MT-STYLE-DIALOGUE-FIRST | accepted | Newer pages favor dialogue and interiority over long scenic description; enough setting to orient | Each page should have at least one exchange or reaction and one moment of interiority |
MT-SANDERSON-ADJACENT | accepted | Tone and structure lean Sanderson-like: clear cause-effect, character-driven choices, propulsive plot | Magic and power feel rule-bound; character goals and costs stay visible |
MT-TIMELINE-JACK-IS-PAST | accepted | Jack's chapter is the past (Ch2); it leads up to Morgana's current predicament. The woman sleeping in the lair during Jack's time is Morgana. | Ch2 = past; Ch1/Ch3 = present. Empire is built on the secret of the sleeping Morgana. |
MT-CH3-INTERCUT-REALIGN | accepted | Ch3 intercuts Morgana’s present (she’s taken) with Jack’s “not the same time” timeline; by end of Act I (last beat of Ch3), Jack re-aligns into the present and meets again. | Act I ends with convergence + “Morgana taken” + set-up for Act II orphanage route. |
MT-CH3-MORGANA-TAKEN-MORDRED-ORPHANAGE | leaning | Default route: Morgana is taken during Ch3; Mordred is separated and ends up in an orphanage for Act II (on his first day). | Act II opens with orphanage survival; Morgana’s fate stays out of Mordred’s immediate reach. |
MT-FINISH-DRAFT-FIRST | accepted | Get the full manuscript drafted; polish later. Content over polish. | Draft phase first; mt-polish deferred. |
MT-CHAPTER-AT-A-TIME | accepted | Execution mode is chapter-at-a-time: draft full chapter, then one chapter-level rework pass before moving on. | Prevents page-level perfectionism from stalling completion. |
MT-CHAPTER-DONE-CHECKLIST | accepted | A chapter is only marked done when the Chapter Done Checklist passes (beats landed, causality, motives, canon continuity, handoff, read-through, build check). | Gives objective completion gate for progress tracking. |
MT-MAGIC-NOT-FREEFLOWING-CH3 | accepted | In Ch3 / Act I, magic has not kicked back to free-flowing. People have magical gear (relics) but not the old free flow. | Jack's empire is powered by the sleeping Morgana (reveal later). Reason for Jack to go deeper (Merlin) when needed. |
MT-MORGANA-POWERLESS-WITHOUT-CHILD | leaning | Morgana is still powerless without the child (or when separated). | Ch3 can show her vulnerable; separation from Mordred has stakes. |
MT-MERLIN-AT-CORE | accepted | Deeper in the lair: core of the tree. Merlin there, stopped the tree's growth from within; doesn't know time passed. Opening that area kick-starts free-flowing magic in the world. Merlin thought it was "just an experiment." | Big story beat: when opened, magic returns globally; Jack (or others) have reason to go deeper. |
MT-HALF-SISTER | accepted | Mordred’s sibling is his half-sister — created by the empire using Morgana + a subordinate (same method as Jack in Ch2). Raised by Subordinate’s family; used as a tool to power relics until Merlin (~14). | Act II–III; she hates Jack and the empire after. |
MT-SUBORDINATE-ACT-I | accepted | We meet the subordinate in Act I — Jack’s right-hand man; he will father the half-sister with Morgana. Morally grey compared to Jack; doesn’t always believe in Jack’s methods but does as he is told. | Empire and half-sister set-up; contrast with Jack. |
MT-DEFAULT-CHARACTER-NAMES | accepted | Working names (Arthurian/medieval flavor): Subordinate = Owain; half-sister = Enid; her daughter = Gwyneth. Docs may still say “Subordinate / half-sister / daughter” for role. | Prose and dialogue use Owain, Enid, Gwyneth; see outline “Character names.” |
MT-SIBLING-NOT-BORN-YET | accepted | At Mordred’s orphanage placement (Act I end), the half-sister has not been born yet. | Act II opens Mordred-alone; half-sister thread begins after her birth. |
MT-HALF-SISTER-RAISED-BY-SUBORDINATE | accepted | The half-sister is raised by the Subordinate’s family (not directly by Jack). | She has a “house” and status; arranged marriage follows. |
MT-ARRANGED-MARRIAGE-GENERAL | accepted | By the time of the castle meeting (Act II), the half-sister is arranged to be married to a general in Jack’s army. | Stakes and position in empire; can inform the hallway scene. |
MT-CASTLE-MEETING-AGES | accepted | Their initial meeting (castle hallway) is when Mordred is 15 and the half-sister is 14. | Lock ages for that scene. |
MT-MERLIN-WHEN-HALF-SISTER-14 | accepted | Merlin is found at the end of Act II when the half-sister is still 14 — roughly around when Mordred and she meet the first time. Jack discovers him at the core; opening it kick-starts magic, tree grows, magic fills the world; empire threatened. That discovery is the act break closing Act II. | Not 30 years after Act I; Act II spans to ~age 15/14. |
MT-ACT-III-FAST-FORWARD | accepted | Act III fast-forwards from the end of Act II to the conflict. We jump to when the southern war is underway; Mordred and his half-sister remeet there (with her daughter). | Act III does not span the full gap; it opens in the conflict era. |
MT-HALF-SISTER-POWER-SOURCE | accepted | After Morgana is taken, Jack maintains power by using the half-sister (via touch) to charge relics — same as sleeping Morgana — until Merlin is found (when she is ~14). | She is both character and resource until the act break. |
MT-TONE-MORALLY-GREY | accepted | Audience should feel morally implicated; tone favours morally grey decisions, abrupt rash decisions, betrayal, submissiveness, resistance, greed, karma, scheming. No clean heroes; consequences land. | Unsettled, hope and dread mixed. |
MT-LENGTH | accepted | ~250–300 words per page; pages per chapter flexible (scene-driven); novel target ~80k–100k words. | Fix in draft or polish. |
MT-ACT-III-MORDRED-KING | accepted | Act III: Mordred overtakes Jack and Jack’s empire easily and becomes the new king. Origin of Magicborn. | How he does it is a focus of Act III. |
MT-ACT-III-BATTLE | accepted | Fierce battle between Mordred and half-sister and her daughter. She fights with spells first (assumes he has better relics — correct — but he also has overwhelming magical ability); he drops armor and casts; onlookers see similar spells, different speech, spells vary. She disrobes top half to remove bark suppressing her magic; whirlwind scars on back and front torso; uses rings, then weird speech — fireballs and wind sickles; he deflects with rings, maneuvers past wind sickle. Mordred’s torso: more whirlwind scars than his sister’s. Then he shows true power, turns the tide easily; challengers hit him and his caravan here and there; majority of Jack’s army destroyed by his final spells; he lets the neighboring kingdom continue its invasion. | See outline. |
MT-ACT-III-CARRIAGE | accepted | Neighboring kingdom’s army escorts Mordred to Jack’s castle with half-sister. Carriage scene: Mordred, half-sister, daughter talk on the way. She hates Jack, Subordinate (her father per Act I), and the empire — she was a tool to power relics. She reveals she was a military tool for stronger relic-wielding than average; more about herself and her daughter to Mordred. Act III reveal: Jack is the father of the daughter (not half-sister’s father). | After she witnesses his battlefield power. |
MT-JACK-FATHERS-DAUGHTER | accepted | Jack is the biological father of the half-sister’s 15-year-old daughter. The half-sister is still fathered by the Subordinate (Act I). Paternity of the daughter is revealed in Act III (carriage, approach to castle, or other beat). | Explains empire politics, hatred, and stakes. |
MT-CASTLE-MEETING | accepted | Act II key scene: Mordred wanders into a hallway in Jack’s castle; half-sister sees a boy that didn’t belong, with her guards. Either (a) conflict — she gets in trouble for Mordred’s doing, or (b) brief dialogue before Mordred escapes/leaves. | Pick or blend when drafting. |
MT-ACT-II-THEIR-LIVES | accepted | Act II is mainly about Mordred and his half-sister growing up and their experiences (orphanage + empire; castle meeting at 15/14; Merlin found when she is ~14). | Dual-thread structure; half-sister POV and role as power source. |
MT-ACT-III-CONFLICT | accepted | Act III fast-forwards to the conflict. Mordred and half-sister remeet on opposite sides (Mordred reluctantly helping friends; sister and her 15-year-old daughter with Jack’s empire). They remeet on the battlefield of a southern conflict with a neighboring nation. | Act III opens in the conflict era; the remeet is a key beat. |
MT-MIDAS-AMULET-SCENE | accepted | Early Act II includes a “Midas touch” amulet: initially harmless in Mordred’s hands, but when Mordred touches a man holding him it turns to gold. | Establishes Mordred’s legendary potential and how his magic manifests without normal casting. |
MT-MAGIC-SPEECH-VS-MORDRED-SILENCE | open | General casting may require speech, but Mordred’s early orphanage magic should still show while he is mostly silent (power appears via touch/instinct). | Draft needs a consistent mechanism so the gold scene works without breaking the magic system. |
MT-ACT-III | accepted | Act III = war/conflicts after magic returns; Mordred and half-sister’s place in them; half-sister has 15-year-old daughter (Jack is her father — revealed in Act III). Dark; Mordred = first Magicborn. | See outline Act III section. |
