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At The Bright Empire....
That's a bit of historical trivia, but there's nothing trivial about what happens to Kalla and Alexius in the latest update to EMPRESS OF THE DAWN III. It's actually been in the works for a long time, having first been referred to in HOMECOMING II back in 2005. But I still had to develop the actual story behind that cross-reference, and both the specific details and their context have changed as I worked on the Empress saga.
Now it's set in stone, so to speak (Today's update ends on a mini-cliffhanger, after Alexius' enhancement, but before the unanticipated consequences have to be dealt with.), the cross-references had to be updated in both HOMECOMING II and HOMECOMING III. Now if only Shadar and I can finish FIRST PROTECTOR, we'll be seeing more of Alexius....
www.brightempire.com/Empress-3.pdf
www,brightempire.com/Homecoming-2.pdf
www.brightempire.com/Homecoming-3.pdf
--Brantley Thompson Elkins
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One bit of serendipity was to turn Verina, first conceived as a throwaway player to tease readers as the first female lottery winner to have an encounter with Kalla, into a major player – you'll see just how major in Part Two, Chapter 10. She is part of the technological, political and social evolution of her world, and her engagement and wedding gave me a chance to dramatize all three.
Readers looking for fetish sex will find it in the same chapter, but soon realize that the very same political and social realities that bring fulfillment to Verina doom the love of Kalla and Alexius. And now the stage is set to jump ahead a few decades to the war with the Aureans and the Battle of the Triple Moons...
www.brightempire.com/Empress-3.pdf
I'd thought I was done with Shore Leave III, but readers thought the endgame was too sketchy and, looking back on it, I had to agree. So I've done my best to flesh it out, and yet also made it more complicated – with Klara, Alisa and Andrea playing an elaborate Machiavellian con on Frida, giving her the rope to hang herself in a more spectacular version of the grand climax at the stadium. The revision also ties up a few loose ends, and hints a bit more hopefully about things to come on Rostran.
www.brightempire.com/ShoreLeave3.htm
--Brantley Thompson Elkins
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--Brantley
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I couldn't cross-reference the events in SHORE LEAVE, from her relationship with Andre to her role in establishing a new order on Rostran because there was nothing to reference. I had to resort to a short retelling of what had happened that didn't really tell much. There was also the business of the Lost City of the Old Galactics at Cygnias 275, in which Andre almost died -- Tarot and I had correspondence about it ages ago, but never worked out the scenario, and yet it had to be alluded to in ENCOUNTER AT WESTFOLD.
But now SHORE LEAVE is finished, and I can cross-reference it in PASSION PLAY. And I have it in mind to write a shorter piece called "Intermission," which would deal with what happened at the Lost City, and give a look at how things have begun to settle down on Rostran because Alisa will have to bring Andre there for treatment – rejuvenating his body will be the easy part, but his mind is almost gone and they'll have to reconstruct his personality -- it will be like ging through a second childhood, and that will take some years, during which Alisa will be with the Survey Service visiting Domyr and perhaps other worlds. But she will also be pursuing the interest in the science of history she developed during the Rostran mission.
That's how I see things now, at any rate. Hope to have something to post in a few weeks, especially since FIRST PROTECTOR is still hanging fire.
--Brantley
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Right now, scenes that were originally intended to be part of the story are split between PASSION PLAY and OPTIONS, mostly because of the problem of working in references to SHORE LEAVE when I didn't know how that story was going to play out. I've already incorporated the OPTIONS scenes, with minor edits, into PASSION PLAY -- which, as I had originally intended, will lead up to Alisa's fateful meeting with Theel'dara. I've also changed first-person chapters into third-person; I can't remember why I went with first person to begin with, but it looks wrong now. The rite in which Lillith becomes a Protector will, instead, be part of another story.
Want to get at least half the new version ready to post on Memorial Day.
--Brantley
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Another version of this story was posted two years ago, but I was never satisfied with it because there was a missing chapter in her life: how she was changed by her experience on Rostran in Shore Leave. The first two parts of Shore Leave were written by Shadar and myself a dozen years ago, but the third part never got anywhere; Shadar seemed to have written himself into a corner, even with the help of several advisors/collaborators. What was worse from my point of view was that the story line had lost track with Alisa; it was full of complications, but those complications were irrelevant to what I saw as the true course of her life (It didn't help that Andre Kalik, her colleague and lover to be, had practically dropped out of the story.). It was only recently, with my own take on the conclusion of Shore Leave, that I felt I had a handle on Passion Play.
It was only last night, however, that I realized that the lead-in to Shore Leave – "Alisa's Story" – needed work. For one thing, there wasn't any mention of Andre in it, although it seemed from Shore Leave that he must have come aboard the Anders Flame at the same time as Alisa. I had to come up with a dodge, as you'll see. I also cut out some details I'd added to the AUOW version in 2005, having to do with Alisa being gloomy about dark energy and the death of the universe – they didn't seem to fit the overall story line. And, of course, in the AUOW version, Aureans had still been Arions...
Finally, there is a new version of "Options" – which was originally scenes arbitrarily left out of Passion Play. Now it is a series of short reflections on Alisa's family reunion on Velor at the time of her daughter Lillith's Rites as a Protector – and the interplay between her and others whose lives she has touched or been touched by, from Ben Shaffer to Theel'dara.
Today's update features only the first part of Passion Play; there is more to come. But I know where the story is going now, which wasn't the case a few months ago.
www.brightempire.com/Passion.htm
www.brightempire.com/ShoreLeave3.htm
www.brightempire.com/Alisa.pdf
www.brightempire.com/Options.htm
--Brantley Thompson Elkins
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--Brantley
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--Brantley
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--Brantley
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--Brantley
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From A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT (2004). This is the inspiration for an upcoming scene in PASSION PLAY where Alisa Liddell will be reunited with Andre Kalik, who, like the amnesiac WWI soldier in the movie, is destined to fall in love all over again with the woman who spent years searching for him after being told he was dead.
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www.brightempire.com/Passion.htm
Related to PASSION PLAY is "Moment of Truth." It began as a long scene Shadar wrote, also about ten years ago, in which Captain Peter Durgin catches up with Alisa's mother Naomi on Bering's World, and is trying to put the make on her. That scenario could no longer work, given what has happened with Durgin in the years since. But it occurred to me that it could be reimagined from Naomi's point of view, with her setting out to do a number on the now-discredited and desperate Durgin. Only she ends up taking pity on him, and the "out" she offers him ties in with "Blind Justice," a story by Shadar in which she played a role... I've also done some edits to PASSION PLAY itself to play down Durgin's excesses – there have been complaints that he was too idiotic to believe.
www.brightempire.com/Moment.htm
--Brantley Thompson Elkins
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www.brightempire.com/Moment.htm
PASSION PLAY once again continues today, with advice from Tarot Barnes on tweaking some details – but also taking unpleasant liberties with his alternate universe on the other side of the Lost City in Cygnias 275. It all has to do with what really traumatized Andre Kalik there. Chances are that Tarot will never write his own version of the story of Riantra and the Lost City, and certainly not in the context I imagine. It just popped into my head since the last update what would have driven Andre over the edge (now hinted at in tweaks to what has gone before), and why Jason would have to edit his memory in order to give him any hope of recovery. But I couldn't make the entire new chapter grim, which is why Andre's body memory comes into play – as an excuse for a sex scene, of course. Also today, a minor tweak to "Moment of Truth," but I'm sticking to the basic scenario there. Sorry about that, Tarot... and Shadar.
--Brantley Thompson Elkins
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www.brightempire.com/Passion.htm
--Brantley
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--Brantley
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AuGoose wrote: The volume of work is a little intimidating. Where should a completely new reader start, and is there any sort of wiki for the characters or setting elements if I just wanted to browse some articles about the world? What I've read has been good (excellent in fact), but I feel a little lost trying to understand the politics of the setting from a standing start.
That point has been brought forward many times by now: th AU is, quite possibly, the most developed ubergirl setting out there, but the mass is very daunting. So far I've tried many times to find a good starting point and I always failed. More of ten than not it feels like I'm trying to go into one of David Webber's novel from chapter 12 or so.
Unfortunately this makes me unable to properly comment on many of your work Brantley, except from a strinctly singular point of view. I can't say how well your changes fit with the rest of the narrative because I don't know enough about it.
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www.brightempire.com/au_history.htm
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Ordinary Velorians:
www.brightempire.com/ov_overview.htm
Alisa’s Story:
www.brightempire.com/Alisa.pdf
--Brantley
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Shore Leave, Parts One-Three:
www.brightempire.com/ShoreLeave1.htm
www.brightempire.com/ShoreLeave2.htm
www.brightempire.com/ShoreLeave3.htm
--Brantley
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Pictures of an Expedition:
www.brightempire.com/Pictures.html
Throne of the Gods:
www.brightempire.com/Throneofthegods.htm
--Brantley
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Options:
www.brightempire.com/Options.htm
Encounter at Westfold, Parts One and Two:
www.brightempire.com/Westfold.pdf
www.brightempire.com/Westfold-2.pdf
PASSION PLAY, now in progress, is an overview of her life, but also fills in some of the gaps between the other stories.
--Brantley
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--Brantley
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www.brightempire.com/SG-CBS.htm
A few other minor changes to PASSION PLAY and "Moment of Truth," as mentioned on the What's New page. And a reboot of a really old story (from way back in 2002), "You, and Each of You." which needed to be reformatted.
www.brightempire.com/You.htm
--Brantley
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