Some time ago I mentioned I’d give a novel to the site. I’m ready to break ground on that novel, starting with the core conflict as I see it now. Of course, in all writing a project does evolve over its lifespan, so what you see here are the first baby steps of a plot.
Okay, I’m done qualifying.
The novel is a world story, so the world itself and the changes that unfold is a focal part of the story. We see this change through two primary focal characters who are both people out of place.
The first, Elin is not of the race of man. He is a being of another kind (still unnamed–haven’t found anything that feels right). His kind are avatars of a much older race, and the magic of the world flows through his veins, warping him and giving him a visage that immediately sets him apart from others. He is only able to hide this because of the reluctant help he receives from the Thane’s mage. The mage casts a glamour on Elin so he may walk among men, but that glamour–all magic really–has devastating effects on his body and his mind. He is often wracked with pain and vivid dreams that are, in a sense, premonitory, but are so layered in symbolism that it is impossible for him to decipher the dreams. Of course, he will need to decipher the dreams at some point in the story in order to advance the story.
Tharsis Drennan is the second character. He is also a man out of place. An orphan, adopted by the man who murdered his parents, Tharsis was raised around royalty and born to grasp the mantle of Knighthood. He is not meant to walk among the Paladin, the Kings holiest of knights, because to take the blood bond would prove that he is not of the blood of the people and would ensure his death and his father’s ruin. Yet, his prowess as a warrior and as a military commander has caught the eye of the crown and Tharsis is being shoved towards the path of the Paladin–a path he is honor bound and name bound not to refuse.
My story centers around a murder that pits these two characters against each other to uncover the culprit before an even darker truth emerges and plunges the world into a chaos it may never recover from.