Foundation Blog: Warsaints
For February and March posts, I want to focus on the inspiration for each of the four titles. There is material here I want to communicate as the foundation of each, and explore so I don't lose the visual theme as they grow. This week, we’re exploring with Warsaints.
Warsaints
Era Setting: Far future, sci-fi. Though the worlds we visit in the story are themselves set at different eras, our rooted era is far-future. This is a sci-fi series, so the style of dress for most characters we meet should be highly sophisticated and full of simple lines, but with some utilitarian accessories with only functional embellishments
Name Inspiration: The original name for this series was Dragoon. In changing the name, I wanted to have a title that spoke to the original conception of the series, which followed a family of warriors who had a status that was elevated above infantry. They needed to be special in some way and harkened back to their traditional roles in ancient warfare. Their military unit was called dragoons, and they were a mounted cavalry unit, who wielded both spears and carbine rifles that made a “roar” when fired. They are elite soldiers, the type of units that others are inspired by when they take the field because their inclusion in a war means victory for the army who fields them.
I moved from Dragoon because of their era setting and into a sense of “lost glory looking to be reclaimed.” Some people remember their history, but lots don’t because the threats that once called for them don’t exist anymore. Still, their place is aspirational by those who knew their history. Because of the naming restrictions I put in place, I needed a name that spoke to their history and status, but also something that began with the letters U through Z. Wanting to touch that historic element and ground the series and character in their traditions as powerful warriors, “War” was an obvious choice, and with wanting to elevate them to a higher-than-average status, “Saints” came right after.
The title was planned to be two separate words, and in looking at the other titles, it would have stayed that way. But when I changed Highdark back to Hedge Kingdom, I wanted a second one-word title to balance out, so it all became Warsaints. What this did was make the characters’ status the point and give them a brand new title in a world that didn’t know it needed them until they returned. They are still dragoons, but they now go by a very different name that indicates a very different role within global conflicts, expanding to the galaxy itself.
World Events: In the galactic future, a universe-spanning empire of domination is running sorties against galactic powers, and the universe’s long-esteemed protectors against them are scattered and silent. Locally, in our corner of the universe, one of the four families has fallen and been lost, and another house has taken it upon themselves to grab for their holdings. There are also dragons.
Media for Inspiration:
Total War
Star Wars
Star Trek
Gundam Wing
Battlestar Galactica
Neon Genesis: Evangelion
Negation
Background: I don’t know where this story came from, honestly. What I knew was that in my stories, I wanted to touch all my favorite fantasy genres, including sci-fi. There was something I’ve always loved about the genre, whether it’s grim-dark, science-fantasy, or hard sci-fi. And, once upon a time I created a little sci-fi story about a space station floating around outside of earth that was very Gundam and Neon Genesis. I wanted to get back to that, but we’re not following the same characters I did then.
Working through this story, I wanted a story about a dad and son on a journey of discovery, where dad was teaching his young son about the world he didn’t know, and about how war destroys people. I got real settled into the telling and then I saw something that made me say, “No, this is about mom and son.” I don’t remember what it was, I think it was a point about family relationships and the roles of mothers in adventure stories, or something to that effect and that’s where the switch happened. Thinking how cool it would be if it was mom teaching her youngest son about the world and war gave me a lot more ideas to play with. And really, the great thing is that I could put either of our guy’s parents in the hot seat and what we’d see is maybe a different perspective on the subjects but all for the same effect of teaching our boy about life and what it means to grow up in a world suddenly plunged into war.
I hadn’t even named all the characters when it occurred to me where else this story could go and who else could be there. Like anything, I reached back into my memories and pulled out a couple other characters I haven’t done anything with and dropped them in here, too. Lots of characters, lots of personalities, all because I wanted this story to be all-encompassing and to give a tour of the galaxy as we know it. There’ll be planet-hopping and space battles and politics, and family relationships and hero journey stuff all throughout. Should be a fun time.
Probably my favorite addition was my one character from earth, Heraclea. I can’t wait to get to the part in the story where she comes in. Heraclea was a character for a story that was published here in our local paper Columbus Alive for a 6-page strip that features the city of Columbus. She’s a “daughter of Hera” character who is a female version of Hercules. So think divine strength and endurance as a woman brawler and that’s her. I plucked her because I plucked up her crush, my skinny, nerdy paladin-mage dude Ieth to be a helper to our main boy and his family while on a mission to locate our Moon Child. There’s a lot going on with that and that’ll be explored and explained in the pages of the story, but anyway she gets here for some reason, and I wanted to up the stakes for him and explore the relationship between the two I never got to. I had been wanting to come back to Heraclea for a bit with an expanded something, but this will be just as good for me.
Moon Child: Eleot DeLuna, also called Mercy, was the prince and las remaining member of his house. Born to the privilege of being a high-house prince, he fought valiantly in every conflict that erupted on his house’s worlds through diplomacy and strategy. As the last remaining member of his house, he is taken in by Aishah as one of her sons despite him being the political ruler of her world and direct commander. He takes orders from her only as a matter of course because of her wisdom and because she reveals to him parts of the worlds he’s never truly seen.
His power is protective, erecting protective shields and using his power primarily to speak to the hearts of people and heal them. Whereas the others concern themselves with being the spear and its thrust, Eleot is the shield and the balm. His essence is such that he take the brunt of the worst hits that the group will ever encounter, and is the only one of them who can fight dragons head on.
Prelude: A High House has fallen, and because Eleot is the last surviving member of his family, he is suspected as the culprit. He is brought to trial before a council of the remaining three houses and Councilor Nemea, the Sage of Law.
This is our start for Warsaints. The next post will cover Hedge Kingdom.
Thanks for reading!