In a previous post, I talked how in Chains of the Sciell: Book 2 of The Merging Worlds Trilogy, some people have left larger cities to form communities off the grid. I’ve established how these new communities are possible, what most of them look like and what their daily life is like.
Now, I need plants.
Living off the grid means people no longer have access to hospitals or corner stores. How do they treat illness and injuries? What happens if someone gets a headache or stomach pain? There’s no Advil. How do they season food? They can’t go to the grocery store and stock up on rosemary and garlic.
At first, I started researching herbal remedies.Then, I thought about it. This is fantasy. I don’t need to rely entirely on established plants. I can’t really since my books take place in a world different from ours. For seasonings, I just make words up until it sounds like something. Not make something up all together. The herbs and spices are related to places.
“Fire roasted lamb seasoned with garlic, flewlling herbs and pall pepper. Rice cooked in chicken and onion broth. Ena peas with small bits of pork”
You might already have areas named. A way to create a new plant is to attach a place to something ordinary to create, for example, dija grass.
Originally from the Dijain forest in the south of Terian, these thin green herbs sprinkled on any dish adds a subtle sweetness to it.
It does help to have a working knowledge of actual herbs and spices. I know how to cook, so that helps a lot. If you don’t know how to cook, consider taking a class or asking a friend to teach you. Also, try a Google search for “herbs and spices”.
Green Cuisine: A to Z of Herbs & Spices
Better Home and Gardens: Herbs
If you’ve read any fantasy book set in a fictitious world, you’ll notice not all the plants are made up. I don’t want to reinvent the wheel. In terms of spices, most of them in Chains of the Sciell will be the same as those in our world.
However, I do want to have fun with my plants. Recently, I’ve started going into the park to take pictures of unique looking plants to include in my book.
I’ve been having fun giving them names and assigning medical purposes to them.
Red Fingers (it’ll have a second name, one representative of its country of origin): mixing it in food helps with upset stomachs.
As usual, I’ve created a Pinterest board to keep track of my plants.
Follow Auden’s board Sciell: plants on Pinterest.
One way to go about this is to list what you need plants for- pain killer, fertility, bubbling stomach, headache, lotion, wound cleaner… Go over your list and start assigning a plant to each entry. I’m trying that out. I’ll let you know how it goes.
This generator would help as well. It gives you plants.You’ll have to give the plant a purpose.
Random Plant Generator
