Old World Thunder, New World Fire

Ahistorical fiction serial set in colonial America in the late 1600s. The serial spans decades of history and dozens of protagonists from the five different major players of the time: the French, the English, the Wabanaki Confederacy, the Five Nations of the Iroquois, and the Three Fires of the Anishinaabe. New chapters every Friday.

What to Expect

This serial has multiple different protagonists and multiple different POVs. Over time, their paths will intersect and mingle in interesting and unpredictable ways, though the shrewdest readers might be able to read between the lines and see the threads before they form.

You'll enjoy this serial if you like:

- A story that begins as a slow burn, introducing many different protagonists, and ramps up in pacing as these protagonists' paths begin to cross

- Fast-paced and engaging action scenes

- A story that will eventually have tons of chapters, and will consistently have new content every week

- A story where no protagonist is truly safe and always at the risk of dying (often at the hands of someone else)

- Adventure, Political Intrigue, Romance, and Friendship

- War, Military Tactics, and Spies

The Players

Dominion of New England

A brand-new government formed just the year before the serial starts, the Dominion of New England is King James II's attempt to exert a more unified control over the English colonies. Governor Edmund Andros rules over all these colonies, attempting to impose the influence of the Crown, which has been met with resistance from the colonists who came to this country to escape the Crown in the first place.

New France

France's colonies in North America are more sparse and far less populated than England's. Originally, France's perspective towards the New World was primarily as a place to extract furs and other desirable commodities from, having no need to establish permanent colonies and cities there, but that perspective has been changing. King Louis XIV in particular desires a stronger presence there. They have aligned themselves with the Wabanakis and the Anishinaabeg as trading partners and allies against their common enemies: the English and the Iroquois.

The Five Nations of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee)

The most powerful and feared of the three Indian confederacies, the Iroquois are made up of five large tribes. By uniting their territories in modern-day New York under one banner, they have become a force to be reckoned with. The Iroquois do not war and conquer to just gain territory and power; they do so to replace family members that they have lost by kidnapping prisoners of war and assimilating them into their tribes as replacement. The more neighboring tribesmen they assimilate, however the more their cultural and political identity becomes muddled, as many of the assimilated try to retain the values and culture of the tribe they were born in.

The Wabanaki Confederacy

Originally just a series of like-minded tribes in modern-day Maine, the Wabanakis are changing in response to the aggression at their borders from both the Iroquois and the English colonists. During the early chapters of the serial, the leaders of all the Wabanaki tribes will meet to form a unified Confederacy. Despite this unification, there are many divisions among the Confederacy's many tribes: who to ally with, who to declare enemies. Everyone has a different answer, and for a nation so recently formed, nothing is certain.

The Council of Three Fires (Anishinaabe)

Unlike the Haudenosaunee and the newly-formed Wabanaki Confederacy, the Anishinaabeg (plural of the singular Anishinaabe) do not have a unified or centralized government. However, that still may change, especially after witnessing the unification of the Wabanakis. The Anishinaabeg live in the Great Lakes region, and currently dominate the fur trade with the French.

Dramatis Personae (updated as new protagonists are introduced)

Anne-Marie de Parthenay -Daughter of a deceased noble, sixteen-year-old Anne-Marie and her brother Chrétien are now wards of the Viscount of Chattelerault. To their dismay, the Viscount's motives are sinister—he intends to abandon his current wife and marry Anne-Marie instead. The Viscount has just been assigned to command a company of Troupes de la Marine—France's dedicated military force in New France. Anne-Marie and her brother are forced to accompany him on a journey across the Atlantic, leaving their home of France behind.

Chrétien de Parthenay -While his sister tries to free herself from the Viscount's grasp, Chrétien is preoccupied with his own worries. As the older brother, it's his job to protect not only his sister, but also himself. He's smart enough to know that once the Viscount marries his sister and has a son with her, Chrétien will be abandoned, as the Viscount won’t have any need of him. Determined to not fall victim, Chrétien tries desperately to earn his own place in this New World, by whatever means necessary.

Waabigiizhig and Memeskoniinisi (White Sky, Black Bird) -Two young Anishinaabe men and best friends, White Sky and Black Bird trade in fur and other commodities on the Great Lakes. Though they’re very different, they've found their differences to be a boon as they navigate the lake and river trade. They’re as prideful as they are ambitious, determined to become the greatest and most renowned traders in the region. But the lake trade can be a dangerous venture, for they are in constant competition with other traders and tribes, and not all of them are friendly or peaceful in the way they compete.

Peter Sparrow -A ten-year-old orphan boy who grew up begging on the streets of Dublin, Peter Sparrow has been kidnapped and sold into indentured servitude in the colonies. His indenture has been bought by an eccentric named Mr. Daughtrey. Mr. Daughtrey and Peter travel to the Land of the Free Blacks in former New Amsterdam. Mr. Daughtrey delivers Peter as a gift to Solomon Peters, a former slave to the Dutch East India Company who now owns his own farm and servants as one of the few free black men in the colonies.