If you recall from my last post, Scar’s world is emerging from an effective ice age following a major lunar impact event. The residual debris from the event settled into unstable orbit, and is still a threat to the planet.
Today, I’ll explain why I chose Angel Fall as a working title.
The View From Down Here
What would Scar see when he stands outside on a clear night and gazes up at the heavens?
For one thing, the full moon isn’t as full as it used to be, and though it would still be recognisable to people of our time, we would spot the difference in an instant. The interstellar object impacted the lunar surface near Mare Crisium, which is on the right side of the moon as we look at it, and just above the lunar equator. Such was the velocity of the object that it knocked a massive chunk out of the surface, and it appears to Scar as if a bite was taken from it by a giant beast.
Also visible in the night sky, though not as bright as Luna, is the ring of lunar debris. It appears as no more than a narrow and hazy band, and is best viewed with an averted gaze. To Scar, it has always been there, and always will be. No reason it should change, right? Because in this world, and to a young boy, what exists now shall ever be, amen.
Except it won’t.
A flash; Scar trains his eyes on it. Fast moving, a single point of light. Another flash, then another. A stellar guardian watches over the world, and he does not do so alone, for this angel is but one of a network of sentry satellites. Few survived the dire consequences of the lunar impact event, and the network was entirely overwhelmed when the resulting debris blasted its way towards Earth. The remaining angels have the same sort of significance for the characters populating the novel as the constellations had for ancient peoples the world over. They will be part of legend and song, both of which should be important in Scar’s world, where a strong oral tradition is likely to prevail.
This strange, devastated world will consist of small rival communities who often fight each other over limited resources such as food and water. They have no technologies, though one person in a particular community - possibly Scar’s one - might have the ability to communicate with the angels. Let’s call him Prophet, and though he may be an ancilliary character in the first act, I feel he will be a pivotal one at the end.
Let’s dig into oral tradition, and discover what Scar might be thinking.
I want to take us back to Scar gazing up at the night sky. We have an idea now of what he sees, but what might he think?
Assuming what I said above about an oral tradition, he would know the legend of the fall. Remember, the events of the novel take place far in the future, generations after the impact event, so there will be no records of what actually took place, and even if there were, who could read or understand them? No, what Scar and his people know is the legend of the fall, and that something up there in the sky is watching over them.
Let’s do a real-time brainstorm on this!
I mentioned a beast taking a bite out of Luna, so let’s give it a name:
Karven has a nice ring to it, sort of dark-godly. Too close to Kraven, though, and might not fit with the language of the time, which will be a patois and a hodge-podge of terms. Does that suggest anything?
Groth. Derived from Goth. I like that.
Maybe play with some other possibilities. What does it mean to take a bite?
Nibble. Chomp.
What chomps? Pac-Man!
Pac!
I like it! It will fit with what I have in mind for the contemporary lingo (we’ll talk about the language of the novel in the next Angel Fall post), which will very simply say what a thing is, and will often call back to the language of our time, residual images of which will remain in the prevailing tongue.
Okay, Pac, the sky beast, took a bite out of the moon and spat it at the people on the ground below. The brave angels fought hard to protect them, and many angels were knocked down. Those fallen angels stewed in their failure, and turned to darkness.
So we have dark angels on Earth, and protective angels in the sky. A battle between them will someday come, the people believe. Those who are good will be carried away by the good angels, while those who are bad will be tormented by the bad ones.
Now we have the basis not only of a legend but also a system of faith. There’s a reward for being good, and punishment for being bad - though what might constitute good or bad in such a morally ambiguous world is questionable, and is unlikely to match our current value system.
The character Prophet can play a pivotal role in this faith system, I feel. Perhaps it’s his job to watch for the day of Angel Fall, when the sky angels come to Earth to battle with their former comrades. And what if Scar is learning the ropes from him, so he can take over when Prophet’s time is up? This would give Scar a purpose and some degree of significance in his world, and it’s almost inevitable that he will lose his place at the start of the novel.
My imagination is seriously buzzing, but that’s probably enough for this post. We’ve generated some great ideas, and have opened up a lot of possibilities for Scar and his people. A picture is starting to form of this world, of its culture and creed, and of the type of people who live in this narrative environment.
In the next Angel Fall post, we’ll explore these ideas a bit further, and discuss the language of Angel Fall. Before then, I’ll send out a World Building post about the role prejudice plays in forming a character’s world view.
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