Nonas, I would like some help! (Poll for a creative project of mine) Anonymous 326038
I’m creating a low fantasy, shonen-esque story about Knights who use alchemy to enhance their combat abilities, using potions to enhance their strengths, giving themselves abilities aligned with their specific combat doctrine, rituals, and the like.
It has a predominantly female cast, and involves themes such as companionship, motherhood, and tradition.
The main character is a Knight with the specific doctrine of “Rust,” the Rust Knight. Her role, as per her combat doctrine, is to enforce the laws of Knighthood upon other Knights, as well as executing Knights who have gone heretic. Her main ability is producing an acid that can specifically corrode metal, through sweat, blood, and acid ducts.
However, she has an enemy, that defies what was previously known about Knighthood. Because she hails from another land (loosely inspired by the Aztec Empire and other such Mesoamerican influences), they have a wildly different anagram for Knights in their culture, animal-themed warriors who are mutated specifically to further embody their chosen animal through magics(true magic being almost unheard of in the Knight’s country) employed by their specialized priest caste, and fielded into larger squads, rather than the more individualistic approach Knights hold (every Knight has an inherited doctrine, like “Lavender” or “Raven” and may pass it down to a squire of theirs).
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That is where you guys come in, if you would like! Vote in the thread below on which doctrine I should choose for my Mesoamerican rival Knight!
- Option 1: Bat (has leathery wings, heightened senses, and uses blood magic)
- Option 2: Scorpion (has a scorpion tail with paralytic venom, heightened strength and durability, toying around with giving her mind control powers)
- Option 3: An idea of your own, name it in the thread and see if it gains traction! I would love to see what you guys come up with!
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If you guys have any questions, on the poll, characters, setting, lore, just ask! I don’t really have much people to talk about it with elsewhere, I’d love to talk!
Anonymous 326188
OP here, I came up with a few more ideas for what the rival’s theme could be:
- Ant (Army Ant, to be specific)
- Jaguar
- Macaw
- Tarantula
What are your guy’s thoughts? Bat, Scorpion, these, any ideas of yours?
Anonymous 326193
This is a cool idea. Maybe a big jungle snake? I also like sloths. Someone that has like time control or slow powers
Anonymous 326194
>>326193OP here again! I really like the idea of a snake theme, maybe a Boa Constrictor here. Very creative!
I can certainly imagine a very fitting armor design for her, perhaps a full snakeskin set of armor (the Aztecs primarily used thick cloth bodysuits soaked in saltwater, great defense against arrows and smaller piercing weapons, so the full suit of snakeskin could be overlaid over that maybe) with perhaps some feathers to mirror the Quetzalcoatl look some warriors and ceremonial outfits would have. I could imagine her having heightened strength and enhanced senses, and serving as an ambush predator, grappler-type opponent. Perhaps some poisoned daggers, maybe tecpatls (primarily used for sacrificial rituals, although much of Aztec combat was for gathering ritual sacrifices, and they have an amazing design as well with the embedded eye and teeth designs).
This makes me exciting, because when considering the arms and armor of the Rust Knight’s rival, I wanted them to be able to counter her typical strengths to make it a level playing field. Due to living in a culture (mainly inspired by medieval Italy, functioning in feudal yet semi-independent city states) that heavily relies on iron and steel for their weapons and armor, the Rust Knight already finds herself an outcast as contact with these materials for any truly substantial amount of time will corrode them away. But having her encounter an opponent from a culture that doesn’t even register these materials as something that exists, due to not having access to them, that leads to a situation where both characters bounce against one another and I like all the stuff I can do with that.
Thank you so much for showing interest!
Anonymous 326508
I like the idea of an animal that can use it's bodily fluids to also do damage as Rust is forced to reckon with how she is more similar to than different than her rival. Idk, both options are good, but I like option 2 more… a Knight who is essentially the law enforcer must be able to have a clear mind and already she's forced to deal with the existence of magics & mutated humans, imagine if she can't even trust her own judgement? Even though that is her sole role. Also, scorpion venom causes an excess production of bodily fluids (and possible build up in lungs causing pneumonia) so her ability is being activated against her will and turned against her! It's poetic.
Anonymous 326872
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>>326508Thank you! I was also thinking of giving the Scorpion bone growths to make it resemble scorpion claws, making her a piercing and grappling type, similar to the Snake. I’ve been leaning a little farther away from the Bat Knight in this, as the Blood Magic is mostly unexplained (focuses on divination, dririrmancy essentially) which I don’t really want to have as a “get out of jail free” card in writing this.
Scorpion Warriors, being that they can be used from the shadows and use poison attacks, could have also been used as a secret police, mirroring The Rust Knight’s role as well!
Thank you for responding!
