Whenever I talk about my worldbuilding, I mention that it uses a lot of “Asian settings,” as opposed to the usual European-centric fantasy that is all-too common in the genre. But it’s not just specifically Asian fantasy; there’s a lot of cultures at play, all of which provide the appropriate background for whatever character-centric drama is happening in the narrative at any given point in time.
I say “Asian” as a cop-out. I don’t want to get into a long-winded explanation about why I worldbuild the way I do—not too often, anyway. For most readers, the set-up matters less than the end result. My readers, if they’re patient with me, go on emotional roller-coaster adventures, and occasionally, they’re entertained. It’s a playground, and that’s more than enough for me.
But once in a while, I feel the need to talk a bit more about the process that drives me. Most of it started out unconsciously. I remember just blurting it all out while talking about worldbuilding in real life and then realizing how sad my reasoning is. And it’s this: I worldbuild around the what-ifs of a specific culture, because a lot of what makes it special has been lost due to colonization.
It stings to think about it.
I remember specifically how when I started out this world, I wanted a Filipino-centric fantasy. But I didn’t want to get into the horrors of colonization or lost identities—I just wanted something like Game of Thrones with my own culture as a basis. But we don’t really have as big of a history to draw on, at least one that has nothing to do with invasion and angsting over our losses. I ended up loosely grabbing certain elements of my culture and worldbuilding from scratch because of that. So there’s no single nation in the world of The Agartes Epilogues or Chronicles of the Bitch Queen that is 100% a specific, real country. What most of them do have is a very Filipino core.
The nation of Jin-Sayeng, for example, may look Japanese or Chinese on the surface. In fact, the concept of “warlords” reeks of feudal Japan. But one of the defining points of this nation is the amount of influence it has from the empire to the east, in almost the same way that the Philippines has had plenty of influence from other Asian nations. At its heart, I used the “province-centric” attitude that Filipinos have, and adapted the way Filipinos from various provinces have dubbed themselves with certain traits and used these as “tenets” in-world. For example, my family is from Bicol, and as a “Bicolano,” there’s a trait inherent in the region that they call “oragon.” Oragon” is Bicol slang for somebody who is feisty, determined, principled, fighter, unafraid of consequences, and one who stands up for his principles. If that doesn’t sound like an Oren-yaro, I don’t know what else does…
Other nations that I draw more personally from include Gorent (people who live on islands, and in this case have had their identities wiped already due to Dageian invasion) and Herey (with a more defined government and structure based on the Kingdom of Tondo, and which is in the process of wrestling with colonization).
So different facets, different things to explore. Different what-ifs. A vomit of culture and influences that, at its core, is because my own culture isn’t really quite sure about itself, either–we have English as a second language and have Spanish names and wouldn’t know the baybayin script if we saw it and when we hear the word “native” some of us laugh. And yet…it’s still worth talking about. And I want it to mean something. I want to be able to say that despite all of that, we have stories that can stand tall and proud with everyone else’s. And just to prove that, I’m creating an entire world around it. It’s tough, but I wouldn’t give it up for anything.
If nothing else, my worldbuilding is a love letter to the Philippines.
Another very interesting and informative post, Kay. With any luck I will get around to reading Jaeth’s Eye very early in the new year.
Oh man, I just learned about you from Twitter, and I’ve been going slowly through your blog posts, and a lot of what you say resonates with me. I want to write Filipino fantasy too, but I want to write it with the same… I don’t know the word… centrism, I guess, of other writers who write pseudo-European medieval fantasy. And it’s hard, because so much of what we know about our own history is tainted by colonialism, as you say. It’s like… we can’t even imagine what it’s like not to have European influences in our stories, and I’m saddened by that. It’s almost like all the stories worth telling about Filipinos require the presence of our colonizers. If I were to write a precolonial Philippine based fantasy, can I even call that “Filipino” at all, you know? I’m always conflicted about these things, but I’ve been very reluctant to talk about it, because I know Filipino identity politics is such a touchy subject.
Anyway, I just want to say I’m really glad I came across your blog, and thank you, thank you, thank you so much for voicing your opinions, because sometimes it’s just nice to find someone who feels similarly.
It is hard, but please write! We need more voices, more takes on our own. The more there is, the less pressure on everyone to “get it right.” 🙂 Best of luck to you.