Worldbuilding for the Remembrance, from 30 December.

What the crap does the Keep look like on the outside?

A castle? A church? A factory? A giant squid? An inverted spleen? A diner? From Nikki: “I can see it black with towering spikes. All lines and angles and large windows.” She elaborates, and I translate: The base should be wide, like wings, maybe swooping or covered in spines. There should be a tower rising out, like a serpent’s neck, topped with Herod’s quarters. He should be able to see out and around the Keep, and much of the city, without being seen from the outside.

I countered that most dragons I had read about took refuge underground. She said that many sought out mountains, and I said, “Yeah, under mountains.”

She changed angle and made a point that I couldn’t disagree with – Herod had just been freed fro institutionalization. He would abhor the feeling of being trapped or closed in. Building the Keep in the rater afforded him the sense of being underground, while the tower allowed him the sense of freedom.

She also pointed out that the crater was likely to have walls that were far more gradually sloped than those I was picturing in my mind’s eye, and that makes sense. In fact, the lip of the crater should come right up to the road that the Caravan is driving on, and right up to the edge of Hart Plaza.

Crap. I’m going to have to look at a map to be sure, but it’s likely that the crater will extend into the river. So, the Keep could sit in a pool of river water that swirls around it as the river flows. This would allow for an over-the-top moat, complete with drawbridge.

Or. The debris fro the city’s buildings and foundations could be pushed outward as the crater is made, altering the shoreline. Concrete and stone and steel would jut out of the water, just above its surface, in an almost-circular extension of the crater’s border out into the water. Some river water would seep and leak through, to form shallow pools around the edge of the Keep, before draining into the salt mines below the city.

Yeah, I like that one better.

Worldbuilding for the Remembrance, from 29 December.

The People Mover has fallen in sections, with each piece mostly intact, like melting icicles.

Gas stations have been left alone, as internal combustion engines no longer function.  The individual pieces function as they should, but they will not start. They may be raided later, if gasoline can be used as a heating fuel. (Does it burn too fast?) Automobiles of all kinds sit, idle, and will eventually be dismantled for the scrap metal, plastics, and rubber.

Tribes have not yet begun to form, due to the shortened timeline. That will have to be moved to later in the book, and probably expanded upon. Will need to dig out the original 3-ring binder that held my original notes. I’m certain that I outlined all of the Tribes and where they set up their territories. I may have to redo that part, though, since I can’t remember applying much logic to that particular decision making process.

I’m tempted to keep the Tashas around. They’re growing on me like Schuler did.

Worldbuilding for the Remembrance, from 15 December.

The Detroit skyline is gone, except for the RenCen. The skyscrapers that were threatening to come down on their own collapsed first, followed by ones that were newer or had been reinforced and refurbished. The casinos caved in on themselves, as did the sprawling abandoned factories and warehouses. Corners of exterior walls sometimes gave testament to what had been before. The sea of one- and two-story houses outside of downtown still stand, unless they had structural problems that would bring them down in a mild earthquake.

When the Locusts were pushed out of Detroit, they methodically wiped out the suburbs, as long as their own numbers remained sufficient. Trios, pairs, and single Locusts would go on killing, but were intelligent enough to move cautiously and use their environments to do the most damage. Many small craters dot the landscape, where gas or other household materials were used to create explosions and/or fires.

How would Timothy see that? How would it hit him? What about Sebastian and Diane? Sebastian is going to lose consciousness once they cross the border, so Diane isn’t going to give much of a damn. It all comes down to Tim’s description, which is good, because it’s his chapter. He’s visited the area before, but has he been to Detroit proper? Probably. He’d have a fuzzy memory of it, at best. Still, the destruction here is greater than he dealt with in Grand Rapids or Lansing. It’ll be the implication of the loss of human life that will hit him, not the destruction of the physical city.

When the survivors first crowd the caravan, his relief will be intense. When they part, he’ll be thinking about his dreams. When they’re met with Jason instead of Herod, there will be confusion and doubt. That’s when Sebastian will start to convulse, and will be rushed to the newly-finished Keep.

Entered on 23 Nov.

When does Sebastian actually collapse?

• Right after the injured are taken to the hospital
  • Why wouldn’t they take him to the hospital, too, especially if Diane thinks it’s a heart attack?
• In the evening, when people start debating whether to stay or press on
  • Same as above, there’s no way in hell Diane wouldn’t take him to an available and fully functioning hospital.
• In the night, during shared dreams
  • Can’t collapse when you’re already lying down.
  • Could collapse in Diane’s dream, and resist waking up in the morning.
• In the morning, during debate
  • Would influence the decision, probably.
• In the morning, during the Homeland excommunicating them
  • Would steal the spotlight, make the scene feel crowded.
• In the morning, after they leave the Homeland
  • People would wonder if it was leaving the Homeland that sapped the last of his strength.
• When the group enters Dragon City
  • Will express the immediacy of the situation.
  • Possibly too similar to the old version of events.
• Decision
  • Have him get violently ill in the Homeland, the morning before everyone leaves. He will write it off as bad food, but will have a mild fever as well.
  • Fever will get worse as they progress to Detroit, and he will collapse when the Caravan is being welcomed to the city by Jason.

Worldbuilding for Chapter 3, entered in the journal on 24 and 26 August.

What happened to all of the people?

The Locusts killed most of them. East Lansing didn’t get its own meteor; Lansing’s was big enough for both. There was no concerted resistance like in Detroit, nor guerrilla warfare like in Flint. Several groups fled, like the caravans had from their respective cities. The Green grew the campus of MSU into an impenetrable fortress against them without really knowing what she was doing. At first.

How did the Squirrel King avoid the Locusts?

He did what a squirrel would do. He hid, and then stood very, very still. So still that the Locusts could not discern him from his surroundings. He stayed where he was until they were gone, or until the probability that they were gone raised to a near-certain level. The above hiding trick is the first time that he changes reality through expression of his will. It is also the point at which he discovers the Formulae. Once the Locusts have gone, he hones his skills and understanding through practice. He chooses survivors that are too weak to fight back, stragglers that haven’t yet either left Lansing or started to rebuild. He becomes quite adept at picking off lone and unsuspecting victims from places of hiding.

What happens when the Green and the Locusts clash?

After triggering a growth spurt (and reveling in it), the Green becomes aware of the Locusts. A force of them gathered at the edge of the forest, and are being pushed back as the plant life pushes outward. She feels that her new home is being threatened, and goes to meet them.

When she comes to the edge of the forest, they are trying to enter, but are stopped as if by an invisible barrier. They seem reluctant to touch or be touched by the plant life that is expanding and reaching out even as she watches. They flinch and cringe when a branch or vine nears them, though they lash out and attack when touched.

Many have gathered, and more are arriving. If all of the Locusts gather, she feels that they will be able to enter and overpower the forest, and her with it. No longer saddled with a human mindset, she makes her decision quickly. The Green spreads her arms and her wings wide, and she calls to the roots underneath the ground. She calls to everything growing that is pressed away from the light of the sun by the concrete. Churn, she bids them. Crack the walls of the prison above them. Burst forth, and feast upon her enemies. Bring them down into the soil, and use their remains to nurture growth for years to come. They did her bidding, and made short work of the Locusts. More would come, and more would feed the earth. The forest grew and grew, until the last of hem was lost forever under the soil.