The Origin of Trolls and Barbarians

Swords of Fire: Traitor makes mention of Trolls and Barbarians. They become important again in Book IV, which currently has no working title. I thought I would give a short background where Trolls and Barbarians came from.

After The Great War, which nearly destroyed The Great Sea, the Children of Fire were bound to repair as much damage as they could. Part of this restoration process involved close interaction with the Free Peoples, of which there were five: Figgits, Dwarfs, Men, Pennans, and Nomads. The Pennan and Nomad numbers were few, but the other races still existed in huge numbers. This was especially so with the race of Men.

In order to facilitate interaction between the Free People and the Children of Fire, certain members of the Children of Fire took on mortal form, meaning they would share the fate of whichever race they chose to emulate. They were granted long lifespans, but ultimately they would die. Lacking anything creative, the Free People called these Mortals.

Unfortunately, Zenophone encouraged a good number of his followers to also take on mortal form. These did not act in accordance with the rules set forth by the High King. Instead, they used their superior strength to overcome those they were to help and set up kingdoms. Hence they were called Overlords.

The Overlords went further than just seek dominion. They forced members of the races to become to become concubines and sexual slaves. The children born to these unions were deformed in varying degrees. They were known as The Accursed Races.

Accursed Races:

• Goblins: from Figgits
• Gnomes: from Dwarfs
• Barbarians: from Men
• Gargoyles: from Pennans
• Renegades: from Nomads

The Free People shunned these offspring, creating a population of outcasts who learned to hate those who blamed them without cause. Many were hunted and killed. All were tormented to one degree or another. And when the Overlords began dying (or being killed), the surviving mothers took their children to the mountains to hide. And there, in the mountains, in order to fulfill the maturing desires of their sons, mothers committed unthinkable acts. The children from these unions became even more deformed than their fathers, and were shunned even by the outcasts. In time they became known as Trolls.

Trolls from Renegades were the largest. Next in size were Trolls from Barbarians. These are the Trolls of Swords of Fire: Traitor.

Sick? Yeah. It is. That's the point. People - any people - are capable of incredible acts when put in certain circumstances. The harder we deny this, the more likely we would be victims.

Hawnka

I haven't written a lot about Old Hawnka. She's a character from Swords of Fire: Traitor. A significant character, even if she is a minor character.

Hawnka is Unaligned. This was the unfortunate fate of everyone known - or suspected to be - conceived out of wedlock. Bastards.

The first Unaligned was Tarska, born to Ashamada and Truschk in the 68th year of the Compound. Ashamada's mother was Alahnta, who was currently the Crops Soveriegn, and who would eventually become Head-of-Family. Alahnta was a hard woman and shamed by her daughter's behavior. She used her influence to prevent Tarska from being assigned membership in the Crops Line. Little did she understand that in punishing her daughter, she was not only also punishing her grandson, but all such children thereafter. In fact, many children born within the rules of family law would also be punished, for no child of an Unaligned could be anything but Unaligned. This made the Unaligned the fastest growing of all "lines", and by the time of Khirsha, the fifth most populous.

I like Hawnka. There isn't much I can say about her here because most of it is going to be revealed in the Saga. Suffice to say that she is very wise, and that she has access to things most of the family can't even dream about.

Most of The Archives are handwritten documents dating back thirty years or more. This is a problem in some cases as humidity has caused some of the writing to fade and/or wash away. Such is the case with the story of Massimo and Elva, who are the parents of the Elven Race.

Massimo was a Nomad and Elva a Pennan.

Here is part of the original version of The Story of Massimo and Elva. I believe it was written in the early 1980s.

Massimo took aim at the hart as it moved throug the trees. The distance was far, but not so great that he still could not reach it with his hunting bow. But just before he let his arrow fly the hart started and then took off.

Keeping his head, Massimo adjusted his aim quickly and left loose his arrow. It flew perfectly and struck the deer, piercing its heart and bringing it down. Massimo hurried forward to where it had fallen and began the task of dressing it out. Its weight was very near his own and to the tribe would be thankful. There would be meat for all. And the hide would serve as clothing.

But Massimo did not discard his own senses as he labored. Something had startled the hart. What was it? He was aware of nothing. Still, the hart's senses were keener.

He suddenly stopped and stood to his feet, drawing the sword from his back. He was aware of movement. several creatures had formed a ring and were now closing it in. But of what sort were they? Wolves? Unlikely. They would be quiet. Most likely they were men. And so he would need defend his kill.

Fortunately, he knew himself to be an excellent warrior, and so he was only a little afraid. He was, in fact, the best warrior and hunstman in the tribe. That was why he had made the journey so far from camp to find meat. He was the tribe's main provider. Still, it would be comforting now to have one or two other members at hand to give him aid.

That's the first page. There are seven pages written in this notebook. What I note about the style is that I still have a tendency to write rough drafts in this manner. It makes for a lot of work during the edit stage.

I never finished writing the story of Massimo and Elva. It was told orally to a friend of mine, who mostly enjoyed it. It's one of the things I need to get to once the Saga itself is published.

The Roots are Still in Tact

The original Swords of Fire is gone, I believe. The map is gone, and so are the chapters. Even the subsequent efforts are lost.

There is a memory I can faintly draw upon in which I was reading portions to co-workers at Cicero's Pizza, where I worked. The owner used the old-style theatre organs as the gimic to draw people in. The truth was, the food wasn't that great. Pasta was good, though. Ummm.

The story originally began much, much later than the current version. Hundreds of years later, and on a different world. When I went through The Archives this week I found several notebooks and loose sheets of paper dealing with this now abandoned effort. My writing back then was so bad, but many elements of the style remain. Not sure if I should be concerned about that or not. Here is a small blurb which may have been part of the original beginning. I mean original, and not just the start of the first finished effort. But notice the similarities.

Khirsha stepped lightly down the path. Using the training he had received not a noise could be heard (except, perhaps, by a trained ear). Even so, he ws moving quickly. Voices could be heard up the path and over the hill and he quickened his pace.

"Hoy, Khirsha!" called out Jasem, one of Khirsha's longtime friends who stood talking to Dregel, the third member of their threesome.

"You two could be heard all the way to Sarah," scolded Khirsha, lightly.

"Oh, come!" argued Dregel. "I hardly think so. But why bother? We're well out of town. Who's there to hear?"

"I shouldn't let the Teacher hear if I were you," said Khirsha with a laugh, and Dregel and Jasem laughed, too.

"Come," said Jasem. "Let us be going or the Teacher will be mad because we're late."

The Teacher was an aged elf who had shown up at their village just a few years earlier (as years were reckoned among Elves). Khirsha and his friends were Elves themsleves, of course, as was teh entire village of -

That's how it ends. I really did write a dash. This, I'm mostly sure, is how The White King of Ladondo began. The White King of Ladondo. That was the original Book I. I like the name, and if possible intend to incorporate elements of this story into some future work.

What I find interesting is that I kept the name "Khirsha". This Khirsha, however, was younger than the one who is now the main character in Traitor, the new Book I. The other names go away. There was a reason for using them, but I just checked and see that they are not even part of the list of thousands.

The concept of a Teacher remains, although it does not present itself in Traitor. It will in Book III. The following page contains some notes, and then there is some kind of prologue in which the name "Kesso" appears. I must have liked the name, because I use a variation of it for one of the important Saga Characters: Kelso.

The original plot dealt with the missing heir of King Fernando. (I chose the name because Fernando means "world traveler".) Shatahar (he was a Warlord from the beginning) wishes to finish his destruction of the Elves' royalty. He currently rules over the Kingdom of Ladondo in the north, tucked in the midst of three mountain ranges. He has an ice palace in the north. Very cliche stuff, I guess. He was known as "The White King".

You know, as I peruse this notebook, I'm finding an extended version of the beginning. There are no less than thirty-two pages of handwritten text. Maybe the original writings survived after all. The map is gone. Of that I have no doubts. It's too big to be hidden away.

What I enjoy about having kept all of this is that it gives me the ability to return to the past and see how the Saga evolved. Some things I have forgotten. Also, it exposes my growth as a writer. I see some bad habits no longer exist. That is encouraging.

I wonder how many writers keep their old stuff. I would expect a lot. But it's fun