Of Sea, Stone and Sky

A minor reveal, and a bit of work. Small life update, I have been very busy about working on scholarships and working away at the long grind to going to Brookes University. I’ve got one scholarship application due in the coming week, and two more due at the end of the next month. Its been pretty tough, and its one reason the content for the past month has kind of faltered. The Vlog for last month is late, and I’ll be trying to get a podcast out in the coming few days. But, there has been some nice developments. First, over time I’ve been able to do a lot more work steadily on the lore for the religions of Land in the Stars.

Something New Is Coming

There are nine worlds in Oak Cross, each with their own stories to be told. Each of the nine has its own themes, and purposes in why I design them. Land in the Stars ventures into fantastical elements with mecha and cybernetics while also telling stories about racism and sexism. Altear was about heroic struggles, and the tribal politics of the iron age. Then there is Agaera which covers issues of gender, minority rights, and fantastical bi-racism. For the last few weeks I’ve been reinvigorating my creative juices carefully through picking up some epic series to get a sense of muse. The thing I’m still kind of noticing though is that there is a heavy European Gaze in my work, and those of the people I am reading. Not a problem really, but it has caused me to consider what I want to do. After reading the Grace of King’s I’ve once again been motivated to create something new.

Truth be told I have a problem with doing too many things at once, so I’ve been very cautious about this new project. Its very existence been sprung out of my head from musing over designing a world based upon the concepts of EarthSea. Now that I’ve finally taken the time to start things and so far there are a few things theme wise important about this world:

• Non-Eurocentric Gaze – This will not be a world with romanticized magical asia, polynesia, or any take on another culture through the Eurocentric gaze. All the societies therein will be custom and created with some themes in mind, but everything will be unique to the new universe.
• Two new languages with a connected history, but will share different sounds, feel, and rhythm.
• A new unique form of magic to the Oak Cross metaverse with ties back to the High King of ancient Altear.
• A complex world with its own history, and nuanced problems based on events of real life.

So far this entire thing is simply being called “Of Sea, Stone, and Sky”. The name refers to the three principal elements of the world which in turn relate to other things in the world. The Shattered Crescent is the setting for most of the stories that are to come. The Shattered Crescent is a world of supernatural creatures, elemental godesses, and a revolution of myticism.

A New Kind of Punk

More will be revealed with time, but one of the core aspects of “Sea, Stone, and Sky” mixture of Sandal and Bamboo ideals from the Punk Punk trope, I’m calling it Shamanpunk. There’s not much to it yet, but the core aspect of a technological revolution will be the rise of a new form of empires, and the persecution of peoples. More to come in the future, but until now. Stay classy!