On Magic and Miracles

This is the second article in the Deconstructing Armageddon series, and it's a very special topic we're discussing today. To many fantasy readers, the magic system is the foundation of what makes one's fantasy unique and their world special. I tend to disagree with this statement, and would be perfectly fine with a fantasy world that doesn't even utilize magic, as long as it kept it's foundations deep in the world of myth. Nevertheless, I did choose to use a magic system, but more importantly I choose to follow my own personal beliefs and use a "miracle system."

I was raised in a very religious family and though I think there was a lot of good in that, I also think some of it was a bit misguided. Still, being prevented from ever seeing anything to do with magic, or evil -- to watch He-Man, play Golvelius, D&D, or even watch Smurfs -- all steered me towards developing a monotheistic system of miracle bestowment. Was I simply calling magic another thing: miracles? Perhaps, but couldn't magic just be another name for miracles anyway? And when it comes down to it, I designed the miracle system for the Armageddon RPG I created back then, and with that being the case, isn't it just a bunch of numbers used to calculate damage, or healing, or some other sort of special event anyway? Of course. Yet again though, I've strayed, but isn't that what blogging is for?

When creating Caball, the planet in the Armageddon fantasy world, I wanted to do something that a lot of fantasy doesn't do (I know, with me and all my love for classic fantasy, I did have to change something). I wanted to build the world with a single god, even called The God. There's so much polytheistim in fantasy that I wanted to do something else, something more western based than eastern (in this case). I also asked myself a question: What if everyone was born, knowing they were created by The God, as it were? Its an interesting question, and one that will begin to be explored more as the books go on.

The miracles granted by The God in Armageddon, are all filtered through the Seraphim. If you're familiar with the word, the Seraphim are the highest order of angel, and in the Armageddon world, all of the elements used throughout the universe are filtered from The God, through these Protectors of the elements, or Seraph's. Everyone on Caball knows that the clerics and priests are the most capable of amazing doings, while those who practice magic are frowned upon by The God. Nevertheless, magic too, exists.

The magic is more of a mystery in its origins. There are words spoken to cast spells, but none of the magic users are sure where those words come from, nor do all magi speak the same magical language -- they are varied and diverse. The Gewurmarchs, the evil sorcerors who lead the Dragon Army in the Armageddon series, are masterful magic users. I don't want to give too much away of the ongoing plotlines beyond the first book, but the Gewurmarchs use a special kind of magic more mysterious than all the others. We'll begin to discover what this is starting in book 2 and continuing on throughout the series.

I also mentioned that all folk know that they were created by The God. With that knowledge, all war based on religion is thrown out the window as long as we continue to agree on the statements passed from The God through his angels to the ancient folk of Caball. From that point, anything can happen to the writings that were meant to be written, but primarily, the teachings remain in tact for most people. So war now only hinges on other differences of opinion. Or, war can be started when those who know The God created them, choose to do something other than what's generally believed to be good. Or war can begin at the hands of those evil creatures and monsters that were NOT created by The God (I know I said all folk, but I mean all humanoid folk and animals, and not the evil monsters and goblins and orcs and imps and gnolls that walk the world). You see, quite an interesting question to think about, right?

Hopefully I've given you a bit more insight into what feuled my writing for the Armageddon series, and hopefully you'll one day be interested in reading it, or any other fantasy novel, if you never have.

Terry Tibke
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On Literature & Modern Writing Perfections

Long before I first sat down to write Armageddon, I had come to the conclusion that, while there was a great deal of fantasy out in the world, I had come across very little fantasy literature that had been written in the past several decades. Now when I classify something as literary, I tend to exemplify it with the use of simile, metaphor, and a greater use of narrative that falls outside of the characters' own limited perspective. Is that a correct classification? Who can say. I've seen a few places discuss the topic of "literary" writing vs. simple "prose", but it all seems a bit vague to me. I would love to hear those more educated on the topic make any comment upon the subject.

After making this determination about fantasy however, I decided that I wanted to read books that were no longer being written regularly and moreover, no longer being published. The writing itself surely exists out there, but I believe that with the "advances" in writing methods, and the changes in the english language that have happened over the centuries, the publishing and writing business as a whole seem to have bought into these new writing perfections.

The perfections themselves make perfect sense to me, of course, but they somehow loose that flavor that exists in the writings of old by putting them into play. Some of these perfections include the concept of "show don't tell" and "keep perspective limited to a single individual" and "a comma can work just as well as a semicolon." You, I'm sure, can name many more concepts learned by modern writers when they are told what kinds of books sell.

No, what I wanted for my own writing was a feeling that someone was telling me a fairy tale; a feeling that someone ancient and learned was speaking to the children around the fire in his wisened and mesmerizing voice. And though I didn't wholly want the story to be "told" in this fashion (I understand the concept of show don't tell, I did say they make perfect sense, didn't I?) I did want that feeling that I believe should accompany all true fantasy writing. I am a strong believer that science fiction and fantasy should never be written with the same style.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy many of today's fantasy novels to a certain degree. I appreciate new classifications like "Urban Fantasy," which help me to determine what to expect very quickly, and make me feel better about counting it as fantasy. I simply wish that there were more books out there that were written without being afraid of the semicolon, and without the need to stick me inside someone's head and let me listen to them babble their thoughts back and fourth with themselves the whole book, and without brilliant narrative that's filled with poetic language that makes one's heart say "Yes! Now that is an epic!"

Terry Tibke