Archive | October 22, 2013

This one at least moved past the architecture for a bit…

Oct22

Unnamed Kink Setting Worldbuilding 2: Inside and Outside

Travel between cities is rare; caravans that do so carry twice as many guards as they do passengers, and are prohibitively expensive. To travel on your own, or with a couple guards, is to risk, in order of likelihood:

* Attack by “bandits;” groups who live in tiny walled settlements and range out as far as they dare in search of prey, whether human or otherwise.

* Death by thirst or starvation if your supplies run out, if you get turned around in one of the wild storms.

* Death by wild storm.1

* Transformation or twisting – or engulfment – by a Lantern.2

* Attack by a Creature3 or a mundane beast.

* Being shot down by the guards of your goal city.

The cities are the primary population centers; farmers live outside the walls, but close enough to flee within them if any of the aforementioned threats attack. Bandits, too, the occasional marauder, and a few tiny, terrifying settlements also exist outside cities, but they account for less than 10% of the total population of the continent.

Inside the cities, the population follows a structure as tiered as the concentric walls, and, indeed, marked by and inspired by those walls.

    1. Wild Storms are just what they sound like, massive storms – dependent on the locale, tornado, hurricane, sandstorm – with the added benefit of sometimes having magic twisted up within them.

    2. A Lantern is someone who lost control of their magic, and are now simply a conduit for the power. The power spurts from them in unpredictable bursts, or sometimes just flows out until the human at the core is entirely lost. The only plus is that Lanterns are generally stationary.

    3. A Creature is, well, a creature, one that has been warped by proximity either to a place of power4

    4. A place of power is assumed to be an opening from the magic to our plane of existence, although nothing but magic ever comes through.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/587761.html. You can comment here or there.

Trolling / For Books, a story for the Real World Call

Oct22

For [personal profile] elliemurasaki‘s prompts to my real-world call:
Farmer’s market.
New job.
Bookstore trawling.
“I’m not sure if this counts as a job.”

Jessica’s mother was frowning. She was often frowning, but now she had her forehead pinched, her lips pinched, her hands pinched… she was holding on to Jessica with every part of her body without actually bothering to touch her daughter.

“You said that about the Farmer’s Market job, too.” She was almost done packing. She opened the bottom drawer of her dresser again. She didn’t want to find she’d left anything behind.

“Standing behind a table selling vegetables all day? It’s not exactly career-forwarding, is it?” Jessica’s mother had a lot of opinions on career, as long as it wasn’t her own.

“Well, one, it was an entry-level position towards a sales job there.” Until her mother had a conversation with Jessica’s manager. “And two, all the trust says is that I have to be working.”

“And I don’t think this counts as a job.”

“The trustees do. And that’s what counts here.”

“You shouldn’t talk to your mother like that, Jessica.”

“I’m sorry.” She didn’t bother putting any emphasis on the words, because it wouldn’t matter anyway. Talking to her mother was like shouting down a black hole.

“Trolling around old book stores… living on the road… no supervisor, no defined hours…”

“But I’ll be getting paid a salary.” Jessica checked the back of the closet one more time, and tucked the old teddy bear she found there into a pocket of her suitcase. “They want my skills.”

“Your skills.” Her mother sneered it, but the sneer seemed to dissolve into something more open. “You don’t have to leave, you know. You could stay here, get another job like the one at the Farmer’s Market. You don’t have to pay rent.”

Jessica checked under the bed again. “I’ve got to go, Mom. I’ll keep in touch.” she kissed both her mother’s cheeks and made sure she had all her bags before she left.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/587495.html. You can comment here or there.

Worldbuilding: The Academy

Oct22

The Empress Edalleddallendu Academy of Higher Learning at Ilelteddez

The Edally Academy was begun approximately one thousand years ago, in the time of the Emperor Eleddeltendel, who started four such academies around the country, naming them all after his ancestors. It occupies a place just outside the old walls of Ilelteddez, (ocean-on-land, seaport), a coastal city between the Arran Cities and Lannamer.

When it was first built, it was a single tower with three outbuildings. As the school expanded, three more towers were built around the first tower.

About 500 years ago, the original tower was torn down. Its foundation serves as the basis of a central courtyard now.

Around the courtyard, nine towers reach 6-1/2 stories into the air. These towers were originally both classroom and dormitory; now they serve as dorm space only.

A ring of buildings, connected by archways, circle the towers. The buildings are about 3-1/2 stories tall, and where their roofs touch the towers, a walkway has been built.

Those buildings now serve as primary classroom buildings for the school, however, the first story of each is now given over to teacher & staff apartments.

Outside of those are another ring of buildings, usually about 1 story tall. They serve as adjunct classrooms, outbuildings, and the like.

The towers themselves narrow as they go up, and are constructed of red stone with grey sandstone accents. They are built around a wide, round central chimney, which vents to the sky. Their windows are narrow, and only in recent years have the Art students begun replacing all of the oiled-cloth windows with stained glass to allow some light – and less air – in.

A spiral staircase circles the chimney all the way up; at the landing for each floor there is a small student lounge around a fireplace. The dormitory rooms ring the floor; smaller rooms on the top floor, larger rooms on the bottom. The school has a drop-out/failure rate such that, while it admits 18 students to each House each year, only nine to 12 graduate.

The first-year dorms – at the top – are three to a room, consisting of a fold-up bed, a fold-down desk, a folding chair, and the Calenyena equivalent of a trunk (rather like a garment bag) each. Bedding and upholstery is in House colors.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/587250.html. You can comment here or there.

On this Date: Addergoole Drabbles of Rozen

Oct22

October 22, 2004

“What are you planning on doing now?”

Rozen hadn’t meant to collect a mascot. Keeping pets in school was one thing, but the world outside was different.

It had turned out, though, that the world outside was a bit difficult. And she’d volunteered. Liked his biceps.

“You tell me.” Not quite a mascot. More of a seeing-eye girl.

October 22, 2013

“Rozen, boss, you can’t fight them.”

Lily was dragging on Rozen’s arm. When Austin had left him, he’d found her: flame-red hair, freckles all over. He liked redheads.

“Lil. Let go.” He pushed her behind him. “Go get my weapons, then you can hide or run.”

“Boss, you’re going to die.”

“No. But you’re definitely not going to.”

He really liked redheads.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/586940.html. You can comment here or there.

Bracken, her second year

Oct22

Thirteenth in a series of character-building vignettes following a bunch of characters through their time at Addergoole & beyond.

“Abatu. Abatu… Eperu.”

A tiny puff of dirt vanished.

“Again, and use the whole working.”

“Abatu Eperu gamma χώμα.” Braken leaned into the Working, pushing all of her energy into it. A pile of dirt the size of her fist disappeared.

“Better. And now we’ll try something a little easier.” DJ had its implacable, patient, never-getting-tired voice on. One of them needed to. “Create water in that hole.”

“Meentik.” Bracken coughed. “Meentik Yaku beta λακκούβα με νερό.” As demanded, a little puddle of water appeared in the hole she’d created.

“Very good. But I still can’t believe this is as far as you got in all of last year.”

“Last year was a bit distracting.”

“Your Workings classes aren’t supposed to be subject to that.”

“Tell that to my former Keeper.” Bracken shrugged. “He wasn’t all that bad or anything, but he was still distracting.”

“I remember. Still, you’re barely beyond basic Workings on anything…”

“Not on anything!” Bracken surprised herself with how vehement that made her. “Come on, there’s a couple things I can do really well!”

Her Mentor paused in its diatribe. “Indeed? Show me.”

Bracken found herself sighing in relief. She grabbed the hem of her shirt and yanked a big tear in it.

“Bracken, what are you…”

“Jasfe Unutu πουκάμισο.” Fix my shirt. She stared at the shirt, and let her smile break out as the shirt mended itself perfectly.

She pointed at a chipped mug on DJ’s desk. “May I?”

“Mm? Oh, yes.”

“Jasfe Unutu κούπα.” The mug looked as good as new, with almost no energy expended. “Jasfe Unutu καρέκλα.” Her chair became much more comfortable. “Jasfe…”

“That’s enough, that’s enough.” DJ looked as if it was trying to smile and frown at the same time. “Very interesting, very interesting. Appears you are… mmm… very specialized.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/586734.html. You can comment here or there.