World of The Essence of the Equinox #2: Creating the Occassi
Welcome to World of The Essence of the Equinox, a series exploring the worldbuilding, influences and ideas behind my completed gothic fantasy trilogy.
In this second instalment, we examine the creation of the occassi—an original fantasy race of demons who use chaos magic. Here, I’ll discuss their symbolic meaning to the story which pairs nicely to the next topic, where I will discuss the solarites as their thematic opposite.
There will be brief discussions of misogyny and male violence.
Horror as a way of exploring primal fear
My earliest conception of the occassi grew from a fear that has followed me since girlhood: not simply violence, but the impossibility of knowing who might be capable of it. For one to encounter a horrible man can be a tragic circumstance, to be certain. And yet victims always comfort ourselves with the belief that these encounters are rare misfortunes. Wrong place at the wrong time.
However, to grapple with the idea that male violence is not rare, that among us lie potential predators around every corner who seek to hurt and violate you while wearing the guise of a friendly face… that horrified me. It instilled in me a primal, bone-deep fear that I’ve never quite shaken to this day.
And what better way to dissect that sort of fear than via the use of storytelling?
Thus, came the occassi. A physical manifestation of what frightens me the most: a large, muscular and intelligent humanoid who has the capacity to act upon their most bestial instincts, a culture that sanctifies and glorifies such instincts, and the will to enact them.
Truly, I have yet to encounter anything I find more frightening than that. Because there is nothing worse, to me, than the thought of coming face to face with my killer and smiling while I invite him into my house.
I do embellish them with the typical staples of monstrosity: claws, fangs, venom, and demonic powers; nothing too out of the ordinary. However, they are just that. Decoration. A way of fancying up my base premise to give it more flourish, as the fantasy genres often allows and encourages.
What makes the occassi scary to me is not really what they are but what they do. Or what they can do, more like. And even deeper than that, what they expose about the uglier sides of humanity: the desire to prey on the weak, to reign through fear and violence, to take what you want with no regard for another person’s wellbeing.
It was important to me not to write occassi in a way that made them seem inherently evil. Because even the most violent human being on earth is not, to me, born damned. It’s the choosing of it that damns them: because it’s easy, because it feels good to do, because no one can or will stop them. And while the occassi certainly have the ability to inflict harm—the capacity alone is not enough to indict them. Rather, it is their biological attributes paired with a political and cultural system that rewards the worst possible expression of said capabilities that leads to the society they have.
Fantastic racism and my distaste for racial allegory
I’ve always been uncomfortable with fantasy stories that borrow the visual and political language of real-world racism while transferring that oppression onto fictional species—particularly when those species are literally endowed with supernatural abilities that make them materially different from ordinary humans. Whether it be the mages/elves in Dragon Age, the synths in Fallout, the demonbloods in Shadowhunters, the mutants in Marvel’s X-Men… the examples are numerous and exhausting. And while some portrayals have been better handled than others, I see a rather irksome trend of this trope being used as a way to discuss racism while erasing its primary recipients.
Never have I seen droves of white fans as passionate about decrying unfair systems of race-based oppression than when they’re rallying on behalf of their favourite fictional elf. It’s farcical to me, honestly. And rarely does it do much to tackle the issue of racism and from where it stems. The British didn’t colonise countless countries because the people inhabiting them were dangerous threats to their society. On the contrary, they were the threat that invaded in the pursuit of their greed. Because they could. Because it benefited them to do so. Because, at the time, those countries could not or would not stop them.
I was wary of falling into a similar trap when writing about the repulsion and fear occassi encounter throughout the narrative and, for that reason, avoided paralleling any common real world example of race-based oppression that fantastic racism storylines tend to borrow from. Their monstrosity is much more closely connected to my interest in power, masculinity and violence. It ties neatly with examining my fear of male violence and its pervasiveness, allowing me to study how it manifests more broadly on a societal level.
That isn’t to say that When The Stars Alight or subsequent novels are built solely around that allegory, nor is it intended to make a political statement. But it is why I constructed Mortesian culture the way that I did—as one that worships the concept of might makes right, martial prowess, the strong conquering the weak. Indeed, even their power of chaos magic emboldens this because it lets them indulge all the more in flagrant destruction, exploitation and warfare. Even as their world withers around them, they think nothing of sailing to other countries and stealing more of what isn’t theirs than trying to resolve their issues on native soil.
The fact that Mortos is patriarchal is also very relevant to the construction of Dominus and Darius as characters, especially as Dominus fulfils a lot of stereotypical dominant alpha male traits in comparison to Darius who struggles and even subverts them. However, even he cannot escape the insidious binds of masculine expectations as he is continually forced to exert dominance over other occassi in order to maintain his status in their eyes.
Intermingling fear with desire
The appeal of men like Billy is that element of danger. After all, a man can be dangerous. He can physically hurt you, sexually violate you, trap you through money, marriage, and a baby. Fear is ever present in romance for that reason, to construct that fantasy of a man who cannot harm you but can still perform menace. A man who can be made better through his love for you. Or, alternatively, an unattainable man now obsessed with you, hoping to possess you, and for you revel in that possession. It’s facing the real potential for interpersonal violence in a fictional, fantasy context, processing it, and achieving catharsis through the redemptive power of love.
— Navigating the Fearful Romantique
This article very eloquently laid out my own conflicting feelings on the romance genre, and I’d highly recommend you give it a read.
Even though there is a love story pulsing at the heart of The Essence of the Equinox, I wouldn’t say I was a romance fan. I am, in fact, bitingly and irredeemably cynical. But I do enjoy love stories. Epic ones. Tragic ones. Full of grandiose emotions and eroticism and even a good dose of toxicity. As the quote above mentions, fear and desire are often tightly interwoven. Even the physiological responses of desire can also be present in fear. That’s something I enjoy playing with as Laila embarks on her relationships with occassi throughout the series. Laila fears the occassi but she also desires them, she is always aware of the ways they can harm her but she is also allured by their power.
The sweetness of the cruel is a greater sweetness, once said Hélène Cixous. And I think that beautifully explains the contradictions in the relationships Laila has with Dominus and later Darius, who both hurt her and shelter her at various points. I wanted to be able to explore those feelings in my own way, to truly dissect the allure of the monstrous and analyse the feelings they bring in me. Both the confusion it inspires, and the understanding.
With Darius in particular, he’s the monster who wears a prince’s face. Someone you don’t see coming because he’s so polished, so polite, always says his pleases and thank yous at tea time before he leaves to go and commit his atrocities. He’s the one I fear even more than Dominus, because of the fluidity with which he takes on both personas and shapeshifts seamlessly between them. I feel confident I could avoid a Dominus, but a Darius could worm his way into your circle until it’s too late once the mask starts to slip.
Ready to enter Vysteria?
When the Stars Alight is the first novel in The Essence of the Equinox, my completed gothic fantasy trilogy about a star-born princess, the future king of demons and a love affair that collides with politics, power and the fate of their worlds.
Start with When the Stars Alight →
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Previous: #1 — Why I Chose a Gaslamp Fantasy Setting: Tradition vs Change
Next: #3 — What Would Female Freedom Look Like? Creating the Solarites
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