Ciphers and Tea

Ones I haven’t seen as often but apply myself. 

1.- Bedtimes stories you tell to children, or lullabies. They can be based in location or species. They can tell us about the world, history, beliefs or something specific about a creature. It can be fun to think of their origin, how they’ve changed over the years and both the meaning that was lost and the meaning that was added. 

2.- Fashion choices. I often let fashion be different for different creatures. I usually create a practical outfit that makes sense historically within the context of my world and then evolve it until I get to the present day of my story. Preferably splitting of into branches and allowing more options. It can tell us about a specific species, about their history and about how the climate has changed, or how they moved locations at some point and had to adapt their clothing to a new climate. 

A very simple example of this from my own book would be the mage’s cloak! Link to a longer post about it. Basically, mages would wear a simple one piece fabric that was easy to then set an illusion over, no wasting time mixing trousers and tops. Over time some mages stopped using illusions, seeing the outfit as acceptable. It became a staple, you saw the cloak, that wasn’t a human but a mage. And then younger generations began personalising the material, instead of boring black, white or brown they started using floral patterns, adding in cool sleeves or hoods! 

Initially, it was practicality, but it evolved. 

3.- Think about what each species does for fun! I often read YA fantasy where the stakes are so high there is no leisure, no downtown, no fun, no hobbies. But this is a great opportunity! What’s popular in your world? Books, plays, board games, long walks, playing sport? Seeing characters just chill can be a great change of pace and allow for some insight into their lives and the world they live in. 

4.- What is imported? And why? Sometimes imports are just practical, we don’t have wool here (unlikely, sheep are literally everywhere, but you get the point), wool is good for clothes, we import it. But other times it’s more complicated. 

Perhaps a species moved across the country at some point, but they were accustomed to a certain type of tea, fruit for certain festivities, so on, so on, and habit dies hard, so, importation becomes a thing. 

So those are my four world-building tips for today. I’ve said it before and will say it again, there is no master list, not check list, world-building is something you can figure out as you go in most genres (some epics may requiere more prep time). What’s important is to keep track of what you’ve said and stay consistent, but you don’t need to know everything before going in. 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

first off, what is synesthesia? 

in basic terms, it’s a condition where stimulation of one sense provokes stimulation of another sense, involuntarily. these can be combined in a TON of ways, but there are a few common ones! you can’t learn synesthesia, or make yourself have associations. they must happen naturally.

all of these can be either associative or projective. associative means that you know the association is there, but you don’t experience it. projective means that you literally experience the assocation physically. 

color grapheme (which I have) - letters and/or numbers have strong color associations, or are seen as colorful on the page.  ordinal-linguistic personification (which I have) - letters/numbers have genders and personalities. yes, I know that sounds weird.  chromesthesia - sounds have color associations. spacial-sequence - number sequences have physical locations in space.  auditory-tactile - sounds create physical touch sensations. mirror-touch - rare, but the synesthete experiences sensations that they see happening to another person. they see someone get tapped on the shoulder, they feel a tap on their shoulder.  lexical-gustatory - tastes are associated with words 

there are absolutely more, and we haven’t catalogued all the types. chances are, if you want to combine two senses, you can file it away under synesthesia! 

now, this condition is pretty rare, but also incredibly under-represented in media. I can think of a few good examples of it (A Mango Shaped Space, The Name of This Book is Secret, The Bright Sessions), but it’s really fun and could be used for a unique character trait!

how to write it (well)?

this is by no means a complete guide, but here are some tips if you want to incorporate it!

1. write down your character’s associations

I CANNOT stress this enough. If you plan to mention the associations at all, keep track of them! part of the diagnostic criteria is that the associations must be long-lasting and static. they do NOT change. 

2. we don’t know we’re different at first

until you ask other people about associations, or read up on synesthesia, you have no idea that you’re different. I thought everyone saw the number 2 as blue until like fifth grade. 

3. we argue (A LOT)

in fact, it’s a bond in the community. we playfully call each other stupid and wrong all the time when we compare associations. my friend sees 7 as orange, I see it as green. we’re both convinced we’re right. @synnie-battles is an entire blog about this.

4. don’t overdo it

it’s super cool to mention it, and have it as a character trait, but unless we’re actively explaining it to someone, we don’t think about our associations. It’s a subconscious and natural part of life. so, if you want to incorporate it, consider having two characters argue ( see above ), or have characters ask about associations! that happens all the time when people find out about syn.

example (bad):      Brett skimmed the page, eyes taking in all the many colors of the words. From the kitchen, his mother slammed a cupboard. His vision flashed blue, and he flinched.

example (better):      “What color is my name?” asked Anita, eyes bright with curiosity. He hadn’t really considered it up until now, but the beautiful reddish-brown was a match for her gentle personality. 

5. it’s a beautiful mix of fun and obnoxious

fun! we have an extra sense that most people don’t have. there’s a lot of magic in that, and we wouldn’t trade it for anything. once we’re aware of that we have it, it becomes a fun fact we share with people. it’s my go-to “Tell us one thing about yourself” answer

obnoxious! I can’t do mental math. I am incapable. the colors won’t let me. languages are difficult. the colors of ‘cat’ and ‘gato’ are completely different, so my brain reads Spanish as wrong. 

6. an easy way to incorporate it is with art

many synesthetes use their associations to make art! people paint songs, they cook sensations, they write poetry. one of my characters in my WIP Sepia has color-grapheme, and the only time it’s really brought up is in the context of how he’s written color-coded poetry. it’s small details that can bring it to life!

I’m currently planning and developing my WIP project, a modern urban fantasy retelling of Rapunzel with less princes and more thieves. One thing that I’m planning to include is Rapunzel, whose name is Ari, and one of the thieves exchanging encrypted messages.

Which means I need to make a cipher.

I’m currently planning and developing my WIP project, a modern urban fantasy retelling of Rapunzel with less princes and more thieves. One thing that I’m planning to include is Rapunzel, whose name is Ari, and one of the thieves exchanging encrypted messages.

Which means I need to make a cipher.

In fantasy as well as history, people would communicate through the written word. Letters have been one of history's greatest resources and one of the most dangerous pieces of evidence to possess.

Writing the Letter

When writing a letter, nobility and royalty would have trusted scribes and secretaries to write the letter for them. It was considered a show of faith and honour to have writing from royalty's own hand. Poorer writers would write the letters themselves. A scribe would need:

A quill: A sharpened feather of a large bird, which if made correctly would not need sharpening very often, would be used upon parchment or papyrus.

A stylus: A wooden pen-like writing utensil meant for writing upon wax tablets.

Wax Tablet: A pair of wax tablets bound together like notebook. The stylus was used to write upon the wax. It was very popular in Ancient times as it could be used, the wax writing rubbed out.

Parchment: Parchment is made the skins of animals such as a sheep, thinned and prepared for writing on. Vellum is similar to parchment only it is higher quality and made from the skin of young sheep or cows.

Papyrus: Papyrus is a thick paper made from the eponymous plant. Papyrus would be found growing in hotter climates and is good paper to write on because it is durable.

Ink: Ink was applied using the quill. Historical inks were made of natural dyes, some involving soot, graphic, bones or dyes from fruits such as berries.

Sand: Sand would be used to dry the ink, the scribe scattering it upon the wet ink.

Wax: The wax would be used to seal letters in order to prove it has not been tampered with or the bottom of a document to prove it was witnessed by the signatory(s). Wax seals were like a stamp of approval. To cow the nobility, King Richard II had every noble put their seal to a piece of blank parchment. He could write something treasonous or even approval for a loan to the crown and it would be legal.

Seal/Signet Ring: The seal or signet ring would be pushed into the soft wax while it was not set, to prove it was from that person and not tempered with. The royal seal was as good as a royal signature and was as treasured and guarded as the crown itself.

Signature: The signing of the document or letter was always done by the monarch's hand. They would sign by their first name only, sometimes adding R at the end (Rex/Regina meaning Latin for a ruler). Ex. Henry R or Catherine R.

Keeping the Contents Private

The most important thing about letters is keeping the content private. To many people have been sent to the gallows and prison because their private letters have been found, Katherine Howard and Mary, Queen of Scots for an example.

Delivering letters in disguise: In places where they open letters, such as prisons or palaces like Versailles, sometimes we must resort to smuggling letters in and out to keep them secrets. Servants can be used though they can be searched. Hollow bungs in barrels can also be used as Mary, Queen of Scots did as barrels go in and out of palaces and buildings.

Codes: Letters can be encoded to protect the contents. Each party would have a copy of the key. The codes can be broken but at first glance it can be believed to be harmless. Abbreviations and numbers might be used.

Destroying letters: Letters in mediaeval times were often burnt to protect the receiver and sender. If the letter was found it would be catastrophic for them and could lead to their deaths. Letters were often burned.

Tampering with Letters

On the other hand, your characters might need to intercept a letter which might reveal a secret or save a life. The letter might be intercepted on the way to the way to the receiver. Versailles was infamous for opening the post of the courtiers and reading the contents. By stopping the letter from getting to the destination, you may prevent somebody from being forewarned or someone committing treason. Ps. A hot knife can be used to pry wax from the parchment so you can open it. You can replace it via an application of hot wax at the back or even apply the wax seal on another letter and frame somebody for something else. Or you can send the letter on to them and ensure they are caught with it.

Delivery

Letters have been going about for years, long before there was such a thing as a postal service. Letters were often delivered by:

Riders: The messengers would carry the letter in a special tube slung about their neck. They would ride to their assigned destination, waiting for a reply if instructed. Riders are effective but there is an added risk of the riders being intercepted or betraying the message. Riders would have had to switch horses along the way and carry a weapon to defend themselves.

Messenger Birds: Game Of Thrones has made E-Ravens famous and Harry Potter had Owl Post and most people reckon it is a fantasy element. However, many civilizations in history used a form of birds to carry messages. Pigeons have a homing ability and return to their homes wherever they are place. The birds were shipped to their destination where the message would bound to the bird. The bird is then released (Release the Pigeons!) and it returns to its home bringing the message back with it. Pigeons are cheap to care for and are a quick way to get letters to a destination. However, birds can be shot down or eaten by predators.

I’m currently planning and developing my WIP project, a modern urban fantasy retelling of Rapunzel with less princes and more thieves. One thing that I’m planning to include is Rapunzel, whose name is Ari, and one of the thieves exchanging encrypted messages.

Which means I need to make a cipher.

Letter Frequency is extremely important when it comes to deciphering a message. It isn’t a perfect solution that instantly deciphers, but the letter frequency of the language the plain text of the message was written in can help identify parts of the cipher.

This is a system that is more effective with a longer message, since it relies on finding the letter or symbols that show up the most frequently. These frequent letters or symbols are most likely going to reflect the most frequent letters in the original language.

One thing to be aware of is that if a language has a major spelling change, there is a chance that letter frequency may change. This happened with Russian after a spelling change came about after the Bolsheviks in the early 1900s.

So if a character is planning on deciphering an intercepted message, chances are, they’ve got a chart that provides the letter frequency for their language.

Sometimes when writing, the topic of a secret message crops up. Often times, the solution on how to write that secret message is to have it be in Code. However, the word Code in this situation is used to talk about Codes and Ciphers, which are two different methods.

Codes are Words, Numbers, Letters or Symbols used to represent Words or Phrases. 

Ciphers are Numbers, Letters or Symbols used to replace the Alphabet used when writing your message

It’s easy to create a code, but the more complex the message and the code, the more likely a code book would be needed and they would end up carrying a large code book just in order to write a letter