Progress

 Info Dump #14: Progress + Obligatory Updates

Hello again! Humiliatingly, this blog gets as many updates as my goddamn diary. Regardless, I'll carry on. I'll try to include some notable changes/updates to the story's progress and development below. 

• Rewriting

• I'm actually rewriting the story. I reached a point at the ending where the flow was not only unnatural, but felt like a complete departure from what I was trying to accomplish in the first place. So, following some advice from a reposted Tumblr post on Pinterest, I'm rewriting. And I must say, it's some of the best advice I've ever gotten. Allow me to list some of the improvements I've seen. 
• Characterization - I'm able to better understand the characters' journeys and the roles they're meant to play throughout the book, where as I was previously just kind of flying by the seat of my pants. 
• A big point regarding this specifically is better building the menace that Aeneas has/his control over Deitra's peace of mind as opposed to just throwing it in.
• Length/Bulk - While I love my story in all its forms, I must say that the first draft was notably incredibly bulky. That is to say, chock full of endless unnecessary details and interactions. I found that I really cut out a LOT of things, not because I didn't like them, but because they were kind of detracting from the main plot. 
• Starting - The first part of the story is undoubtedly one of the most important parts. While I really liked my first draft's beginning initially, I went back and found it lackluster. I was able to build the story on a much better foundation as a result of pruning and reimagining without clinging to the original vision for dear life. 
• Note: I will post the new and improved prologue in the next update, as I want to show the proof in the pudding so to say. Also I'm just proud and want to be praised. 

• Pallas and Callie

• As I've stated in a previous post, Callie and Pallas are based off of friends I used to be close to, (Note: I was way closer to Callie than I ever was to Pallas). Something I noticed as I went along writing in the last stretch of the first draft was the chemistry between the two. They're always bantering, or Callie is trying to keep Pallas's hot-headedness from getting them into trouble. 
• So I decided to include a side romance between them, both as a foil/parallel to Deitra's relationship with Aethra and an ohmage to the messiness that sometime comes as a result of queer relationships. 
• Also I just fuckin love a tsundere relationship, sue me. 

• Biology

• There are quite a few changes that have happened in this department! I'm excited to discuss them, but also hesitant as a result of my ever changing mind regarding it. But I honestly may as well. 
• Gender - When it comes to gender in Golden Dawn/Leonidas, its far more of a choice/performance than anything formal. All people develop breasts, whether or not you choose to have them removed is purely personal preference and does little to affect people's perception/acceptance of your chosen gender. 
• Reproduction - All humans are born from eggs, as opposed to typical Earth human anatomy. Feasibly speaking, anyone in Leonidas can get 'pregnant' (gestate and lay eggs), but fertility issues may still crop up. 
• Gestation - Eggs are generated under 2 conditions. 
• One, you give up half of your own mana to self-fertilize (not a cloning or half-the-genes situation, think almost divine conception).
• Two, one human fertilizes another.
• If this occurs and the receiving part is not in their fertile phase, the egg/eggs with be generated and laid within 1-3 days (though some unfertilized eggs have been known to take 7 days to fully develop and exit)
• Note - There is nothing inside these eggs aside from raw mana, which cannot be absorbed. 
• If this occurs and the receiving party is in their fertile phase (typically a period of 1-2 months every 1.5-2 years), the egg/eggs will develop over a period of between 3-6 months, at which point they are expelled from the body. 
• When outside of the body, the egg will continue to develop for 1-6 more months. Some babies can emerge on their own, while others need help, the shell steadily gets stronger as time passes.
•  There will be glowing marks on the egg. They will start off pale and gather more color and begin to glow the further into development the child is within the egg. If you reach the 6th/7th month with a bright mark and no cracks in the egg, its best to have a doctor assist in breaking open the shell. 
• It is found that the child, upon emergence, will look the most like the person who cared for/was around their egg. 

So! As you can see, quite a few developments. I may delve deeper into the genitalia in further entries, or maybe not. I'll give a hint as to what I'm thinking of, as it's still in development. Flowers. That's all for now, as always, the ghosts reading this blog are free to ask any questions their little hearts desire. Toodleoo!