the Goblin King

Many years ago, when faeries still flitted in pollen-filled groves and elves walked freely without fear of human discovery, there was a town built on a wooded hill said to be the remnant of an ancient giant burial-mound. The woods were a dangerous place, filled with mischievous goblins, restless spirits, greedy changelings, voracious wolves and territorial ogres. But, for all the dangers of the place, beneath the hill was a vein of gold that was the envy of even dverg. It was this gold, and the greed inherent in all humans that brought them to the region. At the centre of this wealthy town stood a great citadel, and in the highest spire of that slender citadel was a bell, magically enchanted to chime on the hour, thus warding the town from the boggarts and trolls that haunted the woods. And for many years, all was well; the town grew prosperous and over time spilled over the hill into the valleys beyond. The people of the town went about their daily rituals – the men mining, the women caring for their homes and children.

But it was not to last

An evil goblin king, heir to a thousand blackened knives and master to all the wicked fey that filled the forest, rose to power. Furious by the magical bell that he blamed on his impoverished and famished subjects, he visited a wretched boggart witch who told him that the Blood Moon was ascendant, and the star of the beast was shining at its brightest. The time of the goblins had come, and it was written in the stars that the bell would stop chiming and the town would become theirs. But, the boggart witch explained to the goblin king, if he were to attack the humans with his army while the Bell still tolled, he would be killed. So another, more cunning plan had to be devised.

The tale of the Lord’s daughter was well known in the surrounding lands, and even the goblins knew of her beauty and, some might say, naiveté. The goblin king, disguised as a young princeling, visited the princess and courted her. She fell in love with him and he tricked her into lifting the enchantment on the bell tower, thus enabling the goblin army to attack.

And attack it did. The town was destroyed, its riches stolen, its maidens taken prisoner, its men slaughtered, and its children taken as slaves. Within a few days, nothing was left of the town save the sundered bricks and charred logs of its once proud buildings lying strewn around the hilltop.

And so the goblin king came to rule.

Days turned into months, and the woods reclaimed the town, vines and creepers claiming each and every fallen stone and boulder as their own, wrapping their verdant claws around what little remained of the town. Months turned into years. A dark influence overcame the wood, urging it to grow thicker, wider, denser, than ever before. Boughs grew great poisoned thorns to ward off intruders. Trees grew crooked, their branches and skin twisted into shapes eerily reminiscent of leering faces and groping hands. Perhaps it was the death that had claimed the town, or the blood spilt on its soil, or the growing influence of the Atramenta, but whatever it was had corrupted the forest into a labyrinth of verdant death. In that forest did the goblin kingdom breath its last, for it too was claimed by the ravenous trees, until finally, only the goblin king remained, sitting melancholically on his throne, wishing nothing but spite upon the world around him.

But the world had seen too much death to let things lie as they were. The day the goblin king breathed his last the crumbling bell tower was restored to life, held together by the same vines that until the previous day were tearing it apart. And so did the bell chime once more, keeping the land safe from the growing wickedness.

Only, there was no-one to keep safe...

Don;t forget my Patreon @ patreon.com/elyden

:)

I've starting adding some things to Patreon so please feel free to check it out. I'll probably be posting new stuff there, adding linkback to the blog here. The paid content on Patreon will not be what you were seeing here for free - the paid content will be specifically the serialised novel that I've been working on. Of, couse I;d be pleased if you gave at least $1 per update so that you can read the novel in addition to the other stuff you'll have access to anyway, free-of-charge :)

thanks :)

Patreon

After a lot of deliberation, I'm really pleased to be posting this - I just launched my Patreon campaign. Through it I hope to be able to garner interest amongst those who enjoy what I've been posting here. The money I gain from it (if any) will go towards the creation of the Encyclopaedia Elyden and perhaps even a globe of the world.

Anyone interested in worldbuilding, serialised fantasy fiction, cartography or just fantasy in general, please check it out and help support my passion if you can smile emoticon

To those those who don't know, Patreon is a crowdfunding platform that allows creative types to obtain funding from patrons on a recurring basis or per work.


https://www.patreon.com/Elyden

The Encyclopædia Elyden

Today’s post is about the good-old The Encyclopædia Elyden, something I’ve been beavering away at, on and off, for the past 10-years or so, now. More on the history of the The Encyclopædia  can be found HERE.

What I’m posting today is a link to the first chapter of the first volume, the entire A-listing of the volume, to give an idea of what I’m aiming at, and, if possible, in the hopes of getting some feedback on presentation and flavour.

I’m aiming for an old Encyclopædia Britannica feel to it, with entries not too specific and intended to be read-in world (so in writing them I hoped to convey an in-world feel, with no blatant real-world references.

I’m constantly updating the book with new entries as I write fiction or add regions to the map or add new creatures or titles or what-not, so it’s a constant evolving work, though I am hoping to soon come up with a template for entries so that, for instance, all entries pertaining to map locations adhere to the same format. That will help tie entries together, though I hope to also include some ‘faux’ imperfections, like researcher error or printer’s errors, though that will necessitate 2 versions – one in-world version for readers and another master version for myself, and keeping the two updated might be a bit too much work for now.

My goal is to one day print this, at least for myself, so that I can have some physical proof that my worldbuilding was not wasted. I’d love to publish it, but worry it might be a bit too wordy.

Which brings me to the point of this – anyone out there in the ether of the internet, can you please give me your opinion about such a book? I intend to add some simple woodcut style iages for some of the animals, maps for nations and heraldry and other simple designs, though nothing veering too close to contemporary illustration – so no blatantly digital images, for instance.

Would that interest readers?

Anyway, here’s the link to the first (A) entry of the Document

(please note the first 2 pages are blank)

Pythagoras and line of sight

The things I end up doing for this world. So, this happened earlier on today:

I was writing a scene where my main character (the so-called Chronicler) is looking out from a plateau to a sweeping vista below and, since he’s a smart guy, used to conversing with philosophers and mathematicians and explorers and cartographers, I figured he’d know how far the human eye can see on a level plain (or if not the actual distance, at least the means of calculating it.

Now I’m not much of a mathematician myself though I know enough of Pythagoras’ Theorem to be able to calculate this. Luckily my polar/equatorial/mean radius for Elyden have been in place for a while now (seethis post for more statistics for the world), and I could easily (or arbitrarily) calculate the other numbers needed – basically the height of the character and the height of his elevation (since he was on a plateau is reasoned that was 55.5 feet). A bit of tinkering with numbers, and some googling later and I found this.

s = sqrt (2rh + h^2)

I was able to calculate that characters of average height can see an average of 3.54 miles on a clear day, given no intervening terrain. This is more than the 2.9 miles for earth since Elyden is larger. So, all that work (and close to 30 minutes), for a throwaway line that will probably get removed in later edits. At least I have some more information to add to the Encyclopaedia!

Avengers Review

I saw Avengers: Age of Ultron a few days ago and have been meaning to write something about it other than ZOMG! Vision!. So I've taken the time to compose my thoughts and write something about them as someone who appreciates the writing-aspect of the movies and comics as much as I like the spectacle.

ZOMG! VISION!

I’ll get some things out of the way. I’m  a bit of a Marvel fanboy. Not in the sense that I knock DC or other properties, but in the sense that I’m not just as well-versed in them as I am in Marvel stuff (on which I’m hardly an expert, either). More specifically, I’m a big MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) fan. I've been there since Day 1 in 2008 when the Incredible Hulk and Iron Man were released to an unsuspecting public and am still there now. I've had my criticisms, but mostly I just love watching what comes next. I watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D every week and am glad I waded through the first season as I am enjoying it now (though I preferred Daredevil land Agent Carter, which are all very different beasts).

So I went through the ritual of watching all previous MCU films (apart from Guardians of the Galaxy, which has little to do with the Earth-based MCU, and which I had seen quite recently, anyway), finishing off with Captain America: the Winter Soldier, (still the best MCU film so far, in my opinion) a few days before I saw Age of Ultron.

The film opens in Media Res, with the gang going after Loki’s sceptre from the first Avengers film. I like the cold open before the title credits, though it felt a bit jarring starting out like that, The banter between the gang (mind your language!) was great – I felt there were far more hits than misses, though felt that Baron Von Strucker was wasted, after his introduction in the mind-credits scene in the Winter Soldier, though in hindsight it was to be expected. 

The film then moves on to the true open pretty quickly after an enjoyable party interlude where we get some nice character moments, including the appearance of Sam Wilson (played by Anthony Mackie, who is great) as well as James Rhodes. Ultron appears, a failed experiment of tony Stark and Bruce Banner (enjoying the role of mad scientists) and this is the first problem – Marvel villains.

I don’t think Marvel has created a truly memorable villain since Loki (and one might easily argue that the appeal of Loki is his portrayal by Tom Hiddleston). Malekith and the Winter Soldier were both stymied by lack of characterisation and screen time (the former, I believe was the victim of lots of edits), Whiplash, Mandarin, Red Skull and Warmonger were all subpar, in mu opinion. Ultron was certainly his father’s son, which I think is where he fell short – a bit too much snark/Stark for my tastes. As always the trailers advertised one thing, where the film itself had something different in mind. I usually end up preferring what the trailer promised to the final product (Mandarin anyone? Though I do like Trevor Slattery J ).

The film gets a bit confusing in the middle, especially around Thor’s subplot, which I believe might have been compromised in the final edit (again). The film tries to set up the MCU’s various sequels, planting seeds that will bear fruit in other films, and I think it struggles for it, though Joss Whedon does a good job of making something out of the tangled mess the film could easily have become (though he doesn't do so perfectly). Hawkeye gets a nice role to play in the middle of the film, though and, much like the first Avengers film, I found myself loving the characters playing off one another in these quieter moments.

But that’s not what most people paid for and the payoff comes quickly enough in the last third, where everything comes together in the now-standard MCU final battle, which to be honest, I’m getting a bit tired of. A last act brawl with enemy hordes. It was done in Iron Man 2 with the drones, again in the Avengers with the Chitauri, and again in Iron Man 3 with the extremis guinea pigs (one might argue that Guardians of the Galaxy has a similar ending, though I don’t think it counts). We need something different. Perhaps (god forbid) something more cerebral. We were promised that Age of Ultron would be smaller than its predecessor, and I was pleased by that comment, though left the cinema thinking it was just more of the same. Lets hope Ant-Man and Doctor Strange can give us something else.

The film’s epilogue shows us the characters all going their separate ways, again, setting up events for their next solo outings. This could not be more blatant that the last line, uttered by Captain America, which simultaneously gave me shivers and made me roll my eyes. The film isn't even over yet and already we’re advertising the next installment. Though I must say that shot with the new incarnation of the Avengers team assembling was pretty damned exciting, and I only need to wait one year to see them in action in the Winter Soldier.   

I applaud the filmmakers shying away for overused locations, going for places like south Africa, eastern Europe, and south Korea. Makes for a refreshing change,  I must say. I also enjoyed the emphasis on preventing collateral damage and civilian casualties (like Iron Man redirecting his fight with Hulk to an empty skyscraper or the evacuation of civilians. Man of Steel, please take notes J

Mmm... Wanda

I really did enjoy this, and the character interactions really made me think about my own characters how I can make them live and breathe more like real people, rather than just names on a page. What I love about films like this is the way they get me thinking about how i can better create characters and have them work on the page. Vision, especially, stood out as having a really great creation story and his mannerisms and THAT SCENE where he... (you'll know what i mean if you've seen it!) really do make him stand out, even though his origins differ greatly from the comics. 

There were a few niggling points that bothered me, though nothing that stands out. Though I would say it might have been more enjoyable if had used a structure that was more different to the original.

However, the verdict is still out on which Avengers movie is the best. I think I’m leaning towards the original ,as the thrill of seeing these characters get together for the first time is just too difficult to beat. Though Age of Ultron does give it a run for its money.  

What happened to this version of Ultron?

One thing I must mention, though not related to the film directly, is the marketing barrage that assaulted us in the weeks leading up to release. Luckily I was strong of will (just this once mind you!) and survived without watching anything other than the main trailers, though seriously, after watching the film i sat down and watched all the official clips and mini trailers that were released and it was so easy to map out the film, beat-for-beat through those videos alone. All the great reveals (vision, floating city) were given away in those trailers. Good thing I did not see them as they really would have given away the whole thing. Strikes me as odd as it smells of desperation from Marvel (or Disney), when they surely have a huge hit on their hands, regardless of the film's qualities.

Out of the Void!

So, It’s been a while. The sporadic update trend continues and, unlike most updates I don’t really have anything to add to the posts below. No new maps or bits of fiction.

I’ve been busy writing a new story whilst polishing off my earlier novel, Twilight of the Gods (nee, Twilight of the Idols) and will be looking into getting an American Social Security number so that I can self-publish on Amazon/Lulu in America as well as Europe.

The new story is the P.O.V of an itinerant chronicler who travels with merchant caravans across the Sammaean mainland. It begins as a standard National Geographic-style travelogue, though will develop into a specific story that follows Chronicler’s (for that is his name) exploits over a 10-15 year period after he has settled down into the rose of an advisor to an enigmatic ruler who sets out on a pilgrimage to a land that promises answers to a question (existential quandary, really) that has been bugging him. I’m quite enjoying writing this one and do hope something comes of it.

I’m still updating my world map and also polishing up the first volume of the Encyclopaedia Elyden (the dictionary of terms) so that I can print it up as a reference document for myself (for now…) though that will take a lot of fiddly corrections and updating of entries so that they’re all standardised with one-another, as so far there a hodgepodge of entries spanning a near-10-year period and various different styles from vague bullet points to detailed entries.

My problem, as always, is one of multi-tasking (no jokes from the girls, please). I tend to stick to one subject at a time so cannot edit one story whilst writing another and so long as I’m writing I tend to spend little time on worldbuilding (unless a part of the story necessitates some) or cartography. Making matters worse is a friend of mine’s current work on the creation of a board game in which I’ve become heavily involved in rules design and playtesting (including the creation of the game-board itself when the time is right), which is taking away some other time.

So I’m thinking of finishing off the first draft of the as-yet untitled Chronicler story, after which I will concentrate fully on the editing and rewriting of Twilight of the Gods. I’ll then see to getting that published while I work on editing and rewriting the Chronicler story.

At least that’s the plan.

We’ll see whether or not that plan makes it alive to the enemy’s ranks (not that I’m implying you faithful readers are the enemy – you’re really not!)