Into the Inferno Detailed Outline

A lot of the story will pretty much be made up as I go along. Only some of it is pre-determined. I'm both an architect and a gardner.

Title: Into the Inferno

Setting: United States, June 28th, 2064

Main Characters(Chapter characters):
Vincent Cornell(Poor boy from the Kingdom of the East)
Merritt Samuelson(Grizzled war veteran from Kingdom of the West)
Terence Rayne(1st son of King Rayne)

Side Characters:
King Lorin Gregory-King of the West
King Urbano Montero-King of the Desert
King Crofton Ayers-King of the Woodlands
King Florence Rayne-King of the Ice
King Jed Abrams-King of the East
Emma Rayne(Mother of Terence Rayne, wife of King Rayne)
Eldon Rayne(Younger brother of King Rayne)
Kevyn Rayne(2nd son of King Reyne, brother of Terence Rayne)
Camden Gregory(1st and only son of King Gregory)
Doreen Gregory(Mother of Camden Gregory, wife of King Gregory)

Other Characters:
???


Plot: It’s the summer of the year 2064. It’s been 34 years since the Reign of the Dragons, a period of time when dragons ruled the Earth after awakening twelve years prior in a cataclysmic event known as the Great Dragon Cataclysm, finally ended when a great warrior-king who dubbed himself Caesar led an army of men from the ashes of civilization against the dragons on a battlefield on the plains to the East of The Dragon’s Pit (a place in the mountains where the dragons had been breeding and living) and fought and won, with Caesar himself slaying the last dragon on the Plains of Fire. However the ash in his lungs and the wounds from the fighting were too much for Caesar, and he died less than twenty-four hours after the battle ended.

Now the world still lies mainly in ruins, and the few who remain from the days of the inferno are doing what they can to rebuild civilization. The United States of America is no longer what it once was, the government disbanded, it’s military in shambles since the end of the last dragon war, and most of it’s cities and people wiped out. Now the lands of post-inferno America are split into five kingdoms, each of which is ruled by a king, five former generals that served under Caesar, and believe that since he had no child to inherit his rule, the lands of the former United States should belong to them. Therefore the five are constantly in conflict with each other, ruling from their own homelands.

These five kingdoms and kings respectively are:

The Kingdom of the West, a land by the Pacific Ocean made up of the former states of California, Oregon, and Nevada, remaining mostly untouched by the Reign of the Dragons, save for the city of Los Angeles which was destroyed during the Great Dragon Cataclysm. It’s ruled by King Lorin Gregory, a very laid back, although incredibly wealthy ruler who has made Las Vegas the capital of his kingdom, and believes that he can buy the people of the other kingdoms into supporting his rule. So far however, this has only succeeded in his own lands...

The Kingdom of the Desert, a land made up mostly of desert and plains stretching from Arizona in the West and Mexico in the South, to Texas in the East and Oklahoma in the North. It’s capital lies in what’s left of the city of San Antonio. Consisting of a strong industrial economy, although weak in manpower and in deep poverty, with most of it’s resources coming through bandits and highwaymen stealing from the neighboring kingdoms of the West and Woodlands. These Robin Hood type figures claim to do these things of their own accord, but it is greatly speculated by the kingdom’s people (And the Kings of the West and Woodlands) that they’re actually committing these acts under the orders of their king. This king is King Urbano Montero, a young, hothead type of man who will do anything he must to take control of the lands he thinks are rightfully his, whether it’s through robbery, coercion, self-sacrifice, assassination, or all-out open war. This type of willingness to do what he must has garnered the respect and support of his people...

The Kingdom of the Woodlands lives up to it’s name, as it is a densely wooded and swampy land occupying almost all of the Southeast. Although major cities like St. Louis, Nashville, Miami and Atlanta were incinerated during the Cataclysm, it remains highly populated by those living in the more spread out land in between. The location of it’s capital is still a mystery to everyone outside, and most of those inside the kingdom itself. The Woodlands are ruled by King Crofton Ayers, a general who after the death of Caesar, declared the whole of the country as his kingdom, and has since then disappeared into the Woodlands. His whereabouts are not known by any of the Woodlands’ people, although for some reason they maintain a strong, unexplainable faith in their king. With a capital that can’t be found, and a king who seemingly vanished into thin air, much of the Woodlands still remains shrouded in mystery...

The Kingdom of the Ice, a frostbitten, harsh land stretching across most of the Northern United States and around the Great Lakes, that seems for some reason to have gone the opposite direction from the rest of the world, freezing rather than burning. It’s capital lies in the icy ruins of Minneapolis. This frozen land is ruled by King Florence Rayne. King Florence Rayne is a ruler with an icy heart and a will as strong as steel. When Caesar died, Rayne demanded he be given rule over the country because according to him, Caesar told Rayne that he would publicly name him the next in the line of succession, however Caesar apparently died before being able to do so, or so King Rayne claims...

Then there’s the Kingdom of the East, a land of city ruins and ashes ruled by King Jed Abrams. King Abrams is the son of the last President of the United States from before the Cataclysm, Jack Abrams. Although once he seemed to be a noble man who fought for a good cause, after Caesar died he showed his true colors by trying to turn his army against the other four generals, this failed in part, and this accelerated the splitting of the country. Now he sits on his throne in the ruins of the old American capital of Washington D.C., plotting ways to take the other kingdoms, and waiting for an opportunity to strike when the others seem weak.

Cutting through these five kingdoms from Northwest are the Lands of Inferno, the formerly named Rocky Mountains, now scorched with fire and lava and completely devoid of life.

And finally at center of America’s heartland lies what used to be the states of Kansas and Nebraska, now called the Plains of Fire. This is where humanity fought the dragons in a final great battle of fire, ash, and blood, leaving the entirety of the two former states as only ashen wasteland with the very ground itself being scorched to glass in some parts. The air is said to kill any who breathe it, and no one has dared venture into the Plains, for it is now a widely believed legend that the vengeful ghost of Caesar wanders them, still searching for dragons to slay, and killing any being who may be unfortunate enough to cross his path.

Now with the country and it’s people split, the five kings sit in what seems to be a never ending stalemate.....