Robed in Red (2008 NaNo attempt)

[Yuka]

I will make this thread now, and use it to catalogue any ideas I have. This year is going to be difficult time wise, but I can skip a few hours of sleep if it comes to that. Good luck to all participating in this challenge. NaNo here I come!

[Yuka]

Tonight, for the first time in months, I was inspired to write down an idea for an original fiction story. This is a sign! Okay, I must find the time to attempt NaNo this year. It's only a sketch, of course, but hopefully this time around will be better than last (yeah right).

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Carlena was a prophet of her time.

As a girl of seventeen, little more than a child, she is chosen for the role of the sacrificial saint, always a woman, always robed in red, always silent. A ritual is performed at the ordination that removes the physical ability to vocalise. Even in pain, even in death, she cannot make a sound. Previous saints have lived their lives alone, preferring to follow ritual to the letter and remove themselves from the company of their fellow men.

Carlena cannot bear to be alone, so she creates a code—the first real written language known to her race. She paints on the stripped bark of trees growing around her home, each stroke of her brush representing a single concept or word.

All in her Askerian home shun her company, believing her to be a strangeling with no future—in the village or anywhere else. In particular, those who are closer to the Kyangi (god/creation causer) and know the rules set down for civilisation call for action to be taken against her. This is not known to the average villager, but written language is seen as the sole domain of holy beings, which—saint or otherwise—Carlena is certainly not.

A council convenes over her fate. It is unheard of for a sacrificial saint to die by the hand of a mortal—their sacrifice is that they outlive all they know, carrying the burden of memories from centuries past. Feeding only on the leaves of a certain plant for six months of the year hardens the body against disease and decay, enabling extraordinary longevity, but as this plant is rare and much coveted, it is only given to those chosen. This agreement prevents war from breaking out, between villages and individuals, over who will have the plant and cheat death.

Carlena has her first vision almost a year after her appointment. She witnesses the destruction of their home, their forest, by forces beyond their control—beings with godlike power that arrive from a place beyond imagination, but which resemble her own people in physical form.

She communicates this through a servant, who understands her sign language and translates into verbal words for the benefit of others. Enriere (the servant) cannot convey the desperation carried in the message, only the words, and as a consequence it is not taken seriously. The head villagers, who already believed Carlena was losing her mind, warn her that she should not abuse her position. Frustrated, terrified and utterly alone, Carlena gives up on the outside world and shuts herself into her house to write and paint.

Jyunget are a race of apelike sentient creatures, who cannot communicate by any kind of spoken language. In fact, they are deeply sensitive to sound-waves and constant sound—as with human speech--represents danger and violence to them, and this is why they cannot abide the company of humans and their vocal companion animals. All Jyunget communicate with either informal sign-language (when a message must be conveyed quickly) or with written communication.

Reostat is a juvenile Jyunget on the run from his clan. He is trying to prove something that his race has doubted for a long time: that mankind has meaningful intelligence, of the same kind they have. The Jyunget are planning a war against the nearby man-huts/villages. The men suspect nothing of their plans, and as they are largely a peaceful people will probably not be able to fight off the attack. When Reostat expressed horror at what his brothers planned to do, they called him human-lover and drove him from his home. For weeks he travels the forests in search of humans, or of another Jyunget settlement to accept his company. He has no family or friends, few provisions and little strength left when he turns up on the edge of Carlena’s territory.

Taking pity on the child, though she knows nothing of him and he is clearly not human, she takes him into her home. He is sickened by exhaustion and lack of food, but Carlena uses her knowledge of medicine to restore him to fitness. Because she is now physically unable to speak, and no one around her uses spoken language, they develop a tentative companionship—the first bond established between their two races.

Shortly after this, a meeting is called to discuss the errant saint. It is decided that, as a breaker of the unspoken laws, Carlena must be removed from her post as the sacrificial saint. The consequence of this will be her death, for no man can be removed from sainthood to live again as a man. She will have until two weeks after the first leaf of autumn has fallen. If by then she cannot prove that she is going to change, then she will be executed as a traitor.

Her sole friend, the Jyunget Reostat, learns of this through Enriere and makes a decision. Though it goes against all tenets of common Jyunget philosophy, he will provide this human girl with sanctuary... and she will provide him with the proof he needs to save both races from extinction.

[Ginz ❤]

Wow, your idea sounds really, really interesting. Good luck with it! ^_^

[Zylaa]

Woah! That's really cool! I like it, it sounds like it'll be really interesting.

[Kathleen]

Huh. Very well-thought out. *slightly jealous* xD Seems like it's going to turn out really cool. ^^

[Yuka]

Thanks, guys I'm really excited for this year's NaNo. It seems like a big event, what with it being the anniversary and all. Plus for those who finish, there are free paperback copies of your book available through the NaNo website (not sure who's actually doing it this year, it was LuLu last time!). If I make it, I'm totally getting one, just for the sake of it.

[Yuka]

This post shall house information about my characters. Everything here is definitely subject to change.

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Carlena
Age: 17
Phys. description: A slender girl, about 5ft 5 in height. She has long black hair, usually tied in a loose ponytail for practicality; dark narrow eyes and a mouth with a slight upwards curve. She prefers comfort and durability in clothing to fashion value.
Personality: duplicitous. She comes across as cold on the surface but understands more than most people realise. When she starts something, she absolutely has to stick with it until it’s done. She likes to sneak around, know things other people don’t know and use that knowledge to her advantage. This, as you can imagine, tends to land her in trouble...
Family background: Her parents died when she was three. She was raised by her older brother Aspen, then ten and more than up to the job. She has no other family (that she knows of). She and her brother have grown further apart over the years, mostly due to the fact that their outlook on life has developed so differently.
Aspirations: To be treated with respect. To live a fairly normal life, at least on the surface. To be able to earn food doing something she loves.
Hobbies: People-watching. She will sit and watch people for hours, trying to work out why they do what they do. Keeping herself fit by chasing her friends all over the canopies. Practicing battles with crude weaponry.
Career: Does odd jobs around the shanty town to earn essentials. Spends a lot of time trying to fix the holes in her tiny suspended home.
Education: Is fluent in spoken language, never really thought about signs. She is an artistic learner and loved to paint and sculpt, but is also adept at delicate physical work such as weaving.
Virtues: Kindness, at least to an extent. If she sees someone struggling she will stop to help them, and she tries to avoid causing pain or unhappiness wherever possible.
Vices: Impatience. Likes not having things to do, so when work takes longer than it should or something delays her, she tends to get angry.

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Aspen
Age: 24
Phys. Description: Thin but well-built with semi-short hair the colour of wet sand, hazel eyes that look red under the right light and a slim, smooth face. Wears the clothes associated with his work even when at home, because he can’t afford more.
Personality: Blunt and extroverted. He believes in telling the truth (or his truth) even when it will hurt the other person. His confidence is infectious for short times, but it quickly wears thin. He is a natural leader and knows how to handle difficult situations. Younger colleagues see him as a role model. He is a hard worker but only when he wants to be, and has a lackadaisical attitude towards life in general. He tends to believe that things will happen for him.
Family background: Lost his parents when he was ten. He was an independent child and already taking care of his own needs, for the most part. When his three-year-old sister joined him, he was obliged to take a job to pay for her upkeep. He actually cared about her when she was younger, but the more she came to look like their parents the more he avoided her, with the consequence that they have grown apart.
Aspirations: To take control of the Catswaile Menagerie from the batty old founder, and give it a new purpose. To live comfortably, and one day move up a level or two from the lower canopies, into nicer housing in a better district. And perhaps, one day, to achieve a position of power...
Hobbies: Throwing daggers to knock fruit out of trees, tracking wild animals and bragging to his friends.
Career: Works part time in the Catswaile Menagerie, the Askerai answer to a zoo. Animals are kept as curiosities in cages made from treated wood as hard as metal. The elderly eccentric owner of the menagerie trusts Aspen a great deal, but many other assistants resent him and his attitude.
Education: Mostly self-taught. Knows the spoken language pretty well, but has no sign language. As a practical learner, he has always been more comfortable working than thinking.
Virtues: Honesty. Tries to be open, friendly and fair with equals, at least to begin with. Abhors those who lie and cheat and trick.
Vices: Violent. He thinks with his fists more than his brain, and doesn’t care who he has to hurt to achieve his goals, as long as the fight is always a fair one.

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Jyunget Reostat (Reo)

Age: Juvenile (not much is known about the rate of aging in Jyunget)
Phys. Description: About four feet tall at full height. Has silky hair, alternating dark brown and pale grey all over except for the hands, feet, face and part of the head. He has big, round, blackish-brown eyes, a wide, friendly mouth, slender fingers with broader tips than those seen on human hands, tanned skin and a broad, ridged forehead. On most Jyunget, the ears are similar to those of a cat, perhaps slightly more rounded and almost completely transparent. Reo’s ears are pinned close to the sides of his head with vines plucked from the trees. On the ground he wears tanned deer hide, in the trees he wears loose-fitting handmade feather or leaf garments.
Personality: Academic. Loves to observe, but must write down and record all that he sees. Smart and concise, a good judge of people, has a mischievous streak. He trusts those who are kind to him, and believes in the essential goodness of people, Jyunget or otherwise. He tends to be shy of crowds and strangers, even amongst his own kind. He normally avoids humans and other noisy animals like the plague.
Family background: He came from an extensive clan, but his involvement with the strange and terrible humans caused them to disown him, at least until he can provide conclusive evidence of human intelligence. He has not seen another Jyunget for almost two years.
Aspirations: To reach an Askerai settlement and communicate with its people. To prove to his clan that humans are intelligent, as he believes. To avoid being killed, tortured or thrown into a cage. To see more smiles around him, and less violence.
Hobbies: enjoys painting, writing and meditation.
Career: Professional researcher, perhaps zoologist or animal behaviourist would be the best way to describe it. He was studying native species in his home habitat, and when he heard about humanity he couldn’t resist trying to find out more...
Education: Excellent at scribing and painting, compared with human children or teens he has little independence but knows the basics of survival.
Virtues: Trusting. His innocent-until-proven-guilty mindset is one of the things that led him to try to protect the humans.
Vices: Hopelessly naive. Can’t quite believe that anyone has to suffer or die, even if they wish those things on others. Believes that war is never justified, and killing only when necessary for survival.

[Yuka]

This post will contain information about the culture of the Askerai.

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The Askerai, a tree-living people, see the earth as their root, and never return to it because to do so is weird and unnatural to them. The earth is where things go to die and also where the Askerai ‘sprouted’. Only a handful have ever seen the forest floor.

Much of the world is a giant forest. Instead of oceans, there are vast swamps like shallow seas inhabited by trees and other large plants that grow nowhere else. There are no mountains near the Askerai settlement. The earth below is obscured by mist clouds and (when the mist does clear) vast undergrowth.

Many trees beyond the settlement are not suitable for human habitation. Occasionally a group will attempt to take over a new tree and make it habitable, but this process can take many years. Lots of trees that are not suitable for living have been turned into industrial plants for the making of clothes, weapons, building materials and other such essentials.

Things normally made from metal and gemstones are made from plant materials. Gemstones are replaced by flowers set into an amber-like substance. The teeth and bones of various animals are used for crude weapons. More specialised tools are made from a particular kind of hardened sap. Furniture and building materials come from the treated wood of certain trees. Fabrics come from a number of sources, including plant-based threads, loose-fitting leaf or feather robes, tanned skins and wool from domesticated animals.

Occasionally, if someone breaks the law of the Askerai in a severe way, their skin or bones will be turned into a temple decoration...

Nutrition is a science pioneered by herbalists, who claim to know exactly how much of this plant or that animal is needed per day, week, month etc. for survival, best health or to fight off an illness. Some of these people are genuine, others... not so much.

Housing is generally one of two types: hanging from the branches or built into the tree itself.

Askerai don’t write habitually. They don’t believe in keeping records, and certainly not for ordinary things.. The past is past, they say, leave it behind.

Their artists make images but for decoration, never for communication. Messages travel by word of mouth or, in some cases, by body language (which is far more developed than our own). They are aware of subtleties in tone of voice, in posture, in facial expression, that a normal human being would not have suspected possible. Unless an individual has been trained, or has supernatural self control, it is impossible to lie to these people.

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The only rules that govern human behaviour relate to harming other innocent humans, limiting the freedom of other humans without good cause or contradicting the rules of their religion.

The Askerai are not a warlike people, yet even amongst them black sheep emerge, those who would destroy lives and property as easily as others breathe. A small band of people, appointed by the highest few, decide when action is warranted to resolve a situation as well as what should be done. Unfortunately, orders are subject to interpretation and because nothing is recorded, nothing can be proven. This allows for a great deal of potential corruption amongst law enforcement officials...

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People on different levels of the branches are responsible for different things. Some essential foods grow only in the lower, or higher, branch systems, and communities exist for gathering and trading these things.

Others develop their strongest skills into professions, such as the building of new houses, the weaving of fabric, sculpting or sewing or cleaning, or even caring for herds of domesticated animals. This is how most make a living.

Others still live by directly serving those higher than themselves. Such servants ensure the comfort of their superior by cleaning, cooking, etc. This is extremely degrading and will only be undertaken as a last resort.

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Kyangiphil are those with a deeper connection to the creation causer: the highest level of creation, from which all things were born and to which all things return. The religious calling is not an option for the average man, no matter his rank. All Kyangiphil come to their post in one of two ways: birth or selection, and selection is rare.

The highest branches are further from the degrading earth and closer to the creation causer. Only the most religious will be given homes here. Saints are more highly regarded than common Kyangiphil, but are deliberately impaired in some way, on the theory that inhibiting one sense or ability strengthens others. In the case of the sacrificial saint, it also serves to prevent certain secrets from reaching the general populace.

The saint is always a woman, always robed in red, always silent. Silent because at the initiation, her ability to communicate vocally is permanently disabled. To prevent her from sharing terrible things with those below her station, as some have been inclined to do in the past. Her sacrifice is to live whilst all she loves and cares about dies around her. She is a walking history book, full of the ancient secrets of the Kyangiphil, the one record they keep to ensure that information is not distorted with time.

If the time comes, the current saint is permitted to communicate parts of this history through a non-vocal sign language. None know this language who would betray the Kyangiphil, yet if necessary the knowledge conveyed can be translated into the common tongue, and therefore safely preserved.

I'm having way too much fun

[Yuka]

Well, here we go!!!!!

I had a writing spurt this weekend, decided to get ahead and free up some time for coursework later in the week. Of course, all of this is at the expense of a few hours of sleep, but that's part of the fun.

Excerpts later, maybe.