Make Sense?

[Lace]

I'm currently working on a story in a world I created. Basically, in my head, the workings of the world make perfect sense. However, when I told my husband about it, I realized it might not make sense to people who are not in my head!

I would greatly appreciate any feed back on the idea below.


Basically, in the beginning, the "Creator" made two identical worlds. Each world was given their own sun and their own moon. The only difference in the worlds is that one is rich in magic while the other has never had magic touch it's soil. Each world can see the other world in the sky, much like how we can see our moon from ours (only slightly closer). The world of magic was filled with your typical magic beings, elves, dragons etc. And the world without was filled with humans, dwarves etc.

Any who, eventually the races grew curious as to what was on the other world so close to theirs, so consumed with greed for the unknown they each prayed to the creator to merge the worlds together so that they could have whatever the other might have as well. At first the Creator was hurt by this request, he had made each race the perfect world for them and yet they were still not satisfied. Finally, when he could not convince them otherwise he gave into their requests and merged the worlds into one. This is why the world now had two moons and two suns.

Of course, chaos quickly followed as each world tried to battle for dominance over the other. In the end they nearly wiped each other out before finally coming to their senses and begging the creator to separate the worlds once more.

Unfortunately, the creator could not separate the worlds. Over the years, the worlds had slowly merged into one even down to their cores and in order to pull them apart one of the worlds would be destroyed. Unable to decide on which world should be destroyed they finally settled on agreement. The creator pulled as much of the remaining magic as possible into large pools across the globe.

These pools of magic became the realm of magic where magical beings retreated to. There are certain places where the magic leaks over into the non-magic world and that is where beings that possess a strong enough magic can cross in between them. If you do not posses any magic at all you cannot even sense these entrances, and unless your magic is quite strong you cannot pass freely in between without the aid of a magical being.

Due to the merging of the worlds not all magic was able to be extracted from the earth leaving small traces in the non-magic world. This has allowed some of the non-magic beings to be born with the ability to learn some magic such as witches and wizards through out the years. However, most of these beings are not very strong compared to those races left over from the magic world.

Elves, dragons, unicorns, mermaids, faeries, etc. Tend to avoid the human realm since they are smaller in numbers and find themselves superior to the non-magic beings. Although some have found it beneficial to make a living using their abilities in the human realm, it is rare to find such a being. Everyone else lives in the human non-magic realm feeling superior to the magic beings.


The hub thinks that if the creator was so powerful, why didn't he seal off these realms so that they two could never be part of each other again (its now one world with 2 realms). My logic was that, since the two worlds were now tainted with each other, this was basically the best situation one could have without destroying one of the worlds. The two worlds made their choice, fall from Eden, if you will, and now this is the best solution for them with their broken worlds.

He then asked why wouldn't the magical beings take over the non-magical beings with this passage way in between. My response was for the same reason they couldn't do it to begin with the the two worlds were initially combined. Yes, they're magical, but it doesn't make them OP compared to the non-magical beings. Plus they are greatly outnumbered. The magical beings live much longer life spans than the non-man beings and in turn do not produce as many children during their life time. I like to think of it as for ever 5 non-magic being there is only one magic being. Or something like that.

Then he asked, so the creator is more like a greek god, not all powerful? And I said No, he is all powerful but it's not really relevant to the story. When people talk about it now, they talk about it as an old folk tale as how the world was created and most people do not even believe in a creator anymore. Which by this point I think he was done with me, so he had no more questions.

Alright, I think that is everything. See, it works in my head but not in his. lol Please feel free to pick away!

 

[ThinkerX]

Substitute 'dimensions' for 'worlds' and you might be onto something here.

The worlds would have occupied the same space at the same time, but be 'out of phase' with each other.

A total merger would probably destroy everything and everybody in both dimensions...but a 'partial swap' - large portions of the geography and attendant magic or lack thereof making the transfer would be more survivable.

Basically, the people of elf-town at the edge of the great forest went to sleep one night...and woke up the next morning still in elf-town, but have a lot of fields outside of town where the great forest should be. The farmers in the fields, meanwhile, are wondering what happened to the town of dirt-burg, which until last night was where elf-town is now.

Once elf-town has been at its new location long enough, some of its magic leaches into the magic-less lands nearby, and maybe a few of the folks there start learning magic. Elf-Towns wizards, though, find their magic diminishing.

There could be dozens (hundreds) of 'elf-town / dirt-burg' swaps, involving areas ranging from as small as a few hundred yards to hundreds of miles.

As to causes...the people of the magic dimension probably will ascribe a magical cause to the 'swap'. The people of the non-magic world might conclude something more scientific, depending on their tech level (quantum mechanics, maybe).

 

[Lace]

Ooh! I really like the idea of the dimensions, a much better word! I see what you're saying for the total merging, and I think you're right the two races (magic/non) would probably view the world differently now. I guess this is where my husband got frustrated with me. lol I want it to be more of an old wives tale or more folk-lore, it can't totally be explained and no one knows exactly how it came to be but both races (magic/non) have had this story passed down as long as they can remember. That being said I still want it to make sense to the reader even if it isn't exactly logical?

I think if any of the beings still believed in the creator it would be the magic beings, I see them being more wise and spiritual in my mind.

Thank you for your advice, it has given me a lot of ideas and been quite helpful!

 

[andy.peloquin]

I like the concept. Just make sure to make the explanation interesting. Like introducing the concept in the beginning of the book could be boring, but if you have someone tell the story in a way that is interesting, it could definitely work!

 

[ThinkerX]

lol I want it to be more of an old wives tale or more folk-lore, it can't totally be explained and no one knows exactly how it came to be but both races (magic/non) have had this story passed down as long as they can remember. That being said I still want it to make sense to the reader even if it isn't exactly logical?

Then that's what it is to most folks. The magic people tell confusing and contradictory stories about the Creator - able to fashion worlds one minute, hardly able to do anything the next. The non-magic people talk of strange science, but can't reconcile that science with their own beliefs. Try digging a bit into some of the old creation myths here on earth, or even nursery rhymes - 'cow jumped over the moon', 'plate ran off with the spoon', that sort of thing.

Depending on how central this is, you can put little three or four line excerpts from the various creation tales as chapter headers: 'this is the story the green valley elves tell', or 'this is the account of the great philosophers convention' (non magic world), or 'this is what God revealed to his true servant' (either world), but all of them badly flawed one way or another.

Also worth keeping in mind - here on earth, a lot of the creator gods were far from benign. They created, yes, but they were also tyrants and creatures of chaos.

This situation sounds like the sort of thing one of Lovecraft's deities might have done - possibly Azathoth, or Yog-Soth-Oth.

 

[KC Trae Becker]

Maybe the reason your husband doesn't understand it is that he is looking at the cause. You are looking at the effect. You want the cause to be a little shadowy and vague.

Once you tell a story in this world, your husband is more likely to be interested in the effect, like you want him to be.

The world you're describing sounds cool. It's almost like Faery, but in pockets, not a whole different dimension.

 

[Devor]

I like it well enough. You could always say that after the "creator" merged the two worlds, he was just unwilling to undo the work they had asked for, thinking they would just change their mind again eventually. Or that they don't know why he wouldn't.

You've got to be careful with these kinds of details, however. That's a relatively big info dump if it isn't relevant.

 

[Lace]

Thank you to all who replied! I feel a bit better about it now. I think I was having issues because I wanted it to be more of a parable, something to learn a valuable life lesson from that links the story's meaning together. He was looking at it from a logical or scientific perspective, not something shadowy or vague.

I currently have it inserted in as being told by a character, they are reminiscing about their childhood and it's almost like a nursery rhyme. Now I'm thinking about changing it to where at the beginning of each chapter there is an except from a book that my MC has read that relates to the chapter. This way you get a quick little blurb about some facts about the land without getting too boring. Well, I'll try it out any way and see how I like it.

Thank you again for all your advice. It's greatly appreciated!

 

[Saigonnus]

I have something that might be of some use. The moon of my fantasy planet is likewise habitable and inhabited by the descendants of elves that were pushed there after a war thousands of years in the past, plus whatever other creatures have managed to find their way over there, since mine appear in random places and all manner of fauna have managed to travel and survive.

Basically, when the moon is at the closest point to the planet twice a year, it creates random "portals" that open up allowing two-way access just by stepping through. These portals last only a couple of weeks, so people often get stuck for years on the other side while looking for a way home. Since the climates are similar there is no issue of a creature from one place being unable to survive in the environment. Just the different strains of illnesses and diseases are even more dangerous to "visitors" compared to "residents". With magical healing though, risks of epidemics are low either way.

If you have magic on one planet, it would stand to reason that they'd eventually be curious and create a way to visit (perhaps a portal like stated above). Also consider that men or women in power seek more power. What better way of getting power than leading a trip or at least conceiving the idea that makes it possible to visit their twin? Going and returning with some random trinket from the other realm as proof. Using a scenario like this could give you a way to go back and forth with ease, but I would say rules would need to be in place about how each world is different in regards to visitors vs. residents.

1. Would a wizard or magical item from World A be able to use magic on world B? or would he lose his powers? (like there is no stable "magic" field hence the reason magic isn't present?

2. Would a visitor from world B to world A suddenly manifest magical abilities? or would they remain the same since their genetics likely aren't supportive of manifesting magical abilities from never having needed it?

3. How do the sentient or non-sentient creatures differ between planets A and B? Even if you started with a type of "deer" or "cat" or "elf", likely evolution would act upon each one differently, causing them to develop differently over the eons they are apart. For example, I have Blinking Wolves (phasing) as the primary predators on my moon, regular wolves on the planet.

Just some thoughts to consider.

 

[Mythopoet]

I want it to be more of an old wives tale or more folk-lore, it can't totally be explained and no one knows exactly how it came to be but both races (magic/non) have had this story passed down as long as they can remember. That being said I still want it to make sense to the reader even if it isn't exactly logical?

The only way to ensure that it will be internally consistent is to make sure you, the writer, know the facts of how it happened in detail. You don't have to include everything you know in the story. But you should know the truth and you should know why and how the truth became muddied over time in the stories of your races.

One thing I'm a bit confused by is the nature of these "worlds". Your description of how these two worlds can see each other in their own skies the way we can see our own moon implies to me that these are physical planets that are close to each other perhaps in a dual sun system. However, the description of "merging" them then confuses the image. Is it a physical merging of two planets? Is it something else? Dimensions are an interesting idea, but if they are actually the same world occupying the same space in different dimensions, they couldn't see the other planet from their skies. Indeed, they most likely wouldn't see each other at all without some sort of technological or magical intervention.

And I agree that the reason that the Creator won't separate the worlds is key. Either he cannot, because he doesn't have the power because he is not an omnipotent god. But "Creator" generally implies a being with absolute power over his creation in mythologies where there is a "Creator God". Or he will not for some reason, which might imply that he is not a benevolent god, or perhaps that he intends to use the new reality caused by the merging for some purpose.

But I'll admit that what I'm caught up on is the nature of the worlds. How and why can they merge but not separate? Are they part of the same physical universe or not? And so on.