the Gods and their Messengers. Most Yumenari don't purposely try to get in trouble in fear of the Gods' wrath, but there are always those who have a disregard for everything. Only the most egregious of crimes will get a Yumenari returned to the pool of the Gods' magic used for reincarnation, and those crimes include the following:
āŖ Tormenting humans with dreams to the point of psychological damage
āŖ Causing chaos in the Human Realm ( to the point of government or law enforcement involvement )
āŖ Exposing Yumenari and the Cove to humans
āŖ Causing harm or death to humans
āŖ Tormenting other Yumenari to the point of psychological damage
āŖ General acts of terrorism
No Yumenari is clever enough to escape notice for long. They may be able to fly under the radar in the Human Realm, but even the most powerful of Yumenari must return to the Cove to replenish their magic, where they will once again be under the scrutiny of the Gods and will be immediately reprimanded upon their return.
CHILDREN, AND GROWING UP IN THE COVE
YUMENARI DO NOT REPRODUCE BIOLOGICALLY, instead each Yumenari is hand crafted by the Gods; Shirayuri makes Dream Yumenari, and Kannazuki makes Nightmare Yumenari respectively. However, Yumenari donāt come out fully formed as adultsļ¼they start as babies, much like humans! Yumenari go through a similar period of growing up like humans, and have similar milestones, though they arenāt considered adults until their coming-of-age at age twenty!
It should be noted that children arenāt able to wear decoration items ( such as mobiles, drapery, ect )ļ¼that is solely reserved for adult Yumenari; however, they can still have weather types ( with rarity up to Rare ), and can have whatever cloud color is appropriate for their typing! In fact, upon their coming-of-age ceremony, Yumenaris will be permitted to wear their drapery and masks for the very first time! Within the Cove, it's considered to be the most important event in a young Yumenariās life. Afterwards, they will be allowed to visit the various stores inside the Cove to receive other decoration traits!
As well, children never receive Blessings. Blessings are gifts from the Gods to show their favor for your achievements; so children, who havenāt achieved many things, donāt do enough to gain the favor of the Gods. Besides that, the Gods have decided that the weight of having Gods' eyes on you would be far too much for a child to bear, so even if they do favor a child Yumenari, they never show that favor until they reach adulthood.
SO... WHO RAISES THEM?
UNLIKE MOST HUMANS, YUMENARI ARE RAISED COMMUNALLY. Children are more delicate and susceptible to the Miasma of the Cove; and while Nightmares are a bit more resilient, they are still not tough enough to live their lives in Yamakage so close to the foot of Mt. Nemuri. So instead, all Yumenari children live together in a large nursery within a settlement in neither of the Yumenari towns, so that there are always adults around to take care of them. This is why Yumenari, regardless of type, have a strong sense of community!
One of the main reasons why they are raised together is because adult Yumenari are frequently out of the Cove due to their dream deliery work. Not to mention, the older a Yumenari gets, the faster time seems to fly by for them; so to a very old Yumenari, a year could just feel like a long weekend to them! Because of this, having many caregivers ensures that a child Yumenari will never be left alone or neglected. Plus, considering that Yumenari children are extremely mischievous, many eyes are needed to keep an eye on them!
While Yumenari do not have the natural instinct to keep a child of their own, they have a very strong parental urge toward any Yumenari child they seeļ¼that is why communal raising is the perfect style for Yumenari to be raised in! Plus, Yumenari are very social creatures, so being raised with others always around is the perfect environment for young Yumenari to be raised in. Since Yumenari live such long lifespans with nearly no chance of premature death, and they all live together in the same community; its beneficial that they grow up together, as it helps the community to function much more smoothly when they grow up!
When Yumenari reach their coming-of-age, they can choose to either live on their own, or live in a group with other Yumenari. Most tend to prefer to live with roommates, but thereās always a loner among a group!
CLOUD PETS ARE HERE TOO!
WHILE IT'S TRUE THAT THERE ARE ALWAYS ADULTS PRESENT IN THE NURSERIES, there are also some other caretakers... that being Cloud Pets! There are many not owned by any Yumenari that live in the nurseries and help look after the children. These Cloud Pets are tasked with their own jobs; from playing with the children, keeping the nursery tidy, and just watching over the little ones. Of course, there are also wandering Cloud Pets that come to visit as well!
AGE GROUPS
INFANCY
YUMENARI INFANTS are swaddled in their clouds, which aimlessly float about. Their appearance is similar to an adult's Nimbus form, with the difference being that they have a fox body from the neck down, and they canāt sit up or move freely yet; the most they can manage is to roll over.
They are very similar to human infants in this manner, and they will remain swaddled in their clouds until they are strong enough to learn crawling and walking on their own, at which point the clouds will disperse on their own to congregate toward the Yumenariās tail. This usually happens around age two.
TODDLER
YUMENARI TODDLERS are able to run around, but they are still fox-like from the neck down. They alternate between running on all-fours and on their two legsļ¼they get much better at walking on two legs the older they get. Due to their still fox-like anatomy, they can be swift on all fours.
At this point, their clouds have mainly congregated around their tail, but there are still rogue clouds hovering around them. Like all toddlers, they can get a bit troublesome, as their foxy mischievousness begins to show. Since theyāre still young, they mainly express this by being contrary, playing minor pranks and making messes.
YOUNG CHILD
AT AROUND AGE FIVE, they have grown enough to shift their torso to be humanoid, thus giving them handsļ¼though, this usually just means they can manage to get into more trouble than before! By now, their clouds have mainly settled into the placement they will keep into adulthood, though there may be some rogue clouds out of place still.
Children at this age usually begin to practice shapeshifting; so not only are they more humanoid, they begin to achieve transformation into their Nimbus forms! This allows them to leave the Cove, always accompanied by at least two adults to observe how they deliver dreams. Since they are also practicing with other magic, they begin to watch how adult Yumenari craft their dreams as well.
In terms of appearance, are human from the waist up, though their ears and paws tend to be much too big for their small body. Especially their ears!
TEENAGER
AT AGE THIRTEEN, they become a teenager! Teens still have quite a bit of growing left to do until adulthood, so they tend to still have uneven proportions. They also still have fox feet, as human feet are some of the hardest parts of their transformation.
By now, they are becoming more independent and learning how to craft their own dreams rather than just observing. They leave the Cove more often, with adult supervision, and begin picking out the designs for their first decoration items! Teen Yumenari often spend years meticulously designing their first decorations, and these custom designs are given to them as a coming-of-age gift from the Cove!
At age twenty, they have their coming-of-age ceremony, and are able to leave the Cove for the very first time alone to deliver dreams of their very own!