Paksworld

As of Sunday evening, the current wordage for the new book is 97,129.

There are problems with that scene, but I can fix it once it’s all out in the open…

Chances are excellent that I’ll hit 100,000 on the book this week.   There are other things going on in our lives, including plumbing work that needs doing, dealing with bureaucracies (academic and governmental both), so I may not get as far as I’d like, but…it’s quite happy to be written, now that I’m able to write again.

A cloud on the plot horizon that I wasn’t sure would head this way has now headed this way…I think we may find out (if not in this book, in the next) how the elfane taig became the banast taig that Paks and Macenion stumbled into.    There are threads that begin to look as if they connect to other threads…life would be easier if I could outline, but not nearly as much fun.

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.

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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.

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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.

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Location:  The palace in Chaya, in Lyonya, shortly after Kieri’s arrival

Present: Paks,  Dorrin (POV), the Knight-Commander of Falk

Some snippage for this use, but the main events are here:

The room brightened.   Paks had come alight, not as bright as in the battle, but enough to cast a soft glow through the room, drowning the light of the candle Dorrin had lit.

“You, I suppose, will take on the role of her supervisor?”

Paks shook her head.  “Not I, sir.  She is a Knight of Falk.  It is not my place, and I have no call to go with her.  I do have a call to aid her here and now.”

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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.

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Location:  in Aarenis, within several days’ march of Cortes Vonja.  Situation: night after a frustrating day of marching, barely evading an ambush, more marching.

………………………..

…his assailant lay dead on the ground.    He was a small, wiry man in short trousers, barefooted–his soles horny as goats’ hooves–his hair in a curious braid, stiff with something he’d smeared on it.  On a thong around his neck was a medallion with a design Arcolin did not recognize.

………………………..

This is part of an incident added to the part cut off from what is now Oath of Fealty and will be in the second volume of the group.   It helps fill in what had been a sketchy way to cover some weeks.     Although the forward part of the plot of the second book is moving, there’s fill-in to be done, because I was compressing the last 55,000 words when I hoped to squeeze it all into that first volume.    It was packed tight–too tight, too much left out.  This is putting some juice back in.

It was also one of those surprises, a bit of plot-stuff I didn’t expect.   It was so unexpected I had to check with a couple of people to see if the whole situation was feasible.  And it is.

Of course, the really interesting thing is  not a sailor in a tree, but who put the sailor in the tree.

Over on the website,  part one of the People section is now up and live.  It covers the basic groups, some of which–elves, dwarves, and gnomes– have been discussed on this blog.   I took out some bits of the blog info as not really necessary, and added some.

Additional groups discussed include the kuaknom/iynisin/dark cousins–those “fallen” elves the others don’t like to mention–and four basic, distinct human lineages: the Old Humans of the north, the magelords who came over the sea from Old Aare to Aarenis (and later, the north), the horse nomads,  and the Seafolk.    The people in the far west, beyond Kolobia, are peripheral enough (so far!) that they’re not being included.

Eventually (but not immediately–need to spend more time on the books proper) there’ll be more background information on specific people–both “current” (in book terms) and historical (ditto), myths and legends, religions, etc.

Location:   Valdaire, an expensive inn, private dining room.

“And so it is, ” she said, sitting back and folding her hands on the table.  “You are the man I thought you were, once I saw past my own ambition and my own losses.  Friends?”

“Always,” Arcolin said.  “Unless of course we’re hired by enemies, but even then–”

“We have the Code, and we are content, are we not?”

“We are content,” Arcolin said.

……………………………..

Anyone care to guess the identity of the lady, and the former relationship, if any?

Topology counts.    Magically transformed items will have the same number as the original.    (Who knew that topology would be a useful mathematical concept in writing fantasy?)

Talking jewelry is a PITA, perhaps especially if no one else can hear it.   Magic jewels always have their dangers, but the ones that try to convince you to do something…especially not easy to live with.

If you’re trying to open a magically locked door and one of your command words or spells causes a key to materialize and the door to unlock, this does not mean you have the situation under control.

Magic is dangerous but so are completely nonmagical ordinary objects like ropes, weights, and stones, if arranged by someone with malice in mind.

It’s not what you don’t know…it’s what you think you know that isn’t so…