Sharrukin

Rough Draft for an Ur-Language

June 17, 2019 Sharrukin Comments 0 Comment

Here are some of the basic notes I’ve put together for my constructed-language work for The Curse of Steel. The idea here is that this is an ur-language, very vaguely reminiscent of Proto-Indo-European, which can act as the mother-tongue for a set of derived languages. Since these aren’t planned to be anything but a set of naming languages, I haven’t worked out a lot of deep grammar or sentence structure – the emphasis here is on word morphology, the rules for the formation of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and so on.

This is all very rough draft, of course, and I’m deliberately not trying to be very adventurous – none of this is supposed to suggest a highly exotic sound or feel to English-speaking readers. Still, it should give you an idea of what goes into the construction of an artificial language for genre fiction. I may post some of my growing lexica shortly, to provide more examples.

Phonology

The ur-language has the following consonant set:

	Labial	Coronal	Dorsal	Laryngeal
Nasals	*m	*n
Stops	*p	*t	k, k^w
	*b	*d	g, g^w
	*b^h	*d^h	g^h, g^wh
Fricatives		*s		h₁, h₂, *h₃
Liquids		r, l
Semivowels	*w		*y

Word roots in the ur-language can be either nouns or verbs. Most adjectives or adverbs are constructed by inflection of an underlying stative verb (that is, a verb form which expresses a state of being). A word root in the ur-language almost invariably has the following phonotactic structure:

The root is always composed of at least one consonant in the onset, the vowel *e, and at least one consonant in the coda. No root may begin or end with the vowel.
In a consonant cluster, the consonants are always arranged in order of sonority. Consonants appear in three classes by sonority (lower to higher sonority):
- Obstruents, which include:
  - Plosives (*p, *b, *b^h, *t, *d, *d^h, *k, *g, *g^h, *k^w, *g^w, or *g^wh)
  - Sibilants (*s)
  - Laryngeals (*h₁, *h₂, or *h₃)
- Labial sonorants (*m or *w)
- Non-labial sonorants (*n, *r, *l, or *y)
A consonant cluster may consist of up to one non-labial sonorant, up to one labial sonorant, and up to one obstruent from each class.
In a cluster of obstruents, the sibilant *s may only appear before a plosive, never after. A laryngeal may appear before or after any other obstruent, but not another laryngeal.
In the onset (before the vowel), consonants must appear in increasing sonority, while in the coda (after the vowel) they must appear in decreasing sonority. The one exception is that in the coda, a laryngeal may always appear first.
Legal word roots normally follow certain phonotactic rules:
- They may not contain more than one nasal consonant (*m or *n)
- They may not contain more than one liquid (*l or *r)
- They may not contain more than one semivowel (*w or *y)
- They may not contain more than one plain voiced plosive (*b, *d, *g, or *g^w)
- They may not contain more than one laryngeal fricative (*h₁, *h₂, or *h₃)

Word Formation Rules

Verbs

The primary categories for verbs include:

Person: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
Number: Singular, dual, and plural.
Aspect: Perfective, imperfective, and stative.
Mood: Indicative, subjunctive, imperative, and optative.
Tense: Present and past.

The primary conjugations are for person, number, and aspect. They tend to be very regular, applying inflectional endings to the verb root as follows.

Primary Conjugation

This conjugation is used for the present tense of the indicative mood of imperfective verbs, and for the subjunctive mood of all verbs.

	Singular	Dual	Plural
1st Person	*-mi	*-weh₃s	*-mos
2nd Person	*-si	*-tes	*-te
3rd Person	*-ti	*-teh₂s	*-nti

The future tense is indicated with this conjugation, and the particle *reh₂n placed just before the verb.

Secondary Conjugation

This conjugation is used for the past tense of the indicative mood of imperfective verbs, for the indicative mood of perfective verbs, and for the optative mood of all verbs.

	Singular	Dual	Plural
1st Person	*-m	*-we	*-me
2nd Person	*-s	*-te	*-t
3rd Person	*-t	*-teh₂	*-nt

Furthermore, imperfective verbs in the past tense exhibit ablaut, in which the primary vowel of the verb root shifts from *e to *o.

Stative Conjugation

This conjugation is used for stative verbs.

	Singular	Dual	Plural
1st Person	*-h₂e	*-we	*-meh₂
2nd Person	*-th₂e	*-h₂ey	*-eh₂
3rd Person	*-e	*-h₂ey	*-eh₁r

Imperative Mood

This conjugation (applicable only in the second or third person) is used for the imperative mood of all verbs.

	Singular	Dual	Plural
1st Person	N/A	N/A	N/A
2nd Person	*-Ø	*-to	*-te
3rd Person	*-tu	*-tew	*-ntu

Other Verb Formation Notes

Negation is indicated with the particle *weh₂ immediately after the main verb.

Nouns

The primary categories for nouns are:

Class: Animate and inanimate.
Number: Singular and plural. Although verbs can take the specific dual number, dual nouns are simply considered plural.
Case:
- Absolutive case (the argument of an intransitive verb or the object of a transitive verb)
- Ergative case (the subject or “agent” of a transitive verb)
- Dative case (the indirect object of a verb, the recipient or beneficiary of an action)
- Genitive case (the possessor, composition, or point of reference for another noun)
- Locative case (expressing the location of another noun or a verb’s action)
- Ablative case (expressing motion or action away from another noun)
- Instrumental case (expressing the means of an action)
- Vocative case (marking the noun being addressed)

Noun class is not marked on the noun, but all nouns are assigned to either the animate or inanimate classes. The assignment is usually intuitive, although there are some exceptions. Examples include non-living but moving objects which might be considered the habitation place of a spirit, or non-living objects which are nevertheless often addressed as if they possess the power of speech.

Case and number markings are as follows:

	Singular		Plural
	Animate	Inanimate	Animate	Inanimate
Absolutive	*-Ø	*-s	*-eh₁	*-eh₁
Ergative	*-m	*-m	*-meh₁	*-meh₁
Dative	*-meh₂	*-meh₂	*-mus	*-mus
Genitive	*-kh₂e	*-kh₃e	*-kh₂ey	*-kh₂ey
Locative	*-ey	*-ey	*-su	*-su
Ablative	*-os	*-os	*-yos	*-yos
Instrumental	*-an	*-an	*-eh₂	*-eh₂
Vocative	*-Ø	*-Ø	*-es	*-h₂

Nouns in the ergative case also exhibit ablaut, in which the primary vowel of the nominal root shifts from *e to *o.

Noun Formation from Verb Roots

Many nouns in the ur-language are formed from verb roots, usually by applying a specific suffix to the root. For example:

Animate creature or human that performs X: *X-as
Inanimate object or thing that performs X: *X-os
Gerund form (“X-ing”): *X-en
Infinitive form (“to X”): *X-on
The result of X: *X-am or *X-as

Common Prefixes

*an- “into”
*as- “out, out from”
*en- “on, upon”
*reh₃– “good, noble”
*tar– “against”
*wer- “over”

A Bit of Conlanging

June 14, 2019 Sharrukin Comments 0 Comment

I’ve set aside plot-work for The Curse of Steel for the moment, so I can once and for all get the constructed-language work for that story knocked out. The idea is that my protagonist is going to encounter not only her own culture but several others as well, most of them somewhat related to her own in linguistic terms. Kind of like an Iron-Age Celt visiting Latin-speaking or Greek-speaking areas; the languages wouldn’t be intelligible to her, but names and some bits of vocabulary would sound hauntingly familiar. I’m also aiming for the reader to feel comfortable with the names they find in the story, which suggests not wandering too far from the Indo-European tree.

The procedure I’m working is to develop a partial constructed language that’s somewhat reminiscent of Proto-Indo-European (PIE), and then to apply a consistent set of sound-change laws and grammatical changes to generate words in two or three daughter languages.

Not at all difficult, especially once I’ve developed some computer tools to automate the process, but it is kind of detail-driven and time-consuming. The biggest potential pitfall is trying to imitate PIE too closely. One thing we do know about the reconstructed PIE language is that it made Classical Greek or Sanskrit look simple in comparison. My constructed languages for this project are going to be a lot less fiddly and complex. They’re just going to be naming languages, for the most part, so I don’t need to have a bunch of linguistic complication, I just need to be able to hint at it in a plausible manner.

So far I’ve developed a tool (a Perl script of about 120 lines) to generate all the “legal” word roots in the ur-language (about 150,000 of them, more than I’ll ever use). I’ve dumped all of those into an Excel spreadsheet which now serves as my master list for future lexicon-building.

I’m currently working on a partial description of the ur-language, with special attention to morphology: just how do you form verbs or nouns from word roots, how do the verbs conjugate, how do the nouns decline, and so on. As soon as that’s more or less finished, I’ll be building another Perl script (or maybe two) to automatically generate verb conjugations or noun declensions as needed.

The last step will involve developing two or three sets of sound-change laws, so I can take completed words in the ur-language and create daughter-language words from them. Another Perl script for that, I think.

Once all this work is done, my constructed-language workflow will get a lot simpler, and hopefully more consistent. Do I need a name or a bit of exotic vocabulary? Build a word in the ur-language, by selecting a legal root from the list and applying the defined morphology rules. Then run that through the sound-change script to generate final lexicon entries. Everything goes into a set of Excel spreadsheets, so I can sort and massage the results as needed. If I ever feel like tweaking the structure a bit, it becomes easy to modify the scripts and re-run everything.

I find when working on world-building, having the technical knowledge necessary to produce plausible detail isn’t the most important thing. That part is relatively easy. The hard part is scoping the task so that you can plan it out from start to finish, and then having the discipline to finish the task and move on. World-building is a neat hobby. If your goal is to actually write stories, you can’t permit yourself to get buried in the world-building. As I’ve learned to my cost.

“Fermi’s Nightmare” Article Now Available on Sharrukin’s Worlds

June 1, 2019 Sharrukin Comments 0 Comment

One of the few blog entries I’ve ever written that I thought was worth preserving was titled “Fermi’s Nightmare.” This was a brief examination of a corollary to a well-known observation made by Enrico Fermi back in the 1950s. For the last few years, that’s been hosted over at the Sharrukin’s Archive site. As of today, I’ve moved it into a static page on this blog. It should be visible in the Pages sidebar on the right.

At this point, the only thing still sitting at Sharrukin’s Archive that isn’t available anywhere else is some draft material for the Human Destiny setting. Fairly soon, I may either move that content over here, or simply decide to take it offline until I do some redesign of the setting. To be honest, there are things about the current concept that have me seriously blocked – I’ve been struggling for a couple of years to produce more stories for it than the one I’ve published.

Either way, expect the Sharrukin’s Archive site to come down entirely as soon as I’ve figured out what to do with the remaining material.

Status Report (31 May 2019)

June 1, 2019 Sharrukin Comments 0 Comment

My main project at present continues to be the development of plot for the novel The Curse of Steel. That’s moving along at a reasonable pace. Off to the side of that task, though, I recently found myself struggling with a different obstacle.

The Curse of Steel is going to be a bit of pseudo-historical fantasy, set in an alternate Iron Age world rather like Tolkien’s Middle-earth or Robert Howard’s Hyborian Era. Part of the project has involved the development of a small set of partial “constructed languages,” mostly for the derivation of names and a few scraps of vocabulary to act as cultural markers.

The process I’ve been using has been to develop an ur-language that somewhat resembles a simplified version of Proto-Indo-European (PIE). I then apply sets of sound-change rules to develop words in my planned collection of daughter languages. The result should be consistent and pleasing to the ear, even if it doesn’t work as a complete conversational language. All of this is fairly routine.

The problem has been that I’ve been doing all of this by hand, and the project has gotten large enough that I can’t keep it all straight in my head. I can’t always remember which word-roots I’ve already used, and the documents I’m using to record them aren’t exactly user-friendly. Meanwhile, whenever I tweak the rules for word formation or sound-changes, I find I’m not applying the tweaks consistently. I’m getting snarled up.

Okay, I realized a while ago, a lot of this would really be better done by a computer. Computers are great at tedious tasks that involve applying procedures consistently across a lot of data. Couldn’t I find a tool that I could use to keep track of my word-roots, record my expanding vocabulary, apply inflectional rules and sound changes, all of that?

So I went looking for software tools that other people had used for language construction. Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything I thought would be useful . . . but earlier this week I realized I had all the tools I needed to build my own.

Years ago I was a professional coder. I did most of my work in the C language and a UNIX environment, but I also taught myself a language called Perl, which is ideal for processing text strings and applying well-defined procedures to them. Couldn’t I build Perl scripts to generate all the possible word roots, apply inflectional rules to them, develop daughter-language vocabulary?

Okay, it’s probably been almost twenty years since I wrote a lot of Perl, but I still have my books, and coding is a little like riding a bicycle. You never entirely forget the skill once you have it. Meanwhile, there exists a nice free implementation of Perl for the Windows environment (Strawberry Perl). So over the last few days, I’ve been starting to build a Perl library that I can use to manage the language construction task – at least well enough to get past the immediate obstacle.

Early results are promising. I’ve just about got a script written and debugged, which will generate all the word roots in my ur-language, according to the PIE-like structure I’ve designed. Once that’s finished and I pull the output, I’ll dump that into an Excel spreadsheet where I can record the meanings I select for different roots. Then I should be able to put together another script that will apply the sound-change rules I’ve designed.

I may show off some of the results of this work over the next few days. Once this side project is done, the conlang process shouldn’t get in the way so badly. If I need a name or a piece of vocabulary, I will be able to generate it quickly, record it, and get right back to writing story.

Not to mention, it’s kind of neat to be writing code again. It’s been a while.

Status Report (21 May 2019)

May 22, 2019 Sharrukin Comments 0 Comment

Just a short note this evening. I think my writer’s block of the last couple of months is finally starting to come unstuck, all thanks to the Muses.

Over the weekend I managed to finish a chapter of the Silmarillion fan-fiction novel I’ve been poking at for a long time. Might be able to push that forward a bit more smoothly in the next couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, I’ve also been fairly successful in using FATE to rework the plot of The Curse of Steel. I’m using the game as a structure to work out setting, characters, and plot, and it seems to be effective. It’s unabashedly a brain-hack, something to keep my creative mind focused on actually producing story rather than slipping back down the rabbit-hole of purposeless speculation and world-building. A little more work on that project and I may be able to re-write the first quarter or so of the draft novel without pause.

Every evening I try to set aside an hour or two before bedtime to make some forward progress. Cross my fingers that it keeps coming together.

The Curse of Steel: Characters

May 12, 2019 Sharrukin Comments 0 Comment

Here are some first-fruits of the work I’ve been doing with the FATE tabletop game, trying to find a new way to discipline my world-building and story-planning work.

The idea was for me to work through character design for the leads of my partial-draft novel The Curse of Steel, and use that process (as the FATE game suggests) to do some of the world-building for the setting. So far the exercise seems to have worked out well. I know a lot more about these characters than I did before, and I have a bunch of fresh ideas about the world they live in.

Kráva the Swift

A tall, athletic young woman, well-muscled, slim of figure, trained as a warrior. Carries a number of small scars, the worst being a set of bear-claw marks on her left shoulder. Tawny brown skin, black hair with violet highlights, cobalt-blue eyes. Usually wears leather combat gear, topped off with a bear-skin cloak, with one or two pieces of jewelry to show off her wealth.

Aspects

Headstrong Warrior Woman
Wielder of the Lightning Blade
Always Have Something to Prove
Everyone Deserves a Fair Chance
Talk to the Fist

Skills

Great (+4): Shoot
Good (+3): Athletics, Horses
Fair (+2): Fight, Physique, Resources
Average (+1): Crafts, Notice, Provoke, Will

Extras & Stunts

Tarankláva, the Lightning Blade: This ancient sword, made of what in another world would be called the finest Damascus steel, is the primary reason the setting is called “The Curse of Steel.”
- To use Tarankláva to its full potential, you must have the aspect Wielder of the Lightning Blade, indicating that the sword has accepted you as its owner (and as the current instrument of its revenge). The sword also costs 1 point of refresh.
- At all times, the sword grants +2 to Fight while you use it in battle.
- The sword also has two aspects of its own: See into the Hearts of Men and Slayer of Corrupt Kings. As the possessor of Tarankláva, you can invoke these aspects yourself, but they can also be compelled. The sword will “tell” you about the dishonesty and sins of the people around you, even (or especially) when you would rather not know. The sword will also push you into destroying corrupt people, especially in positions of power, the higher the position the better.
Charioteer: +2 to overcome or create-an-advantage actions with Horses if you are driving a chariot.
Legendary Archer: When wielding a bow, you may use Shoot to make attacks with it up to four zones away.
Swift and Certain of Foot: +2 to overcome or create-an-advantage actions with Athletics if you are running across broken or built-up ground.

Refresh: 2.

Consequences

Physical Stress Track: 3 boxes
Mental Stress Track: 3 boxes
Standard consequence slots

Elements of Backstory

As a young woman, Kráva always felt that she had to prove herself to her father and their clan. On one occasion she went out hunting, alone and without backup. She encountered an angry bear, and although she managed to kill the beast, she was badly injured and had to spend weeks recovering. Her father rebuked her, but he also made sure she was given the bear’s pelt to keep.
Aspect: Always Have Something to Prove
Kráva and her father were in Verkanta when Lóka ran away from his master. Degra was put in charge of finding the runaway slave, responsible for tracking him down. Kráva spoke up for Lóka, and delayed events long enough for Kúnadan to intervene.
Aspect: Everyone Deserves a Fair Chance
Kráva and her father were in Verkanta again when Drotháno ruined the foreign trader’s schemes. When the trader tried to run to King Módran for help, Kráva and Drotháno were the ones who cornered him and beat him within an inch of his life, running him out of town.
Aspect: Talk to the Fist

Drotháno the Silent

A powerfully built young man, tall and heavily muscled. Tawny brown skin, dark brown hair, crystal blue eyes. Always dressed in simple but well-kept clothing, or in well-maintained combat gear. Very quiet, almost never speaks around strangers.

Aspects

Loyal Warrior of the Wolf Clan
Uncomfortable Around Strangers
A Lot Smarter Than I Look
Woods-Wise
Always Listens to a Tale of Woe

Skills

Great (+4): Physique
Good (+3): Fight, Stealth
Fair (+2): Empathy, Horses, Will
Average (+1): Athletics, Crafts, Investigate, Notice

Extras & Stunts

Brawler: When fighting a mob of nameless characters, you deal one additional stress on a physical hit.
Tough as Nails: Once per session, at the cost of a fate point, you can reduce the severity of a moderate physical consequence to a mild consequence (if the mild consequence slot is free), or erase a mild physical consequence altogether.
I Can See Through You: +2 to overcome or defend against lies with Empathy.

Refresh: 3.

Consequences

Physical Stress Track: 4 boxes
Mental Stress Track: 3 boxes
Standard consequence slots

Elements of Backstory

A foreign trader from civilized lands came to visit Sudavai territory, and tried to swindle the Wolf-clan out of its gold and silver in exchange for worthless trinkets. Fortunately, the trader paid Drotháno no attention, thinking him simple, and he was able to uncover the plot. He and his father tricked the trader into revealing his intentions, and the man was driven away with a fine and a beating.
Aspect: A Lot Smarter Than I Look
When Kráva went out hunting alone and didn’t come back right away, her father sent out warriors to search for her in the wilderness. Even though he was only a guest, Drotháno was one of the ones who volunteered to help. He tracked her, found her after she fought the bear, bandaged her wounds, and helped her get safely home.
Aspect: Woods-Wise
When Lóka ran away from his master, it was Drotháno who found him naked and injured in a back alley of Verkanta. He helped the older boy hide, cleaned him up, disguised him, and helped him get to Kúnadan’s hall. Lóka has been grateful ever since.
Aspect: Always Listens to a Tale of Woe

Lóka the Clever

Handsome man of average height and build. His olive-skinned coloring is several shades lighter than usual, betraying his mixed heritage. Has dark brown eyes and black hair. Always wearing fine clothes, often in white or in bright colors, along with the iron torc of a low-ranking vaita. Usually carries a small harp slung in its case on his back.

Aspects

Ambitious Scholar and Magician
Too Clever for My Own Good
I Owe Kúnadan Everything
Drotháno is My Blood Brother
Reading the Book of Fate

Skills

Great (+4): Lore
Good (+3): Magic, Rapport
Fair (+2): Contacts, Notice, Will
Average (+1): Deceive, Empathy, Investigate, Provoke

Extras & Stunts

Demagogue: +2 to Rapport when you are speaking in front of a mob or crowd and trying to sway them to act as you wish.
Linguist: +2 to Lore when you are reading, writing, speaking, or translating an unusual language.
Trained Physician: You can make physical recovery attempts, for yourself or others, with Lore.

Refresh: 3.

Consequences

Physical Stress Track: 2 boxes
Mental Stress Track: 3 boxes
Standard consequence slots

Elements of Backstory

Lóka was born the son of a slave in Verkanta, and would normally never have been considered for initiation as a vaita. As a young man, he ran away from home to present himself at the hall of the chief vaita, Kúnadan, hoping to demonstrate his determination to learn. His former master tracked him down there and threatened to kill him, but in front of Kúnadan he challenged the man to a contest of poetry and won. The vaita took him under his wing, trained him, and initiated him.
Aspect: I Owe Kúnadan Everything
Lóka was present in Verkanta when the foreign trader tried to swindle the Wolf-clan. At first, he offered to help the trader in exchange for a cut of the profits. Later, he decided to help the Wolf-clan instead, advising Drotháno and helping him to trick the trader.
Aspect: Drotháno is My Blood Brother
Kúnadan and Lóka were visiting the Lion-clan when Kráva went hunting alone and returned badly injured. Lóka was assigned to provide medicine and healing magic. He was impressed by the young woman’s courage and had a sudden strong foresight of her destiny. He persuaded Kúnadan to arrange for Kráva to be recognized as a warrior-woman of the tribe. Kúnadan began to train Lóka as a seer and prophet.
Aspect: Reading the Book of Fate

Worldbuilding Notes

The setting for The Curse of Steel is a gritty swords-and-sorcery world, set at an early Iron Age level, reminiscent of pre-Roman Europe, Middle-earth in the Second Age, or the Hyborian Era. The initial set of characters will all be members of a barbarian culture, technically sophisticated but organized along tribal lines, on the fringes of the civilized world.

The Setting’s Big Issues

Corruption in the King’s Hall – The Sudavai tribe has a new king, and he is already showing signs of being a very bad king indeed. He favors his own family and clan at the expense of others, he breaks the law and steps all over people to grab wealth and power, and he’s starting to imitate the hypocritical manners of civilized kingdoms.

A God of Iron and Fire – Far away, several of the civilized kingdoms have come under the sway of a dark and terrible god. This god seeks to conquer and rule the world, eradicating all his ancient enemies and stamping out every vestige of freedom. Although this threat to the Sudavai people isn’t immediate, it’s already influencing events.

Faces & Places

King Módran – The new king of the Sudavai, a relatively young man who fits the tribe’s image of the “good king” (handsome, brave, a good fighter). Has the aspects Gold Sticks to My Fingers and Smooth-Talking Liar.

The Dark God’s Envoy – A mysterious figure who acts as the Dark God’s agent among the Sudavai tribe. At the beginning of the story, no one knows who this is, or even that he or she exists.

Kúnadan – The old chief vaita of the kingdom, the king’s advisor and one of the few men in his hall who hasn’t been corrupted yet.

“The Foreign Trader” – A traveling merchant from civilized countries, who sometimes tries to make a profit by swindling the tribesmen. Carries a very bitter grudge against our heroes. I don’t have a name for this individual yet, and may need to do a bit of constructed-language work to derive one.

Verkanta – The settlement (basically a small fortified town) where King Módran keeps his hall, the largest owned by the Sudavai tribe and the effective capital.

Some Timeline Notes

23 years ago – Lóka is born.
22 years ago – Drotháno is born.
20 years ago – Kráva is born.
7 years ago – Lóka runs away from his master and is taken in by Kúnadan.
4 years ago – Kráva goes hunting alone and is badly injured by a bear.
1 year ago – Drotháno prevents a foreign trader from swindling the Wolf-clan.

Skills

The Drive skill is replaced by a Horses skill, which covers both horseback riding and driving a chariot. All other skills are as in the default list.

There is a separate Magic skill, used by everyone in the setting who might have magical powers.

Magic

Several magical styles may appear in the course of the story, some of them quite flashy. For now, there’s a common “hedge magic” style shared by almost every human culture in one form or another. In the tribal culture where Kráva and her friends live, this low-key style is practiced by the vaitai or “wise ones,” a professional class who provide a variety of services.

Extra: Common Magic

Permissions: One aspect indicating that you’ve been trained as a magician.
Costs: Skill ranks invested in the Magic skill. This form of magic costs no points of refresh, as it’s largely a matter of flavor.
Characters trained in Common Magic can use their knowledge to perform supernatural effects, including the following actions:
- Overcome: Use Magic to prepare and perform magical rituals properly, or to answer questions about arcane phenomena.
- Create an Advantage: Use Magic to alter the environment with magic, or to place mental or physical impediments on a target. Characters can defend against this with Will.
- Attack: Use Magic to directly harm someone with magic, either through conjuring of physical force or through mental assault. These attacks can be made up to one zone away. Targets can defend with Athletics or Will, depending on the nature of the attack, or Magic if the target also has magical training.
- Defend: Use Magic to defend against hostile magic or other supernatural effects.

A note about vaitai: membership in the college is ranked, so that a vaita can be referred to as having a specific “degree.” First degree vaitai are the most advanced and powerful, whereas seventh degree vaitai are just starting out. To estimate the degree of a vaita, add up their ranks in the Lore, Magic, and Will skills, and subtract the total from 16. It’s not possible to be higher than first degree, and anyone who is below seventh degree is simply considered a “novice.” So for example, Lóka the Clever is a seventh-degree vaita, still apprenticed to a more experienced professional.

Status Report (11 May 2019)

May 11, 2019 Sharrukin Comments 0 Comment

There have been some recent developments. In particular, I’ve finally come out the far side of a roughly six-week period of really busy time at the office. Next week I’m helping to teach one of my own courses, and then there’s not much on my calendar for the rest of the summer. While I will still have plenty of other projects to occupy my day-job time, I won’t be putting in so many long days, weekend hours, or business trips for a while.

Meanwhile, the creative juices seem to be flowing again at home, so I’m starting to get some world-building and writing work done again.

In particular, I’ve been experimenting with a new approach to world-building for the literary projects I have on the docket. My preferred tabletop game for many years has been GURPS, flagship RPG from Steve Jackson Games. That’s not likely to change, but recently I’ve turned to another “generic, universal” game to do basic world-building. That game is FATE, published by Evil Hat Productions, a sophisticated and highly polished version of the venerable FUDGE system.

GURPS is deeply simulation-driven, largely derived from the tabletop wargaming thread of the origins of roleplaying games. FATE, on the other hand, is deeply narrative-driven, encouraging its users to do only as much world-building as they need to generate cool characters and drive their stories forward. Definitely worth considering for someone like me, who tends to fling himself down the world-building rabbit-hole to the exclusion of actually writing and publishing stories.

Unfortunately, while I understand GURPS inside and out, FATE is a pretty different approach to the problem of world-building and story prep. I’ve had trouble in the past wrapping my head around how it works. In the last few weeks, though, I’ve made a concerted effort to force myself to go through FATE‘s world-building and character-creation processes, with one of my literary projects in mind (the gritty-fantasy setting I’m calling The Curse of Steel). The results are starting to feel fairly promising. More about that over the next few days, I think.

None of which is to say that you won’t be seeing anything more from me about GURPS in the future. Still, if this experiment pans out, I may end up doing a lot of literary prep work with FATE instead. I might then come back and write things up in GURPS terms, but only after I’ve made good progress with a story that’s on track for publication.

It has also not escaped my notice that it would be a lot easier for me to self-publish material for FATE than to do the same for GURPS. Self-publishing GURPS-based material for profit certainly isn’t impossible, and I do have a long (if rather stale) history as a published GURPS author if I wanted to make a proposal to Steve Jackson Games. On the other hand, the FATE system is available under an Open Gaming License or a Creative Commons license. To be explored if and when I have something that might be worth publishing.

Status Report (24 April 2019)

April 24, 2019 Sharrukin Comments 0 Comment

I’ve been radio-silent for several weeks here. Mostly this is due to the day job, which has soaked up a lot of my time, attention, and energy over the past month or so. What with teaching courses, writing new courses, going on business travel, mentoring my colleagues . . . I’m not having a lot of extra resources to spend on creative work lately. Which isn’t to say that projects aren’t perking along in the back of my mind in odd moments, which seems to be how I often make progress on things anyway. So I’ll certainly be back to this space and pushing things forward once the weather changes.

In other news, I learned something today that severely disappointed me regarding several individuals and a publisher with whom I’ve worked in the past. Not going to name names, but if you know something about my creative history and are aware of recent events in the tabletop gaming industry, you can probably put two and two together. Still not sure what decision I’m going to make about that. How do you respond when you discover you’re associated with, working with, actively supporting someone whose other activities you find reprehensible? How do you respond when, as here, the relationship is at one or two removes? That is, your associates aren’t carrying out the reprehensible actions directly, but they’re continuing to partner with and support, and generally seem to be okay with, someone who is.

I’ve been in this situation before. A few years ago I contributed to a product written and published by an individual whom I discovered later was actively involved in the alt-right movement. I generally avoid issuing political or social opinions in this blog, but you can take it as read that I am not fond of the alt-right. Still, it was too late to back out. My name was already attached to the product in print. Not that this was ever likely to be a huge deal – I was one of dozens involved, and my contribution was minimal – but it still left a bad taste in my mouth. I resolved at the time that I wasn’t going to be put in that kind of situation again, through my own lack of due diligence.

So I’m going to have to think about this. In the meantime, I’m going to temporarily set that publisher’s products aside and make no use of them in this space, until further developments have resolved the conflict or I’ve reached a more permanent decision.

Architect of Worlds: Reality Ensues

March 29, 2019 Sharrukin Comments 3 comments

One element of work on the Architect of Worlds project is that real-world science in this area has been advancing by leaps and bounds for years. Not once but several times, I’ve settled on a method for modeling some feature of planetary formation, only to see some new result published that seems to demand a different model. On one occasion, while I was testing the current model by generating planetary systems for nearby stars, I literally saw the first publication of new exoplanets in a star system I had just done randomly a few days before. This can be frustrating, although I have to admit it’s also rather exciting!

Now it seems to have happened again. The current model I use for planetary system formation implements a combination of the Nice model and the Grand Tack hypothesis, which together describe how Jupiter may have formed and migrated through the early solar system before settling down in its current location. The assumption is that a planetary system’s primary gas giant will normally form near the “snow line” and then migrate inward (and possibly outward) to its final position. This is all implemented in Step 10 of the current sequence.

Now there seems to be evidence that these models aren’t telling the whole story. In a new paper, “The consequences of planetary migration on the minor bodies of the early Solar System,” computer simulation seems to suggest that the core of Jupiter must have formed much further out than the Nice model suggests. It may have formed as far out as four or five times the snow-line radius, and then migrated inward very quickly.

I need to read the Pirani paper in more detail, and see if there’s been any discussion as to how to reconcile those results with the Nice model. To be honest, the Nice model isn’t entirely consensus in the community, so a new model that fills in some of its problematic details might work.

Still, if the Pirani paper seems supportable, it may be necessary to do a significant rewrite of the second chunk of the design sequence. It’s possible that the result may actually be simpler than what I’ve got now. I’ve thought of a way to cut out some of the current sub-steps and computation, making the process a little smoother, that might work. We’ll see what develops.

The Curse of Steel: Rough Timeline

March 29, 2019 Sharrukin Comments 0 Comment

To review the bidding: I’m working up some background notes for a novel I’ve started but gotten stuck on, with the working title of The Curse of Steel. Last time I set down some ideas for specific peoples and ethnic groups to be found in the setting – rather Tolkienesque, with quite a bit of input from the paleontological fantasy of Michael Scott Rohan. Today, here are some notes about a rough-draft timeline that can serve as a high-level framework.

Age of Myth (until about 9000 years before present):
- The world spends many thousands of years in a deep glacial age. Gods hostile to human life dominate the world, led by a powerful and malevolent deity (the first Great Enemy). Benevolent gods come to the mortal world to battle the hostile deities, eventually killing them or driving them into the outer darkness.
- During the wars, the benevolent gods ally with Elders and Smith-folk, helping them to create the first sophisticated kingdoms (but not civilizations, since they don’t involve cities) in the world. In response, the malevolent gods create the Beast-folk to serve as shock troops. Humans and the Sea-folk remain primitive, barely surviving in small refugia and taking little or no part in the wars of the gods.
- Once the malevolent gods are finally defeated and the world begins to warm, the Elders withdraw to the divine plane to live with the benevolent gods. The Smith-folk remain behind, some of them reverting to primitive hunter-gatherer lifestyles, others looking for opportunities to practice their crafts now that the wars of the gods are over.
About 8700 years before the present: Several groups of Smith-folk settle in a region analogous to the Fertile Crescent, striking up a mutually beneficial relationship with the human hunter-gatherers of the region. The Smith-folk teach humans primitive agriculture and Neolithic-level technologies, helping to build large cult-centers (megalithic architecture).
About 8200 years before the present: Rising sea levels encroach upon a low-lying region in the far northwest, undermining the connection between the continental mainland and a “Northern Isles” region that will eventually become analogous to the British Isles.
About 6700 years before the present:
- Foundation of the world’s first pseudo-city, a Neolithic population center on the edges of the “Fertile Crescent” region which grows to about ten thousand inhabitants. The settlement remains organized along hunter-gatherer lines, with no social stratification, civic cult, or record-keeping.
- A malevolent goddess, the second Great Enemy, enters the mortal world, remaining hidden, spying out the state of the world. She becomes disgusted with the “crowding and swarming” of humans, and seeks out ways to eradicate them through infectious disease.
About 5700 years before the present: Farming communities begin to spread slowly in all directions from the agricultural urheimat, possibly driven by the need to avoid crowding and disease. While they migrate across the Great Lands, these farmers intermarry with and displace the original hunter-gatherer peoples.
About 5400 years before the present: A large landslide takes place adjacent to the northern seas, causing a massive tsunami. The last remnants of the “low country” are overwhelmed, and the Northern Islands are cut off from the continental mainland.
About 4900 years before the present: The first great pseudo-city collapses, wracked by disease and social upheaval. The collapse accelerates the spread of Neolithic technologies and society across the Great Lands, as farmers seek to spread out and bring more land under intensive cultivation.
About 4200 years before the present: Neolithic peoples have reached the far northwest of the Great Lands, and the coasts of the western sea. Farming expansion pauses for about a thousand years.
About 3700 years before the present: With the aid of the Smith-folk, a small population of Neolithic farmers in the central Great Lands develops bronze metallurgy. The technology is jealously guarded and fails to spread.
About 3200 years before the present:
- Human farming societies cross the strait to settle in the Northern Islands, also spreading into far northern regions. The Great Lands are now dominated by farming communities, although the older hunter-gatherer populations still survive in reclusive enclaves. The Smith-folk thrive in this environment, setting up small communities and bands of itinerant craftsmen, offering technical services and maintaining long-distance trade networks.
- Just as farmers come to dominate the Great Lands, the second Great Enemy reveals herself, openly seeking to do away with humans and return to the world to its “natural” state. Her first gambit is to encourage a series of plagues in the Neolithic populations, decimating many communities. Human populations throughout the Great Lands remain depressed for centuries afterward.
- The incipient Bronze Age society in the central Great Lands is a victim of the Great Enemy’s activity. Bronze metallurgy is lost for several centuries before being reinvented in the “Fertile Crescent” region.
- A large contingent of the Elders departs the divine plane to pursue the malevolent goddess, resulting in several centuries of warfare in the northwestern region of the Great Lands. The Elders recruit Neolithic-level humans as adjuncts in their war, sometimes as soldiers, more often as serfs who can raise food and supplies for the war effort. Humans still benefit from the relationship, learning a great deal from the Elders and coming to speak a pidgin version of their language.
About 2700 years before the present: Humans in the Fertile Crescent analog develop Bronze Age metallurgy, with some help from local Smith-folk communities. First development of true civilization (intensive agriculture, record-keeping, social stratification, organized religious cult, cities). Bronze Age technologies begin to spread across the Great Lands.
About 2600 years before the present:
- The war ends with another intervention of the benevolent gods, who deliver a final defeat to the second Great Enemy. Some of the Enemy’s lieutenants (minor gods and demigods) escape the defeat and hide in the mortal world for centuries to come. One comes to lurk among the nascent civilizations of the Fertile Crescent analog.
- With the enemy defeated, most of the surviving Elders return to the divine plane, although a small remnant population remains in the Great Lands for many centuries.
- The human societies who directly aided the Elders in their war are rewarded with the opportunity to migrate to a very hospitable minor continent amid the western sea. There, they develop their own civilization based upon all they have learned from the Elders and the benevolent gods.
About 2500 years before the present: In the wide plains east of the Great Lands, a human pastoral culture domesticates the horse. This development gives these humans an advantage over their neighbors, and they begin to spread more widely.
About 1600 years before the present: Another of the malevolent gods (the third Great Enemy) begins to actively interfere in the development of human civilizations in the “Fertile Crescent” region. This deity is more subtle than his predecessors, seeking to manipulate humans and rule them rather than eradicate them. His activities provoke no obvious response from the divine plane for many centuries.
About 1500 years before the present:
- First Bronze Age societies appear in the northwestern region of the Great Lands, and in the Northern Isles.
- The first ships from the mid-ocean civilization begin to visit the Great Lands, although they make no permanent settlements and never remain for long. Contact with the Bronze Age tribes of the region is friendly and mutually beneficial.
- The first human empire is established in the “Fertile Crescent” region, with the third Great Enemy lurking in the shadows behind the human kings.
About 1200 years before the present: The horse-breeding people in the plains east of the Great Lands develop a new set of technologies, including the spoke-wheel chariot and the composite bow. These Chariot People discover they have an immense military advantage over their neighbors, and their society becomes structured to exploit that advantage. They begin a centuries-long process of moving into new regions, taking over as a warrior elite, then imposing their language and customs on the prior farming societies they have conquered.
Present Day:
- The peoples of the Great Lands, especially those in the “cradle of civilization” regions, have made the transition to an Iron Age technology. Only in a few very peripheral areas are some people still lingering at a Bronze Age (or Neolithic) level.
- The Chariot People have invaded and infiltrated as far as the Northern Isles, and have come to dominate the Great Lands. Krava’s people are among these later arrivals, resembling early Celts (Halstatt culture).
- The third Great Enemy remains hidden, slowly building up the power of the human empires under his sway.
- The mid-ocean civilization is the great power of the world, sailing all around the planet, trading with everyone they find. In recent centuries they have contacted the Sea-folk and have done much to spread the “little people” all over the planet. Unfortunately, they have also gotten a taste for power, and their relationships with other cultures are becoming less gentle or benevolent.

Okay, with that I’m ready to start working on a revised version of the map, focusing on the “Great Lands” regions. If get really ambitious, I may use that map to construct a variant board for a tabletop game that I can use to generate the history in a bit more fine-grained detail. With any luck, that will help me envision Krava’s world more fully, so I can get that novel unblocked. More to come.