A Beginning

A Beginning

Hello, and welcome to my blog.

I am Sebastian, an aspiring novelist who has been writing a book for several years now. It is my biggest passion in life and my worst fear is failure. The book follows a fifteen-year-old named Taka, a sixteen-year-old half-elf noble named Beriyl, and a mid-twenties, deeply traumatized, emotionally out of touch ex-mercenary named Arthur.

The story begins with them all at the most vulnerable points of their lives (a topic I will likely touch on and provide context to in a later post) and follows them as they make lifelong bonds and memories, and overcome countless struggles-- emotional and physical.

It is also a story of blossoming love, as Taka and Beriyl eventually find in each other what both were missing in one way or another. A story of what it means to truly find yourself, what you stand for and who you are.

For many reasons, it is a tale very, very dear and personal to me-- for reasons i'll likely explain later. (so i stop editing this one blog post over and over)

I hope that you will follow my journey (and by extension, the journey of Taka, Beriyl, and Arthur) as I talk about my book and what inspired me and my random beliefs most likely, and random excerpts im proud of as I continue polishing my book.

Thank you,

Sebastian Crowling

aghhhh ok fine

I did do a music post in the past, but i'll indulge you, @jev-urisk XD

(quickly tho, cuz i'm writing rn)

one song each and a explanation of why :D (i was gonna do three each but then this post would be crazy long)

also, spoilers for Party of Three becase i can't explain these things entirely without spoilers (i tried my best to avoid massive ones)

As such:

Vague-ish spoilers for Taka's future

Minor spoilers for Beriyl's past

Relatively massive spoilers for Arthur and Eirairr's backstories

Taka:

Refrain Boy - ALL OFF

(I am very very passionate about music so this will probably be a long post despite me saying otherwise lmao)

Reasoning: This song to me, embodies a lot of things. The "going ahead with life even though it's hard," that really awesome feeling a lot of shonen have about "pushing through stuff with your friends no matter what," that "great things are gonna happen for you in the future" vibe, its really hard for me to put this emotion into words, but just the "You can look forward to fun stuff in the future, and as long as you have your bonds and yourself, you'll be okay, even if it's sad and hard" and i really, honestly think that embodies Taka very much. He is very much a person who cares VERY much about his friends, he's a very adventurous person, I'm very honored to get to write about him because his journey is to me, one that is very special and very beautiful. We literally watch this scared little kid grow up into someone capable of saving the world, and I think that is just beautiful. We watch him come into his own sort of groove, find out who he is and who he really cares about, what he stands for. It's just really beautiful and very personal to me. I've always loved this song, but in a sense I think it encapsulates the "journey" of Tamalnh, and my own personal journey over the last few years. Except I have far less friends than Taka, and I am nowhere near as happy as he is.

Beriyl:

Aaagh, honestly Beriyl is a tie up between Fightsong - Eve and Yumemigusa by BLUE ENCOUNT

Beriyl's story and him as a person I feel like both of these songs fit him pretty well. His is a story much darker than Taka's, because he's practically a survivor of childhood neglect. For fear of spoiling too much, I really don't know how to explain this without doing so, but Beriyl's story of overcoming self-worth issues, figuring out who he really is and what truly matters to him, and standing up for those things, is one that I think is really beautiful.

Beriyl is an immensely strong person, even if maybe that isn't readily apparent for the first, oh... two hundred pages of the book.

Arthur:

ROAR by ulma sound junction

This lyric in particular; "Where destiny gets robbed and torn in half,"

He lost everything at a very young age, struggled with severe, suicidal depression for many, many years. And he nearly did do it. In a way, he lost his future, then clawed it back into reality with his own two hands, fully intending to die all the while. He may never be able to fulfill that lost childhood dream of adventuring with Rend, he may have lost his family and village, but he found Taka and Beriyl. And they saved him, from himself, in a way.

Ecirr and Qlul:

PRIDE OF A NAMELESS HUNTER - Tadayoshi Makino

Ecirr to me, embodies the "grace" and "refinement" that Qlul doesn't really have. Qlul is the warmth and energy, the relaxed and "silly" side of the coin here, whereas Ecirr is the calm, cool, "serious" side.

Now, for some reason, I don't have a playlist for Qlul. But I do have a theme I feel fits both of them very much so.

L no Theme B - Hideki Taniuchi

Here's one more that resembles them :')

ok fine one more (feels fitting for book 2's tone)

AGHH ALSO BOOK 2 THEMING

Ecirr is really smart, and Qlul's not stupid. This song (L's Theme) to me feels like when they combine their only visible braincells and actually pull off something cool.

Eirairr:

Man, Eirairr is hard to summarize in a single song. He's such a chaotic person.

The enigma of an elf, the Eirairr-ness of... Eirairr.

Here's a few: Kannon by Kita Kouhei

Blue Moon by LiSA

Tyottohitoiki

At his core, he's a good person. He cares about his friends and has an unfathomably great love for life itself. He's also a very tragic figure, as being born as a Pactborn-Elf means that, no matter how long he lived inside that Realm as an immortal being, once outside he's only got a hundred years. Can you imagine how short a hundred years would feel to someone who's lived that long?

Eirairr himself says something to this extent; and yes, this IS a pretty big spoiler, but its necessary to really get my point across.

Some context: A very long time ago, there was a period where Fae were very active, and several curses were placed on various people/parts of the world back then. One of these was locking several "clans" of elves into permanent deification as "guardians" of elements of the world, hence "Pactborn" elves. So you have "pacted" elves of the mountains, seas, forests, etc. They basically exist in a plane that is one "layer" above the physical dimension, which intersects with the Fae realm. They can't leave their "assigned areas", and if they do, they are cursed to die in a hundred years.

(the relative timespan of a human, basically.)

Eirairr was born into that, lived for a very long time, and then decided to leave. When he left, as part of the Curse, he was given knowledge of the modern world, clothes and a weapon, and basically told; "Good luck."

alright that's all from me :D did lots of tumblr today, lots of writing, very productive day today :DDDD and i have work tomorrow aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh not excited

ok bye

lol

Character Themes: Lucky Seven

Since I made a post about music the other day, I thought I'd make a small post talking about the playlists i have for each member of Lucky Seven.

inspired by the scariest words my dm has ever said to me and the subsequent coolest (AND SCARIEST) scene of my life

ROAW Stuff - Weekly Writing Post #2

Hello, and welcome to my second weekly post ^.^

Like I promised at the end of my last weekly post, in this one I have a few topics to cover. This might be a bit of a long one! :D

Topics covered: Twin Feathers, Towns and Cities, The Afterlife

On that end, let's start with the members of Twin Feathers, the rival adventuring party that the members of Lucky Seven meet and become so inseparable from.

Eirairr

Eirairr is an interesting one-- he's a full elf, but due to his many long years of isolation he's incredibly eccentric. His personality changes on a dime, he is very much a person that takes from other peoples personalities and tries to mimic them if he thinks they're "cool" or "funny". Despite his weirdness, he's dependable when it counts. He's a good friend, and loyal-- even if he IS a bit immature and annoying at times. (and almost incapable of taking anything seriously) He is definitely the most childish out of the six.

Some of my favorite Eirairr scenes are when he's acting like a total nutcase, and then Qlul joins in because he's a bubbly, energetic birb.

Qlul

Speaking of Qlul, let's talk about him next! The resident birdfolk healer of Twin Feathers, he shares a few similarities with Eirairr. Namely, he's awful with directions, is far too energetic and happy, (although honestly, you can never be TOO happy) and has a problem taking most things seriously. His serious side does come out more often than Eirairr's. All in all, Qlul is a very empathetic person who cares deeply for his friends and the general well-being of those around him. He's dependable when it counts.

Contrasting Ecirr, he's an eagle-like birdfolk with white/brown plumage. (although honestly, i always see him as pretty much completely white)

(and he's dating Ecirr)

Ecirr

Ecirr is the closest thing to a leader Twin Feathers has-- stoic, stubborn, and serious, maybe a bit arrogant. He (also a birdfolk, but raven-like in appearance) and Qlul grew up together as close friends. They attended a prestigious university in Kaarda, then headed to Kommodia to become adventurers-- and see the world. I'd say Ecirr and Qlul are both of above average intelligence, but you wouldn't really guess it with how Qlul acts.

He has a good heart, if a short temper. He's the kind of person who won't say anything if he sees other people doing something wrong, until they notice. This tends to result in Twin Feathers getting very lost in the middle of nowhere for days on end. (and arguing alot)

Honestly, it's a miracle their party works at all. It's thanks to that when it really comes down to it, all of them can really "get their head in the game" so to speak.

Final Words on Twin Feathers

Before we move onto the next topic, I just wanted to say that I really love Twin Feathers. They give a much needed "happy" vibe to the world when they're around. They're the kinds of people that when you're around them, you can't help but smile, even if they're acting utterly ridiculous.

It may not seem it, but these three silly guys have a huge part to play in the overarching story. Without saying too much, there's a certain part where their lives (Taka, Beriyl, Arthur's) would have taken a very dark turn had they not been able to intervene/had they never met one another.

What is a "starting town"?

This will be a relatively short explanation, and I started thinking about it because I watched a scene from the new Sword Art Online Aincrad movie, (which i still need to watch, really want to) and i was like hmm... Why do I call Leln a "starting town"?

(anyway, i think that's why this came to mind)

Anyway...

In the first chapter of my book, I describe Leln as a "beginners town" or something to that effect. The reason is relatively simple:

In the world of commercialized adventuring, where everyone wants to do it and tons of people *are* doing it, it's a very lucrative business.

Leln is situated in the perfect part of the world where new adventurers can get the hang of things, do a few jobs, figure stuff out, all that good stuff. Leln is smaller than most cities, it *is* a town, after all. (I think with something like less than 20,000 people living there, probably in the 5,000-10,000 range. Compare this to the capital city which is like 300,000 or more? So...)

(the numbers aren't exact, i have them written somewhere but i'm too lazy to pull them up rn)

Basically: Leln is relatively safe. The goblins in the area are culled regularly by government-sent high ranking adventurers who can be trusted to do the job and do it right. (This, of course, is standard procedure and happens in Hamelan Territory, too. Hamelan is actually very safe, the towns outside Hamelan's walls pay a tax to the royal family to be under their knights protection, so pretty much everyone up there is relatively safe)

Back to Leln: There aren't too many caves or dungeons nearby, and given that it's a small town, the "risk level" of jobs at the Guild are, naturally, much lower than the ones you might see in a sprawling city like Hamelan (the capital). or even Demarcos (a coastal city) idk if that makes any sense.

tldr: leln calm area of the world, other places not so much, but still safe enough. leln good for new adventurer, other places ok too, but leln is the most popular destination (and also the one the *MAIN* Advent Route has carriage's go to!)

And finally... Let's talk about The Afterlife

First, there are a few things I think it's important to understand about the world before I delve fully into what awaits people after death.

In the world of Tamalnh, the Gods tend to not intervene. They do exist, but a very long time ago, they swore to not intervene in the world any more than absolutely necessary to ensure it's survival. (As the Gods are omnipotent, they'd step in if a world-ending threat were to crop up, but as long as 50% of the world remains safe they won't intervene. To reiterate, if a threat capable of killing more than 50% of the worlds population arose, they would step in and destroy it to save their world, and their creations.)

Here are some fun bullet points:

When you die, there's a short period of time as your soul leaves the Mortal Realm, ascending to the Judging Realms for the "Will of the Gods" to, for lack of a better word, judge you for your actions and intents in life. When a soul has reached the Judging Realms, it can not be brought back into the body it was from- ergo, resurrection magic only works within a short window (and it's very, very hard to pull off. I will talk about healing magic, magic in general most likely, churches and resurrection magic/etc in a later post. I also want to talk about "Wills" as that is very important to my world.)

The "window" shortens or lengthens based on the individuals will/desire to live, how much they have left undone. I think the longest time a soul could stay tethered to it's vessel would be 8-10 hours. It's usually a pretty short process of a few hours, although theoretically the most strong willed of people could stay tethered for a day or two, i suppose.

You are not conscious as your soul ascends, and as souls cannot be pulled from the Judging Realms or the Afterlife itself, no memory of the "in-between period" remains, hence nobody knows the afterlife exists.

However, there are some practitioners of specialized magic known as Soul Diviners/Spiritual Diviners/whatever u wanna call em. These people serve two purposes: They can read your soul and tell you your fortune, like a palm-reader, or they can tell you the color of your soul. The color of one's magic is tied to the soul, so the proof of a soul, magic that interacts with a soul, and some other phenomenon prove that souls exist (and hence, the afterlife.) Also, Ghosts, Revenants, Wraiths, etc, exist.

The Gods believe that Soul Erasure is the worst "crime" one could ever inflict on another (apart from the act of killing someone to begin with, I wager. Although they aren't going to condemn you to eternal torment for killing in self defense like Arthur has/does, it's circumstantial.), as life does not end in death, it only begins. Your eternity begins in death, an eternity of doing whatever you wish for as long as you wish, with the ability to sleep, be intimate, read, write, do whatever you like-- forever. Taking that away from someone, taking life away from someone is something the Gods can not condone. Even the worst of criminals aren't subjected to the erasure of their soul, and only one in history was ever punished in a way even slightly reminiscent to that-- they were put permanently to sleep. They still exist, technically, but are unable to experience the afterlife, as they are asleep. Forever. Fun little loophole for the Gods, I say.

If a person dies before the age of 15 (or was it 20-25, i dont remember), when their soul is "completed", they are given a second chance and allowed to reincarnate. They lose the memories of their past life. Similarly, the two examples of isekai'ed people (Rend, Arthur's childhood friend, and Lelnas, the legendary hero. fwiw, this will never be brought up in my book, so it's not a spoiler at all) lost their memories of their time in their original worlds. For the most part, generally people who are murdered or lose their "remaining/full life" in some unfortunate way are granted a second chance if they wish to take it, a chance to reincarnate. Their soul and personality would remain the same as they're still the same consciousness/person but in a different body, going through different circumstances. You know how every person you know kind of has their own "feeling" to them? It would be like if one person you knew died, and you met another who had the same "feeling". That's how you'd know someone you cared about had reincarnated.

Closing notes:

I'm not really sure what i'll cover next, but i should still have a few things I can talk about that are general lore that wont be talked about in the main books and isnt a huge spoiler for anything. I might talk about the "Body of God" and the nature of reality and some other fun things. I think that'd fit in well to my long expo dump about magic in my next post :p

Unrelated: this song reminds me of taka, beriyl, and arthur's dynamic (and it reminds me of ecirr, qlul, and eirairr)

(the tone of the series changes alot with book 2 and i feel like this would fit as an anime ED showing the lighthearted moments of book 1 as a sort of parallel)

its a good song :D bye for now!