Outline-Epic Fantasy Contest.

Every story I write consists of a guy fighting a monster at the end. This time I want to focus more on a character driven story.

The main character is going to be either a half orc, or a human soldier raised by orcs. He basically cares a lot about the orc people and is going to be caught up in a situation where he has to prevent a orc human war which would wipe out the orc people.

The setting of the story is going to be a standard medieval fantasy kingdom. The kingdom is bordered by northern mountains beyond which lie the orc nations and a northern sea. A pass exists through the mountains. A treaty between the kingdom and the orc nations exists, and a great deal of trade passes through the pass.

The villain of the piece is a dark elf ambassador. He has a fake orc raiding party at his command and has used it to burn down frontier homesteads. As a result war is brewing. The orcs have closed the pass to the sea and trade is nonexistent. I'm not sure why the dark elf ambassador has done this. Somehow the elf nation has to gain by war between humans and orcs. How?

The orc tribes are led by a young orc named XXX. XXX and the master character are brothers or perhaps boyhood friends.

The other characters are:

An inept orc scholar assigned to contact the orcs and determine why they started raiding.

A frontier captain being pressured to march against the orcs. He is in conflict with both the bureaucracy of the capital, the local population, and the dark elf ambassador.

A general/King/Prince who assigns the master character the task of assisting the inept orc scholar.

Story arc:

I see the story starting around a campfire. The hero is reading a captured orc scroll and is being teased by fellow soldiers.

The hero is summoned to the commanders tent. He is ordered to report to the capital and is given authority to use the relay system (a horse exchange system) which is almost never done. An indication of how desperately he is needed in the capital.

In the capital he reports to Central command and is ushered into a high-powered meeting. He is question hard by the king/Prince and given the task of assisting the orc scholar to solve the problem.

The master character suggests that relics from the museum in the capital may help. He's given permission to remove anything he wants. He retrieves the war spear of YYY, an orc legend. The spear has symbolic power.

The soldier and the scholar use the relay system to get to the frontier. As the frontier approaches the soldier examines his feelings about orcs and why he left the frontier. He left so he could avoid killing orcs. In his mind he hears taunts of orc lover.

The two report to the Capt.'s office and gather information. The master character gets the first hint that things are not as they seem when he examines the orc arrows removed from the burnt homesteads. The arrowheads are too well made to be made by orc craftsmen. The dark elf ambassador bursts in and demands action.

The team is put together to contact the orcs, led by the scholar who master character now suspects is incompetent. They approach the mountain pass guarded by the orcs. When the scholar speaks the orc language, the master character verifies his suspicion that he is incompetent. Master character takes over the situation and revealing the war spear relic is allowed passage into the orc nation. The team is escorted to an orc encampment. Master character is flooded by memories of childhood.

The team meets XXX. Instant hostility ensues between the master character and XXX because of childhood issues. The team learns the orcs did not raid the homesteads. Word comes that the Army has been mobilized along with a dark elf force and are marching towards the pass. XXX commands the tribes to unite and prepare for battle.

The master character is offered a choice. He is free to leave or join the orcs who he loves.

This is where the story gets a little bit hazy. I think the master character is going to challenge XXX for the leadership of the orcs and prevent the war that way. I"m not real happy with the idea but it is all I've got right now. I'm not sure. I'm open to suggestions.