The Mat Universe

Amy P-Shaw showed some interest in the Universe I've been developing for the past few weeks and, considering I haven't been inspired enough to add anything new to it in a while, I thought this might be a useful forum for organizing my thoughts and getting some input from others.

The plan right now, as I'm starting to write this, is to divide what I have so far into general categories and give brief overviews of each. more detailed posts (focused on individual topics) may come later.

Geography:

Hard to describe without pictures, but here goes. Imagine a square. The West side is a coast and the North, South, and East sides are mountains, impassible but for a small pass on the (very distant) Eastern side. It was through this pass that the inhabitants first passed many, many years ago, though they have lost all memory of it beyond mentions of "The Great Passing" and "The Gate" in their mythology.

A huge river runs East to West dividing the land in two. To the North of this river, another parallels it for a time, creating a sort of peninsula between the two rivers. This fertile area--and the delta the two rivers share--is where the majority of the people in the main ethnic group live. A smaller, separate river running further to the south is the home of the other major group.

People:

There are two major ethnic groups (as mentioned above) though one greatly outnumbers the other and has an offshoot that leads a different lifestyle, though sharing the same language and worldview.

The primary ethnic group refer to themselves as the Mat (a as in father). This word evolved from the Old Language word Mu'ot over time (mu- meaning "children, people, followers" and Ot being a religious concept described below). The majority of the Mat live in settled city-states along the main river. The most powerful of these city-states are Banipal, Ashur, and Dhopur (-ur meaning "city of" and the other parts of these names refering to the respective local cult deities).

The offshoot of this group are the Muhal ("People/children/followers of Hala"). Rather than living in settled communities, the Muhal live in nomadic clans who roam the region between the river and the Northern mountains.They are based on a combination of the Mongols and the Plains Indians, and their only permanent settlement is on a lake in the mountains where they have a temple to Hala, the horse goddess. They are the only people with horses and they guard them carefully. They are also looked down upon as uncivilized by the sedentary population, but still respected for their military prowess.

The other major ethnic group, on the Southern river, live around a city named Bumul (no definite translation). I haven't done as much work on this group because they are mostly just the exoticized "others" at the far end of the trade routes. They are descended from the same group of nomads who passed through The Gate, but their language and culture evolved independently of the Mat.

Worldview (Mat):

This is really complicated, but I'll do my best.

The broadest concepts in the Mat worldview are Actuality and Reality. Actuality being what actually is (the "Ultimate Truth" kinda thing) and Reality being the observable world (only the part of the Actuality you can see and experience). This is something that mostly the priests and philosophers discuss, the average person doesn't have much knowledge of these ideas.

Reality is divided into Orders or "echoes." The Mat word for these categories (not yet developed) calls to mind both the echoing of sound and the concentric circles formed on the surface of a pond by a drop of water.

The First Order deities are Oum, Ta, and Ot [-um (m) and -a (f) are suffixes attached to the names of deities and extremely important figures (posthumously) with a meaning similar to "Saint." Basically a respect thing--say "Hal" instead of "Hala" and you can expect some divine retribution.]. Oum is the sun and represents creative power (the potter). Ta is the earth and represents creative potential (the clay). Both are seen as equally powerful and equal partners in creation.

Ot is not a deity as much as a concept, and probably the most important component of the Mat worldview. Ot is the relationship between Oum and Ta (the process of making the pot). Everything between the sun and the Earth is part of Ot, the expression of the love between the two primary deities. Thus, Ot is most frequently equated with the sky (and sometimes fire). The idea is similar to the Force or the Tao, and I haven't even ironed it out completely yet.

The First Order is symbolically represented by a triangle: the top point represents Oum, the bottom line is Ta, and the space in the middle is Ot.

The Second Order is made up of secondary deities (think Greece, Rome, Egypt, etc.) often equated with familiar animals essential to survival: Banum (heron), Pala (fish), Ashum (bull), Dhopum (ram), Hala (horse), and Lhupum (wolf). These are the deities that the common man is most familiar with, and more details will be given in the post on mythology.

The Third Order is humanity, an echo of the First Order. Thus Mat, the children of Ot.

The Fourth Order consists of all other living things and is an echo of the second order; a horse is just an "echo" of Hala, for example.

The Fifth (and final) Order is everything else--dirt, rocks, etc. This is the echo of the Third Order ("from dust to dust" kinda thing) and thus the property of humanity to do with as they please.

Whew. Okay, that's it for now. I think I've given all the basics--that's about all I have so far. I also have some of the history and a few myths developed, but may give those separate posts. Thoughts? Or did I lose everyone?

Not-so-Giant Redwood

So last summer the family and I went on a vacation to California. While there, we visited the Sequoias and I picked up a seed growing kit. After refrigerating the little greenhouse (to simulate winter) I put it in the window (to simulate spring/force the seeds to sprout).

Yesterday, the first one popped up out of the soil.

Thinking about it, it's kinda crazy. That little seedling, presently about a quarter of an inch tall, could potentially become one of the largest trees on Earth. If all goes well, he could still be around in 2,000 years. My great-great-great-great-grandchildren could walk around his trunk. Or, you know, take pictures driving through it.

But right now, he's tiny. And completely dependent on me for survival.

I kinda feel a sense of awe and privilege. And maybe a little responsibility.

It's cool.

Creating a Universe

It's been a while since I've posted anything even remotely creative. Mostly because of a longterm dearth of inspiration. However, thankfully this might be ending. Maybe. Sorta.

Allow me to explain.

Ever since I was little, I have enjoyed creating what will here be called Universes--imaginary lands (or galaxies) where the adventures of my imagination could unfold. I would invent countries, planets, galaxies, species, and the occasional language. It was fun.

Perhaps the most elaborate Universe was created by John and me when we were younger (as an add-on to the Star Wars saga).

My favorite way to start a new Universe was just to draw a Line on a piece of paper. This would--depending on appearance--become a river, a coast, a mountain range . . . whatever I saw in that line. Other lines would be added, along with dots and names, until an entire plane of existence was delineated by that single sheet of paper.

Until about a month ago, I had not done this in something like five or six years.

I was writing in my journal a few weeks ago and just started doodling (you know, like you do) when a Line appeared unbidden from my imagination. A new river.

More lines followed: tributaries, coastline, forests, mountains, cities.

Four subsequent journal pages outline a brief history, religious beliefs and practices, three ethnic groups, agricultural practices, and the rudimentary elements of two languages (mostly related to place names and deities).

A brand new Universe.

The problem?

After the initial creative breakthrough, I've hit a wall. I don't know where to go from here. Work on more backstory to flesh out the Universe? Brainstorm a story to plop down in the middle of it? Wait for more inspiration to come down from on high?

Where do I go from here?

School Stuff

So . . . I graduated a little over a week ago. That was exciting.

And now I guess I'm in the dreaded Real World. Yikes.

With regard to grad school, everything is still very much up in the air. I got money from Kansas, but not near enough. I emailed the director who said that there is not really much they can do at this point because their scholarship budget was cut by 50% by the state. There may be more money if other applicants drop out, but I won't know that until sometime in June. And it would take a lot of applicants dropping out to cover the difference between my award and out of state tuition.

So, as Wile E. Coyote would say, back to the old drawing board.

Which means I will probably be delaying my enrollment at KU by a year and in the mean time reapply for scholarship (and look for other means of funding) while also applying to other programs and hoping I catch a break. This actually might be a blessing in disguise, considering I missed the deadline on a lot of programs last fall and now have time to apply to these places.

Of course, this also means I need to, you know, get a job or something to support myself in the meantime.

I'm not sure I like this Real World place.

Amy P-Shaw asked about my thesis, so I will now give you a brief synopsis. Or try to.

Basically, I was using a political science model to analyze the process of identity formation over the course of an episode of contention. Contention being political struggle where there is a claim at stake and at least one government involved and an episode being a particular contentious struggle (think French Revolution, Tianenmen Square, the civil rights movement in the US, etc.).

Identity formation is the process where the identity of a group is shaped by the interaction of all of the political actors involved in the contentious episode. Instead of being hard and set, identity is fluid and shifts to suit the political climate. For my case studies, I used three separate but related indigenous movements in Southern Africa.

Hopefully that made sense. I can clarify if need be. If anyone cares.

Alsooo, this post is my first from my new laptop. In keeping with the tradition of naming laptops after literary figures (my last was Cervantes), I have named her Scheherazade. Only had her a few days, but so far so good. Yay!