An Itinerant Mind

The Mindwalk Pavilion

Ah! progress, well sort of. Today I decided to bite the bullet and book a few days holiday in October. That done, I then signed up for NaNoWriMo, and then for October NaNo Prep Challenge.

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October Novel Prep Challenge  (13+) 2023 Sign-ups are CLOSED. A month-long novel-planning challenge with prizes galore. #1474311 by Brandiwyn🎶

Trying to write a whole novel of 50,000 words in a month is a daunting challenge. I am looking forwards to it. I decided to use and develop a story idea that I've had for several years. The setting is England in the late 1500's, but this is an alternative history in two key points.

Firstly Queen Boudica defeated the Romans in 60 AD, and what we think of as England, Scotland Eire and Wales were subsequently united into one Celtic entity, (working title Albion, but I'm still thinking about this).

Secondly, the main religion of Europe is Mithraism, as spread by the Roman armies. However just as with Christianity, there has been a major schism, and Europe is divided. Both factions seek to destroy the other and assume absolute power. Both factions hate the Celtic people, who follow their own pagan gods.

The story is also a fantasy. The Celtic people have nurtured their psychic powers. Some are clairvoyant, other more actively effect the world around them. Both European factions independently decide to use these magical Celtic people to break their own power deadlock. The psychic abilities tends to run in families, and it is from these families that the rulers of Albion are drawn. Each King of Queen remains so whilst they are the most powerful psychic of all. Their power is balanced by a council drawn from all of the families with above average abilities.

When a new monarch assumes power, they have a three year period of grace, during which no one can challenge them. During this time one of their most important personal tasks is to construct a Mindwalk Pavilion. This is a mentally constructed protection that any challenger must defeat in order to become a replacement King or Queen. The Pavilion can be added to throughout the life of the monarch.

The heroine of the story is Boudica III. She is a descendant of Queen Boudica, and is considerably gifted physically. The story opens with her taking a psychic challenge to entitle her to become Queen. Unusually the Mindwalk Pavilion she is attempting to defeat is that of her half sister, who has died. This adds to the danger of the task, and it is imperative for the Celtic people that someone succeeds in defeating the dead Queen's construction. Boudica naturally does become Queen.

The European leaders see this time as an opportunity, and send emissaries to try and win over the new Queen, and a third force also appears, that of the Ottoman Empire. Suleiman sends his son Bayezid to challenge the Queen. Boudica struggles to find her feet, to deal with the political and romantic manipulations, and to lead her people to new strengths.