Differentiation by Region and Biodiversity

One of the biggest issues that exists in writing a story based on a world is one most people don't even think about, barely glancing at it. Until a while ago, I didn't notice this either; the issue of differentiation by region. The reason I noticed this issue first off was through my personal study of wolves as amongst the species known as the timber or grey wolf, there are many subspecies. What makes a subspecies? A subspecies can easily be compared to a breed of dog. All dogs are dogs, but they look different from each other because they are different breeds. The same goes for human races, which, in turn, are also subspecies. A breed is a subspecies as well. Wolves probably have over fifty subspecies in North America, from the shaggy white arctic wolf to the burly British Columbian wolf to the rain or coastal wolf of British Columbia's island rich west coast. All these subspecies are wolves, yet all of them have key thing which make them different from the rest of their species, every one of them being specialized to the region in which they thrive.

For example, an arctic wolf has a heavier coat, a smaller body and smaller ears than a big British Columbian wolf, which lives in the forested interior of B.C. British Columbian wolves are said to be the largest subspecies of wolf, which is pretty cool, considering that they live right in my own personal area. Rain or coastal wolves are small and wiry, adapted for swimming long distances from island to island and to catching salmon, feasting on the salmon runs. Another key physical, biological characteristic that makes rain wolves unique is that they have the highest level of biodiversity in their DNA found anywhere in the world; they are truly something which must be protected, because they could literally save their species with the amazing richness of their DNA. The reason for this is that for thousands of years, these wolves have been isolated from human contact. As a result, they exhibit no fear of humans.

Geography is responsible for the isolation and differentiation of these subspecies; it is what has made them have to uniquely adapt. A British Columbian wolf might not survive in the territory of the rain wolf because there is so much swimming involved and less big game. A rain wolf probably wouldn't make it in the high arctic, where the beautiful white arctic wolf lives, preying on musk oxen in the dead of winter. An arctic wolf is built to withstand intensely frigid low temperatures while a rain wolf is built for life on the soggy, humid but cool wet coast of British Columbia. All this biodiversity comes from geography and from living in different regions.

Not just biodiversity is effected by a change in climate and region. A farming society would have a different attitude about like than a hunter-gatherer society and would probably have a different set of spiritual beliefs. By region, people would have to adapt and do things differently to fit their habitat, just like the wolf. Language would also change - the only reason English is such a universal language in our day is because we humans have become extremely well traveled, so a common language has become a great necessity for survival. However, cut off our ability to travel as well as our ability to technologically communicate and over the course of several hundred to a thousand years, something amazing would happen; English would fragment into new languages in each isolated pocket of humanity!

As humans, we are not above the rules of differentiation by habitat or region. In a thousand years, the common language of the humans living on my planet Rimer might morph into something completely new so that if humans from Earth were to meet humans from Rimer, they probably would have a pretty hard time understanding each other. In my timeline for the Copperbane Series, it is known that around the year 400 A.G, the official language of human inhabited Rimer is forcefully changed (by government order) to a native falcolf language known as 'Common Fallan' (which is obviously commonly used by nearly all native species) to encourage better communication between sentient species. English is disowned and abandoned, falling into military-code only use, as with other languages which on Rimer have become for the most part dead. (Such as French, German and Italian.)

Regionally, Rimer's native species use their own unique languages. Common Fallan is seen as more of a language for getting information from strangers than anything, yet it will become the dominant language of the human race. (However as Rimer has far less communication than our Earth does, there may just be pocket languages developed still.) Chartan may still stubbornly hold on to English.

When you're writing a story that spans vast tracks of biodiverse terrain and geography, it really is important to remember the situation of each area before just writing a boring default situation that does not make any sense. I do my best to mentally explore each area, discover its history and its geography before writing anything. Remember; a pug and a great dane are both dogs, but they look vastly different. Remember; all dogs are domesticated wolves and are of the same species as a wolf, with almost no genetic variation.

A pug is a wolf and that is truly biodiversity!

I Am Wolf

I Am Wolf

I know a lot of you, those few who read that blog, do not know what that means. Today, I will attempt to tell you and in all likelihood, you will probably start that I'm one crazy bitch, but I'm not. Maybe.

'I Am Wolf' refers to my spirit guide, the arctic wolf who has never thought to tell me his name, who I just call 'Wolf.' A wolf he is, so that is what he is to be called. Wolf. Spirit of the wind and the wild north. Snarling in the darkness and baring his teeth at human kind.

As far as he has let me know, Wolf was killed in his mortality by a human, gunned down by aircraft in one of the most sickening displays of senseless brutality known to this world. I was Wolf's pack, part of his family and when I died in that life, he followed me into this one as a spirit. That is what I believe and in a way, this relationship is embodied in the stories of my characters Northwind and Westwind - Westwind, the once great goddess who has forgotten everything and Northwind, her mate who must deal with this and eternally protect her.

I would go into how I came to know about Wolf, but suffice to say, he has just always been there. Not too long ago in my dreams he began to protect me and I have on occasion even seen him in dreams. Then he started to 'come into me' in these dreams when we were being chased. If I was cornered, he would leap into me and I would become a white wolf of the snow like him to bare our teeth at my enemy, be it the visiting spirit of a cougar or a zombie horde living in the basement of the dream version of my old house. I have always been terrified of basements. They are bad places.

There is a book called Animal Speak by Ted Andrews which talks about animal spirit guides. It is through this book, that I learned that transformation is not a myth, but is real. You can change the shape of your conciousness. It is possible. Through Wolf, I learned to reshape my perceptions and form them into the shape of Canis lupus, literally becoming the wolf, though only in mind. The strangest thing about all this is how I have noticed and felt people treat me at times like an animal, a dog if not the wolf. My uncle dog's Powder snarled at me and for no reason, for we had only just met. There have been times when I have crouched beside somebody and they have treated me just like one would a loyal dog. This is all subconcious. I do not believe that anyone can really see my perception change, but I would like to hope that somebody, at least the other animals can see me. When I look in the mirror and my perceptions have changed, I see a stranger looking back at me. I'm not the human I see. I'm just Rosy, the wolf-who-is-a-human. I wonder if sometimes I think like a dog too.

It is my belief that animals are sentient, that they are just as smart as humans, but that they just think and communicate in an entirely different way. There has been proof and inklings that animals are far smarter than most humans have ever expected. A border collie in Europe can distinguish objects better than most young children can and dolphins have been proved their intelligence time and time again. Wolves, my four-legged brethren of the wind, mourn their dead and even debrief themselves before a mission, the alpha female telling the pack what they are to be hunting with antlers and bones. Omegas keep the pack at peace.

Who are WE to say that animals have no souls and that they are stupid? I believe that humans are the ones who are stupid and that we have lost our way in the dark. We are in a black forest, with only a lantern, but we cannot see the world around us. We pretend that we are not part of the world and we constantly try to control it but this is stupid. The world cannot be controlled. We are ridiculous to think that we can control anything!

To get something out; I don't believe in God. There is no way, in my mind, that any one person could give his all to look into the lives of every single being. I believe in spirits and that the world has a spirit. This spirit is what I would say is god. As the Native Americans say, everything has a spirit. The sun, the stars and every single thing on this world.

I don't expect anyone to believe what I believe. They can if they want to, but I don't care whether or not they do. This is what I believe. I respect that other people believe other things. That's cool.