Libraries have always been more than mere buildings filled with books, and for this story, especially so. In Dreamwalker, the protagonist character is one of a very special group of people who are the fantasy equivalent to investigative scientists. Think Lewis & Clark, but in chainmail, with swords & sorcery. Think one part research institute, one part spy agency. I might come up with some other name for them, later, but for now, this group is the Scholar-Warriors of the Crown Library. These Scholar-Warriors are sent on missions to investigate, catalog, and write about new and strange phenomena for the benefit and glory of their kingdom (the Crown).
These investigative missions are not just simple journeys to write down and sketch pictures—they’re often dangerous and require a bit of muscle as well as an unorthodox and penetrating intelligence. Missions are chosen by the head of the library (sometimes to satisfy the interests of the Crown). In the Dreamwalker story, several warrior-scholars are sent to investigate something which the Crown’s necromancers find disturbing: a powerful force in the spirit world which appears to be immune to the normal laws of necromancy. This will create some great story juice, since the findings of the Scholar-Warriors will put them at odds with both the Crown and the necromancers.
There is much to love about this idea:
- It keeps the magical characters from being point-of-view characters too often, which helps keep their magic more mysterious (I had previously conceived such an investigative character be one of the necromancers).
- It creates a central milieu vehicle for all manner of future stories, both short and long.
- I get to (gleefully, gleefully) include within the stories the writings of the scholars as they would have written their works, in their words, complete with footnotes and illustrations.
- The whole idea of a band of scholarly warriors having adventures like medieval field scientists is just too fucking cool.
- Their symbol is a sword laid into the crook of the pages of an open book. Their motto: Knowledge is the Mind of Power.
I love the way this story is coming together.
As soon as I flesh out the milieu more and come up with some characters, I’ll be able to set the characters loose within it and see what happens to them. Try my hand at a couple of short stories as well as continuing work on the first novel. The first order of business is to create the library itself: describe its setting, rules, history, and chief characters. Explain its relationship to Crown and Kingdom.
