C.P.D. Harris's Blog, page 80

Logistics in Strange Worlds

“Lembas. Elvish waybread. One small bite is enough to fill the stomach of a grown man.” – J R R Tolkien.

My sister works in the Canadian North, a defence attorney on circuit around the vast, rugged territory of Nunavut, which encompasses some of the coldest, roughest, and most remote places in our land. This week, as she ventured out on a new circuit for the first time, she ran into a cascading series of travel issues that resulted in her being late to court, missing baggage and clothes, and then stranded in a the small community of Gjoa Haven. While she was there she reflected on how different the inconveniences of travel made life in the North, especially for permanent residents. Here is an excerpt from her ruminations:

“In the South (In this case she is referring to southern Canada, Ontario to be exact), we have so much choice. So much cheap and abundant choice about just about everything, from where we shop to who we have as our dentists to how we wish to travel; plane train, or automobile. When I lived in Ontario, I lived in a small town called Shedden, west of London Ontario and more than 200 km from Crieff, where my parents live. To get home, I turned right on the 401 and then right again on Hwy 6 South. It took me about an hour and a half on good day, less on a really good day. I could pursue my profession where I wanted and still see my parents and grandparents regularly, all thanks to the ease and low cost of travel in the South.” – Deanna Harris.

This got me to thinking. Travel is something we take for granted in modern day, but often serves as a plot device and an integral part of world-building in Science Fiction and Fantasy. Magical and mundane methods of travel that differ from our can drastically alter the feel of a setting. If a science fiction setting does not include some method of faster-than-light travel then it will limit the size of any Galactic empires. Here are a few logistical considerations that I think are key in world-building.

1) Speed — How far can a person travel in an hour/day/month/year? This is perhaps the most important travel question in any setting. Towns and inns will often be set up along major routes at intervals based on a day’s travel by the dominant method of travel (or the dominant method of travel when they were founded) and where major routes cross. If you have instantaneous travel like warp-gates or planar portals you can bet your bottom dollar that the dominant powers will build some form of post to control travel there, if only to prevent their enemies from catching them by surprise. Even road quality can make a difference: the Roman Legions were able to exert control over such a large area partly because travel within the Empire was made easier and faster by their roads. These roads also encouraged trade because they were safe and faster than dirt paths. The legions were also disciplined enough to march for long periods which allows them to cover a much greater distance during the day than most armies at the time. Speed is essential to any narrative involves a lot of travel. If travel is slower it means that rare resources from distant places command even higher prices from those who need them. Slower travel also means greater regional variation between dialects, languages, and culture. It makes central education and control harder as well.

2) Cargo — A ship might be slower than a horse, and even have to take an indirect route to get to a particular destination, but it can carry a hell of a lot more. This obviously matters a great deal for trade. Extensive trade systems involve moving massive quantities of goods. In areas where ships are impossible it might mean a need for massive caravans. Caravans carrying precious cargo attract raids and need guards and so on. In the Terminator, the titular character is unable to bring anything back into the past when he travels, which means he has to search for weapons and clothing immediately. Lack of cargo capacity can make a big difference in construction: it is hard to build a palace out of imported marble if you can’t bring it in by ship or some other form of bulk transport.

3) Fuel/Limitations — Gas stations are a ubiquitous sight in modern day. Expect something similar for whatever fuel is required by your dominant modes of transportation. Helium and Hydrogen stations for Dirigibles. Fueling stations for certain kinds of space ships. Fuel, as we can see with oil and gas, can become a plot point in an of itself in narratives with large scale conflicts. This is true even of muscle-powered travel where food is fuel. Fuel can limit travel on extended trips, especially into areas where provisions are hard to come by; even foot travelers will have to carry more food while vehicles rapidly become useless if no fuel is available. Cargo can make a big difference in this case, as can means variation. Brian Sanderson does away with conventional logistics of large medieval armies in the Way of Kings, with certain types of mage being able to conjure food if they have an uncommon, but easily portable type of resource in the gem-hearts. Other limitations, like a need for a landing strip for a plane or the difficulty of a magic ritual can alter a method of travel, and how it changes the world, significantly. A steamship has different limitations than a sailing ship, and so on.

4) Knowledge/Exploration — It helps to know where you are going. In some cases a map or special can be more important than a method of travel in a story. Treasure maps, knowledge of where the next oasis is in the desert, and even hints of what exists where you are going can really effect logistics. Language barriers also effect travel and while their effects on world-building may be obvious on other levels, it is not often taken into account with travel and trade. Knowledge is something we take for granted in the modern day, even in our well-mapped fantasies, but it posed a real challenge to people moving beyond the thresholds of their homelands in the ancient worlds.

5) Means Variation — Different people have access to different methods of travel. If one group has access to a form of travel that others cannot match it can give them a tremendous advantage. This advantage can create Empires: think of British Sea power, Druids traveling between stone circles, or Dragon riders: their mobility is as much or more of an advantage than brute force because it allows them to leverage their assets over a much wider territory. Those with access to special forms of mobility will almost always be in the dominant classes, either because they can afford that rarer form of travel or because they can use it to gain power or wealth. Just think of the advantages that a man with access to a horse or cart-oxen would have in the old days over someone who did not. The navigators in Dune have tremendous power because they control much of the means of travel (though not the fuel)

6) Local Variation — Local variations in travel will change the way a specific place feels. A crossroads town that sees a lot of traffic will be more worldly than a mining town. A port will pick up some of the customs of the sea and attract faraway travelers.  You are unlikely to find a cosmopolitan place that is hard to travel to. Variation often depend on local resources. Terrain itself is the most important local variation. A desert is hard to traverse because of lack of food and water, as well as the difficulty of travelling on sand. Thus there are few cities in deep deserts. Mountains and swamps pose entirely different problems. In Science Fiction this often represented as planets/places that have access to space travel and those that do not. In Fantasy magic can make a difference as well, with magical barriers isolating communities or strange riding beasts that only live in one area. I was particularly enamoured of the Stiltwalkers in Morrowind, huge creatures that could traverse the island very quickly.

Other issues of logistics are equally important as the travel question, Middle-Earth or Westeros may be cool but we’d probably miss indoor plumbing after a while (Among other things). Crossing a desert or a mountain pass are rarely arduous in modern day, but can easily be the focal point of an entire book in a medieval fantasy setting.

1) Communications — is communication faster than travel? Instantaneous communication is still changing the modern world. The impact of being able to share information across vast distances is staggering when you think about it. If communications aren’t faster than travel methods it makes detecting invading armies more difficult, which leads to things like castles and stronghold to keep a permanent foothold in important territory. There are plenty of unusual methods of communication in fantasy and sci-fi each with their own quirks which influence the setting. Astropaths in 40k are living beacons that help guide ships and communicate over vast distances, but their rarity and the danger inherent in their powers inform the setting, making it isolated and grim.

2) Food and Weather — even if food is not the primary means of fuel, it is still a necessity in long distance travel. Water is an important consideration as well. Almost no cities were built away from convenient sources of food and water outside the modern era. Ease of travel has alleviated this, somewhat. Weather is another consideration for travel and local custom. In Europe, warfare was nearly impossible in the winter months, and “General Winter” is still credited with many victories even as recently as WWII.

In Bloodlust: A Gladiator’s Tale the Chosen have access to many unusual methods of transportation. Steamships, magically enhanced horses, and even airships make an appearance. These methods of travel, combined with sophisticated communications, allow the Chosen to rule over a vast Empire. Gladiators are forbidden from using most of these methods of travel and communication because of lessons learned in past rebellions, which means they often have to travel by foot. The fact that the Gladiators have to travel with Grey-Robes also serves as a limitation. The Gladiators often feel out of sync and isolated from the rest of their world, and the limitations on their communications and travel are as isolating as the walls around the Gladiator’s quarters which separate them from the rest of the Domains.

The same is true for individual Domains in some cases. Chosen Eudora prefers to keep her Domain wild, which makes it very different than the rest of the Empire, and far less inhabited. Chosen Moltar’s Domain is isolated by cultural barriers and laws as well as mountains, very easy for men and women to travel to, but sometimes hard to leave. Because of their mystical prowess many of the Chosen are able to build and maintain structures in places that others could not, such as Brightsand Halls, raised on stone pillars,  Chosen Giselle’s garden fortress in the desert.

Overall the citizens of the Domains have an easier time getting from one place to another. The roads are excellent, and winter only limits travel for normal people in a very few places. Magical roads, steamships, and well organized trade routes make travel within the Empire much easier than in the world outside. Trade is very important within the Domains, and regional variations are such that goods are moved about with great frequency. I;d rank it as close to 19th century real world, but with much closer to the classical age in terms of contact with the outside lands and cultures outside the Empire. Other factors that influence travel are the dangers of the taint and frequency of attacks in any border area. One of the flaws of the first Bloodlust book is that I should have had an ambush or attack to demonstrate the occasional dangers of travel off the beaten path. Next book I guess.

In the timeline I am writing about the Domains are slowly adopting new technologies as the magic of artifice becomes more and more available. The Chosen are long-lived, which I have decided acts as a general hindrance to adopting new technology. However, they are now on the cusp of a revolution in travel with Steamships and trains and so on becoming not only possible for individual Domains but adopted by the people of Krass. The main effect of this will be to make it easier for the Empire to expand. New methods of travel make for better ways of bringing power to bear at distant borders. Of course, a new Chosen will need to carve out their own territory…

Space Marines and the IP Struggle

Games Workshop caused a minor stir this week when it became clear that they were aggressively patent-trolling ebooks to enforce their general trademark of the term space marine. GW is well known the games industry for aggressively defending its trademark territory with a small army of lawyers than only the most successful of authors would be able to afford to defend themselves against. Now that they are interested in getting in on the ebook action, they have moved in pretty forcefully.

The post that started the tale, for me at least, is this tale from MCA Hogarth about how GW  had her book, Spots the Space Marine, taken down (on Amazon) for infringing on their trademark. It is worth reading it through.

I am familiar with Science Fiction, especially military sci-fi, and I was already certain that Space Marine is a term that has been around much longer than GW has had the trademark. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers leapt to mind. I was a little peeved at GW for attacking a small author with a questionable trademark infringement so I posted the link to my author page. A friend responded with a link to wikipedia that details the history of the term in games and fiction, dating back even further.

I was pleased to read later on that I was one of merely one many. MCA Hogarth’s update on the story is very interesting, noting that it drove a staggering amount of traffic to her website and has encouraged her to keep fighting. More influential sites, like the Mary Sue, took up the call. While it is nice to see this kind of response, but I’m not sure if it can influence an entrenched IP-Driven entity like GW. Still, their interpretation of the trademark applying to ebooks is potentially vulnerable, especially since judges are getting serious about patent-troll behaviour.

Pulling back, I have to say I really love the Warhammer 40k setting the home of GW’s Space Marines. There’s something about the ultra-macho, grimdark heroism, and big guns with power armour that appeals to my inner fifteen year old. I also really liked the recent Iron Man movies. Robert Downie Junior really brought the classic marvel power-armoured hero to life in a fashion that made him interesting and appealing. These two IPs are very different and yet they could both be shut down or diminished by an aggressive trademark/patent on power-armour, a concept that has been in the sci-fi vernacular for ages.

Imagine if the Tolkien estate held the rights to Elves and Dwarves as well as Hobbits. Imagine D&D enforcing an IP on Dark Elves or fireballs. Fantasy could lose some of its most basic ideas.

Marvel and DC jointly own a trademark on the term Super Hero. Good luck trying to use the force or lightsabers.

Patent and trademark extensions are all the rage now, so these IP laws could have very long-term ramifications.

It all adds up to a chilling effect on creative fiction in gaming, writing, comics and other forms of geek culture. The previous fifty years of IP creators have been increasingly zealous about patenting and trademarking everything they can, while aware that most of them would not even exist if the generation previous to them had sought the same level of IP control. I despair that new creators will no longer be able to draw upon the rich depths of their chosen genres the way that previous generations of creators did. We may be increasingly stuck with endless relaunches of the same old IPs, over and over, with minor tweaks for new audiences. I’m not against recycling old IPs, I’d just like to avoid a market-place where new content is forced to scramble for an ever-increasingly small share of the idea space while the IP giants get fatter and fatter.

The idea of popular fantasy tropes getting trademarked is kind of frightening. Genre fiction is heavily reliant on sets of common concepts. The idea of a spell is common to fantasy fiction, but can be opaque to first-time readers, especially if they also lack knowledge of mythology or fairy tales . Once they know what a spell is, that keyword opens up a whole section of the genre to them. Common concepts mean authors don’t have to keep inventing words for the same thing. I would argue that a Space Marine is one of these. GW also had trademarks on Ork (not orc), Inquisitor, Marauder, and Warhammer among other things.  I doubt that some of these would hold up in court, but MCA Hogarth’s case didn’t make it to court before her book was pulled by the publisher (Amazon, not wanting to get sued, I guess). Also, legal expenses of this kind are daunting to most authors, even if they are in the right.

I am over-reacting, no doubt. But I haven’t seen a great new sci-fi series in a while. I often wonder if IP law is partly to blame for this. It is very hard for new creators to manoeuvre in the same arena as well-loved IPs like Star Wars and Star Trek (and 40k), especially with an army of lawyers waiting to pounce if they infringe on the broad swath of idea space that they control.

Fantasy Sports

When he was halfway through Bloodlust: A Gladiator’s Tale, my friend Dan Barclay told me that he really enjoyed the sports angle. He noted the parallels to modern athletics even before the book delved into the Faction Games in Scorpion’s Oasis. This is a fair observation on his part because the Great Games borrow heavily from modern and ancient sports with leagues, sponsors, scandals and even celebrity athletes.

Despite the fact that I don’t really even like hockey, the one true Canadian sport, that much, sports culture fascinates me. To me, the TSN guys, seem to be among the happiest people on earth, spending all of their time immersed in their favourite recreation. I sometimes watch them just to bask in the joy of people who really, really love what they are doing.

The politics of sports also fascinates me. Currently we are limited to politicians trying to piggyback onto the successes of popular sports franchises, or trying to earn a little everyman street cred by showing off their love of their favourite teams. Just check the political oriented twitter feeds and facebook updates every time a popular sporting event takes off. (I’m writing this during the Superbowl) In Bloodlust I take it a step further by having sports and politics linked directly. Just imagine how modern sports would be if political parties could sponsor teams or individual athletes.

Fantasy Sports are certainly nothing new, but the lag behind most other activities in good representations in novels and movies. Here are a few of my personal favourites:

1) Quidditch: J K Rowling’s superb magical sport from the Harry Potter series provides an excellent example: It is played on flying broomsticks, it is rough, the rules are archaic as well as arcane, and it provides plenty of opportunity for intrigue based mishap, characterization through action, and even advancing the plot. The whole thing is brilliantly conceived and I hope more writers follow her example in including fantasy sports in their novels. What stands out, to me, about Quidditch is how, despite being entirely made up the game manages to use the ubiquitous language and culture of real world sport to draw you deeply into a fantasy world and even explain some of the more unfamiliar concepts of that world. Quite ingenious.

2) Bloodbowl: An enduring classic from Games Workshop, the Bloodbowl IP takes high fantasy tropes and turns them into football teams. It is the father of all Fantasy Sports Games, filled with crazy rules and has spawned a host sub-games and imitators. The original version of my Bloodlust game was created when we played a Bloodbowl league in University, but wanted a more casual play style.

3) Blood of Heroes: A post apocalyptic sports movie, Blood of Heroes has all of the standard sports movie tropes plus a healthy dose of brutality. Rutger Hauer plays a washed up exile who takes his team from the wasteland leagues to the vault leagues, essentially. The positions, rules of the sport, player specializations, and co-ed play make this one awesome.

4) Lane Defence Games (DoTA, LoL, HoN) and Starcraft: Competitive computer gaming is an interesting scene, but these games take it to new heights with player streams, huge tournaments with massive prizes, dedicated coverage and analysis, spectator modes, sponsors, and all of the other trappings of professional athletic leagues. If Geek Chic is the beginning of information age culture than these are the seeds of information age sports leagues…

5) The Joust: From classics like Le Morte D’Arthur to the current favorites like A Song of Ice and Fire or the Ryria Revelations, the joust is perhaps the best represented historical sport in writing. It does not take much magic to give a simple joust just a little fantasy twist. Jousting was an fairly dangerous sport and thus makes a great set piece for intrigue. With the addition of wearing a lady’s favours and other symbolic act this simple sport can also spark epic romances and torrid love affairs. The joust is a personal favorite because it is such a well worn historical trope, and it is easy for clever writers to invoke or subvert reader expectations.

Sports can be used in several ways in a Fantasy setting. Here are a few off the top of my head:

1) Action. Sports are another way to provide action sequences in fantasy.  The Quidditch scenes in Harry Potter provide great physicality and a sense of danger without direct physical combat, which would have been inappropriate in a protected setting like Hogwarts. They also help build up the action until the real war erupts. The same is true for jousts.  Sports can also provide variation in action scenes since the artificial nature of the rules can showcase different physical skills or unusual talents in ways that a duel or battle could not.

2) Character roles: Team sports can set up strong relationships between characters while repeat matches are a great way to create and showcase character rivalries. These logically carry over to the story beyond the sports-field. If a Character wins a great victory while wearing a favour at a sporting event like a joust, it is a great setup for romance elements.

3) Culture: Sports can also be a strong element of cultural world-building, since a culture’s approach to sports can tell us quite a bit about the values and practices of that culture.

4) Magic: Sports can also be used to demonstrate the rules of magic in a Fantasy world. If your mages need to practice their skills it seems only logical that some of them would make games out of this and that these games could evolve into complex sports. These sports provide another way in which the author can showcase magic.

Fantasy sports can provide a little bit extra to even the most detailed of worlds. Bonus points to anyone who can write a little bit about what the Great Gladiatorial Games from Bloodlust demonstrates about the culture and values of the Domains of the Chosen.

Geek Chic

Geek (definition from Merriam-Webster Online)

1: a carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken or snake

2: a person often of an intellectual bent who is disliked

3: an enthusiast or expert especially in a technological field or activity

This is merely the seed of an idea.

When I was in high school it wasn’t cool to play D&D or other tabletop games, read fantasy or sci-fi, read comics, or play video games. Those pursuits were often considered childish or weird  D&D was still associated with satanism. Fantasy was considered a genre with little or no literary value. Video games and comics were often looked down on. Anime was almost unheard of (Although some Robotech made it to my little TV!). The idea of dressing up as your favorite fictional character was reserved for Halloween and Halloween was for kids.

My, how things have changed… It actually took me by surprise. All of these hobbies have become, if not more mainstream, then more acceptable and kind of cool. Comic book movies are killing at the box office. Shows based of comic series and certain Fantasy novels are joining Sci-Fi series to make TV a veritable Geekstravaganza. People now take Fantasy novels and Comics seriously as art and commentary. I can admit I play video games or tabletop games among strangers… in fact, if I do, it will almost certainly spark a conversation.

Many of you are probably shrugging your shoulders and thinking, so what? Tastes change over time.

True, but I think this is more than a passing fad. What I term Geek Chic, the love and acceptance of all things Geeky, strikes me as an enduring trend in our society. Geek society grew up with the internet. The internet empowers us to search out knowledge, down to an obsessive level of detail if we desire. The internet also allows us to easily find and communicate with others who are interested in the same things we are. This allows Geek culture to flourish.

If I love a quirky game like Dwarf Fortress, I can easily join a community of people that also loves the game. Being able to communicate with other people who are passionate about the game will spur my enthusiasm for it. As my love for the game grows I will share my favorite moments on the official forums (Bay12), sites like reddit, and on any social media that I am currently into. This means that anyone who is interested in a game like Dwarf Fortress is far more likely to hear about it. It also means that novices can join ready made communities that can help them out and drive their interest. Dwarf Fortress is a really complex game, and might be too daunting for some people without the support of that community. Even if you were able to find it and get into it on your own, you still be missing out on all of the mods and discussions, which often seem to be the best part of a hobby.

Fads come and go, but communities have staying power. Geeky pursuits like games, SFF fiction, and comics all lend themselves to the type of enthusiastic discussions that proliferate like weeds on the internet. Unlike many other internet communities these tend to be relatively friendly and open, and thus attractive to new members. Most Geeks like to share their knowledge, after all.

Geek Chic is what happens when these communities hit a certain critical mass and begin to influence the culture at large. I can already see this happening. The most interesting part is in how these separate hobbies influence each other. Video games borrow from comic books. Fantasy fiction borrows from Video games. vice versa and ETC. Halloween has much more adult, and far more popular (and makes $ like crazy). Web-channels like Geek and Sundry cater to all things geeky and attract new people to the fold with groups like Vaginal Fantasy and shows like Sword & Laser. People use the power of the internet, the sum of all, to Geek out on what interests them in the same way that it can empower work, research, and any other field that involves information.

Geek Chic is, quite possibly, the first fumbling steps of information age culture, an age where content is not just manufactured for us, but rather created by us, promoted by us, and validated by us. Steampunk fashion shows. Paid Gamemasters. Admiration for knowledge without the fear of intelligence. What a world that might be…

There’s Something About D&D

Now that I have published my first book, I feel obligated to check out other writers in the same genre. I have read quite a bit of fantasy, but I rarely payed any attention to the author’s blurbs. In fact, I often felt knowing too much about the author might prejudice my reading of their work as I look for clues about how their influences show up. However, as a novice writer I seek out other writers to trade information with, and so I have been paying more attention to the actual writers. It does make me enjoy reading a little bit less, due to my tendency to over-analyze, but I often gain valuable insight into my peers. This is how I discovered that the ranks of modern fantasy writers have been infiltrated by tabletop RPG players (I used the term D&D in the title for name recognition, most RPGs could fill in)

I wrote a little blurb a few months ago about how I noticed while reading the Dresden Files and Codex Alera that Jim Butcher was quite willing to show off his gaming influences (Dresden even joins a weekly tabletop game in book 4, Summer Knight). It turns out that a large number of prominent fantasy others are RPG players. They may not be serious Grognards, but they certainly know what a d20 is (shorthand for a twenty sided die). Here is a link to a video of several of the best and best-selling fantasy authors playing D&D. Apparently you can win a chance to play with some of them, as part of a charity effort. Myke Cole (One of the long suffering GMs in that game, author of the Shadow Ops series and a longtime D&D player, has an excellent post on what it was like be at that D&D game.

I was a little stunned when I first saw this. I’m not sure why. My first irrational, visceral thought was where the hell were all these people when I was was trying to set up my last game. I guess I’m not really used to the idea of Geek Chic yet.

On further reflection. Duh. It makes quite a bit of sense that people whose interest in fantasy led them to RPGs and vice versa are now writing, in ever increasing numbers. It makes even more sense that an author would trumpet this fact now that nerdy things are kind of cool (I call it geek chic). Also on reflection Ed Greenwood, Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, and Steven Erickson all have some RPG background, so really I should not have been that surprised. Maybe I just miss my Saturday night game.

I think tabletop RPGs are very good for focusing and developing your imagination. Here are some of the ways in which RPGs have influenced my writing.

1) Action scenes. Combat is inherently chaotic and hard to describe. In many traditional RPGs (like D&D) the focus of the largest chunk of rules is break that mess down into easy to manage chunks, resolve what is happening, and then weave it back into the larger narrative. Because of my tabletop RPG background (Which also including some miniatures games, Battletech, Legions of Steel, Warhammer 40K, and Hordes which are also great for combat) I find it much easier to keep track of what is going on in a fight scene. Given that my first book is about Gladiators, this has proven especially useful.

2) Magic Systems. RPG magic systems are often more practical than creative and inspiring. However most of them are very, very consistent because the game has to set rules and limits for what magic and mages can do. (Some advanced RPF magic systems do not have set rules, but I did not have access to any of them as a kid) When I create a magic system I strive for consistency over originality. When I read a fantasy novel with a magic system that is coherent and consistent, I am very rarely taken aback when a character uses some new spell since it operates within the same framework as the others, if the system is not consistent new powers often seen Deus Ex Machina in the worst possible way. While RPG magic descriptions translate awkwardly at best, the idea of having a consistent set of mechanics for magic in your world is very, very useful and important even if it is never fully communicated to the readers.

3) World-Building. RPGs were the basis for my first forays into world-building. Every RPG needs a setting, and for some reason I was never satisfied with even the best of modules (Keep on the Borderlands, Undermountain, and the first Ravenloft are my favorites since they had more of a sandbox feel) or pre-generated campaign settings (Earthdawn is my favorite there, Birthright if it has to be a D&D world). RPGs and D&D in particular encouraged me to make up my own worlds. At first these fell apart after a few sessions as my players found and exploited the cracks in my creations. One of my early games allowed for enchanting and also incorporated futuristic elements like power armour and guns. The enemies were still orcs, bad equipment and all. Every encounter ended very quickly, in a hail of enchanted exploding elemental munitions that would have been cool and glorious if I weren’t countering it with feeble opposition. As time passed, my skills at making a more cohesive sandbox for my players increased. My ability to make a world evolved, and yet the my gang of players also got more skilled at finding the weak spots. We matured and our tastes changed, with players no longer interested in just interested in combat and direct conflict I was forced to flesh out backgrounds, histories, and characters to make the setting come alive. The skills help me tremendously when writing, to the point where with Bloodlust: A Gladiator’s Tale I have take the relatively limited and contrived idea of Gladiatorial combat, placed it at the centre of a setting, and built a story and a working world around it.

The players are another part of RPGs that could be helpful to writers. The Game-Master might create the world but each player wants to weave their own character into it, which helps expose flaws and brings a unique kind of feedback that can really improve any setting.

I could go on about this at length, but company has come over, so I shall end with a rough teaser from Bloodlust: Will to Power

A muscled, athletic ogress strode into the arena. At first Gavin could not make sense of her armour. As she strode across the fighting grounds he realized that he was seeing segmented metal plates, each individually pierced into her flesh. He saw blood around some of the blades, which cut into the Gladiatrix as she moved. The blood ran into clever channels on the plates, forming a decorative pattern that signaled some skill in blood magic. Her expression was add odds with the obvious discomfort of such a form of protection, serene and watchful. He felt a thrill of recognition. His opponent was the only true Disciple of Pain that the arena had produced in fifty years.

“Welcome Razorthorn,” said Mistress Chloe [The arena master in the Killer's Circle, more on that later]. “You look sharp today. [Groan, I know, this may not make the final cut]”

The Wall

A few months ago, I subjected a map I made to the internet. Most people (~80%) liked it, a few had some useful criticism, and a handful trolled as hard as they could. I wrote a post about it, actually, and added a section to this blog where I discussed the naming process. It was actually useful. However, one comment, in particular stood out, and still bothers me.

“I see you have a wall (Marius’s Wall) on your map. That seems like a rip off of George R.R. Martin’s Wall.”

It would be easy to make fun of said person. However, after some reflection I have come to the realization that people who are new to the fantasy genre and may not realize that the idea of the wall appears in quite a prominent few fantasy books, many of which predate GRRM’s outstanding modern fantasy epic by some time. Walls are barriers. Inside the wall is safety and civilization. Outside the wall is danger, adventure, and strange lands. The wall can be a classical threshold to a great adventure, an obstacle, or a symbol of dystopian control.

Here are a few of my personal favorite walls in fantasy:

Dros Delnoch: From David Gemell’s Legend. Six high walls and great fortress that guard the pass into the lands of the Drenai (which I like to think of as mythic scotland). Each of the walls has a name, which is based on the emotion that the defenders feel when are driven to the new wall. The names are Eldibar (exultation), Musif (despair), Kania (renewed hope), Sumitos (desperation), Valteri (serenity), and Geddon (death). Follow this link to an excellent article on the book and how the whole work is a metaphor for Gemell’s feeling about cancer, brought about by a mis-diagnosis.

The Black Gate: From Tolkien. The Black Gate changed hands many times before Aragorn staged his diversionary assault here at the end of Return of the King. Sauron built it to keep his enemies out. Gondor took it over and used it to seal off Mordor after the first defeated him. It then changed hands again after a while. Tolkien uses the Black Gate to represent many of the conflicts that are based around borders over a long period of history.

The Shield Wall: Frank Herbert’s Dune; apparently a natural barrier, but I always pictured it as very much like a great border wall, especially when Paul blew it apart to let the worms in.

The Wall around Mega-City One: Judge Dredd. I really enjoyed the depictions of the borders around the vast city. Kind of like a cross between the great wall of China and the Berlin Wall, but on a crazed modern sprawl scale.

Walls are barriers. Inside the wall is safety and civilization. Outside the wall is danger, adventure, and strange lands. The wall can be a metaphor for many things, but frequently plays up to the fact that in a medieval setting distant lands are considered strange, dangerous, and hostile and defences are needed to protect the land. Kingdoms in the middle ages had to rely on physical barriers to control their territory, and thuse used walls and castles along with natural barriers like rivers and mountains.

Use of the Wall in fantasy in Fantasy writing is rooted in history and Myth.

The Wall of Ur/Uruk: When Gilgamesh fails to find immortality he shows his friends the walls of Uruk, and says something to the effect of “this is my immortality”, meaning that a man’s works and accomplishments are how he is remembered.

The Walls of Jericho: Biblical. A set of of fortifications so mighty that God himself has to take a hand in putting them down. Joshua walks his army around the walls for seven days blowing on ram’s horns. On the seventh day, the walls fall.

The Walls of Troy: The walls of Troy are a legendary set of walls that protect the city of Troy from the Greeks in Homer’s Iliad. The walls are so mighty that even after defeating the greatest heroes of the Trojans the Greek host is forced to resort to trickery and deception to gain entry. Wily Odysseus hides a crew of greek commandos inside a great wooden horse left as an offering to Poseidon  who sneak out and open the gates for the hidden Greek armies later on.

Hadrians Wall (Antonine wall as well): Hadrian’s Wall was built to defend southern Roman Britain against northern invaders. It was a series of fortifications manned by legions. Romans actually settled beyond the wall at some points, but in was considered the edge of the Empire at its height. It is the prototypical border wall for western fantasy, our version of the Great Wall in some ways. Many walls that appear in Fantasy are based off Hadrian’s wall, although they tend to be more fantastic in their construction. Hadrian’s wall controlled the flow of people in and out of Roman Britain, and its function, although undeniably military, was partly base around customs and trade. The idea of the wall as the edge of civilization often appears when discussing Hadrian’s Wall. The idea of defending a remote border, far away from your homeland and everything about your former life is also an idea associated with the legions manning the wall. For many of those soldiers Hadrian’s wall was was an unimaginable distance from anything familiar.

The Great Wall of China: The Great Wall of China is the best example of a historical border wall. It Dwarfs Hadrians wall and is still in great condition. It was built to keep the Mongols out and assert the Glory of the middle Kingdom. It did a piss poor job of the first, but kicked ass all over over on the second. The idea of the border barrier separating the civilized from the uncivilized is particularly strong with this wall, since China has a superb sense of its own history. Naturally, it also has a strong influence on Fantasy literature.

The Berlin Wall (And the Iron Curtain/Korean DMZ): Proving the medieval mindset of the Cold War, in my mind, the Berlin Wall and its affiliates acted as the same sort of fantastical barrier that we see around the “Kingdoms of Good” in many fantasies. It was meant to contain the spread of opposing “evil” powers and everything. Actually the more I think about it the more the idea of the cold war resembles a warped version of a bad black and white fantasy novel. Regardless, the Berlin Wall itself was deadly serious up until the end, a legendary barrier that kept the bad guys out in every way.

Naturally you can think up several examples of newer border walls being erected even now. The same themes apply. Control, customs and trade, and in too many cases the separation of “the foreign” from “the civilized” based on conceptions of reality that are too often rooted in Fantasy of the ugliest sort.

So I think it is pretty safe to say that while GRRM uses the wall very well, he doesn’t own the trope (nor did he ever claim to, I bet he’d laugh if he thought someone credited him with the idea of a border wall). The wall is a powerful idea. At its best it means civilization, and acts as a metaphor for the call to adventure in strange lands beyond the wall. It is often the physical threshold that a hero must cross to answer the call to adventure in strange lands.  But it can also mean oppression and control, the darker sides of so called civilizations, where the wall acts as a prison of sorts or an arbitrary division that serves to keep out physical enemies but not the rot at the heart of the empire…

A nice review, a thought about structure, and a teaser

Today I received an outstanding review from Hypervorean on her Blog. It made my day. It always makes my day when people offer me interesting insights into my work. Please check out her blog, not only does she has some intelligent comments about my book, she has some nice depthy reviews on several fantasy greats and indy books as well. In fact her reviews of Name of the Wind, Game of Thrones, and Abercrombie were why I went out of my way to get her a copy of my book. She has some interesting opinions, even on well-trod Fantasy canon. I hope she gets some attention.

Here is my favorite part of the review:

“In the first chapter the main character, Gavin, is trying to pick out his weapons before his first fight. The narrator goes on at great length about every single weapon in the store, their pros and cons (which could be pretty boring if you are not particularly interested in weapons) but also about Gavin’s relationships with them, which is the really interesting part. You don’t really realize it between all the technical details about weaponry, but by the time he exits the store you already know who he is; his personality, his disposition, his views on different matters. You have grasped his essence so that by the time of his first fight he is already your friend and you involuntarily cheer for him. This is sneaky – and awesome.” It is nicely written, and I am really happy to see that she gets what I was trying to do with that scene. Yay!

I chatted with her a little on goodreads after the review went up and I learned a couple of things. First off, she noted that some authors did not give her much follow-up and feedback after a review. This surprised me. Everything I’ve read from both traditionally published and self-published authors pushes the idea that you want to build a good relationship with bloggers and reviewers. Quality often matters over quantity, since a deep review will help you improve your writing skills as well as convey information to buyers who are on the fence about buying your book.

This relationship goes both ways. Bloggers and reviewers want help promoting their work and advancing in the social economy. If they take the time to review and promote your work, it is basic courtesy to promote them a little as well; its not like a tweet or two and a facebook shout-out will hurt you. Manners matter more in the age of social media, even if they aren’t as stifled and convention driven as they used to be.

Secondly, I’m finding that I get better feedback from women. Not higher ratings necissarily, but longer, more observant reviews. My sample size is too low to come to a conclusion on this, but it does counter some of my nervousness about writing a book that women can enjoy just as much as men. Maybe women are just better book reviewers in general. It will be interesting to find out as I get more feedback.

Since Hypervorean asked me for a small writer’s bio, I took the time to write about the weird structure of Bloodlust:

“The structure of the first two Bloodlust books has each chapter based around every single match in Gavin’s career as a Gladiator, even the more routine fights, from beginning to end. Every chapter contains a fight, moves the story forward in some way, and has a bit of world exposition. As frameworks for a story go, it is unusual, lending the books an almost episodic quality. Often quite a bit happens between chapters that is only hinted at, requiring the reader to fill in the blanks. The structure really helped me put the first book together, giving me a strong guideline to follow, but now acts as more of a limitation. Keeping the plot together within the confines of the arena and keeping those fight scenes fresh can be a challenge. After Bloodlust: Will to Power, I will likely follow a more traditional narrative framework.”

Putting that down on paper helped bring into focus what I like and don’t like about the structure that the book follows. In B2 I try to mix it up a bit, but until Gavin’s career is done, I stick with a similar structure. It is a bit of a challenge to keep the fights fresh and meaningful. I think I do a decent job and that the ending will be worth the reader’s valuable time.

I’ll end with a little teaser. This is the first thing I wrote for the new book, and it is fairly raw and likely won’t make it into the final cut without some major alterations. It is part of a fight scene that stretches for the entire book though…

The Gladiatrix stands motionless in the mouth of the shadowed tunnel, clearing her mind as she waits for her match to begin. The cheering for her opponent, first to take to the fighting grounds, has already died down. A chorus of one thousand trumpets sounds. Her heart quickens as her name is announced. The roar that follows shakes the very stones of the greatest arena in the world. She can feel it in her bones. She allows herself a small smile.

She can feel the anticipation of the audience as the drawbridge, massive and bound in gilded gold, lowers gently. Sunlight spills into the tunnel of the Gladiator’s entrance; revealing her to the hungry eyes of the audience slowly, almost teasingly.

Her hair, dark as shadow in the light of a full moon, is a multitude of braids, held stiff by glamour, each resembling a curled scorpion’s tail. The style is uniquely hers; a small rebellion against the more formal or inviting fashions created by the expensive capital stylists for her peers. Her eyes slowly sweep the crowd as row upon row of faces come into view above the descending gate. Her gaze is piercing, even at such a distance; unblinking as the merciless light of the desert sun. Many of the audience shiver, with fear or rapture, as those dark orbs rake over them; imagining that she is looking at them alone.

History, Values, and Writing

There is an interesting historical argument that has surfaced in the current US Gun Control debate. Now, I’m Canadian and I don’t really want to talk about American gun control. In fact, I want to write a little piece about history and writing. Keeping that in mind, a segment on the Daily show reminded me of this little tidbit, which I will address and then relate to writing.

The talking point in question is that had the Jewish people had access to guns, they would have been able to resist the Holocaust. This is an ahistorical argument, since many Jews did gain access to weapons and along with others bravely resisted the Germans. Their people were still massacred. The casualty ratio in the Warsaw uprising was not even close to favourable. Nor, as Jon Stewart and others wisely point out, did armed populations with fully capable military arms actually have that much success resisting Hitler. The French had guns and the craziest border fence, er fortress, you’ve seen since the great wall. Still got Blitzed. The Russians had more guns than you could imagine, at least once Stalin realized that the only thing that would keep Hitler from ending communism was arming everyone he could for defence of the motherland, Russia still got invaded. In fact, it took six years of world war to oust Hitler and end the Holocaust. And while armed resistance from militias and partisans did play a key role in some places, and their bravery is exemplary to all, Armies, bombing campaigns, and “general” Winter did far more to end the Nazis.

I also watched, jaw hanging, as a man made a similar argument about slavery and guns.

Now, these are bad arguments. They actually hurt the case for gun advocates by making them look bad. I’m not going to talk about how I feel about US Gun Control here. I just want to point out that those are terrible arguments because of their poor use of history. You can find similar arguments on almost any contentious issue, on almost any side.

This is an example of what happens when we, as analysts, pundits, and writers, go back and place our value judgments on historical events in a sloppy manner. The argument is initially quite compelling. I mean we all hate the Holocaust and Slavery and would support just about any measure that would prevent them, right? The problem is that the talking points blithely ignore the actual history of the problems in question; they just throw down a modern value judgement, in this case that armed population can resist Tyranny, without giving fair consideration to what actually happened in the period or how a particular historical condition actually developed.

Pundits are incorrigible  and will continue this type of blather until we, as a society, outgrow them or hell freezes over. However writers often place modern value judgments on historical situations, often purposefully. When done correctly this can create a masterful criticism of a historical injustice that helps enlighten modern discourse. To Kill a Mockingbird is a good example of this. Django Unchained comes very close, in my mind. I can think of many other examples where an author uses history in a sensitive manner. I can think of legions more where they do not, and it ruins their good work, or exposes their own flaws. Here are some of the bad uses of history that I frequently encounter as a reader. (As always, I’m not referring to anyone specific here…)

1) Historical characters with modern prejudices. So the High King of your medieval nation believes in, and frequently espouses the trickle down theory? Your noble tribesman believes in a version of communism that comes straight from Marx? Don’t even try to dress up modern political, economic, or religious theories in inappropriate historical clothing. If you want to write fiction espousing a particular belief, or better yet demonstrating the rich clash of ideas that is appropriate to real discourse make sure you do that in an era where that makes sense. Both the Trickle Down theory and communism require a certain set of notions, such as industry and a Bourgeoisie  to exist. Thus if you include those philosophies in pre-industrial societies, you will have a lot of explaining to do and will likely look rather foolish to some readers. I can think of at least one famous author who espouses Objectivist, Ayn Rand, style beliefs in a medieval fantasy setting. This makes no sense for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that in a medieval setting law and trade are not nearly enlightened enough to support the kinds of agreement that are required to make objectivism function, even in theory.

2) Misrepresenting Historical actual personages. Some people will disagree with me on this, but I really hate it when a writer plunders history for characters with name recognition without due diligence. Does every single character in your steampunk novel really need to be a fantasy version of a famous Victorian? If they do, then make sure you do some research, because historical figures often have quite a bit of baggage attached to them. Taking a controversial or beloved historical figure, like Charles Darwin, and turning them into an odd villain in your alternate history rarely rings true and invites all kinds of trouble from readers who have strong opinions about said characters. Historians have enough trouble avoiding colossal arguments over the actual lives of controversial figures without someone coming along and muddying the waters by writing a popular book about that character which portrays them in a way that is consistently counter to their historical personality.

3) A failure to understand historical systems. This is a tough one. Often a writer uses a default setting for their genre, and does not take into account how the fantastic elements that they’ve introduced will change they systems they portray. An example is the feudal system. Among other things, the Feudal system is based on the ownership of land. If their is no land ownership in your fantasy society, then you need to modify your feudal model to take that into account. This is the meat of speculative fiction and can lead to brilliant, original novels if done well or confusing hodgepodges if done without consideration. Another example, that I find extremely common in modern fantasy is magic and the aristocracy. The nobles of a feudal society all began, in theory, as warriors and many of the basic bonds of feudalism were based around war. (GRRM gets this right!) As such a noble in a feudal society is defined by his or capacity to make war. Castles are fortresses for a reason, right? So if magic is common in your world, more powerful than physical combat, and hereditary than I am driven to question why it isn’t the basis of your feudal society. Wouldn’t the mages supplant the warrior aristocracy?

As writers, even writers of fiction, we should try to show history the respect it deserves. Those who do, like GRRM or Guy Gavriel Kay, are often rewarded with enthusiastic readers who enjoy the feel of the worlds that they create.

Computer Games as Inspiration

Part of me wishes their were more computer games about Gladiatorial Combat.

I find that when I am writing I can use other media, such as games, pictures, and movies to get my creative juices flowing, to give me a burst of inspiration when I really need it.  I used to use this to great effect when running tabletop games, pumping myself up with Rune or 13th warrior before sitting down to write or play my Nordan Saga game (unpublished). Being able to play Skyrim would no doubt inspire me to dust it off for another glorious campaign, or just to work on it at the very least. Playing Total War: Napoleon has given me a few ideas for a steam-punk setting that could work as a book, rpg, or computer game. This cycle of inspiration used to cause me quite a bit of stress, as I would get hot or cold on something based on what I was playing or watching, but I’ve learned to use it to my advantage.

If I play a computer game that gives me ideas for a setting or story, I quickly jot down some notes (I’m always taking notes, sometimes waking up in the middle of the night to write stuff down). Then I wait until I move on to another game, movie, book, and wait for the obsession to die down. If the notes seem interesting to me later, evoking a little of that manic excitement, then I know I have something.

Other, respectable, authors have noted that computer games can influence their work. This is only fair, since it is beyond a shadow of a doubt that fantasy books influence computer games. Here are a few of the more modern games that I think are currently available and influencing the Fantasy Genre.

1) Assassin’s Creed (AC). For better, or for worse, the assassin is king in Modern Fantasy. A fairly large number of the best and most popular fantasy series out there feature assassins as main characters or part of the team in larger casts. Even GRRM has a nod to the assassin’s guild in his series. The Assassins in Ubisofts Assassins Creed games are one man killing machines, highly skilled in all the killing arts, secretly protecting civilization from the shadows. They often seem benevolent, although you would not want to bump into one on the street or get caught in the crossfire. What Ubisoft does well, aside from putting a very human face on a horrible profession, is create the feeling of a different world that takes place in back alleys and rooftop chases. They also reinforce the expectation that the assassin is an ultra-competent character and a thinking man/woman to boot, which is actually fairly ahistorical. Many modern authors take these ideas and add brilliant twists of their own (often magic), using the imagery provided by the AC games or playing against the expectations created by them. Dishonoured, although it has more steampunk and an original setting might have a similar

influence.

2) World of Warcraft (WoW). Aside from the actual world of warcraft novels I can’t think of any books based directly off of WoW or even WoW with the serial numbers filed off  (I’m sure others can, though). That is the only reason WoW is second on the list. With millions of players at any time WoW has replaced Tolkien as the vernacular of Fantasy. If a trope exists in WoW, an author can use it at connect instantly with a large audience. Crazy weapons and armour styles, Steampunk Goblins/Gnomes, and certain monsters are now more widepread in fantasy than ever before because of WoW. In terms of broad influence this game is hard to beat, since it is constantly expanding and adding new content which frequently contains references to popular fantasy. I like to think of WoW as the great Fantasy aggregator. Other popular fantasy MMOS, like Guild Wars, can have a similar influence. Some lane defence games, especially League of Legends, also serves as popular fantasy aggregators.

3) Elder Scrolls. Bethesda’s Elder scrolls series is very popular with fantasy enthusiasts. I expect to see an uptick in viking themed fantasy series soon. What makes this particular series interesting for writers however is the detailed character creation and modding. These allow enterprising authors to customize the game to their hearts content and get the exact favour of inspiration that they want. Maybe I just want to play Skyrim (400 sales to go!)

4) Dragon Age. I hate and I love this series… Dragon Age has some obvious literary influences, which it shares with a wide swath of modern fantasy. What makes it interesting is how it amalgamates these tropes into a cohesive whole which is now influencing other writers. The hyper-violent combat, the oppressed elves, the decadent socially divided Dwarves, and the idea that magic users are potentially dangerous can all be found elsewhere but this game does push the tropes into a writer’s consciousness. I also love the themes of corruption show up in the Darkspawn and the Deep Roads, again these are nothing new but the presentation alone can be inspiring. Dragon age also relies on characterization more than most games, which is a great reminder about the importance of well written characters. (It is the only good part of Dragon Age 2, actually and manages to carry an otherwise flawed game)

5) Pokemon. Yeah, I went there. Pokemon has a subtle influence on fantasy worlds. The magic system in Jim Butcher’s Codex Alara has is somewhat based off of Pokemon (which he admits, apparently it was part of a bet/challenge). Pretty much any work of fantasy with magical animal/monster companions could do worse than Pokemon as an inspiration. Look at the Hordes tabletop miniatures game — warlocks and warbeasts are basically trainers and their pokemon in many ways.

6) Legend of Zelda. A great inspiration for classical Fantasy, this beloved game series takes place in a lush world with a humble protagonist taking on a great evil. People love this series so much, it is easy to see how in influences some of the less gritty stuff.

There are of course, many more, especially if you include older games like Final Fantasy 7 or Ultima. The only Fantasy Gladiator game that I can think of, although most games have an arena or two, is Gladius a venerable title that serves as a source of inspiration for my own Bloodlust: A Gladiator’s Tale. Sadly I don’t have anything that will play it so I have to rely on googling gladiatorial art (hit and miss) or watching Gladiator or Spartacus to rev my engines. As Fantasy games of all sorts become more and more influential I expect to see more and more influence appear in fantasy writing (and vice-versa of course,  Fantasy authors who “make it” will be very tempted to make their mark on computer games (and tabletop).

Why didn’t they kill Napoleon?

Why didn’t they kill Napoleon?

Some say British honour kept him alive. Others say the feared making a martyr of him. The theories are varied and fascinating.

In most gritty Fantasy novels they would off him long before he had a chance to escape from exile, instead he returns gathers an army and sallies forth to fight, losing narrowly against overwhelming odds, at Waterloo. They still don’t kill him, but instead return him to exile. It really, really bothers me. This is a man who led his armies to war, shattering five of the seven multi-nation coalitions sent against him. He toppled the old monarchies, ended an Empire, spread reforms and did things that were generally considered impossible. If an author wrote a character like Napoleon, and did not concentrate on little venalities, I might be inclined to mock them. If they let such a character live after all the trouble they’d caused, escaping exile one, I would have thrown the book across the room (Although maybe Patrick Rothfuss could pull such a tale off). And yet we have the strange truth.

Google “Why didn’t they kill”. Napoleon’s at the top of the list. He hasn’t even been in the new lately. I’m thinking of him because I picked some Total War games from Steam and Napoleon was cheaper than Empire. Excellent series by the way, I am really looking forward to Total War Rome II. Maybe I’ll get all excited about Caesar when I’m playing that. Regardless, while wandering around my day job, I wondered about how I would go about writing  a character like Napoleon. I’m not sure I could. I don’t like descending into caricature for the most part, and pretty much any other presentation of the man is so far into Mary-Sue land that I would get single starred to death on Amazon for writing a power fantasy.

One of my favourite works of philosophy is Voltaire’s Bastards by Jon Raulston Saul. The central premise of the work is that systems based on pure reason, without application of sense or humanity, are prone to breaking down or losing touch with the true complexities of reality. Yeah, we kind of live in that. Mr Saul even touches on heroism in his masterwork, pointing out that guys like Napoleon come along or are created when these systems become broken to the point that the people who live in them start grasping at straws and looking for rescue. A very interesting comment. It has the ring of truth to it, although I am paraphrasing very loosely.

Napoleon wasn’t actually short by the way. He was apparently average height for the time, its just the French pouce was larger than the English inch.

Napoleon is one of those figures that historians generally avoid, unless they need to make money or just want to start the academic version of a bar-fight. Very few people can agree on anything about him. Keegan, one of my favorite military historians was so wary of Bonaparte that he seems to skip him in Masks of Command, his book about the evolution of Military Leadership, tackling Wellington instead. Even the wikipedia article gives an impression of wildly varying opinions. My commenting on Napoleon facebook feed illicited some surprising reactions.

Fictional heroes like Aragorn or even Jon Galt are shadows of men like Napoleon, the rare people who grow so larger than life that hostory cannot quite come to grips with them. Only fiction has a chance to seriously examine such men and women.

And yet, if I were writing Napoleon I would have killed him before his first exile, and I think I’d get laughed off the island if I let him live after Waterloo.

Still, it might be nice to try one day. Here’s an idea I came up with, based on the intro to Total War: Napoleon, I envision it as a fantasy steampunk character a cross between Napoleon and Joan of Arc (sic):

“I have many enemies, but I have no equals. In the streets of Aria they said that a little girl playing at war could never stop the charge of the Monarchists. In the shade of the Citadel they said that my peasant soldiers could never match the well-trained mercenaries of the seven nations. In the land of the Dragon Kings they said we could never survive the endless hordes and the burning sun. Now they say nothing. They fear me. I am the child of reason and revolution. My words are the battle cries of free men, my rhetoric is the thunder of cannon. Je suis Valeria and I say: I am Empress!”

P.S. While reading a little bit about Napoleon last night I found an interesting tidbit. Grognard (French for Grumbler) is a name tabletop players often use to describe particularly hardcore gamers. Grognard was apparently also the nickname for Napoleons most elite infantry formations, the Old Guard. Given the origins of tabletop games as military recreations, including the Napoleonic wars, I find this extra appropriate now…