The Creator

The other night I noticed something. The moon. Set amidst the dark, night sky, it shone with a brilliant light. The surrounding stars accompanied the moon with radiant light of their own. I then recalled a scene from earlier that day--the red, orange, and yellow leaves of autumn. I thought, "Wow, how can people not see a Creator behind this?"

My mind continued to wander as I thought about the Apollo missions. Man had gone to the moon. Then I thought about my friends and football and apple cider during the fall. Again I thought, "How can man reject a Creator?"

Look around, his handiwork is obvious. All creation testifies to Elohim.

If I cannot exist without a Creator then how can Miendur exist without its own creator?

Runos (lit. "the judge") is the god-figure of Miendur. A world requires a creator, virtue requires Truth. The standards of justice, freedom, courage, love, loyalty, and wisdom must be set forth by a higher being or else my world revolves around nothing more than the sword-wielding descendants of rocks, slugs, and pygmy shrews.

So if there is a clear god-creator-figure, is there a clear-cut religion? The answer is no.

Runos, unlike Yahweh, does not require worship. Although he is constantly and directly involved int e lives of the people of Miendur, he seeks no relationship of love with them. Therefore, where Yahweh requires worship, Runos requires honor. Where Yahweh requires love, Runos requires justice.

Clearly, it is a flat world devoid of sin as we know it. There are clearly defined lines of good and evil. While any character can fall, they can be redeemed by their own works in the end. Obviously, the spiritual nature of individual people in Miendur cannot be applied to ours. Miendur seeks to simplify the inner struggle in order to focus on the outer struggle. Miendur writ large symbolizes my inner self. The war inside me has a clear-cut victor but hat does not mean the war ceases. Even though Runos clearly embodies good and guarantees its victory over evil, the war in Miendur continues. "Why is this?," you might ask. I haven't the faintest idea.

The Races: Originality, Variety, and "Believability"

Something my brother and I really struggled with in the creation of Miendur was the various peoples. We wanted to create something new and something with depth. If I were to mention a race to my brother he would instantaneously have the same mental picture that I would. This makes it somewhat difficult to explain in one setting because my brother and I have probaly put hours of thought and conversation into each race.

Our first goal was to create original peoples. Our races are obviously going to be influenced by some sources, but we really try to create fresh new outlooks on intelligent, social beings.

Our second goal was to create an incredibly diverse and varied set of civilizations who interact with each other. Our own world sees no end to variety when it comes to the civilizations of the past and present, so why should Miendur be any different?

Our final goal was to create peoples that were realistic. Basically, even though it is pure fantasy, I want people to say, "Yeah, I guess that could happen."

Death and Dying

First off, I have added another blog to my favorite funny blogs. This one. And I'm sorry I didn't respond to your questions about heroism Dave, I didn't really undertake it.

Anyways, today I tackle the problem of death. This is a serious problem for me, because there are few things one can value more than life. For instance, my political views are based around this single value. Anti-abortion, anti-terror basically sums that up.

But how do I apply this to a world that revolves around warring with swords? The obvious answer is self defense. However, self defense can be complicated especially when it comes to pre-emptive strikes and the like.

I prefer to look, not at groups, armies, or nations, but at individuals. The heroes of Miendur fight for different reasons. Some fight for their wife and children. Some for the population as a whole. Others may fight for justice. Still some may fight for honor and revenge.

A key point to remember is that Miendur is not under the New Covenant. There is a God but there is no concrete religion or faith. There is no grace or obligation to forgive. So we should not interpret the stories of Miendur to coincide with our everyday life. Rather, interpret them politically and spiritually.

There is a threat, there is an enemy. It could be Osama bin Laden or your own sin nature. Deal with it accordingly.

Magicalness

Dude, I was reading my bro's blog. It's funny. Read it.

If there is one grievance I have with fantasy literature, it is magic. Honestly, I utterly despise magicality and spells and potions and sorcerers and wizards and incantations and Donald Trump. One might ask, "Then how can you find enjoyment in LOTR?" This is simple. The LOTR does not have a magical premise. If one were to watch Peter Jackson's films, or just read the trilogy itself, they would say that Tolien incorporated magical themes (i.e. Gandalf the wizard, Sauron the Dark Lord, etc.) into his books. But if one were to twelve deeper into the world of Tolkien, they would discover the truth. Gandalf is, in fact, the equivalent of an angel, and Sauron that of a fallen angel. Middle-Earth was not built upon magic, but upon the supernatural aka Illuvatar aka the One True God.

Plainly put, I like realistic stories. I don't like the magical things like, forgive me, Harry Potter and the like. Not only are they fruity and take away from physical heroism, but they are unnatural and unrelated to our reality. This is not to say that Miendur does not have different geography and, more importantly, different beings than our world, but its emphasis is more historical than fantastic. Next time we gat to tackle the problem of killing i.e. can it be justified?