Orphan Black

One of the few diversions I’ve recently allowed myself from a bizarrely hectic work schedule is a small handful of television shows.  These typically get recorded on my PVR and watched en masse after about 6+ episodes get saved.  To make sure I don’t lose the shows through, I have to run through a manic obsessive blitz to make sure I erase enough episode for future recordings.

One of the new shows that I thought I’d give a shot was Orphan Black.  The concept that I gleaned from the heavily subsidized previews on the Space Channel was enough to get to me commit to the pilot; I typically make a judgement call to see if I’ll give the next three episodes a try, which either impresses me enough to commit for the season (for better or for worse) or drop the show altogether.  Orphan Black’s pilot was more than enough to keep me interested into the seasonal commitment.

Starring the very talented and stunning Tatiana Maslany (also a fellow Canadian), it follows the hectic and disjointed life of Sarah Manning.  Sarah returns to reunite with her quirky (and outlandishly gay) step-brother, as well as try and reconnect with her estranged daughter, currently under the care of Sarah’s foster mother.  This return quickly gets sidetracked by the suicide of a woman who looks exactly like Sarah.  Thinking to make a quick score off the woman’s purse, she finds more just like her, discovering she is one of several human clones.

The many faces that are the main characters of Orphan Black

Thankfully this is where some clever writing and some brilliant acting keeps the cliché from overpowering the show.  The story develops into a compelling web of storylines, portrayed by the very talented Tatiana.  Through the use of modern camera tricks and special effects, as well as some recognizably old-school methods, we see Tatiana portray no less than 4 completely different characters, each with their own idiosyncrasies, never with an overlap making you think these aren’t unique personalities.  In some bizarre and completely comical scenes, she imitates or mocks the mannerisms of another.

The more the clones discern of their past, the more complicated the plot gets.  Who created them and why?  Is someone out to kill them, and if so, why is one of the clones being used as the assassin?  Who can they trust, other than each other?  It is quickly evident that there is a creator entity (think corporate science, not biblical) versus a religious zealously that opposes everything the clones represent.  It is this subtle complexity to the story that really has Orphan Black appealing to me; in the middle of two opposing forces are the many versions of Tatiana, as well as a plethora of supporting actors and plot avenues that can contribute to future episodes.

Thankfully this series is getting better support and reviews, notably different from other equally done shows like Firefly.  Orphan Black has been cleared for a second season, much to my pleasure.  I have yet to complete the first season’s PVR round-up, but I am really looking forward to how this will set up for future installments.  My fervent hope is that the first 10-episode season, which brilliantly executed the four character point of view discovery of their predicament, can fully flourish into a 20-22 episode installment.

Languages in Fantasy

One of the more intricate parts of world building, the use of language has always been something of a bugbear for me.  When first crafting the races and cultures that populated the realms of Ihr’Vessen, the obvious character differentials popped up:  elves are lithe, weapon masters; dwarves are stockier and hardier; orcs were bulkier and brutish but had an intricate culture based on slavery, et cetera.  The humans were largely divided between the nomadic Plainsfolk, the more stereotypical samurai J’in Empire, and finally the mercenary barons of the Free States.  There are, of course, the outliers of humanity, such as a Romani-inspired gypsy clan culture and the independent colonies and settlements throughout the wilderness.  That said, everything was largely based on the elven language.

This basis, and the fact that humanity took centuries to get away from the hunter/gatherer stages, meant that there had to be some significant differences even among the human powers.  The differences between elven and dwarvish was easy enough to encapsulate; it’s a trope, but one that works with readers and is readily accepted.  But what about the Plainsfolk vice the J’in Empire vice the Free States?  I’ve established the elven language as the baseline for all other languages, so where do I go from there?

The real kicker was when I realized that humans were a much shorter-lived species than the others, particularly the elves.  Humans would have a much clearer and dramatic divergence, simply because they go through so many more generations.  This would imply a more vivid change from the other races.  It also meant that between them, there must be enough differences to demonstrate this fact.  Expressions and idioms needed to be distinct and relevant to how I envisioned the culture’s development.  As such, the J’in Empire’s generally cold view of the Plainsfolk would include derisive expressions that centered on their nomadic lifestyle, their lack of settlement, the differences in how they treat their women, and on.  The Plainsfolk on the other hand would be aghast at anything that meant they were too weak or infirm to roam the plains, fight in close combat or have to build a hut to find any kind of comfort.  The truly frustrating part is having to go back and ensure that the interactions between different cultures and races are depicted with enough clarity; there is only so much a bilingual character can translate phrase for phrase.

The other aspect of this is trying to create these expressions and idioms without drawing on our own world.  The realms of Ihr’Vessen is a secondary world, thus there is no place for some of the more common expressions.  In a world where worship is divided amongst a pantheon of gods, the various Fortunes and even a family’s ancestors, something as simple as “Oh my god” or “bloody hell” wouldn’t work – aside from the extremely devout, cursing some other god has little import, while the concept of hell is typically associated with Christianity.  Since most curses are derived from religious terms and crude references to copulation and bodily functions, this seemed to be a good starting point.  It took a little more than a cut-and-paste exercise, but the expressions I’ve developed seem more in line with the source culture, while enabling the reader to understand the intent.

The two links below provide a great précis on how to address the issue of language within the SF/F genres.  I’m certainly not expecting to accomplish anything near the integration of language development that Tolkein presented in his books; that level of realization is simply an unrealistic goal for most.  It does, however, present both a significant challenge to how characters interact with persons from another race or culture, and an opportunity to weave some world building into the text without relying on another bugbear of authors and readers alike, the info dump.

Part 1: http://fantasy-faction.com/2013/the-fantasy-language-problem

Part 2: http://fantasy-faction.com/2013/the-fantaasy-language-problem-continued