red, the blood of angry (wo)men! blood magic in #pettitoes

Of libations and bindings, blood is the source of nearly all magic in the world of #pettitoes. Mammalian blood, quite specifically. Indeed, the power of blood was how the [earthlings] first discovered that there were classes of animals. That no bird’s nor lizard’s blood had magic was the first step to such progress. But I digress. Blood is both magic and soul, in essence. Blood is life, which is what the majority of its magic consists of. Life, and death by proxy. We’ll get to that eventually.

First off, we have the classic blood contract. It is largely a formality, the actual signing of your name, and indeed it was not done in [starling] culture as they were largely illiterate for many years. Rather, it is the gift of blood that binds them. Blood given willingly is powerful for all the human races, and though it cannot be confirmed as the same among the various beasts, scientists have observed behaviours that suggest everything from the wolves to the bears of the wild recognize the power of blood, as well. Blood given (or taken) unwillingly can be just as powerful, but it cannot bind a person.

All blood is life for the earth. No matter which beast’s blood, dead or alive, given freely or taken by force, it gives the earth life. It helps plants grow. This is why even midst industrialization and the growing populations of the [earthlings] and [starlings], forests dominate the world. Among the images above, take note of the libations vase and the image in the top left. Giving blood to the earth is a ritual. A funerary ritual for some, a ritual of faith for the [earthlings]. It varies, but it is always significant.

The power of each beast’s blood varies quite a bit, though each relates to life and death. Some prey have poisonous blood, acidic blood. Some predators are immune to poison (the wolves). The foxes - including the flying foxes (a.k.a. bats) - are creatures of fire, which is a symbol of both life and death. Their feet scorch the earth, killing what is there and giving life to what will come. They go through a life-death-rebirth cycle. Fire is seen by the [earthlings] as a sort of metaphor for time, as it is the only thing except time that can truly destroy blood.

Now, humans have a ‘special’ blood trait. There blood has no inherent power but adaptation. While this comes through in various ways, including their very evolution, the most noteworthy power of their blood is that they can become something else, to an extent, through prolonged exposure to its blood. Drink the blood of the wolf and become a half-wolf, in essence. This has its limits, namely that eventually if you begin to take on too much ‘wolf’ (or whatever animal), your blood will shift enough that you can’t adapt any more of the beast’s qualities. You could never go completely from human to wolf, because losing humanity would include losing what lets you become a wolf to begin with.

As such, they never fully adapt the qualities of what they are drinking the blood of. Wolf-humans, for instance, are immune to poisons insofar as it will not kill them, but it can make them violently ill and can scar them, burn them, choke them. It depends on the poison, but they won’t get away unscathed. Just alive.

Now, here’s the tricky part: what happens if you drink another human’s blood? Because the blood does not just give you the blood qualities of the wolf, people grow fur and sometimes tails or ears or wolf-like eyes or wet noses or claws. I keep dancing back and forth with this one, so here’s my current stance… Strictly speaking, this is super forbidden in every culture ever. In practice, it happens all of the time. The [earthlings] and [starlings] exchange blood, leading to strange little toes (the [earthlings] have five toes whereas the [starlings] only have four) and ears that curve too much in the wrong direction and wildly varying skin tones and hair textures and miscellaneous features. But of course, they could theoretically keep drinking and transition completely. There are risks, and the amount of blood one would need would either require multiple donors or killing the ‘donor’ - but don’t think it hasn’t happened before. The results aren’t always pretty, though - you can never be rid of your own blood. Well, there are blood transfusions, but that’s pretty modern and it is currently limited by hospitals to race and the below.

Sex - biological sex, I mean. It is encouraged that one drinks the blood of the same sex beast, since there have been… incidents. When one drinks the blood of another human of the opposite sex, they usually end up intersex. Though again, one could theoretically go the full way through determination and possibly murder. A famous incident of this occurred hundreds of years before on the [starling] continent that left people with hard to shake transphobia, which is part of the reason they maintain transphobic beliefs while the [earthlings] are not as bad (though there are problems there, but that’s a topic for another day).

On the subject of sex, I’ve mentioned recently that the [earthlings] are into the symbolic virgin blood on the sheets thing. Ugh, but it makes sense from a worldbuilding perspective so we’re keeping it (the revolutionary ladies will have words about it, though). We’ve also got everybody’s favourite topic: periods! There are a lot of rituals surrounding menstruation, what to do with things bloodied by that time, letting it run down your legs and onto the earth, the cycles of the moon (which is worshipped by the [starlings]), and all that good stuff. It has led to a lot of odd beliefs about women, some misogynistic and others empowering. And let’s just say that many a gentleman (and a few lovely ladies) have earned their red wings

On a less pleasant note, murder - we’ve touched on this. But in general, murders aren’t clean. Suicides aren’t clean. Life is blood, death is blood. It is very rare for somebody to be drowned, burned, hung, etc. consciously (by their own desire or their murderer’s). The very diseases of the world are built around blood and have effects just as nasty. Coughing up blood, anaemia, it’s all there. And most diseases are transmitted through blood in this world, which has a lot of repercussions (including attitudes towards sex). The air driven ones are the ones that tend to end in the aforementioned coughing up blood, nosebleeds, that sort of thing. For this story, take note of an STD that only affects people with the double X chromosomes - XY are only carriers. That will be a plot point, as the men are kind of ignoring it in favour of researching other diseases.

Various other points: the whole family line-blood thing is super significant, adoption is not common though it isn’t unheard of, accidentally spilling blood (sewing, cooking, whatever) is a bit of an ordeal, some families have tapestries with a drop of all of their ancestor’s blood, many things are made with blood if possible (iron or ash if not), nobody in this world has even heard the words ‘well done’ come on now the culinary arts a theme of this novel like I would let them eat anything but rare steak, and also: golems.

I’m anxious and I haven’t gotten anything to do until dinner, so send me questions. My current project is #pettitoes, but if you’ve been dying to ask about #soundworld or White Moon, feel free to ask. My main characters: Molly, Penelope, Esther, Hannah, Rachel, and Cassandra. Side characters: the President, the two gunsmith dudes, Esther’s husband. Races/cultures: earthlings, halflings, starlings. Settings: “Amegido” (the capital).

My ‘earthlings’ and ‘starlings’ need a diet. So I’m brainstorming some cuisine options for my cultures. The ‘earthlings’ worship the earth, the soil, stone, and would probably be much better farmers than hunters. That isn’t to say they wouldn’t have meat in their diet, simply that they’d have a preference for plants. In particular, plants that grow underground. Root vegetables, peanuts, that sort of thing. Molly, the main character, earns a bit of cash on the side as a truffle hunter. They would eat plenty of above-ground plants, but perhaps they would find it difficult to resist a bit of mashed potatoes as a side for everything, you know?

They definitely have a tradition of domesticating animals. A fantastic repertoire of cheese - I am definitely looking into having the ash that plays a part in the climax being integrated into a rind or something - and perhaps eating pig, goats, perhaps cow or buffalo (I need to do more worldbuilding to decide on that), and sheep. No non-mammals in their diet, nor the diet of the ‘starlings’ we’ll get to in a moment.

In general? I am seeing a lot of spices and herbs and colour, on top of more tender red meats, a healthy serving of potatoes and carrots, and likely a full integration of dairy products, particularly cheese and possibly a yoghurt. Might use less actually milk and cream, however, and it will likely turn out more Indian than it will - say - British or French in terms of its application. Grains will likely be limited to bread - no pasta or rice, but they may have something similar to porridge. And ‘bread’ here is going to mean a relatively wide variety, so it won’t be boring.

Now, the ‘starlings’ come from across the ocean, and while they brought some of their crops with them, they are learning to rework the local crops into their own cuisine. They are, however, hunters, so they are more keen on deer and rabbit than a pig, though they do keep goats (and only goats) for their dairy. They hadn’t encountered cheese until they crossed the ocean, and many of them find it quite disgusting, though a few have found a taste for it. They are more likely to drink milk, though they may also have something akin to yoghurt in their diet. They might also have ice cream.

Because of their lifestyles and locations, they haven’t had a great history of farming… but they’ve certainly managed to do some. These people eat their greens. Leafy plants and gourds are the standard, here. And they love anything that can be pickled, which is basically everything. One of the biggest things they’ve done with the local food is just start pickling it. As with the ‘starlings’ and cheese’, the ‘earthlings’ are generally less than fond of the taste, though a handful like it (pickles and a plain yoghurt is the favourite snack of my general characters).

They are notoriously excellent sailors, and they do a fair bit of whaling while out at sea, which is often brought back to shore. Cured meats are common, and crackers and hard biscuits are far more common than the softer breads the ‘earthlings’ would make. Cookies over cakes, too. They brine most of their hunted meat, too, which is one thing the ‘earthlings’ do take a liking to.

Overall, we’re talking a sailor’s diet with way too much salt for a bit of the population, with green veggies and pickled non-greens and game for the rest, still with a bit too much salt. They add salt to fucking everything, even if they cooked it in the stuff. Other than salt, though, they aren’t too diverse in their seasoning. Citrus, plain yoghurt or cream, salt, and vinegar is about the extent of it. For the most part, they adore the local herbs and spices, though their chefs tend to overuse them and kill the flavour of whatever they were cooking in the first place.

#pettitoes is coming along well, but it really needs more fantasy elements. I have been working on the religious aspects of the world, which are going to play significantly into the primary conflict, but nothing about it is really lending itself to having magic or monsters roaming around. The primary religion is the worship of the night sky, with a lunar goddess as the ‘head’ of the pantheon and a thousand minor gods and goddesses. Star and moon-based puns and idioms in the language, a lunar calendar, and I want the climax of the novel to take place on the winter solstice.

The secondary religion is an ‘earth’ religion of sorts. The main goddess is a typical ‘mother earth’ archetype, life-death-rebirth sorts of things going on. Fertility and death rites. I think most of the other gods will be underworld gods. Cthonic gods, if you will. Not necessarily evil, of course. More of a Hades and Persephone vibe.

I don’t regard either of them as ‘real’ within the context of the world, however. No war of the deities between them, no magic as a ‘gift from the gods’. Nor do I want this to be a story of science. Not just in the ‘no magic’ sense, but also in the ‘magic is a rigid science in and of itself’ sense. It’s a more technologically advanced world than most fantasy worlds, but it’s not as technologically advanced as our own. I’m leaning towards America, early-mid 1900s. More due to the rise of the modern subculture than the technology, specifically, but the two are tied together. Factories, radio and telegrams and maybe telephones, and probably automobiles.

I mean, I guess I want the human races to be vaguely fantasy races, too, but aside from some varying ears and heights, it’s hardly anything truly fantastical.

It doesn’t have to be. The plot, as of right now, doesn’t necessitate it. But dammit, as much as I love low fantasy, part of me really wants to get some magic going on in this world. Maybe I’ll get out of that mindset as I work more on the story, but right now I’m looking for a place to weave it in. Looking through Greek and Judeo-Christian mythology for some spark of magic to add to the setting. And there’s a lot of interesting things, but nothing that’s working itself in like I’m looking for. It’s turning out to be a gorgeous setting, but lord, I just can’t justify putting in a dragon and it’s making me a little sad.

The only issue I have with people conceptualizing worldbending ideas- 

pugletto:

superbiaincarnate:

Is that the only cultures that people ever want to focus on in worldbending are essentially anything and everything outside of Europe. Cultures which either perished with strong tribal ideals, or continue to prosper today still using tribal ideals. It’s almost as if the majority of artists out there are skimming over Europe altogether because designing something tribal is more interesting than designing a more metropolitan character. Which to me is kind of beyond ridiculous, if the Incas and Mayans can elicit inspiration then anything Anglo-Saxon can certainly illicit the same response.

Imagine firebenders from Spain who mix bending with the finer forms of dance and still retain influence from when Islam controlled Spain during the eighth century. Imagine Danes whose ancestors were the mighty vikings and the waterbending which would make their culture some of the most successful sailors in recorded history (Also imagine vikings hurling around gigantic ice spears, terrifying, I know). Imagine earthbending Celtic tribes rushing into battle in a terrifying display of cracked earth and pillars of stone (Imagine the looks on the romans faces, just think about it). Imagine the slopes of the alps covered in gleeful airbending children learning the finer points of how to glide and create small snow flurries.

The point being: When thinking about worldbending look at the world as a whole and not just the areas you find interest in. Look at every culture from the Romans to the Australian Aboriginal Peoples, from Native Americans to the Italians during the High Renaissance.

You are essentially saying that Europe would make ‘Worldbending’ better because Europe = Civilzation.

…

You can come up with a better argument that doesn’t offend several hundred of those “interesting” tribal folk, I’m sure.

I like that one of your major complaints about the non-European cultures is how they are all “tribal”, and then when listing examples of European cultures, you mention Celtic tribes.

The absurd notion that there is no fiction based off of European societies is so profoundly and provably false (off the top of my head, “The Lions of Al-Rassan” by Guy Gavriel Kay is based on Moorish Spain) that I cannot fathom any reason to write this other than the notion equal representation of all races = a bias for non-white races. You see this shit all the time, with every issue. As an example, when women start to do equally well or better on standardized tests, men cry “bias” and get it changed so half of the questions on the SAT have to be about sports, but when women aren’t living up to the same standards, they start saying women just aren’t as good at testing, or blatantly aren’t as intelligent. You’re so used to being the racial dominant, the majority, that when things start to even out all you can see is that you’re losing representation, not that other people are gaining it.

Fantasy has always been defined primarily by Nordic and medieval settings. I dare anyone to name me five fantasy video games with non-European settings. Even the Japanese ones are usually set in a world of castles and characters named “Isaac”. The novel that basically set the standard for what to call fantasy was based on Nordic mythology and linguistics.

Further, your notion that we should look at the entire world, not just the places we find interesting, is often precisely what we are doing. I can’t name a single European nation without at least two fantasy books set in them or a otherworld equivalent coming to mind. Yes, even Poland. But tell me, can you name a single fantasy novel set in a fantasy counterpart Mali Empire? There will always be new fantasy novels with a European flavour to them. Always. Game of Thrones is the biggest fantasy series - book or television - out there right now, and it’s set in the West(eros).

Frankly, I simply wonder if you’ve read or watched much fantasy at all. Then again, you referred to pyrokinesis as firebending, so I guess you’ve only ever watched Avatar: The Last Airbender and decided to make sweeping judgments about the entire genre based on a single, children’s television show and the writing projects of a bunch of college students on tumblr. In which case, go watch Lord of the Rings, you’ll love it, and shut the fuck up.

Most stories are better told in a world as rich as our own, but the story and the characters always come first. Not every story works this way. A haunted house story requires more time and more emphasis on the setting, the haunted house in this case, than on the people living in it or the ways they die. And certainly there are some stories so character or story-oriented that there isn’t a line to spare to discuss the minutiae of currency. But let’s be honest, most of us are writing adventures or coming-of-age stories where a balance of the two is best suited for the tale.

Worldbuilding is a daunting task, and jumping into it blindly often leads to abandoned novels and half-filled composition notebooks. Guides like Patricia C. Wrede’s Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions can make you consider things you may not have thought of on your own, but are generally not useful for story-oriented worldbuilding. Remember, even Tolkien put fuck all work into Middle Earth’s economy. So where should you begin?

Worldbuilding is the process of creating the setting for a fantasy or science fiction story. This can involve mapmaking, language creation, and the building of cultures, histories, and religions to fill the world with. In a broader sense, however, it specifically entails a degree of detail many writers give their worlds so that they exist, in some sense, beyond what is written on the page. They write notes on religion when only one character is religious, they draw dragons that went extinct five hundred years before the story begins, and they do the math to chart the stars so their hero never once looks up at the sky.

I have two passions in life: writing and food. I hope to attend culinary school once I have sorted out my living arrangements, and I enjoy cooking for my husband and my friends. As with most writers, my interests find their way into my stories, so today, let’s talk about the cuisine of your cultures.

Most fantasy maps are drawn with modern cartography and an author’s perspective. The coast lines are perfect, exactly accurate and never flawed. Historically, maps were often hilariously inaccurate, often compressing longitude to absurd degrees and drawing the distance from Egypt to Nigeria as roughly the same as the distance from Egypt to China. They often omitted innumerable islands, and indeed, entire continents. After all, how many ‘world maps’ did they draw before Columbus set sail?

Republic City is Broken 

thesockdolager:

So I’m really enjoying Korra. I really like this show, and there’s a good chance I’m going to come to love it. I like its cast of characters and I’m coming to have alarmingly strong feelings about some of them. (Jinora; probably also Asami.) It’s serious animated genre television of precisely the sort I adore. It’s great! It is so great that Korra exists.

But I’ve had some misgivings about its worldbuilding, and this most recent episode crystallized some of the problems I’ve had, and before I knew it I’d written an insufferably lengthy piece of meta about it. So here it is.

WARNING: I am about to be pretty critical of some of the worldbuilding in Korra. If you don’t want to read such criticism, you probably shouldn’t click through.

Read More

Love this, and very much agree with your points. It’s too early for me to say for sure how the team intends to end this series, but the likelihood of a “benders and nonbenders living together in harmony” ending is certainly one that has its problems, while also being the most likely for a show airing on Nickelodeon.

As a fantasy writer, I’ve always been confused when people say “magic or technology, never both, they cannot coexist”. Legend of Korra demonstrates, for better and for worse, just how I’ve always seen them coexisting. Using magically generated fire or electricity as a source of energy, using earthbending or something similar to flatten the ground and build up a house (if earthbenders and waterbenders can bend mud, which we saw with Toph and Katara, they could certainly bend cement), waterbenders can build entire canals in days and - as you said - work at a hydro plant. If you wanted to build a water dam, you could get a team of waterbenders to simply hold back the water while they work.

It’s hard to find a job that a nonbender would be better at. Now consider what the industrial revolution did for the workforce in the real world. How many jobs were replaced by tractors and the like? Consider also the existence of tameable, magical, and relatively intelligent animals - such as sky bison - and you’re left not needing nonbenders. If technology advances sufficiently, there simply won’t be a place for them at all. Not just stuck with the shittiest jobs or the jobs that bending doesn’t aid in, but simply with no jobs at all. Even merchants could eventually die out. After all, in modern times, many stores have shut down in favour of internet retail - an equivalent of which could exist another hundred years down the road.

Of course, they are still the spouses, parents, and siblings of benders. There are still jobs of the mind and heart. Literature, art, music. Scientists, engineers. But I doubt a society could sustain itself if 80% of the population or whatever the numbers are were poets and sculptors. And, fuck, benders are still more than capable of taking those jobs as society exists. An earthbender would make a fine sculptors, as evidenced by the sand castle Toph made in the original series. Painter!waterbenders? Airbending flautists? It just doesn’t end.

I don’t know if I necessarily support Amon, or even fully believe that he can take away somebody’s bending. And I’d still like to see how the Spirit World plays into Korra before I analyse the setting any further. But it’s hard to see a way for benders and nonbenders to be on an equal level without restricting benders significantly.