The intention for these particular novels is to tell a five-part story based around the Maist girls, Evelynn Maist and her little sister Jesselynn Maist, and their various friends and rivals as they grow and learn at the Mistreach Academy. The secondary story revolves around [Damian Maist], their uncle, as he tries to root out the remaining Knights and keep them from doing something stupidly apocalyptic.
Throughout her five years at the school, Evelynn will learn more about the world of At-Braith and about what it is that makes her and her sister special, namely, their mysterious connection to the war criminal Tanis Vandale.
Each book covers roughly one year at the Academy, and while the initial intention is for the series to only last five novels, there is likely to be avenues to continue those stories.
Set twelve years after the conclusion of the Arcana War, this book is largely an introduction book. We are introduced to the world, to the characters, and to the main conflict that will drive these five books, namely, the Knights of Tomorrow attempting to find and revive Tanis AND a plot by a splinter faction of the Knights to use a relic from a previous Renewal to unleash a monstrous force in order to ignite the Flames of Creation and trigger the next Renewal.
This drip of introductions happens largely through the eyes of Evelynn Maist and her friends, Morgana Whitestone and Corlaine Greyton, as they begin their journey at Mistreach Academy.
The main conflict of this book, besides interpersonal ones between students at the school, is Damian's pocket watch, which he gives to Evelynn early on at Mistreach. The Knights believe that Tanis' soul is still within the pocket watch, seeking several times to acquire it. They will, eventually, simply kidnap Evelynn and her friends.
In Evelynn's second year of school, the driving plot is going to be strange happenings at a carnival that is moving around the Nicaram Republic, eventually arriving in the Mistreach Vale.
Surprise, it's operated by members of the Knights splinter faction. The kids and Damian get their first look at the pallid shades.
This book will feature the Knights directly try to revive Tanis by stealing the four silver eggs from the intro to book 1. They'll pour energy into them, leading to a fairly horrific explosion underground, revealing something (tbd, maybe a mythril vein or some ruin).
Being the midpoint of Evelynn's time at Mistreach, this book should come with major changes, including, but not limited to: revelations, character deaths, major enemy gains.
The main thrust of this book is going to be Evelynn learning the truth about her and her sister's connection to Tanis. First, they'll learn a partial truth as part of a plan of Damian's, but by the end of the year, they'll have learned the full truth. Evelynn will also have her first "conversation" with Tanis, likely involving the Thanaturgy Mystics.
A thread that will begin to grow in this book is some growing resentment towards magick-users. Some of this is manufactured outrage but most of it is coming from the societal imbalance that exists.
This book will probably end with some of the kids still in peril in some way.
This book will focus primarily on uncovering the traitor who has existed since the intro to book 1 and on Evelynn and Jesselynn's attempts to establish a safe way to "speak" to Tanis.
This book will likely be a downer from the drop, and it will end with two major deaths that are packaged as a sacrifice.
This book will begin with Damian dealing with the traitor in a very direct way, setting the tone for the whole book. Effectively, the continent is back to the brink of war and Damian isn't having it.
For the kids, each of them is going to be dealing with major changes in their own right. Evelynn is needing to decide what to do after Mistreach, Jesselynn needs to figure out what to do without Evelynn around, Corlaine and Morgana are officially courting, meaning that Corlaine is now having to deal with the limelight that surrounds a major noble family, Morgana is wrestling with what to do with her brother's offer (not fully sure what this is, probably something to do with the family titles and position?), Damian is dealing with two major losses along with the weight of his new position AND the effort of trying to keep a continent from falling back into war.
On top of all of this, the pallid shades are still a problem despite the deaths that were meant to seal them away. Now, it seems like they're just a time bomb.
My intention is for this to be a world that can continue on far past these five stories. At the very least, there are Jesse's final two years at Mistreach to consider, plus I doubt that this gang is just going to have quiet peaceful lives after this.
Ideally, there will be some threads that are unresolved, but I'd like any future books to move away from the Knights and the pallid shades. Those stories should be firmly concluded at the end of book 5.
My blue sky imagineering idea is to let the resentment story thread become the dominant one after book 5. It speaks to societal changes and to a critical misunderstanding of the role and position of magick. IF there's another series picking up after book 5, or if the series itself continues on, then one of the major issues is going to be getting magick back to everyone, as is their right. Major flaws will continue to be highlighted in the Aptitude test that will reveal a clear bias towards one kind of magick, and this simply cannot stand.