It’s the final day of World building June, and I made it to the end! Somehow I managed to condense a bunch of my nerding out over this project into smaller posts that I hope were easy to follow! For the final bit of world building, I want to go into the first ever inspiration for the world of Muunfel.

Way back in my high school days, I had a random dream about a train in a desert. That train was derailed and tipped over by bandits. That’s all I really remember from the dream itself, but it sparked much more.

From that inspiration I came up with the story of a certain thief on a prison train, and what would happen if some other criminals came to his rescue. Rutan and Korvasin became the first countries I thought of for Muunfel, and from there I developed the train network, the fiery desert, and the maps of these places (which I then continued to expand and expand, adding more paper as I needed). Before I knew it, I was coming up with lore halfway across the continent and completely unrelated to this prison train.

“Rush 130 Prisoners Westward,” Globe and Mail. July 13, 1938. Page 01. --- Portsmouth Convicts Are Closely Guarded on Train Journey --- Probe News Leak --- Overcrowding Reported as Reason for Move --- Rolling along toward Western Canada on special schedule, its movements masked in official secrecy, is a ‘mystery’ train of five containing 130 Kingston Penitentiary convicts who were placed aboard near Collins Bay Prison Tuesday afternoon for distribution among Western institutions.

Overcrowding of Kingston Penitentiary is the reason given for the transfer of the prisoners, but not even this fact could be learned from an official source. It was planned to move the convicts in deep secrecy, without a word leaking out to the press. But something went wrong, and the Federal Department of Justice intends to probe the whole affair and find out, if possible, how the closely guarded plan became public property. Guards patrolled the area while the prisoners were being marched on the train and they kept the curious at distance.

Members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police guarded the prisoners. Coach windows were specially barred as an added precaution. No stops were scheduled, but illness of one of the prisoners forced a stop at Hastings, where Dr. J. A. MacDonald was called to give treatment. The prisoner was not removed to hospital. Guards patrolled both sides of the train during the 45-minute stop and all observers were barred. At 7.30 p.m. yesterday the train left for Peterborough and Lindsay, and passed through these centres with little delay. Engines were changed at Lindsay in a few minutes.

There are two penitentiaries on the prairies: Stony Mountain in Manitoba, twenty miles from Winnipeg, and Prince Albert, just outside Prince Albert, Sask.