User blog:Mmpratt99 deviantart/On Elves and Alternate Universes

Okay, after much pacing around and consumption of caffeinated substances, I decided to write up a blog about this alternate earth-type world I have featured in several of my stories, even though you might find some of it bordering on the ridiculous.

First the reality part--It's set in a California that's actually "Six Californias." This is an actual proposed initiative to split the U.S. state of California into six states started by Venture capitalist Tim Draper. In this universe, it failed to qualify as a California ballot measure for the 2016 state elections due to receiving insufficient signatures. However, in this particular universe, the initiative passed and Draper's stated reasoning that the state is too large and ungovernable was considered reasonable and as a result six smaller state governments came into being even though opponents argued the same as in this universe, that it was an absolutely ludicrous waste of money and resources to split up California and create these new separate governments. These same critics also charged that this was a big-time money and political power grab solely designed to separate California's wealthy areas from the poor, and to greatly diminish the state's reliability as a predominantly Democratic Party-supporting "blue state".

Nevertheless, the Six Californias plan went forward probably due to growing Republican and wealthy backing.

Second, reality verging on fantasy--California as a whole becomes a semi-autonomous country due to the frustration of the counterculture and the green party movement who were fed up with the preferential treatment of the wealthier states so they launch a revolution, which finally results in the whole California breaking from the rest of the U. S. although it's not fully independent as depicted in seminal utopian novel by Ernest Callenbach--Ecotopia: The Notebooks and Reports of William Weston Many the closest comparisons to this scenario would be what happened in Yugoslavia where it was all one country until the bloody breakup in 1991, resulting in the formation of seven states. Although in the fictional reality of this particular earth, bloody conflict drawn along ethnic and historical lines does not occur.



Third, the fantastic--Due to a portal experiment due to an inept wizard in a neighboring universe California not only finds itself in a "First Contact" situation, but also results in getting included in part of an entirely different territory--Faerie, still technology is still able to function such as electricity, automobiles, television signals and the Internet although it now faces scrutiny under the new ruling government.



An example of this accidental experiment could be found in this quote from one of my upcoming stories--Cold Curse Files:

Kes stared at him blankly. "World Gate! What World Gate?"''

''"You never heard of it?" Timothy replied, still studying her thoughtfully. "That doesn't surprise me. Few people ever have."''

''Kes gawked at her incredulously, "What exactly is this World Gate?"  "Well, it's a house," Timothy explained, pausing for a bit of story telling, "or rather a number of houses scattered throughout the world. Each one got a series of doors that open into different countries, maybe even into different dimensions.  Who knows for sure?"  House! Doorway! Kes's mind reeled as she thought of that house along the beach. She was appalled. Why would anyone in their right mind build a place like that, full of Lontaqas and who knows what else? Does it mean I'm going to be pestered by more nosey tourists? Good gods! I certainly hope not!  "Who's responsible for this outrage?" Kes wanted to know.''

Timothy cleared his throat and straightened his gold-rimmed spectacles.

"Well, according to what I heard," he said, "they were built or rather magically constructed by a wizard named Sangree Melgalish. Now he was the kind of wizard who liked to tinker with things, sometimes with unfortunate consequences."

''"Like summoning up deadly pan-dimensional creatures and binding them to your will?" she inquired.''

''"Well, not exactly," Timothy continued. "More like a brilliant but somewhat misguided scientist. For example, he once rewired a standard electric toaster and then combined the parts with a poltergeist and a salamander.  It resulted with the bread not only catching on fire, but being ejected at such a high velocity that it was embedded in the kitchen ceiling.  The resulting apartment fire caused all his neighbors to complain, and not long after that he was asked to leave."''

''"But what about the World Gate…or Gates?" Kes demanded.''

''"That came later," said Timothy. "Much later, after forty-three years of research. The house, or rather houses, containing the gates to these many worlds was designed by Melgalish to be an amusement park.  It stretched his talents far beyond the breaking point.''"

''"Gods," Kes muttered, shaking her head. "This guy really was a genius!"''

"''Not a complete genius," said Timothy, tucking a few stray snakes back underneath his cap, "because his greatest dream of pan-dimensional entertainment ended in complete disaster."

"It did?" said Kes, startled.''

T''imothy nodded. "It did indeed. It's known as 'The Great Trobbie Disaster.'  In the early morning hours of April 13th, 1836, the coastal town of Trobbie was rocked by a series of colossal explosions.  People were thrown from their beds, stores and warehouses collapsed and huge cracks opened up in the ground.  As the horrified townspeople spilled out into the rubble-strewn main street, they saw the old, ramshackle rental house of Sangree Melgalish engulfed in rainbow-colored flames.  By the time firemen arrived on the scene, the fire had spread to several adjoining houses.  Fortunately they were able to bring the fire under control before it could consume the whole block.''

''"Well, when the police were finally able to do a through search of the ruins of the Melgalish residence, all they found of the wizard was a charred piece of wood that had once been his staff, three inches of his beard and the melted crystal buttons from his gown." Timothy was silent for a moment, and then he said, "It's quite possible that he's still alive…somewhere."''

''"I doubt it," Kes murmured as they resumed their walk again. "Nothing could survive a blast like that—nothing mortal that is.''"

"Well, you can never tell with wizards," said Timothy, smiling wryly, "they're actually rather tough when it comes to getting themselves out of a scrape."

''Kes nodded solemnly. "Possible," she said, after a moment's reflection. "If this Melgalish really did survive all the fireworks, he's probably laying low somewhere. He has a lot to answer for what with the property damage and deaths and injuries resulting from his bungled experiment."''

"Fortunately there were no deaths," said Timothy quietly, "which was surprising considering the amount of destruction this one man wrought."

"Hmmm," Kes grunted as she mulled over the follies of magic and the possible fate of the inept wizard.''

Fourth--Constant exposure to residual magic causes mutations and powers in a population of ordinary humans, much like the site of a nuclear bomb blast would still have radiation fifty years later. This would result in visible traits such as wings or unusual hair (serpentine movable variety) or unusual eye color or something hidden like limited telekinesis or telepathy. It would also result in an ordinary population having magical offspring such as elves, vampires or werewolves.





However, in this particular universe, there are cases of magical races having non-magical offspring, which might be a result of recessive genes and not a result of magic.