Paksworld

The magelords moving north from Old Aare and Aarenis introduced the concept of “knights” to the north.   The Old Humans who lived in the north before the magelords came were not horsemen, though they knew of horses from the horse nomads north of them.

In the present day,  knights as such exist in Fintha, Tsaia, Lyonya, and Prealith.   Most are knighted as part of a specific order (Knights of Gird, Knights of Falk, Knights of the Bells)  but some are battlefield promotions of squires, knighted for deeds of valor.   Any knight may create a knight, though most leave that to the knightly orders. ..in the north, at least.  In Aarenis, knights are created individually more than in orders.  Knights of an order wear insignia indicating the order.

Read the rest of this entry »

Young people in Tsaian and Lyonyan society may be fostered with another family at several stages–for noble families, typically as pages (ages 7-10 or 12) or squires (ages 14-18ish.)   In addition to fosterage, there’s formal schooling in a boarding situation (like the young students in Fin Panir, including Aris Marrakai).   Nobles are more or less expected to take in a few of one another’s offspring .   This forms bonds between families (they hope), relieves some sibling rivalry (a forlorn hope, usually), and provides the “shared” young person with experiences most find valuable.

Read the rest of this entry »

This snippet is the first in the book (in the present version) to resonate with the title Oath of Fealty.    Location: Duke’s Stronghold, shortly after word reaches there  (finally!) that Kieri Phelan is a) the rightful heir to the throne of Lyonya and b) on his way there.    The snippet is in snatches, leaving out bits that aren’t relevant to the title issue.

Arcolin woke to the memory of yesterday’s surprises and the realization that he needed to parade the whole Company.  They had given their oaths to Kieri, who had now left them.  They must now give their oaths to him.

Read the rest of this entry »

The cultures in Paksenarrion’s world are all advanced enough to use metallic coinage, though barter still exists (and still exists today, of course) and “paper” in the form of letters of credit and other non-coin exchange exists in some places.

Where you have coins, you have counterfeiters.    Paks, being a trusting soul, paid little attention to the coins she carried, though moneychangers were attentive to the possibilities.   In the new books,  with viewpoint characters who are older, more worldly, and having to deal with financial matters, I found myself facing the certainty of counterfeiters.

Only problem…I knew very little about how it was done.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve mentioned before a book by one of my college professors, F.S. Lear’s Treason in Roman and Germanic Law. In the course of studying ancient and medieval history, I was dragged (willingly, most of the time, but sometimes dragged) through a lot of legal systems. Lear discusses the contrasting bases for a concept of treason, ultimate disloyalty, under the two systems: one tribal, where loyalty is to a person or tribe and treason is a personal betrayal. The tribal leader in that case cannot be guilty of treason because he (it was always he, then) is the one to whom loyalty is due. The other is formally legal, where loyalty is to a code of law, and anyone–including those at the top–can be guilty of treason if they have transgressed that part of the code.

Relevance to current politics is obvious, but not a topic for this blog, except to show that the same conflicts of concepts exists today, as it did 2000 years ago….and undoubtedly longer ago than that. I grew up on the Border, in an area where a culture that claimed to believe in a rule of law was in daily contact with a culture for whom personal relationships were obviously more important.

All of the history sources I used are relevant to the Paksenarrion universe, but this one, in particular, set the tone for the two types of Earthfolk–dwaves and gnomes– in the books.

Read the rest of this entry »

Elves in Paksenarrion’s world are one of the Elder Races: they believe they are part of the First Song of the Singer, the Eldest of the Elder.  The Earthfolk (dwarves and gnomes) disagree, but don’t bother to argue.   In their own tongue, they are the Sinyi, the Sung.   Most are tall (the average elf is taller than the average human, though there’s overlap.)    From the human perspective, there are multiple contradictions: elves loathe war and claim that their innate love of harmony makes conflict more painful to them–and yet they can be touchy, easy to offend, and even quarrelsome.   Elven grudges last millenia…a fact that comes into play in the second book of this series in particular.   In the immediate area of the first and part of the second book, the ranking elf is Flessinathlin, the Lady of the Ladysforest, referred to as the Lady.  Kieri, King of Lyonya, is her grandson through her daughter.

The most important of the elvish powers,  to elves themselves, is the taig sense–the ability to sense and communicate with the “consciousness” of all living things.   This is believed to result from their being part of the First Song, in which they still participate, and they can “sing the taig awake”.   Next in importance, and related, is the ability to heal the taig, and its components.

Paksenarrion, some of you recall, joined up with Macenion, who told her he was a half-elf (he wasn’t, though he had a touch of elven blood and knew how to present it.)   Part-elves may or may not look elvish, and have varying amounts of elvish power.   This leads to many interesting situations…including in the current series.

Read the rest of this entry »