Worldbuilding Wednesday 11/26/25: Monstrous Mounts

Dino Riders, by Sad Irfan

Haven’t been posting much on this blog lately because I’ve been working on a novel… one aspect of which I will share here.

Figuring strongly in the novel is a decadent nation where magic-using warriors ride dragons into battle. Dragons are, in fact, bred by the island’s royal family for that purpose. So it stands that these mounts must have names by which they are referred, and that those names have a similar style so those in military know they are dragons and not, say, horses or slaves. Yet the names must also be individually distinctive since every dragon is different in appearance and  temperament, so that when a wing captain says to an underling “Prepare Warbru for riding” the underling knows who Warbru is and how he must be handled.

So I came up with a two-syllable system of limited vowels and sharp-sounding distinctive consonants, easily shouted and easily understood. The names are assigned to the dragons at birth, likely in a random fashion.

That system could work similarly for other scenarios in which monstrous mounts (think gryphons, pterosaurs, t-rexes, etc.) are bred and used for battle. (A review of one fantasy book that used the concept, The Dinosaur Lords, is here.)

This list gives an idea of it. I used vowel sounds and consonants based on the Czech language but you can just as easily substitute your own.

 

 

Names for Monster Mounts

Aadni

Ansa

Babsa

Borszi

Czaatni

Czorchi

Ebha

Essla

Hishzwa

Hwedna

Idna

Mamra

Oshzu

 Raaghi

Rozhro

Satza

Sirma

Tarctza

Totzu

Tozha

Tuctzi

Turra

Ucra

Warbru

Worta

Zwimdza

 

Alice/LOTR Mashup

Does anyone still use that term any more, mashup? 

These Midjourney AI pics are from a series generated by artist Zaicab and posted on Reddit. Alice in Wonderland meets The Lord of the Rings, in the style of Victorian children’s books illustrations.

I’m sure you can guess the characters and locations.

 

Worldbuilding Wednesday 11/5/25: The Best of Twittersnips (Cat Magic)

AI of course

The pic above reminds me of UrsulaK. LeGuin’s Catwings series, the only children’s books she wrote. (Earthsea was intended for teens, though these days it’s shelved under Adult.) In this series a mama cat gives birth to four winged kittens who have names like Harriet and James, and the quartet uses the wings to escape from their hostile surroundings. It’s a bit Beatrix Potter, published in the late 1980s when all things Victorian underwent a resurgence.

I miss that brief time before Riott Grrl and Grunge came along and changed fashion and societal concerns. It was pretty and harmless if a little twee. But the two movements combined later under Gothic Lolita, and that trend is still going strong today.

Cats are, of course, very associated with magic due to their position of being witch’s familiars. So they would have spells and magic items related to them, like these published over the years on my X (once Twitter) feed.

 

Cat Magic

Spells Albino Pride: Turns an ordinary group of lions (or lion-like monsters) into albinos – all white with red eyes.

Create Feline Golem: Creates a small clay statue of a cat that obeys the caster.

Darlingle’s Sabretooth Shadow: Creates the menacing shadow of a large, long-toothed cat within any light source.

Flat Cat: Temporarily puts a feline into the two-dimensional world, rendering them incapable of attack or being attacked. But they can also become completely invisible when viewed head-on.

Lion Velocity: Makes the recipient charge as quickly and fiercely as a lion in combat, giving them a +3 on the attack.
Magic Items
 Book of Lion Magic: The covers of this volume appear to be made of pure gold. It contains all manner of spells with “lion” in the title or relating to lions.

Capelet of Endless Caterwauling: This cursed item appears to be made of wildcat pelts. When worn, the pelts will start yowling and hissing like mating cats. If the wearer tries to take it off, the pelts’ claws will dig into the wearer’s neck and shoulders so it can’t be removed without damage.

Dust of Feline Digging: When cast on the ground (and the magic words “Ty-Dee-Kat” are uttered) the dust will attract felines of all kinds who will scratch there and use the area as a litterbox.

Oil of Cat Form: When spread on the body, the user takes on the illusion of being a large feline of similar size and weight. But their abilities remain those of a human.

Perfume of Tiger Dirt: Found in a small tin stamped with a tiger’s face, this scented ungeant, made from tiger fat, enhances the wearer’s martial arts prowess. One dab lasts a few hours. It smells like sweat and sandalwood.

The Death of Jadis (End of the Summer of Narnia)

Since it’s the end of another Summer of Narnia, here’s a visual essay about endings … the ending (death) of Jadis!

It’s a scene you don’t find depicted too often. I can guess that it’s too grim.  It’s not an iconic event in the book like Lucy meeting Mr. Tumnus under the lamppost is. It just sort of… happens.

Then with a roar that shook all Narnia from the Western lamp-post to the shores of the Eastern sea the great beast flung himself upon the White Witch. Lucy saw her face lifted towards him for one second with an expression of terror and amazement. Then Lion and Witch had rolled over together but with the Witch underneath …

— The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

No mention is made of her body after this. The unsaid implication is that Aslan devours her and no trace is left.

BUT… there’s also the later line “when those who were still living saw that the Witch was dead they either gave themselves up or took to flight.” Which might mean they saw Aslan jumping on her, the witch disappearing, and assumed the worst.  Or, they saw the body. We don’t know.

I believe the former scenario is the one the Walden movie assumes, whose still of the scene is above. Before, or perhaps just after this scene, there is a shot of Tilda Swinton’s head as she sees Aslan leaping at her and her expression is  just… blank. No anger, no fear, nothing. It’s as if she knew this was her destiny all along, and doesn’t fight it. There might be a little “Oh shit, this is really happening” look in her eyes, but otherwise, nothing. I detect the hand of Disney in this. The villains in their films tend to meet their demise offscreen or in non-graphic ways, usually falling from a great height or into a bottomless pit. Alternately, they are eternally trapped (Alladin, Coco) or sent to hell (The Frog Princess, Hercules). There’s no gore and we don’t get see the body to know they’re truly dead. Such was the case with the White Witch, though to be fair, Lewis wrote the scene that way.

This cover shows Aslan actually leaping on the witch and about to drive his claws into her flesh. But by the time this scene occurs the reader already knows it’s a one-sided battle.

Artwork by Christian Birmingham

The witch shows real fear in this scene and comes across as a little pathetic. Edmund is grinning, but that’s wrong because he had been mortally wounded by them and should be dying on the ground. Remember Lucy saving him with her cordial?

Artwork by Natasha Tabatchikova

I like this one, it’s full of energy and the witch looks at once outraged, surprised, and a little fearful.

From a stage play. Even from this still the denouement looks awkward. The Aslan puppet seems to be trying to entrap the witch between its paws, but the operator can’t get the scissoring action right. It looks like the scene from the Ed Wood movie Bride of the Monster where the villain, who has been thrown into a pit with a rubber giant octopus, rolls around wrapping its arms around him to make it seem like he’s being entrapped.

I’m guessing most plays depict this scene with some stage magic. There’s dramatic lighting, sounds of battle, Aslan leaps on the witch and… SURPRISE! The lighting goes dark and there’s a chord of music. In the next few seconds scenery is shuffled and when the lights back on, everything is resolved.

Worldbuilding Wednesday 9/10/25: Aslan Cakes (Narnia LXXIV)

AI Art

If you had all the money in the world, wouldn’t you want an Aslan-shaped cake for your next celebration?

 

Aslan Cakes

Royal Roar A red velvet cake sculpted in the form of a three-dimensional lion’s head with interior layers of mascarpone cream. It is covered with yellow and gold fondant airbrushed with lifelike details.
Savannah Sunset Shaped like a reclining lion basking in the sun, this cake has multiple layers of blood orange chiffon and lemon curd. The lion’s mane is formed of candied orange peel ornamented with edible gold leaf.
Jungle King Crafted in the silhouette of a lion’s head caught in mid-roar, this cake blends salted caramel, almond paste, and espresso cream frosting.
Regal Union A wedding cake in the form of a seated lion covered with pure white vanilla cream frosting. Hand-piped buttercream rosettes add detail. On its head is a crown of edible gold leaf. The cake itself is made of champagne-infused vanilla sponge and strawberry silk mousse.
Roary the Birthday Lion This cute lion cub cake is perfect for a children’s birthday. It features fluffy buttercream frosting and facial features made of fondant. Inside are layers of vanilla funfetti spongecake  and chocolate ganache.
Lionheart A heart-shaped cake covered with citrus glaze embossed with a lion’s head. Fresh raspberries line the edges with piped whipped cream rosettes, perfect for a sophisticated dinner party.

 

Summer of Narnia 2025 Fanfic Reviews, Part 2 [Review]

 

Aslan breaks the Stone Table. Artwork by Ulyana Sergeeva.

More reviews of Narnia fanfic I’ve read. All of these are on AOW. Note some may be locked to users not a member of a site.

An anchor in the drift, by booksabouttrains

This story is a HHB AU in which Shasta doesn’t escape with Bree in time and winds up being a slave of Anradin Tarkaan, the red-bearded lord who admired him with the phrase “The boy is fair and white like the accursed but beautiful barbarians who inhabit the remote North.” As with a lot of adult readers (including myself) the author takes this to mean sexual attraction, and so poor Shasta becomes a bed-slave and something of an obsession for the lord. This isn’t described erotically but with a sort of pathetic horror: repeatedly Shasta tries to escape or stand up for himself only to be beaten and isolated even further. If you’ve ever read HHB and wondered about that seemingly throwaway line of dialogue, and what the worst-case scenario might have been, this story answers it in spades.

Eventually Shasta makes Bree’s acquaintance and they escape together, but it’s not as easy or simple as in the original book. Both beings have to really work for it, which was nice and added to the danger. They later meet Aravis and again, that encounter is filled with danger for them, more than running away from a run-of-the-mill lion as in the book, even if he was Aslan in disguise. (Aslan isn’t 100% a good guy in this book, and Tash, who makes a few appearances, isn’t 100% bad, either.) Throughout all of it Shasta copes with the devastating feelings of being a survivor of sexual abuse, which gets better by smallish degrees but isn’t entirely solved at the story’s ending. This was done very true to life and it was agonizing to read.

After they reach Tashbaan events loosely follow the book, but there’s a twist: Rabadash is a good guy and ally, and the lover of King Edmund. It’s Anradin who leads the foray into Archenland.

I enthusiastically recommend this series. The writer is one of the rare ones who could make the move from fanfic to published writing with ease.

The Horse and His Boy

Reports, Rebuilding, and Reconnaissance, by EdosianOrchids901

After Prince Caspian the book ended, there was a lot to be mopped up by the middle school-aged King, such as rogue Telmarines who don’t accept his rule. Reepicheep forms a Secret Service of Mice to serve as royal bodyguards and field enforcers, relying upon Peepiceek to give reports. The story consists of a back-and-forth of their correspondence, written in Reepicheep’s flowery, ink-wasting tone replete with nobility and chivalry. It’s a good pastiche and gives the reader one more reason to hate Reepicheep (as I do) or love him.

Prince Caspian

The Mortal Boy King, by firelilies_and_juniberries

What if Edmund, not Lucy, entered the wardrobe first, and he returns after having lived a lifetime there? That’s the premise of this story, which sadly had been left unfinished since last March. Most of it’s about how the other siblings react to his shellshocked state, and there’s brief glimpse of what may have been a meeting with the White Witch… all very promising, but unfinished. I hope the author gets back to it.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

You’re a Crisis of My Faith, by BookloverForInfinity

Apparently there’s a scene in the movie version of Prince Caspian where there’s a failed raid on King Miraz’s castle leaving all the main players wracked with remorse afterward.  Such scene was not in the book but added in by the screenwriter to raise the stakes for a dull storyline.

Anyhow, before this raid Peter and Lucy discuss the plans for it and wonder if Aslan can be counted on to help, a dicey proposition because no one knows where to find him or how to summon him. Lucy, the sibling of most faith in the books, says yes, while Peter has doubts. The story consists of three scenarios and how they might have worked out: doubting Peter, neutral Peter, and let’s-go-ahead-and-do-it Peter.

The AUs make more sense if you’ve seen the movie (I haven’t) but even so it’s an interesting psychological examination of both characters, fleshing them out from both screenplay and book.

Prince Caspian, Movieverse

The Small One, by Anonymous_Hobbit

Remember towards the end of Prince Caspian when Bacchus and Aslan romp through the Telmarine town, and it’s hinted that some obnoxious schoolboys are transformed into little pigs? With the implication being  little pigs grow up into big pigs who later become sausage, hams and bacon?

That was always my thought, at least. Even when I first read the book it added a moment of horror and wasn’t the first time Lewis flirted with cannibalism. (And I forgive him for that, as such transformation of humans into edibles is par for the course in fairy tales.)

This story is short and doesn’t get that grim, and it does provide a conclusion for what eventually happened to the boys, while keeping the book’s Christian spirit. Recommended.

Prince Caspian

 

Worldbuilding Wednesday 9/3/25: Narnian Commoners (Narnia LXXIII)

Leighton Edmund Blair, Faded Laurels (1889)

A while back I speculated on what Narnian female names might have been like, drawing from names that were given to Victorian-era English girls. Since there’s a paucity of names for human Narnian commoners I came up with another list, shown below.

(This is a sore point with me. I don’t like to be reading fiction set in a made-up fantasy world and come across an Amy, Madison, or Steven. It completely ruins whatever immersive effect the writer has going. There’s actually a passage in The Voyage of The Dawn Treader where the crew, on entering the murky cloud of Dark Island, start talking about their dreams come true: “I reckoned I’d find I was married to Nancy if we landed here.”  “And I’d find Tom alive again.”  Even as an 11-year-old Tom and Nancy didn’t sound right to me, given that there was a Rhince and Drinian… and Puttincream… on the ship.)

 

Narnian Commoner’s Names

Female

Auda

Ernetina

Espory

Genyliss

Hanaflor

Helwyn

Herdra

Ithiline

Limarice

Lothilda

Lunda

Maebuelle

Marella

Marowyn

Meliset

Seranda

Urla

 Male

Antoris

Bertmond

Bornil

Druvil

Egurid

Florsk

Frydolf

Handwin

Hyldo

Indwin

Morbrech

Orfbet

Petran

Rillund

Stefin

Ushar

Winfil

A word about the painting’s artist, Leighton Edmund Blair. He was a Romanticist, related in spirit to the pre-Raphaelites, who as part of his repertoire painted idealized depictions of the past, as in the scene above which is set in Arthurian times. It’s a comment on the fleeting nature of fame as the older bard, on the bottom, finds his audience more enraptured by his younger rival. I picture Narnia as having such costumes and scenes.

An interesting Estonian edition of the Chronicles

I came across these covers on a search today. They’re from Estonia, and different from most covers I’ve seen. The one above is The Magician’s Nephew, but in Estonian, it translates literally as “The Miracle Worker’s Son.” It’s one of the very few covers I’ve seen that depicts Jadis in stasis in the Hall of Images. Not only that, she’s dressed as a warrior-queen, like Boadicea, with shield, sword, and armor. Not sure who the artist is or when it was published.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian. I get a Finnish vibe from both of them, not surprising because Finland is across the water.  The White Witch is depicted accurately as per the book, but Caspian on his cover seems older and meaner. Nikabrik and Trumpkin are at lower left and right, looking more like gnomes than dwarves in their stocking caps. (Why is Nikabrik holding Susan’s Horn? )

Below, The Horse and His Boy. Some interesting localization going on. They’re not in the desert, for one thing, but in a wintry forest. Shasta is dressed like a rustic Nordic peasant. And Bree, the fiery Ottoman-coded warhorse, is a shaggy little gray pony.