On October 1st, 2021, almost a year ago, I made my discord server banner... that image above. It has 5 figures in it, Miyuki, Alexander, Garrett, and Chiel. In the middle is one that you can barely see... Enter Tomas.
Tomas is the fifth figure in that banner, he was created a year and a half ago. He is the protagonist of the third setting I want to do. And how does this relate to the Mage, the Orc, and the Naga? They are characters in that setting. So why three? Isn't Shattered Seals and Terminus Reach enough? Yes and no. As an author, you don't want to be trapped into one thing, as no matter how much you love one of your settings or characters it will be a trap for creativity. There are things I can't do in Shattered Seals, and while Terminus Reach can house almost everything, it will also have limits that I don't want to go over. And if I overstay my welcome in one of those settings? There are settings that I've created and loved that I haven't touched since shortly after their creation, and honestly, I most likely never touch again.
So once again, where does it lead us in the future? What do I want to do? Fantasy, followed by urban fantasy. Will it happen like that? I don't know. If my estimate holds there are still about 12 months of Terminus Reach left. And life has shown that a year is a long time and a lot of things can happen and change in one year.
And I know I took a risk by not continuing Sorcerer, but in all fairness, after 20 months on single project and a lot of more hours than I want to admit, I was ready to Sorcerer to be the last of Shattered Seals ever. However by doing TRS2 and doodling around with the fantasy stuff has given me clarity on where I want the potential Sorcerer 2 to go, and interest to make something with it. Yes I keep saying potential until the first word of the script is written and the first render has been made.
Well not exactly the behind the scene I wanted to do, but probably what was needed to do. If you got this far. Thank you for reading. Hopefully this gives you some clarity what I would want to do in the long run. And yes, the Urban Fantasy is what you think it is... So it is far sooner than 9 years.
So where does this long rambling lead?
Enter the Naga... hah! For sometime I've been saying that I want to do fantasy, it's something that has been growing in my mind since I started Sorcerer. Some might say that Sorcerer is fantasy, that is true, it is a Urban Fantasy. But I never can put an orc in Shattered Seals, simply because orcs as we know don't exist in mythology. The root word for it is "Orcus", which means evil being, specter, evil spirit, demon... roughly saying, then Tolkien took it and some stuff from Beowulf and ran with it (and some other story). Granted, not a lot of things from Shattered Seals are 100% accurate with the mythology, but they are close enough to be plausible. Could I change it? Yes, but at the same time I would break the essence of Shattered Seals' setting which is sort of "plausible with existing mythology".
So where does it lead us in the future? I've always been vague about what happens after the current project is done. This isn't to keep you guys and gals guessing, or dangling some carrot in front of you in hopes to keep you as a patron. I appreciate every single patron more than I put into words, I appreciate every single fan of my work. I show my appreciation to you guys by not taking 10 years to complete a singular story.