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A shared sword & sorcery setting: City of Scum

StillStunned said:
A while ago I wrote a story called Rulk the Rat and the Demon Dagger (9.7k words, rated 4.76). A nasty story about nasty people, none nastier than the main character. To me, it encapsulates some of the key elements of S&S: a grim setting, earthy characters, magic that's unpredictable and mysterious rather than utilitarian, people whose motives are selfish, shades of grey, a distinct lack of Good v Evil conflict.

Several readers commented that it would make a good chapter in an anthology:

"You could have some fun expanding this world in future stories for sure."
"It felt like a story from a horror anthology series with a grim narrator introducing each story."
"I feel like this would be a fun episode of something like the Twilight Zone[.]"

In The Sword & Sorcery appreciation thread, the possibility came up of a S&S challenge. I doubt that would happen this year - I won't be organising it, at least - but perhaps people would be interested in using the setting from "Rulk the Rat" as a shared universe. An anthology of standalone stories with a common tone and some common landmarks, but different characters.

Who's interested? I'm not setting any deadlines or saying who's allowed to join, or impose any sequence for people to write their stories. Just an open setting to use as background and inspiration.
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"Rulk the Rat" already sounds like a perfect seed for a shared S&S universe, gritty, unpredictable, and full of shady characters. An anthology in that world could be a blast, with different writers bringing their own grimy twists to it. No deadlines, no restrictions? Even better.
 
Debating if I should break this into chapters or just keep going as a continous narrative.
 
You're probably best off with a single narrative. Second-chapter views drop off more than average in SF&F, I find.
 
I just finished the first version of "The Only Flower On Rose Street". The name might still change. It's pretty dark.
 
I'm a total writing noob, but I'd like to take a crack at this. Here's a few paragraphs, feel free to point out rookie errors.

-----

Daigen stepped out dockside with a sigh of relief, she was not a natural sailor, and the month long voyage to the City had irked her more than she thought possible.
She was glad to leave the creaky leaking merchantman behind for solid ground, even if it was a shit hole.

Casting a disapproving eye at the rot and squalor around her, she spat on the cobbles. If Coldharbour was the armpit of the world, this place was surely it's arsehole.
Sniffing, she almost retched as a miasma of putrid aromas assaulted her nostrils.

A couple of ratty looking bravos swaggered towards her, but changed their minds when she pulled her bearskin cloak aside to reveal the well used broadsword at her hip.
She sneered at them as she strode past.
Fucking vermin! They weren't even worth unslinging her axe for.

Whores and doxies called out to her as she made her way along the detritus strewn waterfront. It always amused her that other women wanted to bed her, more so that they thought she'd pay for their services.
There again, the thought of paying for anyone's services was laughable, most men were more than happy to jump in the furs with her, the ones that weren't shit scared of her, that is.

She'd been a sellsword and mercenary for almost as long as she could remember, her father had taught her the use of axe, sword, and bow as a child. He'd wanted her to stay home and marry some local dullard, but she'd fucked off out of it at the first opportunity.
Killing things was much more fun.

Her last job had been for some ambitious princeling who fancied himself as king. They'd laid seige to his rival's stronghold, which had been tedious for the most part, untill she'd fallen in with some barbarian lads and spent the rest of her time there either shitfaced or fucked senseless.

Eventually they headed for the coast, indulging in a spot of banditry on the way, but when a city guard got killed in Coldharbour, things got too hot for them and she jumped on the first ship that was leaving port.
Unfortunately it had been headed here.
 
I sent the 1st chapter of "The Blade, The Spear, & The Demon Crown," to DJmac for editing. :)
 
Vammatar said:
I'm a total writing noob, but I'd like to take a crack at this. Here's a few paragraphs, feel free to point out rookie errors.
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That's the spirit, good stuff! (Mandatory warning, though, about the length of snippets posted in threads. Yours seems fine, but something to bear in mind.)
DraegonDaddy said:
I sent the 1st chapter of "The Blade, The Spear, & The Demon Crown," to DJmac for editing. :)
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Looking forward to seeing how it turns out!
 
I saw this thread back in January when it started, and I was like, "Nah, not for me, I don't think."

Then today, out of the blue, got an idea that would work perfectly with this sort of setting. So we'll see what happens. :)
 
Areala-chan said:
I saw this thread back in January when it started, and I was like, "Nah, not for me, I don't think."

Then today, out of the blue, got an idea that would work perfectly with this sort of setting. So we'll see what happens. :)
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Come on in! The City's gates are always open.
 
Areala-chan said:
Five Word pages in, with probably another 2-3 to go. This is proving to be a lot of fun! City of Scum kicked me out of a slump. :)
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Glad to have you on board!

I'm very nearly done with another story: "What Scaggy Saw In The Bathhouse". I've written nearly 4.5k words in two days.
 
ShelbyDawn57 said:
Braggarts. Here Kitty, Kitty has been floundering at just over 1K for weeks. Lazy bitch just won't move. Typical cat...:)
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According to the file details, I started my story more than two months ago. When I picked it up yesterday, it had about 350 words.

All you need is that one spark. And preferably the kind of job where you can skive off without people noticing.
 
Actually, I'm wondering whether to stick a sex scene in the story. There was a point where it felt natural, but I was a bit too excited to get on with the rest of the tale.

Yes, now that I think about it, it makes sense.
 
Chapter 1 is 4785 words (awaiting editing), Chapter 2 is 7836 words (also awaiting editing), and Chapter 3 is currently at 5824 words. So a bit over 18K total at the moment. :) Not sure how many chapters this is going to go.
 
StillStunned said:
According to the file details, I started my story more than two months ago. When I picked it up yesterday, it had about 350 words.

All you need is that one spark. And preferably the kind of job where you can skive off without people noticing.
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Well, she's moving again... Hope I'm not ruining the City's rep with stuff like this:
---

Someone had probably written the real name of this city in an archive somewhere, but as it filled with death and treachery, dark magic and ghouls; The City of Scum had stuck. Of all the evil flowing through the streets, Drevin may have been the worst of it. His sadistic nature was legendary. Rumor held that he’d taken a shopkeeper’s daughter and given her to a brothel, taking a percentage of the money she earned as payment in place of taxes not paid.
 
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