You're free to follow the lore of Anhemyte and the Technoctems or disregard it completely - either way is fine with me!
However, if you do decide to follow the lore... here's what I have so far.
Consider that this is a work in progress, so more may be added in the future!
World Map (Bare bones, lacks cities and settlements)
Anhemyte in a nutshell
Anhemyte's setting is heavily cyberpunk inspired, with glowing lights and buildings stretching high towards the sky, as if they could touch it.
Cities are scattered throughout most of the continent, although are mostly located close to rivers and the ocean.
As the Technoctems are highly advanced in terms of technology, interplanetary trade is possible... as well as interplanetary piracy.
Space pirates, baby.
Because of their interplanetary lore, it is possible for Technoctems to interact with species from other planets as well.
More on Anhemyte's World
>> Thanks to millenia of evolutions, the inhabitants of Anhemyte have become highly advanced in terms of technology, biology and medicine. This has allowed the Technoctem to live longer, better, and spread across the universe thanks to the possibility of interplanetary travel.
>> Anhemyte has two moons! The larger one is Yaminah, the smaller one is Yiken. They're close to each other and orbit together around Anhemyte while also orbiting around each other. Yaminah is inhabited by local humanoids closely related to the Technoctem species (the Noctlins), while Yiken serves as a massive space port for interplanetary trades.
>> Various biomes of Anhemyte include bioluminescent forests, freezing tundras close to the mountains, swamps with flowers from which a black liquid oozes out, and a desert with red sand and white rocks that light up at night as if they were crystals. These rocks are opaque during the day, crystalline and shining during the night. The desert's sand is often filled with shards of those crystals, so during night the whole desert is literally shimmering.
>> Cities of Anhemyte are usually big and highly advanced, with tall buildings that stretch as far as they can towards the sky - these buildings are almost always adorned with neon advertisement signals and can even be brightened up by holographic ads, which move and spread in the city as if they were real. One could stare at the sky and see a neon bright flying whale, and it'd be nothing more than a hologram.
The living spaces are usually apartments, as there aren't many single houses unless one lives in the outskirts of the city or in the land outside of it - apartments are usually on a single floor, with large open spaces that allow Technoctems to fit in without bumping their wings on furniture or against others, and are built to fit the needs of a winged humanoid; If the building is a tall complex, then it's a common thing that every 5 or so floors there will be a rather large balcony from which a Technoctem can take flight or land.
>> Cities on Anhemyte, being so massive, are usually divided in sectors, from two to five. Each sector is given a name and controlled by a mayor, as well as an identification colour. While the sectors may be similar, they will be differentiated by their ID colour, which shows on train routes, pedestrian walkways and everything that lights up the road during the night. Usually the ID colours are pink, yellow, green, blue and white. These sectored mega-cities are usually located in strategic areas such as close to lakes or the sea.
>> There are smaller cities scattered throughout Anhemyte, but they're usually very far from each other and spread on the mainland. These cities are the main hubs for local hunters who need to keep the dangerous wildlife in check, something that isn't needed in the main cities as the massive activity tends to scare the animals away.
>> Transportation is usually achieved either through flying (who needs cars when you've got wings?) or via train service. The train service works like a subway, but rather than being underground it runs through the city on high lit-up bridges. The trains might either run on the bridges themselves, or are encased in a smooth glass protection - the latter train is more high tech and also much faster.
>> Flying cargo cars / ships carry items and goods around the city. No one uses cars, really.
>> However, even if cars are sooooooo out of style, some Technoctems enjoy a nice motorbike ride. As with most things on Anhemyte, these motorbikes are fast, high tech, and equipped with glowing linings, bolts or circuits on them. It's a very aesthetic heavy world.
>> Big objects, grocery bags and hell, even clothes can be stored within small cubic capsules. Items can be stored within these cubes by being compressed and digitalized, and decompressed at a later time. These capsules however are a bit expensive, so they're not a common sight.
Technoctem Trivia
>> Technoctems, being nocturnal, sleep once the sun rises - because of their large wings, sleeping in a bed would be rather uncomfortable, so they usually sleep in large hammocks with lots of pillows in them. Most Technoctems also sleep on their belly or sides, as sleeping on their backs would imply the risk of moving around and hurting themselves.
>> Technoctems heavily rely on the technology they've developed! You'll often see them wearing smartwatches, having hi-tech phones and fancy earphones and stuff like that. Since Technoctems love glowy things, they always have a glowing light embedded in their tech gadgets. Holographic keyboards and glass tablets are also a common thing on Anhemyte.
>> Clothing style for Technoctems is usually light and comfortable, with a strong cyberpunk / apocalyptic vibe to it, but skin-tight suits and protections are also used. While the clothes are tailored to not cover the wings - or cover them, depending on the TN's needs, the high tech suits are made of a fluid carbon-based material synthetized in laboratories that upon activation will expand and cover a Technoctem's body almost entirely, leaving only hands, feet, head, tail and wings uncovered. This material is kept in a special round gadget that's worn by Technoctems like a bracelet, and activated / deactivated with the simple press of a button.
The colour most used for clothes is black / off-black, and clothes often have light designs or glowing linings to them. (Inspiration for the clothing style is Ghost in the Shell, Deus Ex HR / MD, Tron Legacy)
Desert dwelling Technoctems will dress in a more arabian / asian style, where black remains the most used colour and reds, browns and golds are the main accents.
>> Because of the Technoctems' nocturnal life, everything is swapped - this means that parties are usually held in the daylight, and Technoctems will have rave parties or dance "until sundown". Which is pretty much when a Technoctem should wake up.
Technoctems do enjoy the day life, and many of them also love a good party. Most parties are legal however, and illegal parties are usually held in closed areas such as warehouses and abandoned buildings.
>> Mechanical enhancements / Augments are usually unnecessary for Technoctems, but a TN with a mechanical arm, leg or even eye is not a rare sight. (cyborg limbs and other augments do not count as Anomalous Substance)
>> Because of Technoctems being covered in short fur, tattoos can only be achieved through scarification or branding with a burning item. A good alternative to these painful techniques is luminescent body paint - lasts only a few days, but it's cheaper and affordable.
TW: Drug Mention within spoiler:
>> Drugs on Anhemyte are used mostly to enhance the senses and give hallucinations, but are still illegal. Some known drugs are:
- Neonsight - A powder-like pink drug that causes the Technoctem to see everything twice as brighter. This can cause massive headaches once the effects fade.
- Sunglow - A drug that once injected causes the chargers and special marking of a Technoctem to glow more brightly, as well as enhances their storing / releasing abilities with Vibration / Discharge.
- Cryosyntheria - A drug obtained by freezing Syntheria flowers - same effects as marijuana, basically, and one of the most affordable drugs. Often used as a remedy against anxiety and stress.
- Flint - A drug synthesized from the narcoleptic oozing flowers, when made correctly it becomes a hard rocky substance. Extremely expensive as it's also difficult to create correctly. The drug is extremely addictive and causes a status of euphoria and increased hunger in the user, as well as increased alertness to sounds and smells.
>> As social creatures, Technoctems have their own ways of strengthening bonds between one another; the most known one is preening and grooming another TN's wings. This builds up trust and solidifies the bond between the two Technoctems. It's common to see two friends or lovers grooming each other.
>> Every Technoctem has a "weak spot" that, if scratched, will make them purr. It's an involuntary reaction and while it gives them pleasure, it's also highly rude of someone to scratch them on their weak spot as it's something that should be done only between lovers.
>> Technoctems consider all kinds of love alike. This means that there's no difference or stigma in Technoctem society when it comes to homosexuality, asexuality, bisexuality and anything else you might think of. There is no stigma towards cross-species couples either.
Fun Facts
>> Cats have been and still are being imported from Earth to Anhemyte. Cats are one of the most popular pets on the planet and have been for over 50 years, ever since the first human / Technoctem contact has been established. Technoctems will take strays and abandoned cats and bring them to Anhemyte once every year, to bring new specimens to their world. The cat population on Anhemyte is quickly increasing and hasn't had any negative impact on the wildlife yet, aside from lowering the number of pests and small animals.
>> Technoctems have established a contact with humanity and have access to many human things that have influenced their culture, some of which being music, books and movies. There are certain karaoke places that hold themed mornings with human-only music, and cinemas will often show new human movies at times.
>> Due to this, some Technoctems are convinced that tornadoes really contain sharks and polar bears. Go tell them that's bullshit, if you dare.