30 days hath Smith Bellows …

I probably should have known that this weekend was going to be troublesome getting a post up because of holiday and all the preparation I had to help with in advance of our family gathering. Throw in a longer-than-normal Sunday at work and the third episode of Game of Thrones, and I felt lucky getting half of this written before today.

A likely excuse …

However, this week I wanted to overview the months of the Kalanesian calendar and the major holidays that occur in them. It seemed like a good idea for the Easter Holiday.

I’ve got half of the year line out below, and, Friday or Saturday, I’ll have the last six months.

High Winter aka Midnight’s Vigil

• Patron: Halath, the Watcher in Darkness
• Named for Halath’s watchful nature during the night.
• 31 days long, late December/early January corollary
• Long Watch: Originally started as a ritual of Halath’s clergy and paladins to stay up 48 on the winter solstice. Still, Halath’s followers hold their long watch as a ritual to cleanse their minds of egocentrism.
• Revess: A sacred day for the wild elves that also falls on day of and after the winter solstice. They believe the sun spirit dies at sunset, his dead body smoldering during twilight. Then, at dawn, he rises up a new child. The day of the solstice is a very somber affair, many elves putting on ritual mourning garments, but, at dawn, they spend the rest of the day hosting a boisterous feast.

Late Winter aka Smith’s Bellows

• Patron: Cador, the Flame of Genius
• Named for the smiths beginning to repair and forge new plows for farmers
• 30 days long, late January/early February corollary
• Rekindling: When all fires are extinguished and restarted on the first day of the month. Rekindling is a fairly simple custom, more than a holiday for most families, but churches dedicated to Cador after host elaborate ceremonies complete with poetry, songs and dedications of artwork. It is meant to signify a commitment to innovation rather than stagnation.

Early Spring aka Blade’s Edge

• Patron: The Parable of Blades
• Named for preparation for war made when weather permits it.
• 31 days long, later February/early March corollay
• Barrack’s Day: A soldiers’ celebration on the seventh day. Typically, this day, primarily for warriors, starts with a quick morning devotion to the nine holy swords before the rest of the day is spent drinking, feasting and … enjoying the other fruits of shore leave, either at the local brothels or with wives and mistresses.
• Melting Day: Celebrates the first day when snow melts enough for dwarves to come to the surface. After winter snows melt enough that dwarves can more easily use their mountain entrances and paths to access the surface races, they host a boisterous festival in the sun.

High Spring aka Mother’s Promise

• Patron: Ineria, the Good Godess
• Named for the fertile potential of woman
• 30 days long, late march/early April corollary
• The Ineritalia: A celebration of spring and renewal on the vernal equinox, the start of the Blue Empire’s new year. After the long winter and initial preparations for planting are over, clerics of Ineria host a week-long festival dedicated to the goddess of agriculture to bless the coming harvest. It features food, drink, actors, singers, poets, and any number of boisterous activity.
• Spirits’ Dance: A day of connection to the land among the primitive peoples who worship the Primal Spirits also falling on the vernal equinox. These peoples believe that the spirits of the land are most active on this day — particularly the beneficent spirits. Similar to the Ineritalia, feasts are held, and they put on masks of the spirits.

Late Spring aka Hooves’ Dust

• Patron: Nemerium, the Father of Pegasi
• Named for improved travel conditions
• 31 days long, late April/early May corollary
• Mucking Day: A holiday, on the ninth day, when the royal stables and others throughout the land are cleaned and all the barding and tack polished. Though associated with cleaning out the stables, this holiday is when the peasants lay out manure to dry for the winter and place some on fields as fertilizer.
• The Great Circus: Two days of races following up Mucking Day starting the next day. In an annual test of the breeding of horses and pegasi, this festival plays host two major races one for each mount. The traditional course generally takes place through the streets of Waystran, but, since the fall of the empire, similar races are held in each city, though the most prestigious still exists in the formal imperial capital.

Early Summer aka Coin’s Gleam

• Patron: The Church of Talent
• Named for the first profits made in the trading season by merchants
• 30 days long, late May/early June corollary
• Sarenthalash: An elven day marking their rebellion against the fey courts and the start of a month of fasting. Aside from a small meal, traditionally of dried meat and fruits in the evening, the elves abstain from eating as a memorial of their fight against the fey courts. Unlike most other elven celebrations, there is little levity in the ceremonies.
• The Caravanserai: A grandiose merchants fair held at each Church of Talent complex, starting on the eleventh day and running through the twentieth day. Typically, this is the most elaborate festival held in the former Blue Empire because of its extravagance and availability of goods. It is also when merchants show off new wares available and make numerous deals.
• Nikerielas: A feast breaking the Sarenthalas fast on the thirtieth day of the month. Elven communities gather for this solemn feast commemorating all of the lives, both elvar and eldarine, that were lost during the final battle when the elves stepped through the portal into the mortal world from the Fey Lands.

My kingdom for a … domesticated beast that can transport me at a faster rate than walking

This week’s post is going to be a little minute in terms of fluff, but it will take on greater importance next week when I unveil a new deity in the Blue Pantheon — as you’ll remember, I said I’d likely be adding on more as time progressed.

However, I want to talk about mounts this week.

It may seem fairly trivial on the surface, but it is incredibly important in terms of cultural differentiation.

As most who have studies any amount of history know, horses have been the primary mount in Earth’s history, mostly because it was one of the first animals domesticated. However, that doesn’t have to be the case in Kalanesia. So here’s what people across the continent ride.

The former Blue Empire rides horses and pegasi

Those who live in cities like Exeline, Waystrand, Vraen and Tri Riven have largely used horses and their close, magical cousins, pegasis, for travel stretching farther back than the foundation of the empire.

Horses have been the primary source of travel for all members of the former empire, even for commoners, who own at least an old draft horse for plowing and pulling carts. Merchants and gypsies own a few draft horses for pulling their wagons and supplies. The middle class often has one of two higher-quality thoroughbreds used for trave. Knights often have a larger destrier for jousts and combat. And nobles prize themselves on raising horses for races.

However, the epitome of the nobles own pegasi. Most of the lower-rung nobles and rising merchants own one or two of the beasts, but, just as most nobles raise prize-winning horse, a few of the more prominent raise racing pegasi.

The elves love their deer and large birds

Okay, I’ll admit I thought this was one of the coolest images in the first Hobbit movie. And, though I’m sure there are some out there who thought it was a needless artistic choice, it actually makes a lot of sense, at least in Kalanesia. Horses are primarily built for plains with plenty of room to run and move. Deer, elk, moose, caribou, etc. are best built for forested areas, which easily describes the areas where elves live. Elves who ride mounts usually tame whatever large cervids are native to their area. This also means that, when elves live in plain areas, they still favor beasts like gazelles.

They also ride giant birds. Again, this is based on a Tolkien trope, but, given that birds like eagles and owls naturally live in wooded areas, it makes sense that the giant versions would also be in large woods. As such, for elves looking to fly  work with giant birds. Giant eagles are ridden in both Caer’Cindarin and Caer’Salamë, but giant owls are the more common in the latter.

Orcs favor large predators

Since, like elves, orcs favor the less civilized areas of Kalanesia, they too have unorthodox, if archetypal, mounts. Because of their ferocity and warlike nature, they favor apex predators. In wooded areas, they choose dire wolves. In the Mysterium Jungles, they ride dire tigers, or dire lions in the Silverblade Savannah. In the northern reaches, they ride shaggy, saber-toothed cats. As part of a beast-rider’s initiation into adulthood, he or she is tasked with breaking and taming a wild animal to serve as a mount rather than relying on domesticated stock.

Things are different in the desert

Those who live in desert climates are most likely to travel on camels. Because there are few deer in the Aamn Sands, the elves domesticated the dromedaries early on as they began traveling the wastes. Since then, camels have become the primary means of transportation for most traveling the desert. In Kalanesia, the word camel is derived from “cama elell,” which means “old wanderer,” brought from their travel of the desert and their cantankerous attitudes.

However, the goblinoids have a different preference. A long time ago, as they set up along the Green River, they had to deal with giant scorpions, which they first considered pests. However, a few druids among the clans managed to tame some, and, since then, they have acted as the goblinoids’ beasts of burden and mounts.

Tiefling’s mounts were dictated by their pact

Because they were once humans and part of the Blue Empire, tieflings still use horses. However, just like others, they have sought winged mounts that fit into their lives best. When their infernal taint turned the noses of the pegasi they used to ride, they switched to a more agreeable option, the nightmare. The fiery horses have long been associated with devils, and, though the lack wings, their magical nature grants them flight. Even their master-beast relationship takes on a pact-like quality: before a nightmare will consent to bare a rider, the rider must offer something in return, such as morsels of meat, a chance to kill something or, in some cases, a choice mate.

Dwarves need something to scale mountains and just as stubborn as they are.

Since they live in steep, mountainous areas, Dwarves need mounts with footing suited to the terrain. And that would lead to the trusty mountain goats, such as their preferred dire ibexes. The goats’ hooves are tailored made for climbing the mountains. They are also just as stubborn as the dwarves, not giving up when faced with hardship.

However, what do they ride when they need to fly? Griffins, of course. These beasts are every bit as stubborn as the dwarves but just as fiercely loyal once their friendship is earned. The Werrack dwarven clan is known for its corp of griffin riders that use crossbows and javelins.

Dragonborn and kobolds like drakes

The island of Draconix is a place where dragonborn flourish, and dragons have dominated for eons. As such, the island is home to a large population of wyverns and drakes, a land where reptiles won over mammals in evolution. As such, quadruped drakes are the primary mount for speed and stamina. Bipedal drakes make mounts for great shock troops. And, finally, winged drakes and wyverns are great for the primary flying mounts.

Winning in November

Well, it’s been a month since the last post on here while I worked day and night on my National Novel Writing Month entry, and it all paid off with an official word count of 50,214 on the last day of the month.

Now, my plans to post quick snippets on here and tweet excerpts as I worked fell to the wayside as time constraints reared their ugly heads.

But that doesn’t mean I have learned a lot of really cool things about Kalanesia through the process.

I already posted a neat bit of trivia about elves: those raised in normal circumstances bear tattoos that indicate certain things about them, such as occupation, family, etc. I think it is a really cool way to differentiate them from other elves — both from other worlds and in Kalanesia. Aside from this, I’ve got enough new material lined out for another couple of posts on elven culture. So keep an eye out in the next month or two.

Otherwise, I’ll start with the first major component that has developed out of writing the novel: I’m going to do my best to disengage the setting from being solely for Dungeons and Dragons and provide material that could easily transmit to any roleplaying system.

• Wee Jas will need to be renamed. What that name will be I am unsure.
• Remember when I said the demon lords would remain like D&D? Well, they’ll be retooled, as well.
• Names of places like the Feywild and Shadowfell will also be reworked. The new name of the Feywild will be the Feylands, and the Shadowfell is now the Grey Wastes; I’ll explain more on this in the future.

But, here are some of the other trivia bits of info that came out of writing the novel.

• Priests of Boudica give up their original names and take on new identities under their goddess.
• While the city of Exeline is not on the coast of an ocean, it was built around a waterfall and a lake, which empties into a river than runs to Waystrand. As such, there is river-based trade using barges that flow between the cities.
• Most of the Church of Halath’s rites and rituals take place at night, when their vigilance is most needed.
• Changelings are a hated race because many believe they always lie.
• There are some areas in Kalanesia were slavery exists, and in areas where it is outlawed, slavers still manage to pop up offering their living wares. This isn’t touched on yet, but Sargesia, the main city of teiflings is a major hub.
• Those who worship the Seven Sisters use “Sisters’ knees” as an swear, base off of the “Sisters’ knobbly knees,” a send up of stereotypical images of Halloween witches. While no others popped up, I don’t see why this can extend to other things such as “a wart on my nose,” to reference an annoyance.
• Ever wondered why demons and angels seldom appear in the mortal world and abjuration magic banishes them? It’s because they aren’t native to the mortal world and have no direct connection to it, which can only be forged by someone in the world via a ritual or the expenditure of amazing amounts of energy. So what does this mean for extra-planar travel? You’ll have to wait and see.

As to the finished novel, well, it isn’t finished. I’m planning on leaving it along for a month and, at the start of 2014, picking it back up to start editing. Since this has mostly been a fun experience, I’m not sure yet if this is something I’m going to send out for publication submission. It will largely depend on how the editing process goes.

So cheers ’til next week, folks.

Been there and done that: a halfling’s creation

Today’s is s topic that has had me baffled for a while: halflings.

This race is probably best known by its other name — the hobbit.

Since the race was made an immortal part of pop culture through Tolkien’s writing, they have always had a quirky relationship with roleplaying games.

Fantasy fans expect them to exist, but not as Tolkien knock-offs.

This has led to much discussion about what makes this race in the general world of Dungeons and Dragons. Check out this article by Jon Schindehette at wizards.com/dnd.

My attempts to look up where the term “halfling” originated on online dictionarys, the Encyclopedia Britanica and others, turned up little.

And, holy hells — I’ll leave you to check out Urban Dictionary.

She is pretty hot as a ginger.

In terms of the race’s presentation in Dungeon and Dragon’s history, there are only two that stand out to me as really effect at presenting halflings with new spins: the kender in Dragonlance and the halflings in Dark Sun.

Tracy Hickman’s and Margaret Weis’s Tasselhoff Burrfoot and the other pick-pocketing kender where my first introduction to non-Tolkien halflings that were active in their world rather than passive, much more different than the homely hobbits. The race event saw an interesting change following the Chaos War and rise of the Dragon Overlords and the Afflicted.

Then, the Athasian halfings are the quintessential jungle pygmies, complete with the Victorian Era’s fears of cannibalism.They even have neat/weird tie-in for the world’s history and devastation, as revealed in Troy Denning’s series. This another perfect example of a twist, unless someone can point to a history of Middle Earth where hobbits engaged in this practice.

Even Eberron’s halflings at least have twist as being natives of the svannah-like Talenta Plains.

Plus, they have dinosaurs.

For me, though, these depictions complicate matters because these archetypes cover so much territory. But, hopefully, I have a bit of an unintentional saving grace — remember the Seven Sisters?

I had mentioned, somewhat off-hand, that halflings were one of the few races who openly worshiped the Sisters. So that forced me to think about what kind of race would see these goddesses as the best fit for their lifestyles and culture. This led me back to 3.5 E’s Races of the Wild, which portrays them as wandering family units.

So, I think I’m going to take that particular facet and make it the key conceit for the race in Kalanesia.

In a world fractured by the Bloodrift War, not all communities are within quick or easy access of the city states like Waystrand or Exeline, so halflings provide necessary services for trade, entertainment and excitement to the townsfolk. Though halflings are a known source of the occasional card swindling or pick-pocketing, they aren’t excessive because they also recieve the gold, goods and services that only a stable community can provide, like blacksmithing and grain. Thus, it is a symbiotic relationship between the communities and the wandering halfling clans.

That they have no permanent home says a lot about the halflings — they are adventurous, adaptable and necessarily shrewd and charismatic. They are naturally gregarious and often find themselves becoming the spokenperson for a group when with others of different races. Along with this, they tend to know a lot about the social workings of the communities they frequent.

So does anyone have thoughts? Are there any other unique twists on this races that I should check out? Feel free to leave me a comment if you have a thought.

The Seven Sisters

As is becoming increasingly the case, my ideas for deities and religions are evolving from music. In this case, the mystery cult of the Seven Sisters was inspired by Blackmore’s Night’s “Fires at Midnight.”

The song, to me, evokes thoughts of magical rituals, and the speaker talks about the Seven Sisters, most likely the star cluster, called the Pleiades, in the constellations Taurus.

Turning to one of the definitive sources on Greek mythology, Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, The Pleiades were the goddess Artemis’s retinue: Electra, Maia, Taygete, Alcyone, Merope, Celaeno and Sterope. For individual descriptions of the sisters, I’ll send you here.

There are all sorts of other mythological and new age associations with the cluster, but all I really want to use it as structure: seven goddesses worshiped, mostly, as a pantheon by … well, there’s really no better way to describe it than witches and warlocks — the D&D classes, that is.

The warlock presented in Complete Arcana in 3.5 edition was as an individual whose power was tied to infernal powers. In 4 edition, that grew into individuals who made pacts with supernatural powers presented from the get go in the Player’s Handbook I. The witch came out as a subclass of the wizard in Heroes of the Feywild. There’s also my favorite iteration of that class in Pathfinder.

Fox Familiar? ‘Nuff said.

Anyway, as a mystery cult, the worship of the Seven Sisters is secretive and closed to most outsiders. Therefore it is misunderstood, leading to the same for its followers. In fact, the only races to openly worship the Sisters are halflings and the Vistani, which, in its current incarnation, is not really a race. The Vistani, originally introduced as a component of the Ravenloft, are a group of gypses. In Dragon magazine issue 380, they were updated for use in numerous worlds by making them an amalgamation of different races that have joined roving Vistani families.

Anyway, the Sisters are broken up as follows:

• The Sister of the Stars: This Sister deals in astrology and divination.
• The Sister of the Shadows: This Sister is connected to stealth and darkness.
• The Sister of the Campfires: This Sister covers family, light and protection.
• The Sister of the Wilds: This Sister governs the animals of the woods and the plants used in herbalism.
• The Sister of the Crossroads: This Sister is associated with travel and choices.
• The Sister of the Cards: This Sister is connected to luck and manipulation.
• The Sister of the Scrolls: This Sister deals with knowledge and history.

Most aren’t sure if this religion sprung up from individual warlocks who attained great power and took on the mantle of godhood, if they were nature spirits depicted thusly by early arcane practitioners, or if there were sister deities who smiled upon the Vistani. Given the secretive nature of this religion, its followers are not part of the Blue Pantheon and are often vilified.

A decent collage of the Seven Sister composite from carious 4E artwork. From left, Sister of the Crossroads, Stars, Campfires, Shadows, Wilds, Cards, and Scrolls