Work In Progress #18: Starwitch #1

"Needs must, when evil, dead witches drive…"

  – Excerpt from Starwitch.

Starwitch is a novel about space-faring witches that I plan to release first as a web series, then for sale in online stores.

You can read short summaries of each day's writing on Mastodon.

About Starwitch

Starwitch is about three sisters that launch themselves into space with magic. The novel has been named for their ship. The setting will be primarily fantasy, though with some minor scientific elements, mostly in the form of mathematics, orbital dynamics and steam-powered machines.

I intend to publish this first as an episodic web series, then as a novel, so keep an eye on the webpage for Starwitch for more details.

Chapter 1: Lonely

The light sail ship, Starwitch, is sixty meters in length, with a tube-like hull similar to a rocket, though each side has aerodynamic lines that come to a peak and the tail includes control fins for atmospheric flight.

Out of those peaks, as well as the top and bottom, four masts can be extended and various types of spells can be strung between them for any purpose a witch could imagine. Most often, they'll be used for a light sail that catches light to produce thrust from the solar wind of a star.

The side masts can also be extended and magically enhanced to function as wings during atmospheric flight.

Most of the interior is taken up by water tanks, both for drinking water and use as reaction mass for maneuvering thrusters, though the water can also be used as rocket propellant in combination with magic to heat it, since there's something akin to rocket nozzles at the back.

The entire ship is mechanical in nature, with the most complex non-magical device on board being a clock. Everything else is based on enchantments or the magic of the witches that fly the ship.

Starwitch has to be flown entirely manually, with a set of winches inside the 'witchpit' (cockpit) used to control the angle of the four masts.

As the story begins, the youngest of the sisters, Amelia, is alone and she's had only two hours sleep in three days. She's hot on the heels of a far larger ship owned by the infamous pirate, the Dead Queen. The other ship is a massive block of granite floating in space, which Amelia refers to as a monolith, since it's all one piece of rock.

Starwitch was attacked by the monolith and the Dead Queen stole the enchanted mythril spell-core of Starwitch that allows even a weak witch like Amelia to perform high-intensity magic. The Queen also kidnapped Amelia's sisters, to consume their magic and their souls, that she might extend her undead existence.

Amelia was intentionally left for dead, with just enough resources to follow the monolith, but not enough to reach safety, a sort of sport the Dead Queen has engaged in for centuries, just to see what a desperate and weak witch might do.

Amelia watches the monolith entering orbit of an icy moon, presumably to take on water for propellant, and she takes a somewhat different path, heading for a polar orbit.

She intends to meet the monolith on the other side of the moon, where she'll attack.

As she awaits her moment, which is days away, Amelia looks back on her memories with regret. It all started so innocently, with a book...

Chapter 2: The Book of Newts

Amelia is ten years old and practically vibrates with excitement. She's read every book available in the house and her mother has promised her that when Mr. Pinewater next visits, she'll get a book of her very own.

The old man comes to visit her family and in exchange for a healing potion from Amelia's mother, Mr. Pinewater allows Amelia to select a book from the collection he keeps in his wagon, which is basically a shack on wheels.

While the old guy digs for books on magic to entice her with, Amelia is asked to temporarily hold an old tome titled The Book of Newts. Initially, it appears to be a book all about the water-dwelling amphibians, but for one brief instant, it shows its true nature to her. The title is actually 'Newton's Mechanics'. She blinks and it goes back to being The Book of Newts.

The old guy tries to get her to look at the books on magic, but Amelia decides she'd rather have a magical book, than a book about magic. In fact, she insists, despite his every attempt to guide her to one of his books on magic, mimicking a very witchy tone of command her mother uses (Amelia's mother is also a witch).

She leaves the wagon/shack and the old guy drops his illusion. He's still old, but no longer disheveled and his clothes become the fine, black robes of a wizard, while his hat turns pointy and black.

For a time, he worries he's done the wrong thing, because the book will raise Amelia to the stars, where a dangerous enemy lurks, but having seen the girl's insatiable thirst for knowledge, he decides it would be far more cruel to stifle the girl's potential, because he considers her a prodigy. After all, she's already smarter than he is.

He's confident the child will succeed where he failed, though he's uncomfortable about the path he's set her on.

Tags: writing, work-in-progress, starwitch