Universe Rules Updated

A word from our sponsor:

Printer-friendly version

Author: 

Blog About: 

Doing some administration around SEE and associated works I realized that the Universe Rules were the same as when I first posted them ages ago.

Since the main tale is now complete, and many more facts have been published since I wrote the original rules, I have completely revised them. They now mostly describe things that are self-evident but will still provide a useful guide for anyone else attempting to write in that universe.

Obviously, if you have not read any of the works set in the universe (Somewhere Else Entirely, Julina of Blackstone, Armsman of Joth, What Milsy Did, Alibi Omnino or the Saga of the Warrior Princess) then there will be significant spoilers which may affect your enjoyment of those tales.

Penny

Comments

One of the rules I find interesting

Is that of the single name, and lack of a family name, it must be horrible for record keepers, I suppose they will evolve as more and more people have the same names, and they will often form from a family occupation (like the name "Smith" did), the rarity of any proper noun beginning with a vowel sound does explain why they often drop the "e" in "electricity" and "elevator" especially as they are vowels followed by soft consonants. Of course one of the things I noticed is that families often are named similarly (everyone except Julina and Swayga in their family has a name that starts with "K" for instance)

You obviously forgot about ...

... Jululet. She is in that family too. So we have in actuality a family of 8 people, five of whom have names with a 'K' and three of whom have something else. As was explained in the tales, these names were made up from their parents' names, so it is unsurprising that there are so many 'K's.

That is not quite correct

Actually, although it is never explained anywhere in SEE, it may not be true that people only have a single name.

In the story, everybody customarily uses a single name, true, but that does not mean that they do not have more than one. It is possible that they are registered with other names, for example that of their father, their father's occupation or the place they came from.

There are a very few examples where this occurs in the text, though I can't remember examples at the moment.

You will of course have noticed that other states, such as Yod and Einnland, follow their own rules. Yod seems to use a name and some kind of attribute, similar to the way many American native tribes name their people. Einnland seems to follow the Scandinavian habit of naming each male person as the 'son of' their father's name. I wouldn't assume that the Icelandic habit of naming the females as 'dottir' follows, though. We only have knowledge of three Einnland women as yet. One is a Princess and the other two were bondswomen.

Again, the naming conventions in more distant Valley states is as yet undefined. Eriana may learn more as she journeys upstream.

Penny

You know

If you had a melodramatic character with the "Maker" references it'd be quite easy for them to read as c3-p0

Universe Rules

Aine Sabine's picture

Where are they actually listed. I'm curious to see them. I'm thinking of writing something on another continent, if its possible. It would be a different culture there. Otherwise, I still might write it and just don't reference it as Anmar. Heck, they won't even know it's Anmar until the Federation comes calling.

Wil

Aine

There you go

Here they are.

Some upfront advice:

There will probably be spoilers here if you haven't read all the stories (or at least, the parts that have been published so far).

Three moons in the sky - it's Anmar. Strange creatures from different worlds and/or different time periods - it's Anmar. People arriving suddenly, with no memory for five or so days - it's Anmar.

There's no magic on Anmar, only what we have on Earth.

Although the Great Convocation has ruled out most organized religion on the continent of Alaesia, that may not be true elsewhere.

Otherwise, the world's your shellfish analog.

I have no problem with others setting stories elsewhere, the rest of the terrain has deliberately been left vague for just that reason.

I'd like to have a quick eyeball over anything you do before you start publishing, just to ensure universe consistency. Anything you write which can be considered canon may be referenced in later works by other authors. This also works the other way round, of course.

Good luck writing!

Penny