aristasian fiction
Aristasian Fiction
While some of the stories here don't contain truly disturbing themes, many do - keep that in mind. Be aware that some (separate from the rest) include depictions of corporal punishment.
As befits a complicated 'verse like Aristasia, there's been a lot of fiction written over the years. It, IMHO, varies widely in quality, but you can definitely see shifts within the movement here. Stories were a huge part of Aristasia-in-Telluria. If you compare older works like Children of the Void to (much later books like Goldenhead, the differences are large and best seen for yourself
And, yes, I realize that when you clicked on this page, you might've been expecting anything from science fiction stories to outright erotica. Well, there's none of the latter, and actually much more of the former.
Don't get me wrong, and I'm unsure quite how this ended up happening. Early works are very discipline-focused, but there's almost none of that in some of the later stories and books. At a certain point, the concept got dropped entirely and suddenly.
This made me happy, but angered a few other ladies involved in Aristasia, and even more male onlookers, of course, who had latched onto the press's mistaken notion that it was a "lesbian sex cult". Anyways I'll be separating this list of fiction into two; the first contains fiction with normal themes, while the second lists those stories which contain maids being slapped around by their mistresses for random infractions to "purify" them or whatever.
Read whichever you fancy, I guess. If you can, though, to truly understand Aristasia, its disturbing aspects and how it transformed over the years, read both the older punishment stories and the more recent stories from the time of my involvement. The discipline stories seem to romanticize brainwashing at times, but we also have things like The Dream Key written so much later. Peculiar.
In any case, all links point to the Internet Archive's archived version of the material in question, a snapshot of a story crystalized in time. In any case, this site strongly discourages piracy of materials that are still in print for legal reasons. For material still in publication, a link to the Amazon page is provided.
Petite note: This page only includes Aristasian fiction and lectures that contain substantial Aristasia Pura lore. If you are interested in material that focuses more on Tellurian (IRL) topics, please visit this page.
Stories Without Discipline
- A Speech Lesson, by Regina Snow was an extract from Children of the Void. Gives you a good idea of what that book is like, and discusses the Aristasian (rather judgmental and catty, IMHO) approach to accents and speech. Kind of grossed me out at the time, but didn't show up much.
- Strangers in Paradise, by Alice Lucy Trent features human police officers that end up in Aristasia. Does not focus on discipline, but shows how Aristasia Pura was viewed early on. Unfinished, but written in the late 1990s and intriguing.
- A Maid's Duty, authorship unknown. A human teenager comes to Aristasia to attend school and has trouble adjusting - there are actual references to what can only be called brainwashing exercises in this story. The Aristasians, IMHO, don't really make it easy for her. Archived in 2011, but I read it much earlier, probably in the early 2000s. I haven't read it in totality since, and don't believe it was finished.
- The Adventure of the Crystal Staff, author unknown. Originally, there were references in other Aristasian material to a famous fictional detective in Aristasia Pura. This character, Lady Carleon, sounded a bit like Sherlock Holmes. The Adventure of the Crystal Staff is actually a neat little cozy mystery story in another world (Aristasia Pura). The writing is markedly similar, yet the themes so different, than earlier works. Likely dates from the late 2000s? IDK for sure.
- The Dream Key, author unknown. Another wonderfully cozy story with no discipline-yness, quite a bit of (seasonal! feastive!) worldbuilding, and a lovely young main character. It's about a young girl in Aristasia Pura and her experiences of the winter holiday, Nativity - we learn about, for example, the Star Fairy that brings children presents. It's hard to believe this story takes place within (what was) the world of The District Governess but I guess it doesn't, in a way.
- Goldenhead, or Bodies and Avatars, by Annalinde Matichei. The description given at the book's 2011 launch read something like "They say imaginary friends aren't real. But who stands with you when you lose your physical body?" An isekai of sorts involving space travel and an all-girl world coded as Aristasia. There isn't any discipline, but it does deal with some tough topics, actually, and is an interesting story. I like this one best, and while I cannot understand some of the conclusions it seems to push, the conversation is interesting.
- The Flight of the Silver Vixen, by Annalinde Matichei. I read this one, but it was years ago? It was published on Kindle in 2011 alongside Goldenhead, yet I'd read parts of it sent to mailings lists and such. It was written, or at least begun, in the very early days of Aristasia being online. It's about some Aristasian teenagers who steal an experimental spacecraft and get into political trouble after zooming off into space. Lotsa worldbuilding too. It was never resolved, but seemed to be planned to cross over with Goldenhead.
Stories With Discipline
- The Feminine Regime, by Regina Snow features characters within a lavish and feminine secret community, among other things, bringing a new girl into the group (ie, brainwashing, I do now see). It features a lot of, yes, physical discipline. I haven't read it in its entirety because of that. Didn't seem like erotica or anything, though. Published in 1995.
- The District Governess, by Regina Snow. Pubished in 1996, this is a series of vignettes featuring "district governesses" and others applying physical punishment to wayward maids in Aristasia Pura. Again, didn't interest me much, but there's some early worldbuilding. I didn't read it wholly, and though I read most of it, that was many years ago - it's rather dull and hard to stomach if one isn't a fan of spanks and smacks.
- Children of the Void, by Regina Snow was presented at its original publication (1996) as an, at least, semi-accurate depiction of Aristasia IRL. This book features depictions of Aristasian "life theatre" (roleplay) from the 1990s. There is a huge focus on discipline, but later press from the group would say that this was just emphasized to attract readers. Sure, Jan. Again, it interested me insofar as it was implied to be how offline Aristasians actually lived during the early 1990s. Was that true? Who knows?
Audiobooks
There's bits of life theatre and stories recorded as audio files. I'm including them here in a little audioplayer, as well as links to their Archive pages. Since they come from after Aristasia gave that up, none of these are discipline-related. I think there might be some files circulating of the 1-900 number "Audio Dreams" the Wildfire Club produced in the 1990s, but I've not found any of those that are actually intelligible/audible, and they likely would be inappropriate anyways.
The sort of audio fiction below was typical of what I was exposed to within Aristasia. All of the songs are hotlinked from Archive.org's Aristasia category, which, they surprisingly allow. This may mean the player loads a bit slowly, but you can download the songs directly from Archive if you'd like.
Please note that this doesn't include lectures, which you'll find here, instead. There's also some Aristasian music collected herelistable of the listenables
- The Adventure of the Crystal Staff - Golden Order Press. A detective story featuring a religious relic that vanishes under mysterious circumstances.
- The Legend of Sai Rayanna: Part One - Golden Order Press. Tells the Aristasian story of Sai Rayanna, the Daughter of the Sun incarnate. Part two didn't get saved?
- On Sai Rayanna Day - Lhi Raya Chancandre Aquitaine. A sermon on the Aristasian holiday known as Sai Rayanna Day, emphasizing her importance within the mythology.
- Facts and Manners - Lhi Raya Chancandre Aquitaine. A lecture addressing topics like marriage, social structure, etc. in Aristasia Pura.