Oghura
The World
- Working title: "The Books of Gur"
- Genre: fantasy
- Probable length: novella
- Influences: Dune (Herbert), Sabriel (Nix), The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien)
I concocted the world of Oghura (the 'gh' is a uvular trill - example from Jono) shortly after reading one too many derivatives of J.R.R. Tolkien's works
So I set out to make up my own world, with entirely new races. I drew a map and populated it with humans, reptilian creatures, and avian creatures. I sketched out a plot. But I soon realized that the plot I'd written was basically a travelogue through the map, introducing each of the races, and I decided to throw it out. However, this was fortunate - because two of my characters had gone and developed a connection on their own. It is that connection that I explore in the plot I'm writing now.
Plot Teaser
Gur Huyora, a nomadic Oghuran woman, had her life ripped out from under her when a Kalatchali raiding party from across the Red Mountains killed her entire family. She sank into despondancy and despair, taking to wandering the streets of Oghura Karat when she wasn't lost in sorrow in her empty family home, before a family friend forces Huyora to join the Oghuran scout corps to get her active again. Over the course of years as a scout, Huyora slowly turns her depression into a hunt for vengeance against the Kalatchali raiders. On one foray into the ruins of Biran Tol, Huyora crosses paths with Harsa Ellison, a man from the south who is in danger of suffering very nearly the same fate Huyora endured years earlier.
Dramatis Personae
The Elisson Family
- Harsa Elisson, a Marshall of Ereval
- Lireyn Elisson, his wife, from Aurinon
- Heylan Elisson, his firstborn daughter
- Reothal Elisson, his son
ghutoya ngu otqersõy rozh otqosen sughosh, zoe otqosen toyehs nõas ezat nõas ghutosh yegho.
shozhya otutezh noas osulharent zãsheosh, huneku sugh hungaset yat taqã kharo, atkhenat shralhuGuy sata ruhra, ngu atsurkãkh yat nõas tanghatezo.
aero qoseza shukshaosh zatu otkhos tu’an, seratezo roskaken uzh nõas tukhaosh.
gosh atkhos zhanosh ghor.
Look to the sky where the stars reside, for the stars guide us when we seek them.
Across the expanse our spirits fly, unbound by barriers of dark stone, a journey inherited through time, to an end of our own making.
Starlight sweeps over the land below, revealing its contours as we walk.
To travel a land is to know it.
- The Poet Uqoz Nakher
The Family Gur
- Gur Huyora, a nomad; later, a scout for Rukhas
- Gur Ehsakha, her father, a nomad and artisan
- Gur Huyora the Elder, her mother, a nomad
- Gur Takra, her older brother, a mage for Rukhas
- Gur Eghero, her younger brother, a nomad and artisan
The Family Tenga
- Tenga Asar, Huyora's husband, a nomad and artisan
- Tenga Seghor, their firstborn son
- Tenga Oret, their infant daughter
Suhurrak of Oghura Karat
- Ghert Khruya, friend of the Gur and Tenga; later, a Judge
- An as-yet-unnamed Scout for Rukhas
- The Sentries of Oghura Karat
- The Judges of Oghura Karat
Kalatchali
- Raiders of the Chirtak Clan
Setting and Culture
Oghuran Language
- Constructing Oghuran, an explanation of Oghuran phonetics, syntax, and writing
- Oghuran glyph alphabet key
- The Map, a description of the history and geology of the world
Mythology
- The Legend of the First Tribe, the Oghuran creation myth which figures prominently in the first of the Books of Gur
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presented here are his alone.