The Smallward Sagas

The Smallward folk are tiny, yes (about the height of a stubborn carrot) but they are trueblood Vikings: loud arguments, questionable bravery, and a firm belief that you can negotiate with destiny... if you shout at it long enough. They live in root-havens and cupboard-forts, eking out life beneath the blundering footsteps of the Trolls (humans), whose colossal handiwork is so baffling it is generally agreed to be either divine, deranged, or both.

Since waking a Troll usually ends in disaster (mostly for the tiny folk), the Clans follow the Three Rules: don’t be seen, don’t summon them, and—for all that's sacred—don’t move their stuff. Within those boundaries, the Smallward Vikings raid crumbs, chart heroic expeditions across kitchen tiles, and argue endlessly about their mysterious origins, usually with chunks of marshmallow, around a fire made from a stolen matchstick.

Every story is a snippet of improbable valor, improvised tools, and the sort of courage found only in people far too small to realize they shouldn’t be doing any of this.

"Think the Borrowers, on Red Bull." - Dominic de Souza

Creative Constraints

Tropes: Epic Quest, True Companions, Sense of Discovery, Lilliputian Warriors
World: Unique worlds across different landscapes and countries, but a consistent treatment of humans and other Smallwards
Target Audience: YA
Story Types: A single raid, rescue, or escape lived so that it becomes a fireside tradition, even though it barely lasted an hour.
2–3 story objectives: Keep it fun and fast paced, epic quests involving treks through rooms or into buildings. Scale and point of view matters. Reinterpreting human behavior and tools in new ways is ideal.
Character Roles:

• The Loud Captain: courage scales directly with volume

• The Epic Warrior: Takes improbable risks that pay off because… bravery

• The Tactician: brilliant at plans that no one follows

• The Relic Keeper: carries one absurdly powerful human object

• The Boundary Watcher: obsessed with the Three Rules, for reasons

• The Questioner: keeps poking at origins, destiny, and whether Trolls are gods or idiots

How Stories Win: excellent writing style, clear attention to the rules and theme, fast paced, start in the middle of a problem, end as soon as possible
Bonus Points: Refer to events from other stories to expand a world