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i am going to piss myself over maths

the dude that made that shit up is called Clifford A. Pickover which does not sound like a real name

he invented these in 1994 and i was like Hmm Suspicious that's when the Interview With The Vampire movie came out... and lo and behold... the original post of his:

i hate maths. i fucking hate maths

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Possibly the most fascinating thing on all of Wikipedia: The table of which technologies are allowed by different Amish communities

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Who are the most famous animals of your world?

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A post I wrote to help someone else write cult leaders, but ended up being a good summary of my own cult

basically what are your cults demographics. In my setting, there is a cult around the lost boys. A generation of orphans raised in military education facilities that preached loyalty and indoctrination, but then failed to offer that loyalty.

A WIP title right now, but the father offers what they've never had. Love.

He memorizes their names. Treats them with respect. And cares for the wounded soldiers. He offers what they've been hurting for and gives them something. And in return he adopts all their most dominant roles.

Mentor, father, mother, religious leader, boss, friend, teacher...

Who do they turn to when asked to cross some taboo? what line is too far?

Well the father asks for favours in a smart way. Inch by inch you'll violate your limits by justifiable slivers. When you start questioning you've got a body of "sunk cost fallacy" thinking of "I've come this far and done all these things, what is one more crime".

Now, when the time comes for big choices he asks you in mixed company. They are all military men. So the peer pressure of the devoted bullies will push you into it and your acceptance sets the example for those on their journey to joining you.

Failure to commit comes with ostracization. The worst fear that threatens to take all the comforts, love and joy of the movement away from you.

This is made worse, by using your brothers against you. The kids grew up, fought and died for each other. Those crippled and dependent on the father are kept in comforts earned by the work of their brothers. Those closest.

Being exiled would see you facing the uncertainty of what happens to your brothers. And facing their judgement if they don't join you.

So by understanding the appeal of the cult you understand the manipulative tactics of the cult. That which draws you in is the leverage by which you'll be trapped.

#rough #cult #fantasy #leadership #manipulation

[thewritewayyoutube]

An introduction of sorts to the world...

Imagine a world where legacy lingers in the lands and literally what you do will echo forever.

Then imagine men with less than decent histories and secrets who would try to control that phenomenon.

Immortality is within reach, a life lived well may permeate the boundaries of death, and the past directly influences our future.

Yet, our connections to the past and the power of knowledge is at risk from those who choose to sever it.

A reader asked, “how”. How does this happen?

It manifests in a whole host of ways. One of the first is the most 'accessible' form, archives. These locations host bones engraved with powerful symbols and 'kept alive' by rituals.

The dead can be contacted and can serve as libraries for memories, guides, mentors and teachers to the future generations.

After this things are more specialist. Remnants are physical and create by acts or lives.

So, if a king were to die his crown would hold some remnant of his being. Often this item, place, or record is a lens the amplifies certain aspects of the person.

For instance, the king above would potentially see his pride and arrogance, his power, and his influence channeled in the crown. However, his wrath or conqueror aspects might linger in his sword.

This brings the nature of magic in this world to light. Rituals create power. If I sign a million death orders with the same pen it will have harnessed something.

The first job of any Archivist is to understand the person in question.

Early archives often included obvious trinkets, but lost more diverse pictures of men. This meant the lessons taught to the future were lens toward violence or other aspects deemed important by the archiving culture and them amplified by their bias.

A more dark take is the role of the Gravesmen. These are dead men who possess the living. Often to the point of their death. The gravesman will carry those remnants with them until they've died and as the ritual of living as a person builds power the gravesman can have human emotions, loyalties and other things not related to their own feelings or mission.

Thus once dead the gravesmen must be purged of 'human aspects' which involved the skin tomes. Books bound of the possessed flesh and filled with a written record of the person and the actions of the gravesmen.

However, some have been known to keep slivers and pieces. Which is why gravesmen become increasingly prone to triggers, alien flashbacks, and inexplicable quirks.

However, one of the most powerful forms of legacy is in places. There are those who can read the history of places of power. They can ascertain the truth of covered up tales, solve mysterious and even suffer anguish from seeing the past unfold.

Through ritual like having someone trace the steps of another over and over, or other methods to cover these truths, then one can try alter the picture. However, a skilled Seer will wonder what significance the vision plays. And thus will always be drawn to mundane legacies echoed loudly.

Another reader asked “The world has a physical memory?”

Effectively yes. In our world light travels from everything done. Stars long dead are visible in our sky by the delay from light travelling. All that radiates out could in theory be reversed.

And events could be 'replayed'.

I wanted to get away from the sci fi/physics and take that idea into a magical place with more fantasy elements.

So, in universe all men are someone's son and all kings have conquest in their past. A tree does not appear, but must manifest in some way. The world bears clues, echoes and imprints. Larger for larger things and more appreciable for things of note.

However, there is varying degrees of sensitivity to this. As well as degrees of understanding and awareness.

So, the world has a memory and record of what has occurred, but reading it and preserving it are things one either has a gift for or is trained to do.

#Rough #Memory #fantasy #echoes #magic systems #spiritualism #worldbuilding #ghosts #spectres #hauntings #sceance

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My quick attempt at a creepypasta story (Deviation from fantasy worldbuilding)

Has the internet ever failed you? until recently, it hadn't failed me either. However, for want of better words, I googled, "The nest building of the domestic spider".

"Spiders build webs not nests," replied the search engine. Yet, I saw them scurry. The spiders. Collecting hair, dust and most recently scraps. Loose paper. A rag or sock. Once even my underpants. Yet, as soon as they were out of sight, with their plundered loot, they vanished and the nest was nowhere to be seen.

Next I saw them pooling on hairbrushes. Loitering in the old toilet paper bin I discarded my cleanup into after masturbating. And always watching me. Four or five spiders. And should I move, they'd flee, but for say two. And then I'd move and soon I'd have four or five again.

I began hearing things, bangs, but never could find a source. Food was going missing now. I always had a problem with rats, mice, and roaches. Yet, recently, not a dropping or a sight.

They were gone. Then I began finding my bed made. I could've sworn I didn't make it, but yet it was made. Then followed the radio turning on to my favorite albums. Rose petals on the bed. Baths that run themselves.

My doctor said, "Stress, it can do devils and make all manner of simple things complex". And so like google he'd failed me. It was only now, in this accursed web, watching it eat the mound of malformed baby parts that I understood.

I wasn't crazy.

And in the mass of hair, web and rat meat formed a face much like my own.

And it said, "that way didn't work, but I've got another idea..."

As it lay its body on mine and began to mimic the moans of porn-stars.

#creepypasta #body horror #horror #creepy #nightmares #arachnophobia #dirty #uncanny valley #unsettling #eerie #story #fiction

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What does a million of your currency buy?

At the original value, you'd get 500,000 homes with land and enough animals to feed the people living there at the market . So, a country. However, it has devalued quite bit. You'd still be a huge destabilizing force in the market. There just isn't really meant to be that much money in one person's hands.

You'd probably be holding a single digit fraction of the country's value. This would be like a modern US citizen holding something like 5 - 30 trillion US dollars.

It would be hard to imagine them spending it and if they did they'd create chaos in the market.

#Rough #worldbuilding #world building #fantasy #fantasy world #fiction #currency #economy #lore

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Micro fiction worldbuilding.

If the Gravesmen were his instruments, then this was his greatest song. A masterpiece of no peace as bodies rot in the streets.

And soldiers' feet beat in fast retreat as darkness creeps and meets in a crescendo. This may not be the end though.

#rough #microfiction #flash fiction #fiction #worldbuilding

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On ‘demons’ in my fantasy setting.

My 'demons' are called Gravesmen. They are dead, but without the freedom of such. Instead, they've been soft enslaved as a sort of hitman/bounty hunter.

There is cults, supporters, a master and a mission. The Gravesmen, through certain means performed mostly by the cults and supporters (humans), are able to possess a persons body.

Suddenly, they are wearing you like a skin suit. At first, they have a hard time adjusting and accessing memories. Soon they know everything you know as your knowledge and identity is full devoured and assimilated into the entity.

A Gravesman will then eventually die, but if this takes too long they may begin to form connections. This is due to their human absorption sometimes taking loyalties and traumas to their heart. This can be fixed, but only after death.

Bodies are harvested and skinned, then sewn into a larger sheet and then used to bind a book. The book is then scribed by the cult in the human world with the new knowledge.

These are the skin tomes, and they possess a lot of symbolism. Because symbolism and ritual are sources of power. This body of work forms a literal body. The skin grows hair and rippled with goosepimples in the cold.

The eyelids grow to fill the covers they are on and are said to 'see'. And the mouths have been known to scream when no one is looking.

But to what end? Well, the knowledge gained is one aspect. The power in guiding politics and wars is another. The ritual of it all also grants powers to the master behind all this. He is said to be able to function as near omniscient with awareness and presence far beyond his body.

However, there is trouble for our demons. Shadon, a gravesmen, has begun to question certain aspects of the work. And has learned how to function without the cult. However, it is not easy.

This is all tied to the archives, the secrets of the dead, the age of magic, Olivia's discovery and the girl in the deserts being hunted by Shadon himself many years beyond going rogue.

So, in my world demons are created and possess mortals. They form cults and interfere in mortal affairs for a dark master. They perform body horror, necromancy and other such horrid acts. They are from the realm of the dead as Undead mortal men bound to this world perverse means.

#demons #fantasy #rough #worldbuilding

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Naming conventions in my worldbuilding setting.

In Drestiol, you are given a first name by your father. Your second name by a tribal leader. Your family name by birthright.

So, your Dad could decide to call you Edmund, the leader of your tribe could name you Tom and if your family is the Clate family you'd be Edmund Tom Clate.

In practice, no one uses their tribal name as it tends to be recycled and common. So, you'd be called Edmund Clate.

In Kibon, a person earns their name. A real world parallel is nicknames and aliases. So, if you become known as Polto or "chicken", then your name is chicken until you do something about it.

There is island specific variants for popular names so if you have two chickens one from the Kibon island of Kibon and another from Konon then you've got Polto Ekibon and Polto Ekonon.

However, most important men forge a more unique identity.

Shadon, an MC in the wider context and a Gravesmen, takes his name from the suffix for island on. Shad being a word without, or better without, missing. Shadon was a boy on the Kibon islands, but he survived a storm. A storm that took him from his people. He grew up strong, but alone.

So, he came known as a "without an island" boy. However, in his growth and survival he became known as Shadon which meant "better off without an island".

However, he's had to reach and distant as a person. So referring to him as an island like Kibon is also quite accurate.

#naming conventions #nomenclature #rough #worldbuilding #fantasy

[thewritewayyoutube]

So, I wrote my approach to worldbuilding and I'd like to share it here for others. I'd also like to hear from others about there methods or opinions on any I've presented here.

Okay, So here is some approaches I use or have seen and I think can work. Personally, I mix all of these into various works. You can however just run with one till you have an idea what you're doing.

The first method: Map. Draw a map. Instantly you'll be imagining conflicts, city locations, borders...You'll probably make some mistakes, but don't worry. For instance, in early civilizations they tend to form natural borders. This means they get fenced in by rivers and mountains. However, maybe you've drawn them with no knowledge of this. Then you later learn of it or have it pointed out to you.

Don't scrap the project. You can adjust your map. Explore politics in the distant and isolated reaches of the kingdom. Talk about how they overcome the historic and real world troubles with fantasy or sci fi elements. And hey, now you're worldbuilding and you literally just started scribbling lines on paper.

Second method: Map, but informed.

Go to a great Youtuber or online resource or book (I like artefexian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3jfv_lpsQE ) and get series about the science. Now you're going to make informed 'mistakes' or deviations. Exploring those to get black plants, red sand and two stars.

Then ask how this new world impacts your people. What unique animals would evolve (remember evolution is all about advantages out-breeding disadvantages) to live in the red sand and black trees, but in the super bright and hot lands?

Method 3: The DOOM method

You don't need to worry about anything. Just throw a character in and have them begin interacting with the world. Did they wake up on a base in Mars with demonic symbols, Space suits, machine guns and human husks all around... well better get to surviving.

Suddenly you're so deep in the world that your questions are piling up, but also feeling unimportant because you're getting immersed in how interesting this world is.

Doom is kind of set on our character not caring and also does expand and flesh things out a little when it can. Which gives us a path to...

Method 4: The iceberg method

Do your people always leave food by the door? are shoes forbidden in basements when visiting the north? Do they call the cardinal directions by other names? Just run with it. Your character knows these things, and so does everyone in these vignettes or scenes. And then we will pick them up. A lot of culture, best practices and traditions aren't that deeply understood by the average person anyway. So, anyone who has travelled knows the feeling of "when in Rome do as the romans".

Take us to Rome and force us to accept the norms by showing us a piece of something.

Then on occasion sink a ship, by showing us the iceberg.

Did someone forget to salt the grave? Was Jimmy careless and took the short way home? is the back door locked on an anniversary of a family death?

What is going to happen now?

Method 5: Mystery Box

The show Lost and parts of the new star wars movies use this and it is a compelling trick, but one that is easy to get wrong. The idea is that mystery is more satisfying than answers. So throw questions on your world and never explain them. Just keep the "infinite possibilities" going.

So perhaps there is an island and it has begun to levitate. No one knows why, how, or to where. Some people have ideas, but nothing concrete. You build characters, setting and more in the explanation.

See a giant floating island is a great hook. And while you're telling us "how abnormal it is" and how "maybe someone could do this with ancestor magic" you're actually getting to sneak a lot of expository work to your audience. And they'll lap it up, if your island is working as a hook.

This branches into two paths. If writing a story the island and its resolution will either be the focus of the story or not.

It can be the focus of the audience, but if it is the focus of the narrative then you'll need to explain it. If instead the narrative shifts to some internal goal, or maybe say something like a girl trying to save her boyfriend who is on the island then it won't matter in the end why it was floating.

Method 6: Start with a creation myth. Forming the gods can be a great place to get a feel for things. Similarly, how did the nation come to be? How did this town form? Who founded the school?

Any creation lays foundation and that makes building easier.

Method 7: A world for a scene.

Think of a single scene. Perhaps a boy weeping and terrified looking at his teddy bear grin. He then shoots both his parents and grows wings.

Or a dragon that breathes a gas that coats the city in crystals and when shattered the human reflections come to life and kill the original human they are based on.

Now go build a world that explains that scene. Go ground it and work to earn your "cool" premise.

Method 8: Reality but not

Go to project gutenberg, wikipedia or a documentary. Take it. Use it.

For example:

Margaret Macpherson Grant (27 April 1834 – 14 April 1877) was a Scottish heiress and philanthropist. Born in Aberlour parish to a local surgeon, she was educated in Hampshire, and was left an only child when her elder brother died in India in 1852. Two years later, she inherited a large fortune from her uncle, Alexander Grant, an Aberlour-born planter and merchant who had become rich in Jamaica.

Macpherson Grant took up residence in Aberlour House, which had been built for her uncle by William Robertson. She lived unconventionally for a woman of her time, dressing in a manner that one newspaper called "manly", and entering into what was described as a form of marriage with a female companion, Charlotte Temple, whom she had met in London in 1864. Macpherson Grant donated generously to charitable enterprises, especially those associated with the Scottish Episcopal Church, establishing an orphanage (now the Aberlour Child Care Trust) and founding St Margaret's Episcopal Church in Aberlour. She drank heavily, and despite attempts by friends and family members to persuade her to stop, she always relapsed into alcoholism.

From this wikipedia page, literally, the one suggest on their front page today: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Macpherson_Grant

Now what if it was set in our fictional world:

Well firstly, would that be her name? What about the years? and her lifespan. Where is from? does Scotland still exist? What do they call "being an only child" in the new culture you're making? What is a fortune and how does inheritance work? Are Planter and Merchant jobs in your setting?

Then, and this was entirely by accident, we get to the juicy topic of gender norms and sexuality and societal views. So you get to explore that.

This is a lot of work, but it is worth it.

So, how to apply all the above like I do:

Well, I learned creativity in classic portraiture and thus my bias is evident on structure first.

You lay big broad and general guides. Then you box in vague details. Mostly regarding things like spacing of the eyes and length of the nose.

This is the most important stage, but also the least appreciated. But like anything, say building a house, you may notice the decorations first, but you've got to live with the plumbing.

Once the structure is in place, you can move on to details. We move from light to darker and lastly the shading and hard to remove things. So you build broad to then do the fun micro and hyper focused polishing.

But you might not have enough to do this, because worldbuilding isn't drawing. Well, in art we don't let the model sit for 5 hours before we know we hate the pose.

So, of course you want to do a few bursts and rushes to get an idea of what you're doing. This is where I used the Doom, iceberg and mystery box. I then fit it to a map. I then use the wikipedia method to build a lot of things I probably wasn't thinking about.

I then visit this sub for the prompts and use those as a way of exploring and clarifying what I know.

Sincerely, I hope this helps. Worldbuilding is a great hobby for its own purposes. Both creative and scientific. So, if you're doing it with a goal great, but if you just want a world then thats also fine.

All hobbies are work and while a knitter never has to start a business there is artificial pressures on people like us to pivot our hobby into a job.

If you like doing this then it only has to meet your standards and your goals.

#worldbuilding #work in progress #creative writing #creativity #How to #guide #fun #worth trying #my method #method #creating

[thewritewayyoutube]

Planning a heist in my fantasy setting...

So, you're looking for a crew. You've got balls, but that only gets you at the table. For a job like that you've got to have a target, which I'll trust you have.

However, the best often are tangled up in loyalties, debts and their own struggles. So, you might want to know what you're after and who might care you take it.

But I'll assume you've considered that too.

You got guards and should things go bad you'll need them taken out. Shadon can do it, but finding him is a challenge. Who knows what face he's wearing. But that 'man' has killed more people than most have met. And most of those had guards, and families, and a lot else.

Yet, he comes at a price. He is a wanted a man. And death doesn't scare him like it does you and me.

Sadly, they don't make him like they used to when it comes to the thief. Sure, you'll find a lot of people able to traverse a trapped room and a lot that can enter a sealed door, but sadly magic users are in short supply.

The only person you're going to be able to rely on for all that who has experienced magic is Ketol Ekibon. Ketol is what many would call a rogue. History of knives lodged precariously in backs. Ships sanks. Forts crushed. Men killed.

But despite his knack for earning enemies, losing friends and being imprisoned by all manner of people he is still to be found sailing around the Kibon islands.

Now, during all the chaos of father's rebellion, when the heads of powerful men fell, only one child of a leader managed to slither out of their holding cell.

The last living Kuelt of the fallen family. Esther. With her lover/guard's hand in one hand and a dagger in her other she walked from her holding cell. The boy was found dead a few days later.

Kuelt travelled with whatever peoples she could find. Trading up at every opportunity.

Proceed with caution.

You might be hiring her, but she is just as likely to be hiring you.

"Smokey" or as his people say it Lusu is the name of an amputee, full name Lusu Ekonon.

He made half the strong alcohols for the islands of Kibon. Family business. But if you need something to blow up, then you'd be interested in his second most successful venture.

During Delton's invasions of the islands he produced firebombs for the people to fight back with. Hence the name, Smokey. Cause that is what he's known for.

As Delton secured large stone fortresses Lusu figured he'd just recreate the accident that took his arm. He let a barrel over-heat and fail. Soon, he'd become the largest threat to Delton on the islands.

He's built all kinds of contraptions now. Mostly focused on larger "failures" and getting them as far away from Lusu as possible.

But be warned... an explosives expert fueled mostly by intoxication and already missing a limb is a difficult one to plan around.

Have you got long enough for Shadon to do this too? if not then you'll have to find an Archivist. And have Shadon kill someone at the site.

Once dead, your Archivist will be able to interrogate the dead. But this is a difficult choice. It would be a lot easier for Shadon to become a person on the inside for you.

If it has to be a more organic infiltration, then you'd need to find someone involved in supporting Gravesmen. They have a knack for getting around targets. However, success is rarely guaranteed.

And assuming you don't trust Ketol, which is wise, you'd probably want to look into a man by the name of William Bunty. He won't be the one moving you, but he has a shipping business modelled loosely on Delton's old one.

However, to keep his profits up and to keep islanders from ransacking his wares he sank into the criminal underworld. So, on the surface, he is a respectable businessman. Underneath, however, he's as dirty as they come.

But he never steals his own cargo. And so you'd be safe while in transit. How far you make it off the boat is another game entirely.

But fabulous wealth never was going to be easy.

#Rough #dark fantasy #heist #crew #robbery #crime caper

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The lost boys of Drestiol: The Age of Impoverished Orphans in a post war region

The now infamous policy of mercenaries paid by the body has come to change Drestiol's self image. This is in no way better captured than in the tragedies of the lost boys. But what image is that? Well the region is a complex place. It began life as a maelstrom of waring tribes. Too rocky, vast and mountainous for one tribe to control, but too fertile a region for any too leave. Drestiol had her enemies outside, but no war was ever larger than the internal one fought among the tribes. However, with the invention of some defenses like early walls, tunnels and then eventually writing. One tribe did rise above the others.

At this time, "outsiders" with scary new cultures and religions, came to conquer the fertile lands. United under a common banner Drestiol defeated her enemies. And in doing so forged the first collective identity of the region as what you'd call a kingdom or an empire.

But it was neither. Rule was 'of the mighty' and leaders were warriors measured in conquest and plunder. The tribes never unified and instead formed something of a council of leaders who would debate among themselves which leader was fiercest. If an enemy was present no leadership disputes would take place, but if you figured yourself undervalued in the art of war you could challenge the leadership.

And he'd either step aside or you'd agree to fight it out.

At first, total war, but eventually settling to small skirmishes or champions.

However, one clan emerged as the leaders by constantly stoking the flames of war. By expanding, provoking, and raiding they kept an "enemy" at all times and so couldn't be challenged.

This house and bloodline were known as "the brutal cowards", but their name was Kuelt. And the Kuelt directly caused the Lost Boys crisis, which cost them the entirety of their power, influence and blood.

See what do you do when you've bled the nation dry fighting never-ending wars? and when all your government hates you? and when your allies are only waiting for peace to provoke civil war?

You have all these enemies and no money to fight them.

Well, you invent credit. You create an entire monetary system around the trade of human death for coin. Then you just make the war brutally managed, by design, so that the vast majority of your men don't come home.

Once war ends from violent and costly attrition you make even civil war seem ridiculous. Then you force a stay of execution until you can have your rivals killed and take over sole control of the lands. Sound good? well that is what Ayon Kuelt tried to maneuver for his family.

However, only one problem, they won the war. And the next. And the next. Drestiol exploded and the financial crisis was (not at all) over.

Many many men were dead in the lands they began with, the lands absorbed and in the ranks of the mercenaries. Yet, too many of the coins ( which you can read about here if you're interested ) made it home. So the state didn't honor them. They just changed the rule. You got something, but nothing really and many families had lost their biggest income earner.

A shortage of adult men, male role models and fathers, older brothers, uncles and so on scarred the country.

Then the civil war came and it was fought by mothers. By women. The tribes all formed orphanages and most boys were shuffled around to make room. This lead to a mixing of languages, culture and identities that really became Drestiolian identity. These institutes were controlled by the winners of the civil war as only a minority of children had homes to return to. The winners were the house of Edmund Clate and his merchant class ally Paul Delton who'd made a fortune on the child labor of the homes and the new coinage.

But Delton and Clate both agreed they needed new soldiers. Enter the military slavery of the orphanages and the worship of the state. Children were taught how great Clate was. How mighty.

But they were also trained to fight and in their downtime made to work. The budding identity of the kids mixed with a hatred of the old tribe system. It took the blame for taking their parents and Clate took the role of father, but then the wars in Kibon broke out.

And many were wounded, maimed, killed and upon returning to their home and 'father' were abandoned.

This is the faith known as being 'a lost boy'.

There were lost girls too, but their faith will be dealt with in a future post.

The lost boys were dangerously numerous, understood the world in a new way than the old leaders and had found a new father.

Edmund eventually found himself executed. The war in Kibon ended in defeat. The new ruler Vernaut, didn't last due to poor health.

Delton ran from power vacuum to power vacuum until his death at the hands of social uprisers.

The new class made treaties, they made peace and they made leaders.

It was asked why the civil war didn’t occur sooner... As said, the traditions of civil war for succession as leading tribe were long standing.  The family who broke it, the Kuelts, didn't break it all at once. They used started wars in a war loving people. So they were popular. And it was custom to stay the leadership disputes. The Kuelts grew in power and tradition stayed their challengers. Some tribes wouldn't support a tribe breaking tradition. That would have been seen as a bigger problem to some. However, to others they were a problem and there was internal tension between tribes and in tribes.           

Also a lot of the negative feelings are from a time closer to the lost boys crisis rather than the peak of their power.         

But when the dam breaks it is the first civil war that unites the tribes and ends a lot of those traditions. So it was a wave of frustration and it "should have happened earlier" would be a sentiment in the people.        

A lot of poverty and suffering and death for nothing. This is why the gutting of the old tribes system got the support it did.         

But a lot of the religion, customs, traditions and laws of this society were built on this system. And the system was an intrinsically xenophobic and racist one. They feared not being the mighty and dominant peoples.      

So, their support of Kuelt lasted longer than it should for fear the turmoil would see them inferior and conquered by an outsider.         

Things were really bleak, but Kuelt had managed to sell mercenaries a lie. A promise of wealth. The return for killing was substantial (before the failure to pay). So to challenge him would have incurred the wrath of the troops he commanded.         

It wasn't so much a reason why not to, but a litany of soft reasons why you shouldn't.      

Also these people didn't trust each other. So while Kuelt couldn't stop all the clans, he could stop anyone. And that weak alliances feeling kept them from banding together.         

But I do plan on writing a short story from the perspective of a lost boy and a lost girl so I'll be doing a lot of building on this period of time.

#Rough #Fantasy #dark fantasy #grimdark #characters #lore #fictional #storytelling #Future projects

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ショウキズイセン／鍾馗水仙 by kianon

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Currency in my setting

Still a work in progress, so bare with, but... 

 Destriol has a dark war raging history. Their leaders destroyed the country and lead it to ruin. In order to satisfy the people they needed to invade and grow. A life's work, in Destriol, was seen as getting a house, some land, a horse and enough resource producing animals to make a weeks worth of food in the markets. So, mercenaries were sent in unpaid and paid later for their kills. To signal these kills they collected body parts, usually hands. Sometimes noses, bones and other such things were taken too. One hand was seen as "half a life" (disputed, because of greedy 'over-harvesters') so you'd get coin valued for the half above in loot from the war. These coins ended up being nearly worthless, but got you something. As a joke people began saying the coins were worth a hand. And soon called them hands.A quarter hand was given for large bones, but these were usually smaller coins. The pieces of bone often broken and it was hard to agree how much was there at a glance. So the scrabble of loose change became known as brittle. A half hand was a palm, two fingers a quarter, one finger an eighth. A nail was a quarter of a finger or 32 nails got you a hand. 

Fun phrases around usage: if you short someone for money you, "palmed the difference". Palming being a common term for concealing. If a hidden charge, forgotten bill, or unexpected expense arises then it is, "the thumb in your eye". A referencing to eye gouging, here implying price gouging and referencing the exclusion of thumbs in the above system." That would cost you your own hands," is said to claim something is very expensive. "Yes, but it'd be worth the wrist," being the response to claim that it is appropriately valued. A lot of people, as said, didn't just take the hands but instead also the nose and bones. When asking someone how they made their money, you'll often hear, "who nose?" I haven't fleshed out the other regions currencies enough just yet, but I'm happy enough with where this one is at.

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