'thul's story project...

[fool-ish]

It all sounds quite intriguing, though I don't quite understand Wulg's problem with understanding the difference between male and female. Were there no females around when he was growing up, other than his mother? And I'd have thought with him being part-wolf (wolven, good name!) he would have strong instincts regarding the opposite sex? Perhaps he should be just wary rather than confused? Unless you intend to create a gay character or even an asexual type? Or someone who's born to be a warrior and forsakes all else to that end? Well you did say to comment! I feel like I'm picking on poor Wulg now, though!

I think I've just about grasped the different types of beings, clans etc. and where they are based. An interesting mix and even more so if they can co-exist, though I suspect there will be conflict too! And there be dragons! I will need an appendix

['thul]

You make good points about him. The notes for Wulg are still rough, and will probably change once he actually gets some text. 'thul will have to figure out something to explain why he has no experience with women, but part of the reason will be slight fear of being rejected by them. Slow maturation on that front might also be an element. Wolves don't have the same courting rituals that humans have, so even with a lot of wolves to be around, the females there would not be able to offer him useful advice.
One thing is certain though... he's meant to be heterosexual. 'thul cannot reliably write a homsexual character, having little true knowledge about how such people think and act. The idea of his uncertainty is that its not going to be reasonable. Oh, and the warrior type you described makes no sense from the sense of getting genes to survive. It may be that the evolutionary overdrive has purged such traits from existence. Though it naturally hasn't been decided, it would not be surprising if some strong female character came along and gobbled him up. 'thul learned to respect strong female characters from the books by David & Leigh Eddings.

A rough layout of where the different species will be found on the map can be put like this:
Dragons are mostly in mountains, though they fly everywhere.
The settled live underground, mostly in cities (Holds and deeps) placed on map as polygons with a dot in the middle or dot surrounded by multiple circles.
The Packs stick to forests. They live mostly everywhere, but have permanent settlements that are populated on semi-permanent basis spread evenly throughout each forest.
The Nomads essentially live on the move, everywhere that is not marked off as mountains, forests or water. They quite simply don't have permanent settlements, and as such are problematic to place on the map.
The Taken live with dragons, northwest part of map.

Nomads form tribes.
Packs form packs.
Settled form clans.
Dragon society is still under construction, but when sent out by leaders, they fly in flights. typically numbering from about 7-20 dragons. (sole flight written in yet had 11)

The next faction that will be fleshed out is the Taken, for they are needed for the story now. Dragons will naturally be fleshed out with them.

If you wish to see the rough notes for some of the additional characters, you can look here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?...GgtZjB6blE
Note that they are subject to change and may prove lacking in personality. Feel free to point out flaws in them. And if you see some sort of character style that fits to another character, don't hesitate to suggest. It might not fit in the overall plan as a single character, but traits will certainly be used somehow if the suggestion isn't used in one piece. Accepting help is something 'thul have learned. Several of the female characters probably have (or will have) flaws that anyone female could spot, yet are unnoticeable to 'thul.

[fool-ish]

I'll get back to reading your notes soon. Right now, I'm seriously pondering something, so a trip to a certain other forum is in order! Back in a bit!

['thul]

might that forum relate to some sort of song? both warm and cold?


'thul continued writing a bit today, polishing much of dragon society.
They figured out why dragons stopped waging war on humanity quite a while before the story starts... that halt had long been annoying to 'thul. It made no sense till today.
Dragons in their world, like in RotE, don't exactly crawl before each other. not if they have any choice in the matter. Apparently in the truly ancient times, dragons had a ruler. No idea exactly what made this ruler unique, what he (or she) looked like or anything like that. but the ruler kept the dragons focused on the human problem. With its death, dragon society splintered and none could agree with the others long enough to do anything major about their human problem.

[fool-ish]

might that forum relate to some sort of song? both warm and cold?


'thul continued writing a bit today, polishing much of dragon society.
They figured out why dragons stopped waging war on humanity quite a while before the story starts... that halt had long been annoying to 'thul. It made no sense till today.
Dragons in their world, like in RotE, don't exactly crawl before each other. not if they have any choice in the matter. Apparently in the truly ancient times, dragons had a ruler. No idea exactly what made this ruler unique, what he (or she) looked like or anything like that. but the ruler kept the dragons focused on the human problem. With its death, dragon society splintered and none could agree with the others long enough to do anything major about their human problem.

How did you guess? A crackpot theory methinks. But that's another tale. Ok, back to 'thul's story..

[fool-ish]

Well now, an interesting set of characters...you've got quite an imagination going on there! They appear to be well thought out and when they come together or clash it will make for an interesting tale indeed. Well done you!

Now forgive me, but speaking of coming together, I'm still attempting to get my head round Deken 'experimenting' with Kel and her producing several eggs..him being a dragon proper and her being well, not! That'll make for a *pick your chin up off the floor* moment if it's written about in any detail! Of course, it could all have been done via something similar to the turkey baster method, I suppose! Sorry, I'm being silly now Pay no attention!

One or two more ramblings:

I can't gauge how tall people are in metric...I'm still working in feet and inches! Help me out here please!

Is the 'Faith' a celibate calling? I assume so as most religious groups in this genre are. Though it would be a refreshing change for them to be able to have relationships. I think I'm thinking of that poor venom-scarred lass (she is of the 'Faith' isn't she?!)

I like the idea of burgundy/maroon eyes and the dark/black ones.

I remember mention of one of the wolf-like characters having a slight forward stoop and who would gladly run on all fours. So, do they walk as humans do at all times, despite their wolfy traits?

That's all I can think of for now, but do let me know if you add more characters to your list!

['thul]

well, the character hasn't been written in yet, but 'thul can see why you look oddly at it and misinterpreted it. The idea is that Deken used another taken in his experiments. Essentially forcing them to mate for the purposes of creating offspring. because of their cold-blooded reptilian nature post-change, they have gone from live birth to egg-layers like dragons. Not even in a story would 'thul condone bestiality like a decidedly non-human creature mating with a humanoid.

there's a nice tool called "google" for converting such numbers. just type in this:
Convert ___ cm to feet
Anyways, if you round to 30cm to a foot, you're fairly close. 1 inch = 2.54cm.

The faith is not celibate. 'thul feel that forced celibacy in the priesthood is the perfect way to breed faith out of a population. After all, those most devout will become priests. Thus, if the most devout are forbidden from breeding, then the genes of the most devout will not pass on. And over a few generations, devoutness will be noticeably reduced.

Since there, as of yet, are no gods or such, its not so much a religious priesthood in the common sense of it. It is closer to a group of people devoutly opposing dragonkind and working towards ending their interference with humanity.

The venom-scarred girl is of the Faith, yes. Not used beyond a couple of spots yet, but that might change.

The wolven are habitual quadrupeds. They normally move on two legs, but have a habit of running on all fours.
The Taken are somewhat opposite, moving mostly on all fours, but fully capable of moving on two legs if instructed to do so.
'thul added one more character to the list now, a single member of the Taken, the one that actually has been written in.

['thul]

points of view are an very interesting thing... in 'thul's little story, its not unusual for it to suddenly switch from 1st to 3rd, particularly when covering large chunks of time.

I regret I haven't been keeping up with your story project, 'thul. Does the first person narrator stay the same throughout, or does it shift? How big are these chunks of time? Months, years, lifetimes?

No problem, 'thul haven't been writing today, or most of yesterday, due to needing to plan more of what will happen there.

Currently its mainly focused in around two pairs of characters, shifting at need.

Typically the narrative chunks tend to cover several years... Like when a character is aging from around 12-13 to 21. It would be possible to write all those years, but that would take a lot of time and fill in lots of details unneeded for the story itself.

[Farseer]

I would join in but my heart and mind is swimming in The Plenty and floating in The Lack at present...and will likely remain so until I have CoD in hand and then have finished it. You know the drill...a horse cannot wear two saddles, and all that...

After that though, I'll be here to check out this fine-looking thread in detail!

['thul]

Most excellent. These beings will await that. And continue Planning/writing.