My Sword and Sorcery book project

[Cogito]

When I was in college, I once tried writing a little bit, on a sword and sorcery style book.

But I wanted to make it more believable: that the characters were REAL like you and I. It would be a realistic history, period piece in a sense, although magic did exist. A fictional, historic world, yet realistic. It would be set in a time period that could range quite a bit -- just like our current world has society that ranges from stoneage cultures, to space age culture. Some civilizations are isolated, others are tied together. China had certain technologies eons before the west, but of course tables do turn. So it would be realistic, and not a uniform world ala Tolkien, where most societies appear to be on an fairly equal footing, with regards to technology, literature, agriculture, metalurgy. I'm not talking about dwarves being better smiths than hobbits, I'm talking about iron age versus bronze age.

I tried to learn about the infrastructure of a medieval city, town, village etc. Would a small town serve wine? Beer? In Europe, wine was drunk in the south, beer in the north, because that was were it was made. I would not want an isolated village up north serving wine in its taverns. You need communication and trade, or a land and weather that can grow grapes for that. You need agriculture for beer. If you have neither, then the most primitive alcoholic drink is mead -- always the first to appear in all culture, cos all you need is honey.

At what point did commerce expand to the extent where goods began to move around? Vikings travelled far, and traded a lot. Then, much later, there was the amazing Hanseatic League.

How did the social structures work? Could people move around freely? Was it safe to do so? Would most people be expected to know some swordsmanship, to defend themselves?

Taxation?

Technology: metallurgy, mills, shipping.

Literature: in our world, monks were mostly the ones who dealt with reading and writing in the early years, and thus had the power to rewrite history to some extent. Books were outlawed.

Religion: what influence did it have? Quite a lot in our world. How would it work in my fantasy world? Tolkien had no religion in his, which is unrealistic, I feel. I would have to create religions, but be careful to not just make them obvious copies of real ones. Their own dogmas, ideals, rules and goals.

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Now all that being said, this was what I came up with. Sadly, I had trouble making the story significantly different from the LOTR format...

Two brothers would be the starting point. The youngest would be a rough-and-tumble kid, emotional, rebellious and filled with dreams of the big world outside their village. He'd work for the blacksmith as an apprentice, and be "into" swords and other weapons in a way a kid today would be into guns. The oldest would be more like his father: quiet and introspective. He'd work as a scholar, either in a religious institution or some for of a library, or in a government-run clerk type function -- the point being that he had access to historical records and information that would be useful to the developing plot.

They’d live with their mother and father, and their uncle (mother’s brother). Their uncle and mother would be much alike, and have similarly rebellious tendencies as the youngest son, and the youngest son would be the uncle’s favorite. Family life would be harmonious though. The uncle and father once served in the king/lord/whatnot’s army, and although the uncle would talk of his adventures, the father never did, and preferred their quiet life. Perhaps he ran the local tavern or something; I’m not quite sure.

Then, an outside influence would come along – perhaps a thief, who’d die with a secret on his lips, that the youngest kid would hear, or see, or the thief would hide an object and run off, and get killed by his pursuers, and the kid took it.

Whatever way it happened, the two boys (well, young men – they’d be capable of fighting grown men) and their uncle and father would set off, either to flee from those who hunted the thief, or to deliver what the boy had taken to someone. I thought of it being something as trivial like a treasure map, and they set out in search of gold and fortune, but that was too obvious, and – trivial.

The first real drama I got to, was a confrontation between the party and a group of bandits. The youngest boy had practiced swordsmanship, but in an organized, “civilized” way, and knew nothing of dirty tricks. Although endowed with exceptional reflexes and great strength, he’d be defeated by a simple, dirty trick – and get killed. He was a stupid kid, and rushed at the bandits, and died.

This would be the sorta shock, wakeup call. Make people sit up and pay attention.

The father and uncle were experienced on the battle-field and made short work of the bandits, while desperately trying to restrain the oldest son, who filled with thought of revenge, was endangering himself – and he wasn’t that good a swordsman to begin with.

I wanted to work out how the kid would react at the death of his brother: disbelief, horror, paralysis? Then maybe wake up and become angry? Then after the battle, grief? The battle scenes from Henry V are very good – when a loved comrade is cut down, his friends rally like mad, overpowering their superior enemies.

In particular, I wanted a gruesome scene of the kid repeatedly hacking at the already mortally wounded, or dead body of the bandit who killed his brother. Remember the scene from Seven Samurai, when they take a bandit prisoner and bring him to the village? The villagers are spineless cowards, and want to kill him, but the samurai will not let them – they did not capture him, they had no right to punish him. Then, a little old grandmother walks up, and they explain the bandit killed her husband/son/whatnot. And so, sickened, they stand back. Vigilantism and revenge; impotent fury from a weak person, that’s what I wanted to portray.

Also, I wanted to avoid the typical cliché of LOTR: that you just KNOW Sam will always be there for Frodo, and Merry and Pippin will always be around for comic relief. The death of Boromir was good and all, but in truth, he was just a Star Trek red shirt. I wanted a central character to die, and use it as a shock value, but also to explore grief, hatred, revenge, and as something that would catapult the main character (the oldest son, the bookworm) into something.

Another thing I made sure of, is that it would always be expected that the youngest son would rise to the challenge. The stereotypical tale is always that the youngest son lives in the shadow of his heroic older brother, who dies. I wanted to turn that upside down. Also, it is common for the oldest child to be more quiet and conservative, and the younger to be more progressive and rebellious – that would be the case in both the stereotype, and my own version. But I would have people admire the youngest son more, because he was fun and a little wild and crazy, kinda. The prankster. The oldest kid would be a bit stiff and boring. But not heroic at all.

Now that I’ve written it all down again, I’ve become a little inspired to be honest. And I think I have found a new route to take: I’d want the main character to become an anti-hero. A dark, brooding character, filled with pain and hatred, yet struggling to see the good in the world. He was, after all, an academic. Maybe he could evolve into a poet warrior like Kurtz.

Hmmmmm :)

Wutcha folks think of it all?

[Film Hobbit]

Sounds good. My only thoughts are this:

Killing off central characters sucks. I mean, ok you're right, it's cliche to do otherwise, so killing of a central character has more shock value, etc. But honestly, whenever I read a book that does that, I mostly end up being pissed off and it takes away from my enjoyment (I'm assuming this would be a well liked central character)... unless you kill said central character right at the end in some noble manner I guess. But if you're really trying to be different you'd kill the central character smack dab in the middle of the book in a totally unheroic and un-noble fashion. Maybe have him slip and fall off a steep cliff they are climbing, or get scurvy or something, hehe. Killed by rabid donkey's comes to mind! lol. But again, if you do that you're likely only going to piss off your readers. Gotta be careful about things like that and it is VERY hard to make that work. There is a reason main characters don't usually get killed off... because its a lot harder to write a good book where you do otherwise.

The only really cliche thing in your idea is the whole "lets go on a journey" thing. Maybe make the kid an expert traveler or something so you don't get into the tired "fish out of water" cliche. Maybe he sits in the library and reads nothing but travel books. hehe.

[Cogito]

A very valid point, yes. An option that I considered, was using three kids instead, which would make the blow less hard. The third kid -- a friend, I think, not a brother -- would be best buddy with the youngest kid, and similar in personality. He could develop in two ways: after the initial period of mourning, he'd overcome it, and return to his more cheerful temperament. Or, he could become more like the older kid, emotionally detached and withdrawn -- in contrast to the other kid who'd open himself up on negative emotions and become an anti-hero.

When someone dies in a crummy movie, you can kinda see it coming, because they make the guy look bad first. Like in horror flicks, teenagers who are killed, tend to engage in immoral behavior. And villains have to do all sort of horrible things to 'justify' the spectacular way he dies.

I want to avoid that. But I still would want the kid who dies, to be good. Not really loved, though. I mean, he should be mourned of course. But he should have bad sides, as well as good. Perhaps a dark secret about something malicious he did to his older brother in a moment of envy -- confessed as he dies -- ruined a relationship with a girl, ruined his academic dreams, something like that.

Also, I figured I could focus on the older brother from the start, so that it wasn't the MAIN character that died.

And yes, very good point Hobbit, that is exactly why I wanted the kid to be a scribe. I wanted him to have a lot of knowledge. But the two adults would also know a lot about practical matters, and certain areas, from their campaigns in the army.

[Cogito]

And no, no rabid donkeys.

[Film Hobbit]

sharks with laser-beams on their frickin heads?

[Cogito]

Meep. Quit making fun of it! Bad monkey.

But swordfighting, I really wanted that to be an important part of it. I read a lot of viking literature, and tried to envison how it worked. Having run into the SCA material, I've got some more good things to learn from.

The difference between civilian (personal protection) combat, and warfare combat -- the differences in weapons and armor. A traveller would not have a shield or armor, and would have a weapon that was geared more for comfort than a weapon of war would be. Also, a war weapon would be designed to act on armor, where as a civilian weapon would not. The tactics: I'd expect sportsmanship and such would go right out the window. The fear and self-doubts, how much did that affect people. Etc.

Social repercussion of having killed someone in a civilian situation -- the class system, castes, so to say, how did that affect things?

Now so far, all is realistic. Then, I want to introduce magic, and creatures that do not exist in our world. But I wanted to start with a realistic world, make it as believable as possible, so you could actually believe in this world with magic. I'm not sure how to explain it.

I wanted the magic to be proper, full-octane magic, but I wanted it to somehow be interwoven with the fabric of the world. Sufficiently advanced technology will always appear as magic to a more primitive culture -- I don't want it just to be that, but I'm thinking it should sort of be something like it. Except the magic should not be a result of advanced technology, but perhaps advanced sprituality.

It could be tied into religion, although I would not be sure if I would like to legitimize a religon by doing so. Not just cos I'm an atheist, but I feel it would be pro-religon, and corny. I'm thinking that magic could be tied to the earth, to nature -- although that could also be a sort of religious thing. I don't want a Jedi thing going.

Magic should DEFINITELY be mixed up with fake magic: sleight-of-hand David Copperfield stuff, con-men, fake soothsayers and voodoo witch-doctors and stuff. And people's attraction, and revulsion of it should be there. Magic (real magic) should not be brought everywhere, because it scares people, and religions should fight it.

Without going into a Risnewind (sp) Discworld thing, I'd like to introduce a real magician by means of having him work as a con-man -- but by using real magic instead of sleight-of-hand. And the oldest boy, the bookworm would know enough about such matters, to tell the difference.

[Film Hobbit]

I really like the idea of mixing sleight of hand in there... and about him telling the difference.

The catch to that is, the idea behind the older boy is that he's rather smart, a bookworm, well read and knowledgable about things, but lacking in actual EXPERIENCE right? Wouldn't "streetwise" experience be what is really necessary to tell the difference in something like that?

On the other hand maybe not.

[Cogito]

Thank you. Yes, that is a good point, booksmarts are no match for streetsmarts. Perhaps magic tricks might be one of his hobbies, though. Although magic tricks, juggling and clowning would not go with his stiff, serious -- and eventually dark personality. Perhaps it'd be a hobby of his brother and his buddy, and the older kid learned the secrets by observing them. I think he'd be a bit of a brainiac, I guess.

Oh, another important thing for me, was the opening scene, the first few pages. I'm pretty fond of nature, and used to ski around in the snow in the forsts as a kid, sleept outside in the snow in a tent at age ten first time. I've read some really cool books by a huntman who wrote about hunting and fishing a lot. One of his books was written mostly from the perspective of an old moose. It was a kinda Moby Dick, The Old Man and the Sea story about an expert hunter who had chased the king of the forest for several years and they were now both grown old, yet the game continued... The way the animals thought and reacted were described, not in human thoughts and concepts, but in terms of memories, knowledge of terreign, past experiences etc. Very cool. Just the brief glance of a bird's mind as it observes an enormous moose moving through the forest without a sound... Very cool. Mooses are freaky animals, I've seen em in the wild, hell I've even petted a young one who's mother was shot, and he became tame, heheh. They are so damn big, yet they can move without a sound. One moment they are there, then next nanosecond, they just vanish without a sound or a trace. Amazing things. Bears are amazingly fast too. Nature is fantastic.

So my opening scene would be of a crow, all puffed up (birds puff up their feathers in cold, and nearly turn into a ball), freezing, perhaps dying. A howl of a wolf. A snow-clad landscape, snow falling. Soft sounds, dampened by the snow. The crow observes something dramatic, the thief fleeing from his persuers.

When I wrote that, I would tie it into the introduction of the main characters in a chronological way. But now, I realize I could use this as a flashback deal. That the thief sought refuge in a cave, and died there, perhaps attacked by wolves. Come spring, the boys could find his body, and whatever he had stolen.

The journey is very stereotypical though, I admit I would like to do away with that. Perhaps I could make them flee persecution somehow.

[Film Hobbit]

They could be fleeing from rabid donkeys!

Or they could by Gyspsies who are pretty much ALWAYS on a journey, thus making it unnecessary for them to start one. j/k.

Fleeing persectution is good, anything like that as long as they don't set of on some sort of "quest". Oh! Actually that is a good angle because that way the "bookish" character is sorta FORCED on the journey. A bookish character isn't one to run off seeking revenge, even if someone he loves is murdered. Doesn't fit. Not at all. But he could be forced into it by circumstance, forced to flee some sort of persecution and ending up on the road to revenge by accident borne out of that necessity.

I'm rather excited, hurry up and write it, I want to read it!

[Cogito]

I love you Hobbit. I swear, I'll write this one day, and it WILL have an ill-tempered donkey in it!

Gypsies are very interesting, profoundly interesting. They really came out of northern India, and as far as persecution and lack of a homeland, they have traits very similar to Jews. I think the Nazi laws actually hit them, Africans, and other, even before they hit the Jews. They were never very plentiful though, nor as successful -- in terms of wealth or PR, as the Jewish culture, but there are definite traits shared. A unique culture that although tortured, persecuted etc., still managed to live across national boundaries.

It's not a bad idea though, a gypsy-like culture, an ethnical bond that crosses other cultures. Could tie into the magician I think. I wanna model the magician after my EQ rogue character Sgean (who is a bigoted, xenophobic psycho, mind you) somewhat. A poisoner. A thief, coward, predator.

Hm I'm loving this.

[Film Hobbit]

If you do write it, you MUST keep updating on your progress with some writing diary or something. You've got me severely interested. Great ideas Cogs. Really great.

[Cogito]

Thanks dude, I feel inspired now. I shall try to apply myself to it. Have started trying to create a write-up on the characters, their background, personalities and appearances. Then I'll try a general plot outline, and eventually some scenes and dialogue (Jebus, I'm starting to sound like I'm writing a screenplay heh).

I wanna find some good names, some names that have a uh, that I can make up appropriate etymological backgrounds for.

[Film Hobbit]

You COULD write a screenplay instead of a novel. But you can't throw as much detail into that really can you?

[Cogito]

No, I definitely want to make it a novel.

I want realism in the plot, personalities, society and all other things. That means complexity and more detail than a screenplay could provide. Whether it actually becomes a finished novel or not, the underlaying structure should still be detailed enough to support a screenplay, I want to do so.

I have about four pages of summaries, character names, plot outlines etc. so far. Very cool stuff.

The youngest brother will still die (and their mother, yeah it's a harsh world!), but another character is added: the youngest brother's best friend, who is the academic.

This guy works at a convent for a specific order.

There are ten orders in the country. Their convents are administrative centers, and also a place of spiritual, academic and military education. These orders are like a mix of the Knights of Malta, Jesuits, samurai schools and Hanseatic League. They tend to focus on different fields, but students can become knights, or priest-like (if the latter, they can become actual spiritual priests, or academics, which would lead to a career in the local or national government).

I know this sounds complicated, but societies of the cultural level I'm aiming for DID have such structures. We can go back thousands of years, and find it. Not to compare myself with Tolkien, but LOTR never said anything about such matters, nor do most books. I feel that such a recreation would lend realism to things. I don't mean to dwell on it, but just like Tolkien had an enormously complex history behind everything, I would like to do the same for the society.

One of the ten orders is all female. Hubba hubba -- eep, no these are chicks you don't mess with, heheh.

Another is built upon a split concept of the French Foreign Legion, the Gurkahs and the Gothic Emperor's lifeguard: An elite order from a foreign country, most likely of dark skin color (I will use the term Vikings used about Arabs and Blacks: Bluemen). Also, just like some Roman emperor did, who realized there was so much intrigue in Rome, that the best way to find loyal bodyguards, that are less likely to be bribed, is to use foreigners. So the personal guard of the king comes from this order.

It's all very messy, in an outline form still.

[Film Hobbit]

Cogs are you talking about Cast structures? Lots of books talk about that. Tolkien doesn't spend much time on that kind of social ordering, he generally more interested exploring the differences betwee the RACES that inhabit his world, though a difenite cast structure is evidenced among the Orcs and alluded to with the Hobbits and Men

Elves are far to enlightened for that sort of thing, and Dwarves are far to busy! hehe.

[Cogito]

No, not cast structures.

I mean, social structure, civil government, laws and administration, so to speak.

We know that Saruman got his hands on some pipeweed, but how did it happen? Did hobbit trade, and what goods, and whom with?

I want to start out with the humans, and explore things from their perspective. Everything will be seen from their world.

At least that's my idea right now.

[Valkary]

You mentioned formal fighting/fencing vrs real world war tactics.

You could have the kid 'fence' with the bandit, the bandit know's he's beaten, but also knows the kid is only 'fencing' and has never really killed anyone. He's practiced death strokes, but never delivered one.

He compliments the kid on his form, his style, his teaching. He even admits the kid is the superior swordsman.

The difference is looking someone in the eye and running a blade through them.

Have the bad guy go corpe-a-corpes with the kid. Look him in the eye, then shove a knife into him with the off hand.

Then he can have the bad guy Arney moment with the cool one liner.

"lesson over" or something as the kid lies there bleeding to death.

[I Am MikeyP]

I love the idea of this almost total realism - magic could detract from that. I mean, why would it enhance the plot? What could magic do that was so special?

Would it not be more imaginative to have some of your races 'tuned in' to their environment? For example sharks can 'see' electricity, many creatures can sense magnitism - maybe a survival trate of a race allowed them to develop a way to control nature a little - strong winds or spontanious fire: My problem with magic is there is no explanation for it, but I can buy into people being able to see whats already there and tap into it just a little.

Secondly - don't be afraid to kill off the brother and not replace him - if you replace him with the friend you will fill the gap for the reader that the older brother should be feeling for the rest of the book. People never forget loved ones who die, or allow them to be replaced. At best people come to terms with the fact that life goes on without them - the hole is never filled, it just becomes an normal part of the ever growing scenery that are your memorys.

Third - Make the reason for their journey something equally believable. How is this for an idea...

The stranger that comes to the village is a father of a child a city in another land - he has travelled many miles seeking a cure for his childs illness - He has heard that the father of your two heros had seen this sickness before during the war and wishes to seek his help.

The family take him in, but soon after they do a wave of misfortune hits the village - illness, plagues of insects, floods... The people decide that he has braught a curse with him. The man himself was exausted and in poor health when he arrived - your heros defend him and in doing so find them selves increasingly menaced by their own people (Maybe the older sons lover rejects him?) eventually this results in then being driven from the village when their home is set on fire. The stranger never makes it out alive.

Their quest the becomes to find his son, and to find a cure...

If you want to make the book really dark you could kill off all the heros except the elder son - eventually he cures the strangers child, but by the time he does so he holds the child responsible for the death of all those he has loved. - they all gave up so much for someone they had never met. He doesn't even stay to see if the cure works - he just heads off, eager for the next chance to find someone or something he can justify killing.

[Cogito]

Ah those are good ideas, I'll definitely keep that in mind. I've started fleshing out the social structure some more, along with some history, which will provide background for international alliances between this country and it's neighbours.

Valkary, that is excellent, the bit about being able to actually kill a man.

My initial idea was not to make the boy a master fencer, but an eager amateur, who'd beaten all the other boys in swordfights with wooden sticks. He'd charge at his opponent in a similar way, and the bandit feigned being scared of him, but then cut him down with a basic manouver. So basically, the kid would be lousy at swordfighting, although he always pestered his dad, and dad's buddy to teach him -- but they refused, because they were adamant that no son of theirs would risk their lives in some damn king's pointless war. And so, they'd feel guilty about not preparing the boy, even if they could not forseen such circumstances. That'd be a perspective to explore.

I also thought of him using a dirty trick, which would enable the boy to actually be a good fencer.

The third option of having him hesitate because he can't make himself kill someone, would be interesting also.

MikeyP thanks!

Magic, I definitely want it in there, but I want it to have less power. If magic was really powerful, why bother with swords and weapons, why not just raise an army of wizards? There must be limitations to what it can do. And there must be a cost, like Merlin in the film Excalibur, when he was so excausted he had to rest for half a year after pulling off a particularly spectacular illusion. I'd expect it to have a mental toll.

Also, I'd expect people to be superstitious about it. Perhaps there wouldn't be laws against it (which would mean magic is officially recognized to exist), but there may be religious laws that demands the death of witches etc. So wizards would avoid using their skills in "civilized" areas.

I will kill off the brother, but there will be another young man in the picture, who is the younger brother's best friend. The older brother will turn into a darker character filled with hate and thoughts of revenge and anger. However, down the road, they'll run into a shadowy assassin character, who is a sociopath, and takes lives without a thought. And that will shock the brother out of it, making him realize what a bad path he's heading down.

Re. the reason for their quest, that is a great one. I don't know, but I might perhaps be able to sow that into the plot outline I have come up with...

What I have so far is, the kids come across the remains of a courier/herald that died a long time ago, but an important document is still perfectly preserved. The document is the last Testament of the previous king, which was smuggled out of the castle when he died. The old king's youngest son usurped the throne, charging his older brother with treason. One of the old king's advisor suspected these events, and dispatched a courier with the Testament, to the oldest prince's wife's family, to warn them -- hoping they could get away, and then bring the Testament into the right hands, proving the young prince had no right to the throne.

But, the courier didn't make it (wolves), and the family died.

However, independent of this, the oldest prince had made a man godfather of his children -- but secretly, because he knew life at the court could be treacherous. And this man spirited the prince's kids away. And these kids would now be the rightful heir to the throne.

So, the main characters have to flee, because the new king knew his brother's sons were never found, even though he killed every other member of their family. Also, he suspected there may be a testament out there somewhere, because it had never been found.

The main characters will flee into the mountains to the west, into the neighboring country, make their way to the coast, and join a merchant ship back to their country. There, they'll get the document to the right people.

And they will know who the right people are, because the friend of the dead brother was a knight/priest student, and his mentor would know a man in the Imperial Order that he trusted, and thus this would be their only hope.

[Cogito]

OK, I've settled on names for the main characters. I'll explain more at the end.

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Anand (Happiness, Sanskrit. His mother named him (gypsy, India)): Son of Arnbrodd . Slender, quiet. Dark, straight hair, dark complexion. An intellectual, he is close to his mother, who teaches him about the world she knew while performing. He also spends a lot of time reading in the vast library at the Convent where Vran lives.

Feilan (wolf cub, Norse. Father named him, cos he was a wild kid): Anand’s younger brother. Strong and muscular, burly blonde hair, quick to laugh, well liked. He aspires to become a swordsman and an adventurer. Very close to Mathun , who teaches him. Friendly with the local blacksmith, he likes learning about sword making and other weaponry.

Arnbrodd (Eagle’s sting, Icelandic): Father to Anand and Feilan. Retired soldier, and owner of the local inn, Ironstone Tavern.

Gitasha (Song-hope, Sanskrit): Arnbrodd ’s wife. Worked in a traveling Gypsy performance troupe when she met Arnbrodd, and knows music, magic and herbs.

Mathun (Bear, Irish – Mathuin, Mathghamhain): Arnbrodd ’s brother-in-arms. Helps him and Gitasha with the inn. A master swordsman, but no knight: he fights with no rules.

Vran (Raven, Welsh/Irish): A student in the Order of Thule. Works in the Ironstone Inn with his best friend Feilan whenever he can. Age 18.

Cohen (Priest, unsure, old English): A priest of the Order of Thule. Vran’s warden – in the last year before their graduation, Santochs are assigned a personal warden who works closely with them. Vran’s preference is towards knighthood, but sensing a great talent for learning, Cohen pushes him towards priesthood.

Sgean Nienagh (Scottish Gaelic, the poisoned dagger): A member of a secret society of assassins inside the Order of Thule. Few outside the Royal Family knows of its existence, and the king was particularly systematic in destroying its members when he dissolved the Order. All members are marked by a prominent facial tattoo that prevents them from appearing in public. Thus, even though they are part of a prestigious organization, they are also social outcasts. Since his Order was dissolved, Sgean makes his living by theft. He is fiercely loyal to his Order and all in it, but an extreme xenophobe. He is also a psychopath, who kills without hesitation or remorse. He is no swordsman, and certainly no knight, but his ability to kill up close is unmatched. Due to the need to remain unseen when traveling, assassins are able to survive outside civilization for any period of time. They have a profound knowledge of animals, plants, herbs and any things in nature. Sgean’s specialty is poisons.

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Explanations: The country is in a northern part of the hemisphere, and the place where these folks live, is far north in that country. Thus, I wanted names that related.

So, the father -- Arnbrodd (arn/orn=eagle, brodd=stinger, tip) is old Norse or Icelandic.

His wife worked with a gypsy-like traveling troupe (although I don't think I'll make her a gypsy), and since gypsies originated in India, I gave her a made-up, Sanskrit name. I wanted to simply call her Asha (Hope -- and I knew a African woman once, who was named hope), but I ended up with three out of four members in the family with names starting with "A" and didn't like it. Git means song, also Sanskrit.

She would get to name her first-born son, and called him by a name of the culture she used to live in, thus another Sanskrit name.

The second son was named by the father, who picked a Norse name.

Mathun's name is Gaelic, Irish -- I want to mix that and the Norse names together -- by using a Gaelic name for him, it kinda shows he is not exactly from the same spot as Arnbrodd -- they met in the army and became friends.

Vran is Welsh/Irish, and similar in geography as with Mathun. He will be the one who actually finds the Testament that the courier was carrying -- as observed by the raven.

Cohen is a common surname, but did mean Priest initially. Old English, I think.

Sgean is Gaelic, and one of the many spellings of the little knife carried in the stockings of a traditional highland kilt outfit. It's spelled Skean more often. Nienagh means poison or venom. (This and was actually my barbarian rogue everquest character on Vallon Zek, in the guild Shanks)

[I Am MikeyP]

How about mixing the ideas - The sick child turns out to be the true kings son.

Instead of killing off the father and the uncle, they have deserted the Anand because he is becoming increasingly violent and hateful - taking every chance he has to kill - just as long as he has enough justification that his victime has done wrong...

After he has given the child the cure and left him to contine with his onslaught of rightious terror, he rescues (your) messanger from some sent by the king mercenarys. Unfortunately one escapes (Sgean Nienagh?) with news of the true kings son.

(continue your story) - now your hero must reunite with his father in order to save the the child and to return him to power.

The child is both a replacement for his Feilan and a constant reminder of his death - he still begrudges the fact that his kid brother died to save someone he neither knew or cared for.

If you want a real shock ending:

The evil kings army is defeated -
Anand wants to kill him but the child king wants to take revenge fr his fathers death, and claim his throne by the blood of his uncle.

Anand steps aside and watchs the child killed by the same flaw as Feilan.

Anand kills the king, but it is a hollow victory. The kingdom slowly falls into anarchy with no-one to lead it, proving that a bad leader is better than none at all.

[Arctic]

so Cogs, any news on your project lately? :)