Making of a Man

To continue on from last week’s Worldbuild Wednesday we will be talking about the end of child hood, or the coming of age story. If you want to go back and read it before we get into this week it’s right here.

Thinking of the Children

I always wonder how many character focused writers plot out the childhood of their characters. This can be dropped for the children characters, kiddo is a child after all. Yet for their adult characters how much thought was put into their childhoods and for those looking to create a coming of age story the differences between childhood and adulthood nee…

Grathew’s GazetteGrathew

Now that everyone has either gone and come back or decided to continue on regardless childhood ends with the coming of age. While it’s usually seen as a genre or a story line, it is a part of every world, and thus should be looming in the past of every adult character. Thus knowing how our culture covers the transition from child to adult matters. Is it a ceremony? Is it an age? Perhaps there is a trial that must be completed, and then argued in front of a panel of elders?

This can be surmised into two questions: What is happening, and how is it happening? To start with: “What is happening” there is an important note to be made. Not all worlds have the same rules. Some have more some have less. Meaning that when someone comes of age there could be a magical (or technological) event that physically alters the body. Once the universe determines you’ve transitioned from boy to man magical tattoos appear on your body. What triggers this change then becomes very important. Are there triggers that are easy to get. Are there different changes that happen based on person, actions taken, or any other things the worldbuilder may deem important.

It was clear Alice had become a woman last night. When my daughter came up for breakfast her skin had changed from a childish pale to a beautiful frosted green glass. The silver veins were still spreading across Alice’s body; it was clear she was still going though the process of becoming a woman.

In this example it’s clear a fairly large change is happening. Why and how this is happening will be left to your imagination. My example also highlights something of note: if there are massive changes the characters shouldn’t act like we would act. Say you have a daughter, put her name in the place of Alice’s. How would you react? Would it be the same if every woman you’ve ever known had done the same? That is what would help highlight this is apart of the world vs apart of the story. If there is something abnormal about the coming of age, then it should be a story. If there isn’t then it should be part of the world.

The second question: “How is it happening?” has to be a follow on to what is happening. If it is fairly obvious like, “The girl must present her self in front of a panel of women and recite her poem.” One can imagine things like an auditorium, perhaps with all the girls of the age group. However if things get more nebulous, as worldbuilders we have to contain the possibilities. Take the poetry recital, how is the panel decided upon? Who is in it? How many are in it. Is it a pass/fail or are there grades to it? Again details may or may not be important. I would recommend knowing what is important and how it would affect the lives of characters either way.

To call on my own worldbuilding as an example in Slonminma both men and women go on journeys, called Vitstagmiga and Vustugmu respectively, that ‘complete’ their childhood stories and introduce them to the wider region. To start with the men since their journey happens at age sixteen. Young men are given a list of tasks to complete at places by their mentors, and parents, some supplies and told, “Get on with it.” The only universal rule, is that men can’t return until their list is verifiably complete. Ideally this means that the young man will be gone for a year or two. When they return if everything is deemed ‘satisfactory’ a celebration is held for the returning hero. If it isn’t he’s told go back out and fix it. Some men die on their way. Other’s get ‘kidnapped’ and become husbands in other towns or cities.

Women are given a tour of the surrounding region. There are two options when it comes to planning this tour: the group and the knight. Regardless of how the girl goes on this trip it’s a case of showing her to the region and showing the region to her. Drawing connections to debut balls, or the European grand tour wouldn’t be unwarranted. Generally it is seen as one last hurrah of childhood wonder before settling in and settling down into adulthood.

The group is when a larger group of girls are taken by tour by a few chaperones, typically the mothers and older brothers of the girls going. The knight, a loose translation, is when a single man escorts the young woman on her tour of the region. He is bound by a contract mostly dictated by the parents of the young woman. Generally there are the things you’d expect, bring her home intact, be back within this time frame, make sure you go to these places. However there are also terms that one may not expect, such as bring her back once you two have produced at least two kids. In this case the Vustugmu is as much a trip to show off the new woman and a honeymoon for the expected couple.

This as one would expect means that women have two very different paths to take. If they have found a would be husband they can effectively capture them should they accept. If they haven’t they can go husband hunting with their friends, under watchful eyes. Either way the goal is to transition the girls into women with a final tour of the region.

After wards it’s adulting. Which will be a future topic. With that I’ll leave you until next week.