#telvaren

[stevensavage]

A Bridge To The Quiet Planet - Religion

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve's Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Let's get to know more about the setting of my upcoming novel, A Bridge To The Quiet Planet.  It’s out late this fall but you can find out about the world now . . .

Religion

Religion on modern Telvaren and it's colonies is a practical affair due to the simple matter that aeons of worship, theology, magic, science, and a few confused holy wars and philosophical battles have led to religion becoming an organized, well-understood part of culture.  It's there, it has its purpose, and if you want to actually read up on it there's extensive books, theses, and scientific papers that can bore you into knowledge.

At it's core, religion essentially accepts that the gods are real (which is easy when they tell you they are) and that humanity and they benefit from the interaction.  There's several hundred gods at last count so there's plenty of gods to interact with, though they're not always on the same side, or in agreement, or understandable.  But in the end, religion provides mutual benefit, as found by aeons of work and a few centuries of recovering from the devastating event simply called The War.

Gods

Gods predate humanity.  They are conceptual creatures, a face on the abstract forces and powers of the world and of life itself.  The variable nature of reality, often called magic, seems to play a role in this, but the simplest way people are taught to think about it is that life can evolve from anything - even abstract concepts or non-living natural forces.

The gods are the masks the world puts on, life that evolves "over" the abstract.

The evolution of humanity, of thinking creatures able to conceive and dream, and conceptualize was a boon for the gods.  Human minds and emotions manifested the abstract forces of life and thought more than anything else; their ideas and thoughts enriched the lives of the gods and helped them grow and become more aware.  Metaphorically (and to an extent, accurately), humanity is the environment gods live in; creatures of life and death, industry and war, thought and art.

It's considered by many Evolutionary Theologians to be similar to how dogs and humans affected each other's evolution, though no one is sure who's the dog and who's the human in the relationship.  The Sixth Sage is noted as saying the dogs probably got insulted by this comparison, which is a very popular saying among dog owners and seen on many t-shirts by people thinking they're witty.

Gods and Humans co-evolved, with the humans providing a rich environment for the gods, and the gods happily lending their power and insights to people.  Out of this evolved worship and rituals and holidays to keep gods and humans in sync.

It is said that gods could indeed exist without humanity, and all evidence indicates this is true.  But their lives would be like living in an arid desert; you can live, but that's all you can do.  The War is said to have terrified the gods and helped re-shape their relationships with humans and each other.

Religion

Religious practices are viewed practically, but they also vary extremely with god, families, neighborhoods, and regions - gods and humans tend to take different views of "what works."  Usually this is close to, but not always the same, and when you throw a few hundred gods into the mix it's confusing.

There are enormous efforts, especially post-Reformation, to ensure organized religion is even more organized.  This sometimes actually works, but it also means there are endless meetings and sessions and attempts to codify works.  There are always newly discovered holy text that may seem revolutionary to humans, but to a god are just something they "wrote down" and they didn't think of the culture-changing impact.  The great Theopolis of Triad True is constantly abuzz with work, and boasts a bureaucracy that would make even the great historical mages of Phoenix Ascendant jealous - albeit jealous in an organized manner.

Among all this attempt to codify everything from clerical titles (which are known to change every few years) to agreements with the gods, the front line of human-god relations are clerics.

Clerics

"Cleric" is the catch-all term for a person who is in contact with a specific god, voluntarily, and has an ongoing relationship with them.  A Cleric is officially recognized by their god and their Church (or Temple, or whatever title) as being a direct line to the god in question.

Clerics provide advice from holy texts and occasionally the gods themselves.  They provide prophecy from the gods - which has only increased as Network usage has expanded and the gods took to email centuries ago.  They also provide blessings, channeling some of a gods power to the faithful.

However, Clerics also provide a service to the gods in that they are their connection to humans.  Clerics help the gods understand humanity and stay in touch with the world.  This part of the relationship is not always understood by other humans.

Clerics often have a variety of powers granted them by the god, sometimes without the god actually thinking much about it.  These are classified as:

Aspect: Almost all Clerics develop a talent or ability that reflects the sphere of their god.  A Cleric of the goddess of war may have supernatural tactical sense, a Cleric of the god of scheduling may have precognition, and so on.  These Aspects usually have to be called upon consciously, and though in theory unlimited, some "turn off" at odd moments if a cleric strays too far from their god's plans.

Glamour: Though Clerics hate this title, most Clerics have the ability to inspire people with certain emotions related to their gods - sometimes without thinking.  It is called "Inspiration" by most Clerics, but popular opinion has left them stuck with "Glamour."

Exorcism: All Clerics in theory can release some of their gods raw power to disrupt demons, malicious spirits and ghosts, and other anomolies.  Few actually use it - it's basically the spiritual equivalent of putting a lighter in front of hairspray, turning a utility into a weapon.

Many modern clerics organize in Theocades, great multi-religious structures that can have temples, rooms, and the like reshuffled.  They also act as housing and community centers.

Shamans And Spirits

Shamans and spirits are sometimes classified as part of religion, sometimes not - and there's been a concerted and not entirely well-meaning effort to exclude them from being considered religious professionals entirely.  This is an area of theological politics that many humans and most gods don't like as well as don't care about.

"Spirits" are not gods, though some have been mistaken for them and some gods employ them.  Spirits are the results of human interaction with objects, places, and ideas that, over time, shapes the magical forces of that object, place, and idea until it achieves consciousness.  Roads, vehicles, buildings, famous objects all can have spirits.

Spirits are conscious but erratic and unpredictable magical beings with a variety of powers and abilities.  They can easily be appeased and interacted with in assorted ways - conversation, attention, sacrifice of blood, food, and alcohol, and so on.  In times as spirits mature they become more powerful and more human.

Shamans are those that interact with spirits and have extensive knowledge of them.  Shamans and Clerics used to be the same profession for all intends and purposes, but over the last few centuries there's been a noteable split as religion became more organized.  Now the two are on their way to being specialist professions, and there is conflict over this, especially as Clerics wield more political and social power - and as people learn more and more about interacting with supernatural creatures in school.

All of the Great Cities have a City Shamanic Department to deal with the spirits in a city.

Triad True

Triad True is a great Theopolis, and arguably a Great City younger than Highpoint if you want to argue what constitutes a Great City, which many people do just to be spiteful.  Located in the southern part of the Central Region, it has gone from a mix of temples and hastily-assembled seminaries to a gigantic metropolis in only three centuries.  Many clerics do some or all of their training there, great libraries and reliquaries abound, museums display history, and some great publishing concerns operate.

Beyond theological and educational business, Triad True is also a popular vacation spot with beautiful areas to visit, relaxing parks, and more.  Needless to say this additional financial influx is quite popular.

There is some unspoken issues involving the Bridges that connect works - Triad True much to people's surprise does not have a permanent Bridge schedule with Godsrest.  Why is not entirely understood, and its suggested economics and politics plays more of an issue, though superstition may as well.

- Steve

www.StevenSavage.com

www.InformoTron.com

[ladyeroway]

In light of Tumblr newest form of censorship I don't know what I am going to do. I will probably wait it out to see the lie of the land once the 17th hits but I do have a Twitter if anyone wants to keep in touch if they are moving on.

You can find me here

[stevensavage]

A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: Names

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve's Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Let's get to know more about the setting of my upcoming novel, A Bridge To The Quiet Planet.  It’s out late this fall but you can find out about the world now . . .

Names

The various countries and regions of Telvaren have had many naming traditions over the years. Many of them still exist in one form or another, even if in honorifics. However, certain naming trends dominate the culture.

A person one meets on Telvaren or its associated worlds may have a name like Scintilla Ferr-Orbil or Marigold Rel-Domau. The name of most citizens is in three parts:

First Name

The first name is almost always an object, phenomena, or thing with some meaning to the parents, family, culture, or community. The sources of these vary widely, and most everyone has a “why I got this name” story, some of which aren’t humiliating.

Common sources are:

Family traditions, often on certain objects – plants, stones, weapons, etc.

Meaningful items – An author may name a child “Papyrus,” a doctor may name a child “Remedy.”

An occurrence of birth – A child born during a storm may be named “Rain” or “Lightning.”

Items relevant to an important god – A child born to a worshipper of Ivonau, the god of magic, might be called “Rune” or “Grimoire.”

Last Names

The second paired names are matrilineal. The first is the matrilineal name of the mother, the second the matrilineal name of the father.

Thus:

Marogld Rel-Domau is the daughter of mother Lyric Rel-Kaber and father Key Domau-Jobal.

Scintilla Ferr-Orbil is the daughter of mother Joyful Ferr-Bistrain and Thunder Orbil-Mizra

Most people refer to each other by both last names, though it’s not unacceptable to merely use the maternal name in casual conversation.

Name Variants

There are still variants on this common name that occur for certain reasons:

Traditional first names. Some people or families use names in older languages, family traditions, or due to regional trends. This you may meet someone with a name like Gyra Trell-Ozmi whos family uses old traditional names (in this case Northern ones)

Traditional last names. This is far rarer, but a rare and decreasing amount of people have single last names due to regional or family tradition. This is usually seem in Central and at times Western regions, but is also known on the world of Lindhaem. An example of a very traditional name would be Shalen Vynne – though there is some potential confusion . . .

Estrangement. Some people due to estrangement from one side of a family or other reject the last name of one of their parents and go with a single name. This is seen as a complete disownment of that family and would be considered a massive insult. An example would be Beacon Rindle – whose use of modern first names with a single last name hints at estrangement.

The Origin Of Modern Naming

The current way of naming children is not new – it originated from the common Western and Southern way of naming children. This had spread to some Central and Norther regions. What made it far more popular was the War and then popular culture.

Having a way to easily refer to people’s lineage was made necessary during the devastation of The War. Simply treating last names as a way to track both sides of the family was remarkably convenient, and became popular in the evolving Government and Military – the Military was especially enthused about it for the sake of ease.

The establishment of The Government and a relatively unified culture among the future Great Cities helped further this naming tradition. The various cities that became The Great Cities had a great deal of cultural and economic commerce anyway, and in some ways had more common culture than their countries. The Network in its Second and Third forms also propigated common culture.

Finally, true popular, global culture evolved in the last one hundred years. A few major Great Cities – most notably Sabillion, but also the Theopolis of Triad True and the academic powerhouse of Brightguard – had an outsides influence on culture. This also spread common naming ideas making them more common.

- Steve

www.StevenSavage.com

www.InformoTron.com

[stevensavage]

A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: Politics

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve's Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Let's get to know more about the setting of my upcoming novel, A Bridge To The Quiet Planet.  It’s out late this fall but you can find out about the world now . . .

Politics

"Never trust a person without divided loyalties." - The Sixth Sage

The politics of Telvaren and all the human worlds orbiting Avenoth can best be summed up by that pithy statement from the ancient thinker. A further motto from the Reformation also adds some insight.

"Peace is when people agree on 60% of everything." - Unknown

The politics of all the worlds of humanity are thus summed up as follows:

It is considered natural and indeedp healthy for people to be involved in multiple organizations, churches, temples, unions, political groups, and more. It is by these multiple involvements that the reconciliation and truce-making necessary to politics comes about.

As long as people can agree on an (at-times slim) majority of things, peace is assured.

This leads to a mix of practicality and idealism, where people aspire to reconcile and fix issues while being members of their community, while assuming they'll disagree with each other. Politics is soaked into the post-War culture, and it is assumed that all people to some extent engage in political actin. The idea of this endless cycle is called The Dance.

The Dance

The Dance is the nickname given to the various ways unions, guilds, companies, Great Cities, The Military, and more attempt to both get along and disagree. Everyone wants the Dance to go on, and thus does nothing radical to disrupt the world, meaning a great deal of politics is arguing, avoiding, bribery, negotiation, backstabbing, or just giving up. This constant low-level political activity is considered far better than the alternative of ignoring things until they go wrong.

This means for anyone in a remotely controversal, active, dangerous, or public profession that they're always going to be involved in some conflict. Dealing with this conflict in a way that doesn't spiral out of control is considered par for the course.

As an example, the relic-hunters of the mage's guild Phoenix Ascendant may find themselves clashing with the guild of Radiant Visage, who hunt down and destroy rogue mages and dangerous magic over a trove of artifacts. There may be no violence (well, more than a broken nose or a display of magic), but there may be theivery, bribery, or deal-making. When open violence occurs, it is considered a failure.

One does not stop The Dance.

Political Parties

There are multiple political parties on all the worlds of Avenoth. Some may be as local as the Ward of a city, others may be planetary or interplanetary. Most people so inclined belong to multiple political parties, depending on their interests. Powerful Guilds, Unions, and Universities also act as political parties.

The parties respect The Dance as well, though some people find the arguing among them (especially in rather verbal places like Grand Ivar and Zafrel) to be cathartic.

Common Political Beliefs

Despite the acceptance of differences, thee are a few common political attitudes among the people of Avenoth.

The Need For Human Unity: Is very common - humanity must be united politically. This causes conflicts with the Unaffiliated Territories and large parts of Lindhaem for obvious reasons - they don't want to be part of The Government. Fortunately this unity is often pursued in passive-aggressive means.

The Need For Division Of Politics: Most politics is split between The Government, The Cities, local territories, and assorted organizations. THis is seen as good and healthy, in that certain areas of society have certain responsibilities. Its just people argue about what they are.

Multi-Level Identity: One's political identity is assumed to be multi-faceted - one's City, one's professional association, your neighborhood, etc. THe idea of people having one "party" or "loyalty" is seen as unhealthy - and fanatic.

Caution over Innovation: Though how cautious people are varies, the culture/cultures of Telvaren and its worlds do not assume innovation is always a good thing. There's so much history of dangerous magic and technology that "hey look what I came up with" isn't something people always want to hear. Needless to say, mages and technics and scientists tend to overstep these bounds.

We Are Better Than Before The War: Though the Lindhaemi might disagree to an extent, there's an assumption that humanity learned so many lessons from The War and The Reformation, that they are better people for it.

Fear of Another War: Built into the culture and politics of all the peoples whose worlds orbit Avenoth is a fear of another War, a great global (or now interplanetary) conflict. Though it's seen as very unlikely, this fear is woven throughout everything.

A Minimum Standard Of Living: Poverty and assumed poverty were both part of the times before The War, and after it. Between The Government and The Great Cities, there's a large amount of financial, educational, and other support for citizens. Going hungry or without medical treatment is rare.

A Need To Be Involved: Being part of society, functioning in it, contributing, is also woven throughout the culture. It is considered normal to do charity work, go to political rallies, be involved in public institutions, etc. A duty to society (and its parts) is considered normal.

The Inevitability of Politics: Finally, most citizens accept politics and political involvement, with all its ugliness and strangeness, to be completely natural. This leads to a kind of cynical idealism.

- Steve

www.StevenSavage.com

www.InformoTron.com

[ladyeroway]

So I made an instagram for my art if anyone wants to follow that as oppose to all the other drivel I post

https://www.instagram.com/telvaren/

[stevensavage]

A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: Inspirations For The Twelve Great Cities

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve's Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Let's get to know more about the setting of my upcoming novel, A Bridge To The Quiet Planet.  I'd like to peek behind the curtain and talk about my inspirations for the Twelve Great Cities of Telvaren.

The idea for Twelve Great Cities sprung right into my head when I was messing around with ideas.  Inspired by some lovely visuals in anime (if you ever want amazing cityscapes, many SF/Fantasy anime have jaw-dropping designs) and some past fiction, I came up with the idea of a city dominated by a dozen great city-states.  Each city has its own personality, and these are the inspirations.

The Cities

Allanax - The capital of the Great Cities is somewhat inspired by Washington DC, but as it also acts as a culture center it takes some inspiration from Cincinnati, Ohio and Boston.  Visually it's inspired by Seattle and the fictional city of Numbani in the game Overwatch - all soaring high-tech skyscrapers.

Brightguard - Brightguard is a massive academic center of magic and knowledge, so Boston was an enormous influence.  As it has a military past, there's also some influence from San Francisco's Navy days.  In the setting as of the novel it's experiencing gentrification, inspired by many sources, and visually based on the way I've seen old buildings in Silicon Valley converted to other things.

Grand Ivar - The "little sibling" to Allanax and Brightguard, Grand Ivar's is a fun city to write about because it's amazing and diverse, but is always contrasted to others, leading to it trying hard to stand out, while also being insecure.  Culture wise it's inspired by San Jose and Toronto, though visually I've described it as a "well laid-out art deco Hong Kong."  The insecurity comes from watching rivalries in the Bay Area, and watching competition among various real cities.

Highpoint - The Great City made by various cities allying themselves together, building a bunch of roads, and asking to join the other cities.  Highpoint is inspired by those areas where cities and towns just kind of grew together, including Boston, New York, The Bay Area, and Columbus, Ohio.  Culturally it's very laid back, taking some hints from smaller cities I've visited.

Kalfstaff - Financial center Kalstaff is heavily inspired by New York and London, as well as the cityscapes in the late MMO City of Heroes.  Ut.  It's extremely neat architecture and well-kept streets are inspired by Toronto.

Mindarion - The great city of manufacturing and fabrication is a strange one.  In some ways it's inspired by manufacturing cities like Pittsburgh, but the design of the city is well-planed, combining urban architecture, greenery, and massive factories.  It takes definite hints from anime designs combined with Jack Kirby's imaginative cityscapes.

Nasharex - The high-tech friend/rival to Mindarion, Nasharex has an erratic layout, and is inspired by Silicon Valley, Seattle, and other cities who suddenly found themselves growing, with widing roads and surprising hidden places.  Nasharex is a mix of Eastern and Southern culture, making it a uniquely diverse city.

Olanau-Kau - A coastal city, the last survivor of the South, and a center of Botanomancy and reclaiming the lost lands, this is a complicated city that has many inspirations.  It's giant walls are inspired by fantasy art and classical art of castles and fortresses, and it's layered architecture comes from some giant hotels, buildings, and apartment complex I've seen.

Triad True - The great theopolis is more of an original idea - asking what if there was a city just dedicated to religion.  It takes some hints from Jack Kirby's art, art deco, and anime - I visualize it as an embellished place, with shrines and great idols everywhere.

Sabillion - The media capital, Sabillion is obviously inspired by Hollywood and Los Angeles, though it's more spread out.

Vasikon Zek - The only city upon the Ocean, Vazikon Zek is really made up of islands, artificial islands, magic, and clever architecture.  Visually and layout-wise I see it as organic, like a nautilus shell or a crystal.  It was inspired by SF ideas of oceanbound cities.

Zafrel - The giant transportation hub is clearly inspired by Chicago.

- Steve

www.StevenSavage.com

www.InformoTron.com

[stevensavage]

A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: Life In The Great Cities

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve's Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Let's get to know more about the setting of my upcoming novel, A Bridge To The Quiet Planet.  It’s out late this fall but you can find out about the world now let's talk about life in one of The Great Cities . . . None of the Great Cities is like the other, but there are some common experiences to living in one. The following examples provide a good idea of what it’s like to live there, as well as in the large cities of other worlds like The Barrow, Dawn’s Approach, or Corvallion.

Concept

The term “Great City” is surprisingly specific considering the situation where it originated. However, it has often be tweaked as a way to avoid anyone else claiming Great City Status.

First, a Great City should be a large metropolitan region with an educated populate as well as the regional resources to support itself. In theory a Great City could exist independent of the others.

Second, that City should consist of and control contiguous territory. Many Great Cities to us would appear to be collections of many cities or regions (in the case of Highpoint, they used to be). To someone from Telvaren, for instance, the entire state of Massachusetts would be “Boston” to them.

Third, that City should be able to enforce laws and order it’s territory – called a Province.

Fourth, the City must be recognized as a viable economic, political, and cultural force. For reasons that are mysteriously obvious in over two hundred years no other city has been declared A Great City.

Fifth, the City must abide by and enforce the laws of The Government such as it is able.

Sixth, that city must be a representative democracy and represent the interests of its citizens appropriately.

Layout

Though the Great Cities are unique, there’s a common layout, except for Highpoint (which is really cobbled together from several cities).

First, there’s usually a central metro region. This is where government cites, where influential organizations are housed, and where many city offices are located.

Outside the central area there are usually specific geographical regions called Wards (or Districts offworld). Wards can be anything from a particular unique region to a city that was adsorbed into the larger city to a random idea to subdivide an area. Wards are useful political organizations, allowing the City to be managed in sections.

As one gets further from the center, manufacturing areas, vertical farms, sunfarms, and more become more apparent. On the fringes of the city agriculture is usually the rule.

Finally, outside a Great City are smaller towns and lesser cities.

Living

In The Great Cities few people own their own homes, though this is sometimes the exception in Highpoint and Zafrel. Most people rent from City-sanctioned organizations, or buy into collective ownership of part of an apartment complex.

Many houses or apartments, especially ones of the West and South, don’t necessarily have bedrooms. Instead they often have multi-use spaces that people sleep in.

Eating

It’s a point of concern among many a pundit that people in The Great Cities seem to know less about cooking than such pundits deem worthy. Most people get convenient meals when needed, and this is not so much due to restauraunts but various businesses and stores that have premade meals. Many a convenience store adds a kitchen and supplies local customers.

Despite this decades-old trend, most apartments and dwellings come with full kitchens. No one actually wants to remodel to take them out.

Fresh and healthy food is an obsession of many a diner, and the citizens are careful to ensure its access. Vertical farming is somewhat common in older cities and those with space limitations – and Triad True and Sabillion are enthused about them. Shipments from Agris on the outskirts complete food distribution.

Many people get their breakfasts on the go in the morning.

Work And Professions

Though there’s an eight-day week, the idea of a “workweek” doesn’t quite exist, though the usual “workweek” is five days and a three day weekend. Cities are also going twenty-four hours a day, so exact hours one might be on a job vary.

For many professions there are different shifts and times, especially ones involving vital city and public services.

Over the centuries, many professions have evolved common outfits or styles that denote their jobs. There’s a lot of pride in one’s calling.

Transportation

Most citizens of the Great Cities proper don’t own any form of transportation beyond a bicycle, if that. Elaborate public transportation is common in all cities, from simple buses and subways to the elaborate Skytrams of Allanax. It’s simple, effective, and energy-saving.

Transportation runs twenty-four hours a day, though it may require elaborate understanding of transportation schedules.

Social Life

Entertaining at home beyond a few friends is not particularly (and often hard due to space constraints). Much socialization is done at such places as coffee shops, temples, rooftops of one’s apartment, public meeting areas, parks, libraries, and more. For many citizens, home may be a place that one sleeps and bathes in and little else.

Most citizens have at least one “public service” they do such as helping at libraries, assisting the Constabulary, acting as a volunteer fire department, tutoring, and more. This is considered both a citizen and a social action.

Clubs are also very popular among citizens, and some also perform public service.

Churches and Temples provide a lot of social space and opportunities, depending on their given god. Some of their activities might seem controversial, depending on which god or goddess is involved.

Finally Guilds, Unions, and other professional associations are a part of most people’s lives. Monthly meetings, charity events, and so on are common.

Education

An educated citizenry is critical to society, and every Great City has its schools and colleges. Most citizens attend school until eighteen, and many then attend college – education is publicly funded in all Cities, though to a different extend.

Schools are year-round, with quarterly breaks based around the seasons of about 3-4 weeks. Schools provide a number of social activities that often tie into other clubs, temples, and associations.

Colleges can wield considerable power. Brightguard is most notorious for it (to the point there it’s said the schools there control the city), but to a lesser extent Polestar (in Grand Ivar), and the schools of Nasharex are influential as well. Colleges also command enough money to employ people and influence political decisions.

- Steve

www.StevenSavage.com

www.InformoTron.com

[stevensavage]

A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: The Network

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve's Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Let's get to know more about the setting of my upcoming novel, A Bridge To The Quiet Planet.  It’s out late this fall but you can find out about the world now . . .

The Network

The Network is a general term on Telvaren for the massive, reasonably unified system of computers and communications technologies providing access to information. It is roughly equivalent to the internet as we know it in the 21st century, but far more restricted and carefully set up.

That is because of both culture and history.

The History of The Network

Though books have, could, and will be written on the subject, the history of The Network can be summed up with some simplicity.  Throughout recorded history people have used magic and tehn technology to communicate information. At some point, roughly 1000 to 500 years before The War, there were attempts to build a global or at least reasonably global network.

The First Network was created entirely with magic and sponsored by many Mages Guilds, some of which lived down their following mistakes. This first effort happened some 750 years before the reformation or roughly 950 years before current times. It functioned for several decades, but then was overtaken with magical side effects, ghosts, echoes, and even demons of pure information. It was ultimately disassembled, not that it was that functional near the end.

The Second Network was created with a mix of magic and technology some 500 years before the current age, or 250 years before the reformation. Though it’s not often known, some of the foundation of the The First Network was used, if only to patch connections between large geographic regions. It lasted fifty years before having malfunctions due to security and rampant Flashmind AIs.

The Second Network, despite its later malfunctions, became commonplace in people’s lives and was considered integral to building the social structures that survived The War.

The Third Network was build on the malfunctioning Second Network, with increased security and the formation of the organization known as the Techmoni. The Third Network emphasized heavy security, careful protocols, and appropriate functionality.

The current Network is considered the Third Network in most knowledgeable people’s minds.

The Maintenance Of The Network

The Maintenance of The Network is largely up to an organization known as The Techmoni. A non-religious but dedicated organization like The Bridgers, the Techmoni improve protocols, release patches, and ensure its security.

The Techmoni are funded by the various planets and the Great Cities, and the main Government supposedly has little involvement in it. This is technically not true, but the Government keeps its involvement quiet, focusing on ensuring the unity Network and avoidance of regional conflicts.

Few people who join the Techmoni ever leave for other jobs, though they do tend to retire.

The Structure Of The Network

The Network consists of a series of distributed nodes, wired structures, and satellites – it is partially wireless. These may be new or centuries old and constantly refitted depending on region and location.

The Network allows for mostly faster-than-light communications due to its techno-magical elements, though often signals piggyback off of The Bridges for better signals. This is achieved by a mixture of Bridger technology and satellites, as well as signal boosters.

An enormous amount of The Network is dedicated to security to prevent malfunctions, magical incidents, viruses, rogue flashminds, and more. It is often joked that most of The Network is about making sure it doesn’t break.

Common Use Of The Network

The Network is used commonly for the following:

Electronic Mail. Electronic mail is a common form of communication. To us, it would seem that text messaging and email are the same thing on Avenoth.

Chat and Video Chat. People commonly use audio or video chat to discuss things with each other.

Reading. Many people read books on Slates, though magical texts and related are considered dangerous to put on Slates. Some of this is justified.

Research. Enormous amounts of information are stored on The Network and every Library, theocade, and University has plenty of information available.

Network Sites. Similar to our web pages, individuals, businesses, and government have “sites” one can visit for information, communication, and commerce.

Personal Information. All citizens are provided with an email address and a personal site, often used for various reasons.

Commerce. Because of caution, electronic commerce is less common than we’re used to. Many transactions are prepay, cash on demand, or validated carefully.

Slates

Slates are the ubiquitous device for accessing the Network – very similar to our tablets in the 21st century. Almost everyone has one, carrying it in a pouch on their waist – such pouches are common ways to express fashion.

Your average slate is perhaps less than a third of a meter by a fourth of a meter depending on make. They are light devices, though heavier than we may be used to – especially military models and those used by various professions. This heaviness is due to increased insulation and security technology.

- Steve

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A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: Medicine

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve's Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Let's get to know more about the setting of my upcoming novel, A Bridge To The Quiet Planet.  It’s out late this fall but you can find out about the world now . . .

Medical Care

Medical care on a world of sorcery, super-science, and eccentric gods is complicated. Throw in other worlds, ancient bioweapons, and more and you have a place where “hypochondria” might be considered a rational reaction.

Medical care on Telvaren and it’s worlds has the following common traits:

Prevention

Preventative medicine is paramount for all inhabitants of the worlds, at least in the Great Cities and Unaffiliated Nations. Most people are raised very young to engage in healthy habits and activities, and its a popular area of discussion on talk shows, magazines, and books.

Vaccines

Vaccination is also of major importance in the setting, and for some Great Cities not being vaccinated is considered a criminal offense – one can be literally exiled in Olanau-Kau or Vasikon Zek for not vaccinating oneself or their children. Followups are also important. Many Guilds provide related medical service.

Diet

Diet is considered a core part of health, and is a mixture of scientific pratcie, ancient and at times unquestioned tradition, and personal preference. Most people have a decent amount of dietary knowledge, though in some Cities and Wars/Districts people tend to eat locally as opposed to cook.

The mixture of good ideas, traditions, and useless habits is hard to separate, and often varies from region to region and City To City. It’s not common to argue diet and food among people.

Testing

With so much unpredictability, medical testing is a part of daily life and security. Most people have a general health exam including blood work every six month from childhood. For those in more dangerous professions such as relic recoverers, Cryptodivers, or the Military, it can be monthly.

Alchemy

Alchemy, the art of combining magic and chemistry, has led to many useful treatments over the aeons. Common alchemical treatments are sold with moderate regulation.

Alchemical treatments are restricted in their larger use and common use for two reasons:

Users of magic and those with related magical abilities like Revenauts may find such treatments cause unusual side effects.

Continuous use of magical treatments has medical risks, especially when used for healing.

Surgery

Surgery is an obviously common treatment as it is in our world. Magic is often kept out of surgery except in limited extends. Vast exchanged of surgical knowledge are held among medical professionals, and recovered knowledge is propigated quickly.

Magic

Magic is used careful in medicine due to its ability to affect other magic users and the fact that using magic on living systems has side effects. Common uses of magic are:

Healing Acceleration: Healing Acceleration accelerates the bodies own processes. However overuse of it has a risk of cancer or weaker healing simply because one is accelerating cell division. Safe amounts have been worked out mathematically.

Sealing And Repairing: More common in medical magic is the ability to seal a would or re-knit bones with existing materials. Such first-aid magic is quite effective and less risky.

Transplant Connection: In the case of transplants, magic is a powerful way to quickly re-bond organs despite any risk.

Divine Power

Gods often provide healing Aspects to their Clerics or the Touched. This varies with the god, the individual, and their need and is not always reliable. Such healing usually has no side effects.

There are a variety of Medical gods with no actual leaders among them. The noteworthy ones are

Sybella – The general medical goddess, The Lady Of Health. She’s considered patron of most general practitioners and good habits. She is portrayed as a woman whose age changes to fit the individual praying.

Romolak – Our Lord of the Red Shield. Romolak is the god of vaccines and preventative medicine. He is portrayed as a warrior dressed in red, and is noted for switching between being dead serious and having a wacky sense of humor.

Mavina – The Uncutting Knife. Mavina is a genderless god who is the patron of surgery. Portrayed as a tall person with dark skin and white hair, wearing robes within which are a variety of tools. Mavina is calm, clever, and thoughtful, and maintains good relations with both the technology god Xomanthu and the magic god Ivonau.

Yavolox – The Lord of Development. Yavolox is a god of exercise as well as good cooking. The brother and at times rival of Romolak. Yavolox maintains a cheery attitude at all times, and is often portrayed as an Easterner with curly hair and a powerful but limber build.

- Steve

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A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: Mage’s Guilds

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve's Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Let's get to know more about the setting of my upcoming novel, A Bridge To The Quiet Planet.  It’s out late this fall but you can find out about the world now . . .

Mage's Guilds

Mage's Guilds are part of the culture of Telvaren and the human worlds that are so historical, so commonplace, that no one remarks on them. They're a part of life, like rain, if rain wore funny outfits and threw spells around

Historically, there have been Mage's Guilds since various witches, wizards, sorcerers, and alchemists decided it was time to get organized, support each other, and outrun the occasional mob. Some Guilds trace their history back for thousands of years, though as the term "Guild" is a catch-all term for magely organizations, the modern Guilds are often removed from their historical counterparts. Except for historians, this is often of little concern in day-to-day life.

Mages usually enter guilds after formal education, usually the university level. Though there is often some experimentation in career, the majority stay with their Guild, and after five years some ninety percent stay with the Guild they are part of at the time - if that guild is still in business. Choosing a guild is obviously important, and modern career counselors do their best to keep up on them.

Guilds all have their own uniform, color scheme, and logo or badge to make them stand out. As there are a huge number of Guilds, this means that except for truly noteable ones (or stylish ones) people can mix up mages between guilds. It also means any hopeful new guilds will inevitably make style decisions that either conflict with known guilds, or look horrible.

The Guilds provide a large amount of services to their members that, if they choose to, cover almost all of their life needs. There is housing assistance, dining, job placement, training, and retirement benefits. Once a mage is in a Guild, barring any extreme behaivor (well, extreme for a mage), their life is defined if they so wish.

This is unfortunately not just due to convenience or social consciousness, but because to not belabor the point, most magical practitioners are a bit "off" or eccentric. They have radically different life experiences, they wield great forces, and they have to twist their minds into convoluted shapes to bend reality. The Guild ensures full support, and in a few cases, just makes sure no one does anything dumb and destructive.

By ancient agreement and modern politics, all teachers of magic and related professions are approved by a Guild - which of course provides various Universities with a reliable certification program. Some guilds with a teaching or investigative focus, like Phoenix Ascendant, certify non-mages in various historical and technical practices related to magic.

All mages are required to wear their guild colors and badge at all times to identify themselves. This allows people to know when a magic-user walks among them, and to respond accordingly. Though this has meant mages are now fully recognizable as a class of uniformed professionals, this casualness was hard-won over the last few hundred years. Because mages are seen as everyday citizens, Guilds go to great lengths to make sure no one upsets their golden apple cart.

Due to politics, personal preference, and the occasional collapse of Guilds, some mages loose their Guild status. These mages are required to register at a local University magic department. They dress in gray and are known as "unguilded."

A mage that repeatedly does not identify themselves can be subjected to various sanctions, from expulsion to Guildmarking or Branding - magical tatoos on the face to make their magical nature unhideable. Some mages do this anyway to look impressive since they get to choose the style.

In some cases, Mages may belong to more than one guild; there are a slew of minor specialist guilds. Other guilds also sponsor spinoff or new guilds, often to expand their own power or deal with divisions in their own ranks.

Guilds are regulated by a council where each Guild of a certain size is represented. In theory guild population and seniority decide the votes each Guild has. It's not that easy, and Mage politics are often quite underhanded and border on the bizarre.

The following is a list of noteworthy guilds:

Abiding Herald

The Guild of diviners, researchers, seekers, analyzers. Abiding Herald is a small but powerful and respected guild known for it's knowledge and high standards. Despite these standard (or because of them) It's a surprisingly relaxed guild – getting in is a mark of honor and the guild is mostly free of politics if only for its small size. If you're in, you're family.

Abiding Herald's members wear black and silver. Their logo is a stylized eye, and because of it's simplicity other guilds are jealous.

Celestial Foundation

The largest Magician's Guild by a hair, and respected member of the Guild Council. Celestial Foundation has a well-earned reputation, but is very bureaucratic This is because many members end up managing its interests which include property, money, and more. It does produce and attract talented mages, but is riven with internal politics which has caused it not just to stagnate, but to slowly begin a decline.

Members of Celestial Foundation wear blue with gold details as well as blue hats or caps. They tend to wear blue jackets. Their logo is a four-pointed star on a horizon. They are always impeccably dressed and polite, and in “higher society” have a reputation for being charming.

Cerulean Compass

Cerulean Compass is a generalist guid of mages that is also one of the oldest - but not as old as Celestial Foundation. They have an emphasis on developing skills outside of straight-up magic and thus have an educated (and surprisingly functional) group of members.

Cerulean Compass openly sponsors new guilds as a way of cultivating power and keeping the world of magic shaken up.

Cerulean Compass outfits are blue and their logo - unsurprisingly - is a compass.

Crystal Tapestry

The guild of Illusionists. Crystal Tapestry has a long history, but is relatively small and thus has little say in the Council. They are big on ethics, proper practice – and kind of need to be considering what they do.

The guild itself is more a professional association like a union – focusing more on activism and training as illusionists easily find employment. Most work in the military/intelligence, entertainment, law enforcement – some are secondary guildsmenbers in other guilds.

Crystal Tapestry members wear white robes. Their badge is a black point radiating red, yellow, blue, and green lines.

Crimson Cornerstone

Crimson Cornerstone are construction-mages, specializing in working stone and metal and the like for buildings, repair, and recovery. They take great pride in their work, and have developed a strong presence on Gellitar as well as Telvaren.

They employ a large amount of specialty mages - those using only one form of magic. Many guilds look down on "level one" mages, but this GUild prefers specialists for some areas of work.

Members wear black and red, and shoulderpads fit prominently into guild robe designs. Their logo is a black cube on red.

Mirror Mountain

A relatively new and fast-growing Guild, Mirror Mountain is a generalist guild that openly challenges many of the older ones - mostly Celestial Foundation. Because of their willingness to do so, other guilds back them at least temporarily.

Mirror Mountain members wear vibrant purple robes with black highlights, their logo is a triangle-and-eye logo.

Obsidian Moon

Obsidian Moon is a Guild of Necromancers operating in the east of Telvaren, usually among Grand Ivar, Brightguard, Allanax and Kalstaff. They are a straightforward guild, focused on practice of their craft, and have little time for politics.

As they often have little time for social skills, they have taken to outsourcing certain delicate tasks to other guilds.

Members of Obsidian Moon wear black and purple. Their logo is a three-faced skull.

Phoenix Ascendant

Phoenix Ascendant is the guild of Reclimators and Reliquers, those that seek old technology, unusual technology, and reclaim it or defuse it. It is a respected, if workmanlike guild that attracts mostly practical mages and some suicidlaly weird ones the former keep in line. It is not a glamorous guild, but it is respected – and often wealthier than people expect.

Phoenix Ascendant keeps a large selection of scientists, historians, technics, and more on hand and certifies them as well. They are extended full Guild benefits upon becoming full members, aka a Signed Technic or Member.

Members of Phoenix Ascendant wear red wraps or robes with some gold trim, but usually its sober. A flame logo like a wing is their mark.

Radiant Visage

Radiant Visage is a guild that deals with rogue mages, magical dangers, and unusual monstrosities. They are the Telvaren branch of Silent Mask, when the guild split apart centuries ago.

Members of Radiant Visage wear light gray and gold, and wear masks that cover their upper faces when on the field.

Silent Mask

Silent Mask is a guild of exorcists, Demon Fighters, monster-fighters and at times trackers of rogue mages and magical experiments. Silent masc split from Radiant Visage some 2-300 years ago, and they are only found on the worlds of Gellitar and Telvaren.

They are known as a ruthless and at times fanatical guild, and they have an unpleasant rivalry with Radiant Visage. They also cross paths with Phoenix Ascendant.

Their outfits are always white and a mask is always involved, with various faces drawn in black – the faces tell something of their ranks. High-ranking members may have additional details in red and gold, while truly high ranking ones have blank masks.

Splendid Sunset

Splendid Sunset is a very "modern" Necromancer Guild operating out of Grand Ivar and Allanax. They specialize in raising the dead and contacting the dead for forensic and personal reasons. They were founded by several other guilds some hundred years ago as a way to develop a team of Necromantic professionals with actual social skills, and to settle conflicts over "proper" use of Necromancy. It was easy to shut off people who seemed a bit too sensitive about the whole dealing-with-the-dead thing at the time.

Splendid Sunset's members are trained in therapy, in speaking, and in etiquette as well as necromancy. Depending on your situation they are thus welcome and comforting or terrifyingly friendly. Other Guilds have found themselves outsourcing important tasks requiring a human touch as well as death-magic to them because they're just so good at handling it.

Splendid Sunset members wear yellow and their logo - unsurprisingly - is a sunset. They also are known for fashionable hair and dress and use of makeup.

- Steve

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A Bridge To The Quiet Planet - The Reformation

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve's Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Let's get to know more about the setting of my upcoming novel, A Bridge To The Quiet Planet.  It’s out late this fall but you can find out about the world now . . .

The Reformation

If the War that scarred Telvaren is remembered as a hideous occurrence, enshrined in history and dramas, The Reformation is viewed proudly - and at times with whimsy. Comedies set during the Reformation are not uncommon.

The Reformation is the name given to the period of time where humanity reassembled itself and civilization on Telvaren and outreach was made to the other worlds. All dates are now reckoned from the start, and thus time is often done as AR (After Reformation) and BR (before reformation).

The Reformation was a seemingly near-endless series of meetings, councils, and committees that solidified the new laws and social policies that would govern the recovering world. Humankind and the gods both took part in the proceedings over the decades.

This was an era of comparative peace, but military conflicts between the remaining smaller nations, regions fallen into chaos, and even Great Cities was not unknown. The Reformation is officially reckoned to have lasted some fifty years, though the major work was accomplished in the first decade - but smaller conflicts over land and military bases and territioes occured for over a century.

War had been shrunk down to a managable, intermittent thing, mostly when City Guard units faced off over some piece of land that people assumed were important, but couldn't prove why.

The major achievements of the Reformation were, in very rough chronological order.

Establishment of a planetary government (well most of the planet - the Unaffiliated Territories weren't invited) run by an elected Parliament, represented by population for the most part, and a Prime Minister and a set of specialist Ministers elected within the Parliament.

Establishing the divisions among the armed forces and peacekeepers. Constables operated within cities and were armed only if needed. City Guard operated within the City Provinces and were armed as well as working on civic works. The Military operated outside the Provinces and on any cross-Province activities - in time this also came to claim most of the Ocean and airspace.

Recognition of the importance of the Network and making the technical organization known as the Technmoni the keepers of The Network. Led to the establishment of the Third Network.

Recognition of the Bridgers and their role in establishing and maintaining the Bridges.

Codification of universal laws shared by all Great Cities (though agreement took decades longer)

Moving the Parliament of the Great Cities to Allanax, a former capital of the most powerful nation of the West. Arguably Parliament moved to a city just outside of Allanax, but that didn't work out considering the living conditions. There was also an attempt to establish it on the Moon, but no one wanted the commute.

Adsorption of assorted Knightly groups, warrior cults, and monster-hunting organizations into the Military.

Recognition of major Guilds, unions, and other professional organizations (which also helped lend the new Government credibility).

Establishing a more organized set of laws and policies for interaction between humans and gods - this also resulted in the recognition of Triad True as the major center of theological activity

Encouraging Warrior cults and groups not interested in becoming part of the Military to form organized Warrior Lodges and to engage in public service. It is apparent, if ignored by many, that the goal was to make them more into sports teams than military groups - and it seems to have succeeded, especially with the product endorsements rolled in.  However it took about fifty or more years.

Within a lifetime, the world saw peace, or if not peace, at least a place where conflict was highly localized so you could call it peace if you squinted. As of moder times, in the era of roughly 250 AR, war is unknown and conflict among Cities is mostly sniping, economic, and competitive.

The reformation's exact end is not unknown, but is assumed to be between 48 AR and 53 AR. Most people round off at 50 AR and are done with it. History records that it didn't even get a name for a good fifteen years, and was only named after someone realized there was an ongoing process and filed a petition to name it. Even then the term didn't on for for another three years.

Because it is so well regarded - and because there were incredible amounts of debate, arguing, negotiation, and strange goings-on - The Reformation is oftern portrayed in a humorous light in popular culture. Several notable comedies are set during the time, and almost always focus on jokes about elaborate argumentation, characters wittily putting each other down civilly, comedies of manners, and bureaucracy. "Reformation-style" comedy refers is sometimes used to refer to humor of this nature generally.

The end of the Reformation is celebrated with the Unity Festival, though for over 200 years the festival's exact activities and date keep changing because no one quite agreed on what it should be. Fortunately, people still argue about it peaceably - which may be the best way to celebrate the rebuilding of the world.

- Steve

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A Bridge To The Quiet Planet - The War

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve's Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Let's get to know more about the setting of my upcoming novel, A Bridge To The Quiet Planet.  It’s out late this fall but you can find out about the world now . . .

The War

Few things have shaped recent human history than the complex event simply called The War.

Happening some 300 years before A Bridge To The Quiet Planet, the War was a gigantic geopolitical conflict that lasted some fifty years until the Alliance and the rise of the Great Cities ended it. At the end, a great deal of the planet was war-scarred, 3/4 of the population had died (or in the case of the Lost Continent of Yeen, vanished), and the gods had rethought their role in the world. The start of the Reformation is considered the end of the War, but conflicts dragged on for decades, and inter-Province fighting was not unknown until 100 years ago.

The War to a human of the modern age (about 250, AR - After Reformation) is seen as a singular event in most cases. To scholars and to actual history it was a series of interlinked events; many of these are portrayed in popular media. If one discusses "The Battle of Pemmelock Vale" one discusses distinct events; but in the end to many it just becomes The War.

Discussing The War is made more difficult by the fact that, except for parts of the Unaffiliated Regions, the concept of a Nation has fallen out of use. Thus many people who don't discuss the War in a scholarly context, or in the case of a specific book or piece of media, the world is usually discussed as battles among regions - The North, The Central Region, The South, etc. Often this obscures the subtle politics of the event, though it's hard to talk subtelty when cities were flattened and cybernetic dragons terrorized the populatce.

Also, discussing Nations casually is seen as bad luck; some gods weren't happy with them, wandering spirits of the dead might hear of them, and its terribly impolite.

A citizen of Telvaren or its affiliated worlds would probably describe the War as thus:

Over 300 years ago, the were minor conflicts among the different nations. Though held back my trade, by guilds and churches, and by common sense, they festered. In time, the creation of Bridges shook the world - the chance to reach other worlds provided new territories and thus new conflicts - however there were many old battles and old scars that were the real reason. Soon conflict intensified.

The great power of the Central Region, the Dragon Kingdom asserted itself at this time. The oldest Nation, it wielded magic and technology that was arguably the greatest in the world, from sorceries to dragons altered with metal and crystal. They allied with smaller Nations and decided to enforce a peace - on their terms.

This was not met well by any of their neighbors except nations of The South, who had been locked in their own civil conflict. They were glad to have a stabilizing force, though they also planned to stab the Dragon Kingdom in the back as soon as possible. To be honest, no one ever liked them.

In time, the conflicts exploded, with the Dragon Kingdom deciding to "pacify" its neighbors with it's forces. Some Nations battled against it, others spread their forces. At this time, the first inklings of the Alliance arose as major metropolitan regions, the centers of commerce and immigration, made attempts to quell the wars. They called upon anicnet guilds and schools and other concerns to help them.

Things all changed when the Northern nations (indeed there was only one major nation, spoken of in whispers as Amallakon) made a push against the Dragon Kingdom with the help of the Confederation of Solu in the East. Much to everyone's surprise, they won, but the war was bloody and vicious. The North, frightened of the weapons of the Dragon Kingdom, was indiscriminate in their use of armaments - great airpower, missiles, and magic.

It was hoped that was the end of the war, but it was only the beginning. Indeed, the gods themselves who had stayed out of the conflict were horrified - but also could not agree on what to do next. The great War Goddess Boldira had found the fighting honorable if messy, but her children and fellow gods disagreed - and indeed she felt unable to cope with the modern age.  The gods found changes moving too fast for them.

With a power gap, The South, now unified, asserted itself, and quickly became belligerent much to everyone's surprise. What was unknown at the time was that one of the smaller vassal nations, a center of hight technology but under the thumb of the greater nations, had been manipulating and bribing their way to power. Much to their surprise, they found they had several high-placed officials on their side. However they had also unleashed a wave of corruption and manipulation as their puppets were manipulated by different forces.

At this time, Vasikon Zek, the great experimental city on the sea, withdrew from all the nations sponsoring it. This is regarded as the inspiration to form the Alliance of Great Cities, though it rarely gets the credit for it as they idea had been brewing for some time. Indeed the Alliance would prove crucial because the South and the North came to blows.

With the Central Regions a mess, with the East recovering and the West trying to make peace, the North and South wished to be powers as the powers to order the world. However vicious the North had been, the North had showed some restraint in the weapons used. The South, armed with techno-biological weapons, having focused on making sure any war against them would be devastating, was not so kind.

The South had terrible weaponry, often based on plants. The worst was the Red Willows, infectious spores that, when breahed, quickly grew inside a person, bursting out of their bodies.  The South begant o make belligerant threats.

The North and the growing Alliance ran separately to contain the threat. the North witih threats and displays of their missiles on supposedly uninhabited areas, the Alliance used politics. The growing Alliance, ironically, won - and lost.

Revolutions were fomented against the ruler of the South, who had gone slowly mad and called himself The King Of Green after a famous legendary figure. These were, however erratic and unfocused, as well as bloody - the corruption in his government had led to many interests battling it out, often with propaganda. In time the King committed the most horrific act of the war; fearing deposition, he unleashed the weapons of his country on The South, slaughtering millions.

To this day it is called the Silent South. There are ruined cities filled with plants growing through bones, poisonous weapons left behind, toxic foliage that was weaponized. The only reason demons were not spawned from this horror was it was too deadly even for young demons.

The North's reaction was simple; it was time to unify the world. Under them. It was not an inarguabe stance, but it was made worse because of divisions among the gods. The Marksman, son of Boldira, Goddess of War, incarnated in physical form to lead the military. he felt he would end this conflict that others could not.  The Young god declared he would unify the world - by force.

The Alliance of Great Cities knew a battle was coming, and wearily assembled the remaining militaries of the world. Tired, scattered, they felt they could resist the North. They wanted peace, but not under the foot of someone else; they had grown weary of Kings and Nations and the like. They proposed a more regional alliance, but the North would not have it.

What could have happened in the final War was often estimated, and it would have likely been decades more of conflict. Except The Marksman, the god in human form, was assastinated - one of his fellow gods had given secrets and advised a legion of human assasins how to disrupt his physical form. It was said it took twenty-five people, none of whom survived, to inflict enough damage for The Marksman to die.

When he died, like all incarnated gods, he greated a great Wound in the world - in the middle of a major miltiary base outside a major city.  The ground twisted, madness struck people, communications were disrupted.

The Alliance's loosely aligned military was ready. One of the great northern cities, Kalstaff, had joined their alliance and happily provided enormous amounts of military information. The North was bombed, spelled, and blasted into submission in what eventually turned into a bloody campaign of simple rage and fear. Refugees streamed away, many meeting a horrible fate.  In the end, the final battle of the War was as awful as anything else that had happened.

In the end, attempts to make peace were brokered by Boldira, goddess of War. Ashamed, she appeared before the leaders of the gathered armies and a summit she had called. She dropped her weapons, crying red-ruby tears, and whispered secrets to some of the leaders. What she said is unknown, but the war ended.

The Goddess of War, often now called Boldira Repetntant, had decided War had to change. But, showing her bravery, so did she. War had to be remade for humanity to survive.

The War had ended as Boldira walked the land, weeping. Her solid tears are sought by her clerics as a sign of faith.

There was much to do. The Alliance gathered, the Twelve Great Cities were recognized. Demons still plagued humanity, feasting on the soul-fragments of the victims until the final battle at Pemmelock Vale when they were cast into the sky to Pandemonium.

But, humanity had won. The gods had won.

It just didn't feel like a victory.

Thus to this day, people are still recovering from the war. Old spells and ancient technology is unearthed. Secrets are found - and sometimes re-hidden. Scrappers still tear apart devestated cities two centuries later while Delvers dig into hidden places looking for knowledge and treasure. Humanity has ventured slowly outside of the Great Cities, because the Cities were all that was left for long they were reluctant to go forth.

- Steve

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A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: Technology

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve's Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Let's get to know more about the setting of my upcoming novel, A Bridge To The Quiet Planet.

Technology

The humans of the worlds of Avenoth find the division between Technology and magic to be very clear.  This is probably why some people talk about it too much.

Magic is defined as that requiring direct human involvement to exist, calling upon the magic in the world.  Items created using magic (enchantment or alchemy) are also considered magical if they rely on magical sources or power or magic to channel power.

Technology is defined as that which does not require a human to invoke and rely on the magic in the world or magic to power an item.  If magic doesn't touch it it's probably technology.

Of course, this area leads to assorted debates.  Is piece of equipment incorporating an enchanted component magic (most say no).  Is something manufactued via magic as many things are magical (most say no).  Does it mess up other enchantments or screw up hard-cast spells (it better not).

Thus the debates continue, though the larger population probably doesn't care, and wishes the debates would slow down.

Magic and Technology are unavoidably intertwined.  Much technology originated by scholars studying items created or altered by magic.  Technology has helped created testing devices and training tools for magic.  Enchanted components are common in exotic technologies - or in some cases cheaper.

The supposed separation remains an area of debate.

The Involvement Of Magic And Manufacturing

Magic has been involved in manufacturing for centuries or perhaps aeons.  Trained mages can easily shape stone or metal, lift objects, and stoke fires.  There are mages and magical practices that focus only on practical applications - mages that do this often practice only a single element, and are often called "Fab mages."

Over time, manufacturing has become more and more automated and less and less magical.  Science has figured out how to duplicate magical creations - without the issues of creating enchantments sensitive mages may feel.  This has accelerated in the last century or two, and is producing disruptions in both the manufacturing and magical communities.

Magic is still very prominent in construction, where Lithomancers shape and mold stone and stone derivatives like concrete.  They can very quickly raise buildings with the help of others.  Such shaped stone is called magestone.  The guild Crimson Cornerstone is the largest Guild of construction mages.

More exotic technologies may use enchanted or specialized mage-manufactured components, such as unusual weapons or special slate components.

Common Technologies

Aerobarges - Extremely large Flyers relying on anti-gravity technology - large, aerial platforms akin to ships of the air.  They are slower than Flyers, but their stability, safety, capacity for cargo, and ability to offer a less confined experience.

Autocoaches - Powered vehicles for transport - what we would call cars, trucks, and buses.  The term is used for  any powered human transport, but terms like "bus" or "hauler" may also be used.

Bridges - Bridges are teleporation devices used to travel between planets, large platforms powered by techno-magical creations to instantly send people and cargo between worlds.  This requires two Bridges to syncronize - and between orbits, timing, breakdowns, and planetary rotations, schedules can be notoriously unreliable or strange.  Bridges are run by an organization called The Bridgers, a non-religious but very philosophical organization that takes their job as serious as any creed.

Clackers - Flashminds bonded to mechanical bodies, usually used in combat during the War and at times for executions.  Clackers are, like AI, forbidden technology.  As many were designed for hardships, however, they can last for centuries - and recovering them is a sure insight into past technologies if one doesn't accidentally reactivate one . . .

Flashminds - Artificial intelligence, often ones made by magically copying a human mind. All AI is forbidden on Telvaren due to past experiences and disasters.  Attempting to use or create them is met with stiff penalties - often fatal (if unproveably fatal)

Flyers - Aerial transport devices - what we would consider airplanes.  Many use anti-gravity technology for takeoffs, landings, and stabilizing the passenger.

Slates - Slates are portable, flat screen devices used to access the Network.  They are used most commonly for email, video calls, and research.  They are similar to cell phones and tablets in our world.

The Network - The Network is a world(s) spanning communication tool for transmission of information.  It had existed in several incarnations, and is now on version 3 - the former versions having fallen to magical problems and strange technical problems like Flashminds.  It is usually used for email, video calls, and visiting "sites" of information.  It's obviously similar to the internet, though the heavy need for security and caution over technology mean it tends to be used more practically and cautiously.

Variable Weapon - A term for customized weaponry, often weaponry that transforms between multiple states, at times in ways that seem to violate the laws of physics.  This functionality is due to magical components that many contain - or components based upon magically created templates.  Variable weapons are carried by technics, members of Warrior Lodges, and some military specialists - but are looked down on as flashy and hard to maintain by many Constables and members of the Military.

The god of technology and engineers is Xomanthu, who is the arguable head of a large gaggle of gods and goddesses involved in the spheres of technology.  He is not the oldest of the gods, but seems to be the most forward thinking and social of his company of deities.  He's usally portrayed as male or gender-ambiguous, with multiple arms - "Xomanthu's many hands" is a common invocation, oath, or curse.  Xomanthu likes to be involved in people's lives, though at times his involvement can be complicating.

- Steve

www.StevenSavage.com

www.InformoTron.com

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A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: The Twelve Great Cities

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve's Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Let's get to know more about the setting of my upcoming novel, A Bridge To The Quiet Planet.

The Twelve Great Cities

The Twelve Great Cities are the major regional, political, cultural, and economic powerhouses of Telvaren. They are the result of the decline and death of the Nations during the War, where major regional powers banded together to stop the War, band people together, and try to recover from the conflict that killed 3/4 of the planet's population. The fall of the South is regarded by many as "the final straw" that caused the formation of the Alliance of Cities.

Each City controls a large region known as a Province. Outside of the Province are the Unaffiliated Territories, which include everything from small Nations to wastelands to toxic remnants of the War. Thus each City (though they'd never admit it) is essentially a small nation.

Each City controls it's Province with a Guard, made up of citizens, many of which are actually reservists who serve occasionally or in emergencies. The Guard acts as a military within the Province and is equipped as such, though most Cities have a limited amount of Air power and, except for Vasikon Zek and Olanau-Kao, very little sea power.

The Cities are bound by the laws of the Government and in theory will assist The Military when called upon.

Occasionally the Cities refer to themselves as part of the Alliance, but that term has fallen out of usage. Now there's just the Cities, The Government, and The Military.

There is some debate as to what adding other Great Cities would constitute. The other colonized worlds, Gellitar and Lindhaem, each "count" as one City for purposes of representation, but there is some discontent over this. Lindhaem, which bosts two large cities similar to Great Cities, is especially annoyed by this.

The Twelve Great Cities Are:

Allanax - The capital of the Great Cities where Parliament meets (in a nearby smaller city), and former capital of one of the Nations of the West. Allanax is noted for its history, libraries, and it's legal scholarship. It's a city steeped in politics for centuries and perhaps aeons, but also has a strong hand in publishing and news (and muckraking news at that). The city is very vertically oriented, with great skyscrapers with above-ground traps, and the famous Spiderguard, exoskeleton-using Constables that walk up buildings. It is also considered an extremely clean city and it takes its health and garbage collection very seriously.

Brightguard - Brightguard is home of the premier schools of magic, collectively known as the Universities of Brightguard, of which the High University is the most known school of magic. Brightguard is infamous for high rent prices, which is sometimes accurately blamed on the fact there's an enormous wasteland to the east from the last battle against the Demons. Home to many bookstores, magic shops, and similar establishment, some of which even engage in legal commerce. Brightguard has suffered gentrification in the last few decades as a desirable place for high-level technical, magical, and scientific commerce.

Grand Ivar - A diverse city that was an early member of the Alliance, Grand Ivar is known for its many cuisines, subcultures, and impressive architecture. Often feeling in the shadow of its nearby Cities Allanax and Brightguard, and having no one thing that makes it distinct, there's a peculiar insecurity to the city's culture - it wasn't to stand out for One Big Thing. Grand Ivarans often pick odd rivalries with other cities. Despite the insecurity, the city is well-respected for its architectural schools, Polestar University, emphasis on frugality, and its liveability and reasonable rent and home prices. Grand Ivar is actively expanding its Province as of 253 AR.

Highpoint - The remnant of the old Confederacy of the East, Highpoint basically cheated its way into the Alliance (and rebuked its own government) by renaming a cluster of several cities as a single Great City. This cheeky action led to some bad feelings among traditionalists that persists, but many respect both their gumption, their decision, and their aid in ending the War. Highpoint arguably has the largest Province, as it "city" is still widely distributed. Highpoint is known for its mineral wealth and its cooperation with the Alliance - almost to the point where they're obviously seeking more influence. There is occasional rivalry between Highpoint and Grand Ivar for no other reason that they're trying to stand out, but Highpoint's culture is FAR more relaxed about it.

Kalstaff - An old city that has wielded financial and cultural power for over an aeon, Kalstaff was the last addition to the Alliance, and helped end the War by undermining the militarized government of the North. Kalstaff is home to the only Bank on Telvaren not run by a City and several major financial interests, provides a place for information exchange, and is known as a very cultured and intelligent city. There is occasional mistrust of Kalstaff due to its financial influence and the fact it turned on its own nation (even though the mistrustful ignore that Kalstaff risked all to do so).

Mindarion - Midnarion is the undisputed mistress of manufacturing and fabrication, both in what it produces, but also as a site for innovation and research – and has a growing media industry. Mindarion produces many vehicles, pieces of equipment, enormous aerobarges, and even some of the trains for Zafrel. Mindarion is very valuable to the Government and the Military as it supplies a great deal of military equipment. The city is quite livable and has worked to control any pollution and industrial waste, and is considered amazing to fly over if one's prone to air travel - the factories and fabs and roadways are almost artistic in their own way.

Nasharex - Nasharex is more of a high-tech and high-magic city that creates personal and smaller technology, computers, information tech, and magictech. Nasharex and Mindarion have a semi-friendly rivalry as they clash over who is best at what - and who provides what. Nasharex's culture is an unusual mix, having formed from a mix of Refugees from the South, the old Eastern Confederacy, and Central region magic. There's a vague distrust of Nasharex among some of the older cities due to its experimentation and some of its founders came from a fallen Nation that maniuplated their rival in the South, the King of Green, before his breakdown and devastation of his people.

Olanau-Kau – A coastal city and the only city of the South, Olanau-Kau survived the techno-magical biological weapons unleashed by the King Of Green when he felt he'd be deposed and turned on both allies and enemies. Olanau-Kau has had to evolve, at times unhappily, first being a major techo-magical center, then a high-walled refuge, and now has become a major location for research into agriculture and botanomancy - albeit involuntarily. The inhabits of Olanau-Kau push out into the South every year, reclaiming territory from the plague-twisted and verdant horrors unleashed - this does not always go well. The city's personality is a strange mixture of grim practicality and enthusiasm. They are a site of a recent expanded space program.

Sabillon - The undisputed media capital of the Alliance, Sabillion is also arguably the last major center of Central culture after the Dragon Kingdoms fell during the War. Allied with Nasharex, Minadrion, and Triad True, Sabillion's major industries are publishing, television, and art. Fashion tends to take off from Sabillon, though depending on how elaborate it is, it may not go that far.

Triad True - The Theopolis of Triad True (the name is actually a mistranslation but no one admits it) evolved during the War and then exploded as the gods tried to reconcile with each other and with humanity. Though there are strict zoning laws, it has exploded into a mass of churches, seminaries, libraries, museums, and vacation spots for the religiously inclined. Many clerics train at Triad True, and the universities of all Cities visit to go through the voluminous libraries. Triad True tries to be an authoritative cultura center, and sometimes that even works when the hundreds of gods can agree on things.

Vasikon Zek - The only city built upon the Ocean, Vasikon Zek is a pinnacle of techno-magical engineering, having gradually been raised over the centuries out of the sea or by merging small islands with geomancy. A joint experiment of several fallen Nations, the city declared its independence early, though it earned a stingy reputation when it had to stop taking refugees. The City is known for its efficiency and engineering, and there's a rivalry between its premier arcitectural academy, Pyram's Academy, with the Grand Ivar academy the Parabolan Academy.

Zafrel - Zafrel is a major central transportation hub, though in origins it owes more to the North than it does to the Central regions. Zafrel is a hub for the trains that cut across the main continent, the old canals still in use, and major Skyports. Zafrel is a place of shipping, storage, some vehicle manufacturing, and commerce - and politics. The inhabitants are considered practical, straightforward, and usually welcoming - hard work and an honest word goes far in Zafrel.

- Steve

www.StevenSavage.com

www.InformoTron.com

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A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: What It's About

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve's Tumblr)

I've been posting about my writing here a lot.  So, with intermittent updates, I'm going to talk about my fiction writing project, "A Bridge To The Quiet Planet."

First of all, yes, fiction.  I've not done public fiction in awhile - but I did side projects, edited, coached, and did stuff for the Sanctum.  I figure it was time - and it's fun.  If this works, I plan to split my time between fiction and non-fiction.

And what's it all about?  To sum it up in one sentence:

A sorceress, an engineer, and a priest on a planet-hopping road trip with the owner of a mysterious collection of holy books.

The idea came together when I got inspired to write, contemplated a few past projects and some recent anime, and came up with a simple idea - what happens when you take a world of magic and monsters, gods and spirits, and technology evolves as well?  Welcome to the world of Telvaren and it's planetary colonies, a nation of science and sorcery, where the gods use the internet and interplanetary travel is done via techno-wizardry.  Politics is driven by a mixture of gigantic cities, assorted guilds and unions, and divine interests - but don't let the present distract you, because there's a past of mysterious artifacts, demons, dragons, and more waiting to be discovered . . .

Into this comes Marigold and Scintilla, a sorceress and a "technic" who act as a freelance techno-magical hazmat and research team for the wizardly guild Phoenix Ascendant.  They have "A Plan" for their careers, which requires them to get into a lot of weird situations to gain influence with the guild.  They're good at getting into and out of trouble - until someone wants to hire them not to find something mysterious, but to help him carry a set of holy books to Godsgrave, the world where deities go to die.

Also, it's a lot of money.

Soon they're outrunning a special branch of the Military consisting only of people who've lost loved ones, what may or may not be a demon escaped from the prison-world of Pandemonium, and some mysterious individuals spreading stories on the Network that connects people.  No one is what they seem, no one is quite telling the truth, and the dumbest things can be done by people who are very smart . . .

So it's up to Marigold and Scintilla to punch, talk, shoot, conjure, run, lie, and plan their way out of trouble.  They're going to get their client to Godsgrave by hook or by crook, because as crazy as things get, the two people they are sure they can trust is each other.

I hope you'll all enjoy it, and I plan to post more on my blog - I think what I'll do is alternate posts on the story with posts on my writing findings, give or take.

- Steve

www.StevenSavage.com

www.InformoTron.com