Reforging Old Bonds, a Dungeons & Dragons story

Marakesh enters the square-cut tunnels, with some difficulty, as the ceiling is only about 5″5′ up from the floor. Ahead of him walks the Mountain Dwarves of clan Bulkfire, that had just cleared the road, they seem to have general small talk going between them, about the termors and quakes today, about the size of the boulders. One of them, a younger male dwarf with dreadlocks in his hair and beard, shortly mentions the “fine curves on those two elven lasses”, only to receive a less-than-friendly backhand slap by the female road-worker. Their general talk seems to shift about what they are doing afterwards, they are probably aware that the matters for why an awkward Sun-Elf, are here in a Dwarven Stronghold, is of a higher priority.

Just in front of Marakesh, Muirhon the Clanlord and his daughter Hildryn, the one female Dwarf Fighter, that caught his attention. Muirhon is silent as the rocks around the tunnel, but Hildryn casts the Elf a few look from time to time. Occasionally, the mountains outside tremble from the earthquakes, but the rumors of Broz Kadûr seems to be true; the tunnel does not seem affected by these earthquakes. The walk is long and arduous, the cleanly cut-out tunnel doesn’t change it’s appearance for the next two miles. Suddenly the group step through arch of cut stone, warm, orange light beams through the massive cave that is the stronghold.

The stronghold is made up from layers upon layers of cut stone buildings, carved out of the mountains. The upper levels seems more conventional buildings, similar sizes, scarcely decorated, square-cut homes. Other levels seems to have a market place, with various shops, mostly smithies and gem-workers. Just as Marakesh looks around in this strange, new place, Muirhon finally speaks to Marakesh. The workers have dispersed, and Marakesh now stands alone with the two Dwarves. “Well lad, this is important so I hope that you’ll heed my words well. Not all Dwarves here are prepared for the change you’ve brought, and though they know you would only be able to enter, if a Dwarf would let you, they might suddenly feel the urge to call you nasty things. This is simply because change and some Dwarves don’t go well together, but please, do not give them reason to hate you, this is a momentous moment for Broz Kadûr, and, I hope, for the surface world as well. I will need to prepare a few things before I present you before the Council of Clans, it will take some time to call the other Clanlords and our honorable Thane as well.” He stops to look at you and Hildryn, “You can walk around with Hildryn, she’ll keep you out of most harm, and will know where to lead you, when the time comes. Or you two can accompany me to Bulkfire Clan-hall, we’ll go over what’ll happen, you can get some rest and, if required, you two can have some time on your own. I’ll leave the choice to you.”

Marakesh’s silent nature left an awkward moment for all, until Hildryn suggested that it probably was better to head for the clan-hall for now, to which an expected shrug from Marakesh’s shoulders was all the response the Dwarves got. The trio left through to the levels with the great clan-halls of Broz Kadûr, many of the common Dwarves stopped their daily cyklus to see what an Elf was doing here in these halls of stone. Few got close, to which Muirhon had to shield Marakesh, and yell “Aurh-Saman!” an ancient Dwarven phrase that means something along the lines of “Reforge the Old Chain” Of the younger Dwarves around, many looked in wonder, but Muirhon was well-known, and Dwarves respect the Clanlords. However, while keeping Marakesh out of potential harm’s way, Muirhon couldn’t stop an increasingly large group of curious Dwarves from looking, it was hard to hide a more than six foot tall anything amongst the Dwarves.

Once inside the Hall of Clan Bulkfire, Muirhon called a very young Dwarf, short, beige-colored beard strapping his chin. Muirhon handed the younger Dwarf a simple, yet decorative axe. “Bring this to the Thane’s Herald, tell him Aurh-Saman is coming. Clan Bulkfire wishes to call a council.” The young Dwarf nodded and took off. Inside the Clan-hall’s dim-lit rooms, Muirhon wiped his forehead. “It will take a couple of hours, though we should hear the horn of the herald soon.” Muirhon opened a door to a chamber, “You will not be disturbed in here, I will announce when we will be heading for the Council.” With those words, Muirhon closed the door, leaving Marakesh and Hildryn alone. After a moment of awkward silence, Hildryn embraced Marakesh (for as much of him as she could reach), and they proceeded to talk about interests and their lives and adventures, and of their coming life together, and the task they were to accomplish. In the far distance, a deep booming call echoed against the ancient walls.

An hour or two went by, and Muirhon announced that they were leaving for the Council now. The otherwise commonly-dressed elder Dwarf, was now in a polished ceremonial plate armor (that didn’t seem to fit him all that well). In unison, the three began, followed by Bulkfire clan-folk, to move towards the Council. The amount of Dwarves, staring was uncomfortable for Marakesh, but as Hildryn had told him; he would likely have to get used to it, if they were to live amongst other people. The long walk was perhaps meant to be silent, but word had reach Clan Bulkfire and it’s equally minded Dwarves, slow and low at first, but building up in volume and intensity, the Dwarves cheered “Aurh-Saman! Aurh-Saman!”

Upon entering the Council hall, the liveliness of the stronghold outside vanished the same moment the forged steel doors closed behind the last Clanlord to arrive. Finally the Council of Clans was assembled. In the centre of the massive hall, the ceiling nowhere in sight, the walls going up finely carved with faces of former Thanes and heroes. Along a wide, but low stone table sat the seven other Clanlords on heavy-cut stone chairs. Marakesh and Hildryn was, by Muirhon in advance, asked to stand back until called upon. Their very different hands reached one another in the darkness. For the first time since leaving his icy home, Marakesh felt a strange warm and calm feeling rush over him, and if he had looked at Hildryn, he would have seen her rounded cheek go red in a blush.

The Thane’s Herold; an elder, slim (for a resident of Broz Kadûr) Dwarf in a long, dark-green robe, clanked an odd mixture of a staff and a maul against the stone floor. With a clear voice, the Herold announced out, “This Council of the Clans is called by Clanlord Muirhon Bulkfire, son of Orrin Bulkfire and Mardi Copperhelm. Is he present?” Muirhon got up, with some trouble due to the armor, “Aye, Clan Bulkfire is here.” The Herold nodded and continued to address the other Clanlords and Clanlady present, going left from Muirhon; Thurin Hammerhead, Etta Irngrim, Hrolkr Urt-Hedin, Bjorngrim Wolfheart, Zonkir Silvershield, Murdrir Rockaxe and Olfart Goldcrusher. “This Council of the Clans is also basked in the glory of our higness, Thane Kaatbul Platebasher, all please rise in her name.” As if on cue, all the Clanlords and the Clanlady rose and made various bows towards a stone and iron throne. Upon it, in a mithral chain-mail with heavy-set golden pauldrons, sat the Thane. Kaatbul’s long dark-blonde braids held together by thick golden rings, she nodded down to the hall; the Council was now officially started. The Herold spoke again, “Clan Bulkfire have called this Council, for a special reason. Clanlord Muirhon Bulkfire, will you present your case?”

Muirhon got up, cleared his throat shortly, “Fellow lords, and lady, honorable Thane, I’ve called this Council, because of what I, with my very own eyes and with my very own blood, have seen. My fellow lords and lady, Aurh-Saman is upon us!” The other Clanlords began to mumble and talk between one another. Before the Herold could ask for order, Olfart’s raspy voice cut through the air, “So an Elf gave something to one of your kind? Where is this Elf and the item it gave then? Prove to us, that Aurh-Saman is actually here.” Muirhon cocked a wry smile, “I’m glad you asked that, fellow Clanlord. Lad, Hildryn, step forward if you please, and place the item on the table, I’m certain the Clanlords and Clanlady would like to see and feel it for themselves.” Led by Hildryn, Marakesh was almost dragged close to the table, the Clanlords and Lady turned their heads to see, even the Thane seemed to lean forward in her seat, to get a better view. Hildryn placed the Ice Rose, crafted by Marakesh’s magic, on the table in front of the first Clanlord, Thurin Hammerhead. The old Dwarf took the ice flower gingerly into his hands, studied it closely, then passed it to the left. As the Rose had been around the table, the Herold then took the Rose up to the Thane, who seemed to spend the longest time yet, looking the single flower of ice over. With the Herold by her side, she whispered something into his ear.

The small-talk and low-volume arguing stopped, when the Herold clanked his maul-staff down. “Thane Kaatbul Platebasher will speak on this subject now!” Kaatbul stood up from her throne, her majestic braids reaching the floor by her feet. “You, Aelfir, step to me.” Hildryn had to nod Marakesh in the direction of the Thane, but eventually he took the few, for him, steps to the Thane. He felt her eyes resting on him, her voice was calm, but friendly, “You speak our tongue, yes? I see you’re a Zon-Aelfir, not one Ara-Aelfir, not one from a spire. Tell me, what caused you to craft this beautiful item for a Dwarf?” Marakesh seemed to look at his feet, turning his face away from the bright blue eyes of the Dwarven Thane, finally he spoke, “I found her… to be the prettiest creature I had ever set my eyes upon. I felt that I had to express that, and I’m not… great with words.” Marakesh glared apologetically down to Hildryn a little behind him. The Thane nodded apparently also looking at Hildryn’s reaction. “Are you, as an Aelfir, aware of what Aurh-Saman means? You must have heard it a couple of times by now.”

Marakesh told what little he knew, mostly what Muirhon and Hildryn had told him about it. Kaatbul Platebasher nodded slowly, “Then, I ask of you, Zon-Aelfir, by what name shall we, the people of Broz Kadûr, call you by, now that you are a friend of Dwarves here?” Marakesh was hesitant at first, but after a nudge from Hildryn, he stated his full name “I am Marakesh Fen’Harellan.” Meanwhile this conversation went on, the Herold had gone to a back room, now he came back with a bronze slate. On top was in Dwarven runes written “Forging Old Chains Back Together for Eternal Friendship” the Herold held it towards Marakesh, and the Thane spoke again “This slate needs to be taken to the nearest Aelfir settlement, we know of the spire Aerellith north of here, and slightly to the west, from clan Wolfheart, we have learned that the spire is led by a Highlady Ondilgorin. Unfortuneatly we know nothing more of this settlement. What we do know, is that the slate needs the inscription in Aelfir as well in as our Runar, I trust that you will assist our smiths in making the inscription correct.” She turned her attention to Hildryn and Muirhon, “As much as I understand what the love between two people require, I would ask that you carry this task out as soon as you can. My personal armory will provide you with equipment, if needed. This is a large task to take in, but one that will benefit not only Dwarves, but also the surface world in due time.” She sat herself down again, a thoughtful look in her small eyes, she nodded to the Herold, who proceeded to clank his maul-staff down, “That concludes this Council of the Clans, does any Clanlord or Clanlady have any say against what have occurred, should speak up now.” Olfart as the only one looked as if he wanted to end with a final word, but instead kept it to himself.

So ends the adventurous tale of Marakesh, but his adventure is not over yet. He and Hildryn have a very important task ahead of them, and after that? Who knows…

World Building 1-0-1: Locations

Got places to go?

With your setting in place, and the overall idea of the story more or less worked out, you are now ready to start plotting down a couple of locations. Immersion comes from the reader imagining themselves as being “in” your world, your story. One of the best ways to achieve immersion, is to describe the story’s locations in detail.

Locations might not seem like a big part of writing, you make up the setting and you already have an idea of where you want you story to take place. But, do not be fooled, generic locations and lacking descriptions are very off-putting to the reader. I would say that you need a minimum of five locations, perhaps even more than that. I have never read a story that had less than five locations, obviously depending on the length of the story, but I am not saying it isn’t a possibility.

When I write I use what I’d like to call a tier-based location system (which you can read about here), thinking up a location it ends up in one of those tiers. The tiers are based upon how much detail I feel like putting into them, this is typically equivalent to how important for the story that particular location is. While it, obviously, is important to have a great amount of detail for the locations that are significant to your story, the opposite is also important. If you go to great lengths to describe every location with the same amount of detail, the locations that matters less to the story might end up disappointing the reader. For example, there is no point in describing that a single door is painted red on a street, if that door doesn’t play in to the story.

Keeping the narrative angle in mind, is also very important. Is there story told through the eyes and thoughts of a character? Or are we, as a reader, just drifting along, knowing what happens behind as well as in front of the characters? Presenting your locations as they appear in the story, from the perspective of your characters, typically means that you’ll have to cut some information and detail away. Other things, even if there’s no interaction planned with that specific location, are important to keep, because it helps establish immersion. For example, a young adventurer ambles up towards the castle through a muddied street, the high tower of the keep looming above him as he takes each step. At the dark-wooden gate to the castle’s courtyard, the man is stopped briefly by the screech of a crow. He looks up, but the tower is no longer visible here at the foot of the keep’s walls.

In the example I just used, I had the narrative as a third person perspective, but putting the adventurer as our protagonist, I give the reader a feeling of being right next to the adventurer, looking up at a castle wall, from it’s foot with him. Another thing I’d like to point out with my example, is how much focus I placed upon the tower of the castle. Not the castle itself, the castle walls or even the muddy street, despite the street being the location the story, at that moment, was actually taking place in. This story could easily continue without the adventurer ever getting up in the tower, but we have given the reader an impression of how the castle looks, without using that many descriptive words. We haven’t mentioned the colour or the state of the stone-work, in fact, it wasn’t even mentioned that the castle was built in stone. And yet, the reader have a pretty decent idea of how the world we’ve just put down, looks from the perspective of the adventurer.

World Building 1-0-1: Choosing a Setting

The frame of the picture

When building a world in a written work, the setting is very important. Particularly in works of fiction, where the reader needs to be able to immerse themselves into your story. Naturally many different universes already exists, ranging from claustrophobic underwater adventures, over vast expanses of space with myriads of planets, to a world very similar to your own, except a grizzly murder have just been committed.

As a first-time writer, the framework of the story may seem like a massive piece of work in front of you. You begin to worry about the amount of detail, does it hold up, is this world interesting and so on. In my experience, when you begin to worry about the writing rather than just letting it come to you naturally, then it’s time to take a break. Even if you haven’t even started writing yet. It doesn’t have to be a long break, sometimes even stepping back from your keyboard for a minute, (or even switching to a different tab, if you’re really lazy, I know that I can be.) and empty your mind. You don’t have to go all out and join a yoga-class to meditate, but, and this is important, do NOT RETURN TO WRITING UNTIL YOU FEEL LIKE IT. Obviously it’s much easier to say the phrase “don’t worry, just empty your mind”, than it is to actually carry the phrase out.

One of the advises to work past this worry, is to select an already existing universe, the more expansive the better. Instead of having to worry about how a brand new universe keeps itself together, when choosing an already existing franchise as your framework, you take that worry away. Sure, there isn’t the exact same pride in building on something you did not make from the bottom, but it is a great writing practice for you to use later on in your writing career. The ability to alter your writing style, narrative angle and genre, can boost your later works with the experience, that comes from putting a particular style of writing into practice. Early on in your writing career, perhaps before it’s even a career, you can also use the practice of writing in other existing universes, to start building your own writing style. For example, you’ve read George R.R. Martin’s “Game of Thrones” series, and while you liked the characters and the way the story moved, you found that Martin’s style of describing environments and scenes, was lacking something, despite not being able to put an exact finger on what that something is. Keeping that experience in mind, you can onward from here avoid making the flaw that, in your mind, Martin made in his writings.

Changing the setting

Rarely will you find a story changing it’s setting completely, though it has been gaining some more popularity, with movies and computer games affecting authors and writers. More and more stories have the story start out in the “real” world, only for the story to enter a fictional universe, within it’s own fictional universe. I would personally argue that this isn’t so much changing the setting, as it is adding a secondary and minor setting, a sub-setting if you like, to the story. The major point in my argument is that the story almost always “returns” to the “real” world either just once, or multiple times during the story. C.S. Lewis’ “Narnia” series is a great example of this. J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series is as well, though, admittedly, it’s less obvious than Narnia. The sub-setting, despite that I’ve just called it “minor”, can easily take up a larger percentage of the story than the “major” one. The reason for this, is that a story with more settings, is always remembered, when retelling it, as starting in it’s major setting. Allow me to put this into more graspable terms, using my two examples. The “Narnia” series is about a group of English kids, who discovers a gateway into a different world, where fantasy creatures of all kinds live and dwell among each other. The “Harry Potter” series is about an English boy, who lives with an unfriendly foster-family, until he learns that he is actually a wizard, and journeys to another dimension, where witches, trolls, potions and broom-based sports are common.

Did you notice something just now? In case you didn’t, because it’s not often something you think that much about, let me clarify. The word “English” is occurring in both examples. Now you could argue that I am just paraphrasing the examples to get my point across, and you would not be wrong in that assumption. However, if you ask anyone (well, almost) to retell these stories by memory, you’d almost certainly get summaries resembling what I’ve just written here. In other words, it is not only me, but also several other people. This proves how a “major” setting is significant to a story, even when, taking “Harry Potter” once again, we, as a reader, don’t spend much more than around 15 % of the entire story in the “major” setting.

The main reason you don’t find a lot of stories with a 50/50 major and minor setting, or a full-on actual change of the setting, is that it requires more work. Putting a setting in, when starting the story, you’re building up a world, with locations, details, weather and other natural phenomenons. To change the setting, you have to abandon the previous one, and, essentially, build a new one up, only keeping scraps of the old one as reason for comparison and inducing flashbacks amongst characters. Writers generally do not mind scrapping a setting, but there needs to be a good reason to do so. Otherwise you’re essentially doing double the work for a single written piece, and having multiple story-settings going on at the same time, can quickly become an obstacle towards finishing the overall project.

Upholding the setting (don’t break the canon)

Once you’ve assigned something as “a rule” for your story, as part of the setting, most characters and events needs to follow these rules. If you find that events and characters more often than not, are breaking these rules, you need to change the rules to fit. Why not change the characters or the events to fit? That can work too, but unless you’re looking to create a plot-hole, especially if the event, or character, is reoccurring, I wouldn’t recommend it. This is where already existing universes restricts the writer, dictating typical means of transport, how advanced the technology is, fauna and flora as well as ethics and acceptable behaviour. Even in universes that are “potentially” unlimited, in terms of what COULD be existing in the universe, this restrictive setting is still active. For example, the “Star Trek” universe includes a multitude of different races, each with their own technological know-how, nature and ethical views. Because it, like many sci-fi stories, takes place in space, where the number of planets and other objects that have actually been discovered, is very, very low. It doesn’t take much logical thought to reason that there are so many more planets, even civilizations out there. But when writing in existing universes, we often have a tendency to build extreme “bubbles” within the already existing story. A bigger bubble, as in a more extreme setting, makes a bigger “pop”, and the bigger the “pop” the more your story is “heard”. But these bubbles also press against, and often through, the “rim of canon”; what actually exists within the universe already.

If you are writing your own story, with your own setting, you are also the one in charge of placing the “rim of canon”. YOU decide what goes. Can people fly? Does magic exist? Is the air polluted to a point where everyone needs to wear a gas-mask, or risk undergoing horrible mutations? Only your mind sets the rim of what is “acceptable” within YOUR world, YOUR story. However, just as in an existing story, you have to be consistent and follow the rules that you’ve stated for your world, otherwise you’ll create plot-holes, which makes your story seem rushed or even poorly written. Here’s the good news though; because it’s your setting, you can add rules to the setting at any point during the writing process. This is handy, as you can write up a rule to suit an event or character, so they fit into your setting, when they occur.

Going back to the writing practice that is trying to copy someone else’s writing style, another part of the “practice” is also to have an opinion on as many things as possible in the writing style you’re working with. Transitions, flash-backs, character introductions and so on. Essentially you’re going through someone’s story like a shopping center, when you stop to look at a “ware”, you look to your shopping check-list and ask yourself “Does this work, why/why not.” Eventually you’ll end up with a list of things you like about a style, and things that you might not like. And thus; you’ve taken the first step towards creating your own writing style.

World Building 1-0-1: Starting Up

The first steps…

Building a world from the bottom takes time, there is no getting around that. But when it comes to world building, regardless of whether you’re writing fiction or dramas, the thing writers struggle with the most, is getting the idea.

Rather than thinking that the writing process starts when you sit down to write the first couple of lines, any written work starts with shaping and getting the idea. To some people, getting ideas for a world setting comes as easy as making breakfast. But to others, or if you’re working in a team, a lot of suggestions can actually block the process entirely. The best way to handle this problem, is to allow yourself (and others) to make silly ideas. If you’re working as a team, this is crucial to even get the project started. It might feel like you’re increasing the workload later on, by adding more and more ideas to the project, but don’t worry; to most writers, deleting things during the writing process comes pretty naturally.

Unfortunately, there is no direct help to getting ideas. The best you can do is allow your brain to relax, and let yourself be open to suggestions. Another important thing is to not get caught up on being original. This is also something that you work out later in the process, getting it in your head before you even begin writing, means that you’ll be worrying about what other people create, have created, and will create. This is one of the most progress-destroying elements of writing, worry about the writing in itself, everything else doesn’t matter right now.