World Building

[elfhawk]

So the next section of the nameless NaNo (seriously, I need to think up a title) takes place basically in a huge temple complex. There's been a couple gods mentioned, a couple more bumped into, and a couple more who don't really matter at all. But I wanted to flesh out the pantheon so that, should the need for others arise, I already had them set

Comments

[carmenwoods]

Ahhhh. I got home just in time for awesome!

I really dig it. It's very solid, and very elegantly laid out. The origin has the feel of the Greek titans in that it's the natural world personified; but without being Greek at all it makes good use of that sort of 'cosmic forces coming into being' motif. Thank you for posting it!

[elfhawk]

I was going for that anthropomorphic 'building blocks of matter while still somehow people' thing. The younger gods aren't quite so tied down- they're frequently based in *ideas*, but the eldest ones are one and the same as their physical elements. There is the goddess Khory and the world/earth/land Khory and they are both separate and the same. Or they were originally. They have changed over the millenia as worshipers needed different things from them, but in their original stages, they were basic cosmic forces.

Also, had to figure out the Samsara process somehow.

[carmenwoods]

Also, was Amera a deliberate reference to Amaterasu? Granted, she's the sun rather than light, but it's still awesome. If it's some other reference, I don't know enough other myths to catch it. And if it's just a happy coincidence, I'll just be a quiet geek over here.

[elfhawk]

Not consciously. It's something of a bastardization of Hemera. Though the coincidence is nice. But most of the gods' names have a basis in their Greek counterparts- barring the ones whose names predate my research. And the ones that don't still have their names in Greek fashion- few c's and u's. The clergy titles are more easily placed- if one is versed in the basics of Greek myths anyway.

I'm trying to stick with Western names- Greek or Teutonic-based, anyway. (I feel like I need to add linguistical variances to my map. I'm not entirely certain why the southern country would be least similar, when it was there their ancestors first landed to spread out across the continent. I sense more unnecessary world-building/stick-poking coming on. Sigh.)

[carmenwoods]

Coming up with a title is hardest until you have a clear overarching idea of what you want your story to accomplish, I imagine, and then you name it with that in mind.

Like, is the most important point of the story the characters, or the girls' journey itself? You could name it after the group ("Ladies of Mayhem"), or after an important place they visit ("The Shattered Temple"), or for their end goal ("Oh God Don't Release The Destroyer"). Or is the aim more to tell Petra's story? Then you should name it after her, or some part of her character development, or for a goal important to her ("The Quest for Crunch").

Or is your vision for the story more plot-driven? Is the plot epic in scale ("The Lord Of The Wheel Of Ice And Fire"), or small enough for just one to three books ("The Ladies Of Mayhem Go To The Zoo Caldonia")? If the cosmogony plays a large part in driving the events of the story, you could title it after one of them ("Devious Isis"), or after their machinations