We have some pretty in depth questions from our friends over at Dabble, so AJ decided since I’m being vocal about writing, I’ll fill out yet another character form. We’ll do one at a time for now as we see things going. Camp is coming this Friday and AJ plans on a very good first day with no work on her shoulders. So hopefully that’ll work out. So on to question #1:
Tell me about your community.
I’m going to preface this as this is my opinion of the community I grew up in. It’s highly prejudiced. Maybe I’ll let Jace or Mia tell their side of the story one day. (maybe…)
Since the age of 5 I have grown up in the heart of New York City. You could say that my life was plagued with the usual human sort misgivings of city life, but it wasn’t. I had a roof over my head. I had 3 square meals a day. I was fortunate compared to some in children and adults living in poverty in the City that I loved.
But what you don’t see is the prejudice and back water thinking that makes the world a horrible place for those who are considered different.
I was an outcast in my community. I lived on the fringes of my society, and the human world around me. I straddled two worlds never belonging to either one. I am half human, half Venatori. In the eyes of the Venatori I am lesser, I am useless and I am broken. And to the humans I’m just another being lost in the world of chaos with no direction and invisible to the world.
And quite literally I was invisible to them. Our magic is based on perception and it is distorted until we will it so. It takes years of practice and a tattoo of magical origins to control it with fine definition. And we aren’t granted that control until we are adults and have permission to be seen by the world outside.
But that didn’t stop me. I snuck out of the Apex Unlimited building whenever I had a chance. And I did so as early as I could think up the notion. By the age of seven or eight I was wandering the streets of New York without anyone caring. No one bothered me on the streets, and no one missed me in the dorms. I was invisible to everyone.
The Venatori teach us many things about the way of the world. As kids we learn about our own magic, and that of the magic of other species and creatures of the world. We learn of the Clandestine Providence, and the role we play in the enforcement of the only law we live by.
AJ once threw some World building notes out to a group, and she was told. I don’t know who I’m supposed to empathize with The Venatori or the CCB. Both are pretty shitty organizations, and for good reason. Her answer was simple, you are supposed to empathize with me. The Venatori are neither good nor evil. Good and Evil is a human concept. But the true reality of it all is, there is only order and chaos and how you choose to use the concepts is what makes a person good or evil in the eyes of humanity. You can be an agent of order and impose your stricture upon the people. But those rules and structures could be oppressive to those under the law. Thus the people think you are evil.
Robin Hood being an agent of chaos — stealing from the rich to give to the poor. Chaotic choices to benefit the greater good.
Chaos is not bad, and Order is not good. The world is not so clearly black and white. And the Venatori see the world that way. Bound by hundreds of thousands of years of tradition.
The community I grew up is no different than the community my readers grew up in. There was good, there was bad, ordered and chaotic. I have bad memories. I have bad experiences, but the people are good. Mostly. A few rotten apples. A few extremes. But that’s no different than any other community.
So not exactly a glowing discussion on what my community is but it is enough rambling for now.
from Character Questions from Dabble
The Mind of Nox 