Hello Everyone!

So I got wickedly behind on Preptober because my schedule at work has increased steadily. So I'm working to combine a few of the prompts.


Prompt 5:


While there are definitely music involved with almost every celebration and holiday preparations, I'm not certain whether there is actually any celebrations centered around music. Will need to investigate that further.



Prompt 6:




That would be a solid no again. Superstitions are strictly forbidden in Verden, in accordance to the laws of the Ecclesia. Even Ravndal tends to stay away from superstition. The only group that is actively superstitious is the Taika and as I mentioned, they are not musical by any means.

I'll be back again soon with some more!

Scribbingly yours,

Catherine

Hello everyone!!

So I'm combining two Preptober prompts into one today because the answers are so short....and I'm behind again.

But then, what else is new?


Prompt 3:



At risk of repeating the answer to my last prompt....I would say that music is viewed as a common good. There is no culture that doesn't have some sort of music, though I dare say most people of Verden would view Ravndal's music as decidingly crude and not worthy to called such.

In Duventoliel, Ceberlandon, and Shaltei; music is very much embedded into civilized culture. Most children are schooled in music, there are lots of folk musicians, and it is considered a high accomplishment to be able to play an instrument.

In Gwydion, Aistaraina, and Jaqaru; music is more of an entertainment form. It's the basis of dances and some story-telling. It's also a way to pass the long winter evenings. The military of Aistaraina also uses the pibroch for marching music to lift up the spirits of the men.

In Maisaka, they make music to help pass the work along. Ravndal's music is more work chants than anything else. 

The Taika will use some music to entice people, but they typically don't make music for themselves.



Prompt 4:



That would be a solid no.

The only peoples that wield any form of magic is the Taika, and I already mentioned that they are not a musical people.


Ooops! Have to run now, we're going to the orchard today to pick up our yearly supply of apples! 

Scribbingly yours,

Catherine

Hey y'all!

Yes, I know, second post of the day, but this was a really quick one and I was behind anyway.

Today's Preptober prompt is...




I'm going to stick with just Duventoliel at this point, but this probably extend to the rest of the world too.

Music is, for all the cultures, a means of relief. It's entertainment. It's a way to pass down stories. It's great for teaching math, believe it or not.

I guess music impacts Verden the same as it does in any other world?

How does music impact your world? 

Scribbingly yours,

Catherine

Hello all!!

It's the start of Preptober! I decided to paticipate this year to help with the re-plot of The White Rose and to fill in any spots in which I had missed.

Today's (or should I say yesterday's) prompt is.....

To see the original post, CLICK HERE.

So, contrary to other areas of my world-building and to my musical self....I didn't really develop this area of Verden very well?

But this is a perfect opportunity to do so! So, I shall rummage through my Pinterest and get some ideas flowing here....

*Catherine flies about the stage, opening cabinets and flinging all sorts of strange instruments around.*

*Catherine mulls over them and examines the labels for several minutes*

AH! I think we've got something here....



When I first drafted up ideas for Verden, I wrote down three things for instruments - eijas, jalos and drums - and never really got much further. It was kinda a background thing, I guess?

I've determined by further research that these are the Duventolian names for these instruments. They are, of course, known by other names in their respective cultures, but for the sake of clarity, we're sticking with one set of vocabulary (which is good because I don't know what other words there are...)




Eijas (A-yas) are the woodwinds of Verden. They are similar to either recorders or flutes, depending on the culture. They are often made with local wood, producing a regional sound for each one. The word eija is Finnish for "happy", in case anyone was curious.

In Duventoliel, eijas are small and produce a high, chipper sound. They are often of dark-stained wood and have carvings all over them. These carvings are of a lighter color, and often have ethnic symbols over them, which can include old runes or pictographs. They are based on soprano recorders.

In Aistaraina, eijas are even smaller, and produce the highest sound of all the eijas. They are not decorated, and great care is taken of them. They are based on the Celtic whistles.   

In Ceberlandon, eijas are held/blown out to the side, and have a complicated series of keys on them. They have a high pitch, often described as in between the Duventolian and Aistarainan eijas. They are based on the modern flute.

In Gwydion, eijas are much bigger and blown straight down. Some have keys and some don't. They have a mid-range pitch. They are based on alto and tenor recorders.

In Jaqaru, eijas are thick and produce a haunting mellow sound. They have a griffin carving tied with leather near the mouthpiece, and are sometimes decorated with feathers and other things from nature. They are based on the Native American flutes.

In Maisaka, eijas are long and not a straight tube but thicker on one end. They produce a deep mellow sound and are held/blown out to the side rather than straight down. They are based on one style of African flute.

In Shaltei, eijas are long and thick, and blown straight down. They are thicker at the bottom. They produce a deep sound, and a haunting quality similar to the Jaqaru flutes. They are based on the Shakuhachi flutes from Japan.

In Ravndal, eijas are thick, extremely long and produces the deepest sound of any eija. They have a unearthly tone that echos around a room. It is often exquisitely carved with various ethnic designs. They are based on the Austrailian didgeridoo.




These are the stringed instruments of Verden. They are also made of wood, often furnished with gut or wire strings, depending on the countries resources. Jalo is Finnish for "noble, gracious".

In Duventoliel, a jalo is a big bodied cello-like instrument with 6 strings. It produces a rich deep tone. It is played by sitting the instrument between the legs of the player and pulling the bow across the gut strings. It is based on the viola de gamba. There is a also a ladies guitar-like jalo, which produces a more mellow, vibrating sound for instrumental playing. This latter one is based on the baglama, a Turkish instrument.

In Aistariana, they have two different jalos. One is a smaller version of a Duventolian jalo, still with the six strings, but played up on the shoulder rather than in the lap. It is based on the violin.
The other jalo is one where it is a set of strings are stretched between a frame and backed by a fretboard and wooden body. This instrument is based on the old-fashioned lyre-guitar.

In Ceberlandon, they also have two different jalos. One is that smaller bowed jalo I mentioned from Aistarianan culture.
The other jalo is a medium-bodied instrument with a fretboard and eight strings. The strings are plucked and the fingers are held in combinations on the fretboard to produce different notes. It is based on the guitar.

In Gwydion, they have a circular bodied jalo with a long fretboard similar to the Ceberlandonian guitar. But this jalo has a more chipper sound when plucked rather than the mellow sounds of either the Aistarainan or Ceberlandonian jalos. It is based on the modern banjo.

In Jaqaru, it is very difficult to keep a jalo because of the climate. They have one stringed instrument that is rarely made or played. It's narrow-bodied, has only three strings and is laid on the player lap. It is played by strumming the strings with a feather end. It has a deep sound, and only used for a drone if needed. It's based on the mountain dulcimer.

In Maisaka, jalos (known as koras there) are upright instruments with a large round body and many many strings. Larger strings produce lower notes while shorter strings behind them produce the higher notes. The body is placed between the players knees while the neck extend up. The strings are plucked individually by the fingers. It is based on the actual kora, found in African music.

In Shaltei, jalos are made from a small body and a long neck. The two strings are stretched between them, and it is played with a long bow. The player places his fingers on various points of the string to create different notes. It is based on the Chinese erhu.




This concept is rather self-explanatory, but there are differing styles of drums among the cultures. Drums can either be plain or decorated, depending on the person.

Duventolian drums are medium size drums that produce a bright tapping sound. Based on the modern snare drums.

Aistarainan hand drums are about the size of a large tamborine, and are made with sheepskin stretched over a wooden frame. They are hit with a small wooden stick, which twirls in the players hand. They are based on modern bodrans. They will also use Duventolian style drums as well.

In Ceberlandon, drums are not as popular as other instruments but they will utilize an Aistarainan style drum occasionally.

In Gwydion, drums are bigger, oval shaped and have a medium pitch to them. They are based on American Tom drums.

Jaqaru drums are typically the size of a medium-sized circular table, but can also be bigger. They are made of leather over a wooden frame, and hit with light-deep strokes of hard circular mallets. They are often on stand.

Maisakan drums are made of goat hide stretched over wooden frames. Most follow an oval shape, and can range from high to low sounds when hit.

Shaltei has deep, bass drums, which are accented by a large gong. They are always on a stand

Ravndal also has very deep large drums, but these can be carried like a modern bass drum.

For the Taika, a nomadic tribe of gypsies, there is a tamborine-like instrument that serves as their only source of music. 




Other instruments of note:

sarvi - a Duventolian instrument made of silver that produces a bright sound. Based on the trumpet, the name comes from the Finnish word for "horn".

pibroch - an Aistaranian instrument with four top pipes that produce a deep tone, a blowpipe, a pipe on the bottom where the notes are, and a bag connecting them all together. They only produce one octave of notes with no sharps or flats, and they must have a reed in the bottom pipe, which is known as a chanter. It is played by inflating the bag and squeezing the air through all the pipes, moving the fingers in formation of the notes. And if I have to tell you what I based this off of, you clearly are not Scottish.

acordio - a Ceberlandonian instrument that is played by squeezing and pulling a bag, holding the fingers over various keys. It is based on the concertina, the name comes from the Catalan name for accordion.

ubada - a Maisakan instrument that is made of a gourd filled with beans. Used as a percussion instrument. The name is based off of the Somalian name for gourd (ubbada).

clavi - a Ceberlandonian instrument that is made of hammered strings and keys in a large box. The player presses a series of keys to produce notes. Based on the clavichord and modern piano.




In Duventoliel, simple folk songs and Celtic/Norse rhythms come to mind. Subjects often revolve around history, legends, daily life, with some religious overtones as well. There is a lot of singing.

In Aistaraina, music is upbeat and fast. They love a good dance. They often sing about women, battle, and also have slower songs about life at home, though they tend to be much more instrumental.

In Ceberlandon, the music has more of what we would call almost a classical or operatic feel. They sing of various subjects, often in other languages.

In Gwydion, the music is similar in style to neighboring Duventoliel, but there are more instrumental music.

In Maisaka, the music is driven by a strong beat/rhythm, with happy singing. They are excellent drummers.

In Jaqaru, the music can range from slow and uplifting to fast for dancing. Many of the Tribes will host social dances and feature multiple bands of musicians.

In Shaltei, it is very ethereal. Light, floaty instrumental music denotes their culture. The only singing is a slow, meditative chant-like tone that is used for religious purposes.

In Ravndal, it is rhythm, rhythm, rhythm. There is not really much singing, more like chanting. There is no real refinement in this society, so even social songs are loud, boisterous affairs. They chant about everything under the sun, some of which cannot be played for more polite audiences.



*pant pant*

Well, that should satisfy the most curious of any fan. It would be interesting if I even used half of this stuff....

Anyone else participating in Preptober this month? What kind of music is in your WIPs? 

Scribbingly yours,

Catherine

Hello all!

So I wasn't expecting to pick up my map again once I got to the stage that I last showed you. After all, I had worked well over 10 hours on it, you would think that I would have gotten tired of it.

Well, I must have caught some sort of map-making bug. Or maybe it was the realization that continents don't do me much good. After all, where are the borders? Where are the cities? What about all the cool geographical features?

You see, I didn't realize until too late that there is a whole geographical section in the Roll for Fantasy Map Maker. Had I realized that, and if it didn't require me to re-jigsaw the country in question back on there, and if the scaling had been right...well, there may have been a completely different map to show you.

However, I fell down a completely different rabbit hole.

You see, I couldn't really steal any of the symbols on the mapmaker. For one, that would be rather immoral (there are such things as copyrights, after all), and for another, they wouldn't transfer over very well.

And so I looked for another solution. And where did I go?

Back to YouTube and the GIMP mapping tutorials.

Now, I still didn't quite get all what they were doing with the water or the land and all the layer stuff (still a little over my head) BUT....

I discovered these little tools called "brushes" that can be used for both Photoshop and GIMP. They were like little stamps that you could stick on your picture. All you need to do is download the set, select the ABR file, and stick it in the "brushes" folder, which will be on your hard-drive under users/program files/gimp 2.8. Once you refresh the brushes on GIMP, you should be able to access them.

Anyway, when I saw how the brushes worked, I immediately looked for them. Specifically, ones that were licensed for use in both personal and commercial projects.

(Side note: it's extremely important that you check the licensing requirements for free fonts, free brushes, photographs and other media - especially if you indie-publish. The last thing you need is a copyright lawsuit!)

Anyway, there are quite a few artists that have created "brush packs" of symbols that are commonly used on maps - often called Cartography Brushes. Each set is different, but most include symbols for cities, natural things like mountains and trees, etc.

But I'm telling you now, you don't need to look further than K.M. Alexander's Free Stuff Page, which you can access HERE. 

Because, he has created not one but NINE brush sets. They are created from real map symbols, most from maps dating from the 1600s and 1700s. They really work well for any kind of fantasy map, and even for historical fiction as well!
And the best part - IT IS FREE. For commercial use as well as personal! And they are amazing! Seriously, the workmanship is really awesome, I'm shocked that he's not selling the things. I mean, the poor broke college graduate part of me was super grateful, but STILL. He'd make a killing if he did, I'm sure.

So I may have gotten a little obsessed, because I picked up six of the nine sets. *hides*

BUT - there is such a variety with all of them that it is really hard not to collect them. I think I spent an hour or so just playing around with the different brushes, especially the sizing of them. I will say, that if you're using GIMP, for goodness sake, use the brushes when you're in the paintbrush mode. I tried it in airbrush mode and it didn't work at all!

Readers: Okay, enough with the brushes, Catherine. We get it! We came to see MAPs?! 

Oh right, yes. Sorry. Moving on!

So the first thing that I did was to open the map up in Paint again and start to work on the rivers. I chose Paint for this step because I had better chance of matching the color, and the pencil in Paint was much easier to control. That and I could pixelate the banks of the river so they had shadows so they looked like real rivers - see, there was reason why I paid attention to these things!

I placed a lot of random river deltas, especially in the area of Jaqaru, so those were interesting to course out. Not all the rivers and lakes are actually in, even at this very moment. This is because regions and cities still haven't been plotted yet, and I really don't need a town in the middle of a future lake. I mean, that's traumatic enough in real life!

Once the main rivers were coursed, it suddenly cemented several different things. For one, Jaqaru is now proven to have a rainforest - and one of the rivers serves as a border to Shaltei. Another river-infested country proved to be Ceberlandon - but that makes sense since there is a lot of water-powered manufacturing there.

I next made the border lines to delineate all of the countries.



Okay the rivers are harder to see than I thought. But I'll walk you guys through where everything is:

On the northern continent, Shaltei is on the far left side. In between the river that stretches the entire continent and the brown line is Jaqaru. On the right side is Maisaka.

On the southern continent, Ceberlandon is made up of the island and the right side up to that brown line. The small country above it is Gwydion. To the immediate left of both is Aistaraina. And to the north is Duventoliel, the country in which our story is based in.
And then Ravndal is on the islands off Duventoliel's coast.

Now, those border lines are really ugly. And it makes much more sense when there is a physical border and not a silly imaginary line, anyway. And so, off to find what kind of physical borders I can come up with....

Hello all!

It is I, your friendly neighborhood writer blogger, who seems to be on a terrible chatting streak as of late. I'm not sure what fairy blessed me or what dark fairy disappeared, but be forewarned that there is another longish post.

Where was I in this again? Oh yes, I was going to explain why I even attempted to make a map in the first place. And then I got sidetracked by a huge tangent in which the ins and outs of a rather obscure map-making site got a too thorough of an explanation.

Now as I was attempting to explain before my detail-happy muse took over....I never really thought book maps to be, well, useful. I never really studied the maps in either Tolkien's Lord of the Rings or Christopher Paolini's Eragon. I relied on the prose to tell me where the characters were. Which explains why I often had to reread several paragraphs.

It wasn't until I was creating Verden's world then I realized that, well, I had to establish some sort of physical guide. Distances had to be figured, weather seasons had to be determined and my characters were suddenly referring to landmarks that I had no idea where they were. Hence for author sanity, a map was needed.

Before I set about making this map, I checked my notes....and found these mapping guidelines:

• Two landmasses were separated in the middle by a sea, known as The Sea of Saoirse-Tesni. What a mouthful...someone may need to fix that one. 
• Duventoliel had a temperate climate, but was near Verden's equator. It's a lot warmer than many of the countries. 
• Duventoliel was on the northern end of one of the landmasses. Think like South America. 
• Aistaraina and Duventoliel bordered each other
• Aistaraina and Ceberlandon bordered each other. 
• Gwydion was nearby both Aistaraina and Ceberlandon
• Maisaka was the closest country to Duventoliel from across the sea 
• And who knew where Jaqaru, Shaltei and Ravndal were located. Though there are cultural hints that Ravndal was near Duventoliel. 

Greetings to you from the cave!

In spite of the fact that my garden is being overtaken by weeds and piles of clutter are threatening to trap me at every turn, I've managed to log at least 42 hours towards my goal of 60 for Camp NaNo. If that doesn't tell you my order of priorities, I'm not sure what will.

Lately, I've been embroiled in a major aesthetics project for The White Rose. One that is keeping me up wayyy too late in the night. I even broke my 2 am rule for this thing.

So what was it that kept my interest for well over 10 hours now?

Well, it is....of all things....a map.

For most of my writing, I never really bothered with creating maps. Most of my stories were either historical fiction or contemporary - which were set in real places. This is true of stories like Hidden Seeds (Dark Age Wales), Rose of Culmore (19th Century Ireland), and Plain and Simple Truth (21st Century Lancaster, PA).

That got changed when I started dabbling into fantasy.

I first ran across the idea of creating a map when I was writing the first Meet the Books! linkup (which you can view HERE), hosted by my dear friend Belle Anne @ World of Ink and Paper. A few other participants would put their hand-drawn maps as answers for that question, and I thought that was a neat idea....one that I really wanted to try out. 

Except for one rather small thing....

I can't draw well.

It's not that I don't know how to draw. I have consulted a few drawing books, and I took a drawing elective in high school. I do like to draw occasionally, particularly animals and flowers.

My biggest issue is scale. Computer sizing and scaling has spoiled me exceedingly. I can't draw much to scale to save my little skin. I will be the first to admit that half of my drawings for my high school class were basically tracings of photographs. And well, I can't trace something that doesn't exist, really. With my luck, I would have drawn one landmass as a ginormous thing, and the other would have a corner....when both are supposed to be equal. 

So, drawing the map myself was out of the question. Hiring someone to draw it for me, even for food, wasn't a really good option for me either. Being broke really does have it's downsides, peeps.

Hence, to find an online map creator I went.

I made two major attempts, the most recent happening this week. I tried sites like Autorealm, Inkarnate, and other fantasy map creators. Most were aimed at gamers rather than authors, so I wasn't thrilled with the quality of the product (not realistic enough) or ease of use (wayyyy too many numbers and not enough dials working). Nor was I comfortable with creating an account for a website that I was only going to use a few times. And others such as Cartographer's Guild required payment and there was no way I was shelling out Scrivener prices for something that I wasn't going to use often.

I had GIMP on my computer already, and I tried researching tutorials on how to create maps on there. But again, the language was wayyyy above my head. I may be conversant in standard computer language, but throw in the graphic dialect and I'm sunk.

It was at this point that I found Roll for Fantasy's map creator, which you can find HERE. 

When I first researched it, the map creator seemed to be too complicated for my liking. I wasn't wild about how the site was laid out and the buttons didn't seem to work at first. The fact that it's a grid system didn't help matters.

But finding no better alternative after two separate searches, I decided to try to play with it. After all, it was free, required no account, and didn't have all the RPG jargon that made me nervous (some RPG games, including DnD, have some really dubious moral stuff about them that just....doesn't sit very well on my conscience)  

After actually reading the instructions on how to use the dumb thing (who knew those were important?) I set to work playing around with shapes.

I will warn you all now - whoever picks this cartographer site better really likes jigsaw puzzles. Because that's what it it's set up as.

All the individual pieces don't always match up with each other 100%. So it is possible to have a coastline end abruptly in a sort of funny shaped peninsula if the corner edge you picked doesn't match up on both ends. Hence, there is a lot of trial and error.

See what I mean? Created using Roll for Fantasy Map Creator

Oh yes, and there is the olive green water. Gross, ain't it?

The great thing about this map creator that a realistic map can be achieved. I was able to create a really awesome looking world map, which included river deltas, archipelagos (island chains) and other cool stuff. The image can then be taken to another editor like GIMP, where it can be re-colorized and edited to look even more realistic. I'm not 100% sure, but I think the pieces were created using real coastline shapes...I'm sure I recognized several edges from England, France and other countries.

The drain is that it is INCREDIBLY time consuming. And the canvas is kinda limited on size and scale. I also have not been able to figure out the save and reload functions either, so I've been screenshot-saving all of my work and then having to reconstruct it - an extremely tedious task that I will touch on later on.

I've found it's best if one continent was drafted at a time, and then saving blank grids so that the world can be reconstructed in GIMP. And, if at all possible, set aside enough time to get it completely finished at once.

*pauses to catch breath*

*looks up*

Welp. I did it again. I guess this is another two parter! (though I'm sure you figured it out by now, seeing as how I have rather revealing titles *shifts eyes*) 

In the second part (and it will only be a second part, I promise!) I'll go through the actual map creation process and show you, finally, what my world of Verden looks like.

Scribbingly yours,

Catherine

Hello everyone!

Can you believe that it's now one whole week into Camp NaNo?

So far, despite the fact that the scale of the project is starting to freak me out a lot, I'm doing well on my hours. I've currently completed 9 hours out of my goal of 30.

And as of the end of the day today, I have worked at least one hour on each of the 7 WIPs. Even if I spend the bulk of the rest of Camp on 3 or 4 works, I can now safely say I worked on all 7 WIPs as a I promised I would!

Now, let the serious transcription begin....

WIP of the Day:

Mock Cover to change this month!

What I did:

World-building!

Actually...it was more "finding the world-building". You see, I sort of crafted the world of SOI between blog posts, and the actual writing snippets. I have yet to find any actual world-building notes in my stash.

Nearly every major world-building category was at least touched on in the ~6000 word draft of SOI (or it was mentioned outside of writing - it is scary how little details could easily slip into blog posts and never make it into the actual world-building notes....). At this point, it's not nearly as detailed as you readers have grown to expect from me - I need more time with it!

I do have an interesting twist in the world-building. Even though it's based in Medieval Wales, I did change a few things. One was laws of succession to children.

You see, Wales allowed greater recognition of illegitimate children as a culture. They were allowed to own property and were not nearly as ostracized as in other cultures.

However, illegitimate children are often denied the rights to thrones, since one of the parents isn't of royal blood in most Catholic/European circles. This proved to be an interesting concept to play with - where do my characters lie on this issue?

Well, to give you an idea, here is a recent proclamation from Glywysing:

  “Let it be known….that in the laws of succession for the throne of Glywysing, it shall be declared that if a king marry for a second time while he has issue from the first, the issue of the first marriage will maintain being first dynastic heirs.
“Let it be also known, that any woman who is born out of wedlock is not eligible to be a spouse of a king or noble of Glywysing. If any union should be made, the offspring are also denied accession rights to the throne or estate. 

This sets up a huge conflict in this - with this new law, my villian is now stripped of her title and rank and what she wants (the throne) is now in the hands of her greatest enemy (which is my MC, Eirwen). Cue the jealousy. Let the evil plotting begin!

Okay....enough talking about my stuff. After a week, y'all are bound to be tired of it. It's YOUR TURN to talk!!! 

How is your Camp project going, if you are participating? What projects have you all been working on? What is your favorite part of drafting - worldbuilding, characters, plot or aesthetics? 

Scribblingly yours,

Catherine

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

Well, there was SUPPOSED to be a post on Tuesday....

Obviously that didn't happen.

Oh yes. I have a partial schedule now.

Every Tuesday, I'm going to do a tag post. Taggy Tuesday, I'm calling it.

Now, why am I (being notoriously bad with schedules and deadlines this past year) attempting this madness?

I assure you, it was for dire reasons.

Between now and this time last week, I managed to acquire 2 more tags. Bringing the grand total up to....10. Not counting the next 4 tags of this series. Even doing double and triple tag posts (which is going to have to happen anyway) is not going to clear it before April. Especially if I keep missing them like I did this week. *grumbles*

Hence, the need for a schedule. I picked Tuesday in case Beautiful People comes back, or I decide to do Top Ten Tuesday again (which I haven't done in forever).

But enough chit-chatting!

There is a whole new world to explore! Because today is the day that I get to introduce the story world of my WIP, The White Rose!

Let us be off!




The simplistic, cleanly beauty of the surrounding landscape. Full of variety of colors and shapes. It is quiet with the exception of an occasional strain from an eija (which is a small wooden flute) or a bird chirping nearby.


Well...I suppose it would be a mix of England, Scotland and Nevada. I'm not sure how else to describe it.

England and Scotland give that Celtic/Germanic feel, but neither one of those climates has the mountains of silver, whereas Nevada does.

So imagine the western coast being like an English beach....




and then for most of the inland being a mix between northern England and Scotland, with a fair amount of rivers.




and then in the northwest the terrain changes to sparsely vegetated flatland before shooting up into large gray mountain ranges. These are the Fihells Sidabras, in English, known as the Silver Mountains. 



I'm still working on the rest of the kingdoms and states.....

Exotic food is often given as a gift in Duventoliel, as well as choice wines and other exotic alcoholic beverages.

The traditional gift between soveriegns for the Karala Games is the Saoirse-Tesni shrimp. This shrimp lives in the warmest waters of the Sea of Saoirse-Tesni, often near undersea volcanos and underwater cliffs. Divers take small nets down to these cliffs to harvest them.

Because of the relatively small habitat, the dangers of harvesting it, and the difficulty in packaging and transporting it...it's a rare delicacy in any case. 

One other exotic food is the Gwydion chestnut, also known as a sweet chestnut. They are bigger than the average chestnut, have more sugars present and are a little softer than ordinary chestnuts. The husks also have less tannins so the bitterness is dimished. These can only be grown in the Woods of Gwydion, in the low kingdom of Tawarthion (which borders Aistaraina to the north and Ceberlandon to the south).



Believe it or not, Duventoliel honors it's working class and working by the sweat of it's brow. There is more money in working as a laborer than being a manager. Most landowners will eliminate the manager and just manage it themselves. The expenses and workers wages eat almost all of the sale profits. But at least the workers all have good sound houses, plenty of food and can afford medical care and even a little savings.

There is a small number of nobles, but they are also contributors to society. There are the standard servants, and it is considered a high honor among the middle and poorer classes to be chosen for the royal household (a status). There are no nobles ladies-in-waiting for the royal women in Duventoliel, but there are trusted maids.

The class structure isn't really discussed in the story, except for the question of royals marrying commoners, as it is done in Ceberlandon, the third "high" kingdom.



Laziness, frivolty, deception and pride are shunned in Duventoliel. Tanned skin is valued more because it means that you are a hard laborer.

The good of the kingdom is always stressed above personal convictions when it comes to passing down the throne. But it is the opposite in marriages. The king the undisputed head of the kingdom, the queen the undisputed heart of the kingdom. And nary shall the roles be switched, as they are equal in dignity but complimentary in role.

Duventoliel society values honesty, transparency, and purity pretty highly. As well as chivalry.

They also highly value piety. 99% of the citizens, including the royal household, carry a paderau with them at all times. They go to church daily if they can and even the royals are heavily involved with fostering community life in the parishes of Duventoliel.

A paderau....also known as a Rosary :)

The main location is Castle Sidabras, the home of the Sigurdnirs and the headquarters of the Karala Games. There is some moving around to a large arena in Sidabras (the capital of Duventoliel), and to Aistaraina.

At Castle Sidabras, there are extensive gardens, with a few trees and streams. There are a couple of groves of trees – one being a grove of linden trees. There are gentle rolling slopes in the ground, with some flat sections. The city of Sidebras, the capital of Duventoliel, is a few miles off in the distance because the Castle Sidebras is surrounded by three large estate farms.



Smell of fields outside while inside it’s more of a dank, and musty smell. A lot of the people have the windows open for the fresh air. There are several flowerbeds around, especially near the princesses’ wing. It is especially prevalent near Alvilda’s room. Though you can smell the white rose bushes around some the castle ballrooms and especially in Janina’s room.



Duventoliel is known for the silver trade. The silver industry is still based in Sidabras, even though the production is based in other cities in Duventoliel. Aistaraina is known for the jasna or glass trade. Ceberlandon is known for it's paper and books. Each kingdom and state has it's primary export and several smaller exports. Food is generally not exported unless it is exotic, like the Saoirse-Tesni shrimp or the Gwydion chestnuts.

Trade is either done in inland market cities or in port markets.

Countries may also interact with each other during international social events such as the Karala Games, as well as annual diplomatic visits. But the bulk of the interaction is through trade.



At last! I can explain the Karala Games!

Known also as the Queen's Games (because it was named for the first queen of Duventoliel), it is a tournament of games to gauge a lord or sovereign’s strength, chivalry, and character. The Games last several weeks, in which the “bride” known as the Blue Star, mingles in with the contestants and gets to know them on a personal level. The champion is determined by the princess, and they will set up an official courtship.

The particular events that are to be held are chosen by the Blue Star - often to test traits that are complimentary to hers. For example, one potential event is the horse taming - an event that requires gentleness, firmness, and patience. If a woman has a fiery temper, these traits are necessary in order to bear it.

The Karala Games are only held when a girl of royal descent is:
 a) of appropriate age (which by Duventoliel standards, is 3 years after the girl's Moon Reckoning...which is the start of the monthly cycle in)
b) of appropriate maturity (it takes great strength of character to be a queen or high noble).
c) has no previous marital arrangements (such as an engagement)

There is also one other tradition that is a hallmark to all the "high" kingdoms: The Unstained Ring.


Above is what I imagine Janina's Unstained Ring to look like.

Crafted by the Angelas, (or Angels, as we call them) these rings of silver are inlaid with many stones corresponding to the month in which the girl was born. After a girl receives the Mark of the Dove (known to Catholics as Confirmation), the Leberecht (the priests) place this ring on the girl's left ring finger, and it painlessly partially binds to the skin. Only a matrimonial vow and blessing can release the ring's hold. It would only cause harm to the girl if her virginity was stripped by her own free will (if she was raped it would lose it’s sheen but would not blacken)


Well, as I haven't totally nailed the history of this particular world yet, I suppose I can talk about the creation of some of the "races" in my world.

See, there are three "high" kingdoms in this world - meaning that the original citizens descended from Elves. How they are descended is, interesting, to say the least.

You see, before the humans settled in this world, the Elves held a thriving trading civilization over the lands of Duventoliel, Aistaraina and Ceberlandon. As it happens in a lot of stories, the Elves wished to move on after a few centuries, especially as men started to populate the area.

Apologizes for the ginormous picture....it was pixelated otherwise!!!

The Elvish men of Duventoliel wished that no trace of Elvish blood remain in the land. Some Elvish women of the settlement, wishing that their legacy would live on in their progeny, intermarried into the nearby settlement of men by disguising themselves as mortals. The people of Duventoliel are descended from several clans of Elvish women/mortal men unions. One clan – the Sigurdnirs - became the royal line through conquest, helped by an old silver Dragon, as the legend goes.

In Aistaraina, all citizens descended from a single union of an Elvish man named Daermaethor and a mortal female named Seraphina, the eldest of the line being a daughter who married an original settler of Duventoliel who did many services for her father. Thus he was named Leofwine (elf-friend).

In Ceberlandon, 3 families of Elves stayed behind when the others left. Their descendants intermarried naturally into the men living there. Thus those of Ceberlandon heritage have more Elvish characteristics (they are taller, have much sharper vision, and are stronger. They almost always lack the pointy ears).


Umm...can I say everything?

Figuring out the littlest details has been the most fun for me. Like lately, I've been playing with standards, wax seals, and specific colors for characters. I love how it's all falling into a pattern! Once I get the royal family situated, I'll probably move on to developing more of the cultures and ethnicities of all the different kingdoms and states that are in this world. Which honestly should be NAMED one of these days....

As you can see, I still have a looooong way to go with developing this "world" of mine.

And now, I shall release you dear readers so you can go check out all of the other story worlds that are being revealed today!!

What is your favorite part of the "world"? Is there something that I should add? Any confusing details that I need to fix? Any suggestions for a name for this huge complex universe that I have? Chat with me in the comments!

Scribblingly yours,

Catherine