The Loss Queen (Approaching Infinity Book 5)
Page 25
RMP: 500
Birthdate: 10,900.267
Artifact: Ivory Scythe (+ Booster Seed)
Artifact Rank: 20 (x ??)
Dark RPP: 43,200 (x ??)
Dark RMP: 10,000 (x ??)
Active Dates: 10,922-Current
Residence: Planet 1251
When Dark, Biggs’s Artifact, gives him the appearance of a humanoid skeleton with the skull of a bird of prey and glossy black feathers jutting through the gaps in the bones. As part of a secret experiment to produce offspring from Shades and choice selections from alien DNA, Biggs is one of only three living successes. Knowledge of this fact has contributed greatly to his sense of ego, which, until meeting Jav Holson, has gone unchecked.
Despite his relatively low Raw Mental Power, it is believed that his affinity for Approaching Infinity can be attributed to his hybrid genes.
AFTERWORD
At last! My original vision, somewhat altered over time, has been captured in prose. I was concerned in the beginning that this particular book would take longer than usual for me to write, but at around 7 months start to finish, such concerns were apparently groundless. As mentioned, there have been changes to the original material, some to accommodate the backstory developed over the last 14 years, some to accommodate (what I hope is) effective storytelling. I thought it might be fun to enumerate some of the changes, just so that they exist in print somewhere.
Originally, every Shade had a “superhero” name: Jav was Skull Kaiser, Vays was Titan Foiler, Scanlan was Gear Binder, Waice was Phantasma King, Biggs was to be Reap Kaiser, etc. Regrettably, some of the names are better forgotten. I call them “working names” now, but the male Loss Commanders were all named after a Roman emperor or general. The Viscain Empire started out as the Halloween Empire. (Yep, I know, crazy.)
Before any of the backstory was developed. . .
Jav was to have been secretly in love with Brin in the past; Vays was his best friend (and still the winner of Brin’s affections); the three were to have worked closely together as a unit previously, sharing a long history.
Ban and Raus Kapler were brothers, but Tia Winn (last seen in Book 3) was to be their sister.
Scanlan was to have had three robot lieutenants that combined into a larger, more powerful robot that would hassle Jav and Waice in an elaborate house of traps on their way to the Root Palace.
Wil Parish, Waice’s teacher, was to have been a member of Vays’s squad along with Waice. Vays was in charge despite Parish’s seniority as one of the First Shades.
All of these modifications were for the best. The only one I even slightly regret is maybe Scanlan’s lieutenants and the trap house, but pacing and the logistics of Loss wouldn’t really permit those events to have happened.
Anyway, the next two books will bring the Viscain Empire to its conclusion. I’m already a third of the way done with Book 6. This one WILL require some time for research, but I still hope to have it out in a year or under. Wish me luck and keep reading!
Chris Eisenlauer
October, 2014
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