Touching Grass Is Not Enough; I Need To Travel Far Over The Misty Mountains Cold.

Touching grass is not enough; I need to travel far over the misty mountains cold.

Happy Worldbuilding Wednesday!

How prevalent is 'foreign' culture, in any of its forms from cuisine to media, in one society in your Setting? How well do its members take foreign people living amongst them?

Happy WBW! Thank you so much for the ask, @thetruearchmagos! I'll answer this one for Enchanted Illusions!

How prevalent is 'foreign' culture, in any of its forms from cuisine to media, in one society in your Setting? How well do its members take foreign people living amongst them?

This is one of the core themes of my WIP Enchanted Illusions actually! A lot of the worldbuilding and story elements hinge on the fact that, before the main story, humans and Myths (magical creatures, such as faeries, elves, vampires, werewolves, etc) had been trapped in a bloody war that spanned generations, until they came to a truce and peace treaty a couple of centuries ago. Thus, the capital city of Ansburke became a symbol of this newfound peace between both humans and Myths, a melting pot for all of their cultures to converge, ushering in a new era of progress and peace into their world - or so it should have been.

The problem is, that resentment and prejudice were still present amidst some very influential parts of the population - especially some humans who still saw Myths as monsters that should be kicked out of the city. And while the city did become a place where both humans and myths could coexist in peace and find new ways to make a better future, some of those prejudiced people still remained, and little by little they fed the disorder and prejudice amongst common people, looking to profit off of the chaos of another civil war. This is the origin of the villains, the dreadful Hemlock Society who seeks to eradicate myths and ""save humanity"" (which is basically their euphemism for becoming tyrannical dictators). Those villains have spent a lot of time undermining the foundations of peace in their city, and the heroes/protagonists of the story will have to race against time to prevent the Hemlock's Society corrupted plans from coming to fruition.

In a general sense, however, when we're not talking about the structural prejudice of the city of Ansburke and the villains seeking to create chaos from it, the relationships between humans and the mythical beings (since the city of Ansburke is said to have been founded by humans, myths are considered a foreign culture - many of the myths hail from other kingdoms or villages such as the Faery Courts or the Firstgrove cities, where the banshees, werewolves and elves come from. Some vampiric clans, however, have existed in Ansburke under human radar since long before the peace treaty, only now they do get to live openly as vampires and not hide) are pretty chill for the most of it. Magic is a part of daily life as common as can be in the day-to-day lives of the citizens of Ansburke, with magical creations sometimes replacing human inventions (In Ansburke most of the tech comes from a mix of science and magic, there's nearly no exceptions to that rule. e.g Instead of electricity as a light source - for the most part - they have an infinite magical light source, which is basically enchanted sunlight stored in tubes connected to the lamps and candelabras of most richer establishments)

Because magic and science became so entwined, the city of Ansburke is actually more technologically advanced and steampunk than the actual 1800s period it is inspired in.

Humans and Myths co-exist in the same city, as much as the villains try to make it otherwise, peacefully since the truce was settled. There are sirens singing in cabaret bars, a faerie who owns a baking shop, basilisks/gorgons as hairdressers, vampire physicians who have collected a vast amount of knowledge through their eternal lifetime, Shapeshifters who use their talents for acting, and even a Banshee trying to become a painter (this Banshee character is actually a part of the main cast! his name is Oisian and he is a close friend of the MCs, especially Agatha and Harriet). They're very much an integral part of the city, and at this point are the source most of Ansburke's true culture and magic.

That underlying tension in the mind of the few humans who haven't been able to let go of the war or get over it and accept each other's differences to live with other people in peace, is the perfect target for the Hemlock Society's villains to exploit, so - by the end of the book - tensions get so high that the risk of a civil war is actually true.

Six sentence Sunday

@mysticstarlightduck tagged me just today and I have a few minutes before I have to go raring off to rehearsal, so I thought I'd fill it out! (Oh my busy weekends, how I love and hate you) Here's a little of Invisible Girl since I miss her...

Velia tackled Antonio down and dragged him to the nearest edge. “Do you trust me?” “Yeah,” Antonio breathed, his face mashed up into the near regions of Velia’s right shoulder blade. “Of course, Velia.” Velia twisted and slid off the roof, pulling him with her. Halfway through their impromptu fall, she snagged the closest ladder rung and slowed, letting Antonio’s feet hit the floor before the rest of him.

Tags for anyone who sees this, and also @reneesbooks @blind-the-winds @sleepyowlwrites -- what are you guys up to today?

"Proud of" Tag

I was tagged by @pluttskutt, (here), for this one! I'm catching up with my tags after taking a bit of a break the past few weeks (due to health reasons, which I've now recovered from), so here we go!

Rules: Post a snippet you’ve written that you’re proud of and tag 5 people. This snippet can be from today, last week, last month, or five years ago, it doesn’t matter! Show us what you’re proud of 💗

[...] "What are you doing?" Teivel peeked through the bars of the cell, suspicion written in his features as he watched Lucian shakily fumble with a key bunch.

"Getting you out of here."

The young man answered with fierce determination, already moving to unlock the rusted lock. Teivel couldn't help but gasp, horror dawning on him at this recklessness - he reached through the gap, holding onto Lucian's wrist and stubbornly keeping him from turning the key.

"Oh. No, no, no." He shook his head, lowering his voice after his words echoed around the hallway "You're a fool, they'll catch us before we're even out of the dungeons and then we'll both be stuck here. Please, just go back, and we'll just pretend this never happened. It's not worth the risk, not for me."

Lucian looked up in disbelief but did not pull his wrist away from the other's grasp. Instead, he spoke with a reassuring smile.

"It is worth it because of you, not the other way around. We need to try. I'm not letting them kill you - I couldn't care less what my father thinks, and even if I end up tried for treason, at least that way I'll know I'll never be like him."

Teivel sighed, dejection and exasperation mixing in his voice. "We're going to regret this. Even if we escape this place, something will go wrong - that war out there kills everything in its path. I won't be able to keep you safe, and neither you me."

"What if I told you there's a way to stop that war? You know the old tales as well as I do - the curse out there isn't just that, it's a prophecy. 'The Dead God's heir will be flame that'll spark a new dawn', that scroll said." Lucian spoke, hurriedly, like an anxious scholar with too much to explain and not a lot of time. He looked over his shoulder and down the hall, checking if the guards hadn't come down for their usual patrol.

He took a deep breath before continuing. "My father's soldiers are seeking him, and he hates wasting troops. If they are making such an effort to find this guy, then it's because the prophecy is real - and if we find the prince before they do, we can change things, maybe even stop the war."

"So you're suggesting that we put our fates in the hands of your people's fairy tales, and hope we won't just get captured or worse?"

Teivel asked, nearly angry, though there was a glint of something else in his eyes - something that showed that he, as much as he feared to admit it, wanted to hope that maybe, just maybe, there was a sliver of a chance that things wouldn't end in bloodshed this time.

"No. What I'm saying is that we take this chance, we don't know when another will show up." Lucian gestured around, their bleak surroundings emphasizing his point. "Maybe the stories are true, maybe they aren't, but that doesn't matter - my point is, I'd rather put our fates on the uncertainty of what's out there, than on the certainties we have here, certainties like the executioner's blade that's waiting for you tomorrow morning."

Just as Lucian paused, a telltale creak echoed through the hallway - the iron door atop the stairs slowly swinging open. The guards must've realized the keys were missing, and they'd be here any minute. Lucian felt Teivel flinch, tightening his hold on his wrist for a second, before letting go.

Lucian turned the key, opening the door. "If we're going to do this, the time is now. What do you say?"

Teivel looked at him and then up the hallway, where the guards would inevitably appear in a blink. He shook his head, almost not believing what he was about to do, before stepping out of the cell. "You'd better have a spectacular plan." [...]

Tagging (gently): @little-peril-stories, @oh-no-another-idea, @clairelsonao3, @i-can-even-burn-salad and @starlit-hopes-and-dreams

Six Sentence Sunday

I was tagged by @pluttskutt, (here)! Thank you so much for the tag!

Here's a snippet from Enchanted Illusions!

"I told ya the Mayor don't mess around" Sam chuckled, peering out of the boat's cabin as the duo raced down the pier faster than he ever thought he'd see them run. Behind them, he could hear the shots fired from the manor grounds they'd just broken out of. Before he could say anything else, Augustus cut him short with a shriek, basically leaping from the pier to the deck as Harriet followed suit, stumbling. "Start the boat! Stop talking and start the damn boat!!!" "Okay, okay, calm down fancypants. Let's go."

Tagging (gently): @starlit-hopes-and-dreams, @lassiesandiego, @tabswrites, @illarian-rambling, @little-peril-stories, @clairelsonao3, @sam-glade, @cowboybrunch, @lola-theshowgrl and @oh-no-another-idea

M+S Ask Games: Food

Reblog this if you'd like your followers to send you a numbered question for you to answer! Make sure you send an ask to whoever you reblog this from.

—1— What meal is most nostalgic to your character?

—2— What meal is your character best at cooking?

—3— What fruit is your character’s favorite?

—4— Does your character eat meat?

—5— Does your character enjoy cooking?

—6— Who taught your character to cook?

—7— Is your character good at following recipes?

—8— What food does your character eat most often?

—9— Does your character like vegetables?

—10— What is your character’s favorite meal?