Witch's Dawn (WIP)

[Camille622]

Sorry no demo yet. I’m posting this mostly to put a little pressure on myself because I had planned to have the demo up in February. So much for that.

The story is set in a small isolated city clinging to the edge of a largely unexplored continent. In my mind it feels a little like colonial New England, but I make absolutely no pretense of anything like historical accuracy. Plus there’s magic. That magic is wielded by two groups.

The Dawn Sages are born into great power. Their power is celestial. They channel the fire of the sun and stars into great gouts of golden fire, imbue their weapons with fire, carve stone fortresses with white hot beams. Basically they do anything they can imagine, as long as it involves fire. They’re also the leaders of this society. They’re at the center of the religion, the government, and many of them have found a way to become quite wealthy. None more so than the Winters, the “first family,” of Newport. You take on the roll of the eldest son or daughter of this family. You’re expected to lead the town one day, and you’ve been prepared for it all your life.

What you’re not prepared for are the witches. Witches are the other group of magic users. Branded evil by the dawn sages they are hunted mercilessly. Their power is not given, but earned through personal sacrifice. It’s not free and limitless from the heavens. It must be drawn from life here on the earth. A witch can never hope to match the raw power of a Sage, but a witch’s power is infinitely more subtle. A witch can make their magic do almost anything they can imagine if they can manage to draw enough power. Big or long lasting spells take several witches and complex rituals.

It’s not giving too much away to say that your life takes an unexpected turn, and you are forcibly ejected from the class you were born into and find the only people you might call friends are, in fact, witches. You’ll become one yourself. You’ll forge a new life and new place for yourself in the city. You’ll find love…probably.

Choice of genders
Choose your character’s appearance and personality
Choose one of three main, intertwined paths through the story
Five romantic options (mmmmmaybe six I just can’t decide)
Love triangles
Choices that change to course of the story, and if people like it carry over into the next book.

That’s a start. Thanks for reading this. I’m happy to answer any questions, and I promise a demo soon.

[attolia]

This sounds great! I love anything with witches and the time period this seems to be inspired by.

The inclusion of love triangles is
Can’t wait for the demo!

[RagEgnite]

• What exactly qualifies as being a witch? It sounds like they could use fire-based magic as well if they put effort into it, especially since the plot so far sounds like we go from a fire-wielding Dawn Sage leader to a witch. Are we not able to use fire magic then? Some clarification would be nice.

• I wish to know more about why exactly witches are hated by the Dawn Sages: are they a threat to their power? Do they believe witches’ spells to be inferior because of their lack of raw power?

• If this feels like colonial New England to you, does that mean there are going to be native tribes out in uncharted territory? If so, would they treat magic users differently then those in Newport?

• What is the significance of the Winter family, and how many of these “families” are there?

[Alexodia]

The context rather leaves something to be desired since I have more than a few questions, but I suppose it may be unfair to expect you to have such context already figured out; such context is rather important to the story though.

Namely, why are the witches hated by the Dawn Sages? Do they have a particular history where one has tried to destroy the other? Are the two magical ideologies opposing by nature, or is it because of something fairly recent that happened?

Also, if this is set in such a small town, does that mean that the magic itself is confined to such a town? And is the Winters family confined correspondingly? I’m assuming that since you said ‘first’ family, there’s other towns and cities that are ‘settled’ of sorts that are ruled by different families, but how does the family system work? Does being the ‘first’ family allow the Winters’ to have a hand in governing the others and carry the corresponding respect? Or are the families generally left alone to do what they do? And use their magic how they want?

Some other questions I’ll leave for now, but my principle concern was this

@Camille622

You’ll become one yourself

Having the little context we do, this sounds an awful lot like railroading. Now, when such a story is executed well, it can be very enjoyable, but are you saying that the three paths we take involve us becoming a witch regardless, even if we’re given the option to escape it later?

But the premise does sound rather interesting; there could be some potential in this.

[Charles_Parkes]

Looks like fun - good idea putting a little pressure on yourself we’re rooting for you

[Silent_Thrill]

Lovin it so far. Can’t wait for a demo. Lol

[WaltzinElf]

sounds great! really looking forward to a demo

[Camille622]

Thank you all for reading, and commenting. I’ll have a demo up after this weekend. I promise. These questions are exactly the spur I needed. I do have a few answers already though. In no particular order…

@RagEgnite

I wish to know more about why exactly witches are hated by the Dawn Sages: are they a threat to their power? Do they believe witches’ spells to be inferior because of their lack of raw power?

The witches are targeted by the Dawn Sages for a variety of reasons. They see witches as the only threat to their power. They also use fear of witches to control the populace, and make them into convenient scapegoats for failed crops or harsh winters…or whatever else they can be blamed for.

@RagEgnite

What exactly qualifies as being a witch? It sounds like they could use fire-based magic as well if they put effort into it, especially since the plot so far sounds like we go from a fire-wielding Dawn Sage leader to a witch. Are we not able to use fire magic then? Some clarification would be nice.

A witch’s power is basically to sense energy and life around them, draw that energy into themselves, and then use it to impose their will on the world. The amount of energy that they can draw and use at once is usually small compared to that used by the Sages so a witch’s spells tend to be subtler. They could use fire magic, but they’re much more likely to conjure a spark that starts a blaze than throw a giant fireball at anyone. Even more likely a witch would make his or her enemy believe they were on fire then slip a dagger between their ribs while they try to put themselves out.

@RagEgnite

If this feels like colonial New England to you, does that mean there are going to be native tribes out in uncharted territory? If so, would they treat magic users differently then those in Newport?

The short answer is “no.” The long answer is kinda. There are groups of people living in the un-mapped interior with their own very powerful form of magic, but they’re not exactly native, and they’re probably not gonna show up til the sequel.

@RagEgnite

What is the significance of the Winter family, and how many of these “families” are there?

The Winter family is one of the oldest and probably the richest most powerful family in the city. The MC’s father is the head of the Newport Sages, and everyone expects the MC will be the next one. “First family,” isn’t really an official title. There are maybe a dozen or so families that would qualify as their social peers.

@Sherlock221B

Also, if this is set in such a small town,

It’s not. I’ve got to stop calling it a small town. It was a small town when I conceived of this story, but as I blocked it out the setting really turned into a medium sized city.

@Sherlock221B

I’m assuming that since you said ‘first’ family, there’s other towns and cities that are ‘settled’ of sorts that are ruled by different families, but how does the family system work? Does being the ‘first’ family allow the Winters’ to have a hand in governing the others and carry the corresponding respect? Or are the families generally left alone to do what they do? And use their magic how they want?

That’s a complicated answer. I’m tempted to just say it’ll all be explained in the book, but I’ll take a whack at it now. “First family,” isn’t an official title. I just think of them that way because they’re one of the oldest, richest, most powerful families in the city. They definitely do have a hand in running the city, and even if they didn’t take an active role very little would happen that they didn’t approve of. Not all the wealthiest families have magic, but over the years the families that do have a lot of magic in them have become wealthy.

The Dawn Sages are supposed to use their power for the good of all the people, and truthfully most of them do. That doesn’t mean they don’t also use it for their own agendas as well.

@Sherlock221B

Having the little context we do, this sounds an awful lot like railroading. Now, when such a story is executed well, it can be very enjoyable, but are you saying that the three paths we take involve us becoming a witch regardless, even if we’re given the option to escape it later?

Sorry that’s my fault again for using the phrase “end up,” The plot I described is sort of the first chapter. Most of the early choices are about who the MC is rather than what they do. Hopefully by the end of it the reader will have a good idea of who their character is, and after that the major branching choices of the story start and let the reader decide what their character does, and becomes.

Hope that clears a few things up.

Thanks again.