Yes, I finally made a page specially for my most successful fanfic. Because I wanted to, and because I love my own fanfic so much.
No, I don't mean like as in "oh, it's the most well-written thing in the world" kind of "like"; more like"writing this thing makes me feel soooo GOOD!" kind of "like".
Well, enjoy this random page. It's got stuff you wouldn't find anywhere else, specially for those who actually like it as much as I do.
a.k.a. what inspired this story?
Oh, the usual question. It's actually a lot easier for me to answer than usual.
It started with a single idea about writing a story about three warriors of the different classes. It popped into my head when I was in the car in Penang, Malaysia, going out for lunch. Random, yes--I was just pondering over the differences between the three classes and their strengths/weaknesses, when I just decided:
Why don't I write a story with three warriors as main characters?
[REALLY BAD SPOILER ALERT]
Why not make them three brothers who didn't know they were brothers until near the end of the story?
And they must be royalty. Ah, the royal family, which was split up at birth.
Yup, so Epic Thing--and Shirion, Ketara and Zethis--was born.
Of course, I had to add more people to the cast. Somehow or another, I got this inspiration when I got home and was lying on the bed:
...Let's have some siblings in it! I think there should be twins--twins are really cool. Twins with a creepy aura about them, who can see in the dark because they've lived there all their lives. And they must hate each other. AWESOME!
There you go--Turino and Telida.
Yes. Always like that. Once I start having a cast bigger than five, I imagine a party/guild forming.
Even a small one.
So I set myself a number for the members--let's make it a measly 10 because it proves just how awesome they are. And the leader has to be someone responsible. And responsible people tend to be female.
For some strange reason, as soon as I had a responsible person inside, I had to put in a troublemaker to balance things out. Better still, if it was her meddling little brother. Credit also goes to Fire Emblem: The Blazing Sword--this was directly inspired by Dart and Rebecca.
Yay, now I have seven members :D Let's find the last three.
Rule. Not option. RULE.
There is always a Cleric, Priest or Bishop in my chapterfics. It's something my stories cannot go without. And of course, with the idea of a light user comes the idea of purity. (Blame Fire Emblem!) And the image that was painted was that of an innocent little girl who is a little...girly.
She needed a mentor. No, scrap that--she had to be someone's apprentice/assistant/subordinate. And the only person who would have an apprentice/assistant/subordinate is someone really powerful and famous. Oh, and cool.
Cool. ICE/LIGHTNING ARCHMAGE! And the two of them will make the coolest superhero duo in teh wurldd!!!!
Okay no. But the idea of that "dynamic duo with awesome rapport" thing stuck. Thus Clynine and Lanoré were born. So I needed one more person--
Wait wait wait. Where's this whole story going??? These people don't have a purpose yet. So I decided to do up the storyline before creating the last character.
Here's where Deltora Quest comes in. And Kung Fu Panda. Sadly, I had recently read/watched these two things, and they both slipped into the storyline.
Plus, at that time, I was writing a really long fanfic about the four Job Masters, and I inadvertently made this piece a sequel of that one. The plotline painted itself quite easily from there, borrowing elements from both DQ and KFP. HAPPINESS :D embedded plots, ulterior motives, Chekhov's guns--lalala the usual!
[REALLY BAD SPOILER ALERT]
That's where I realised that my story doesn't have a "Chosen One".
In almost every story, there must be this "Chosen One" to deal the final blow and all--and in this story, I realised that none of my characters could do that. It had to be someone who had the spiritual strengh--born of pain, hope or otherwise--who could credibly do something so great.
Besides, I wanted someone to provide all the in-guild conflict. Other than the conflicting siblings, of course.
So the idea for Akera was born. Why not--a crazy, emotionally unstable Fire-Poison Mage who could burn things up with a single touch! And it had to be a child prodigy. Yes, child prodigies are cool. She also had to have a terrible past, and a terrible romantic life, because then, she'd feel all the worst pain in the world.
Great, so we have a bad-tempered person with a traumatic past to shake things up a bit.
The storyline became more complicated the longer it incubated in my brain. Before I began writing, the story had already lying around for about three months, so that gave me a lot of time to weave in all sorts of twists and Chekhov's Guns (yes, I'm loving that expression). And because of how long each chapter takes, I've gotten an entire year to add more twists.
So now it's really, really well-developed--and still being worked on. It's already mind-blowingly complicated, to me, and trust me that you won't be able to predict the ending. Yeah :D
Alright, on to the characters then. Thanks for the patience and time reading this!
The characters of Of the Dragon, of the Stars (titled Epic Thing in the drafts, and more commonly used by me for ease of use) have really grown on me. They started off as semi-conscious fragments of my own being and personality, and (as I began working on the story) grew to be extensions of myself in actuality.
I don't know how they're doing, in terms of reader impressions. But I do find that I am not fully conveying what I want to to my readers, and I am constantly working on the depth of my character descriptions in my writing. Hopefully, you will soon be able to see how much I love these people, who, in my mind's eye, actually live and breathe, and sometimes get tormented by me ;D
The usual cliched feature in any "for fans" page! These are some random things about my characters that I will willingly talk about in front of my readers. No worries, no spoilers here! I never give spoilers. Hah, just keep reading :D
Probably one of my favourite characters, in terms of writing about her, her emotions, her backstory. Also one of the characters you should like, if you want to enjoy this story. Don't worry, I'll try to make it easier to like her in future chapters. Let's see now...
She's bad-tempered. She's got white hair. She's probably the most mysterious person in Orion's Belt, except for the twins maybe. As in, no one knows anything about her. She will go through the most pain, turbulence and anger in the story, and most of her sadness goes unfulfilled. Told you, I really love writing about her, because there is so much potential emotional depth there.
She's really an unintentional extension of myself. She represents the dark side that emerges from me when I am in a bad mood--the merciless side that doesn't care for my offender's humanity anymore, and will do anything to feel my rightful vindication. Of course, just like her, I end up feeling horrible about what I did, after my anger has died down. She has got to be one of the most human, and most important, characters in my epic.
Keep that in mind.
The one word I can use to describe her is: girly. She's the simplified version of what I think is the quintessential GIRL--everything I am not. The only thing we share is our agreeability with friendly authority, and tendency to respect seniors.
I don't know--she was inspired by the various Healer archetypes I've seen around--from Fire Emblem, other MapleStory fanfics, and the basic characteristic of the pure soul (which I suppose is required for the handling of Light magic).
I needed a Cleric, because the healer line is my third favourite job line in Maple--and I haven't written a single Maple chapterfic without a healer in it. So here she is. She's relatively important, later in the story. And at least she gives Zethis a fellow submissive, quiet companion.
Basically my personal manifestation in the story--he's everything like me! Also my own favourite character overall (AND HE'D BETTER BE YOURS TOO!! jkjk), he becomes really important later on. Plus you will find that I'll work on his personality and storyline significantly more than everyone else--so if he's your favourite, good for you :D
He's indescribable, to me. He's also the things I wish I could be, but know I never will. Loved by everyone, for example. And never upset--it's an ideal that I have almost managed to achieve. To me, Ketara is also the manifestation of my dreams and loves--(haha, never seen so much put into one character, hm?) and the person I want to be.
No, I'm really not anything in the looks department. And it isn't one of my wishes anyway. I just decided to do it, since he's my favourite character. It rocks to be your creator's favourite, doesn't it?
My definition of cool ;D She is what I call pro, godly and perfect. Because that's what she's supposed to be. She's the only person capable of getting out of the crises I put her into. That's how wonderful she is. She is actually part of the "pro" archetype that I have also constructed in most of my stories--you will find that there will always be one person way more powerful than the rest, whom you can count on to get you out of any situation.
And of course, the only personality befitting of such a person would be one that is eternally unfazed, and really above caring too much about mortal situations--because she always gets out of them anyway, somehow.
And it is always my belief that such a person needs an assistant--just to prove her pro-ness. So I gave her Clynine. But Clynine actually ends up being very helpful and important to her, too--in fact, I suspect that if any crazy supergiant-manga fans came into the Maple fandom and read this, these two would be the first they'd suspect are in a homosexual relationship (ahhh!! Touch wood touch wood DON'T KILL ME LANORÉ).
So yes...Lanoré is Lanoré the perfect. And I really can't stand that "é" in her name; it causes a lot of trouble when typing in internet fields.
This you see here is me channeling my inner "big sis". I have no idea--I'm the eldest in a family of five children--and yet I am absolutely not the most mature. In fact, the second eldest is the most teenager-like, and the most responsible. I'm good for making messes, that's all :D
But I digress. Ralinn, to me, is what I'm supposed to be. What people expect me to be, but I will never be. Sometimes, I wonder how it's like to be a responsible, perfectionist person like her--and I can only experience that through my fantasies, I guess. That's why I created her--for this experience.
Personally, I think she was the only personality type capable of handling the job of my guild master (called the "guild leader" in OTDOTS). And in certain ways, she's still like me--she couldn't really handle her own life, before she became the leader, just the way I am now.
Only difference is that she really did have an inner leader in her, and she managed to bring that out for her guild. I see no leader in myself :D
Yup, so that's her--another person I think I'll never be. But I don't really want to be like that anyway.
Totally my sister. Not the one I mentioned just now; the third child in the family. She's everything he is--annoying, selfish, obnoxious--but there when you need someone to chill out with. Raydan responds to everything the way my sister does, and he's really completely based on her--right down to his bowman first job.
This is one character I tend to hate from time to time. He annoys me in ways I really cannot comprehend (wow, I created someone that annoys me!), and I don't really like writing about him. I really just leave him with the usual minor roles, including annoying the -bleep- out of everyone, and doing the (often rather accurate) matchmaking in the guild. And of course, he always brings the chips.
At least he's useful for that. It's exactly what my sister would do too :D
Well, Shirion--made to be boring. No other way to put it. I just needed someone like him in here, to balance out the weird people. There's always going to be people who are always in the background, and get unnoticed because they are so yawn-able. He's one of those.
But he also plays the role of keeping things in order. Orion's Belt is never going to survive without him (and Ralinn) keeping people on track. Other than that, I do believe my only purpose for putting him in was 1) to have all three warrior classes in there (I find crusaders rather boring, sorry) and 2) to make the number of ten.
Oops! Well, he's found his own way into the story, anyway--so he's irremovable now. He's at the centre of a few story webs, which would tear if he were gone.
In a way, she's my physical manifestation in the story. She's got a longer version of my hair. Her name has the same first two letters as mine (they're both HORRIBLE names). And she's got the same opinions as me--we hate males because they're so proud, and think themselves superior xD
She and her brother--they're probably the pair of siblings that I've worked the hardest on, ever. I'm proud of them too--never loved a pair of siblings as much as these two (even you, Karel an Karla! Haha digress).
She represents myself before I became the happy person I am now. Your personality in your preteens tends to be different from that of your teenage years: I myself used to be gloomy and antisocial, and used to draw away from everyone else because I didn't trust them. Hence I understand what she's feeling, in a way.
Oh, and the love for bloody scenes. That's me too.
He's cool. Inspired most by all the emo people in my life, as well as the emo side of myself. Very much like how Telida began--plus I simply had to give her a sibling to be rivals with. And the misunderstanding--haha, more necessity. Emo people HAVE to be misunderstood. It's their function in society :D
Turino is probably my favourite in the story after Ketara, in terms of how much effort I put into characterising him/her. Hence I also gave him the coolest appearance and hair and clothes in the guild.
He's absolutely the person who should be your favourite character now, if not Ketara. He's got a really, really important role in the story. Hint!
Well, if you don't like him, it's perfectly fine. He's really just a narrative tool, so I have someone whose eyes to look through, if I want as objective a point-of-view as I can get. He, like Shirion, is somewhat to make up the number, balance the personalities, and give me three warriors.
But like Shirion also, he has woven his way inextricably into the heart of the story, so the storyline can't do without him.
I know I speak of some people (like Zethis) as if they're useless--but it's just that they aren't as significant as the others. They do have a purpose, definitely--just of varying significance. Zethis is one of the more backstage people.
