TBS Preview Post

I was going to make a sample survey today, but I'm caught up in TLS work... so screw it, we'll do this instead, since I already had the post prepared.

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Either late 2019 or early 2020 I'm going to launch my epic fantasy series, The Brightest Shadow. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I think it's one of the better stories I've written and one of the few I feel is equal to TLS in scope. On the other, I know that it isn't likely to find as much commercial success as some of my simpler books. It's a bit like TLS in that way, in that it isn't for everyone.

I seriously considered various permutations of the story, but in the end went with just trying to write the book as well as I could. I've been rewriting this thing for about a year now, incorporating feedback from a large number of alpha reader patrons, but I think there comes a point where I'm just puttering instead of moving forward. Pretty soon, all $10 patrons will have access to the manuscript to read if they want.

I've slowly been working on a number of worldbuilding posts for TBS, including some new art I had done during the creation process. I thought I'd give you guys access to some of them early. Two of the first posts are below - they do reference a few names/concepts that won't be known without the book, but hopefully they're comprehensible.

(By the way, the post image isn't necessarily the book cover. I'm actually working on four different fundamental designs for the cover based on different fantasy patterns and I intend to let people vote on the favorite. This is one of the finished potential covers.)

Intro Post

The world of Myros is choking on anticipation. Its many cultures have vastly different beliefs and stories, but they all tell one Legend. One prophecy, varying in the details but familiar across the either world. Whether the Legend promises heroism or genocide depends on where you stand.

Two sentient races live on Myros: humans and mansthein. Both are complex groups that sometimes live in harmony, sometimes fight among themselves, and sometimes go to war with one another. As an expansionist mansthein empire begins to conquer human lands, some begin to ask if the conflict is really so complex. Because the Legend speaks of Deathspawn - foul monsters that seek to destroy all life - and in the right light, the mansthein fit the part...

All across the globe, this conflict plays out in different ways, from the relatively primitive cultures in central Breilin to the highly developed nations of Eltar Trathe to the mostly forgotten continent of Onel Chaentan. The story begins at the center, a vast grassland called the Chorhan Expanse.

Few live in the heart of the Chorhan Expanse, but many cultures must pass through it. There has been tenuous peace between them for nearly a century, but the arrival of mansthein armies has threatened to provoke another war between both sides. In the center of that complex conflict, rumors about a Hero of Legend grow more seductive, promising a righteous war that can be won forever.

The Brightest Shadow begins here, on quiet grasslands. They have been stained by blood in the past, but the stories promise that far more will be shed...

Sein Post (aka the magic system)

If you ask one warrior about sein, they will give you a confident answer about what exactly it is. Ask one from another culture and you'll get another answer. Sein involves power, but warriors can't even agree on exactly what kind of power. Some focus on their bodies, some on their natural energy, some on arts that even sein-trained warriors consider mystical.

Most agree on the basics: sein is the strength of a warrior's beliefs and experiences. Though it can be used to fuel many abilities, it cannot be exchanged because sein is always unique to the individual. Its character varies from person to person and even year to year within one person. Some plants and animals possess sein, but their alien natures render it unusable to humans or mansthein (though derivatives are potentially useful).

Though sein flows through everyone, perceiving it is neither natural nor easy. For that reason, gaining awareness of sein is a common early form of training in nearly every tradition.

Most people gain an awareness of sein through a single sense: it might taste like mint, sound like the wind, or smell like their home. Once this awareness is consistent, they can use it to control and increase the flow of sein within themselves, granting access to abilities that would otherwise be impossible. This is only the first step along the path, however.

As warriors gain a deeper understanding of themselves, they achieve a richer perception of sein. Though total quantity of sein does increase, in early development it is more important to increase awareness to access sein that already exists. Most cultures on the Chorhan Expanse have a concept of five senses, and this does cover a large portion of sein, but it's not comprehensive. Almost all traditions say that the final stage of sein awareness is incomparable to any normal sense.

Though sein can be inefficiently drawn to increase strength or speed, effective use recognizes differences between different senses. Tasting sein is commonly associated with techniques of speed, for example. So a warrior that can smell and feel sein will be very different from one who can taste and hear it.

A wider understanding of sein is less about increased power than increased flexibility. Masters draw on not a single flow of power, but weave together many disparate elements. Exactly how accurate any given system of categorizing it is a matter of much debate.

Sein is not a single path and cannot be reduced to universal stages, but it is possible to speak in general terms. One culture uses the concept of the "mountains of mastery" that divides development into four broad stages.

Trained fighters know how to use their equipment, have basic discipline, and possess a limited awareness of sein. They may use sein subconsciously to slightly boost their strength, or they might know a trick or two. A trained warrior would usually defeat an untrained warrior in a fight, but they're not a decisive force on a battlefield.

• All sentient life possesses sein regardless of awareness of it, and it does have a lesser impact subconsciously. Depending on culture and traditions, it is possible for warriors who haven't trained in sein itself to equal lower "trained" levels of strength or speed.

Warriors have a solid awareness of their own sein developed into a set of basic techniques. Exactly what these techniques are varies from culture to culture, but the end result is unquestionable superiority to those with untrained sein. Warriors can potentially face many untrained soldiers or several trained fighters at once.

• The standard Towd Catai form grants abilities that are near the peak of the warrior path, thus rendering them invulnerable to most lesser warriors. They don't equal the expert path, though of course any individual Catai could have developed further.
• Characters like Tani and Slaten are near the beginning of the warrior path as of the first book. Veron is near the peak, but held back by uneven training.

Experts understand their sein on a deep level and have polished many techniques. Whereas warriors might lack abilities in certain areas, experts usually have a comprehensive set of skills and significant experience. Ascending the expert path involves coming up against limits of physics instead of sein, so experts must fundamentally transform themselves both physically and spiritually.

• Teralanth divides the scale differently, categorizing warriors into a new tier when they become strong enough to serve as individuals instead of in a military unit. Terms like Bastion and Cyclone are roles instead of ranks, but they'd generally be categorized as higher warriors or lower experts.
• "Master" is a common term of respect in many cultures for those who teach, but most would be categorized as experts on this scale.

Masters have reached the end of all rigid paths. Their development may reshape what previous stages consider to be rules, delving deeper into themselves in complex ways. Though everyone acknowledges sein to be a natural part of life, masters possess strength that even trained warriors might call superhuman.

Sein is deeper and stranger than most are aware. For example...

Voidlinks are a form of technology with unclear origins, impacting sein despite being inanimate objects. Someone who breaks a voidlink can move between two points nearly instantly, as trained Voidwalkers can, but this process cannot be done safely without prepared sein in the individual as well. Many cultures lack a theory of sein that can explain this at all.

Instantaneous travel is one of the core strengths upon which the mansthein empire is built, allowing for the coordination of large armies over multiple continents. They do not have a monopoly on voidlinks, however, and there are other ancient technologies of which they are completely unaware.

This has been a brief introduction to sein. There are cultures that ignore internal awareness to focus on the body, some that forge themselves into material objects, and others with stranger views yet...

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I have more posts and a lot more art, but two is enough for now. I wasn't quite sure about posting these. Since you guys are my core base of support, I always want to give you the bonuses that will appear for other groups (like the Sarah Lin Patreon). I don't know how much interest there is, however, so let me know. Questions are welcome. ^-^

The book itself will be posted before too long, but I want to get the TLS survey out and have more of 0.46.0 done first.