As to the difference in style between Trey and Athlain, despite my enormous ego, I won�t get too deep into analyzing my own writing. I will say that the picture in my head was of Trey writing more of a �retrospective,� using his notes from the actual events. And so he had some sense of �writing for the ages.� Athlain is writing more �in the moment,� with no certainty of what will happen next. The other thing is that Trey has an awareness (and a bit of a complex) about his background, and so tends to seek a more �scholarly� tone.
And speaking of scholarship, I decided to have a little fun with the preface, and to adopt the persona of a stuffy academic who pretends to �know the truth� of events he never witnessed, and who would soil himself if he faced a drawn sword.
As to the non-reply period- Black Hand is mostly right� and remembers correctly my remark about �not spamming my own thread.� (And the fact that he does recall that is frightening in its own right!) I know I had Reasons�� mostly wanting the story to stand (or fall) on its own. But then- by seeing the example set by mALX and Acadian, I realized that this could be a much more interactive process- and that the readers deserved more than just answers to direct questions. That said, I did usually PM a first-time commenter to say thank you- which is how minque and I began corresponding all the way over at �T�Other Place.�
The other major difference with this story (and the previous) to BoTM is how closely it follows the main quest. I did not have enough confidence in my imagination to stray much� So- at least to date, Trey has never done anything �original�- although� he is immortal, and there are these rumors of dragons in Skyrim�. As someone who fancies himself a bit of a naturalist, might he go and see�? Hmmmm�
A word about the �goblins� in Tribunal. They are NASTY. More like Orcs or similar than the weak little scapers in Oblivion. Plus, I purposely tend to play my RP characters under-powered (adds that spice of �Oh good grief- time to reload- he died AGAIN). And Trey had real trouble with those beasts�
And the fact that potions and/or spells come with a cost (beyond just burning mana or gold or ingredients) is one that always �felt right� to me. The energy has to come from somewhere�
I had forgotten that bit about old Ten Tongues� I had occasional moments of lightness in what is mostly a dark story. When you meet the Orc smith, I think you will see what I mean�
Finally, much as I would like to take any credit for anyone else�s writing� Just� no. Their talent is their own- I am glad that seeing me get up there on the tight rope without a net encouraged some highly creative folks to do the same. After that, the interweaving of stories was just too much fun to pass up.
Many thanks to you for reading- it may cause me to do the same. (In fact, looking for the �suffered under the name of� bit, caused me to find and fix a typo).
