#moonscribbler

[theliteraryluggage]

I love fictional deities and religions!! So here are a few to start you off:

Does your deity directly interact with her/their followers? Do they respond to or act upon prayers and requests? Do they make their presence felt?

Are they a deity of something in particular?

Do people always honor/worship them in the way they wish, or are their misconceptions, misunderstandings about what it means to honor them?

ohhhh this is super interesting, thank you so much for your questions!!

/2. Enera does respond to her followers in a way when they call upon her for help, but more indirectly. She doesn't directly speak to them or interact, deities are not usually that human on Edrion. But she does take subtle influence on her believers' lives. For example, one of her main domains is the storm, so people will often make an offering or say a prayer for safety to Enera when a storm is approaching. It will not stop the storm from coming, but it may minimise damage to their property and harm to their loved ones. Enera is also goddess of art, music and dance, and creativity in general. So, many artists will call on Enera for inspiration and perseverance, and while she won't just reach into their mind and give them ideas, she may guide their path towards experiences or people or other art that may inspire them. It is then up to the artist what they make of it. Enera's presence is most tangible during a thunderstorm, or during an artistic performance where both artist(s) and audience completely lose themselves in the art and the beauty and joy of it.

(see above)

Enera doesn't have a formalised church, no temples or churches, no dogma or commandments. She's more of a folk goddess who has established herself in people's minds, in their habits and superstitions. That's not to say there is no wrong way to worship Enera, but at least there's no one doing terrible things in Enera's name to gain wealth or power. There are definitely misguided individuals sometimes, though, who would interpret Enera's encouragement to self-discovery and self-fulfilment to mean selfishness and egotism, who put themselves and their will first without regard for the harm they may cause others. Enera does not punish these; she's not a moralising deity. But they will also not receive any of the little windfalls, support and good luck that a true believer of Enera does.

This was super helpful, thank you so much!!!!

Send me some questions to help flesh out my deity?

#writeblr #wbw #worldbuilding wednesday #worldbuilding #bolt as brass #enera #nihi writes stuff #ask #answered #nihi talks to beautiful people #moonscribbler

[eleanorawritesfantasy]

Hi, Eleanora! Is there a poem or book passage that makes you go absolutely feral? <3

Hi pal! Tbh I’m absolutely feral about 75% of the time, it’s why I like writing goblins so much.

But I lost my shit at the preface to Terry Pratchett’s The Colour of Magic recently. And Audre Lorde’s poem A Litany for Survival is so raw and beautiful that I re-read it often. It always awakens in me.

Aldo the dril tweet “face god and walk backwards into hell”.

#eleanora speaks #moonscribbler

[enchanted-lightning-aes]

Fic title: Drunk stars

hey there, apple! thanks for teh ask. :3

my concept for this would be people observing all sorts of constellations and make up things on their own. ohh, and they're also probably wasted while doing this, hehe.

send me a made-up fic title and i'll tell you what i would write to go with it.

#enchant answers #moonscribbler

[parttimeghost]

A late happy WBW! Are there any aspects of culture that influence relationships in your WIP? Religion, class, faction? This does not necessarily feature in your main story, if you don't have a romance subplot.

Hi! Happy WBW Apple <3

I'll answer this for WIP An Ode to the Destined (It'll probably be a bit rambly so I'll throw it behind a cut).

WIP AOTTD Tag List (Ask or DM to be added/removed): @lockejhaven @marinesocks @andromedatalksaboutstuff

In AOTTD I really wanted to make strong platonic relationships the focus, rather than romantic relationships, due to my own frustration with the fantasy genre. But that isn't to say that there aren't any romantic relationships (the main relationship I can think of being Guinevere/Arthur/Lancelot)!

Between the main cast (Morgan, Arthur, Gwen, Lancelot, Merlin, and Mordred) I really wanted to draw from the original texts (mainly the Mabinogion and Geoffrey of Monmouth's works), contemporary literary discourse, and pop culture, integrating classic relationships and giving them new angles or context. For example, the relationship between Arthur, Gwen, and Lancelot arose from queer literary criticism (and also my disdain for love triangles in general), whilst Arthur and Morgan's relationship finds its parallels in the early seasons of BBC Merlin and Star Wars.

But I think that the main aspects of the in-world culture that affect the relationships between the characters would be the Prophecies of Taliesin and Uther's legislation against sorcery.

Morgan and Arthur are the twin children of Ygraine and Uther, who were separated at birth due to Ygraine's death and Uther's new legislation against the practice of magic (due to Morgan being born with magic). Morgan was rescued by a companion of Ygraine, Nyneve, and smuggled out of the city. She was then raised as the adopted daughter of Nyneve along with eight adopted siblings (a reference to the Nine Sorceresses of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Vita Merlini). Due to their differing upbringings (Arthur as the crown prince of an anti-magic kingdom and Morgan as a priestess of Nine) the two of them sometimes have difficulty communicating due to differing cultural backgrounds and philosophies (but Arthur is relatively open to the idea of magic due to his friendship with Merlin (more on this later), and Morgan is a relatively patient person having grown up as the eldest of nine siblings).

Morgan, Arthur, and Merlin are the core figures in the future foreseen (and orchestrated) by the Seer Taliesin, with Arthur and Merlin cast in the roles of hero whilst Morgan is foretold to be the ultimate villain. Morgan, as a Seer, places little stock in the content of prophecies due to her own knowledge of the nature of Sight (prophecies as possibilities rather than immutable future). Merlin, a powerful mage, was raised with the opposite belief (that the prophecies will come to pass no matter what) leading him to initially distrust Morgan and believe her to be a threat to Arthur (the Once and Future King), refusing her aid throughout the course of the book.

Morgan's relationship with the rest of the cast is influenced heavily by her own Seer abilities. Before the events of the novel, Morgan has spent much of her adolescent life Seeing these people in her visions. Sometimes they are dear friends, sometimes bitter enemies, sometimes strangers (though Morgan has a tendency to cling to those happier visions she is still affected by those darker visions, especially in regards to Merlin due to his initial attitudes toward her). So when Morgan arrives in Camelot and meets them for the first time she has difficulty separating the vision versions of her friends from reality (this is clearest with Guinevere, whom she often refers to as Gwen when the lines between present and future become blurred; in their first meeting she even mentally refers to present Gwen as 'Guinevere-but-not-Gwen-not-yet-and-maybe-not-ever').

I think I'll stop there for the moment because I'm starting to ramble and I'm not sure if I really answered the question but oh well. Thank you so much for the ask! <3

#wip: an ode to the destined #worldbuilding wednesday #writing asks #writeblr #<3 #u: moonscribbler

[marrowwife]

A WRITEBLR RE-INTRO

Welcome to my cozy little corner of writeblr!

You can call me Marrow or Ollie, I'm 23, I use all pronouns (mostly they/them), and I'm a middle child from a small town upbringing

I'm a queer fantasy writer who writes queer fantasy stories :)

Currently (and always) obsessed with the Crane Wives, The Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti and collecting strange knickknacks from secondhand stores

HOUSEKEEPING

This is not my main, if I send any asks I'll tag this blog so that people know who I am

Ask and tag game friendly! May take a while to respond but rest assured I am working on it and I always appreciate it!

Currently working on getting intros out for all of my wips, most of them are reworkings of my old wips :)

wips and taglists under the cut

WORKS IN PROGRESS

- PRIMARY WIPS

WIP: LOTUS EATERS na urban fantasy, dark academia witches, queer

The lives of three complicated women become intertwined when they all join a magical secret society at their university

@houndmouthed @moonscribbler @lockejhaven @aeipathys @cryptid-s-wips @seven-little-constellations @asralieswritingcorner @these-starrynights @dreamwolves @oblolongue @andromedatalksaboutstuff @thelittlestspider @serenanymph @athenswrites

WIP: RAVENOUS na fantasy, exploration of the chosen one trope, queer

What makes someone a saviour? The origin of their power or the way they use it?

@houndmouthed @tragicbackstoryenjoyer @philocalizt @waestlandbaby @andromedatalksaboutstuff @writingmoth @serenanymph @moondust-bard @ashfordlabs @carnocus @real-fragments7

WIP: UNRESTFUL small town fantasy, gothic academia, queer

Gothic boarding school fantasy where the ocean is evil and trying to eat you probably

@dreamwolves @inkingfireplace @kaiusvnoir @saltwaterbells @touchingmadness @andromedatalksaboutstuff @thelittlestspider @writingmoth @serenanymph @silhouettecrow @stesierra @ashfordlabs

- SECONDARY WIPS

WIP: THE GABRIEL RATCHET ya faerie fantasy, folkloric inspiration, queer

Faerie story where everyone has an agenda and there's also a quest

@tieflingtea @philocalizt @cactusmotif @houndmouthed @cream-and-tea @dreamwolves @inkingfireplace @touchingmadness @whimsy-of-the-stars @silhouettecrow @andromedatalksaboutstuff @writingmoth @serenanymph

WIP: SWORD & SERPENT na cozy(ish) fantasy, found family, queer

A knight, a mage, and a wayward heir take way longer to get back home than they should have because of the god damn plot

@tieflingtea

#writeblr #writeblr intro #marrow writes #fantasy writeblr #queer writeblr #introduction #author introduction #writer intro #suddenly i forget how to tag

[thetruearchmagos]

Thinking up a new sorta Worldbuilding-game thing, curious what my most dear mutuals think of it. In short, I'd challenge you folks to come up with *just the title* of an article, 'paper', or other text written within your setting, be it from the perspective a named character or some rando, which covers a major subject or topic that the people and societies of your Setting hold dear or view as important. Pending a name, but I'd like some feedback from you all.

Tentatively Tagging @athenswrites @theprissythumbelina @hessdalen-globe @caxycreations @moonscribbler @thatndginger

#worldbuilding #writeblr #writeblr stuff #Also open to feedback from literally anyone who sees this and has something to say #all ears #This was kinda brought on by me remembering something like this I did a while back #Its title was “Kill Them All: Proliferation. Altercation And The Spectre Of Annihilation In The Hangman's Half Decade” #I'm thinking that this sorta thing gives a bottom-up view of how the actual actors and sectors of society view the issues of their time #making it all seem more real and less a contrivance of us as the creators of their circumstances #and of course knowing what is and isn't studied or analysed in what are probably more academic or 'upper' class circles itself #shows a lot about the broader society in question

[amaiguri]

Character Voice Tag

Thank so much to @the-down-upside-finch for tagging me in this AMAZING challenge omg omg I'm so hype for this! In the past, I was told my character voicing SUCKED so I have worked so so hard at geting better... no idea if I'm winning now, but I'm doing my best and am open to feedback at any time!

The premise is: Write a specific sentence in several characters' voices -- you can ALSO use a single action line to help, but the focus is on syntax!

My sentence is "Would you like help with that?"

I think, the thing about voice, is that 99% of the time strong voiciness comes from specific context. And I can see somany of my characters maliciously offering to help as a way to put someone down/imply that they're incompetent...

So I will specify further -- each of these characters is genuinely offering help to YOU, someone they respect, as you start to lift a heavy box. Let's JUMP INTO IT!

Kalliopeia, the Philosopher King: "Would you like help with that?"

Riavh Solais, the Once and Future Emperor: "Oh, please let me help you there!"

Singr Sa, a Runaway Princess: "Uh... you need help?"

Xizi, the Saegen Princess who didn't run away: "Should I help you with that?"

Zalathiel, the Inquisitor General: *eyebrow raised as you struggle* "...Do you need help with that?"

Nesa, Lt.-Inquisitor General: "You got that, little one?"

Saravanya, Champion of the Abyss: *Uses Telekinesis to lift box for you*

Diacaius, 2nd Senator of Telethens: *Sauntering up* "Oh, please -- allow me!"

Arlasaire, the Soldier-Maiden of Thuille: "Don't." *Grabs the box from you, almost drops it*

...Apparently, most of my characters do not ask permission to help you if they like you. They absolutely impose their help upon you. 😭😭😭

Tagging (whenever you have time!) @moonfeatherblue @thetruearchmagos @maiemorrae @dragonprincedawn @reaperofcrows @winterandwords @zebee-nyx @pluttskutt @theprissythumbelina @modernwritercraft @thetruezion @cee-grice @moonscribbler and @the-down-upside-finch (tagging you back :P) AND open tag, as always!

YOUR sentence is, "This morning, breakfast was bad."

Hee hee! I am certain many of your characters have very different ways of saying this extremely bland sentence. Please feel free to also do tag-backsies for me because I need to do more of these exercises!

#writeblr #writer tag game #character voice tag #character voices #character voice #writing #amaiguri #yssaia

[oh-no-another-idea]

OC moodboard tag

Thanks for the tag so long ago, @fanged-solace!

Rules: Add your OC’s name followed by ‘core’ on Pinterest, then make a moodboard of the first 9 images

I did this one for my OC Lewis Huen, and first I was like no...this isn't really him with the violin but okay...but the more I look at it now...the more it DOES look like him. So wow. The power of a moodboard 😉

Tags for @hd-literature @acertainmoshke @leahnardo-da-veggie @tabswrites @justafunctionalmess

@cljordan-imperium @moonscribbler @halleyuhm @duckingwriting and anyone else who sees this!

#tag games #lewis huen #moodboards

[philosophika]

Nine People You Want To Get To Know Better

Hi everyone, I'm back from an unplanned semi-hiatus (turns out moving countries can really do a number on you) and am looking forward to interacting again. On that note, thank you very much to my new mutual, @lordfenric-writes for tagging me! If you don't already know Fenric (can I call you Fenric?), go check out their Content Links Post for access to their 2023 NaNoWriMo project and more! Soft tagging: @tate-lin @lucianinsanity @songsofsomnia @moonscribbler @words-after-midnight @blind-the-winds @sarah-sandwich @mydeadpony @inkovert @sender-paulson @athenswrites @wordsacrossemptypages, @winterandwords and anyone else who'd like to participate! If you want me to remove you from the tags, just send me a message and I'll get right on it <3

Current Book I'm Reading: OK, so the first thing you need to know about me is that I'm a fully institutionalized academic, and although I've (THANKFULLY) left that world behind, I. CAN'T FOR. THE. LIFE. OF. ME. stop reading like an academic. I haven't been able to read fiction in over a year. The only genre outside of non-fiction that I still seem to be able to connect with is horror. And not like ghosts in your attic horror. Obscure, weird-as-fuck horror. Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman & Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova horror (which are both excellent books, by the way). But that wasn't the question, was it? The question was: what am I reading now. Well, (oh god) I've been digging into The Last Man Takes LSD: Foucault and the End of Revolution by Mitchell Dean & Daniel Zamora, which sounds a whole lot more trippy than it actually is. Mainly, I'm interested because the authors point out that Foucault's late philosophy, his so-called 'ethical turn' towards an 'aesthetics of existence', was inspired by a trip he took to California (and the upper reaches of the universe). Since I wrote my MA dissertation on this exact topic (the ethical turn, not the LSD), I thought it might come in handy for future articles...

Last Song I Listened To: Bastille & Hans Zimmer's new cover of Bastille's Pompeii, Pompeii MMXXIII (recommended by a friend). Before that, I was listening to a 'British Folk/Weird Folk/Horror Folk' playlist on Spotify which was pretty interesting... Actually, it reminded me of being a child in the English countryside, stuffing my face with berries by the side of the road and then going to the new-age shop in the village to listen to whale-song CDs, touch magic gemstones, and smell incense sticks. Very hippie.

Currently Watching: The Servant on Apple TV (is the baby real or not!? It's driving me crazy); Foundation on Apple TV (and I swear it's not because Jared Harris is in it or Lee Pace wears chainmail crop-tops. I swear!); and... The News? Does the news count? I watch a lot of 'the news' now. Actually, I can't stop watching... It's been quite sad and terrible lately...

Current Fic I'm Reading: Sorry, I don't read fics! I know it's blasphemy. Believe me, no one is more disgusted with me than I am. But yeah, there you go... Never been my thing, really. Nothing against it.

Next On My Watch List: the upcoming Napoleon movie featuring Joaquin Phoenix; Killers of the Flower Moon; anything A23 produces anytime; Priscilla by Sofia Coppola (which is A23 also so, you know, naturally); and I'll probably re-watch The Green Knight for Christmas (it is a Christmas movie, after all).

Current Obsession: My WIP, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, which you can check out on my writeblr side-blog (@thesorcerersapprentice) has been my main obsession for the past -what?- four years? More or less? I really feel like until I've written this thing, gotten it out of me, I won't be able to write anything else. It just won't leave me alone. I can't think around it; I always end up coming back. It's a story I fundamentally, deep down in my bones, need to write. So it's my obsession: today, tomorrow, and always, right up until the day it's done.

#tag games #tagging games #open tag #Nine People You Want To Get To Know Better #writeblr community

[theliteraryluggage]

Hi, Ace! Do you have any writing rituals? When re-reading your own work, do you annotate your own work or leave yourself comments, or do you just mentally take note of what you want to fix/change/anything?

AAAAAA Apple thank you so much for the questions!! I'm sorry it took me so long to get back to you, I had a friend over all week so I haven't really been on tumblr much.

Do I have any writing rituals?

That's a good question. You know, there's something I just realised as I was thinking about what to write in response to this question: When I am about to start writing and think about how I want to start, I pick at my skin. Usually in my face, but it can also be at my fingernails or wherever there's something to pick at. It's not a healthy habit, but it keeps my hands busy without distracting me while I collect my thoughts.

Other than that I'm not sure. I write in so many different situations and settings, I'm not really sure there's anything they have in common. If I'm at home, I make a drink, usually tea, before I start, but when I'm writing elsewhere I don't need to have a drink to write. If I'm going for a specific atmosphere or writing something inspired by a certain song, I will listen to that song a couple of times, but then I'll turn it off, bc if at all possible I prefer to write in silence. I do always reread at least the rest of the scene/chapter before I continue writing, to get back in the flow of it.

I wouldn't really call any of that a ritual, though.

When I'm rereading my work, if there's small changes I wanna make, I make them immediately (i.e. changing an idiom or description, switching out a name, fixing a continuity error). If I want to change something that needs more work ... well, usually I just make a mental note of it. Which isn't ideal, bc my memory isn't great and if I end up not working on something for a while, things tend to slip away. I do sometimes take notes in a separate doc, or at the bottom of the doc if I'm not working in Scrivener, if it's something really important or something I'm very excited about. But I don't do it enough, I need to be better about it.

Thank you so much for these very thoughtful questions, you're lovely! I hope you're having a great weekend 💖💖💖

#writeblr #writer #writing #ask #answered #nihi writes stuff #nihi talks to beautiful people #moonscribbler #hardships of a writer

[whimsyqueen]

what is Freytag's Triangle and why is it bad?

Oh you have opened a can of worms my friend @approximately20eggs I hope you’re ready

So everyone actually knows what Freytag’s triangle is in its most basic form (more response below the image because I’ve got thoughts):

It’s not like….. BAD, right? It’s just how Aristotle announced that you should set up a dramatic tragedy (based off of Oedipus the King) and everyone just kinda went “oh cool so that’s entirely what plot should be always and forever!” when like….. that works well and good for a dramatic tragedy, and CAN work for plot, but absolutely should not be how we base ALL PLOT in stories. And also, fiction transcends drama, does it not? We’ve like???? Moved past that???

Anyway, here’s a quote from Jane Alison’s Meander, Spiral, Explode that does an excellent job of explaining a lot of the feelings I’m trying to articulate:

“If you ask Google how to structure a story, your face will be hammered with pictures of arcs. And it is an elegant shape, especially when I translate arc to its natural form, a wave. Its rise and fall traces a motion we know in heartbeats, breaking surf, the sun passing overhead. There’s power in a wave, its sense of beginning, midpoint, and end: no wonder we fall into it in stories. But something that swells and tautens until climax, then collapses? Bit masculo-sexual, no? So many other patterns run through nature, tracing other deep motions in life. Why not draw on them, too?”

So yeah! It isn’t exactly that I think that Freytag’s triangle is bad, it’s just so western and so tired— and so many people are crafting such beautiful and interesting stories and it’s like…. Idk why are we listening to some dead white guy from thousands of years ago just because he was able to tell us how someone ELSE successfully constructed ONE story? Why do we not approach storytelling from a more individualistic point of view, because everyone is going to tell stories that speak to THEIR perspectives, so why not construct them in the way that best speaks to them instead of trying to force them into this pre-approved narrative structure?

It shits on like…. nonlinear storytelling, abstract storytelling, so many forms of storytelling that aren’t like the most basic Hero’s Journey of Storytelling (which also isn’t bad!!! IT HAS ITS PLACE!!) and I just think that if we were able to separate ourselves from that and not teach it as the end-all-be-all for people learning how to construct a plot!!

I can talk about this all day, this is truly just me barely skimming the surface of the matter, and if you’re interested in plot constructions that AREN’T arc/wave based, I can make an entire other post about that (and I’m MORE THAN HAPPY TO, this is literally what I’m going to school for!!)

I’m also gonna tag @faeriegutz and @moonscribbler bc they expressed interest in some of my grad school notes and this DEFINITELY falls under that category, and if you read this far and want more of my notes PLEASE let me know and I’d be happy to start tagging you in my posts like this!!

#approximately20eggs #ask the author #my writing #writeblr #about the author #grad school #writing advice #story structure #plot advice #creative writing #writing #writing resources #plot structure #advice

[author-a-holmes]

Heads Up, Seven Up

Thank you for the tag @oh-no-another-idea! <3

Tagging forward with no pressure to; @kittensartswriting @vesper-roux @shellyscribbles @charlesjospehwrites @moonscribbler @dyrewrites and @Winglesswriter. Anyone else who see's this and wants to play can consider this an open tag <3

Rules; Share 7 recent sentences/lines. Tag forward to seven people (or more)

Darkling Spoilers beneath the cut! And I'll also tag the darkling taglist; @jezifster @ettawritesnstudies @faelanvance @noirepersonal @queen-kass-the-writer @minamoroz @athenswrites @thelaughingstag @bardic-tales @outpost51 @talesfromaurea

My most recent chapter is in the POV of a new character in Darkling that I've been trying very hard to keep concealed. But for the sake of flow, since this piece is in their POV I'm going to switch out [Redacted] for an intial instead...

E stopped breathing. He turned his head slowly, unwilling to draw attention, as he waited for Andric's control to crack.

"I don't have a good defence, Andric. I can't even say you're entirely wrong," Booker admitted bitterly, shaking his head, and when Andric's fist connected with the stone mantle, E couldn't supress his violent flinch, knee knocking the underside of the dining table as his breath began to speed up and he pressed back into the corner, praying neither of them noticed his barely concealed panic. "I'm waiting for an explanation, not a bloody excuse!" Andric was yelling, and E forced his fingers to curl around the edge of the table. Adding pressure to one finger at a time. 'One, two, three, four. Breathe In. One, two, three, four. Out.'

#Tag Game #Tag Answered #Darkling #Snippet #Sneak Peek #Extract #Writeblr #Writeblr Community #Writing #Writing Community #Laughing Stag #Wip Nook #Booker Reed #Andric Roche #Redacted #E #New POV Character

[writingmaidenwarrior]

9 Lines 9 people Tag

I got tagged by @moonscribbler and @writerfae

His brother’s gaze rested on him with a smirk.

“She isn’t human, is she?”

“Who?”

“You partner. You said we should beware of her secrets and this questions about a strange connection led me to this thought.”

A slightly manically laughter escaped Wynthan that got worse when he spotted Melleis with another big bag coming out of the bakery.

“She is the daughter of Sin Eaters, got horns during puberty and hid it all those years. If I go just by her eating habits, she is more one of us than human. And speaking of eating habits...”, he nodded towards Melleis, “Talindra already had a taste of the pastries. Melleis need to defend them.”

Tagging @cljordan-imperium @sam-glade @eternalwritingstudent @ashen-crest @thebejeweledwatercat @dreaminggoblin @kaiafosterwrites @druidx

#writblr #wynne talks #9 lines tag

[writingbyricochet]

WIP Tag Game

Thanks @hesbuckcompton-baby and @johnbly for the tag! (This is @luckyricochet posting from my writeblr!)

RULES: Post the last sentence you wrote (fanfic / original / anything) and tag as many people there are in the sentence.

Rin saw it all, clear as day.

Gently tagging @lavender-laney @georgieluz @inkovert @lexiklecksi @mthollowell-writes @moonscribbler @latibvles

#tagged

[sarandipitywrites]

heads up 7 up

tag from @sarahlizziewrites - thank you! check out her lines here (seriously go look it's hilarious).

so i guess this got buried in my drafts for alike 5 days, but that's no big deal, right? right. let's go find some lines from The Art of Empty Space.

but first, tags: no pressure tags to @starscribes, @winterandwords, @lena-rambles, @moonscribbler, @sleepyowlwrites, @kaiafosterwrites, and @starlit-hopes-and-dreams, plus an open tag for anyone interested :)

now, on to the 7 (or slightly more) lines:

He stole into the stacks, into the section where he'd hidden from the beast the night before, and grabbed his prize. It was a first run; the beast — or whomever had purchased it — was a lucky bastard. First runs were his favorite — they were always printed on the shoddiest presses, the ones with the uneven lines and too-far-apart spacing. The words flowed better, imprinted on his brain more easily, when they were jagged and rough. The subsequent runs were printed on the newer presses — the printing company, having been assured of the book's profitability, would spare the expense of the better equipment — and they were all tight lines and tighter spacing. They looked neater, to be sure, but at what cost? He was halfway through 'The Lighthouse' when a steaming earthenware mug appeared in front of him. "Memory and Other Ghosts?" The beast dropped into the seat beside him. His tail curled around the leg of his chair. "That's my favorite of hers."

#writeblr #writeblr tag games #tag games #heads up 7 up #my writing #the art of empty space

[thetruearchmagos]

Something Short About Fuhrati Armies

Hey folks, and happy Worldbuilding Wednesday! Arch here, with some small and actually manageable worldbuilding here for you all.

For this one, I'll step away from the United Commonwealth for a moment and touch on the Fuhrati Empire. In this post, I made some references to 'provincial levies' and 'legions', but I don't think I've quite explained them properly.

So, What Is A 'Legion"?

You see, the Fuhrati Empire was for most of its history not a very centralised polity. As I touched on in this post, the Empire was comprised of a number of autonomous provinces, each ruled either by dynasties of the ruling House of Fuhrati or their own sovereigns held in vassal to the Empire.

When it came to the organisation of the Empire's ground forces, each province raised its own Legion, which would bear its name and be made up of conscripted soldiers from its own population. The Empire itself would, in turn, provide much of the capital and equipment that would equip these Legions, though how they were organised, trained, and fought was left to the relevant Provincial authority. The specifics of this system would change over the Empire's lifetime, but this 'right' to raise internal Legions which nonetheless could be compelled to serve at Emperor's behest formed a crucial component of the delicate balance of power between the imperial court and the provinces.

An exception to this was the Tharoon Guard, a force formed by then Sultan Haroon II of Merkat, the soon to be Emperor Haroon of the Fuhrati Empire. The Tharoon Guard was smaller than any provincial legion, but recruited from the best and most loyal already serving soldiers from the Legions of the Homeland Provinces. While conscripts might serve under levy for two years and barely see a rifle again, Guardsmen signed on for a decade at the least, and for their troubles were paid handsomely, and even their lower ranks given such respect in loyal Fuhrati lands as lesser nobility.

How Did They Fight?

While the word 'Legion' was the the collective term for the entire military force of the province in question, it also referred to the specific formations drawn up from that pool of soldiers and organised into a coherent fighting unit. Under the most recent organisational reforms of the Fuhrati Empire prior to the Chainbreaker War, each province was expected to contribute to the Emperor at least:

One 'Legion', or 'Faylaq', numbering some thirty thousand of the province's strength and made up of;

Two or more 'Phalanx', or 'Katayib', made up of

Two or more 'Squares', or 'Murabae'.

The exact system of organisation below the Murabae was left to the discretion of the Provinces, as was the actual amount of Murabae and Katayib in its Legion or their individual strength. While a system prone to incredible degrees of variance, it allowed a Province's military force to tailor itself to suit the needs or work under the circumstances of that province's unique contexts. When the time came when multiple Legions drawn from multiple Provinces had to enter the field of battle as one, as happened in the Chainbreaker War, the system would prove hopelessly flawed and seriously undermine the combined operations of Imperially-appointed commanders.

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