After a lifetime of imagining and the past 12 years of publishing, THE MASTERS' RIDDLE is my first novel with a non-human protagonist - not counting the tiger in my previous book Year of the Tiger who had a human-like way of thinking. I've always liked to set challenges for myself just to see if I can pull them off (see my effort in Epic Fantasy *With Dragons, or perhaps check out my vampire trilogy). For the most part I think I succeed. In every one of my novels, whether contemporary literary or science-fiction/fantasy, I delve into the gray areas of the human condition, exploring the why and why not of the situation. In part, that may be my own attempt to understand why we do what we do. Sometimes the best way to explore the human condition is through the mind of a non-human.
Our hero is called Toog, a member of the species called Aull living on the planet they call Sebbol. (You can read about the origins of The Masters' Riddle in my previous blog post.) As you learned in my previous post, our hero originally was basically a human from the same world I used for my Dream Land trilogy, then gradually transformed completely into a non-human entity as I wrote the story. Here I will describe Toog as the kind of Aull he/she became by the mid-point of the novel.
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| Artist's rendition of Sebbol |
The planet Sebbol is in a system many light-years from Earth, a lucky find for the mysterious Masters who arrive through interdimensional portals and capture whatever beings interest them. Toog is caught in one sweep and brought back to the Masters' home world, a frozen place he soon discovers. Sebbol is a warm planet, tropical, full of watery resorts and lush in foliage - at least in the district where Toog lived. Like most planets, the terrain and climate vary from north to south. With only a 6 degree tilt (compared to Earth's 23 degrees), Sebbol turns on its axis in 30 "short-cycles" which equate to hours. The planet revolves around its sun, which they call Uf, in 668 "long-cycles" which equate to days. One revolution of their sun is called a "sun-cycle" (translation from Sebbou). All of this makes for a world with little change in seasons and long days and long years.
Because of its watery nature, the Aull evolved from amphibious ancesters. The Aull continue to conceive and are born in a nutrient-rich swamp they call a "skarg" - as opposed to a more open water area called "abo". The skarg is dense water, usually choked with plants and usually containing other fauna, but it is to these murky bogs that the Aull go for mating and return to deposit their "orb" when it transmigrates out of the female's belly to become a self-contained sphere. The orb absorbs nutrients from the skarg until it has grown sufficiently that the parents retrieve it and bring it to their abode.
At first, the "springling" is only a translucent sphere with rudimentary arms and legs, living in a swinging basket which simulates the ebb and flow of the water in the skarg. The arms and legs continue to grow until everything is transformed into an upright being able to walk and swim, called a "midling". Young Aull, like children and youth in most societies, learn the rules of their community and learn skills which are useful to the community. When an Aull has reached the milestone of no longer birthing new orbs, they achieve an emeritus status and are sought for their wisdom.
Aull society is divided into villages which tend to specialize in food production. Toog's village focuses on gardening, bringing vegetables and fruit to market. Other villages keep animals used for food. There is much trade among villages. The society is rigidly ordered, headed by a shaman - who is led by a high shaman in the district - and members of the village each have a role. If an Aull cannot work they are shunned or exiled, or the family may feed them from their own portions. It is not a cruel method; rather, it is necessary so that food stocks are not needlessly given to members who cannot contribute to the village - as happens in the story.
The Aull are born androgynous, neither male nor female, and it is the village shaman that determines whether the springling will be male or female - depending on the village's situation, trying to keep the sexes equal in number and to provide for the skills needed. Toog happened to be designated male, although it is the female whose sexual appendage is longer when unfolded (see the appendix in the book for further explanation).
The Aull are a pre-industrial, mostly agrarian culture with religion and myths and customs, generally a pacifist society who are forced to prepare to fight the Masters. However, Aull are ill-equiped for such battle - unlike other beings captured by the Masters that Toog encounters. The adult Aull has sleek silvery skin over the head, torso, two arms and two legs. The rubbery arms end in hands with two pairs of opposing fingers, the second finger a knuckle longer and tipped with a digging claw. A heel pad can project to act as another finger or as a defensive weapon. The legs end in feet which seem too large for the body but serve well in watery situations where swimming is required. Each foot has four clawed toes which may flatten as the soles harden depending on the environment.
The body of an Aull is roughly humanoid - that is, looking like a human - but is not classified as human. The globe-shaped head features two large eyes in round sockets, no eye brows or brow ridges, and the eye lids open and close in a spiral motion like a camera lens. The nose does not project but has two flaps which can close it while underwater - or in a gaseous environment. The mouth entrance is small and round, even rows of uniform planet-cutting teeth inside. Due to the round head, there is no chin and the neck is limited. Inside the body, the skeleton of an Aull is more cartilage than bone. It has been noted by scientists that the Aull has a heart with three chambers and a stomach with three chambers. The Aull also has three small organs for which there are not equivalents in humans.
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| A poor representation of an Aull |
It is also noted that in times of stress, the Aull's suppressed defensive measures may become operative. Barbs and spines may erupt. A noxious gas may be produced to halt attackers. Electricity may be compiled and "shot" out at attackers. The best weapon, however, may be the extraordinary breadth of knowledge of the Aull's "inner Ru" - the homunculus which every Aull carries inside its head. (I have provided an appendix in the book which explains the latest examination of this phenomena. Another appendix explains the mating ritual in more detail than above here.)
A few times, another being refers to Toog as a "frog" or "toad" or notes his/her amphibious heritage - but this is not to say that there is a direct correspondence. Some of Toog's features are more congruous to an octopus, for example. It is generally impossible to say that this is like that or the Aull is just an intelligent "frog" walking upright. The Aull is a separate and unique species of intelligent being who simply wish to be left alone - certainly not harassed by the Masters.
Other beings captured by the Masters run the gamut of other upright, two-legged creatures to worm-like beings, four-legged beings, reptilian and mammalian mostly. In the early days, the Masters took whatever seemed interesting. Later they took only the kind of beings that were best suited for certain uses. For example, the Xmburrhaltin beings, large fur-covered ape-like creatures were a good fit for the slave labor camps. Other beings had properties from which medicines could be developed - or industrial strength glue. Yet the being called Ra'aa'al was merely a spirit that inhabited other creatures' bodies. It is an iguana-type creature who Ra'aa'al inhabits when Toog meets the being from Ra’a’am’mas’sandiit. While many modern sci-fi films tend to employ insect-like alien beings as the ugly enemy - I do have one mantis-like creature just for show (and an out of place human for comic relief) - the Masters would likely kill first any such insect things they encountered rather than bring them back.
Some of the captives, once free, are determined to fight the Masters while others just want to go home. Yet how can they go home if home is on another planet? The only way is through the interdimensional doorway guarded by the Masters.
I looked far and wide for artwork which most closely resembled the creatures in my head but, of course, did not find. I tasked my cover artist with making a collection of the main characters like a movie poster but that idea proved too ambitious. We decided to focus on Toog, the main character, but drawing him as described was daunting also (and given my artist's other commitments). So we opted for the single-image cover: a clawed hand, looking rather ominous, which may to some readers suggest a horror story but which is only meant to suggest a non-human protagonist.
Anyway, it is done now. I know how it ends. Are the Masters destroyed? Do the beings from other worlds get home? Is balance restored in the universe? Are the Aull of Sebbol saved from extinction? Only Toog will know the answers when he solves THE MASTERS' RIDDLE.
NEXT: The language of the Aull, Sebbou
(C) Copyright 2010-2021 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog.
Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.
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