If you're following the project: an aside

Last week, poor health struck. It always happens at the worst times. Right before my health slid my characters decided to become unpredictable. Midway through that last "chapter" they went off on tangent I didn't expect. They might be taking me down a different plot than I planned for.

So while the next chapter is started, I need to weave myself back into the complete surrender for the chapter to finish. What happens is that I plunge on, and let the characters carry me. When the whole thing is done, there is a high probability that where the novel started (and what the world--and magic look like at the onset) is not what it will be when the last sentence draws to a close.

For me, I spend a lot of time "planning" but a plannings session is more like watching the characters dance along in my minds eye. Sometimes I run through an idea before it hits the page. But with "non-Don-Yin" stories that isn't likely to happen with the same frequency.

Pausing when writing is really a bad thing. Especially when I just got in the swing of things. But I couldn't control my health.

sometimes, I feel guilty that life strikes. I blame myself for not pushing myself when I don't feel well. Perhaps I should try to push next time...but this last week, a wash, i sin the past.

So...if you're curious about process, this is a bit of an inside to how it works for me :)

Chapter 5

It took a week of sitting on the stool before we actually began to discuss magic. And the day and week did not go according to plan. I had heard the others girls chatting in the room at night I still understood very little, but had the impression that they were impatient.

Chapter 4

The first night I couldn’t sleep much. Everything was new, and new was scary. The room had an aroma of spice and dust. I slept on a bed, and not the ground. The softness of the mattress seemed another example of unnecessary excess. The roof prevented me from seeing the stars. But I supposed that it was for the better.

Chapter 3

The boat wobbled and groaned. We plunged into the night, and clouds rose to hide the moon and stars from me. If it weren’t for the bahga’s wuffling breaths I could have convinced myself I was alone in darkness. I thought that being on the inland sea at night felt a lot like being trapped between words. Well, at least as I would have imagined being trapped between worlds would be.

Chapter 2

He arrived on a hairy bahga that shook its head as it shuffled its paws through the sand. He war white to arm against the sun, but was slender under the piles of fabric. I saw nothing but his gray eyes, and somehow that unnerved me. I felt that I was being greated by a ghost, a vision of walking sand with storm-light eyes.

Then he reigned in his beast. It reared it’s head, sending the long gray-white locks bouncing.

Chapter 1

When spring came to the Hadhen plains, all the ViKaTogani set off to meet at the Midsummer Gathering Mound; this was my favorite time of the year. We followed the Genna-ko, who called to the Genn and got them to move in an orderly fashion with no more than the sound of her voice, the click of tongue to teeth and the pounding of the ko-staff on the dry earth. The Genn, long legged and docile, were our prize. We drank their milk, we ate their flesh, and we traded them, occasionally for the foreign goods. We didn’t need much. Our Genn gave us everything we needed.

Or so I thought.

Notes on Chiadina: Resources

Based on the map, I then select resources that would make sense. Namely, crops, lumber, fish, etc.

Because this is a fantasy and I absolutely love wold-building, I am choosing made-up names for items. I welcome anyone who wants to draw what they think any of these things might look like to e-mail me their pictures. I promise to post them!

Kwenda of the North:

Trade with Xolanh
Fish from Dwoba & Twea
Chash grains from lower Kwenda
Voi orchards--lower Kwenda
Bahga herds--Upper Kwenda
Disse wood from Dwone forest

Videsse of the North East

Resources:

Fish from Rydie and Baikessa Seas
Fish from the Ehrene Lake (Sea)
Kavar furs from the Ekida mts.
Three ports & geographic location = shipping & commerce center (potential piracy)

Lartiene of the East

Resources:
Chash grains
Fish from Baikessa and Ehrene
Trade with Jodair
Nallo Orchards
Anic vinyards
anca oil
Jolar wood
Temm orchards
Dalki, Besso, Vahg = crops
Shair, Lomi, Boona = herds

Sanara of the South

Resources:
Baikessa Straight = fish
Trade w/ Jodair
Jordelle and Hallone Lakes
Temm orchards
Fiar crops (like barley)
Fiada = (like beer)
Chash, Besso & Avikan = crops/grains
Boona and Twenni = herds

Togan of the West

Resources:
Forest & Plains & Crops
Herds: Genn (like horses), Ipha (like donkeys), Bahga (like cows)

Lumber = Disse, Jolar, Enda

Crops = Fiar, Chash, Voi, Temm

Types of crops that show up repeatedly are essential to the regional diet.
The countries that have more resources are more wealthy, and also more hierarchical. Hierarchy and agricultural surplus go together.

The realms that have the most wealth are Sanara and Lartien. Seeing as they ahre a border, it makes sense that these two places are likely either a) at war with each other or b) on the verge of conflict.

Kwenda

The fact that Kwenda has a distinct crop region and distinct pastoral region means that it is likely Kwenda is composed of two ethnic populations. This can produce off and on internal strife as the governing system attempts to force cooperation between two peoples that see themselves as distinct. Whichever group holds authority will be instantly seen as the oppressor by the unrepresented group.

Videsse

The long coastline and minimal resources make Videsse a trade center. The easy access to the outer islands mean that this people can easily have a pirate population. Videsse does not have as strong of an internal division, and so while on the fringe of the society, it is not subject to the same internal strife.

Togan

The abundance of grass plains and herd animals means that Togan is primarily pastorilist. As such, these people might not be seen as positively by the more hierarchical realms of the east. As there are some crops along the border, and trade might be common, there might be some individuals who leave Togan. The crops are likely produced on a much smaller scale in Togan than in the eastern realms. This means that it makes sense that the people would be horticulturalists rather than agriculturalists ( meaning that the emphasis is on subsistence rather than surplus) but when surplus is produced it is likely traded.

The socio-cultural and political map of Chiadina can then be developed more closely through the eyes of a particular character.

Chiadina: The Map

While it may be crude and childlike, I begin all projects with a map. I suppose I work backward. I draw the coastline, make the mountains follow the coast, the water (rivers) fall from mountain to ocean, occasionally pooling in lakes and land-bound seas. Trees follow the water. People build along bodies of water.

National boundaries follow natural features. All together you have a picture of distinct realms, with distinct geographical features.

Human society and culture is an adaptive trait formed to help us deal with environment and social pressures. So once you have a map of where people live and what resources each of your realms have, you can start to figure out who gets along and who doesn't.

The creation of who "we" are and who "they" are is intrinsic to humans. We derive some of our identity (for better or worse) from establishing what we are not. "We are capitalistic," you may've heard in the 50's, or last week-- "and thus not communist."

Same premise goes for fictional communities. The wealthy countries and those hurting for resources will be the most likely to head to war. However, the circumstances are completely different.

Then, of course, there is magic that will be tossed into the mix. I like to attach magic to a main character or strong supporting character and treat magic like a resource: it makes the magic-user political, lands them in a leadership role because they have a control of a commodity that others don't.

Of course, how important magic is in a world (how much prestige and thus authority your magical character commands) is determined by its frequency in the population, how critical it is to the commercial, governing, and political realities of the world.

You could also chose a magic that cannot cause harm. Those ones are interesting because the magical person is thrown into a whole bunch of conflicts you can't touch with more weaponized magics. So the moral, social, and psychological issues that you can explore in the character and plot development explode with potential ;-)

Tomorrow's post will be about resources and how they set up politics, culture, and such. Then on Thursday I'll take it back to the individual. after the whole world is built up, how can I reduce it to what-is-seen by my character?