As before I will start moving 2 chapters a week from the Seraphim advanced chapters. Book 7 is titled The Otherworlders and needs a lot of editing and about 30 chapters added to it. Also I wanted to announce I will be contributing a short story to LONGWINDEDONE'S FUNDRAISING PROJECT FOR NEW AUTHORS. You can see the contributing LITRPG authors here:https://longwinded.one/good-vs-evil-volume-1/
I will be writing this in August-September and it is just 4 chapters (about 12k works). All chapters will be posted here for all supporter tiers to view for free.I will be asking for feedback and ideas for this story. Here is the outline with some questions at the bottom for ideas.12,000 words target (about 3000 words per chapter) - it is very hard to cover an entire story arc in so few words but I will try
Working Title: The Surrogate Hero (first person POV)Viking Themed
Chapter 1
Starts with the MC in a Viking-style village, and it takes him through a normal day reading/writing lessons combat lessons And finally, a history lesson of the enemy
Small reader cliff as the last reveal is all the boys are bastard sons of the earl that he was training with during the day. Their mothers volunteered to be surrogates so the earl could pass on his affinity for magic (not sure what type yet) to fight the enemy in the north. All the boys are being trained to be sergeants/leaders in the army.
Chapter 2
We meet the MC’s mother, who is torn. She volunteered for this, but is having second thoughts as all her sons are sent away to die. Her daughters have been sent to learn other magic to also fight. He learns he has 5 older brothers who have died, and 3 younger sisters whose fate he does not know. Since she is older, the MC is the last child of the mother.
We learn more about the program with a number of women who volunteered for this and the earl and the three sons who sired all the boys. The earl’s wife may be introduced as well, but I’m not sure. She would be haughty and despise the surrogates her husband and sons sired. Chapter 3
The MC is 16 and “awakens” his magic, and he is sent to the army camp, where he is given ten men to command on the front and has only three weeks to prepare them. He is told by the Commander that the men are expendable and he is not. He is to leave them and retreat if his life is threatenedHis men tease him that the earl and the sons are too much of cowards to fight themselves, and that is why the MC was sent in their place
Chapter 4
The MC and his squad encounter the enemy. The enemy has been obscure references until now, and I am not sure what it will ultimately be (another human kingdom, the undead, trolls, or maybe insectoids). The battle is bloody, and the position is overrun. The MC refuses to leave his men, fighting alongside them to the end.
Questions for you all:
What should the enemy be?
Should the world be in the Soldier Universe? - probably right after the defeat of the Titans where humans are trying to establish themselves.
Should the MC die at the end?
Is the Viking theme the best? I got stuck with the pre-kingdom time period so no kings or nations
And the biggest quesiton of all - What should the magic be that earl is passing onto his bastard sons? It has to be something unique that helps in the fight.