Tales of Gaiosis
Newsletter: Temples of the Twin Suns
The first book in the first Tales of Gaiosis trilogy has a name
The first trilogy — Temples of the Twin Suns
Lyria’s (and soon Spirra’s) first trilogy now has a name, Temples of the Twin Suns. It was surprisingly difficult to come up with a name because Lyria’s story is mainly evolving bottom up.
This reflects my character-driven approach to plotting the book. Lyria was inspired from a character in Skyrim, Lydia. Lydia was an NPC, who partners up early on with the Dragon Born.
Lydia is a formidable fighter in Skyrim, and this made me wonder what it would take for a woman to survive in a brutal, violent world on equal terms with men.
After all, there are few physical sports in which men and women compete directly. Can you imagine a male/female NFL?
That doesn’t imply that there is no history of women taking part in hand-to-hand combat with men, but it’s unusual enough to be remarkable. The example of Joan of Arc comes to mind.
In more modern times, men and women do fight in war. That’s mainly because of the advent of weapons that act at a distance. That negates the physical advantage most men have over most women. Strength becomes less important when one can be killed from outside arm’s reach.
Wars on Gaiosis, however, are largely fought hand to hand, which presented a challenge. How do I pit my Lyria against brutal, battle hardened warriors with a credible chance of a win?
The answer I chose was to make her a hybrid. She is of mixed species, which brings with it advantages and disadvantages.
This opened up many opportunities to explore what it means to be different and mysterious in a suspicious, violent world. This will be a major theme of the trilogy.
What to expect
This Medium account is here to help me share how I’m developing my first large-scale fiction project. Everyone is welcome to comment on Lyria’s story as it emerges, but I’d ask that people do it in good faith and constructively.
You’ll soon be seeing more chapters in the trilogy, and in between chapters, background articles on the construction of Gaiosis.
Coming soon:
Temples of the Twin Suns, Chapter 4: This Is No Place Like Home
