A Whole New World Collection

Month 2: Infrastructure of the Taker World

Month 2: Infrastructure

• Is this a Utopian, Dystopian, or something in between kind of world?
This is a dystopian world that is hopefully in transition to a utopian type of world. The world has been plunged into the dark since the rise of King Hadrian and his sons. The only hope lies in the one son, the Black Wolf, who could restore power and light to the kingdom again. The world at the moment abounds with bad things, the government in disarray and no real rules are followed anymore.
• What is the transportation system like? This includes things like roads, paths, vehicles, systems (like subways, trains, etc.)
The transportation system is basically made up of roads and path, however they have fallen into disrepair since King Hadrian came to power. The main road that still exists is the Trade road, which runs through the Taker’s Great Forest.
It was the main trade road through to the Alunite’s Temple where many of the
Great Fairs were held. Lacluna used to hold trades and fairs in the fair city, during the time of King Paladine, Hadrian’s father, however, this has become outdated with King Hadrian’s rule of terror. King Hadrian has alienated the Alunites and humans as well as the gypsies Lovalites and the wandering Seltins.
Other roads that travel throughout the Forest of Light are two main ones, one that leads northwest called Balandian Road and one that leads southwest called the Lacluna Road. The Balandian Road (named after the Northern Folk called Balandins) leads to the Black Wolf Mountains where the Balandins have settled in the mountain range there. The Balandian Road leads through the Taker’s Great Forest but has become overgrown, so the road is a difficult journey. The Lacluna Road, leading southwest, then splits, heading west (Alunas Road) and south (Lupine Road) respectively. The Alunas Road leads west to the Trade Road, while the Lupine Road leads south to the Lupine Castle Ruins.
Paths are the other form of transportation, however in the time of King Hadrian the paths have overgrown some and are no longer reliable transportation. Most stick to the roads IF traveling, since it’s hard to follow any of the paths now. Of course, others make their own paths, and cut through the forests on their own. These paths are not known to the whole world, just to the individuals that make them.
• What businesses/jobs/trades are there?
This world has trades, such as Herders, Shepard’s, Blacksmiths, Jewelers, Seamstresses, Forgers, Mercenaries, Tavern owners, Inn proprietors, Cooks, Servers, Dishwashers, Potters, Maids, Masons, etc. Mostly what you would have found in the Medieval ages before mass transportation, industry, and electronics.
• What kind of government is in place? What political entities exist? How does it function? Is it effective?
The kind of government in place is a totalitarian system. In this system, King Hadrian has full control although he usually relegates his responsibilities to his childhood best friend, Jon Connard his Right Hand. As the Right Hand, Jon Connard is like the lead of the government, controlling all the punishments and laws. These laws are extreme and unfair in their punishments.
King Hadrian’s two sons, along with many other elite Taker’s are allowed to get away with murder, rape, kidnapping, and more while the lower class is punished severely for thieving to feed their families. Treason is another label placed on many elite and lower class Takers as King Hadrian and Jon Connard are very paranoid in their rule. Keth is the older brother and 1st in line for the throne in the absence of a Black Wolf born into the family. Nathanial is the younger brother and he is in training with Jon Connard to become his brother’s Right Hand when he takes the throne.
Technically Keth should have taken the throne at 21 years of age, but King Hadrian has overthrown that rule by continuing to rule instead. Keth will receive the throne when Hadrian dies. However, in order to keep Keth from killing his father and taking the throne, Hadrian has put a stipulation on Keth’s taking the throne and that is he must die of natural causes. If not, the throne reverts to Jon Connard and Nathanial becomes the next Right Hand. None of this makes sense which should give insight into Hadrian’s state of mind.
The political entities in this system are the Ruling Party which consists of King Hadrian’s followers. These are a select few of the elite, such as Jon Connard’s family and a small circle of others.
The other political entity is the Underground, a movement plotting to do away with King Hadrian’s ruling family and seat a new ruler on the throne. The problem with this is that they cannot agree on who to put on the throne and therefore this movement has fractioned into several small groups. As small groups they pose no real threat to Hadrian, although they are punished severely, sentenced to death, if discovered. The Underground has one uniting factor and that is Ravyn, who is the driving force behind uniting the small factions into a movement again. Most of the Takers are trying too hard to survive to bother with politics and therefore no real change is evident.
The government functions in a disjointed but terrifyingly dominant way. Each case is brought before Jon Connard and judged solely on his discretion. Jon Connard is as rotten as Hadrian, as evidenced by their longtime friendship. Together they create a terrifying duo that securely holds the Takers in line with fear.
The fear not instilled by King Hadrian and Jon Connard is instilled by his elite band of Takers called the Enforcers who go about perpetrating all kinds of atrocities in the name of the King. They follow Hadrian, Jon, Keth, and Nathanial’s orders. The Enforcers are more of police like group except they follow the mindless orders of their leaders and spend a vast majority of the time drinking, whoring, and murdering when they get too pissed off. They beat those not able to defend or afraid to defend themselves. The Enforcers used to be a police group that enforced the laws that once graced the Taker community. They would receive self-defense, hand-to-hand fight, and sword and archery training. This type of training is received by the Enforcers yet today, but they use the advantage to run terror and terrorize the citizens of Lacluna.
• What is the economic system like? What is the currency (or possibly there is a barter system)?
The economic system is barely there. There used to be gold, silver, and coppers but most of the Takers have reverted to a barter system where they are exchanging goods for services, goods for goods, or services for goods. The reason for the reversion is the scarcity of coin available, as it all sits in King Hadrian’s vault. The outside trade is dead in Taker society so everything they have is made or grown by them. Those who have coin are considered elite or are humans who have been retained by King Hadrian to do his dirty work.
The other societies all use coin as their currency.
• What is the education system like?
Schools used to be common place for the commoners however the last school closed a few years after Hadrian took power. Now education is given by neighborhood teachers, or by parents of the children. Most young ones do not receive formal teaching and learn as they go in order to get and keep a trade. Illiteracy abounds here and the elite are the only ones with private teachers that teach them reading, writing, arithmetic, etc.
• What societies are there? What social classes?
There are the Healer’s society in the Alunites race and of course the Takers society has the split in social classes that has already been touched on. To expand, the elite are the rich/high society families. They may be rich in name only as not many hold coin these days since King Hadrian’s hold on the vault. Some of the more well known families are the Connard family, Stralk family, and of course Hadrian’s family although no one refers to them as such. The surname has been lost or left behind by the family members, most not wanting to associate with such horrid rule. The poor families abound, Takers’, humans, and a mix of other races that are outcasts. Except for the Seltins, the poor class of the Taker’s society is made up of a mix of races from when they associated with the other races in the lands. I don’t want to go to into detail with the Alunites’ Healer’s society because it goes into more in depth of the race and that’s in another month. However, the Healer’s society is a big part of the Alunites race, as they have their temple and training facility for those gifted in the Healing arts.
• What trade system is in place (between societies, countries, planets, etc.)?
While most of the societies have some sort of formal trade, most take place in the rainy and dry seasons in the form of fairs held at certain areas of the land. The Great Taker Fair used to grace the dry season with it’s majesty and draw others from all over. Interestingly enough, the Seltins are again a race that do not participate in these fairs. They do not trade, what they do not make themselves they steal or pillage from the others in attacks and ambushes. They are a more primitive race. I will go into more detail when explaining the races.
• What religions are there?
The major religion is the Taker religion with Lupine being the Great Mother God of the Taker society. Other God’s have been lost in the ages and Lupine remains the Great God many Takers pray to. The Black Wolf was created by Lupine in a time of Great War and strife, when Taker society had broken down to the point of Lupine’s despair. He was created to bring the Taker’s back to rightful society and a fully black wolf in the Taker form has not been seen in centuries.
The Alunite’s believe in the healing God Luna and spend most of their lives in homage to her. She is part of the Taker religion, just not seen as important as Lupine. The Taker religion is modeled after Christianity with Lupine being more like God and the Black Wolf being more like Jesus. Most of the major events of the religion have been unworked out in my head as writing religion has always been a challenge for me. I’ve thought about this a lot and feel that the rise of religion would happen after the Black Wolf has taken the throne. Thus the reorganizing and redistributing of the religion system would take place after the story ends.


Serenity to you and yours!
Piratess Dawniebelle

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