Appleglen and Sweetwater Lake

 Pelaria  No Responses »
Feb 012012
 

From the journal of Ardebast Raconteur:

As you might expect from the name, the town of Appleglen’s main product is apples. The town is situated to the east of the apple orchards that have grown surrounding Sweetwater Lake.

It’s not surprising that apples form a central dietary staple for Appleglen’s residents. They make everything with apples there; apple dumplings, apple pies, apple cider, applesauce, apple butter, apple bread, and of course, my personal favourite apple fritters. You’d be hard pressed to find any inn or tavern that does not have apples on the menu. Fortunately, for me, I love apples so it’s always an appreciated stop on my itinerary.

The apple orchards surrounding Appleglen are also responsible for Sweetwater Lake. After years of apples from the surrounding orchards falling into the lake, the water of the lake has sweetened, hence the name.

Carja’s Notes:

Appleglen wasn’t even in the original map of Pelaria. I added it later because I felt the map was too empty in that area. I added the orchards and from there the idea came for Sweetwater Lake next to it.

Sunnyvale

 Pelaria  No Responses »
Jan 252012
 

From the journal of Ardebast Raconteur:

Sunnyvale is often referred to as the breadbasket of Pelaria. At least 75% of all crops raised in Pelaria come from Sunnyvale. It is a far-stretching tract of land dotted with small farming communities that functions surprisingly as one town. Sunnyvale is populated by salt of the earth furs who work hard for their living. They’re warm and caring, but they don’t abide dawdlers.

If you plan to spend any extended time in Sunnyvale and you have no shinies, be prepared to work for your keep. I learned this the hard way. The townsfolk loved my stories, but stories don’t plant and harvest crops. The work was hard but fair. Even now, whenever I feel I’m getting too soft, I’ll stop for a spell in Sunnyvale to toughen myself back up.

Carja’s Notes:

As I was drawing the map of Pelaria, it occurred to me that I needed to think about farmland. From the idea that it would be made up of several smaller farming communities stretching out over a vast area of land, I needed to think of how this land would be policed and the problems covering such a vast territory would cause, hence the need for something like the Mouse Wing.

The Coven

 Pelaria  No Responses »
Jan 182012
 

“There is no place that is closed to us,
No riches that are beyond our grasp,
For we are the Coven and your own shadow is our haven.”

– Oath of the Coven

From the journal of Ardebast Raconteur:

The Coven is an organization of thieves, assassins and rogues that operate behind the scenes in Pelaria. They are ruled by the Council of Thirteen who are said to have their paws in every facet of animus life. Their name stems from the fact that original thirteen members were seen by the public as beings that inhabited the shadows of society and accomplished impossible tasks, just like witches.

Not every rogue is a member of the Coven, though almost certainly all have come across them at one time or another. The Coven is content to let others operate independently unless it directly interferes with their business. The fur that crosses them once does not usually live to do so a second time.

Despite their dark reputation, not all members of the Coven are strictly evil. They simply operate by their own code.

Carja’s Notes:

As I was writing The Meeting of Sass and Mouser I decided that I wanted to have some sort of thieves’ guild that operates in Pelaria. I thought “The Coven” was a cool name for such an organization, because it seemed dark and mysterious. Eventually, the Coven developed into much more than just a simple guild of thieves. They’re a major antagonist presence in Pelaria, because hey! Any story could use an antagonist!

Verdant

 Pelaria  No Responses »
Dec 212011
 

From the journal of Ardebast Raconteur:

Verdant is the name of both the forest to the west of Sixtus, and the city that has formed within its branches. The forest floor is mostly populated by members of the peaceful subset of the Wild, though there are some burrows of Awakened furs as well. The city in the treetops consists of large platforms that extend from tree to tree and connected by suspended walkways. The walkways are for the benefit of the few furs who live in Verdant and visitors, as the city itself is mostly populated by the Avian (Awakened birds). Given Avian artistic talents, Verdant is regarded as a more artistic community than other cities in Pelaria. This is most reflected in its architecture. It is usually the art that attracts furs to the city in the treetops, as most furs would much prefer to keep their paws on land. Other furs reside in Verdant are easygoing merchants and craftsmen who make their living gathering and selling the raw materials used by artist Avian and repairing their tools and who are able to ignore the more annoying facets of Avian personalities.

Carja’s Notes:

Of all the ideas for cities and towns I came up with for Pelaria, Verdant is probably my favourite. I like the subtitle of The City in the Treetops. The avian needed a place to live so it seemed like a logical addition.

The Tinkerwood

 Pelaria  No Responses »
Dec 162011
 

From the journal of Ardebast Raconteur:

My knowledge of the Tinkerwood is based solely on the word of my friend, Cyran the Tinkerer. It is an extraordinary tale that, were it not for my faith in my friend, I would discount as a fabrication. Cyran is not given to telling tall tales or exaggerating, so I believe everything he told me to be true. I plan on making the journey myself someday so I can see the wonders described to me with my own eyes.

As near as I can tell, based on what Cyran told me, the Tinkerwood has risen from the ruins of  the Lost Colony, which lied to the south of where Bree sits now, when Pelaria was young. The area has been mostly abandoned since the fall, mostly due to the difficulty in reaching it by paw. At one time, it served as a dumping ground, but as furs found better ways to dispose of their junk, the practice was abandoned.

From Cyran’s description, the Tinkerwood is a forest of metallic trees, composed of bits of fallen tinkers. I find it doubtful that a natural phenomenon caused the formations to take the shape of trees, though this of course has not been verified.

Perhaps most remarkable of all, is the being that resides in the Tinkerwood, a titanic tinker that towers over the landscape and who collects fallen tinkers to bring them to their eternal resting place. Cyran dubbed this terror the Undertinker.

The romantic in me would say that the Tinkerwood being where all tinkers go to die, their will to live on caused their metallic husks to assume the shape of the living, in this case, trees. It is just as likely that it is the Undertaker who shaped the tinker trees to honour the tinkers he brings there.

Carja’s Notes:

The Tinkerwood appears in the very first Animus story, Tale of the Tinkerwood. Ardebast’s romantic notion that it is where tinkers go to die reflects my original concept. Note that the title of the story was devised well after the story was finished. I had no notion of where the story would go when I started it. I was just writing a story about a rabbit out on a dark and stormy night. You could almost say that the Tinkerwood grew organically as the story went along. (Ha ha)

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