Brigit's Flame, January week 2
The theme this week is "destiny." I don't really believe in Destiny, and maybe that is why poetry failed me this week. I ended up dabbling with the idea of a world where everyone believes in Destiny because it's pretty much unavoidable.
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The "server" is a type of Preordained. I haven't thought this through entirely....ha ha...but the gist of this world is that there are two castes, Preordained, and Fateless. The Preordained are all born with a band of markings around their wrists, and as they grow up those markings form into a label. This is more or less hereditary but not always. Wayne's was "server" and therefore he ended up in that sort of occupation; it's a very common type. Usually the markings don't change, but certain events or choices can cause them to suddenly alter, and that is usually a Very Bad Thing. :-)
The other caste, the Fateless, are also born with markings, but theirs never actually tell them their destiny. Instead, they grow darker or fade depending on how much "luck" the person has. These people are considered lower-class because they don't have a set purpose, and have to rely on luck to get by in life. Horrible, strange accidents can befall people who are "out of luck." And part of it is self-fulfilling, of course; if you're "down on your luck" others don't want to risk being around you or helping you, so it just gets worse. Every little superstitious action can increase or decrease their luck, and if someone has luck and hangs out around someone with less luck, they will lose a bit while the other person will gain a bit.
The Fateless can't actually affect the Preordained with their bad luck, but the Preordained still fear and suspect that they can, since the Fateless do affect each other. And of course everyone in this world is completely paranoid...hence the part where Thornton asks for more than a half-glass so it'll be "full." ;-)
Anyway, I will definitely be revisiting this idea. I really enjoyed playing with literalism and labels.
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