I am doing a
little experiment. I am going to write a series of chapters in a fantasy
world of my creation and see if it goes anywhere. Since I have not
prewritten this story and have no outline, it will probably end up a convoluted
mess. I do not know how often I will be able to update this or if it will
ever finish. This is the link to CHAPTER 1. (I have also found that I have to go back and clean up
very broken sentences in previous chapters. This is why I need an editor.
I understand what I am writing, but I need to make sure other people do
too.)
Who wants a lesson on Imaginary geography? The reason so many fantasy stories just have
a map on the inside of the cover.
Chapter 5: The River
"I am
guessing we will take the river to Bone then?" asked Pasgard.
"It's
the fastest way out of Orchard Town," said Malachite. "Unless you want to wait another two
days for the festival to end."
"There
will be another before too long," said Pasgard.
"I
think they have them every week," said Malachite. "The weather here never really changes and
they stagger crop plantings so that there is always some fresh crop reaching
time for harvest. Last week was
pumpkins. I think the last week was
squash. They were a little gourd heavy
in my opinion."
"So
Green then Brown?" asked Pasgard.
"Out
of context that listing of colors sounds a bit unhealthy," said
Malachite. "Or that you have eaten too many berries. Just
tell them we are going to Bone. I sure they will know how to get there."
"I
just imagine we might get cheaper travel if we take the trips in parts,"
said Pasgard.
"That
is wise," said Malachite.
"I'll shop around."
The river, along which all populations sprung up in this area of the world.
The Color Lines, one river that forked many times. It was called the White in the Mountains
because of falls and rapids, but as it went East it changed. Green Way was what
it was called in Orchard Town, which was famed for breeding exceptionally large
plums and having harvest festivals to the point of trivialization, the river
did not turn green it was just used for irrigation purposes. Then it gets its first split happens at the
city of River's Fork, so named for.... Obvious reasons having to do with a lack
of creativity. That fork goes South.
The
Southern fork divides the great plains into the Painted Fields and the Bloody
Fields. The Bloody fields known for
clutches of warriors and bandits who take refuge in the tiny forests that spot
the map grow from seeds blown by winds centuries ago; forts with walls of
mudbrick and logs hold up in the core of the little forests, no siege can get
thru to them and the paths are often trapped or lined with old skulls or ribs
dangling in the ivy and moss of trees.
The Maunder Empire has so far failed to project their power out into the
Bloody Fields against these lawless peoples.
The Painted
Fields are named for the nomadic horse people who lived there peacefully. Though they have had clashes with everyone at
south point over the use of grazing land, horse theft, kidnapping and other
crimes. But since they prefer to hunt,
forage, and trade rather than settle crimes are seen as actions as individuals
rather than a people.
The river's
southern branch then reaches Hasenburg, known for cows, pepper, and a sort of
frontier chivalry. Hasenburg knows the
River as the Clear Divide, referring to how it separates the grasslands. Hasenburg is an ancient County having been
under the control of various kingdoms through the ages and remaining somewhat
independent during each. They consider
themselves a southern outpost of the Maunder Empire though barely interact with
or solicit the larger government for assistance, preferring to work thru
independent cities like Port Padre or Solace.
Hasenburg considers themselves deeply attached to the Nomads of the
Painted Fields and have had numerous elders of those tribes retire to Hasenburg
and many young people run off to travel with them.
It then
lakes a long turn East and gets very muddy, reaching the Town of Red Clay, so
named for what they call the Red Clay River.
Ultimately this branch empties out at Port Padre, who never bothered to
call it anything other than River, the only population that does not refer to
it by some color. Port Padre is the last
free city of repute in the South before reaching the Confederated Kingdoms much
further south.
The main
Northern fork continues East and serves as the north border of the Bloody
Fields but has three forks going North: the Brown, the Black, and the Grey. The Brown feeds up to the Maunder Sea and is
the home to Bone, the Southern Capital of the Maunder Empire and the vastly
populated Hinterlands that surround the city.
The Black runs into a morass called the Black Marsh (Shadow Marsh, Bone
Marsh, and Maunder Marsh are also used); aside from swamp people the Marsh is
populated only by animals, palmettos, and Mangroves on the coast. The Grey goes up into Southern Maunder and
marks the Eastern Boarder of the Black Marsh, it has an odd dusty look to the
water and where the water of the Grey and the Marsh meet there is a clear
distinction between the bodies as one has more mineral, while the other looks
like tea from palmetto leaves.
The last
leg of the river which forms a rather straight line from Mountain to Sea is
called the Blue Line and is the Southern boarder of South Maunder. Dotted with villages it empties into the sea
at Gold Port, whose actual name is Saulker's Rest. Saulker's rest was named for the Captain who
conquered, or accepted the surrenders of everyone along the river for the
Maunder Empire. Nobody calls Gold Port
it's proper name, half because it reminds them of a Saulker's legacy of
conquest on continent, the other half because nobody has conquered anything
since Saulker and they feel a pang of shame that no one since then has been so
great a military leader. There is a
lichen covered wall that once had Saulker's visage etched into it, but one of
the marble tiles was knocked off by a runaway carriage and subsequent rains
have caused others to detach. Saulker is
who named the last leg of the river the Blue Line, for the blue standard his
army conquered under.
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