I came to the realization several weeks ago that: "Crap, I have this planet that has so much history to it that I could fill up a separate 50,000 word novel with the history and wars that brought this world to where it is at the start of the story."
But simply integrating a world's story into the narrative is so boring and will probably cause any author to lose their reader's interest. So I thought I'd challenge that, let's see if I can do it faster.
Most, if not all chapters of The Wingwalker will be introduced by an encyclopedia excerpt. No, not an existing encyclopedia. (Because the Encyclopedia Britannica has articles on the mythical planet of Cerinia). Yes, I'm actually creating an encyclopedia. No, I will not write the entire encyclopedia and its predecessors. Not yet at least. Maybe.
I guess it's time for me to brush up on my professional writing.
Sample:
Excerpt from Encyclopedia Cerinia: 8th Edition
Religion- Though, in the last Cerinian
census, nearly 80% of Cerinian citizens claimed to be atheist, two religious
beliefs in Cerinian history retain their importance to the global community and
Cerinian culture at large.
Cezinism (SEE-zen-ism)- The
dominant religion of Cerinia since the start of civilized culture, Cezinism
worships the God Cezin (always referred to as both a female and a God rather
than a Goddess), the creator of Cerinia. Depicted as a woman with four wings,
Cezin was said to have created every living thing on Cerinia, and given a
select few the ability to fly in a moment known as the Great Gift. Afterwards,
Cezin was said to have turned into Cerinia’s sun, and would reappear at the
star’s expiration to end Cerinia, punishing the wicked and rewarding the
righteous. Though Cezinism preaches tolerance, forgiveness, peace, selflessness,
and ethics, various interpretations of Cezinism have drawn criticism and harsh
debate, the foremost of which is the story of the Great Gift, which describes Cezin
coming down from heaven and giving the gift of flight to those she favored that
approach her, while a group of Humans hide in the trees and watch, but do not
receive the Gift. Debate has arisen to whether or not the story describes the
Humans hiding in the bushes as too afraid to approach Cezin and not receiving
the Gift, or not being worthy to assume the ability to fly because they were
not favored by Cezin. Belief in the latter interpretation has been cited as cause
for the several racist policies of the (dominantly Wingwalker) Cerinian empire
and the government that replaced it, including the unofficial policy of dehoseri.
Krazoa Faith- Records show
evidence of the belief in the Krazoa, and God-like pantheon of spirits, going
back even before Cezinism. Ruins outside
of Oesté, Apollo, and Kragg and in the palaces of the abandoned Thorn Islands,
all make at least some reference to the polytheistic Krazoa Faith. According to
myth, the Krazoa created the entire universe, giving special attention to
Cerinia, creating all living things and sentience its form. The Krazoa are said
to represent the forces of nature and chaos, while at the same time being
comprised of the life force of every creature that has ever lived. The Krazoa
faith is a complex, convoluted belief, part nature-worship, part ancestor-worship,
part multi-God cult. Though all common knowledge of the Krazoa faith has died out
in Cerinia, with the exception of the historians and archaeologists that study
it, Krazoa Faith is the only religion of the several nomadic tribes and was apparently also practiced by the people
of the Thorn Islands. Though several
groups in centuries past were recorded as having practiced Krazoa Faith
and its rituals, almost all of these groups were met with harsh and sometimes
violent persecutions by both the Cerinian empire and the Cezinist Church, which
may have led to the faith’s ridiculed, if not forgotten status in the majority
of Cerinia. Despite its archaic, hokey reputation amongst those who still remember
it, several of the phenomena attributed to the Krazoa Spirits that occurred during
the Thorn Islands Crisis (see article: Thorn Island Crisis), such as the Thorn
Islands’ recovery from extreme island-wide disintegration are as of yet unexplained.
