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So, about Byzantium... (what the writer needs is a brain of her own)
The book I have been mostly not-at-present writing since the end of November is partly not presently being written because of a research issue. The culture I started out with is labeled in my head "pseudo-medieval-France," which is entirely misleading given that it seems thus far to be a relatively peaceful kingdom with a landed peasantry, a church that provides education to everyone, and none of the villages we've thus far heard bits about seemed to have a lord attached to them. Now, there are magical excuses for the peace and prosperity, and most of the action thus far has been confined to the middle of the generally impassible woods, but the real reason it's peaceful is that I don't care for wars, particularly, and the only reason it's France rather than England is that it's not an island. No matter, particularly; I can butcher generic european fantasy settings with the best of them, and at least my heroines will know that it's respectable to keep your head covered.
The culture of the heroine's love interest, however, is on the far end of the continent and labeled "pseudo-Byzantium" and I wanted a better handle on the real thing before writing about him. Goodness knows why. What I find, after re-reading Bradshaw books and various bits of library-provided non-fiction, is that there are three elements that seem to define most of the history of the empire: semi-constant war with various northern barbarians and persian/arab/etc easterners, elaborate and bribe-happy bureaucracy (often with equally elaborate and messy power struggles for the empire), and increasingly restrictive state religious rules.
None of these do I find I really want to write about here. I'm talking myself into the bureaucracy; it might even come in handy, and while I'd like to think that Theo and his father are fairly well settled in their empire, there could definitely be some odd politics going on as a distraction. And it's been established that Theo's city is a great seat of learning & scholarship on many topics including religion, but exactly how the religion works is partly a plot point still TBD, and on the whole I'm leaning towards it being a pre-great prophet/deity-on-earth sort of deal, sort of a Judaism with the popularity of Christianity. So, I'm not quite sure what the east/west religious divide is yet, although I am sure that there is one. Some people are still able to make friends across the divide (hence, our two heros, princes of pseudo-france & pseudo-byzantium... both of which need names) but there are also places in the south (pseudo-spain/italy) where they have city-sized factions & bitter fighting within them, largely religion-based.
But then there's the war thing. Theo is not cut out to be a soldier, I think, although he could do it if he had to. And we know there are far-north barbarian tribes in the west; it has been mentioned before that they don't necessarily follow the Holy Book, although they're aware it exists. Now, Caroline's country is on the west end of the continent, and Theo's is on the Eastern one, and as far as they're concerned that's all the world there is. (There is another continent, but it's way off on the far side of the earth someplace and can thus far only be reached by magic. In fact, we have no particular reason to believe that anyone not mixed up in Mara's teleportation nonsense in book 2 is aware of the continent they don't live on.) So, there will be no invading easterners, and while there may as well be northern barbarians in the east as well as the west, they're not likely to have the same pressure of more invaders pushing them south, and the empire has a nice long segment of its border pretty well secured by the sea. I guess I just don't see the constant military action & recruitment, not to mention the brisk slave trade in prisoners of war that was such a huge part of the ancient world. Possibly I am just used to the huge political expanses of North America, and can't imagine a large empire that doesn't dominate a decent chunk of its continent. Contemplation will continue...
Meanwhile, what we also find is that in reading Gillian Bradshaw books, I am once again susceptible to interesting food in fiction-- now I wish to dine upon a supper of eggs, goat cheese, cumin bread, and honey cakes, although perhaps I could do without the flagon of delicate white wine to wash it down. I have found goat cheese at the Amish-Market-Coming-Soon (which is, obviously, now actually open), and a recipe for cumin bread (basic flour/water/salt/yeast bread, plus ground cumin-- who'd have thought?), but I still need to look into the honey cakes. We shall see.
The culture of the heroine's love interest, however, is on the far end of the continent and labeled "pseudo-Byzantium" and I wanted a better handle on the real thing before writing about him. Goodness knows why. What I find, after re-reading Bradshaw books and various bits of library-provided non-fiction, is that there are three elements that seem to define most of the history of the empire: semi-constant war with various northern barbarians and persian/arab/etc easterners, elaborate and bribe-happy bureaucracy (often with equally elaborate and messy power struggles for the empire), and increasingly restrictive state religious rules.
None of these do I find I really want to write about here. I'm talking myself into the bureaucracy; it might even come in handy, and while I'd like to think that Theo and his father are fairly well settled in their empire, there could definitely be some odd politics going on as a distraction. And it's been established that Theo's city is a great seat of learning & scholarship on many topics including religion, but exactly how the religion works is partly a plot point still TBD, and on the whole I'm leaning towards it being a pre-great prophet/deity-on-earth sort of deal, sort of a Judaism with the popularity of Christianity. So, I'm not quite sure what the east/west religious divide is yet, although I am sure that there is one. Some people are still able to make friends across the divide (hence, our two heros, princes of pseudo-france & pseudo-byzantium... both of which need names) but there are also places in the south (pseudo-spain/italy) where they have city-sized factions & bitter fighting within them, largely religion-based.
But then there's the war thing. Theo is not cut out to be a soldier, I think, although he could do it if he had to. And we know there are far-north barbarian tribes in the west; it has been mentioned before that they don't necessarily follow the Holy Book, although they're aware it exists. Now, Caroline's country is on the west end of the continent, and Theo's is on the Eastern one, and as far as they're concerned that's all the world there is. (There is another continent, but it's way off on the far side of the earth someplace and can thus far only be reached by magic. In fact, we have no particular reason to believe that anyone not mixed up in Mara's teleportation nonsense in book 2 is aware of the continent they don't live on.) So, there will be no invading easterners, and while there may as well be northern barbarians in the east as well as the west, they're not likely to have the same pressure of more invaders pushing them south, and the empire has a nice long segment of its border pretty well secured by the sea. I guess I just don't see the constant military action & recruitment, not to mention the brisk slave trade in prisoners of war that was such a huge part of the ancient world. Possibly I am just used to the huge political expanses of North America, and can't imagine a large empire that doesn't dominate a decent chunk of its continent. Contemplation will continue...
Meanwhile, what we also find is that in reading Gillian Bradshaw books, I am once again susceptible to interesting food in fiction-- now I wish to dine upon a supper of eggs, goat cheese, cumin bread, and honey cakes, although perhaps I could do without the flagon of delicate white wine to wash it down. I have found goat cheese at the Amish-Market-Coming-Soon (which is, obviously, now actually open), and a recipe for cumin bread (basic flour/water/salt/yeast bread, plus ground cumin-- who'd have thought?), but I still need to look into the honey cakes. We shall see.
honey cakes
That sounds like a good meal.
Re: honey cakes