His name is Gideon Novak. Most people call him Deon.
This is Deon's story - the tale of a man very far from home. It's also the story of Zastra, an elf who's...a little more than what she appears to be.
Our tale takes place in the world of Tianan. I'm not entirely satisified with that name, so it's subject to change. I'm open to suggestions. 'Tianan' is derived from the Mandarin phrase 'Heavenly Peace' - but it's also part of the name 'Tiananmen' (Heavenly Peace Gate). As in 'Tiananmen Square'. And all the political irony thereof. I like my allusions, you see.
Anyway. Before the start of the story, Tianan was a fairly standard fantasy world. D&D, Tolkein, that sort of thing. Swords and sorcery, feudal governments, and magic as a background fact of life.
The world is populated by a few fantasy races. Elves, dwarves, trolls, orcs, and so on.
However, and this is important, there are no humans. The widespread ubiquitous role played by humans in most fantasy settings...instead falls on the elves. They're the most common species, and in this setting, not particularly long-lived. There's a few varieties of elf, including the so-called "dark-elves"... but they're pretty much just, well, the elven version of black folks. It's not like everyone has blond hair and blue eyes, 'know.
There is a certain amount of racial discrimination against dark-elves in some parts of the world. A minor plot point - Zastra is pretty much a caucasian elf, and she has that bias.
Anyway, a human turning up...would be referred to as an elf with funny ears. Deon gets this a lot.
There are no hobbits or halflings, either. No such race. This is also significant.
Most of the major races have a nation-state of some kind, or are at the very least regional.
There's several elf-dominated countries, including an Elven Empire (which I haven't yet named) - though it's probably better to describe it as a Theocracy. Religion and the Priesthood used to hold power there, with the royals pretty much figureheads. Old, stable, traditional. Think Imperial China, crossed with Roman Catholic and British motifs. The Empire was big, powerful, and the proverbial giant gorilla nobody else could ignore...
...these days, it's in decline. But we'll get to that. Zastra is a priestess of the Empire, and the way Deon treats her should make it obvious that, well, he doesn't like them. His annoyance with the Empire had, in the end, rather dire consequences.
No Dwarven Nation to speak of, but rather a bunch of clans mostly tending to their own affairs, though this may change. The orcs and trolls, traditionally the 'dark' races, held sway on the opposite end of the world's major landmass... ie, away from the elf-dominated 'light' nations.
(I'm assuming there's one really big landmass that's settled - there's probably island nations and so on, colonies and suchlike on other continents, but most of the action takes place across what we'd consider Europe and Continental Asia. The 'light' races hold Europe, the 'dark' hold mainland Asia, if it's a decent analogy.)
This is the situation...when it comes to the material world.
There's also Gods in play here.
Two sides of the coin. The Gods of Order, or the Order Gods. They are humanoid entities, worshipped mainly by the elves and dwarves. Chief among them is the Light Goddess Senica, is the patron of the Elven Empire...and plays a rather direct hand in running the place.
Their counterparts are the Gods of Chaos. The Chaos Gods. They have mostly animal forms, with a somewhat more totemic motif. The Dragon God Raksis is the most powerful of the Chaos Gods. They don't have a leader, but Raksis is the leader they don't have. The Chaos Gods don't really have worshippers. Some orcs and trolls venerate them, also some goblins, but the Gods of Chaos don't really care.
This is not a traditional good-and-evil split. Quite intentionally, I'm playing on tropes here.
There's a long-standing Cold War between the two camps. Occasionally, this war gets very very hot indeed.
The Gods of Order claim they are the defenders of civilisation, peace, all that is good and true, and they must save the world from the depraved evil of their counterparts. This theme turns up an awful lot in their theology - in the context of the story, Zastra's the one who quotes bits of this. She's a priestess of Senica, after all.
What the Gods of Chaos feel about this is unrecorded. They don't have priests, and nobody goes around preaching sermons in their favour.
This is where our protagonist comes in.
His name is Gideon Novak, a freelance journalist and computer geek. He comes from Earth, our world. From the present.
One day, he gets rather rudely yanked across dimensions, and thrown into the world of Tianan.
He is told, by the Gods of Order, that he is the one who must save the world. The Forces of Darkness are planning to unleash horrors this world has never seen, he is the chosen one, the hero of destiny...
Yada-yada-yada. You've heard this before.
So he asks them, quite frankly, okay, what the hell do you expect me to do?
And he's told, he must go on a quest, attain an ultimate power, and use it to destroy the Gods of Chaos.
Okay, so, he says, you want me to kill your enemies. Fine.
Then he asks...
If I do this, can I go home?
Because that's his major concern. I WANT TO GO HOME, DAMN YOU.
If I do this, if I win, can I go home?
This is your standard fantasy trope, after all.
Now, the Gods of Order tell him... yes, yes, if you win, the ultimate power you wield will allow you to go home.
But what he discovers, some time later, is that...they lied to him.
He can't go back. Ever. It's impossible.
So.
That's when our story opens.
You've read the opening scene there. With Deon in his apartment, getting up, doing his morning routine. Grabbing coffee, making breakfast, checking e-mail, and so on. In a modern apartment.
Here's the trick. He's not on Earth.
He's still in Tianan.
Subsequently, when he and Zastra leave the apartment... they emerge onto the streets of a modern city. Cars going by, high-rise buildings, traffic lights...
Of course, there's the fact that everyone he passes on the street has pointy ears, or is short and has a beard. Or is tall and green-skinned. And he's still the only human around.
Okay.
It isn't obvious, what he did was...he gained ultimate power, and proceeded to, eventually, destroy the Gods on both sides.
And then he remade the world in his image.
Why?
Because...Deon is selfish. Well. Okay. That's not entirely fair. He's not evil, mind you. But he's not good, and he certainly isn't altruistic.He's got the same 'never say die, I will fight til the end' quality that is standard for all fictional fantasy heroes. He has that determination and bloody-minded drive. But he doesn't have the fluffy noble morals to go with it. What he -wants- is not truth, justice, or peace. What he wants is a comfortable life, in the manner -which he is accustomed to.
He doesn't go for half-measures.
He wants quality coffee. An Internet connection. Comic books. Video games. Flushing toilets. And if they tell him he can't go home...damned if he's going to spend the rest of his life in this backward godforsaken primitive excuse of a world.
So the obvious solution is...change the world.
The thing about the change is... it hasn't affected the memories and personalities of the natives. Just their lives. That is, everyone in Tianan remembers the transition - the day the world changed. Deon likes to keep a low profile, so very few people are aware that he, specifically, is the one... but most people know that somewhere out there, there's a man called Godslayer who did all this.
This means that basically, one day, everyone woke up to find themselves in new occupations. Some corrolation between 'before' and 'after', of course.A guardsman becomes a city cop. A tavern keeper finds himself the manager of a coffee bar. A well-known bard, now a rock musician with record deals. And so on.
But there are people who've slipped through the cracks, as it were. The change is not...complete and all-encompassing. A telltale sign is geography. The shape of the world, continents, borders, mountains, land features, and so on...is the same. More or less. Accounting for things like highways and rail lines. The infrastructure, though, isn't quite up to scratch yet. There's no air travel, at least not yet, and while a lot of...say, small villages were converted into modern oil fields, mining industries, and so on... it doesn't mesh perfectly. Picture something like first-world development and urbanization with third world infrastructure.
(I would appreciate suggestions on possible problems with this setup - issues that could arise, and be discussed in-story. Like Terry Pratchett says, when you're designing a fantasy city, the first thing you need to figure out is how the fresh water gets in, and how the sewage goes out. Trouble is, Deon didn't think about details like that when he uplifted the world. He focused on the end result he wanted - which was a city to live in. So the infrastructure, due to this...is somewhat spotty.)
Anyway.
At this point, Deon basically holds almost all the power once wielded by the Old Gods - the Gods of both Chaos and Order. Mind, he doesn't really do much god-stuff in the story...for all intents and purposes, he is simply an extremely capable battle-mage, and he does get injured, even nearly killed. It's quite possible that most of his power can't be used, since it's invested in holding the world together. Or maybe his true power's still recovering from completely rebooting the universe like that. Only Deon knows for sure.
But if one of the Old Gods is still around - remember what Zastra says about Raksis still being alive - this may endanger everything he's done. He certainly doesn't want his alterations to local reality to unravel.
And that's why our heroes set off on a quest to find, and slay, Raksis.
Or so it appears at first. That's not actually the core conflict of the story. As the introduction makes clear, Deon believes there's something else going on. He's right. Zastra isn't what she appears to be. She has her own agenda, and one that isn't in Deon's best interests.
She isn't lying about Raksis, though. Raksis really is still alive. And he's got his own angle too. Of course, what the last surviving Chaos God is doing...isn't what Zastra claims.
Then again, it's not like Deon believes most of what Zastra is telling him.
The core conflict of this story is between Deon and Zastra. Neither are heroes, not in the traditional sense. They're both plotting rings round each other. For example, Zastra's trying to manipulate Deon. But though she's got a fair bit of contempt for him...she's afraid of him as well. What if he knows she's playing him? But if he does, then why hasn't he killed her yet?
At Valles' suggestion, I'm going to be switching viewpoints. About half the narrative will be from Deon's perspective, the other half from Zastra's. This is important, since the whole subjectivity and 'things aren't what they seem' angle is pretty big here, and it's also important that...
Well, Deon and Zastra aren't perfect lovable figures. But they're not evil, either. They have redeeming qualities. And it's important, though I'm deconstructing the notion of the fantasy hero, that the reader still feel some connection with them.
Deon, for instance, is not a nice guy. That's true. But he is overwhelmingly loyal to those he considers his friends and equals. Of course, there's a slight problem with that...the 'considers his friends and equals' bit.
The eventual 'hero party' of main characters is Deon, Zastra... and adventurers named Ain, Kaige, and Tias.
Towards the end, when someone refers to them as Deon's minions, he says this:-
"No. That's not quite right. Yes, those two..."
(Deon points to Kaige and Tias)
"...they're minions."
(Suddenly, Ain appears behind the person Deon's talking to, and does something very nasty with a knife.)
"She, though...she's my partner."
On the subject of characters...
Deon is the chief protagonist, as should be clear. Glasses, blond hair in a ponytail, brown overcoat with many pockets. Turtleneck, jeans, brown boots. Sardonic smirk. Deon has the confidence and bravery of the standard fantasy hero, who will fight against all odds. What he lacks is the commitment to ideals and justice. This isn't to say that he's evil - he isn't. He does have morals, but his morality is...a theoretical, intellectual thing, rather than something he passionately believes in. He is human, but is often referred to as a lop-eared elf. He is an accomplished battle mage. Well, actually, he's far more than that, but he doesn't advertise the fact. It should be said, at this juncture, that while many consider Deon to be a God... he doesn't. He considers himself a mortal. In fact, as far as he's concerned, the beings he killed to gain power weren't really Gods either, just arrogant bastards using the name.
Zastra is an elf, and the secondary protagonist. Possibly chief antagonist, actually. Classical fantasy priestess impractical garb. Fanservicy. Flowing light blue hair, robes of blue and white. Shy, demure, gets into trouble... but flashes of temper if pushed hard enough. Her shy retiring thing is mostly an act, after all, and she's far smarter and Machiavellian than she lets on. She's the kind and compassionate one, the voice of conscience. But then, she's got a very big streak of arrogance, it's just...well hidden. She claims to be a Priestess of Senica. This is true, more or less. But it isn't the whole truth. Throughout the story, she casts mainly healing and support spells. She says that's all she can do. In reality...she can pretty much match the level of power Deon displays - not his full power, of course, but certainly all the "regular attack magic" he uses.
Kaige is the dumb muscle. He's a dwarf swordsman. Of course, modernization being what it is, he has no beard, just five o'clock shadow. He wears skater pants, a sling belt, and a baggy T-shirt with '133t' emblazoned across the front. This tells you all you need to know about his personality. He isn't very smart, he's pretty silly, and he asks all the very stupid questions. It should be obvious why Deon calls him a minion. Notably, Kaige doesn't take offense at this. After all, he calls Deon "Boss". And he gets to hang with the Godslayer, how cool is that? His gloves have runes that let him summon weapons from pocket-space storage, and generate a kind of magical forcefield in lieu of armour.
Tias is a small shapeshifting creature. Roughly cat-sized. Perhaps cat-shaped, I haven't actually decided on a firm design. Furry, wings, that sorta thing. He's actually a familiar, an artificial magical construct. Broadly speaking, he's Deon's familiar, at least these days...though Deon didn't build him. He's just made modifications. Tias is the smart, sensible one. The voice of reason. Of course, nobody -listens- to him. Well, Deon does, sometimes, but, we all know who's boss. Tias and Kaige have a sort of 'henchmen duo' dynamic going there. They're buddies. Tias has a larger feral creature battle-form with claws and teeth...but spends a fair chunk of his time in his third shape. A large black SUV. Yes. He turns into the car. It isn't a fantasy story without a road trip, after all.
Ain is the last one. Most people assume she's some kind of undernourished dwarf, or a very short elf. She is, in fact, a halfling. Mind, I noted earlier, there's no hobbit or halfling race in this world. Like Deon, she's unique. She dresses vaguely punk-goth. Dark jeans, leather jacket, silver pendant of some sort. Shaggy black hair. She doesn't talk much. When she does, it's brief, clipped, terse, and to the point. She has an unnerving tendency to stare at people. She is also, bar none, the most lethal member of the party. Gun-toting assassin ninja, also extremely fond of sharp objects. It gradually becomes evident that she isn't entirely sane.
Ain is firmly supporting-cast, but she's more critical to the story than Kaige or Tias. She's the only member of the group whom Deon really trusts. Remember, all the hero cast knows that he's the Godslayer.
Now, at some point in the story, there's an argument. Deon basically loses it and yells "THIS IS FINAL!"... and everyone gives in. Instantly. They're not going to argue. Not with him. Except Ain. She just looks at Deon, and says "No."
And Deon backs down.
If the characters were more heroic, Ain would be Deon's conscience. Since they aren't, she's more like his shadow.
The core conflict of the story is between Deon and Zastra, but Ain has a fairly important impact on that dynamic. Deon trusts Ain. Ain scares the crap out of Zastra - in some ways, she's more afraid of Ain than she is of Deon. Yeah...there's reasons for that.
Alright.
So.
The story takes the form of a road trip...on the way to the final confrontation with the last surviving Chaos God, Raksis. The road trip, though, is mainly an excuse to draw out the character dynamics within the main party ... and reveal the heavy ramifications of the changed world... how it's affected the lives of all the people living in it.
(The road trip is also an excuse within the logic of the story. Kaige: "Wait, dude, can't you just snap your fingers and teleport us to..." Deon: "Yes, yes, I CAN do that. But I'm NOT. For the last time...the road trip is part of the plan. Okay? So SHUT UP, and don't tell the elf. Okay?" Kaige: "Ohhhhh, yeah. Sorry boss." Deon: "...idiot.")
The conclusion is basically a three-way clash between Deon, Zastra, and Raksis about the fate of the world. It isn't so much a fight, as it is a...debate about what it means to be a God. About the true meaning of compassion, responsibility, morality, and a writer being overambitious in pushing metaphysical themes.
Okay, maybe not that last bit. But that's the gist of it. I've left quite a lot out of this writeup... there's a bit more to the cosmology than what I've described, and the nature of magic and godhead in this universe. But that's critical to the final plot twists and conclusion, so I can't say it. Likewise, I can't really say what Zastra is really up to, that's too much of a giveaway. Heck, there's Raksis too, his true motives need to remain secret.
Valles made a pretty good guess, though. Wrong, but a good guess. Feel free to speculate. But what I really need from you nice folks is...well, general thoughts. Questions, points you think need clarification. Suggestions on bits for the world I've got set up...well, y'know, that kinda thing. There's a LOT of ramifications, in a traditional magical fantasy setting suddenly uplifted with modern technology ... and everyone living there still remembering what came before. And do note, magic still works.
So...thoughts?
-- Acyl
(I should probably do a post on 'The Villains/Antagonists of TKC', subsequently. I haven't nailed most of them down, admittedly, but Raksis has a very firm character design. There's also Jager, a Knight of Valin, Valin being one of the dead Order Gods.)
-- Acyl
This is Deon's story - the tale of a man very far from home. It's also the story of Zastra, an elf who's...a little more than what she appears to be.
Our tale takes place in the world of Tianan. I'm not entirely satisified with that name, so it's subject to change. I'm open to suggestions. 'Tianan' is derived from the Mandarin phrase 'Heavenly Peace' - but it's also part of the name 'Tiananmen' (Heavenly Peace Gate). As in 'Tiananmen Square'. And all the political irony thereof. I like my allusions, you see.
Anyway. Before the start of the story, Tianan was a fairly standard fantasy world. D&D, Tolkein, that sort of thing. Swords and sorcery, feudal governments, and magic as a background fact of life.
The world is populated by a few fantasy races. Elves, dwarves, trolls, orcs, and so on.
However, and this is important, there are no humans. The widespread ubiquitous role played by humans in most fantasy settings...instead falls on the elves. They're the most common species, and in this setting, not particularly long-lived. There's a few varieties of elf, including the so-called "dark-elves"... but they're pretty much just, well, the elven version of black folks. It's not like everyone has blond hair and blue eyes, 'know.
There is a certain amount of racial discrimination against dark-elves in some parts of the world. A minor plot point - Zastra is pretty much a caucasian elf, and she has that bias.
Anyway, a human turning up...would be referred to as an elf with funny ears. Deon gets this a lot.
There are no hobbits or halflings, either. No such race. This is also significant.
Most of the major races have a nation-state of some kind, or are at the very least regional.
There's several elf-dominated countries, including an Elven Empire (which I haven't yet named) - though it's probably better to describe it as a Theocracy. Religion and the Priesthood used to hold power there, with the royals pretty much figureheads. Old, stable, traditional. Think Imperial China, crossed with Roman Catholic and British motifs. The Empire was big, powerful, and the proverbial giant gorilla nobody else could ignore...
...these days, it's in decline. But we'll get to that. Zastra is a priestess of the Empire, and the way Deon treats her should make it obvious that, well, he doesn't like them. His annoyance with the Empire had, in the end, rather dire consequences.
No Dwarven Nation to speak of, but rather a bunch of clans mostly tending to their own affairs, though this may change. The orcs and trolls, traditionally the 'dark' races, held sway on the opposite end of the world's major landmass... ie, away from the elf-dominated 'light' nations.
(I'm assuming there's one really big landmass that's settled - there's probably island nations and so on, colonies and suchlike on other continents, but most of the action takes place across what we'd consider Europe and Continental Asia. The 'light' races hold Europe, the 'dark' hold mainland Asia, if it's a decent analogy.)
This is the situation...when it comes to the material world.
There's also Gods in play here.
Two sides of the coin. The Gods of Order, or the Order Gods. They are humanoid entities, worshipped mainly by the elves and dwarves. Chief among them is the Light Goddess Senica, is the patron of the Elven Empire...and plays a rather direct hand in running the place.
Their counterparts are the Gods of Chaos. The Chaos Gods. They have mostly animal forms, with a somewhat more totemic motif. The Dragon God Raksis is the most powerful of the Chaos Gods. They don't have a leader, but Raksis is the leader they don't have. The Chaos Gods don't really have worshippers. Some orcs and trolls venerate them, also some goblins, but the Gods of Chaos don't really care.
This is not a traditional good-and-evil split. Quite intentionally, I'm playing on tropes here.
There's a long-standing Cold War between the two camps. Occasionally, this war gets very very hot indeed.
The Gods of Order claim they are the defenders of civilisation, peace, all that is good and true, and they must save the world from the depraved evil of their counterparts. This theme turns up an awful lot in their theology - in the context of the story, Zastra's the one who quotes bits of this. She's a priestess of Senica, after all.
What the Gods of Chaos feel about this is unrecorded. They don't have priests, and nobody goes around preaching sermons in their favour.
This is where our protagonist comes in.
His name is Gideon Novak, a freelance journalist and computer geek. He comes from Earth, our world. From the present.
One day, he gets rather rudely yanked across dimensions, and thrown into the world of Tianan.
He is told, by the Gods of Order, that he is the one who must save the world. The Forces of Darkness are planning to unleash horrors this world has never seen, he is the chosen one, the hero of destiny...
Yada-yada-yada. You've heard this before.
So he asks them, quite frankly, okay, what the hell do you expect me to do?
And he's told, he must go on a quest, attain an ultimate power, and use it to destroy the Gods of Chaos.
Okay, so, he says, you want me to kill your enemies. Fine.
Then he asks...
If I do this, can I go home?
Because that's his major concern. I WANT TO GO HOME, DAMN YOU.
If I do this, if I win, can I go home?
This is your standard fantasy trope, after all.
Now, the Gods of Order tell him... yes, yes, if you win, the ultimate power you wield will allow you to go home.
But what he discovers, some time later, is that...they lied to him.
He can't go back. Ever. It's impossible.
So.
That's when our story opens.
You've read the opening scene there. With Deon in his apartment, getting up, doing his morning routine. Grabbing coffee, making breakfast, checking e-mail, and so on. In a modern apartment.
Here's the trick. He's not on Earth.
He's still in Tianan.
Subsequently, when he and Zastra leave the apartment... they emerge onto the streets of a modern city. Cars going by, high-rise buildings, traffic lights...
Of course, there's the fact that everyone he passes on the street has pointy ears, or is short and has a beard. Or is tall and green-skinned. And he's still the only human around.
Okay.
It isn't obvious, what he did was...he gained ultimate power, and proceeded to, eventually, destroy the Gods on both sides.
And then he remade the world in his image.
Why?
Because...Deon is selfish. Well. Okay. That's not entirely fair. He's not evil, mind you. But he's not good, and he certainly isn't altruistic.He's got the same 'never say die, I will fight til the end' quality that is standard for all fictional fantasy heroes. He has that determination and bloody-minded drive. But he doesn't have the fluffy noble morals to go with it. What he -wants- is not truth, justice, or peace. What he wants is a comfortable life, in the manner -which he is accustomed to.
He doesn't go for half-measures.
He wants quality coffee. An Internet connection. Comic books. Video games. Flushing toilets. And if they tell him he can't go home...damned if he's going to spend the rest of his life in this backward godforsaken primitive excuse of a world.
So the obvious solution is...change the world.
The thing about the change is... it hasn't affected the memories and personalities of the natives. Just their lives. That is, everyone in Tianan remembers the transition - the day the world changed. Deon likes to keep a low profile, so very few people are aware that he, specifically, is the one... but most people know that somewhere out there, there's a man called Godslayer who did all this.
This means that basically, one day, everyone woke up to find themselves in new occupations. Some corrolation between 'before' and 'after', of course.A guardsman becomes a city cop. A tavern keeper finds himself the manager of a coffee bar. A well-known bard, now a rock musician with record deals. And so on.
But there are people who've slipped through the cracks, as it were. The change is not...complete and all-encompassing. A telltale sign is geography. The shape of the world, continents, borders, mountains, land features, and so on...is the same. More or less. Accounting for things like highways and rail lines. The infrastructure, though, isn't quite up to scratch yet. There's no air travel, at least not yet, and while a lot of...say, small villages were converted into modern oil fields, mining industries, and so on... it doesn't mesh perfectly. Picture something like first-world development and urbanization with third world infrastructure.
(I would appreciate suggestions on possible problems with this setup - issues that could arise, and be discussed in-story. Like Terry Pratchett says, when you're designing a fantasy city, the first thing you need to figure out is how the fresh water gets in, and how the sewage goes out. Trouble is, Deon didn't think about details like that when he uplifted the world. He focused on the end result he wanted - which was a city to live in. So the infrastructure, due to this...is somewhat spotty.)
Anyway.
At this point, Deon basically holds almost all the power once wielded by the Old Gods - the Gods of both Chaos and Order. Mind, he doesn't really do much god-stuff in the story...for all intents and purposes, he is simply an extremely capable battle-mage, and he does get injured, even nearly killed. It's quite possible that most of his power can't be used, since it's invested in holding the world together. Or maybe his true power's still recovering from completely rebooting the universe like that. Only Deon knows for sure.
But if one of the Old Gods is still around - remember what Zastra says about Raksis still being alive - this may endanger everything he's done. He certainly doesn't want his alterations to local reality to unravel.
And that's why our heroes set off on a quest to find, and slay, Raksis.
Or so it appears at first. That's not actually the core conflict of the story. As the introduction makes clear, Deon believes there's something else going on. He's right. Zastra isn't what she appears to be. She has her own agenda, and one that isn't in Deon's best interests.
She isn't lying about Raksis, though. Raksis really is still alive. And he's got his own angle too. Of course, what the last surviving Chaos God is doing...isn't what Zastra claims.
Then again, it's not like Deon believes most of what Zastra is telling him.
The core conflict of this story is between Deon and Zastra. Neither are heroes, not in the traditional sense. They're both plotting rings round each other. For example, Zastra's trying to manipulate Deon. But though she's got a fair bit of contempt for him...she's afraid of him as well. What if he knows she's playing him? But if he does, then why hasn't he killed her yet?
At Valles' suggestion, I'm going to be switching viewpoints. About half the narrative will be from Deon's perspective, the other half from Zastra's. This is important, since the whole subjectivity and 'things aren't what they seem' angle is pretty big here, and it's also important that...
Well, Deon and Zastra aren't perfect lovable figures. But they're not evil, either. They have redeeming qualities. And it's important, though I'm deconstructing the notion of the fantasy hero, that the reader still feel some connection with them.
Deon, for instance, is not a nice guy. That's true. But he is overwhelmingly loyal to those he considers his friends and equals. Of course, there's a slight problem with that...the 'considers his friends and equals' bit.
The eventual 'hero party' of main characters is Deon, Zastra... and adventurers named Ain, Kaige, and Tias.
Towards the end, when someone refers to them as Deon's minions, he says this:-
"No. That's not quite right. Yes, those two..."
(Deon points to Kaige and Tias)
"...they're minions."
(Suddenly, Ain appears behind the person Deon's talking to, and does something very nasty with a knife.)
"She, though...she's my partner."
On the subject of characters...
Deon is the chief protagonist, as should be clear. Glasses, blond hair in a ponytail, brown overcoat with many pockets. Turtleneck, jeans, brown boots. Sardonic smirk. Deon has the confidence and bravery of the standard fantasy hero, who will fight against all odds. What he lacks is the commitment to ideals and justice. This isn't to say that he's evil - he isn't. He does have morals, but his morality is...a theoretical, intellectual thing, rather than something he passionately believes in. He is human, but is often referred to as a lop-eared elf. He is an accomplished battle mage. Well, actually, he's far more than that, but he doesn't advertise the fact. It should be said, at this juncture, that while many consider Deon to be a God... he doesn't. He considers himself a mortal. In fact, as far as he's concerned, the beings he killed to gain power weren't really Gods either, just arrogant bastards using the name.
Zastra is an elf, and the secondary protagonist. Possibly chief antagonist, actually. Classical fantasy priestess impractical garb. Fanservicy. Flowing light blue hair, robes of blue and white. Shy, demure, gets into trouble... but flashes of temper if pushed hard enough. Her shy retiring thing is mostly an act, after all, and she's far smarter and Machiavellian than she lets on. She's the kind and compassionate one, the voice of conscience. But then, she's got a very big streak of arrogance, it's just...well hidden. She claims to be a Priestess of Senica. This is true, more or less. But it isn't the whole truth. Throughout the story, she casts mainly healing and support spells. She says that's all she can do. In reality...she can pretty much match the level of power Deon displays - not his full power, of course, but certainly all the "regular attack magic" he uses.
Kaige is the dumb muscle. He's a dwarf swordsman. Of course, modernization being what it is, he has no beard, just five o'clock shadow. He wears skater pants, a sling belt, and a baggy T-shirt with '133t' emblazoned across the front. This tells you all you need to know about his personality. He isn't very smart, he's pretty silly, and he asks all the very stupid questions. It should be obvious why Deon calls him a minion. Notably, Kaige doesn't take offense at this. After all, he calls Deon "Boss". And he gets to hang with the Godslayer, how cool is that? His gloves have runes that let him summon weapons from pocket-space storage, and generate a kind of magical forcefield in lieu of armour.
Tias is a small shapeshifting creature. Roughly cat-sized. Perhaps cat-shaped, I haven't actually decided on a firm design. Furry, wings, that sorta thing. He's actually a familiar, an artificial magical construct. Broadly speaking, he's Deon's familiar, at least these days...though Deon didn't build him. He's just made modifications. Tias is the smart, sensible one. The voice of reason. Of course, nobody -listens- to him. Well, Deon does, sometimes, but, we all know who's boss. Tias and Kaige have a sort of 'henchmen duo' dynamic going there. They're buddies. Tias has a larger feral creature battle-form with claws and teeth...but spends a fair chunk of his time in his third shape. A large black SUV. Yes. He turns into the car. It isn't a fantasy story without a road trip, after all.
Ain is the last one. Most people assume she's some kind of undernourished dwarf, or a very short elf. She is, in fact, a halfling. Mind, I noted earlier, there's no hobbit or halfling race in this world. Like Deon, she's unique. She dresses vaguely punk-goth. Dark jeans, leather jacket, silver pendant of some sort. Shaggy black hair. She doesn't talk much. When she does, it's brief, clipped, terse, and to the point. She has an unnerving tendency to stare at people. She is also, bar none, the most lethal member of the party. Gun-toting assassin ninja, also extremely fond of sharp objects. It gradually becomes evident that she isn't entirely sane.
Ain is firmly supporting-cast, but she's more critical to the story than Kaige or Tias. She's the only member of the group whom Deon really trusts. Remember, all the hero cast knows that he's the Godslayer.
Now, at some point in the story, there's an argument. Deon basically loses it and yells "THIS IS FINAL!"... and everyone gives in. Instantly. They're not going to argue. Not with him. Except Ain. She just looks at Deon, and says "No."
And Deon backs down.
If the characters were more heroic, Ain would be Deon's conscience. Since they aren't, she's more like his shadow.
The core conflict of the story is between Deon and Zastra, but Ain has a fairly important impact on that dynamic. Deon trusts Ain. Ain scares the crap out of Zastra - in some ways, she's more afraid of Ain than she is of Deon. Yeah...there's reasons for that.
Alright.
So.
The story takes the form of a road trip...on the way to the final confrontation with the last surviving Chaos God, Raksis. The road trip, though, is mainly an excuse to draw out the character dynamics within the main party ... and reveal the heavy ramifications of the changed world... how it's affected the lives of all the people living in it.
(The road trip is also an excuse within the logic of the story. Kaige: "Wait, dude, can't you just snap your fingers and teleport us to..." Deon: "Yes, yes, I CAN do that. But I'm NOT. For the last time...the road trip is part of the plan. Okay? So SHUT UP, and don't tell the elf. Okay?" Kaige: "Ohhhhh, yeah. Sorry boss." Deon: "...idiot.")
The conclusion is basically a three-way clash between Deon, Zastra, and Raksis about the fate of the world. It isn't so much a fight, as it is a...debate about what it means to be a God. About the true meaning of compassion, responsibility, morality, and a writer being overambitious in pushing metaphysical themes.
Okay, maybe not that last bit. But that's the gist of it. I've left quite a lot out of this writeup... there's a bit more to the cosmology than what I've described, and the nature of magic and godhead in this universe. But that's critical to the final plot twists and conclusion, so I can't say it. Likewise, I can't really say what Zastra is really up to, that's too much of a giveaway. Heck, there's Raksis too, his true motives need to remain secret.
Valles made a pretty good guess, though. Wrong, but a good guess. Feel free to speculate. But what I really need from you nice folks is...well, general thoughts. Questions, points you think need clarification. Suggestions on bits for the world I've got set up...well, y'know, that kinda thing. There's a LOT of ramifications, in a traditional magical fantasy setting suddenly uplifted with modern technology ... and everyone living there still remembering what came before. And do note, magic still works.
So...thoughts?
-- Acyl
(I should probably do a post on 'The Villains/Antagonists of TKC', subsequently. I haven't nailed most of them down, admittedly, but Raksis has a very firm character design. There's also Jager, a Knight of Valin, Valin being one of the dead Order Gods.)
-- Acyl