Since as long as I can remember, I've abhored,to a certain degree, jotting down ideas. This relates to a feeling or notion I have that if it's written down and lost, then it's lost for good. I've never been a good note taker, a deficiency of my time management skills. But having been a member here for quite some time, I feel things are in order from a server backup perspective. I can relax a bit knowing there's a good chance my work here won't be "lost" after jotting down ideas. So here goes...

Souldier Saga is a name I've given this series of works that intend on penning in my lifetime. My approach to this storyline was accidental. When I was stationed in Tampa, FL, back in '95/'96, I was friends with an avid musician named Rob (co-worker). He got me interested further in music as I had dabbled in shortcutting guitar through use of tablature. I had really enjoyed it. So much so that I thought I might try my hand a song-writing. It was a way of conveying a story in a much smaller manner than, say, a book. One night at work, I started to write some lyrics...a battle hymn (I was very much into D&D back in those days). I had picture two mighty warriors, champions of opposing causes, charging headlong to each other on the backs of veteran warhorses. Armored to the teeth, Adros and Krishaka braced themselves for impact. Taking a break pondering how to proceed, I started brainstorming a bit. I don't remember the exact thought, but I scrapped the lyrics in favor of a new book. Over the course of a few days, I started fleshing it out a bit. I conceived a concept of the ultimate universal game played by two entities, one of good and one of evil. A bit cliche, but it's all in the presentation.

As my story goes, two life forces are bound together, destined to influence worlds and galaxies. When times dictate that a world must be played, both forces are combined as one. A special individual, known as a legatee (inheritor of a legacy) will be imbued with both entities...a possession of sorts. They do not control him, but become separate consciences within him. One whispers reason, while the other whispers passion. The legatee, from the onset of "the game" becomes the most powerful force on that planet. It comes at a price...his sanity, as he is forever locked in his mind with the company of Adros and Krishaka, never to be alone with his thoughts.

The vehicle of the story involves the changing of hosts throughout the course of the stories. Upon the Legatee's death, Adros and Krishaka are unshackled from each other, immediately seeking new and separate hosts. Their motto in the gaming evirons is "In death, seek life" (though each hold differing opinions as to what signifies life). The catch and the spontaneity of these sequences is that each host is random, the determination made by moments of death, and births that follow from the moment the lifeforms leave their previous hosts. One such story will be the endgame, where each enter hosts that are twin princes.

There is also a metamorphosis of sorts once the forces enter a host. At birth, Adros and Krishaka hybernate until puberty. At puberty, their emergence into the hosts' awareness is minimal, inhabiting the subconcious regions of the mind, and providing a small trickle of power. Once the host enters adulthood, they become fully aware...the life forces now inhabiting the conscious mind. Adros and Krishaka bring with them the memories of previous hosts as far back as the Legatee of that world. As any evolution of offensive and defensive tactics, the memories allow for previous mistakes (or gamemanship) to be avoided. With new tactics, the host is able to assert their strengths in finding ways to defeat his opponent. The game pits Adros in Krishaka in battles of wit and arms, their hosts as a means to accomplish this. Random hosts ensures fair play, where manipulation or proper teaching by the lifeforms is part of the strategy.

The setting of the world is one thing I'm still not certain of...my mind's changed several times. As the universe is undoubtedly populated by vast numbers of beings with differing levels of evolution/technology, I'm still trying to peg down a place. One thing I'm certain of is that this world is caught in a figure-eight orbit between a binary star system. It's something I'd like to invest in as I think it would add to the complexity of the world's enviornment...seasons, landscapes, flora and fauna, etc. I was also thinking of something in the dystopic sense. I find that in the darkest of places, the smallest of lights shine brightest (alluding to the hero types in the story). The level of technology might either be post-apocolyptic (which would fit a dystopic setting), or a flourishing global society, underpinned by malevolence at the highest reaches of influential power (another setting fit for a dystopia). This would also intertwine with which life force lost the previous game, Adros being good and Krishaka being evil (i.e., loser chooses the next board on which they play).

In all, the first book "Legatee" will follow how one individual, influential in his community as a protector and advisor, comes to find Adros and Krishaka in a harshly austere desert plateau. It shows how he copes and does their bidding to set the stage for when his time comes to pass. It samples the conflict he endures in his brainpan with two others (Three's Company anyone?). It witnesses choices and consequences, both good and bad. It comes down to balance in the end. There can be no good without evil, since one is countered at turns in life by the other...in varying degrees.

~ Shane