. Often in fantasy
the non-human or non-demy-human creatures are little more than something for
the heroes to kill. In Horn of the Kraken I wanted to steer away from that. Intelligent
creatures will presumably operate from a position of self interest. Hopefully,
enlightened self interest where they recognised that a favour earns a favour
and that cooperative action can accomplish their goals. This shaped much of how
I wrote my Norse, fantasy adventure. I wanted to give the ‘monsters’ something extra
to steer away from the whole Viking kill theme.
Thus, late on in
the book I have Vidurr form an alliance with several creatures. Working in tandem
they each achieve their desired goal. To call them friends would be a misnomer,
but allies fit.
Often language forms
a barrier to this form of cooperation in fantasy, but with the Snow Serpent the
Fate of the Norns Ragnarok system offers up a solution to that issue.
One caution about communication,
I think people should pay heed to the dentition of the speaker. It is likely
that cats and dogs could speak human language mastering one to two hundred
words except they lack the vocal structures to do so. When looking at a
“monster” one needs to give some thoughts of what its vocal range would be. An intelligent
spider may have a complex language, but it would likely be made up of clicks
and clacks because of the structure of the spider’s mouth.
