I’ve decided I want to do a prompt call!
Just for fun, to be honest, although I like tips, will write you more words for anything over $1 tipped, and have two current goals for said tips – a Wacom tablet for map-drawing and a day-long writing retreat.
The theme for this call is: The Third Rail
“Never discuss politics or religion in polite company.”
Don’t talk about Money, Politics, Sex, or Religion.
“I am quite sure now that often, very often, in matters concerning religion and politics a man’s reasoning powers are not above the monkey’s.” – Mark Twain, Attributed
So!
Here’s the trick
only fictional interpretations of these subjects.
No unveiled or thinly-veiled real-life situations. They will be ignored.
That being said – put it on me. Extant settings or a new setting or something else altogether. What sort of politics and religion, (or Money or sex) do you want to talk about?
What sort of things do you wonder about?
What similar taboos do other fictional settings have, mmm?
Bring it on!
~*~
What does an ideal prompt look like?
Well, it sticks to the topic of the call.
It gives me room to wiggle but has a little guidance to it.
It’s at least 4 words long (or possibly a picture).
Choices! You can leave as many prompts as you want! I’ll probably only write to one, but choices are great.
Politics in CLoverleaf is interesting, isn’t it? I mean, there is one leader and you don’t speak out against her. And to be fair, she’s set up a functioning city in a world that basically no longer has them. What does happen if someone disagrees with her in terms of city planning or intent/direction for the group (even if that disagreement is civil)? Polite anonymous letters to the editor?
On another note, the politics of Riessan in Rin’s era (which child inherits is getting ever more complicates) is also fascinating. Did someone around the 10th son of a 10th daughter say “enough is enough, reform is needed!”? Because it looks like by the Edally Era they’ve moved a bit away from the single ruler system.
In Tir na California, politics can be deadly. Beltaine has come, and two rival Countesses find themselves together at their Duchess’ celebration, a melting pot of Sex, Religion and Politics.
Dragons Next Door: the tinies have started showing up at city council & zoning meetings to make their views on how buildings should be built and run heard. And even if those outside neighborhoods like the one the regular DND protagonists live in might find these views a bit unusual (or even outrageous) people including the politicians are starting to notice their numbers at the meetings and in the voter registry. (Even if the form lacks a race or species field, when addresses say stuff like, “123 Oak Street, inside southern wall, second floor”…). Now if only the tinies agreed with each other on the details.
Seconded! I suggest the exterminator who, err, negotiated a truce of sorts between the upset human woman and the tinies in her walls (who were paying rent!) as someone possibly appearing in such a story. The human whose resident tinies were confused that she was, apparently, curious but chill about them would also be interesting to see again.
SCIENCE! Religion and/or academic politics at/around/affecting the University, in Trenner’s era (more or less). Why does nobody else (tenured?) in the Sciences wing want to acknowledge Professor Sojide? What will Sojide do with the news of Matilde and her unnamed former student’s fates? Will Trenner make successfully hatching a Feltenner Chicken, or followup thereon, into a doctoral thesis? Is she looking for a position at the University when she graduates, or does she have her sights set on something else? (She was considering such mundanities as feeding non-academics.) Will she forge an alliance with the university staff / defenders of the Escape Hatch? How will Professor Lokeg-Fridelabout response to her return, and how will it affect his standing? What will become of the armload of religious icons Trenner’s dorm-mates sent with her? Is this the standard set for anyone from their hall heading to the Lost Buildings? Will any of the religions behind any of them hear about this? (So. Many. Questions.)
Aunts, politics between branches of the family, which thus far has mostly turned up in Karen’s story, but there are plenty of other places it could. (I’d ask about religion there, too, but that seems to be generic background Church of showing up because it’s respectable …) And I think I’ve used up my share of sex-related prompts for that ‘verse asking about Radar for a meme a while back, but if you wanted to write more about Beryl and Jake … or about Beryl dealing with Jacob and/or Radar giving her grief about Jake, or …
Shortly after brothels were banned, a number of former brothels reopened as Temples of the Red Lamp. (The Temple of the Red Lamp is a successful and well-established religion in other places, but not here.) The ceremonies performed at the Temples of the Red Lamp look suspiciously like what used to go on at the brothels, but are — to the local authorities’ dismay — entirely in line with the practices of the Temple in other nations. Some of the former brothels have even gone so far as to bring in ordained ministers of the Temple to ensure their fidelity to the faith’s practices. How do all the affected parties deal? (I’m pretty sure this one could work in Things Unspoken, but may well work in others I’m failing to think of.)
Or, for a much less complex prompt: an archaeological dig comes across a trove of religious icons that look an awful lot like ones of the local dominant religion, but with differences that go against modern doctrine. Now what?
The newest craze is a revived — and distinctly not to original spec — sex ritual. What did the ritual do before, and what does the altered one do now, if anything?
Someone is counterfeiting the local coinage. They’d be good counterfeits, except one or more of the inscriptions is obviously different (e.g. instead of “Ferdinand, King by grace of God” it’s “The king trips on his own shoelaces”). Unfortunately, the current ruler fits the altered inscriptions rather better than the ones that are supposed to be there, and people accept the fake coinage with grins.
Emperor Norton I — or someone like him — in any of your existing settings. (Issuing proclamations, printing his own currency, and the locals eating it up even though he has no official standing other than what he’s declared for himself.)