Welcome to Realm Explorers! In this weekly series, we visit a variety of unique worlds created by talented science fiction and fantasy authors. Enjoy your travels! And don't forget to read to the bottom of the post to find out more about each author and see how to purchase the featured book.
Title of book: The
Collar and the Cavvarach
Brief summary of the
story:
Bensin, a teenage slave and
martial artist, is desperate to see his little sister freed. But only victory
in the Krillonian Empire's most prestigious tournament will allow him to
secretly arrange for Ellie's escape. Dangerous people are closing in on her,
however, and Bensin is running out of time.
With his one hope fading quickly away, how can Bensin save Ellie from a
life of slavery and abuse?
Brief description of
the world or location you created for this story:
The story takes place in a world almost exactly like our
own. Although most aspects of the culture
are just about what they are currently on Earth, a few sports are different,
such as the martial art known as cavvara shil (more about that later). The main difference, however, is that slavery
is legal there.
Jarreon, where this story is set, is the second-largest city
on the continent of Imperia. It’s
located on the coast and has a warm climate most of the year, though winter
nights are cool enough that you would want at least a light jacket.
What is the political
or government structure there?
The Krillonian Empire rules much of the world. An emperor (Geoffrey Kolvar Vandion, though his name isn't actually mentioned in this book) governs from
the capital city, Krillonia, on the continent known as Imperia. Eight separate provinces (independent nations
before they were conquered) can be found on nearby continents. Each province, plus Imperia, is allowed to
elect its own legislature and decide on many of its own laws, but the emperor
reserves the right to veto any of them and make changes as he sees fit. This seldom happens, however, and to most
people the emperor is merely a vague and distant ceremonial figure.
If we were to visit Jarreon
as tourists, what would you recommend that we see or do there?
The city of Jarreon is famous throughout the empire for its
martial arts, especially cavvara shil.
If you enjoy sports, you will definitely want to attend one of the many
local tournaments. I recommend the Grand
Imperial Cavvara Shil tourney held in Jarreon every spring. The contest is held on four consecutive
weekends at one of the city’s large arenas.
Contestants of all ages, both male and female, battle it out for fame,
trophies, and large cash prizes. Reserve
your seat early, though, as tickets usually sell out months in advance. If you can’t get a ticket, you’ll be able to
watch the matches on television on any of Imperia’s sports channels.
What dangers should
we avoid in Jarreon?
On the whole, Jarreon is a pretty safe city, thanks in part
to the City Watch officers who patrol its streets. (One of them, Officer Kalgan Shigo, plays an
important role in the story.) I would
recommend not walking around alone at night, however, especially in the bad
parts of town.
Is there a distinct
or unusual type of food or meal that we might be served in Jarreon?
Not really. Most
foods you might find on Earth are readily available there, including fast food
such as pizza and hamburgers. One item
often eaten by manual laborers is boxed meals that include rice or noodles with
vegetables and meat (how much meat depends on how much you want to pay). Many side-of-the-road eateries specialize in
variations of the boxed lunch, which owners will often order for their enslaved
workers.
What types of
weaponry or fighting styles are common in Jarreon?
Firearms very similar to ones we have on Earth are readily
available throughout the Krillonian Empire.
Watch officers carry them, and they’re legal for citizens to own. However, it is against the law for slaves to use
or even touch a firearm.
A number of martial arts are popular in Jarreon. One kind is called kickfighting, which is
similar to our kickboxing. Another is
cavvara dueling, in which fighters strike at each other with a sword-like
weapon called a cavvarach. The cavvarach
has a hook about halfway along the top edge of the blade, and you win a duel by
disarming your opponent: hooking or knocking the cavvarach out of his or her
hand. Contestants wear poncho-like padding
that protects their torso and groin.
Cavvara shil is the most widely respected martial art in the
Krillonian Empire. It is difficult to
master, since it is a combination of kickfighting and cavvara dueling, with a
little wrestling thrown in. You can win
a duel either by disarming your opponent or by pinning his or her shoulders to
the mat for five seconds. In addition to
the protective padding, you wear a narrow shield-like guard on one forearm,
with which you can block an opponent’s blows or kicks. Bensin, the main character, is particularly skilled
at cavvara shil. He and his owner/coach,
Steene, each have their own reasons for hoping he will qualify for and eventually
win the Grand Imperial Cavvara Shil Tourney. (Click here to read a tournament scene from the book.)
Cavvarachs used by most martial artists are unsharpened and
not very dangerous, though minor injuries can and do occur. Only professional gladiators, who live and
compete in Jarreon’s four major arenas, use sharpened weapons and fight without
the protective padding. While not
usually intended to be to the death, these duels can nevertheless end in
serious injury, and all gladiators do die on the job eventually. (Barely mentioned in The Collar and the Cavvarach, gladiators and the whole arena system
play an important role in book II: The Gladiator and the Guard.)
What types of
vehicles, animals, technology, etc. are used to travel in or to the Krillonian
Empire?
Transportation works the same way there that it does on
Earth. Steene, Bensin’s owner, drives an
old blue pickup truck. When not riding
with him, Bensin takes the bus to and from the different places where he works.
What types of
sentient races might we encounter in the Krillonian Empire that we don’t see on
Earth?
Humans are the only sentient race in this world. There are different races of humans, closely
coinciding with races found on Earth, though their cultures don’t necessarily
match. Bensin, a Tarnestran, has “light skin, short blond hair, and green eyes”
(though hair and eye color can vary). Nelirians, like Bensin’s friend Ricky,
have “narrowed eyes and high cheekbones”.
Skeyvians, like Officer Shigo, have “dark skin, kinky black hair”, and
in his case, “the stereotypical deep voice”. Imperians such as Steene are described with
“medium brown skin and straight black hair”.
I should add that race is really not much of an issue to most people
in Jarreon. As you might expect in the
largest port city on the continent, it is a cultural melting pot, and people
from all over the empire can be found there.
One character does recall someone making racist remarks to him, but most don’t see
others any differently based on their skin color or appearance.
Slavery is not based on race, either. People from any race can be enslaved as punishment
for certain crimes. For example, Ricky and his family were sold into slavery
after his dad, who worked as an accountant for a government agency, was caught
embezzling money. It’s true that more
Tarnestrans are slaves than anyone else, but that’s because the nation of
Tarnestra refused to submit peacefully to imperial annexation. After the Krillonian Empire eventually
conquered it, tens of thousands of Tarnestrans were ripped from their homes and
sold into slavery as a warning to anyone else who might be tempted to resist
imperial progress.
Is there any advanced
or unusual technology in the Krillonian Empire?
If you haven’t described it already, please give some examples.
Technology is nearly the same there as on Earth, but some of
it is used in different ways. For
example, all slaves wear a metal collar that locks around their neck and
identifies them as a slave. For an extra
fee, a slave’s owner can purchase an upgraded version that comes with GPS,
making it easy to track the slave if he or she attempts to escape.
Are the days of the
week and months of the year the same in the Krillonian Empire as on Earth? What
holidays or special events are celebrated regularly there?
The days and months are exactly the same, though the years
are based on the time since the empire was founded. The story starts on January 1st of
the year 154.
The biggest holiday in Imperia is New Year. People celebrate by buying each other gifts
and enjoying a feast with family or friends.
As on Earth, it’s common to stay up till midnight on New Year’s Eve. Schools close for two weeks, and families
often use the time to go on vacations.
In the first few days of the new year, those who can afford it usually
buy new clothes.
Are there any other
unique cultural practices that we should be aware of if we visit Jarreon?
The prevalence of slavery is probably what would stand out
the most to visitors from Earth. There
are nearly as many slaves in Jarreon as free people, and they are easily
identified by their steel collars. From
each collar hangs a tag inscribed with the slave’s name, their owner’s name,
and a tiny copy of their owner’s signature.
On the back of the tag is their owner’s phone number and a bar code that
can be scanned to access additional information.
Owners may choose to send slave children to up to five years
of public slave school, which meets only in the mornings and involves reading,
writing, and arithmetic. This is
considered all that most slaves need to know for their daily tasks, though some
owners pay extra for them to receive additional education or specific
vocational training.
Many families own one or more slaves who do their housework
and yardwork. Businesses often own a large
number of slaves, usually for manual labor, though some are trained for more
complex tasks. “Green slaves,” or those
who were born free and enslaved later in life for one reason or another, are in
high demand. Often they have college
degrees and the white-collar work experience so hard to find in the enslaved
population.
People or businesses who don’t own their own slaves may
“hire in” a slave belonging to someone else.
The accepted rate for an hourly wage is two-thirds the amount that a
free person would earn for equivalent labor (the money goes to the slave’s
owner, of course).
Has anything in your actual
life inspired the locations, cultures, etc. in your book?
I’ve based a few details of Jarreon’s culture on the culture
in Taiwan, where I live. The convenient
boxed meals and the importance of New Year, for example. In addition, people receive award money in
red envelopes. As in Taiwan, some in
Jarreon’s lower class chew betel nut, a legal drug sold in shops decorated with
flashing colored lights.
What, if any, “hot-button”
or controversial topics do you touch on in your book?
Slavery is definitely the big one. I wanted to explore the idea of what our
world would be like if slavery were legalized in the modern day. It sounds so impossibly wrong that it’s easy
to think we could never let it happen in this day and age, but how many other
wrongs do we overlook because it isn’t convenient to do anything about
them? It’s my hope that this work of fiction will
make readers take a second look at some of the practices we accept or choose to
turn a blind eye to in our own culture.
Where, and in what
formats, can we purchase The Collar and
the Cavvarach?
The paperback and Kindle versions are available on Amazon here.
Click here to order it for Nook or in other digital formats on Smashwords.
Click here to order it for Nook or in other digital formats on Smashwords.
My other books, including two more novels in the Krillonian Chronicles trilogy and one spin-off novella, can be found here.
Where can readers
connect with you online?
Email: AnnieDouglassLima@gmail.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/princeofalasia
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/ADLimaOnGoodreads
Amazon Author Page: http://bit.ly/AnnieDouglassLimaOnAmazon
Google Plus: http://bit.ly/ADLimaOnGooglePlus
I hope you all enjoyed the trip to the Krillonian Empire. Questions about the world or the book? Ask them in the comments and the author will get back to you!
Click here to read other posts in the Realm Explorers series.
Please join us again next Monday for a trip to the world of Yargon in Realm Explorers Part XXXXVII!
Click here to read other posts in the Realm Explorers series.
Please join us again next Monday for a trip to the world of Yargon in Realm Explorers Part XXXXVII!
-Annie Douglass Lima
1 comment:
Sounds like a fascinating book! Thanks for sharing with #KidLitBlogHop!
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