Enters Nessa

I just finished a one-page long phonetics transcription (which IS long, at my level, given it’s about the second time in my life I do this!), so I deserve a break. *breathes*

I thought it’d soon be time to introduce a character I hadn’t developed at much at first, but who’s starting to grow on me in the past days: Nessa, Althea’s mother. Granted, she wasn’t meant to be much at first, not even a bit of an antagonistic persona. Later on, I considered sending her along the path of either the mother proud of her mage child, or of the one who is totally against her daughter going to Hogwarts the Academy. It’s probably a bit cliché in itself, but fantasy as a whole is a genre full of clichés anyway, so I don’t care.

In the end, I have to thank my friend Johan for introducing me to that wonderful song from the Talented Mr Ripley OST, namely the Lullaby For Cain, which made me peruse the road of “and what if Nessa was so against magic, not only because it’s used in the war, but because she also lost family to it in the past”? It could fit very well, and explain why she fears Althea will be doomed as well. I’m even toying with the idea of an elder son of hers awakening as a mage, when Althea was a very young child, and ending up accidentally killing the second brother through it. Now let’s just hope I’m not going to name him Cain, because I swear this is what this song is pushing me to do.

In any case, I’ll have Nessa appear during the story. There’s no way I can leave her outside after she’s revealed all of that to me.

Tags: characters | nanowrimo | planning | writing

A couple of ideas

Jotting down a few things here before heading to class.

Magic:

- Given to men by one of the Gods. The restrictions were added by one of his younger siblings (why not a Goddess), less powerful, who couldn’t undo it, but managed to temper it through regulations (the price to pay).

- A period of non-use of magic (perhaps due to a temporary cult’s beliefs) –> mages gradually forgot what the price was, and now that they’re pushed to use their skills way too much, it reappears with full strength.

- Using the Power for war purposes had always been forbidden (men themselves said that, given the high price to pay when too much magic was used), but this also has become more of a tale than a real rule. Lots of mages still remember it. Lots also don’t care that much anymore.

The Gods:

- No intervention from them. They have abandoned the world. (Note to self: magic =/= kaaru. Leave genetic manipulations out of it this time, m’kay? =D)

- Why did they departed? Did the cult forbidding magic have also forbidden their worshipping (since the Gods gave it to men)?

- Is that so important to have the Gods often mentioned, since it’s Althea’s story that matters anyway?

The War:

- Must be long and important enough to have ‘justified’ the need for magic again. A war of dynasty? A century-long vendetta? Must not be religious, because of the magic involved.

- For quite some time, the war has been quite a stalemate, hence the use of magic to get the upper hand and put an end to it.

- Why did King Aubrey didn’t crush down his opponents at once? How come they had mages to stand up against him as well? –> Something fishy going on here, perhaps simply a traitor or spy in the palace who brought the ‘news’ back to the enemy, so that both sides could train their troops at the same time.

Tags: nanowrimo | planning | writing