Tina Hall
01-01-2008, 02:08 PM
ShellyS is kindly reading the Seasons & Elements trilogy, giving
comments on all sorts of things to help me improve the text. Right now
there's a problem; she would like a word to describe a certain attribute
of people, and I don't have a word for it.
The issue is the scent of the people. Unfitting would be any kind of
real smell or taste, it has to be an attribute, what they are, condensed
into one word.
The scent itself comes from the magic, and isn't necessarily taken up by
noses at all, the sense these people give (and in part leave behind) is
just called that. (They don't sweat, btw.)
To me (and the characters), Breeders smell like Breeders, Warriors smell
like Warriors, Drones smell like Drones, Lords smell like Lords, Priests
smell like Priests, and Shamans smell like Shamans. (We can ignore
Shamans for now; the issue is more complicated as they've got both
Priest and Breeder magic.)
To describe the different castes/genders:
Each family (in most tribes) consists of one or two Breeders, one or two
males, one to three Warriors, and one or two Drones (proportions
depending on tribe). In some the Breeders live by themselves, while the
others still do the same 'jobs' as listed here, just the males not
living with them, and there's one tribe which is nomadic, and thus no
farming but a lot of hunting. There's another exception where the
household is much larger, and the people busy themselves with other
things because not much farming needs to be done. But the basic purpose
remains the same with all.
Female:
Breeders' magic is focussed on reproduction, growing children. Breeders
are the true strength, the ones that are necessary to continue each
tribe. They're respected, and protected, left free to take care of what
really matters (growing and raising children). Their scent is much
stronger than the others'.
Male:
Lords rule. Their own family, and some Lords also tend broader matters,
of a number of families or even villages (you could see that as some
kind of council exchanging news on what needs to be done), and one leads
the whole tribe (taking care of matters that concern the whole tribe).
Mainly they look after their family, though, and tend the farm with the
occasional hunting, cooking, and cleaning... They're there to turn to if
any bigger decisions are to be made; the authority in the house
(village/tribe).
Priests heal, give councel, teach, work magic on the land to help it
grow things, and also look after their own family.
Males' scent is still strong, but by far not as much as the Breeders'.
(From the Magic PoV, they still do something to produce offspring;
fathering the children.)
Neutral:
Warriors hunt and fight. Since there's little hunting and fighting to be
done in most tribes, they help out at the farms with whatever needs to
be done. (They're just not very good at most of the tasks.)
Drones cook, farm, clean up, build tools. They're really good at these
things.
Neutrals' scent is faint, due to not being able to reproduce at all.
So how do I give each a word that describes their scent? Something
that's in character with these people?
If you can think of something (no matter how far-fetched - not being an
ordinary sense is quite in character), please say so.
For some rambling on about history and origin of the different castes...
There used to be only Breeders and Lords. Lords, in the ancient wild
times, didn't like other Lords at all (because they could want their
Breeders), so they (the magic) evolved Warriors; people that have the
same ability to defend the Breedes without being a threat when it comes
to finding a mate. (The need to defend the females was much greater in
the ancient wild times; not only the people were wilder, the landscape
was more dangerous, too.)
The people and the landscape calmed down, started building houses and
begun farming, and the Drone caste emerged from the Warrior caste, first
just a few still-mostly-Warriors that were more talented at these
things, of course.
Later came the Priests, gruadually, also because of the need for their
skills to tend land and people in a broader matter.
(Yes, there's no evolution like we have here; it's all the magic,
mindless as it is, steering the process. The most obvious thing in that
is that it won't spark heat in a Breeder when conditions aren't
favourable. Whether that's a Lord that turns aggression towards her
rather than outside threats, or the environment isn't suitable. The
consequence is that the males all respect females and only react hostile
to outside threats - or in some cases other males that could want their
Breeder. <g>)
--
Tina
Reading: Seasons&Elements 1, Controlled by Magic: 196613 words, at 32.38%
WISuspension: Magic Earth series
Posted to Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.sf.composition.
comments on all sorts of things to help me improve the text. Right now
there's a problem; she would like a word to describe a certain attribute
of people, and I don't have a word for it.
The issue is the scent of the people. Unfitting would be any kind of
real smell or taste, it has to be an attribute, what they are, condensed
into one word.
The scent itself comes from the magic, and isn't necessarily taken up by
noses at all, the sense these people give (and in part leave behind) is
just called that. (They don't sweat, btw.)
To me (and the characters), Breeders smell like Breeders, Warriors smell
like Warriors, Drones smell like Drones, Lords smell like Lords, Priests
smell like Priests, and Shamans smell like Shamans. (We can ignore
Shamans for now; the issue is more complicated as they've got both
Priest and Breeder magic.)
To describe the different castes/genders:
Each family (in most tribes) consists of one or two Breeders, one or two
males, one to three Warriors, and one or two Drones (proportions
depending on tribe). In some the Breeders live by themselves, while the
others still do the same 'jobs' as listed here, just the males not
living with them, and there's one tribe which is nomadic, and thus no
farming but a lot of hunting. There's another exception where the
household is much larger, and the people busy themselves with other
things because not much farming needs to be done. But the basic purpose
remains the same with all.
Female:
Breeders' magic is focussed on reproduction, growing children. Breeders
are the true strength, the ones that are necessary to continue each
tribe. They're respected, and protected, left free to take care of what
really matters (growing and raising children). Their scent is much
stronger than the others'.
Male:
Lords rule. Their own family, and some Lords also tend broader matters,
of a number of families or even villages (you could see that as some
kind of council exchanging news on what needs to be done), and one leads
the whole tribe (taking care of matters that concern the whole tribe).
Mainly they look after their family, though, and tend the farm with the
occasional hunting, cooking, and cleaning... They're there to turn to if
any bigger decisions are to be made; the authority in the house
(village/tribe).
Priests heal, give councel, teach, work magic on the land to help it
grow things, and also look after their own family.
Males' scent is still strong, but by far not as much as the Breeders'.
(From the Magic PoV, they still do something to produce offspring;
fathering the children.)
Neutral:
Warriors hunt and fight. Since there's little hunting and fighting to be
done in most tribes, they help out at the farms with whatever needs to
be done. (They're just not very good at most of the tasks.)
Drones cook, farm, clean up, build tools. They're really good at these
things.
Neutrals' scent is faint, due to not being able to reproduce at all.
So how do I give each a word that describes their scent? Something
that's in character with these people?
If you can think of something (no matter how far-fetched - not being an
ordinary sense is quite in character), please say so.
For some rambling on about history and origin of the different castes...
There used to be only Breeders and Lords. Lords, in the ancient wild
times, didn't like other Lords at all (because they could want their
Breeders), so they (the magic) evolved Warriors; people that have the
same ability to defend the Breedes without being a threat when it comes
to finding a mate. (The need to defend the females was much greater in
the ancient wild times; not only the people were wilder, the landscape
was more dangerous, too.)
The people and the landscape calmed down, started building houses and
begun farming, and the Drone caste emerged from the Warrior caste, first
just a few still-mostly-Warriors that were more talented at these
things, of course.
Later came the Priests, gruadually, also because of the need for their
skills to tend land and people in a broader matter.
(Yes, there's no evolution like we have here; it's all the magic,
mindless as it is, steering the process. The most obvious thing in that
is that it won't spark heat in a Breeder when conditions aren't
favourable. Whether that's a Lord that turns aggression towards her
rather than outside threats, or the environment isn't suitable. The
consequence is that the males all respect females and only react hostile
to outside threats - or in some cases other males that could want their
Breeder. <g>)
--
Tina
Reading: Seasons&Elements 1, Controlled by Magic: 196613 words, at 32.38%
WISuspension: Magic Earth series
Posted to Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.sf.composition.