Category: Maereath

Free Eagle Studios, LLC
Maereath

Inside Destruction – Part Five – The World To Come.

Where do we go from here?
Where do we go from here?

Crosspost from ericmrozek.com.

Now that I’ve given you a sneak peek into the world of Maereath, it is time to announce where I am going to take you next as the adventure continues.

The Sequels

As I’ve mentioned in other areas of the Internet, I have outlined the full story of Helisah Almari from beginning to end and am currently working towards the completion of the project. Without spoiling too much, Destruction is an examination of the beginning of the war and the motives of our main cast, which is as fitting of a start as any for a new series of fantasy novels. That being said, the next stories will be a little bit different in nature.

We know our heroes and heroines. We know our main villain. Therefore, the sequels will take readers into a continuation of the war and an expansion of the mythology behind the world of Maereath.

The Anthology

I am also hard at work on a further expansion of the world through a series of shorter stories that show pivotal moments in the world of Maereath. Much like Destruction and its’ sequels, these works will usually follow a conflict within the world and the fallout from it. Unlike the war against Thrakoth, the stories may follow one or many different characters as they struggle through their own battles. Some of them will certainly be based around the battles of the time period, but others will be based around political intrigue and debate.

Due to their shorter length, these stories will be exclusively sold in digital format.

Do I Need To Read One Series To Understand The Other?

With a few exceptions, you will not have to worry about missing out on any content because the anthology and main series are related to, and not dependent upon one another. That being said, I want it to be rewarding for people to read both of them because you might see the ancestors of characters that you know or an explanation behind the ideas or sayings that are presented in passing in a particular story.

Release Schedule

I am intending to release these stories on an alternating basis between the anthology and sequels. At the moment, I am working on the first anthology story that will show the world of Maereath as it was about five hundred years before the events of Destruction. After that, the sequel to Destruction will move from its’ outline to the page.

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Free Eagle Studios, LLC
Maereath

Inside Destruction – Part Four – Support Is Everything.

Crosspost from ericmrozek.com.

Just as it is important to craft heroes that an audience can empathize with, it is crucial to construct a supporting cast of characters that are distinctive in their desires, motivations, and actions. Even if they are on the page for a few moments, a strong group of supporting characters can elevate a novel to the point where it feels like readers are taking a look into a different world. In Destruction, the many characters that Helisah and Aegras come across on their journey are tasked with a dual purpose, which can be explained in the following questions:

  • How do they make an impact on the story?
  • What do their interactions with Helisah and each other reveal about their personalities?

When I was writing this book, I wanted my supporting cast to answer both questions because it is a great way to make the world of Maereath feel big. While Helisah and Aegras are the most important characters to anyone that reads the book, the progress of invention, politics, and military strategy that is shown throughout the novel means that they are a crucial part of a larger story. Sometimes, they can set off into danger by themselves, but they usually find themselves in situations where they cannot walk alone. That is where a trio of characters matter the most.

Gialle, Duustan, and Fasti – Three Soldiers And A Very Messy War.

A beginning piece of artwork for the resistance fighters.
A beginning piece of artwork for the resistance fighters.

Gialle, Duustan, and Fasti are the most obvious examples of how the two questions that I referenced could be answered, especially since they effectively become main characters in the chapters that feature them. When Helisah first comes across them, the trio are largely business-oriented because of their military training and slightly differing attitudes towards outsiders. As the months pass, I made a larger point about their influence on the story because they open up and reveal themselves to be wise councilors, filthy-minded comedians, and strong warriors that are hell-bent on stopping Thrakoth. On top of that, these three characters introduce elements of specialization into the story in order to demonstrate the point that the world of Maereath is not a haven for superheroes. They know that Helisah and Aegras don’t know everything about the world, but even more importantly, they apply the same wisdom to themselves and let our main characters show their full potential when it is called for.

Helisah accepts that idea and look after them as well, revealing the humble and somewhat selfless side of their minds as the story presses onward. Even though she does not have a telepathic connection to them, our heroine develops a very strong reason to see them as a part of why she fights against the Telurian Empire, which allows her to become something more than she was at the start of her journey.

In the conclusion of this series on the novel, I will explore where the next steps for building out this universe.

To Be Concluded In Part Five.

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Free Eagle Studios, LLC
Maereath

Inside Destruction – Part Three – Brothers and Sisters.

Aegras is on the print copy, so look closely.
Aegras is on the print copy, so look closely.

Crosspost from ericmrozek.com.

The development of the main cast of Destruction came about from an effort to make the fantasy genre as accessible to the masses as humanly possible. While some of my reasoning for it may have been based around profitability, I think that one aspect of fantasy that puts people off of it is the fact that it is often based around an enormous main cast. For instance, I like Game of Thrones as a show, but it represents a prime example of a saga where a vast cast can be detrimental to the story. Some of the characters may be relatable to the audience because we spend a lot of time with them, but others are of questionable importance because they are given scant side stories or plots that are completely dropped out of nowhere.

When crafting Destruction, I felt that the best solution to get around this problem and bring in new fans would be to think small. I wanted to build a small, intimate, and very personal story that is based around a tight cast. Therefore, I developed the concept of a diary that dealt with the lives of our two main characters: Helisah and Aegras Almari.

Like almost every character, Helisah and Aegras emerged primarily from my desire to be challenged when it comes to writing a story, but that is not the only reason why they exist. Since Helisah is our point-of-view character, it made sense to me to develop their relationship as the cornerstone of the novel because we are often defined by our associations with family and friends in the real world. One such example that came to mind for me was how most people may bicker with their siblings, but you know that they will always care about one another through hell and high water. By taking that and mixing it up with a little bit of telepathy, I’d like to think that I created a fantasy version of something that is all too familiar in our day-to-day lives, which helps to reduce the need to suspend disbelief and enjoy the story. Now, as for the supporting cast, that is another story for another time…

To Be Continued in Part 4.

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Free Eagle Studios, LLC
Maereath

Inside Destruction – Part Two – Why Sauron, Why?

His will be done.
His will be done.

Crosspost from ericmrozek.com.

In almost every story that’s worth a damn, you need a bad guy to make bad things happen to the protagonists. Unfortunately, not every story creates a good reason for why the villain acts the way that they do. Some of these characters may be excused depending upon the genre, but it is often not acceptable for a fantasy story to create a villain like Sauron that only wants to conquer the world for, you know, reasons.

Why?

Larger-Than-Life Historical Villains Were Motivated By Something.

The ideas of this particular fool cast a long shadow over the 20th century.
The ideas of this particular fool cast a long shadow over the 20th century.

From the distant past to the present, each and every villain from history had an ideology that drove them to do what they did. It could have been money, power, hurting the other guy, destroying an enemy, or anything in between. Despite the fact that we now see them as evil, it’s important to remember that it wasn’t quite perceived that way back then. What could have possibly caused people to think like this?

It’s simple: Everyone is the hero of their own story.

Therefore, I thought it would be a good idea to develop the same type of concept for Thrakoth and his Empire because it would allow for an exploration of the nature of evil and would also present a variety of questions. Why did he not just manage his world and try to keep the peace with the Callistans and Fieans? Could there have been elements of magic that forced his hand? What were they, exactly?

Of course, you’ll have to read to find out. However, the most important thing about this particular story is not truly Thrakoth. It’s the heroes that oppose him.

To Be Continued in Part 3.

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Free Eagle Studios, LLC
Maereath

Inside Destruction – Part One – In The Beginning…

Resist or Die.
Resist or Die.

Crossposted from ericmrozek.com.

Now that Destruction has been released to the world, I thought I would take the time to remark on the project and how it came to be. The concept for this novel came about from a wide variety of sources that offered pieces of inspiration, ranging from related books and movies to readings about history to discussions with friends and family about said subjects. In the beginning of 2014, the story began to take form around the concept of a fantasy environment that was shown through the eyes of a single protagonist in the form of a diary. However, I wanted to do something different because I felt that sword-and-sorcery had become a bit too mundane, mainly because we see it everywhere we look in stories like Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings, and so on. Therefore, I had to consider other avenues that keep the same epic feel, but offer different elements that I can have fun with and that you can enjoy reading.

What About Gun And Sorcery?

WCTD
It’s as legendary a setting as you could ask for.

My initial thought about how to change things up would be to move it forward to a fantasy equivalent of the early modern era, which would allow it to be removed from the sword-and-sorcery staple by a sufficient degree. In addition, the telling of a story that would be set in a period from the English Civil War to the Industrial Revolution opened up a whole new set of ideas to play with. Over the course of my research and consideration about the novel, I began to think about the various trials, terrors, and triumphs that were developed in that era and found too many to list.

In my opinion, the 17th to 19th centuries are a gold mine for themes that allow a writer to deeply connect with the audience and build up a richly developed world. The period created the rise of the nation-state as we know it, but also brought about new moral questions with each and every war, colonial conquest, revolution, and new invention that came our way. Rather than focusing on one (and risking the wrath of an audience that thinks that I ripped off a history book), I decided to follow a more generalized approach that connected the sword-and-sorcery of old to this new world, namely…

The Clash Of Ideologies

Oh, France. You and your obsession with epic titti... er... I mean paintings.
Oh, France. You and your obsession with epic paintings.

The late 18th to mid 19th Century was my inevitable choice for a setting because it marked the perfect crossroads between the two genres. As the world developed in the shadow of the American and French Revolutions, it was a time when people began to question the traditions that had overrun the world up until then, especially with the clashes between the rising democracies that we know and the absolute monarchies that were still entrenched into positions of power in Europe. In an era with a magic all its’ own, I began to develop a world that is filled with fantasy elements that are new and old, but it soon coalesced around a villain that is known by the name of Thrakoth.

He’s powerful, he’s dangerous, and he has a plan…

To Be Continued in Part 2.

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