Story Chapters

TLQ - Chapter One - unedited

About the Story

My pride and joy! This is what I hope will actually prove to be the thing that I will continue for the rest of my life. While The Little Questors will be the title of the first book, it will actually continue as the name of the whole series.

And while I say "series" I actually mean more correctly "chronicles". While some of the books may feature the same characters and possibly sort of continue from where things stood in the previous book, all events and loose ends are tied up in one book. So, if my character Maxine say... receives a staff to destroy the "bad guy" of the second book, she might have the staff in the third book but the bad guy will be dead and it will just be a new item. I want it so that any child can randomly pick any book up off the shelf and be able to read it regardless of having read book 1 and 2.

Not only will the books' "storyline" change with absolutely nothing connecting them, but so may possibly the characters. The characters I list below may not be the "Little Questors" that appears in book five for instance. The only things that will connect and tie the stories together at all is the world named Sharanna and the general basics within that world. Well, yeah, though, I will be completely conscious around a timeline. If a dramatic event, such as a landscape change happens, it will carry throughout the stories themselves.

Story lengths? While I don't really care much about the length on usual terms, I don't want the novels to be quite the size of say "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire". A reasonable length, about the size of a Brian Jacques book will do. 300-400 pages.

Story Objective

(Again, this is for the first novel, only.) Maxine Alciard is a twelve year old orphan placed in the Middle-East Arcadian Magic School since age three. While the school is reputed to be the most prestigious in all of Sharanna, Maxine hates it. She has no patience for studying, seems to have no magic talent at all, and is constantly tormented by not only her classmates but the Headmistress Ailya, herself. The only thing that gets her by is a secret crush on one of the greatest magic users in the world, Sorcerer Morkoth.

However, her world is about to be turned upside down, when the evil Sorceress Alain uses Maxine to unlock a mysterious and dangerous staff. Magicless and clueless, how is it possible that Maxine's destiny is tied within the legend of the savior, the Fallen Angel Drakkar, who had placed the seal upon the staff? Is there something more to Maxine than meets the eye? Something that she is not even aware of?

Journeying outside the school, Maxine is joined by some unexpected friends, as she seeks out the answers to herself and her new magic powers.

The World and Settings

The setting is the world I call Sharanna. It's a very magical world but the size of it... is only a small continent. Whether I include other continents or not later depends. I call the "world" Sharanna but it's really just the "land".

Since the world changes slightly depending on where in the timeline I decide to write, I don't bother with this aspect very much. Sharanna is all about the magic. And there are several magic types:

Elementals - The "deities" of the world. I took a LOT of influence from Greek/Roman Myths, and sometimes use their same names even. In order to use magic, you kinda call on the permission and magic of the respective deity. For "Time" magic, you call on Rem. Witches call on a combination of Gaea of Earth and Persephone of the Underworld. There is a heirarchy/pantheon among the Elementals. You have the main group of four: Gaea > Earth, Persephone > Underworld, Poseidon > Water, and Aurora > Sky. Above them, yet unconnected is Drakkar, Elemental of Magic, and Rem, Elemental of Time, both of which elements are considered "untouchable" and a sin to trespass upon. Not that either would hear you... Rem is very self-absorbed and Drakkar was cast down from the Elementals and became the Fallen Angel (uhh... yeah... I borrowed from "christianity" but, Drakkar is anything but evil... I HOPE... *urk* he did have to do something bad to become Fallen, right?). All Elementals come belong and in order to even acheive their power, you must ask permission from both them and the higher Elemental(s) they are associated with (Fire must ask for Earth's permission for instance).

Sorcerers - The Brotherhood of Sorcerers and Sorceresses. They are humans oddly embued with the power of magic (VERY rare). A Sorcerer has a specific power, called a Focus. Sorceress Alain, for instance, has the Focus of Controling Minds. However, to keep them in check, they are oddly contained by what is called a Restriction. Alain's Restriction is she must NOT control a person's mind with the purpose of death! The Brotherhood keeps a lot to themselves and they are not always the most 'welcomed'. Some don't trust them at all. But, whatever, they are the only ones who can become Emporer/Empress of Arcadia (the capital kingdom of Sharanna). And, #1 Rule among the Brotherhood: no sister or brother must EVER compete against each other, lest it tears the world apart.

Magic Creatures - Yes, creatures born with the power of magic. Similar to Sorcerers but unlike them, they don't have a focus. They have a certain set of Elementals they pay homage to and use the powers, but they can use any ability within that range. Of course, maybe because of this, the can never be quite as powerful as the Sorcerers themselves.

Humans - Totally and COMPLETELY magicless.... with the exception of Sorcerers. They are forced to use Channelors (wands, staffs, flutes, jewelery etc.), or recite spells, or draw diagrams, maybe even a combination of any three depending upon how skilled one is. There are different types of magic users they can become, but they are all coherantly the same and only differ upon which Elementals they pray to and how they call upon the magic. It is not uncommon for humans to have no talent at ALL. I wonder why that is?

Characters

- Main Group

Maxine Alciard - the main character. Tomboyish, rouge, foul mouthed, short temper, stubborn, very independant, doesn't always think things through, but... she does have a very good heart, and enjoys caring for what little friends she does have, even though she may not need them. XD I'm so mean to my poor Maxine. [Maxine: "Change it now! You made me sound like some kind of brat!" MagicFox: "Waaaah! *Runs away* I'm soooorrrry!!"] Uhh... yes, I did give her my favorite name "Maxine". I love that name. Can't you tell? Anyways, she's an orphan and lives at the M-E Arcadian Magic Schoo, but hates it. She's not the type that enjoys sitting down and studying, plus... it seems Maxine is one of those few humans to whom magic is unresponsive.

Kriss the Sprite - the first character Maxine meets away from the school. Very intellectual, snotty, but LOVES learning. He's a Magic Investigator and is determined to answer all the questions about magic. He sticks to Maxine rather closely just because he finds her SERIOUSLY fascinating.

Warlock Amar Shadow - Waaah! *Glomps Amar* He's my hunnie. I can't seem to determine which one I like more, him or Maxine... though they both are even better together! Anyways, Amar's a Warlock, which means, cold, cruel and evil. He is determined to become the most powerful magic user in the world and will kill anyone, human or Sorcerer alike, to acheive this goal. Maxine has unfortunately become his ultimate goal, and he follows her after losing a fight to her in hopes of learning all about her and her weaknesses. Plans to kill Maxine eventually in a very fair magic fight. Very unwelcomed in the group, though Maxine can put up with him and decides to ignore the "assassin" part of the arrangement. [Maxine: "I don't ignore it. He plans to kill me - what am I going to do about it?" Amar: "You don't have to act as if I'm some kind of friend of yours, though." Maxine: "Get over it. Fighting all the time gets on my nerves. Just don't try to kill me in my sleep." Amar: "The day I kill you it will be fair and square and everyone will acknowledge my power." Maxine: "You're boring me... *walks away*"] Oh and... uhh... he has a cat named Akira, who kinda is a character, too, but only Amar and Maxine can understand him, and he is a cat... so... he doesn't do much. [Akira: *Goes to sleep*]

- Secondary Group

Steven Taircart, Jack Neithan, Kerro, Territh, Eileen

- Brotherhood of Sorcerers

Emporer Ghental - Current Emporer of Arcadia. Focus: Offensive. Restriction: Kick back and no defense.

Morkoth - Sorcerer and part of Ghental's most trusted advisors. Maxine has a slight crush on him as she grows up. He can often be found at the M-E Arcadian Magic School. I wonder why? Focus/Restriction: Manipulates magic - Can do 'anything' but needs another's acting spell first.

Alain - The "bad guy". Former witch before she 'awakened as a Sorceress', doesn't that inspire confidence? Who knows what Alain's true goals are. She expressed no interest in the throne when it came open, and even elected Ghental as well. Perhaps worldly domination really does have no interest for her. Maybe she's after a little something more? Focus: Controls minds. Restriction: Cannot use powers to kill. (Uhh.. and in order for her to know this she would have had to try... T-T what kind of character have I created?!)

Arkoff - The oldest among the Sorcerers. Has lived for a VERY VERY long time. Is a hermit, though, and spends most of his time on the hidden island Terrisma. Focus: Knowledge. Restriction: Forgetfulness. (XD Doesn't that make sense? He KNOWS EVERYTHING... he just can't remember it... until he least expects it. -_- There are days when I feel like that. [MagicFox: "What his name... oh... I can't remember his name... what is it?!" *Later* "And then Arkoff must... oh! That's his name!! And I didn't remember it earlier." Maxine: "Idiot."])

- The Elementals

Drakkar - Elemental of Magic. A very holy and just savior. His legends are very reknowned among Sharanna. But, it seems a long time ago he commited a very vicious crime that cast him out of the heavens. However, he still possesses his original powers anyway and would continue to be reborn so as to protect his element and his beloved world. The Fallen Angel is his more popular title. He is also known as The Weaver. ? Don't ask me why they call him that. [Maxine: "I know, I know!" MagicFox: "Shut up before I kill you off!!" Maxine: "Bitch."]

Rem - Elemental of Time. Very close friends with Drakkar. Most legends include the two together. What an odd pair, though. While Drakkar seems a holy savior, Rem seems only self-absorbed and doesn't look like he really cares. He seemed to suffer a great deal when his friend finally died, though, and by the time Maxine is born, Rem is no where to be found and answers no call, from human or fellow Elemental. He refuses to acknowledge the "Weaver Reborn" and claims it no longer has anything to do with him.

Ahh, my beloved series. I first came up with the idea for The Little Questors when I was sitting in class, bored out of my mind. On my notes I absentmindedly began a story staring a very tomboyish girl with a foul mouth and pugnacious attitude. Proclaimed a savior in the story, she was laughably the farthest thing from it. I liked her and kept her.

However, no matter how good a character is, they can't do anything without a good story. The story surrounding Maxine didn't really begin to fully develope until after another reading of Harry Potter. The idea of "left alone in a big campass for christmas break" was very appealing. Let's just say, the story started by Maxine getting into a lot of trouble along with her two friends Kriss and Amar, two characters who have not changed much, either, from the original designs.

I'm not too sure when it was that I decided to make this a children's story. When I first started it, Maxine was a teenager. And the stories were a series, but overtime, I decided to make her grow up through the series since the story was about her coming of age and discovering her strange and wonderful powers. Before I knew it, she was twelve years old and I really fell in love with her then. She's such a tomboy!

The books were also originally a series. That quickly changed, too, though it took much longer deciding that. Seven books, all planned out. But then, I stared at my character Kriss. He has a story to be told and I couldn't do it. Yes, it was because of Kriss I decided that instead of a simple common series I decided to make simple individual books about a BUNCH of Questors. The story was no longer just about Maxine, though I could write about her any time I felt like it.

That doesn't actually mean I dropped the "original" entirely. The first book is actually exactly the same, only I left the big and important "open ender" out. There are also a few other elements that I left in the new version.

People always tell me how ingenius my idea was for Maxine's magic system of "Threads" - not discussed on this page. Sorry, I hate to say it, but, it's not an original idea. The idea came from Patricia E. Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles. I LOVED the idea and wished Wrede had used it a lot more.

However, while the idea was Wrede's I sorta improved upon it. While hers was simple and uncomplicated (take a handful and you have the spell) me, I chose to make it a lot more complicated since my whole magic system is much more complicated. It actually started with the idea of Focus and Restriction for Sorcerers. They needed a Restriction but how to make it? So, I sorta began building from the ground up. Adding in colors and widths for the Threads.