10.10.16-Presentations and such. This morning all of our groups got together to present and discuss ideas. It was so great to see the array of original, bizarre and slightly mind boggling ideas (for those of us who know diddly squat about physics…help they’re talking about dark matter*, back away slowly). Note to self. Learn Physics stuff. It’s useful.
From organs in jars, to glittering waterfalls of glass and sand, the ideas were all brilliant in their own way. My own team had spoken the night before, and had decided to try to incorporate a little bit of everyones ideas into one giant big bonanza of a world. Glenn did a great job in drawing up his version of all of our ideas combined, in the form of a Tiki God-esque puppet who rules over an island/world in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle. I’ll let him describe the idea:
This island can’t be located on the map; the only way to get here is being lost in the Bermuda Triangle. Once shipwrecked and on the island, the humans will discover a giant Tiki God. This Tiki God is a strong powerful being that rules over the island and anyone who doesn’t obey him will be killed. The Tiki God makes the people collect food and other resources for him. He also doesn’t let anyone leave the island. On the island once humans die from either starvation, natural causes or else are murdered by the Tiki God, they are reincarnated as magpies. The magpies still work for the Tiki God as he is such a powerful being, they do this by flying away and collecting shiny and expensive things for him. Also the Tiki God is actually just a giant puppet constructed by a highly intelligent yet evil Octopus, who controls the puppet from underground.
-Glenn’s Blog
At this stage, I think that we have the beginnings of something really great, but after feedback, and seeing as it was all brought together in one night…it just needs a little refining.
Conánn, our tutor, had some feedback after the presentations which made me think more about this. Although we have the central feature of our world thought up, we haven’t really thought much about his presence as a God, or how that could affect the people who get stranded there. What is our evil creature’s motivation to do what he does? We also hadn’t considered any sense of time or space, which, considering we are dealing with the Bermuda triangle, we could have a whole pile of fun with. I decided to do some research on the science behind the Bermuda Triangle, as well as some of the ancient history behind Tiki Gods and Totem symbology, to try and get a better picture.
The Four Major Tiki Gods
Hawaiian Forces of Nature Personified
Ku – Ancient Tiki God of War Rituals included human sacrifice, which was not part of the worship of the other gods.
Lono – Ancient Tiki God of Fertility and Peace
In Hawaiian mythology, Lono is a fertility and music god who descended to Earth on a rainbow to marry Laka. In agricultural and planting traditions, Lono was identified with rain and food plants. Lono was also the god of peace.
Kane– Ancient Tiki God of Light and Life
He created the sky, earth and upper heaven. He owned a tiny seashell that, when placed on the ocean’s waves, turned into a huge sailboat. The user of the boat had merely to state his destination and the boat took him there. In agricultural and planting traditions, Kane was identified with the sun.
Kanaloa – Ancient Tiki God of the Sea
In the traditions of Ancient Hawaii, Kanaloa is symbolized by the squid, and is typically associated with Kane in legends and chants where they are portrayed as complementary powers. Interpretations of Kanaloa as a god of evil opposing the good Kane is likely the result of European missionary efforts to recast the four major divinities of Hawaii in the image of the Christian Trinity plus Satan.-Mythichawaii.com. (2016). hawaiian tiki gods history. [online] Available at: http://www.mythichawaii.com/tiki-gods.htm [Accessed 10 Oct. 2016].
From this research I had the idea that perhaps our island could be divided between four arguing Gods, each with their own portion of land. A totem or puppet of each God would preside over an area, while trying to expand it and take over the other Gods. Maybe some could work together, against the evil one? It seems too good to be true that by fate we made our evil puppet master an octopus, when in Hawaiian myth, the god of evil ‘Kanaloa’ is depicted as a squid!
TOTEMS
A totem is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol of a tribe, clan, family or individual. Native American tradition provides that each person is connected with nine different animals that will accompany him or her through life, acting as guides.
Different animal guides, also called spirit guides and/or power animals, come in and out of our lives depending on the direction that we are headed and the tasks that need to be completed along our journey.
Native beliefs further explain that a totem animal is one that is with you for life, both in the physical and spiritual world. Though people may identify with different animal guides throughout their lifetimes, it is this one totem animal that acts as the main guardian spirit.
Legendsofamerica.com. (2016). Native American Totems and Their Meanings. [online] Available at: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-totems.html [Accessed 10 Oct. 2016].
Pinterest. (2016). Pinterest. [online] Available at: https://uk.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=totem%20poles&rs=typed&term_meta%5B%5D=totem%7Ctyped&term_meta%5B%5D=poles%7Ctyped [Accessed 10 Oct. 2016].
I love the idea of having totem animals come to life and look over the world as protectors. In fact, they could work just like the knight gargoyles in ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’-living quietly until asked upon. (1.46-2.28)
YouTube. (2016). Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (Protecting Hogwarts Scene – HD). [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9I5tlU4Kuo [Accessed 10 Oct. 2016].
Some interesting facts about the Bermuda Triangle:
- ‘Bermuda Triangle is a strange triangular area on the Atlantic ocean where many ships sailing through it or planes flying over it have apparently disappeared without a trace. In few of such cases where wrecks could be found, the crew had vanished. And such incidents have been happening since centuries. More than 1,000 ships and planes have disappeared in the triangle area over the past five centuries.’
- ‘People have experienced electronic fog in bermuda triangle, which can be a Time Travel Tunnel too. Pilot Bruce Gernon claims he lost 28 minutes after flying through a time-warping cloud tunnel. The plane went missing from radars, only to re-emerge in Miami Beach.’
- ‘The first person to report about Bermuda Triangle was Christopher Columbus. He wrote in his journals that inside the triangle, the ship’s compass stopped working and he also saw a fireball in the sky.’
- One theory is that pockets of methane gas are trapped beneath the ocean. When unleashed, bubbles of gas float to the surface and reduce water density, causing boats to sink.
I also began to consider things that we as humans cannot perceive (an unknown unknown I believe?). This got me to thinking about a brilliant series of books that I recently read called “Mistborn” by Brandon Sanderson. It would by nye-impossible to explain the plot of these books in a concise statement, but I can say for fact that they are the best books I have ever read. I highly recommend. Earth as we know it has been completely altered within Sanderson’s new world, to us it is unknown territory. Flowers no longer bloom, crops struggle to grow, and mist and ash fill the sky. All the work of an evil force, ‘Ruin‘-embodied in what the characters call ‘The Deepness’; a swirling, pulsating mass of black oblivion (unknown, known). You may wonder why I bring this up. I bring it up because with each action, Sanderson created consequence, a Yin and Yang of sorts. The flowers no longer bloom to give more energy to the struggling plants for survival, the ashen sky restricts their growth, while also being their protector from the too close burning sun. For each push, there is a pull. Something about this made his work so palpable, so true, because it is understandable to human logic-yet he simultaneously has created a world of complete and utter fantasy, with the most bizarre and complex plot imaginable. If I aspire to anything, it would be to create something as bizarre, yet logical as Brandon Sanderson’s ‘Mistborn’.
So after all of this, where are we now? Well, I definitely want to give our world a little bit of logic, and a little bit of social and scientific background. I am also thinking about somehow incorporating a squid ink kind of mass, possibly holding the world aloft/interacting with it’s characters. Lets see where it goes!
*black matter- Unseen matter that may make up more than ninety percent of the universe. As the name implies, dark matter does not interact with light or other electromagnetic radiation, so it cannot be seen directly, but it can be detected by measuring its gravitational effects.
Darcy Burrows 