Here is the complete listing of where we are in defining the history of the game. Most of this exists behind the scenes at present, and my intention is to *completely* finish the entire story before publishing, and then making one book available periodically, to those who are interested:
* The Candle'Bre Bible - this will be made public when the last of the trilogy is completed, and will serve as a guide for those who want to write fiction in the CB universe. Obviously, this work will contain spoilers aplenty, so bear it in mind when you see this appearing in the public forum.
* Tapestry, Volume I - Collected Threads: This is the 'prequel' to the trilogy of books that describes the 'historical' events surrounding the period of time in which the game takes place. I wrote a good chunk of it, but there are significant (and MOST excellent) contributions by elder team members. This work is 100% complete, and will be the first work released when the trilogy proper is concluded.
Contents of this work (compilation of short stories)
Flight and Founding (Vel)
Foundations (Cyclo)
Jacob Dunn (Vel)
The Stranger (Big Rich)
Legacy of the Black Sash (Cyclo)
The Story Weaver (Vel)
The Theft (Vel)
Native Sons (Vel)
Note that ALL the short stories have been woven directly into the fabric of the trilogy that follows.
* The Dark Prophecy, Book I: Darkness Falls: The first novel in the trilogy, outlining the earliest days of the "Wars of Succession" (which are what the wars that you, the player will be participating in, in-game, are called). The factions are all introduced here (or re-introduced, if you've read the prequel work), and all the primary players you'll see appearing in the game. The draft is 100% complete, but editing will not begin until the trilogy is finished.
* The Dark Prophecy, Book II: Birthright: The second novel in the trilogy, taking us through the greater bulk of the five long years of struggle that the Basin endures during the Wars of Succession. The draft is 100% complete, but editing will not begin until the trilogy is finished.
* The Dark Prophecy, Book III: Sins of the Father: The final installment of the trilogy, taking us through to the (hopefully climactic!) conclusion. This book WAS complete, but my wife didn't like the way I had originally ended the story, and convinced me to write more, so as to tie up some dangling questions and loose ends. In this light, I'd call the final chapter in the story to be ~90% complete, and again, editing of all three books will commence once that final 10% is written.
Collectively, all of the above represent the "canon" materials of the game world, and it has been these stories...exploring them through the writing, that have informed us what the game needs to function, and what we need to do in order to properly bring the game world to life.
I've said this before as well, but it's worth repeating. The above process is 100% the opposite mechanism used by most gaming ventures. Most folks come up with the mechanics, get all that banged out, and then invent a story to tack onto it, and....in most cases, that's exactly what it feels like. That the story was sorta bolted onto the side as an afterthought.
If I had one hope...one wish for this project, it's that when you play this game, you'll feel the depth and weight of the story. You won't feel like it's simply been "bolted on" in order to hide the mechanics.
So...there's that.
-=Vel=-
PS: And when we get everything done, teasers for each work WILL be appearing here!
