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: I expanded on the size of the village this time around, and on that of the entire land of Kye Rim. I picture the country as being roughly the size of the UK. So it will have lots of different evironments, not just all swamp. Everything it is getting bigger in this version of the story.



Chapter 12.2

In time they emerged from the rainforest and came out into the rice paddies. The fields were empty of the green stalks of rice plants, and were filled with nothing but muddy water instead. They followed a raised path that wound through the paddies to the hamlet's bamboo gate. Aela could see that the ground still bore the tell-tale scorch marks of flames around the entryway and flanking walls. As she stepped nearer, she partially shifted her senses into the aether. Now she could feel the burns seared deep within the soil as well, where the timbers of the walls had been incinerated all the way down to their bases.

"This was definitely done by elemental magic," Loria echoed her thoughts aloud. "I can feel the marks it left behind."

"Aye," Ranazu grumbled. "The flames seemed to just come from nowhere."

"Well, two can play at that game my friend," Loria vowed. The high elf rolled up the sleeves of his green robe and raised his arms, but Aela stopped him with a shake of her head. This was not the time for showing off with fireballs. Not when they were making their first impression upon their employers.

However, those employers were nowhere to be found. Daehyun and Ranazu pushed open the bamboo gates to reveal empty streets beyond. The seven mercenaries followed the villagers down silent lanes, flanked by tall houses to either side. There seemed to be little organization to the layout of the village. Houses were scattered about like dice tossed from some giant's hand. Small gardens dotted the irregular gaps between homes, and Aela noted vegetables such as basil, ginger, garlic, peppers, chives, and other spices growing within them.

The homes themselves were raised up above the ground upon thick stilts made from straight durian timbers. Their elevated floors were made of hardwoods, walls were cross-stitched rattan, and the tall peaked roofs were of simple thatch. Few of them possessed any windows, and none had more than a single door facing the street. All seemed to have a small porch before their entrance, reachable by wooden steps or notched logs. Upon every one Aela noted a bench or rattan chairs, and several wide bowls. Pairs of sandals or boots were tucked away beneath the benches at some of the homes. Others were bare of footwear.

Aela felt eyes staring at her from all around, and it was not those of the chickens or other livestock that lingered in the streets. The way the other mercenaries turned their heads this way and that, she could tell that they felt it too. The villagers were there. They just were not showing themselves.

They came to the yolk of the egg that Aela had observed from high on the ridge at the edge of the valley: the village square. A small wooden stage rose at its far end, in front of the temple. The shrine's gracefully curved roof seemed to almost float in the air, held up only by brightly colored columns that both paced around the perimeter of the structure, and rose from deeper within. It had no walls, but rather was open to the air, allowing Aela to glimpse into the interior. It was sparsely furnished, and the wide space was dominated by a large stone-rimmed pool in its center, where water rose in a gentle fountain. Aela felt an undine riding the waves, and imagined it might even be the village's guardian spirit.

Across the corner from the temple stood the high, Rasen-style, stone building. Its only windows were high on what must have been the second floor, and the angled roof was made of red-glazed tiles. On the other side of the plaza from the temple, a large building of thick wooden timbers squatted. This was also constructed at ground level as well, rather than raised up on stilts like the villager's homes. From the wide double doors this possessed, the Arvern Witch imagined that it was either a stable or communal storehouse.

Waiting for them on the wooden platform before the shrine was a single Teodon woman. She was covered in green scales along the top of her head and back, which faded to soft brown under her mouth and down her chest. Rows of black stripes crisscrossed her head and fell down her long neck, only to vanish beneath her clothing. Her eyes were bright yellow slits, and unlike the male Teodon, her head was bare of spines. From the luster of her green and brown scales, Aela imagined that she was young, possibly the same age as Alcheon.

The young Teodon woman wore a simple blue robe tied around her waist with an equally simple cloth belt. When she stepped down from the stage Aela saw that she wore blue trousers underneath the knee-length robe, but her feet were bare as she walked across the hard-packed dirt of the square. In one hand she held a small clay jug, and in the other a simple cup.

"Aecha!" Hyunsu exclaimed. The aging Teodon darted from the group with more energy than Aela had ever seen the farmer display. Taking the younger Teodon in his arms, he scolded the girl. "What are you doing? You shouldn't be out here like this!"

"Why, is she in danger from us?" Alcheon's voice betrayed the same bitterness that Aela felt rising within herself. "We came here to fight for you people, and this is how you greet us?"

"You are right," Aecha answered him, "this is not how Agrigento should greet you." Disengaging herself from her father, she crossed the distance to the mercenaries and stood before them.

Aela felt energy flowing around her like a cool stream. The young Teodon was a magician, the local Witch or priestess no doubt. Aela's attention was drawn to a bright spot of power that hung from her neck. There she saw a curious pendant hanging from a rawhide cord. It was a crystal shaped like an hourglass, surrounded by a latticework of delicate bronze all around. Within Aela could see a blue liquid that glowed with a soft light.

It was a dowsing crystal, Aela realized, enchanted to fortify its wearer's water-based magic. That meant that Aecha was probably a water priestess. Aela had learned about both at the Ingenium, but had never encountered either before. Well live and learn, Aela thought to herself, the Earth always had something new to teach.

"I apologize for the behavior of my neighbors," Aecha said. She poured water from the jug she carried into her cup and took a sip. Then she held it out before her. "I am our mudang, and on behalf of Agrigento, I greet you all and extend the hospitality of our village."

The mudang's eyes went to Aela's and lingered there for long moments. Her aura burned brightly, and Aela realized that the Teodon was sensing her power, just as she could feel the mudang's. Then Aecha's eyes moved to Venca, and each of the other mercenaries in turn. In the Rasen's case, it was clearly the Ravenwheel that drew her attention. The artifact radiated so much power that a magician could no more overlook it than a hadrosaur standing on their foot!

"A mudang?" Hrafngoelir whispered.

"She is their water priestess," Loria answered out of the corner of his mouth. "She purifies their wells, moves the water to their fields, enriches it, and charges it with life and good health. She is the soul of their village."

The Light Elf wizard stepped forward and took the cup from the Teodon's hands. He raised it high over his head for all to see. Then he lowered it and took a long drink. "On behalf of all of my comrades, we accept your offer of hospitality and pledge to honor your village, your people, and your ancestors."

Aela could not prevent a small smile at the Silaine. Apparently Loria had learned more than just smuggling at the Ingenium after all!

"Now that we are all friends," Dhasan murmured, "will the others come out?'

They looked around, and found that now both Teodon and Rasenna began to filter into the square from all sides. While they were of different races, the newcomers all seemed more alike to Aela than not. For whether they had scales or skin, hair or spines, they were all stained with the same dirt and mud. They all possessed the same weather-beaten look that came from years of toiling under the hot sun. They all possessed the same calluses, and the same wiry, lean appearance of one who eats just barely enough to get by. Most of all they had the same empty and defeated look in their eyes. Eyes which few of them raised to meet the stares of Aela and the other mercenaries.

"They do not look like much," Venca said in a voice too low to carry far. "I am supposed to make an army out of this?"

"We all fall," Phereinon pointed out. "But we can all rise again."

"And rise to the occasion we all shall!" Loria declared in a loud, bright voice. The Light Elf leapt upon the stage, and had to coax the others to join him there, where the farmers could get a better look at them. Then the gregarious elf began to make florid introductions.

"Meet the most deadly Phereinon," he waved a hand to the pale swordswoman. "She is a master of armed and unarmed combat, philosopher, poet, and naturalist. One who finds value in all lives, great or small."

"The man all in black beside her is Venca," the Light Elf went on. "He is the Champion of Mhorlor - the Goddess of Magic, a seasoned military veteran, and a great general of Rase." Aela noted the sour face that the Rasen made at the introduction.

"This golden beauty next to our champion is none other than Hrafngoelir," Loria continued. "She has come all the way from the frozen north to fight for you. She has made the ravens sing many times over the corpses of her enemies. Now they will do so again over your foes here in Kye Rim."

"This handsome young fellow with yellow and green scales is Alcheon," the Light Elf proclaimed. "He was going to join the hwarang, but turned them down to become a wandering mercenary instead. He said it was more challenging! And besides, he is far too good-looking for them…"

The final, offhanded remark brought a series of guffaws from the gathered villagers. Aela could see that as always, Loria was working the magic of his personality upon the gathered crowd.

"And of course we cannot forget my own partner of many years, the most inestimable Aela," the Arvern magician had to fight to keep a straight face as the elf piled on the accolades. "She is the greatest Witch who has ever lived. She is the master of spirits, healer of all injuries, reshaper of the world, and best of all, she's not married!"

Aela had to stifle a groan when the Light Elf winked to the villagers at the end. As if any of them would care in any case.

"Last, but certainly not least, there is my humble self, Loria" the wizard lowered his head, as if in humility. "As I am sure you can already tell, I do not like to brag. But since we are all friends here, why not?"

Now he struck a dramatic pose, arms akimbo and head held high. "I am a master of the arcane arts, a graduate of the Ingenium, and being an elf, I am naturally a superior being!"

"And so very modest about it all too," Aela murmured out of the corner of her mouth. She was shocked when some of the others heard, and began to laugh.

"You forgot someone!" the villagers began to shout. Some of them pointed at Dhasan's red-furred form. "What about him?"

Loria made a great show of searching here and there for the Asokar warrior, pointedly never looking directly at him however. He lifted one of Hrafngoelir's braids to check underneath, peered behind Alcheon's shield, and even tried to check down the front of Venca's trousers. But the Rasen shook a finger from side to side in front of him, and the Light Elf thought twice before doing that.

For his own part, Dhasan stood aloofly by with arms crossed, and merely stared at the Light Elf without saying a word. Finally, to genuine laughter from the villagers, Loria walked right into him. The wizard pantomimed seeing the Asokar for the first time, threw his arms up in the air, and screamed.

"It's a wolf!" Loria cried.

The Light Elf fled behind Aela, and now Dhasan growled at the wizard, baring long, vulpine teeth. The Arvern Witch wondered how she had gotten herself into this. A glance back at Loria reminded her. Still, she had to admit to herself that her partner's attempt to lighten the peasant's spirits had indeed worked, for now she saw smiles and heard laughter, where just moments before there had been nothing but empty hopelessness.

"All right, all right!" Venca stepped forward, holding his hands in the air to quiet everyone down. "In spite of what you might think, we really are mercenaries. Well, most of us are, and we really are going to fight for your hamlet."

"But we are going to need your help," the Rasen went on. "We cannot fight the raiders alone. You are going to have to join us."

That cut through the villager's mirth like a Skanjr war axe. Now the somber looks returned, and Aela hoped that the Rasen would not destroy the spirit of the villagers, which Loria had worked so hard to raise.

"We will train you," Venca declared. "We will make armor, and shields, and weapons for you. We will repair the village defenses. Then when the time comes, we will stand beside you and fight. We will crush these bandits, that I promise! When this is all said and done, you won't need to ever hire mercenaries again. Because no one will have the sack to threaten Agrigento a second time."



Teodon village house

Teodon village house