Category: Writing

The Order of the Darwish

From the Encyclopedia Royalis Iurraka (edition of 975)

On the Order of the Darwish

The Order of the Darwish is a monastic fraternity devoted to the One God, whose origins lie in the exodus of ascetics and mystics from the Caliphate of Ruhm. Persecuted for their belief that divine unity is found through duty, love and service rather than conquest, they fled across Aqaba and Hrazdan before eventually finding refuge in Iurrak.

In the reign of King Hugo I (19658–19705 AC), the fraternity was granted lands near Erythrae and recognised as a religious order under royal protection. In return, the Darwish vowed lifelong service to the Crown, providing its most trusted guardian who are sworn to defend the lives of members or House de Seyssel with their lives.

Their discipline combines prayer, austerity, and bladecraft in a practice they call the Path of the Sword and the Soul. Though few in number, they are revered throughout Iurrak for their piety and skill. Members serve as bodyguards, embodying the principle that selfless duty is an expression of their faith.

Today, their leader bears the title of Most Penitent Servant, they play no part in court, but any child born to the de Seyssel line is a assigned a body guard from their ranks who serves as long as he is physically able and is replaced if by the order if necessary. The Order remains withdrawn from worldly affairs, but its members are a familiar sight at Seyssel Hall.

This post is companion to the page about the Darwish

Influences: Edgar Rice Burroughs

It is hard to conceive of a writer who has had a greater influence on speculative fiction than Edgar Rice Burroughs. Most famously, he was the author of Tarzan (24 books) and John Carter of Mars (11 books). I would personally call his style pulp sci-fi with characters like John Carter performing ludicrous feats almost constantly but he manages it in such and entertaining way that you can’t wait for the next feat to be described.

In all honesty, Burroughs is most important for his influence on the (mostly) boys who read his work as young adults. It is from this group that the greats of old Science Fiction were born and writers such as Heinlein refer frequently to his work. To breadth of his influence is hard to fathom, even the hit NBC series ER features a character called John Carter.

Do I strive to write like Burroughs? Certainly not, but his role as a pioneer of the genre and his role building the foundations of today’s science and speculative fiction is so great, that I feel reading his books is almost mandatory for any speculative fiction enthusiast. While it does read as a pulpy precursor of what is available today, the stories are fun in their own right. My favourite is the John Carter series.

A picture of the author Edgar Rice Burroughs.
By Unknown author – http://barros.rusf.ru/article042.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7222853

The Royal Customs Service of Iurrak

This is linked to this Vatan Companion Page

From the Encyclopedia Royalis Iurraka (edition of 975)

On the Royal Customs Service

The Royal Customs Service is one of the Crown’s most indispensable instruments, tasked with the oversight of trade, the collection of the Royal Tax, and the maintenance of His Majesty’s economic authority throughout the realm. Its duties, set down by wise kings, are both noble and necessary, and its history testifies to the foresight of Iurrak’s sovereigns.

The Service owes its foundation to the foresight of King Gabriel I, who in the year 601 not only instituted the Customs Service but also concluded the Peace of Equals with Selinus, bringing an end to eighty years of war and thus securing both the realm’s borders and its prosperity. To him we owe the enduring principle that the King’s justice must extend to the realm’s markets as well as its fields. Gabriel’s genius lay in recognising that trade, left ungoverned, breeds disorder, but under royal supervision strengthens the whole kingdom.

The later wisdom of King Humphrey I must also be praised. In 718, when the treasury lay in peril, Humphrey decreed that the sale of commissions in the Royal Regiments be entrusted to the Customs Service. By this act he avoided the imposition of extraordinary taxes upon his loyal nobles, while at the same time replenishing the Crown’s coffers. Though some grumbled at first, it was a masterstroke of statesmanship, for the lords maintained their privileges while the regiments were strengthened. The realm, preserved from weakness, owes to King Humphrey I its continued stability.

The Royal Tax, unlike feudal dues or manorial levies, is laid chiefly upon dense and precious goods: metals, spices, dyes, and other wares whose transport yields great wealth in small measure. The Customs Service patrols borders, rivers, and roads with diligence, ensuring that His Majesty receives his rightful due. To evade such duty is not merely theft but treason against the Crown, for the Royal Tax is the very lifeblood of the kingdom.

Beyond their fiscal duties, the officers of Customs provide the Crown with knowledge of inestimable worth. By observing the flow of goods, they reveal the strengths and weaknesses of provinces, the fortunes of merchants, and the health of the realm itself. In war as in peace, this intelligence has allowed kings to act with foresight. It is no exaggeration to say that without the Customs Service, the realm would be blind to its own condition.

The officers of the Service are for the most part of common birth, yet drawn from the younger sons of wealthy merchants, men of education and sound judgment. This prudent practice ensures that they have both the learning and the practical familiarity with commerce to perform their duties well. It is true that their inspections sometimes cause friction with nobles, yet this is an unavoidable consequence of enforcing the King’s law impartially. Only in Erythrae do nobles hold regular office within the Service, and there only at the highest levels. The post of Lord High Customs Inspector is wisely reserved for lesser royal kinsmen, ensuring that the Service remains ever faithful to the Crown.

Lastly, the Customs Service holds the honour of administering the commissions in the royal regiments. This sacred duty binds the realm’s soldiery directly to the King’s authority, ensuring loyalty and discipline. Though some lords lament their exclusion from this process, it must be remembered that it is by this very means that the Crown ensures the unity of its armies, sparing the kingdom the rivalries that have so often plagued lesser realms.

The Royal Customs Service, founded by Gabriel I and perfected by Humphrey I, stands as a monument to royal wisdom. To question it is to question the Crown itself, and none but the most self-interested could deny the Service’s necessity. It is, in every sense, a pillar of order and the surest guarantee of the prosperity of Iurrak.

The Right to Bear Arms

This page accompanies this Vatan Companion Page

From the Encyclopedia Royalis Iurraka (edition of 975)


On the Right to Bear Arms


The following is excerpted from the writings of Annette de Baerle (801–864), last Marchioness of the Westmarch. Though her marriage to Ivan de Duilhac, Duke of Taladaria, brought the Westmarch formally into Iurrak, she is remembered less for her politics than for her curious and unseemly devotion to letters. That a woman should concern herself with law is, of course, peculiar and hardly worthy of imitation. Some have wondered whether parts of this treatise were corrected, or perhaps composed, by a more suitable hand. Yet it must be admitted, reluctantly, that the work is suspiciously thorough and disquietingly accurate. For this reason it is preserved here, though with due caution to the reader.

The Right to Bear Arms is among the two central privileges of noble station, together with the Right to Hospitality. It is an ancient principle, older than any charter still extant, and its origin lies in the codifications of the ancestor realms that preceded Selinus. From that time it has been observed in Mur, in Selinus, in Iurrak, and even further abroad. It is worth noting that neither the Elves nor the Dwarves share our concept of the Armsright, to such an extent that it is treated instead as a general right. This creates a legal conundrum: is it to be judged that all elves and dwarves are issued an Armsright by their sovereign, or none?

The principle itself is plain. The right to violence belongs first to the sovereign. From the sovereign flows the same right to his nobles, who are but the extensions of his own person. Thus only nobles may wield weapons in their own name, as their authority is inherent. All others must bear arms only by the express leave of a noble, their authority deferred. In this lies the difference between noble and commoner; one acts as a font of justice, the other only by delegation. The author notes, however, with some satisfaction, that this right is so central to our concept of nobility that it is still completely inalienable from women. Indeed, in Selinus where our rights are otherwise few, a noble woman may wield any weapon without a male’s consent and may also arm her own guards. Yet if her guards are to operate beyond her direct presence, she must be able to write, something that is sadly not universal in the education of Selinan noble ladies.

This distinction carries into law. A noble who slays a commoner seldom meets with punishment. In Iurrak, the dead man’s kin may seek compensation, though in practice they must often do so before the court of the very noble who did the slaying, as the court of a more senior lord is unlikely to be accessible. In Selinus no such petitions are heard, save where another noble takes exception for his own purposes. In Mur the practice lies midway, for compensation may be demanded, yet only in the court of the lord who granted the Armsright in question. Where nobles stand opposed to nobles, the judgment lies with the next higher lord, often the King himself.

From this follows that heraldry and Armsrights are closely related. A noble may bear arms without device, for his person itself is heraldry. Commoners, however, must display the arms of the lord who authorises their bearing. To act otherwise is an act of banditry or rebellion.

The penalties for unlawful bearing of arms are grave. Impersonation of a noble is punishable by the full measure of treason, namely hanging, drawing, and quartering. More commonly, failure to prove an Armsright is usually treated more lightly, resulting in a fine and perhaps confiscation, depending on the mood of the constable. More severe still is the crime of raising arms against the realm, which is adjudged by summary execution and is the fate generally served to bandits and the like. The same transgression can thus be made as grave as a noble or his constables choose. It must be noted that the financial incentive of a fine has been known to keep many a bandit alive where this was not in the best interests of a lord’s domain.

Yet the law does not forbid mere possession of weapons. Only when they are borne in readiness to strike does the crime arise. A sword hung upon the wall may be innocent, while the same sword at the belt may be treason. Interpretation is ever at the whim of the officer, which is both the strength and the weakness of the law.

Thus it may be seen that the Right to Bear Arms is no mere form, but a central pillar of sovereignty. It distinguishes the noble from the subject, and the ruler from the ruled. Without it, there is no order but only anarchy, where each man may wield violence for himself.

De Baerle’s conclusions are expressed with a clarity, rigor and intelligence impossible for a woman. Impossible! The very suggestion that a lady of noble birth, barely trained in letters, could produce such a work unaided is laughable. No, no, a learned man must have written this, or at the very least guided her hand. The strange satisfaction expressed in the second paragraph betrays the feminine touch, but the rest is far too sound to be hers. I will not, cannot, accept that such scholarship came from a woman. Yet my colleagues, blinded by novelty, have forced me to include it here under her name. Readers are advised to apply proper skepticism.


Marginal note, by Zorthen Linhad (date unknown), in the Encyclopedia copy in the library at Castle Peyrepertuse
I cannot allow this nonsense to stand. I stayed with the Duke and Duchess of Taladaria for several months in the 840s and 850s, owing to my mother, Qaya, of the earth-elven House Linhad and her bond with House de Baerle. I spent many an engaging evening in conversation with the Duchess. She was a scholar of rare brilliance, sharp of wit and precise in judgment. She was her husband’s most important advisor and presided over the Duke’s Court in her husband’s stead the majority of the time. The treatise above is entirely hers, word for word, sprung from her mind and hand alone. The buffoon who edited this work proclaims only his own ignorance.


Zorthen Linhad, half brother of Maximilien de Baerle, Duchess Annette’s great-great-grandfather.

Christmas Excerpt Dropship Down

Chenkov Family Home
Berlin, Earth
2093.357 (Wednesday 23 Dec)

The only memorable event during the time at the administrative school near Magdeburg was joining Igor to visit his family in Berlin for Christmas. Laura had never experienced the holiday in the way the the Chenkovs celebrated it. Christmas had been a special occasion she was very young but it had never been an event the way it was for the Chenkov family. She remembered her mother had taken her ice skating one year when she was still doing alright, as well as some small gifts and a tiny fake tree with lights that changed colour.

The Chenkov Christmas experience was an eye opener. They arrived two days before Christmas. When they arrived, both Igor’s parents were waiting for them. His mother wore glasses, a long plaid skirt and knitted cardigan that fit very well with Laura’s idea of a typical female professor. His father was the same, with corduroy pants, a chequered shirt and a sleeveless vest as well as a small, slightly unkempt beard. Both were genuinely pleased to meet her. Igor had told her that both mother and father were academics, professors nearing the ends of their careers. They intended to move to Europa upon retirement.

Igor’s mother had already noticed her at HPBT graduation where they had exchanged polite nods. Igor had told his parents a lot about Laura and his mother, Ludmilla, clearly had high hopes for the relationship. She almost felt bad that she wasn’t romantically interested in Igor, it was such a warm and pleasant environment. Of course, she wasn’t really romantically interested in anyone and while she really liked Igor and wouldn’t have minded sleeping with him, she got the impression that he probably wouldn’t be able to adjust to that very well. She’d decided they were better off with a platonic friendship.

Igor’s family was well off and the way they lived was something Laura had never seen up close before. The house had a large tree, so big it seemed to reach almost to the apartment’s high ceilings. It was a real one decorated with lights and there were Christmas decorations, so many of them that it must have taken Igor’s mother weeks to prepare them. Igor’s parental home was in a large three storey building in the customary German urban style. It was a building with large rooms and high, decorated ceilings comprising six large apartments and a large garden surrounding all of it. It had high tall windows that let in a lot of light. Igor and his older brother, who now lived on the planet Europa with his family had each had their own rooms growing up. Igor’s brother’s room now functioned as a guest room for her. It was a warm, loving environment and there didn’t appear to be any significant family tragedies anywhere in sight. There were no jealous ex lovers or stoned acquaintances. It was all very… comfortable.

A completely irresponsible amount of food and drink was available with each meal melding seamlessly into the next. Igor had told her that his family were all atheists but it obviously hadn’t stopped them embracing Christmas when they moved to the EU. Igor, who had apparently made an exhaustive analysis explained that the way they celebrated it was a mix of many different cultures. From Russia his parents had brought traditions normally observed during the Russian Orthodox Easter. The CHenkovs had mixed in German customs and American commercialism and British roasts and mince pies. To Laura is seemed to be a case of ‘and’ rather than ‘or’, with each assimilated tradition contributing both to the amount of decorations and the volume of food. It was quite an expansive event.

“Is this how you normally celebrate?”

“Huh? Yeah. Of course. Used to be more family when I was younger. Lots of people are off world so it’s a small group these days really.”

When Christmas day finally came nd there were fifteen people there. It seemed awfully busy to Laura and she already felt like she didn’t need to eat for a month.

“So it’s always this big of an event?”

“I’m not that into it really Laura. I usually just come here and fill the time eating and drinking until I can go back to doing something useful. It’s always such an overload.”

With her family, she’d never really had enough Christmas to consider the possibility of a festive overload.

“Hmm. I guess… it could be a bit much. Especially the food.”

It definitely beat sitting alone at a deserted army base though. Igor had been right about that.

“My mother always gets really stressed making sure everything is in order. I can never really tell whether she likes it or just thinks it’s the way you’re expected to do it. She can be a little traditional.”

“Traditional? I see… what’s that Disney Rudolf the Reindeer? What about that? Is that like a Russian Orthodox icon or something?”

“I’ll concede that she seems undecided on which tradition is important, but you know what I mean.”

She’d never really realised how segregated people from places like La Tribune had become. The poverty really did affect everything. In La Tribune any gathering of this size had a good chance of becoming a drug or violence infested horror show.
\bigskip

Igor had had to twist her arm to make her come, but in a rare moment of social insight, he had realised that she would be quite alone in a deserted barracks at Christmas if he didn’t take action. He hadn’t taken no for an answer.

“You’re not staying here alone Laura. This place will be deserted and depressing. I’m not having that on my conscience!”

“Look I’ll be fine. I’m sure I’ll find something to keep me occupied.”

“Look, I don’t want to have to talk exclusively to my parents for that long. They keep acting like I’m a bit of an idiot for getting conscripted.”

“What can I say, maybe they have a point?”

“Har, har. Very funny. Don’t try and change the subject!”

“Look, I’ll be fine here.”

“You stubborn idiot! You’re coming and that’s the end of it! Pack your bag or I’ll do it! I’ll drag you along by your hair if I have to.”

It had been an uncharacteristic outburst, such and unexpected thing for Igor to do that she’d agreed to come.

An empty military base is a bleak place at Christmas time, even if you don’t care for the holiday at all. Everything is deserted, most facilities are closed or running at minimal capacity and anyone who has duty is annoyed that they have to be there at all. Igor was right, she just felt really awkward about being at Igor’s home for a vacation.

Laura had never realised that such a thing as a functional family actually existed outside of fiction. It gave her something to think about, an option she had never considered before. She had even gone out into Berlin with Igor to get everyone presents. The shopping areas were insanely busy, but they managed to get everyone something vaguely festive. It was all an unfamiliar ritual to her, but she realised she should be very grateful to Igor for having taken her along. Even if some of it was awkward.

Influences: A.E. Van Vogt

In this case I’m mainly talking about the Null-A trilogy. This trilogy made the idea of General Semantics understandable, quite aside from being a wonderful read. A.E. Van Vogt has been criticised by reviewers, which seems to have marginalised to some extent. I’m not sure that those reviews were entirely fair, and in the balance of things I think he does belong among the great pioneers of Science Fiction among the ranks of Heinlein, Azimov and the other early greats.

At the very least, presenting General Semantics in an accessible way is a great achievement. I tried to read General Semantics by Korzybski itself, but it’s hell. I drowned in the introduction where Korzybski seems to take the time to explain why each an every person who ever sent him a letter disagreeing with his ideas is carefully counter argued. In any event, I don’t think a list of writers that influenced me could be complete without including the Null-A trilogy. I’ve read several of Van Vogt’s other books, but the Null-A series will always be the one that made the biggest impression on me.

Below is a link to the first book in the trilogy. Unfortunately the trilogy can be hard to find.

The World of Null-A

Progress Fall 2024

From time to time I intend to post progress on the many different projects I have. I tend to switch from one to the other when I’ve had enough of a certain setting for a while. Sometimes I want a break after a intense scene, sometimes I just need me some guns instead of swords for a bit.

As can be seen, my first two books are in the editing stage. It’s a process I’m struggling with, on the one hand because it’s a substantial investment and on the other, because I’m still looking for a line/copy editor that’s a good fit for me.

Tales of Vatan

TitleThenNow
A Path Less Traveled By (working title)38k45k
The Saga of Kára Ice-Eyes23k29k
Sunset91k112k
The Half Elven Orphan (Alagariel I) complete, editing140k160k
The Value of Nobility (Alagariel II), complete, draft
<classified> (Alagariel III), complete, draft
<classified> (Alagariel IV), planned, partial draft
<classified> (Alagariel V), planned, should conclude the 1st series
<classified> (Alagariel VI-X?) ideas and partial plans for a second series
<classified> (Alagariel XI+?) and another, probably concluding series that I have a solid outline for
Total words for all Alagariel series up to now (inc Alagariel I):643k
The Death Witch (working title)1k8k

Total War

TitleThenNow
Dropship Down (Clausewitz I) complete, editing140k?161k
A Nuclear Hello (Clausewitz II) complete, draft
The Long War (Clausewitz III) complete, draft (working title)
Headway at last (Clausewitch IV) was complete, but in the middle of a partial rewrite (working title)
<classified> (Clausewitz V) partial
Total words for all Clausewitz books (inc vol I):672k
Unnamed prequel to Clausewitz series65k75k
Clausewitz Series II29k

Other

This only includes things that I expect to turn into something publishable one day. I try not to include things for which I have no real idea how they’re going to be a worthwhile story.

TitleThenNow
Steampunk Portal Saga Thing (Yes, that’s my working title. I expect this to become a long series eventually.)0k36k
Alternate History Project20k