"A bit of earth, a bit of Alien, a bit of...whatever that is."
I've been meaning, for awhile now, to begin a series of posts detailing some of the things about the lands in which my books take place. I have finally decided to do these posts on Wednesday, and I will be doing them on all three books I either have published or am currently writing. (The Haphazardly Series, A Stretch of Loyalty, and The Broken Blade.)
I'm going to start with The Broken Blade - even though I know the layout of the land less than any of the others. (Oh, random bit of something I forgot....I need to get in contact with the someone who offered to help me with the map! See, that is how my life has been going lately, if my lack of blog reading and commenting hasn't been enough of a hint.) Anyways, I've been working a good deal on The Broken Blade, the characters have kidnapped me every chance they get, and right now it is the world I've been sucked into and is fresh on my mind.
The biggest thing with Nightshade - the land in which The Broken Blade is set - is that it is like the characters. Each time I sit down to write I learn something new.
I won't start pointing out cities and such until I have a map and you will all be able to see what I'm talking about. An overview should at least get you started.
After the king of Nightshade was killed, and died without an heir, no one ever bothered crowning a new king. Instead, everyone divided and went their own ways. (More detail on this later.)
The humans appointed Lords who were too look over their states. In each state there are villages, farms, mines, fishing ports all depending on where the state is. It is the Lord's job to make sure his villagers are well feed and protected. (Not many of them actually carry out this duty. They are more concerned with themselves and while they don't over tax their people or treat them with cruelness, they just don't really care about them.)
The Lords are the final law in their state. Sometimes they all meet together but if a state falls under attack or if a Lord needs advice he is pretty much on his own. It is a fend for yourself culture.
Since the Lords haven't ever really proven themselves to be good or caring, the people don't really respect them. A Lord could pass a new law and no one would care or obey it. Also, since there are no longer soldiers or knights, the only one who can re-enforce it is the Lord and the few men who serve him. This has discouraged new laws from being made and aside from there being no king and the lands being divided, Nightshade hasn't changed much in the last hundred years.
The only form of leadership or law enforcers are the Rangers, but they keep to themselves and don't get involved with the Lords or villagers. They are the only lasting regiment of the days when kings reigned. (I will do more of their back story later as it would take up a whole post.) The only important thing you need to know about them right now is that they keep to themselves.
Nightshade is a large country and is scattered with mountains and forests. A lot of the mountains are very tall and hold many long forgotten secrets - or memories which have become like the blade, bed time stories most people don't believe. The humans keep mostly to the East side of Nightshade. It is rare for them to travel past a mountain range which divides the East of Nightshade from the rest of the country. The East is mostly farm land which some good sized forests and craggy cliff faces which stand by the ocean.
Winters in the East can be cold. The damp from the ocean makes the wind bitter, leaving one with a feeling that it gets into their bones. In the other extreme, summers can be unbearably hot and humid.
Since the East is mostly farmland, a lot of the people have had to become farmers to survive. Those who live in the forests make their living cutting down trees and selling the wood to the farmers. There is a barter system set up between the two peoples. The fishermen have the same system set with the farmers but like to get their heating supplies from the coal around their ports so they don't deal much with the woodsmen.
And that, I think, is a good introduction start. I've set up a board on Pintrest - you know, that place all authors hang out when they don't feel like writing - and I'm filling it with pictures of what I imagine Nightshade to look like. (Here is the LINK!!!!! in case any of you wish to see.)
For next week, which book would you like to hear more about? Would you like more on The Broken Blade, if so, would you like to hear about the Rangers, more about the Woodsmen, Farmers, Fishermen, or something else? (Feel free to let me know any of your ideas or what you'd like to learn about. I'm hoping to keep these posts fun, and not like boring history lessons.)
And here I end. I have a book I need to get back to editing.
Quote is from Doctor Who, when the Doctor and Rory are trying to find Amy after she's vanished on the wonderful planet the Doctor took them too for a holiday.
Allons-y!
I'm going to start with The Broken Blade - even though I know the layout of the land less than any of the others. (Oh, random bit of something I forgot....I need to get in contact with the someone who offered to help me with the map! See, that is how my life has been going lately, if my lack of blog reading and commenting hasn't been enough of a hint.) Anyways, I've been working a good deal on The Broken Blade, the characters have kidnapped me every chance they get, and right now it is the world I've been sucked into and is fresh on my mind.
The biggest thing with Nightshade - the land in which The Broken Blade is set - is that it is like the characters. Each time I sit down to write I learn something new.
I won't start pointing out cities and such until I have a map and you will all be able to see what I'm talking about. An overview should at least get you started.
After the king of Nightshade was killed, and died without an heir, no one ever bothered crowning a new king. Instead, everyone divided and went their own ways. (More detail on this later.)
The humans appointed Lords who were too look over their states. In each state there are villages, farms, mines, fishing ports all depending on where the state is. It is the Lord's job to make sure his villagers are well feed and protected. (Not many of them actually carry out this duty. They are more concerned with themselves and while they don't over tax their people or treat them with cruelness, they just don't really care about them.)
The Lords are the final law in their state. Sometimes they all meet together but if a state falls under attack or if a Lord needs advice he is pretty much on his own. It is a fend for yourself culture.
Since the Lords haven't ever really proven themselves to be good or caring, the people don't really respect them. A Lord could pass a new law and no one would care or obey it. Also, since there are no longer soldiers or knights, the only one who can re-enforce it is the Lord and the few men who serve him. This has discouraged new laws from being made and aside from there being no king and the lands being divided, Nightshade hasn't changed much in the last hundred years.
The only form of leadership or law enforcers are the Rangers, but they keep to themselves and don't get involved with the Lords or villagers. They are the only lasting regiment of the days when kings reigned. (I will do more of their back story later as it would take up a whole post.) The only important thing you need to know about them right now is that they keep to themselves.
Nightshade is a large country and is scattered with mountains and forests. A lot of the mountains are very tall and hold many long forgotten secrets - or memories which have become like the blade, bed time stories most people don't believe. The humans keep mostly to the East side of Nightshade. It is rare for them to travel past a mountain range which divides the East of Nightshade from the rest of the country. The East is mostly farm land which some good sized forests and craggy cliff faces which stand by the ocean.
Winters in the East can be cold. The damp from the ocean makes the wind bitter, leaving one with a feeling that it gets into their bones. In the other extreme, summers can be unbearably hot and humid.
Since the East is mostly farmland, a lot of the people have had to become farmers to survive. Those who live in the forests make their living cutting down trees and selling the wood to the farmers. There is a barter system set up between the two peoples. The fishermen have the same system set with the farmers but like to get their heating supplies from the coal around their ports so they don't deal much with the woodsmen.
And that, I think, is a good introduction start. I've set up a board on Pintrest - you know, that place all authors hang out when they don't feel like writing - and I'm filling it with pictures of what I imagine Nightshade to look like. (Here is the LINK!!!!! in case any of you wish to see.)
For next week, which book would you like to hear more about? Would you like more on The Broken Blade, if so, would you like to hear about the Rangers, more about the Woodsmen, Farmers, Fishermen, or something else? (Feel free to let me know any of your ideas or what you'd like to learn about. I'm hoping to keep these posts fun, and not like boring history lessons.)
And here I end. I have a book I need to get back to editing.
Quote is from Doctor Who, when the Doctor and Rory are trying to find Amy after she's vanished on the wonderful planet the Doctor took them too for a holiday.
Allons-y!
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