History of the Worldbuilding
The Imperium of Aracspur was conceived of in late 2015/early 2016 (maybe even late 2014/early 2015), taken from the Etruscan words for “falcon” and “city”. The idea was to make Aracspur a mish-mash of Ravenna and Tenochtitlan, the founding myth being of a falcon perching amid the swamps as a sign of the Sun God to build a new city here. The mythology was a solar religion, hence the Imperial motto: adversus solem ne loquitor (thou shalt not speak against the sun).
Diadan Callidius and his half-fay (elfin) cousin-wife Eunike Callidius were to have come from the city of Elysia. The original plot of “The Falcon’s Bane” was to have them go to their estate in Arvepia and get entangled with local politics. Back then, Arvepia was still a part of the Imperium of Aracspur—the idea to make it an independent Republic came later. Diadan Callidius would go on to take the role of Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba, in tandem with plot developments further North. In an example of everything is the self pushed outwards, I would meet a Cantonese-Hokkien girl named Eunice in undergrad. Zilch came out of it—cupcake is much prettier anyhow.
Darmati would be the flashpoint in the Northern Imperium. Its plot has much deeper roots. In 2012, I started playing Minecraft. My first world was a Creative world with large biomes turned on. It was a winter wonderland. I named it Krimea. A wonderful, magical world full of snow wherever the eye could see. In February 2013, I started playing Skyrim. Its depiction of Stormcloaks fighting Imperials inspired the idea of a Vikings vs Romans theme. Season Unending would be one expression of this intriguing aesthetic turned prose. The other expression saw more twists and turns. I plugged in a Roman texture pack into Minecraft. In 2013, Rome II Total War released. I became intrigued by the Dacians. Somehow they were a culture of archers and horse archers, somehow European unlike the Sarmatians and Scythians, somehow intimate with Thracians and Greeks while remaining a still unknown people. The Imperium’s influenced made itself known with Romanian cultural influences. The Getae became their proxy in Rome II whenever I wanted to reenact battles. In Attila Medieval Kingdoms, Wallachia took their place. The plot in the north was about the fay Chancellor Annon le Bertrand introducing gunpowder in Darmati to egg the young lord Tihomir to invade the Imperial province of Tauris. They would affix cannons to enlarged longships and others of Viking make, a leftover from Skyrim influences. Their landing on the Imperial Province of Tauris saw the longships bombard an Imperial caster (from the Roman castra) which quickly surrendered. Their campaign was reminiscent of Edward the Black Prince’s, down to being surrounded on a hilltop against an impending Imperial force. The twist, however: Half-Tyskan Imperial general Adalhard Callidius would invest the hilltop camp with a circumvallation. He would turn Crecy into Alesia. Tihomir and his advisors turned it back to Crecy when their cannon tore through Imperial defenses, Aracian legionaries routing and fleeing in face of Darmatic arquebusiers. Adalhard and his forces retreated to Singurasdav, Dacian for “Solitude City”—Skyrim’s influences still held true despite the change a theme from Viking to Dacians. Tihomir’s forces would besiege Singurasdav (still existent in the Imperial Province of Tauris today), but Adalhard would use a mixture of quicklime and oil (Greek fire) to destroy his cannon armed ships. The Darmatic assault would fall to clever maneuvering on Adalhard’s part—these maneuvers writing informed Season Unending, the Skyrim enjoyer fic.
Later in undergrad, I watched Mihai Viteazul. Thus the young lord Tihomir took the name Basarab when I graduated. With Gold of Hapless Fools turning from a story about a Chinese Catholic inquisitor in a made-up part of Germany with magic in it to one about a mercenary captain from a made-up Northern China in a made up elfin Wales starring an elfin princess not so subtly based on a Korean girl I knew in undergrad, with villains not so subtly based on my undergrad Economics department mixed with the WEF, Darmati necessarily lost a lot of relevance in the plot.
Thus we must turn to the original Gold of Hapless Fools. It starred a young German girl who had recently become a doctor in Ehrenland, Honoria. The backstory was embarrassingly horrid: for some reason, said Chinese Catholic inquisitor for some reason burned down her home for reasons since her manor lord for some reason did something for reasons, and for some reason the Inquisitor was made a fugitive for reasons. The inquisitor’s backstory changed after undergrad, such that he was made a fugitive while investigating the Marpingen apparitions, and Bismarck’s kulturkampf was the impetus. Spring of Fallen Glory coincidentally featured a Chinese-Japanese love interest, although the idea for her was stolen outright from Doki Doki Literature Club. Her baptismal name was Monika, she had magic powers of time manipulation, meanwhile the Tohsaka family from Fate/Stay Night was present for some reason. The plot took place in Kyushu because Fuyuki was on Kyushu. After undergrad, the plot developed such that the inquisitor was there to prevent Etou Shinpei’s rebellion from perpetrating a massacre of Catholics.
Just like Monika from Doki Doki Literature Club, the love interest would have lost faith in God because of the problem of evil. The novel’s spiritual themes would be about her reversion to the faith. Her Chinese merchant father would have helped the inquisitor in the War for the Holy Grail turned plot to save Kyushu’s Catholics. There were inklings of a sekaikei plot there already, though they would not bloom for a while.
The plot of Gold of Hapless Fools was a ripoff of Spice and Wolf’s first arc: with Germany about to have some kind of currency reform, the doctor Gertrude, her knightly love interest Albert, and the inquisitor would collect solid gold coins then sell them for a profit later on. This plot point remains in the final version, and is what Dominic Tuazon is up to with the World Economists Guild about to implement a Central Bank.
The sequel would have been time travel detective shenanigans, I have already forgotten the 3rd book’s plot. The 2nd trilogy for some reason would have involved supernatural creatures starting The Long Night, and all the people of Honoria needed to band together and stop it. For some reason.
The current state of things with Gold of Hapless Fools et al is a result of my encounters with The Collapse of Complex Societies, the Information Theoretic Economics I have strived to developed, my discovery of the axiomatic and deductive equivalence of Daoism and Aristotelianism, and general thoughts and ideas on practical epistemology inspired by XYCB and present-day society’s lack of curiosity and diligence. As Yu Yitun, Gold of Hapless Fools released in 2022; Ashes of Quiet Valor released late last year; Spring of Fallen Glory will release later this year.
On a last note, I must explain how the magic system came about. The Imperium of Aracspur was supposed to have no magic at all, for it was an attempt at doing for Roman times what A Song of Ice and Fire had done for Medieval times, but much more realistic. The fay were immortal ala Tolkien, otherwise it was much more grounded. Gold of Hapless Fools had a magic system based on Akashic Records of the Bastard Magical Instructor, except it already existed beforehand as mere prayers. The idea of changing words within spells to change effects intrigued me, and I realized that I could instead make it such that one learned spells as very long incantations, then have a personal way to shorten it instead. Then I read Konosuba volume 9, realized what I did was perfect. Megumin’s chuuni chant was just an expression of herself, and by that point she could cast explosion without the chant at all.
Then I got into philosophy, made the magic system the Manipulation of Forms in the Neoplatonist sense. Then I read the Joe Sachs translation of Aristotle, and somehow made a magic system that was in fact equivalent to real life magic. Hence Cyberpunk Daoist-Aristotelianism was ultimately the result of worldbuilding that turned out to be much more realistic than I expected.
Stub in-universe explainer on the Manipulation of Forms
This explainer is a very recent creation, its bits and pieces worked on throughout 2024. I believe that Cyberpunk Daoist-Aristotelianism suffices to
Ich tooked this tome’s likeness from the stores of the Sons of Cauchy. Ich believe that Frederic Henry himself wrote it. I think so for his style sounds foresooth in this work. He stands the only eidokraser well known in our times, yet others surely live less known. Village healers, country lawmen, city judges, some of these and more may be eidokrasers themselves.
The Power of Articulation Fully at Work
Man is an animal with the power of speech. Many have tried reducing man’s fulness to nothing but the sum of attributes. Take the counselors who see him as purposeful actor.
We do the Manipulation of Forms Daily
Take food.
Take chairs
Take houses