A Look Into a World #3: How the Power of Prophecy Came To Be (+ P.2 of the Q&A)

So, in this post, I wanted to talk about an aspect of my general process of writing but one that is still related to Becoming the Body Thief and Arisias. So, I decided another installment for A Look Into a World. If you want to read the previous installments, here is #1 and #2.  

A Look Into a World: 

How the Power of Prophecy Came To Be

The Myth

Before Karleon had power over prophecy, the power belonged to the God of Time. The prophecies were very direct and to the point. They did not have any rhyming nor were they hard to decipher. Because of this a lot of prophecies came out sounding like threats rather than prophecies. Since a lot of people were not pleased to find out when and the exact date and time of their death, prophecies became less and less like a thing that people would travel to receive. It seemed prophecy was becoming a dying art. However, Karleon the god of mischief decided that he must steal the power. 

(Karleon catching the god of time in a form of a firefly (he's not a real firefly, so his glow wouldn't be yellow but instead silver)). 

So Karleon insulted the God of Time and challenged him to a shapeshifting contest. They took on different forms of different animals, until the God of Time turned into a firefly and Karleon caught him in that form and extracted the power that way. 

As a result, the temples that housed the God of Time's oracles suddenly became Karleon's temples of prophecy. And devotees to the God of Time were still devotees to him, but they had suddenly become devotees to Karleon as well--and not in the typical way which would happen during The Festival of Magic. 

This caused Karleon to get in trouble with the King and Queen of the gods again. But they were unable to remove the power from Karleon for he threatened that the power would cease to be in use if they removed it. Since he could see the future, they took what he said to be fact (though variations of the myth told by the God of Time's devotees, say it was one of Karleon's lies). 

But, even though they were not able to remove the power, the King and Queen tasked the God of Time with punishing Karleon. So Karleon was temporarily frozen in time. 

The Oracles & Their Powers

                                                            (An elvish oracle in a trance foretelling what is come) 

There are many oracles across the different kingdoms. When an oracle uses their power, they go into a trance. Their eyes glow a bright vibrant blue, and they talk in a voice that sounds unlike their own. 

The prophecies of course are told in rhyme and also are very ambiguous in meaning. In regards to prophecies related to heroes, some people in the world believe in "chosen ones." Others believe that the people mentioned in prophecies relating to quests are just descriptions of people who could fit the criteria, but not an exact person.

 But it does all come down to a belief in fate, and what power it has over actions in the world. 

The Relationship between the Devotees 

  Nisis/Nyro's and Karleon's devotees are on somewhat good terms. (The gods aren't exactly enemies, and despite their disagreements, they have teamed up more than once). On the other hand, the God of Time's devotees and Karleon's are not friendly. 

This is because some of the devotees, think that the power should have been left with the God of Time, as prophecy foretells the future and is related to time itself. They are also upset that they could have received the ability but the god of mischief, Karleon stole it from them. 

It is not unusual that arguments--even heated debates--would happen between them. The devotees to the God of Time would like the power back, whereas the devotees of Karleon think it is rightfully theirs. 

                  Part two of the Q&A For Becoming the Body Thief 

Now, we're back with part 2! If you wish to read part 1, you can so here. Many of the questions that were submitted related to the 2nd book in my Fantasy murder mystery book series, Becoming the Body Thief, and there were other questions relating to the world in general.                                      

Questions from Diane at Always Crave Cute :

I'm wondering how far Arisias will go with her ruse. Will she hold back just enough to not commit an actual crime?

Without spoiling anything, Arisias does admit she has had a lot of regrets from having to do things because of her alias in the 2nd book. She actually said that in this post (note, that I called her "Annabelle" then, so the post is a bit outdated in terms of names but not content), in response to the question "what is the hardest thing you've ever done?" So, I will just say-- she has a lot of regrets. 

                          Will she change the behavior of the real criminals?

                     You shall see, Arisias may be able to, or she may not. It all depends...

                 Does she use costumes, disguises, to hide her true identity and intent?

(Arisias in disguise) 

         The criminals Arisias works with, have no idea they're helping Princess Arisias. So, yes. She's in disguise, and she is using an alias, so no one actually knows it is her. However, that is not to say that someone won't discover that she isn't who she says she is. 😉

                                                  Question from Anonymous:  

                           Will Arisias find friends among the criminals?

 She will have to be allies with them, even if not close friends. Because if she is enemies toward them that will not help her get to where she needs to go. 

         Will she turn these in to the police when she sees the crimes they commit?

This is one time, where she cannot turn criminals in to the civil guard (police) because, she herself has become a wanted criminal. So, by doing that, she would risk being arrested just for the sake of arresting a criminal. At this point, she is at the same level of the criminals so cannot do much to go against them-- unless, she wants to end up arrested, too. 

                                               Questions from Fleming: 

What made you decide to change the character’s name to Arisias, especially after living with Annabelle for so long? 

(Still from the video where I announce Arisias's name change). 

When I named this character "Annabelle" back in 2016, the name fit her character at the time. However, when she was developer further, it stopped fitting her. So, it felt appropriate to call her "Arisias" as was drafting it now. 

Also, I realized the name "Annabelle" sounds very strange when there are other characters with names like Cerawen and Vonivera. And also since she is the main character, it felt weird that the other characters had fantastical names, but she did not. 

In the first book, Horatio only knows the character's name, rather than her as a person when he first wakes up. I thought "Arisias" as a name held more mystery than "Annabelle."

 The name Arisias also seemed closer to who she was, and as for the background in creating the name I talk about it in this post here. 

 Also, are there any characteristics of the fairies, elves or dwarfs that you feel are completely original to this world?

(Image from Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_mythology#/media/File:Riders_of_th_Sidhe_(big).jpg)

I wouldn't say anything is completely original. I am taking a lot of elements of my story from mythology from thousands and thousands of years ago (Greek, Norse, Irish, etc.), along with inspirations from some more modern fantasy stories. But, I would say they're different in some ways from other elves, dwarves, and fairies I have seen in the media. 

For my fairies I actually took some elements from Irish mythology. Because of that they're more trickster like, not someone you want to anger, nor someone you can completely trust which is why they have a bad relationship with the humans. They have the ability to make themselves "invisible" (go to  another dimension), and realm-travel. Both elves and fairies came from another realm, but fairies have the ability to actually magically get themselves there if they want to, whereas for an elf it would be harder. 

The elves are more trustworthy. They have been there for thousands and thousands of years. They are able to detect gods from within a crowd more than a mere mortal (human) could. And elves believe themselves to be made in the likeness of the very gods they worship-- which is why they're so ethereal and live longer than humans. 

Dwarves I'm still working on. At the moment, only two have shown up (the two criminals that Arisias has to work with). So their culture, beliefs, and society are things I'm still working on building as a whole. But, I will say that not all dwarves are miners. There are some who are, but while wealth is important to the culture (particularly jewels and gold), not all dwarves are miners.  

....And that's the end of the Q&A. Thank you to everyone who submitted questions. They were fun to answer. 😁

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What would you (or your character) do if you could tell the future? What's your favorite Fantasy creature? 

-Quinley