Interlude

Interlude – Dinner (Among Other Things)

“I believe you,” Reese said, slotting her declaration forcefully into the silence left while Yuri gathered her thoughts. “Stop picking at split ends you don’t have,” she continued. “I mean it, chicka, relax. I believe you.”
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Some Notes on Names

In hopes of providing entertainment between story posts, I’ve decided to make Wednesday “Extras Day.” (I know my first extras post was on a Thursday… shhhh… ;) I asked a few friends what they might like to see, and I got some really helpful suggestions, including the topic for today’s post.

I’ve put a lot of love and effort into making the world of Adan as real a place as I possibly can so that the characters have a rich setting in which to roam free. A lot of the things I’ve hammered out exist in the form of notes for my own reference which I can go back to periodically to make sure elements that show up in the story are consistent with each other. Unfortunately, it’s highly doubtful that Yuri (and therefor the narrative) will ever have any reason to learn most of these things. However, given the nature of this site, I can share some of it with you guys. None of this is necessary to understanding the story (hopefully; if it is, it will theoretically appear in the story itself), but it might be interesting to know or discuss.

One of the things that I’ve given a lot of thought to is names in Adani culture. A person’s name can give a lot of clues about their family and where they come from. For example: Ro sa’Surlan and Len sa’Vienne. Both of these names reflect a very common naming convention which has its roots in Adani’s pre-Illustran feudal period: their surnames denote where they were born. The prefix “sa” would roughly translate to “from” or “of,” and it tells anyone introduced to them that Ro and Len are from the provinces of Surlan and Vienne respectively. In some cases, depending on the area, the surname may reflect a province, a town, or a local district. Most people also have names that we would associate with family names, and these often (but not always) make use of the prefixes “din” and “dor” (son [of] and daughter [of]). However, unless your family lineage has a direct impact on dealings with the person you are introducing yourself to, those are often just omitted.

Related to this is the name “san’Illustra.” Taken literally, it simply means “of/from Illustra,” the “san” being a form of the “sa” prefix. However, Illustra is not a place, but rather a deity. In this case, it is a name which is taken by those who devote their lives to Her service, and replaces any family name or surname the person might have had before to show that the Church is the only affiliation that matters.

In all of this, Mercutio Kellaras and Olivia Delegarde are somewhat special cases. The lack of the “sa(n)” prefix indicates that both of these individuals are from noble houses. Often, family lines were elevated to nobility by a ruler based on valorous acts in service of the kingdom. The person who performed the act would become the proginitor of the new house, and the house would carry their name. Therefore, at some point in the past, one of Mer’s ancestors performed a service for a ruler and was dubbed Kellaras Kellaras. With the full unification of Adan under the Illustran theocracy, it is relatively rare to see new noble houses formed.

Anyway, I hope that this was at least a moderately interesting post. If there are any questions, comments, or suggestions for future Extras Days, please feel free to comment!

Chapter Nine

9 – Brief Encounters

“I can’t believe I haven’t gotten the chance to berate you sooner,” Mer said as the five of them settled into the plush coach. He had claimed one window seat, with Kiih claiming the one on the far end of the bench, and Ro had settled between them. “Seriously, a real live Worldwalker and you just failed to mention it to me until after she’d left! I’m hurt, really I am.”
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Art Post One

I’ve been really focused on writing lately, so I haven’t had the drive to do anything visual (for some reason I can write OR draw, rarely am I able to split my attention between the two). So, in the hopes of keeping your interest and showing you a little bit of what’s been going on in my head for a little over ten years, I give you some highlights from my deviantArt account, at least the things that don’t involve too many spoilers. ;)

I’ll start off with something that dates back to around 1999-ish: the very first picture I ever drew of Yuri for this story. It’s from shortly before I started actually putting pen to paper on the very first version of the story (back when it was still a blatant anime rip-off, instead of just a kind-of anime rip-off). She and the story have both changed a lot since then, but it’s always good to remember one’s roots.

Next up is a sketch I did quite recently which involves Kiih and his current hair style. It’s not much, but it at least shows you sort of what I was thinking and hopefully gives you a little insight into why in the world he’s so cranky in chapter eight. >.>; The other face in the sketch is someone I don’t particularly want to name, but you guys will meet this person this week.

And speaking of sketches, here is a little sketchy portrait of Reese. I struggled with her character a lot over the course of the story, but she’s one of my favorites right now. I just love her to bits and wish she could get more screen time. Ah well.

Anyway, over on the extras page, there are several wallpapers, the first of which features this pin-up image of Yuri I did a while ago. Granted, this is a sort of speculative image, because Yuri is supposed to appear much older in it (and she totally doesn’t have any tattoos– yet), but I’m still really fond of it and can’t help showing it off.

And while on the subject of pin-ups I’ve drawn of Yuri, we have these two images that were both done relatively recently. The first image is the first in what is intended to be a series of cute lingerie pin-ups that, once I finish them, are intended to be viewed as a set. No particular reason for it other than I just felt like drawing Yuri in cute undies. The second is something that I did when I finally started coming out of an artistic funk. At the time, my hard drive (with all my work on it) had been eaten by a virus, and the chances of getting it back were slim-to-none, so I was pretty depressed and basically lost my will to create anything. Incidentally, this is also my avatar pretty much everywhere I go these days. >.>

There’s a whole bunch of other stuff in my dA gallery/scrapbook, but a lot of it involves things that are a bit on the spoiler-ific side. I hope that this art post has been at least marginally entertaining, and hopefully sometime soon I’ll have some fresh sketches to bring to the table between story posts. :)

Chapter Eight

8 – A Visit

Len greeted her with a grin, having changed into a pair of black slacks and a blue shirt to match the one Yuri wore. He had also donned all of the jewelry he’d taken from the dresser, which seemed to include multiple earrings, a couple of discrete silver rings on each hand, and at least one necklace that had been tucked into his shirt. “I’m glad that it fits,” he said. “Are you ready to go?”
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