Technically, this is not ‘my first’ true fantasy story. But it is indeed the first time I sat down and decided to make ‘my’ take on a fantasy world. For the longest time I have been apprehensive about this genre from a personal standpoint. I felt that if I was going to do fantasy, it needed to be something unique and not derivative.

For the longest time, since 2018 at least, my main creative writing focus has been in the superhero realism-ish genre. Not a lot of that work is public but I am hoping, as we get into it further (hint hint), that will change.

While I was writing that I was building up a wishlist in the background. I did some D&D module writing (I need to dust it off and publish it) and did a mock campaign creative writing exercise that got WAYY too long. (I basically took Tyranny of Dragons, made a trio of characters, and took each part of the story as a writing prompt. That was, jeez, summer 2024 I think? It was good to write as it made me think, ‘here is what I’d do in a story.’)

All this to say, in March 2025 when I sat down to go, alright ‘what is next?’, this crazy idea started cooking to challenge myself to create an interactive story. Something that players could get into and experience a story first hand. The time felt right, I had my ideas, and I started.

It is not one singular person who inspired the character, which is one of the many points to be made. She reminds me of myself, Mreska, and some people I used to know. I think that’s the theme, that someone like Kaitlyn can be all of us. Power, at any level and relation, is able to corrupt. But are we able to build something past that? Are we able to see people for the good they can bring while accepting their past faults? Can we root for the future of someone who damned their own past? That’s what I wanted to ask with Kaitlyn’s story.

I originally wanted to do short expansion stories to the main game that would expand on certain races and cultures in the game. The first one was going to be Catpeople, as I felt out of the original roster of races, that one was the odd one out in terms of theme.

I wanted to hit it first to show how it did blend into the universe. So I started to think of a character who would be fun to follow in this world… and the idea of this rogue character, someone kind yet scared and running from the world all started to spiral into a larger story. And eventually that idea turned into Rogue I and Marla’s inclusion in the game.

And her name, Marla… It seemed a fit for a Catperson character who gets into unlucky situations. If you do not know about them, go check out the Miss Fury comic strips and learn the history behind the creator. It’s an inspiration of course, and so I feel some responsibility in storytelling for considering them as such. I hope one of the values readers can see about me is my commitment to the fair depiction of women characters in sci-fi and fantasy media.

It started as a joke, honestly. I’ve been saying this for years: somewhere in the world, right now, Hotel California is playing on a radio. It’s a guaranteed fact that it is playing somewhere. I can probably turn on my radio and find it in local stations right now, even. I joke that we've sent the thing out on so many radio waves, if aliens are picking up our radio signals they are thinking ‘wow, Earth must really love Don Henley!’

So, I thought it was obvious what the first Earth song to be heard in Valeria should be. I was going to put in something more, ya know, thematic. But the more I thought about it, this little inside joke kinda does work still. Because the song itself is so widely interpreted. It could fit to mean Kaitlyn feels trapped in this world, in the thoughts that everlasting life would grant her happiness. It could fit the city of Gort itself, a critique on the excess while the outside world crumbles. It could even fit the player themself, going on this long journey where the start feels so far and distant from where you end.

So, the amount of interpretations sold me on it. I mean, I just think the song is about some guy’s terrible 1 star experience at a hotel, totally nothing else.

The rules were that you guys weren't going to fact check. I thought we agreed there would be no fact checking during this interview???

Seriously: I want it to be an artifact of the time I created it in, to hold that feeling of Valeria (‘to be strong’; hope in a world without magic) being a mirror but escape from our reality.

I also wanted to show how absurd it would be if you entered this world with no context. We live in absolute bizarre times and, sometimes, I think the weirdest thing is the thought it will be all over. One day this will be played by someone who thinks it has aged poorly and I will be someone finally sleeping well. Isn’t that some hopepunk? Alright, alright, next one.

Go view the announcements page and the anniversary day announcements! Answer: LOTS!!!

It will involve travelling to the seat of power in the region for a final confrontation against Red Knights. It will take place after Turtle Lake IV, so the short stories are crucial.

Furthermore, it will be a new area and we will be trying out different design ideas. In my earlier announcement posts, I talked about if given the chance to create something new, I would approach it in a much different way. The DLC(s) will start to lay the groundwork.