⋆⁺₊❅. Author's Note .❅₊⁺⋆

GREETINGS, BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE.

It is I, Winter ❆

Hope y'all are doing well (⺣◡⺣)♡*

Writing this story was quite the ride, huh?

Truth be told, after I finished my last big project here, SING!!, I was not planning on participating in any other contests for a loooong time. I wanted to go back to my ongoing series, and fully focus on them. But then when I saw this contest was for Isekai....

'Ah, I'm screwed', is what I thought.

The second I saw the prompt, I went to my brother. This is how the conversation went, verbatum.

me - You said you had ideas for some Isekai stories, right? How many?
Otouto - Yes 

So yeah, in the end I picked the one I thought I could work and develop the best in the short amount of time I had. And it was quite fun :3  I did feel like I cheated, since a lot of the worldbuilding and magic system had been previously thought by my brother, so that saved me A LOT of time. Regardless, the entire experience was quite fun, and my dear brother helped a lot with the first drafts and outlines, as we discussed how things could go.

I'm quite proud of myself for, this time, managing to write below the 1500 words mark. There were veeery few excepetions, yet I never surpassed the limit too much, and since this was the biggest challenge for me, I'm very happy with how things turned out.

Writing almost one chapter per day was also quite difficult. I got very sick in mid-September—finally getting better this past week—which delayed some chapters, but at the end everything worked out ´꒳` Thankfully

SO! For those who are curious, or the readers who like this kind of BTS/Trivia, let me share some stuff ♡＼(￣▽￣)／♡

                                        °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖° NAMING PROCESS°˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

My brother may have helped me with the lore and first "skeleton" for the story. But boy, did he abandon me with the 'Naming' bit. Things still worked out well, I would say.

For Yuushin, there were a few names I considered. I wanted a name that really represented his core—the things that drove him as a character. In the end, I'm pretty happy with what I ended up with.

Retsugo = 烈 (Relentless, Intense) + 護 (To Protect, To Defend)
Yuushin = 雄 (Brave, Hero) + 心 (Heart, Spirit)

I wanted Yuushin to, at first, fight and be driven by his wish to survive, to later on shift to the Hero Who Fights for Others. I'm particularly proud of adding 護 (mamoru) in his name—in honor of one of my favorite characters, Ichigo (Bleach), who has this same kanji for his name.

For the others, since there were no kanji involved, I used concepts to get me to a 'naming direction'.

I wanted theryans (furry people) to have names that would have more of that  ₊˚ fantasy vibes ₊˚, so I leaned more to names with an elfic, angelic feeling to it.
For Kez, and the dragon clan, I wanted really strong names with a very alien feeling to them, so I got some inspiration to Githyanki names (yeah, D&D, Baldur's Gate, those guys).
As for Vel (demon folks), since I consider demon and dragons to be some sort of cousins, I tried to create a name with similar vibes, using some latin-root words as inspiration.

Now, all things Veritux-related, were inspired and rooted in Greek/Latin words (mostly Latin).

Here's the origin of Veritux Church's name:
Veritas = Truth
Rectus/Justus = Right, just
Lux = Light

The names for the Arch Bishops that belong to the Twelve Rays also use Latin words.

The names for the cities and regions were made with some hints of desperation and lots of brain juice.

                                              (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧  CHARACTERS  (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Some things were defined as I wrote the first few chapters, while some were defined from the very beginning.

Heidi being secretly a furry, who would later use one of the party members as a model to keep creating sexy and revealing clothes, was one of the things defined right from the beginning. And both my brother and I loved how this turned out.

Deciding Kez and Vel was a bit challenging at the beginning, since at some point there was only one of them that would be part of the main cast, and then I was not sure about Kez personality and backstory. Kez could've been a single mother OR an orphan girl, but in the end she ended up as a loud and blunt barbarian kinda of gal. 

Lyr was, veeeeeeeeery low-key, inspired on Lycaon. And truly, the more I wrote and explored this sweet character, the more he became my best boi. It was a true joy to write any interaction with him. The next season will have a big focus on him and Kez, so I'm very excited to explore their arcs and backstory even more.

Johnny was also someone I defined later on, closer to his first appearance, and another pleasant surprise as I developed him more. It was always fun to write his dialogue. My first idea/inspiration for him was 'someone like Michael Scott', in the sense that he could say some pretty nonsensical things without a single ounce of ill intention or malice, and purely by lack of common sense. I hope readers find him to be as amusing and refreshing as I do. 

Now Jay's arc was an interesting one. We knew we wanted Yuushin to be betrayed, yet I wanted the reason for said betrayal to be something different than the usual greed, envy, pride, and power-hungry motifs. 

When Jay's reason for his betrayal started to take shape, and we both me and my brother completely addicted to EPIC: The Musical, Jay turned out to be heavily inspired in Odysseus (yea, that greek guy). And the more I worked in Jay's arc, the more I loved its direct contrast with Yuushin's. I wanted Jay to be one of Yuushin's greatest antagonists, but not a villain (at least, for now heh). And overall, I'm very happy with how things turned out for them. 

Both have a great respect for the other, and deep down they don't blame the other for their choices, yet still feel torn/bitter about how things turned out. 

                                               ♡ ～ ( ´ ∀ `) FINAL THANKS  ( ´ ∀ `) ～ ♡

Finally, for everyone who chose to read this first season, thank you very very much m(_ _)m

I hope the story was not only entertaining to you, but that you also enjoyed the characters. I still have a lot planned for these guys, and hopefully I can get back to writing the rest of their journey soon. 

Hopefully, it will take a long time for the next contest to be announced, and it won't be one I will feel obligated to participate this time.

I still gotta work on SING!! Season II and my other series, after all (・ε・`*) …

AGAIN, THANK YOU! 

Wishing all the best for y'all (*ˊᗜˋ*)/ᵗᑋᵃᐢᵏ ᵞᵒᵘ*

— Winter ❆