It's not the end of the world... But you can see it from here.
Nonpachyderm
is an in-progress Web Serial Novel centered around of a band of five unlikely travelers, pulled together by circumstance.
- Matthias, a warrior from the north-west of England
- Rebeccitha, a woman in his care, delivered to him by the Augments
- Llew, the leader of the Hunt Pack, a group of warriors charged with defending The Caer of the Lakes
- Phileas, an Exiled/Banished man, convicted of a raft of crimes
- Caynwyn, Matthias' sister and a healer, as well as one of the few people to have lived in The City under the River, as part of an exchange
Upon being banished under his father's laws, Matthias leaves with the Rebeccitha, Llew and Caynwyn, to find Rebeccitha's origins, and understand who she is. Shenanigans ensue.
This series provides examples of:
- Anti-Hero: Matthias is the main example. He coldly considers throwing Rebeccitha off the edge of a cliff as a way of ensuring he doesn't have to look after her, and doesn't purely as it might end badly for him, rather than due to a moral compass.
- After the End: some form of cataclysmic event, referred to as "Forvmai" in Mining 1.1. Whilst it's unclear whether this was global or local, it's certainly something close to an extinction level event. Also hints at a Post-Peak Oil world, with Matthias starting a fire with kindling and a flint and steel, rather than a lighter or matches in Mining 1.2.
- Days of Future Past: as a result of the co-existence of the Mountaindwellers and the Underdwellers, civilisation has evolved into this by necessity
- Human Subspecies: Augments are the descendants of genetically altered humans, who have bred and interbred for ~10 generations, producing a group of people with wildly diverse abilities and ability combinations
- Nature Hero: Matthias defines this almost perfectly, while most members of the Hunt Pack fit into this mould to a lesser degree.
- Language Barrier: Rebeccitha initially doesn't speak the same language as Matthias, and has to learn English so they can communicate. Begins in Mining 1.3
- The Smart Guy: Matthias is repeatedly shown as having a thought process that would mark him as having Super-Intelligence
