The Four-Novel Project

[Zathoth]

Just now, Quadrophenia said:

Even Sanderson's work has a bit of it. The whole horror behind the Heralds' plight, Odium as sentient rage spreading across reality like a scar gashed across existence itself and breeding nightmarish monsters in its wake? That's not even getting into Ruin's true Shard form as a writhing mass of shadowy tentacles (Mistborn: Secret History).

The way he describes Ruin and Preservation in Secret History are both very Cosmic Horror-esque.

The way they are the withering of the wind or a painting kept perfect for centauries, somewhat Cosmic Horror... and now Adonalsium is making me scared...

Speaking of horror in Sandersons work (and derailing your thread even more... should we just make a PM so we stop derailing everything?) Is it only me or do the Kandra remind someone else of John Carpenters The Thing?

[Quadrophenia]

Second Book of the Four Novel Project:

THE VEILPIERCER TRILOGY:

• Book One: City of Graves
• Book Two: Lifting the Veil
• Book Three: 'til Death.

This is my attempt to write an action-oriented dark fantasy/horror series, taking inspiration from The Dresden Files or our very own Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn, with influences ranging from Upton Sinclair's Jungle to Fritz Lang's German Expressionist films. 

The premise? Imagine a gruelling industrial world where if you're a working class schmoe working in some textile factory and there's a fatal accident and you're in debt to your employer?

Well... that employer has every legal right to demand that you keep working off your debt even after you're dead. Literally. 

In the Necropolis (placeholder name), the working man is faced with the grim and existential spectre of living their horrible, soulcrushing occupations for their industrialist or noble employers well into the afterlife. These poor men, women and even children are referred to as the "Chained Dead," or "Chaindead" for short. They can work off their debt, but those who can afford the most amoral of lawyers know how to circumvent contracts and keep piling on the debt indefinitely... 

While compelling any surviving next of kin to pick up the debt themselves. If any of them die while in the line of duty, well... it's a vicious cycle.

God have mercy on your soul if you have no family. This has created situations where some working souls keep toiling day and night, no closer to finishing their debt... but generations have passed and their own descendants have forgotten all about their ancestors, leaving them trapped in a macabre societal machine. Oh, and if it wasn't depressing enough... well, sometimes some souls forget why they died in the first place, all memory of their mortal life dissipating under the endless strain.

Worse yet, this influx of indebted souls has promoted a "technically" legal booming market that everyone at the top profits from, and two competing organizations are vying for a monopoly on this market.

On the one hand, the Entropic Priesthood. They're a clergy of necromancers who utilise their incredible occult knowledge to bind the souls of the recently departed to the material plane, just before they escape to the unknown. 

On the other hand, the Funeral Parlour, a guild of alchemists and Doctor Frankenstein-types. Their brand of Chaindead? Reanimated and ostensibly brainless corpses. They argue their methods and results are far more humane; that corpse of your beloved Grandpa Manfred isn't really Grandpa Manfred, he's just an animated vegetable, more machine than man! See? You don't have to worry about debt as we desecrate your grandfather's corpse for menial and demeaning tasks... 

These two organizations, this divide between necromancy and... well, mad science... have been locked in a centuries old feud, with this fierce economic competition the first openly public displays of animosity and conflict between the two. 

(cont...)

[Quadrophenia]

(continued)

But of course, they have secret conflicts far beneath the public eye... one that involves an ancient dead city deep beneath the streets of the current one, a city of graves and mausoleums. Inside a temple, this one metaphysical door--legend has it--opens once every century. 

And it will allow only one enter. 

On the other side?

The secrets to... everything. To the afterlife, to immortality, to mastery over life and death. 

It is called... the Veil.

So, both sides organize two teams of agents, seven necromancers and seven guildsmen. The former have their Chaindead spirits, the latter their Frankenstein-esque abominations. Both participants of this tournament for metaphysical fortune and glory are referred to as Veilpiercers (title drop!). This tournament is held once every century, and only one pair (or at least, one of the pair) might pierce the Veil.

All the while, a working man's revolution of the Chaindead is brewing in the streets, intense and violent political parties are picking up steam, the upper echelons of society are conspiring and plotting against one another for petty power grabs, ancient forces are coming together far beyond... and a few unlikely heroes might rise from the grave and buck the natural order of things.

That's the general gist I've got so far, what do you think? The setting is inspired by Czarist Russia pre-Revolution and pre-Nazi Germany, with a dash of Dickensian London. So you'll have old automobiles, firearms and German Expressionist-esque architecture, alongside all the other crazy stuff here. 

[marsoupial they/them]

Your ideas sound epic! I will read any works you are willing to share with us.

[Quadrophenia]

2 minutes ago, bleeder said:

Your ideas sound epic! I will read any works you are willing to share with us.

Thanks, man!

[Zathoth]

Can I just visit your imagination? For like maybe an hour? I promise not to touch anything.

[Quadrophenia]

5 minutes ago, Morzathoth said:

Can I just visit your imagination? For like maybe an hour? I promise not to touch anything.

Sure, but remember: don't go into the Red Light District. It's my imagination's kinky fetish corner. Whips, chains, lingerie, waifus, husbandos, genderbending, dominatrixes, ballgags, the works.

All mine. No touching. I'll know. 

I'll. Know. 

 

Edited September 20, 2016 by Quadrophenia

[Zathoth]

1 minute ago, Quadrophenia said:

Sure, but remember: don't go into the Red Light District. It's my imagination's kinky fetish corner. Whips, chains, lingerie, waifus, husbandos, genderbending, dominatrixes, ballgags, the works.

All mine. 

 

I'll try not to... though with my sense of direction... I'll just turn around if things start shining red.

[marsoupial they/them]

1 minute ago, Quadrophenia said:

Sure, but remember: don't go into the Red Light District. It's my imagination's kinky fetish corner. Whips, chains, lingerie, waifus, husbandos, genderbending, dominatrixes, ballgags, the works.

All mine. 

 

Oof. Not too long ago, a junior (who is a total stranger) with a sadomasochism fetish hit on me and was into me (I'm a freshman). The sadomasochism thing was the first thing he mentioned; his collection of whips and cuffs were the second.  I wasn't very comfortable with that, he and I haven't spoken since.

[Quadrophenia]

Just now, Morzathoth said:

I'll try not to... though with my sense of direction... I'll just turn around if things start shining red.

My imagination has entire countries and borders. There's Nostalgialand, the seaside moorlands of Castle Love's Craft, the bright forests of Fantasia, the sky-piercing metropolises of Asimov City, the fairytale village of Princess's Grove (which is like a benign version of Stepford mixed with Disney mixed with secret childhood dreams for princess-dom), the barren wastelands of Obligatory Post-Apocalyptia...

And there's even a chain of Art House cafés for snooty postmodernism, anti-narrative conventions and fart-sniffing liberalism. It, incidentally, is the left-wing to my Princess's Grove right-wing. Represents both my political spheres of my brain.

[Quadrophenia]

6 minutes ago, bleeder said:

Oof. Not too long ago, a junior (who is a total stranger) with a sadomasochism fetish hit on me and was into me (I'm a freshman). The sadomasochism thing was the first thing he mentioned; his collection of whips and cuffs were the second.  I wasn't very comfortable with that, he and I haven't spoken since.

 

 

Ooph, that sucks. 

Clearly, that jackass was a poseur. In my neck of the woods, we practice consensual rust. More to the point, we respect boundaries and fully respect it's not for everyone. This guy? storm that guy.

Edit: I just noticed that there's some sort of profanity filter on this site... and changes certain words to Sanderson's made up insults and fantasy-specific profanity. Cute.

Edited September 20, 2016 by Quadrophenia

[marsoupial they/them]

Just now, Quadrophenia said:

Ooph, that sucks. 

Clearly, that jackass was a poseur. In my neck of the woods, we practice consensual rust. More to the point, we respect boundaries and fully respect it's not for everyone. This guy? storm that guy.

It didn't help that his parents didn't know he was gay. 

I try to stay away from folks like that, I'm looking for open relationships.

[Quadrophenia]

2 minutes ago, bleeder said:

It didn't help that his parents didn't know he was gay. 

I try to stay away from folks like that, I'm looking for open relationships.

 

 

Good on you, man. 

Edit: This can't be said enough, but if someone is creepily aggressive with you with sexual and/or romantic intent, you have every right to put your foot down and say no! And if they ignore your protests, you're well within your rights to try to get that person out of your life, talk to your folks or the police depending on the severity. 

This PSA brought to you by real life experience.

Edited September 20, 2016 by Quadrophenia

[marsoupial they/them]

4 minutes ago, Quadrophenia said:

Good on you, man. 

Thanks. The search is ongoing 

[Quadrophenia]

Just now, bleeder said:

Thanks. The search is ongoing 

Ain't it always?

[marsoupial they/them]

Just now, Quadrophenia said:

Ain't it always?

True, that. I'll find the guy/girl/person for me one of these days.

[Zathoth]

10 minutes ago, Quadrophenia said:

My imagination has entire countries and borders. There's Nostalgialand, the seaside moorlands of Castle Love's Craft, the bright forests of Fantasia, the sky-piercing metropolises of Asimov City, the fairytale village of Princess's Grove (which is like a benign version of Stepford mixed with Disney mixed with secret childhood dreams for princess-dom), the barren wastelands of Obligatory Post-Apocalyptia...

And there's even a chain of Art House cafés for snooty postmodernism, anti-narrative conventions and fart-sniffing liberalism. It, incidentally, is the left-wing to my Princess's Grove right-wing. Represents both my political spheres of my brain.

It sounds like a very interesting place! I should trade your map for mine, but Lady Sleep is calling me and I have left her waiting for much too long so that will have to wait.

Lets just say that there is a constant war between Queen Misanthropia Nihilos and King Heroicus Absurdus... there's also lots of insects for some reason...

 

About the search I have always felt like chains don't become me...

I am talking all fancy, I need to sleep. Laters everything, animate or not.

[marsoupial they/them]

Just now, Morzathoth said:

It sounds like a very interesting place! I should trade your map for mine, but Lady Sleep is calling me and I have left her waiting for much too long so that will have to wait.

Lets just say that there is a constant war between Queen Misanthropia Nihilos and King Heroicus Absurdus... there's also lots of insects for some reason...

 

About the search I have always felt like chains don't become me...

I am talking all fancy, I need to sleep. Laters everything, animate or not.

Night, Morz. Sleep well.

[Quadrophenia]

10 minutes ago, Morzathoth said:

It sounds like a very interesting place! I should trade your map for mine, but Lady Sleep is calling me and I have left her waiting for much too long so that will have to wait.

Lets just say that there is a constant war between Queen Misanthropia Nihilos and King Heroicus Absurdus... there's also lots of insects for some reason...

 

About the search I have always felt like chains don't become me...

I am talking all fancy, I need to sleep. Laters everything, animate or not.

 

 

Night, buddy! And I might be responsible for the insects...

Alright, now for Book Three...

FADE

And now, ladies and gentlemen, my sombre, bittersweet, Studio Ghibli/Watership Down/Last Unicorn attempt at fantasy...

The pitch here is simple: in this constructed world, creatures of myth, legend and folklore- fantastical monsters and otherworldly beasts are sloooowly fading from the world as civilisation encroaches on their lands, as scholars map the world and cities are built over fairy rings, croc-folk swamps and dragon's dens. 

In their place, as wars wage and a growing empire is struggling to unite feuding peoples under a single banner. The empress of said empire has turned her eye to a fabled island known simply as the Cradle. Legend has it the roots of all cultures, all societies, all peoples, all life on this world, began on this island. Man left that island eons ago, though legends per culture contest as to why. 

Either way, the empress finds it would be a symbolic victory if they settled that mystery island and claimed it as the new capital of the empire. Perhaps then, it would galvanize those warring states to unite under a certain commonality, a point of significance shared by all societies. 

To this end, she has recruited a world-renowned naturalist, an eccentric scientist and explorer, to go to this island, scope it out, and see if it can be deemed inhabital for civilisation. 

Said naturalist is given an entire expedition to lead, with all the resources money can buy...

... And she brings her precocious, little budding scientist and artist daughter along for the ride. 

The island, incidentally, the Cradle?

It's the last refuge of these fantastical creatures. It's the last place on this world where mystery and magic can still thrive.

Our mother/daughter duo go to this island to study the land... and the wonderful creatures that inhabit it.

Of course, the daughter has no idea of the colonialist intensions of the empress, so that'll hang overhead like the Sword of Damocles... 

What do you think?

Edited September 20, 2016 by Quadrophenia

[marsoupial they/them]

2 minutes ago, Quadrophenia said:

Night, buddy! And I might be responsible for the insects...

Alright, now for Book Three...

FADE

And now, ladies and gentlemen, my sombre, bittersweet, Studio Ghibli/Watership Down/Last Unicorn attempt at fantasy...

The pitch here is simple: in this constructed world, creatures of myth, legend and folklore- fantastical monsters and otherworldly beasts are sloooowly fading from the world as civilisation encroaches on their lands, as scholars map the world and cities are built over fairy rings, croc-folk swamps and dragon's dens. 

In their place, as wars wage and a growing empire is struggling to unite feuding peoples under a single banner. The empress of said empire has turned her eye to a fabled island known simply as the Cradle. Legend has it the roots of all cultures, all societies, all peoples, all life on this world, began on this island. Man left that island eons ago, though legends per culture contest as to why. 

Either way, the empress finds it would be a symbolic victory if they settled that mystery island and claimed it as the new capital of the empire. Perhaps then, it would galvanize those warring states to unite under a certain commonality, a point of significance shared by all societies. 

To this end, she has recruited a world-renowned naturalist, an eccentric scientist and explorer, to go to this island, scope it out, and see if it can be deemed inhabital for civilisation. 

Said naturalist is given an entire expedition to lead, with all the resources money can buy...

... And she brings her precocious, little budding scientist and artist daughter along for the ride. 

The island, incidentally, the Cradle?

It's the last refuge of these fantastical creatures. It's the last place on this world where mystery and magic can still thrive.

Our mother/daughter duo go to this island to study the land... and the wonderful creatures that inhabit it.

Of course, the daughter has no idea of the colonialist intensions of the empress, so that'll hang overhead like the Sword of Damocles... 

What do you think?

Sounds good! Is it set on one world, or is it space-y?

[Quadrophenia]

2 minutes ago, bleeder said:

Sounds good! Is it set on one world, or is it space-y?

It's set in an ersatz Southeast Asia world, so most characters have Ancient India inspired naming schemes. 

[marsoupial they/them]

Just now, Quadrophenia said:

It's set in an ersatz Southeast Asia world, so most characters have Ancient India inspired naming schemes. 

Ah, OK. Level of tech on said world?

[Quadrophenia]

2 minutes ago, bleeder said:

Ah, OK. Level of tech on said world?

Middle Ages to 18th century India. Our main naturalist character uses tools that Charles Darwin would have had on his journey to the Galapagos islands, for instance.

Edited September 20, 2016 by Quadrophenia

[marsoupial they/them]

5 minutes ago, Quadrophenia said:

Middle Ages to 18th century India. 

Oh, ok. Makes sense.

[Quadrophenia]

1 hour ago, bleeder said:

Oh, ok. Makes sense.

My main inspiration was reading about Charles Darwin's journey and research at the Galapagos Islands.