NaNo Synopsis

I spent a good portion of today's boring architecture lecture figuring out names for some of my NaNoWriMo story characters. In the process, I solidified some of my plot plans. I'm documenting them here so that they're written down somewhere, and those who are curious about what I'm planning can read about it.

Spoiler warning! Thought I'd warn you, just in case you wanted the content of my NaNo story to be a surprise. :) So anyway. My story is actually three interrelated arcs. I don't know what order I'll present them in the actual novel, but I'm going to discuss them in chronological order below. Also, because the various cultures have different personal naming conventions, I've emphasized the "first name" of each character when I first mention them, so you know which is their personal name. Also note that all details are completely subject to change. ;)

Ehalle & Dekiron

The first, chronologically, is about the Cresaean Ehalle 'sa Ghoterth and the Kegharn Radet-Tive Dekiron . They both join a minority movement that is against the constant warring between the races. Ehalle becomes pregnant. It is discovered that Dekiron is the father, and the couple is driven out by their respective societies. Kegharn follow them in their exile and kill them. "Legend has it" *grin* that a tree with an entwined trunk grew at the site of their grave, which was the couple rebelling against the societies that demanded they remain apart.

Kihál

The second story takes place a generation after the first. Shamenai Kihál 'sa Áribei was born and raised in the mountains east of the plains where the Cresaeans and Kegharn both live and fight. She is the first generation born of the movement that had been against the warring. Said movement had no illusions of being able to change both cultures, so they instead founded their own society away from both.

Kihál disagrees with the pacifistic, appeasing nature of her people after they are still attacked by Kegharn. This, combined with her mother Sham'tyir 'sa Ejhaliya's frequent bitterness about how much worse the mountains are than her hometown of Asharayu, lead Kihál to leave her home and seek out her mother's city. There she learns the story of Ehalle and Dekiron, a cautionary tale to the plains Cresaeans. She pieces together (how? dunno) that they are her real parents, and thus, as a half-breed, she couldn't possibly be welcome in this society if the truth were known.

She returns to the mountains, determined to make half-breeds acceptable to her own society. She combines goals by calling upon the other half-breeds–in–hiding to join her to protect, militarily, their cities. Kihál ends up establishing the "fighting arm" of the Ashyinave (the mountain Cresaeans), who live in the plateau between the plains and the mountains and keep the Kegharn from interferring with Ashyinave life.

The Changeling & the Pureblood

The third story arc takes place many generations after the establishment of the Ashyinave and the story of Ehalle and Dekiron becoming legend. An elite Pureblood woman contracts with a free Changeling in Edgewood to help her family profit off the current fad interested in Cresaean folklore. The Changeling has a reputation for finding just the right thing to sell, and the Pureblood's family has a reputation for being ruthless but also generous to those who serve them. He knows of the Ehalle-Dekiron story and thinks the tree-city–dwelling Purebloods would be especially partial to the entwined tree of that legend.

Details about what happens next are uncertain. I'll figure it out. :P

Categories: NaNoWriMo