Using Heroic Traditions

To start with, think about the characters and seeds, and come up with at least two arguments that interest you and involve the characters. Think about the heroic traditions, too, and involve these in the arguments. I can’t really tell you obvious, visceral ways to do this, because the traditional conflicts are very inward-turning, so instead I’ll give you strategies. Suppose you have a character, maybe she’s a priestess at Red Cliff, and she has an argument: “I want to go home.” How do you use her tradition to contextualise that?

Maybe she’s a black peacock maiden. So that means that her story is about love and family and how they come into conflict, so maybe someone comes to Red Cliff, and he is beautiful and sweet like new incense, and they fall in love before she sees the insignia on his horse, and they are the insignia of her house! They must choose—each other, or the family? Is it worth it going home to a place where their love is a crime?

Then you can provide opportunities for her to approach this question, such as by bringing in other members of the family, or threatening to reveal their love, and so on.

Or, maybe she’s a barefoot king, and though she is not abbess at Red Cliff, whatever happens there is done under her guidance. The temple collapses in confusion at her absence, and sends word by messenger to beg for her aid. But the house needs her to perform the duties given to a lady of a noble lineage. What loyalty wins out?

Given this, you can add pressure to that tension—offer reasons to choose one over the other, or make one sound as though it’s in great need…

The heroic traditions are there to lead you to questions like this, and help create foils and antagonists for your characters that allow them to confront them.