Can I use your story/characters/world setting in my own writing?
By all means! I'd love it if people wanted to continue Neesha's adventures or write new stories about the City of Malin or countries of the Ald and Est basins.
All I ask is that if you do please can you acknowledge and link back to this original story. It would be great if within the plot you are developing you can try and take forward some of the values of inclusiveness and equality I was trying to write into this story.
Would Neesha ever reunite with her family
Yes - it was my plan she would reunite with her family. In fact - as many of you might have guessed she was going to come across Frederick fleetingly during her time on her upcoming traning mission. Not a full reunion but enough to convince Frederick that she might somehow be a Malinese knight - which would have obviously prompted Estelle to investigate more.
Ultimately both Estelle and Frederick would have come to be convinced for Neesha's choices and supported her decision to live as a Malinese knight - although that was still a long way off at the conclusion of the war with Paras that was on the horizon.
Was Neesha going to end up Captain General of the Malinese Knights?
Honestly I have no idea. I plotted this as an ongoing story with broad arcs. Maybe she would have ended up a Captain of a Company or the Captain general in time but I doubt very much until she was in her thirties! So a lot further in the future than I ever plotted!
Will Neesha continue living as a man?
No it was always my intention that eventually Neesha would reveal herself or be revealed to be a woman but have won so much respect and friendship that she would be accepted as a Malinese knight and open the way for other women to enter the Militia.
That's not to say she wouldn't stay somewhat of a tomboy as I think she really embraced having a non-conforming gender identity.
Is Neesha queer? What was her planned arc?
Yes Neesha is most definitely queer. Over the coming chapters you would have seen the relationship between Neesha and Matty develop into a romantic one which would have involved Neesha confronting that part of herself as well as revealing her secrets to Matty. Matty for her part would also have to come to terms about her feelings for Neesha - there would have been a lot of angst but they would have both got there in the end.
Neesha's overall arc - as far as I plotted it was:
Joining the Militia -> Developing her friendships with the boys and in the company -> Embracing Malinese values -> Becoming a competent scout -> fostering a relationship with Matty -> facing the realities of being a soldier during a time of war -> becoming sure in who she is and defending her choices to her family -> "coming out" as a woman -> graduating as a knight and starting to become both a leader and trail blazer.
From there - I think we would have probably seen Neesha and Matty develop as a family unit and as a fully fledged knight explore more aspects of Malin the city - such as the council etc.
What was the deal with Shi and Erik?
They are a couple! I was wondering if anyone would notice this as the evening chats in Shi's rooms went on. My main hint was Erik never referred to Shi as Sir Shi in his thoughts.
Stolen story; please report.
What was the point of the system and how does it work?
Complicated and I'll admit I was already back burnering it in the story in favour of moving towards a more traditional narrative.
I think I included it as I had been reading a lot of LitRPGs and loved how other authors had interwoven their systems into their narratives (more successfuly than I managed).
I also found it useful to both keep track and illustrate Neesha's progression and development of skills and obviously as a way of explaining to the readers how her inevitable plot armour was working!!
I also enjoyed it's potential for adding a bit of comedy into the story - like my equivalent of Terry Pratchett's foot notes
What were your future plot arcs
So straight from my notes!
"Out and About" - Neesha travels to the Alascean border. Starts developing her skills as a scout as she undertakes cartography. First actual combat with bandits. A close encounter with Frederick arouses his suspicions
"Matty Madness" - chronicling the development of Matty and Neesha's romantic feelings for each other. Neesha realises she's bisexual. Gets rubbish dating advice from the boys. Neesha and Matty go on a date but Neesha is torn up about lying to Matty about who she is. Neesha admits she's a girl to Matty. Matty freaks out but eventually realises that without defining herself she does want to pursue a relationship with Neesha.
"Opening Shots" - the parasian's return with an ultimatum and a large investigative force of knights. Erik and Shi expose a pro-Parasian plot/corruption in the council. Neesha and Matty are caught up in civil unrest that follows when Parasians start massacring protestors. Militia rallies, arrests the plotters and drives the Parasians out of the city. War is declared.
"Calm before the storm" - 14th prepares the city for war. Estelle and Neesha reunite, argue Shi overhears, learning the whole truth about Neesha, but backs her up as a knight of Malin and a Malinese citizen. The three agree to put things on hold during the crisis. Estelle leaves to try to convince the Eastern Kingdoms to intervene on the Malinese side. The boys have one last drink in the Hare and Neesha tells them everything finally the boys all embrace her and accept things.
"The siege of Malin" - Parasian army attacks. Parasians have a new weapon - canons - that start to actually bring down the Malinese Walls. Alex is part of a desperate sally to destroy the canon; things go hard. Alex is rescued by Dene but the first company is decimated. Neesha and Fig defend the westgate. Fig demonstrates his skills but is wounded. Neesha pulls him out for treatment with Matty. When it all looks hopeless we finally see the power of magecraft as the Malinese mages unleash a massive barrier spell they have been preparing having been involved in their own magical battle for dominance against Parasian mages. Tide turns and third company breaks the siege.
"Aftermath" - lots of exposition about mages and magecraft - explaining why they didn't act before, their powers and about the Malinese Academy of Mages. Alex deals with his psychological trauma from battle whilst Fig has lost a wing. Neesha gets her Lv20 class evolution. Shi and Erik attend the Militia Command Council to discuss the new threat of gunpowder. Agree they have to neaturalise Paras but doubt as whether the militia is strong enough to do so. Estelle and Frederick arrive with an offer of an alliance that swings the decision. Neesha confronts her siblings and convinces them to let her live her life.
"Bringing down an Empire" - the Militia march on Paras. Neesha is involved in the capture of the City of Bast - in an attempt to cut Paras off from Aldberg and gain control of the Ald river. Frederick marches on Aldberg city. After the Militia commanders debate marching through the desert to Paras City or fighting a much tougher campaign along the Este Valley. Eventually decided that the Eastern Kingdoms will attack via the Este Valley whilst the remaining miliita will attempt to traverse the desert in a pincer movement. Neesha travels across the desert and sees action at Innoc. The eastern army is ambushed at Bagorod and cut off from the Malinese. A bloody stalemate pursues and all sides forced to agree an uneasy peace.
"Recovery" - life in Malin returns to normal. Neesha and the boys are inducted as full knights. Matty and Neesha get engaged. Meanwhile the council has descended into factions - of hawks and doves and the alliance with the Eastern kingdoms is shaky. The Militia selects a new Captain General - Shi decides to back the Captain of the 13th Company. Alasace is suddenly conquered by Modisto Real to everyone's surprise. We learn more about this secretive Mage-ocracy. New threat leads to mages being permanently embedded in the Militia companies. Alex has a love interest in one of the new mages. No one tells the new character Neesha is a girl which leads to some comic relief.
"Descent" - Fig is invited to join the 12th Company. We learn more about what the 12th does - namely demon hunting. Dene and Alex compete in a tournament. Parasians do a literal deal with the devil. Malin starts to be drawn into both a web of demon attacks and a mage cold war with Modisto Real...and that is a far ahead plot wise as I planned :)