(Note: This page is not related to Our Darker Purpose, a roguelike video game of the same name.)
Novel-in-progress from troper Yzabel, started in November 2010 for NaNoWriMo and providing, once again, its author with enough fun to be given a chance at knowing an actual ending.
Story
Our Darker Purpose (originally written in French, currently being translated in English) is set in an alternate 19th century Great Britain in which steam technology works hand in hand with blood magic, where the "Enlightened" (mages) hold important positions and are viewed as saviours, and where the dead tend to come back, either as ghosts anchored to objects or as souls put back into their own corpses. This world is also plagued by two phenomenons: the Dispersion (that causes entire parts of the world to vanish, both physically and from people's memories) and the Devourers, mutant plants that have been taken over by corrupted ghosts and are now trying to infect soil, trees, animals, people and whatever living creature they can lay their roots on.
The story follows Aidan Clarick, his wife Wilhelmina Wallenstein-Clarick, and Wolfram Mc Alexander, their best friend, as they are put in charge of a new airship cruiser, HMS Edinburgh, and of its experimental weapon, the blood-fuelled Impeller, able to erase entire zones from reality. Meant to get rid of the Devourers that have infected the soil of Scotland, this weapon is nothing short of terrifying. His soul poisoned by its dark magic, Aidan does his best to prevent Mina and Wolfram from ever touching it; her mind plagued by worries, Wilhelmina keeps on acting as a buffer between her husband and the government who wants to put the Impeller to more drastic uses; and Wolfram is cast between his loyalty to his friends and his own rebellious projects. All the while, in the background, the shadow of a mysterious organization only known as 'Dresca' is looming; what might their connection to the Devourers be?
Characters
- Aidan Clarick: Newly appointed captain of the experimental battle airship HMS Edinburgh.
- Wilhelmina Wallenstein-Clarick: Second-in-command on the Edinburgh; Aidan's wife.
- Wolfram Mc Alexander: Reanimator-in-chief on board the airship. Also Aidan's and Wilhelmina's best friend.
- Malcolm Yeats: Engineer sent on board the Edinburgh to report about the Impulsion weapon.
- Christian Sessington: One of Wolfram's friends in Scotland.
- The Soul Thief: Strange person wandering the moors, and who might have something to do with 'Dresca'.
- William Haven of Waldridge: One of the Claricks' descendants.
- Charles V Stuart: Ruler of the Empire of Britannia.
- His son, the Prince of Wales, Charles, Duke of Cornwall, and future King of Britannia.
Tropes:
- Amplifier Artifact: HMS Edinburgh's mass-destruction weapon. It's meant to amplify the Claricks' power, not to create it out of nowhere. Yikes.
- Artifact of Doom: The Impeller weapon does not possess a will of its own, but still has a nasty tendency to try to suck the soul of its controller through the blood s/he pours in. And you wonder why Aidan gets into BSOD-mode when he uses it for the first time... or why he then doesn't want Mina to use it as well.
- Battle Couple: Aidan and Wilhelmina on the Culloden battlefield.
- Bling of War: The Enlightened's military uniforms are a deep, crimson red—so that people see them clearly. It's not like the enemy (the Devourers) have eyes to search for them anyway, so camouflage doesn't matter.
- Blood Magic: Blood is used to fuel a lot of spells in this world—either through traditional rituals or through blood-powered technology.
- Fantastic Drug: The Moondust. Technically speaking, it is an honest product, designed for the sole aim of allowing people to dream again, since they're unable to do so by themselves. Wilhelmina, however, pretty much uses it as a drug. She also drugs her husband without his knowing, for them to get high together while they're asleep.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Aidan, who doesn't give a damn about public opinion, and is respected for his actions, feared for his power, and shunned for not giving said public opinion what they want to see and hear. All the more so at the end of the story.
- I Have Your Wife: Charles VI Stuart, new King of Britannia, when he tries to control Aidan by taking his family hostage.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Wolfram regarding Wilhelmina.
- Since Mina remains all eyes for Aidan only, in a way, it borders on Mudering The Hypotenuse at some point. But Wolfram never carries this out, in spite of having had the opportunity every time Aidan was carried to the infirmary for a blood transfusion, among other things.
- Improbable Piloting Skills: Aidan and Mina, who borrow a large-sized wing in the middle of a tempest to go frolicking in the skies. It does help to have the power to negate gravity and strong winds, though.
- Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Not only do Aidan and Wilhelmina still have a sex life, but they're doing it on the captain's desk, too—complete with navigation maps and charts.
- This is pretty much a case of Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex.
- With Wolfram accidentally catching sight of it because those two ditzes forgot to lock the door.
- [1]: The hydressence, used to fill the airships' balloons.
- Power Trio: Aidan (the Id), Mina (the Ego), Wolfram (the Superego). Or something to that extent.
- Royally Screwed Up: The Stuarts of Britannia are dangerously sliding on the slippery slope here.
- Technicolor Eyes: The Claricks (and every member of a similar Lineage, with the power of destruction) have eyes of a very particular colour, a kind of steel-blue, dark and with metallic reflections.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Aidan, usually after he uses the Impeller weapon. Especially the first time.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: Wolfram/Mina, and very likely Wolfram/Aidan, too.
