Part Three – What is the gist of my world?

Well now, that is a fairly complex question to articulate the words to. For others to understand, that is. I've never formally addressed a query like that, for myself, and haven't had anyone ask that point-blank question. So, like any challenge, I will endeavor to fulfill such request.

Wow.

I never realize how many different genres & tropes I've dipped my creative brush into, until now. Looking at the world my story is set in, I have a seemingly endless list of authors, artists, and cultures that I have pulled select threads from in an attempt to weave a complete and complex environment for my stories. So many creative ideas, from others, that have sparked my own creative twists, which has led me to where I currently am, in my imaginative undertaking.

I guess first, we'll delve a little bit into our planet's own history, and some of the cultures that have existed throughout time. I am, in no way, a historian, although I do possess a slight fancy for reading about periods and societies that interest me. Most of them are classified as “ancient” by catalog, but interesting to me none-the-less. Ancient Egypt to the Olmecs to Ancient Greece to the Persian Empire – these are some of the time periods that I draw inspiration from, including their mythology and civilization. I dabble in African tribal history and Nordic legends, Medieval Spain to Victorian England – I run the gamut up to, and even within, the Wild West.

Of course, within these areas, a little fiction doesn't hurt anything either. Now, we'll brush on the second, BIGGEST, contributor to my ideas – media. I've decide to label it as “media,” because I'll use this to cover everything from novels to movies to comic books to music. And there is no way in the infinite planes of mythological Gehenna that I could even begin to list all of the influences there. I guess I need to start with the three things, that happened all in rapid succession, that caused all of this. First was a tv series that my mom got me hooked on – Batman (1966 – 1968 series) – it was in syndication by the time I got started on it. This, of course, led me to comic books. Next were some of the most impressive movies of all times - Star Wars: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. Yup. I saw the original releases, in the movie theater. For a five year old, seeing the initial Star Wars, there were no words to describe it's awesomeness. Of course, I saw the rest of the trilogy. Afterwords, I was going to be an astronaut – no questions asked. This trilogy was quickly followed by my exposure to a comic that just grabbed a hold of me - the Savage Sword of Conan – based on Robert E. Howard's stories. I had been a comic book fan for a few years at that time, growing up with the superheros of our modern world, but this magazine captured my imagination unlike no other.

From there, my interests wandered into the world of Dungeons & Dragons, about the same time I got really interested in horror movies. It was just down hill from there – Lovecraft, Wells, Poe – not to mention more modern works – Miller, Golden, King.

Horror. Pulp. Mystery. High Fantasy. Dark Fantasy. Gothic Fiction. Sword & Sorcery. Urban Fantasy. Weird West. Wuxia. These are some of the sub-genres that I am trying to combine into my tales. Which brings us to two modern sub-genres -

Arcanepunk and Steampunk – a simple definition, or Steampunk – a rather lengthy definition. These both came from the cyberpunk (lengthy definition) genre that started in the early 90's. I have enjoyed steampunk works for many years, but it is seemingly started to become too popular, almost main stream if you will. While I like the aesthetics of the steampunk style, I am more drawn to the arcanepunk philosophy. I've gone into the fact that the contraptions that I design must have a blueprint that I feel would work – if magic were real enough to power them.

Now that I have rambled on for a little over a page, I suppose the simplest description that I can give for my fictional world is summed up by one word – CHANGE. What I envision for the Arcane Compass is a very dynamic change. Right now I am torn by how much I should divulge about my ideas. On one hand, revealing these secrets during the story is what all story tellers are after. On the other hand, it might take forever to reveal all of my ideas. And, from a third point of view, heavens forbid, but I might be called to a higher plane before I get there during my stories.

So, with all that in mind, I will disclose a few tid-bits of universal mechanics, along with a bit of “yet to occur” events. As everyone knows, the world is situated upon a celestial turtle's back, who swims through the astral spiral. The societies of the Arcane Compass are closing upon the beginning of the Fifth Cycle of time in their world, an Age of Change. One of the great unknowns to anyone world-side is that during the Fifth Cycle, multiple celestial turtles will converge at a fixed point in the spiral, and an undisclosed number of these turtle worlds will combine into a spherical planet, with the turtles swimming away. You can just imagine the chaos that all this will cause.

Another plot arc is going to be the development and growth of the main protagonists. There will be main characters coming and going (not quite like George R.R. Martin's character tho), but for the most part, the main story line will follow Faust for quite some time. But one of the ideas I want to do, is having a Tales story about one of the other characters too. Kinda like a “Meanwhile, back at the castle” kind of story. These Tales would focus on other characters, and even some background characters, events, and places.

I also wish to convey a sense of change, in the kingdoms and cultures of the world, as more and more arcanepunk ideas come about. The evolution of kingdoms and technomancy, bringing some of the Compass to an enlightened age, and seeing where the main characters end up – these are some of the goals that I have for my story, my characters, and my multiverse.

I hope this verbose writing helped you readers to gain a bit of insight into my dreams for my creation.

To copy someone else's signature phrase -

Excelsior!!!

Lord Pruitt