Warmoon [ONC 2020]•[Shortlisted]•[Honorable Mention List, Stunning Worlds]

Pronunciation Guide, Character List, and Other Housekeeping

Rhoa (Row-ah) – Main Character

Kryphan (Kree-fahn) Zachradias (Zah-kray-dee-us), var. Kry (Kree) – Main Character

Yoan (Yow-un) – Strongcastle patriarch and leader of the Keepers at the Thirteenth Hold.

Isander (Ih-zan-der) – First-born Strongcastle son; married to Tettony (Tet-oh-nee), with whom he has three children. 

Kennon (Keh-nun) – Second-born, in a relationship with Sedir (Sehd-eer), the village blacksmith.

Lathen (Lay-then, soft th)– Third-born

Radier (Ray-dee-er) – Fourth-born, in a relationship with a farmgirl named Orla

Phane (Fane) – Fifth-born, which makes him the closest to Rhoa.

Diviner Rokstag (Rohk-stag) – leader of the local chapter of the Divine Order

Spraknost (say it how it looks) – a scorpion-like animal that grows to the size of an elephant. Its sting holds the venom the Keepers use to sedate the monster. 

Lubelin (Luh-beh-lin): largest and richest city in New Homeland, located in the 10th District.

Varisk (Vah-risk): largest city in the neighboring 11th District, surrounding the 11th fortress. 

Ardusk (Ahr-dusk): village at the bottom of the 13th District fortress hill.    

°°°°°ººººº°°°°°

Prompts, and how you'll find them:

33. A man is going through the attic of his recently deceased grandfather when he stumbles upon what looks to be an old journal with his grandfather's name on the inside cover. The first entry is dated "April 05, 2192". (I'm keeping the grandfather and the journal and the attic, but I've changed the date, and it's more backstory related.)

37. Eight days after the storm, they sighted land. Unidentifiable land. (Backstory: this is how the humans wound up here in this place where there are spraknost and the Rot. Rhoa's 12X grandfather was the first to capture the indestructible and terrifying creatures called simply the monsters, thus becoming the first Keeper. The important part about this is how long it has been going on, and how accepted it is.)

49. Legend has it, if you stand in front of a mirror holding a cup and a candle, you can open a doorway between dimensions. But do you leave, or does something else come through? (Rhoa was born under the last Warmoon; this is what the villagers think her mother did the night she was born, and that both Rhoa and the Rot are the result.)

60. "The next words out of your mouth better be 'I'm sorry' and 'Here's the antidote.'" (This has been altered a tad, too, but I got the poison idea from it, and there is an antidote. Somewhere. But not exactly like this. Because.)