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: Things have really slowed down in the story at this point. So I was hoping to liven things up a bit with a display of sword fighting. It also gave me an opportunity to look in Sindeok, and see what he and the raiders are up to.


Chapter 12.1

The sun had begun to dip in the sky when they came to the valley in which Agrigento was nestled. Their first sight of it was from the top of a ridge north of the settlement. From this commanding height, they could look down across the entire vale. The oval depression stretched at least a mile through the surrounding hills, and was filled to the brim by a brilliant splash of green trees and brush.

All of that changed at the far end of the valley however. There the woodland had been cleared to create wide fields. This open space was divided into a patchwork of dozens of irregularly shaped paddies. Each was separated from its neighbor by low bunds barely half a foot higher than the brown water around them, and just wide enough for a single person to walk along their muddy tops.

The hamlet itself stood behind the paddies, at the far end of the valley. Hills surrounded the settlement on three sides. Except for one rise that was topped in tall grass, these heights were covered with thick stands of bamboo. A narrow stream trickled down from one of the bamboo-crowned hills, snaked around the village, and meandered along the length of the valley. It gained width as it was joined by other small rivulets draining from the hills surrounding the dale, and vanished to the west. Aela imagined that it might eventually join the Nakdeok, and ultimately empty out into the Bronze Sea.

From the heights where they stood Agrigento reminded Aela of a great fried egg. It stretched out in all directions in an irregular glob, filled by over a hundred homes built of brown thatch. A large open field took up the center of the settlement, like the yolk of the egg. At the far end of this plaza rose a stone building in the Rasen style, stretching at least two stories high and roofed with red-glazed tiles. Another wooden structure of plainly Teodon design rose at another side of the town square. This one was capped sided with colorful pillars, which held up a gracefully curved roof. Finally a third large structure squatted along a third edge of the plaza, this one of simple, unadorned wood.

Aela could see that the perimeter of the village was marked by a line of heavy logs sunk vertically into the ground. The top of each was sharpened to a point to dissuade climbers. Aela sharpened her eyesight with a spell, and noted that the barrier had fallen into disarray. Many of the timbers had fallen, and near the main entrance they had vanished altogether, to be replaced by a thin fence of bamboo.

"You have a large village," Dhasan observed.

"This is small for Kye Rim," Alcheon noted. "Mine was over twice this size."

"How many people are there?" Venca asked.

"We are a new settlement," Vesia explained. "I would say about five hundred people."

"Hmmm," Venca murmured. He thoughtfully rubbed his goatee with an armor-plated hand. "Your defenses have seen better days."

"You see the work of the bandits," Daehyun declared. "The first time the thieving worms came to our village we thought our walls would protect us. We were wrong…"

"Let me guess, elemental magic?" Loria said. "Fireballs will incinerate wooden walls quite easily."

"Aye," Vesia now responded. "But that was the least of it. At one time the walls were on top of a rampart we had built up. A good five feet of solid turf. They used spirits to just level it somehow."

"The bastards pulled the very ground out from underneath us." Ranazu spat onto the dirt at his feet. "Then the wall around the gate went up in flames. We never stood a chance."

"We have not resisted since then," Hyunsu said. "What can simple farmers do against such terrible magics?"

Loria laced his long fingers together and stretched out his hands before him. His knuckles popped loudly, and he grinned. "Terrible magics are our specialty. These bandits have not seen anything like Aela and I."

"No one has seen anything like the elf…" Dhasan murmured under his breath.

Aela said nothing. Instead she stared at the ruins of Agrigento's defenses. As if fifty fighters were not bad enough, the brigands had conjurers and elemental mages as well. That made sense however. Otherwise how could they have intimidated a hamlet of ten times their number? Even given that they were experienced killers and the Agrigentans simple farmers, even ordinary folk could stand tall behind walls.

But simple farmers could not counter elemental magic. Certainly not of the magnitude she witnessed here. Her heart sank. This meant she and Loria would not have the spell advantage. Considering the damage the raider magicians had wrought, she imagined that they would be evenly matched at best.

Clearly this battle would not be won by simple magical or physical muscle. They were going to have to outthink the enemy.

"Well, let's get down there and get a closer look at the land," Venca said. "Then we can get a better idea of how to beat these buggers."

The four Agrigentans led them down from the ridge and into the rainforest. The sky quickly vanished behind a dense roof of greenery. The banyans rose all around. Their grey trunks were long and ropy looking, reminding Aela of strands of clay that had been soaked and stretched out before drying. Then there rose the durian trees, dotted with their large, spiky fruit. A host of other trees that Aela could not even hope to identify joined them to blot her view in all directions. All around their feet rose tall grasses, brilliant green ferns, and brightly colored bromeliads. Multi-hued birds flew through the growth or perched upon the trees, where they were kept company by lizards, serpents, and insects of all varieties. The forest was literally an explosion of color and life.

"I thought this place was supposed to be a swamp. But it looks more like a regular forest, just with different trees and animals than we have up north," Hrafngoelir commented.

"There are swamps in places," Alcheon admitted. "But our land is a large one. Here in the west the land is still somewhat high. Farther east things change. In some places between the hills the water pools in great swamps. Sheets of moss hang from the giant cypress and water tupelos, and nearly blot out the sun entirely. In many places there is no solid ground. There is only mud and water and roots and darkness."

"But in other places there are mountains," Daehyun explained. "Well, perhaps not what you northerners would call mountains." He looked to Hrafngoelir. "But they are high enough for us. Perhaps two or three times the height of these hills around Agrigento. They grow as you go east, toward Old Perusna."

"Aye," Alcheon nodded, "and along the coasts there are great mangrove forests. Excellent places for fishing and hunting."

"All of the best things in the Earth can be found in Kye Rim," old Hyunsu crowed.

In time Alcheon surprised them all when he leapt into the branches of a durian tree, and came back down moments later with one of its giant spiky fruits clutched gingerly in his hands. With a deft motion of his knife, he sliced it lengthwise, revealing a creamy pulp within. Even from several paces away, the stench of it curled Aela's nose. It smelled like a latrine filled with onions and sweaty boots. From the expressions on the faces of her companions, she could see that she was not the only one who was less than enticed by the food.

Yet the young warrior dove into the fruit with zest. The other Teodon stepped up to take pieces themselves, and joined him in the snack. Vesia surprised Aela by doing the same.

"Come and try some." The Rasen woman held out a piece of the yellowish-pulp to the Witch. "It's much better than it smells."

The last thing the Arvern wanted to do was eat the revolting fruit. But she was reminded that many people thought the same about haggis, laverbread, black pudding, and other dishes native to her own homeland. Determined not to discount the strange, smelly fruit just on appearances alone, she steeled her stomach for a taste.

Aela found that the creamy pulp was surprisingly good. It reminded of her of custard, with a strong taste of almonds. After the first dab from the tip of her finger, she eagerly took a palmful of the gooey fruit and devoured it with a gusto that nearly matched that of the others. Still, she wondered if the Teodon ate so quickly to avoid smelling the tasty fruit. It certainly was an incentive to gobble the meal down, rather than take the time to savor it!

"Try some Loria," the Arvern offered some to the elven mage. "It really is good."

"I think I should sooner lick his butt," Loria made a face as he nodded to Dhasan.

"For once I agree with the cream cake." The vulpine waved one hand before his nose. "I would sooner he lick my butt as well!"

"You should be so blessed to enjoy my linguistic ministrations!" Loria murmured with a smile.

That brought a chorus of guffaws from the group as they once again made their way through the rainforest. Aela found herself wiping the sweat from her brow in no time at all. It was even hotter than the Nakdeok River had been. Worse, the humidity in the air felt like a wet blanket wrapped around her body. A glance at the others showed that they were sweating as well. Only the Teodon seemed unmoved by the heat, and Phereinon. As ever, the white-haired woman seemed as cool as a glacier.

The path they followed was only a line of wagon ruts worn down into the ground. It was heavy with growth however, and the ruts were little more than grass-filled depressions. When Dhasan asked about it, Daehyun revealed that this was the route they used to take their wagons to sell their soju. It led from Agrigento to the Nakedok River. From there they took boats like Captain Hesari's down the river to Telsin, and finally cogs or hulks across the Bronze Sea to Veia. From the state of the path, it was obvious that they had not sold any soju in a long time…

When Hrafngoelir asked why they did not just sell it in Hansando or some other local city, Daehyun explained that everyone drank soju in Kye Rim, and every tavern or inn brewed their own. But no one in Rasen cities like Veia made the drink. That made it special, and as Daehyun pointed out, special was always valuable.

Soon the group came to a halt again, when Daehyun raised a warning hand from his position at the front of the column. The soft hiss of weapons being drawn came to Aela's ears. Out of habit, the pattern for her arcane shield popped into her mind. She called up her mana, ready to release it and create the ward at a moment's notice. At the same time she felt out in the aether for the dryads that lived in the forest surrounding them. She would need but an instant to pull one of the tree-spirits into the physical world.

The mercenaries fanned out across the path, armed and ready. Except for Phereinon, whose hands remained empty. Of course from what Aela had seen in Veia, the mystery woman hardly needed a weapon to be dangerous. Aela stepped to the fore with Loria at her side. The Silaine had his hands filled with fire, ready to annihilate anything that crossed them. Ahead of them the Arvern saw what had caused the alarm.

It was a snake, roughly six feet long, that slithered across the path with head raised high up above the ground. Its scales were black in color, but lightened to a shade of cream on the underside of its mouth. Its black eyes reflected the light with a gleam, and seemed as devoid of emotion as an opal.

"Forest taipan," Alcheon observed. "It's venom is especially dangerous to you softskins."

"Best just leave it be," Daehyun advised. "We see them often enough in Kye Rim. They hunt the birds and rodents in the forest. So long as we do not go near, we will not be in danger."

"Let's just leave it alone then," Venca said. Aela noted that his longsword Solagea bore an odd blade. Its black steel narrowed toward the middle of its length, then widened again, only to gently taper once more at the point. She would have sworn it was one of her own people's leaf-shaped swords, but for the black lorcras steel of the Dark Elves of which it was comprised. Not to mention the five foot length of the blade and hilt. Apparently the Arvern had not been the first to use that point-heavy design after all.

Aela also noted that a wolf's head seemed to protrude from the weapon's narrow crossbar. It was set so that it appeared that the top of the predator's skull rose from the side of the blade, and its eyes and long snout seemed to look down along its narrow fuller toward the sword's tip. Etched there on the blade before it was the name Solagea . The elvish word glowed softly, as if the moonlight it was named after shone from the sword itself.

A wolf and moonlight, Aela considered, how appropriate.

Venca sheathed the unusual sword, and took a step back from the snake. "We aren't here to kill every wild animal in the country."

As they waited for the creature to slide off of the path and vanish into the underbrush, Aela noted that Vesia stared at the serpent with hands clenched into fists. The Rasen said nothing, but it was clear that she would prefer to hack the jungle predator into pieces. Aela wondered what grudge she held against the snakes. Then the taipan was gone, vanished into the forest. However, the group was careful to stay near the other side of the road as they passed the spot of jungle it had disappeared into.


Banyan tree

Durian tree

Bromeliads

Solagea