Hi! Can You Tell Me More About All It’s Worth? It Sounds Really Interesting!

Hi! Can you tell me more about All It’s Worth? It sounds really interesting!

Hi, I'd love to! The story is still very much in the planning stage so apologies if my explanation of it is a little scatterbrained but thanks so much for the ask :)

All It's Worth is a mainly a story about Meric- a bitter and cynical son of farmers who lives in a small, outlying village, and Myre Halcyon- the much-hated black sheep of the current ruling family (House Myre) who is treated favorably only by his mother, the sole ruler, and has a single-minded obsession with the Kingfisher myth (a myth told by the Prophets (and that is central to their religion) which promises the appearance of water and the continuation of their civilization into a utopia).

aiw is set on a small planet that is mostly a sandy desert, with eight outlying villages, 5 internal towns, and the Court at its center, referred to as SeaPoint (a common phrase being "all roads lead to SeaPoint", since the city is arranged in a large circle). House Myre occupies SeaPoint, as its matriarch is the current leader, and the 5 towns surrounding SeaPoint all have strong cultural ties to the Houses that live there (Houses: Wayle, Ayke, Toyl, Eryr, and Ruyn). Members from each of these Houses hold positions at Court, but House Myre has been in control for a long time, hence each of the 5 towns creating a sort of identity around the bloodlines of their most powerful citizens. The outlying villages don't have as much of a stake in the House drama and tend to be much poorer (and much more religious) than citizens in the 5 towns and it's quite a trek to reach the outlying villages, so its mainly just travelled by the Prophets who bring water (via wagons) from SeaPoint to these villages.

Pretty much the only way that someone from one of the 8 villages travels to SeaPoint is if they pay for passage themselves, are a merchant of some sort (and thus, have wagons to use/ride in), or are told by the Prophets that they have a Calling (which is essentially a religious apprenticeship, and as long as the Called party does the job they were Called for well, their family is sent extra water from SeaPoint).

Meric and Halcyon find themselves at odds with each other pretty much immediately, largely because Meric thinks everything the Prophets say is complete bullshit that people only believe to make themselves feel better, especially when it comes to the Kingfisher (since his entire immediate community is made up of farmers whose livelihoods depend on water, and he understands that drought on their planet is imminent and inevitable). Meanwhile Halcyon buys completely into the myth and even takes it a step father by dedicating his young life to searching for this mysterious Kingfisher (while most people in the outlying villages simply take comfort in the idea that water will come and things will somehow turn out alright and most of the rich/powerful are unconcerned). Being from a rich family, Halcyon is also very ignorant of the threats/reality of drought and this further sours Meric against him.

Meric and Hal meet first when they're children and Meric's interactions with Hal result in a botched assassination attempt, and then for the second time when Meric cons his way into the central city as a Prophet and gets wrapped up in a surprise coup against the ruling family (by revolutionaries and a few, internal usurpers from the other Houses). Very much a wrong-place, wrong-time sort of scenario for Meric, where he's only spared because Hal had recognized him and tugged him aside to question him. Thinking that they're both targets (Meric for his deceit and Hal for his blood) they flee the Court together and try to evade detection. Forced to stick together for survival, they begin learning a lot of unexpected things about each other as well as their society and its creation.

The plot largely follows their interactions with one another (after the coup) as they navigate such a sudden change in their personal circumstances, with a focus on how they ultimately spur change in the other. But their interpersonal dramas and the secrets they stumble across also have huge impacts in the social/political landscape of the planet, seemingly by accident. Free will vs fate is something I want to play with a lot in this piece, so that it could be totally believable for a reader to think Meric and Hal's contributions to the old power vs revolutionaries conflict are entirely coincidence or entirely pre-destined/fate. Ideally, the reader would only get impressions of these big political machinations happening in the background while staying focused on the personal dramas of Meric and Hal.

I also plan to base a lot of my symbolism around things I've learned about the actual Kingfisher! The religious "temples" are underground, for one, and called burrows and because it can take a pair of Kingfishers 3-7 days to build a burrow, so 7 is considered a holy number and the burrows are always 37 steps deep. The blue of their wings is also the color of House Myre. One website even mentioned that many kingfishers can eat prey that seem too large to fit in their mouths, and this has a direct parallel to Hal and his relationship with another person at Court who had power over him as a child.

A lot of the inspiration for aiw honestly came from the song Empire Now by Hozier

Anyways, I think that covers most of the set-up? I have a few scenes visualized already but most of the later plot is still up in the air. This is already so long lol but I figured id also share the singular snippet i have written out for this! pls excuse the name placeholder towards the end

I. Dear Waterfox  Meric tugged at the bright, red cloth loosely knotted around his throat. The shadow of his movement stuck out oddly among the eerie line of his neighbors’, all of them dutifully pacing down the Burrow steps in silence. Torches on the left, shadows on the right, praise be the Carpal Reign.  Meric saw his mother’s shadow move before he felt her dirt-stained hands on his collar, readjusting the fabric.  “Don’t fuss,” she murmured. “It’s just for today.” Meric frowned and rolled his shoulders to be free of the touch.  “It’s uncomfortable,” he hissed back, inching a finger between the fabric and his skin to slide the knot away from the center of his throat.  The heavy thud of a hundred dusty Believers descending 37 dusty stairs in single file did little to cover the sound of their voices. Meric stuck out his tongue at the scandalized few who turned around with silent, chastising eyes. “It’s ceremonial,” his mother replied pointedly, no doubt forcing the words out from behind an appeasing smile. “To show that you are a child of the Prophets-” “Since when are you a Prophet?” Meric’s mother pulled on his ear, her shadow still leaning over his on the wall. Someone else’s wobbled with a poorly hidden laugh. Meric swatted her away again, eyes flicking away from the red, robe-clad Prophets scattered past the Burrow’s inner opening and to the rolling carts stacked high with waterskins along the back wall.  “Meric, so help me-” “I know,” he said, though he left his ceremonial nuisance askew. “I know,” he repeated, quieter and to himself.  The line continued marching forward until there was no one between Meric and Prophet -name-, who looked just the same as he had when he left for his travels four months ago and nothing at all like he had when he was seventeen and fun and the son of the farmer’s nextdoor.  Those fields were barren, now. No one left to till them.