Griidlords -DEFUNCT - NEW FICTION LAUNCHING SOON

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

You can start here, or with my other title, Griidlords: A Throne for a Blood Prince. Blood Prince is a LitRPG. It doesn't matter which you start with as the stories are independent but will eventually join into a single narrative. The world started anew 1025 years ago. After unknown centuries of barbarism followingThe Fallof the Old Civilization, the firstTowersrose from the ground in the ruins of ancient cities like Chicago and Phoenix. With the rise of the Towers came a measure of control over theEntropythat covered the lands. Where before, this chaotic energy prevented any technology more complicated than a bow and arrow from functioning, suddenly theOrder Fieldsof the Towers allowed cities to banish Entropy to varying degrees permitting steam engines and muskets to function. With higher Order, even assault rifles and electricity were returned to the hands of humanity. The Order wasn’t free. Each year cities sent their armies to Falling Fields to gather Orbs, the lifeblood, the source of the Flows that were expended to manipulate the Order and Entropy fields. Cities rich in Flows had tractors for their fields, air conditioning for the homes of the wealthy, and armies bristling with guns and tanks. Those without struggled to survive, always wanting more. With the rise of the Towers came something more than control of Order and Entropy. With the rise of the Towers cameTHE GRIIDLORDS. Each city was granted 5 Griidsuits, making superheroes of their wearers, individuals with remarkable powers, each the match of a 1000 fighting men. It is the year 1025. The old Bostonian Empire is crumbling, and new opportunities are emerging. TheRed Kingof Kansas is eying an empire of his own. Brightforge, the Sword of Cincinnatti aspires to free his city from the yoke of the empire and is willing to risk everything to wage a perilous war. Cordelia Moonshadeof San Francisco, one of the greatest Griidlords in all the land, is disenchanted with the system, the wealthy living lives of luxury, squandering Flows to ease their lives, pampering themselves with icecream and air-con while the peasants toil to plow the fields with horses, while peasant children die for want of medical technology that is made unavailable because of the wants of the nobles. The MysteriousSlinger, The Cowboy Knight, roams the land battling the fiends that stalk the wilds, seeking to untie the mystery of the creatures' existence and the Entropy Storms that seem to birth them. AndClive, a man from our time, is just now about to step forth into this reality, lost and confused, but carrying arcane knowledge that might change the world. What to expect: -Game of Thrones-esque land of intrigue, warfare, alliances, betrayals, and plots. -A Fallout meets Middle-Earth world of medieval cultures melding with the futuristic. -Multiple POV characters. -A complex system of cities manipulating Order and Entropy. -Pitched battles. -Superhero combat. -Mysterious histories, worldbuilding, lore. Note: The history of this world is inspired by the history of theNFL, modern events will be affected by outcomes of live NFL games. This will add a level of unpredictability, even the writer can’t know everything that’s about to happen. If you don’t like this idea or don’t like football, then you can ignore this, it will haveZEROimpact on your experience, I promise, so don’t be put off. But for those who are NFL fans then there will be easter eggs, and for those who want to experience something new, an evolving story where the outcomes of wars and battles are something you can watch unfold on the gridiron on Sundays, then this will bring something you’ve never seen before. Note: When writing this title I experimented with AI proofreading tools. I discontinued the practice when I became dissatisfied with the results. Despite only directing the tool to correct spelling, punctuation, and errors, I found the AI tool tended to alter the text and bury my voice, so I stopped using it. I have been re-reading and editing this work recently, as I prepare for the next installment. To my distaste, I have noticed the fingerprints of the AI tool remaining in many sections of the text. I considered removing the piece completely so that I could extensively rewrite it and republish later, but I want to continue the Griid-verse and, as such, have decided to leave it up. For now, I am going to tag this story as "AI-Assisted". I will continue to edit the work to completely rewrite the AI-tainted passages and hope to remove this tag in the future. TO BE CLEAR:1)The greater part of this text does not fall under the tag, but large sections do, especially earlier chapters2)The text is inno way AI-generated, but my original writing appears to be modified to varying degrees in many passages. It's upsetting to make this discovery, but I tend to "move fast and break things" and this is an unfortunate consequence I have to deal with. I have rewritten much of the damage already and would love to remove the stigmatizing "AI-Assisted" tag, but too many sections continue to be affected.

Information

Status: Ongoing
Year: 2024
Author: Tom Wrath

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.9/ 5.0
Followers: 193
Views: 21,453

What readers say about Griidlords -DEFUNCT - NEW FICTION LAUNCHING SOON

“A Time of Change and Chains Overall: An extremely well packaged story, professionally presented, reads like a bestseller. Comparisons include Ken Follet, George R. R. Martin, David Eddings. A broadly appealing dystopian world, a large cast of highly disti…”
AndyHowRoyal Road5.0 / 5
“Best new systems I’ve seen in so long. The order system is completely original, I’ve never seen anything like it and the idea has barely been touched. Order levels are low by default everywhere, which means tech doesn’t work, as levels are increased better…”
Birds_arent_realRoyal Road5.0 / 5

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

AndyHowRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A Time of Change and Chains
Overall: An extremely well packaged story, professionally presented, reads like a bestseller. Comparisons include Ken Follet, George R. R. Martin, David Eddings. A broadly appealing dystopian world, a large cast of highly distinct characters, feel of a new franchise lasting that will hold attention for years to come.
Style: Third person perspective, little or no narrator voice, rather plain but very tight and compelling narration. Multiple POVs are displayed, POVs largely switching between chapter, occasionally within chapters. POV changes are executed with the touch of a skilled storyteller, building the intricate web of the story without distracting or confusing.
Story: Author achieves the unlikely combination of creating a story that feels satisfyingly complex while remaining perfectly easy to follow. Some readers may want less explicitly labored clarification of plot points in the narration, but the result is a very cohesive plot that builds and branches substantially.
Grammar: Some of the sentences run on a little long, but not so much that it would impact my rating. All in all I found very very few spelling errors or grammatical mistakes. I found paragraph structure to be excellent. Language descriptive, detailed, but not overly so.
Character: Excellent character development. Reasonably large cast of very well realized characters. Naming scheme employed limits confusion, no great sense of unbelievably “good” or “evil” characters. Character actions driven by motive and circumstance rather than innate attributes, little or no black and white character lines.
Birds_arent_realRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Best new systems I’ve seen in so long. The order system is completely original, I’ve never seen anything like it and the idea has barely been touched. Order levels are low by default everywhere, which means tech doesn’t work, as levels are increased better tech(bows -> muskets -> rifles) (horse and cart -> steam engine -> truck) is able to work. It’s terrific and cities have to fight over the “flows” that allow them to control order. You get shield walls marching on riflemen, factories pumping out products while just next door people can’t even light a gas lamp. Never read anything like it.
The universe is brilliant, fiends, griidlords (basically superheroes), history (with some barely noticeable but very nice similarities to the history of the NFL), lore, politics
It’s a political intrigue novel on steroids, the plots and backstabbing are there, but the build up isn’t tedious like you often see, it’s kind of like Game of Thrones on fast forward.
The Griidlords are brilliant, superheroes chosen by each city, each griidlord is like a small army on their own, but their precious to their cities because of their military value and becuase they can move trade around really fast using “footfields” so they can’t be thrown into battles willy nilly, which is great because that’s where a lot of stories with OP characters kind of fall down.
So happy i got to be part of this experience, I really need to see it continue. A throne for a blood prince is great but i really want to see more of this, the story is only getting started
DecoRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Okay, I can go on and on about how great this, because it’s really bloody brilliant. I can tell you about how great the characters are and how great the story is, the fantabulous system with order where technology levels are governed by Towers and how armies have to compete to gather “Orbs” that allow them to manipulate the tech levels that can be used in different areas. I could go on and on about terrific it is that this system effects military (guns instead of bows) and how it also has economic effects (letting tractors work instead of horses, factories run, electric lights). I could probably talk forever about how cool the Griidlords are, and what a stroke of genius I think it is that the author gave them economic value too (they ferry trade rapidly across the dystopian america using footfields so they can be used in battle but it costs their cities in revenue to keep them from this other work). I could praise endlessly the quirky characters like the historian Alistair, of his disheartened servant, or the disenchanted Cordelia, or the very cool cowboy/knight Slinger.But instead, hoping the author reads this, I ask: when are you getting back to the main story? Because I need more! When are you going to start talking about the live NFL stuff? In the pre-season? The regular season? And can we see more set piece battles because I keep picturing formations inside and outside order fields switching weapons or getting caught out.Anyway, bravo, more please, this rocks.
DitzyfairyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I’m making an account just to leave a review for this story and the Blood Prince story. I’ve never reviewed any story before, and I definitely don’t ever plan on leaving a review for something I don’t like, if I don’t have anything nice to say I just won’t say anything at all. That will not be a problem with this review!
I actually first came across the story as a free ebook on Amazon. Tom was updating an ebook file every week which at first I thought was a really smart way to find new readers for free serialized web-novels, but the updating didn’t really play all that nice with my kindle so after a while I was over on patreon keeping up with the rest.
The book takes a little getting in to. I’m not being critical here, the first chapters are perfectly good but he plunges you into the world pretty quickly and the worldbuilding starts pretty much straight away. You bounce between a few POV characters fairly quickly in the first few chapters and, while it is really done perfectly, it’s a lot to take in at first.
It’s after you get a few chapters in that the book starts to really take off, and the last third is un-put-downable! The book stops at a pivot point which does seem like a natural stopping point but I am ravenous for more.
It’s a hard one to categorize but it’s got everything, it’s very nearly the perfect story for everyone, characters are brilliant, and there are plenty of them so there’s someone for anybody to get behind, the story has the complex feeling of a politcial/intrigue story but it’s laid out very carefully so it’s easy to follow (I don’t find myself backtracking trying to remember who said what, or who’s from where), and the world is absolutely brilliant, I’ve never come across anything like it, all these cities across america warring and dealing with each other, terrific sense of history, and lots of mysteries slowly peeling away.
This is an absolute 5/5 and such an easy book to recommend.
Echo21Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
All in all this is my favorite story on Royal Road so far. I can see the author is doing the goold old “call to action” thing, both here and over on patreon, and normally I don’t bite on those ( not because I don’t care but because I forget, I’m busy, I put it off, whatever) but I enjoyed this story so much, and is so so so deserves to succeed, that here I am, making an actually account just so I can post a couple of reviews. Never thought I’d see the day, but that should tell you just how much I loved this read. It ticks every box for me, it doesn’t feel like a serial that someone is pumping out several times a week, it feels like a novel.
This one (A Time of Change and Broken Chains) is not that much in the general feel of Royal Road so I don’t know how it’s performing, though it really deserves to do great. It deserves to be on the shelves, I would recommend this to any reader of fantasy, sci-fi or epics. But it’s not typical of Royal Road, it doesn’t seem to be a LitRPG or any of the other genres that seem to govern here. What it is just one of the best stories I’ve ever read. I don’t want to spoil things, but the Order/entropy system is phenomenal, mystery in the plot is terrific, the build up (to whatever it’s building up to) is top notch, the characters are brilliant. The characters are actually some of the best I’ve ever seen in a fiction on Royal Road, no cardboard cutouts, no over the tops, just real characters with their own wants and goals.
Stop reading whatever you’re reading and read this. And if you think you’ve been dumped in too deep then keep reading because there’s a lot of worldbuilding going on and it does all make sense after a while.
HairygarRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Love it. Waiting every day for another chapter. I normally binge read stuff and wait for it to be finished but I git stuck into these and can't believe I'm so stuck in the trap waiting for another release every day. It's mental.
Why do I love it so. Let me count the ways. 1. It's the best political intrigue conspiracy y type story I've ever read, you can feel all the alliances and plots and betrayals starting to develop and you can smell how people ar being played, or how surprise allies are going to emerge but it's so easy to keep track of because of the character names and the fact I already know all of the places. 2. The characters are brilliant, I love, let me say again, LOVE Thorn Jaxwulf, and Cordelia, such awesome characters and you just can't predict who's going to side with who and who's going to against each other. 3. The order system where battles have to be planned out to figure if troops will be able to use swords or muskets or rifles. 4. The lore, the world, the relics, The Fall, the history, it's just all so brill and well developed.
JTLomasneyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Totally brilliant, more conventional than a lot of what I see on RR, but it's got everything I could want. The basics are covered with brilliant characters, great dialogue, a really vast story, plots, intrigue betrayal. Tonnes of action, fight scenes, battles, but enough plot development in between so that all the action has meaning.
Main things separating this and making it stand out: 1) The politics between the city states, it's brilliant, as an NFL fan I can really appreciate the hatreds between different peoples, though it feels like more Rome vs Carthage than Pittsburgh vs Baltimore if you get my vibe. You definitely don't need to be into the NFL AT ALL to enjoy this, I feel like that's more of an Easter Egg. 2)The Order fields thing is awesome, reminds me a little of L.E. Modesit Jr. or Dies The Fire my Stirling, but mostly a totally unique and brilliant idea. 3) The Griidlords themselves are awesome, superheroes in a medieval world, i love how they stack up against each other and the nuances of how they are employed.
Story: Awesome, complex weave of arcs, feel then going somewhere, reminds me of Game of Thrones that way but more condensed and directed.
Characters: lots of very distinct characters, different back stories, different motives, different people, no single shining star I'm mad about but lots that I'm really invested in.
Grammar: I noticed nothing out ot the way.
Style: descriptive, to the point, great action.
I personally know the author. I swear this does not color my review of the work, but I am stating it here for full disclosure.
JohannWolfRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Griidlords is an amazing story!I really enjoyed the story and the characters. The concept of the order entropy system is brilliant and so unique. In this world, various areas around cities are of higher order and can use firearms or engines, while lower order areas can only use medieval weapons. This idea is so cool and creative that the world becomes very interesting and dynamic. The author did a great job explaining how this system works and it makes sense within the story.The plot is very captivating and kept me interested until the end. There are many twists and turns that surprise me and keep me reading. The characters are well developed and have their own personalities and motivations. I especially like the Nicolas, who is brave and smart, but also has weaknesses and struggles. The interactions between characters are realistic and add depth to the story.The writing style is also very good. The author uses descriptive language htat paints vivid pictures in my mind. The dialogue is natural and flows well. The pacing is just right, with enough action and tension to keep me hooked, but also slower moments for character development and world building. The grammar is mostly good, withonly a few minor errors that don't detract from the story.It's obviously going to be a really big story, lots of story arcs are started, leading into the next.I can recommend Griidlords to anyone who likes fantasy and scifi. The order-entropy system is a brilliant idea that brings a unique twist to the genre. The story is exciting, the charactersare memorable and the writing is very good. I can't wait to see more from this author in the future!Please get the next story out!
NatpredRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
To be clear, I read this on another platform, but wanted to post the review here to help the author out.
Before I say anything else, let me just say that story is brilliant.
I saw somewhere that the elevator pitch for the story was Game of Thrones meets Fallout. This might not exactly hit the nail on the head but it gets some of the idea across. The first book is finished but it barely feels like it's getting started, the first 100,000 plus words that is the first book feels like it's just setting up a host of other stories. This has everything I like: several very different POV characters, awesome gradual worldbuilding, enough action without being nothing but action, wide ranging story and I always love stories with multiple factions that have competing/overlapping motivations because you get the enemies becoming friends, friends becoming enemies shuffling. In some ways it's like a million other post-apocalyptic/new world stories I've read, but the Order/Entropy system is something I've personally never seen before, and the mystery about the Fall leaves me completely guessing.
The NFL games effecting the story isn't something I definitely don't want, I'm just not sure about it, it sounds kind of cool, but I don't know how it would work and honestly the book doesn't really need the gimmick, but I am down to see how that works.
I don't know what else I can say, I'm actually getting obsessed with this, it's the best new thing I've come across in a long time.
Style: Generic enough, that's not a detraction, the writing is clear and delivers everything you want but it's not stylistically radical or anything.
Story: This is where it absolutely pops, there's so much happening, you can see all the arcs coming together and feels huge and complicated but it's easy keep track of because the character names are so distinct and, because the city states are all actual US cities, it's easy to remember where everyone's from and what everyone's doing.
Grammer: I don't know how t
SpecsonthedecksRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
it has been such a rush. The description of this book doesn’t do it justice. I don’t know exactly what I expected, at the time of this review this story seems to be almost unknown, I think it has less than 60 followers on Royal Road. I started reading simply because there were a few interesting quirks in the description that made me think, hmmm.
What I didn’t expect was to get swept up into such an immense and fantastic tale. This story carried me off in a way that has happened in the longest time. It feels like I’ve stumbled onto the next Star Wars or Lord of the Rings, like as of right now I’m one of a few people reading an absolutely epic new thing.
I can’t imagine how this won’t go big. The concepts behind the world, the systems, the histories, the characters, the action, the story telling, it’s shocking to see such excellence hiding almost unread in the recesses of a free fiction website. This seems to be the writers first work but I’ll bet dollars to donuts he’s got a library of work somewhere else under a different name because this is the work a really really great storyteller.