Tamia's Tardy Tale for '10: Bold as Brass (MO)

[Tam]

Tentative? Pah! The new operating word is "tenacious" because that's what I'm gonna have to be all month. Bring it on, NaNo.

My story this year is something a little different for me — a generic fantasy.

Except not that simple.

Of course it's not that simple.

(This is mostly the same text I'll be using for my novel info on the NaNo site, so it might be a bit long. ^^

At the centre of my story is the idyllic Kingdom of Shining —a gleaming city where the fountains are made of gold and the lords and ladies of the kingdom dance long into the night in the marble halls of the Palace, where it is said that the Princess Henrietta's beauty is enough to make even the most stolid man's jaw drop and eyes blaze with passion. The citizens pride themselves on their high level of education, the purity of their bloodlines, and the weight of their purses. But in order to keep the city's population pristine, something needed to be done with everyone else.

So, they ended up in the Tanglewood.

In the heart of this vast forest (technically included within the Kingdom's borders but only acknowledged as such during tax collection) exists a secret community of hermits, thieves, and rebels — the undesirable peoples who were deemed not polished enough to contribute to the decor of the city, and not docile enough to produce food for the city. At the top of the list is notorious highwayman and philanderer Samuel Brass, whose many years of leeching money from passing nobles at the same time as sweeping their daughters off their feet have turned him into both the Kingdom's second-most-wanted criminal and something of a folk hero.

Unfortunately for his fellow peasants, though, he does not steal from the rich and give to the poor. He steals from the rich and keeps every penny for himself, mostly because he likes gold. Although Sam never asked for it, he's attracted a small band of lost souls like himself over the years, and together they form something of a close-knit family that shares a fire at night, provides mutual support to one another during the hard times, and happens to be entirely composed of degenerate criminals.

But their simple life is about to get a lot more complicated. Princess Henrietta's petulant elder brother, Vincent, has been charged with the task of bringing an end to Sam's legacy of delinquency, once and for all. While Prince Vince may not be the sharpest blade in the armoury, he has the wealth and resources of the entire kingdom at his fingertips, and perhaps most dangerous of all, he has something to prove.

It's going to be an interesting month.

---
Pre-warning: Likely to include guy love, mild profanity, action violence, and quite a lot of skirt-chasing and ungentlemanly comments. If any of those are likely to bother you, you might not want to read the excerpts. xD;
Main inspirations: Robin Hood, The Road to El Dorado, The Lord of the Rings, House, Merlin, Firefly, the main character of Tangled (so what if I've only seen two minutes of him so far?), Usukiboy Usuls, certain figures from Ancient Greece, and the word, "scarecrow".

And that will all make perfect sense eventually, I swear. xD

[Shadaras]

... xDDD That sounds awesome. It started sounding awesome at the name 'Henrietta', which is an inherently funny name, and just continued getting more awesome until the last line of that post. =D You are going to write this and it shall be win. ^_^

[Tam]

xD Funny is what I was going for. And it gets better: her family name is Papillon, which is French for "butterfly", and yes, that does mean that she may be referred to as Princess Butterfly. Even better than that is the fact that her brother is Prince (Vince) Butterfly.

Thanks! ^___^ I think I needed that encouragement. This is a very breezy story compared to what I usually write, and I think it'll take a lot of enthusiasm to keep it from getting bogged down in the middle.

[Trilly (18426 words)]

If you dare give up on this I will put bugs in your bed. I am totally serious about this.

Because it sounds awesome, and I NEED to read it. XD But you know that already.

[Tam]

If we don't get around to sweeping the floor in our dorm, the bugs will come anyway. >.>

But yay! =D Thank you for the ego boost. Much obliged.

...And also, I'm changing the title of this thread to not include quotation marks, because right now it looks like you guys are all replying to a topic called "Bold as Bras".

[Chao]

Mild hints on Samuel Brass and Prince Butterfly? Ohhhhh I love that thought. Just because it is hilarious and can turn either way: tragic (the prince pining over Brass) or dramatic (the prince trying to rid the kingdom of Brass for good). And with that name... *can't stop smiling at it*

[Zylaa]

This sounds so epic. Seriously.

Also, with inspirations like that (and because the devilish rogue type is win) you seriously need to read The Lies of Locke Lamora. High-class thieves in a fantasy Venice. <3

[Tam]

Chao - *grins* Prince Vince is pretty much a jerk, but he's a determined jerk, since this is the first real job his father has ever seen fit to give him — which has the interesting effect of developing something of an obsession in said Prince Butterfly. His relationship with Brass will be very interesting to write (although I don't imagine there will be any guy love there; that's reserved for other characters >.>).

Zylaa - Hee, thanks! ^_^ And yes, I agree; I decided I needed to write this right when I decided that I didn't really have any dashing rogue characters yet to write about. I mean, I love moralistic, pure-of-heart heroes, don't get me wrong — but rogues are so refreshing and fun to watch in action. xD

And I have read Locke Lamora! =D I guess I could call that an inspiration, too, but its influence wasn't as... direct as the other ones I listed. I really enjoyed the first book, but I didn't get too far on the second — I think Scott Lynch has a bit of a tendency to overdescribe things, and I got distracted by something else while still trying to plow through one of his paragraphs. And

SPOILER: Click to show

I think I might also have been a little depressed by the body count we had managed to amass by the end of the first book. >.>

I should go back to it again, though; the characters were awesome enough to completely balance out any other complaints I might have. xD

[Zylaa]

I haven't yet read the second book. I'll be warned. *sadface* At any rate, I don't need to pick up the second until there's a definite release date for the third. XD

[Tam]

Characters? We've got characters. =D

Just the seven band members for now, though, because I feel like Princess Henrietta and Prince Vince don't need all that much explanation.

SPOILER: Click to show

The Duo.

Samuel Brass: the quintessential dashing rogue — at least, in Sam's opinion. He's handsome, clever, confident, and has enough charisma to steal an army from Alexander the Great. Not that he'd want to. He hates organisation and the idea of being in a position of authority scares him (as much as he'd like to think there's nothing on the planet he's afraid of). He is now the most wanted thief in the Kingdom of Shining thanks to his fearlessness, and he has also become the frequent subject of peasant songs and folklore for miles around, which, despite their general inaccuracy, please him greatly. Officially, his life's goal is to one day amass enough gold to buy his way into the good graces of Princess Henrietta — one of only two women in the kingdom that he has ever set his sights on and not yet won. Some of his band suspect he has had enough gold to do this for months already, and that it's the game itself that's keeping Sam going, not the prize at the end. They'd be right. But don't tell them.

Scarecrow: Sam's right-hand man and closest confidant. Scarecrow does in fact have a real name but, like most of his life, he doesn't like to talk about it much. What is known about him is that he was a noble — the youngest son of a fairly well-off tutor, now deceased. When it came time to divide the inheritance, his eldest brother was bestowed with the fief, his second-eldest with the city house, his third-eldest with a horse, and when it finally came Scarecrow's turn, he ended up with a nice pair of boots and enough gold to buy a few nights' food and shelter at the local inn. It was here that he met Sam for the first time, who was at that moment friendless, lonely, and wearing a disguise in order to listen to the inebriated tavern-goers singing songs about him. Since most of his experience up until that point had been with liars and thieves, Sam immediately took a shining to the honest youth. The two have been inseparable ever since. Scarecrow is quiet, polite, and so difficult to upset that his patience is sometimes misread as aloofness. He doesn't say much, but when he does, anyone with a smattering of brains knows to listen.


The Ones Sam Can't Remember the Names of.

Maurice: a large, muscular man with very little neck and a great deal of arm. Maurice is the brawn of the group, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a more conscientious soul. A few years ago he was a blacksmith in one of the outlying villages, but when that job failed to provide enough money to support his fledgling family and ailing mother, he began to look into alternative career options. He found Sam.

Rowan: a young woman with the build of a dancer and the heart of a bear. It would be about as wise to bother her, too. While she will obey Sam's instructions for the most part, she is easily the most likely person he knows to punch him in the face. She dislikes a lot of things, but hates the nobility with a burning passion and is eagerly awaiting the day a peasant rebellion will overthrow them. Until that day, she spends her waking hours training, practising, and sharpening her arrows.

Oswald: an older, wiry man who never talks to anyone or lets anyone sit too close to him. He's a little too good with his knives.

Shayne: after Scarecrow, the youngest of the group. Shayne is a tall, freckled boy with bright eyes and a good-natured smile. He's still too young to be cynical, and his compassion and friendly nature make him well-liked within the group.

Gilles: short, round, and red-faced, this jovial man doesn't look like much of a threat, but he's single-handedly responsible for most of the fearsome reputation Sam's band has acquired over the years. The reason being, of course, that Gilles spread that reputation around in the first place. Gilles is one of the kingdom's most beloved peasant musicians and storytellers, which makes him an excellent tool for both snooping on the upper classes, and inflating Sam's notoriety.

It's so much easier convincing people to part with their valuables when you don't need to prove how serious you are.

[Trilly (18426 words)]

Sam can only remember peoples' names if he named them himself. Just get him to name everyone, and the problem is solved. XD

[Tam]

That's one way of going about it. xD Another would be nametags.

And before I forget, the larger version of my avatar image:

SPOILER: Click to show

...Man, I have so many things I should be drawing other than this. But he's so fun to draw.

[Kathleen]

The Kingdom of Shining? =D Win.

For some reason, I'm now repeating to myself over and over again, 'Prince Vince, Prince Vince, Prince Vince... hey, this is kind of catchy. =D'

[Rikku]

When I saw that you'd made a dashing rogue I believe my reaction was 'This will be awesome'. So. For the record:

This is awesome.

... Yep. I honestly think that there isn't a single aspect of this so far that I don't adore. xD; Rogues, nakama, a kingdom called Shining, fun names, unlikely friendships, an unlikely nakama, rogues, weapons, rogues, nakama ...

This... um. For some reason almost pushes me over into regarding you with hero-worship again. >.>; ('She has a Tanglewood? I had a Tangleforest! This is awesome!') And I know you'd like friendship better, so, uh. I guess I'm gonna have to make my NaNo extra-awesome so's I view us as equals! =D

[Tam]

Oct 7, 2010 15:58:04 GMT -5 Kathleen said:

The Kingdom of Shining? =D Win.

For some reason, I'm now repeating to myself over and over again, 'Prince Vince, Prince Vince, Prince Vince... hey, this is kind of catchy. =D'

=D Really? Thank you muchly! I wanted it to sound kind of Utopian, because the city is, but to also sound kind of silly and shallow, because the city is, and to also include a variation of the word "shiny," because it's a good word.

I actually think his name might have stemmed from a not-so-serious plotting conversation Trilly and I were having after one too many glasses of iced tea, and might have just gotten blurted out as a joke which we then decided made it the most appropriate name possible. But you didn't hear it from me. =D

Oct 9, 2010 1:49:02 GMT -5 Rikku said:

When I saw that you'd made a dashing rogue I believe my reaction was 'This will be awesome'. So. For the record:

This is awesome.

... Yep. I honestly think that there isn't a single aspect of this so far that I don't adore. xD; Rogues, nakama, a kingdom called Shining, fun names, unlikely friendships, an unlikely nakama, rogues, weapons, rogues, nakama ...

This... um. For some reason almost pushes me over into regarding you with hero-worship again. >.>; ('She has a Tanglewood? I had a Tangleforest! This is awesome!') And I know you'd like friendship better, so, uh. I guess I'm gonna have to make my NaNo extra-awesome so's I view us as equals! =D

A Rikku seal of approval? What fortuitous news! =D

...Mind you, I kinda suspected you might approve of this idea. And, um... to be perfectly honest, I probably should have listed you in the "Influences" section up there, because really, this whole idea was born one day while I was strolling through the forum and happened to stumble upon one of your posts in which you were lauding the merits of dashing rogues. Or something to that extent. And then I found myself thinking, "Hey, that's true, I like dashing rogues too! They're one of my favourite characters to write about!" before realising with a start that I did not, in fact, have any dashing rogues to write about at all at that point. So I made a Neopet, and then when that didn't satisfy my need for dashing rogueness, I made a story. =D

...And now I have this terrible feeling of dread that I ripped off "Tanglewood" from you. I remember thinking it sounded catchy, which should have been a sign that I was leeching ideas from someone else again. Er. Um. Ha ha. Hooray for crazy random happenstances? ^____^;

(Yeah no, let's avoid the whole hero-worship thing. That would just beweird. Particularly since the sentiment extends at least as far in the opposite direction and mutual hero-worshipping results in unproductive bowing contests and bruised foreheads.)

And I have no doubts whatsoever that your NaNo will be as brilliant as everything else you've ever written, if not more so. xD Speaking of, I must go and read your thread now. and then sleep, because sleep is good.