ahlterra

General Descriptions of the Six---

Kardanahl-- Thinning white hair; pale skin; frail; monks robes; pale eyes; Short gait; bent back and neck; Ringining hands; Symbol: Scrolls

Hogard-- Tall; Muscular; Red curly hair; eight fingers; scars on chest, arm, thigh; swaggering walk; breeches; bare-chested; blue eyes; Symbol: Hammer

Doforr-- Brown hair; Brown eyes; Small stature; medium but steady gait; clothing natural colors and flowing; hair loose and tangled; hands dirty and cut; Symbol: Basket

Lynti-- Blond hair; Brown eyes; workmans clothing; sunburnt/tanned skin; confident but not arrogant gait; calloused hands; Symbol: plow

Sheno-- Black hair; Blue eyes; flowing rich gowns; clean; peaches and cream skin; long fingers and body; voluptuous; luxorious gait; soft alluring voice; Symbol: Scales

Pio-- Brown hair; grey eyes; small stature; dissarayed clothing; pale skin; mousy and cautious; distant gaze; hair bound back; wild and fizzy; Symbol: Book and Candle


More Vocabulary:

Abced-- Priest of Hogard/ Chief Engineer
Azyvu-- Priestess of Hogard/ Chief Researcer
Gundl--The Gorge (chasm) as called in Shenobia
Gundlings-- The Mountains in shenobia; Also called Mountains of Sorrow
Drakhon- The Gorge (chasm) as called in Hogar
Drakhornay-- The Mountains in Hogar; Also called Mountains of Agony




Rough social organization of Ahlterrans:

Ahlterrans: the rank and file; the general populous; most are satisfied to live out their lives without any disruption due to the Gods or the religions.

Dedicated:  Refers to individual and groups of Ahlterrans who feel themselves called to the duties of following one of the Six.  These are the Priests, the Jotor and Jotorie, the Engineer and Researcher, The Brothers, etc who leave behind their mundane life behind to follow the prescripts of the Six

Chosen:  Subset of the Dedicated, sometimes even the Ahlterrans who are picked by the Gods themselves for some great purpose or some trivial game of theirs.  Amongst the Ahlterrans they are called the Chosen.  Among the Dedicated they are called either Chosen or Annointed.  The Gods, and scholars refer to them in the Old Tongue as Deyako.

-skin: a honorific suffix attached to the name of the Grandmother of a Doforrian Family.  All members of that specific Family are afforded with this suffix.  For Example, when Rihanne joined with Kinta's Family of Doforrians her name formally became Rihanne Kintaskin. 

So, I got the answer.

I was trying to smash together the timelines for all the stories and they just don't jive. 

Iyankah and Loshar are significantly younger than the others, Kyrin and Rihanne etc.  They are part of the epilogue, or something close to an epilogue.

What I need to do at the moment is focus on Kyrin, Rihanne, Jol, Brother, and the previous Jotor and Jotorie.  Who's names I have to go back and find somewhere buried in Kyrin.  I know they're in there, but I can't for the life of me remember their names. 

But now that I have that solved, I can move onto other things.

Like figuring out the calendar.

Hallelujah for small breakthroughs.

sometimes you really need to just sit down with a piece of paper.

Stupid lowtech.





So, As it stands, the first portion of the Ahlterran Cycle belongs to these characters:
Doran the Hogarim
Brother the Kard
Rihanne the Doforrian
Jol the Lyntine
Kyrin the Piite
Jotor the Shenobian
Jotorie the Shenobian


And the second portion of the Cycle, the epilogue or the post-quel or the book like Polgara and Belgarath (maybe books) belong to these characters:

Iyankah the Shenobian
Loshar the Shenobian

They are the inheritors of the legacy left behind and provided by those who came before.


it is the actions of the previous Six heroes, unknown to most of Ahlterra that make the events in Dedicated and Medari possible.

yes, this works.

Oh halleleujah. 

so there are, in theory, 8 books at least, possibly 9.

Of course, that can always be reduced by combining the stories for the others into one book.  Much like with the gods.....

But that kind of organization comes later. Now, now is just figuring out background stuff.  And salient details.

Like a calendar.

Sigh.

the Calendar.

back to the notebook.....

so, I have the problem with Ahlterra.  I can't seem to figure out what to do next because I don't really know where everything has been or has happened.

So I need to come up with an effective timeline.  But to do that, I need to figure out how they measure time.  How long a year is, etc.

But the vaguest of vague that I've been able to figure out is that time, or rather the marking of time as in year numeration begins the year after the War ended.

So Year One would be a year after the Goddess Sheno disappeared from the Above. It was in the Eleventh Year that the first Medari ceremony was held within the bounds of Shenobia. And for every Eleven years thereafter.


The Events within the Nanowrimo novel, Medari, occured during the 33rd ceremony, which would be the year 343. 


The difficulty that I am having is alligning all of the other characters and players in this saga in this timeline.

I know that Rihanne is older than Kyrin.  And I know that Kyrin is older than Iyankah and Loshar.  I know that Doran is slightly older than Rihanne.  But what years that they all fit in, When they were born, that is the hardest problem for me.

I need to figure all of this out, or nothing in these books will flow correctly. 

But that is the current difficulty facing me and the writing.

Once I sit down and figure out the timeline, than I can work on the other background information, like clothing and currency, like the calendar and holidays.  And curriculum at the Piite schools.

But the timeline is critical.

And so are the People with the Purple eyes.....

But that is so far not the topic of my concerns at the moment, that I will just ignore it for the time being.  That is a bridge I will cross at a much later date. 

Alright, so it's not exactly the next night, but hey, I'm posting.

So, Ee is on his way back home now.  This morning was one of the hardest things I've ever done, walking away from him at that bus stop.

But I am not going to concentrate on that.  Onwards with the Journal!!

Monday, January 18th:  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day.  Everything federal or federal related is closed.  And we're in DC.  Not one of the better thought out times for us to be there. At least, not if we were expecting to get anything really accomplished.  But it turns out that it was alright that everything was closed down.  We went to Metro, walked to the Borders there and I bought everything that I had been looking for, and then we made our way back towards a food court just on F between 13th & 14th.  Ee grabbed himself his first burger in the states (from a 5guys no less) and I had a burrito from Moe's SW Grill.  Unfortunately, as we were sitting there, I was starting to get nauseous and very overheated.  So we took our (my) books and we headed back to the hotel room.  We stopped at the RiteAid across the street from the hotel and picked me up some tylenol, and then back to the hotel room.  Ee gave me the tylenol, turned off the lights, and laid me down for a nap and enough time to let the tylenol take effect.  He sat back and ran his fingers through my hair and played Colonization for the two hours that I was asleep.  After I woke up, we ventured out across the street, or rather around the block, again to a place called Chop't.  If you have one of these in your area, you MUST go there.  It's a salad place, but it is without a doubt kick-ass awesome.  I had their seasonal salad, the Dutch Club.  Chicken breast, bacon, gouda cheese (aged 2 years), granny smith apples, and beets, all on romaine lettuce with a dijon vinaigrette.  It was fantastic.  Ee had a pacific grilled shrimp salad from there with a small cup of their chicken soup.  We also got some fresh cut fruit for dessert.  We ventured back to our room and curled up on the bed with our salads to watch The American President (obligatory shout out to Mr. Sorkin. You rock, Sir).  After that, we took a quick shower and then fell asleep, promising each other that we would get up in the morning and eat breakfast and then do the smithsonian.

Tuesday, January 19th:  Hey! We made it to Breakfast!  Awesome!  Well, ok, so not really.  Best part of breakfast was the log of  goat cheese they had sitting out. Nom nom nom.  Ee, it turns out, does not like goat cheese.  Oh well! More for me!  Also, french press coffee is kinda cool.  So after breakfast, we head back to the room to get changed for the day, maybe take a shower to wash off some of the grime and sweat from the previous night *ahem*, but housekeeping was already in the room.  So, we waited for her to leave, got changed and then ventured off to the National Mall.  We went to the Museum of the Native Americans.  Wte did not go through as thoroughly as I did the last time, but mostly that was because Ee was getting upset with how the US government had treated the Native peoples..  He got just as upset when we talked about the Maori in NZ and the aboriginal Taiwanese too.  So we went and did a bit of shopping in the gift shop, didn't buy a whole lot, and then went to lunch.  Lunch was had in the museum's cafeteria, and it was quite good.  Ee had an oyster stew (not the milky creamy kind) with veggies and broth.  I had a small cup of wild mushroom soup and some pumpkin corn bread.  Dessert was a bread pudding (was going to be mine, but there were walnuts, so Ee ate that), and a lemon tart with pine nuts and rosemary (so good!).  After we left the museum, we were going to walk to the American History Museum for a quick once over, but we were just so close to the capitol building, that Ee took my hand and led me there.

Will Update more later. Dinner time.

This has absolutely nothing to do with Ahlterra.  but I needed to write it down before I forgot, and I didn't remember my old lj login.

Wednesday January 13th:  Got to the hotel around 730, up into my room around 745.  Holy shit this room is gorgeous.  Like, holy shit.  Seriously.  Unpack, putter around, nervous as all hell. Go down to the bar and get a glass of wine.  And then a kahlua & cream.  Go back to the hotel room.  Ee sends a text, he's on his way.  Slight panic mode slight panic mode.  Try to figure out what to do for dinner.  Bar and Restaurant and room service close at eleven.  He'll be here around ten.  Brush teeth.  Ohgod. Ohgod.  makeup!!!  Put on Makeup, make sure look good. Knock knock.  FUCK! Only in tank top! Don't have over shirt on! FUCK!  Let him in! Let him in!  Ohgod, he's so cute. so skinny.  Too skinny.  Ooohh He gives good hugs.  Ok, food.  Bar!  Bar has food!  To the bar!  We order a pizza between the two of us, all the while cuddling on the loungy couch.  He sneaks a kiss.  Hmmmmm.  Back upstairs.  Ok, no more sneaking kisses.  Clothes come off, relatively slowly all things considered.  A shower was had, more kissing, touching,stroking, and then love.  Love making and sex and love.  Than sleep.

Thursday January 14th: slept in.  Shopping!!! Bought a new computer for me, Socks and briefs for him.  And dreaming around Bed Bath & Beyond.  Lunch: Target Cafe, I had a salad, Ee had pizza hut personal pizza.  He's never seen the grated parmesean cheese in little packets before.  So he took a picture.  Nutjob.  Back at the hotel, another shower, and then some cuddling and other things.  And then, Dinner!   Dinner:  Hotel Restaurant.  Ee had a Caesar salad.  I had a surf & Turf thing with chilean sea bass and filet mignon with a vegetable risotto.

Friday January 15th: We keep forgetting to get up for breakfast. Going to the Air and Space museum today.  Absolutely gorgeous day outside to be walking around.  Maybe a bit cold, but walkable.  Air & space was a blast, went into my first Planetarium thing ever.  But haing Whoopi Goldberg narrate was a bit... much.  Kept waiting for the punchline.  Lunch: Air & Space food court!  Boston market 1/4 White platter.  Ee got his Dr. Pepper!  They don't have that down in Kiwiland.  Walked from air & space to Washington Monument, then To Lincoln and Vietnam and Korea.  Dark out now.  Walked to the Foggy Bottom/GWU metro station (about 7 blocks up) and then came back to the hotel.  Dinner:  Morton's Steakhouse.  OHMYGOD.  Ee had a 5 onion french onion soup. Beefsteak tomato, red onion and vinaigrette salad. I had a Lobster Bisque, and a Morton's salad.  We shared an appetizer platter with Shrimp Alexander, Bacon wrapped scallops, Oysters Rockefeller, and Jumbo lump Crab cakes.  We also shared the dessert of a Chocolate Souflee.  Completely and Totally worth the splurge.

Saturday January 16th:  parents coming in today.  We still have yet to get downstairs in time for breakfast.  But, we're both up and waiting for parents, Ee even washed his hair today, poor boy is so nervous.  We go with the parents to Whitlow's on Wilson, a neighborhood joint.  Mom gives Ee his new obsession (a switch toy thing for Jarod), Ee gives Daddy NZ Currency and Mom her cookbooks, although not really cause she would have been reading them throughout lunch.  Dad decides to try and show off his history knowledge (either that or he was trying to show me off and wondering if Ee could keep up. Not sure which).  We sit and we talk for a while, until the staff really started to clear the tables in front of us.  Lunch: Ee had steak and eggs (medium rare steak, poached eggs and his first biscuit! yay!).  I had Eggs Nova Scotia (It's eggs benedict only kosher!!! Lox instead of canadian Bacon. Yum!)  After walking around with the parents and going to Barnes & Noble and buying books (With Ee trying to race me to the checkout so that he could pay the difference after my gift cards ran out before my Father could do it. Turns out I didn't need it), the parents took us back to the hotel.  We ended up taking a nap.  Dinner: Ohcrap, it's like 10pm and we haven't eaten yet.  Crap.  Get downstairs, bar is closing up so no food there.  Room service is ridiculous.  PF Chiangs is open for another 40 minutes, but it's about 25 minutes away.  Front desk has chinese takeout menus?!!  No, no they really don't.  But hey! There's a place called Cafe Asia right up the street! Awesome!  So we walk and walk, but what is this? No Cafe Asia!  But a place called Piola!  And they're open til 1am.  AWESOME!  Ee had Penne pasta in a tomato cream sauce with smoked salmon.  I had broccoli and chicken alfredo with fusilli pasta.  And we shared a Tiramisu.

Sunday January 17th:  You guessed it.  Still no breakfast.  But that's ok! We go to the Teaism place today!  To the Metro!  Woo! Teaism!  Ok, so he got a beef Oruchake (beef, vegetables, rice that you add hot green tea to instead of broth to make a soup).  I got the salmon bento box (teriyaki glazed salmon, edamame, cucumbers and pickled ginger and rice).  First off, Don't try to eat the edamame unless you know what you're doing!  You don't eat the entire pod!  You just squeeze out the peas into your mouth. Idiot.  Second, do not like Furikake seasoning! DO NOT LIKE!  But the Rice was good without it.  And the cucumbers were fantastic, so was the salmon.  Oh and the entire reason for going! Bubble Tea!!!!  Ok, it's an interesting idea.  Problem with it (for me) was that the tapioca bubbles were just way too large.  It was a distraction from the yummy tea drink to suck suck suck and oh! a tapioca pearl. I have to stop drinking now and chew on this before I can continue.  Ugh.  I'm sure if the pearls had been smaller.....  We went to the tea shop afterwards and Ee bought me a bento box! Yay!  It was rainy and cold and miserable out today, so we were going to run to the Archives, but the line outside was insane so we decided to just come back to the hotel and relax.  However!  I saw a sign for the Union Station Shops and we decided to go there.  Purchases there include:: Two rings, his silver with a small CZ chip.  Mine silver with two carved hearts in the band.  Framed quattric photos of the cherry blossom trees along the potomac over all 4 seasons (ee bought for me).  Chocolates from Neuhause Chocolatiers (I bought for me).  Books from B. Dalton (I bought for me).  And on our way back to the hotel, we stopped at Metro Center to change trains, only to see a Macy's! So I dragged him with me to the Men's section and we spent the last 20 or so minutes that the store was open going through the sale sweaters and polos.  I ended up getting him a blue long-sleeved sweater, a blue striped and patterned work shirt, and dark green long-sleeved cashmere sweater.  yes.  cashmere.  It was 25 bucks.  I love a good sale.  So, after closing down Macy's we returned to the hotel.  Where I called my mother cause she was driving me insane with text messages.  We talked for a bit and then Ee and I decided on the Indian place we had seen yesterday while shopping with parents.  We get on the Metro, head to the Courthouse station, walk about 5 blocks in the cold and rain and ick, and get to Tandoori Nights for dinner.  Dinner: appetizer was batter fried indian cottage cheese.  Ee had a vegetable soup and spicy cucumber chicken salad.  I had a lamb Komor Kashmiri.  Lamb in a creamy tomato sauce with fruit and nuts (one of the fruits might have been mango, not sure didn't risk it) with basmati rice (scented with saffron yummmmm!), and some garlic naan (should have gone with plain).  We also both had lassi's Ee had a strawberry one, and I had a cranberry one.  Ok, two.  I needed it to help ease the burning.  But the food was very good and not all that heartburn inducing.  Uploaded a few pictures on Facebook.  We really need to take more of each other and together.  We really do.

Coming up Next:::

Martin Luther King day.  Just about everything is going to be closed.  Have no idea what our plans are.  I'm almost out of money.  probably going to just relax around the Hotel.  Maybe, maybe, but I doubt it, we'll get up for breakfast. hahahaha.  Probably on Tuesday, we plan on going back to Smithsonian and doing Native American Museum and their food court (ee wants to try Native foods.  so do I, honestly).  And then he leaves me on Wednesday. 


But not thinking about that now.  Will post again tomorrow night.

To be added: Locations of Towns and their names Directly South: the Alisean Desert Proper names of the Mountains, Ridges, and Chasm according to Shenobian and Hogarim nomenclatures.

Who's Who in Ahlterra

Ahl- The One God; Creator of all things living and unliving and dead.

Hogar- God of Invention

Sheno- Goddess of Magic

Lynti- God of Provision

Kardanahl- God of Unknown Truth

Doforr- Goddess of Nature

Pio-  Goddess of Knowledge

Kyrin- Devotee of Pio

Rihanne- Devotee of Doforr

Doran-- Devotee of Hogar

Jol- Devotee of Lynti

Brother- Devotee of Kardanahl

Iyankah- Jotorie of Sheno

Loshar- Jotor of Sheno

People of the Violet Eyes- Invaders from the South

The following is a very very very very vague timeline of events in the history of Ahlterra.  Things may get shifted around a bit from here and there, and I might not give out full details yet, as I don't know them all, but this is the basic rundown.


The Before:  The realm and region of Ahlterra is ruled over by the dominion of the Elementals, essences of the Elements that make up the world. Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Ether.  There is no division between the Above and the Below, as the Gods make themselves useful and helpful to the fledgling humanity upon the firm land of Ahlterra. 

The Tumult: A period of chaos and drama, where the world shifted on its head and everything that was at once known was then forgotten, only to be known again.  A divide was created between the Above and the Below, severing the direct connections between Humanity and the Elementals.  Without this direct contact and direct reminder of the Elementals powers over them, Humanity soon forgot the Elementals, and turned their attentions to how and what those building blocks of life could be used for.

The Blackness: The Elementals are dead.  The lack of the worship from Humanity removed the Elementals from existence and necessity.  The One God, Ahl, instead took aspects of each of those Elementals and Fashioned new Gods, The Six, to help rule and guide Humanity along.

The War: War erupts both between the Gods of the Above and the peoples of the Below.  It is a new concept, this thing of battles and death by anything other than nature, but Humanity takes to it easily.  The fight is between Hogar and Sheno, and their respective peoples, although many get caught in the crossfire.

The Rending:  In hopes of salvaging something of the innocence still left within Creation, Ahl reaches down between his feuding children and their peoples and he separates them.  An impenetrable barrier is placed within the Above between Hogar and Sheno's living quarters, while in the Below, a giant Chasm opens up at the foot of World Mountain, and is flanked by high and harsh mountains on both sides.  The Chasm is impassable save only for the long journey around.  An Uneasy Peace is reached.

The Betrayal:  After the Rending, Peace was had, although it was tremulous at best, but all too soon it was shattered.  Hogar, in an attempt to right his wrongs, instead flew after Sheno in a rage, passing his hand through the Barrier that separated them and trying to drag her through.  In the Below, the ground shook and trembled as large machines were being used to try and bridge the Chasm so that War could continue.   Sheno sustained injuries that none had even imagine a God could have, and she was hidden away within the Mountains of Sorrow.  The bridge collapsed and fell into the Chasm, and War was no more.

The Coming:  People with Purple Eyes have appeared within the borders of Ahlterra, and they bring something sinister with them.  A band of young devotees to the Six is formed, although on accident, and not without some problems along the way.  The Invaders are beaten back, temporarily, but at what cost?

The Now:  Life continues as it always has, and always will.

The After: ????

Ahl-- The One God; All father; Creator

The First Gods:
Air
Fire
Water
Earth
Ether

The Second Gods
Kardanahl--Born of Fire and Air
Hogar-- Born of Fire and Water
Doforr-- Born of Earth and Air
Lynti-- Born of Earth and Water
Sheno--Born of Fire and Ether
Pio-- Born of Water and Earth


Below is the excerpt from Medari (the first Nano novel) detailing not only the births of the Six, but also their personalities.


There will be more to come later..

But for now, this is all that I am going to put up.