It dawned on me that should this book series be published, there will be certain folks who start pointing out the flaws in the facts about Ashland. Being the kind of guy who likes to stay out in front of such issues, I thought that I would set a couple of things straight...
"Ashland does not have that geography"
Yep... and nope. From the macro point of view, most of the Ashland in this series is written to the scale of our Real World.
However, there are changes in the landscape caused by a ritual cast a few centuries prior. Greenshore is located on a plot of land that has a much larger (and much less soggy) footprint than its Real World counterpart. The Old Hollow is in a lumber region lifted up out of the marshy landscape by the creation of the Omni Magna some few hundred years ago. The artist guild's mall is located on public park in town.
Many of these changes came about from the arrival of the various mystical fonts, which spurred landscape or developmental changes in the immediate area.
"The mystic fonts are all different in size and concept"
Yes they are. Each has its unique 'realm' of power.
You see, in the development of the magic system that governs this series, I had a LOT of history (both Real World and fabricated) to interweave. From these histories came font-oriented events. The initial ritual that set off the local fonts was cast by individuals with little concern toward the techno-social evolution that would come. Thus, when further spell-castings were made to individual fonts by the later generations, changes occurred: one font was shattered into nine 'smaller' powers, another became a binary gateway, a spell cast with Classical Greek connections broke a third font into four 'gardens'...
Individual spellcasting needs and reactions between changes of the fonts themselves created change in each mystical source.
"Where do you draw the line, in a mystical sense?"
Reality is my go-to. It's where the characters have been born into and have grown. The world of Greenshore is one reality over from our own. The mystical elements are part of the planet's history, but these magical effects and personalities are drawn to whatever magical presence they become aware of. From this, magic 'society' is a quiet, little-involved subset of the Real. The 'wizards' who are aware of it and have figured out how to use it are a sub-set of the magic 'society' (a minority within a hidden minority woven into Mundane Reality).
Thus, drivers honk their cars horns as the lights go blink blink blink and that hawk overhead might be a wizard trekking back home...
"Ashland does not have that geography"
Yep... and nope. From the macro point of view, most of the Ashland in this series is written to the scale of our Real World.
However, there are changes in the landscape caused by a ritual cast a few centuries prior. Greenshore is located on a plot of land that has a much larger (and much less soggy) footprint than its Real World counterpart. The Old Hollow is in a lumber region lifted up out of the marshy landscape by the creation of the Omni Magna some few hundred years ago. The artist guild's mall is located on public park in town.
Many of these changes came about from the arrival of the various mystical fonts, which spurred landscape or developmental changes in the immediate area.
"The mystic fonts are all different in size and concept"
Yes they are. Each has its unique 'realm' of power.
You see, in the development of the magic system that governs this series, I had a LOT of history (both Real World and fabricated) to interweave. From these histories came font-oriented events. The initial ritual that set off the local fonts was cast by individuals with little concern toward the techno-social evolution that would come. Thus, when further spell-castings were made to individual fonts by the later generations, changes occurred: one font was shattered into nine 'smaller' powers, another became a binary gateway, a spell cast with Classical Greek connections broke a third font into four 'gardens'...
Individual spellcasting needs and reactions between changes of the fonts themselves created change in each mystical source.
"Where do you draw the line, in a mystical sense?"
Reality is my go-to. It's where the characters have been born into and have grown. The world of Greenshore is one reality over from our own. The mystical elements are part of the planet's history, but these magical effects and personalities are drawn to whatever magical presence they become aware of. From this, magic 'society' is a quiet, little-involved subset of the Real. The 'wizards' who are aware of it and have figured out how to use it are a sub-set of the magic 'society' (a minority within a hidden minority woven into Mundane Reality).
Thus, drivers honk their cars horns as the lights go blink blink blink and that hawk overhead might be a wizard trekking back home...
-Dave
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