Beyond the Broken Lands End Notes

Author’s Commentary on Broken Lands: Into the Maze

I feel like I ended Beyond the Broken Lands on a cliffhanger. They’ve made it to Issvako and gotten her agreement (with more than a little help from Revanos), which was their goal … they simply didn’t realize that she doesn’t know how.

This is earlier than I originally intended to break the book. I was going back and forth between after Sophia gets home (that’s not that much of a spoiler, right? Yes, she’s going to get home eventually) or when they step into the portal to Dav’s world. The thing is … I’m almost a hundred chapters into this book (~198k words) and they have a whole quest ahead of them. That’s basically two books in length already and while I keep thinking “this should be quick,” it never is. So I decided to go ahead and split it here, at least for now.

Naturally, this played merry havoc with my pacing. I’m honestly not sure what to do to fix it; each of the Branches in the World Tree had a reason. Maybe I can cut down the initial section where Sophia’s learning about the Lifeweb? Or maybe Leo’s bits can be spaced out better so they maintain the pace better?

I’m not sure. I know I like all of the pieces but I’m not as confident in how it came together.

Quite a few of those pieces are only now starting to pay off. Suryas’s eclipsed moon Arsalos, the path through the Inchoate Mountains, the river after the War of Two Mimirs and the temple, and the Forest in the Clouds should all now seem to be leading to something, with only Meteor Pillars as an exception. Even it had a clue, however … and none of it was accidental, though the reason may not yet be obvious. 

Sophia’s been dancing to someone else’s tune for a while. She may not even mind in the end, once she finds out that it’s happening and why. A personal curated experience isn’t a bad thing, after all, and she does like stories (but it had still better be for a good reason).

That’s one of the downsides of pushing the next bit into the next book - that’s where all of those bits should pay off. The upside is that this really is a different sequence; they’ve finished their time in the World Tree, at least mostly. Its presence will loom over them completely differently in the next book.

As for art, I really think I’ve squeezed about as much descriptive writing practice as I want to out of it. I expect to keep using AI art through the rest of this draft of Broken Lands, but I seriously doubt I will use it in my next story (for anything other than covers and the like). I need to remember to keep describing things, which was most of the point of the art, but the next story needs to do it without the crutch.

The AI models have improved immensely in the time I’ve been writing Broken Lands. Things that were once difficult are now easy. Well, some things; the AI still doesn’t actually know anything about reality, so it may well come up with something far more plausible and still very wrong. That part has been an interesting exploration of what’s possible. It’s an interesting tool, but it’s only a tool; it can’t replace human judgement and style.

Not using it will save me a lot of time, too. That definitely makes it easier to skip.

Speaking of the next story, I’m fairly confident it’s going to be something different - not a tale of the Rothmers and not a LitRPG. I have a different goal for that story … it’s one I started before I started Serenity and I’d like to go back and finish it. It was shaping up to be quite fun.

We still have another book (hopefully only one) before then, so let’s get going. I’ll see you next in The Long Way Home.

~Lillene

Latest Status 

Ability Descriptions

Anchor: Aura

You are no longer limited to the body that was once your prison or your home. 

An Anchor is required for the first Upgrade. This may be modified by your Signature once it is discovered.

Signature: Plume

Plumes of both feathers and magic form the outward manifestations of your style.

A Signature is required for the second Upgrade. This may be modified by your Grand Talent once it is discovered.

Grand Talent: Demense of the Arcane Coatl

An Arcane Coatl creates her lair not in space but in magic. You claim all of the magic that lies within your Aura as your Demense. 

A Grand Talent is required for the third Upgrade. This may be modified by your Cardinal Facet once it is discovered.

Arcane Demense Abilities:

Hoard of Plumes, Anchor Ability

Take control of plumes’ mana to collect them. Release some or all to establish and extend your Demense. Plumes form the points you can use to exert your will on your Demense.

Arcane Signifier

Place your arcane signifier of a plume on something or someone to affect them as if they were one of your plumes. 

Plumed Knowledge 

As your Plumes gather knowledge for your partner from all within your Demense, you may relay your partner’s information to those marked with your Arcane Signifier so long as they are within your Demense.

Lucid Plume of Perception

See, hear, and know all that lies within your Demense as your Plumes reach out to test it. Your understanding is enhanced near your Plumes.

Translucent Aura

Your plumes deflect and diffuse the magic imbued in attacks within your aura. You can concentrate plumes together to enhance their effect. Attacks initiated by people and objects marked with your Arcane Signifier are ignored unless you direct your plumes to stop them. Other attacks may be permitted by commanding your plumes. Your plumes will degrade more quickly if they attempt to defend you against environmental mana.

Plume Shift

You are your plumes and your plumes are you. Turn yourself into a cloud of Plumes that you can spread across your Domain. So long as any Plume is intact, you may return to your normal physical form without injury at the location of that Plume. While using Plume Shift, your Shield is disabled. 

Prismatic Plume Strike

Strike your opponents with the magic contained in your Plumes. Plumes can be combined to form a single prismatic strike or split into their constituent parts and targeted separately. 

Aural Plumes

Enhance Plumes within your Aura using all of the different modifiers you have learned. Available Modifiers:

Stunning - Send a shock through the spirit 

Soothing - Relax the spirit

Focused - Grants increased control of a particular Plume in exchange for less control of other Plumes

Piercing - Strike the Shield

Binding - Slow mana movement

Reinforced - Adds cohesion and resistance to dispersion to the Plume

Disruptive - Break spell structures

Thermoregulation - Locally adjust the physical temperature for comfort and safety. Requires a compatible Plume. Provides limited protection against temperature-based attacks.

Rending - Attack the body. Cannot penetrate Shield.

Corruption - Erode the core element

True Death - Lay that which is not living to rest

Translucent - Move through unaffiliated mana with lower loss

Prismatic - Split affiliated magic into its components

Defensive Elemental Attunement - Disperse an attack with its own element

Sweetfire Purge - Burn away negative effects with sweetfire

Breezy - Move the air in a controlled fashion

Pulse - Expend mana in a cohesive clump that may be directed

Elementally Enhanced - Imbue all effects with a particular element that synergizes with itself

Arcane Coatl Hybrid Abilities:

Armored in Arcane Scales

You passively exude mana that reinforces your skin with magic-resistant scales. While the scales can be partially suppressed, they cannot be completely dismissed. Your scales provide unparalleled defense against magical damage but require additional mana to aid them against other forms of damage. You may expend even more mana to manifest your scales in a secondary suit of scaled armor as a layered defense.

Prismatic Wings

Lift yourself into the sky upon wings made of all types of magic splitting and blending to obey your will.

Lifeweb Link

To be Suras is to be linked to the life around you, especially to those of your kind. Your skill and inclination aids you in what connections you find. You have found that the Archons are your people just as the Suras are and you are connected to them through the Lifeweb.

Child of Death

The child of a world of death and a man who is Death Itself, your touch carries both the finality of death and the hope for a new beginning … that will still end in Death.

Fleeting Foresight

The future reaches out to you yet you cannot see its full breadth. Only a hint comes through, questionable and lost, shaping your actions to reach the future you desire.

Arcane Absorption

You are mana and mana is you. You can absorb unaffiliated mana.

Scion of the Towers

You are linked to all Towers as though each was your home Tower.

Attunements:

Contraceptive Amulet

Prevents conception of a child.

Unbroken Link Bracelet

Shared Shield - Creates a common Shield pool.

Send Mana - Mana may be sent along the link.

Icicle Wand

Throw small spears of ice.

Force Splash Wand

Push away your enemies.

Recall Ally Wand

Teleport your ally to your side.

Sweetfire Claw Gloves

Create any weapon from sweetfire. Default: Fire Claws.

Sweetfire’s Sweets Ring

Aids in the control of sweetfire. Tinges all effects with the tang of sweetfire.

Prehensile-Tailed Belt

This belt has a tail that can be controlled by the attuned user.

Boots of Earthsense 

Use the movement of the ground below you to feel things that affect the earth.

Flashflare Wings (Cloak)

The feathers of this cloak can store mana and spells that can be carried by feathers. The stored mana and spells can be discharged in a single event by flaring the cloak into wings. The flare is spherical but will not affect the attuned user.