So I've decided to just go and make a thread for the project as a whole. Just so it will be easier for me to find things. Partly to make it easier to find things and partly so others who are curious can follow it easier in between my bouts of rambling about how much I like ramen or something. As for what will go in here...Definitely all of the poems will go in here. All initial drafts and edited versions. Ramblings about the characters, plotting, themes, etc might also go here though they also might be in the general blog thread I've got because my brain is a chaos sphere. The poems will definitely all go here though. In addition the links to the two poem docs will remain here in the first post of the thread. The one document is the poems in the order of the original writing. The other document is the poems in a rough chronological order. The chronological order is not necessarily the order they will be presented in, but it is there so the project is easier to keep track of while it is being worked on. So what the hell is the project in question? Still as of yet unnamed it is an attempt to tell a full high fantasy narrative through a massive poetry collection or, I suppose, smaller poetry collections bound together. It originally began as a series of ttrpg campaigns my boyfriend and I were working on together which, due to stuff and things, did not continue. I decided to take the things we had done together and worked out and decided to turn it into a narrative. As it originally started out as a DnD game the base of much of its lore is from DnD, with the rest being stuff of my own making largely based off things I know about existing mythologies and folklores. The characters themselves have, for the sake of academic honesty, their origins in the Force of Will trading card game. They've since strayed and are continuing to have the serial numbers filed off over time. The story itself concerns two, eventually three, characters. The first is Kikue, the tiefling daughter of an archdevil who betrayed her father and escaped from Hell. She is currently wandering the world disguised as a human from the nation of Mizuho on a quest to kill each and every fiend in all of existence. Kikue does not actually expect to fulfill this goal and it is, to an extent, an elaborate suicide attempt. The second is a wood elf diviner from the island of Emain Ablach. She is fresh out of the woods and is on her memory gathering quest, but she is also on a quest to find a home for the next World Tree. Despite these rather defined goals, she is flitting about the world whimsically and does not grasp the weight of her responsibilities. The third, meanwhile, is the new World Tree herself or, rather, the humanoid incarnation of the World Tree. Despite being a tree person with horns and elf ears, Yggdrasil is just a child all in all. She is also Kikue and Saoirse's daughter. As far as the plot...I do want to keep it having the episodic structure of a ttrpg campaign. However, this arc structure will be guided by the two issues that are the remains of the Fate Core incarnation of the game. The first issue being that the World Tree is dying and a new seed must be planted or the entire world as it is known will come to an end. The second issue meanwhile is that Kikue's father, the Lord Shishido, seeks Asmodeus' throne at the top of Hell and is willing to do anything and everything to take that throne. Including threatening the world's existence as a whole. Besides these two larger issues, there will be a series of smaller ones as they work their ways towards those big issues and dealing with them. Also it is a yuri romance. This will do for introductions I think...So here are the docs that the poems themselves are kept in... The original writing order doc. The chronological order doc.
My current idea for how this may all be structured is to separate things out into distinct arcs. These arcs will consist of primary narrative poems which are of medium to long lengths. Things like physical action, plot moving, traveling, etc will be in these poems. Surrounding those action poems will be series of mood or emotion poems taking place during or after the action poems in question. These are far less action oriented and may, in fact, involve no action at all and instead just pretty little thoughts. They will also be much shorter. The completed arcs may then be split into separate poetry collections themselves, potentially. Depending upon how long they get. I don't think they'll get long enough for each arc to get its own collection. It is something that I think more will be split into arc themed chapters and then that is all bundled up into the completed collection. Really who the fuck knows. But I am thinking of the structure of this thing as a whole because we're 18 pages in now and a pattern is arising.
Here's a poem that had been written a few days ago. Not really pleased with this one but it'll have to do for the time being. Got to make those drafts, baby. Anyway. This one happens right after Kikue and Saoirse meet and are kicked out of the tavern: This sure isn't how You planned this trip To this town right here. You didn't plan To come right in And find out then From a man on the street That a woman that way Was having a problem With her son Who went missing A week back, Like so many others, And how this woman, Unlike so many others, Wasn't willing to go And say "Oh, that's fine, We've dealt with this For years and years." So you heard that tale From the man Right on the street, And you heard more From the woman herself About the cave, It's out east, And demons crawl Through its tunnels That none have ever Left alive, not once, Because it's demons, Those damned fiends. You've never fought one, A fiend of any sort Be they demon or devil Or that other sort Whose name slips From your mind right then, But you're sure, you are, That it starts with "yug". You've never fought one, Only read about them And what you've read Says nothing good About those who go And look for them, But when a woman Is crying at home About her lost boy That no one will save Or avenge or more, How can you not Declare right there With all your might That you'll do it, You'll get them, Each and every one, Clearing out The whole damned cave? That sure wasn't planned And even less planned Was getting tossed out Of the tavern that You went to seeking Food and help because While you'd never once Fought a demon you'd Read the tales enough And figured a hand Or maybe five Would be sufficient To tackle the fiends. But that's what happened Because when a man calls Out to you, wanting, With tall tales of The Woods in mind Are you not going To rise up there To meet his challenge And make a fool Out of him and you both? You were didn't see The woman rising too From a seat at The corner of the room With a sword Held right at hand And a face that said She had the will To use it there In your defense. It sure wasn't planned, But it sure happened And now you were out Of a place to search For food and help, So though she walks Off all quick Without a word more To you after that, You call out to her And ask her loud What her name is And just how long Has she been fighting And just what it is That she goes fighting. You even try your hand At asking the weather Because it's a pleasantry And maybe, just maybe, She'll take to that And make talk with you About trees and sun Or maybe of war. She doesn't take, Telling you off Again and again, But you've no option Save this grump Who ruined your fun And your search to boot, So you follow her And you keep prodding, Looking for anything Besides a curt "Leave me be," Until you are at Your last rope there And you bring up The money, the prizes, That surely will come If you clear it out, That damnable cave Because it's just full Of demons, they say. You sure didn't plan On her stopping then And turning round to ask "Where is the cave?" Without a hint of want For money and fame, Instead just a hunger For war and gore, But she did and does And how can you Say anything other Than a bright, cheery, "I can show you were,"?
