Here's my notes for today. First read my post "Taking Solus: worldbuilding tech questions"
http://bit.ly/bwwfNL I may have just tonight created a background IV (see shared HW folder on google docs for the backgrounds file) mentioned at the very bottom as within the first 200 years of them landing on this planet.
Vil Kaestin – Protagonist
(using background III )
History: Took job in capital of Noagol working for Eserr Bek to stop pandemic virus unleashed by the Arakun, but spread to Noagol. His genetic therapy in producing an antivirus was crucial to the cure, but Eserr took all the credit. When Vil threatened to go public, Eserr framed him for charges of participating in a gay prostitution ring (chose this to reveal the religious nature of their gov’t). Vil was arrested, but after a few years in prison he escaped and made it to the canyons of Deeke.
While in prison he was given a job genetic research, because the Arakun gov’t wanted the info for their own development of cures to other viruses and diseases. He developed a code and secretly worked on his DNA robot technology, by using a program that sent false information to the server they monitored and storing his real information in another location. He implanted DNA robots into his system that would make his body immune to the radiation, and when he completed his research he escaped. They did not guard the direction north because no one could survive going that way.
He brought with him a laptop, food, his programs, syringes, hiking equipment he had smuggled in and a map to an outpost in the mountain valley satellites show was not completely destroyed.
His Goal: To set up a research station at that outpost and heal the people living underground from their mutations as well as making them immune to the radiation. Then, with those people’s complete support, he will train them for war. He appoints a successor to take over his work and then leaves to offer his DNA robots to the Lovarans to better their society and build them up after the last war. His real plan is to spread his technology across all their branches of government, but this is taking too long because of their lack of energy. He begins building solar panel stations, but the process is struggling without much funding. Every time the Lovarans make a step forward in rebuilding, something happens that erases their growth – be it espionage or outright attack.
Then he hears of Darin Enteel. Darin is the CEO of CamFlight, an aeronautic breakthrough that uses Camil to fuel flying cars called fliers. (may need work on name
An Arakun attack on Darin’s Camil fields led him to search for new ground. In doing so he came across a mineral in the soil they identified as native to their moon. He stores the Hiicam (Camil grown in this soil with the H-11 element – 11 because it is the power of Camil to the eleventh power) and makes a circuit to private investors, after the gov’t refuses support, in an effort to fund building a space shuttle capable of starting Hiicam fields on the moon.
From here I could go two directions: one, Vil offers not only money, but help making the rocket in return for joining him on the moon to set up his solar power stations; two, Vil offers help making rocket, but sends secret agents to set up solar panels on the moon while he continues his work with DNA robots in Xia.
Is Vil’s goal to make slaves out of the Lovarans and destroy the Arakuns? How many people live in the Dife caves? A few thousand tops? How could they rise to power when the Lovarans outnumber them even if Vil does convince the Lovarans to use his weapons against the Arakun? Maybe Vil plans to recruit people from Lovaran nations who are equally fed up with this religious war. The most recent war has likely left areas in shambles and Vil may prey on them with his philosophy of removing religion from government.
History of Deeke: The Arakun have left this mountain region alone. In the latest war they destroyed the major outposts of the Lovarans and dropped enough bombs to make this place a radioactive wasteland. Very few people survived, and the Lovarans retreated North. Those who survived in caves have developed a hatred for Ara and all outsiders – Arakun for bombing them and the Lovarans for abandoning them.
So where does the story start if I incorporate these ideas?
I could go with the five chapters I wrote, where Darin is one day away from launch. He is either knowingly or not working with Vil on the plan to form a colony on the moon. The options here are still whether or not I want him to know about Vil or find out after he’s past the point of no return in the air. He could know about Vil, but not what his true intentions are, or he could just have an anonymous donor help fund his launch and materials.
The reason why I wouldn’t start with Vil getting arrested is because of how much time it takes for him in jail to research and the fact that he is not my protagonist. I see that as background info about him.
Again, another day has brought another drastic twist. One thing majorly different is an established nL Co. to have Darin’s son and wife treated with DNA robots. I suppose I could have that if Vil sought out Lynl and used his tech combined with Lynl’s knowledge of the brain and genetics.
One thing that would have to be changed is the map. The Arakun continent, Noagol, in the original map is across the sea from Ixia, where the prison was built. But that was before there was a split in the council. The original map had 12 colonies all under the Law of Ara and governed by the Council of 12.
This new map stemmed from analyzing the difference between the two major powers: Lovaran and Arakun. The Arakun are led by their prophet and his addition to Scripture. Those who did not follow him from the Council formed an alliance of nations called the Lovaran. In the midst of the Arakun trying to kill those who disagree with them, the Lovaran try to win people over to Ara through love. They kill only when absolutely necessary, and have developed a more sedative-based weapon system. The lax attitude towards a forced religion within the government has led many of the Lovaran nations apart ideologically as it relates to each nation’s set of circumstances. I’m not sure exactly what I mean by this, but I’m trying to create individual nations instead of a world with only two view points.
I don’t know how long they have been on this planet (Kitane). I recently put 900 years. I’m trying to give it enough time to allow each nation to develop technologically so that I can use this world for my DNA robot technology. I don’t know how a war could go on and off for 900 years. In our world, wars were short because people didn’t like spending their whole lives in a war. So, in my effort to be realistic, I figure wars will go on and off and territories will change sides.
Somehow, I’m seeing the Arakun on top with the Lovaran holding them back, but struggling to rebuild being on the defensive like they are. I don’t know how this would work in a high tech world. The Cold War showed us that threatening with full force led to a standstill. But that was between nations far apart/separated by an ocean. What if this world had more of a European/Northern Africa kind of division – most countries are close, with seas and rivers dividing them. There may be a few continents cut off the east and west ends, but most of the land is centralized. In our world, a young Earth theory proposes the Flood as the cause for the vast distances between the lands.
What if, over time, less people believed in Ara because of how the Arakun make Him out to be a murderous God who only loves certain people? The Lovaran are now only a small section of the population. I could have many nations who don’t believe in Ara – some support the Arakun because of how the Arakun are more interested in wiping out the Lovaran than them, while others sympathize for the Lovaran and have offered support, and then some who want to remain neutral though have defenses in case the Arakun try to invade.
In conjunction with my post on worldbuilding tech questions, if they arrived as a group of 200 hundred within the ship, it is possible that they all had varying aspects of faith in the one accepted religion. As they spread, they may feel more free to express their differences, or even the fact that they were merely living out the faith of their parents and will wish to explore the pleasures of the flesh. This could allow for more of a diverse religious climate among the nations, instead of only two sides fighting each other.
Also, I am seriously considering starting this book closer to the beginning stages of colonization, like the second century, while areas are still being built, and a major war has yet to take place, but is on the horizon.
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