Map of Wealdland

After you click on the link below, just drag the image to your desktop, and hey presto, you will have an awesome map of Wealdland.

click here for a downloadable file of Wealdland


cheers,

Kurt

Who I am

Hello.


My name is Kurt Jean Hargan. I was born in Palmer, Alaska in 1961. My generation is very strange. 


We were children during the Cold War. We all expected the world to end in a nuclear holocaust. It was almost a given. Glad it didn't, but I wouldn't have wasted my 20's if I actually thought we were going to go on past 1984.


My family moved to San Jose, California in 1965, so most of my childhood was spent there. You had to find a pay phone and have a dime if you wanted to call someone. You had no idea what your friends were up to or where they had been until you actually talked to them.


We left front and back doors open 24 hours, until a hippie broke in, in 1969. 


I was a teenager as music on the radio went from country rock to disco and then turned to punk. My father worked for IBM so I saw computers the size of houses, less powerful than the laptop on which I'm writing this bio. I saw the world go from 3 billion human beings to 6 billion. It is estimated we will soon hit 7 billion. 


I saw gasoline go from .50 a gallon to $4.50. I used to buy five comic books for a dollar, sometimes four and a candy bar.


I'm not pining for the good old days, because I never really had good old days. My generation, the real Generation X, has seen change, real change, constant change. Change doesn't frighten me. It feels like my childhood, like my life. Change is good.


I believe the world can and will get better, but it will always go through rough patches because of greedy, short sighted humans. 


I believe in god. Not your god, not anybody's god. I don't believe a force as awesome as the one that set our universe in motion wants me to go to a little brick building and give my hard earned cash to some parasite who does no work for a living. I like Sting's philosophy when he said, I'm paraphrasing, the universe is much too interesting of a place not to think there isn't something out there. There's something very appealing, and it feels right to me, to acknowledge the presence and mystery of a Creator.


I think every person I have ever met is fascinating, even the most selfishly awful people are worth the time to get to know. At least they can always become the wonderfully realistic villains my novels contain. 


My novels are about finding hope in desperately hopeless situations. Humans have the ability to change everything about themselves, their environment, their relationships, their culture, and very, very quickly. All you have to do is be considerate of the other human, and you won't make wrong choices.


Cheers,


Kurt 

Miranei birth date - corrected

Ok. This is 7, 8, 1982 correctly written in Miranei script.


I spent my whole saturday plotting out a table in what I now call Miranei Octal. 1982 ended up as 5673. Remember the numbers read reverse, so its 3765, but would be written out 5673.


Everybody thoroughly confused? Not me. whoo boy. 


But this is correct.


weary cheers,


Kurt

Miranei birthdate

A friend asked me what her birth date would look like in Miranei. I could show her the day and month, but the year was difficult as I didn't have the math chops to convert such a large number into octal.

Well I found a nifty, free, decimal to octal converter:  Click here for the octal converter. But as it turns out, it's completely useless. See note below*.

Her birth date is July 8, 1982. In America, we always put the month first, so the seven was easy. 

Remember, in octal, there is no number 8. So her day of birth became 10, but in Miranei it's 00. * again, see note below. 

And lastly, with the help of the nifty converter, 1982 became 3676, but in Miranei looks like 6763. 

The numbers always stream from right to left, like the letters and words. So if you look at the date and read it left to right like English, it reads: 6763, 00, 7. But to an elf of the Fifth Age, she would read and translate it as: 7, 8, 1982.

cheers,

Kurt

* in Miranei 0 is used in the anteceding subsets. For example, 10, 11, 12, 13, these are groups of ten, right? But in Miranei 0 is used as a subset. so we have 01, 02, 03, 04, and so on. But reading from right to left, they look like: 10, 20, 30, 40 and so on.

So... follow me now... the numbers count as follows: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 00, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 01, 11, 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, 71, 02, 12, 22, 32, 42, 52, 62, 72, 03, 13, 23, 33, 43, 53, 63, 73, 04, 14, 24, 34, 44, 54, 64, 74, 05, 15, 25, 35, 45, 55, 65, 75, 06, 16, 26, 36, 46, 56, 66, 76, 07, 17, 27, 37, 47, 57, 67, 77, 000, 100 (our 74), 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 010, 110, 210, 310, 410, 510, 610, 710, 020, 120, 220, 320, 420, 520, 620, 720, 030, 130, 230, 330(our 100), 430, 530, 630, 730, 040, 140, 240, 340, 440, 540, 640, 740, 050, 150, 250, 350, 450, 550, 650, 750, 060, 160, 260, 360, 460, 560, 660, 760, 070, 170, 270, 370, 470, 570, 670, 770, 001, 101(our 138), and so...

so, the 1982 converted to 3676 is probably wrong in the Miranei script above, because it's converted in octal without using zero as a subset. And this is only because the numbers stream from left to right in the converter, and all the rest of the normal, human world. And in Miranei the numbers stream from right to left.

Ok, nobody count above seven in Miranei from now on...

Miranei script - The 8 paths

0 - tjejath - persistence - that which we do as a habit becomes easier, whether for good or ill.

1 - sjogee'ath - compassion - until you can see the world through another's eyes, you are truly blind.

2 - míranath - honesty - we are only happy with the truth, specifically when told to ourselves.

3 - kapérath - courage - when we find the strength to do that which we fear, we find strength in all things.

4 - slaetath - forgiveness - the person who benefits the greatest from forgiveness is the forgiver.

5 - maefn - love - to receive love, love all things.

6 - akran - joy - life is joy.

7 - loskath - goodness - evil only exists in the absence of goodness.

Had some friends over for diner last night, and at their prompting, wrote out the Eight Paths of Wisdom in Miranei script. 

As always it reads from right to left. The paths are accompanied with their numbers.

I'm no calligrapher, but I make an effort. Some day, somebody who can really wield a pen will make this look beautiful.

cheers,

Kurt

Miranei script 2

The first line is from The Archer From Kipleth:


“Nanrúlee veljathal omen hótamvee, (They are telling me to return)” Albehthaire said. 


Of course, the script runs from right to left.


the second line reads: Koral Hargan


-my sister and editor. You guys were too shy, so I picked a name to transcribe.


cheers,


Kurt

Miranei script 5-2-2011

What the heck is this?! It's Miranei script! It's smudged a little... :(

The top line, reading right to left says: Iounelle Wendralorn - the name of the last elf of Lanis.

The second line says: Iofee hínva setree naskreim nauk - I will not cause you harm.

This is something Baalenruud says to Iounelle in The Archer From Kipleth. Who is Baalenruud? Why would she be saying that to Iounelle? mmmm....

The Archer From Kipleth

cheers,

Kurt