mixster

When Zelo Alkri, a young, courageous adventurer, is forced from his village by an invading army, he begins his journey across the barren continent in search of a place to call home, while meeting characters that help and hinder him along the way and overcoming the problems associated with the extraordinary world.


Zelo Alkri is an orphan and initially living in a small village near to the sea. His parents died when he was 12 from a long lasting illness, during which time he slowly became self-sufficient to an extent. His father was a scholar of sorts and left much work behind for Zelo to read, specifically various books about morality as he viewed himself as a philosopher.

One day, when Zelo is 16, a small army invades his village while he’s out. Upon returning, he sees the village in flames and some soldiers still around, making him aware of who was responsible. Fleeing to a nearby village confirms that no one survived.

With his strong morality, he sets his sights not on revenge, but instead of finding a new home and exploring the great continent upon which he stands. The story follows him as he travels to villages, towns and cities, all the while making new friends and encountering new foes as well as completely new cultures and societies he never knew existed.

This continent stretches most of their world and is set in a time akin to that of the industrial revolutions, where by multiple large empires are biding for supreme control with many smaller, less advanced countries fighting for their freedom or independence and many small isolated villages and towns that have no ownership to a specific country.

The story climaxes with a series of events leading him to meet the ultimate ruler of the army responsible for his villages’ destruction. Upon hearing what Zelo has to say, the ruler informs him that the general who lead the offence disobeyed orders and was soon after reprimanded for it and is currently imprisoned. The scene finale is when the ruler gives Zelo control over the generals’ life – whether or not he should be killed, left in prison or anything else he can think. After an internal struggle and while listening to what his friends have to say, he finally comes to the decision that he should be freed and sent on his way, which surprises everyone – especially his friends who nearly unanimously agreed upon his death and only a few suggesting life imprisonment.

Zelo, by his character alone, is a cliché hero as an embodiment of innocence. Much of his character is initially suggested to be from the influence of his father, though it comes out over time that it’s because he loves and appreciates life so much. It’s with this purity he makes so many friends and so many enemies in the darker towns and cities.

This is not a coming of age story, but a story about how a child with enough intelligence to fully comprehend a situation would see some of the various societies in place today as well as some of the more harsh realities of life. Through this I hope to make Zelo a character people can relate to by remembering their own innocence when younger or aspire to become more like in a bid for a better tomorrow. Whichever way it goes, I hope his story gives everyone who reads it something to question about our modern society and how it is run.

In terms of relating the cultures in the story to real life ones, it is likely to be very unusual as it’s more the societies themselves – how they are run, what they excel at and what I view to be their weaknesses – that will shine through. Mainly, it will be China and the US as the two major warring empires; Iraq as a country in turmoil under US leadership; African countries in general for their sparse population and fairly isolated towns/cities; various European countries grouped together to form the third major Empire, but somewhat smaller than the other two (not quite the EU as several countries will be more specifically embodied as ‘free’ countries or ones resisting invasion).

As much as Zelo will be a cliché hero, I would like a cliché anti-hero to be a major role in the story. The clashes of personality would be too much for them to be travelling friends, yet I want them to be more involved than if they were enemies. Also, I don’t want them to be as big as Zelo in terms of storyline, so will only follow them when Zelo is (so no alternating chapters between Zelo and the anti-hero).

I’m thinking the anti-hero is a freedom fighter trying to help countries either revolt against their empire or help defend them from invasion. They do this by offering advanced technology – in a way an embodiment of modern warfare and how it can be seen as a bittersweet thing, comparing the gains in power against the increased casualties due to it.

So, this anti-hero will quite often be involved with Zelo as he too is travelling the continent and, through mainly coincidence, he often gets involved in sub-plots with Zelo. Usually it will be their common aim to help, albeit through different means, that brings them together and with that they can get along, for a while at least.

As mentioned before, along the way he meets various people, some of who travel with him – maybe just a bit or maybe for most of the story. These people will provide most of the support for Zelo in understanding how the other societies work and will take on the roll of informing the reader about the world in which they inhabit.

Of these people, much variance will incur due to the diverse world. I want the main person who travels with Zelo to be a young, female orphan, with whom he takes on the older brother roll, especially as the story continues.

I would also like one of the first people Zelo meets to be a wiser, older man from who a lot of the world is explained near the beginning, to help the reader get acquainted with it. I also want this man to be the first major sauce of drama in the story as he dies in the arms of Zelo in some form or another, through which the love of life that Zelo possesses leaks through.

One thing Zelo is not, which cliché heroes often are, is a great or skilled offensive fighter. For much of the story, Zelo is either not involved in physical conflict or takes damage before escaping, until later on when he’s trained in defensive styles and maybe takes on a shield as his weapon of choice if it is required. This stems from his very much pacifistic way of being, which is usually effective in the earlier scenarios, becoming less so later on.

As mentioned, the anti-hero is very much an aggressive person, which is the main sauce of conflict between them and Zelo. However, as the story progresses they begin to learn to respect each other, with less emphasis put on the means and more on the outcome as they realise the other will never change.

I’m thinking it may be nice to have an ultimate realisation in that they are actually enemies, with each defending their end of morality, after the anti-hero does something Zelo can’t forgive him for (possibly murdering someone who was completely innocent – if I really wanted to mix it up, then the sister-like orphan Zelo cares for).

Of the characters Zelo befriends, I would like for him to meet a medic of some kind, a couple of contrasting religious fellows, aspiring adventurers, pirate/s, ex-mercenaries and travelling salesmen.

The medic I think would be a beneficial character as they by their stereotyped nature would compliment Zelo well.

Regarding religious peoples, I think it would be nice to give a sense of some of the modern day issues by linking them to religious persecution. It would also be nice to give the world some more similarities by having weak links to ‘real’ religions. Similarly to the medic, I think the stereotyped ‘ideal’ religious follower could compliment Zelo.

Adventurers and pirates are more or less the same thing in some senses, but I want to include them to provide subplots to the storyline by having them join for a while before continuing onto their own journey. I also think they could give more background to the continent as a whole, mainly to fill in parts that the elder man at the beginning mixed.

Another reason is that I think the pirates could provide an interesting dynamic with Zelo as they prod and poke at his morality. It would also provide a very interesting event in which they meet and join forces. It could also give the reader some interesting morality issues to play with given the right background – I’m thinking they’re pirates because one of the main empires took control of their fishing sites and being in a fairly desolate area with no ability to grow food, they turned to polite piracy to feed their families.

Ex-mercenaries are a must I believe as they can give a much darker side to the world that could be somewhat lost with the amazement, enthusiasm and optimism Zelo possesses. Mainly though, I want them to be the pawns of the anti-hero as Zelo struggles to convince them to not fight as one of the initial big conflicts between Zelo and said anti-hero, which helps establish them as almost enemies, but still on the same side.

Another one of the main events in the story is when Zelo and (at the least) the medic come across an injured ‘civilian’. After treating the wounds a bit, he comes around and tells them why he was injured; with that reason being he attacked the invading forces and they shot him back. They being in the Iraq-like country, where by the invading forces were actually freeing him from a tyrants rule; Zelo begins to question him why – wanting to find out what made his opinions so twisted.

It’s during this conversation that Zelo learns about some of the horrors of democracy, but more importantly the horrors of brainwashing. Specifically, how democracy was forced upon them when they didn’t want it – true they may have not wanted to be ruled by a tyrant before, but now they’re instead ruled by a tyrant called democracy. On the other side, his religious faith comes through and shows how he honestly believes this is what his God wants him to do – to protect the holy land from the non-believers.

Several cities will play key roles in the development of Zelo, and the readers, understanding of the world. The first time he goes to a city is when he meets the orphan, specifically by helping her out when she gets caught stealing food from a market stall. By this stage he’s still not really sure about the city, so she repays him by showing him around and teaching him about life in the city for her.

By the end, Zelo tells her about his own life and about what he’s doing. She seems keen on the idea and asks Zelo if she can come too, at which point Zelo agrees. With her helping him navigate the city, he soon becomes accustomed and begins to learn more about the intricacies of the most modern aspects of the world.

The medic I think should be met as the elder man dies, specifically he tries to save him, but it’s too late. Afterwards, they travel to a nearby town, along the way talking a lot – mainly the medic making polite conversation to try and cheer up Zelo. When they get there, the medic invites Zelo to stay with him while in town, during which time the medic finally sells his house and goes with Zelo, as he earlier revealed in the conversation that he was trying to sell his house so he could visit the far side of the continent, where some of his family lived. Thinking it sounds like it could be a nice place to go, Zelo sets course for there and they start travelling together.

The anti-hero will first be met not too long after Zelo and the medic start travelling together, as they will be attacked by bandits and the anti-hero saves them. Although Zelo disagrees with his means, he thanks the anti-hero for his help. When the anti-hero notices there’s still another bandit alive – though only just – he goes to finish him, but Zelo stops him, begging him not to. Confused as to why, the anti-hero accepts his wishes, leaves the bandit and goes.

At this point Zelo asks the medic to help the bandit, which came with great confusion. After a pause, Zelo reminds the medic of how he was there to heal, not to judge, which cleared away doubt the medic had and he treats the bandit’s wounds – adding to the bandit’s confusion. Once he’s able to walk, they take him to a nearby town.

When Zelo discovers the punishment for the bandit’s crime will be death, he sets his sights on breaking the bandit out of jail and taking him somewhere else instead. Without the medic knowing, Zelo achieves his goal and takes him to a nearby town, then returning. When asked about his short disappearance (of about a day, he left a note though), Zelo merely says he had something important to do.

I think this is an important early event to firmly establish Zelo and his personality to the reader. Mainly, it shows how important all life is to Zelo. It’s also important for showing how he doesn’t judge people or, if he does, he doesn’t act upon these judgements and instead acts in relation to what he believes. Lastly, it’s a good method to introduce the anti-hero as a heroic character, yet highlight his overbearing dark side at the same side.