A first glimpse of Rakoto

Rakoto is yet to fully establish himself in the plot, but he is cast in a major role for Act 2. Indeed, if the story goes as planned (ie: Aurelia deigns to take a back seat), he will be the Focus Character of the second part, which I shall write for NaNoWriMo this year.

Rakoto's mother is Queen Ramavalona, the Lemur Queen of Madagasika. He was born some time after the King's untimely death and was something of a disappointment to his mother. She was hoping for a girl, you see, to inherit the throne after her.

I shall now get Celeste and Matthieu to give you a little education on Lemur politics:

"... Sifaka royalty is passed down from female to female, understand? The Queens rule,” explained Matthieu.

Aurelia nodded. “It's the same in maky society, the females are the bosses.”

“Okay, maybe they are not so primitive,” Celeste smirked at her brother.

“But not all of the Queens have the time or inclination to produce their own heirs,” he continued. “So this task falls to their brothers. The Queen choses a mate for her older brother – one of fine breeding and good health, and it is their duty to produce a daughter to inherit the crown.

“However, in this situation, Queen Ramavo died early, before her only brother, Radama, had the chance to produce an heir. So, by default, the crown passed to his mate – Ranavalona. It was supposed to be temporary, until they fathered a daughter. But before that opportunity arose, the Queen's brother died.”

“Under rather suspicious circumstances,” Celeste interjected...

So as you can see, when the kit proved to be a male, Ranavalona was rather disappointed. So disappointed that she had her advisor, Mephistopheles (we'll meet him later) take the kit away and foster him on another nursing female, a Tattersall's sifaka called Araminta. However, Aramainta already had a kit of her own - older and bolder than the fosterling and had no real attachment for Rakoto. Although she supplied all his needs - food, warmth and grooming, the poor kit grew up with no affection and being bullied occasionally by her real kit.

As he grew older, his mother showed more of an interest in him. Here Mephistopheles stepped in too, teaching him social etiquette, politics and furthering his education in the manner that ruling class Sifaka need to know. Mephistopheles grew rather fond of the kit and Rakoto learned to love him as a father*.

Rakoto is a Diademned Sifaka with some distinctly different colour patternings. His black "hood" and white forehead are atypical of his species, but are a colour variant found in real world Diademned Sifaka. For the record, neither his mother nor the late king had this colouration. Anyhow, Rakoto's head is black, with the colour continuing in a stripe down his spine and terminating at the base of his tail. His body fur is mostly silver-grey, with orange fur on his lower arms and his legs. His tail is silver. His belly is creamy-white. He has orange-red eyes, like his mother.

As he has yet to play a role in the plot, his personality is not yet fully understood. However, I intend for him to be shy and quiet, preferring his own company or the company of books. He does not relate well to kits his own age, but has formed a strong friendship with his mother's advisor. Other than that, he has a somewhat sulky nature and avoids conflict where possible. He is a thinker, not a fighter.

* When I say "as a father" I don't mean as his real father. Although Rakoto's paternity is rather in doubt, there is no way the Queen's Advisor is his father. Honest. It's not genetically possible.

Noir the shadow in the night

Every novel worth its salt requires a villain and in this one, it is Noir. Noir is the head of the Queen's Pack of Hunters. This is a most exalted position for a male to achieve, as in lemur society in general, females outrank males. Noir has enjoyed several years in service to the Queen, and she favours him.

Noir is a Perrier's Sifaka, or Radjaka. These critically endangered lemurs live only in an isolated pocket of rainforest in Northern Madagascar, but Noir travels rather a lot. His fur is pitch black, as is his naked facial mask and hands.

Noir rides a bongo buck, generally described as a "red antelope" in the story. Antelope are not native to Madagascar and in my fictional equivalent they were an early import, brought in to provide the lemur-kin with milk and transport, to replace the zebu and goats found in the real-world Madagascar. His other companion is a fossa, named Kaikitra (translates as "bite"). She is obedient only to him, and like all fossa has a taste for lemur flesh. Occasionally Noir lets her indulge. Mostly she acts as a threat or deterrent, and is rather useful at helping him get the information he requires from his subjects.

In personality, Noir is cold and cruel. He is faithful only to his queen, whom he loves in his own slightly warped way. He likes to kill, but is quite practical about such things and does not cause ultimate chaos in his wake, curbing his blood-lust until it is less likely to cause hassles. As the leader of the Hunter Pack, he must constantly demonstrate his dominance over the females and demands respect.

So far he has been the hardest character to draw.

Noir interrogates Celeste

And now we have Fiantrana

Rana was supposed to be the main character of the novel. In fact, initially she was called "Katta" to reflect my online nickname, Kat. However, when I started naming the other lemurs using Malagasy words, I thought I should do the same for her. So I gave her the name Karazana, which translates as "kind". Except I didn't realise at first that it was a noun, and meant "species". So after some research I changed it to Fiantrana, which means "compassion".

Fiantrana is kind. She is about three years old and at the start of the book has just lost her first-born kit. The unnamed male kit was deformed. As she is a nursing female, she plays nursemaid to her mother's latest kits - twins. When she is called by the Ombiasy and given the white sifaka kit to look after, she is at first a bit reluctant. This strange, alien youngster holds no real attraction to her. But, her generous nature wins out and she winds up raising the kit as her own. As Aurelia's personality becomes more apparent, Fiantrana warms to her, and eventually feels for her as a real mother would - protective and loving.

Fiantrana is a typical ringtail lemur, or maky. She is of medium size and lean of build. Her tail is long and striped. Her face is white, save for the black patches around her eyes and muzzle. A black band runs across her forehead, and above this her head is reddish-brown, a colour that runs down her spine, spreads out along her shoulders and eventually concludes at her tail. Her body fur is silver-grey, except for her belly which is a pale creamy-grey. Her hands and feet are black. She has no visible scars yet, but by the end of the story I expect she shall bear some.

Maky do not form longterm partnerships, but live instead in large family groups. They are only "in season" for one day of the year (different days for each member of the troop). During that time there is much competition between the males for the females. Thus the father of Fiantrana's kit is not of particular import.

Fiantrana is kind and gentle, but she is also willing to step in and discipline an unruly kit if the need arises. She is not spontaneous, and prefers to think things through before jumping into decisions.

Here's an extract (Fiantrana has just walked into a fight between Aurelia and another young lemur called Mafana):

“What is going on here?” Fiantrana asked.

“Your little parasite stole my zaza,” Mafana said. “And she's been stealing stuff from all the other maky too. She's been hiding it in the woods.”

“Is this true?” Fiantrana turned her golden eyes to Aurelia. The sifaka had scrambled to her feet and now crouched low. Sand clung to her pelt. She could not meet her foster mother's gaze.

“Yes,” she admitted. “It's true.”

Fiantrana just sighed and her shoulders slumped. Her look of disappointment made Aurelia feel more sorry than Mafana's bullying ever could. “I am most disappointed in you,” she said. “You must return everything immediately, and apologise. Starting with this kit here.”

With Fiantrana watching, Aurelia had no choice but to hand the doll back. “I'm sorry,” she muttered as Mafana snatched it from her hands.

“You will be,” Mafana replied, grinning wickedly and flashing her fangs.

Then Fiantrana cuffed her. “Learn some respect, Mafana,” she snapped. “You've recently received your true name. It's time you stopped acting like a weanling.”

Mafana looked suitably abashed and Aurelia hid her smile.

Meet Aurelia

Aurelia is a Silky Sifaka, referred to in my story as a "silky simpony" as that is another Malagasy name that is more specific to her species (although it also includes diademned,Tattersalls and milne-edwards species).

This is not typical Silky habitat. Silkys are a rainforest lemur found only in Marojejy and are critically endangered. In our world, that is. In Aurelia's world, their tribes live in the north but occasional individuals leave to try and make a name for themselves in the city - in this case, Narivo (in the central highlands). Aurelia's mother, Solange, made such a journey. However, she was forced to flee from the city, heavily pregnant, and ended up birthing the kit far to the west, near the spiny forest. She died shortly afterwards, and Aurelia was raised by ringtailed lemurs (maky), specifically a young female called Karazana and Karazana's mother, Reniko. We will meet Karazana tomorrow.

Aurelia is spirited and stubborn. She is always asking questions and wanting to know more about what is going on around her. She likes an audience, and although she was teased somewhat in her younger days, has a charisma that draws others to her. She also loves to spin a yarn, and make up elaborate stories.

Her fur is pure white, with highlights of gold around the shoulders and spine (not visible here), which show a little of her father's heritage. The other legacy from her father is her bright blue eyes. The only non-human primate to have blue eyes in our world is a particular species of black lemur found in northern Madagascar. However, as my novel is not set in our world, the blue eyes have a different significance. Her fingers and toes are black, as is her face, although as she grows older, her face will lighten to pink.

Sifaka are the more elite, the upper-crust of lemur society and they practise manners and etiquette and fine speech. However, since Aurelia was raised in a maky fishing village, she has no such manners. She's also got a quick-temper and will nip or cuff if forced into a situation.

When I first set out to write this novel, Karazana was scheduled to be the main character and Aurelia was supposed to spend the first half as a fairly helpless infant. However, Aurelia quickly took over, forcing Kara into the background and essentially taking over. I'm letting her have her way now - I sense she knows better how her story will go then I had.

As she is the main character, there are plenty of extracts for Aurelia already in my blog, but here's a few of my favourites:
Aurelia meets her mother
Aurelia explains her heritage

More...

Introducing Sneak

Sneak wasn't meant to be a main character in my novel. He was introduced at one point because I wanted Aurelia to have some playmates her own age. Once he had befriended her, he wanted to stick with her for a while and insisted I let him come along on her journey.

He's a young crowned lemur (Eulemur coronatus) which are known in the story as "varika" (the Malagasy name for several lemur species, just to be confusing). He is boistrous and speaks his mind, sometimes coming across as a wee bit blunt. He's also been known to stretch the truth, exaggerate or outright lie. But underneath it all, he's a solid and loyal friend, willing to defend those he cares about. His family is a large and extended tribe, and his older brother is a piroquer called Hery, who plays a minor role in the plot.

Sneak's name is not his "real" name - eulemurs (that is to say, the so called "true" lemur species) do not name their kits until they reach 5 months of age, because infant mortality is so high. Consequently, everyone nicknames him "Sneak" because of his tendency to creep around places he shouldn't, to overhear conversations he shouldn't and to otherwise learn a lot of stuff that he's really not supposed to know. He also has very nimble fingers, and is good with knots - possibly something he has learnt from his older brother Hery.

When he receives his real name, it will probably be Misokosoko.

Sneak and his family live in the mangrove village called Belo-sur-Tsiribhana - which is named after a real village in Madagascar, although looks rather different. Constructed at the mouth of the river, the Belo-sur-Tsiribhana of my story is built in the mangrove trees, which are connected by rope ladders and platforms to form habitations. The lemurs travel around the trees by leaping or swinging, and also use boats (piroques) to travel around the waterways, transporting foods and goods. It is unclear what their principal produce is, but they do a lot of fishing. The village is one of mixed species - primarily varika (brown lemurs and crowned lemurs), komba (mongoose lemur) and tsibahaka (crowned sifaka and deckens sifaka). They are ruled by a council, represented by one member (usually female) of each of the prevalent species. Sneak is the son of the crowned varika Counciller.

In appearance, Sneak resembles a typical young male crowned lemur. His fur is a silvery grey for most of his body, but his arms and legs are furred lightly in orange from elbow/knee to fingers/toes. His tail also is orange. His belly is pale grey/white. Across his forehead is his "crown" which forms a V above his eyes, also orange in colour. The top of his head is black. His eyes are orange-red. His hands are furred in orange, but his fingers/toes are grey and his nails are black. He has no visible scars (yet). As he grows, this orange will spread to replace the silver fur.

Here is an extract when he introduces Aurelia (who he is calling "Fotsy" because that's the name she's given him) to his family:

“Salama,” Sneak greeted the plump varika. “This is Fotsy, she's a friend from far, far away. She's come to learn a bit about us varika. Fotsy, this is Mpahandro – she's my great aunt and our tribe matron.” He grinned, licking his lips, “she also makes a fantastic banana and rice custard. You have gotta try some. It's like the bestest, most delicious thing ever.”

“Oh you little flatterer,” Mpahandro nuzzled him with teasing affection. “How did you know I was just rustling some up for dinner?”

“I can smell it from fifty trees away,” Sneak laughed. “When do we eat?”

“Soon,” she said, “you can help me dish if you like.”

“Can I lick the pot?”

“Only after everyone has eaten,” she chuckled. “And you should show some manners in front of your fine sifaka friend. You don't want her to think you're an uncouth barbarian, do you?”

“Oh,” said Sneak, “I'm sorry.” He turned to Aurelia. “Fotsy, would you like to help me lick clean the pot?”

Right, here's some conversations with Sneak: Sneak discusses Piroquiers and Sneak explains "tag"

Stay tuned because I am working on a number of character illustrations at the moment and I will introduce you to all the characters - Karazana, Mijifajifa. Rakoto and of course Aurelia. As well as Noir, Matthieu, Chike, Mephistopheles, Maohy and maybe Daniel, if I ever find a way to work him into the story.

Yes, I have a huge cast of characters...

Snow Day!

I've lived in Christchurch for around 18 years. We moved here in 1993, the year after the so-called "big snow of 1992" which was the regions heaviest in 30 years. It was so bad that they lost power, many farmers lost their sheep and an ice-skating rink's roof collapsed under the snow fall.

So, although we've had patchy snow some winters, the last time we had real, genuine, stick-around-and-make driving-hazardous was about four years ago when I lived at my old flat. It melted during the day and turned to slush.

Today has trumped that. I woke up early to the eerie orange-white glow of fluroescent lights reflecting off the snow. Outside the world was transformed by white. After a quick check of my car:

... I decided that backing out the long driveway would probably result in me running into a wall and I didn't fancy shovelling the whole thing only to skid on slippery, pot-holed* roads. So I thought I'd catch the bus.

No buses - so I decided to walk.

Now, I've walked to work on numerous occasions - it's a 5-6 km walk partly through Hagley Park. But walking in the dark and the snow was a surreal experience. For one thing, the streets were so quiet - a few inchworming cars slushed past me, and one bold cyclist, but the world was like a desolate white wonderland. The piles of bricks, the broken houses, all covered in a shroud of snow. My broken city had been painted in beautiful hues. Halfway there, I "picked up" one of my co-workers and we walked through the park together. Haunting and beautiful - the black of the bare trees a stark contrast against the white of the snow. We passed a lone skiier, taking advantage of the large stretch of (at that point) pristine snow. During the last stretch, we hit a full-on blizzard, which was not pleasant.

Arriving at work, there were not enough to run the business, and with fears of worse weather to come, we decided to remain closed. And thus we began the long walk home.

It was actually fun - the first half at any rate. Snowmen were being constructed by the sides of the road, and snowball fights - I even copped one from a passing car. Children out playing on snowboards. We watched a few people get stuck in the snow, and require a push and I was indeed grateful that I had not driven. After leaving my companion, things got worse. The snow started coasting down and the footpath was about 15cm deep - slippery and treacherous. By now my body temperature had melted the snow on my clothing and I was soaked as well. I struggled on, afraid to stop and finally, thankfully reached home and a change of clothes.

Yes folks, I walked 12 km in the snow.
How's that for a work-out?

You can see how deep the snow was by this picture of our backyard table:

But, Hagley Park was beautiful.

But will I walk to work in ankle deep snow again? Well maybe when...

* to be fair, most of the potholes have now be filled in, but the roads still dip and rise unexpectedly

Mad about Madagascar

It's a beautiful, magical island, trapped in time and containing more unique wildlife than you can imagine. It is also a fading, lost paradise. Only about 10% of its native habitat remains and although new species are still being discovered, we're at risk of losing them all.

Here is some of that wildlife:

Cuckoo-roller, Helmet Vanga
Ringtail Mongoose, Durrell's Vontsira
Fat-tailed Dwarf Lemur, Sucker-footed Bat
Lake Aloatra Bamboo Lemur, Long-eared Tenrec
Giant Jumping Rat, Red Fronted Lemur
Vasa Parrot, Crested Coua
Long-tailed Ground-Roller