Part of my hope with my blogs of late is to show people more of my messy creative process, to let them peek behind the curtain, and make of the truth what they will. So, let me introduce you to yet another entertaining, if inefficient, aspect of the process.
Where Did This Come From?
I have way too much fun with worldbuilding. That creative endeavor, in and of itself, is engaging and satisfying to me. If I weren’t so found of stories, I’d probably try writing fictional encyclopedias. That’s a thing, by the way. Anyone ever heard of the Templin Archives? Anyway, I have fun with it, and can spend countless hours on asking and answering questions about these worlds and the stories that happen in them.
What often results from such explorations are what I like to call “artifacts”. Written or visual constructs that are meant, in some sense, to be native to the world. They aren’t quite short stories, though they usually tell a story, and sometimes tell many. Maps, poems, essays and speeches by fictional people, even whole books I’ve only partially written in my head; they’re these kinds of things. They’re like this image here, which most likely depicts a historical king, rather than a fictional one, but how much of the story found therein is historical?
The following is a fictional speech written by a fictional character for a fictional event. This may or may not ever make it into the books for which this worldbuilding was performed, but it’s a piece of the puzzle that will create strong, if invisible, foundations. Think of this as a snapshot of the foundations before they’re covered in earth and concrete. I had fun writing this, and I hope you enjoy it too.
Standing Before a Monolith
Verme’k the Sage
1st King of Torrund
Dedication Speech at the Completion Ceremony of the Tricrown Mount Complex
“There has always been something humbling to me about things of great mass, some power indwelling their art and artifice which inexorably affirms one’s own fallibility, ineptitude, and mortality. Yet, wherever we seek to build civilizations, there too we seek to build such monuments. I am no exception here.
“Perhaps we think that by constructing such wonders, we can announce our transcendence of the ordinary limits and abilities of our humanity. And perhaps we have elevated our achievements, at least. Those who come after will not share in our glory, I am sorry to say. Even the greatest patriotism does not convince a man that he could repeat the feats of his forebears. He seeks only to protect what has been inherited, and in like manner people will honor these monuments, and will not themselves be honored thereby, except perhaps to aliens. One may hope that those who come after us will add their own monuments to this great city, and be honored in turn.
“But just as monuments do not puff up those who inherit them, no one can be puffed up in the face of a sunset, for no man made that sunset. No man made the snow capped mountains. No man made the ocean’s roaring waves, or the storm’s devastating lightning strikes. By the awesome nature of these stunning monuments, one comes to understand that they were not made by any mere man. And the same not human that made these also made that fearsome Tower, whose top fades into the sky above for scale. And if the duns are to be believed, the same also made each of us to be the crowning pinnacle of all the great monuments to his power.
“I do not consider myself a religious man. Standing before the Tower, however, I am forced to acknowledge that the proud Tricrown before you, which we made to display our might and in which I have the privilege to live, is but an imitation, and a poor one at that. Standing between my monument and His, it is merely a fact that the impulse to build monuments as testaments to one’s prowess is, in and of itself, merely following in the footsteps of our incomparable Creator. Though I am made small and foolish by this, I am also reassured of its righteousness, and thereby grow confident in my construction and residence in the Tricrown. Paltry mimicry though it be, I am simply following the pattern my Maker left me.
“Thus, I appeal to the good favor of that Master, that in His little apprentice’s works He would find an accomplishment worth protecting and a legacy worth remembering. And having brought us safely through our troubled times, may He also grant peace to those who will inherit all He has granted us.
“‘Let them that watch also have mercy.‘”
Thanks for reading, please share your take on this, and have a peaceful day.
With grins,
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