Hey everyone, and thanks so much to Ambur for having this Matt Xell on her blog for a guest post (or something like it), I'm uber excited. So here we go ...
Everlon is the fictional world setting of The Narrow Escapes of Ves Asirin series of books ( of which Tower of Parlen Min is the first) and it is something of a 21st century alternate of Earth where a lot of things we consider supernatural, mythical and impossible in our world are widely accepted as reality. And so when creating this world I borrowed a lot of what I loved about Earth's historical events, myths, legends, fables and folklore and blended it with my own unique storytelling elements.
Today I'd like to talk about how I used bits of Celtic legends and Saxon history to create a folklore origin for Meden District, which is where the Tower of Parlen Min is located.
As you may know, on Earth, the Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe. On Everlon, the Celts that resided in what is now the country of Machus Ina were pagans that followed religious movements of the Druids. Each year, in late October (or Oktober in Everlon) the Celts celebrated Samhain, a festival where they burned large, sacrificial, wooden effigies known as ‘Wicker men’ atop sacred hilltops. The wicker men would be filled with animals, prisoners of war, criminals, and other sacrifices to their deities.These practices were put to an end when Charles Magnus, the Saxon Emperor defeated the celts and conquered much of western and central Europa.
Some four hundred years later, a sinister sorcerer of Celtic descent came to the land of Meden (now a district in Machus Ina) and started kidnapping women and children, taking them deep into the woods and killing them as sacrifices in his imitation rituals. This man was christened 'Sam Hain' and he would later be slain, as folk stories say, by the Golden Knight -- an infamous character in many Europan and Atlantian myths and legends.
Every year since the death of Sam Hain, the people Meden celebrate his defeat by holding a festival at the Grounds of Wendsil, where he was killed on Halloween night. During the festival a large Wickerman made wire and mesh is set up in the center of the grounds and is lit on fire at midnight, an event which is followed by a world famous, grand display of fireworks.
In the book, Tower of Parlen Min, Ves Asirin and the other children invited to the Tower attend this festival on the first weekend of thier stay.
cheers and thanks for readin'
Matt
And if you're interested, here's the link to Tower of Parlen Min's book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Niud9yQZb0M
