A-Z Challenge: G

G is for Galleons and Guns!

Yay pirate words!!

You'll probably will recognize Galleons from any pirate movie. They were common in the 18th and 19th century. I wondered how people could tell these a part from other ships, so I googled Galleons and found this on Wikipedia:

The most distinguishing features of the galleon include the long beak, the lateen-rigged mizzenmasts, and the square gallery at the stern off the captain's cabin. In larger galleons, a fourth mast was added, usually a lateen-rigged mizzen, called the bonaventure mizzen.

Aren't some of those names funny?!?  You can also go to the wiki page for Galleons to see a list of some famous ones! (Ex....A ship called Vasa that inspired the design for the Flying Dutchman!).

Some of my ships are called The Kindrick, The Cathal, and The Emerald. You see pirates fly black sails, but in my books, I thought that was stupid cause that just says you're a pirate run!! So I don't do that. haha.

Many of my pirates use Flintlock pistols.

My pirates usually have more than one weapon on them other than a Flintlock pistol. They are very annoying cause they only have one shot. I think there were newer ones actually, that held more shots, but I'll have to research that again. I can't remember. Anyway, it's just easier to have them carry more weapons, especially daggers.

This is a swivel cannon. It's super fun. LOL. 

In conjunction with scatter projectiles, these are super cool. I watched a youtube video to make sure what I wanted to happen could actually happen. That's the magic of youtube! 

A-Z Challenge: F

I can't believe I'm still on this!! LOL. I swear I will be around to blogs soon!! I can't wait to see what everyone else has done from A-F!

And now...F is for Family Trees!!

You saw one yesterday which was the royal family of Aurum (The Elves). This one is for The Royal Family of the Orient.

                                   Cathmor = Odessa 
                                                  |
                  Iliana =  Tetherion           Jess = Sysara 
                           |                                     |
          Natherious  Datherious       William    Barren = Kiera 
                                                         ||
                                                     Victoria 
                                                          |
                                                       John 
A little about these people:

Cathmor will appear in a book I'm going to work on soon called Arsenal. (Get it? My books are called Cutlass, Flintlock, and Cannon). He wasn't a very good person. Got along with Tetherion more than Jess, mainly because Teth was the oldest and the heir. Naturally he's pretty concerned with producing the male heir. Odessa got through her second child and died soon after Jess was born of pneumonia. Tetherion married Iliana, a Princess from The Octent Sea. She died in childbirth giving birth to her twins Natherious and Datherious. Dath being the oldest, you've already heard some stuff about him. lol.

Jess did not marry Sysara, however, they had two children. Sysara you will hear about, so I won't say much about her, as well as Jess. They had two children, William and Barren. William is the oldest...he's also the meanest and he doesn't like Jess. In fact, he kills his father to gain favor as a politician in Maris. Barren will always loathe him for this.

Barren marries Kiera and they have one of the sweetest relationships ever. Kiera is the daughter of Lord Christopher Lee, one of Barren's enemies. They basically eloped in order to marry.

That's all I can tell you! (Well, not all...but I have to be careful!).

Hope you enjoyed!

A-Z Challenge: E

E is for Elves!

I love Elves. I fell in love with them when I read the Lord of the Rings, as I am sure we all did. ;) This gets kinda complicated and my posts are super short because I can't give a lot away. :/

My Elves, well...I'm not sure how much they vary, but they are the only race in The Orient that practice magic. These people were once looked up to because of their power. When you meet my Elves, there aren't many left. They live on an Island called Aurum and like to be around water. I love thinking about their lore because they are a very connected people. They have oral traditions and because of this, most of their history does not pass to the world beyond their boarders. They are a feared people in the time you meet them in my book--they are sort of seen as a myth. When people see them out of their native land, they are often struck by their appearance because it is other-worldly. They are folk who try to stay out of the progress of the rest of the world and are governed by their own king (Tetherion does not rule over their lands, Aurum is in the far South of The Orient).

The Royal Line looks like this:

 King Linden --- Queen Fira 
                      |
         Leaf           Limb 

It's not much, really. It's hard to have an extensive family tree when you live forever, lol.  Leaf and Limb are twins and they have their own complicated story. You'll learn about that sometime.

Leaf is a rebellious prince. He decided he wanted to be a pirate, so he ran off and joined Barren's crew (before that he did some things he regrets, got some people killed...ya know...pirate stuff). Sometimes it's hard to remember he is a prince. He has blonde hair, sea-green eyes, and likes to sail (of course). He is Barren's best friend. Despite his rebellious nature, he'd do anything for his people and Barren.

When the twins were younger, Leaf saved Limb from drowning. Limb was really never the same around water again. Which really sucks cause he's surrounded by it! Of the two, Limb is the quietest and not really the leader, so it's sort of hard for him to be left by his brother.

I write about Elves in another book I'm working on called SOULLESS. I think this world will deal specifically with Elves and Fairies.

My Elves are split into difference races:

Blood Elves
Arethian Elves
Water Elves

There will probably be more, I can't see the world very clearly. These three are all at war...oh, and the Arethian Elves don't really exist anymore. Only one does and she's out for her revenge!

A-Z Challenge: D

D is for my character Datherious.

There isn't a lot I can actually tell you about Datherious (not because there isn't a lot, because i'll give away too much). He has dark eyes and dark hair. He wil usually try to keep it shorter. Sometimes he has a beard...when he wants to be older. He's very quiet, but observant. Don't go thinking he's not looking, cause he is! So is his brother. LOL.

He looks a little like this:

He has a twin named Natherious, and he is the oldest. He acts as a leader.
I like writing about twins because I am one. lol.
His nickname is Dath.
He is also a Prince.
When you meet him, he will not want his title as prince.

Datherious is a very interesting name. And I'm not sure where I got it from...but I always liked it. His father is named Tetherion. His mother died at childbrith.

A-Z Challenge: C

I decided for this one C would be for Cove, but I would give you a short story instead. It's probably not well-edited, but I hope you like it, none-the-less! :)

...and in reality, it's not that short. LOL. It's 4851 words. It WILL have errors and who knows what else, but I thought this would be fun for everyone...and you'd get to see the context of some of the things I posted for Blogfests earlier in the year.

You can go here to read Cove & Sara's story.

I will probably just leave this up temporarily. So, enjoy while it's there! :)

A-Z Challenge: B

Today is the letter B! (I feel like I'm on sesame street!)

B is for Barren, my MC.

Or if you like the cartoon one:

He's the second from the left. 

I decided I would interview Barren for this one:

*Barren acts like he's comfortable in his chair, but really isn't*
Me: So, are you ready? These are tough questions!

Barren: As ready as I'm going to be. 

Me: Okay then. First question: What do you like most about yourself?

Barren: *quiet for a long moment* I guess I can say I like myself now. I like who I am now. 

Me: Can you elaborate? 

Barren: *uneasy* I regret many things in my past. I am a pirate, after all...I'll let you guess as to why I hate the person I was.

Me: *nods in understand* What would your best friend say was your best attribute? 

Barren: *laughs* Leaf would say I didn't have one. *pause* Maybe my selflessness. 

Me: What about the worst attribute?

Barren: selflessness. 

Me: By this point in your life, what do you regret most? 

Barren: *shifts uneasily* Murder. 

Me: *shutters* Are we supposed to think you're a good person? 

Barren: *pause* I hope you do. 

A-Z Challenge: A

Today is the letter A!

I decided my A-Z challenge would be themed for my characters. I have a lot of A characters, but on this one, I have to go with someone from Cutlass because otherwise, I might give too much away. I wish I could introduce everyone to the new characters in Flintlock, but that'll just have to wait!

So, the character of the day is Alex McCloud!

I think Donald Sutherland would be close to what Alex looks like..with a few exceptions.

 

By the time my main character, Barren, meets Alex, he's in his 60's, but he's still sailing. He began as a member of Jess' crew (Barren's father). His face is pretty scarred, he's even missing an eye. Alex is very wise, and, along with Devan, helps Barren connect a lot of the holes in his past. He introduces Barren and Cove which becomes an invaluable friendship.  He is married to Mary McCloud and they have no children, but really take to John Reed, Barren's nephew.

I like to think of Alex as a grandfather figure...

One who really likes guns. lol.