H is for Hotrod

Yes, we're going back to Realmspace, specifically Intellida, today!

I'm not really a car person. To me they're really just a convenient way to get from A to B. Where I can I walk or take public transport, cars do however come in useful for shopping trips and to get to places that public transport don't easily go to. I can change a tyre, but anything more complicated than that has me contacting a mechanic, which is odd because my grandfather was a mechanic and in an age where if you couldn't source a ready made part for a car or a piece of machinery, you made one yourself.

In a reflection of that, Dancer isn't really mechanically minded, nor is he a petrol head, however cars (at least 2) do play a significant part in the book. One is Dancer's Rolls Royce Silver Cloud and the other is a bright pink hotrod, similar to the one pictured above.

The hotrod doesn't belong to Dancer, it's the highly ostentatious vehicle of choice for Aleanaes Goldenhair, Benefactress of Intellida. The car is rather at odds with the lady herself. She prefers tasteful to flashy and pink is far from her favourite colour (that would be blue), she doesn't even know how to drive, or if she does, she never drives.

The bright pink car is generally driven by her driver, a magically modified runner lizard who goes by the rather apt name of Wheels.

Cars of this sort aren't really about passenger comfort or space, and I've modified it so that aside from the driver's cab, Aleanaes' car also has rear doors and a fairly cramped looking passenger compartment. Like the Benefactress' house, the car defies the laws of physics and has far more room in it's interior than one could ever guess from looking at it without entering it. I've never tested it's full capacity, but it seems to be able to comfortably fit 4 - 6 people in the back with plenty of legroom.

It has a fully stocked, full size bar, a large screen TV and lots of space for people to relax and stretch out. There are rumours that it has a spa, a kitchen and maybe even a bedroom. Due to the speed at which Wheels prefers to drive (he does break the sound barrier, he's tried to have a faster than light drive installed, but Aleanaes won't allow or pay for it) Dancer has never really had the opportunity to explore the vehicle further than the bar and TV in the back.

A is for Aleanaes

I've been toying with this idea for a while and I thought I may do it here. This is kind of like a Realmspace wiki or more accurately a dictionary. As I'm doing it in dictionary form, it begins with A, because I'm odd like that.

That's Panacea from the Asterix books, but I'm going to use her to give people an idea of what Aleanaes looks like. If you give her pointed ears then it is pretty much as I see her, the other thing is that I can barely draw a decent stick figure.

Interestingly enough Aleanaes was probably the first Realmspace character that I ever created. She was a goddess of love in that fantasy epic I wrote in my early teens, and once she made herself at home in my head she simply never went away.

Physically she's largely always been the same, although she has changed in personality and her function in my fictional universe.

She's an important character in Realmspace, although she's not what I'd call a major character. In film terms she'd be a supporting actress.

She's the Benefactress of Intellida. Most Realms have a Benefactor or a Benefactress. There are some that have gods or goddesses that fulfil a similar role, some have both. Earth is often looked down on and thought of as backward by those from other Realms, because not only does it not have a Benefactor, it isn't even aware of their existence.

Aleanaes lives in an incredible house on a different plane of existence, but she is a frequent visitor to her Realm and quite protective of it.

She has an interesting relationship with Dancer. She generally uses him as an agent, in fact her personal assistant views him that way, but she considers herself a friend and also has a rather big sister type dynamic with the young shifter.

Racially she's an elf, hence the pointed ears and the fact that she doesn't seem to age, although the agelessness could also be one of the benefits of being a Benefactress.

She keeps a household staff that is mostly animals she rescued from desperate situations on Earth and then anthropomorphised to suit her needs. Her butler is a lowland gorilla, her maid is a mouse and her driver is a runner lizard. She also has three bodyguards, who are a boxer dog, a rat and a giant panda. The only member of her staff that isn't anthropomorphised is her personal assistant; Natasha. Natasha is cat who hails from a Realm full of cats and even without the opposable thumbs does an incredibly efficient job for her mistress.

Her full name is Aleanaes Goldenhair and many add the honorific Mistress to it.

If you want a pronunciation guide, and I do realise her name is a bit of a mouthful, it's said like this: Al-ee-a-nay-es.

There we have it. A for Aleanaes.