THE QUINTESSENCE OF DUST ↳ A WIP INTRO BY @SPRIGOFBASIL
The creature laughed with not a throat but a chorus, and in that moment, Rikard might have found something to fear more than death.
“Well, little soldier? How would you like to make a deal?”
GENRE: YA Fantasy Hamlet Retelling
TYPE: Standalone
POV: Multi (third-person limited)
STATUS: Outlining
THEMES/TROPES: betrayal and revenge; love (never) wins; the follies of time travel; ride or die siblings; spies and traitors; secret identities; crossdressing knights; political intrigue; manipulative gods
SUMMARY:
Rikard Morgensen is special. An orphan with a magic sought by kings and warmongers, he wanders into a trap of his own making, nothing more than a tool for the debauched nobility claiming to have saved him.
(His food is laced with poison, and yet he does not bite the hand that feeds him.)
Rikard Morgensen is special. But, left to die after he expends his worth in war, no amount of cleverness or strength will save him. No, the only thing that matters to a deity bored of existence is entertainment.
Sent back to a time before it all went wrong, he’s given twelve years to get his revenge—to unseat the royals that brought Vedenhav to ruin, to save his sister, and most importantly, to make the lives of those who wronged him a living hell.
But even armed with knowledge of the future—his past—Rikard soon finds his carefully-laid plans slipping away from him with a death that changes everything.
A treacherous spymaster cloaked in knight’s armor.
A prince on a ghost-given quest for vengeance.
An ever-loyal advisor, always left behind by the one he loves.
A caged bird left to drown in tears not her own.
(Now cracks a noble heart.)
CHARACTERS:
Rikard Morgensen | the stranger in a strange court, bitter and angry and ruthlessly clever. Given twelve years to change it all, the only thing he fears more than death is failure.
Elisabet Forseth | the traitor for the north, youngest and most gifted child of the Frejren royal spymaster, sent to bring Vedenhav to ruin. But, she can only hide behind armor and false names for so long.
Tanja Morgendatter | the keeper of her brother’s hope, blood empty of magic yet mind fickle and fingers light. Once a thief, always a thief, whether it be coin or a crown.
Hugo Severin Frederik Arne | the prince of Vedenhav, intelligent yet naive, hesitant yet painfully brash. Better him on the throne than the enemy, though who that is has grown increasingly vague.
Heinrik Andersen | the friend forever left in the dust, bleeding his heart on his sleeve for someone who will never see it. Careful, watchful, observant, for a secret is worth more than gold.
Oktavia Vester-Kaalund | the marionette caught between strings, falling down, down, down as they’re cut one by one.
LINKS: wip page (under construction!) | main tag
tag list under cut (send an ask/dm to be +/-!):