Seven Reimagined, A new view of an old story Options

[SubRosa]

A while ago I wrote Seven, which is set in Tamriel. Afterward I thought about adapting it to an original setting. I did a lot of world-building, remade the characters to fit the new world, and got started into translating the story over.

I ran out of steam when I started looking at my over-arching direction, and started seeing some problems. The biggest one was that I had in mind a big High Fantasy story - an ancient race rising to destroy the world, champions rising from the dead, the army of light banding together to fight off evil, and so forth. The twist I planned to this standard format was that the protagonists were trying to stop the war, rather than win it. With finding a peace between all involved being the end goal, rather than destruction.

But the story I was starting out with - Seven - is Low Fantasy (at least the way I define it). Farmers and mercenaries vs. bandits. Ordinary people, with ordinary problems. I like that, as it feels very accessible, and makes the characters, even the extraordinary ones, feel more relateable. So that made me want to continue in that vein, and do a series of stories about a pair of hired spells who are part mercenaries, part private detectives. Sort of like Spenser For Hire or Magnum P.I. with magic. That in turn meant scrapping the entire over-arching story. Or trying to bridge the gap between Low Fantasy and High Fantasy. It left me with a lot of questions, and I was not feeling excited about the answers. So I ended up setting it all aside.

Instead of leaving it all collecting dust, I decided to post what I did finish up here. Maybe it will fire me up to get back to working on it again. People who have read Seven will recognize most of the main characters. Names have been changed in many cases. Some because the originals were Bethesda creations, others to suit the new races/languages. Speaking of which races and the like are entirely new, as is the geography, flora and fauna, how magic works etc... I will put some of that here in this post, and start the actual story in a second post. Let me know if you want to see more of the background notes, and I will put them in this post.


This is a world map

This is the continent of Aulerci, where most of the action takes place



Aela

Loria



The Stone Forest (IRL The Shilin Stone Forest outside of Kunming)

Another example of karst landscape


An Oro (IRL Orodromeus)

A Crumhead (IRL Parasaurolophus)

RL Troodon (the inspiration for the Teodon race)

Troodon front

Troodon head

Ancient Rasen Armor (IRL Samnite bronze armor)

Bronze lamellar armor

Bronze lamellar armor again


Veia Map

Rasen street

Rasen city

Rasen apartment block

Rasen-style architecture





Phereinon

Phereinon again

Malediction

Owl Screeching

Owl Carving





Serves Camna



Wooden mug

Tamac (tomahawk)



Raven pendant

Hrafngoelir

Hrafn's shield

Hrafn's seax


Venca



Rasen bedroom

Rasen bedroom 2

Rasen bedroom 3



Lorcras armor

Hagalaz rune




Horse-Powered Ferryboat 1

Horse-Powered Ferryboat 2

Spirecrown - Saurolophus Angustirostris





Lambeosaurus

Parksosaurus

Ornitholestes

Hadrosaurs 01

Hadrosaurs 02

Orodromeus

Gasparinisaura

Ouranosaurus

Maiasaura

Tropical Milkweed Beetle




Teodon Coloration (this is just what their scale colors look like, not actual representations of the characters)
Alcheon's coloration

Daehyun (a very common peasant coloration)

Dark Eye (though his belly is not so brightly white

Sindeok



Banyan tree

Durian tree

Bromeliads

Bamboo forest

Solagea


Kye Rim Graves

Teodon Dok

Teodon village house

Teodon village house



Earthen rampart, wall, and ditch

cheavaux de frise


Shield Wall training




Fighting Moves
Dark Eye's finishing move against Daeso

Phereinon's belly to back suplex (German Suplex) that she used upon the Arvern Oathman of House Camna

Here is a link to Sindeok's killing move against Brown-Scales

Morte Strike and Half Sword Defense

[SubRosa]

Acadian: Now that the river journey is complete, we are just a few more segments away from Agrigento itself. But first we will have the journey overland, in which we will continue to learn more about not just Phereinon, but all the Seven, and get some background on Agrigento and this corner of Kye Rim.


Chapter 10.6

The next day they pressed on overland, heading ever southward. They followed a road that was little more than a pair of ruts worn into the ground by wagon wheels. The trees grew thick around them, and it was only through the occasional break in the growth that Aela was able to glimpse the sun.

"Was there not an insurrection somewhere near here several years ago," Dhasan asked. "I recall hearing of some troubles. But a call never went out for mercenaries, as it usually does in such times."

"Aye, an insurrection," Hyunsu snorted, "at least that is what our fat gyukon in Hansando called it."

"I imagine it felt much different for those who were not provincial governors?" Loria ventured diplomatically.

"Much differently," Daehyun said. "The sublime ancestor in Hansando decreed that our taxes must increase. He needed our hard-earned money to honor the ancestors sufficiently, so they would continue to bless our lands with their good will."

The dubious expression on Daehyun's face showed how little of that he actually believed.

"Apparently the ancestors demanded a new bathhouse in his palace in return for their good will," Vesia muttered. "With marble imported from Rase."

"Thanks to our soju, we were able to pay," Ranazu said. "But only just barely. Many other settlements were not so lucky as we were."

"So the sublime ancestor sent out his dogs to take what could not be paid." Daehyun said.

"That eggless bastard Ugeo…" Ranazu fumed. Aela noted his hands clenching and unclenching into fists.

"He was…" Loria let the words dangle as an open question.

"The leader of the gyukon's company of hwarang - The Celestial Gallery." Vesia explained. "He led the 'pacification' of those villages who could not pay."

"Somehow one of the villages captured him. The hwarang claim that he went in unarmed to parley with them. But who knows if they would tell the truth." Daehyun shrugged. "In any case they tortured him, and put out one of his eyes."

"If only they had killed him when they had the chance," Ranazu fumed.

"So what happened then?" Dhasan asked.

"What do think happened?" Hyunsu said bitterly. "The rest of his nangdo came in and killed everyone. Women, hatchlings, even the oros and chickens. They left nothing alive."

"Some say he escaped first," Vesia said. "That he broke free of his bonds, and ate his torturer's hearts. Then he came back with his men to finish the rest"

"Wendigo!" Dhasan growled.

"So finally Manaha rears her ugly head…" Loria breathed.

"Afterward, when they saw what he had done, even his own men could not abide it," Daehyun said, "nor his master in Hansando. He was exiled."

"After that, most people paid the tax, even though they starved," Vesia frowned. "Those who still could not pay were killed by the Celestial Gallery's new leader, Daeso."

"Let me guess, after that the raiders appeared?" Dhasan asked.

"Yes," Daehyun said. "I think many were farmers who fled the gyukon's soldiers. Either before or after their villages were destroyed."

"I have seen it before." The vulpine shook his head. "A leader's misrule creates his own Fomorians, when before there were none."

"He created Dark Eye," Vesia lamented. "Now he terrorizes all of us, and the gyukon will do nothing about it. It's as if he wants them out here robbing and murdering people."

"Perhaps that is exactly what your provincial governor desires," Venca finally spoke.

"But that is madness!" Loria sputtered.

"Is it?" the Rasen warrior stroked the curled hairs of his goatee. "Now all of the settlements are too preoccupied with raiders to start another 'insurrection' against him. Maybe a real one the next time."

"But how can the people pay the taxes with Dark Eye and his ilk around?" Loria argued. "How can his own servants collect it?"

"His tax collectors have never been molested by the bandits," Daehyun insisted, "not once."

"How convenient," Hrafngoelir spat. "Either the raiders are smart enough to avoid directly antagonizing the governor or…"

"They are bribing him with part of their plunder," Venca finished her sentence. "The sublime ancestor has divided and conquered you all. He taxes you, and then he taxes what the raiders steal from you."

"Aye, like Black Venca over a thousand years ago, when he conquered Aulerci for the Sacerdotium," Loria murmured, "except without the outlaws and cannibalism that time."