The Week

Not my week, but a week in Phinea.  Their cycle, or day, is 30 hours long.  The day is defined as the time it takes for the Bright One (the biggest of the three suns) to go completely around the planet, starting with dawn.  Since the suns were once moons and actually do revolve around the earth, the seasons are steady, as is the length of daylight.  The week, the purpose of my blog, is 10 days.  Seeing as base-10 measurements seem more intuitive, and the planet's civilization was wiped out a few thousand years before my first novel takes place, all of the measurements of time are some multiple of 10.  Makes sense, I think.

"Magic"

    Phinea's magic comes from a symbiotic relationship between the Adept and the Element.  An Adept is a person who has successfully bonded with an Element.  An Adept is the closest thing to a sorcerer Phinea has, though the way they utilize the Element is often much more subtle than the classical notion of magic users.  There are four Elements on Phinea: Water, Earth, Air, and Fire.  Each Element has an affinity for certain personality alignments with which it will more easily bond.  Earth is good and follows rules with patience, while Water promotes both growth and destruction, keeping all things in balance.  Air is unpredictable and chaotic, and Fire is destructive and chaotic.  People with personalities similar to an Element will more easily gain abilities associated with that Element.  An Adept is not restricted to one Element, though there are pairs of Elements that cannot be learned by one Adept: Earth with Air, and Fire with Water.

   There is a lot more to explain, and I will do so in further installments.  Please comment and ask questions so I can write more directed posts in the future.

Chapter 14

So far this is my favorite chapter to write, but it is also my most difficult.  It introduces my little gender joke, which will follow my protagonist the rest of his life.  It makes me smile every time I think of the idea.  The hurdle I'm having is that I can see the events play out in my mind, and I have my hand-written draft done and ready to be typed, but as soon as he's on his way back, I can't think of how to transition to the next chapter.  I'm sure once I have it all in the computer it will be easier to move on, but for now it's frustrating (and a little scary).

Naming

   In Phinea, having a proper name, called simply the Name, is rare.  The main reason for this is that it takes an extraordinary act by the founder of the line to earn a name.  Most of the time the person striving for a name loses their life in the process, often before fathering (or mothering) children.  A proper name is more than just a title; it is part of the magic of Phinea that determines what you will do during your lifetime.  The connection between the name and the profession is so strong that the bearer has no choice in their future, but he or she is also unhappy until that person is working in his or her prescribed occupation.
   Each person with a last name has a three-letter word in front of it, called a prename, that tells you what class of name it is.  Depending on the context, the prename can indicate that you family is famous, or infamous.  It can tell a person how long that line has existed, or in what category of profession their line is. For example, in the first book, "lor" is one prename that means legendary.  Another in this series is "nor," which means "works for a legendary Name."
   The Names themselves all end in "smith."  This means "makers, doers, finders, or fighters of."  The first half of the proper name indicates what the Line's actually occupation is.  Using the previous examples, the main characters' Name is lor Banesmith, which means "legendary fighters of evil."  There is another Line in this series, crucial to the survival of the main characters: the nor Banesmiths.  These people work for the lor Banesmith Line, and are also legendary.
   The Names are passed on through the gender that first attained the Name, and therefore founded the Line.  The lor Banesmiths are male, and so the magic in the Line is only passed to male children.  The same rules apply for female characters and citizens of the planet; mothers pass the Name onto daughters, and not sons.

Welcome

Hello everyone,
This is my blog for the book series Phinea that I am writing.  I am looking forward to sharing this journey with you and getting your feedback on my characters and their world.  The series is based on a planet that has 3 suns (which were once moons), is powered naturally and magically by the pure white light shining from the suns, and knows no night.  The first book I am writing tells the story of a legendary warrior finding out who he is and learning to answer the call in his blood.  Since my books use a hybrid of ideas from a variety of other authors, I will write regularly to explain how everything in my world works.