The Map Maker Characters, Letter 5
The Last of the Demigods
Welcome Mages and Travelers,
Things have been quite joyous in the fantasy world and absolute chaos in the real world, but in a good way. I’ve also been burning to start writing The Map Maker, which is why today’s letter consists of the last four demigods to be introduced and the first ones I made.
We’ve all gone through some bad shit
It’s one of the facts of life, and I’ve reached that age where you start accepting that bad things can happen at any time and that there’s nothing you can do to stop it. You just have to try and recover in whatever way works for you. Maybe you reach for a bottle or a friend. Perhaps you drown yourself in music and lust. However, if you’re like me, you just want to be left alone.
Which is one of the most challenging things to accomplish in this world. No matter your method of emotional release, people seem to think it’s their birthright to impose themselves on this time of yours. No lying on your bed staring at the ceiling and absolutely no silence. Of course not. Because, according to some unknown guy on Facebook, you have to talk about your feelings immediately after something happens. This guy also never heard the phrase; “Give me some space.”
Thus, the first established location of Fistbump the Sky was The Sad Place
The Sad Place is a desert island in the middle of the deadly Eastern Ocean. Nothing lives on this island except sand and red trees. From these trees hang cocoons with attached face masks. The Sad Place is a haven for those in mourning and inaccessible to those who are not.
Once a Fistbump the Sky creature enters this state of mind, they can choose to be taken to The Sad Place. After being transported, they’ll find themselves inside a cocoon that will sustain them and, most importantly, provide them with the opportunity to scream, cry and work through their turmoil without being disturbed by others. They will be transported back home once they feel ready to face the world.
This island is also where you will find Lam, the guardian of The Sad Place.
LAM,
Guardian of The Sad Place
The demigod and guardian of the Sad Place never speaks and hardly moves except when they unfurl their moth wings to sweep over the island. Although many creatures fear Lam, it’s understood that Lam’s fierceness is necessary for the creatures in the Sad Place to heal without distractions.
KALA,
God of the Nomads and Follower of the Three Suns
Kala was the first demigod
I’ve always been interested in nomads and took extra time to craft a god for those of Fistbump the Sky. I associate nomads with deserts, so the demigod had to be in the form of an animal that could live there, such as a fennec fox. I wanted to create a strong yet gentle god who didn’t rely on verbal communication and was connected to the natural world. I also wanted to find a logical reason for continuously moving around, something more than simply not wanting to form attachments to material things.
Travelling in search of resources didn’t make much sense because the fantasy world has plenty of resources. While searching for reasons, I thought back to how badly I wanted to follow the sun as a child and decided to make that their reason for moving. However, unlike how I imagined it when I was ten, the Fistbump the Sky nomads would not be walking up walls and swimming across rivers to stay in a straight line.
And with that, Kala was born as the first demigod to sprout and a warrior with no attachment to the world except for their charges. Like a sunflower, Kala and the nomads follow the three suns, drawing power from them. Kala never speaks in words, but talking is unnecessary as they share an uncanny connection with the nomads that is much stronger than the other demigods share with their creations. Kala protects the world from the evil fox, teaches their nomads, and protects the nomads who go on their solo journey through Fistbump the Sky once they have become adults.
Hip Hip,
Guardian of the Birthing Ground
One of the few gods with a gender, Hip Hip’s body is a hybrid mix of orchid flowers, seeds, and tenrecs, all symbolising her position as the guardian of the birthing grounds. There are rumours that she went swimming in the fertile Southern Ocean and that that’s how she became the goddess of fertility. She is the ultimate mother, brimming with calm and fiercely protective of her charges. As the birthing grounds are utterly inaccessible, the only time one can see her is during God Seed ceremonies, where Hip Hip collects the core of the new creature before transporting it to grow in the birthing grounds until it is ready to return to its territory.
If you have a place to mourn then you would also need a place to be born
That was my initial reason for creating the Birthing Grounds – an opposition to The Sad Place. But in all honesty, I didn’t want to have any of the creatures I so loving made go through pregnancy. I can hear your protests all the way in the Southern Hemisphere.
I like babies as much as the next person, but have you ever heard any woman retell the story of giving birth with fondness? I didn’t think so. Seeing something move under your skin also doesn’t bring up feelings of joy. Unless I made an orifice large enough to have a baby slide out from painlessly. There, of course, need to be new creatures to stop the population from going into decline. Yet the creatures are made from baking ingredients. How could they make life if the demigods have to sacrifice parts of themselves to make them in the first place?
It only seemed logical to avoid the business altogether by transporting the essence of newly created creatures to a place where they can grow until their bodies have lost all floppiness.
That brings us to the last demigod to be introduced.
GROT,
God of Bravery, Strength and Metal
I don’t know how it happened, but Fistbump the Sky has more brawny characters than I expected. Which meant I had to create a demigod for strength. Darn. I was initially going to go for a demigod born from a redwood tree but that was such an incredibly obvious think to do. A redwood was also just too sturdy. I needed something more flexible. That’s when I decided to go to the smallest plant that supplies strength and energy when you eat it – A soybean.
Grot is the smallest demigod with the body of a soybean that can transform into different limbs encased in two spinning hoops. Grot makes up for their small size in strength and determination. An ability to Grow and shrink themselves is also a bonus. Grot created the warriors and taught them how to protect Fistbump the Sky from the evil fox. Although they might not be considered warriors, Grot also made the creatures of Limbo because flying takes the greatest strength. Grot is polite to creatures of other territories but, like Kala, does not care much for those they did not create.
Thank you for reading. Feel free to share your own fantasy creatures or worlds. I’d love to learn what you’ve been up to. Until next time.
– Lu
