Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Mernac Lore Story: What is it? How do I write it?

What is Mernac Lore?
Clina, Viklandics, Brotherhood of the Linge, Siberlee... who or what is what?
The scribes and sages who know such things at the Legends of Mernac classify classes, calendar/ astrology, races, factions, guilds, poetry/song/ proverb, deity & religion, and titles as "Lore".
These stories usually range between 500-1000 words, but can be upwards of 2000 if the scribe gets longwinded.

How do I write Lore for Mernac?
As I recommended before, begin by reading, lots of it. Get a feel for what's out there already before you plunge right in. Learn the difference between Legend and Lore. Legends are the core of our stories. We want you to join us writing legends, but first, let's get your specific faction, guild, or race written. Again, Lore is still secondary to Character, so if you have not defined your character yet you should do that first.
Are you ready?
Let's say your guild is definitely not up there in current Lore and you want to define them. Good for you, here's one way how. Let's take the Brotherhood of the Linge:
Short excerpt:
Be it a bow, sling, javelin, spear or any other manor of thrown weapons, there are none more skilled than those belonging to The Brotherhood of the Linge. In the lower levels of their training, their skills are but physical in nature. However, as their training in both physical skills and mental concentration progresses, many Linge develop their magic force or “Ga” to the point where they can direct these powers into the magic skill of “Blue Vision”. The Brotherhood of the Linge is open to those of any race or deity, however, they are very selective of the members they allow into their ranks – only those born with innate ability to use “Blue Vision” are allowed to enter. This magic skill envelops the Linge when making any type of ranged weapon shot to the point that they can see violet-blue dots on their targets. If the Linge lets loose when that dot is appears in their minds eye, it is all but impossible for them to miss their mark.

Questions to consider when writing a Lore tale (varies by actual type of lore) for simplicity we'll go with Guild:
Where did the Guild begin?
What special skills do they have?
What type of guild is this? (thieves guild, assassin guild?)
Who can join them? (alignment restrictions?)
How are candidates processed?
Who are some famous members?
Which deity or deities do the members worship? (if at all)
What is the heirarchy like?
How many are in the guild?
What place do they operate from?

Questions to consider when writing a Race/people/nation story:
What special skills do they have?
Who do they worship?
Who can join them? (nation/people)
What do they look like?
What famous people belonged to this race or people?
What is their reputation? (fierce, deadly, kind, compassionate, hostile, cold?)
Where do they live?
Where did they come from?
(could you guess?) Where are they going? In other words, what goals does the nation have?
What time periods did they live in?

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