#aftermath chronicles

the reason why I am so concerned with casting these characters is not just because its fun or why not but because with some characters a part of their personality just clicks for me once i can imagine a living breathing person inhabiting this character.

like with Antares and Casper, i was having difficulty with fully picturing them with all of their complexities but when i fixed on a face to attach them too, little quirks and background facts and character traits just came to life in my head.

that's why some characters are giving me such a hard time, they still seem artificial, a figment of my mind, or worse, a figment of Cody's.

casting them helps solidify them even if the characters deviate from roles the actors themselves have done and are at times greatly different from the actors, i can still believe them as a character better now.

No one still alive can remember what started the last great War- World War III. Oil was obsolete with the invention of vehicles and ships that could travel the entire globe in a day after absorbing ten minutes of sunlight. Fertile farming land had been cultivated in all of the previously barren corners of the world. Technology had advanced at an exponential rate and was available in every country. Some say the war was fought over power or population while the most widely accepted theory was over money or some sort of foolish greed.

But maybe a society like that, thriving and equal, just can’t last.

New technologically advanced bombs filled the sky, leaving cities with lesser defense grids decimated. Millions died as the war raged for three long years of hell. The governments and hierarchies crumbled and deteriorated until most people were simply fighting to survive. From the ashes of the old systems, ambitious corporations rose. The driven and the devious that still had money founded their own companies, constantly seeking to gain more and more power. The orphaned soldiers, remnants of the former armies, were given two options: join the companies or be killed. Thousands refused and took up arms all over the world to defend the remaining free cities while thousands more joined the ranks of the companies’ own private militias.

While pockets of the resisting freedom fighters still cling to their survival, only Dallas remains as a city free of company control in the no-man’s land between the opposing Valhalla and Quake. These survivors call themselves Last Stand after the symbol of resistance that the battle for Dallas inspired.

In the end, three years was all it took to plunge the planet from accomplishment and order into chaos and destruction. Eleven companies remain from the original fifteen that rose. As they each continue to fight for complete dominance they developed elite groups called Aces whose jobs include infiltration and assassination. Aces, analysts, and their ruthless leaders, none were immune from loss in this new world order, but it was to be their choices that would define the future of the human race.

so though a lot of it won't make sense right now and in fact, some of the characters I might post about you won't even meet 'til book 3, this is more for my own purposes.

but to make things easier, I'm posting a bit of my tag references here.

Of the 11 companies, I mostly post about Valhalla, Quake and Vanguard though I may one day post for others like Dragomir, Blackwell and Ironside, but not for now.

and if someone belongs to a particular company I'll tag them like company: quake.

note: not all of these characters have been cast yet so as yet their tags are empty but one day they won't be

Valhalla- the mostly female badass company 

Lara

Tamara

Valkyrie

Kyra

Freya

Dahlia

Nueve

Quake- the formidable North American company 

Dante

Casper

River

Yashaal

Desmond

Vanguard- the European company, defended by The Guard, an elite fighting force comprised of the best fighters from across the globe.

Orion

Altair

Vega

Sirius

Regulus

Draco

Pollux

Antares

Leo

Andromeda

there are so many more characters and companies but mostly I've yet to cast them but that doesn't mean they aren't important.

other important distinctions:

dreamcast

original graphics

actual chapters: prologue

playlist

and I'll update this as I post more. I've attempted to set up a queue. there's not much in it but I've tried to set it up so that it'll last awhile. or at least until i remember this blog again and need inspiration.

this is a blog I made to help inspire me to write more for the book series I have been working on with my friend for about a year and 4 months.

This story is Cody's brainchild, born of a dream that he brought to me and another friend that we have been meticulously plotting and crafting until it has blossomed into this colossal 7 book series called the Aftermath Chronicles.

what's it about: It's been seven years since World War 3. The governments crumbled and in their place rose up companies of ambitious individuals claiming their corners of the world, each seeking to gain complete dominance. Defying this campaign is a group of freedom fighters- remnants of the old armies- called Last Stand, their stronghold located in Dallas. The story follows the journeys of members of the elite hit squads of the companies as each fight to survive and make do in this dangerous new world order.

I plan to post some snippets on here as well as my casting choices and random music or inspiration for it.

wish me luck and feel free to send me any messages if you have any queries about it at all.

like he actually got into a serious debate with me on at least 3 occassions on how he didn't think we were killing enough characters while I maintained why everyone who was still alive was neccessary and why they needed to live.

now he's arguing my we can't kill 3 people we killed previously. it's beautiful.

i can see growth also a high attachment to fictional characters.

i'm so proud.

i am intensely proud.

we really accomplished a lot and we filled in several of my holes and questions.

we also solved several problems we'd had in a few areas as well.

mind you we still have question marks and plot gaps but we've got room to grow.

the whole thing feels a bit more cohesive and put together than it did yesterday.

i feel really really good about this.