HHB worldbuilding questions/comments thread

[Lily of Archenland]

(So, I was listening to the Focus on the Family Radio Theater presentation this evening, and just had some questions/comments stick out in my head. Anybody want to either answer or add some ideas to the pile, feel welcome. )

-Are “all Calormens” actually dark-skinned? Because you would think that if that were the case, then a) NOBODY would buy Arsheesh’s line about Shasta being his son, not just the Tarkaan Anradin, and b) Shasta’s appearance would be a giant beacon for anybody looking for Anradin’s new property. “Oh, it’s the one Northern boy in the countryside.” Also, “accursed but beautiful barbarians of the North,” from a Calormen nobleman to a Calormen fisherman? Southern beauty-standards don’t exclude the appearance associated with the Northern countries.
-How much of Calormen culture has Shasta been picking up? He makes a big show of how he’s Not Bothered by stories of ghouls in the tombs, how “you don’t have to say that now” about the ceremonial follow-up to the Tisroc’s name – but he’s been living here all of his life. What assumptions is he bringing to life when he goes “home”? Do we have any clashes with the people around him on that one? (Yes, I know there are at least a couple of talented fanfiction writers who have already taken on that last one. ^_^)
-The Horses’ names. Bree was called something all these years – but he introduces himself by a phrase Shasta isn’t able to pronounce, that he doesn’t know Shasta can’t pronounce – a name he hasn’t heard since he was a Foal. Aravis still thinks of Hwin as her property on some level – giving her orders and expecting obedience, referring to her as “my mare” – but she calls her Hwin. A syllable we already know is used in Narnian Horse names, because it is also in Bree’s. Not whatever name she was calling her “property” before a mare who was a Mare refused to stand by and outed her identity as a Talking Beast rather than let her “owner” commit suicide.
-Bree thinks of himself as a war-horse, and expects to continue being the same in Narnia. He still wants to fight, still wants to use his training, and wants to claim it for himself – to fight for someone he wants to fight for, not someone who is making him fight. A) Who all is Calormen fighting? B) Is there any military effort for him to be joining in Narnia right now – against Giants (That would be a change of pace from human armies!) or other nearby countries—or is he going to need to adjust to being a War Horse with no wars?
-“A fine blood mare” – “then you can call me a cobb”—are there ranking for Horse-breeds in Narnia, or is Bree defaulting on some level to thinking of himself and Hwin through a lens of what market value horses have in Calormen?

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

Skin Colour:
I'll be calling Shasta "white", though he was most likely very much tanned. Whether or not this would help him blend in with the darker-skinned culture around him, his blonde hair would still be quite distinctive and non-Calormene, so the point of calling him "white" will still stand.
I know Arsheesh called him his blood-son in talking with Anradin, but I doubt anyone actually thought Shasta was Arsheesh's flesh and blood, between Shasta's being white and Arsheesh never having married. At any rate, no one in the village would be fooled since they'd all know him, maybe even knew about Shasta's having come in a boat.
As for an obvious white slave, perhaps it would not have been so obvious. From VDT, we know that the Calormenes will buy anybody; so the only question would be whether or not they were doing so at the time of HHB. White slaves might not be as common as others, but perhaps common enough to not make Shasta stick out so badly. After all, Aravis didn't react to Shasta's being white and actually assumed he was a slave who stole his master's horse when she first met him.
Perhaps there are fairer Calormenes, especially amongst the elite who go about shaded in the sun and any who are a result of a mixed parentage, but I've assumed that even these will be darker than the white Northerners. And perhaps the Calormenes don't believe skin colour plays into beauty or perhaps they recognize non-Calormenes to possess a different kind of beauty, sort of in an exotic way.

Culture:
Perhaps Shasta didn't hear much about ghouls? Or he was just putting up a front to save face since Bree poked fun at him so much and Aravis was such a snob?
He did correct Bree about omitting "may-he-live-forever" at first and perhaps he had to work to break that habit.
Archenland would have had to have given him huge culture shock for sure though.

Horses:
I hadn't thought of Aravis calling Hwin by her true name! That's cool.

[Lily of Archenland]

Skin color:
Point on the tan.
I hadn't thought of the possibility that the skin/hair might have been a slave-class marker in Aravis' eyes. I was assuming it was more tattered clothes/is speaking in a less-educated way in addition to the fact that he was out at night on an expensive horse and nervous! :p

Culture:
I was also thinking about stuff like - does it take awhile for him to get used to Narnians' only worshiping Aslan, even though they've got literal "gods" of other kinds around, coming from a nation where multiple gods are worshiped? Is it a surprise, at all, that Archenland/Narnia don't use slaves? He was surprised about the butter he was served at the Red Dwarves' place, because he was used to oil being used on bread instead - are there any other really common ingredients in Narnia which are "what is this stuff" to the Calormen palette, or Calormen ingredients which Just Aren't Used Like That in Narnia? Would Archenlanders be shocked to realize that Shasta is used to people being hit/threatened by their social superiors?

Horses:
First-time realization for me, too. ^_^

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

Skin Colour:
That was my thought too until I started typing my response.

Culture:
Ah, yes. Hadn't thought too much about the culture shock even though I knew it'd be there. Hmm....

[hansgeorg]

I was also thinking about stuff like - does it take awhile for him to get used to Narnians' only worshiping Aslan, even though they've got literal "gods" of other kinds around, coming from a nation where multiple gods are worshiped? Is it a surprise, at all, that Archenland/Narnia don't use slaves?

THAT I think Bree had time to go through with him during the weeks before they met Aravis.

Plus, as a fisherman's son/stepson, he would not have been very deeply involved in either slavery or Calormene worship.

I don't say not at all, he may very well have been at some Pagan feast in the village and may well have sold fish to slaves of someone not coming himself.

He was surprised about the butter he was served at the Red Dwarves' place, because he was used to oil being used on bread instead - are there any other really common ingredients in Narnia which are "what is this stuff" to the Calormen palette, or Calormen ingredients which Just Aren't Used Like That in Narnia?

Probably beer and potatoes are as surprising. Perhaps mushrooms, though delicious, too.

I have noted in real life "counterparts" (Muslim immigrants being that culturally, though not quite religiously) an aversion to mushrooms. It seems they have not picked up our trick of knowing edible ones by brown lamellae.

These things, for one thing Bree as a horse would not have been able to taste while in Narnia, and for another thing even if he knew of them at all, he would have thought it less important than simply going through "the Narnian catechism" (river gods aren't worshipped, Aslan is, slaves are a no no*).

Would Archenlanders be shocked to realize that Shasta is used to people being hit/threatened by their social superiors?

If King Lune was true to the teachings of his ancestor King Frank, pretty certainly, except perhaps for very juvenile apprentices spilling the ingredients for the next cake or cheese they were carrying, or sth. And even then not roughly, rather like the slap Shasta received for "playing the truant".

* As they were in France back in Europe, even while they existed in French colonies, during the monarchy. Benjamin Franklin was taking or giving advice on what slave to take along to France, the advice was, a young and timid one not knowing French, since in France he could have legally claimed freedom from the moment he set foot on French soil. Under Louis XV France had slaves in places like Louisiana or Caribbean, but not in France itself, no no.

[hobbit_of_narnia]

Those are good points, Hans.
The only thought I had was concerning the multiple-gods issue. Arsheesh never really came across as a sincerely religious person. So I don't assume that Shasta was too well-learned in them either, and I don't imagine he would have been too fond of the Calormene deities anyway. And after Aslan's conversion with him on the pass into Narnia I don't suppose he'd have too much of a problem adjusting.

[hansgeorg]

Arsheesh might have been using some of them as luck charms, and if certain ones he did not believe in, actually, for one thing I think Shasta disagreed ("or even of a god"), and for another thing, Arsheesh would certainly have been practical enough to know about gods others were worshipping.

One can hope that worshipping Tash was not too much done among simple folks in the most direct ways.

IN Norse Paganism, worshipping Oden or Tyr (Woden and Tewes) was more or less restricted to nobility, while commoners concentrated on Frey (possibly) and Thor (certainly). As patrons of good growth - and weather.

One can certainly imagine sth similar was going on in Calormen.

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

Huh, I didn't know that, Hans! I hadn't thought of that, though I have been musing about patron gods for a while.

[hansgeorg]

Off-topic : what were your own musings about patron gods?

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

Well, I haven't put immense amounts of thought into it, and I've also only really thought of patron gods in the context of the Temple of Tash in Tashbaan (for a fanfiction I might eventually actually get written).
One thought involved the presentation of all non-Tash deities: I think it was in the British Museum that I saw people-shaped pillars from... I want to say Greece, but it could have been Rome. Anyway, that got me thinking about pillars of Calormene gods holding up the Temple of Tash, leading up to the holy of holies, where the statue of Tash would be.
And I was also thinking about how children could be put into service in the temple (like the boys who train to be Buddhist monks or the temple girls in India) and perhaps even these, though serving in the Temple of Tash could be dedicated to particular gods, like an offering to gain said gods' favour.
Stuff like that.