Welcome back to another edition of the Divine Warriors scrapbook! I’ve shared a couple of these pages before, but I thought it would make sense to put all the pictures for book 1 into the same post, so you’ll get the complete story from beginning to end.
Spoiler Alert
These pages refer to the entire story from Riwenne & the Mechanical Beasts (Divine Warriors #1), including the ending. If you haven’t read the book yet, you can get it for free from all stores at the link below.
On the first page, there is the title and cover of the book plus a teaser for the story. On the left side, these are inspiration photos that I used to help me describe the mechanical beasts. I think my favorite was the crocodile (in the sewers, of course!).
Sawycha is the goddess of the sea, who appeared to Riwenne in her dream at the beginning of the book. What does it mean that Riwenne dreams about the goddess? But when she wakes up, she’s an ordinary school girl stuck in a drab uniform at St. Jenatta’s Secondary School. She rides a cable car with her fellow students.
Damon Temple is the heart of Lyndamon City and so beautiful. Every morning, the priestesses praise the sun goddess, Chysa, during the dawn ceremony. The head priestess, Mother Lyda, creates a sunstone which harnesses the sun’s energy to provide power for all the city’s machines.
During the Choosing Day ceremony, all fifteen-year-old children are recognized as young adults as they graduate from school. They learn their House name. Although children never learn who their parents are, the temples keep track of their mother’s House for when they come of age. To avoid incest, relationships between members of the same House are forbidden. Each one is symbolized by a metal pin. Later, all the young adults must go through the proving chamber, a network of underground tunnels beneath the temple. The proving chamber will reveal which career they should pursue–chosen by the gods to be the best fit for them.
Riwenne’s greatest wish comes true: she’s chosen as a priestess! Here are some images of the temple grounds and the robes worn by the different levels of priestesses, along with lists of the types of lessons each novice must study and their daily schedule.
Riwenne loves to eat and she’s excited to learn about the wonderful foods at the temple. It’s like a feast every day.
While Riwenne trains as a priestess in the temple, her best friend, Nexita, was chosen to apprentice with the Ministery of Technological Research & Development. When she gets free time, Riwenne goes to visit her friend and find out how she likes her new posting.
Other landmarks around Lyndamon City include Moqa’s Cafe, which serves drinking chocolate, and Riwenne’s favorite bookstore. If you want to learn more about the bookstore, it will appear in an upcoming short story, Riwenne & the Haunted Bookstore! I’ll be posting an official announcement about this story and the anthology it’s featured in later.
There are also gardens in the city and many different kinds of shops. Now that Riwenne is earning a wage, she can buy whatever she wants.
Riwenne and her new friends go to watch their favorite singer in concert: Amena! The young pop star performs a high energy concert. But then mechanical scorpions attack! Riwenne and her friends scramble to fight back and protect the audience.
The temple celebrates another festival every month. The Festival of Friendship honors Deejanara, the goddess of friendship and the daughter of Qachmy, the goddess of the rainforest. Riwenne and the other novices make a garland of vanilla orchids to honor Deejanara. They look forward to the food and dancing.
When Riwenne and her friends continue to fight back against the mechanical beasts, they learn more about where they come from. There is a secret workshop beneath the city where the machines are being created. But they could be arrested for the dark secrets that they learn. They escape the city by stealing an airship.
Riwenne also learns the truth about the sun goddess and her sister, the moon. Chysa and Quilla used to rule the heavens together. But then Chysa betrayed her sister and locked her away. Quilla has been waiting for a champion to come along and save her… and Riwenne has just proven that she’s up to the task.
But there are still many questions left to be answered. Stay tuned for future books in the Divine Warriors series!
