bananasplitlady's feed

  • 3 years ago
    Level Up bananasplitlady

    Level 3

    bananasplitlady is now level 3 with 3,670 XP.

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  • 3 years ago
    Achievement bananasplitlady

    Red Eye Jedi

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  • 8 years ago
    Comment bananasplitlady

    One book that really helped me in discovering ideas for my world building is a book called Guns, Germs, and Steel by Neil Diamond. It was the required reading for the world building class I took at my university last semester. It presented a lot of explanations as to why Earth is the way it is now, and I took some of those explanations and applied it to my world, while I took others and bent them because there's magic in my world that would change the results.

    I also find inspiration through reading about various cultures throughout Earth's history and taking aspects from them and molding them to fit within my own. I just look around Wikipedia or I browse National Geographic until something catches my attention.

    I am fortunate that I live in an area with a large science fiction and fantasy community, so when I can, I attend the various cons and writing symposiums that are held around here. They have a lot of panels on world building and coming up with ideas. Try looking for similar events around you, if there are any, and try to attend. If you are a student, try looking for discount tickets too.

    Finally, what helps the most is being able to find others to bounce your ideas off and perhaps they can give suggestions on how to make it even better. Of course, being part of this tribe is the perfect place for that.

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  • 8 years ago
    Comment bananasplitlady

    Thanks for the welcome. Sorry it took me a while to respond, but I've been busy with family over the holiday and I was typing up a summary (which is still really long) of my world for you in the small moments I had to myself.

    Aciena is the name of my world, and the two countries my story spans over which are called Ciercel and Durain. To understand why magic has been banned you need to know some of the history of the two countries. Since the beginning of Aciena, until a hundred years before the current setting of my novel, those who had the ability to use magic were known as Ciercelese and were sent to Ciercel to learn how to use their magic. They were viewed as blessed by Ciena, the goddess who the Ciercelese believed created Aciena, and therefore they were chosen to rule those who don't have the ability to use magic. The people of Durain were forced by the Ciercelese to work as slaves on farms and raise livestock for the Cierelese to use in their magical sacrificial rituals.

    Ciena is formed of three consubstantial persons known as Cierae, Cieneas, and Cierona. They are all distinct and yet one being. To use magic, you must make a sacrifice to one part of Ciena, and depending on the type of sacrifice, one of her persons will grant the mage temporary power. Cierona accepts animal sacrifices, Cierae accepts human sacrifice, and Cieneas accepts self-sacrifice. Most Ciercelese choose to worship one part of Ciena and will specialize in that kind of sacrificial magic. However, there are limitations to drawing upon Ciena’s power and if a mage does it too often, Ciena will curse them depending on the type of sacrificial magic that has been called upon too many times. There was a Ciercelese mage known as Galthius who worshipped Cierae and would use thousands of Durainian slaves in his rituals (which had been banned only 30 years prior and the worshipping of Cierae was becoming taboo). Those who use too much of Cierae’s powers turn into demons that have to feast upon the life source of humans to continue to live. The Ciercelese had created a force of mages who are supposed to catch anyone before they change, but Galthius had been doing his rituals in secret and had transformed before anyone had noticed.

    Unfortunately for the Ciercelese, because of Galthius, the Durainians knew that they were being killed by Ciercelese and were restless. As a demon, Galthius knew that he would soon be killed off by the Ciercelese, and so he decided to use the restlessness of the Durainians. One night he presented himself to a Durainian slave called Glor, and told him that the Ciercelese goddess was actually a devil. That Galthius himself was the true God and the Durainians were his children. Galthius told Glor that he was the chosen one to deliver his people from bondage and destroy the Ciercelese and their wickedness. Glor believed Galthius, and Galthius possessed Glor’s body thus giving him what the Durainians came to see were the powers of a true god. Glor became Glorthius, the god and deliverer of the Durainians, and the Durainians were able to overthrow the Ciercelese partly by the power of Glorthius and also by withholding and killing the animals that the Ciercelese sacrificed for power.

    All magic was banned and Glorthius set up a church to worship him and to also remove magic from amongst the people. The position of Glorthius passes between the eldest living son, and Galthius possesses each of them when they rule. Now, about 100 years later a...

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  • 8 years ago
    Comment bananasplitlady

    Hi I'm bananasplitlady. I'm a creative writing student and I just took a world building class at my university last semester. I'm working on a medieval fantasy world in which practicing magic has been banned for about a hundred years. The church, that spans the two countries my story is set in, tests children for magic abilities and if they show any signs, they are taken away from their families to be removed of their powers at a special institution (where they're killed). I'm still working on my world even though I finished my class. Perhaps I can get some ideas or suggestions from this tribe.

    Some other things about me: I'm a chair member and one of the founders of my university's science fiction and fantasy club, and I'm specifically in charge of gaming. I'm mostly a computer gamer but since I helped form the club I've started playing tabletop board games and rpg games. I've even done some LARPing until the group I met with changed their meetings to a time I had to work. I also play the piano, though I'm not as good as I used to be anymore. I also enjoy knitting and crochet.

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  • 8 years ago
    Level Up bananasplitlady

    Level 2

    bananasplitlady is now level 2 with 1,145 XP.

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  • 8 years ago

    "On The Way" by Xiaodi Jin

  • 8 years ago
    Comment bananasplitlady

    Hi all. I'm testing out reddit alternatives and Snapzu seems promising to me. I'm not really sure how Reddit will die but I wouldn't be too sad if it did. I never really posted there much except for in the really small subreddits. I'm a bit of a lurker so I'm not sure how much I will post. But perhaps I'll post more here as the community here seems less intimidating to me than Reddit's.