Liner Notes for Mirrors

 

Liner Notes for my gladiator story Mirrors

It’s the half way point of Oath Of The Gladiator* and I’ve just killed the lead character! Welcome to the end game (six months).

Anyway, Vinculus is following an oracle, one that offers doom and hope. Here’s the idea. There’s one prophecy, but it has multiple interpretations. This is well known from the earliest times, the monkey’s paw type “If you go to war a great empire will be destroyed.” More than that, frauds and medium do cold reads, offering lots of vague details and following up on the ones that people react to. But what if it’s true for everyone who follows it. And not int the same way, not a horde of warriors joining gladiatorial schools to Contend For Others At The Crossroads Of The World.

Obviously that’s a gladiator in the greatest city in the world. But there are other crossroads and other contests. Others to enter the service of. So there’s a scholar and a merchant’s agent, each doing the same, each at a place that might be a great crossroads.

The problem with this is that it’s not good for a serial, or at least not good for a serial that’s not finished. I could write the prophecy out in full (or rather some of it, inevitably it would be cut off before the end with some urgent eruption of plot). But to do that I need to know what the ending is. The easiest way to do that is to write it and I haven’t yet! Writing a prophecy when you know what’s going to happen is much simpler.

Assuming I get around to collecting this, the prophecy will be better filled out. Sorry about that early adopters.

The mirror knight. I wanted an unbeatable foe so designed something classic. What if it was a reflection of you – but bigger, stronger, tougher. It’s the second time your meet your nemesis as a superhero (the first time is a colour palette swapped version of you with more dubious ethics). Then I had to figure out how to beat it. Vinculus isn’t going down without taking his enemy with him.

Am I still going on with the fall out of the fight rigging in the first story? Yes, yes I am. They made some dangerous people appear foolish, caused them difficulties. And they’re newcomers, rising in the underworld. They can’t afford to look weak, they can’t laugh and squeeze a bit more next month like an established criminal overlord. They’re spending money and influence like water, and it’s barely getting them any respect. Sure, they’ve now managed to kill Vinculus, but in a magnificent battle, holding his own against a magical giant. Does that make them look strong?

And Agonistes is still out there, despite their best efforts.