forum Need Help Fleshing Out a Fantasy Plot

Started January 16, 2018 by @Karasu888

tune

I would appreciate any help connecting the dots a little more than what I have. I'm honestly stumped. Sorry for the long read!

Here's what I have so far:

In this fantasy world, there are six dragons that oversee its cycle: fire, water, earth, air, life and death. Every 2000-5000-ish years, one of them is sacrificed. In the last cycle, it was fire's turn and the world lost all heat. Without the counterpart to balance water, the world flooded and froze. Once fire was reborn, the balance returned and life was renewed. This cycle was agreed upon by the dragons themselves after the world became too unbalanced when the creatures on it were allowed to run unchecked.

This cycle is the first time the life dragon will be sacrificed. Death has already played such a large role in the other cycles, she's tired and wants the cycle to end. Plus, she doesn’t agree (or maybe comes to this realization) that the dragons should be the ultimate decision makers. She sets out to find those that can help her.

The above is all information that would be eventually revealed through the story but the only thing that would be known early on would be the worship of the six dragons and their role in the world as it is. The dragons have massive power over their element, even being able to control creatures of their element (i.e. the air dragon could control flying creatures or the water dragon could control anything that lives in the sea) so they’re revered and feared.

The story will center around a harpy who was kicked out of his nest/flock for being male. Harpies and sirens are related, just different elements, and he used his charming, singsong voice to become one of the best thieves around. His high thieving skill attracts the attention of Death who is looking for someone to steal to stop the sacrifices.

She convinces him to help her without revealing her identity (she would show as a human or elf and would ask for help with someone more minor than stopping the dragon cycle). Tagging along is a very determined human guard whose life goal is to catch the harpy and throw him in jail for all of his theft. He'll also play an important role later in the story because of the elemental influence - the dragons won't be able to get to him since he's human - so he'll be tasked with holding onto whatever's stolen.

Here’s what I’m trying to figure out:

1. What should be stolen to stop the sacrificing? A ceremonial dagger? Maybe a hardened dragon age that the sacrificed dragon is reborn from?
2. What false story should death tell the harpy and guard to enlist their help? (I imagine some traveling around to different towns/countries, it won’t just take place in one city)
3. I’d like more reasoning behind why the cycle MUST take place. Did something bad happen the first time around that scared all the dragons into committing 100% going forward?
4. Really any other suggestions anyone has to flesh this plot out some - beginning, middle, end. Whatever ideas you have! Or even if something doesn't make sense. Questions can also bring forth new ideas!

Thank you so much for your thoughts and suggestions!

1) What if instead of just having to steal something, they also have to destroy it? Such as some sort of magical orb that sucks the life/energy from a dragon and thus the rest of the world. And Death gets the thief to help because he is highly skilled at sneaking around and he needs to bring the orb to someone who can destroy it, maybe even death herself, so it'll release all the magic back into the world. Maybe by life being sacrificed everything is slowly dying out, including the dragons and so death doesn't have a choice?

2) Death could use the fact that the thief wants riches or something and the guard wants the thief to manipulate them into doing stuff. For example, Death tells or 'accidentally' gives information to the thief about a grand treasure that can grant wishes/control powerful magic/etc. And the thief can go after it without Death even talking to him because if there's an opportunity for him to get back into his home then I assume he'll take. And then when the artifact is stolen Death could have tipped the guard off about where the thief is, ensuring that the orb is taken and protected while the thief is in jail. Maybe the sacrifice has to be done by or at a certain time before it'll all fall apart?

3) The cycle could be a preventive measure against something that needs a lot of magic to keep imprisoned. Like, a horrible demon or beast or even a seventh dragon that went bad. And the cycle prevents it from rising. But Death believes that everything must have an end including the cycle. Or maybe the dragons will eventually run out of energy themselves and Death believes that there is a way to stop it once it rises?

4) I really like the idea of the guard and the thief being forced to work together. I think it could be a great way for them to have character arcs and develop a humorous dynamic and tone to the story. Maybe the beginning is the thief finally reaching the summit of the mountain the artifact is on and stealing it and then being caught by the guard when he descends the mountain. Then one of the other dragons realizes whats happened and has someone else steal it back from the thief.

This makes Death show herself to the thief and the guard and explain that she was the one who tipped them off (or maybe that can be some great reveal later) and tell them whats really going on and that they need to get the orb. The characters should have their own motivations for doing this as well. Like the thief wants to belong in his home. And you could just sprinkle exposition throughout the story. And maybe the pair doesn't get the orb back, maybe whoever took it (maybe she's a good friend or colleague of the guards) makes it back and put it on the altar in time and they're super disappointed and distressed but then something starts to happen and Oh wait! The orb had been cracked along the way and didn't work for the ritual.

And then the monster or whatever is free. And maybe it's only got an ethereal and ghost-like form so it has to possess someone. And who's closest? The girl that knows the guard. Maybe she drops the orb in surprise and it rolls towards the thief and he picks it up. And then Death appears and she tells him that the only way to defeat the beast is to kill the girl. And then the thief puts the pieces together and realizes that the only dragon there right now and that he's seen (plus some other inconsistencies) is death. The great plot twist is that Death had the thief steal the orb and the guard arrest the thief and the girl return the orb so that when the monster arose and possessed the girl she could be killed. Death insists that its the only way of course and the thief, our hero in this story as it would turn out, has a decision to make. Does he trusts the highly respected and knowledgeable dragon that already lied to him and is to fault for these events and kill his new friend's (he and the guard became close over their journey) friend? Or does he let the supposed villain go free in his new friend's body while she's supposedly going to cause chaos and destruction and misery? Or does he use his magical affinity to bond with the magic in the orb (depending on how your magic system works) and shoots the girl in a beam of power, the guard being horrified and Death relieved, only to reveal that he used the only remaining power of the artifact to cleanse the girl and destroy the beast and his only way to go home and fit in?

Or does he turn himself into a female harpy and just GTFO?

Well uh, these are just my suggestions. Use and change them however you may please. Good luck writing this too! Even if you don't use my ideas it's still a great premise and sounds fun to read.
If you have any questions about these I'll be in the area ^^

So many great ideas! I really appreciate the time you put into your response. :)

I really need to take some time to work through your ideas to get the creativity juices flowing!

I definitely like the idea of destroying whatever is used for the ritual to "release" the magic. I also love the idea of Death tricking the thief into doing what she deems is necessary. So many possible outcomes there!

Thanks again for your help, I've already cut and paste your suggestions into a saved spot so I can keep revisiting.

Anytime haha! Good luck with your story, it sounds like it's going to be amazing ^^

The concept is so cool, lemme just say.

First, it's Life's turn to be sacrificed, right? So why would Death be too tired to deal with that? Wouldn't that just mean that either everything dies all at once so that the world can basically reset, or does it mean that nothing new can be born to life? Doesn't seem like Death would really have to do anything at all, since the one that she has to fight all the time is Life. With Life out of the way, her job is easy. Wouldn't it make more sense for Life to be the one who wants to live?

I'm gonna explore your third question mostly. In my mind, it would just make sense for the dragons to just die of old age one at a time, and then their spirit gets reborn at some point. But that wouldn't work with the whole thing about the thief. :P

So ignoring that, it doesn't make sense that this cycle is actually beneficial for balance. What if there's a head dragon that's enforcing the cycle? It could be Chaos. You could have Fire, Earth, Water, Air, Life, Death, Order, and Chaos. Chaos is like the big baddie who wants the earth in chaos, of course, so he lied to the rest of the dragons way back when about how this "cycle" could really keep humans in check, when really he just enjoyed the chaos that was produced. Maybe Death (or whoever wants to stop the cycle) has been suspicious of Chaos for awhile, and is finally starting to figure out this sick fetish of his? And now that Life (or maybe Order) is about to be sacrificed, the worst thing for the world is about to happen, which would please Chaos immensely. The thing about these dragons is that you've gotta treat them like deities, beings who are above the natural disasters of the earth, and who basically just treat the universe like their playground. So in the grand scheme of things, the end of the known world isn't as big of a deal to them as it would be to humans. It would be super inconvenient, though. They're basically just concerned with Chaos having manipulated them this whole time, and that he was basically in charge when they all want to be equal (well, technically I'm sure all of them would like to be in charge, as gods do :P).

Then this kind of leads me to your main character, the thief. Why does an all-powerful dragon/deity need his help? What does he have that the dragons don't have? You need to come up with something that explains how a mere human only having been alive for a fraction of the time the dragons have been alive can pull off something like stealing an artifact that sets off the cycle. Maybe, going along with the idea that Chaos is the one orchestrating all this, from the beginning of time the dragons have never been able to interfere with each other. That could mean many things, like they can't sabotage each dragon's work, maybe they can't even TOUCH each other. But a human can.

Now I have to wonder how Chaos and the other dragons worked out the cycle if they can't touch each other… Maybe the dragons can't actually die, they just agree to be entrapped in a cage for a certain period of time? And this cage puts them to sleep? OH, the sleeping could make sense as a part of Chaos's way of tricking them. He could've said that the cycle would keep humans in check AND give each dragon a turn to rest from their hard work. I dunno. And then Death wants to stop the cycle cuz it gives Chaos more power, but to do that the thief has to steal the key that locks the cage. And Chaos keeps the key on him at all times.

I can keep going back and forth with this after you've responded to what I wrote so far, and don't feel obligated to like anything I just said. It's YOUR story after all, and you know best how it should work. :)

@Masterkey - First off, thank you for your ideas and support! Also, sorry for the below…I was typing out my thoughts so hopefully it makes sense.

I had Death being tired of…well, Death. Unlike the rest who are ambitious and crave more power, she doesn't. Death is constantly occurring and she knows if Life is sacrificed, there will be even more death (I was thinking all life would slowly die out). Maybe she's even egged on by Life who agrees that the cycle wants to end but actually wants to sacrifice Death instead so Life will flourish. Or maybe Life tells Death to leave because if she's not around to sacrifice him, they'll both be safe from the cycle. And then while she's out, he tries to kill her (like maybe they're weaker wandering the world).

Now, looking at what you suggested, I love the idea of Chaos reigning over all of them! Although, I feel like if Chaos is the dragons' leader, something would've happened to his counterpart, Order. Or maybe Order never existed and that's how he got to be so powerful in the first place. Maybe Death does figure out his plan and works to stop it, like you suggested.

I definitely like the idea that they can't interfere with one another and had a similar idea myself so that they maintain their "balance". I had the idea of the thief because some important part of the "cycle" needs to be stolen, either from one of the other dragons (maybe Chaos keeps it tucked away or always on him like you said?) or some place on the planet. This item can't be touched by one of the dragons (unless during the ceremony?) so an extremely skilled thief is needed to steal the item but only a human can actually handle it (someone with absolutely no magic/elemental connection, like the guard). Now the how they manage to steal something so precious to beings so powerful still needs to be figured out. ^^;

I do want to stick with the sacrifice idea since it's their death that results in the imbalance (which Chaos must love). He's probably persuaded Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Life and Death to keep with this cycle to protect their minions. I imagine each element has their own dominant species (i.e. elves for earth, dwarves for fire, some sort of mermaid-ish creature for water, a faery-ish creature for air) and their minions suffer at the hands of humans (for example, because humans don't have their own magic, they subjugate other species). Not sure if Life and/or Death would have their own.

The story will center around the thief and guard and their progress, but I have to lock down the world's backstory before I can figure out their path. I appreciate the help with this.

Okay…gotta get back to work but I'd love to know what you think or what anyone else has to add. :)

All that sounds good to me, you just have to flesh out the areas you already mentioned, but that'll just take time. I think you'll be able to work it out.

As for something needing to weaken Order so that Chaos has more power, I think that's a good idea, but you don't necessarily have to. I think you wouldn't have to because Chaos convinced everyone of the plan to use the cycle by saying it would benefit all of them, so all the dragons thought they were all equally making that decision. In reality, Chaos did it because the cycle would result in chaos, which he loves and thrives in, giving him power that the other dragons are oblivious to because they didn't realize he had tricked them all when they came up with the idea. So everything was fine and dandy for the rest of the dragons until Death put two and two together and realized Chaos had manipulated them the whole time. Do you think that would work? Maybe the resulting chaos caused by the cycle weakens Order simply because Order isn't compatible with chaos anyway?

I just wanted to thank you guys for your help again. I had a great breakthrough last night and switched a bunch around (mostly thanks to your suggestions) and now I believe I have a workable, not-to-complicated background for my plot.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Yay!

I freaking love those midnight breakthroughs…

Anytime! It was a pleasure to help ^^