"Creatures" Book 1: Welcome To This World (Draft)

[pkristen]

by P. Kristen Enos

So who are the Creatures of Grace?

Simply put: women. All women. Noble and flawed and everything in between. And this is a story series that focuses on them in a fictional world and faced with very real issues that women understand.

Literally put: a rotating cast of characters who provide me story opportunities related to her lifestyle and/or skills. For example, Faye will most likely be featured in stories about magic, Candice about royal power, and Donna about those on the fringe of society. Some of these women know each other, or are related to each other (directly or indirectly), or she may have been involved in an event that affected another. Yet their relationship diagrams aren’t really the point. Each story can be read independently, but if read as a whole collection, you’ll see there are connections and information which makes the stories much more layered.

Yet to be clear, this is not a story series that is anti-men or at the absence of men. And while male characters may have very significant roles in a lot of the stories, I guarantee you that the ultimate protagonist will be a woman. Simply because I wouldn’t be interested in writing these stories otherwise.

What kind of world is this?

This fictional world was created in my mind around the days of me playing Dungeons and Dragons in junior high, over thirty years ago. And a couple of the characters were originally from my D&D adventures (e.g., Lydia and Candice.) Since I'm a different person with different writing priorities and philosophies, I’m reinventing all of the elements as I need them. I call the stories of the "Sword and Sorcery" genre rather than "Fantasy" because it's not really fantastical. Don't expect any experiences by pixies or anthropomorphic talking animals.

The following rules are still true for this world:

Imagine this world very familiar to earth but where people have a Middle Earth sense of fashion.

All people came from what is known as the First Generation, who sprouted from the ground with a lot of their survival knowledge and morals already intact. However, time and future generations can change things. This first set of stories takes place at least a thousand years since the birth of the First Generation, many of whom are believed to be long dead by then.

As for death, the rules of mortality are different. Of the handful of races (most noteably, Men, Elves and other variations), all mature until their physical prime and can don’t age beyond that. However, death is very much present with disease, violence and childbirth. Humans, an inferior version of Men who whither when they start to reach their third decade, are known to exist but are few and isolated.

As for religion, there isn’t one in the formal sense in the beginning. And many felt this was fine since all adhered to a common sense of morals and respect for each other. But with time, the attitudes have started to change, and especially with wars, crime and poverty, the need for spiritual structure and guidance started to form.

And with this foundation, the “Creatures of Grace” stories begin…