Plot

Characters

Role	Description	Who
The Hero	kicks off the novel.  We learn basic facts like his age and name, but we also see on a deeper level that the hero does not fit in to his dreary homeland.	Voltaire "Volts" Donegue
The Hero's Family	demonstrates the lack of care the Hero receives, and why the Hero can only rely on himself.  The Hero’s family can also show that the hero has someone he needs to protect.	Volt's friends back at DRASC
The Herald	is not a part of the hero’s everyday life, and he introduces an element of magic when he brings the hero an invitation for adventure.
The Mentor	appears in chapter 1, although the Hero doesn’t meet him face-to-face until later.  For now, we see the possibility that the hero will finally receive some parenting of sorts.
Authority Figures	remind us that the hero has to deal with the rules of hiseveryday teenage life, even though he has a much bigger adventures on his plate.
Peers	like the Authority Figures, add conflict by forcing the hero to deal with two worlds at the same time.  For older heroes, the peers also bring an opportunity for sexual tension.
Characters Representing Danger	are present in chapter 1 to give the feeling that “all is not what it seems.”  We are curious to know whether thevillains really are up-to-no-good.
No-Names	help set the scene without bogging down the reader with unnecessary information.  No-names are great for changing up the way the reader receives information– not everything needs to come out of your hero’s mouth.
Extras	help flesh-out a scene with realistic details, right down to their curious names.  These characters are likely to reappear in greater detail later in the novel, and when they do, it won’t feel too “convenient” since they have already been introduced.
The Antagonist	The character whose goal drives the conflict and push the protag toward transformation. Is not necessarily "a villain," and not even necessarily human or external to the protag. Must have a redeeming quality that keeps him from being cardboard. Must be at least as smart, fascinating, active, real, and determined as the protag, and probably a little stronger. Wants or needs whatever he is going after at least as much as the protag wants to achieve her goal. Sets off in pursuit of his goal in a way that propels the protag into the action, possibly kicking and screaming. Constantly boxes the protag in through brilliant moves and countermoves to keep her on her feet and thinking. Makes the protag fear him enough for us to keep turning the pages in anticipation of the protag's failure. Has his own story arc, some sort of character transformation. Maybe he gets dragged into becoming a better person as the protag grows, or maybe he gets more desperate and unhinged, but he ends the story changed by the battle.	Oz, The Great and Powerful
The Foil	A human or non-human mirror used to reflect and illuminate specific aspects of another character's traits. May be the antag, or someone else--a best friend, sidekick, mentor, romantic lead, parent or virtually any other character who serves as an example or contrast. Begins in the same place morally, socially, or physically as another character, and then follows a divergent path to point out a transformation (or failure to transform) that helps the protag learn an essential lesson. Has a character arc within the story's framework, even if that arc doesn't necessarily happen within the pages of the story.	Mantissa "Issa" Argona
The Skeptic	WHO IS THE SKEPTIC? The skeptic may also be the protagonist’s friend, but unlike the sidekick, the skeptic won’t support the protagonist’s journey. The skeptic doesn’t believe that the protagonist can or should reach their intended goal. WHY IS THE SKEPTIC IMPORTANT? The skeptic’s role is to add a sense of dimension to the story. The reader may have doubts about the protagonist’s goal, and the skeptic embodies this concern and apprehension. The skeptic is the voice of reason, and often reason conflicts with emotion (which may be personified as the sidekick). HOW TO DEVELOP A STRONGER SKEPTIC: Although the skeptic’s role is to doubt the protagonist, resist the urge to make this person “evil” or “stupid.” The skeptic should make sense, at least to the reader. The skeptic isn’t the same as the antagonist. The skeptic may provide logical counsel for the protagonist but will not stand in his way.

The Plot

The big problem: dragons are not seen as equals, and face horrible rights abuses as a result of that.

Goal: dragons recognized as non-human peoples and given the same rights as humans. Oz's predatory gambling rings regulated to make them non-predatory.

At start, dragons who go into debt to Oz ("debtors") cannot get any job other than racing or fighting. At end, this will be changed so debtors cannot gamble, and can get any job to pay off their debt.

SET UP

Volts is at Dragon and Space Combat Academy, training to become a sniper. Issa is there as well, but instead training as a pilot to Stevius. Both are 18; Volts has been there a little over two years and is almost done with her training. Issa has been there since birth.

They first meet when Volts is assigned to Issa. Though most dragons have a much larger crew, COG is trying out new stealth tactics with Issa and Stevius, so they're a crew of only two.

They get along okay, not clicking perfectly but not hating each other. Volts gets along much better with Stevius, who is delighted to talk to someone who likes weapons as much as he does.

They are in the middle of a cold war between Coalition For Good and Oz's Candyshop Inc. Oz created the first dragon racing rings on Earth, where she got rich enough to move them to other planets once COG banned them. She takes advantage of dragons' natural gambling addiction to make herself very rich. COG creates dragon clones and breeds dragons at their will, refusing to recognize the dragons' sovereignty as non-human people. There is a war brewing over those two issues, and everyone is picking sides. No major fights have broken out yet, mostly petty border skirmishes and arrests. COG can't touch Oz, and Oz can't touch Earth.

The Event

Then there's THE EVENT. The largest DRASC Academy, the one out in Texas, is glassed, which means burned to the ground by fire so hot it melts everything to glass. Hundreds, possibly thousands of lives are lost. The perpetrators are three Titanic Dragons, so large that their wings block out the sun, and the city is lit only by their dragon fire. Once the compound, which covers several square miles, is entirely melted, the dragons smash the symbol for Oz's Candyshop Inc into the ground, and fly away. It is seen as the most horrific act of terrorism the system has ever seen, and COG condemns Oz for such a brutal action.

Nobody knows it was a false-flag event, carried out by COG operatives and not Oz. That becomes relevant much later.

Anyways, THE EVENT throws DRASC into overdrive. All of the students there are pushed harder than they ever were before, because COG is finally ready to go to war. This also interrupts COG's plans to make a stealth unit of any sort, and Volts and Issa are thrown into normal classes to learn normal war stuff as fast as they can before they're deployed.

Plot Lines

A plot: COG vs Oz

B plot: COG vs the dragon revolution

C plot: Volts trying to fix Issa

Volts and Issa go off to defeat Oz and stop her from preying on dragons. They succeed. Then Issa's unit takes over her brain, and forces her to return to earth and start the dragon rebellion. Volts is traumatized by the "loss" of her friend but goes to help. Eventually the dragon rebellion get horribly out of hand, to the point where the dragons are marauding and flagrantly killing humans, with Issa (controlled by Stevius) at their lead.

Volts has tried reasoning with Stevius, with Issa, to no avail. Overtime Issa and Stevius' personalities meld to become one, to the point where there is no difference between them. They go by Stevissa. They are the figurehead of the rebellion, saying they represent a blended future for both humans and dragons.

But they just destroy. Like everything. Full scale alien invasion. Volts slowly realizes what she has to do, the only thing she can do. She has to pick a side; human or dragon. And she chooses human; she chooses to save her parents and her friends and her home.

So Volts kills Issa, and flees back to the DRASC university she grew up in. The rebellion starts to lose, badly, and all of the rebel dragons are either slaughtered or driven off. COG regains control of earth, and the sruviving loyalists face even more severe sanctions and regulations than ever before.

Volts' last action is to board a ship headed for Saturn, promising to never look back to earth.