Some Random Exposition Things I Deleted From My Book #1

some random exposition things i deleted from my book #1

This is a bit of a less formal post, but I thought people might want to see some of the lore I ended up deleting because there was no point in having pace-breaking exposition in the middle of a random scene. I had a *lot* of these and for the last few hours i've been working on compressing/removing them because they were just too much imo. Here's a few of them, for anyone who is *really* interested in reading about my world :P

On the import/export process of one of Leln's taverns:

Original page: pg. 142

reason for deletion: not really necessary even if its kinda cool

It should have gone without saying, but as a drink-serving establishment, they had a wide variety of things. From coffee, to tea. Obviously they specialized in alcohol, given that they were a tavern first and foremost, but that didn’t mean the coffee, tea, or food took a backseat in quality. In fact, one might find every item on the menu to be within the same margin of quality, regardless of what they ordered. It wasn’t the most expensive food on the planet, nor was it ridiculously decadent. It was simple and hearty, perfect for adventurers. The beans for the coffee were imported from a small village that specialized in the harvest of coffee cherries. In that same village, those coffee cherries would transform from seed to bean, where they would be sent to the various establishments who had contracts with said village. The tea was a similar affair, a product offered by farmers who held contracts with establishments. They would procure the ingredients, fill the tea bags, and through a long process of trial and error, make truly quality tea flavors, which could then be served at any number of establishments whether high or low end. The ale was, of course, created in-house and kept fresh in taps. Of course, if another establishment wished to share their blend of ale, they’d have to pay a hefty price. Taverns did not tend to share their specific fermentation process or their brewing secrets, and when and if they did they didn’t come cheap. The best tavern in Kommodia had been rumored to have declined an incredibly exorbitant amount of money, simply because they would have had to give up their secrets for it. It would be, of course, prudent to keep in mind that the quality of coffee and tea available to adventurers and commonfolk, and that which was available to nobles was quite different. It was not, of course, to say that the quality of these goods available to those who were not royalty was bad, but it certainly was not the top of the tree, so to say. Nevertheless, Beriyl enjoyed the tea he was served, even if to him, it was a few cuts under what he was used to.

On a certain merchant's business life:

original page: pg. 29

reason for deletion: not necessary for the reader to know any of this, breaks flow

Managing a store was not cheap, and neither was purchasing supplies to stock the store with. Luckily for him, he’d caught a big break recently, signing numerous contracts with several big name merchant companies. Essentially, he’d have a continuous trickle of arms and armour, amidst other things, delivered to him on a semi-regular basis. What he had was good, for where he was, anyway. Technically speaking, it’d be more profitable if he decided to move to the capital, Hamelan, simply for the fact he’d have even more business opportunity. More contracts and more contacts meant better equipment, which meant higher prices, which meant more money. Of course, he’d have to give an agreed-upon portion to the contractor, but that’s how it was already, and he was paying some pretty steep rates with a few of his existing contracts. While the dwarf shopkeeper was willing to negotiate on certain things, “nobility discounts” was not one of them. If he handed out discounts to every fool coming in claiming to be the heir to some renowned family, he’d be bankrupt in a week. Well, at least living in Leln had some benefits. Cheaper tax than Hamelan’s, at least. Perhaps it was obvious, but Beriyl had no way to know any of that. Putting aside the fact that he grew up in the definition of the lap of luxury, he had no window of insight into the man's confidential business affairs.

About the Adventurers Guilds rules/rankings/other nonsense:

context: i deleted this because this was just completely unnecessary, way too much exposition for something that isn't the biggest part of the story at a certain point, especially because the reader can infer 90% of these rules and a vast majority of them dont need to be shoved into the readers face like this. Ranks are fine imo to have shown and the rest should just be inferred.

original page: pg. 27

As Taka was told, the ranks went something like this, from highest to lowest:

Rank S: Legendary

Rank A: Platinum

Rank B: Gold

Rank C: Silver

Rank D: Copper

Rank E: Bronze

Rank F: Clay

(deleted stuff starts here, just added the stuff above for context)

Apparently, job board requests also followed this structure, although S-Rank missions were never really seen. However, for job board requests there was a special category of missions above S-Rank, known as "Crisis" and "Calamity" class missions. These were reserved for world-ending calamitous threats and other extremely dire situations. For example, in the event of a world-endangering natural disaster, a Crisis-Class, or CC-Rank mission would be placed. In the event of a mad magician rising up from his labyrinthian dungeon to take over a small part of the world, there would be a S-Rank mission placed. If, say, an ancient evil rose to destroy all humanity, that’d be a Calamity-Class, or CC+-Rank mission. However, these two types of requests hadn't been seen in a very long time according to the receptionist. Typically though, they'd be issued by the guild or government itself, as most people lacked the authority to post quests above an A-Rank. In any case, it seemed that the exceedingly high rank of S was more of a social status thing than an actually awarded title.

For adventurers, rank was important. It dictated what type of jobs you could accept, and by extension, how much you would earn for completing them. Dangerous, high ranking quests paid more, but had more risk associated with them than lower ranked, lesser paying quests. Of course, not every adventurer had to take on monster-hunting jobs. There were also crafting and gathering jobs, for those skilled in those fields. There were also rules associated with job-taking. Namely, you were allowed to take jobs ranked one higher and of the same level as you, but not one below. This was supposedly to "push fledglings from the nest" sooner, so that they might start contributing to the realm in larger amounts. It was also to keep a steady influx of low level jobs available for new adventurers, who were always in constant supply. There were also rules for forming parties; you were allowed to create a party with members your rank, or one higher or lower than your rank. This prevented lower ranked adventurers from joining very high ranked adventurers and simply riding their coattails. "You have to work for your rank", seemed to be the message the guild wanted to send with this rule. In essence, the guild was just a medium through which freelancers could band together and find work. In parties, it was common courtesy to split the gold, but different parties did things differently, and the guild did not have any formal regulations on how parties should be run. Most things were left up to the party leader's discretion.

Although it was not said in this exact order, Taka was also told that only the party leader may accept quests, and only one quest may be assigned to any one party at a time, barring a special government exception. He learned of "Clear Tags" which were small tags, much like the adventurer tags he noticed sometimes around people’s necks or wrists, used to verify the completion of a quest. They were given to clients of the guild who posted a job, so there was a clear "verifiable" way to prove that the quest was indeed completed without wasting the time of client and adventurer both, by dragging them both along into the guild and having a lengthy chat to ensure nothing went wrong. This was a recent technology; in the past, adventurers were subjected to long chats after each clear. Essentially, when you completed a quest, you would check in with the client, who would give you the Clear Tag. They'd press their finger on it, and the status depicted on the tag would change to "cleared", thus, the name "Clear Tags". By this point, Taka was beginning to feel sick with how much information was going through his head, and he worried that he would forget it all. He realized he was starting to space out, so he pinched his arm discretely to try and stay focused. Then, he learned that jobs could "expire" if left uncompleted for too long. The time until "expiration" varied from job to job, but mostly depended on the job's rank, although the client could set a "expiration" date themselves, if they so specified. There was a limit on how many quests parties could accept in a day, set at three. A and S-Rank parties however, were given special privileges, and allowed to accept and complete up to five in one day. Reasonably, the risks present and consequences suffered if you faltered in your duty or fell in the field while undergoing a higher ranked mission, could be much more devastating than the consequences of failing a lower ranked mission.

It was for this reason that the guild did not simply hand out promotions-- they had to be earned, by doing work for the guild or by proving yourself in battle against a particularly tough foe. Even then they weren't just granted, you had to go through a special interview process with a representative of the guild, as well as a member of the local government who had been trained in such matters. Parties were not forced to accept promotion offers, should they not feel ready for the correspondingly ranked jobs. If a party turned down such an offer, they would be able to request that promotion at any time going forward. Of course, they would still have to go through the interview process. There were no penalties associated with declining an offer and asking for it again at a later time. With this system in place, the guild was able to assure those who issued requests to the guild that their problem would be solved. However, as with anything in adventuring, nothing was certain. A single mistake could spell doom for your party. It was only a small assurance that those who had proven themselves, and not fledglings would be undertaking these quests. Anything could happen during an adventure. Veteran adventurers die to the seemingly simplest of things, and newbies pass through the most seemingly impossible of tasks. All it took was a bit of luck and skill. Those who failed quests but came back alive were reprimanded and punished, sometimes demoted. How close a party came to demotion would be decided on how many "marks" you had on your card. That is to say, failing three quests in a row would result in a demotion. For F-ranking parties, there were no such punishments, as F-Rank quests were usually inconsequential. However, those who came back alive and succeeded were rewarded with the money as per the quests description and were a step closer to a promotion. One last thing Taka learned was that if a party was confirmed to have wiped, or they simply did not return for a certain period of time while away on a mission, that job would be reevaluated by the guild, assigned a higher rank if deemed necessary, or extra addendums would be put in the description. But, that did not happen often. At least, not in Leln. Sometimes, mistakes happened and job posters tried to post jobs without the guilds permission. That's where things got a bit tricky, as that could lead to double job postings if the guild was also paid to post a job, which could lead to two parties going into the same quest, which could, understandably, lead to all sorts of confusion and conflict.

This did not tend to apply to F-Rank quests, as for the most part they were safe, relatively easy, busywork quests that had you assisting people around town. Maybe you'd kill an oversized spider or two, but monster quests for F-ranks were pretty rare. Job difficulty markers did not just denote the rank an adventurer had to be to accept it, it also denoted the job's threat level. An F-rank job possessed barely any threat to your life, whereas a D, or C rank job possessed some. Put simply, the way Taka saw it was like this:

● F and E-Rank, Clay and Bronze: You'll most likely be fine, unless you drop something on your head and break your neck on accident. Barring insane coincidences like a sudden monster attack, these jobs weren't very dangerous and typically consisted of varying degrees of busywork. Sometimes you'd get a small monster elimination based job with E-Ranked duties. ● D and C-Rank, Copper and Silver: You could die. You will almost certainly fight monsters. Be on your guard, come prepared, and you'll be fine. ● B and A-Rank, Gold and Platinum: These are dangerous jobs, with high consequences but higher rewards. You will die if you do not come prepared. Although, from what Taka had been hearing, you'd die if you weren't prepared on a D or C-ranked job.. ● S-Rank, Legendary and above: Exceptionally dangerous. Exercise the utmost of caution.

That's all for now. I have a few more long deleted exposition dumps, about Dane's backstory and about a type of monster crab that a certain restaurant in Hamelan uses as a food source, but I think I'll post them later. Maybe. we'll see :d

I'll leave you with this:

THE DIE IS CAST

i love this song and how he says that, so damn cool, imma watch code geass

A Walk Through the Archives - Another Long RoAW Writing Post: No. 3

Hello everybody, welcome to our third weekly lore/exposition/whatever post.

In this post, we have a lot to talk about. But I believe the best place to start is where everything began-- ergo, the creation mythos.

This one has been cooking for quite a while!

All right... here we go.

In the beginning, there was nothing. Perhaps to say there was simply "nothing" is incorrect. Outside of known existence, of all reality, is a creature known as the Body of God.

The Body of God is a non-sapient, unconscious creature that simply exists. it is impossibly big, unfathomable to imagine. I tend to see it as a great white thing, with huge hulking limbs that floats in endless white space, far away from any mortal plane of existence and away from anything truly "existent" It simply is. It is not alive, nor is it dead. It does not experience reality, it simply is. It's hard to explain, but it doesn't really matter.

There are universes in each "part" of God. The Eyes of God, Head/Mind of God, Arms of God, Fingers of God, Legs of God, Feet of God, etc. The Body would be its "Midsection" if it had one, but you could also say "Body" meaning its entire being. It doesn't matter.

Now, inside this being, The Body of God, lies everything. Inside of it is infinite multiverses, universes, timelines parallel and those not. Infinite of everything. Every afterlife, every everything. Think of it as a bunch of squares lined up. Each "universe" is a block, and they can't really interact without intervention from the Gods within that "block." (it's how Lelnas was summoned, he was pulled from a parallel "block" to the one Tamalnh is in.) Basically, each "area" of God has tons, and tons, of these. Tamalnh is one such universe in its own "block".

Each world is similar-- you could think of it like how, in Shield Hero, the world L'arc came from is similar to the one Naofumi got isekai'd to, yet its fundamentally different, right? It's kinda like that, I guess.

Anyway, each "block" has Gods, and those Gods created the world within their respective block. The Gods do not know of the existence of the Body of God. "space" does not technically exist, space travel isn't really possible as there are no other planets. If a world ends, the Gods would recreate it. One shared rule is likely that Souls are sacred-- not to be destroyed. The one thing you cannot take away is ones right to experience life-- or the afterlife.

Speaking strictly to Tamalnh's universe now, in the beginning was nothing. Then, a crystal. From that crystal, was born Neutrality. From Neutrality, was born Law and Chaos. Presumably eons later, Neutrality's children waged war against eachother because they could not agree on how the world should be formed. Their battle created the oceans, the sky, the elemental planes, and many other things one would come to know as "Earth".

Eventually, there were enough Gods that they began to populate the earth. Thus, the races (and monsters) were born into existence.

Off the top of my head, these are the existing races:

Catfolk (miqo'te basically, best way i can explain it. They're anime catboys/catgirls)

Dogfolk, Wolffolk, Horsefolk, Birdfolk (aarakocra with the expressive faces of the Rito people from BoTW/ToTK, best way I can explain it) , and some other furry/scaly races like otters, snakes, lizardfolk, sharkfolk, etc (anthro furries basically)

Elves (Of the sea, being Sea Elves with gills like the Hoshigaki clan from Naruto basically. Of the forest, being Elves like Legolas from LoTR. Then Dark Elves, and finally, in the Gods very image, considered to be second to the Gods themselves, High Elves. Unlike the Gods, however, High Elves are not omnipotent.)

Fun fact; High Elves are mostly androgynous and able to have either sets of genitals, although I imagine they probably have neither as "default". They're very alien. I don't imagine they have sexual desires on the level most races do, but... some of them probably do, uh, do it. Which, yaknow, leads to more High Elves.

Humans

Orcs (think of them as vikings, basically. Orcs in Tamalnh are very viking-like)

Dwarves

Halffolk: Gnomes, Halflings, and Dwarves too

Half-races aside from gnomes and halflings come into being later down the line, when races begin to crossbreed. I.e, half-elves are human + elf. (got some fun lore about this regarding the Aschwaz lol)

Half-orcs do exist, but are likely incredibly rare as Oku (the land of Orcs) is in a really dangerous part of the world, where war is almost constant and the tribes of Orcs never really get along long enough to formulate any technology. At a certain point, they do have boats and use them to, well, raid and kill eachother, it's really just a land of warring factions. A valhalla for the living, i guess.

(ty kashimo)

tl;dr Orcs are trapped in Oku. There is a deadly sea-beast (a particularly vicious kraken) that stops people from entering or leaving that part of the world. I'm sure he's probably the inspiration for the "World Serpent" if the Orcs believe in something akin to norse mythology.

Demonfolk do exist, as the Hells technically do exist as a plane, despite Hell not really being a thing the Gods subject those who "sin" to. I think i've talked about the Gods idea of worthy punishments for criminals/very, very bad people in a prior post, so I won't do it again here.

Basically, Demonfolk can be seen in two "categories."

True Demonfolk: Succubi, Incubi, and regular old Demons.

Half-Demonfolk: The spawn of demons, devils, Succubi and Incubi. Basically, "Tieflings" is what DnD calls them, but because i'm scared of copyright, they really are just "Half-devils", or "cambions". They are discriminated against because people are afraid of them. Succubi (demonfolk who were cursed and thrown out of the Hells as punishment) are known to kill people trying to sate their curses, so people naturally fear them. Hamelan's government welcoming them and allowing them to run their businesses only works on two fronts;

The Hamelan Royal Family has a demonfolk fetish (and the demonfolk fucking hate it, but tolerate it because statistically Hamelan is the safest place for a Demonfolk of any kind to be)

as long as they don't kill people, they can do whatever they want (obviously, within the confines of the law itself)

Anyway, the first peoples were "created" as full adults. I imagine when they discovered sex, that they found new feelings- the feeling of being a parent. I've read that people when they have kids feel very strongly instinctively protective over them, i'm sure it's the same for the first peoples in Tamalnh.

Anyway, here's where the chronology gets hectic. There are many races at place in the first days, and humanity at large is given one prime directive, one clear defined purpose from the Gods. Build, survive, thrive. Do so, so that future generations can seek out their purpose, their destinies, and so the world will thrive into a beautiful place full of different cultures and yadayada.

For this time, the Gods walk amongst men. This time-period is where all our cool fables, mythos, and lore books in-universe come from.

Anyway, the first peoples do that stuff. A few generations later, think like, 500-1000 years, I think conflicts start to rise as people have their "necessities" decided. Not to say that conflict doesn't exist, as I'm sure certain places (Like Kaarda, due to it's harsh climate and inhospitable landscape, or Oku, due to the fact that nearly everyone there is obsessed with fighting/expanding their faction's territory) end up having small skirmishes here and there.

So, around that time- the 500-1000 year mark is when the Beastfolk-Kaardan war happens, simultaneously war amongst the elves breaks out. you could think of this as the "warring" period.

I won't go into extreme detail about these wars because it's not really necessary to, although I do have notes on them.

Tl;dr, the Beastfolk warred for territory and the war ended when 4 of the 8 (or however many, cant remember off the top of my head) racial factions were subjugated. The races that lost became slave races, and although some of them managed to escape to other places of the world (mostly Kommodia and what would become known as Katan as they were the closest) many of them remain enslaved. Basically, this war ended when most of the races had lost, therefore the continent became "majority-ruled" by a select few races who had "proven themselves" while the rest became, effectively, lower (waaaay lower, like treated like trash) class citizens.

Tl;dr for elvish war: To understand this, first understand that, for the most part, elves all existed in one place in the very beginning. Elves, High Elves, and Dark Elves existed all on this beautiful continent known as Sylvania, or Sylphlande. It is possible Sea Elves lived here too, originally known as Water Elves if they did.

Eventually however, differences in idealogy (elves wanted to explore, dark elves wanted power and more control, they felt distrusted, and the high elves wanted stability and peace-- for everyone to remain as they were forever. the elves were restless, and thus arguments brewed.)

Eventually, the Dark Elves moved into action, trying to overtake the High Elvish council by force, demanding a piece of their power so to speak. Perhaps enraged, the Gods came down to intervene and stop what was happening between their creations, but found their avatar destroyed by none other than a certain elf named Sargantas.

Sargantas, having grown bored with existence despite its beauty, having tired of the "inequality" apparent just amongst his own people, (likely being jealous of the power and respect the Gods afforded the High Elves in particular, and how they alone seemed in charge of making each and every decision regarding their lands) killed the avatar of the "progenitor god" so to speak, Neutrality. Now, know this. You can't kill a God, it is not possible. Yet you can kill their avatar. So, he kills Neutrality's avatar, takes her power, and uses it to link his soul permanently to this realm. This is but one "step" in his plan which he sort of grows as he goes along.

Basically, with this, the elves are thrown into chaos. Sargantas flees and narrowly avoids capture and a likely execution, and sets about with what i've taken to calling his "Thousand-Year-Plan".

In any case, this action more or less ends the "war" which was likely a collection of small battles mixed with ideological skirmishes. It ends when the High Elves, boiling over with rage, tear apart the very Earth, creating a terrible, seemingly endless pit-- with which they cast the Dark Elves inside, sending them to what is essentially the Underdark.

After that, the other Elves are exiled, and, creating elven tribes from their ideologies, set out to find a new home. Many make their homes in Kommodia's forests, and other places in the world-- wherever nature calls them.

Then, finally, the High Elves uproot a piece of Sylvania, leaving behind a fractured landmass below-- which becomes Lower Sylvania, as the pieces they take to the sky becomes High Sylvania. Embracing their role as silent, actionless watchers of the world, they hide themselves away and are never seen again. Many years later, explorers find the lower landmass completely barren, with no trace of anything ever having lived there. (as the other elvish subraces were likely banished permanently from the land itself)

Later on, a Fae curse befalls (well, they were tricked into the contract) several elvish tribes, giving birth to the "Pacted Elves", elves suffering from a curse of eternal devotion to a certain area of the world. These elves become like the high elves, immortal, un-ageing, but (unlike the High Elves on High Sylvania, who do not leave out of choice and spite) unable to leave lest they choose to break the contract and activate the dormant curse within their blood.

Around this time, as wars end and people start to branch out more, the world becomes more "lively" so to speak. During this time, Fae are quite active, and cause lots of trouble. Eventually (couple hundred years), they either stop bothering with the Mortal Realm, are explicitly told to stop by the Gods, or stop being able to interact with it as "tangibly" if that makes sense.

With the wars over, the Gods retreat and decide to no longer intervene, as them doing so allowed someone like Sargantas to gain power that he shouldn't have. They made a mistake, and instead of fixing it or growing, in typical God fashion, they choose to just... go away. Go away, and watch silently. Like a two year old. Some people end up believing that they entered the great white tree in the northern bit of the continent. This tree becomes known as the Godstree, and Hamelan is built around it.

Eventually, Sargantas is put an end to by the summoned hero, Lelnas, and yadayada...

Thanks to Lelnas, adventuring eventually becomes popular enough that more people are doing it (instead of it just being like 10% of people who were wandering around trying to find work and stuff like Lelnas did, or explorers tracking down a single target... like Lelnas was.)

Give it a few more long periods of time, Lelnas, Sargantas, and the wars fade into history, myth, and become fables. No one alive except for the High Elves remember a time when those people were alive....

and so slowly, we enter the modern day. An age of myth, legend, of adventure. The GOLDEN AGE OF ADVENTURING AND MERCHANTRY IS UPON US!

Pirates wage war against the Kommodian Navy on the high seas, while Navy-Pirates wage war against the... bad pirates! (fun fact: Beriyl's sister, Esmerelda, is a pirate for the Kommodian Navy)

Merchants turn fortune in their favor with the toss of a coin, and adventurers seek fame and fortune, friendship and treasure. It's dangerous work, but it's rewarding and truly... truly the freest one could be.

Thus, we meet Taka, Beriyl, and Arthur. And as such.. the story begins.

I don't think i missed anything! I hope i didn't. if something i said doesn't make sense, feel free to ask a question and i'll elaborate.

random:

There is a place known as the Hall of Mirrors, existing outside of all realities. This place holds links to every known reality in all of existence-- even other worlds outside the Body of God, every possible reality in any timeline can be "watched" from here. The Hall of Mirrors is an infinitely long square-corridor of mirrors. You can not enter other realities from these mirrors, trying would result in you being shunted back to your own, which would be quite painful. (think of it as taking Psychic and Force damage at the same time)

bear in mind that this is still being added to, theres a possibility i forgot to correct something so it wont match up with what's in the text, but it's a pretty good look at the world at large i believe. most of the sea names are likely placeholders fwiw

alrighty... that was a lot lol, took me a few hours to write (despite me having all this written down in my notes...)

dungeon meshi.... AH, dungeon meshi!

anywayyyyyy

Concluding this post, here's a poll. And a question. Well... a few.

Does anyone read these?

Does it matter?

Are these interesting?

until next time! ^.^

@thelaughingstag

A Beginning

Hello, and welcome to my blog.

I am Sebastian, an aspiring novelist who has been writing a book for several years now. It is my biggest passion in life and my worst fear is failure. The book follows a fifteen-year-old named Taka, a sixteen-year-old half-elf noble named Beriyl, and a mid-twenties, deeply traumatized, emotionally out of touch ex-mercenary named Arthur.

The story begins with them all at the most vulnerable points of their lives (a topic I will likely touch on and provide context to in a later post) and follows them as they make lifelong bonds and memories, and overcome countless struggles-- emotional and physical.

It is also a story of blossoming love, as Taka and Beriyl eventually find in each other what both were missing in one way or another. A story of what it means to truly find yourself, what you stand for and who you are.

For many reasons, it is a tale very, very dear and personal to me-- for reasons i'll likely explain later. (so i stop editing this one blog post over and over)

I hope that you will follow my journey (and by extension, the journey of Taka, Beriyl, and Arthur) as I talk about my book and what inspired me and my random beliefs most likely, and random excerpts im proud of as I continue polishing my book.

Thank you,

Sebastian Crowling

can we talk about how good of a song tagatame is?!?!?!?!?!?

lol

this also applies to things like writing lmaoooo

super relatable

The wild thing about being obsessed with your own DnD campaign is that there's absolutely NO fandom content for it except the stuff that you make

Like, what do you mean only six other people in the entire world have heard of Dave the Ice Elemental whose job is Freezer at the Fantasy Starbucks?