Projects

To start with, I suppose I'll talk about some of the various writing projects I'm working on. This will be in no way an exhaustive list, as I usually have so many things running around inside my head that its basically impossible to write them all, but these are the serious ones.

Empire of Wolves: A high-magic fantasy story, I'm intending for it to turn into at least several books, a series if I can manage it, we'll see how that goes. Not giving away too much of the story, the setting is a fantasy empire ruled by a semi-immortal emperor whose name is rarely spoken, he is simply the emperor. Magic in this world is controlled and expressed through music, though not all have the ability. The focal character was born mute, and his mind has learned that music is its own language. He cannot speak, and he only vaguely understands when others do, but is a musician without peer.
Once more, I don't want to give away too much, but as with any good story, there is far more afoot than there appears to be in the empire.

Besetting Shadows: This is not a story, it's actually a setting for tabletop RPGs. I'm designing it such that it adapts easily to a variety of systems, rather than being for any specific one. A new dark age has fallen on the world after a series of cataclysms and disasters--collectively referred to as The Breaking--occurred roughly 100 years ago. With the breaking, great serpents arose from the seas, dragons appeared to attack cities, and many other animals were warped and twisted by foul energies into horrible monsters. Very few individuals found themselves with strange powers after the breaking, and very rarely such people will still be born. The world has two continents, Dol and Maracht, with Dol being mostly wild lands full of monsters after the Breaking, and Maracht being somewhat more civilized. Dol will be a great backdrop for traditional dungeon-crawl style games, and Maracht lends itself very well to games of intrigue and power struggle as proud nobles fight over control of what is left of the world.

Chronicles of the Prisoners: Another RPG project, this one is an adventure path for starting level characters in the Legend system from Rule of Cool gaming (this system comes with high endorsement from me incidentally) Starting out with the characters in prison, they are released for a suicide mission that the king does not wish to risk his own men on; success will earn your freedom, failure will likely mean your demise. Chronicles, I am designing to ease in players new to the system by gradually introducing the various features of the game, and repeating the same ones enough times for even newbie gamers to pick up on the patterns. It helps that my wife is not much of a gamer and I can generally just ask her if something makes sense--if not, then I need to rewrite it.

Death's Handmaiden: An epic supernatural story focusing on the Servants of Heaven and the strange bureaucracy that they run in the afterlife. The focal characters are Thanatos-one of several angels of death-and a young human girl named Shelia. After her mortal eyes penetrate the veil and witness an angel of death, Shelia escapes from the appointed time of her death, and Thanatos brings her back to heaven anyway to see what should be done with her. To the angel's consternation, the order from On High makes her his new assistant. Now he must figure out what the Father is thinking making a mortal girl helper to an avatar of death. And he must figure it out soon; as threads of fate begin to unravel, and mortals lives do not follow their appointed times, events are coming that will shake earth and heaven.

Blade Magic (working label): The world for this story hasn't been named yet, and neither has the story actually. The name comes from the magic system in this world, which is focused around weapons that are pulled from a demi-plane known only as The Armory. Every blade holds unique powers, strengths and weaknesses, and those who carry them are called Mage-Knights. A rogue Mage-Knight has created a warped blade from accidentally fusing several others, and now he has gone quite mad. The strange powers of his black blade allow him to control and dominate others, and he leads armies to ravage one country after another, with no clear goal in mind but to cause chaos and spread destruction.

Tale of Broken Wings: Another fantasy story, this one is intended to be a bit more tragic than most of my other works. James, a young trinket mage, finally gets his lucky break when a local lord takes him into his household as a retainer. While searching for components outside the city he stumbles across a strange ruin, and inside he discovers what looks like an angel, seemingly frozen inside a crystal casket. In trying to move it, he disrupts the magic which had been holding her and she awakens. Her name is Argentine, and as far as she knows, she is the last of her race. She is the most beautiful thing James has ever seen, but at the same time it is clear that the ages have not been kind to her. Her wings are severely injured, and she almost immediately falls ill. James works to heal her, and restore her memories, which were also scrambled when she was awakened. However, not everyone is as inclined towards Argentine as James is, and sides are being chosen, with the confused and fractured angel in the middle. It will be up to James--and whatever companions he can find--to keep her safe.

So that's it, those are the different stories and projects that I have started. Which ones I will actually manage to finish, and when? God only knows. Anyhow, if you actually stumble across this post, and you have questions, or an opinion on what I should finish first, leave me a comment.

Grace and Peace,
-Matthew

For words and hope

There is something marvelous about fantasy. By its very definition it takes us beyond ourselves and what we can experience to something entirely new. Even if it is not a new place, or a new story, very rarely is there nothing new to be found.
I adore fantasy in all its forms. Most of my writing is fantastical in some fashion or another, from the magically -saturated world of the Empire of Wolves, to the monsters in the Besetting Shadows setting, there is something about it that is far more inspirational to me than anything in cold reality.
I am a Christian, and quite unabashed about it; and I hold that creation--in word, or otherwise--is among the highest orders of praise that can be awarded. Just as imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so is imitating the Great Creator the most sincere praise that can be performed.

I write because it brings me joy to create, and writing is my most natural inclination. This blog will be a space for me to dump random tidbits, character sketches, or just to write about something (or nothing, as the case may be).
Grace and Peace,
-Matthew