What About Worldbuilding? #21 - Fortune Favors the Bored

What are we in now… October? Yeah, October.

No Halloween this year, talk about a bummer. So, how’s everyone doing?

Me? I’m great. Red sun, grey skies, the occasional ash shower. What more can anyone ask for?

Fortune Favors the Bored

As you can probably guess, we’re taking something of a fantasy lean with this month’s topic.

Shocking, I know.

I’ve never done such a thing before, right? I promise I’ll ramble on about a Science-Fiction topic next month (but it’s not a pinky promise, nor will I cross my heart… So take that as you will).

Let’s chat about Fortune-Telling and Prophecy!

Fortune-Telling and NOT Prophecy

The idea of prophecy in a longstanding tradition in works of fantasy, a few have even managed to do it successfully without it being contrived… I won’t bore you by retreading the topic, it can be found @ #9 of this series of posts.

Instead, I’d like to talk today about methods of divination which have been overused to such a degree in fiction as to become caricatures of the act instead of an actual, you know, thing.

No crystal balls, no tarot cards. I can forgive tea leaves, I suppose, so long as you’re not trying to read them. We’ve run those few wells dry as a writing collective, I dare say.

There’s an opportunity here to do one of two things: use one of a great many other alternative methods OR create your own that works within the context of the culture you’re using it in.

It’s not that hard to venture off into obscurity, as the more eccentric methods may lend you new skews to your storytelling. Wouldn’t that be fun?

Take, for example, the noble art of aleuromancy! This method of divination relies on flour.

Yes, flour.

And, yes, it does involve fortune-telling by baking. That’s one way to go about.

Little slips of paper baked into cakes or cookies, and distributed to those seeking fortunes. I did realize at the end of my sentence that I’m basically describing fortune cookies… That’s awkward.

Another apparent method involved reading the patterns at the bottom of the bowl after mixing… which is the same as tea leaves, but the medium has been changed by the… Medium. Heh.

What else… What else. There’s also gyromancy. It’s a very complex method that requires a person to spin in circles inside another circle whose perimeter is scribed with characters. The dizziness and subsequent stumbling out of the circle are meant to offer some heightened state of consciousness. Interesting practice!

I wonder what happened if someone vomited… do you mark where they fell or where they puked. More research may be required…

Be Creative

That’s all I’m trying to say here. Don’t settle for the beaten path, wander instead.

Seriously, just have fun with it.

If you’d like to look into other methods of divination, Wikipedia has a list.

Flash Fiction Results

1. /u/stickfist - First

2. /u/sevenseassaurus - Second

3. /u/Lynx_Elia - Third

Honorable Mentions

/u/Ryter99 - "King Chonkwerth"

/u/throwthisonintrash - "Child's Play"

/u/LunderWust - "To Steal from a Dragon"