Chapter 27:

Volume 1, Afterword / Trivia

Parable of the Renegades [BETA Version]


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Hi, Jio Kurenai here!

So this seems to be it. The end of my web novel's first volume. It's been quite the journey for me ever since I decided to pick up the pen in a metaphorical sense a year and a half ago.

So who am I, first of all? "Jio Kurenai" may be my online persona, but if you were to translate it from Japanese into another certain language, you will learn my real name. I'll just say that you may find a hint if you visit my Twitter page!

Now in my profile here, I described myself as an "Aspiring Game Designer and Writer who loves it when games and stories get married to create an experience." Parable of the Renegades actually started as a potential video game idea I came up with while I was studying Game Design and Development in college. It all started as an assignment to write a potential video game plot with only the weekend as my time limit. 

Thinking things from scratch is no easy feat, especially with what little time I've had, so I ended up using a basis. I drew a lot of influence from the game "No More Heroes" as it involved an unusual protagonist on a mission to kill several targets for a simple-minded goal, which I thought was pretty hilarious and still do to some extent. These targets all had their own distinguishable quirks and personalities to make them stand out from each other, making almost all of them quite memorable even though there was almost no build-up to any of them and I hope to accomplish the same. 

Looking back, the story I wrote then was completely different from now while still retaining the same basic idea. So many names had come and gone and so many plot points have been modified for the better, so I'm glad I choose to reboot the whole thing. Oh yeah, didn't I say this was originally a game idea? Well, things didn't go the way I wanted so I turned it into a novel instead. The last thing I want is to let this potential concept rot in my head because of idea debt! 

Huh, I actually owe my professor a lot of credit. It's because of you that this exists!

Prior to writing this, I had no official training or experience in writing and I still don't, but I'm considering finding myself a mentor. I may have written some stories when I was in grade school, but they were more like general descriptions in a script with no concern for emotion that could pull the reader into the story. 

This is why I want to thank the other authors here on Honeyfeed for influencing my current writing style. I've been a beta tester since 2016, but back then, I was just a lurker who gave no hint of his presence as I only read and added stories into my library without giving any "likes" or comments. Reading the works of others is what inspired me to eventually create my own work and get some response out of it. 

I want to give my deepest thanks to all my readers who have been following this story while providing me with feedback and thoughts/theories. Believe me when I say the reactions of you guys are what makes investing time into writing this story so worthwhile even though I still have schedules to follow. I won't play favorites, but if you were always so generous to give this humble newbie writer a "like" and a comment that truly shows what you think, you know who you are and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support.

I also want to expand my thanks to my new illustrator, HikariSoul! You started off as another one of my readers and getting in touch with you may have been one of the best decisions I've ever made! There's still a lot of work to be done on all the commissions I've requested, but I know you can pull it off! I can't wait!

✦✧Now then my dear reader, what can you expect in Volume 2 (assuming everything goes as planned)? ✧✦

✧From the next volume onward, an important story element will be the pursuit for one of the seven targets with the long-term plan being one volume per target. This doesn't mean the story will only focus solely on that though, there will be other subplots that may or may not contribute to world building but there will always be character development. That's what I really want to focus on the most.

✦Lucas won't leave Cameron's Feint yet as the target he'll be after, Fenris already lives there. However, Lucas will be visiting a part of town he has avoided for years. For now, let's call it a part of town where the police fear to tread.

✧More screen time and revelations for the characters Davis Crane, Viola Knightley, Rea Nightingale, Soren Faust, and Fenris. I cannot promise that they will be given a fair share of screen time though.

✦New characters relevant to the volume's plot will be introduced.

✧Several Renegade abilities Rio had been displaying or hinting at in volume 1 will be revealed in full.

✦More action and fight scenes! Volume 1's action scenes were probably limited for some of you as I wanted to use this volume to serve as an introduction while setting up events and teasing what you may expect in upcoming fight scenes. With this being a shonen battle story, it needs its own battle system, and I've been tweaking my own design while writing volume 1's story. Now, I'm ready to reveal it in the upcoming chapters and I hope they will provide you with an experience you don't usually feel!

✦✧SOME TRIVIA DURING THE STORY'S DEVELOPMENT✧✦

✧The ending of this story had already been decided. It's what will happen to get to that point that's still in development.

✦The seven targets are all pulled from the original story so their identities are already final. Aside from some modifications to their personalities and abilities, everything else about them remains unchanged.

✧Lucas was named after the protagonist of Nintendo's Mother 3, a game that tops my list of "games I want to play before I die". You may have seen him if you played the Super Smash Bros. Series.

✦Lucas Thorne used to be Lucas North, based on Nolan North, the voice actor of Marvel's  Deadpool. Turns out Lucas North already exists in an espionage TV series called "Spooks." It was a blessing in disguise too, "Thorne" made way for so many aspects to Lucas' character!

✧Lucas had a different personality in the original story. As my basis was "No More Heroes", Lucas was directly influenced by its protagonist, Travis Touchdown. Like Travis, Lucas was an otaku who often made pop culture references and broke the fourth wall. In the reboot, Lucas' personality was revamped and every aspect of the old him was given to Davis instead.

✦Davis was named after the English version of Daisuke Motomiya from "Digimon Adventure 02" which I barely got to watch in my childhood because I was often busy on Friday evenings. 

✧Viola's name was based on a combination of pronouncing Rio and Rea as one name.

✦Rio's name came from Rio De Janeiro, a city in Brazil and where Brazilian Jiu-jitsu was popularized, referencing Rio's preference in her fighting style. The name "Rio" is Japanese too! 

✧Rio's surname, "Kiyodera" is probably a fictional Japanese surname as I cannot look up any real-life person with that name. I got it instead from a character of the manga series Sukedachi 09 by Seishi Kishimoto. The kanji that make the name, however, is partially taken from "Kiyomizu-Dera", a Buddhist temple in Eastern Kyoto, Japan. With the name being probably non-existent, I guessed it could fit well with Rio's job as an assassin!

✦Rio's sister Yakumo, was taken from a character of the same name from "School Rumble", one of the anime I watched when I first got into anime in general. The scene in chapter 7 where Rio introduces Yakumo to Lucas as her "little sister" even though Yakumo is taller, was directly taken from a line in School Rumble.

✧Lucas, Davis, and Viola are named as such partially to display how Rio had overcome her accent whenever she speaks English. If you were to pronounce the three names with a Japanese accent, the "L" in Lucas or the "V" in Davis would sound like an "R" or "B" respectively. Viola has both. Someone who didn't overcome their accent is Yakumo, who pronounces "Lucas" as "Ryuuka".

Anyway, that's all for now I guess. I'll see you guys again in volume 2!


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