These are probably going to be throwaway worlds for me, like a warm-up exercise, so feel free to take any of them if you feel compelled. If you do, a shout-out of the tool would be cool, I’d love to see more people try it out.
(Note: This is a for-fun exercise for me, so it's a bit lengthy, I didn't trim it for ease of reading.)
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Series Idea: "Romance of the Southern Kingdom"
Antagonist faction: The Mongols, during the invasion of China. They attack without warning, with flying cities arriving without warning, disgorging armies of cavalry that conquer everything in their path. Only the south-eastern part of China has held out, the Song dynasty (historically the last major dynasty in China to fall). The Mongols have been stymied there.
Antagonist: Caleigh. She’s taking the initiative and infiltrating Xianyang, one of the major cities of the Southern Song dynasty that resists them. She was born to a couple that was prophesied to raise an unstoppable child, a leader in war, someone who could possibly even take the reigns from Temüjin after he died… instead, she was born, and her mother died before having any further children. Her mother had been Gaelic, taken from the West as a child and passed along the trade routes until eventually arriving on the steppe, where she had proven so capable that she was assimilated into the tribe. Bearing a daughter, and then dying, did not endear her memory to her husband. Worse, she had no talent for the normal Mongol type of war, the rugged campaign life and battles. Where she excelled was in planning assassinations, attacking from the shadows, and especially in exploiting social divisions in enemies. Genghis Khan and the Mongol leadership do appreciate such talents, though, so she was first deployed as part of the war against the Khwarazmian dynasty. She’s been called to the east now, to help divide and conquer the remainder of China, but she’s still haunted by the memory of the prophecy, and the scorn of her father for failing to live up to it. If she can conquer China, and especially if she can lead during a major battle, she feels she can move out from under the shadow of the prophecy.
Lin Yao He: Main protagonist. She was mentored growing up by an animal spirit, who helped put her in balance and want the best for people, teaching her basic magic and some martial arts techniques. When the war broke out, the energies that the Mongolian flying cities pull on disrupted the local leylines, destroying the animal spirit. She went to one of the major cities in the borderlands and started trying to rally support against the Mongols, but there haven’t been any attacks since they fought off the last round, and people have grown complacent, especially the Purple Lotus faction, which has taken to squabbling. While there, she fell in love with Jie Tsui, one of the members of the Purple Lotus. Their courtship was intense, but the politics kept getting in the way – he toed the party line that the Mongols didn’t need to be addressed right away, while Lin was adamant about organizing a resistance right away. During a beautiful firework display hosted by the Jade Lotus, they were arguing once again, but Lin had been targeted by Caleigh for assassination – the fireworks misfired, targeted directly at where Lin and Jie had been sitting. Jie jumped in front and took most of the blast, but Lin still took enough damage to leave a permanent scar. Jie was killed, but Lin never got a clear look at Caleigh. Now Lin uses the memory of their time together to drive her towards saving China. Her goal is to gain influence and power in the city of Xianyang, and use that power to convince everyone to unite. Little does she know that she’s actually royal blood, and although no one has been able to put their finger on it, they know instinctively that she carries herself like she’s important…
Faction 1, the Jade Lotus society. A loose conglomerate of the rich merchants and nobility of Xianyang, specifically the more radical faction of them. They’re determined to use the military of the state to expand its territory and enforce trade rights with neighbors and what remains of the other Chinese states, disregarding the threat of the Mongols. The Jade Lotus isn’t antagonistic to Lin or her party – they’re actually quite happy to have them there – but they’re used to swaggering and domination. There isn’t a strong leader of the group, so if someone stepped onto the scene, they could probably take over and lead the faction towards either deeper radicalism or to resisting the Mongols. Their decadence is legendary, with tons of money being spent on beautiful fireworks and fire displays, but they’re very uptight about any displays of feminine sexuality (aside from concubines and such) or anything that might seem homosexual.
Faction 2, the Southern Song dynasty itself. The state is in conflict with the Jade Lotus right now over the direction the country should go in, although it’s just a war of words and not actual conflict just yet, just cloak and dagger and political manipulation. The capitol of the Southern Song is a fair way away from Xianyang, though, so they have limited ability to influence this situation.
This is a romance, and the main form of conflict we’ll see is Game of Thrones-style, political maneuverings, people unexpectedly falling in love and having to decide between their goals and the ones they love.
The second major protagonist is Song Tsue, Jie’s younger sister. She’s been training with magic all her life with a chip on her shoulder, determined to prove herself in battle, wielding spells that can change an enemy’s form. She stands against the Mongols, but unbeknownst to everyone (including her), she’s actually part steppe tribe herself. When the Mongols consolidated power in Central Asia, he destroyed tribes that refused to follow him. Song’s mother was part of a steppe tribe that was destroyed, but she and her immediate family fled, getting all the way to south-eastern China, where she eventually fell in love with and married a nobleman of Xianyang. She told them that she was Jurchen, part of the tribe that ruled the Jin state to the north. She feared that if she were known as part of a tribe that now rode with the Mongols, she would be hated and killed. When this comes out, Caleigh will make a point to try to tempt Song into joining the Mongol side, claiming that her true family is on horseback, that they make a point of being more open to ethnic minorities than the Chinese who taunted and looked down on her for being part Jurchen. Unlike Jie, who looked more ethnically Han, Song has never trusted the Jade Lotus, working to protect the ones she cares about from their influence, and undermining their influence with the bureaucracy.
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