Help with a description of Melniboné

[Astaroth]

Hi!
I am writing a story with a friend of mine for a roleplaying game.
Since we actully use Elric's story and have the players be apart of it, I need a direct description of Melniobonأ©.
How do the houses look and everything else.
I guess icould take it out of the book but I don't seem to find anything,so please help me someone?

[MissDreamy]

There's a good description of Imrryr in 'The Dreaming City' I think - not Melnibone, but as close as you're going to get with the architecture. It's the part where Elric and Cymoril go riding (I think)... Less houses, more towers, all pastel shades - a place of beauty.

...Sigh, what a great scene.

MD

[Wizard]

Is it so important? I mean it is not matter how you pronounce it. Just enjoy the books)))

Just remember that Elric is albino... And nothing else matters... :)
Just kidding)))))

[MissDreamy]

I think he needs help with a role playing game or sommink, Wizard... although I'm in agreement - any chance to pick up the books again!...ooo

Though when I'm reading it to my kids (not that I'm thinking of having any brats at the moment) the pronunciation could be important then... Not that I'm thinking of reading a three year old stories about soul-eating swords, et al! Maybe when they're four, wean them in a bit.... :lol:

[Astaroth]

Thanks for you comments!
Although MissDreamy was the only one who really helped me a little(thx), I would prevour(sp?)knowing a little more if someone doen'st know I will just take the description that was give to me.
But it is a mistery to me.
I don't think there is a tower for every Melnibonأ©an.
I men there are rich and pour people there right?
(Sorry for Spelling its 4 in the morning here.)

[Whiskers]

The towers of Immryr are pastel colors. I envision easter candy colors if you know what I mean. All Melniboneans are wealthy and so one can imagine great builds for all. But they do have a lot of slaves. I cannot imagine a Melnibonean farmer, can you? Nope, they get what they need through trade.

So, if you want houses and inns and that sort of thing, then you'll have to envision those things for yourself. Michael's world building stops at the places where Elric stands. I'm not bullshitting you. The only descriptions of places you get are where the story is taking place. Currency? The best we get is a pocket full of jewels that Moonglum carries around. The only habitation that I can remember some description of is the town where Corum appears in where he meets that prosthetic maker.

Why not use the pastel colors to describe your version of an alternate Melnibone. So the question becomes, what does your Melnibone look like?

[Oren]

Re: Help with a description of Melnibonأ©

Hi!
I am writing a story with a friend of mine for a roleplaying game.
Since we actully use Elric's story and have the players be apart of it, I need a direct description of Melniobonأ©.
How do the houses look and everything else.
I guess icould take it out of the book but I don't seem to find anything,so please help me someone?

You can get Chaosium's "Melnibone: Dragon Isle and Dreaming City" supplement for their Elric! roleplaying game. It's available on Amazon. Or better yet - just use your imagination :D

[Astaroth]

Thanks Oren and Barry!
You wouldn't notice it ,but that was really a great help.
The suggestion with that book is a good one but unfortunetley, I live in little old Germany and it is kind hard to get this book here.
It seems I will have to take the candy colored towers.

[Michael Moorcock]

OK. You should know something about my preferred method of writing, which may also go some way to explain the Jerry Cornelius stories. I believe in tweeking the reader's imagination -- in fact trying to stimulate the reader's imagination so that they invent their own version of things.
The idea of producing some sort of Guide Book to Melnibone is a bit at odds with that belief, as you can -- um -- imagine. I believe that people have richer imaginations than they often suppose, so what I'm trying to do is not impose a vision on the reader but offer, if you like, a means of reflection. To produce a hard and fast description of any of my worlds would be at odds with that. Malleability is the essence of the multiverse. Certainly the role playing books provide a lot of that and I don't mind people playing their own games, making up their own ideas and so on (though I draw the line at straight theft of MY ideas and characters!). For me the act of writing is one long collaboration with my readers.
I know that Tolkien had a taste for this sort of thing, but then he was an academic with a lot of time on his hands and it's what he really liked to do. I'm simply not that kind of writer. Indeed, temperamentally, I'm almost the opposite of that kind of writer. This harmless fun of Tolkien's, unfortunately, has produced a taste for pre-packaged worlds which in my view are inclined to dampen some kinds of imagination. To me that kind of fantasy is on a par with the crossword puzzle type of detective story, which bores me to bits. It's all sub-literary activity. As some readers will know, my editing of New Worlds was for people who don't have much taste for that sort of sub-literary activity. Such as learning Klingon. It's fun, but it's fairly primitive fiction.
My preference would be for readers to create their own characters and, if they like, their own millieux.

[Michael Moorcock]

Sorry, I forgot to say -- if you're in Germany you can usually order via Amazon US or Amazon UK (or even Amazon, Germany), if you have a credit card. This sometimes help you avoid heavy import price hikes.
I'm not unsympathetic to importers, but they have expenses Amazon doesn't have and so the best deal is usually at Amazon, if it's in print and hard to get in the country you live in.

[Michael Moorcock]

Sorry about this -- more haste less speed -- but I meant to add that the Simonson version of Melnibone will be there for all to see come Sept 22 when the first book of the four goes out. This actually does touch quite a lot on the history of Melnibone, but mainly through her transition from the home of 'good' guys to the citadel of a cruel empire. Melnibone, though not coloured as I might have coloured it, has been very well done, I think, and tries to avoid the conventions of fantasy world building...
It's not mediaeval, for instance, or 'Celtic' or 'Norse'...

[Astaroth]

Maybe your right. It is not an original idea just putting them there to live an others adventure. Instead go somewhere where the books didn't go.
Give them description inspired but not made by you.
I think I got the idea and before forgetting the story I have made up in my head, I will attend to writing it on piece of paper.
Thanks for opinion and suggestion!
Oh by the way the characters that are played are unique.

[Doc]

For what my opinion is worth...

As I was reading what MM wrote about tweaking readers' imaginations, it reminded me of why I like his work better than most. Too many authors want to do all of the work for you by describing everything in great detail. For me, much of the fun in reading comes from filling in the details myself. That is what engages me the most, and makes me feel like I'm interacting with a story, instead of just passively absorbing it. I think a great experience often comes when a writer gives you just enough to let you turn your imagination loose.

My random thoughts on a Friday morning...

[Wizard]

MissDreamy, you reading Michael's books to your children? It's great, I think.
It is a pity, that anybody didn't read them to me, when I was 3 years old))) :roll:

[Michael Moorcock]

My bank manager started reading my books to his son not that long after he was born! I begin to worry what sort of strange children this is
going to create!