wherein Liz expounds on random world-building tidbits
Ranna and Shae have proceeded not to cut a deal after all, but have at least opened the avenue for future dealing. It would, I suppose, be too much to ask for them to trust each other at this point, but it never fails to irritate me when my stories/characters up and do things I haven't planned for. Yes, it usually makes things better in the long run, provided I can keep hold of the reins and make sure all the new ideas merge smoothly into the overall structure, but it really makes me wonder why I (subconscious) can't tell myself (conscious) what I'm doing before the words appear on the page and flummox me.
Grr. And in the course of their conversation scene, they proceeded to reveal various fashion trends of Kanos (specifically of the nobility of Alland and the citizens of Arre-Lus) and standards of beauty which I will have to go back and incorporate into Ranna's previous scenes. Well, at some point I'll have to do that. But I now have a legitimate excuse for her to wear heavy cosmetics when she's wearing her 'queen' persona, to the point where she looks quite different from her natural appearance.
See, Kanos is a multi-ethnic country. Part of this is because it's composed of various regions that were conquered or assimilated through marriage treaties, but part of it is because the land itself was invaded and settled by several waves of people from across the western mountains and plateaus... and those people were later culturally subsumed to some extent by the natives of Corthia, Alland, Damiland, and Tobal. (Okay, so Tobal isn't part of Kanos. Geographically it could be, but Kanos began falling apart internally before the queens got around to successfully grabbing it. And there is less assimilation in Auvern, but the westerners are very much the ethnic majority in Auvern.) So their ideal of feminine beauty is based on the dark hair, dark eyes, and pale skin of high-class Allandish women, instead of their own lighter hair and darker skin. So Ranna powders her hair dark and her face white, because the queen is supposed to look like that.
*beams* It's nice when plot requirements actually make sense in the cultural situation.
I love playing around with little cultural things. Like, for instance, there's a name, Merika, that originally comes from the west and has been turned into Marika in most of central Kanos, and adapted into Meirhicha in Orifan. A lot of the male names that end in -ek or -ik come from the west, as do most -ika female names. Female names ending in -ie or -ae are native to Alland and Corthia. Anything ending in -et is probably female Manakardit, from Damiland and Kididama (which conveniently lets me spell things -ette if I want to adapt those names for central Kanos). Things with -in, -ed, -en, or -ain are probably from Orifan, Caermarin, or Dorin Rhae. There are rules for converting southern names from male to female (Arhed to Arhedden) and vice versa (Bren to Brennan) but I haven't fully worked them out yet. Oddly, names ending in -a are usually female in southern and central Kanos, but male up north in Damiland or over the border in Sheneska and Halo (Jonoma Topio being the immediately obvious example).
Clothes amuse me as well. I don't really like describing them in great detail, but the general patterns are interesting, especially in the way they intersect with class boundaries, or professional requirements. The Manakardit don't wear dresses, but Ranna's honor guards (who happen to be Manakardit -- they don't happen to be female; that's a requirement, since they need to always be near her) wear a sort of slit-seamed tunic that reaches their knees and thus offers the illusion of a skirt over their pants.
Those are the little things that aren't immediately relevant to the plot, not the way the system of warfare is, or the symbiosis between daylight politics and the shadow world of thieves, spies, and assassins. Warfare in the Eastern Lands is very structured and formal, with a number of conflicts actually being settled by professional duelists. Even when open war breaks out, it's constrained to certain times and places, there are rules about prisoners, objectives must be carefully set forth in the declaration of hostilities, etc. And yet, underneath that where everybody carefully 'doesn't notice,' rules are broken like crazy. People are poisoned or strangled or stabbed to death. Blackmail is a thriving industry. And so on.
It works, more or less, but there are very practical reasons Talin doesn't want to draw the attention of the Great Houses to his home, not just a general reluctance to leave home or serve someone his father seems to like.
Grr. And in the course of their conversation scene, they proceeded to reveal various fashion trends of Kanos (specifically of the nobility of Alland and the citizens of Arre-Lus) and standards of beauty which I will have to go back and incorporate into Ranna's previous scenes. Well, at some point I'll have to do that. But I now have a legitimate excuse for her to wear heavy cosmetics when she's wearing her 'queen' persona, to the point where she looks quite different from her natural appearance.
See, Kanos is a multi-ethnic country. Part of this is because it's composed of various regions that were conquered or assimilated through marriage treaties, but part of it is because the land itself was invaded and settled by several waves of people from across the western mountains and plateaus... and those people were later culturally subsumed to some extent by the natives of Corthia, Alland, Damiland, and Tobal. (Okay, so Tobal isn't part of Kanos. Geographically it could be, but Kanos began falling apart internally before the queens got around to successfully grabbing it. And there is less assimilation in Auvern, but the westerners are very much the ethnic majority in Auvern.) So their ideal of feminine beauty is based on the dark hair, dark eyes, and pale skin of high-class Allandish women, instead of their own lighter hair and darker skin. So Ranna powders her hair dark and her face white, because the queen is supposed to look like that.
*beams* It's nice when plot requirements actually make sense in the cultural situation.
I love playing around with little cultural things. Like, for instance, there's a name, Merika, that originally comes from the west and has been turned into Marika in most of central Kanos, and adapted into Meirhicha in Orifan. A lot of the male names that end in -ek or -ik come from the west, as do most -ika female names. Female names ending in -ie or -ae are native to Alland and Corthia. Anything ending in -et is probably female Manakardit, from Damiland and Kididama (which conveniently lets me spell things -ette if I want to adapt those names for central Kanos). Things with -in, -ed, -en, or -ain are probably from Orifan, Caermarin, or Dorin Rhae. There are rules for converting southern names from male to female (Arhed to Arhedden) and vice versa (Bren to Brennan) but I haven't fully worked them out yet. Oddly, names ending in -a are usually female in southern and central Kanos, but male up north in Damiland or over the border in Sheneska and Halo (Jonoma Topio being the immediately obvious example).
Clothes amuse me as well. I don't really like describing them in great detail, but the general patterns are interesting, especially in the way they intersect with class boundaries, or professional requirements. The Manakardit don't wear dresses, but Ranna's honor guards (who happen to be Manakardit -- they don't happen to be female; that's a requirement, since they need to always be near her) wear a sort of slit-seamed tunic that reaches their knees and thus offers the illusion of a skirt over their pants.
Those are the little things that aren't immediately relevant to the plot, not the way the system of warfare is, or the symbiosis between daylight politics and the shadow world of thieves, spies, and assassins. Warfare in the Eastern Lands is very structured and formal, with a number of conflicts actually being settled by professional duelists. Even when open war breaks out, it's constrained to certain times and places, there are rules about prisoners, objectives must be carefully set forth in the declaration of hostilities, etc. And yet, underneath that where everybody carefully 'doesn't notice,' rules are broken like crazy. People are poisoned or strangled or stabbed to death. Blackmail is a thriving industry. And so on.
It works, more or less, but there are very practical reasons Talin doesn't want to draw the attention of the Great Houses to his home, not just a general reluctance to leave home or serve someone his father seems to like.