[Mkguild] Divine Travails of Rats - Postscript

[christian okane]

Wow!  It has been a really wild ride hasn't it?  Has it really been that
long?  It seems like just yesterday.

   I have really enjoyed being friends with you and all the people in MK. I
look forward to reading whatever you do next.

   It's been a wild and fun ride so far and I look forward to a lot more!


Chris
The Lurking Fox
Friend


-----Original Message-----
From: mkguild-bounces at lists.integral.org
[mailto:mkguild-bounces at lists.integral.org] On Behalf Of C. Matthias
Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2015 6:13 AM
To: Metamor Keep
Subject: [Mkguild] Divine Travails of Rats - Postscript

My Fellow Keepers,

In 1997 Copernicus created Metamor Keep for all of the newcomers on the TSA.
There were other story settings that were quite popular at the time but
unless you were one of the early members of the TSA it was hard to break
into them.  I had joined the TSA that year and so I naturally gave Metamor
Keep a try.  I wrote my first two stories in rather quick succession, having
already determined that my main character -- named after myself since I was
mentioned by name in the intro story -- had a secret strength that he was
keeping hidden and that the character Zhypar Habakkuk knew it and was trying
to get him to admit it.  The names of their orders, the details on each of
their secrets was not fully clear to me just yet, but it was a start.

And then I started working on a third story, this one introducing Lady
Kimberly.  I struggled with it for a few months in which time I wondered
whether I was going to keep writing in Metamor Keep since my character had
been ignored by everyone else who had contributed stories (despite
Copernicus's intent, many of the "old-timers" on the list did manage to
write a few stories in which they all basically hung out with each other in
one capacity or another).  But I did manage to finish the tale and over the
next couple of months I cranked out another dozen tales, almost all of which
were focused on the relationship between Charles and Kimberly, as well as a
few spotlights on the other rats.  While working on these tales I managed to
figure out the basics of Charles and Habakkuk's back-stories, and I also
began to imagine a much larger tale that would unfold through all my short
stories.

At this point most of the old-guard left Metamor Keep including Copernicus
who left the TSA entirely.  Chris Okane started writing his Long Scout
stories and included me in his story "A Small Repair" 
which Roy Pounds did a picture for (and which I am still extremely fond of).
Nor was that my only collaborative touch as Fox Cutter and I wrote a tale
together, and then Christopher Hughes included me in his tale "Fetish".  The
latter altered the trajectory of my character significantly.  Most people
would object to having their plans turned on their head like that.  I saw it
as a golden opportunity and can state that no other story by another author
has changed my course so dramatically as that.  And then Phil Geusz wanted
to write a story with me...

But even before some of this had happened things had been brewing in my
head.  During the Spring of 1998 as I wrapped up my first cycle of stories I
devised a broad outline for the tales I would tell in Metamor Keep.  My
intention was to use the setting to hone my writing for a few years (five to
ten I thought) and then take the skills I had created and move on to other
ventures.  I was inspired by Babylon 5's story arc that involved the defeat
of a great enemy to the universe and then the little species-specific
battles that had to be fought to undo their damage.  I was also inspired by
the epic scope of Tad Williams' "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" trilogy which
seemed to bring the past into the present; the very history of his world
mattered to the story and gave it direction.  I had not felt that in
anything other than Tolkein.  I wanted to capture that essence for my tale,
as well as use the idea of three great weapons being brought together to
resurrect an ancient power; the character of Abafouq the Binoq was inspired
by one of Tad's characters in fact.

And so in that Spring of 1998 I devised the Marzac plot and launched it with
my story "Admissions and Applications".  The scope and size of the continent
was lost on me at the time and I chuckle at some of the distances I had
assumed back then.  I did not know all the details along the way, but I
wanted to have a group of Keepers make a journey through many lands to
Marzac where they would defeat the evil.  And I wanted Charles to have to
make a personal journey of cleansing that mimicked Dante's trek through
Inferno and Purgatorio.  When that was complete I would have written
everything I had set out to write for Metamor.  I figured it would take five
maybe ten years at most to tell it all.

But then Phil wanted to write a story with me.  "Keeping the Lamp Lit"
forced me to destroy one of the villains I had crafted (Lord
Loriod) but it gave me the opportunity to create the trio of Yonson, Agathe,
and Zagrosek who would appear again and again in the stories that followed.
We also, due to the objection of one of the old guard of the TSA who didn't
want his character used anymore, had to create the character Wessex who I
was then able to set on a path of my own choosing.  Phil knew that what he
had intended to do in Metamor Keep would destroy the feel of the setting
(turning it into a Steampunk rather than a Fantasy setting).  I loved the
fantasy aspect and wanted to emphasize it all the more.  I am privileged to
have written the story with him and am grateful to him for helping expand
what I had only the germ of in mind.

Already I had in mind the three artifacts of Yajakali, and introducing the
censer as we did was a great way to take what had been references only I
would understand and bring it to the next level.  Now the readers understood
that a longer-range story was in the works and that there were more evils
out there than just Nasoj.  I now had the question "What happened to the
censer?" to drive a lot of the stories that would follow in the rest of the
second cycle and throughout the third cycle.  I wanted a little more than
that though; I wanted a monster to strike terror, and so I created the
Shrieker and introduced it toward the end of the second cycle (in "Dialoges"
I believe).  But most of the second cycle was of tamer matters and so the
hints were always subtle.

While home with my family one Thanksgiving I looked over my family
bookshelves and saw the Redwall books that I had loved as a child.  I wanted
to create a place in Metamor that could be like Mossflower Woods.  And so I
devised Glen Avery.  At the time I was helping edit Chris Okane's stories,
and as he had paid me so handsome a compliment as to include me in one of
his own, I decided to include Misha in the story that introduced Glen Avery
("Declarations of Allegiance").  I had intended it to be a place that would
show up from time to time to have more woodlands adventures and so the tone
of the story was kept light with focus on the country-folk and how everyone
knew everyone else (a hedgehog bearing pies, a bear with a brewery, the town
run by squirrels, etc...).  Yet the character of Garigan, intended as a
one-off, kept asking for more attention.  And then I knew he had to be a
Sondeckis like Charles.

Of course, all of this was in the background of my dear friend Chris
Hoekstra's creation of Rickkter and how much he and Charles hated each
other!  Chris and I even then wrote a story together "The Three Sides of
Truth" to show poor Garigan hearing about the conflict between the Sondeckis
and Kankoran from three different perspectives.  It may not seem like much
happened compared to later years, but so much was started there in that
second cycle, all of which stories I wrote in 1998 and 1999!

With the third cycle I had the delight of working with Chris Okane on
several stories and even plotting out some things for our characters,
including Charles becoming a Long Scout -- believe it or not, they were
supposed to be a super secret organization!  But even while Charles had some
lighter adventures, I still wanted to move forward with this big idea I had.
In "Fireside" I had Misha tell a children's rhyme that mentioned the Binoq.
In "Hunt" we uncover the Long House.  And then in "Intercessor" I introduced
the plot twist nobody saw coming, the hyacinth!  I remember the first time I
introduced Jessica it was because I needed Wessex to have an apprentice.  I
didn't really have any female characters other than Lady Kimberly, and I
certainly didn't have any avians and it seemed like a nice idea.  Having her
fall in love with the captain of Yonson's guard just sort of happened but
I'm glad it did.  But after Charles warned everyone about Marzac, I needed a
way for people to forget that Yonson was dangerous, and so the hyacinth was
planted.

I knew Wessex would die from his efforts to pursue Marzac, and so I wanted
to spend as much time as possible with him before I killed him.  And so,
little by little the stories grew longer and there were more of them.  I
introduced Qan-af-arael in a short little scene that I knew nobody would
get.  I nailed down Habakkuk's role in the big story and started revealing
things little by little about him (working with Chris Hoekstra was fun here
too).  I had everything I was going to write through the Winter Solstice
plotted out and detailed, even the Patriarch's arrival and murder (though
several characters in his entourage surprised me with having stories of
their
own) was planned.

And most especially of all, the story "Nuptials" was planned and read to my
wife, then girlfriend, on a special day.  The poem used for the proposal was
exactly how I proposed to my wife.  We have been married for almost fifteen
years now and Metamor Keep has always been part of it, even if only in the
background.

And then Ryx had a little idea...

And what a little idea it was!  I had been enjoying his stories right from
the first and was thrilled to have him writing for Metamor Keep.  I
commented on each of them and made little suggestions.  He was the first to
have his characters visit Glen Avery since my own time there.  He wrote a
little scene with his character bumping into Lady Kimberly and somehow from
that developed a friendship that led to her becoming Murikeer's pupil.  I
had not imagined that direction for her but I was thrilled by it and was
glad to incorporate it into my own stories.  But Winter Assault....

Winter Assault changed so much and moved so many goalposts for me.  I
returned to Glen Avery myself, another walk-on character decided to flirt
with Charles which led to yet another plot arc, and now we were allowed to
see what three Sondeckis could do together.  I had the chance to show
Zagrosek being good and I liked it.  Thank you, Ryx!

Of course, "Winter's First Chill", which preceded Winter Assault, was truly
for me a climax in my long-range story as it was the first time we actually
got to see a Shrieker for real.  And I indulged my mathematical training as
the space in which they fought the Shrieker was a Lobachevskian hyperbolic
geometry (multiple parallel lines through a single point).  The death of
Wessex though was painful to write.  In the short time he'd been in Metamor
I'd fallen in love with his character and I hated that I was forced to kill
him.

That said, one thing he saw in that story, his dream there, featured nine
dancers.  This was a reference to what would happen in the Hall of Unearthly
Light in "Last Tale of Yajakali" which I would finally be able to write nine
years later.

The fourth cycle was about bringing everything together so that we could
begin the massive journey story.  But so many little threads that had begun
in Winter Assault needed to be addressed.  Thomas's addiction to the halter,
culminating in "Never Again a Man" took a considerable amount of time (and
won me an Ursa Major award to
boot!)  Then there was Vinsah's tale which became bound up with the journey
of Ryx's characters Murikeer and Malger.  And of course I indulged myself by
showing off as much of Glen Avery as possible once I exiled Charles there.
The story "Wagging Tongues Will" allowed me to accomplish so much, such as
introducing the other evil accomplice of Marzac, Bishop Jothay, as well as
show the Sword.  And I had to create some ancient artifact called The
Pillars of Ahdyojiak so that I could justify how difficult it was to
teleport over vast distances (and avoid somebody just asking why I didn't
use teleport spells to accomplish stuff later)  And, at Phil's request, I
found a way to get his character out of Metamor Keep.

Probably one thing most people did not like that I did in the fourth cycle
was introduce the Magyars.  Thieves and tricksters they have been greeted
with dismay by most everyone and several people have told me that they tend
to skip over their stories.  Yet I love them dearly and I think I've created
some of the most interesting places in their tales.  The city of Cheskych is
a marvel that I yearn to more fully describe, and the ancient city of
Carethedor high in the mountains was a delight to explore.  I will never
forget the fight with the undead dragon there!  Of course, there is also the
place that confused people even more, Cenziga.  I knew what it was from the
very first moment and those who have read "Last Tale of Yajakali" 
will understand.  Inspired by the works of Tim Powers (specifically
"Declare") it was the anti-thesis to Marzac and the substance to fill in the
cleft created there.  All that survived it were duplicated in a sense.
Marzac nullified all that came to it.

One thing that did become apparent to me in this time was that I looked
forward to certain face-offs more than others.  I was pumped for the fight
between Nemgas and Czestadt (whose name I thought was cool until I realized
it was typed entirely with the left hand), but few others seemed to feel any
excitement in it.  I was electrified the first time we met the Marquis, but
others just wondered who that was (though not for long!)  So yes, in that I
had some disappointments but that is how it always will be with
story-telling.  That said, I was thrilled when everyone had the same
reaction as Rickkter to Habakkuk's proclamation, "It's the Hyacinth!"
Nobody had a clue that it had been there the whole time, even though I
mentioned it frequently!

Nor was I disappointed by the huge battle sequence in "Lineaments of Coming
Night".  I deliberately gave Saroth and Electra a role in it because I loved
their stories from way back in the early days of Metamor (it was 2004 at
this point) and wanted to show them that appreciation.  I loved pitting all
of those big name Metamorians in the belfry against the three wizards.
Giving Charles the hand-print scar over his right eye was done on a whim, as
was turning him into stone, but dang was it cool!  Chris Hoekstra gave me
permission (actually, he suggested it!) to do what I did to Rickkter and boy
was I going to make sure that Rickkter went down after one heck of a fight!
Every moment of that fight, a fifty page long sequence, made my day.  At
this point I cannot even recall what anybody else thought about it.  I loved
it and still love it!

What "Lineaments of Coming Night" did was set me up for the massive journey.
I took a year away from Metamor so that I could plan and try some other
things.  During that time I got a new job, had to move from my home to
someplace I'd never been before, and my wife and I did a lot of new things
together.  I wanted to tell it in a single story that was shaped like a
novel.  So I had to have chapters, chapter titles, and a very clear
chronology.  I wrote seven separate (yet intersecting) plot lines,
determined the scenes that had to occur for each, and then figured out how
to interleave them together so that it would all make sense and have
dramatic timing.  And then, beginning in 2006 I started writing.  It took
three and a half years but finally "Last Tale of Yajakali" was complete and
one of the most important scenes I had in mind back in 1998 was finally
accomplished.

And since then I have been trying to reach that other scene I had in mind,
of the journey through Inferno and Purgatorio that Charles would undertake.
It has taken me six years of work on my sixth cycle of stories to finally
reach that point.  Like the fourth cycle I planned out all of the stories I
would write, their dates, titles, and even a rough guess of how long each
would be.  And yes, like all of my cycles, the titles were in either
alphabetical or reverse alphabetical order.  Just a little bit of OCD there!

In the end I didn't write a few of the stories (the story where Guernef and
Abafouq shed their corruption was to be called "Grappling Between Stone and
Sky") because of severe burnout I was suffering in
2012 (the story "Heading to All Tomorrows" took me almost the entire year to
write and yet is one of the shorter tales of the sixth cycle).  I also had a
story in mind showing how Berchem lost himself while a female skunk and
started to think he really was Rhena (to highlight the hyacinth's power and
Jessica's corruption) but it never gelled with me.  There were a couple of
others I abandoned because I collapsed their plots together ("Inchoate
Carillon, Inconstant Cuckold" is essentially two stories merged into one).
And there was one story which came out of the blue because I was inspired by
my vacation to Maine to celebrate my tenth anniversary; this would be
"Healing Wounds in Arabarb".  I had always intended to kill Calephas myself,
but this allowed me the chance to showcase Lindsey's home and his complex
relationships there.  Yes, I did get carried away at times exploring that
land.  And I had the opportunity to follow through on something I had
discussed with Bill Kieffer way back when, having Wicked Potter end up a toy
of Calephas.  But what truly caught me by surprise was the villain Gmork;
yet another one-off that decided they were too cool to die!

Those who had been reading carefully already know that Lindsey's draconic
heritage was decided much earlier.  But so much else of this story surprised
even me as it spun from my pen.  If I had to name my top three stories in
all of Metamor Keep, "Healing Wounds in Arabarb" 
is one of the three.  While I did screw up the properties of White
Phosphorus, I felt like at its end, I had been to Fjellvidden, I had hidden
from Gmork and his slaves, I had been a dragon with Pharcellus, I had wept
with fear with Quoddy and Machias, and I had schemed with Lindsey's parents
to bring about the end to Calephas's tyranny.  Everyone had a tale in that
story, and nobody was unimportant.  I would offer this story up to anyone as
a story in which my heart lives.

And yes, Hallan, I am still sorry that I gave you nightmares with Gmork!

But there were moments of laughter too.  I think on "Dominion of the
Hyacinth" where Jessica turns our friends into children and little Charles
and little Rickkter proceed to try and beat each other up; this gets so out
of hand that a bear mother gives them both a spanking!  I cannot help but
laugh when I think of that scene.  It shows the lighter side of Metamor is
still there despite all the struggle and pain.  And in many ways it is
another moment of easing the tension between Charles and Rickkter.  How
serious can you take your feud if you've been spanked as a little child for
it?

It took two years to finish the next and final tale in my sixth cycle.  Ryx
and I tossed ideas back and forth for a few months before we settled on the
basic outlines of the 724 period.  The character of Charlie Sutt and how he
came to be that way needed to be ironed out.  While his power to Dream had
been  hinted at for some time, so many details of the intervening sixteen
years had to be sorted before we could even begin.  I have stacks of chat
logs where we went back and forth considering a wide array of possibilities
before we finally figured out which one would truly work.  Ryx went whole
hog and developed the entire Sutt household staff (most of which never
showed up in the story of course) and I detailed what the Narrows would look
like and kept track of what scenes came next.  We took turns writing and
editing most of the material.  Some sections are more Ryx and others are
more my own.  But every line has been at the very least examined by both of
us.

And in this story I finally reached the point I had seen back in 1998 as the
culmination and completion of everything I had hoped to achieve in Metamor
Keep.  With "Divine Travails of Rats" finished, I can step away from Metamor
knowing that I have accomplished what I sought to do.

Metamor Keep is not just a set of stories to me.  It has become a foundation
for friendships that have endured over a decade and now nearly two!  It is
the foundation for new friendships and a constant source of inspiration.  My
heart has been poured into it.  When I look at Metamor Keep I see a part of
myself staring back at me.  It is a vast family that I love and could never
abandon.

I do not know what else I will be writing for Metamor Keep in the years
ahead.  There are many stories I do wish to tell (the journey to Sondeshara,
the journey to Cheskych, Charlie finding love, Elvmere finding his way home,
the end of Gmork, more tales of the Fellowship of the Egg, etc...) but I
have no idea what time will be given to me to tell any of them.  My daughter
is now two-and-a-half and as such she is the center of my life and all
writing takes a big back seat.  But I am not leaving and I will always be
part of Metamor Keep.

And my deepest gratitude and admiration for all of you who choose to live
here with me in this remarkable place!  After living here almost eighteen
years, I know this is my home.  And while I may take a vacation from time to
time, I will always come back here to live.  May Metamor Keep outlast us
all!

May He bless you and keep you in His grace and love,

Charles Matthias

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