Epic Fantasy

We have the contemp' fantasy thread to here's the epic one!

I usually write contemp/dark fantasy but I'm giving epic a go this year! The general premise is, on a whole new world, a tribe's gods are vanishing, leaving them. MC gets banished from his tribe and goes off on a 'man quest' to find the gods and prove his place in the tribe.

My story probably fit here as it's already a trilogy (no, I don't want to make it bigger than that). This NaNo will be part two. I have two MC's so far.... will probably be more as I go ... who realizes those they thought were gods are in fact only "evolved" humans that more or less prey on the people that worships them. So they set out to destroy these so-called gods, while resisting the lure to become like them.. And that's not saying anything about all the various subplots with murder-hunting, political intrigue and realatives that was thought to be a long time dead ....

Epic all the way!

A decades old war between two successor states is threatening to heat back up again. The magic-charged mindless hoard that destroyed the previous empire might be coming back for round 5. Airships, necromancy, magic that manifests as tattoos, golems given sentience by dark magics, and a main character that's fighting off a demonic disease resulting from an assassination attempt.

Well, I've got the world altering events this year, even though I'm usually not one for epic fantasy's scale. Basically, magic has a mind of its own, it's older than the gods -- and every couple of thousand years or so it decides to change its rules. Last time it did so, the empire that occupied most of the story's geography fell. Messily. This time, well, the crossroads god is gambling on someone who's fairly good at magical theory but not actually educated in it -- my MC -- to block a couple of the more dangerous paths it could take, because she a) might be able to manage it, and b) doesn't realize that what he's asking her would be impossible anywhere BUT the middle of the Shift.

. . . that sounds very confusing when I try to explain it like that.

I've been working on an epic off and on for quite some time. A wandering sorcerer, mysterious outlaw, woodmaid, young but talented sorcerer, and an innkeeper's daughter set out to free the Lady of Light from the Lord of Darkness. Along the way, they must face assassins, goblins, a dragon, more assassins, even more goblins, a few random monsters, and, oh, did I mention the assassins?

Epic's awesome! I usually do 'deeper'/darker stuff, but not at the NaNo! Then, it's happy-go-lucky epicness!

This year, I'm gonna write nr. 2 of a (what I now think will become) 5-book story. Part one, the to-be princess June Bailey has been convinced by infamous werewolf Terrance Longeway to skip on her marriage with the prince and come with him. This part, they're gonna find a lot of trouble as Terrance is being hunted down by immortals.
After that, it's going to grow more and more epic: turns out Terrance was immortal once too, cause he made a deal with the Devil. Other immortals have to die, whilst they try to survive. And then, in the last book, the greatest end-boss of them all shows up. The Devil himself...

Aw, it's awful writing all this down like that, so summarized. It really doesn't look appealing at all, though it's so great (in my head, that is)... Well, guess I have to write it to prove it ^^

My story is growing into an epic size I think...
Three MCs-- one is a lost boy kidnapped by a trickster god and taken with him as they (eventually get around to) fighting off an ancient power that is unmaking existence. The second is a young acolyte who is traveling the land trying to figure out why the merfolk have reappeared-- and why the strange pendent he found somehow prevents their powers. And the third is a Joan of Arc figure who is inspired by the ghost of her brother to save her kingdom from a growing political threat. Set in an medieval Native American culture with lots of storytelling and the like. And some good political maneuvering worthy of the Medicis.

Perhaps mine fits into this subgenre? I'm not sure.

Defenseless, We Will Stand
After a run-in with Cretak's infamous Lieutenant General Karill Satul, Zaya Pyrek is captured and forced into servitude for the enemy. Struggling to adapt to a new culture of power, wealth and corruption, Zaya must plot her escape without becoming a pawn in Karill's secretive plans. With a bitter war looming, will she be able to escape Cretak's treacherous walls? Or will she be seduced by forbidden love?

My story has the potential to be epic. That's more because I develop my world and societies overall over the MCs. Even once the story of a couple of MCs ends, I can still pull on hundreds of diferent stories from other people living in this world, and build new plots with the same scenarios (which are different from our world).

Apart from that, all my MCs either are, or will become immortal until the end of the book. Which means I will have no short amount of stories to tell about them if I decide to write more, either.

The premise of the current story is, the MCs are travelling the world after leaving their societies behind, trying to learn more about their gods. They find out their magic is getting unstable, and is about to wipe out everyone alive in a matter of years. That's mostly because magic was 'made' wrong, but the gods didn't care to correct the mistake when they were still 'alive' (they're gone now, though not necessarily dead). Two of MCs are nominated gods then (kind of against their will, although they are more stupefied about it than anything else), and they start working against time to try to correct magic, and make it right again without killing all of the magic users in the proccess (which is made all the harder because they don't know how to 'wield' the godly powers they have now).

My MCs are going to end up changing their world! More through political intrigue and entrepreneurship than through apocalyptic battles, but I do have a few ideas in mind to help fill my action scene quota, from volcanic explosions of magic to frenzied massacres of the decadent aristocracy. I'm trying to figure out how to write a happy ending without creating some sort of laughably unrealistic utopia.

Epic fantasy, here!

I have a multiple POV trilogy going on that ultimately leads to defeating dark gods, woo. My 'main' character, after completing a religious pilgrimage, finds a fallen god, sends him back to where he came from, then decides that she's going to put an end to slavery and gets swept up into the dark god's machinations. The other POVs include the 'Messiah', a Usurper, and the fallen god himself. I'll be adding more POVs as the story progresses...

Hey, I just finished rereading A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin. I can't help it if his POV thing infects my style lolol.

Either way, I'm completely excited to start writing. I've been developing this world since February and it needs out!

Mine has turned into an Epic Fantasy, mainly because book one has 5 MCs and the various plots and twists are so not wrapped up at the 'end' of book one. So on to book two, which as far as it has been plotted out, doesn't look like the end either. I'm thinking it'll be 4-5 books...

Kisa is a faerie half blood who is searching for her faerie father. Little does she know that there's been a prophecy given that concerns her, her actions concerning the rest of the post-apocalyptic world (1000 years later it is) and the half bloods living there. Her father is employing bounty hunters to kidnap her, so he can use her for his own means. She befriends two other half bloods, one of which is the love interest of a human boy. The human runs off to be with her, which angers his faerie hating mother enough to send assassins after Kisa and the group she's formed. Meanwhile there is the whole Winter versus Summer faerie war going on, which is nearly a perfect balance but will be upset by something Kisa does (not that she does it to purposely upset the balance). And so much more...

I also think I need to work on my synopsis writing... that *points above* doesn't sound as epic as my novel does. And I left out all the faerie creatures, beasts, and magic that goes on, too!

My synopsis is pretty eh, but whatever. This is what I have:

In the land of Desta, the Contamination spreads across the land like a disease. However, the Contamination is worse than a just a plague. It causes Trumages and Halfmages alike to lose their power. Worse, though, is that in nonmages who have no power to steal, the Contamination takes their souls. Nalia Fi is a a girl born as the noble Vanialaska ay Hennafina but cast onto the streets by her half-mad father; she is also the most powerful mage in her generation. Her sister was one of the earliest victims of the Contamination, and Nalia searches for ways to end it so that others do not suffer the same pain she felt. Nalia thrives as part of the underworld in the capitol city of Teromadesa. Then she is approached by Illio (illio) Vemyk, a boy who's younger sister was Contaminated. He claims to have found documents that could lead to the source of the Contamination. Nalia warily agrees to accompany him on a journey across the face of their whole world, a world she will do anything to save.

Everyone's stories sound awesome! I love the variety we have going on here.

My story takes place during a long standing war between two kingdoms, Sard and Rhodol. Since a strategic defense point of Sard - New Valley - fell twenty years before, Rhodol has pressed the advantage, taking more and more land and leaving Sard battered and on the brink of falling to the other kingdom. Sard's greatest strategist was the General of New Valley, and it's fall caused his children to be scattered between the lands.

His son, Gad, has been raised among the nomads, and returns to Sard to find out the final fate of the rest of his family. There he meets his sister Nilda, inheritor of their father's strategies and confidant of Sard's Crown Princess. Nilda wants Gad to join the fight against Rhodol, but Gad is determined first to discover what happened to their youngest sister, Kaleigh. Unknown to them, or anyone, Kaleigh was found and raised by the Prince of Rhodol who conquered New Valley, and is now King. Torn between the family of her birth and the one that raised her, Kaleigh could be the key to saving Sard, or destroying it.


Along the way there will be lots of political intrigue, character angst, betrayal, and way too many characters. I'm looking forward to writing it.

Could someone explain to me what an epic fantasy is?

I love epic fantasy far more than contemporary fantasy.... I always have. This year I believe that mine is sort of dark/epic fantasy. And it's the first of what I think will be four books. The second one is already planned out and even has a title (which my first one does not).

The synopsis on my profile: Nobody quite remembers why they hate their king.... but they do. Now the chance to defeat him has arisen. On the Isle of Time, a place that is but a legend, rests an amulet that is told to give the bearer incredible powers and now there is evidence that this island exists. A group of rebels sends their best warrior to find the amulet and the king gives his top assassin a new mission. The two race against each other to reach the island, and the amulet, first.

Now to go into a bit more detail, the story is all told from the assassin's point of the view, the king isn't really evile, the protagonist (who, remember, is not the MC) and the assassin end up causing a whole heck of a lot of problems when they get tossed back in time together, the world nearly gets destroyed, and..... my MC gets killed off in the very end.... wait... that's all four of the books.

Well, Dyute, you might get some varying opinions on that! I describe it as sweeping, usually involving the fate of the world. The characters and magic are often more powerful, more like mythological heroes. Not that they're not characters in and of themselves, they just tend to be important and often end up somewhat legendary. The lines between epic fantasy and other types are pretty blurry. I think it's more about the big, sweeping feel of it than the actual facts of the story itself. If that makes any sense.

Hee! I'm writing about an assassin, too Arya, only mines the protag. It's epic, with a touch of political fantasy. (For me it's usually the other way around.)

Here's my synopsis: A war orphan, assassin Andasi Nors has worked long and hard to reach this moment. She stands in the great hall, one of three assassins about to receive the honor of being called a master. The vaulted ceiling brings the soft, constant sound of weeping to her ears and she smiles. She's served at the Temple of Sorrow since her parents' deaths and her moment has finally come. Yet, when her name is called, rebounding off the marble and filling the room, everything goes grey. Her excitement from just a moment before is gone, her pride at having reached such a station drains away, and she is left with nothing but a deep, abiding emptiness. She feels no sorrow for the lives she has taken, and she would like to be horrified by that, but she feels nothing. Her assassin's blade turns black, as if tarnished. Has the goddess of Sorrow turned her face from Andasi? Or has she only just noticed her...

I wish I had more time to spend worldbuilding it. I don't have half of what I normally would!

*falls in* Well, I promised myself I wouldnt, but I am. Just cant seem to stay away from epics.
'Distracted by a prophecy, an order of wizards run themselves ragged trying to find the 'chosen one'. It's only after the damage is done that they realize the entire thing was a ruse, created to do exactly what it has done, tear their order apart and pit them against each other. Even after this, it seems they're still on a wild goose chase, the one supposed to have written the thing turning out to know nothing about it at all.' [/lame summary is lame]

My POV characters are the wizards' newest 'chosen one', a chore boy from the local tavern who is far too lazy to be going on such an adventure, and one of the rejected apprentices who's got a bit of a revenge complex now. She eventually gets an apprentice of her own and tries to just /make/ her the chosen one to get back at everyone who lied to her. I just wanna give her a big hug... and then slap her and tell her to get over herself. XD

@ Arya Svit-Kona: Your's sounds really cool! And I just completely geeked out over your username, I used to be such a terrible Arya fangirl (still am probably...)

Epic fantasy -- I think of quests to save the world, lots of magic, danger, excitement, romance, and a story that takes at least 1,000 pages to cover.

Epic fantasy here. Vengeful leaders, a magic that corrupts, an ancient clan reemerging, a people in exile making their move, ruling Tribunal trying to expand it's empire, an encroaching darkness, and caught in between are four people that will not only decide the fate of each other, but much of the world's with their choices.