Tag: genfierz

NaNoWriMo Day 2

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I started a bit late today, between work and having some dinner after. And tomorrow is Voting Day so. Yike.

Today’s story was a short entitled Silent Goddess and starring Eral the Arbor Pixie.

Word Count: 1801

Excerpt:

Eral found it easy enough to go unnoticed in the cities of the clockwork kingdom. Anyone that noticed him didn’t pay much mind. He wasn’t the only small, flying thing to be found here, to his intrigue.

Somewhat recently, some up-and-coming tinkerers had unlocked the power of mechanical flight in small devices. Little drones on test flights fluttered from windows and between workshops. Some even bore delicate metalwork wings that fluttered similarly to his own.

For all he knew, some of these inventors had studied pixies or other small fae for their building. He’d have to look into that once he satisfied his current curiosity.

NaNoWriMo Day 4

Neon BrightLeave a comment

Things were slow today! I’m very late in finishing it up, but I think I did okay. To clarify something, Finnraal has Dissociative Identity Disorder! That term doesn’t necessarily exist in Muunfel, though, nor does some of the understanding we have of it in the real world. I’ve been working on the character for a while, though I want to preface this by saying I still have a lot more research to do on how to depict DID in a fantasy setting. These excerpts are meant as WIPs only; once I’ve had some sensitivity readers for the story, it should be a lot more solid!

Word Count: 8733

Excerpt:

The world above was an uncomfortable sort of thing. Everything, everyone felt like a charade of sorts, like the settings and actors of a play. Riddle didn’t trust them, and he didn’t think the others should trust them on principle, either. Maybe it was because he made a point of knowing the least trustworthy people he could find when he was out front.

Information was one of the most important commodities he could possibly gather. More than money, more than spare parts from the shops, maybe even more than food. Information paid like the most sparkling diamonds, if one knew how to spin it. Riddle was good at collecting it. Finnraal and Kala were good at turning it into something else.

His contacts never stayed in the same place for long, but they always left signs for those who knew how to look. Signs leading to their latest nest would be found in the alleys and back roads of the bustling city.

Riddle hadn’t gone to them in some time. He almost worried he had lost his edge with finding the signs, but he noticed a series of notches carved into a signpost. Progress at last. Is anyone watching?

Yes, good job, Finnraal thought drily from within. This is literally why you’re the one in front right now.

“You want my help and this is how you repay it,” Riddle muttered. He snickered as a general sense of disapproval surged out of his audience, and didn’t pay it much mind. He could have fun in the real world, even if no one else appreciated his ways.

NaNoWriMo Day 1

Neon BrightLeave a comment

It begins! I’m hardly doing any outlining at all for the start of this story, since I kind of know what I want the Plot to be, but I still need to nudge the characters to the plot. They’ll get there sooner than any of them would like, I’m sure.

Word Count: 2066

Excerpt: 

What had stood before had crumbled, and what they built on top of it could crumble, too. They could leave their mark on the ruins of old Solian buildings, and then they would join history.

For reasons as foggy as a workshop after an explosion, that mindset bred invention faster than anywhere else in Muunfel. Tinkers and smiths and even some innovative magic users made their workshops in all corners. They built and planned and explored the limits of what could be done with machines, and they did it knowing something might come soon enough to replace their latest invention. As though racing themselves, they leapt forward and made strides that the rest of the continent watched eagerly. Change and the unchanging danced in Genfierz, and in the Silver Fortress more than anywhere else.

NaNoWriMo 2019

Neon BrightLeave a comment

I’ve been back and forth for the whole month of October on whether I will participate in NaNo this  year, and I decided I may as well at least try! I’m going to be tackling a brand new story set in the Muunfel universe, featuring some brand new characters that I’ve been wanting to write for a while.

I will do my best to keep up with it this year, and I’ll also post excerpts from time to time (maybe not daily, we will see if there’s enough interest). 

Finnraal and the Piper

Finn is a thief. Of goods, of information, of the occasional tray of pastries from the local bakery. Finn has a lot of people that he cares about, within himself and without, and would generally say his family is quite large enough thank you very much. When he stumbles himself into a plot that threatens his hard-earned family, there’s little choice but to step up.

Letters from Camp

Neon BrightLeave a comment

The time has come once again for Camp NaNoWriMo! This year I’ve decided to do some more work on Imperfect Storm, a fun tale mostly focused on Elias Dawn, Eral the Arbor Pixie, and Joleth Bay as they go on an epic (and ridiculous) quest. Today, however, I focused on their villain for once. She wanted some attention.

Word Count: 675 / 15,000

Excerpt:

[Guinivere] had quickly guiled herself into a position of some clout in the region. As a respected mage and a well-traveled member of the so-called monsterkind, she offered knowledge and connections to the right people, and the more people she met, the more connections she could make. Politics were a bit boring, but she had more patience for them than her latest best friend.

He wouldn’t be very welcome among the delicate work being done in many of the workshops of Gen. Disaster followed him wherever he went.

So it was Guinivere allowing herself to be praised and showered with gratitude for her aid in various ventures, whether it was money (exceedingly easy for her to talk out of rich men), magic, or insight. After some of the things she’d dealt with on the way to her goals, this wasn’t the worst. Though people outside the workshops had an image of the engineers as antisocial and spiteful people, they treated their own with quite a lot of respect.

Guinivere, they spoiled, all because she asked.

Muunfel Unexplored

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A lot of Muunfel is left without a specific map of the area. The Timewilds of Synka used to be better known to cartographers, but because of the shifting nature of the region and its hostility to settlement, that knowledge has shifted to the coastline and not far inland. Going off the road in Synka is terrible luck, so says the superstition.

Another region that comes to mind is the vast forest covered by the Faelands. Some would argue this land doesn’t count as “unexplored” because it actively prevents anyone from truly knowing where they’re going. The local fae lords and the leaders of the whole nation are able to clear the roads for visitors, but they can also trap trespassers in an area that may not let them leave.

Most regions of Korvasin, Genfierz, and the North are pretty well known. Rutan’s desert and the lands beyond it were unknown until recently, but as the country gains more of a foothold in the international world, more corners of the map are being filled in to the west.

Work in Muunfel

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Mankind is known as the hard workers of Muunfel, since on the surface they have so few natural gifts that they have to cultivate and practice at. Their lives are generally shorter than most other species as well, thanks to their part in exemplifying the life/death cycle created by the first two gods. As such, most people look to them when they wonder what “work” is.

Agriculture and industry both have found niches in Muunfel, with rural areas generally doing well and urban areas building workshops and the like. Korvasin exemplifies an agriculture-based economy, with many of the industries even in the cities working to cater to the many people out working in the fields.

Genfierz, on the other hand, has far less farmland. With more beasts and monsters roaming the wilds, it is tougher for agriculture to truly thrive. The soil is not of the same quality, either, often littered with stones that need to be tilled away. In response, Genfierz is the continent’s leader in metalworking, machines, and invention.

Pastimes in Muunfel

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There are a lot of team sport style games found throughout Muunfel. Regional variants of (European) football are common in Korvasin, Genfierz, and even Meraev after the Solians picked it up from their human neighbors. There aren’t very big tournaments for it (yet), but it’s a good source of entertainment in many communities.

A sport a lot like American baseball is prevalent in the east and north, with a more volleyball-like game gaining prominence in Rutan and the Northwest. In the latter cases, any game that doesn’t rely on the ground being flat and solid is more likely to be played.

Besides team games, individual pastimes for those with the leisure time to pursue them range from art to education to trades. There are few limits to the hobbies people can take up if they have a mind for it. Communities will often share in a few of these as well, usually headed by the socialites who don’t care what they’re doing, so long as they’re with other people.

Favored Hobbies by Region:

  • Korvasin – wandering/exploring, drawing/painting
  • Genfierz – Tinkering, building, researching
  • Rutan – Street sports, glassblowing, gardening
  • North – Building, cooking as art, social gatherings
  • Faelands – social gatherings, singing/dancing

These are, of course, just a general sense of the types of things people are most likely to get into in these regions, either because of the demand for that type of thing or the ease of finding the materials/space to do them.

Technology in Muunfel

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Muunfel has a somewhat cautious relationship with technology and innovation. The reasoning isn’t because of resources or any specific catasrophe. In some cases, it simply can’t get a foothold to replace magical processes that work just as well. In many others, though, there is a lot of superstition around machines, as well as poorly defined ideas of what counts as a “machine.”

The reason for this is Sarin. Formerly a god of unnatural death and murder, Sarin was one of the first gods. However, during the age when mortals were ascending to godhood of their own, Sarin was cleverly trapped in his corporeal form by a very powerful mage. She enabled another mortal to ascend with a ritual that usurped Sarin’s place in the pantheon and left him with a temporary void.

They had trapped him in a machine, and it was there that he found his new purpose. The Usurped God lives in machines, making them work (or not work) and fueling their innovation where possible. Some people are terrified of meeting his wrath if they fiddle too much with machines, though he has admitted his defeat more or less.

Even so, in many of the workshops of Genfierz, where invention and industry thrive, a shrine to Sarin is a must if they don’t want a mysterious accident to befall someone while they build.

Holidays and Traditions

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Holidays across Muunfel vary with the people. There are some regional variants that all center around the same idea but which are attributed to different gods. For example, a spring thaw festival over most of the continent celebrates the children of the earth god Kuro and their stewardship over plants and animals. However, in Rutan, the harsh desert nation, the same festival is held in honor of the god of storms, Elias, in the hopes that he will bring them plentiful rains.

Most people will have a low key celebration of the New Year on the first of Queen’s Eyes. It celebrates another cycle in the passing of time, and a new beginning. The Fae celebrate it for nine days, some for an excuse to party and others for their respect of the cycle.

Some other holidays found throughout Muunfel:

  • Korvasin has a Festival Day on the birthday of the reigning monarch, though it is mostly celebrated in the cities – more rural folk will actually prepare all year to bring some of their produce into more populated areas to sell.
  • Korvasin also shares a holiday with the Fae, in remembrance of the battle in which a previous king oversaw the maiming of a previous Una of the Fae. It is a somber day of reflection.
  • In Rutan, there is a three-day celebration of the formation of the Rebel Kingdom, one day for each of three key figures in the success of the rebellion: Aaron and Leah Stride, spies for the rebels, and Vale Rutan Galen, the first king of Rutan.
  • Genfierz celebrates the birthday of one of its most prominent inventors: James Mercy, the innovator of steam power. His contribution to the mainstream importance of invention is honored all over the country.