Demesne

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

A (NOTLitRPG) fantasy comedy, slow-burn, detail-oriented, slice-of-life town-building Dungeon story where no numbers go up! Out on the frontier of a new continent, the wizard Lori and her group of settlers try to build a community for themselves in a land actively hostile to intelligent life. With their wits, their will, and their newly built Dungeon to protect them against the Iridescence, the deadly growth that makes life inhospitable beyond the borders of their demesne, they should be fine. If they can survive the lack of infrastructure. And the deadly beasts they need to hunt for food. And idiots whodon't getexactly what having to settle somewhere entails. And dragons... Using structural engineering, the scientific method, the comparative advantages of stone and ice as building materials, logistics, the dark and terrible art of personnel management (outsourced to more experienced individuals), and her own magic and experience, Lori and her newly dubbed lord Rian must face the persistent problems of shelter, sanitation, drinking water, morale, transport, food storage, material collection and refinement, and keeping horny idiots from fucking everywhere they shouldn't. Hopefully, she can solve these problems before winter arrives so she can get to work on taxation. Even that last one. Though if they try to do it in her room again, she will not be responsible for her actions... Updates Tuesdays, and Fridays. Find exclusive content on Patreon. Don't forget to leave a review! Cover byJackOfheart

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2021
Author: Shadow Crystal Mage

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 3,893
Views: 5,748,889

Chapters(538 total)

What readers say about Demesne

“I'm charmed by this story. While I don't particularly like the main character as a person, reading her narrative as she begrudgingly does the right thing all while fantasizing about drowning children or setting idiots on fire is amazing. Watching the growth…”
KittyJinglesRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“The greatest part of the story are the characters. We see them all through the eyes of Lori, the socially uninterested wizard, and boy do they feel good. I think the most important part is that they feel distinct; they each could be a main character for th…”
AskMeAnythingRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(10)

KittyJinglesRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I'm charmed by this story. While I don't particularly like the main character as a person, reading her narrative as she begrudgingly does the right thing all while fantasizing about drowning children or setting idiots on fire is amazing. Watching the growth of her non relationship with the common non magic users she needs for survival is satisfying. She hates people generally, yet cares about them. It's kind of sweet. The leader of the defense is really likable and balances out the story very well
Satisfying town builder with every sign of being an interesting dungeon builder. The dragon attack was mind twisting and the monster abomination was entertaining. The setting and world building is fantastic, with an interesting magic system and a believable reason for dungeons to exist
AskMeAnythingRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The greatest part of the story are the characters. We see them all through the eyes of Lori, the socially uninterested wizard, and boy do they feel good. I think the most important part is that they feel distinct; they each could be a main character for the story, and we get little hints of that. Rian, the lord, is very different in motivation, skills, and personality from Shanalorre, the other major wizard, or Karina, leader of the children of the town. It's strong characters, which manages to get through even with the lens of Lori's POV. An important aspect is that SCM managed to give all the major characters agency, which is important so as not to get bogged down in details, and make the entire thing realistic.
The grammar is 4.5/5 because there are a couple spots where there are mistakes, maybe 1/chapter at most. It's not enough to make it anywhere close to problematic.
The style is not for everyone. It's big on monologues, basically. Since the strength of the story is the characters, when it goes too long solely in a single character's mind it suffers.
Given that the strength of the story is the characters, the pacing suffers. It can go for chapters where the day to day of the town is unchanging, and nondescript. SCM still manages to throw meaningful, large challenges at the characters better than any other town-builder I've ever read. I like to think of it this way: because the characters are so well written, they fight for screen time with the actual plot of the story. Still a good story, just with a little bit of a slower pace.
Forum ExplorerRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A very nice fantasy story about building a dungeon with no RPG elements, which is so refreshing. No level ups, no skills suddenly gained, just good old fanshioned magic, thinking, and hard work. Overall it is pretty comedic and light hearted, with funny characters and good dialogue. There is also a fair bit of world building that remains pretty interesting, though there is a lot of story still to be seen.Also really scary and dangerous dragons. Please keep dragons scary and dangerous.
Kamikadza13Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I like the main character. Her interactions with people are delightful. The magic system is interesting. I like worlds where magic is not op, but is woven into the lives of ordinary people. Where the main character doesn't destroy all enemies with their "op." The way the junior mage tries to emulate the mc is delightful. I don't particularly enjoy the side stories, especially the isekai ones.
CasualDarkSoulsRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
It is a funny but still serious story of a sassy wizard who controls a new dungeon in the middle of nowhere that saves peoples lives surrounded by funny "idiots".
Others have already said everything worth saying.... Just read it, it is Great!
(To make my review longer to follow the rules, a suggestion would be to give a few interactions with Villiager A, B, C (in her mind). She really only talks to like 3 people and most of the comedy is her sassing people)
ChaserRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
There are lot of interesting parts in play here. Biggest complaint is that it is slow. Biggest praises are the character depth and funny banter and interesting world as well as what would be considered kingdom/demesne building.
The magic and world are awesome. I am very interested in seeing how some of the new characters will fit in to the demesne and the world building.
AsinarRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Demnse is a city builder in a unique setting and an interesting magic system. The world is poisoned by the iridescence, a form of pollution that crystallizes into vivdly colored formations that eventually drive men into madness, death, or even worse fates. The bulk of civilization is build within demnses, regions free of the iridescence, centered on the dungeon cores, the foci for the highest class of wizards, Dungeon Binders. This story follows Lori, a newly established demnse on a newly discovered continent.
While there are nominally dungeons and dungeon cores, I would hesitate to describe this as a dungeon core story. The dungeon is merely a civic structure, more in keeping with a disaster shelter. This story is about human interaction and the dungeon core serves only to establish one as the natural despot.
Grading per :
STYLE
This is not a LitRPG. That should immediately cause a strong emotional response in most readers. Frankly, I find the ubiquity of LitRPG rather tiring and a well-written fantasy is a breath of fresh air.
It's a slice-of-life that provides an interesting, and compelling, look into a fantasy world. The magic system is coherent and unique without being overpowering. Everything fits together fluidly without unexpected solutions or arbitrary failures that draw out progression.
STORY
The story is very much a slow-burn with even simple tasks unrolling over several chapters. However, unlike most stories advertising themselves as "slow burn", it manages to remain engaging. Instead of filler, there's enough detail, exploration, and character interaction to make it feel like the time was well spent.
GRAMMAR
Generally, very good. There's the occasional misplaced word or typo, but it's rare enough that most people aren't going to notice.
CHARACTERS
Probably the single best element of the story. All the main characters are flawed (possibly even broken) in realistic and interesting ways. Lori, the viewpoint chapter, is effectively a stunted child with a br
ErumwhatRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Overall the writing style is easy to read. The only issue I've seen is that the descriptions can get a bit dense at times(ie. the dungeon core ritual). Luckily the story doesn't dwell on anything long so it's only a minor issue for people with short attention spans.
The fantasy world and magic system are both what I'd consider to be unique. The world seems to be pretty much apocolyptic, with dungeon settlements as the only safe havens in the world. So far dungeons are different, especially in function, from what most readers have come to expect. Same with dragons.
There are 4 classes of magic in this world. The MC is only trained in the "Whisperer" class. This will hopefully stop the MC from being absurdly overpowered. Because she isn't all knowing, she does make mistakes, which is refreshing. The main character does kind of act selfish, but ultimately does everything she can to help the settlement(at least so far).
The character interactions are a lot of fun. Especially how the MC and Rian act. The villagers are oddly lighthearted considering the circumstances, but it does add much needed comedy to a dismal world.
So far it's been really enjoyable reading the successes and failures of the settlement. I definitely recommend anyone read this if they're interested in town building or simply fantasy worlds. If the author keeps up this quality of writing, it's bound to end up very popular soon.
Haru Desu KattoRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I don't often give a story 5 stars in every category, but this one takes the cake! I wish I could give it more. Furthermore, it's rare for me to rate a story while I'm still catching up, but after 50 chapters, I'm pretty confident it's not going to betray me.
Big kudos to the author. This is a masterpiece, a perfect example of how to write a good slice-of-life fantasy novel. So far, I haven't had a single complaint, but I've had so many smiles and laughs. Totally worth every minute!
Style - Author uses words and arrangement skillfully, communicating effectively, and emanating fun and happiness. It's clever, it's witty, and it's never boring. I especially love the banter, arguments, and quibbling between the two major characters.
Story - Setting is fascinating and the plot is interesting. The author has a detailed world with plenty of background and surprises. It's definitely not a standard fantasy world and I love that! Likewise, the culture and vocabulary of the people spring from that premise in believable ways, leading to the feeling of realism, newness, and wonder. Amazing work!
Grammar - Perfect, or so close that I haven't noticed.
Character - I absolutely love the characters, especially the MC. She's stuck-up, arrogant, opinionated, antisocial, cowardly AND I love her for it. Rian is a good foil for her and is important for dragging her out of her antisocial shell. The other characters don't have as much detail, but considering the MC's self-absorption, that fits. Even so, enough description is provided that the reader can make the obvious conclusions about other people's behavior and motivations - it's really well done!
LoeksnokesRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This is a very well written character piece where the reader needs to be thinking as well. Much of the story is told from two characters POV. The MC is Binder Lori who is rational and brilliant, but a bit blind to her own emotions. The second character is Lord Rian (NOT an Isekai!!), a moral compass for Lori who does not have any of Lori's power but is pragmatic and has tremendous insight into people and their motivations.
The story takes place in a harsh world: outside of a Binder's Demense, the atmosphere itself is filled with wild magic that corrodes, transforms, and destroys everything it touches (except water, which is a stabilising world influece). Binders can establish demenses which are small regions where the Binders' magic stabilses the world, and in these demenses the binders have a lot of power to shape and act, and the people in these demenses can work to build up their lives in relative shelter. There are (I think) four types of magic schools, which are all quite different, although we are hearing the story of Binder Lori, so we hear primarily of one school (and a little so far of a second school as well). The world however, also has Dragons; powerful entities(?) with tremendous wild and chaotic force and which can essentially overrun a demense, particularly if the Binder is not too able.
The story of the struggle by Lori and Rian to set up a Demense that is stable against both internal and exteranl forces provides a great backdrop and context for the development of the characters.
Great fun, often humorous, and incredibly well written. For me, the story constantly asks the question: how often do I do things with rational justification, but really, because of motivations I am not fully conscious that I have. And, how often are such actions primarily rooted in fear?
A wonderful journey.