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Questions and Answers Een gek kan meer vragen
I hope it will never be complete. When it is complete, I will loose a hobby. More than that, a world that is ready and fully explored, doesn’t hold any mysteries. And a world without mysteries, that is just boring. The reason for exploring other lands (Luban, Dernian Landis) is that the attitude towards other cultures says a lot about the Dalethian culture... so by working on other realms I am working on Daleth as well.
The first mental sketches of this world I made a very long time ago (so long ago I can't even remember). They became more alive and outlined in the mid 80s, when it got more or less the form it has now. It must be since 1983, 1984 or so I do collect material for the world. The homepage was established in 2000.
The design is supposed to be a bit like a door (Daleth, in Hebrew) of rusty iron, steel and wood - a mixture of natural and industrial materials. Through the door you see the darkness (or space) of Daleth.
No, apart from someone who can tell me and correct the mistakes and errors in my English, and apart from people to test the technics of the site, I don't want any help. This project is the only thing in the world I truly can call mine, it is so precious to me I don't want anyone to get involved and take parts of it out off my hands and out off my influence. It gives me some confidence I made it all by myself - it shows I am able to create something unique without the help of others (who always told me I couldn't). This is my presentation, my world and this is how I want it to be.
Frankly, I can think of nothing better than use my imagination and create something of utter beauty and splendour. What else should I do? Fill out taxforms? Kicking a ball with a dozen others? Collect stamps? Main reason I am building a world is that I would go insane if I didn't. Take my world from me and I loose my life. If it is all meaningless in the end, who cares - so is life. It's not that I am planning to make a living out of it - it is life for me!
Well, yeah... I have never had the idea "Hey, let's make a steampunk world!" Daleth just happened to me and it turned out it was what it now is. Someone put the label "steampunk" on it, which suited good. Then another said "steamworld", which is just as good. But on the other hand, the early 19th century I am referring to didn't have that much steam - especially not in rural areas. It is not a traditional steampunk world at all, but I noticed those who like steampunk like Daleth so I'd rather stick with it. I would prefer gothic world because that covers it for me, but then the 'gothic movement' has hijacked that word which would give it a wrong impression of leather clad pale weirdos listening to loud satanic music (which is, of course, not even what the goth movement is about). But don't expect steam powered robots and aether zeppelins in my world. More on Steampunk can be found at the Gothic Steam Phantastic website.
This question as a few answers: One, it is illegal to use pictures that are under copyright if you don't have the approval of the artists. Second, they aren't mine and thus do not fit too well in this world. And third, I like my own pictures better.
I use a dictionary from the nineteen-fifties This might explain some weird words. However, I picked them with care, trying to get the feeling of the word as close to the world as possible. Of course, there are all kinds of spelling- and grammar-errors as well as ordinary typos and in some cases just a dutchism. Which means I jotted down the word I had in mind because I was thinking in Dutch ;-) Please don't be offended. If I need to remove all errors from the texts I need quite some extra lives.
Hell, no. To get good ideas I need a lot of health, spare time and fresh air. The ideas come from shards of thoughts, from misread books and funny ideas of the earth's history by scientists from other times, and sometimes dreams. Although being a bit high might be a natural state with me ;-)
A question like this pops up regulary on the WB-forum. My answer is always somewhat like this: The past is always seen through the eyes of the present. Therefore, I only describe Daleth in the present. All parts about the history are the way how the Dalethians see their past now. The future only consists of wishes. The same goes for foreign cultures, they are seen throught the eyes of the Dalethians. |