#rezan * / introduction

[thephoenixandthecrocodile]

The second week of NaNoWriMo is over and my pace of writing slowed down a bit. I’ve written 21K this week which means I’m still on target for the NaNo goal, as long as my pace picks up in the upcoming week. I’m also only on chapter nine, soooo scared about what the final wordcount for this book is going to be.

Feelings and Assassins

Plotwise, I finally moved on from the Vasily Saga and onto Part II, the Sinner Eaters aka my big bad Demon monarchs. Last update, I was struggling with Sophia’s inability to manage her own emotions and her refusal to communicate with her partners because of her fear that communication would ruin their relationship. Well, we moved on beyond that point, some secrets were shared, lots of tears were shed, and I think Sophia, Yidiresi (also known as Dmitri), and Vasily reached an understanding that could blossom into a romantic relationship again. Hopefully…otherwise I have to rethink a large part of the book. I wanted to do a tragic doomed lovers story but it may turn more into a doomed friendship/queerplatonic relationship, which still works. I think it just changes some mini-details and plot mechanisms, so I guess we’ll see how it develops.

After all the emotional melodrama, we finally moved onto hunting assassins who are hunting Vasily. I had fun drawing this questionable map of the theater where Vasily and his co-conspirators laid a trap.

Demons!!!

We end on a cliffhanger and jump back in time a few months to meet the Sin Eaters. They are three Demons who have proclaimed themselves leaders of the Demon people and are hunting for Vasily because he supposedly has a weapon that can kill God.

There is Rezan (one of his many names), who is the “king” and may be the first Demon aka Shardith, the servant/potential son of God who rebelled and was thrown into the Void. Or he’s just a talented mime/actor/baker who had the misfortune of being turned and is making the best of it.

There is Danijela, a recently turned Demon who is the “queen” and Rezan’s beloved, although I’m still figuring out how devoted they are to each other at this point in the story. Demons don’t retain their memories once they turn, but she has vague flashes of flowers and so she has a soft spot for father arrangements and plants, particularly the white tulip. She is following Rezan’s lead at this point because where else can she go, but I”m still working out her own feelings about what Rezan has in mind.

Finally, there is Yeremi, a recently turned Demon, but he is the werewolf variant of being a Demon whereas Rezan and Danijela are more aristocratic demons. Yeremi is coarse, rude, and extremely violent, but he is completely devoted to Rezan. He will literally do anything Rezan asks of him, even if it means bodily harm and death. Unlike Danijela, I don’t think he’s looking for more than being a Demon and killing.

Technically we’ve already met Rezan in the prologue, but since this is the first time the reader gets to know him on a personal level and get a better sense of his plans and motives, I want to get this introduction scene perfect. I’ve rewritten it three times because I just haven’t figured out the best way to approach the scene. First, I wrote it from the perspective of Timofey interviewing a survivor of the Demon’s attack, but that allowed Timofey to dominate the narrative around the Demons. I thought it was better to have the Demons introduce themselves. So then I tried to rewrite the scene so it was told from Rezan’s perspective, but something is missing. I’m frontloading all the details about what a Demon looks like and is, when I need to introduce the unholy trio and sprinkle the Demon specific details throughout the scene.

The one thing I’m going to have fun playing with is that there are three demons: Rezan, Danijela, and Yeremi and God has three “children” or special servants (depending on which religion you prescribe to): Amal Baris (always God’s Son), Shardith (the fallen servant/sometimes God’s son who creates the Demon people), and Death (sometimes God’s daughter who creates the Shadow people). In fact there are a lot of trios in this book: Rezan, Danijela, and Yeremi; Vasily, Sophia, and Yidiresi; Rashid, Nodira, and Turar; etc. It’ll be fun figuring out what it means and how the Church misinterprets those connections/relations.

So, that’s how my NaNo is going. How is your NaNo going? What are some wins from your first week? What are some of the challenges you’ve encountered? Goals for this week?

[thefoldedbird]

how about some small introductions for your wow ocs? 👀

Hell yeah! I would love to ❤️ I apologize in advance as I have a lot of these dudes.

Orla

She’s a human mage that went from no magic to being patroned by a very old deity to revive Vol’jin. She cannot return home unless she is successful. Apparently far from the first person her deity has done this to but the others are implied to have kinda…died. Is just trying to roll with the punches but the pressure is getting to her.

T’sangra

A grumpy old green troll and the captain of a horde trade ship. Once upon a time he was quite the ladies man. Took a sword to the face about a decade ago and the wound never quite healed right.

Eril

She’s 58 years old but hasn’t smiled in 50 thanks to a bargain on behalf of her parents to a demon. She currently studies fae magic and enchantments. Is not actually magic herself. Her neighbor is simply an nuisance. Her two adopted sons are her pride and joy and she has and will again murder to keep them safe.

Gohn

Eril’s first son. A troll that ran away from home as a child. She raised him on her small farm on the Eastern Kingdoms but he’s since gone back to Kalimdor with the intention of reconnection with his tribe and proving himself to them as a hunter. He’s a mama’s boy with a very soft spot for cows. Could easily be described as a mom friend.

Sad’iekke (Sadie)

Eril’s second adopted son. A zandalari boy and an ex-priest of Rezan. He’s young, naive, curious, anxious, and has a considerable amount of family trauma to work through but he’s sweet as honey and ultimately just wants to be a really good healer. Too nice for his own good sometimes.

Basha

My Gurubashi troll. He’s an older dude and kind of an ass. He’s got a big voice, has a hot temper, yells a lot, and will start a fight just for fun. His wife poisoned him right before he left for Zandalar. He gets jumped by goblins and left for dead in a ditch. His pride takes the brunt of the damage.

Roma

Was a knight but sustained an injury in her leg and didn’t treat it properly. Now she can’t put weight on it and now uses magic to float around and travels in hopes that she can find a way to fix it. Can’t bear to cut it off. Is fatigued 110% of the time. Is named after the tomato, yes.

Nao

A dragon! Part of the emerald dragonflight. Their dragon form is very Aztec in design. They’re a partier with a deep love for drums and dancing.

Rasmundy

Is a wizard in a similar situation as Orla. Except he’s also a cowboy whose magic staff is just a gun that fires whatever he tells it to. Still looks, sounds, and requires reloading like a normal gun. He’s a real jovial dude who’s just trying to vibe. Mostly a joke character.

Jeanne & Mintawix

A Gnome and a Goblin respectively who are both very in love but very bad with their emotions so they just send each other hateful poems in the mail with bombs attached and call the other their Pen(emy) pal to cope.