Thinky Thoughts

[weirdlet]

More on Princess Aksinya and her adventures with 'Prince' Shaan.

So, I need to figure out what these two actually get up to.  What are the stakes in their adventures?  And more importantly, why the hell is Aksinya's family willing/all fired up to get her out of the palace?

It's got something to do with the spirits, I think.  The fact that she's actually really pretty good at what she does with the family magics, to the point where she could perhaps make bargains of her own with some of the older, deeper, creepier ancestral monsters- how do you prevent your sub-chiefs from clamoring for war you don't want, if your daughter could actually raise up a kraken?  How do you excuse not using a member of the royal family to the fullest extent of their potential abilities?

Marry her off to a foreign barbarian and ritually/magically cut ties with her from the family magic, of course.  She'll still be able to scry a bit, sure- make water-drops dance along her fingers like a pickpocket with a coin.  But she won't be able to summon the sea-wolf, or the thunder-cliff horses, nor guide great fleets through ice or traverse the deep-sea waters and ask questions of the ancient things there.

There will be no blood-dark water-priestess at the head of a relentless army, bringing the sea and its creatures to salt the earth wherever she goes.

Huh- so that makes Aksinya our resident Prophesized Evil McGuffin, it would seem.  And her fiance may think this is a nasty trick that got played on her people, to fob off an assassin-baiting, god-troubling mage-hobbled witch on them- but she also likes Aksinya, a lot.  Certainly Shaan doesn't want to take the expedient route and kill her or hand her over- not only would that be an idiot's move for someone who doesn't want a conquering army devouring her folk, but it would be absolutely dishonorable not to protect her friend and partner.  There were words spoken.  She made a promise. 

So it's the open road for them.

Comments

On someone talking about 'establish the villains and their path to success'...

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

*blink* Oooh.

Part of the problem is that the villains- the fractious sub-chiefs under Aksinya's father- believe that they can gain access to the family's power by marrying her into their families or having her make bargains with their own family spirits to make them more powerful. The sea loves this child, and will follow her where no man can tame it.

Perhaps part of the problem is them destroying any who could recognize the marriage, or something.

Re: On someone talking about 'establish the villains and their path to success'...

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

But basically- trying to get her back into water-kingdom's control, kill her 'husband' or make sure the marriage never takes place at all, etc.

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

Aksinya's goals- survive, obviously, and avoid being kidnapped and forcibly married. Eventually, she may have to reconquer her own kingdom and avenge her family, who may have been in the crossfires of a coup by said Fractious Subchiefs. Along the way, she may/will have to reconnect/relearn some of the really badass water-magic she can do.

Shaan's goals- survive, prevent the politics of the water kingdom from destroying her own lands and peoples. Protect her betrothed/wife/friend. Eventually may have to reconquer her own kingdom after being disinherited for abandoning her people in order to protect her bride.

There will be much moaning by the elders of how youngn's just don't do their duties these days- off gallivanting and saving themselves rather than obeying the wishes of their elders and being used in ways that don't jibe with how they were taught to behave (upright, honorable, taking their oaths seriously, etc). You don't abandon your duties to your kingdom for a girl! Except- she's alone, and friendless in a foreign land, and she's suffering without the support of her family, both in spirit and in literal magical terms. She's part of your herd and you swore to her in front of everyone.

And they've probably got a team of friends that come help. Or at least a few more to round out the dynamic-in-exile.

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

To clarify- they meet friends on the way, after having to ride out from the capitals of their lands in disguise.

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Ooh. This sounds verra interesting.

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

Here's the first brainstorm post, if you like- http://weirdlet.livejournal.com/72175.html#comments

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

Motives of the Fractious Subchiefs-

The water-kingdom is ruled by their high king, but up in the mountains and fjords of the frozen north where they come from, the chieftains are like little kings of their own, and after centuries, they're more than a bit pissed that their high king moved down to Florida and forgot them.

Furthermore, they've been marrying other folk so long they might as well be halfway to another people by now. Furthermore, the representatives of the northern clans they sent there to take part in the rich trade have become so entrenched that they consider themselves separate- they are not simply the Floridian branch of the great and honored northern clan, they are their own, wealthy merchant association with lands and titles- and not required to send much wealth home to their due leaders.

So when a prophecized White Witch or very similar is born to the High King, whether they know this from their own witches' scrying or because Aksinya is known for her water-magic or the responses she gets from the Old Ones in public religious ceremonies- well, things get interesting. Clearly this is a sign of some sort- and an opportunity to reestablish the old power with a new king, by stealing his powerful daughter and thus the claim to the Old Ways.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

Why are the northern lords actually following the southern king? He's people has left the north and not just for Normandy but for Malta. Most people in that society would probably consider that a bit to far away to care about any orders or rules from his ætt.

I guess it is possible that there is a very quick and reliable way to send messages between the 'lowkings' in the north and the 'highking' in the south that makes it possible for the 'highkings' ætt to keep their control

P.S. What kind of ‘spirits’ and other magical beings do you plan to have Aksinya command/communicate with?

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

The southern king has the biggest ships and strongest navy, and messages pass between both ships and water-scrying seers with relative ease. There's at least one fellow who can whistle up an otter- or dolphin-sized water elemental (I'm imagining a bit like a fury from the Furies of Caldera series by Jim Butcher) and pass messages swiftly.

Also- it's not so much that the high king has *control* of the low kings- at least, it's long been a matter of courtesy between the two levels of office- as he's the one who is acknowledged the strongest and wealthiest, and the one to whom greater disputes are brought when it cannot be solved by a lower king, or if the matter is between two low kings and the others gang up to vote against them. It wasn't their business that he managed to gain huge amounts of territory beyond their traditional lands, and previous generations made the trip home more often. Then suddenly, in the last century, it was as if they were just one more client state in a vast empire- the tax-ship came, the king's judges/bards came and went, and they were no longer the proud carriers of the local high culture but the rusticated boonies to a much stronger power, who had become a stranger to them.

I still need to figure out a map to see how the length of the coast between the north and the south encompasses all this turf and accounts for the difference in temperature.

Aksinya's part of the royal family, which means that, while she has that connection, she has access to spirits, major and minor, that her family has bound in the past. A wendigo, a kraken- but also a great bear that was more than a bear, but a small god of the forest in its sovereign territory that was soothed from the ancient spears in its hide and bound for the debt; ice-spirits and pine-spirits of the old forests, bad-weather equivalents of fauns that look like white mountain goats. This in addition to more usual flying eel and river-dolphin type spirits, that aren't as intelligent or nearly as powerful, but are a lot more accessible and friendly.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

"I still need to figure out a map to see how the length of the coast between the north and the south encompasses all this turf and accounts for the difference in temperature."

If you have the northmen using Viking-stile longboats you should also remember to map out the rivers since the longboats are well made for river travelling for example the Vikings traded with Constantinople did go by the rivers

If you are interested in some of the creatures of Nordic folk-lore check out 'humon' on Deviantart - http://humon.deviantart.com/gallery/ - and search for troll, or something like that

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

Has Aksinya any power over undead that are associated with water, like ghost ships or sea-draugs?

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

I haven't really thought of this world as having much in the way of undead.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

I blame the question on that I have recently read Peter Bergting's 'the Portent' were undead (both good and bad) are important parts of the story

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

Further thought- it needs to be that Aksinya and Shaan aren't best friends at first. And they aren't together throughout the whole thing. At some point Shaan has to make the decision to ignore her aunts and advisors who say it's best not to get involved after Aksinya gets kidnapped (or leaves, after her family gets coup'ed), and rides out after her.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

What is your inspiration for Shaan's people and did she not have brother? what are you planning form him?

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

She does indeed have a brother, and I need to flesh him and her both out.

Their people are a bit Mongolian, a bit Mercedes Lackey's Shin'a'in, a bit Fire Nation in the love of reds and a bit ancient Celt/Semitic in that they're big on herding and hunting, things that keep you on the move but with strong home-bases to return to. Shaan's palace is a tent that houses her family and their treasures, and it moves from season to season as they rove through their territories.

There's this tendency to have nomads as barbarians- that's not really what I'm going for. They have a very wealthy, sophisticated, and mobile kingdom.

Back to Shaan and her brother. Because she was born first and because all children of the king/khan are princes, she's been pushing herself as a warrior- but a certain level of badassery is considered the norm for any member of the moving people. Her brother is a bit more scholarly by inclination, possibly in training to a priest or a magic user (or both). In this situation where the girl twin is born first and must take the role of a man, it's normal for her brother to back her up when it comes time for children- unless she were to marry a boy who has taken the role of a woman, such as an actor or a shaman. They've got a firm man/woman role setup for marriages- but the actual sexes behind the roles can be negotiable. Someone wears the topknot and someone wears the earrings- someone orders the household from the inside and someone protects it from the outside.

Shaan and Rahnjen look similar, but Rahnjen smirks a little more slyly and has always got a book or a scroll or a brush to hand, and he's always got a note written in ink on his arm or his wrist. When he can get away with it, he joins his sister while she's observing the herd for danger and he studies in the sunshine. Sometimes there are small wars fought with fruit-pits.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

"Sometimes there are small wars fought with fruit-pits."

What are fruit-pits?

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

Peach pits, apple seeds...

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

Maybe I'm just stupid but how do you go to war with that?

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

Obviously your siblings never flicked peas at you during dinner. This is just some silly play-fighting between brother and sister.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

Do you plan to have any other intelligent races than humans in this world? And if so what are there relation with the Northmen, the traders and the horse nomads?

Also are there any other monsters outside of spirit & elemental beings and sea-monsters

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure at this point. Certainly there are plenty of weird critters, but not necessarily mortal races on equal footing with humans.