I think it's time to introduce the concept of the metaphysical realm as Tall Tales understands it.
The first thing you should know, dear reader, is that it will be described in a number of different ways and those ways will sometimes conflict. This is because the blog editors have different perspectives on what the realm is and filter their information through different worldviews. As far as Benedict is concerned, there are two realms, the physical and the spiritual, and a thin veil between them. Jackie does not believe they are separate, but that humans have somehow become blind to what surrounds them and must rely on extraordinary means to access the truth of reality; wherever it is people go after they die, if they do not linger as ghosts, is a more complex concept. Matteson believes in at least three realms, a physical, a metaphysical overlaid on it, and something beyond both where souls go after they pass on and probably where angels and demons originate. There is some truth to all of this, at least enough truth that all of their approaches work. As the Lexicon states, there are at least three realms, and the non-story text will be using Matteson's labels. They are not as separate as Benedict and Matteson believe, but they are more distinct than Jackie believes. The fundamental nature of the Metaphysical Realm is that it serves as both a spiritual realm and an astral plane. It is the common ground of all human thought, and anything that enough people have imagined or believed or feared lurks there. It has its own tides and weather, as the fabric of the Realm itself is manipulated by ongoing changes to the collective human psyche. Beings that reside in the Realm can be altered by changes in how humans perceive them, and some degree of their relative power is based on the amount of power mankind ascribes to them. How and why mankind can or should have this power is a mystery that will be revealed eventually as the characters continue to interact with it. But the point is that they do, and the most notable and powerful spirits have a habit of knowing this, and as such they curate their images very carefully. If they can influence how mankind see them (and they can, with effort), they can set their own course. As such, a great deal of inter-species drama in the Metaphysical Realm is focused largely on manipulating mankind and the hold each spirit has over some group of humans or another. Influence within a given fae court would never acknowledge the role of any outside forces, for instance, but the more clever fae recognize that allowing a demon or Spirit of the People to manipulate mankind's perception unchallenged is akin to begging for lost favor. In future posts we'll explore a bit more about the history and development of the Realm, both in-world and out, as well as some of the more notable forces within it. But for a basic introduction, I think this will suffice for this week.
0 Comments
First of all, the name.
I did not create the name Aaboukingon. It actually came up in a list of alternate names for the Ohio River, and was cited as having an origin in one of the languages of the Native Americans. This has proven hard to determine; the chain of citation for that name, or at least the only chain I found, ends at a paper written in 1910 by one E.L. Taylor. "La Salle's Route Down the Ohio," in the Ohio History Journal, was part of an ongoing debate about a journey taken in 1669 which may or may not have been the first time a European had seen the Ohio River. I have no idea if this debate has ever been settled. Taylor makes the case that the translation work being cited by an alternate theory is incorrect, and as part of his argument notes that Aaboukingon is one of the variant names used by the peoples who lived near the Ohio. He gives no further information and I have not at this time found anything that clarified what language this name would have been used in, or what their relationship to the river was. Presumably La Salle's own notes would give more light, if he used that name in his notes, but this would rely on finding his notes (which I did not do) and then translating them (presumably from French, which I am not adequately prepared to do). So in the end I had to just accept Taylor's description. Alternate names for the Ohio would actually have still been a matter of some importance at the time of "Land of Goshen." The United States Geological Survey did not settle on a name for the river until 1931, so it had different names at different places and sometimes conflicting names in the same place. The story assumes that the crew of the Hastings used what was, at the time, a common practice around Pittsburgh where the Ohio River was not seen as a separate body but as a part of the Allegheny. This is why the crew talk about the Allegheny "above and below Pittsburg;" below (downstream) of Pittsburgh would be the Ohio. Incidentally, the spelling of the city was not yet formalized in 1905, either. I purposefully incorporated common misspellings used at the time. Anyway, as such, I avoided any specific references to who, exactly, Aaboukingon was to his people. While Aaboukingon, one of the spirits of the Ohio River, remembers interacting with people who do not look European (as he himself doesn't), no record exists in Tall Tales about the nature of those interactions. I felt that it was more respectful than guessing or using stereotypes. Some may raise concerns about me using the name at all. There is little I can say regarding that matter except that I needed a name older than the Europeans would have used, and have tried to use it in a way that did not misrepresent anyone. Being that this story can still be edited, I would welcome constructive feedback on how to make it more appropriate, but I'm sure you understand I have little use for complaints that offer no better solution. But that brings us to our next point, that Aaboukingon is a river spirit. He would be considered a god in some cultures, though I have no evidence he was in the culture that used his name. It is likely he remembered far more than Joanna recorded, but since he isn't doing the writing I get to avoid giving bad details. As a notable river spirit of a large river, Aaboukingon is among the more powerful nature spirits in the world. He pales in comparison to others, like the primary spirit of the Nile or Amazon, and the exact power balance between nature spirits and other spirits vary somewhat; but it is safe to say that he is far stronger than he even seems to realize in his interactions so far. But his power, and life force, are tied to the river itself. This is a major driving force of the plot of "Land of Goshen." More about his power will be addressed in a future post. |
What is this?Worldbuilding Wednesdays is a real-world blog, written by Tim McLaughlin, that gives a little peek behind the curtain of Tall Tales. That includes the process of creating the story and world, influences, world rules, and even the occasional story. Archives
May 2019
Categories
All
|
Story Blogs |
Resources |