Twillo is the name of the main character of my next series, The World According to Dragons.
Above is a concept art piece by cover artist Daniel Kamaruddin.
An elven man from the Kingdom of Icenor, Twillo is a relic hunter, who comes from noble, or saracentic blood, as it is called in the Four Kingdoms. His original name was Jhaeros Shotaro Vos, yet Twillo now goes by the nickname his mother gave him when he was a child, an old Sagic word that means light of the winter morning. While Twillo has been trained to use a sword as part of his noble heritage, he’s scrappy and prefers to use his relics and other trickery for combat.
It is in seeking out a relic, one known as the Quill of Katzimo, that Twillo comes into contact with the dragon.
I’ll let you read the story to find out how.
If you can imagine a relic hunter who collects magical items and then sells them by pushing around a mysterious cart during a yearly relic festival, you wouldn’t be far off.
You also wouldn’t be far off from the idea that spawned Twillo’s profession (but not exactly his character).
I was inspired by a video of a Japanese man who has a roaming bar in Tokyo called Twillo. He uses social media to tell people where he will be, and if they show up, he serves them a drink. I named Twillo’s father after Shotaro, the owner of the roaming bar.
In The World According to Dragons, Twillo leads a similar life, selling and trading relics and mapstones through a roving cart.
But there are some relics he can’t part with.
Twillo has a lot of items he’s collected or traded over the year. I won’t reveal them all here, but at the start of The World According to Dragons, he has things such as:
Amulet of a Forlorn Harvest Monk (wears around his neck) - has a power that when focused on forces people to forget what has happened over the last thirty minutes.
Butterflies of Light (kept in a clay container lined with old leather - they return to the jar when summoned with a whistle) - useful for lighting extremely dark passages when his vision fails him - they can also disrupt an enemy.
Basanic Fire - The powdered lungs of a yokai known as a basan, or fire chicken, kept in a solution and stored in a thick glass sphere protected by a leather encasing. Spreading the powder creates the appearance of a raging fire, but it doesn't produce the heat.
Enkiro Ring of Animation - animated objects around the wearer (7 foot radius lasts for one minute or until objects expire) - must tap right on left pinky finger ten times. Twillo has learned in tapping it against an object directly a few times that it is more controlled.
Ground Shell of a Yandori Snail - produces intense nightmaric visions
Gloves of Maruth - Allow Twillo to climb on any object
Every relic has a story, and while the book is a progression/cultivation fantasy, I dive into a couple of the stories behind his stranger items.
Not only that, Twillo has dozens of tattoos, each marking either a moment in his life or a relic he either has or has parted with.
Twillo’s background is a mystery at the start of the novel. He’s even referred to as ‘the relic hunter’ to further accentuate this mystery. I don’t want to spoil a lot here, but Twillo has a past that not only reveals itself as the novel pushes on, he’s even given a challenge in which he takes an active part in it.
The World According to Dragons is the most cerebral thing I’ve written because of these key scenes. It tells several narratives. One is a classic chosen one styled narrative, at least on the surface. There is also a very extensive progression fantasy (re: hard magic system) element that opens up as the book pushes on. More on that later. It is a narrative about a son learning more about his dead father. It is also a novel about the Gods and Goddesses that play in the lives of these mortals who will never know that they are being manipulated. Finally, it is a novel about friendship and bonding between Twillo, the dragon, and others he meets along the way including an elven orc barkeep and a kitsune.
If you are reading this after October 2022, you can read it now! Either way, I can’t wait for you to see what I’ve put together here.
Here’s another blog post about The World According to Dragons.