Book 3 ideas (Ruinous Return) - and labeling update.
Added 2024-10-15 02:29:40 +0000 UTCRELABELING
Relabeling of Ruinous Return to match the future Mango Media release has been completed!
I also fixed a few broken 'next chapter' links in there.
I would ask that if you do notice a screwed-up link to the next chapter (because Patreon likes breaking randomly or reverting changes) - let me know!
Royal Road has also been relabeled to match!
SEQUEL IDEAS
I am hoping to have a few different Ruinous Return 'blurbs' that would be on the back cover of a book for a Ruinous Return 3 (back to Earth!) by the end of November at the latest.
People would then be able to vote on them, and I'd pursue the most popular as the sequel idea (unless I absolutely hated the concept. Then, I would just not list it on the poll).
If you have an idea as to a way to approach the sequel - comment here, or reach out on Discord.
Right now the ideas that folks have put my way and I'm mulling over...
Lyn uses an avatar for Earth interactions to limit her OP-ness in another world. She still fights the governments and takes over - but it's a bit more of a challenge because she can't just Thanos snap them all away.
Mana from Ghomar 'seeping' over to Earth and causing ancient powers to awaken (thinking 'dead deities' choosing new vessels or something like it). Gives her some foes to go against that are on a more decent playing field.
An epistolary format novel that recounts the Ghomar invasion from various records and accounts of the matter, told in a sort of 'flashback to Lyn's conquering'. I'm thinking the framing device being a school on Ghomar explaining the Earth bridge. A story told from modern-history accounts sort of like World War Z.
(Credit to Patron Aclys - I slightly edited their suggestion here) Lyn tries finding people on Earth to make into champions by granting them magical powers, creating heroes who can lead by example and make the world a better place instead of trying to conquer the whole thing which, due to human nature, is going to get opposed simply because nobody is going to be willing to just bend the knee to what they perceive as an outsider. A whole cast of new main/supporting characters, the heroes and their support in turn can face challenges and even setbacks, with Lyn taking on a more overseeing role.
So if you have more ideas to add to the bundle above, comment them or get on Discord and send them my way!
Comments
I mean, technically he's ON Earth in the Lovecraftian lore. Some weird island place under the sea (its name escapes me). But maybe space tentacle invasion IDK
Seras Streams
2024-10-22 00:18:57 +0000 UTCCthulhu
Beau Bryant
2024-10-21 10:06:47 +0000 UTCWell, to counter that point slightly, it is HER mana amount that draws them. So if she's gone, then they wouldn't be attracted. But what could she attract to Earth like that? Possible new antagonist from beyond?
Seras Streams
2024-10-21 02:05:04 +0000 UTCI would like to point out that most likely she would HAVE to use an avatar, because she has to be on hand to fight mana devourers. Otherwise, she goes over to Earth for for a day, and back home 120 years past and everyone gets devoured.
Beau Bryant
2024-10-21 02:03:50 +0000 UTCIt serves as a foil for Lyn's society while also challenging her conceited views on reality, because you only can afford to be idealistic when you have the leeway to do so, and making her do tough choices could throw shade between the secular and the divine. Why would you worship someone that can summon a storm when someone with an aeroplane can do the same?
Gabriel Melnik
2024-10-15 13:34:32 +0000 UTCWell I had plan a 1k year Ghomar timeskip, which = roughly 208 days on Earth (the math is in the discord huge shout to Virulent for checking my numbers). So William could be the framing device but I definitely think the heroes ‘who died and returned to Earth’ could be focal points (even in an epistolary format).
Seras Streams
2024-10-15 13:14:45 +0000 UTCMmm. Alright so keeping the mental aspect is definitely important. Maybe not as much for Lyn (she can have some development and growth), but definitely any other introduced characters. I could go “Dune” with it and swap the MC to have Lyn not be the primary focus but rather the inciting incident. (Referencing how in Dune the MC swaps between books to descendants)
Seras Streams
2024-10-15 13:12:36 +0000 UTCRight, but I’m thinking for the ‘broad appeal’ aspect. Like me personally? I’m fine meshing fantasy and science fiction. But I think going from high fantasy to ‘alien invasion’ is just a bit too big of a leap for a single book in 200k words. That’s like a whole ‘nother arc with a focus on new characters from the combined realms.
Seras Streams
2024-10-15 13:10:53 +0000 UTCAn alien mining operation could work.
Gabriel Melnik
2024-10-15 09:41:32 +0000 UTCSome interesting ideas here - but I think I have to agree with Scyfe here, everything but 1 and 3 seems like it would just be an arbitrary nerfing of the MC which would be annoying after she just ascended recently. 4 doesn't make much sense to me - what's the point in just empowering people when she herself has strong wanderlust, a desire to fight, and can do a better job, plus she wants to change the world, that's hard to do with people who grew up on that world and are probably against handing over ownership of their planet to a foreign entity. 1 could make sense - I can see Lyn nerfing herself just to keep herself amused, and it would make sense to use an avatar on earth, allowing her to continue ruling on her own world without having to worry about the time passing. 3 seems great as well, though I was hoping to see some scenes featuring the former heroess on earth and other former friends of Lyn, which would be difficult in that format. Not a big fan of 2, seems like it comes out of nowhere just to introduce conflict.
SDCard
2024-10-15 06:51:40 +0000 UTCOne of the most compelling things about the series was the mental aspects of a foreign influence. So the magic of ghomar coming to Earth, potentially waking gods, champions and who knows what else is interesting, but should also contain pernicious mental hangups that were a main part of the story. Lyn’s champion’s getting pushed about by her beliefs, gods coming out of the woodworks and trying to get some zealots. Stuff like that. Also a holy war could go pear shaped so fast
Fervent Fiend
2024-10-15 05:32:03 +0000 UTCTrue, but the difference would be a full Avatar would be an obvious manifestation of her divine power, and thus shine like a beacon to those who know to look for that. However essentially possessing a cloned body would limit her power for more story conflict, while also being only seen as a slightly more powerful mortal, unless very thoroughly inspected.
Knight_Redundant
2024-10-15 04:45:34 +0000 UTCRight but in that case also there's not much of a difference between her making a 'passing for mortal avatar' that she can just project into.
Seras Streams
2024-10-15 04:39:22 +0000 UTCWell if Lyn could find some DNA of her old body and clone it as an empty shell that she could inhabit she could sneak onto earth under the radar so to speak and kinda be one of her own champions since nobody has to know that this Lyn and God Empress Rivers are the same. Like she is still powerful but more of a strong champion than full goddess.
Knight_Redundant
2024-10-15 04:14:26 +0000 UTCHmm... I like the direction that would take things. But the vessels shouldn't be 'corrupted' like the Hero Cores corrupted necessarily - just those chosen 'new gods' have the voice of the deity advising them (towards that deity's own ends - a Trickster god like Odin might want to take control of a person's body fully so they are 'reborn' effectively). Some might be truly altruistic in wanting their new incarnation to take their mantle. Gives a little more versatility in their portrayal. Plus, Lyn giving chosen people powers to be her 'paladins' of a sort would be kind of neat and reduce the total # of her forces on/around Earth. The tricky part is juggling the whole 'Lyn's Story' vs. 'The story of these Earth gods reborn + the people they inhabit' - because Ruinous Return should be about Lyn. A spinoff series is definitely doable - but the focus of this third book does need to be Lyn's return to Earth.
Seras Streams
2024-10-15 04:10:13 +0000 UTCAlthough, minor thing when Lyn first comes back before making a huge fan fair of herself she should stop by her old place and administer some godly backhands.
Knight_Redundant
2024-10-15 04:06:54 +0000 UTCYeah, like say Set did not wake up because if he did he would immediately start swinging his weight around. So the gods who woke up are the ones who learned to not wast the stuff that gives them power. And the vessels get corrupted by being imbued with the power of the concept and literal voice in their head of their patron. Then there is Lyn who is more moderate in her approach of letting her champions adapt to their power and gradually ramping up over time rather than dumping pure godly power onto some schmuck and then telling them that they are the chosen of a god.
Knight_Redundant
2024-10-15 04:05:27 +0000 UTCMhmm mhmm. Great minds think alike. Also, I think it would be cool if I went this direction to have the various pantheons not fully 'reawaken', but rather have the deities choose new vessels and subtly guide selected humans (adding new cast members to replace the heroes that died or would be irrelevant in the story at that point) - AND giving them a pseudo-corruption like the mana cores in the form of these 'god cores'.
Seras Streams
2024-10-15 03:58:09 +0000 UTCInteresting idea. I think it MIGHT be a bit too far of a reach with aliens. BUT - her and these 'other Earth gods reawakening' draws the 'Earth universe' version of Mana Devourers - and they are WAY worse, which would then require Lyn to... (lots of options) - Side with the Earth gods and 'team up' to make a coalition to defend Earth, then help those Earth gods take over the world so they can co-rule the two planets in an inter-realm capacity. - The three way war like you mention, these uber Mana Devourers (or whatever enemy it ends up being), and Lyn, and the Earth gods all duking it out. - (other ideas feel free to spitball)
Seras Streams
2024-10-15 03:56:59 +0000 UTCI have a spin on the mana from ghomar seeping into earth. What if the mana gets detected by aliens, and a 3 way war lits between the native gods, Ghomar and the aliens, forcing Lyn out of her pedestal and forcing her to do things she wouldn't have done due to pride before (Like guns for example) Because at the core of most of the cast, the root of their crookedness was both the ignorance baked in the American schooling system (and the American culture as a whole) and the pride baked into the bones of the cast, I feel like a situation where she needs grow out of her stigmas, prejudices and toxic culture would give more depth to the characters. I'm saying this mostly because there were instances in the novel where she was an aggressive fool, then she was subtly proven wrong, only for her to throw her weight around while either branding the dissident as a heretic or stomping opossition with "I'm your goddess card" Once the gods and the aliens begin dipping their grabby hands into earth then the conflict could evolve from magic powered renaissance into a planet wide proxy campaing were she can't just sweep away the opposition because she doesn't have the ability to do so. Edit: I'm talking about full on Sci Fi aliens here.
Gabriel Melnik
2024-10-15 03:26:08 +0000 UTCI would assume that the multiple pantheons of gods would attract them in time anyway, but with several pantheons and Lyn there at the same time who knows what will crawl out of the universe.
Knight_Redundant
2024-10-15 03:23:51 +0000 UTCOmg that's...holy crap so genius! Also, if Lyn was gone from Ghomar then she wouldn't be attracting the Mana Devourers - since they're drawn to that world because of her presence. But...what if in Earth's reality, her presence ALSO drew something from beyond the stars...*cue Warhammer 40k music* Gods on Earth split their powers into domains so that they would not attract these entities that caused destruction in the past. (aka, singular deity created Earth, but then failed to stop these invaders which is what REALLY killed the dinosaurs). Lots of possibilities got my brain a-churnin!
Seras Streams
2024-10-15 03:21:21 +0000 UTCI figure at some point Lyn comes over for an epic god brawl, but she can't just leave her home because the whole planet eating monsters, unless she uses her OPness to make a stable time corridor or something. And the reason she is some much more powerful than Earth's gods is because she as a deity embodies all of Ghomar, while on earth they are more representative of specific concepts (Ares being god of war, hades of the underworld and such) and that's why they need whole pantheons to stand up to Lyn. A caveat is that there is no god of creation or destruction Earth is just a planet that came about naturally and gods came into being because mana and then declined as mana was consumed with their squabbles. There are other mythical creatures that have been in hiding and doing good like vampires werewolves and such but keep a low profile out of fear of humanity.
Knight_Redundant
2024-10-15 03:12:17 +0000 UTCOooh. Interesting Idea. *scribbling notes* I like it! Such insight! (great idea).
Seras Streams
2024-10-15 03:01:25 +0000 UTCHow about a mix of two and four? Mana seeped over and awoke things and gods, and that's the reason Lyn can't just stroll on over in full god mode. She has gets some champions she can funnel her power into in a more safe way than with the hero cores so they don't go crazy. Lots of stuff from Earth's mythology wakes up gods being gods in a pissing match over who is in charge and all that. I would say Lyn is able to take on any one god fairly easily but when a whole pantheon is there it gets dicey.
Knight_Redundant
2024-10-15 03:00:11 +0000 UTCThank you for the feedback on your preferred topic and the clarifying ideas. I thought epistolary would work decently because I could still have the OP Lyn show up a BUNCH but from different points-of-view.
Seras Streams
2024-10-15 03:00:09 +0000 UTCI vote 3. I've always hated arbitrary nerfing the MC because they are too powerful. There's a decent amount of side characters with the hero's, the returned classmates, ghomar natives, earth natives that you could tell interesting stories from their perspective and struggles.
Scyfe
2024-10-15 02:45:43 +0000 UTC
