Post by Brownie on Jul 26, 2023 23:42:49 GMT -5
I'm going to hide this here, but I wanted to do this for a little bit now and I think it's time.
I'm going to spoil the entirety of Star Rose. Seriously. My plot notes from here until the end.
Will this project be finished? Maybe. If I can get into the groove of it, maybe I can knock out the middle sections quickly; the training arc, while highly motivating at the time I started it (in like, 2018) is not my vibe anymore and it's going to be a struggle to finish it out in the next two chapters and move the plot forward.
Anyways, because this might take literal years, I think yall should at least have the opportunity to see where I was planning to take this story. Some of these minor plots were drafted in 2015 so fair warning, the main one is a bit cliche. I still like it for them, and it was the ending I envisioned when I wrote the first short, so I'm going to stick with it. You'll see though it's a little cringeworthy. But that's the joy of fanfiction I suppose.
!! DO NOT CLICK THE SPOILER IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED !!
I cannot promise that this project will be finished, but if you read this longform summary, you will not be surprised when the arcs do get written.
I'm going to spoil the entirety of Star Rose. Seriously. My plot notes from here until the end.
Will this project be finished? Maybe. If I can get into the groove of it, maybe I can knock out the middle sections quickly; the training arc, while highly motivating at the time I started it (in like, 2018) is not my vibe anymore and it's going to be a struggle to finish it out in the next two chapters and move the plot forward.
Anyways, because this might take literal years, I think yall should at least have the opportunity to see where I was planning to take this story. Some of these minor plots were drafted in 2015 so fair warning, the main one is a bit cliche. I still like it for them, and it was the ending I envisioned when I wrote the first short, so I'm going to stick with it. You'll see though it's a little cringeworthy. But that's the joy of fanfiction I suppose.
!! DO NOT CLICK THE SPOILER IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED !!
I cannot promise that this project will be finished, but if you read this longform summary, you will not be surprised when the arcs do get written.
After the training arc, our characters have a small time skip and are all made warriors:
Tempestpaw earns the name Tempestwing
Sparkpaw becomes Sparkfire (still debating this one, even five years later)
Willowpaw -> Willowcloud
Stonepaw -> Stoneleap
Lakepaw -> Lakefall
Rosepaw -> Rosefeather
SCENE 1: ROMANCE SIDEPLOT.
Tempestwing starts this scene being an absolute badass fighting monsters on his own. We get to see his powers, his confidence, him really fitting in with the Night Stalkers for the first time. Note that he still struggles to get his magic going sometimes, and struggles to get OUT of it, though he has much more control than he did as an apprentice. And we get to see his girlfriend, Flare-- a Svan. Their relationship gets established, shows them working together well, fighting together. Tempestwing says something along the lines of: "I get to be my real self around you, not like the others in MapleClan."
SCENE 1.5: The thing is, they are lounging about at the top of the cliff to watch the sunrise, long enough that Sparkfire notices he didn't come back that night. Ghostflight tries to assure her that he's fine, but she goes out to find him anyways... and runs into him and Flare. Spark confronts the "rogue" and Tempestwing tries to mediate, but Flare sees how jealous Spark is and intentionally antagonizes her, being super clingy to Tempest and making it exceptionally clear that Flare and Tempest are romantically involved.
Spark runs off and Tempest has the good sense to chase after her. He tries to convince her to not tell anyone what she saw, playing like Flare is simply a loner he met on the job. He harshly friendzones her, leaning on their close friendship in the past to pressure Spark into keeping his secret. She eventually gives in, seeing that he doesn't see her romantically in any way, and is heartbroken, though she agrees to keep his secret. "As long as I never see her again."
SCENE 2: MALLOWSUN TRIES TO DO A MURDER
... AND ALMOST GETS AWAY WITH IT. This comes out of NOWHERE. I don't have the mechanics of it planned, whether she lures him into a trap, whether she has any help or is working alone, whether she tries to have him killed by her own claws or indirectly. Somehow, she turns off Tempest's magic. No matter the HOW it happens, she tries to do a murder. Willowcloud is HORRIFIED that her mentor and idol could have planned the murder of her brother without her knowledge. Everyone is confused as to why she would do such a thing. Legit, no one saw this coming.
The murder plot is foiled, mostly because Batfrost was in the right place at the right time to interfere. Batfrost has the chance to kill Mallowsun and refuses, taking her prisoner instead. When they return, it's obvious Ghostflight, Glimmer and Batfrost know the "why" of the murder attempt, though Icepool is in the dark along with Tempestwing and Willowcloud. Batfrost assures them that the reason is rooted in Siva... but that they can't dig deeper than that.
Of course, MAPLECLAN is having a harder time believing their leader would do such a thing. Or, rather, they are struggling to see her as in the wrong for it. Many believe she must have a valid reason for her actions, and that Tempestwing must have done something to deserve that fate-- really hammer home the idea that the Clan distrusts the Night Stalkers. Even after Mallowsun admits to the attempted murder, most the Clan still sides with her.
(this power struggle goes on for a little bit, enough that Rosefeather and Lakefall take Tempestwing aside to check him for physical and spiritual injuries. It's during this time that Lakefall tells Tempestwing that something is horribly, horribly wrong inside him. Like a ball of thorns twisted into a knot that he can't see through. Lakefall is terrified and wants to help break this barrier as soon as possible, as it's probably why Tempestwing's connection to his stone (and magic) feels forced/challenging, but they don't have enough Time to sit down and meditate while Willowcloud is struggling to reconcile power)
Willowcloud eventually takes control of the Clan despite this, with the help of the apprentice squad. Sparkfire is at the forefront of her supporters and Stoneleap and Lakefall follow her, eventually convincing Mintsplash, Jaggedwing and, surprisingly, Adderthorn, who actually becomes the turning vote to bring MapleClan under Willowcloud's control. Lots of drama, tension, and intrigue in this arc. tbh this arc could be an entire novel..... but it needs to be condensed into maybe 10k.
SCENE 3: THE SVAN ARC.
A side effect of Mallowsun's murder attempt, Ghostflight brings in reinforcements... from Siva. These cats stay in MapleClan's camp, driving an even greater wedge between the Night Stalkers and the other warriors of the Clan, as they have Willowsun's blessing. A small group of warriors might attempt to fight off these "dark rogues" for the good of the Clan, but are quickly thwarted by the Svan's magic. This can either let the secret out entirely, or not. Depends on what feels like the most drama. Flame can make a reappearance here, because she and Tempest really should break up so he can be with Spark. That's my otp and it's my fanfiction so they get to be together.
At the very least, Willowsun and Tempestwing figure out why the Svans are here: to protect him and Willowsun, from the Svans that are currently trying to find them and kill them. Mallowsun was only the first. She was working with a group of Svans, trying to find the thief, or rather, thieves that stole the Star Rose. Yes, those Svans from many, many generations ago. Turns out, they're still alive.
It's Willowsun and Tempestwing.
They argue this, of course they do: they're MapleClan born, Scarletfang is their mother! They can't be over a hundred earth years old!
Then their memories return, breaking the block that Lakefall saw earlier, maybe even that is foreshadowed in Tempest's training arc chapter when he astral projects if I can weave something in there too. And it IS true. They are both full Svans, reborn in the future. How? They figure out that, after stealing the Star Rose, they took it through the portal on purpose. They KNEW it would shatter. They were counting on it. When it shattered, it released so much energy, more than a cat could ever hope to get their paws on otherwise. In the split second they had this power, they used it for one grand piece of magic, something that they hoped would fix Siva for good.
Instead they broke everything. And now Siva is dying because of it. Tempestwing is the one who realized it wasn't working and wove a quick spell using the last of the energy to pull both him and Willowsun to the future, where he hoped they could rebuild the Star Rose and use it again to fix their mistake. One last chance to make things right.
THE CLIMAX
Willowsun, after regaining her memories, becomes the main antagonist. She believes that if Tempestwing didn't siphon away the energy for his desperate spell, that they would have succeeded. She blames him for everything that happened to Siva. She breaks from the knowledge that she's responsible for the deaths of all the Svans, their lack of magic.
Tempestwing sides with MapleClan instead. He tries to convince her that they have another shot at fixing things, now that they're wiser. We see the entire scope of this conflict from the Svan eyes: Mallowsun's faction, who believe that killing the theives will create a new Starkeeper, allowing them to finally rebuild the heart of their world; Ghost/Bat's faction, who believe that Tempest and Willow are Siva's last hope of bringing back magic. They're the last of the true power that remains and must be trusted to restore their home.
And all this sets up for book two. Aka I haven't planned further than this showdown between the sibs and Willow going a little mad. I might be able to wrap it up in a satisfying way, I might need another book's worth of arcs to do what I want with the plot, but yeah. This is what Rose is in my head. And now it's a gift for yall.
Tempestpaw earns the name Tempestwing
Sparkpaw becomes Sparkfire (still debating this one, even five years later)
Willowpaw -> Willowcloud
Stonepaw -> Stoneleap
Lakepaw -> Lakefall
Rosepaw -> Rosefeather
SCENE 1: ROMANCE SIDEPLOT.
Tempestwing starts this scene being an absolute badass fighting monsters on his own. We get to see his powers, his confidence, him really fitting in with the Night Stalkers for the first time. Note that he still struggles to get his magic going sometimes, and struggles to get OUT of it, though he has much more control than he did as an apprentice. And we get to see his girlfriend, Flare-- a Svan. Their relationship gets established, shows them working together well, fighting together. Tempestwing says something along the lines of: "I get to be my real self around you, not like the others in MapleClan."
SCENE 1.5: The thing is, they are lounging about at the top of the cliff to watch the sunrise, long enough that Sparkfire notices he didn't come back that night. Ghostflight tries to assure her that he's fine, but she goes out to find him anyways... and runs into him and Flare. Spark confronts the "rogue" and Tempestwing tries to mediate, but Flare sees how jealous Spark is and intentionally antagonizes her, being super clingy to Tempest and making it exceptionally clear that Flare and Tempest are romantically involved.
Spark runs off and Tempest has the good sense to chase after her. He tries to convince her to not tell anyone what she saw, playing like Flare is simply a loner he met on the job. He harshly friendzones her, leaning on their close friendship in the past to pressure Spark into keeping his secret. She eventually gives in, seeing that he doesn't see her romantically in any way, and is heartbroken, though she agrees to keep his secret. "As long as I never see her again."
SCENE 2: MALLOWSUN TRIES TO DO A MURDER
... AND ALMOST GETS AWAY WITH IT. This comes out of NOWHERE. I don't have the mechanics of it planned, whether she lures him into a trap, whether she has any help or is working alone, whether she tries to have him killed by her own claws or indirectly. Somehow, she turns off Tempest's magic. No matter the HOW it happens, she tries to do a murder. Willowcloud is HORRIFIED that her mentor and idol could have planned the murder of her brother without her knowledge. Everyone is confused as to why she would do such a thing. Legit, no one saw this coming.
The murder plot is foiled, mostly because Batfrost was in the right place at the right time to interfere. Batfrost has the chance to kill Mallowsun and refuses, taking her prisoner instead. When they return, it's obvious Ghostflight, Glimmer and Batfrost know the "why" of the murder attempt, though Icepool is in the dark along with Tempestwing and Willowcloud. Batfrost assures them that the reason is rooted in Siva... but that they can't dig deeper than that.
Of course, MAPLECLAN is having a harder time believing their leader would do such a thing. Or, rather, they are struggling to see her as in the wrong for it. Many believe she must have a valid reason for her actions, and that Tempestwing must have done something to deserve that fate-- really hammer home the idea that the Clan distrusts the Night Stalkers. Even after Mallowsun admits to the attempted murder, most the Clan still sides with her.
(this power struggle goes on for a little bit, enough that Rosefeather and Lakefall take Tempestwing aside to check him for physical and spiritual injuries. It's during this time that Lakefall tells Tempestwing that something is horribly, horribly wrong inside him. Like a ball of thorns twisted into a knot that he can't see through. Lakefall is terrified and wants to help break this barrier as soon as possible, as it's probably why Tempestwing's connection to his stone (and magic) feels forced/challenging, but they don't have enough Time to sit down and meditate while Willowcloud is struggling to reconcile power)
Willowcloud eventually takes control of the Clan despite this, with the help of the apprentice squad. Sparkfire is at the forefront of her supporters and Stoneleap and Lakefall follow her, eventually convincing Mintsplash, Jaggedwing and, surprisingly, Adderthorn, who actually becomes the turning vote to bring MapleClan under Willowcloud's control. Lots of drama, tension, and intrigue in this arc. tbh this arc could be an entire novel..... but it needs to be condensed into maybe 10k.
SCENE 3: THE SVAN ARC.
A side effect of Mallowsun's murder attempt, Ghostflight brings in reinforcements... from Siva. These cats stay in MapleClan's camp, driving an even greater wedge between the Night Stalkers and the other warriors of the Clan, as they have Willowsun's blessing. A small group of warriors might attempt to fight off these "dark rogues" for the good of the Clan, but are quickly thwarted by the Svan's magic. This can either let the secret out entirely, or not. Depends on what feels like the most drama. Flame can make a reappearance here, because she and Tempest really should break up so he can be with Spark. That's my otp and it's my fanfiction so they get to be together.
At the very least, Willowsun and Tempestwing figure out why the Svans are here: to protect him and Willowsun, from the Svans that are currently trying to find them and kill them. Mallowsun was only the first. She was working with a group of Svans, trying to find the thief, or rather, thieves that stole the Star Rose. Yes, those Svans from many, many generations ago. Turns out, they're still alive.
It's Willowsun and Tempestwing.
They argue this, of course they do: they're MapleClan born, Scarletfang is their mother! They can't be over a hundred earth years old!
Then their memories return, breaking the block that Lakefall saw earlier, maybe even that is foreshadowed in Tempest's training arc chapter when he astral projects if I can weave something in there too. And it IS true. They are both full Svans, reborn in the future. How? They figure out that, after stealing the Star Rose, they took it through the portal on purpose. They KNEW it would shatter. They were counting on it. When it shattered, it released so much energy, more than a cat could ever hope to get their paws on otherwise. In the split second they had this power, they used it for one grand piece of magic, something that they hoped would fix Siva for good.
Instead they broke everything. And now Siva is dying because of it. Tempestwing is the one who realized it wasn't working and wove a quick spell using the last of the energy to pull both him and Willowsun to the future, where he hoped they could rebuild the Star Rose and use it again to fix their mistake. One last chance to make things right.
THE CLIMAX
Willowsun, after regaining her memories, becomes the main antagonist. She believes that if Tempestwing didn't siphon away the energy for his desperate spell, that they would have succeeded. She blames him for everything that happened to Siva. She breaks from the knowledge that she's responsible for the deaths of all the Svans, their lack of magic.
Tempestwing sides with MapleClan instead. He tries to convince her that they have another shot at fixing things, now that they're wiser. We see the entire scope of this conflict from the Svan eyes: Mallowsun's faction, who believe that killing the theives will create a new Starkeeper, allowing them to finally rebuild the heart of their world; Ghost/Bat's faction, who believe that Tempest and Willow are Siva's last hope of bringing back magic. They're the last of the true power that remains and must be trusted to restore their home.
And all this sets up for book two. Aka I haven't planned further than this showdown between the sibs and Willow going a little mad. I might be able to wrap it up in a satisfying way, I might need another book's worth of arcs to do what I want with the plot, but yeah. This is what Rose is in my head. And now it's a gift for yall.