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).
