#wrennavere

[wrennwyrmnest]

i’m very very curious about your arthurian retelling! who are the central characters? what do you find most interesting/exciting/compelling about them? what are your arthurian sources & inspirations (be that medieval texts or modern retellings)?

Hey there anon! Thank you so much for asking this question - this is going to be a bit of a long answer but I get the feeling that won't be an issue :D (Maybe grab a snack?)

Firstly I'll explain why I'm using 'reimagining' rather than 'retelling', namely it's because of moving Arthur and co into a high fantasy setting rather than just Britain etc. which, while of course there will be analogues, there's going to be a bigger part that other fantasy species play. Christian themes and I guess, reasonings, aren't found but linger where appropriate (Grail Quest is there but but Galahad doesn't like yk go to Heaven afterwards) as some media I've been inspired from as well as I think a big thing of Arthur's legend of moving from one world into another whether that be Pagan -> Christian or Anglo-Saxon -> Britain(* all the big asterisks there because yk fiction and history not aligning).

Characters

Oh boy. Firstly I'd like you to check out the chart that was added to the wikipedia for King Arthur's Family: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Arthur%27s_family *how I wish this was there last year :sob:* and basically this kinda gives a good scope of characters I have 'webbed' out. I've gone to both Welsh and French texts for inspiration since Welsh includes Arthur's trips to the underworld ( ;) ) and French is when we get Lancelot and the Grail Quest. Firstly know I have taken some liberties both in Arthur's family tree as well as some creative ways that account for say multiple parents (Lancelot is recorded as being the son of a King but also as a son of The Lady of the Lake ~plot reasons~ they're separate uh, instances lets say ;) of his parents in my story). But in terms of characters whose voice I have a pretty good grasp of, their emotional arc(s) and a clear image in my mind of what they look like are (and grouped for no particular reason...):

Arthur, Lancelot, Gwen, and two others in their polycule.*

Igraine, Uther, and Gorloris.**

Merlin <- think druidic Loki vibes, he's a pain in my ass and I love him.

Hector his daughter Ser Kay.

Nimue and The Lady of the Lake.

Morgause and her son Mordred.

Madoc and his brother Mark.

Morgaen and how they were separated from Arthur at birth.

... The notion database I've created by pulling all the characters from sources comes to 258 but the above lists some uh key figures that are fleshed out as protagonists, antagonists, and anti-heroes.

(*) I'll get to Arthur/Lance/Gwen's triad a bit more below, but what I will say is that polycule is an important term here as everyone isn't with everyone, if that makes sense? But imagine found family five-man-band vibes.

(**) SO fun fact, when I watched the movie Merlin as a kid I misheard Gorlois as Goloris so I just kinda stuck with it. Unsure if that'll upset people too much though aha.

Why Tho? Exciting/Interesting/Compelling reasons why these characters have my soul.

I'm a big fan of Fairy Tales, Folklore, and Mythology. Seeing comparisons and also seeing both the Disney-fied versions but also the original tales. Arthurian legends has scratched an itch of dragons, knights, and magic that I've loved and is also shared by other stories too - which in part is why I'm spending so much time worldbuilding up front so I have a whole world sandbox to play in and tell some other tales too with it.

Why did I go with Arthur instead of say the Little Mermaid & Harpy sapphic reimagining I've got stashed? Honestly? Because he answered the call to adventure - the quest I have planned - but also because the Arthur I have in my mind, a big theme for him is Courage and doing the thing even though you're scared to which I resonate with a lot. Lancelot came stumbling in as his best friend from their squire days after disappearing for a few years for a second chance romance plot. Gwen butting heads with her twin sister had a certain, fire let's say ( ;) ), that need to pull these two dorks out of their heads while also exploring themes of empowerment. Mordred's arc which I hope to pull off as well as Zuko's was. Merlin, whom I love, was the one who revealed the world to me and really sparked the magic of it all. But then two scenes came to my mind, in full colour and with a big emotional impact.

Arthur and Morgaen's next meeting after finding out they're siblings.

Lancelot's lost memories returning and Arthur knighting the man who had turned to stone to save him.

I'll need to go through and make a full list of tags eventually but uh, lots of Angst/Hurt/Comfort mixed in with wholesome moments. I'm leaning towards potentially writing in a serial format and also doing maybe side stories from different character perspectives.

Sources & Inspirations

In terms of Arthurian specific things:

Welsh sources: Black Book of Carmarthen; Red and White books of Hergest; Culhwch and Olwen; Mabinogion; and the Welsh Triads.

Geoffrey of Monmouth, notably for Arthur's connection to the Roman Empire and characters from that region.

French sources: Le Mort de Arthur, Tristan and Iseult, Perceval and other stories such as Lancelot and the Knight of the Cart (I cackled a bit when I read that one ngl).

I tend to listen to the Myths and Legends podcast by Jason (something) who will be coming out with an Arthurian book sometime which I am keeeen for.

In terms of post-medieval things, there's a lot of nodding to fairy tales such as Tom Thumb and any story where Jack is mentioned.

Merlin the 1998 miniseries with Sam Neill. (This is the one that I misheard Golois as Goloris aha.)

The Mists of Avalon 2001 miniseries. (I haven't read the books and don't plan to support the author or that estate in any way due to the abuse she aided and abetted in).

Sword and the Stone is a classic Disney film but the main thing here I took inspiration from was to really highlight The Great Game in some way... Which is also a nod to Talesin in the Mabinogian. Also enjoyed Quest for Camelot as well.

There's a sapphic scifi retelling that I love called Once and Future.

And I also watched King Arthur's Disasters as a kid which, ngl I prefer the Welsh versions where he's a badass but this was amusing at the time.

In terms of non-Arthurian sources and inspirations, oh boy this gets quite long but basically from the above there are offshoots that I've done in terms of exploring:

Other Welsh tales.

Folklore of Europe as well as Ireland, Scotland, and Britain.

A lot of dabbling in comparative mythology and folklore as well as such as the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index for folklore to create some original but familiar folk heroes and lore for my world.

Consuming pretty much everything on Overly Sarcastic Productions.

I've mentioned that Avatar the Last Airbender and Fullmetal Alchemist are two comparative points of media: the first being for the elemental magic system as well as just some solid worldbuilding and character arcs - one of my blocks with writing is that I have like this big epic quest, various wholesome slice of life moments, deep emotional beats, but then also some spicey scenes that come to mind; the latter is mainly for a nod to alchemy, and magitech as well as some character beats.

I've also mentioned ASOIAF and really want to highlight that there won't be any inc##t at all in my books. There will be dark themes such as abuse of power, manipulation, and there will be people who get hurt or take advantage of, but I just really don't like that plot beat at all. Hence why Mordred is no Arthur's son.

*flops* Okay thank you for sticking with me through all of that. Let me know if you have more questions or if you'd like me to elaborate on anything! Thank you again for your question, it means a lot that people are finding it interesting (helps stop the imposter syndrome voices yk?)

[worldofdrakarna]

The Map of Drak'Arna - an update on my worldbuilding project!

This is an introduction to the world of Drak'Arna while referencing the map I've created in the process - images are under the cut :)

Core premise: This world explores the question ‘What if the alchemical theory of classical elements - that instead of atoms the world’s building blocks are the elements Air, Earth, Fire, and Water, were true?’

Due to this, things that make up the world of Drak’Arna have a ‘signature’ that indicates their elemental makeup. Therefore, flora, fauna, fungi, and sapient species have elemental signatures that are impacted by their environment as much as their parents.

The way that elemental signatures are determined is based on the geographical location of the species. The world is a globe with a few key elemental locations.

Air: encompasses the atmosphere and sky, there are a few different layers that determine what kind of creatures can exist there but notably a feature of Air + Earth is the Aerlands - floating islands that float across the world, either anchored in one spot or are piloted.

Earth: from a globe view, a band of Earth splits the globe into two distinct hemispheres. This is further reflected underground with subterranean ecosystems and eventually a place the dead go.

Fire: the center of this element is found in the southern hemisphere and is a volcano called ‘The Spire’ that resides on an island surrounded by flowing lava. Between it and Earth there are various desert and savannah biomes.

Water: the center of this element is found in the northern hemisphere ocean called ‘The Seanote’ as it is seen as a hole in the ocean, the edge characterized by its waterfalls.

In addition to this, there is a spectrum of Hot/Cold and Wet/Dry that mirrors our world’s equatorial and polar effects on winds and oceans.

North Pole: Dry + Cold. Technically also wet due to the ocean, but an ice sheet is not noted on the main map.

South Pole: Dry + Cold, due to it being connected to the main continent, this is an extremely cold desert referred to as ‘The Badlands’.

Equator: Wet + Hot, also has dry pockets of land.

What about Aether?

Aether is the fifth element and is what is found at the core of this globe. It is the reason the four elements are able to exist so close together in ‘order’ rather than ‘chaos’. This will also play into a softer magic system that covers a wyrd-like fate, curses, and shape-shifting.

Map Making

Through a lot of trial and error, I create the map of Drak’Arna as pictured below after starting with some core starting points - there are two points that represent Fire and Water while between the two, in a sine wave, Earth keeps them separated. This enabled me to create various magical and mundane biomes and features.

Initial colours and drafts:

You can see a snippet of what it's become in my blog's header but I'm really happy with this progress and how it looks when I project it onto maptoglobe which I highly recommend! 

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*flops* compiling months of work into a single post feels like I haven't gone into enough depth about it so please ask me any questions you might have. I'm currently working on making these updates a bit more formal and putting them onto Campfire as a world wikipedia too.

[worldofdrakarna]

Worldbuilding Research: The Theory of Classical Elements

One of the core design questions to Drak'Arna's world is 'What if the theory of classical elements were true?' that the elements of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water were the foundational building blocks of well, everything. Below is a summary of what will be a research article found on the Campfire wiki for this world.

The Theory of Classical Elements was formed from a few sources across numerous cultures and was discredited by Ja'far al-Sadiq and Rhazes in during the Scientific Revolution in the 1600s. Atomic Theory is what explains the material basis of our physical world.

The theory while under what we understand to be Chemistry today, was used amongst many ancient philosophies to explain patterns in nature. The term 'element' in this context is to refer to a state of matter or a type of energy or force rather than what we know as the Chemical elements today.

The number and quality of these classical elements vary depending on the culture the philosophy originates from. Certain philosophies around the elements also impacted culture and the arts which is still seen today with the correspondence of these classical elements in various works of pop culture like Journey to the West and Avatar the Last Airbender.

While I haven't taken on every aspect and quality from these various philosophies, some have been an inspiration to my worldbuilding for Drak'Arna. Notably the States of Matter, Aristotle Qualities, Greek, and Chinese Generating & Overcoming interactions.

To read more on this, I recommend these articles on related discredited theories:

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/encyclopedia/Classical_element.html

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/encyclopedia/Elemental.html

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/encyclopedia/Luminiferous_aether.html

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/encyclopedia/List_of_discredited_substances.html

The purpose of this table is also to highlight some of the elemental philosophies from across our world.

The table pictured above is what I compiled from the above links as well as Wikipedia deep-diving. Note that I haven't dove into the esoteric layers there are many schools of thought, belief, and practice across occult and pagan traditions. When looking through these I tend to recommend exploring the history for understanding where some people of the past may have taken elements (heh) from other cultures - it's good to be aware of that, but also when exploring reconstructed traditions hearing lived experiences and academics explaining their history adds a better depth to understanding than just a wiki-dive.

I'd like to emphasize that I do not use every correspondence in my world-building. I think it's incredibly important to treat traditions, living or ancient, with respect. For example, I do not feel it's appropriate for me to use the Native American Tradition with medicine as I do not share heritage with them. However, if I felt that the aspect of medicine associated with seasons would be fascinating to explore further, I would talk to people to understand how to do so respectfully. I admit using this as an example has piqued my curiosity. Such is the way of learning! 

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What kind of correspondence have I used?

I mentioned above that the notable examples are the States of Matter, Aristotle's Qualities, the Greek Elements, and Chinese Generating & Overcoming Interactions. So I'll elaborate on them here:

States of Matter - this is something that is still referred to today and usually highlights the various 'states' an element can be in. For example, Water's states are:

Gas: Vapor.

Liquid: Water.

Solid: Ice.

Plasma: Uh... There isn't one. (Well in our world ;) )

An example of what this inspired is when looking at what mixtures of elements are for magical purposes, Mostly Water + Lil bit o' Earth = Ice. 

Greek Classical Elements - which is to say are very 'classic' in pop culture too. But this is your usual Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. 

Aristotle's Qualities - this was a further elaboration on the Greek elements which I particularly liked as it showed the connections between them. 

Air: Hot and Wet. 

Earth: Cold and Dry.

Fire: Hot and Dry.

Water: Cold and Wet.

I used these particularly when working on the biomes and climates of my world when figuring out how certain areas were elements mixed - what would they include or lack?

Using Earth-like qualities. The equator is Hot and the Poles are Cold. However, my hemispheres are split based on which is the 'dominant' element. So the North Pole is Cold + Wet, predominantly water with an ice cap. While the South Pole is Cold + Dry because it's in the Fire hemisphere but because I have the Poles as 'Cold' the other quality of Fire is 'Dry' so this has meant that the South Pole is more of a cold-dry badlands desert. 

Chinese Elements - I've always liked the Generating and Overcoming interactions of these five elements. They've played a particular part in both the climates and biomes of Drak'Arna but I've varied it by which element is 'dominant' in the area such as the aforementioned Poles and Hemispheres example. 

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That's all for this article, I imagine I'll add more to it as I go but this is a look into how I've used the Elements in my worldbuilding. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments below or my ask box but I'd love to know if there's a show or book you love where they use the elements as a form of magic! I know I've harked on about AtLA but there are so many good shows out there.