Falchion1984

Hello, my fellow deviants. Though I have only recently joined deviantART, I am astonished and overwhelmed at how warmly I have been recieved and how supportive those of you that have read my work have been. That is, however, NOT to say that you should stop of course. Anyhow, I would like to take this oppurtunity to outline my agenda, present and future, for my Side Stories. Keep in mind that the titles are tentative, I'm putting them out there to see if they sound good. If any of you have any questions, comments or concerns, please let me know and, once again, thank you for reading my fiction. Please, oh please, keep it up.

Okay, here we go. The following outlines my plan for Side Stories corresponding to Legends of Ghea Book 1: The Great War. (S) means Submitted, (P) means Pending.

Side Story 1 ‘A World in Peril, Heroes rise’ (S): A monologue by Macmael, Governor of Nubal and surrogate father to the main character Alexander, which describes Ghea's recent history. It tells of the downfall of Ghea's cities to the Dominion and of the Liberation of the Western Continent which takes place about one fifth of the way through the book.

Side Story 2 ‘A sword in one hand, ale in the other’ (S): A bit of banter with Shotglass, a bartender and veteran of the Nubalian Partisans, where he describes the world of Ghea. Shotglass relays many tales about the various cities, the five races, their rulers and, of course, their liquors.

Side Story 3 ‘Order dies, Wisdom fails, Hope survives’ (S): A flashback/reflection from Arjun, leader of the Order of Guardians, as he describes the origin of the terrible Dark Mage and the decimation of the Order. The perspective will alternate between the first person, when Arjun is explaining or reflecting, and the third person in which the reader sees the events play out.

Side Story 4 ‘Garden of Ashes’ (S): A falling action piece where Alexander, the leader of the nine heroes, reflects on his journey and how he and his companions have changed over that time. He will tell a few anecdotes of their adventures, tell about what he discovered about the Dark Mage and how these discoveries (and their implications) have led him and his companions to the realm of a near mythical race: the Avatars. He will also tell what little he knows about the Avatars and what he can see of their world, and how it is NOT what he expected.

Side Story 5 ‘Changing of the Guard’ (S): A reflection/foreshadowing piece in which Gatspy, a survivor of the Order of Guardians, reflects on the involvement of the nine heroes and the remnants of the Order in the Avatar Civil War. Gatspy will describe the battle, as he knows it, as well as the events immediately before and after, leading up to a confrontation on the planet Detulia against a Black Rose Super Weapon known as the Soul Crusher. Finally, he will both surprise the reader and offer a hint of things to come when he makes a surprising decision: that he and the other young Guardians will stay with the White Rose Clan, the Avatar faction that our heroes side with, and help them to find a new home world.

Interlude 1 ‘The Age of Miracles’ (S): A short story intended to cap off the Book 1 Side Stories. In this interlude, Arjun will be visiting the burial site of Tal Belenthrond, the Sage and Oracle who foresaw the beginning of the Great War and the appearance of the Nine Heroes. Arjun will reflect on the events of the Great War and of how, in the regained peace, the Five Races have followed the Nine Heroes’ example and have banded together for mutual defense and the shared task of reconstruction. And, more remarkable still, new Kingdoms have been discovered. As Arjun dubs it, this is The Age of Miracles.

Now, we move on to the Side Stories pertaining to The Legends of Ghea Book 2: Where Barriers Vanish. Again, (S) means Submitted, (P) means Pending.

Interlude 2 ‘Ships of the Line’ (S): This isn’t actually a story but an exhibition of the various ships used by the Earth Unified Republic (E.U.R). This prose will contain brief descriptions of the various fighters, warships and support craft used by the E.U.R as well as the origins of their names, and some are quite interesting.

Side Story 6 ‘First Contact’ (S): In this piece, the traveler (the reader) will meet with Admiral Sophia Chamberlain, Commanding Officer of the E.R.S Ark Royal and head of the Earth Unified Republic’s Expeditionary Force. Sophia will relay to the reader the origins and recent history of the Earth Unified Republic (E.U.R), its hostilities with the Andromeda Star League (A.S.L) and the events leading up to First Contact between Earth and Ghea. She will also admit that she shares the utter astonishment of the recent First Contact, the Gheans had long assumed Earth to be a myth and Ghea, to the E.U.R, is like a myth come to life.

Side Story 7 ‘Apocalypse and Her Horsemen’ (P): A narrative consisting of three monologues, one by Laura, one by Gatspy and one by Count Vulture, now provisionally made a Liaison between Ghea and the Ark Royal. In this piece, each will describe the events that have led them all to one, inescapable conclusion: war is once again upon us. The Black Rose Clan, the Avatar faction that gave the Dark Mage Lucifer his powers and with whom our heroes battled with near the end of Book 1, is back. Their new leader, Czarthra Mang, had dispatched the Five Horsemen. Their mission is to set the Black Rose Clan’s enemies at one another’s throats through a heinous campaign of espionage, deception and mass murder. Each will, at the end of their segments, talk about what little they know of the Horsemen’s identities and how this threat will be confronted. Vulture will also talk about his growing bond with Sophia who, to everyone’s surprise, pledges her support to the hunt for the Horsemen.

Side Story 8 ‘Across the Stars, Across Time, and Home Again’ (P): Alexander speaks once more with the traveler as the most critical time in the war arrives, and the moments leading up to it. As the hunt for the Horsemen draws to a close, Gatspy makes a terrible discovery: the Black Rose Clan intends to launch an all out invasion of Ghea. With some timely aid from the President of the E.U.R, Ghea’s population is evacuated, but the Black Rose Clan is relentless and merciless, as are their newfound friends: the Dark Elves. With Ghea in Black Rose hands, the Allies are splintered. The E.U.R and its newfound ally the A.S.L are cut off from one another by the Black Rose forces occupying Ghea and, worse still, the Gatspy and the young Guardians, along with the White Rose Clan and their Detulian allies, are trapped on the far side of the portal at Blackwater Spire. The Black Rose Clan wields the tactical initiative, the strategic advantage and superior firepower. But, the forces of good are not beaten yet. Alexander will describe, as well as these events, the plan for a daring assault to reclaim Ghea and drive out the Black Rose invaders.

Side Story 9 ‘Homecomings, The Razorthorn Address and New Threats’ (P): A four part narrative depicting the events following the counterattack on Ghea, codenamed Operation: Ghean Freedom. The first part will be a letter that a young Ghean soldier writes to his family, talking about the victory and the now strong friendship not only between the Five Races but between Ghea and Earth. The second will be a speech made the E.U.R President before the gates of Razorthorn, an ancient fortress which the Allied ground forces seized and defended against a massive Dark Elf assault. In terms of length and wording, it will be similar to the Pointe Du Hoc Address made by President Ronal Reagan on the fortieth anniversary of the D-Day Invasion of Normandy. The third part will be a conversation between Arjun and Githyan, a captured Dark Elf. During the clash between Arjun and the Dark Elf Lord Astaral, Astaral voiced that Czarthra Mang’s true designs yet remain hidden and Arjun intends to learn more. Finally, the last part will focus on Czarthra Mang himself as we learn that some of the finer points of his thinking and that his ‘war’ against the Allies was never meant to succeed. He, indeed, has a new and horrific design and one he will, gladly, sacrifice his entire race to fulfill.

In addition to these stories, I have also uploaded a four part fanfic for Fire Emblem Path of Radiance. It was an idea for an experiment that simply refused to go away. The tale is called Fire Emblem Path of Radiance: Divergence and is currently in my scraps section. It will be rotated into my main gallery once all the Side Stories are up. And, of course, all reviews are appreciated. Thanks for all you support.