Archive | August 16, 2014

A Review of “On the Nature of the Sira & Its Flow” (Reiassan Demifiction)

Aug16

A study of the paper,
On the Nature of the Sira and Its flow
by Opaknaipbo-Oset, Scholar of Edally Academy

Paper written c. 850 R – study 1002 R.

Scholar Opaknaipbo-Oset was one of the first to study aether as a science, although he did so in the era when it was believed to be sira, an ancient Tabersi word meaning simply force.

In this paper, one of his most comprehensive, he details the flow of several different kinds of sira. In a move that is not uncommon to ancient scholars but unusual in his era, he color-codes three sorts, lithic as green, aqueous as blue, and igneous as red – much as Temples of the Three still color-code the services of the gods – the blue, Tienebrah, the red, Veignevar,the green, Reiassannon.

More than that, which is, after all, a simple trick used throughout history, Scholar Opaknaipbo-Oset tracks specific flows and patterns of the sira over the continent, and within specific “spells” and formulae.

Although there is a great deal of superstition in Scholar Opaknaipbo-Oset’s work, there is a great deal of value there as well. While he still thinks of the aether as a magical force of the gods, he manages to make some surprising discoveries about the flow of aether that still color research today.

Within the book is a series of maps. Scholar Opaknaipbo-Oset spent years, with a series of interns and apprentices, walking across the continent from end to end, mapping every line of wild aether he could detect, and finding patterns in the way that it moved and spread. Those maps are the basis for research still being done today.

More interesting, to those who study such things, are the diagrams of “spells.” If Scholar Opaknaipbo-Oset could diagram things that he thought were magic, what can those of us, who truly understand the nature of aether, do with those diagrams and Scholar Opaknaipbo-Oset’s work?

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/779493.html. You can comment here or there.

Reiassan – a Welcome

Aug16

Welcome to Reiassan.

The continent stretches from the northern ice to the warm southern isles, carved by glaciers into long trenchlike valleys and shoved into high ridges of mountains that act like a spine down the eastern coast of the land.

The history stretches from its first settlers, stranded here by a climate change, through an age of magic and mercenaries, to the peace of ages and the subsequent chaos. It continues on through into the nation’s steam era, with the advent of goatless carriages, airships, and the harnessing of what was once called magic, sira, into aether.

The Iron Era, when magic was high and war was a series of dirty skirmishes, is a high-fantasy setting. Warriors ride into battle on war-goats, followed by sira-flinging mages. Armor is simple, magic is wild, and nobody is certain who will win the war, the northern Calenyena or the southern Bitrani.

The Peace Era, when religion binds up magic and war is ending in a series of complicated battles, is a low-magic fantasy setting. The peace has been signed, and much of what remains is politics. Magic is done quietly and subtly, and warriors head home to their farms. The Calenyena have beaten the Bitrani, and nobody knows what will happen next.

The Steam Era, when science has taken over and magic is a distant myth, is a steampunk setting. The Calenyena are firmly in charge, and engineers and scientists, politicians and scholars, adventure where once warriors rode. The Bitrani might rebel – nobody knows – but in the meantime, the aether will flow and the steam will punk.

The Reiassan’s landing page is here.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/779060.html. You can comment here or there.

Please to pick another random number for me

Aug16

Between one and twenty-one, to pick the next thing on my writing list

The list, not in order of its numbers, includes:

Inventrix Commish
Membit
Patreon flashfic public
Rix Words the second (more Baram)
Blog Post
Summary
Submission (find)
Inner Circle
Setting write up
Edits from April
Landing Page
Rion Edits
Welcome to AG Letter
Kelkyag Words!
Demifiction Meme
Rix Words!
Liveblog Summary
KN Commish
collate liveblog
Live** the apoc
Patreon flashfic

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/778801.html. You can comment here or there.

Character Meme Day Three – Another Era (Tairiekie)

Aug16

So, I decided to do a character meme, and this one showed up first on google. Because the theme of the month is Reiassan, I’m starting with Tairiekie.

Day 3:
Choose a different time period and describe what your character would have been like in that time period.(2)

If Tairiekie had been born in the “Iron Age,” she likely would have been what was colloquially called a sira-flinger, albeit a scholarly one.

She probably would have left home early, maybe about the age she is going to school, and would have apprenticed with an older sorcerer, one who knew the ways of the magic (sira) and who would educate her. Her parents probably would have chosen the sorcerer, if they knew someone, or asked a family friend for a recommendation.

Taikie really is bright, and probably would have struck out on her own in only a year or two, probably teaming up with a mercenary band. She likes adventure, and I can easily see her with the flat braids of a soldier and the bright-colored tunics, flinging out spells and twisting the sira around her enemies while balancing on her saddle. She’d be a truly inspired combat mage.

She’d be cocky, though, and that makes me worry that in the harsher times of the iron age, she might not live a very long life. It would be a spectacular one, though, however long it was.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/778623.html. You can comment here or there.

A Letter Home from the Bitrani South (Reiassan Demifiction)

Aug16

Dear Mother and Father,

I am enjoying the visit with Teshoni, Bryiery, and Tomasso.

Yesterday, they introduced me to a traditional Bitrani dish, made with a wide flat bread and many local fruits I have never tasted before. It was quite good, although I think Grandfather would look down his beard at it.

While we were in town buying ingredients, I saw two of the enclave Bitrani. They look so strange, but I remembered what you told me and did not stare, nor did I ask to touch their hair. (I haven’t asked to touch anyone’s hair, the whole time! Although Tomasso touched my braids without asking!) I have tried to remember to be very good and polite all the time.

Last night, when Bryiery was tucking us in, she told Tomasso to beware the Moonlight Beast. I didn’t know about the Moonlight Beast, so I asked.

She told me it was a creature that comes out of the lines of the moons, the light that kisses the floor and night, and it gobbles up the toes of little boys and girls who aren’t good. Tomasso had been naughty all day – Tomasso likes to be naughty, and he told me yesterday they let him get away with more, because I am visiting – and, Bryiery said, he’d have to be careful not to get his toes nibbled on, like his grandfather Gatito did when he was a little boy.

When she was gone, I told Tomasso about Empty Horns, and how it floats around at night, looking for children who were not brave or clever enough, and how the horns would fasten themselves to the head of any child who did not try. He cried for the rest of the night.

I do not think Tomasso will enjoy visiting us very much, when the time comes.

I remain until then,

Your loving daughter Laizhte

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/778377.html. You can comment here or there.