Ahimsa
CREATOR
24 days ago
Project Update: Designer Diary - Let's Talk Demons!
By happenstance, soon after Gavin invited us to join in on this most excellent endeavor, I ended up in a country I had always wanted to go to but never been able to.
The Land of the Thunder Dragon aka Drunk aka Bhutan. There is a long and intense history of demons in this country. Of course, lifting concepts wholesale from a foreign country is both lazy and potentially appropriative. But finding real life inspiration for an active project is a writer's great pleasure. (At least, it's this writer's great pleasure).
I'm going to share some interesting facts that I wanted to work in but did not end up using.
Newborn babies get their names at the fertility temple. These names are either related to the temple or assigned by head monk. Names in general are on property in jar
There are no no inherited family names. Both are given at birth.
Black stupas of suppression built over demon bodies.
Compound fortress on confluence of two rivers. One of the temples had the founders of the country's body. Only the king, the head of religion and the caretaker are allowed to enter. But it's also where new kings and religious leaders are anointed.
Daikini - marry them in a dream and they reveal great treasure (Very D&D!)
One demoness was so strong her whole body became the land of Bhutan upon her suppression.
Okay, that last one kind of made it. The Emporium is built on the body of a Titan. Some other elements that made it are phurbas (demon slaying daggers, you might remember one from the movie The Golden Child) and an order of allies based on a fictionalized group of Bhutan demon hunters.
In the end, matching the tone of the Demonic Grimoire was the most important thing so I cut a lot of the concepts I had. Also I found once again that truth was stranger than fiction. (Bhutan's national hero is said to have defeated a host of powerful demons and demonesses with nothing more than his phallus!) Nonetheless the little bit of Bhutanese flavor makes the book richer, and isn't that just the perfect metaphor for an Emporium?
The Land of the Thunder Dragon aka Drunk aka Bhutan. There is a long and intense history of demons in this country. Of course, lifting concepts wholesale from a foreign country is both lazy and potentially appropriative. But finding real life inspiration for an active project is a writer's great pleasure. (At least, it's this writer's great pleasure).
I'm going to share some interesting facts that I wanted to work in but did not end up using.
Newborn babies get their names at the fertility temple. These names are either related to the temple or assigned by head monk. Names in general are on property in jar
There are no no inherited family names. Both are given at birth.
Black stupas of suppression built over demon bodies.
Compound fortress on confluence of two rivers. One of the temples had the founders of the country's body. Only the king, the head of religion and the caretaker are allowed to enter. But it's also where new kings and religious leaders are anointed.
Daikini - marry them in a dream and they reveal great treasure (Very D&D!)
One demoness was so strong her whole body became the land of Bhutan upon her suppression.
Okay, that last one kind of made it. The Emporium is built on the body of a Titan. Some other elements that made it are phurbas (demon slaying daggers, you might remember one from the movie The Golden Child) and an order of allies based on a fictionalized group of Bhutan demon hunters.
In the end, matching the tone of the Demonic Grimoire was the most important thing so I cut a lot of the concepts I had. Also I found once again that truth was stranger than fiction. (Bhutan's national hero is said to have defeated a host of powerful demons and demonesses with nothing more than his phallus!) Nonetheless the little bit of Bhutanese flavor makes the book richer, and isn't that just the perfect metaphor for an Emporium?
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