Feel free to move this to the right place if this doesn't belong here. These are the main characters that I've come up with for my main story (of which I have yet to come up with a name for). The setting takes place in a rainforest and the level of technology is in the stone age though I may add magic depending on some factors. I'm not sure if I should make this loosely based on historical fiction in which case it'll take place in South America anywhere from the 1500s to the 1700s or just make it based on a similar yet fictional setting so that I can add magic. First up we have Nara, a woman from the Hunna (my creation) tribe, a people who live in villages isolated from the rest of the world. They are so isolated that they aren't even sure if outsiders exist. One of her goals is to become the matriarch of her tribe so that she can change the rules to be less strict about exploring the outside world. She believes that staying isolated will cause them to stagnate and weaken and that a sort of explorer ethos has to be instilled in them to boost morale and ultimately ensure their survival since most of the people in the village are complacent. Kwame is the outsider of the story. It's implied that he escaped slavery and had to live in the wilderness in order to survive. This is how he's become really strong and a natural leader despite his young age, so much so that at one point he founded a colony for others escaping slavery like him. During the story, we see Kwame eventually discover Nara's tribe though he isn't always accepted because of his different background. Ayunda is the male protagonist of the story. Just like Kwame, he stumbles upon Nara's village in which he is promptly accepted. We don't really know why he left his old home or where his old home is, though through his internal dialogue and revealing conversations with friends, we learn that he left his old home because he failed as a leader and he seeks to reinvent himself in this new home. He seeks to be a leader in this tribe and at first, everything seems to be going according to plan; that is until Kwame is introduced into the story and puts a wrench in his plans. Ayunda argues that they shouldn't accept him into the tribe because of his "different origins" but because women ultimately have the last say in things, Nara ignores him and decides to accept Kwame into the tribe. Have any thoughts so far?
Yep, that's the ironic part. He has a certain vision of what a secure tribe ought to be like and although his concerns do have some merit since the climate of this story is very dog eat dog amongst the different factions, he's calling himself out without realizing it. Nara will actually bring this up and tells him that he is also a foreigner and this starts a rift between them.
I would make her a very curious type. She wants to know what is beyond the horizon. Maybe she finds a relic that is not of her tribe, and she wonders - where did this come from? I'd give him attitude. He's proud, despite the reduced circumstances. Does Nara ask him to bow to her? So he feels threatened by Kwame? See him as competition? Then, the thing to decide is whether he is a fighter, and/or a conman? Is he ethical, or does anything go?
She will definitely be the curious type. In fact, that's one of her major motivations. So much so that when she meets Kwame for the first time, rather than to be scared and run away (this would have been expected during her time since no one from her tribe had ever seen a black person before), she decides to stick around and find out who he is and why he looks so different than anyone she's ever seen. Kwame will definitely have a bit of an ego considering how much of a skilled warrior he is, and no, Nara doesn't ask her to bow to him just yet because she isn't the matriarch yet, though now that you mention it, maybe she can ask him to bow to her as a way of feigning being matriarch and getting him to not potentially attack her when she first meets him (considering she was afraid of him at first sight as well). Yes! Ayunda does feel threatened by him for many reasons. One of them is despite Kwame being much younger, he manages to easily outclass him in many things like fighting and leadership (which answers the question if Ayunda is a fighter). This story will be anything goes because one central theme is how far are you willing to go to achieve your version of a utopia and since Kwame is threatening to take Ayunda's leadership spot, he may or may not decide to eliminate him though he saves this option as a last resort. He also questions if he should do this since he loves Nara and Nara doesn't suspect any ill intent from Kwame but at the same time, he wonders if Kwame might want to kill him first for the same reasons.
Sounds like the making of a very intriguing story. Once you get the first 1000-2000 words done, I'd love to read it in the Workshop.
