Zahnia's Chronicles

Official Tumblr for The First Empress novel series. Blog curated by Zahnia, the Chronicler, alter-ego for author Jack Newbill Header and avatar by @9musesandanoldmind

[thefirstempress]

Introduction to The First Empress

(Art by @mjbarrosart)

The king is dead and so are his brothers. On a night of blood and death, Princess Viarraluca finds herself the sole surviving heir of the floundering island city-state of Kel Fimmaril. In training to be her island’s next polemarch, or high-general, Viarra instead takes up her brother’s throne as her people’s warrior-queen and protector.

However, a conversation with a surrendering enemy officer presents Queen Viarra with the opportunity to become much more than just the petty queen of a small island city. Will she save not only her own people but the people of a large but struggling hegemony in desperate need of strong leadership? Or will her maneuvering and machinations draw the attention and ire of powerful political rivals, unhappy with the presence of a new player in their dangerous game of geopolitics?

The First Empress: Book I is a 114,000-word novel inspired by my studies of Classical Greek history. The story is an adult Iron-Age period-fantasy that explores ancient-world politics, culture, warfare, and sexuality, including a mostly bisexual primary culture and a lesbian leading couple. The story and characters are inspired by the many books I've read about ancient history and figures like Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, King Philip II of Macedon, and his son Alexander the Great, among many others.

Important links:

My official blog on Wordpress

About Page

A handy glossary of some of the Classical Greek vocabulary

The Tollesian pantheon

The Tollesian calandar

Maps!

[writers-solace]

I don't think Tolkien is a good fantasy writer because he scored the highest at some objective Best Fantasy Book Test that every fantasy writer has to take, I think he's a good fantasy writer because he created a world based on things that he was interested in. I feel like a lot of fantasy writers think that they need to create a whole language for their world because Tolkien did and obviously his books are the best so they have to emulate him, but Tolkien did that because he was a linguistics nerd. I think the lesson to be learned from him is not that you have to include elves and deep history and new languages, but that you have to write endlessly about the things you are a huge nerd about and use those things to create your fantasy world

[thefirstempress]

It's why I picked Late-Classical Greece as the main inspiration for The First Empress. One of my literature professors got me into Greek history, and I decided I wanted my setting to feel the same. Yeah, it's a fantasy world, but when my title protagonist comes to power, she deals with quarreling city-states, hegemonic alliances, barbarian raiders, and foreign empires similar to those faced by the Classical-Era Greeks.

Link: https://www.heroforge.com/load_config%3D27632851/

[karen-writes]

"I don't know if my book is good" who cares, you wrote a book

"Will people read it?" You wrote a book

"Nobody has bought it yet" WHO EFFING CARES, YOU WROTE A BOOK.

To all my independent authors out there, you're killing it! Remember, you wrote a whole ass book, don't beat yourself up if it's good or not — especially in the first draft, it's supposed to be bad. I believe in you and there are others who believe in you as well.

[thefirstempress]

Book I is written, as well as most of Books II and III and a chunk of Book IV. I just haven't been able to get Book I published.

[heroineimages]

*leans into microphone*

"Viarra vs Romans"

Politically, I think she'd operate like Queen Zenobia. Militarily, she'd be more like King Mithridates the Great with occasional Hamilcar and Hannibal Barca tossed in.

If her mom, War-Chief Lutaxa, was involved, you'd also see some Vercingetorix and Arminius thrown into the mix.

Thanks for the ask!

Art by @jroahn

[heroineimages]

Two questions about your First Empress universe.

Are there any monotheistic religions/cultures?

Does Zahnia even believe in the gods?

Great questions!

I don't have specific plans for them, but monotheistic religions aren't outside the realm of the possible. Though, I think I'd want to handle them differently from most real-world faiths. In particular, I think their practitioners wouldn't necessarily disbelieve in other peoples' gods, but would decide that their god was the only one worth worshiping. Also, just because they only worship one god doesn't mean they can't have spirit- or ancestor-worship as part of their traditions.

As the closest thing to a self-insert, I think Zahnia will start by believing in the gods she's been told to believe in, but will eventually become more agnostic as she studies other religions and observing that (a) none of them can necessarily prove their gods exist and (b) religions, tenants, dogmas, etc change as people's cultures and perceptions of the world and how the gods may or may not interact with it change.

Thanks for the question!

[lysimachias]

Not "The Character did nothing wrong" or "The Character is irredeemably awful" but a secret third thing: The Character may display moments of deep love & compassion, may even have a strong sense of ethics, and may also be capable of brutal cruelty that is irreconcilable with those traits. The constant tension between the different sides of The Character's nature is exactly what makes them compelling, and attempting to reduce them down to simply "a terrible person" or "innocent & misunderstood" is missing the point of the questions a media with nuanced characters is asking you to consider

[thefirstempress]

I mean, I don't feel like a character being generous and loving with their friends has to be antithetical to also being violent and unforgiving with their enemies. My girl Queen Viarra is quite generous with her friends, soldiers, and loyal subjects, but isn't afraid to behead the nobles who conspire against her---and not until after making them watch as she sells their families into slavery.

Link: https://www.heroforge.com/load_config%3D27369072/

[heroineimages]

*trying to flirt awkwardly*

So tell me about how Viarra's empire impacts the Roman analog of your world?

I'm still deciding a lot of that, including how much of it is likely to happen in Viarra's lifetime and how much will come from her successors. But, to start with, at least part of the Imperial army will probably evolve from hoplites and/or phalangites to something more akin to the Roman legions. In fact, I plan for it to look and feel closer to the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empires as it continues to evolve. But again, I'm still deciding on how a lot of this will work out.

Thanks for the ask!

[prokopetz]

Standard sword and sorcery fantasy film periodically interrupted by cutaways to an in-universe historian from a notional period hundreds of years after the depicted events explaining the film's various historical inaccuracies. There's a recurring tangent about how the film's protagonist is a conflation of three different guys, all of them much weirder than the end product of that conflation.

[prokopetz]

At one point the historian remarks that the film's principal villain probably never existed, but you can tell from their thousand-yard stare that there's some Poe's Orangutan level discourse about that topic.

[zarohk]

The film’s principal villain is either already immortal or seeking immortality, and as various things happen to them slowly starts to resemble the future historian more and more.

[thefirstempress]

I've been revising The First Empress do do something similar to this. The idea is that it's an historical novel written over a thousand years after the events, by Zahnia, the Chronicler, an immortal historian who knew many of the characters but who also admits to making up some of the minor players, adjusting characters' roles, and fabricating events to fit the narrative. Instead of cutaways it has footnotes, epigrams, and appendices explaining some of the 'actual history.'

[thefirstempress]

Random curse tablet ideas:

May his cock fall off in that bitch he sees on the side.

May the cats guarding his granary be lazy.

May she never find a husband.

May her womb crawl out

May the Earth shake when they pray.

May their straps on their armor rot, and their swords rust

May she find employment in the whore house

May her gods be deaf to her prayers.

May she live through interesting times

Heh. I'll keep those in mind. Thanks for the ask!

[what-even-is-thiss]

I think more fantasy fiction should use curse tablets. They were often made out of lead but you could also make them out of gold, wood, or clay.

The basic idea behind an Ancient Greek or Roman curse tablet is that you buy the tablet from a holy spot like a temple or spring and then you write a message to the god of that location asking them to curse someone.

Curse tablets could be hung on temple walls, thrown in holy springs or lakes, or tied to trees.

You could have rivers or lakes glittering with golden curse tablets, metal or wooden curse tablets swaying in the breeze in a sacred grove and bumping into each other like wind chimes, a giant bulletin board on the side of a temple covered in curse tablets that essentially becomes a petty anonymous callout board.

If gods are characters in your world you could show them invisibly or otherwise going through their curse requests. Fishing them out of their river, reading the message board, etc.

You can also go with prayer tablets or paper or ribbon prayer notes like what people post at Shinto or Buddhist shrines but those are too sweet and nice. Curse tablets can cause drama. Hatred. Curse the bitch who stole your towel at the sacred baths. Just like the ancients used to do.

[snommelp]

I want to see an increasingly annoyed deity sorting through the tablets, with two huge piles representing two locals who've been arguing for a year and a half

[abocode]

inbox 1400000 unread curses

[thefirstempress]

Given that The First Empress is inspired by Classical Greece, I can't believe I've never thought to include curse tablets...

[heroineimages]

Giving some thought to other ways to incorporate curse-tablets, but here's an off-handed mention I added:

“Have you ever ruled a nation, Brother Thage?” [Queen VIarra] asked, stepping up to the window next to him. “There are people who want me dead for no other reason than they’d rather be in charge themselves. Every decision I make, no matter how fair and just, will result in someone I’ve never met praying nightly to the gods for my death, simply because the decision doesn’t seem in their favor. Yesterday, a couple of my guards saw a half-dozen anonymous curse-tablets directed at me hanging from the Temple of Nyrus—they found the tablet cursing me to never find love with a man particularly amusing.” Brother Thage raised his brows, an earlier suspicion confirmed. “If any of these people believed they could destroy me, they would not hesitate to do so,” the queen continued. “There is an aphorism in warfare that ‘true safety lies not in counting on your enemy not to attack, but in making your position unassailable.’ This applies in politics as well as combat. By destroying the men behind the attempt on my life, it discourages others who want me dead from making similar attempts. I won’t ask you to agree with my decision, Brother Thage,” she said gently, “but I will ask that you not assume it was done out of petty revenge.”

[what-even-is-thiss]

I think more fantasy fiction should use curse tablets. They were often made out of lead but you could also make them out of gold, wood, or clay.

The basic idea behind an Ancient Greek or Roman curse tablet is that you buy the tablet from a holy spot like a temple or spring and then you write a message to the god of that location asking them to curse someone.

Curse tablets could be hung on temple walls, thrown in holy springs or lakes, or tied to trees.

You could have rivers or lakes glittering with golden curse tablets, metal or wooden curse tablets swaying in the breeze in a sacred grove and bumping into each other like wind chimes, a giant bulletin board on the side of a temple covered in curse tablets that essentially becomes a petty anonymous callout board.

If gods are characters in your world you could show them invisibly or otherwise going through their curse requests. Fishing them out of their river, reading the message board, etc.

You can also go with prayer tablets or paper or ribbon prayer notes like what people post at Shinto or Buddhist shrines but those are too sweet and nice. Curse tablets can cause drama. Hatred. Curse the bitch who stole your towel at the sacred baths. Just like the ancients used to do.

[snommelp]

I want to see an increasingly annoyed deity sorting through the tablets, with two huge piles representing two locals who've been arguing for a year and a half

[abocode]

inbox 1400000 unread curses

[thefirstempress]

Given that The First Empress is inspired by Classical Greece, I can't believe I've never thought to include curse tablets...

[heroineimages]

I unironically love how in your story that Viarra’s problems are actual problems of being a royal and not a “arranged marriage” or “I’m bored of politics”

I mean she mentions how she will likely need to marry to secure an alliance, but it’s not like that’s even close to her top 100 priorities.

She plays politics like a game, including erasing a Polis’ debt by conquering it, she might be bored of a specific politician, but she isn’t someone who is going to say “I’m bored of talking about taxation and raising money for orphans I’m going to go play with the children to show that I’m a likable character.”

Her problems have to deal with multiple assassination attempts, wars, raids, rebellious members of her government, the gods themselves, the fact the woman she loves (and owns legally, romantically, sexually and possibly spiritually) dies and comes back in defiance to death.

These are actual conflicts and actual stakes that I find delicious and enjoyable to read. The romance is a good and enjoyable one to read, but at the same time the world and conflict doesn’t exist to push the romance angle.

I just want to say magnificent. Just magnificent

Thank you for saying all that! I always appreciate your feedback. And, yeah, the story is about building an empire, not romancing a throne. Topics like troop deployments, trade agreements, and political rivalries are way more important than who's dating whom.

Thanks for the ask!

[saturncoyote]

The most frustrating part about giving my own characters sexualities and labels is that i always feel like it gives the impression that these characters are aware of this information and would actively use these labels for themselves when that is rarely ever the case

They do not know what aro or ace means, that dude would never describe himself as trans, that other guy is nonbinary but they got a job so they don't care about that right now, she's bisexual but if you ask her she'll just tell you everyone has a beautiful soul and move on, they use multiple pronouns but not out of choice people just keep on guessing and she doesn't mind and honestly kinda enjoys it but he's not telling you that

Ooc They're gay or bi or aroace or bigender or whatever the fuck but in-universe they're looking you in the eyes and telling you that every man on earth secretly wants to kiss other men and that's just a desire you gotta live with and that it's completely normal and they will not for a second question what this implies about themselves

[thefirstempress]

(Art by @mjbarrosart)

It's a big part of why I let characters' actions talk instead of using labels. Queen Viarra has a girlfriend and only ever has sex with women. When characters do talk about it, they don't call her 'gay' or 'homosexual,' they just say she 'prefers women as bedfellows.' Similarly, bisexuality is a common part of her people's culture. But instead of ever saying 'bisexual,' I just mention men sleeping with men or women sleeping with women like both are perfectly acceptable practices.

[saturncoyote]

The most frustrating part about giving my own characters sexualities and labels is that i always feel like it gives the impression that these characters are aware of this information and would actively use these labels for themselves when that is rarely ever the case

They do not know what aro or ace means, that dude would never describe himself as trans, that other guy is nonbinary but they got a job so they don't care about that right now, she's bisexual but if you ask her she'll just tell you everyone has a beautiful soul and move on, they use multiple pronouns but not out of choice people just keep on guessing and she doesn't mind and honestly kinda enjoys it but he's not telling you that

Ooc They're gay or bi or aroace or bigender or whatever the fuck but in-universe they're looking you in the eyes and telling you that every man on earth secretly wants to kiss other men and that's just a desire you gotta live with and that it's completely normal and they will not for a second question what this implies about themselves

[thefirstempress]

(Art by @mjbarrosart)

It's a big part of why I let characters' actions talk instead of using labels. Queen Viarra has a girlfriend and only ever has sex with women. When characters do talk about it, they don't call her 'gay' or 'homosexual,' they just say she 'prefers women as bedfellows.' Similarly, bisexuality is a common part of her people's culture. But instead of ever saying 'bisexual,' I just mention men sleeping with men or women sleeping with women like both are perfectly acceptable practices.

[thebookbutterfly]

I love it when fan fiction writers are like: “ah shit, this was meant to be one part but I started writing it and now it has to be three”. Like the fanfic is happening to them and not being created by them.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

Unfortunately all writing is like this

[dduane]

(chuckle) No it's not, thank Thoth.

(At least not around here...)

[fairytalewitch]

Tell us your secret!

[dduane]

It's right here. :)

Outlining: one writer's approach - Out of Ambit

A list-of-concepts-based approach to novel outlining, with examples of adapted submissions outlines for the querying writer

...But also: I don't do muses* (which seem to be invoked way too common as a cause of this kind of problem). I run the local writing show. I don't try to blame its shenanigans on some invisible mischief-maker as a way to avoid taking responsibility for my own creativity.

Solid underlying structure, and (during the execution stages) discipline: that's the secret. ...And don't think there's not a lot of room for things to get busted loose inside that workflow! But at the end of the day, I'm the one with the whip and the chair... and story complies, or it doesn't make it out of the house.

*By which I do not mean the great Nine. I absolutely do honor them... but I don't think so well of myself as to try to drag them into my day-to-day process. I mean... would you ask the Buddha (when They turn up) to do the vacuuming? Please. 😏

[thefirstempress]

Whereas my stories don't stick to my outlines, so I quit outlining years ago. New ideas come to me as I write, characters take scenes in directions I didn't expect, and a path I thought I wanted to explore turns out to be less interesting than the new place it looks like its heading toward. The First Empress began as one novel that got so big it turned into three. The male love interest I initially had in mind for Queen Viarra ended up getting sidelined, and she got a girlfriend instead. Her mom went from being a princess from an allied city-state to being a legendary warlord who happened to fall for a backwater islander prince. A character who was supposed to sacrifice herself to save her only friend instead got to live on and make many more friends.

I used to look back on my original outline and marvel at how much better a story I felt like I wrote by ignoring over 90% of what I originally had in mind. And I regret nothing.

[lesbianwithchainsaws]

Advice to writers on how to make your story better:

add more lesbians

[thefirstempress]

Have been for 13 years and counting.

Art by @9musesandanoldmind

[thefirstempress]

And how is you underestimating me my fault? Or even my problem?

--Queen Viarra

Thought of this quote a few minutes ago. Not sure where I'll use it in my stories yet.