I've been privately working on this little story called Aviary series for quite some time. It's pretty well inspired by authors like Anne McCaffrey and Donita K. Paul, and is a fantasy-sci-fi story about war, intrigue, mystery, and growth involving a shattered world several thousands of years after an apocalyptic event that caused the planet (and its many races and species) to reform and evolve differently, isolating some, corrupting others, and leaving everyone with fragmented history before what is known as "The Darkness", and not much more afterword.
In their present-day lives, the people of the island-nation of Aerona make their homes on land-masses that float thousands of feet above sea-level, completely oblivious to most of the world below, believing that only a few other island-nations survived the now mythological point in their history. These industrious people have evolved in the hundreds of thousands of years they have been airborne, contriving clever ways to keep their islands aloft while still maintaining their agricultural structure, as well as the power supply that keeps the great propellers that keep the islands from crashing into the sea. Their city operates by catching clouds as it passes by them, absorbing their moisture to use as water for plants and people, the lowest bowels of the islands contain regenerating crystals that can be charged like batteries to make the machinery - including the islands' altitude control - function, and the people of Aerona have bred a special kind of beast to assist and live among them in their daily lives.
The giant birds of Aerona are a species unique to the island nation. Bred by the first settlers and founders of the islands above the ocean, these birds are partnered with a youth at birth in much the same way a mother imprints her offspring so that a long-lasting and unbreakable bond is formed. These birds have several different subspecies, and depending on feather color, each is specifically designed for a certain job. Thus, in the structure of Aeronian society, certain guild halls have taken control of certain colors of bird. The Swithbreeze Guild, for example, controls delivery and message-sending with their green birds, the fastest breed, while the Blacktalons, a subset of the Aeronian military designed for scouting and infiltration missions, controls the larger but more maneuverable and silent black birds.
Young men and women can join a guild of their choice - either if they can pay the tuition for apprenticeship or if they are deemed exceptionally worthy of joining said guild. The guilds that deal with the giant birds will allow the youth at a hatching of fledglings once they are of the Blue Rank; each Apprentice starts out at navy, then moves up to blue when they have proven their dedication to the Guild, then comes cyan, and white. After white, they can commission to become a Journeyman and then will be elected Master after showing outstanding work. Our story follows one such boy, coming into his Blue Rank in the Wingstrikers, the official armed forces of Aerona. At the hatching in question, his plans, future, and dreams of being a glorious warrior for the Ambassador and King of his nation now hang in the balance when he realizes there is something terribly different about his newly-hatched fledgling...
Lack of motivation is why I haven't done much with the story other than write a prologue which I am not satisfied with and should probably redo, along with make up a story bible so I don't have to keep recalling things. Anyway, I'm just wondering if anyone has interest in reading a story like this, especially one that any Anne McCaffrey fan can see that I "borrowed" several ideas from her books. I did have a lot of my own ideas in mind but most wouldn't surface until later. I don't want this to be considered a clone or anything, I just really liked the idea of animal imprinting, mostly, after reading how she did it.
Anyway, this is meant to be a trilogy of books, all building and explaining the world-building while each focuses on a different part of the changes these simple events from the first book will bring about. I can't make that less ambiguous without giving away spoilers.
Not sure where to post this, maybe FictionPress? I dunno... I should get at least one chapter done before I think about that. >_>
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