IT’S BEEN RELEASED!!!
First few chapters of the new Hell/Dolls story, Glistless: The Dark Elf, is now available exclusively on Royal Road!!
Neither of my Hell/Dolls stories have cover pages yet, but come mid-December, I’ll hopefully have something for both… as well as some headers for specific blog posts.
I have some high hopes.
BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT WE’RE HERE FOR TODAY!
Today, we’re here to take a deeper look at the first two chapters of Glistless! So without further ado, let’s get down to it!
[Chapter One]
So, in the first chapter, we’re introduced to the society of the Under: once a clan-village on the surface world, now a subterranean pocket in the earth, only accessible by a miles-long tunnel that is restricted to a chosen few.
Our protagonist Xylim was born here in the Wistfall Village, and after 80 years of stagnation, she’s had enough. She attempts to persuade the leaders of her village to let her go up, in an attempt to stop relying on the decaying nutrients of the Under’s soil, and to get support from the people up top.
After a lot of back-and-forth, Xylim gets the chance to prove herself by requesting a rite of challenge. As a gentle “F-you”, one of the leaders rolls up with the biggest guy in the village (Ifulami), and tells her that she has three months to beat him.
She trains hard, and eventually the dreaded day comes. Xylim doesn’t back down, and starts the fight.
And she wins!
[Chapter Two]
The second chapter starts immediately (a few days) after the last one, with Xylim invited to a meeting with the leaders. There, she is told the rules of the Surface Searchers – those chosen to go on expeditions to the surface world. She is also told that she needs to find someone to go with her, and that they’ll be sending their own trusted sentinel with her as well (two, if she can’t find a companion).
Bothering her old magic tutor Aliz, she gets the chance to meet with two possible allies: the underestimating and rude Krin, and the mute but friendly Gramm (guess who she decides to go with?)
And with that, she goes to study the language of the Surface!
…As well as the language of hands, so she can speak with Gramm.
So… I threw around a lot of new terms in these two chapters, even for Hell/Dolls. But let’s dig into them.
The Under and the Wistfall Village are interchangeable for the most part; the Wistfall Village is the old name for the whole village that was submerged, while the Under generally refers to the pocket and cave system from the Surface to the Wistfall.
This realm doesn’t use the word “Essence” for magic, if we haven’t noticed yet. While I’d love to come up with a custom word for it for each realm, I already used Essence interchangeably with “mana” in Unity’s Edge… so I figured the two I already made would be enough for now.
Also, I didn’t list out full names for many of the characters in these two chapters… actually, I don’t think it really happens for a few more chapters. But in case y’all are wondering, I do have full names for all of the leaders, the major players, and of course, Gramm! It will come in time, I promise.
Something I hesitated to describe for a long time in this story… well, actually two things, were How does Xylim learn so many skills so quickly and What is the Glisten; while I do intend to eventually get around to describing them in-story, the details may not be as complete as I’d like them to be.
How does Xylim learn skills like language and fighting so quickly? Is she a Mary Sue?
I’d like to say “no” to the second part… and for all I’ve done with Xylim so far, I still say no! I don’t want to go into too much detail until later chapters release, but with the chapters out right now, readers should have a good idea of Xylim’s capabilities… even if it’s not clear why yet. I have the section written, it’s just a long-off chapter from now.
So what is the “Glisten”? Is it like Essence or Sola or whatever?
Yes and no. The Glisten is literally a special ability bestowed upon a species by their god or goddess. This is not specific to Hestis and Lyzythia, either; Mnerva and her Succi have their own gifts in Tetsmondys, and Grudia’s pantheon of deities have all granted a lineage of Glisten-like gifts to their kin… including the Shadow of the World, Uruhsatt.
If you think of it like a game, think of Disgaea: main cast characters usually have a unique skill or ability compared to generic characters. Sometimes it empowers the user, other times it helps the group. But at any time, it can become a crutch, especially if you start to rely on it for every battle.
…I get that still doesn’t clear up the drawback, but it’s also explained in Chapter 3 (or 4, I can’t remember). I tried to be less heavy-handed in this story, giving information as the protagonist learns it, rather than infodumping at the beginning of the chapter like I did in early Unity’s Edge chapters.
Something else I wanted to clarify before I close out this Deep Dive (that’s not really important): there are natural plants in the Under, as well as an artificial sun. I’ve been playing with how to make this work magic-science-wise, so when I get a chance to post world notes for Hesthis and Kiria, I’ll share the world-building I have done over the past six months to make a millennia underground work. Specific plants I’ve brought to the Under include a berry that changes flavor based on the artificial sun’s flare-ups and a root vegetable called a bicarrot.
It’s not flawless, but I’m chalking the holes up to “IT’S FICTION”. So nyeh.
If you have specific questions about the world, the chapters, or the characters in general, feel free to leave a comment here or on my Royal Road. I’m also on socel.net with my usual username, so please reach out to me there, too!
For now, I have to finish up some… other posts that I’ve delayed too long. See you soon!
-Marcosias Isif, your buddy, your pal.