Hi. I'm building a fantasy universe to write a cute little story in. I want to get practice with description, so I've elected to use a standard damsel in distress storyline. This is what you would call world building, I guess, so please read, enjoy, and add to it! I'd love to do this as a joint venture. In a demented and fantastical world known as Middle America, the race to tame the Wild Wild East is in full swing. The young daughter of an influential Pirate Lord is kidnapped by a group of renegade Tsoists, in an attempt to force her father to sail their forces to the eastern coast. Her only hope is an unlikely young spider-chicken farmer named Philip. Armed with only his fast draw and a talent for swordplay, Philip must infiltrate the wild east's criminal underworld, navigate the labyrinth of intrigue surrounding the illegal red rum trade, and brave the horrors of the untamed east, including the powerful voodoo of the native Africans, and the wiles of the colloquial prince of hats, leader of the last Vampire coven. Each new and awe-inspiring trial he must face is but a stepping stone which will stretch his imagination, challenge his daring, and ultimately prepare him for the ultimate showdown at Mount Dew, the Tsoist base of operations. During his travels, he is accompanied by his trusted life-long pet, Colonel Sevenfold, a female spider-chicken, born with only seven legs. Years after Phil rescued her from a premature climactic ending with his father's axe, Sev' has become Phil's trusted sidekick. He must also enlist the help of a seductive young vampire girl. He will need her help to win the favor of the Vampire coven, and to escape the snake fields of kansas. But can he trust her? Or is she after more than his blood? The seediest city in the east is Parry city, not Dodge. The land was colonized from the west to the east, not east to west. And not by English seeking to separate themselves from the king's grasp, but by Asians who sought freedom from the clutches of the Tso dynasty. General Tso and his legions have been defeated, but there are still loyalist sects roaming the plains, and it is rumored that the General himself still lives somewhere, possibly as a vampire. The geography of Middle America is more or less the same as in real life, except that there is a crater the size of Ohio right in the middle of New Jersey. It is rumored that even the atlantic ocean is afraid to flood into the crater, and the edge is marked by a wall of water, Moses style. No one can disprove the rumor though, because to go that far east you'd have to pass Mount Dew, and the viscous radiant green ooze that flows from it's blackened peak is rumored to be as poisonous as a whole ripe tomato. In addition, Louisiana is a barren desert, and Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and some parts of California are all dense swampland. The foggy swamps are the territory of the Native Africans, so dubbed by the fabled foolish explorer Kung who discovered North America while trying to establish a quicker route to Africa. The Native Africans are little different from our Native Americans, except that their voodoo magic is more powerful, and they are very good at building helicopters. Spider Chickens - A vertibrate, cuddly, feathered beaked four eyed eight legged creature roughly the size of a dog, domesticated and raised for its eggs and for its meat. Tastes absolutely divine with ketchup. About as intelligent and as serious-minded as a monkey. Can grow to full size in under a month, but females won't lay eggs until roughly ten years old. Females can lay eggs that hatch without a mate, but they can only reproduce more females without a male to fertilize the eggs. Males are rare. Females have white feathers. Like chickens. It isn't the breast meat that's the prize, white meat, but the muscles surrounding the hindmost legs. Spider Chickens like to jump. A lot. Attention all wolves. If you try to raid this chicken coop, you'll be sorry. Red Rum: An alcoholic drink banned by the federation for its addictive nature. A notorious trade of Tsoist sects, and available on the black market, or in certain bars. Looks like cherry Nyquil, tastes like Code Red, but goes down smooth. As volatile as Nitro and thirty-seven times as explosive until consumed, where it is said mixture with stomach acid neutralizes its potency. Well, it's said. Religion - Most of the people of Middle America believe in reincarnation. In the 1500s, Howard Rockefeller Endless successfully credited in his will the entire extent of his railroad fortune to himself, which he years later allegedly claimed as Ms. Haile R. Endless somewhere in the early 1600s. Because Mr. Endless was a pronounced and outspoken opponent of women's rights, the people of Middle America also believe in karma. The Mostly Straight - Christened after Harold Mostly, the Mostly Straight was to be a transcontinental canal bridging the oceans from west to east. The western half was completed in 1752, stretching from the shores of California, at the ports of Kaul, to the snake fields of Kansas. The eastern half is a much sadder story. Construction sites extend far into the dark uncharted areas of the east, and no one now living knows just how far they got, or if the canal is really complete. Generally speaking, no one uses the canal to travel much farther east than Kansas, where the water begins to turn green, and glow in the dark, and the risk of someone falling overboard and being poisoned is too great. Loom Crows - Harmless after a fashion, these ebony birds hunt in flocks. They typically trouble a cotton farmer the most, but in rare cases they have been known to attack travelers, eating the clothes right off of their bodies and leaving them without so much as a pair of undies. If one soaks his garments in blood of any sort, it will ward off most species of Loom Crow. But who would want to do that? Eww. Slalom's Plot - A fabled mine somewhere in the myriad frozen canyons of southeast Texas, supposedly haunted by witches and ghosts. It is said that something discovered in the mines corrupted the workers and attracted the witches. Uh... Spider Chickens Copyright 2008? Ball's in your court, baby!
I have to say, I'm liking it. Alternate History is an interesting thing, and your humor (Parry City, General Tso, Native Africans, Mount Dew (also the tomato thing, you know your obscure bits of history) Salem's Plot) I'd read it. Here's a few questions though: Why are the Native Africans skilled in Voodoo magic if they aren't actually African? Why are the characters of European lineage (Philip, Colonel Sevenfold, Parry City, New Jersey, Arizona, etcetera) instead of Asian? (Wei, Shang Xiao qi.. fold, New Hong Kong, etcetera) Though I guess technically the Spaniards could still have done their thing in Mexico, and the English could have traveled to the Americas through the South, or from the Silk Road, what with their large trading in that area. Or they could have gone like the real world's Chinese did... Other than little nitpicky things, it's great sounding, and I'm surprised it's been sitting here so long without a reply.
Haha! This is a very funny and entertaining premise! I'd like to see any bits of your story as you write it.
