Thursday, November 1, 2007

Preface to the Fall of Daltarus

So here is my "blurb" as promised. I was thinking of using this simply as a introduction and preface to what will be my epic poem, telling the tale of this battle. Its basic purpose is simply to set the stage, and inform the reader of the events that lead to this point.

***

The 5th century, the Age of Nations:
The world of Tandara is inhabited by eleven separate nations. There has been a state of unrest since the appearance of a magical relic known as the Bracer of Shadows, a weapon that granted the bearer immense physical power. The bracer feeds off of the rage and anger of its host, which can then activate a state called the 'shadow phase' which can border upon invincibility. Unfortunately, this state quickly saps the bearer's willpower gradually causing him to lose his mind and become a slave to the magic of the Bracer. Essentially this weapon was created to wreak mass havoc upon the world of men by praying upon their natural pride and lust for power. With this great power loose in the world, it was not long before all of Tandara was swept up in a massive war. A was that became known as the War for Raelia, for it was the nation of Raelia that currently possessed the Bracer. This nation's ruler, Lord Arion would lead his forces along with those of his allies, Galdaria, and the Tribe of the Yellow Ax, into battle against all eight of the other nations, led by Lord Varcos of Krondar. Each of these nations entered the war with their own motives, but ultimately they all desired that the Bracer be removed from Raelian hands.

Thanks to the efforts of his father, the previous lord, who journeyed to the Far Side of the world to gain answers concerning the Bracer, Arion bears it into battle knowing full well how to destroy it. The Bracer can only be destroyed by the blade of the one who wears it, but in doing this, he will perish. So Arion now struggles with his own desires for what he believes to be the power to protect his people. Varcos also wrestles with his own thoughts as to whether or not he is right to destroy Raelia in his quest for justice and peace, for his mind has been heavily swayed by the deceptions of Father Sartanus of the Clan, who is in league with the mystical creators of the Bracer and therefore is also bent on the destruction of humankind.

As it stands, the forces of the Krondar-led Alliance stand ready to lay siege to the Raelian capital city of Daltarus, wherein Arion prepares both his Raelians and the Tribesmen who, being heavily outnumbered, can only hope to hold out long enough for the reinforcements of the Galdarian navy to arrive.

***

If you have any questions, just ask, I'll be happy to answer, and comments/criticisms are of course more than welcome. I'd like to see if this is enough to inform and audience of what's going on without confusing them.

4 comments:

Ian Rosenbaum said...

I think the blurb is very good. Since you must have so much more backstory on all of these characters it's impressive that you could distill it to this.

Question of mere curiosity: what fantasy influences did you draw from in creating this? There's some LOTR of course but what else? (for example, does Krondar come from Feist's Krondor?)

Dr. Robbins said...

This is great! May I ask the significance of the bracer being a kind of wrist protection armor? Why is this the magical object? I like that it's not the usual amulet/ring sort of thing, but how are you thinking about it? How are you ensuring that your readers "get" the danger of it such that our hearts will pound wondering what will happen?

Dan said...

to respond to ian, i don't really have any particular influences that i'm consciously drawing from, in fact in a lot of ways i'm making decided efforts to divert from the things i know so as to not be obviously copying from. but inevitably a good amount of tolkienisms come out no matter what, but i'm unacquainted with the one you mentioned. it's actually kind of strange that i keep finding things from other places that use the same names that i do, when i had thought they were original, oh well. then in response to dr. robbins, i actually haven't really thought about that to be honest. i had just kind of decided to use the bracer, again, as more of a departure from existing things than anything else. so now that you mention it i will put some thought into that.

Margaret said...

Dang, dude.