Author's Notes Part 1: Characters

Thank you for reading this far, if you have read up to here I am sure you have clicked “like” on the chapters you enjoyed and clicked on the rating button to tell me what you think right? RIGHT? (I do ask that you don’t just click “like” on every chapter, if I see some getting more likes than others I will go back to re-read them so see what I did right and wrong.)

It took a lot of convincing from a few friends to finally start writing this down. To be honest this story has been brewing for over 10 years now. When I first started typing, I didn’t know how difficult it would be to actually start writing it down. I know these characters, how they grew up, what they are like, and how they will react to the events that unfold. The problem is how do I convey that to YOU? As much as I hate the overabundance of reincarnation and isekai web novels that seem to be popping up everywhere, I can see why they do it. It is so much easier to start as a baby or tell the story of someone stuck in a world that knows as much as the reader. It still seems like the easy route to me though, and that's not the way I wanted to do things. So let's talk about some of the characters for a bit.

The four children that left the village all talked about being adventurers or explorers, but never really had a concrete image of what that actually meant. They are now just sort of going with the flow and trying to find their place. Mahs has the closest thing to a goal among them and even he is not sure how to achieve it. Kisha and Sarah are mostly following along, Sarah at the behest of her mysterious trainer to use this as a learning experience, and Kisha out of loyalty to her friends.

Thane is one of the two main characters, and I’ll admit, he is a bit of a Mary Sue even if he gets beat up, choked out, and self-destructs from time to time. He also has a bit of Lawful Stupid* in him, something that he will grow out of, I assure you. His main driving force right now is to learn about his parents, the reason for this will be explained soon.

Most of the minor characters in the mercenary camp didn’t even exist in the first drafts of the story and weren’t even made into characters until the first time I typed their names. The only characters I had a solid image of were Marcus, Gailwyn and Lance. I had some idea of an experienced trainer which took the form of Liam and a drill sergeant type character for the trainees that became Theo. But Bart, Lily, and Harland didn’t exist until I typed Bartholemew’s name for the first time.

And then we have Stone, a taciturn giant who follows the orders of a mysterious fey called The Raven. He pretty much sees himself as the protector of the group. He is always there, like a quiet, massive, hairless guardian angel.

Mersine is a minor character that I often considered removing from the story. Due to her contacts and merchant traveling lifestyle she has potential to be a good asset to the story that can tie things together. Her whimsical personality however could be a detriment.

Finally we have Duvessa, the character in the side stories. Originally I planned for the side stories to be from the perspective of the main four while they were children, learning about magic and the world from Castor and Maria, but then I remembered there was another character who is very important but would not be introduced until much later. So I decided to use the side stories as a way to introduce her character.

There is much I wanted to do with these characters and much I wanted to say. I may actually go back and rewrite some of the first few chapters to make some of those thoughts more clear, but for now, they will stay.

As for the villains and the creatures, there are a few big plans in store. The powerful entity that calls itself The End won’t be showing up for some time, but you will be able to catch glimpses of its shadow from time to time.

One particular thing that I gave some thought to was how to make orcs and goblins intimidating again. When Tolkien was the main (only?) source of classic fantasy, they were terrifying. From the massive swarms of goblins that seemed to creep out of every crack and cave in the Misty Mountains and Moria, to the large armies of Mordor the orcs were a force to be reckoned with. Now thanks to Dungeons and Dragons and many video games, orcs and goblins have been reduced to cannon fodder enemies that don’t really pose much of a threat. But what if there was an unassailable orc kingdom that sat mockingly near the humans? One that was so prosperous that it invaded kingdoms not to plunder and conquer, but to keep their own rapidly swelling population in check? (Although they do plenty of plundering and conquering.)

For the next part, the enemies will be both much brighter and much darker. Thane will face the ecoes of a decades old conspiracy, and the vanguard of a threat that has been preying on the mortal races for thousands of years.

I hope you will continue reading and I look forward to your questions and comments.