Re: Conlang Website

I got behind on my messages again over the weekend, so now I'm going to
jump into your conversation a little bit late.

> > > I've not developed much of a culture around my lang, but there are a
> > > few hints here and there.
> >
> > I had the culture *before* the lang. The lang is really an aid for a
> > fantasy novel-in-progress, _Origami Souls_. (Hey, it's up to 14
> > chapters and some 20,000+ words).
>
> That's (roughly, in the sense of 'more than half and less than double')
> comparable to the length of "The Cries of an Injured World". Which is a
> story I've co-written with a friend, and we finished the actual writing
> ages and ages ago, but I haven't got around to finishing the editing
> stages because I'm just far too much of a perfectionist.
> [snip fascinating story stuff]
I am so envious.  I love to write, but between conlanging and school, I
rarely have time for my longer, purely recreational writing.  Someday I'll
be able to write all I want . . .


> > Magic exists in my conculture but is generally regarded in an animistic
> > sort of fashion. What theology there is didn't really come from the
> > magic system, but from my memories of folk religion and Buddhism and
> > what-have-you in Korean.
>
> As you've probably gathered, theology is an interest of mine :-) The
> Christian culture/church that I come from encourages people to think for
> themselves in matters of faith, and my faith is very much tailored to my
> own preferences in analogies, explanations and favourite verses, yet
> remains fully congruous with mainstream Christianity.
This is just what I do.  A lot of my views have been pieced together from
C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, and Francis Schaeffer, making a belief system
midway between orthodox and liberal.

> > > In the language (not necessarily connected to either of the stories)
> > > the culture is basically monotheist. The word for 'God' /roKi/ is a
>
> Should be /rOKi/. I actually like this as a word for 'God'. A friend once
> jokingly criticised it on the grounds that you can't _swear_ a word like
> that!
Ironic connection:  In Yivríndil, the word for "eagles" is /roki/!

> > <wry g> When culture-building occasionally my own beliefs filter into
> > the culture's belief-system, but I don't specifically set out to design
> > them that way. OC, I belong to the semi-perfectionist-wannabe school of
> > worldbuilding. It would be neat to try something like what you've
> > described, though my own faith is so messed-up and uncertain it'd
> > really come out confused!
>
> I just think it would be interesting to take analogies that lie on the
> /edge/ of my own faith (i.e. descriptions that I personally find helpful)
> and move them into the very /centre/ of a fictional faith, and see what
> happens. But I haven't done this.
Bravo to both of you for perfectionism and good ideas.  Worldbuilding,
when well done, is the only good way to write a fantasy story, and those
stories that have poorly formed settings are the worst.  I've been working
variously on my versions of Aratasa, the home of the language Yivríndil,
for years and years, and it always improves but never quite gets done.

BTW, although different people groups in Aratasa have different religious
beliefs, magic is necessarily the same for everyone, and it follows my
idea of how "ideal" supernatural events work.  There is no latent or
neutral power which can be drawn for good or evil, but rather good and
evil spiritual entities which can be summoned for various
purposes.

This really should move to conculture.

Jesse S. Bangs jaspax@u.washington.edu
"It is of the new things that men tire--of fashions and proposals and
improvements and change.  It is the old things that startle and
intoxicate.  It is the old things that are young."
-G.K. Chesterton _The Napoleon of Notting Hill_