Song for the Day: Where No One Goes by Jonsi

Wow is that the most generic dragon song imaginable on my generic dragons? You better believe it is. For the longest time Luminous had no plot, no thematic grounding, and shells of what might be considered characters, but at least now they look really, really good and have some semblance of coherent personalities. I also have a better idea of what the book might hypothetically be about, and I might actually write it a few years down the line.  A lot of it comes down to framing-- I still don't know where in the characters' arcs to start, since originally I had a lot of tedious build-up that now seems redundant. It seems more likely now that I'd start in the middle of the action and leave the audience to piece it together. 

Well I should stop rambling. These are my kids! They're all from different dimensions where dragons evolved differently, which is why they look so different. Dragons are kind of like sharks in that they're the ultimate lifeforms-- once something becomes a dragon, or something resembling a dragon, evolution slows down and dragons tend to stay dragons. (Sharks have been the same for millions of years. This actually isn't that preposterous.) However, what you end up with that is dragonlike is totally up to chance. I take this as an excuse to have lots of variety in my designs, and arguably, I should be pushing more!

FENRIR

The group bruiser, Fenrir has not been commended on a quality besides his physical bulk in years, and it's subsumed what once might have been considered a wry and snarky personality. Due to a curse that was set on him before he left his home planet, as a punishment for stealing, he is unable to speak many words a day, as the ropes grow tighter with every word he says. He originally hoped to be a diplomat, capitalizing on his wit to say as much as possible with as little as possible, but after a certain teacher knocked the spirit and life out of him during a disastrous evaluation, he was sent to combat training, where he has remained ever since. He expects no better from his new companions.

Ivy was not supposed to be on the mission. She claims to be the child of one of the group members, although she is not entirely aware who her parent is, so she treats all the other squad members as her prospective parents. Ivy is painfully quirky, but her claims of being a time traveller have, to the greatest extent a preposterous claim such as that can, held up thus far. 

G'ren was appointed leader of the squad by Elysian council. She has been in Elysium for over a decade, making her the oldest of the group and the one who has the greatest knowledge of Elysian culture and custom. She seems like a stickler for the rules but much of it comes from respect for the dragons who saved her life from the dying world she grew up on, where she was almost sacrificed to appease gods G'ren never believed in. After her traumatic childhood, Elysium was paradise, and she will defend it to her death, no matter the consequences.

Ene is the newest to Elysium. In contrast to G'ren, she is devoutly religious, as her society was a kind of hivemind. She frequently received messages from what she believes to be a higher power, which is in effect the collective buzzing thrum of all of her dragonkind, which attains its own kind of a consciousness, in the same way that one's brain is derived from millions of neurons who are not individually aware of their contribution to the whole. Ene is analytical to a fault, and sees her beliefs as a mere extension of this logical outlook, where the others see it as a break.