Ask the Bard #26.5: Fantasizing Real Cultures and Transportation Issues
In a continuation of this week's worldbuilding advice column, Haly addresses cultural sensitivity and respect, as well as whether a world can have too much transportation.
Y’all had me hoppin’ yesterday, and I couldn’t get to everyone’s questions! So, we’re doing a Throwback to Yesterday for this week’s Throwback Thursday! 🤣🎉🪅 Big thanks to y’all for your patience, I hope you find these answers worth the wait!
Q: I am currently working on my post-apocalyptic world which has elements of dark fantasy. I am writing about the past and want to add some supernatural views on real historical events (like the inquisitions and the holy wars). How can I do so without sounding unintentionally offensive towards particular religions for example?
A: TL;DR: With a lot of research and a very good sensitivity editor.
Let me answer specifically first. We’ll take the Salem Witch Trials as our example for this discussion. When we impose our fiction onto the spiritual beliefs of another culture, it is absolutely vital that we do so within the context of those spiritual beliefs.
The SWTs were conducted by Puritans. The only people who were hanged as witches…were those who were accused and did not confess. We cannot frame this within our modern understanding of the time, we absolutely must frame this within the perspective of the Puritans. WHY did they hang the people who would not confess?
Puritans of the time believed that all life was pre-ordained, that there was no free choice, only God’s will. Which means that if you consorted with the Devil, then it was because God pre-determined that you would do so. So, when you have an entire family who saw you feed a cat from your witch’s teat saying you consorted with the Devil, and you say you didn’t…. Well, clearly you did. You were seen. And so, to say that you didn’t means that you believe yourself above sin, and therefore, are denying God. Because God wrote in your pre-mortal programming that you would sin. And he said so, in the Bible.
The people who were accused and confessed? They all lived. They were all accepted back into society.
So. What is the lesson here?
First. In order to work with this in a fictional sense, we have to know not just the facts (only the people who would not admit guilt were hanged), but the historical and spiritual context surrounding those facts (Consorting with the Devil wasn’t the crime, Unrepentant Pride was the crime).
Next, we can only work within this factual and contextual framework, we cannot go adding things from outside. In Salem, witches were hanged; we cannot have them being burned any more than we could have then wearing sequins and Fitbits. Puritans took the bible — which had only been rewritten by King James some 80 years before; the KJV was published in 1611, and the SWTs were in 1692-3 — literally. This was a time when the four humors still ruled medicine, and the Spanish Inquisition was still running rampant throughout all of the Spanish Empire, which extended well into both North and South America at the time.
So, anything that we do to add to the spiritual complexity of the time…has to be framed from the Puritan perspective in Salem, and from the Catholic perspective in Mexico.
And we cannot, must not, absolutely shall not impose or imply any opinions on this, at all, ever. It is not good. It is not bad. It is not right or wrong. It simply is. “These are facts about Catholics. Catholics believe X and Y and Z. Catholics are afraid of A and B and C. These are the ingredients I have to work with.”
Same for our friends of all faiths, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Satanic, Buddhist, Bahai, Wiccan, and the many others that I’m forgetting or ignorant of.
Let’s review. What do we do when we want to apply fantasy to real cultures?
Research what is important to a culture, what it finds beautiful and what it’s afraid of.
Resaerch WHY those things are important to a culture, the history to them, the folklore and mythology surrounding them.
Make sure you’re getting your research from native sources; learn important cultural elements from a member of that culture. Read a book about Catholicism written by a devout Catholic, for example. Better yet, talk to someone native to that culture or hire a sensitivity editor in your development stage. (Look for cultural events that are open to the public; sticking with our Catholic example, many local Catholic churches have public-welcome fish fry events during the season of Lent. Just, if you attend a religious open house of any faith, be honest that you are a writer.)
Work ONLY within those cultural touchpoints; make your story fit within them, don’t look for things to add to make them fit a pre-conceived plot. In other words, don’t burn Salem’s witches.
Present these cultures with love and dignity, showcase the beauty and highlight our shared fears: failed crops, disease, natural disasters, storms, accidents, etc.
Finally…and also foremost…if your research suggests — or someone of a culture blatantly says — that you shouldn’t be fictionalizing it, then absolutely respect that boundary.
Q: Is it possible to have too much transportation in your world?
A: TL;DR: If we’re being realistic, then it’s unlikely to happen.
I say it over and over, and it’s one of very few things I will ever guarantee you to be 100% true 100% of the time: people gon’ people. Periodt.
Part of being a living organism is finding the most efficient way of surviving. That means the easiest way of surviving. That means the laziest way of surviving. Because, as a living organism, our stores of energy are finite, and we need to maintain a balance between the energy we spend and the energy we take in.
That. Is. Life. All life. Everywhere. Which means that what I’m about to say to you will apply no matter the race or species that you’re dealing with. When it comes to making life easier, people gon’ people. Periodt.
But what has this to do with Bacchus? EVERYTHING!
Walking is efficient. It relies on gravity, we are basically falling forward on one foot, and catching ourselves on the other foot, then repeating the process. That is the physics of walking. The only energy we are expending is the swinging of one leg forward, and the micro-adjustments of balance. (Yes, I am HUGELY OVER-SIMPLIFYING BIOLOGY. I know.) Assuming that we are moving at a reasonable pace, a walking speed as it were, then this doesn’t even raise our heart rate. It’s only when we add speed, and rely less on gravity and more on propulsion, pressing ourselves off of the ground as well as swinging the leg foward, that we become less efficient, and need to raise the heart rate, and thereby expend more energy.
So, basically, if you want me to walk any faster, Janice, there better be some cheese and wine when we get there. (Baccus. Boom! Mic drop.)
But, seriously. Riding on a horse requires less human energy to go three miles. And we get there quicker. If we hook the horse up to a cart, then it takes less energy for us and the horse because pulling the cart (which has its own momentum once it gets going) is easier than bearing a rider. If we eliminate the horse and add a steam engine, then we can go just as fast but haul so much more and go further without resting than any horse can. And if we turn the steam engine into an internal combustion engine, we can increase the power-to-load ratio even more and get more done with even less human effort.
Optimizing energy expenditure is how we survive. Literally. But at the same time, we absolutely hate change and will fight against it at every turn, until you prove to us how it saves us effort and energy. “Why would I let some fool pick out my groceries for me? Oh, I don’t have to spend 2 hours at the grocery when every asshole in the world is there? Done.”
Now, this won’t stop people from inventing and trying new modes of transportation. The penny-farthing, the bicycle, the unicycle, the tricycle. All of these exist, but people have settled on the bicycle as being the most energy efficient, and therefore it is the most popular and most easily accessible.
Hope this Helped!
Tomorrow is the First Friday of February, and you know what that means: Featured Interview time!
This month’s chat is particularly special and relevant. I sat down with my friend Chris Lontok, better known to many as the amazing
, to talk about worldbuilding with and around real-world cultures! As a Filippino-American, Chris adds a lot of his cultural heritage to his worldbuilding and he was kind enough to have a very frank talk with me about his views on fictionalizing contemporary cultures with respect.Make sure you’re subscribed so that it goes straight to your in-box! And don’t forget to share this newsletter with a creative friend! The most important things are the things we build together, and with your help we can build an amazing community of creativity and support.
