Apparently I had this all written up, but never posted it. It continues the 30 Days Of World Building exercise I had started. I'm going to have to accelerate this if I want to use Seekretya so I had better get started. I'm also going to have to limit myself to the prescribed 15 minutes for each exercise.
30 Days of World Building gives this (http://www.web-writer.net/fantasy/days/days/08.html )as the exercise for Day 8.
It really boils down to:
1. Mark resource areas on your map
• Although Magic is the greatest resource of course, it is primarily controlled by the Dragons. Elfs make Magical Artifacts, Wizards cast spells and use Magic, there are others, but the Dragons have the real control. There have been wars over the little that the Dragons don't control, but the Dragons always have the last say, if they actually speak.
• Starting at the far north, the rolling, green hills and wide, fertile valleys of the Confedaracy of Liit produce veggies, wool, milk, cheese, and grains. The Lesertrols are the main traders, with the Pixees tending flocks and Spriits growing the vegetables and fruit. The humans grow the wheat, corn, barley and rye. The Spriits also grow grapes and make fine wine and cider.
• To the east, traveling clockwise, is the golden land of the Elfs, Yelooland. The Elfs that live there produce Magical potions and small Magic Artifacts. They are renowned artisans who paint, make music, write poetry, and dance. They have perhaps the largest treasure trove of Magical Artifacts from the old times, outside of the Dragon hordes. There are also several Magic Groves in Yelooland tended by the Treegiants. The Elfs don’t like it but the mills are run by the Wudtrols as well. The Elfs take great satisfaction in taking the prepared wood from the Trols to carve and create magic staves and wands.
• The green lands: Greenpark, Greenwood and Greenland are very alpine. They mostly trade between themselves and try to stay out of the business of other lands.
• Akwaland is renowned for its stone. The marble, granite, shale, slate, quartz, limestone, and coal found there are the best in the lands and the Stoontrols love to mine and carve it. The land is dotted with rivers, streams and ponds. There are several natural springs and the waters are known as the finest in the land as well. It’s this water that is used for the base of the finest beers of The Confederacy. Because of all the intermittent waterways, Akwaland is also inundated with Bluufae.
• The Dark Empire, as I mentioned earlier is famous for its mercenaries. There are also great stones, iron, copper, zinc and tin in this land and they readily accept both Stoontrols and Dwarfs (though Dwarfs to a lesser extent) to commute to mines, as long as they stay out of Graatrol politics and the Graatrols get a substantial cut of the profits. They must import almost all their meat, and a large percentage of their other food stuffs.
• Bluudland, the home of the Dwarfs is, as you might imagine, loaded with precious metals and gems. This is precisely why the Dwarfs settled there when they first arrived in Seekretya. The Dwarfs are artisans in jewelry and armor making. While the Elfs make small Magical Artifacts, and the Imps make clockwork devices, the Dwarfs make heavy machinery as well as their beautiful and often magical jewelry. They, much like their neighbors, the Graatrols, let their forests and meadows grow wild and import their foods, except meat. Dwarf love to hunt and because their lands are uncultured (at least on the surface) the whole of their land is a game park.
• Finally we come to Oranjland. The Imps that live there are renowned for their chocolates, pastries, and mechanical devices. They build the most intricate machines, run on clockwork springs, steam, wind and water. They take the metals from the Dwarfs, the lumber from the Wudtrols and combine them into useful and delightful devices both magical non-magical. Imps also travel far and wide as mechanics.
2. Check your timeline for pressure points caused by resource needs
• Wars of the Land (1000AD - 1600) -
From 1000 to 1600 the magical people had been coming to Seekretya, and jostling for positions. These long years of struggle were called the War of the Land. By 1600 most of the land had been carved out and only the Dark Empire and what would become the Confederacy of Liit were still locked in war. The Greatrols settled themselves into the Empire, but the Confederacy was not established until the final battle, called the Five Bloody Dawns and ultimately the involvement of the Dragons, and the First Treaty of Obsideeopolis.
• War of the Bling (1700 - 1705) -
There was a quiet, peaceful time from 1600 until 1700 when it was realized that all the Magical Artifacts had arrived and the arguments of who should get what flared up into the War of the Bling. This war lasted for five years and ended with the Battle for the Belt and the establishment of the Wizard System.
• War of the Trees (1880) -
For a very long time the Elves had smuggled magic seeds into Seekretya. These seeds were for the Magical Trees.
Magical Trees were not drawn into Seekretya, they are in fact, the only thing that can control Dragon Magic, they don't produce their own magic, but they do influence, magnify, focus and refine Magic.
The Elves had been growing Magical Groves for the purpose of using the Trees to take over all Magic. The Wizards slipped in their own mission by getting embroiled in the conflict.
In the end the War of the Trees was ended with the rise of the Woodans. The Woodan members crossed all races (except Dragons) and consisted of a cult who worshiped and loved the trees. The Wudtrols, Forest Elfs, and Treegiants split off of their Ethnogroups and started new ones who were ultimately entrusted with the keeping of the Magical Trees and Groves.
Wudtrols don't have their own land, but live throughout all the lands as sawmill owners. The Forest Elfs are woodcarvers, and the Treegiants are treeherds.
3. Which groups care about which resources?
• See above.
5 comments:
I think you are making this writing thing more complicated than it should be. BUT then, I am not a writer. How about Skreeyat? and the native peoples and language would be Skreeyan?
Another thought, ask your kids to come up with names, you might be surprised.
Well, it is an exercise so I'm trying to follow the rules, I've been known to follow rules beyond what would normally be expected.
Also, I like world building and coming up with background etc. Sometimes I wish that's all it was. I wonder if ultimately I could just write fictional travel guides or history books.
I have asked my kids and they are indifferent in this case. It is only on VERY rare occasion that suggestions that come from outside my head spark my interest. This suggestion from MMC (I know who that is and I know exactly what he means) has sparked my interest and I have been working up some of that, but I had gotten so far already with this world and the children's fantasy is leading in the polls.
I had seen the web-writer.net link in your post, but I didn't go check it out, however, I did know that this was an "exercise". Hmm...and the "30 days of world building" sounded like being God in a literary sense. As I said prior, I am not a writer but I have made attempts for 30 years. I totally get the world building thing. It takes me back to when I read Tolkien for the first time when I was 11 or 12. Shortly after that I created a map of my own "world", and so it began. I read a lot (a lot) of science fiction/fantasy for years after, but tied in with classic poetry and a marginal interest in English Lit. I had many ideas and background and outlines, but I also had an inkling that I was NOT cut out for writing prose.
Rules are a good thing, except perhaps in writing where it may lead to conformity, uniformity or lack of soul. However, if I may say so, I think you have enough individual uniqueness (is that redundant?) to make a good go of it even with the rules. Don't give up yet. (On your poll, I did vote a couple times for you to write children's fantasy.)
"Vote early and vote often" is what we say here in Chicago.
Thanks.
Rules are the framework from which we work. It would be difficult to think outside the box without knowing where the box is, or that there even is a box.
Thank you for the comment on my unique qualities, I think that is one of the prime virtues I hold most dear, and strive for.
My degree is in Anthropology and I just love looking at, and creating models for cultures and how they interact. I think it drives a lot of my writing, especially this kind.
Forgot to say that sometimes my comments end up sounding retarded, because when I try to be brief, I forget that the person reading does not know my background, or where I'm coming from. For example, the rules and the box are mainstays to me, I only started questioning these after turning 40.
Your degree in Anthropology tied in with your time deployed in the cradle of civilization, together with military figures that have crossed your path, as well as friends and family members for developing a character base, might be fuel for a great story if you could work these into one of the worlds you have created. Now I've got me thinking too.
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