The Half-Elven Orphan (1/52)

Disclaimer: This is not the final version as it will be available from the usual e-book sellers and eventually, bookstores. Rather, it should be seen as an (almost) final draft. If you are interested in becoming a beta reader, feel free to drop me a line at removetoavoidspam-betareaders@jceberdt.eu.

Chapter 1: A Curious Foundling

An earnest footnote to the tale of Alagariel
by Ferdinand de Seyssel

Whether Alagariel Vatra is a historical figure or a mythical one is a matter of endless scholarly debate. Did she actually exist? It is impossible to determine with any degree of certainty. Elven historical works strongly imply that she was real. Even if one takes elven consensus at face value, the details of her tale vary dramatically even in elven histories. Every detail about her changes, depending on the telling. A great many names have been claimed to refer to her. Aside from the obvious ones such as ‘Alagariel Elf Queen’, ‘High Queen of the Elves’ and ‘Queen of Fire’ there are also monikers such as ‘Marshall of Vatan’, ‘Dragon Queen’, ‘Dragon Lady’, ‘Blade Mistress’, ‘Lady Fire’ and countless others that may or may not refer to the same person.

Elven scholars even go so far as to claim that some structures still existing today were called out of the ground by Alagariel’s own magic. Those who have sailed along the coast of Iurrak between Konigsberg and Erythrae have all seen one of the buildings attributed to Alagariel, namely the admittedly breathtaking Tower of Dragons. However, despite elven claims that she was primarily responsible for the magical construction of that magnificent edifice, this humble researcher has not managed to uncover any conclusive proof that this is, in fact, true.

Alagariel’s legend holds that she was responsible for driving demons from Vatan at the beginning of the elven calendar almost twenty thousand years ago. Of course, this is where things become truly impossible to verify. As little reliable information as there is to be found about Alagariel, material on her adversaries is even more scarce. In fact reliable documents describing events that occurred so long ago are essentially non-existent. No corroboration exists between the dating of Alagariel’s story and the architectural sites that are said to be associated with her reign. Certainly, the pristine condition of these buildings seems to make the claims unlikely even if they are said to be magical. Central to the many tellings of the Queen of Fire’s story is the recurring, rather fantastic, theme of her alliance with dragons and perhaps also giants. No reliable sightings of either of these species are known to exist.

Through these mists of uncertainly, all we can say for certain is that the nursery rhyme ’Alagariel’ which almost everyone in Taldyr and beyond has grown up with is at least inspired by her story, whether it really happened or not. Certainly, there are a great many elements which seem to be fanciful and while I do not mean to distress my elven colleagues it is perhaps best to see Alagariel’s tale as the distillation of a great many events and people in ancient history. We should see the tale in terms of metaphor and allegory rather than as a representation of an actual historical figure.

(From the works of his Royal Highness Ferdinand de Seyssel, Prince of Iurrak and Rector Magnificus of the University of Erythrae, in one of his countless contributions to the Encyclopedia Royalis Iurraka, circa 975.)

If you wish to receive the weekly installment to this story in your inbox, please subscribe to the newsletter below.

Influences: Dungeons & Dragons

This is the first in a series of short posts discussing what influences my work. Each post will detail either an inspiration or a specific author.

First and foremost, at least when we’re talking about my fantasy stuff, is D&D. I played AD&D for the first time in the eighties and tried a lot of other RPG systems, from modern day things (d20 Modern, Twilight 2000, GURPS), White Wolf stuff, science fiction (various incarnations of Star Wars rpg’s) and some other oddballs. I always deeply enjoyed good RPG sessions and the concept for many of my characters finds its origin in characters I’ve played or wanted to play. Mostly wanted to play, which offers an insight into why I started writing.

The Alagariel series started off as a D&D style adventure story. I wanted to tell a tale that was like my ideal D&D game. It grew into a little more than that, but the first Alagariel like character I devised was somewhere in the early 2000’s. Many of the other important characters are my own PC’s or are inspired by those other people played.

I still wish I had the time for RPG’s and a group of people to play with, but it doesn’t fit into my life right now. Who knows, maybe one day.

The Half-Elven Orphan Starts October 3rd

The first book I will publish will be offered for free on this blog in 52 weekly installments (it’s still possible that this number will change and that always means it will be more installments in total), starting on October 3rd at 1900hrs CEST. It is a fantasy novel set in the world of Vatan. It is the first book in the Alagariel series and the Tales of Vatan setting.

For future reference, the full title is The Half-Elven Orphan, Alagariel (Volume I), Tales of Vatan. I often struggle with figuring out read orders, so hopefully that helps a bit.

A few disclaimers:

  • There will be weekly installments, but I may choose to offer other work in the same time slot. So, it’s possible that in some weeks, I’ll put up something else on Thursday evening. It’s a highly likely that this book will eventually share its time slot with my first science fiction book “Dropship Down” set in the Total War setting. So it’s possible that it will take two years before the free versions of both books are fully published.
  • For the Half-Elven Orphan I will post a high resolution map of the area where most of the story is set. It will be released on the 9th of October 2024 in a seperate post.
  • The version on here is, initially at least, not the final print version. That said, it has been proof read by a group of people and generally received well enough that I’m comfortable posting it hear without its final edits. Besides final edits, I may still decide to change things too.
  • I may also post this to other online venues.
  • Obviously any and all support is appreciated. At the moment the only way that’s possible is via Patreon.

If you wish to receive the weekly installment to this story in your inbox, please subscribe to the newsletter below.

Breaking News: USA Discovers another wormhole!

Washington DC, 2049.297.0338 (24 October). The United States State Department announced today that NASA, supported by the US Navy, has discovered and claimed yet another wormhole leading out of the Sol System.

NASA states adjoining system hosts several planets in the habitable zone. An unnamed senior US Navy source claimed that there were definitely planets that looked like they were habitable for humans, calling the system “prime real estate”. This is the fifth wormhole that the USA has discovered in the Solar System. An official stated the system on the far side of the wormhole has been named “Independence”. Reactions from the EU and the PRC are best described as lukewarm. Both entities released statements reiterating the need for a proper distribution of wormhole access among Earth’s major powers and called for the USA to relinquish control of the wormhole to the United Nations.

This is an in setting press release for Total War. It is not real.

Other Works

Besides the works I’ve already I do have a number of… what could loosely be termed short stories. I tend to think of them more as studies, ideas that I like, but which I don’t really see a route to a full book for. Perhaps some of these could become short stories at some point, I haven’t decided yet. Below is a list of a few of the other things I have.

  • A Star Wars Old Republic Era fan fiction. I’m a big fan of Star Wars, particularly Old Republic era and I like writing it, but obviously the kind of story I’d like to tell woul never be acceptable to disney. I don’t expect this one to ever see the light of day.
  • A story about witches, hidden among us throughout most of history, told from the perspective of a relationship an ancient witch has with a lover in the present day. This is one of those where I’m not sure how to make it a whole book.
  • Several tales about a number of different sorceresses, that are really more character studies. One of them is probably going to be integrated into The Last Empire setting, somehow.
  • An alternate history story that deviates from history around 1789 and is set towards the end of the 19th century. For this one making a whole book shouldn’t actually be hard. The difficult decision here is whether I want magic in the setting or not, which I can’t seem to decide on.

Patreon Page

I’ve started a patreon page at patreon.com/jceberdt. I will be offering the possibility to support my work in two tiers. There’s going to be a general support tier for people who simply want to support me. It will get the same access to bonus material as the higher tiers, but no free books. The higher tier is going to come with a free book every year. The page is currently under review, I’ll post here when I have everything set up the way I want it.