Before the Plot Tropes
A Greater Conqueror
Reincarnation of an Legendary Figure (An Celestial Guard? Hero? Keeper? Chosen One? Cursed One?)
First Meetings.
Failed Quest
'Just So' Story: Kinda...origins? (Of the moon? Winter? A creature? Why the sky is blue? You choose).
An ancestor that lives through his descendants.
A dispute between founders of a place/organization. A dispute between lines descendants of siblings.
A mysterious city of the past.
A character sealed for decades, even hundred of years. A sealed hero? Maybe self-sealed? Guarding something? Who sealed them?
Founders in general (also, what is their origins/backstory? What lead them to found whatever? A Hidden Kingdom founded by refugees or former slaves for exemple).
The Beginning of Something?
Origins in general (of a clan? a power? a kingdom? magic? a race? a person?).
Some fuck up the atual characters need to fix. Can be more personal, like its your Ancestor's fuck up.
A familiar foe, enemy to your ancestor/parents. Which one is the right or the wrong? Both? One cursed another? Sealed? Betrayed? For a good reason? Your antecestor fucked up. (Cursed someone or an group/family? Started an eternal winter? Released an creature? Stole an McGuffin?)
Someone did something considered impossible (survived something? Went to a Forbidden Place? Used a weapon? Touched a cursed thing? Exposed to a thing?)
A character is compared to a another (either so they wont take the same evil path, privilege, the former ruler is better...)
The hierarchy of the land changes a lot with time (like a Family that previously was the Ruling one is now a subordinade). So can the landscape.
The 'First' of whatever: wielder of power, ruler, dragon rider, bloodline, patient zero...
Take a good look at your world and start asking questions, How to begin with. If they have dragons, where they come from? O how they tamed them?
The Predecessors (of the current leaders? heroes?). If there is something like a competition, there will be the former winners.
Creators of something (Power? Kingdom? McGuffin?)
Backstory: A Mysterious Past that eventually catched up.
A Nation created by refugees? By exiled prisioners?
A tragic romance or friendship between the founder (or an hero) and a Villain.
A love triangle with Villain, Hero and an Priestess Archetype
A dynasty with Divine Heritage (good or bad)
A rivality between lines/folks/kingdoms (maybe the reason too?). Could it be an betrayal of their - at time - leaders? Thief? An Insult? An refusal of cavalary?
A group of legendary warriors.
A thing that ended (order? clan?) and the heroes will probally bring back.
A being/person (or more than one) who gets reincarnated a lot of times. Reincarnation Romance?
An ancient immortal manipulator who is behind A Lot Of Shit (capital letters needed)
Legendary Hero betrayed and turned into an Mysterious Villain/Cynical Anti-Hero with an secret identity.
Legendary Ancient Figures and their relation to the actual characters.
The kingdom/organization was founded on an lie.
An Revolution/Rebellion
Legendary Hero has his own redeemed Villain.
A clan starts/creates something
An Ancient Immortal Evil
A fallen legendary kingdom of the past. Maybe the remains split into the 'modern' kingdoms?
The fall of an hero/rise of the villain .
An massacre/purge
An Ancient Tragedy that is totally different than the one in the history books.
An character's backstory give him/her an bad/cruel reputation, but the story is far different than the real one. (An murder can turn into suicide or have an good reason, they could sacrificed their reputation to protect another person, to hide an secret, being an silent scapegoat, rebelled against the Kingdom's corruption or framed, he killed his friend because as asked to)
An Great Failure.
The Legendary Hero is an fraud or the actual villain.
The story of the parents/grandparents of one of the characters.
How the world (or an land) became chaotic. Like...there is a Eternal Winter? Then why and how.
An legend/tale of an fictional folklore/mythology that is associated to the main plot.
Two siblings became enemies (and their lines too)
Anything related to an line/family really (an curse? An ancestor? An system? An deal? An conflict?)
The story of an folk (past leaders, migration, part or inaction in an war, how they got their lands, refugees, stolen lands (places in general) and goods, extermination). An conflict with another folk (forced to share land, prejudice, envy, rulling class, suborninade folk)
The start of a Noble House, Clan, Family or whatever.
Maybe the return of those people after they were exiled from their lands? Or driven out? Or they went in search from something? They run away? Who is living on the land now?
If the race is more magical, explain their magical origins.
Why is a folk discriminated against? Why one is considered superior or inferior? Why two Kingdoms or Families hate each other?
The goverment tries to hide the origins of a important person or discovery because they belong to a marginalized group.
Two characters are revealed to have a past.
You have to fix an mistake the hero group did (well-intentioned maybe? Stole an magical artefact from an Ancient Being/Tomb/Cavern and its pissed now? Or false accusation that got someone punished - like losing an position - has to be corrected? Settle an argument between two Rulers/Kingdoms/Factions over a Very Old Conflict? A thing your Ancestor did? A wronged enemy has a good reason for waiting revenge?)
While the 'mystery' and fishy things about the society and world you live into is pretty cliche thanks to bad YA, it can be very good if done properly.
Ghost Story: How did a undead character died? Maybe they are trapped in the limbo?















