Soooooooo.....

I was intending to write a real post today. Or maybe get some writing done for The White Rose.

Obviously that didn't happen.

Because I was searching through my 15 drafts - which happen to be dominated by tags and spotted a tag squishing. That included the World-Building Tag and Bibliophile Sweater Tag.

Now, it is almost time to bid sweater weather goodbye (actually, it should have been adieu long ago, it's overstayed it's welcome). So, I shall finally send this tag packing with all the other winter tags (and sweaters).

Back in February (ack! Was it that long??), Sarah @ Plain and Average tagged me for Bibliophile Sweater Tag. She is one of the dearest ladies I've run across on the blogosphere. I look forward to each of her posts, especially her book reviews and her weekly name posts. Seriously, if you don't follow her yet, you should!! You can view her post HERE.

So without further ado, let us begin!

Goodreads

Goodreads

Goodreads

Goodreads

And now that my book fix is out of the way, I shall move on to a more writerly tag....



Okay, let me be honest - I was surprised when I saw my world-building post for the Five-Part Writing Special actually go to my top ten posts. Then I thought it over and realized that people were probably reading it multiple times because of the...hem...rather heavy detail I put into it.

My dear friend Megan Chappie tagged me.   You can view her post HERE.

So, the idea of this tag is to relate up to 7 things related to your story world. No structured questions, it's more of a free-write conversation than anything.

So, I'm going to cover about seven different areas of the world of From the Cave/The White Rose that I didn't cover in the 5-Part Writing Special.

Here we go!


Fashion is fairly simple for both men and women. Practicality is stressed more than fashion, though subtle differences in rank may be denoted by dress.

The queen often sets the example for women's fashion, but the women are not duty-bound to follow it by any means. Women will wear a simple high scoop-necked gown/kirtle, a couple of petticoats and a surcoat to add a different pop of color. There is subtle shaping of the clothing, the bodice is often custom-fitted. The support garment is like a half-corset/half brassiere of sorts - the garmet sits from the base of the shoulder to the upper sternum, leaving the stomach free of confinement. Gowns are tightened by lacing and belts if needed. The only real variation in fashion for the past few centuries has been the style of the sleeves, and the patterns of the fabric. The women also wear boots and stockings up to their short drawers.

There are woman that push the envelope - like Magda, who cuts pieces out of her neckline to make it lower. Most of the time, these woman are chastised for doing such a thing.



Duventolians eat a diet that is heavier in protein and vegetables. They eat a lot of freshwater fish as well. They do like some grain based food, such as oat cakes, maize meal, and wheat bread. Fruit desserts are also very popular. Tea is the hot drink of choice. On Sacrificial Days, they will abstain from just flesh meats.

Well, fancy that. A ready made picture of a Duventolian meal.

In Aistaraina, it's a much more starch-based and green-food diet. Meat is also eaten on a daily basis, but only really at one or two meals a day. Due to excellent trading relations with Jaquru, they have a steady chocolate supply - and chocolate desserts are very common. On Sacrificial Days, they abstain from meat entirely and even some animal products like dairy.



Each household produces at least some of their own food. Because of the somewhat warm climate, Duventolilians tend to grow what we would consider summer crops here in the Eastern US: squashes, peppers, tomatoes, oats, spring wheat, yams, and purslane. They also grow trees for oil, palm and olive being the closest equivalants.

At the time of The White Rose, they are attempting to cultivate their own fish stocks - even though the ancient system of subsistence fishing and stock-watching is still employed widely. They are blessed with a fair amount of rivers that they can fish from. Sea-water fish is harder to get because not many Duventolians or Aistarainians are fishermen.

On the turf, both beef and dairy cattle are also raised. Dairy products are intermixed in. Poultry of all varieties are kept - the favorites being ducks and geese.



Aistaraina has a slightly cooler climate, so they will grow potatos, barley, winter wheat, rye, root crops, and leafy vegetables. Animal proteins come from a mix of cattle and sheep products. Nuts from Gwydion are also more plentiful than in Duventoliel because of the distance between the kingdoms. Fish is only in a salted form. Dairy products, especially cheese, are plentiful in Aistaraina. Chicken, quail and pigeon are the standard poultry animals kept.

Pigs are only kept by scattered barbarian tribes, especially of Ravndal descent. Sometimes people will sell or trade food scraps in order to obtain some other good from them. They are actually treated as wild animals for the most part.



So the Verden calendar is based on a three month season calendar. The first month of the season is called "Rising" (ex. Rising Spring.) The middle is called "High" (ex. High Summer). The last month is called "Waning" (ex. Waning Autumn).

So December, January and February in Duventolian time would be Rising Winter, High Winter, and Waning Winter.

And then time is based on a three hour division as well. The sections of the day are dawn, morning, noon, undern, evening, twilight and night. With the exception of night (which has 6 hours), each section of the day has 3 hours. They are referenced as such: 1st hour of the dawn, 3rd hour of the undern, 5th hour of the night, etc.

So dawn is equivalent to 5-8am, morning is equivalent to 8-11am, and so forth until the night hours which last from 11pm - 5am.

A random example would be 2nd hour of the undern, which is 3-4 pm in Earth time.

Oh by the way, "undern" is a very archaic term for afternoon, because afternoon just didn't make sense to me. I still have to work out what an age is, and how years are documented.....



There are 3 main musical instruments in Duventoliel:

Eija - a flute-like instrument. These can be various sizes, and usually made of wood.

Jalo - a stringed instrument. Very similar to the Renaissance instrument viola de gamba, which you can listen to in the video below.



Drums - self-explanatory.

There is a lot of singing as well - the voice is the main instrument, actually. LOL.

The style of the music...well, let's see.

Simple folk songs and Celtic rhythms come to mind. Subjects often revolve around history, legends, daily life, with some religious overtones as well.

Sacred music is also intermixed into social settings, which can range from being simple to very elaborate. The Duventolians are very pious, and keep religion to the forefront as much as they can.



Nobles and royalty have courier liveryman who pass written messages back and forth. There are written newspaper/leaflet like papers that give public announcements, as well as heralds. And word of mouth is still probably the fastest way news gets spread.


Now of course, I can't just let this little tag just sit around....heehee.

So, I shall pass it along to:

Lila Kims @ The Red-Hooded Writer
Anna C.S. @ A World Through Her Heart
Mary Katherine @ Sarcastic Scribblings

Feel free to steal if you need to work on world-building for your novel/Camp NaNo piece!

And now, I believe I shall curl up with a book or something.....

Scribblingly yours,

Catherine