"I wanted Shadow Genesis to have a bit of a 'Beginning Feel' as to how the realm of Shadara, originally Shadowrealm in the first novel, was created. Being one raised under multiple spiritual and religious beliefs, I turned to Genesis I for inspiration. I am spiritual by default, but I also respect others sense of faith."
Sometime back (this old blog post) I revealed the prologue to 'Shadow Genesis: Inception' as a means to further explain my aim to relate the title and its events with the creation of Shadara itself and what is to come through the series. Pulling from the 'Greatest Book of all books', I discovered how much my work clicks with Genesis I in the bible, and how the creator brought our world into existence. What better way than telling the world through others?
Take Elder Scrolls for example. In game books provide various lore written by other entities in the world of Nirn for the player to discover and immerse themselves in. The player gets a better feel for the Elder Scrolls universe and its 'life'... catch my drift without further gamer elaboration?
Without further explanation, check out my newly revised opening to Inception. I took the 'Prologue' tag off (after much contemplation and advice from others) and made it an nice excerpt written by one of Shadara's inhabitants.
Conceived in His Name
From Darkness to light,
births first twilight. It breaks, shimmers, to scatter endless
brilliance. To conceive twilight’s dark, the infinite of stars.
Betwixt its cradle luster, our home is born.
By breath of its maker,
who roams still its watery wake, he deems his creation forever in
essence, to live endless amidst its cradle of stars.
He blankets the night
sky with Eos veil, and from his finger, the light of Luna. The maker
saw his work with please, and he divides Luna from eternal night.
Where night stirs beneath Luna’s spark, darkness stirs even, while
Luna’s light breaks darkness to dawn.
The maker deems this so
with please, then parts its watery seas, and within its airy gap
arise land. The maker molds and erects this land; its waters recede
and gather. Now land exists with sea, and the maker is pleased. He
waves his hand across barren land, sprout from voiceless call. In
comes the flora of life.
Our home sprouts
vegetation, from the smallest of plants to the greatest of trees. All
bestowed by the will of its maker, who steadies his work with please.
Then the maker waves his
hand once more, and from flora comes our world’s wilds, creatures
of land, sky, and sea. The maker saw this with please, but his
creation respires incomplete.
From the core of his
being, the maker’s flesh, the essence of life, is harvest. He waves
his hand once more, and the flesh of his being seeds our home. Flesh
becomes sentient, and with the wild and its creatures lives the first
of his image. The maker saw this with please, and so the firsts shall
rule over all creatures of land, sky, and sea.
The firsts shall soften
our home with great diversity, to swell great and plenty. As the
maker saw this too with please, he brings forth his last creations,
the heart of the world, and its kin.
From the realm’s heart
surface the true kind, kindred of the crux and overseers of our home
and all that is existing. He gives them a name, “Elementai,” and
all of the names of the firsts who now roam. He names our world’s
crux after his own, and all that is edible theirs to consume.
Then the maker said to
them. “I, Umbra Divinius of Dark, give you the world, the beloved
nightrealm of Shadara, made in my image, and forever in darks
twilight. Embrace its creation, and rule its eternal course. Know its
creatures, the mass of Shadaran kind, and guard its crux that beats
beneath its earth, for it is the reason of your existence, the life
core of all that is my creation. Know the passage of time, guided by
night’s Luna, and all its periods and recess.”
The elementai and the
firsts of Shadaran kind follow his words, and with the last of his
breath, he ignites the world. From the center of its core light rises
and lives. Kindling every plant, stone, and creature of chosen.
The realm of Shadara
illumes with life, as light and dark lives in harmony. The maker saw
his creation complete, while into the twilight’s dark he ebbs with
please.
-Ty’Ka Tikhal
(Shadara’s Genesis:
First Creed)
Though Shadow Genesis Volume One: Preludes of War is out... and been out since 2010, I still suggest checking it out, as well as staying up to date on the coming of its reboot. I have been taking a good break before working on its 3rd draft while also checking out different publishing options both traditional and indie. Leaning forward towards Book Baby for that one, but then there is this interesting site called JukePop I have discovered through a fellow author name Joan Albright. I recommend checking her out!
And now I go back to note taking without OneNote, working with Evernote, and getting my gamer fix on... among other things.
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