ThisAdamGuy
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Warning: stupidly long post incoming
I've been working really hard on my WIP, Road to Olympus, lately. In the past three months, I've written about 61,000 words for it. It's nowhere near ready to be released, but I'm hoping I can at least get some feedback on the general idea behind the book. (Also, I'm still looking for beta readers if you're interested)
So, here's a rundown of what the story's about and some important worldbuilding details. I'd love to know what you think!
The story is centered around a massive battle royale tournament that takes place every ten years called the Road to Olympus, where the winner gets to ascend to godhood, remake the world in some minor way, and rule over humanity for the next decade. Thousands of people compete (the tournament this book revolves around has 10,000 competitors) and it's a huge deal even if you're not competing, for obvious reasons.
First of all, I wanted to keep this book lighthearted, with the BR being seen more as an extreme sport than a sadistic bloodbath, so every contestant is given a Shattersoul Cuff. It acts sort of like the Ring of Sacrifice in Dark Souls, where if the contestant is killed, rather than dying they're teleported out of the battlefield. But this only covers injuries you take in the fight that ultimately "kills" you. Any injuries you sustain in other fights are permanent, which is going to come into play more than once in the story. Shattersoul Cuffs are also connected to each other, so the contestants can use them to get a quick summary of the other contestants and their powers, as well as any weapons or monsters they encounter on the battlefield.
When a god's ten year reign ends, they return to Flux (the planet the story takes place on) and resume a mortal life. They retain a fraction of their godly powers, though, which can be passed on to their children. The offspring of a former god are called demigods, and they also have special powers. Demigodhood can be passed from parent to child for ten generations, weakening slightly each time, until the bloodline becomes mortal again.
Former gods are, without exception, the richest people on Flux. That's because during their ten year reign, they're constantly amassing tithes from their followers in order to earn favor. This has led to demigods essentially being the noble class in their society, with mortals being commoners.
Being a demigod means you're able to use magic, but magic works differently here than in other books. Magic comes from within, and is therefore unique to each individual user. What powers a demigod possesses is determined by the "shape of their soul." Children usually inherit the same powers as their parents since their constant close proximity causes them to develop the same traits that "shaped" their parents' souls. But if a demigod child is vastly different from their family for whatever reason, it's possible that they could develop entirely different powers. That's the case for the main character, Lanz. His family has passed down the All Seeing Eye spell for generations, but since he was the odd duck he ended up becoming an artificer instead.
The tournament itself is split into three parts: Wilding, Urban Warfare, and the Tower. The Wilding phase takes place in the Fields of Ambition, the wide ring of countryside surrounding Olympus. There the contestants are able to undergo Trials, like fighting monsters or conquering dungeons, in order to win magical weapons and armor to give them an edge in the fight. Once only a thousand contestants remain, the gates of Olympus are opened and the tournament moves into the (uninhabited) city itself. Then when only one hundred are left, the Tower of Ascension opens, and the remaining contestants are funneled into fight after fight as they climb until the last five have the final battle on top of the tower's roof, with the winner taking the Throne of Olympus and ascending to godhood.
That's all the important stuff I can think of, without getting into the characters themselves. I'm planning for this to be a really long running story following several characters, so hopefully I'll be able to come up with enough ideas that the whole thing doesn't start to feel stale.
What do you guys think?
I've been working really hard on my WIP, Road to Olympus, lately. In the past three months, I've written about 61,000 words for it. It's nowhere near ready to be released, but I'm hoping I can at least get some feedback on the general idea behind the book. (Also, I'm still looking for beta readers if you're interested)
So, here's a rundown of what the story's about and some important worldbuilding details. I'd love to know what you think!
The story is centered around a massive battle royale tournament that takes place every ten years called the Road to Olympus, where the winner gets to ascend to godhood, remake the world in some minor way, and rule over humanity for the next decade. Thousands of people compete (the tournament this book revolves around has 10,000 competitors) and it's a huge deal even if you're not competing, for obvious reasons.
First of all, I wanted to keep this book lighthearted, with the BR being seen more as an extreme sport than a sadistic bloodbath, so every contestant is given a Shattersoul Cuff. It acts sort of like the Ring of Sacrifice in Dark Souls, where if the contestant is killed, rather than dying they're teleported out of the battlefield. But this only covers injuries you take in the fight that ultimately "kills" you. Any injuries you sustain in other fights are permanent, which is going to come into play more than once in the story. Shattersoul Cuffs are also connected to each other, so the contestants can use them to get a quick summary of the other contestants and their powers, as well as any weapons or monsters they encounter on the battlefield.
When a god's ten year reign ends, they return to Flux (the planet the story takes place on) and resume a mortal life. They retain a fraction of their godly powers, though, which can be passed on to their children. The offspring of a former god are called demigods, and they also have special powers. Demigodhood can be passed from parent to child for ten generations, weakening slightly each time, until the bloodline becomes mortal again.
Former gods are, without exception, the richest people on Flux. That's because during their ten year reign, they're constantly amassing tithes from their followers in order to earn favor. This has led to demigods essentially being the noble class in their society, with mortals being commoners.
Being a demigod means you're able to use magic, but magic works differently here than in other books. Magic comes from within, and is therefore unique to each individual user. What powers a demigod possesses is determined by the "shape of their soul." Children usually inherit the same powers as their parents since their constant close proximity causes them to develop the same traits that "shaped" their parents' souls. But if a demigod child is vastly different from their family for whatever reason, it's possible that they could develop entirely different powers. That's the case for the main character, Lanz. His family has passed down the All Seeing Eye spell for generations, but since he was the odd duck he ended up becoming an artificer instead.
The tournament itself is split into three parts: Wilding, Urban Warfare, and the Tower. The Wilding phase takes place in the Fields of Ambition, the wide ring of countryside surrounding Olympus. There the contestants are able to undergo Trials, like fighting monsters or conquering dungeons, in order to win magical weapons and armor to give them an edge in the fight. Once only a thousand contestants remain, the gates of Olympus are opened and the tournament moves into the (uninhabited) city itself. Then when only one hundred are left, the Tower of Ascension opens, and the remaining contestants are funneled into fight after fight as they climb until the last five have the final battle on top of the tower's roof, with the winner taking the Throne of Olympus and ascending to godhood.
That's all the important stuff I can think of, without getting into the characters themselves. I'm planning for this to be a really long running story following several characters, so hopefully I'll be able to come up with enough ideas that the whole thing doesn't start to feel stale.
What do you guys think?
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