#but neither one of them understands modern slang so they're both so confused

[jpriest85-blog]

You know, if I had a nickel for every time I made an OC, that was an ancient monstrous or eldritch being, that took the human shape of a beautiful woman, and had a cult ...well I'd only have $0.15 which isn't a lot but it's funny that it happened 3 times. Introducing from left to right the pretty blonde girl next door Tiffany Newman, and casket for an eldritch being from @the-passenger-if . On the middle is Tihamah an ancient sea dragon/ Leviathan, I originally created her for an abandoned IF, Honey & Fire, but I liked the character concept of a dragon walking around in human form so her character developed and evolved into her own thing. On the right is Thuban The Harbinger of Calamity from @justpked Fell Star. Thuban is an ancient bestial creature of the void that weilds blood magic and chaos to ensure the laws of balance are maintained.

Despite the overlap in similarities, especially considering their names all begin with T, and they all have at least one noticeable mole/beauty mark on their faces in human form, they are quite different. Especially when it comes to how they became the objects of worship of each of their respective cults. Both Tihamah and Thuban's cults sort of developed by accident. In Tihamah's case, she unintentionally saved a coastal city when an invading armada got too close to her nest, and she slaughtered the entire naval fleet. The residents of the city she saved started offering her tribute in both thanks and in appeasement, so she'll continue protecting them. Tihamah just went along with it because they weren't going to hurt her or her babies, and hey, free food! While Thuban's duties as the Harbinger meant she was often regarded as a figure of fear and dread, others regarded her more as a protector since she'd often target groups and people in power that didn't heed her warnings and threatened the Laws of Balance. It was probably quite surprising for Thuban the first time a group of people showed up at the abandoned temple she was residing in, and she realized they wanted to worship, instead of kill her. Tiffany actively sought out her cult in an attempt to regain her former power so she could stand a chance against the Hunter and become the Apex predator again instead of prey. Tiffany quite enjoyed being revered, although she wasn't into wearing the robes like the other cultists. With time and effort Tiffany puts into her appearance, she's not going to cover up her outfit with shapeless robes, especially when wearing Calvin Klein!!

#oc art #the passenger #fell star #dragon oc #tiffany newman #Harbinger Thuban #Tihamah #just 3 girl bosses doing their thing #ripping their enemies apart with their teeth #which between the 3 of them is ALOT of teeth #it's fun to imagine them interacting tho #because lbr if Tiffany and Roach ever met Tihamah and Thuban #Roach would definitely call both Tihamah and Thuban MILFs #but neither one of them understands modern slang so they're both so confused #meanwhile Tiffany is questioning why she fell in love with Roach in the first place

[writingquestionsanswered]

Hi! What are your thoughts on using modern scales of measurement (kg, meters...) in fantasy works?

Weights and Measures in Fantasy

When writing fantasy, especially in non-Earth settings, we can probably assume that the characters aren't actually speaking an Earth language or using Earth measurements, but we use them anyway and chalk it up to "translation convention."

"Translation convention" mainly refers to when the characters in a story appear to be speaking the language of the reader, but because the story doesn't take place on Earth, the characters wouldn't actually be speaking that language. For example, the "Common Tongue of the Andals" in A Song of Ice and Fire is the native tongue of the Seven Kingdoms and is spoken as a trade language by many outside of the Seven Kingdoms. Okay, it's English--because the story was written in English--but it's not actually supposed to be English because England doesn't exist in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire. This is the magic of "translation convention."

Much the same thing occurs in Markus Zusak's The Book Thief which takes place in Germany during World War II, featuring German characters. Once again, the book was written in English, so therefore the narrator and characters speak English, but they're supposed to be speaking German. In this case, Zusak incorporated German words and slang where appropriate, to give the sense that the characters were speaking German even though their dialogue was written in English.

We leave things up to "translation convention" a lot in fantasy and don't even think twice about it. Because Earth languages don't exist in most fantasy worlds, neither would the words for everyday objects like chair, book, mug, or sword. For some reason, though, fantasy writers don't worry that those everyday Earth words will take the reader out of the story, but we do worry about things like weights, measures, days of the week, money, etc.

So, what's the solution? There are a few options:

Invented Measurements: Invent your own system of measurement that is distinct to your story's world, but the problem with that is it's one more thing for the reader to learn and it can be annoying and cause confusion.

Familiar Objects: Use something known both in your world and ours, like a barrel, as measurement. "It was five barrels high..." or "ten stallions long." Even fingers, hands, and feet work as smaller measures of distance. For larger ones, such as to cover journeys, you can look at time: "three sunsets from now..." "it's half a day's ride..."

Obsolete and Archaic Measurements: There are lots of obsolete and archaic measurements that sound like they belong in fantasy, and either the reader has a general understanding of them or can easily look them up. This would be things like cubit, furlong, league...

Modern Measurements: There's also nothing wrong with just going with normal, everyday measurements. Whether that's feet, meters, miles, or kilometers. If it works in your story, go for it, because once again, this is something that can be chalked up to "translation convention." Sure, the characters are talking about inches and miles, but we can assume they have different words for those same measurements in whatever language they're actually speaking.

The bottom line is you have to do what works best for you and your story, because every reader has their own preference so it's impossible to please everyone.

Good luck with your story!

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