Archive | June 2018

World Building June Day 10 & 11 – Holidays and Governments

Jun24

It’s World-Building June!  So I’m building Worlds!  Aerax/Expectant Woods over on Patreon, and Bear Empire and a new thing here!

It’s also June WorldBuilding – so we’re getting two sets of prompts.  

Still going on the catch-up!

10. What holidays & traditions are observed in your world?

Major holidays in the Bear Empire include:

* A major feast near the end of autumn

* a day called the “day of sleep” after the first major frost.  

* A spring-thaw celebration

(these three above together are referred to as the Hibernation festivals) Continue reading →

Spoils of War 9: Future

Jun23

First: Spoils of War I: Surrender
Previous: Mountains and Rats

Nikol wasn’t going to apologize for ordering him to come back.  Not when he’d already admitted he’d tried to run away. Not when the Mountain might be on their trail.

“Yeah, well.  To be honest, you’ve got the horses and our supplies and there’s a slime-slug out there.  I probably woulda come back anyway.”

She smirked at him.  “Well, supper’s appreciated.  And I bet the cats appreciated it too.” Continue reading →

World Building June: Government, Economy

Jun22

Originally posted on Patreon in June 2018 and part of the Great Patreon Crossposting to WordPress.
It‘s World-Building June!  So I’m building Worlds! Here on Patreon, I’m building “Aerax”, the world of Expectant Woods. Over on WordPress, I’m working on Bear Empire, the world of the so-named story, and a new thing called United Space. 

And it’s also June World-Building!  So I’m shifting over to Inspector Caracal’s questions, but as I already had a few (a week) written on the first set, there’s some overlap, and I skipped ahead to closer to the actual day on Cal’s list. 

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8. How is your world run? Who’s in power?

Above: All of the sky islands are technically one government.  They are run by a central elected set of leaders – five of them – who are supported by a set of representatives chosen by each of the four territories of islands. Continue reading →

A New World 22: Out

Jun22

First: A New World
Previous: Preparations

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Kael slid herself into the bustle of people with the strange feeling that no time at all had passed. True, when she had been – when this had been her land, say that – she had needed to put a little more work into a disguise.  True, the clothing was stranger now, the faces had a wider variety of shapes, the hair colors and skin colors were more varied. True, the buildings – other than her Tower – were taller, and there seemed to be far more of them than there had been around her Tower before she went to sleep.

But the people bustled around and talked in much the same ways.  They were worried about children, and partners, and money, and food.  What to wear and where to get it, all of the things that had been common a thousand years before. Continue reading →

Kaijune: Little Monsters

Jun21

Written in the setting/time of my 101 Apoc Nights story.

They had been passing bathtub hooch for hours and the fire had burned down to coals, on which they were roasting whatever they still have to roast.  And then one old woman, her hair white and her skin a maze of wrinkles, set down her jar with a thump.

“I tell you,” she told them, “the monsters are scary and the places where time goes backwards, yeah, those are pretty scary.  But the worst thing I ever found – and I am not joking about that – was a lizard not quite as long as my arm.”

Now, she continued, I could tell you horror stories about this area I was in.  It had been a city and then it had been a ruin and now it was four little cities around a whole bunch of ruin that only the bravest went into.

Because – and this was the kicker – because some asshole had released a series of giant poisonous lizards into the city back in the end times.  Someone had, the Lord only knows why, let some asshole would-be god watch Godzilla, I guess.

So that thing had been killed.  But the problem is – the problem was the great-dane-and-a-chihuahua problem, I suppose, but the end result was baby lizards.

And those baby lizards had been wiped out too, but… well you get the idea.  It turns out that, in the center of this down, one lizard in ten has a chance of having flaming acid breath.

And I don’t mean just a little puff like a thing that small ought to give.  No.  No, I mean, these things could spit out a cloud of acid fire like their great-grandmama had.

And that, my friends, is why that one city split into four is the scariest I’ve ever been into.

She leaned back and gulped her whisky.  “’Cause let me tell you, you pick up a baby lizard just like seven others and this one happens to put a hole in the nearest wall… you stop thinking oh cute and start running really damn fast.  And those things could show up anywhere.  No crashing, no roaring, nothing.  Just a little squeak and a belch.”

She rubbed where her eyebrows had been.  “But I didn’t lose anything I couldn’t stand to lose.  What about you, my friends?”

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World Building June Day 9 & 21 – Religions and Bear Necessities

Jun21

It’s World-Building June!  So I’m building Worlds!  Aerax/Expectant Woods over on Patreon, and Bear Empire and a new thing here!

It’s also June WorldBuilding – so we’re getting two sets of prompts.  

Here’s two posts this week!

9. What are the religions and cosmology of your world?

Within the Bear Empire and in several of the nations surrounding it, the primary religion – and the one that is supported by/considered part of/supporting the state – is a totemic faith of sorts.  The nation of the Bear considered Mother Bear to be their guardsmen, protector, and guide; the Lynx people still consider Sister Lynx as theirs, and so on.

It is the belief or at least a tenet of this faith that the Bear is the ancestor of the Bear people, the Fox of the Fox people, and so on.  This sits in the realm of pre-history with the story that the totems came here because their prior land was too crowded.

I mention  Priests of Axes and temple of Axes in my story.  So, let’s see.

The options are: Axes is the name of the Bear in a certain aspect.

Axes was meant to be Axis, and it refers to the pole.

Axes are the weapons of choice of the Priesthood of the Bear, and so the casual name for them is the Priesthood of Axes.

I like that third one the best.

Cal Questions

SOCIETY/CULTURE

21- What do people in the society consider basic necessities? What resources do they take for granted?

Stone.  Stone is definitely taken for granted.

Granite, even.

Stone, and wood, and water – clean water – and the very thin underlying force of magic which powers things most people don’t even think about (like the Bear-stone bracelets and other Bear-stone items).  All those things are in abundance in the Empire of the Bear. As is, ah, natural refrigeration.

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Basic necessities include: Shelter-and-heat, bread-and-salt, mittens-and-boots. In some parts of the country, it is considered a grievous sin to deny anyone who asks any of these things; in others, it’s considered an equally grievous sin to ask.  In both places, if you ask and it is given, or if it is given freely without asking, a bond has been formed that neither can break.  In three seasons out of four, lack of any of them can kill you, and in the fourth, lack of the bread and salt might still kill you.

Close behind in necessity: The support of your totem.  The knowledge of your kin-group. Knowing who has your back in a fight and having at least two people who will.

This is one reason marriages are often tripartite.

 

Questions? Thoughts?  Tell me!

Back to World Building June!

Jun21

Originally posted on Patreon in June 2018 and part of the Great Patreon Crossposting to WordPress.
It’s World-Building June!  So I’m building Worlds! Here on Patreon, I’m building “Aerax”, the world of Expectant Woods. Over on WordPress, I’m working on Bear Empire, the world of the so-named story, and a new thing called United Space. 

And it’s also June World-Building!  So I’m shifting over to Inspector Caracal’s questions, but as I already had a few (a week) written on the first set, there’s some overlap. (and I skipped question six on the “Official” list). 

🌋

Day 7 World-Building June

How does the economy work in your world? What sorts of currencies do they use?

Above: On the islands, there are four different currencies, depending on the islands you are on. Continue reading →

Darling it’s better… a tale for MerMay

Jun20

Things Unspoken, South Coast

There were not people in all the seas.

Some of them were too dark, too cold, too inhabited by things that either had been driven off the land or had simply claimed the water for their own.

Some were too close to human people, some were too heavily sailed, some were simply not very nice to swim in.

But there was this place off the southern coast of the Empire where wise captains did not send their ships.  And there was this place deep in this cove where people lived.

Elliallein and Milleffeou conferred in the shadows.  Mille had the sort of magic that allowed her to take on legs, and the sort of voice that sometimes convinced people to listen.  And so she would wander to the ports and tell people how unwise it was to portage all the way around rather than just sailing through the cove, or she would tell people how good of fishing there was deep in the cove.

Elliallein was too far from the humans to do that.  Her magic was a different sort – the sort that came later.  She draped a necklace over her cousin’s neck and hummed a little song.  There would be boats along soon.  There always were.

And when there were, the sea here would do what it always did, and very few boats would make it out alive.

But Elliallein and her sisters and cousins, they would save who they could.  Some they would drag to shore, of course.  But the best ones, the strongest swimmers….

Elliallein’s magic would teach them how to swim properly.  And her children and theirs might be able to walk on land.

Written to Eseme’s prompt: I quite like this one, because very colorful mermaid! Which likely indicates poison or something. I expect the tail has bright angel-fish fins. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/64528207131870453

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