Dwarf Fortress: Stimulating Existence Since 2002

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Fantasy games are pretty well known in the grand scheme of things. If you’re into gaming as a medium, or even just adjacent to someone who is, you’ve definitely heard of at least one big influential fantasy game, such as The Elder Scrolls, or Final Fantasy. However, there’s another fantasy game that's just as influential as those, yet is far less well known and niche. A game that's been featured as an art exhibit in the Museum of Natural Art, and has been the subject of many papers related to the development of artificial intelligence. The game that was cited as inspiring both Minecraft and Rimworld, the former the best-selling game of all time, the latter one of the highest rated PC games.

That game is called: “Dwarf Fortress”.

Property of Bay 12 Games and Kitfox Games

Dwarf Fortress is a construction fantasy roguelike game, in which you either lead a fortress of Dwarves trying to prolong your fortresses inevitable destruction. This isn’t meant to be a downer though. You will lose Dwarf Fortress, there isn't any way to avoid this fate. There isn’t a victory screen, you can’t ever win unless you decide you’ve ‘won’ and stop playing. But, losing is fun! And there's many stories to be told as your fortress falls to ruin.

Screenshot from WildUK


Before that though, you must create a world. To do this, the game generates a fantasy world landscape, before simulating 250 entire years of history. While this happens, you have no control over what happens with the world. You just have to sit there and watch as the world potentially crumbles before you can even play it. Natrural and Unnatural disasters aren’t implemented (yet), so all the catastrophes you see are created by the creatures which inhabit the world.

And yes, the textures do look like the images attached. It’s not a very visual game, but you get used to it eventually. The game gives…unnervingly detailed at times descriptions of creatures actions, so just use your imagination.

No two worlds will ever be the same, even if they start out the same. For example, you may find half the world has turned into a corrupted mess of evil, because someone in the year of 3 found a necronomicon, and passed that thing around like a blunt. Or, you may find that your world somehow lacks dwarves, because every single fortress crumbled after they dug too deep, and awoke all the…hidden stuff located deep below the surface. Once the world is done simulating though, and hopefully not completely destroyed, it's all yours to play with.

The game is developed by two brothers: Tarn and Zach Adams, alongside a very small team at a company called “Bay 12 Games”. Tarn is the lead developer, and has worked on the game since its creation in 2002. Tarn considers it his life's work, and is perfectly content with working on the game until its complete, even if it takes another 20 years of development time. He’s refused multi-thousand dollar offers to license just the name of Dwarf Fortress, because he loves working on his own and being self-sufficient on donation from fans.

Now, I want to remind you that the game isn’t finished. The game's intended goal of simulating what essentially is an entire existence necessitates that the development time might be a bit long. For example, there isn’t any system for magic, such as casting spells or enchantments. This is because the intended system for it would be an entire randomly generated tree of schools of magic and individual spells, with its users making new spells to add on. While it’s being worked on, it's definitely a future release. Nevertheless, the game has more than enough content to satisfy players.


The game can be found on the Bay 12 Games website for free, and a premium edition has been released on Steam today, December 6th 2022. I bought a copy literally a minute after it release, its amazing. I highly recommend picking up a copy if you’re interested, as there isn’t anything truly like it. I guarantee that.

NOAH BRENTON - Clown by day, writer by night. I have no goddamn idea what it is I’m doing, but I’ve gotten this far so it must be at least partially right.

I love writing. It’s my hope that one day I’ll actually see a project to fruition instead of it sitting in purgatory with all the others.

You can sometimes see me on campus, but I’d really rather you didn’t. Your cooperation is appreciated.

The Transmigration Genre is a Convenient Blank Slate

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Transmigration is a genre that is most often seen used in eastern media, which is seen in anime and manga to the point that it has become a whole new genre. In terms of western media, transmigration is less typically used but still very current in superhero comics and the like.

But, what is transmigration? Transmigration is the act of a person, or multiple, getting sent to another, oftentimes completely different world from their own. This genre started to allow authors and readers alike to explore a new world in a form of innocent escapism. But ever since its rising popularity in the eastern corner of things, the genre has become butchered beyond saving with many going wild with their fantasies to the point that transmigration has now become a trope.

Let me explain how it works. When sent to another world, the transmigrator in question retains all memories of their past life.  Else if they didn't, there'd be no point in them transmigrating in the first place since there would be no purpose. 

Why? That's because transmigrating is the genre in which normal humans with normal jobs living normal lives suddenly get brought to another much more fascinating and magical world (most of the time it's magical). 

They'd have no problems ditching their previously tediously boring one and excel using the memories of their old world. The big theme in all of these stories is modern man (it's often guys instead of girls) completely dominates the less technologically-advanced magical world.

When it comes to modern girls ending up in another world, the genre immediately switches to romance. Rather than explore the world, they are typically confined to a city/continent (since romance is the focus, no point to explore the world), where most of the story takes place, while its male counterpart resembles more a worldwide adventure.

But first. What do I mean exactly by blank slate, you might ask? 

I mean that the genre has become gasoline fuel for copycats that copy off more successful transmigration stories and turn the genre into what it had become today. Anyone can take up this blank slate and add themselves to a convenient world of their own. And by doing so, there are no consequences; there is no thrill and there’s no struggle. After all, who would want their self-insert to struggle; they are already doing that in the real world! It’s almost like fanfiction…

Either way, both version of these ordinary modern folk has one thing in common. They have become literal gods among men. They immediately know all the gimmicks of magic and have intensive out-of-the-blue knowledge about obscure or very specific things. They know of advanced technology, mathematics and literally, any other subject that is stunted in the other world pushes them from mediocrity and into godhood. They modify spells with not-so-basic science, create unthinkable cures/medicine with the use of chemistry/biology of all things and rise to the top in an effortless struggle.

I mean, at this point, it's hard to believe they were considered underdogs in their normal world when they suddenly decide to make amends for their mediocre lifestyle and instantly become good at everything.

They don't even try. They just do. And when they do, they’re already at the top of the world. The transmigration genre is nothing more than a major power fantasy where the main character goes through obstacles and easily surpasses them to cater to the target audience of those who want to go far in life but don't put the effort into doing so.

Transmigration started as a form of escapism, trying to see if there could be a world where one's worries could be unwarranted, and it then turned into a cringe self-insert fantasy for the authors themselves. But now, the whole genre is riddled with decalcomania of all kinds, a Frankenstein of stories blended together to spit out one more lacklustre story after another with a copied plot from a copied story and so on. 

CHLOÉ LANDRY - Writer by day, artist by night. I’m a student at Algonquin College and currently writing blogs for my course, Writing For the Web. I’ll be writing a few fantasy-related stuff here, so go check it out whenever you have the time.

Houses, Castles, and other Buildings in Fairy Tales

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Burg Eitz Castle, Wierschem, Germany. By Cederic Vandenberghe from www.unsplash.com

Houses, castles, and other buildings in fairy tales  

Setting is important for all stories, but buildings in fairy tale stories are the things that make the story whole. The setting for fantasy takes place in medieval times, but the architecture that blends in with the scenery plays a big part in the tale. So, I’m going to tell you how important houses, castles, open areas, and other buildings are within fairy tales.    

 

Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast live in towns filled with medieval structures like grand fountains, animal stables, small shops, and vintage housing made of wood and stone. Within a house they will build the chamber, drawing, and dining rooms; storage rooms are modern day garages. They also build houses separate from the kitchen. You could say it’s an old method for ventilation.  

In Cinderella, she is known to be covered in ashes. That’s because she sleeps by the kitchen fire where all the cooking and smoke comes from. Moreover, if the kitchen and the main house weren’t separated, her step-family would be covered in ashes and breathing in smoke too. Then they’ll all be called “Cinderellas,” and we won’t have the classic fairy tale name we have now. I think we should all thank those old medieval ventilators for giving us this classic fairy tale.     

 

In Beauty and the Beast, the Beast’s castle is huge with a grand ballroom and reading room, an outdoor garden filled with roses, winter skating rink, and wide winter forest. Having such a huge domain was enough for the Beast to develop feelings for Belle and for Belle to kill time both inside and outside the castle while she was held captive.  

Castles have underground dungeons, Beauty and the Beast and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs are great examples. Dungeons underneath castles are often used to keep prisoners captive when they had somehow offended the royal family and are imprisoned there until further notice, like Belle’s father from Beauty and the Beast, which then triggers storyline for Belle to trade places with her father to be held captive instead and for the storyline to develop.  

Although not all castles have dungeons to imprison criminals. Instead, they are often used as storage rooms for keeping their wares like expensive books, jewelry, gold, and other valuable stuff; treating it like a big safe. In Snow White’s case, the Evil Queen needed to go down to her dungeon, where she stored many of her spell books, manuals, and recipe books. She needed them to perform her witchcraft to get rid of Snow White, which becomes the base for her inventions to kill Snow White and gets the story moving.    

Castles can have secret rooms too, which can be the hidden crime scenes for murderers, which makes it horrifying and dark, leaning into the dark sides of fairy tales. For example, Bluebeard is a murderer who murdered his brides and kept their corpses locked inside a room. 

Castles also have built-in attics and towers, which have spectators in watch towers guarding over the castles or are used to keep captives. It can be a separate room for captives to concentrate on their work, unaffected by the outside world by locking them in a room. Like in Rumpelstiltskin where a girl is locked up in a castle to spin golden threads or like Rapunzel locked up in a tower away from outsiders, waiting to be found. They are often made from stone to prevent destruction caused by the captive.  

 

I used to think that buildings in fairy tales were just there as part of the setting and weren’t really significant to the story, but after putting some thought into writing this, I was mind blown to how important they were to the tale. They weren’t even physical characters that had any personality and yet here I am talking about inanimate objects.      

 

Art piece and photo by Emily Chow (EC)

Hi, I’m Emily Chow and I have a deep passion for fantasy. My passion for fantasy started when I stumbled upon the dark side of Fairy tales and since then I have never been able to crawl out of it, but this opened me up to the vast world of fantasy and imagination. I daydream a lot thinking about fairytales, how each fantasy genre and sub-genre has their own unique charms. I even go as far as to reflect upon the philosophy and morality subjected around the characters within the genre. This is how I got into the world of fantasy.

The Lord of the Rings vs. The Hobbit

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A Poster of “The Hobbit” and “the lord of the rings”. Image courtesy laptrinhx.com

Tolkien created one of the most well-developed and long-standing fantasy worlds known as Middle-earth. Two of his most famous works—The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit—were turned into sensational films by director Peter Jackson.

The Lord of the Rings undoubtedly made its mark on the world. Despite being newer, The Hobbit has failed to stand the test of time.

How could a trilogy with similar source material, directed by the same director, and with the advancement of ten years of film technology fall second to the original Lord of the Rings trilogy?

Well, let’s see.

The scope of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are fundamentally different, but Jackson tried to make them both the same.

The Lord of the Rings was meant to be awe-inspiring, thought-provoking, and overall, it was an ambitious project that took Tolkien years to plan and execute. It has several sets of complicated, intertwining storylines to build a bigger story. The stakes are high, the villains are treacherous, and the characters are all connected. 

Meanwhile, The Hobbit was originally published as a children’s story. As Director Peter Jackson chased the success ofThe Lord of the Rings, he ignored the fact that they are truly different stories.

The Lord of the Rings relied on practical effects and only used CGI when necessary. The Hobbit took the opposite approach.

Here’s the thing about CGI: it becomes dated so quickly. 

The Lord of the Rings used CGI sparingly, making use of prosthetics, on-location filming, and scale models. This reliance on practical effects made it feel much more real for the audience. 

Without the immersion of practical effects and an over-reliance on CGI, The Hobbit looked dated shortly after it was released. Especially when compared to The Lord of the Rings, the dependence on CGI was not only obvious, but it took us out of the world that Peter Jackson had so carefully sculpted the decade before.

Azog IN “THe hobbit”. Image Courtesy of villains.fandom.com

Compared to the source material, The Hobbit doesn’t stay true to Tolkien’s work.

We all know Peter Jackson took some liberties when making The Lord of the Rings. There were things that couldn’t be as easily translated from book to screen, or scenes that didn’t fit with his vision of the series. 

However, the parts Peter Jackson omitted in The Lord of the Rings were left out for justifiable reasons. The parts he added were inserted seamlessly, and still enjoyable for both casual and hardcore viewers. 

With The Hobbit, the source work is still somewhat recognizable in the story, but Peter Jackson relied a little too much on creative licensing. Some of his details didn’t add to the story, and most of them were only added to fluff up the screentime to make three movies. 

The cast of The Hobbit didn’t have the same dynamics as the cast of The Lord of the Rings, and there were too many characters.

If you’ve seen the Lord of the Rings behind-the-scenes outtakes and interviews, you can see just how well the entire cast gets along with each other. Beyond that, the casting of The Lord of the Rings was perfect in terms of both Tolkien’s original work and Peter Jackson’s vision for the series. 

Even with a main cast of at least nine people, it was still a tight-knit group. Each of them had their own distinct personalities that they used to bring their characters to life, creating an air of authenticity.

Seven Members of the cast of “The Lord of the Rings” Showing off their tattoos. Image Courtesy of gamespot.com

Even with a main cast of at least nine people, it was still a tight-knit group. Each of them had their own distinct personalities that they used to bring their characters to life, creating an air of authenticity.

The Hobbit started with a main cast of around fifteen characters, including thirteen we had never seen before—that’s a lot for a casual viewer to keep track of. While there was an effort to make each of them unique, it simply wasn’t enough.

The cast of The Hobbit also didn’t have the same dynamic as the original Lord of the Rings cast. In the behind-the-scenes footage, they didn’t have that same sense of camaraderie that made The Lord of the Rings special. 

Ask any Tolkien fan which one of Jackson’s movie trilogy they prefer, and the answer will almost unanimously be The Lord of the Rings. It was a trilogy made to last, and ultimately made by and for hardcore fans of Tolkien’s works. Compared to that, it’s clear The Hobbit was just intended to capitalize off the success of The Lord of the Rings. 

Visiting my best friend: Muddy the Mudcat in Dunnville, ON.

ALEX GAVA — I’m Alex, a student of Professional Writing at Algonquin College. Besides being a professional writer, I’m also a professional catastrophe.

You can usually find me hunched over my laptop, typing furiously across the keyboard in either a stroke of genius or madness. Sometimes both.

When I’m not writing, I’m usually taking care of my lovely pets, reading, watching the same TV shows and movies that I’ve been watching since grade school, or taking naps.

Thank you for visiting the Otherworld’s Corner. 🦄

Ableism, Magical Healing and Victimizing/Villainizing. Oh My!

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IMAGE BY PINTEREST

People with disabilities are often portrayed as “victims” or “villains”, and fantasy is no different. The genre commonly uses an offensive trope known as magical healing which misleads fans into thinking that disfiguration or disabilities should be fixed. Think The Witcher, The Shape of Water, or even Disney’s Peter Pan! These are just a few examples that have harmed the disabled community, including myself. And for what? Times are certainly changing and still, society hasn’t made room for people with disabilities, even if they think they have.

What is Magical Healing?

Magical Healing is an approach most notable in Fantasy that is a solution to heal through natural or magical elements that cannot be scientifically explained. Through the many forms of media, it is still a prevalent trope that only in recent years society has seen as it truly is: ableist. The most recent form of this trope is The Witcher when one of the protagonists, Yennefer, trades her disability (or should I say the ability to differ from society) and her ability to have children so she can become a beautiful and powerful woman. Don’t get me wrong; I’m all for an underdog to be on top, but I wished they didn’t rely on the tiresome approach that normality trumps people who are different.

“You're born helpless so you find strength”

Netflix's The Witcher, 2x04

IMAGE BY THE DAILY DOT

In this side-by-side picture is Yennefer played by actress Anya Chalotra in Netflix’s The Witcher (left) before and (right) after her transition. It’s bad enough that this happened but to have people comment on how revolutionary the scene was, is all the more reason why some of the disabled community feels mistreated.

Why This is Harmful

Choosing to include a disabled character in your story and then making what makes them stand out disappear or “fixed” is a negative message that says those who are among the disabled community will only be accepted into society if they change. Even making characters with disabilities the victim or villain isn’t any better because it allows society to think that just because you’re different or have some sort of abnormality, it’s okay to judge or treat them as if they’re the problem.

IMAGE BY DISNEY

Take J.M Barrie’s classic Peter Pan as a prime example. Captain Hook is portrayed as an evil man whose sole purpose is to fight with the protagonist Peter in Neverland for all eternity. Yet, most people get the message wrong, Captain James Hook is the hero, and Peter is the true antagonist. At least ABC’s series Once Upon A Time got that meaning right.

Still, it’d be nice to see good representations in Fantasy, instead of bad ones. It’s not just Barrie’s work or The Witcher that is ableist. Tim Burton’s beloved film Edward Scissorhands is seen as revolutionary to some who associate themselves with a disability, but to others, they find it ableist as the townsfolk tried to change who Edward was, though there was nothing to change about him. Even the beloved comics—turned-film-franchise X-Men is also a grey area. Sure, they’re different and Professor X is one of the most beloved characters with a disability out there, yet some may argue that it’s ableist as mutants are seen as “freaks,” or written with bad representation. I understand people’s perception of these two examples, but the fact that they gave people like me a voice and made them powerful without all of them changing is what made them so special in the first place. Given these reasons, I disagree that X-Men and Edward Scissorhands are ableist. In fact, I think they’re one of the best representations of disabilities in fantasy yet.

The following video below is a scene from X2 which allows viewers to understand the metaphor between mutants and disabilities.

Image by JDMORGANZ

Source Youtube

I do have to note that with my disability, I try to give society the benefit of the doubt, but it becomes more challenging with these negative approaches in the media. Reforming people with disabilities isn’t woke; it is harmful in so many ways. I just don’t understand why society still thinks it’s acceptable to use these tropes, even though it has been voiced as offensive. This is all the more reason why magical healing and victimizing or villainizing the disabled community needs to stop. This goes for all media, not just films or tv series. 

 







IMAGE BY ABC

KYLIE MILNE— Hi, my name is Kylie, I’m a twenty-one- year-old Professional Writing student with a mild case of Cerebral Palsy, and a caffeine addiction, so I decided to write a series about it.  I love analyzing films, television shows, and literature, but when I’m not passionately dreaming of the next creative idea in my head, I enjoy spending time with my friends and family.

How to Enslave Humanity in Seven Hours.

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The Seven Hour War rings a bell for many old people and fans of the magical world created by Valve nearly two decades ago, but as with any old story, the world of Half-Life was mostly forgotten as the fans continue to wait for the third chapter to come out. It is still important to remember how big of an impact the universe had on the Gaming industry and exactly why it became popular. The answer to that would be how terribly things end for all of humanity after a failure at a research facility in the New Mexico desert.

sCREENSHOT from a video game Black Mesa.

The first chapter begins with the protagonist, Gordon Freeman, an associate scientist working for a research facility “Black Mesa”, attempting to develop a teleportation device with other scientists and then activating said device which indirectly caused the interdimensional rift between two universes to open. The combine, which is a vast interdimensional empire spanning an indefinite number of universes and star systems, comprising countless species as allies and as slaves, launched an invasion force that caught the human population by surprise through the newly opened portals and overpowered all Earth’s militaries in only seven hours.

Half life 2 screenshot

Half Life: Alyx. Screenshot.

Half life 2 screenshot

As the Combine settles down, the oceans and all of Earth’s natural resources are drained, the cities are destroyed, and most species go extinct. The Combine existence is fueled by war and exploitation of foreign worlds and so they are more than qualified to enslave an entire planet and concrete their presence. The unfathomable ways through which the Combine achieve this may be considered harsher than the ways through which Nazi Germany treated its captured discriminated people.

Half life: Alyx. Poster.

The second chapter begins with Gordon entering City-17 by train and seeing the suffering people endure. The first noticeable thing to keep in mind is how many people stand by the gates waiting for their relatives or friends to come out. Some have been waiting for weeks now and most forgot whom or what they were waiting for but keep coming back. A stranger tells Gordon “They” put something in the water that makes you forget.

In game grafitti (half life 2)

Instead of bringing other races to guard Humans, the Combine begin converting those humans that prove their loyalty to the Combine Empire into brain-dead soldiers physically superior to us. Humans are best at killing humans.

Regular civilian buildings are under constant police searches and if you do not manage to open as soon as the officers knock, regardless of the reasoning, the door will be brought down, and you executed. They start with a building, then the entire block; if the police do not have a reason to search the building, they will make one. Even if you, a regular civilian, manage to survive through this barrage of constant police searches, the Combine will forcefully move you to a different city sooner or later.

By keeping the population completely disorganized, disoriented, and in constant fear, there will be no way for them to form any kind of resistance. Even if you succeed in convincing somebody to join you and never get find out, they will force you out, separate you, and make sure you forget everyone you ever knew.

Humanity is on “life support.” It is an organism that the Combine wants to exploit for its natural resources and the only reason Humanity has not been completely purged is the Combine has a limited grasp of local teleportation and attempts to find the humans that will make it possible. While the Combine can teleport between universes, they have not been successful in finding a way to teleport between locations in the same universe. Humanity is an asset, and the Combine is not letting it live, but keeping it alive.

Half life: alyx. Screenshot.

Half life: alyx. Screenshot.

Will humanity ever set itself free? In such a world, I do not believe so. Combine’s ultimate goal is to enslave and control the entire Multiverse, combining it into one union. They control an immeasurable number of stars and universes; losing Earth to the Combine would feel the same as a kennel proclaiming independence within the United States to us. Unless humans figure out a way to deny the Combine entering the universe, there is no plausible way for Earth to keep its independence.

Written by Maddie Tim Fox


I’m a content creator, artist, screenwriter, and engineer. Reviewing content such as shows, movies, and games for me is a hobby I adore, secrets and content of which cannot wait to share with you.

Half life: Alyx. G-Man screenshot.

Creating Fantasy Armour: Balancing Aesthetics with Function and Accuracy

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We’ve all seen it: fantasy armour that is wonderfully, amazingly, stupendously poorly designed. 

Sometimes it’s so ridiculous and impractical that it makes people wonder, “what were they thinking?” Sometimes armour is too focused on not being fantastical to the point where it’s a little boring. Sometimes the focus on being accurate to the real-life inspiration makes it stand out like a sore thumb in the fantasy world.

There you have it—the trifecta of fantasy armour design: aesthetics, function, and accuracy. This trifecta applies to most fantasy fashion, but especially to armour because it gives that perfect mix of creative leeway with having a solid and specific purpose. 

Working within the constraints of “is it aesthetically pleasing? Is it functional? Is it accurate?” can be difficult. It’s a balancing act that can make even the most experienced and knowledgeable creators crumble.

So, what is the most important part of creating fantasy armour? Does it need to be realistic to work in a story? Is the focus on aesthetic and fascinating armour ruining the idea of accuracy?

Here’s what you need to know.

Aesthetics

Unlike many other genres, the actual form of the armour plays an important role in fantasy. Due to the nature of fantasy, armour doesn’t always need to conform to something realistic and functional.

Fantasy worlds are a chance to let your imagination go wild, and fantasy gives readers the biggest suspension of disbelief because they go in with the understanding that this world is not meant to mimic reality. 

Saying that, there are limits. Depending on the context, sometimes gigantic, elaborate, or unrealistic armour seems out of place with the rest of the story. The impracticalities can overshadow the design in a way that’s impossible for audiences to ignore. 

There’s a time and a place for armour that looks like it kicks ass even if it couldn’t exist. However, it still needs to make sense to some degree, either in or out of the story, to maintain the audience’s suspension of disbelief.

Function

For readers and writers alike, there needs to be something in fantasy that keeps it grounded and realistic enough to get that sweet immersion into the story. 

Fantasy has historically been atrocious at having functional armour. Even though purely aesthetic armour can look cool, it can be jarring for some audiences when it’s clearly non-functional. Functional armour tends to make the story more believable. 

Accuracy

Because it’s incredibly difficult to make an entirely new fantasy world from scratch, many creators will draw inspiration from real-life sources. 

However, even though using historical armour often solves the functionality part of the fantasy armour trifecta, the creator still needs to work to make the armour blend into the fantasy world. The material, design, and usage should make sense within the story and may require some tweaking that sacrifices the overall accuracy of the armour’s inspiration.

Ultimately, the creator of the fantasy media gets to choose what part of the trifecta—aesthetic, function, accuracy—is the most important to their work. The medium, the message, the context, and the personal preferences of the author all come into play when creating fantasy armour. Sometimes you can balance them all together, and sometimes you’re going to favour one more than the others. 

There is no “right” answer with fantasy, but considering all the options and choosing the best one for your story works a lot better than thoughtlessly focusing on only one part of the trifecta. 

Overall, you want to remember that you’re creating a fantasy world—it doesn’t have to be 100% accurate to real life. In fact, it’s better if it’s not. You don’t want to destroy the fantasy.

Visiting my best friend: Muddy the Mudcat in Dunnville, ON.

ALEX GAVA — I’m Alex, a student of Professional Writing at Algonquin College. Besides being a professional writer, I’m also a professional catastrophe.

You can usually find me hunched over my laptop, typing furiously across the keyboard in either a stroke of genius or madness. Sometimes both.

When I’m not writing, I’m usually taking care of my lovely pets, reading, watching the same TV shows and movies that I’ve been watching since grade school, or taking naps.

Thank you for visiting the Otherworld’s Corner. 🦄

Contemporary and Urban Fantasy: A More Modern Kind of Escapism

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The modern world can be so boring sometimes. Jobs, taxes, capitalism, it’s frankly all depressing and mundane. Sure it can be tolerable to some people, but to many it’s soul sucking. The worlds of fantasy fiction are so much more vibrant and alive in comparison. Even if the fiction world is dreary, dark, and almost certainly a worst place to live; it is at least more interesting to many, and can provide a form of escape when reality is just too much.

What would happen then, if they were to be mixed together? To take this boring world of stresses and deadlines, and combine it with a world of fantasy?

You get what is called “Contemporary Fantasy”.

Art of Leviathan from ‘Worm’, A very popular superhero contemporary fantasy web serial. Art by sandara

The idea behind Contemporary fantasy is quite simple: the “present day” world, except with fantastical elements blended in. The resulting creation is something akin to our world, just slightly more to the left. Fantastical elements in modern day, within the confines of a modern world similar to ours. The contrast between them is stark and readily apparent, which perhaps is why they are a popular and beloved genre to many. 

This is surprisingly not a modern idea, though the bulk of its popularity has been in the new 2000s. In fact, one of the earliest examples of Contemporary Fantasy was the short stories of Mary Poppins, the first of which was published in the 1930s. A surprising amount of fiction is considered to fall under the umbrella of ‘contemporary fiction’. The whole point of the genre is that it’s fantasy set in the ‘present day’ of the author. It’s just that as time goes on, things that were once considered “modern day” become more fantastical on their own, falling out of the genre over time until seen as nothing more than ‘fantasy’ to the present day 2022 reader. 

And speaking of the present day reader, the subgenre of Contemporary fiction most enjoyed in modern times is what is known as “Urban Fantasy”. Urban fantasy by itself is what most people think of when they think of modern fantasy, and it's not exactly hard to see why. 

An example of Urban Fantasy. Art by Ahmad Said

Urban fantasy itself has a large variance between exactly how  fantastical its world gets, and how obvious said fantastical elements are. These worlds are often split between “High” and “Low” magical settings. Low magic is when the setting is nearly realistic, but fantastical elements manage to intrude and disrupt an otherwise normal world. They aren’t necessarily obvious at the start, hidden away from the reader before slowly creeping in as the narrative unfolds. High fantasy meanwhile is a world which is far more mythical than ours, and in which fantastical elements are intertwined rather than intruding on the world. They’re incredibly obvious, and are treated as perfectly normal by the narrative and the characters as just a fact of life.

However, while Contemporary fantasy and Urban fantasy may be similar on a surface level, and in truth have deep ties to each other, they are not exactly the same. Contemporary fantasy is set within the recognizable modern day world, with fantasy elements mixed in. Urban fantasy does that too, however the main difference between the two boils down to one main factor: location. Urban fantasy is almost always set in -you guessed it- an urban environment. Contemporary fantasy can be set basically anywhere in the modern day, rural or modern, it’s just more of an umbrella term for stories which are set in the time period of the writer. Almost all Urban Fantasy Stories can be considered Contemporary fantasy therefore, but the same isn’t true for the reverse, and that's what makes them distinct.

NOAH BRENTON - Clown by day, writer by night. I have no goddamn idea what it is I’m doing, but I’ve gotten this far so it must be at least partially right.

I love writing. It’s my hope that one day I’ll actually see a project to fruition instead of it sitting in purgatory with all the others.

You can sometimes see me on campus, but I’d really rather you didn’t. Your cooperation is appreciated.

Elemental Magic and Non-Elemental Magic (They Are Not Balanced)

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This is something that I've never quite understood for the longest time. Magic to me should be easily proportional, with ups and downs. However, for some reason, there is a massive imbalance when it comes to elemental and non-elemental magic.  

But first, there needs to be some context.

Elemental magic consists of fire, water, air, earth, electricity, etc. Basically, think of Avatar: The Last Airbender. That kind of magic is often seen as closely connected to nature through natural disasters like volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc.

As opposed to elemental magic, non-elemental magic is described as the use of raw Ki, Mana or some kind of cosmic force. A few examples would be clairvoyance, telekinesis, healing, teleportation, space, time and so on.

It’s simply too versatile to be a non-elemental mage compared to the elemental mage restricted for single use. When you think of time and space, you think about God-like beings wielding that power. For elements, not so much. Their power is not as groundbreaking almost as if reserved for mortals.

In any case, for the following scenarios, I’ll be using the element of fire in comparison to the non-element of space manipulation and for utility’s sake, let’s pretend that the two mages’ powers have maxed out their limits.

Elemental

Fire magic in everyday life

  • Cooking

  • Making light/keeping warm

As you can see, it’s rather basic. Another thing worth mentioning is the fact that elemental magic is more drawn for combat and battles. While there is some utility to, let's say fire magic, in day-to-day life, it is very minimal and not that essential to living.

This also depends on which world setting those mages are in. If it’s a medieval fantasy, the examples given would be useful, but if it's a modern setting, science can easily replace those functions.

Fire magic in combat

  • Much more destructive than non-elements

  • Not very subtle/flashy

  • Not much versatility.

I’ll admit I read a manga where a certain fire user manages to burn through time but at this point, it’s not even fire magic anymore. Because if that character could burn through time of all things, then he could burn through literally everything else, and it’s not keeping things consistent or balanced in the slightest.

Unfortunately, there is a big lack of creativity when it comes to elemental magic, simply because adding more to it would not make it elemental anymore.

Now, I’ll be moving on to the spatial mage.

Non-elemental

Space magic in everyday life

  • Easy transportation

  • Self-portable inventory

In comparison to the fire mage, no matter which setting this space mage ends up in, his magic is still convenient. But of course, rather than being an offensive fighter like the elemental mage, this kind of magic is more all-around. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the non-elemental mage lacks in combat prowess.

Space magic in combat

  • Can easily avoid opponent

  • Use portals as a weapon (kinda morbid, but you could cut someone's arm off by closing a portal on their limbs.)

  • Home advantage (If unsatisfied with current area can relocate.)

  • Easy escape

  • Inventory allows use for weapons if necessary

  • Redirect attacks through portals

  • Send opponent away 

The reason non-elemental magic has so much more bullet points than the one for elemental magic was because of creativity. It’s so much easier to shape and bend space magic since its use is much more versatile compared to fire magic which is stricter.

Whenever I write stories in the fantasy genre, I have so much trouble trying to balance the two, and oftentimes feel myself getting frustrated. The solution to this would simply be to set laws and rules to the magic system and give drawbacks since those are usually not implemented.

Briefly put, the two sub-categories of magic are not equal. Elemental magic cannot compare to non-elemental magic. Their value is completely different from the other, and it goes without saying that non-elemental magic dominates elemental magic; it’s hard to give an edge to elemental magic when it’s so straightforward and linear while there is so much more use to non-elemental magic as long as one is creative.

CHLOÉ LANDRY - Writer by day, artist by night. I’m a student at Algonquin College and currently writing blogs for my course, Writing For the Web. I’ll be writing a few fantasy-related stuff here, so go check it out whenever you have the time.

The Different Life Spans of Magical Girls

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Woman wearing dress and lying on teal cloth by Alice Alinari from www.unsplash.com

The different life spans of magical girls. 

Magical girls have different life spans. Some are tasked with saving the world; some fulfill smaller tasks like resolving troubles in the daily lives of normal people, and others may have a much bigger or deeper purpose to fulfill, but they all require magic to save the day. Hence, magical girls. They can be short lived magical girls’ series or long running magical girls’ series that never seem to end. There are three basic essences that make up a magical girl within a franchise. One, they have a secret identity, two, they can transform, and three, they have magical creatures that guide them. I had split them up into three categories to make them easier to follow and explain.    

 

1. One-year limited magical girl life span.  

These magical girls are often featured as a single main character in a story. These magical girls are either grade schoolers or middle schoolers who live in the modern era, where there are no threats to the world, instead they’ll use magic to help those who are dealing with the daily troubles of life, like helping a kid catch the bus, magic, fixing the ceiling, magic, doing the chores, magic, etc.  

They often gain the ability to transform into someone older or someone else entirely, forming a secret identity, which often becomes the plot of the story. They then try to balance their work and normal life in between keeping their secret identity and usage of magic a secret. Their powers are lent to them for a limited time only. Generally, there’s a one-year time limit, but it could be extended if the franchise intends for it to continue. Their powers are usually returned at the end of the series, they grow up without it, and move on with their lives. 

 

2. Saving the world magical girl life span.  

These magical girls are often featured as a group together; they are either middle schoolers or high schoolers who fight evil and save the world. They often gain the ability to transform and have magical abilities to fight evil. They also try to keep their identities a secret and balance their life out.  

These girls are generally chosen based on stereotypes, like the main character who is the first to become a magical girl is often clumsy, is the transfer student, and or the not so talented one. The other girls that join them afterwards can be smart, cool, athletic, or popular. 

They may never age. The series may end, but the franchise can do many things with their productions, like crossovers with similar magical girl groups, a sequel, a side story, and many more. They might also reuse plotlines and themes to keep the consistency of storytelling for future magical girls. 

 

3. The suffering magical girl life span.  

They can be featured as a single main character or a group of main characters. These magical girls range from middle schoolers to high schoolers. They are deceived into becoming magical girls in the disguise of saving the world. They remain oblivious until they uncover the truth for their purpose. The discovery is often too much for them to handle that it pushes them to become berserk, crazy, and lose their will to fight.  

They are forced to fight at the risk of losing their limbs, sanity, or lives. This category has violence, blood, and ethical ideas about what they are achieving as magical girls. Death is a common theme within this genre, including psychological shock, horror, despair, depression.  

They may recover from such pain and return to their normal life, but it will be a very long journey. Some may never get their normal life back after becoming a magical girl in this category.

 

Closing: 

I’ve watched many magical girls shows before and I will say that there are many more categories out there considering magical girl life spans, but it can get complicated as the genre is forever expanding and reconstructing. I believed I did my best in summarizing and explaining the three general life spans for most magical girl series out there.   

Art piece and photo by Emily Chow (EC)

Hi, I’m Emily Chow and I have a deep passion for fantasy. My passion for fantasy started when I stumbled upon the dark side of Fairy tales and since then I have never been able to crawl out of it, but this opened me up to the vast world of fantasy and imagination. I daydream a lot thinking about fairytales, how each fantasy genre and sub-genre has their own unique charms. I even go as far as to reflect upon the philosophy and morality subjected around the characters within the genre. This is how I got into the world of fantasy.

The Allure of Angels of Darkness (A.K.A Fallen Angels and Nephilims)

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IMAGE BY Pinterest

Angels are mythical creatures that are often perceived as “messengers of God” or guides who serve the Lord at his every command. In the Fantasy genre, angels are one of the most popular creatures in the entertainment industry, but the question is why are people so compelled to angels of darkness? Is the answer as simple as they’re as close to immortality as we can get, or is it that the nephilim and fallen angels are like most of us— outcasts who have lost what made them “special” and therefore more human than mythical? The possibilities may be endless!

Fallen angels V.S nephilims

Before I discuss why people are compelled by these dark beings, I should mention that there is a major difference between fallen angels and nephilims. A notable distinction between the two is that nephilim’s are half angel, half human because fallen angels have reproduced with humans, while fallen angels are full angels who have sinned and are punished by exile and having their wings severed.

Are angels of darkness that compelling?

Consider best-selling author Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments as an example of why darkness sells­­ (for angels that is because I can go into thorough details about the power of darkness itself.) I remember a time when I stepped into a bookstore that people became berserkers over the novels, and it was because there was a twist to the obvious cliché. Instead of good, bright angels with halos over their heads, they were depicted as dark and dangerous creatures who were anything but “picture perfect” in God’s eyes. This approach to fiction isn't unique only to Clare's work– best-selling series such as Hush Hush, The Fallen, or Fallen have captured many hearts and fans through this approach. Film studios have recognized the allure of darkness when it comes to angels, thanks to the collaboration of book adaptations to the big screen.

Rooting for the underdog/outcast

IMAGE BY PINTEREST

Popularity is just one factor as to why fallen angels or nephilim's sell in the entertainment industry. And the reason behind it is quite touching— like most of us, these types of angels don’t feel like they belong or are depicted as “evil” when they are simply misunderstood. For instance, the CW network created the TV show Lucifer centred around Lucifer Morningstar– the devil and fallen angel. However, instead of him being the walking cliché of the King of Hell and an antagonist, he was portrayed as an anti-hero who sought out greatness, even if the human world unknowingly tried to damn his name.

The following video below is a clip that allows viewers to capture how an outcast, specifically a fallen angel, can compel people and draw them into the world of fantasy.

Image by WeHeartIt

Source: Youtube

It’s not just Lucifer— many other wingless angels or nephilim’s sometimes outshine the protagonist by how the audience responds to the character and if they can relate to them. Think of Sebastian Verlac, Aaron Corbett or Siryen– all of them were tormented by their differences in society but became a walking— or should I say a flying symbol of the outcast/underdog trope. 

Without a doubt, writers and casting directors understand that romance and connecting to the audience is the key to engaging storytelling. When it comes to dark angels, you can pretty much do anything you want since most of them are "evil and devilish". Angels are an exception, as I assume that when people hear the word, they immediately think of perfection, but in reality, this is quite the opposite in fantasy. In fact, the entertainment industry portrays these complex supernatural beings as erotic, confident, powerful, and often with core morals hidden behind layers that only those who are worthy can see, thus making fallen angels and their spawn more alluring than their light counterparts.

KYLIE MILNE— Hi, my name is Kylie, I’m a twenty-one-year-old Professional Writing student with a mild case of Cerebral Palsy and a caffeine addiction, so I decided to write a series about it.  I love analyzing films, television shows, and literature. When I’m not passionately dreaming of the next creative idea in my head, I enjoy spending time with my friends and family.

HOW TO RELIVE THE SAME WORLD A MILLION TIMES

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When thinking of fictional universes, the stories of all worlds are stone. Some fan fiction depicting an alternative ending exists, but most of the time it simply does not match the same quality of writing and creative input as source material.

There are very few ways for ordinary people to experience or affect the story of the world without being the scriptwriter; one of the tools that allow any individual to control the story is a game, often referred to as a random story generator, Rimworld.

RATED R.

Rimworld is a game which has several starting scenarios, but the one will try is “crashlanded”. In the mentioned scenario, three randomly generated characters must evacuate a destroyed spaceship. They board the escape pods and land on the closest hospitable planet. As they land with what little resources and weaponry they managed to grab from the ship, their goal Is to survive and find a way to escape this prison of a planet.

The characters have unique personalities, traits, skills, passions, and relations with their acquaintances. Some may enter relationships or become rivals. Characters often experience mental breakdowns, and it impacts how your story moves forward.  

Screenshot of a forest the characters might land in.

You may decide to settle and begin building a town or remain nomadic and travel around the planet as a caravan. If settled, the neighbouring villages will eventually acknowledge your existence and begin sending either trading caravans or raiders to kidnap your people to be then enslaved or murdered.

Screenshot of the battlefield.

Screenshot of the aftermaths of a raid.

The world is full of random events as well, one day a huge space battle between multiple starships might occur and chunks of metal begin raining down on your town, another day a dozen tamed dogs may join your community and eat your entire food supply out of the fridge you forgot to close.

Every single game is unique and generates many emotions that both the characters and the player take close to heart. After spending days of real-time observing your character develop, grow as a person, get better at the skills they are passionate about, and get shot in the leg and watch the light slowly leave their eyes from a deadly infection that nobody was able to treat is devastating.

In one of my playthroughs, one of my dogs became an alcoholic and drank all the beer inside our fridge which caused our colonist, another alcoholic, to enter a mental breakdown and while breaking things down they set the farm on fire. Everyone had to abandon their jobs to protect our harvest from getting destroyed but failed nonetheless and we were left with no food for the winter. The colony was forced to look for alternative ways of gathering food which developed the story and solidified relationships between the colonists.

At the start of the game, you get to choose a storyteller and you, as the player, must then fight that storyteller’s tricks. One of them will make the story flow like a marvel movie with nonfatal difficulties at the beginning and a huge devastating battle at the end. Another storyteller called Randy makes your stories feel realistic by not having a set increase in difficulty and completely randomizing story generation. One day you get attacked by a huge hungry bear, another day a bunch of weed lands on the roof of your house causing head trauma to one of the characters.

The beauty of the game is in how unpredictable it is. The difference between Rimworld and any show, movie, or book is that after reviewing the content there’s nothing new to get back to since the story is not going to change. Rimworld offers infinite stories that the player is able to live through, giving you hundreds if not thousands of hours to spend in the world of the game.

Written by Maddie Tim Fox


I’m a content creator, artist, screenwriter, and a huge fan of electronics. Reviewing content such as shows, movies, and games is a hobby I adore and cannot share more with you.

Discrimination in Fantasy Media: Need It Exist?

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Fantasy is often a reflection of our current society—except better, because it involves magic or dragons. However, part of our society includes ugly traits like prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination. 

Unfortunately, fantasy media loves to include this unpleasant part of the Real World.

Conflict is the heart of storytelling. One way to easily stir up conflict is by including certain prejudices. But is it possible to create a society that isn’t based on the oppression/privilege power structure without removing conflict entirely? 

As a writer, fantasy lover, and someone involved with social activism, it’s a difficult question to answer. 

Sure, there’s plenty of fantasy media that steers away from integrating this societal discrimination, or even stories that do a sort of role-reversal—where marginalized groups are the privileged ones. While privileged vs. marginalized is not a black-and-white issue, the structure of many fictional fantasy societies closely follows the modern beliefs, assumptions, and prejudices of the Real World.

Including certain discrimination in fantasy can be an interesting (and necessary) plot device. It can also be a way for a creator to explore their own experiences and biases. If all fantasy media excluded depictions of oppression, it would be severely limiting. It also eliminates the chance to explore those topics and subvert the norms of the Real World. The last thing to remember is that fantasy is ultimately fictional. The discrimination and other unsavoury aspects—while maybe based on the Real World—are not real.

So, how do you properly include discrimination in fantasy media?

1. Think it over!

Whenever you’re creating media, remember these two words: think critically!

Does it need to be there? Does it add to the plot? Does it serve its purpose of upholding the message or theme? Does it make the audience think and reflect? Is it something you only threw in because it was familiar and/or goes along with other fantasy tropes? 

2. Consider alternatives!

The main alternative to including oppression in fantasy media is not including it and seeing what happens. However, maybe the main character facing discrimination is an important plot point that can’t be deleted.

Another alternative would be subverting the norms of our world. What if society was run entirely by women? What if being gay was the norm and being straight was seen as wrong? The world is your sandbox; play around in it and see what happens.

3. Do your research!

So you’ve decided to include harmful language, acts of violence, and/or state-sanctioned oppression—now it’s time to make sure you know what you’re doing. 

Instead of making assumptions and hoping for the best, do some research to ensure that the oppression in your story is not only believable, but also respectful to the people in the Real World who face such experiences. 

Reading people’s stories, getting in contact with people who know what it’s like to face discrimination, understanding why our society holds on to certain prejudices—all that knowledge will add to your story. It’s an important step that can’t be skipped. 

4. Hire a sensitivity reader!

Now that your scenes are out of your head and on paper, the computer, or whatever medium you use to create fantasy stories, it’s time to review! 

A sensitivity reader is a type of proofreader—they’ll let you know if you included content that is not appropriate or accurate to certain marginalized experiences. Remember, they’re not there to tell you you’re a bad person or to get rid of conflict—they are there to say “Hey, your sympathetic good-guy character repeatedly uses a slur, which is not very sympathetic good-guy behaviour.” It’s a learning opportunity that will help your book shine with its carefully thought-out portrayals of difficult subjects. 

As fiction reflects reality, fantasy reflects the real world. The inclusion of oppression, prejudice, and discrimination in fictional societies can either be used to uphold real-world biases, or to explore them in a safe setting. 

Ultimately, whether you decide to include discrimination in fantasy media is up to you. As long as you create the portrayals with the same amount of thought and effort as any other aspect of your story, it can be an effective and compelling part of the narrative.

Visiting my best friend: Muddy the Mudcat in Dunnville, ON.

ALEX GAVA — I’m Alex, a student of Professional Writing at Algonquin College. Besides being a professional writer, I’m also a professional catastrophe.

You can usually find me hunched over my laptop, typing furiously across the keyboard in either a stroke of genius or madness. Sometimes both.

When I’m not writing, I’m usually taking care of my lovely pets, reading, watching the same TV shows and movies that I’ve been watching since grade school, or taking naps.

Thank you for visiting the Otherworld’s Corner. 🦄

Fantasy Technology: OSHA Violations Unknown to God

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            When we think of fantasy, the first thing many people think of is the swords and shields of old: Massive castles, dragons stronger than entire countries, all the glories of the medieval era. It’s all very rustic and old-fashioned, to communicate that this world is unlike our own. The most modern piece of technology you can find is the printing press, and in some cases, smoothbore flintlock weapons.

 But what if you wanted to give your medieval peasants a magical microwave?

         Now of course that may sound ridiculous and unrealistic, but in fantasy it doesn’t have to be realistic. It just has to be consistent with its own rules and explained in such a way that it feels natural for the world. Now, you may think this is mainly limited to modern day technological equivalents, such as a magical fridge or car. However, the idea of OSHA compliance hadn’t been invented in the Middle Ages, so authors can basically make whatever magical machines that they can think of.

An example of a Soft Magic Automaton. Art by James J. Krause

            “Why would they do this?” you may ask. Well, the reason varies depending on the creator. Some want a specific technology to be replicated because it's the crux of their story, and makes for a good storytelling angle. Others may want their setting to feel more “modern”, while still being recognizably fantasy. And then some do it because they think it would be cool, and that’s a perfectly valid reason to me. Of course, there's many other reasons, almost too many to really list.

The way magical technology is depicted relates heavily to the magic system present in the work, especially depending on if the system based on Hard or Soft Magic. For those that don’t know what that is, I can summarize them. A Hard Magic system is a system of magic with clearly defined rules and logic, feeling more like a branch of science than anything. Soft Magic meanwhile is wild and chaotic, with very little core rules and structure which allows for a lot of random elements. While a Hard magic system would create something similar to modern electronics, Soft magic systems are where things can get wild.

Example of a Hard Magic Automaton. Art by Grady P. Brown

            But it’s not really enough to just tell you that, so let's get an example for you.  A common technological element in fantasy writing is an Automaton, which is an artificial mechanical being similar to a robot. Hard magic might make them a commodity built by mortals, which require manufactured oil, refined power source, and are overall reminiscent of modern day robotics. They may be more “boring” in design, but they operate under the strict internal logic of their magic systems, and are treated in a way that makes sense. Soft Magic machines might all be built for a common purpose, but with little internal logic to rely on they all will look and operate wildly different from the others. This allows for more freedom for creators, as the less oppressive rules of their system allows for their imagination to flourish, at the potential cost of the suspension of disbelief should they do it poorly.

When it comes to the wielders and creators of this magical technology, writers usually put it into the hands of Dwarves, Gnomes, Kobolds, and Hobgoblins. This is probably due to tropes related to how these three fictional races are seen, born from media such as Dungeons and Dragons and the works of J.R.R Tolkien. Dwarves usually make very logical and refined creations. Gnomes and Kobolds both make odd contraptions, however Gnomes make theirs with whimsy and curiosity, while Kobolds mainly try to stab more things. Hobgoblins are usually the masters of war, making grand war-machines for their campaigns.

Of course, there isn’t really a “right” or “wrong” way to do technology in fantasy, it's all subjective and one way is not strictly better or worse than the other. It all boils down to personal preference, and what kind of story the author wants to make.

NOAH BRENTON - Clown by day, writer by night. I have no goddamn idea what it is I’m doing, but I’ve gotten this far so it must be at least partially right.

I love writing. It’s my hope that one day I’ll actually see a project to fruition instead of it sitting in purgatory with all the others.

You can sometimes see me on campus, but I’d really rather you didn’t. Your cooperation is appreciated.

The Many Different Dragon Types and Their Misconceptions

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When someone thinks of fantasy, usually, the first thing they think of is dragons. Dragons have almost begun to look like the representant of a mythical being in the Fantasy genre. In any case, there’s only a slight problem with that. Sometimes, the dragons that we see in media, be it from concept art or TV shows, aren't even dragons, to begin with.

While it would be interesting to jump straight to the differences and misconceptions about these mythical beings, we might have to consider another perspective from this. The rules to classify these dragon types are only really relevant to the western style of dragons. Don’t eastern dragons completely break these rules and qualifications?

The most common eastern dragon highly resembles a snake with very short limbs (four, to be exact). They represent beauty and wisdom in their culture. But if we follow the style guide from the western side, doesn’t that technically mean that eastern dragons are actually supposed to be considered drakes? 

Before we get into that confusing rabbit hole, we’ll have to go through the western style misconceptions about dragons.

Dragons

A dragon is a mythical reptile-like creature that has bat-like wings and greatly resembles a lizard or a snake. Overall, it has six limbs. A pair of wings and four legs, which is their biggest distinction.

It should be noted that dragons are quadrupedal. But then, what’s with the other kinds of ‘dragons’?

Wyverns

The most common mistake I've noticed is the difference between wyverns and dragons, with wyverns being bipedal. But despite that, so much of the media is fine with pretending that wyverns are dragons, as long as they're huge, winged reptiles that breathe fire.

So, we’ve described dragons and wyverns, but what about the less unheard of, like drakes or wyrms? They are often considered dragons themselves, if only for having similar characteristics to them.

Drakes

They are easily distinguishable through their lack of wings. Drakes look like nothing more than overgrown lizards.

Wyrms

Wyrms look vastly different from what dragons are meant to look like. They are most likely the least to be considered as dragons due to their lack of limbs and much rather resembling a giant snake. A very common one in media is the basilisk; the giant snake-like creature that petrifies with its eyes.

But to get to the root of all the misconceptions, we must ask ourselves, why is it that the majority of people mistake these different creatures for dragons? The first idea that comes to mind is simply ignorance and misinformation. When we see a lizard breathing fire, we are expected to believe that it is a dragon no matter whether it is the truth or not.

I can understand why so many people easily categorize them as so, but it is also shown that some people simply do not care enough to categorize them properly.

But for those who care, all the dragon subspecies mentioned do not match with their eastern counterpart. As mentioned previously, if we were to classify eastern dragons the way we would normally with western dragons, then what they call a dragon would truthfully be a drake.

The word dragon comes from the Greek definition meaning ‘huge serpent’. Following that, an eastern dragon can be called a dragon even if it does not match the rules the west has established for any subspecies of dragons.

Hell, eastern dragons have their own subspecies as well, but mostly, through their culture, dragons are seen as deity-like beings that can control the weather and the like, therefore they cannot be properly classified using the western way. Culture cannot be overridden by outside influence, anyway.

So with that said, while many misconceptions are done towards western dragons, those rules cannot be applied to the eastern ones: dragons are truthfully nothing more than a social construct.

CHLOÉ LANDRY - Writer by day, artist by night. I’m a student at Algonquin College and currently writing blogs for my course, Writing For the Web. I’ll be writing a few fantasy-related stuff here, so go check it out whenever you have the time.

Undine Audiobook Review

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Woman walking into the sea in a white dress and a flower crown by Arina Dmitrieva from www.pexels.com

Fairy tales often give an unsatisfying ending, or unfulfilling ending which disappoints me. Whether it be a punishment, a justified ending, or bad ending, I just wished the main characters received karma for their actions by the end of the tale. Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, gave me a satisfying ending and the main characters received karma through their actions. It is a fairy tale about a water spirit’s tragic life as she marries an unfaithful human husband.  

At first, I felt that the first half of the story was great as I could tell that Undine was a lively and lovely water spirit and that the knight, Huldbrand had a deep affection for her, as he desperately searched for her when she went missing. They had their moments together as I listened to them exchanging stories about themselves in the woods. The other half of the story was cliché, but I was still pleased with the ending it provided. Their affection for each other remained stable until Undine invited Bertalda to live with them. Bertalda became the third wheeler in their relationship. Her appearance, attitude, and verbal actions have made Undine’s married life depressing; she acts spoiled and selfish within their estate. Even though it was Undine that invited Bertalda to live with them because she cares deeply about Bertalda, her husband, Huldbrand holds an interpersonal affection towards Bertalda.  

Undine was following her father, the sea prince’s wish to marry a mortal human being. Undine’s marriage was meant for her to obtain a soul from her loved one as she is only an element; a water spirit. In the audiobook it is explained that elements hold great power within the world, but this is also a double edge sword as they can be overwhelmed by the power, crumble along with it, and die like nature. Gaining a soul will prevent that, but it will also bestow the beholder human emotions. Undine even shared her mythical stories of the sea and her origins with Huldbrand when they first met, back then Huldbrand just thought that she had an excessive imagination. However, as time went on, Huldbrand spends time with Bertalda, he begins to hold suspicion against Undine, as she is not a mortal herself unlike Bertalda.  

Huldbrand also becomes angry and short-tempered as his interpersonal affection grew for Bertalda and his suspicion of Undine. Even to unleash that anger towards Undine during their boat ride on the lake. This caused Undine to be captured and imprisoned by her family underseas as they thought he was threatening Undine. Even though Huldbrand soon regretted such a tragedy and gravely misses Undine, he still has the audacity to marry Bertalda. That’s just being plain unfaithful to his wife Undine, whom he had previously married. They don’t even know if Undine is dead or not, but still plan to marry. Since Huldbrand is already married to Undine, she has control over his life as he is married to an element, and he is also bonded to the laws of the elements. If he is unfaithful to Undine, she has the power to take his life away. In the end Undine took his life and became depressed knowing that she had killed her loved one. She even left a spring around the knight’s grave for future villagers to show them her everlasting love for the knight.

This story may have a bad ending as Undine took away her loved one’s life, but he deserved it, Bertalda also received karma for her actions as well, she not only became a widow, but she is also the culprit for Huldbrand’s death. She opened the gate for Undine to come back and take her groom’s life. As selfish and spoiled as she was, she was unsatisfied with her beauty, she despised the freckles on the side of her neck. She relied on their estate’s fountain water to nourish the beauty of her skin. So, when the fountain was closed, she reopened it, leading to the tragedy to fall upon herself. Her schemes went down the drain as she was the one that turned herself into a widow. The ending to this tale really pleased me as the storyline and plot was written really well.  

Art piece and photo by Emily Chow (EC)


Hi, I’m Emily Chow and I have a deep passion for fantasy. My passion for fantasy started when I stumbled upon the dark side of Fairy tales and since then I have never been able to crawl out of it, but this opened me up to the vast world of fantasy and imagination. I daydream a lot thinking about fairytales, how each fantasy genre and sub-genre has their own unique charms. I even go as far as to reflect upon the philosophy and morality subjected around the characters within the genre. This is how I got into the world of fantasy.

The Vampire Diaries: Books or Adaptation? Hint; why the Show was Fangtastic!

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The story is as old as time – girl meets vampire(s), girl falls in love with vampire(s) and then problems arise with their enemies, sometimes of the same species. When people think of vampires they may think of hot, brooding, mysterious night-time predators and their love for blood and a human. And the CW’s 2009 hit tv series The Vampire Diaries based on the books written by L.J Smith is no exception to this niche that is demanded by society— specifically preteens and young women.

I must admit I am one of the many millions of people who are fascinated by deathly terrifying vampires, but melt when they show a softer side by falling in love.

Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight, or even HBO’s True Blood. Here the main protagonist is a young, impressionable girl who strives for an ounce of normality, but quickly reconsiders it when an encounter with death changes her— literally! You’d think that by now this erotic thrill would end, but even after five years since its run, fans of the show have remained as fanatical and loyal as they were since the very start. Some fans even linger onto the idea of a reboot. I haven’t seen this much devotion to a fandom since Twilight, when it seemed like vampires were everywhere!

The Vampire Diaries Novels

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In 1991 and 1992, best-selling author L.J. Smith published the first four books of The Vampire Diaries, and in 2009, Smith jumped back into the world revolving around Elena, Stefan, Damon, Bonnie, and Meredith. Several months later after the publication of the two additions to the series, the CW released the pilot of The Vampire Diaries created by award-winning screenwriter Kevin Williamson, and tv producer Julie Plec, beginning another vampire craze.

Though the story is the same, the CW’s adaptation and Smith’s fiction differ in various ways— from the setting, to the characters, to the plotlines of the story.

Setting

"Mystic Falls. I was born here, this is my home." 

"And mine." 

"And mine." 

CW’s The Vampire Diaries 4x01

CREDITS: TUMBLR

 


In the novels, the story takes place in Virginia in a quiet small town called “Fell’s Church” with no mention of what year the story takes place. However, in the show, the town is known as “Mystic Falls” and is set in the year 2009. As the series progressed, the years passed by too. When the eighth and final season aired, it ended with a time jump far from the year 2017.

Characters & Plot Themes

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The Vampire Diaries follows Damon and Stefan Salvatore, Elena Gilbert, and her friends Bonnie and Meredith. Joining them are secondary characters like Caroline, Matt, Tyler, Alaric, Katherine, and Klaus. Although both media had the same characters, the show expanded on them and made noticeable changes that only fans of the books would notice. One of the main changes from the pages to the screen was the characters' backgrounds and personalities.

In the novels, Smith’s characters were all Caucasian and were two-dimensional with little, or no personality. They were also downright awful, not to mention unlikeable. In the show, all of the main characters, even the villains, have layers and depth. Surprisingly, the TV version of Klaus had my sympathy, while in the books, it was just the opposite. I found him bland and unmemorable, but Williamson and Plec created a character that instantly became a fan favourite on the show. I'm biased as he was played by the talented Joseph Morgan who won a People’s Choice Award for his portrayal of the villian/anti-hero on the spin-off The Originals. 

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Even with these drastic changes like the disappearance of Meredith or revamped characters like Margaret and Aunt Judith who then became Jeremy and Jenna, it didn’t bother me because there was more diversity on screen. In fact, the series branched out and covered crucial topics like sexual orientation, addiction, loss, abuse, and mental illness. As a result of times and society constantly changing, there was room for the story to endeavour into a world outside of the supernatural.

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Source Youtube

In the end, the story was so much more than a love triangle between a girl and two vampire brothers. Instead, its message was to live life to the fullest, whether you’re immortal or not. For that, my love for The Vampire Diaries will remain for eternity.

















KYLIE MILNE— Hi, my name is Kylie, I’m a twenty-one-year-old Professional Writing student with a mild case of Cerebral Palsy and a caffeine addiction, so I decided to write a series about it. I love analyzing films, television shows, and literature. When I’m not passionately dreaming of the next creative idea in my head, I enjoy spending time with my friends and family.

THE HIDDEN SUPERVILLAIN OF THE BOYS

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  • Opening

Spoilers ahead. Season three of The Boys was outstanding. Soldier boy, Black Noir, and the introduction to their team was as quickly and intelligently executed, as those very team members through the season’s eight episodes. Every single season ends with Homelander, the main antagonist, being forced to take a step back and then the main characters make sure he is unable to take a step forward. We have been awaiting Homelander’s demise for three seasons now; however, I am here to convince everyone that most do not know who the actual villain of The Boys even is, even though he has been displayed to be the most horrible person throughout the entire show.

  • The “True” Antagonist

The show does an incredible job of capturing characters’ emotions and personalities; I am yet to find a single character to which I am indifferent. It feels incredibly satisfying to finally see our main heroes be able to leave Homelander bruised. Nobody ever saw him harmed before, and as we all hope our heroes will finally have a way to neutralize Homelander, we all forget why is he exactly the main antagonist, and is he at all? What would killing Homelander achieve? There will be one psychopath with unwieldy power less, but no change long term. I am here to vouch that the real antagonist of the show is Vaught, the corporation that created the superhero serum and superheroes in general. Homelander and the representatives are just a part of an organism that will suffer from losing him but recover. Vaught is not concerned with people or committing acts of heroism or saving lives which the CEO of Vaught, Stan Edgar, confirms during a secret meeting when he says that the official allowed collateral casualties are at around 30 percent. During the plane scene in season two, it was shown how Homelander, instead of saving the plane full of people allows it to crush near the beach to get more PR and recognition from the event. Nothing matters but shareholders and public image.

  • With Great Power…

In the modern world people with immense power do not care about life quality or lives in general, but shareholders and the company’s profits. Disney, Facebook, Amazon, and more corporations purchase more and more companies yearly and as of now hold a monopoly over many sectors of our lives. The whole situation is ironic because the company responsible for turning The Boys from a mildly interesting comic into a fascinating show is Amazon; For those unaware, Amazon is considered to be one of the evillest corporations with worker’s rights violations being a common practice. Not even the government is able to intervene because of the sheer size of these corporations. We might be entering a new age where corporations control everything and hold more power than our governments.

  • Conclusion

In the end, Homeladner is still a fascinating character and could potentially be nominated as the best villain of this decade. It is rare to see a superhero content creator that can take an old idea of an evil superman and make it so relatable to the common folk with our real problems of global corporations overtaking all media and goods we consume and how immense power in one individual’s hands harms the society and our freedoms. I hope that eventually, we will get our own Boys that will begin the fight for the media space to be free of company influence, against monopolies, against the powerful who want to abuse the powerless.

Written by Maddie Tim Fox

Introduction

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Welcome, traveller.

If you find yourself wanting to delve deeper into worlds besides our own, you’ve come to the right place. Here at the Otherworld’s Corner, we dabble into various realms and discuss the love of the Fantasy genre.

From Dungeons and Dragons to Middle-earth, enter the many fantastical worlds just beneath your fingertips. United by our love of all things mythical, this is the place to be if you enjoy creatures and potions, swords and sorcery, gods and battles. The only limit is your imagination. 

Your adventure awaits you!