#philippinelore

Tamauro, elemental guide to Beliza, the main character of the Dark Allies Dark Adversaries (Book 1 - The Katalonan Chronicles).

He is very close to my heart as he reminds me of the same being I dream about now and again. My own gabay.

The concept of having elemental guide or guides is core to the culture and beliefs of Filipinos. They are sentient energies found in nature. As the name suggests, they can provide one guidance. Or in some cases, a lure to perdition.

However, Tamauro is not one of the common ones one mentioned by people. His kind is not known for choosing humans as an alaga, or a ward, because they are a warrior class in Hiwagaan, the ethereal realm.

Tamauro is a sarangay. These noble elementals are attached to the gems they wear. It is connected to their existence. The pair represents passion and reason. And if one is stolen, it results in lethal consequences for the thief, for a sarangay cannot be parted from their gems forever.

His personality was drawn from many of my mentors in life. Although none of them were this muscular, they were all, in essence, mighty warriors in their own field. Tamauro's wit and wisdom, in my opinion, was his best weapon.

He has a very mysterious backstory — one that demands a chapter or two, but that will not be until book 3. (Book 2 is under editing/revision process at the moment).

Our artist, Boyet Abrenica, drew him very well. He got the image, the facial expression of Tamauro very accurately. Impressive feat since his only basis was the books. He gets both Sol and I really well. We are now exploring collaborating on the graphic novels based on the series.

There are at least 9 elemental guides that appeared in this book, each unique and quirky.

And if you are interested in magical creatures, both mainstream and unique, the rich fantasy of the Philippine lore will provide you with so much variety, it is crazy. Read more of them in our book and the succeeding volumes in this series.

(We don't know yet how many books there will be, but we are leaning on 5).

This book took a while to write, but every minute was fun. My co-writer and I (SJ Powell) spent many late nights (morning for him due to time zone difference), re-reading and editing what I had written. It wasn't easy for him because, between us, I was the local one who knew the lore. But his appreciation of the lore was very helpful. Sol provided the insight of someone who is not familiar with the lore, but was fascinated by it.

The wonderful Boyet Abrenica did the beautiful artwork, and we are very pleased with it — Sol and I, and our publisher.

We are proud of this work. It features characters, rituals, and magic as true to the lore as possible. The creatures in the book are unique, we guarantee, to whoever loves fantasy. The lore is very rich with fascinating beings, both mortal and immortal, corporeal and ethereal.

To foreign readers, if you want a break from vampires, werewolves, faes, angels, and demons — we want to tempt you with equally ominous, dangerous, yet oh so compelling creatures.

To the Filipinos who grew up with and loves horror and fantasy stories about the usual scary suspects — aswangs, manananggals, tiyanaks, etc. We dare you to read a more diverse spread of horrific impaktos and malignos. They are the staple in our books. I promise you; I didn't invent them. They have long existed in our culture. I just brought them to the fore. Sol can vouch for how gruesome a few of them were.

The main characters of the series are also particularly timely, although we didn't purposefully write it because of the current 'woke' culture pertaining to the LGBTQ ++ community. Feminine energy just happened to be crucial to the nature of a Katalonan. Hooray for the pre-colonial Filipinos for being so accepting. (Sometimes I wonder what happened to that mindset.)

We wrote the "bayoks/bayoguin" characters with little emphasis on their gender. We simply wrote them as humans, as people whose issues would resonate with anyone. Indeed, without the femininity born into them, they wouldn't be Katalonans.

But most especially, the series is more about the lore — fantastical, dark, natural and full of wisdom.

We hope you love it as much as we did. Below is the blurb of the first book.

Orphaned, bullied, and threatened with exorcism, Beliza flees her village despite having nowhere to go and nothing to her name. She encounters a mysterious woman they call the Chief Katalonan, who entices her to search for answers about the bizarre experiences in her life.

Together with eight others, Beliza finds herself in training to be a conduit between the intertwined ethereal and corporeal realms, Hiwagaan and Sansinukob. And for someone who had nothing, she can now wield the power over light and dark.

Beliza gains a father figure in her elemental guide, Tamauro. Powerful & ancient, he teaches her how to deal with entities that cross into both worlds — beings as dark & dangerous as her own childhood traumas.

Soon, she and her friends must face menacing and unknown adversaries sent by Sitan, the lord of darkness, at the cost of a life and friendship.

Let us know if you like it. (We would love a review in Amazon and/or Goodreads).

And if you do like it, how would you like to beta read book 2 - The Lair of Shadows and Light?