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Doing some NaNoWriMo Prep for 2017 |
| Let's see how it goes! |
| There's foreshadowing in the story, in both how Julessa is a part of what is going on (without ever realizing it) and in seeing her "family". There is also symbolism in how the Guardians find out about the plot Joanna and her father had started experiments based on humans before the first sin and trying to recreate that. Definitely ends with poetic justice, as not only do the Guardians (and also The Purists) come out on top, but they also start bettering settlements by starting schools again to educate people. There are also a couple of characters who help out the Guardians. A Purist by the name of TJ and a high level Knight by the name of Mark Bohemond who help them not only find out the truth but helps put the Archibalds out of power. |
| Located in Phoenix, Arizona, The Hallowed Order of the Cathari stay mostly to themselves. They farm all sorts of vegetables and live stock. It's important to them to stay as self-efficient as possible as they understand others opinion of their beliefs. Because of said beliefs, their settlement is the safest in terms of protection from outsiders. They have an electric fence that surrounds their settlement that's in front of a tall metal fence with barbed wire. The uninitiated would think it's against the Ferals, others would know it was those who didn't agree with their beliefs. For it was the Ferals they believed in. It was the Ferals they strove to be like. The Ferals were the purified human. There was no hatred, no jealousy, no nothing. They just were. There were crazy ones who strove to be a Feral, even some who tried to mate with Ferals. To outsiders, it was insanity. To them, it was everything. How were they different than those who believed in a God? In an invisible being that lived in the sky. They were often called the Purists or the Catharists, though the most popular was just the former. The Purists had a wide range of "belief" within their order. Like previously mentioned, there were two extreme views on one end who tried to become a Feral due to ritual and injections of varied forms of the S-284Z bacterium and those who tried to mate with the Ferals. There have been successes in regards to these, and by successes doesn't necessarily mean positive things. Most of those who had successful results in regards to receiving the bacterium, three quarters went insane. Literally. They had to be killed and were given a proper burial. In regards to the successful pregnancies, only 1 didn't result in a terrible miscarriage in which only two didn't die from it. The one child that did survive, didn't for very long. It had a long list of medical problems and died just months before its first birthday from a terrible seizure. On the other end of the spectrum, there are some who just believe that there is something incredibly special about the Ferals. Something to strive for and achieve as an individual. Seeing as this was the purpose for the whole epidemic and how lucky were they to have something so pure in their lives? Some have even tried to live amongst the Ferals, but of those who have tried to, it never lasted very long and would end up coming back to the settlement, often have in shock and sick from exposure. One nearly died from a Feral attack. There are also some incredibly intelligent Purists who are not crazy at all and instead bring a theological view to the existence of the Ferals and their purpose on Earth. It is these members who are of the majority of the Purists. Those who fight through the crazy views only a small percentage bring to the outsiders. |
| By the first of the year, Joanna found herself pregnant again. This pregnancy went smoother, after the first trimester where she had horrible morning sickness which was a rarity for her, and she was able to focus on what she needed to that following year. Wet nurses were supplied for her youngest children and the nannies helped keep things in order, which was especially helpful as this was the year Joanna learned the truth. Joanna was coming up on heading into her third trimester and she felt heavier than usual. She was in her father’s office looking for paperwork that he had requested. It was heading into the end of the year and he wanted to gather up information on total followers and those who had ventured in since the beginning of the year. A young man who worked for her father came in looking for him. He carried with him a thick envelope which had come by carrier that morning. Even though it was for Henry’s eyes only, the package was given to Joanna as she was, they knew, the future leader of the order. Curious and intrigued, Joanna sat and held the envelope in her hands that seemed to have come from a suburb outside of Morgantown. She’d been there over a dozen times with her father when she had been young, many of the them prior to the outbreak. It was often a place they went during the summer as a family. There was a fellowship there that they had often called their second home when they were away from Hamberville. Seeing the name of this suburb surprised her and brought back happy memories. But why? She wondered, would a package come from there? The fellowship had long since merged with their own, along with nearly all of the survivors post-outbreak. Who was there now? She knew it was against the rules for her to look at what was inside. She was female. The leadership of the order was to men. It was as God said. It was why they were allowed to speak the Word of God and females were not. It had been ingrained within her since before she could speak. And yet… and yet she opened it anyway and pulled out a thick manila envelope from within. A single loose leaf with some writing on it laid on top. Dearest Henry… The date was marked a week ago. Dearest Henry, I regret to inform you that test XZT-1900G has failed. We even used DNA sequences from the strain that had been used on Victim Zero, per your request. Most of the subjects went either insane or went into pure vegetative state within two weeks. I wish I had better news for you sir. We have brought in a new scientist who comes from New York City who has some ideas. Fresh ideas. We are beginning that as I write this. I hope to have some better news for you next month when I send you our next monthly package. I would like to add, sir, that even though we are encountering this failures, we are indeed learning what we can and cannot do. The brain is a complex and fragile thing and we are continuing to learn about it. I hope that you will visit us soon so that we may talk about it more in depth and get your input. With all honor and respect, Lucian Daniels She sat there holding this loose leaf piece of paper in her hand. She didn’t feel it as it slipped from her hand and slide across the floor and under the cabinet. She didn’t think much at all as she tried to take in what she read. The thick envelope sat promptly on the edge of the desk where she had left it. What is going on? She wondered. And she wondered right over to her father. She had brought him the paperwork he’d asked for and the package that had been brought to her. He didn’t even acknowledge the package in her hand or even that it had been opened. He didn’t even acknowledge her, except to thank her for the paperwork. He took the package and had tossed it on the table they were all surrounded by. The meeting went on for nearly two hours and she waited. Everyone had left except for her and her father. “So you know.” He said. He bent over the table and grabbed the package. She remained quiet, knowing that he would be upset. She’d never defied him before in anyway. She knew she was his favorite, even over the son he’d given his name to. It was why her husband would be leading the order and not him. “I could have you beaten right now, if I so chose it. You defied me and my order. You know that women aren’t allowed this knowledge.” There was a sliver of fear that raced down her back, but she didn’t show it. She’d known full well what she’d get herself into when she opened it. She again, chose to stay quiet. “This is secret. Even your husband has no knowledge of what is inside that envelope. Junior has no knowledge of it. Your mother has no knowledge of it. Even some of my closest advisers have no knowledge of this.” He stopped and looked at her. “I had, in time, planned to tell you about this.” Now this had surprised her. She let the surprise show all over her face and he gave a curt laugh. “Ah, my daughter shows her emotions finally! I surprised you! I know you are the strongest of my children. I know you know this. Your husband isn’t the heir apparent for nothing. Even so, he’s a soft hearted fool. You, my daughter, are the heir apparent. It was my own failure to not produce a son with the will and strength that you, my daughter has. But alas, here we are.” He sighed deeply and waved her over. “This is a project I became involved with just before the birth of Junior. It was top secret and hidden in an old abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Gideon. It was the reason we visited Gideon so often when you were young. I made annual visits to see their progress. We wanted to recreate the perfect human. We wanted the human before Even destroyed it. I felt it deep in my bones that we could do that. It was what God put me in this Earth to do. We tested on children that had met prerequisites once our scientists had developed an actual serum that they felt was ready for human testing. They had believed they’d done it. As I’m sure Lucian thought they had just recently. Now regretting to inform me now that no sir, no we didn’t.” Henry rubbed the beard growth on his chin, which was now more salt than it was pepper. When had that happened? Joanna thought queerly. When had time flashed by so quickly? “Anyway, we had ten subjects. Five “Eves” and five “Adams”. One of those Eves escaped somehow. She, my daughter, was the pale horse who brought pestilence upon us and the world. Those that the followers have so quaintly dubbed the Ferals are the results of that project.” He walked over to the large walled window that overlooked the university. The sun was setting and put her father in complete shadow. She felt like this man was a stranger to her. How had his seed created her? How was she apart of him? Wasn’t this against God? An affront to everything he stood for? “I won’t lie and say I wasn’t afraid. It was a judgment by God. It was like Noah’s flood. I had hoped that the strength of my religion and my faith in Him would not only protect me, but protect you and my family. It was. That we stand here today and that you are heavy with child proves our strength in Him.” He turned back and looked at her. “We have continued those studies and I might die before they figure it out. I most likely will and you, my daughter, will take up the steed. You will visit the lab and you will see. There were many many labs across the country during the initial outbreak. There aren’t so many now, just a handful. But you will visit and you will see. Before this child of yours is born, you will see.” And she did see. She met with the scientists and she even saw the children. Her father hadn’t been lying about any of it. The sad part was that she understood on a deeply religious level. This was what she was put on this Earth to do. She swore to herself that she would find a way to make this work. If we could be as God had intended us to be… and if a woman made it so. It would make up for ruining it in the first place. And that was the plan from then out. From then out, Joanna would accompany her father on his trips to Gideon until 2112 when her father became too sick and more or less became bedridden. A few months after the trip, in October of 2109 her daughter, Danielle Aylin, would be born. Her birth seemed to be the most important, in Joanna’s mind, as she realized the importance of the project her father had begun so many years before. It was also much more important each future birth would be. The following spring, around the same time Joanna found herself pregnant for the fourteenth time, she noticed how large the order was becoming. 2110 started with 1,600 followers, a huge number increase from the 275 that had migrated south with them only three years previously. She knew the welcoming center was constantly busy. They had to give them more people to handle the influx. Marriages were at an all time high and again, children outnumbered adults 10:1. Children were always about. Playing and being silly and also being studious and responsible. They’d dispensed with the marriage as soon as puberty set in, which had been Joanna’s idea. It had been pushed back to at least sixteen, but most got married at eighteen. Also, most marriages weren’t arranged, but normal and for love. Joanna wouldn’t ever regret her marriage to Charles, but if she’d had the choice herself… That September, Joanna celebrated her twenty-sixth birthday with her brother, Richard, whose birthday was five days after her own on the 19th and also those of her son, Norman, and her nieces and nephews. There was cake and ice cream and her father prayed for all of them. It had been, in Joanna’s mind, a wonderful day that had brought back wonderful memories from the before. As December rolled in, so did a harsh and bitter winter and another son, Luke Ross. That winter continued to be a brutal one, keeping many inside where it was warm and it lasted well into April. Because of this, there were many many late summer and early autumn births. Joanna was no exception. The snow hadn’t yet melted when Joanna realized she was pregnant. There were times where she wondered what life would be like if she wasn’t constantly pregnant. If she would know what her body would look normally and if her breasts weren’t constantly full of milk. As soon as those thoughts arose though, she would dismiss them just as quickly. She loved her children and she would die for them if necessary. It had been something asked not just of her, but of every female, including her mother. It was for the Lord, for their God. It was their chance to make sure the world would be filled with good and God-fearing people. |
Joanna Archibald   Joanna Archibald is thirty-six years old. She was the youngest child of four to Henry and Catherine Francis. Her father was a Pastor with the Southern Baptist Church, at least until the outbreak of S-284Z. They lived in a small rural mountain town in West Virginia, called Hamberville. Joanna was five years old when the outbreak happened and her father moved the family into a small bunker beneath their house, where they lived for three years. During those three years, it would shape Joanna into the person she would become as an adult. Her father would read them the Bible and enforce that what was happening to the United States was because it was filled with sinners. In essence, it had become Sodom and Gomorrah. When they did finally emerge from the bunker and she got to see the world and see the Ferals, it altered the way she viewed the world. As she grew, she focused on her prayer and appreciated her father and the Word he spread to the survivors. She never thought of her survival or those of her family as being lucky, just as an affirmation that they were good. Things began to change within their religious sect. Due to nearly three quarters of the population succumbing to the outbreak, Henry began to realize the importance to repopulating the country and making sure that the Lord's Word was spread as far as possible. Because of this, many people married and got pregnant. Those who were already married got pregnant as well. Even Henry and his wife got pregnant. Many of the families would go on to have numerous children. Joanna's parents would have four more kids before they couldn't get pregnant. Another side affect of this new branch, Henry's children (as well as other members' children) were placed into arranged marriages at young ages simply to enforce the importance of repopulating the country. There was a very strong fear of evil and sin and the devil. The eldest child, Henry Jr., married at 18 years old. The next, Lucy, married at 16. Margaret married at 14 and then Joanna married at 12, the onset of menstruation. Joanna felt it as an honor and a duty. She would find out she was pregnant a day before her thirteenth birthday. Her husband, Charles, who was ten years older than her, was made Deacon to the little sect. He was seen as a replacement to Henry. Many would think of it as a shock, thinking Henry Jr. would replace his father when the time would come. Instead, it came as no surprise to anyone. Many knew that Henry Jr. just didn't have the same gumption and desire to follow in his father's footsteps. They knew that Joanna did, but because of Baptist's rules, she could never become a Pastor to the Church. The name of her father's church eventually took the name of The Knights of the Order of Christ, or The Knights for short. It grew exponentially over the years. Henry had 40 people when he walked out of that bunker and within 4 years, doubled it. By the time he died in 2118, it had grown to nearly 800 people. Besides growth from within, many came from all over the country to join their sect. Charles would take over The Knights and Joanna would become Deacon. They had eleven children by this time and pregnant with their twelfth child. Joanna took her father's church very seriously and ran things with an iron fist. If anyone was caught sinning in any manner, they were expelled. There was no second chances and no mercy. One would be left to defend themselves against the Ferals as they would wander off to find the next settlement. At open of the story, Charles and Joanna learn of The Hollowed Order of the Cathari, a sect devoted to the Ferals, or as the Order calls them, the Cathari or "Pure Ones". They also reveal their own secret agenda, the meshing of their beliefs with those who had done experiments in those who hadn't succumbed to the outbreak. |
Dax Nesbitt  One of the hardest things in my life is the memories I have. Remembering life before the outbreak are often some of the worst. I was only seven when the outbreak took my family. We had all kinds of money too and none of it helped save them. What good is having it if it can't do anything when you really need it to? My parents and all of my older sisters all...what? Died? Succumbed? Changed? They became a thing. Feral, Cathari, Zombie, whatever the f*** you want to call them. On top of losing my family everything I considered normal, I was tossed into some orphanage on the outside of Concord. The ugly side of Concord if you disregard the irony of it. It had been a private run orphanage until the outbreak and all of the major orphanages became State and even Federal run. We were all heavily monitored there and we were checked twice a day. They ultimately failed in trying to find some kind of cure or preventative. There would be no restoring humanity to them and no quick way to find a way from preventing it from being taken away. The only good thing during my time there was finding Brodie. He grew up two hours away in some s***hole of a town and had come to the orphanage a few days after I did. We became friends and grew to be brothers. I had a reason to keep going when I had Brodie in my life. Such a sad state when you hear a child wonder the point of life, isn't it? Why not when you see not just your life fracture and crumble, but society as well. No one knew where or how it started, or even why. Just one day someone began to spread some weird...bacterium I think they called it, and everything began to unravel. Anyone would think the Government did it and was trying to cover it up, but if you got a look at their faces like I did, you'd see the fear in their eyes. We left that orphanage when we were sixteen. We moved from one settlement to another, afraid for our lives. We thought, at first, like everyone else too I imagine that the Ferals were like zombies. They're after your brains and they fumble and shuffle about. f*** that. They're cognizant and alert and f*** me if they fumble or shuffle. Those bastards run when they need to. They move in packs and they're often just loitering about, but when you catch one of those assholes running after some animal or another...There is no God that can protect you. If you're smart, you can walk about and not have any worries. But it just takes one of those hungry beasts to think you're just right or if they smell something cooking... It took Brodie and I eight years before we decided to run with a plan we had been thinking of for the last few years. We started locally, moving stragglers and those who wanted to move from small settlements to the large ones. We found a bus that hadn't been damaged and carried people on that. A few years later, we added another bus and another person to our little group. The same age I was when I got out, another orphan. She seemed to harbor a lot of anger like I did, but she never shared and we never asked. She, Julessa, worked hard too. She was much more mature than her young face portrayed. A year later we brought Cynthia on board, and a couple years after that, Colin, came aboard too. It has become much bigger than I had ever imagined. We do trips all over the country now and we have near twenty others who help us. There are Guard Posts that have electric charge stations for our buses, food and places to sleep for us and those we carry. We have members who stay at these places and help out the settlements and keep the posts running smoothly. We have eight buses in total which are going nearly all the time. It's amazing. I'm two years away from forty and I feel like I've accomplished much more than I thought I would ever do when I was that little lonely boy sitting in that orphanage. Those happy faces on those I help are all the requirement I need to know I'm doing a good thing. My twisted little heart can beat a happy tune, finally. |
| I. Stasis The Guardians are moving groups of people from smaller settlements to larger ones. Story opens up with them in a small settlement in Pennsylvania and progressively moving onward west to a large and safe settlement in Denver. II. Trigger a. Just before reaching Denver, they are brought into the beginnings of a war by the Knights coming down upon them at early morning. Confusion at the Guardians being associated with the Cathari. Even though the Knights leave them be, they're now on the Knights' radar. III. The Quest a. Because of the incident, the Guardians manage to find out more about the Knights and the Cathari and find out things about the Knights that surprise them. IV. Surprise a. Because of their research, they find out some dark secrets the Knights have held that date back to before the outbreak. Learning that those who were in charge of the secret tests done on orphans and those who weren't harmed by the outbreak went to the Knights and the Knights had them continue research. This affects Julessa who was one of those they had done tests on. b. They also find out that they are finding a way to domesticate the Ferals and using them as guard/attack dogs. V. Critical Choice a. It becomes obvious what the Knights truly are, their religion becoming bent thanks to Joanna Archibald (started by her father), realizing that they're trying to create their own "pure" race and if people don't want to join the, becoming part of the experiments they're running. b. Julessa decides they must do something to stop the Knights because there isn't anybody who they can turn to. c. Julessa gets the Guardians to agree and look out to the larger settlements to create an "army" of sorts. i. Also eventually team up with the Cathari (Purists). VI. Climax a. The "battle" begins between the Guardians and the Cathari. b. Julessa finds out her "family" has become part of the Knights' guard dogs. c. Guardians find out the real reason the outbreak occurred and who was behind it. i. Joanna found out that her father had been a part of a large religious sect that wanted to recreate the original Adam and Eve, before the apple of knowledge. A human without sin. ii. Realize that one of the people who had been experimented on had escaped, not realizing the type she had was incredibly contagious. iii. Joanna continued the research, wanting to become a human without sin. VII. Reversal a. The Guardians are able to release Julessa and kill Joanna. b. Julessa must kill her "family" and come to terms that it wasn't really her family. c. The Guardians kill Joanna and the rest of the Knights' heads, plus the scientists. d. Able to save some of those who had been kidnapped and experimented on. VIII. Resolution a.Julessa feels freed from her demons from the experiments. b. The Guardians begin to think about setting up schools within the settlements to begin educating the survivors. i. They begin to think of long term goals for the country.  Rebuildingc. Julessa/Dax relationship d. Cynthia/Brodie relationship e. Colin/??? relationship |
| Complications Find out that Julessa was apart of the Purity experiment and that numerous orphanages in the post-outbreak world had been used in the experiment. Julessa comes across her family as Ferals. One of the large settlements is attacked and Dax takes it personal. One of The Guardians' allies turncoats on them. Allies & Enemies Mark Bohemond will become an ally. He is a high ranking member of the Knights. TJ, a Cathari member who gives them a little help in finding an old laboratory. Unknown, an old ally turns on the Guardians. |
Plot Idea: An outbreak causes normal people to lose their humanity and become just another animal in the animal kingdom. The reason why revolves around wanting people to go back to the time before Eve and the apple. Research more medieval life Research more on medieval life after the Bubonic/Black plague. Research character for the head of the Cathari. Research more on the Cathari and their purpose.Also figure what is true and what is propaganda that the Knights started. Date of outbreak 2089 Current date 2120 The Hallowed Order of the CathariCathari - Another name for the Ferals used by the Purists or The Hallowed Order of the Cathari. It means pure ones. The Knights of the Order of Christ |
| The stars were out tonight. Soft sparking lights against such a dark black, a world that Julessa wished she was a part of. It had to be better than the one she was in. Had to. She rested her forehead on her small bony knees and sighed. She celebrated her twelfth birthday the day before and no one noticed. No one even said "Happy Birthday" to her. They barely acknowledged her presence here. It was different here and she wondered what she did so badly at her old orphanage back in New York that would cause them to send her where she was now. She missed her friends. They had been there when she lost her siblings. Caesar, Shara, Lucas, and Deacon. All gone. Losing her parents had been one of the worst things in her life, but she'd had her siblings. Caesar was going to take care of all of them, he said. He had been sixteen and they asked him how he planned on doing that? What job did he have? He wasn't even legally an adult. How could he take care of four young kids? The youngest one six years old. They beat him down until he could do nothing but join the orphanage like a good boy. We believed it couldn't get any worse. A tear trickled down her cheek as she remembered the day they found out that Deacon had started to come down with it. She remembered the fear inside everyone. It had been eleven years since the beginning of the outbreak. Shouldn't it be over? Then again, their parents had succumbed to it the year before. After that, Shara was next, then Lucas, and then finally... Finally, Caesar was the last to go. She'd begged to get it too. What was there left? Yet, here she was. Normal. The other orphans had been there with her. Even those in charge had been very kind. Now, she was alone. There were others here. Other orphans that had lost everyone they loved. All locked up in an isolated room and three times a week they were dragged down into the basement and experimented on. They were told they would be heroes. They would save America. Julessa might only be twelve years old, but she wasn't stupid. There was no saving America now. There was this anarchy, this awful nightmare where everything was skewed and blurred just enough to leave you on edge. That unnerving feeling that sends a shudder up your spine. Was it like this everywhere? She wished she had been alive before the outbreak had happened. She wanted to know what life was like. What was happiness? What was it like to not be in fear of something? With her eyes still on the sky, she absentmindedly tried to put her hair behind her ears and was reminded of something else. Something else that gave her determination. Even if she couldn't know those other things, she wanted to have her hair as she wanted it. Not so that it was cut so short she was just barely able to put her dark blonde hair behind her ears. She wanted to wear whatever kind of clothes she wanted instead of the hospital-like gown she was required to wear. One of these days, she would get out of here and she would do whatever she wanted, she vowed as she looked back to the stars and again dreamed that she could go to where those stars were. |
| Birthday: April 12, 2093 Place of birth: Smoke Valley, NY Parents: Reuben and Georgia Thomas Siblings: Reuben Jr., Amelina, Sybilla, Geoffrey Economic/social status growing up: Middle Class Ethnic background: English, Irish Places lived: Smoke Valley, NY , Boston, MA, Montpelier, VA, Philadelphia, PA Education: Some basic education Jobs: As a guide with the Guardians Salary: N/A Friends: Those who are in the Guardians How do people view this character: They see her as strong and older than her years. They understand her need to jump into things and when it comes to the Knights, understands her deep hatred. She's the only one of the group to have been experimented on. Spends time with: She spends the most time with Cynthia until her relationship with Dax begins to develop. Who depends on her and why: The survivors depend on her due to her responsibility of moving them to a safe place. The Guardians also depend on her as she is one of the five leaders of the group of guides and therefore need to make sure she has the ability to lead and manage. What people does she most admire: Dax, for as a person she wishes she had his personality and shared his strong determination. Enemies: The Knights Dating, marriage: Single until later when she begins to develop feelings for Dax. Relationship with God: None |
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