#onnerat

[sam-scribbler]

Hello!

So after several months of lurking, I finally made up my mind to make a writeblr of my own.

Hi! I’m Sam. I write, I draw, I knit when the mood strikes me, and I like the ocean a lot (as anyone who actually looks at my blog theme can definitely tell). I also play more D&D than I should and not as much as I’d like. I’m a college student, studying game design, but I also love novel-writing so here I am. Usually I write science fiction/fantasy and I tend to run the gamut between middle grade, young adult, and new adult.

I’m incapable of only working on one project at a time, but here are the ones I’m currently working on:

Wardens of Soliel is a young adult solarpunk sci-fi novella about a girl named Zinnia Blumenthal who gets into a terrible train crash on her way home and finds herself entangled with the mysterious Wardens. They have guarded her home city for years - but now that she has a target on her back, her choices are simple. Join or die. Full of grit, heart, optimism, neat tech, and lesbians.

White Hart City is a young adult urban fantasy novel about a group of teenagers who get very lost on a school field trip and stumble over a government plot to destroy their hometown of White Hart. Sure, the city is weird, but it’s not that weird - right? (It’s way, way weirder.) Full of gay shenanigans, even gayer emotions, high-speed chases, and the occasional slow dance.

Onnerat is a medieval/post-apocalyptic epic fantasy following the struggles of the young, troubled Husana Najjar and the surly soldier Shula Al-Amin as they work to stop the powerful mage Mi Yinying from destroying the world - again. Full of sprawling worldbuilding, magic, found family, polyam shenanigans, and vibrant characters with complex motivations. Oh, and dragons.

I have two other WIPs (which is about three too many, but I digress) that don’t have names yet, but they are as follows:

The first is a fairly standard middle grade fantasy - a disfavored princess comes into contact with a group of elite warriors and eventually joins their numbers, but an old enemy of the kingdom looms on the horizon, threatening everything she’s every known. Full of witty banter, mentor figures, and a surprising amount of political shenanigans.

The second is a young adult/new adult medieval fantasy about a small crew of sailors who run afoul of some very nasty magic and pay the price - although they are not entirely without allies. Full of parental figures, hurt/comfort that’s heavy on the hurt, gay feelings, tax evasion, an apocalypse or two, and dragons.

[sam-scribbler]

AHA

I AM VICTORIOUS

i don’t know HOW I DID THAT IN 16 DAYS BUT APPARENTLY I DID???? SO FUCK YEAH IM AWESOME

[sam-scribbler]

been meaning to do one of these for ages so i finally did one for onnerat bc its my

favorite

probably

listen wips are like children choosing a favorite is impossible except when its not

tagging @corvidcraft bc xe’s an enabler

[sam-scribbler]

Update on Mi Yinying

I'm totally changing her name, by the way. I have no legitimate reason I just Want To.

DRAGONS

Dragons!!!!!

she made dragons. Like, specially - as things that actually exist outside of the world of dreams. It was one kf her apocalypses and they kind of stuck around. They are all like big scaley puppies and she loves them.

Cannibalism...might be involved in her backstory. Still up for debate, depending on when she got free of the magic prison her ex locked her in.

[sam-scribbler]

(WoS) Connelly calls everyone “jackass.” Paloma calls everyone “hon” or “dear”.

(WHC) Kaeja definitely calls everyone “jackass”, as do Ronnie and Anthony. Taylor has big “sweetie” vibes.

(Onnerat) Husana vacillates wildly between the two. Mi definitely calls everyone a jackass unless she’s giving a speech. Yalda calls everyone “dear/my dear” or “darling” as an insult.

Which character calls everyone "hon," "babe," etc.? Which character calls everyone "jackass?"

[sam-scribbler]

DAY 6 NANO - Onnerat

Today’s words: 4,452

Total words: 15,371

Favorite line: Congratulations! The player has now reached the part of the game where lots of wanton slaughter happens

[sam-scribbler]

DAY TWO NANO - Onnerat

Words today - 1036

Words total  - 7064

Favorite line - We managed to escape the city with... some casualties. But on the bright side, only one guard.

Favorite scene

Two men – one tall and armored with a sword at his side (ASAD), one slightly shorter with long, curly, dark red hair and carrying a witch’s staff (AMICHAI BEN SAAR) – greet the wagon as it rolls into the camp that constitutes the headquarters of the Witchfire Rebellion.

AMICHAI:

You made it! How did it go?

EZRA:

(yawning) Full r’port, sir, from Scout Ezra Ben Or to his leaderliness Amichai Ben Saar –

ASAD:

(admonishing) Ezra...

EZRA:

Sorry sirs, long night.

Husana helps the elderly witch down from the wagon.

[sam-scribbler]

2 and 11 for a random character

Ooh, I like this one. I'm going to answer these for Mi Yinying from Onnerat.

2 - How did you name this character?

Mi is an immigrant from an older fic of mine that has about a hundred pages of worldbuilding but never got past chapter two. She was a traveling magical merchant who ran away from home and changed her name to reflect her...shadier business dealings, particularly with thieves, assassin's, and other underworld elements. 'Mi' means secret in Chinese, while 'Yinying' means shadow. Over time her backstory became more involved and ultimately evil (originally she was a supporting protagonist) — the name still fit, however, so I kept it around.

(side note - according to Chinese name order, Yinying is her personal name, Mi is her family name. Basically, everyone calls her by her last name - including me)

11 - What is the one/main flaw in your character's personality?

Mi has... A lot of flaws. First on the list is Wrath, closely followed by Apathy — she only cares about things in regards to how the affect her, personally, and doesn't consider others in her decision making. She's also convinced of her own righteousness — she's a mother looking to give her daughter a chance to grow up, what's wrong with that? She's accepted that Husana might hate her for it later, but she considers the sacrifice worth it.

Her biggest flaw, though, is her belief that good intentions override evil acts. For example, she believes that if she, say, burns down a city, she could be justified if the officials of that city killed her daughter, ignoring the countless innocent lives lost as collateral.

[sam-scribbler]

DAY ONE NANO - Onnerat

Words today - 6028

Words total  - 6028

Favorite line - It is not the fault of the sheep that the flock has wandered, but the failing of the shepherd.

Favorite scene

The fortress captain kneels at Mi’s feet in the center of the destroyed keep. Behind him, the survivors huddle in terror as Inquisition forces hold them at sword-point. There are children among them, and elderly – families, whole generations, at the Inquisition’s mercy.

MI YINYING:

Perhaps you can give me a better answer than the guards at your door.

(she crouches in front of him, tilting his chin up with her fingers)

Where is Shula Al-Amin?

FORT CAPTAIN:

(cradling his injuries)

I – I don’t know. She left last night, took her people with her.

Mi frowns and rises to her feet. The camera remains on the captain.

MI YINYING:

Hm. That’s disappointing.

(she walks around the captain, towards the captive citizens)

FORT CAPTAIN:

No, wait! That’s the truth I swear – she never said where she was going!

MI YINYING (OUT OF FRAME):

Oh, I believe you. That’s what’s disappointing.

The captain catches fire. The flames consume him in seconds, swallowing his screams as he drops to the ground, writhing in pain before he finally goes still.

[sam-scribbler]

Meet My WIP - Onnerat

(Title subject to change)

Onnerat is a medieval/post-apocalyptic epic fantasy following the struggles of the young, troubled Husana Najjar and the surly soldier Shula Al-Amin as they work to stop the powerful mage Mi Yinying from destroying the world - again. Full of sprawling worldbuilding, magic, found family, polyam shenanigans, and vibrant characters with complex motivations. Oh, and dragons.

Characters

Oh my god there are so many please save me from this hell

Husana Najjar - a 23-year-old apothecary and the survivor of a horrifically abusive mother. Her father, who sold her soul to her mother, is the original Nightmare, a primal manifestation of humanity’s darkest fears. Husana, however, has always been a force for good - she’s been reincarnated many times throughout history, whenever someone makes a deal with Nightmare, and every time she tries her best to do good. This is her twentieth reincarnation - not that she has any idea.

Mi Yinying - a ten thousand year old Chinese woman. Born around 600 AD, Mi travels the world as a saleswoman, making a modest living peddling goods and secrets to the magical communities around the globe. In 2030, her adopted daughter - Husana Najjar - was murdered by the Pakistani military. Fueled by grief, rage, and fourteen hundred years of powerful magic, Mi brought the nightmares of humanity to life. The world ended, rose, ended, and rose - all the while, Mi slept, her magic worn down to the smallest trickle that kept her (just barely) alive.

After she woke, she watched the world. Empires rose and fall as she walked the dusty roads, carrying her goods on her back. And then - she found her daughter again.

Murdered.

Again and again.

The Haelena Empire crumbled to dust. The Han-Teng Empire was devastated by a magical plague. The seas boiled, the coastline reshaped by the intense waves of heat. Entire countries sank into the sea wherever Husana Najjar breathed her last breath and Mi wailed her grief with blood and fire. As far as she knows, the last incarnation of her beloved daughter died thirty years ago.

Shula Al-Amin - a 41-year-old warrior of the Faith, a high-ranking member of the Order of the Steel Flower – tasked with defending the Faith and its members from the dream-world. Once, she was Mi Yinying’s right-hand woman - but with the rise of the Inquisition, Shula has rejected the old mage’s mission and now seeks out a way to stop the path of destruction Mi is carving through the world.

Setting

Onnerat was once the world as we know it, but over ten thousand years, much has changed. The world has ended over and over again, and many wonders of technology have been lost. Wars are fought with swords and axes, not machine guns. The world of dreams is very real and it clings to reality like a second skin, separated only by the thinnest barrier of magic. Mages live among us, squatting in battered hovels for the privilege of serving their liege-lords.

To the north, the Westerling Clans and the Skripi warriors fight and trade for resources. In the east, the last vestiges of the Han-Teng empire cling to the earth, looming over the city states on their western border and the twin kingdoms of Jalsahra and Sekelakhah in the hot southern deserts. It is not a kind world - but there is kindness in it nonetheless.

[sam-scribbler]

Notes on Religion in Onnerat

Normally in my stories I don’t really address religion. In Onnerat, though, it actually plays a fairly central role. The main conflict - stopping Mi Yinying, apocalypse-starter extraordinaire, from ending the world again - is set against a fraught political background, with three powerful countries struggling against each other as well as a mage rebellion.

(the actual politics of Onnerat - which I have confusingly made the name of the world as well as the title of the WIP - are gonna be another post, I promise)

There are three prominant religions in Onnerat, each loosely corresponding to a different Abrahamic religion. They’re quite similar in many aspects, but they disagree fundamentally on the nature of one single figure in history - Amirah, a Muluk-Alsahran tribeswoman who rallied her fellows against the tyranny of the Bloody Lords who plagued the land. She was betrayed by one of her advisors and poisoned at the age of only twenty-one - in retribution, Mi Yinying boiled the sea as the Bloody Lords sailed away. This act was seen by the Alsahrans as divine retribution and Amirah was turned into a holy figure. All three religions are matriarchal, although the degree to which this is enforced varies even within the faiths themselves:

(continued under the cut - this got really long)

Talbylah is the most prominent in the story, as two of the POV characters - Husana and Shula - are believers, and Shula is a member of the Order of the Steel Flower, tasked with defending the members of the faith from the monsters of the world of dreams as well as ‘outside threats’ - whatever the religious leaders of the day decide those are. Talbylahns believe that Amirah was a prophet sent by God to spread His word and aid His people. Formerly, the faith was lead by a Caliph, but the office was dissolved nearly a century ago and replaced by a council of religious scholars. Most Talbylahns live in Jalsahra, although they are a notable minority in some of the western city-states along Jalsahra’s border.

Sekelakhah is the oldest of the three religions. Founded during the fall of Haelena, a corrupt collection of city-states ruled by warring slaver-lords, tradition holds that the first Sekelakhahni were slaves who escaped the crumbling empire and sailed across the narrow sea under the protection of Ak’rav’mal’akh, the Scorpion Angel. Ak’rav’mal’akh returned to Haelena to free more of God’s people, but was slain by one of the slaver-lords. In retribution, Mi Yinying sealed the world of dreams beneath the earth, cutting the slaver-lords off from their source of power and dooming the ancient empire to ruin. Across the Narrow Sea, the Sekelakhahni founded a kingdom of their own, Sekelakhah, and gradually spread across the coastline to the east towards Jalsahra, even venturing south into the vast desert. Most Sekelakhahni remain in their ancestral kingdom, although some of the Westerling clans also follow the religion. The Sekelakhahni faith is guarded by the Patish Shel Sekel, who are tasked solely with protecting members of the faith from the world of dreams. Sekelakhahni believe that Amirah, like Ak’rav’mal’akh, was an angel of God.

Sectatores Dei is the predominant religion of the large collection of city states that lies to the east of Jalsahra. The center of this religion is Sahepalyk, home to Terra Paradisus - according to Sectatore tradition, this beautiful garden is the closest to heaven one can reach while still on earth and also the place where Amirah descended from Heaven to walk among the mortals; in Sectatore tradition, Amirah is an aspect of God - the daughter - and after being betrayed and killed by the Bloody Lords, God-the-Father boiled the seas in rage. Sectatores Dei is most prominent in the city-states, but can also be found in some of the western provinces of Han-Teng. It has also managed to filter north, to the Skripi and some of the Westerling clans, although it has not gained much traction there. Sectatores Dei is more hierarchical than the other two and is headed by a single figure of nigh-divine authority - the Mater Dolorosa, Mother of Sorrows. Much of Sectatore tradition focuses on the last hour of Amirah’s life and her last words, and the Mater Dolorosa is considered to be the woman who understands Amirah’s last hour in its entirety, hence her title.

Of course, there are other religions in Onnerat, including:

The Skripi Pantheon - a muddled, inconstant thing, based on the surviving scraps of myth from the Old Nords of millennia long past, guarded jealously and carefully passed on from generation to generation. To them, the world ended long ago, with their capital - Ribe - the only relic of the first world that remains. They have gods of war and thunder and wisdom and sea and shadow, of ice and death - hard gods for a hard people.

Westerling - the clans that still adhere to the old ways (what’s left of them) guard their gods almost as jealously as the Skripi do. Chief among them is Hadias, the demon-slayer, king of the gods - and his fatal opponent, the Wolf. They bound each other beneath the earth forever locked in combat, their blood flowing out of the ground to fill all the seas of the world.

Muluk-Alsahra - the remnants of the tribes that once dominated the entire Red Peninsula are largely confined to its western edge, but they remain stubborn in their old faiths - their beliefs in a vast network of spirits that inhabit the world as surely as birds and beasts. Their stone shrines and idols can be found all across their lands. Many locals believe they are cursed, but the truth is that the Muluk-Alsahra are simply very protective of their spirits.

Qimeng - the official religion of the Han-Teng empire, gained traction after the Perversion nearly destroyed the entire country and reduced it to a fraction of its former power and size. Qimeng places a focus on overcoming suffering in order to attain happiness in the afterlife and is one of the few religions in Onnerat to explicitly believe in reincarnation. Practices vary throughout Han-Teng.

[sam-scribbler]

NANO UPDATE

I haven't updated since the first week ended BUT I spent the whole week doing homework (disgusting) and then I went on a writing spree yesterday so I'm now at 31k!!

This is absolutely optimal and I'm thriving. Or I will be, until the NEXT assignment is due.

[sam-scribbler]

DAY FOUR NANO - Onnerat

Hi! I’m terrible at updating, so here’s the update for yesterday (I can must and will stay up until midnight writing, don’t mind my typical update times -)

Total word count - 10234

Daily word count (day 3) - 1622

Daily word count (day 4) - 1548

Favorite line - “I am to make his life miserable in all kinds of little ways.”

Favorite scene:

TAHLEELA:

Did you have any luck finding something for Najma?

HUSANA:

Zaid, the Quartermaster, is looking for any extra blankets or pillows he can spare. He’ll send someone with what he finds.

(If the player spoke to Zaahira)

Also, our potionsmaster had this on hand. She says to take a drop before bed. Also, she wants Najma to take notes before bed and after waking up. She wants to hear about side effects.

TAHLEELA:

(pauses awkwardly)

I’ll...pass that on.

[sam-scribbler]

ONNERAT HAS A MAP NOW

It’s pretty empty at the moment, but here it is!

(The Witchfire Rebellion is in the Wastes because they figure nobody else is stupid enough to go there.)

[sam-scribbler]

Will your characters in Onnerat go to or through the Westerling clans?

I don’t think so. There will be one or two character that hail from the Westerling Clans, but the vast majority of the story will take place in Jalsahra.

[sam-scribbler]

Onnerat Politics - Some Notes

OKAY SO this will probably be more geography than politics but its kingdoms not mountain ranges so who cares about the difference.

Lets gooooo (also if you haven’t already, read my post on religion in Onnerat for additional context)

(or don’t, that’s fine too)

Onnerat has a fair number of kingdoms - some are big, some are small, some aren’t really kingdoms and are more city-states or nomadic groups with their own societies.

Here’s a breakdown of the main ones -

Jalsahra

Predominantly Talbylahn. Spans most of the Red Peninsula. In the center of the kingdom is a desert wasteland, uninhabitable by any but the hardy Muluk-Alsahra. Crossing the desert is insanely difficult - but it can be done, with enough preparation.

Most of the population lives along the northern and eastern coasts, leading to a strong tradition of sailors and fishermen among the native Jalsahrans.

The kingdom is ruled by a Sultane (masc. Sultan, fem. Sultana) - it is a hereditary title, passing to the eldest child of the current Sultane.

Jalsahra is both rich and powerful, but these are new developments - a string of weak Sultanes nearly drained the coffers dry. With the ascension of the current Sultana - Aliyya Abd Al-Rashid - to the throne twenty years ago, things have been improving markedly, but Jalsahra’s problems have not gone away.

(other countries under the cut!)

Sekelakhah

The traditional homeland of the Sekelakhahni, the oldest of the Amiric faiths. Spread along the northern edge of the Endless Desert, Sekelakhah - like its neighbor to the east - has a strong naval tradition, as the northern edge of their kingdom borders the Narrow Sea.

Sekelakhah also has a strong military tradition - raids from the Westerlings and the northern Skripi warriors often clash with Sekelakhah’s naval might, and certain elements from the Muluk-Alsahra harry their eastern border.

The kingdom is ruled by a Monarch (masc. King, fem. Queen), who selects their heir from among their family members once they take the throne. The title of heir can be revoke and re-granted at the Monarch’s whim, but doing so has serious political ramifications.

Sekelakhah has been under fairly steady guidance for the past century or so, but recent events - the rise of the Inquisition and the mage rebellion - has made the country tense and suspicious.

Han-Teng

The Han-Teng empire used stretch from the vast and endless Dragonsea in the east to the edge of the Narrow Sea in the west. The Perversion changed all that - the plague swept from west to east, driving the Han-Teng empire back as it tried desperately to outrun the deadly contagion and the mindless, screaming corpses it left on their doorsteps.

Now, Han-Teng and its emperor are confined to the east, much of the Empire’s former lands taken up by the city-states that sprung up in its absence or left barren, save for the shambling skeletons that roam the ruins.

In the centuries since, Han-Teng has flourished modestly, becoming largely self-sufficient as most of their trade routes were cut off - old wounds heal slowly, and the Han-Teng Empire of old is the political boogeyman that hides in the closets of diplomats and politicians alike. However, it is still a shadow of what it once was.

Westerling Clans

Mostly descendants from the citizens of Haelena and the local populations raided by the slave-lords who ruled the ancient Empire, the Westerlings are a vast group of people with hundreds of nations, clans, and tribes and only a tenuous overarching culture linking them together. In fact, the word “Westerling” is an invention of the cartographers and explorers of the eastern nations who traveled west. Some of these clans are peaceful, others less so - many are willing to trade and do business with outsiders, but others are closed-off and suspicious. Most have their own religions, although some follow the Skripi gods or one of the three Amiric religions.

Skripi

A nation of ambush warriors and expert sailors from the cold north. Interestingly, they refer to themselves as “southern” in regards to their own region of the world – there are other nations further north that bother even less with the rest of the world than they do. They have a history of raids and conflict with the Westerling clans but are also open to trade and rarely hold grudges against former opponents. The exception is when the Westerlings retaliate by attacking their villages (specifically to hurt people, rather than reclaim their stuff), as the Skripi are only interested in valuables and don’t attack anyone who isn’t trying to defend something the Skripi want.

Skripi warriors are highly valued in the south and east and the leaders of various kingdoms and city states like to keep them on staff. (Hello, Varangian guard, is that you?)

Their general policy can be summed up as “the world is a sandbox and nothing matters, grab a shovel and build a house. Or steal someone else’s.”

Muluk-Alsahra

A coalition of nomads who spend much of their lives on horseback and live along the coastline of the Red Peninsula. Worship the world of dreams as the realm of gods. Have greatly shrunk in numbers since the destruction of the Bloody Lords and the onset of Talbylah and Sectatores Dei. Are most prevalent in Sekelakhah, but many of them are reluctant to abandon their ancestral lands in Jalsahra.

Amirah, the foundational Prophet of Talbylah and Sectatores Dei, and an important figure in Sekelakhah as well, was born into the Muluk-Alsahra tribes.

(They need more development. It’s a work in progress.)

City State

The collection of city states that sprung up in the wake of the Han-Teng retreat have a long and bloody history between each other that only began to cool as the religion of Sectatores Dei spread between them. The centerpoint of this religion is the city state Sahepalyk, the holy city of Sectatores Dei and the home of its religious leader.

(These guys also need more development. It’s a work in progress, just...slowly)