Archives

Worldbuilding Wednesday – The Jeweled Pomegranate / Digging for Pants

Dec11

Today’s Poll Picked the setting of my current impulse project, Digging for Pants.

Okay this is going to be FUN!

Today’s #WorldBuildingWednesday is a setting I dreamed up for my incomplete #NanoWrimo 20…18? story The Jeweled Pomegranate , which could loosely be described as
*
Academics Having Adventures
+ Magical Items
+ Forced to Be Together (via said Magical Items)
+ A Ruined Wold.
*
So! The Ruins! In a time Before, the world was hit with a series of what are now called subside-ances – pretty much semi-magical sinkholes big enough to swallow, say, the Smithsonian.

That is… almost all I know.

I know there are universities with research professors (& grad students) who they send to explore in these places, either for “grave robbing” (they’re not inherently graves) or information acquisition, and all that grey area in between.

And I know that magical items *definitely* exist.

Oh, and that money exists.

So! I’m asking you: ask me questions! Help me work on #WorldBuilding this world of… exploring a previous era of the world!

Continue reading →

Worldbuilding Wednesday: Strands in Odd Places

Nov13

So @Shutsumon started doing Worldbuilding Wednesday on Mastodon and that got me thinking and so then I started and…

well, here’s last week’s post. I’m going to try to post them a week after I toot (post on Mastodon) them.

Strands in Weird Places

In theory, Stranded World is composed of “Strands” which make up the connections of every thing and being to every other thing and being; certain people can see, manipulate, or read the Strands but they come into existence and eventually fade away on their own in a constant cycle of renewal. 

In practice, the Strands that strand-workers read/manipulate are like you took a page full of the very lightest pencil lines going everywhere and then added just a few bright marker lines: strong connections between people or between a person and an animal/plant/thing.  

For instance: I have a very strong connection with my husband, a rather strong connection with my cats, and rather strong connections with my grandparent’s house/farm. Compared to my connection to the guy sitting across from me on the bus, the cat I saw at the winery the other week, the apartment we lived in for a couple months when I was 20, those connections are going to be thick and easy to pick out. 

Sometimes, you end up with “Weird” connections:

People who met for three minutes at a bus stop who form a Strand so thick it pulls them back together, so that they reinforce that strand, so that it pulls them together again. 

A place that takes on so much of its own character that it holds on to connections; not only do people remember it for a long time, but it remembers them, and so the strands are no longer dependent on living memory. 

A moment in time will, on very rare occasion, create connections, which form a line between all of the people experiencing that moment and anchor people to that moment.  In some cases, it makes time warp strangely around it, such that even thinking about it for too long can create wrinkles much later on. 

Sometimes you end up with places, or animals, or plants that somehow not just form strands — since everyone and everything can do that to some degree — but manipulate them. 

There’s a tree in the middle of a forest that likes to loosen some bonds and form others, and you never know until you climb up into its branches which might happen. 

There’s a cat who wanders the suburban evenings tangling strands up, leaving a wake of small chaos behind her and caring about as much as she’d care about a ball of yarn. 

And there are events which are so tangled up from their very creation that just moving towards them — Burning Man, but only sometimes, for instance; certain marches on certain places; certain prayer circles and certain parties — changes the person moving, for better or for worse. 

The Great NanoWrimo Prompt Call

Today I am Feeling uncreative

Nov13

The Great NanoWrimo Prompt Call

Today, I am feeling uncreative, and so I beg your aid in a story I am writing for the Great NanoWrimo Prompt Call.

I point your attention, if I may, to the world of Things Unspoken.

Cities/places already in existence include

Scheffenon, the Scheif Harbor, high on the Northern Sea (where there are Cornesc-speaking people)
(Scheffenon isnot a Cornesc word, but one from the people who had been here before)

Orschëst, down by the southern border

Corthwin (where the Ash remains unburnt)

the western cities, the ones that had once belonged to an Empire called only To (never the To Empire, the Tovan nation, or anything else, just To)

Here is a very draft map – http://www.lynthornealder.com/2015/04/28/what-happens-in-meetings-a-draft-map-of-part-of-the-unspoken-world/

So!  I need another city.  There’s sort of obviously not one language to this Empire, so it doesn’t have to sound like those above, but should sound… “exotic?”  Well, not Springfield or Washington, let’s go with that.

(Most of my named people have Eastern-European-inspired names, just as a note)

Halp?

(If I get more than one, i’ll clearly just have to write another story)

Fun Facts About the (Faerie) Apocalypse

Jul9

Originally posted on Patreon in July 2018 and part of the Great Patreon Crossposting to WordPress.

  1. Fae Apoc was born because I wanted to write a serial like Tales of MU (long-running modern-esque fantasy university serial with a heavy dose of BDSM and many other kinks).  It came off of the Tír na Cali setting and, as such, there’s still some visible similarities, even beyond the collars.
  2. Other elements in the Fae Apoc ‘verse came from three short stories I was working on, one based on things I had wanted out of a roleplay reincarnation set-up and never gotten and the other two having heavy overtones of a group of people I used to live with. (Midnight Cigarette, Wings, and a piece whose title I don’t remember).  Oh!  And a piece I don’t think I ever finished about closing portals.
  3. The core words in the Ellehemaei lexicon came from a babble-language that I used to speak to myself, although they were nudged a bit for consistency.
  4. “Kept/Keeper” was originally supposed to be one casual term out of many; that’s part of the reason that in more recent serial stories I’ve been trying on different terms
  5. The Laws of the Ellehemaei were literally written to screw the protagonists.  Of course, in-setting, they were made to screw with (punish, control) the fae, so this works out pretty well.
  6. Fae Apoc is the only setting currently that will be willed to someone other than my husband on my death (Inspector Caracal).
  7. I have only sold one published story out of Fae Apoc – Monster Godmother (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NUOIEEC/ref=cm_sw_su_dp)

Want more?

World Building June Day 11-12 – Language, Creatures, Government

Jun26

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!

11. What’s language like in your world?

The language of the Empire of the Bear is technically three related languages that have many similarities but are not always mutually comprehensible.  (And three others which are used in very small sections, one of which nobody can understand)

The language family as a whole of the five larger languages is a liquid tongue with a lot of vowels and active tongue use, a popping plosive, and tonal mood shifts and sometimes meaning shifts.  The Lynx language tends to drop initial and final consonant sounds and sometimes repeat vowels; the Fox language involves repetition and a lot more popping sounds, as well as some trills. The Cat people have a lot more trills in their language as well as a whistle-sound.  And the Elk people, only one word in twenty is recognizable between their dialect and the others. Theirs tends towards complicated vowel combinations and often seems to require hand gestures. Continue reading →

World Building June: Government, Economy

Jun25

Originally posted on Patreon in June 2018 and part of the Great Patreon Crossposting to WordPress.
It‘s June World Building!  And I continue with some more questions from Inspector Caracal’s List!

🌋

11- How many different governments does the story interact with? How are they different or similar, or why is the one isolated?

Nimbus really doesn’t interact with any of the Sky Island Governments, but as mentioned before, there are four of them.  Her parents belong to the academic group and live on one of those Islands (although I may need to check that).

The Sky Islands are intermingled only with each other, of course, and do not touch the land below.  Many of the differences and similarities were mentioned above in “Who Lives in your World?”; notably, while msot of the people on the Sky Islands share a single broad set of values, each government represents a subsection of those values. Continue reading →

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 →

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. 

🌋

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 →

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 →

World Building June Day 8/18 – Running and Running Around

Jun18

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.  After I exhaust the answers I’ve written, I might just default to Inspector Caracal’s questions.

Well, I’m still posting.  Sometimes.

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

The Bear Empire is, as it sounds, an Empire. It is not the largest Empire.  It’s not even the largest Empire I’ve written.

It is ruled by a Emperor or Empress, a role which is chosen from a small pool of available candidates – these include governors of areas or of subject matter (the governor of trade, of foreign relations with Dekleg, with Halor, etc), the children, spouses, and family of the last emperor, especially those who have been given a position of authority or responsibility along with their title-of-relation, and generally three people picked from the population as potential candidates, usually by those listed earlier in the list.  

The pool is chosen by the pool in a voting process which can last months.  In one situation, the pool is known to have lasted five years, during which a woman not part of the pool (the down-spouse of the former Empress’ equals-spouse) ruled the country.  A governor from the Lynx territory is credited with finally nominating her into the pool, at which point she became the first laundress to become Empress (as known, at least) and the first unanimous vote of the Imperial Conclave.

Ruling the empire is a group affair.  The Emperor has a privy council, a voting council, and a speaking council.

Cal Questions

GOVERNMENT/ECONOMY

18- What kind of transportation and communication do people have access to? What is its range and speed?

The Bear Empire is still primarily on foot- and horse-based travel.  While riding on horseback is common during the summer month, during the winter time, carriages, stagecoaches, and other such enclosed conveyances are more common.

The Empire has two competing empire-wide stagecoach companies which will take you just about anywhere in the Empire; in addition, there are several smaller companies that focus on a single area.  There are also two lines that only handle border crossings, taking either the one bridge or the most-established ferry across the wide river between Dekleg and the Empire.

When your feet/hooves are tired, river and coastal boats are common for both freight and passengers, with boats travelling the three long lakes (“the Scars”), the major and minor rivers within the nation, and the coast from the glacial wall to the northern edge of Dekleg.

The Lynx Mountains also have a series of carts, something akin to a ski lift, which lift people up a large mountain and then back down into the middle of the mountains, generally on rails and run by steam and magic.

 

Questions? Thoughts?  Tell me!