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farlaBecause apparently people who are not me and read this also read fantasy on a regular basis, and I should exploit this.
Here's the basic story idea.
There's a small village up in the mountains, at the edge of the known map. One day, a woman gives birth to a half-elf girl. Half-elves are considered incredibly lucky, and they're very rare. There hasn't been another half-elf born in living memory. The girl is incredibly charismatic and friendly, loved by everyone, a wonderful singer, a graceful dancer, and she can work magic just by touching things. Then when she's three she's kidnapped while she's out with her brother.
The brother is the protagonist. He's twelve and has no formal training. He knows how to take care of sheep and is capable of hunting small game, but he's at a beginner's proficiency in both, and he only knows how to hunt the things that live in the mountain area, not beyond. He's been in charge of his sister since he was nine, so some of her magic leeched into him - he's able to sense magic and he has one magical ability, to heal open injuries by touching them. He also has an enchanted stone his sister gave him that lets him know what direction she's in, and because his sister was especially friendly with cats, he can just handle the big, omnivorous catlike mount things people ride without training.
That's it. He's never been out of the village or seen a stranger before in his life. The village area is at the edge of the map, it's hilly, its wealth is just a matter of wool, milk, meat and grain, and they're right against the vast forests, so they don't have bandit raids or any other dangers that would make them train people as warriors. He's also moderately distinctive - he has the particular look of the people in his area, and because of his sister, his black hair is iridescent.
I need a way to get him across the map without being killed, and to pick up enough abilities to handle the quest, which he will be doing by walking in a straight line in the direction the stone says. I'd like to do that without resorting to him running into random people who help him, especially since the kid has no real interest in saving the world or righting injustices. He just really wants his sister back, so he'd be useful to angry groups who want to undermine the ruling powers that be (they have the girl because she's considered a good luck charm), but he's not going to go around collecting allies in the regular displays of kindness and sympathy to the downfallen.
As such, the exact fantasy template I'm looking for is a story where the protagonist succeeds despite having only moderate skills, and without augmenting those skills much. I'd also like to avoid the gathering of companions through unusual openmindedness, and prophesies of any kind, but that's a lot less important, since I can just ignore those chunks. I'd prefer longer stories as well. And something at mediocre levels - if I'm in awe of the writing or caught up in the story, I'm not watching the mechanics, unfortunately.
Here's the basic story idea.
There's a small village up in the mountains, at the edge of the known map. One day, a woman gives birth to a half-elf girl. Half-elves are considered incredibly lucky, and they're very rare. There hasn't been another half-elf born in living memory. The girl is incredibly charismatic and friendly, loved by everyone, a wonderful singer, a graceful dancer, and she can work magic just by touching things. Then when she's three she's kidnapped while she's out with her brother.
The brother is the protagonist. He's twelve and has no formal training. He knows how to take care of sheep and is capable of hunting small game, but he's at a beginner's proficiency in both, and he only knows how to hunt the things that live in the mountain area, not beyond. He's been in charge of his sister since he was nine, so some of her magic leeched into him - he's able to sense magic and he has one magical ability, to heal open injuries by touching them. He also has an enchanted stone his sister gave him that lets him know what direction she's in, and because his sister was especially friendly with cats, he can just handle the big, omnivorous catlike mount things people ride without training.
That's it. He's never been out of the village or seen a stranger before in his life. The village area is at the edge of the map, it's hilly, its wealth is just a matter of wool, milk, meat and grain, and they're right against the vast forests, so they don't have bandit raids or any other dangers that would make them train people as warriors. He's also moderately distinctive - he has the particular look of the people in his area, and because of his sister, his black hair is iridescent.
I need a way to get him across the map without being killed, and to pick up enough abilities to handle the quest, which he will be doing by walking in a straight line in the direction the stone says. I'd like to do that without resorting to him running into random people who help him, especially since the kid has no real interest in saving the world or righting injustices. He just really wants his sister back, so he'd be useful to angry groups who want to undermine the ruling powers that be (they have the girl because she's considered a good luck charm), but he's not going to go around collecting allies in the regular displays of kindness and sympathy to the downfallen.
As such, the exact fantasy template I'm looking for is a story where the protagonist succeeds despite having only moderate skills, and without augmenting those skills much. I'd also like to avoid the gathering of companions through unusual openmindedness, and prophesies of any kind, but that's a lot less important, since I can just ignore those chunks. I'd prefer longer stories as well. And something at mediocre levels - if I'm in awe of the writing or caught up in the story, I'm not watching the mechanics, unfortunately.
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Date: 2007-08-25 02:45 am (UTC)As such, the exact fantasy template I'm looking for is a story where the protagonist succeeds despite having only moderate skills, and without augmenting those skills much.
I have never read such a book that I would call "moderate" in execution; obviously, that's the hardest sort of story to write because it's much more easy and attractive to give your characters the power to blow stuff up with their minds and such. The closest I can think of to that might be something along the lines of WoT; the main characters start off basically farmer-types, and although they do eventually gain 1337 sword-fighting skills and pwn enemies right out of the timestream and so forth, but for the first couple books they're relatively normal and clueless and so forth. However, they meet up with really powerful helpers and of course are associated with prophecies of doom and so on... but you did say "long"...
Other than that, I'm just sort of wondering about the whole half-elf thing; is that not genetic or something? Otherwise, it would seem relatively easy to influence the appearance of half-elves. Also, so far as getting your character from a to b without relying on too many enhanced skills or whatever... perhaps something to do with that cat creature? I'm not sure exactly how good his control over it would be and what sort of creature it is/it would be up against, but if you're not talking hordes of enemies and they threatened it as well as its rider, perhaps it could take some stuff down? Or at least run away, which most mounts would be more likely to do if spooked and would generally be a better idea, right?
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Date: 2007-08-25 04:06 am (UTC)And yes, I'm discovering that while there are plenty of stories starting off with unskilled characters, they usually spend the first half of the book alternating training with displays of their innate aptitude. I may end up doing something like that to give him basic skills - hooking up with a caravan or something, maybe.
The half-elf...
It's genetic (actually, the idea's based off a genetic disorder), but, see, there are no elves. The mother is a regular village woman with a human husband who lives at the edge of the forest (He is thrilled). This is more or less how it happens normally. Although the kid is identified as a half-elf, she's not identified based on looking like a mix of an elf and human, but by what half-elves are themselves supposed to look like. There are presumably elves living in the vicinity, but they're never encountered. And half-elves themselves are sterile - the girl herself is mainly considered a girl just because the only people present at the birth were both female.
I'm unsure how much of a role I want the cat-mounts to have. The main benefit he's got so far is that he can use half-trained ones no one else wants/would try to steal from him (They're temperamental and untrained ones attack each other.), so he can travel more or less unmolested. I may end up using it as an animal-companion helper, but I'd like to minimize that if possible.
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Date: 2007-08-25 04:28 am (UTC)Hmm, so half-elfism is a kind of mutation and doesn't really have anything to do with pure elves at all (or at least not directly)? Sounds interesting.
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Date: 2007-08-25 01:09 pm (UTC)It's actually kind of circular. She's based off a type of genetic disorder, which used to be thought to be elven changelings, only in this story they really are part elf. As such, they can only show up in an area close to elves, which, on the known map, is limited to the mountainous area she's in.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-26 10:33 pm (UTC)