In a nutshell, this will be exactly what it says: the story of the romance between Lady Gabriella Allonica and Lord (and eventually Baron) Validar Vanarkus. But there is more to the story, than just a story, of course.
This "project" started due mainly to a series of misunderstandings and lack of communication between the GM and I. It then created a situation where Ken wanted to continue the story of Cynalon and I was a bit disgruntled over circumstances and situation. The agreed upon solution was a re-write! Nothing like a good old fashioned retcon. Not like this was the first time something in the Cynalon stories was changed or altered. And yet this would be a major undertaking. Why was that exactly?
Let's start at the beginning, shall we? I'm going to take you back to a time before this message board and to the original Frontier story on Q-Link. November 1990. 34 years ago! This was the Frontier #67. The Seekers was the band that Validar was a part of and was comprised of many old favorite characters, such as Bernice, Blod, Zynara, Stephanie, Finrod, Arocken and others. The team had just finished with the War for Gateway and returned as heroes and a feast was held, which also announced the marriage of Steph and Fin.
At the feast was the first time that Validar met Gabriella. This was not even mentioned yet in actual writing and just implied. Gabby was a minor noble who was at the festivities. He was instantly enamored by her exotic looks and uncommon dress, her mother being Zakharan. So while many of the ladies in waiting were there trolling for a suitable husband, Gabby was not which immediately raised her status above the others in Validar's mind. Yet he was constantly interrupted from his chances to spend time with Gabriella by others wishing to congratulate him or trying to introduce someone or other.
Fortunately as they were in town for several weeks, he was able to meet up with her again under more agreeable circumstances and the two started to spend more and more time together. Gabriella even attended the weddings as Validar's guest. He was the best man at each of the wedding, which placed her securely in the limelight in the story, but it was never really mentioned in actual writing. We didn't do as much expose and inner monologue and such back in these days. Fortunately my own writing has become significantly better over the years as I slowly understand the concepts of good story-telling, with so much more to learn.
Gabby's only other direct reference during this time was in the next post #68. A young boy had an unfortunate encounter with a well, and Validar had been out on the town with Gabriella. They both arrive together to see what is the commotion. Validar would soon leave the Seekers unexpectedly (to him) and not have a chance to see Gabriella before he left simply sending a note about his departure, the dire circumstances and the promise that he would return soon to her. That was never to be.
That brought us all to the New Frontiers. Let us jump ahead to November 2003. Thirteen years later! And at some point I decided that Gabby should somehow be part of his story. However she was in Gateway and he was in the eastern part of the Kingdom, adventuring in Pyris and the surrounding areas. Gabriella actually had little back story up until this point. She was just a background NPC of which Validar had grown rather fond. None of the players in Frontier asked about her and there was no written dialogue between Val and Gabby. But she was still a very important part of Validar's story I decided.
Time to create a back story! Discussing it with Ken, Gabby was fleshed out. Her described features fit perfectly with her being part-Zakharan and part-Cynalonian. Her father, Lord Allonica, had married a foreign woman after meeting when the family caravans connected for trade. So there she was, Lady Gabriella Allonica. She was a very minor noble and her family ran caravans throughout the kingdom. Her uncle was the one with the landed estate.
When Validar sent for other Seekers to join him, only Arocken was available. Also there was the matter of the field plate suit of armor he had commissioned. Pulling three ideas together, Arocken travelled with Gabriella's caravan and brought the suit of armor with them to Pyris. Her arrival in Pyris was referenced in New Frontiers #16.
Unfortunately, timing was not cooperative for the young couple's newly blossoming romance and by the time Validar was back in Pyris, Gabriella had to have left for Corunglain in order to finish the caravan route before winter set in. Validar was on his way to Corunglain as well and he hoped that they would meet there. Unfortunately for all that's when the Siege of Corunglain happened!
And that's where everything began to go off the rails.
What is this exactly?
What is this exactly?
Conquer or Die!
Re: What is this exactly?
Validar finally met up with Lady Gabriella at a meeting with the King after the Siege and it was revealed that she had been an advisor to the King himself. She also came across as a lot more formal and romantically detached than what I had envisioned. Despite the underwhelming romance, the two became engaged and Gabby was often involved with the King and behind the scenes activities.
None of this seemed right to me, based on how I had envisioned her. I had failed to give Ken the ideas in my head that I had for her and about her and he failed to ask those same questions. I suppose I kept hoping things would end up resolving to my satisfaction, but they kept slowly spinning more and more away from my expectations, like a slow motion car accident. None of it was terrible. It just wasn't "right". And I began to lose interest in the game.
Honestly I reached a point where I had no intention of playing the character in any fashion again. It was just a sad let down.
With the talk of re-launching the game in some form or another, I sort of gave an ultimatum that Gabriella had to be more like "my Gabby". After several ideas, the only real solution was a complete and total rewrite of the character from her appearance at Corunglain in post #61. She was no longer the King's advisor. She would not be a member of the Council. She would be Lady Gabriella Allonica. And I had a crap ton of work ahead of me!
I started to rewrite the parts of the story where she appeared taking each post of each issue and trying to weave the changes into the posts. That would prove to be a gargantuan effort to adjust every post and every reference and quote of each post. Ken suggested write it as a continuing story, with references to what was happening in the posts. That way she could be deleted and altered in the posts but all the new parts of their story would be in one place. Otherwise no one would ever likely see it and notice the change. Granted as it is I am mostly writing this for myself. But it is important to what was probably my favorite and most important character I ever tried to bring to life and so it was also important to me that the story be accurate.
If you are reading, I hope you enjoy the idea I had about a young couple, falling in love, while the world rages around them.
None of this seemed right to me, based on how I had envisioned her. I had failed to give Ken the ideas in my head that I had for her and about her and he failed to ask those same questions. I suppose I kept hoping things would end up resolving to my satisfaction, but they kept slowly spinning more and more away from my expectations, like a slow motion car accident. None of it was terrible. It just wasn't "right". And I began to lose interest in the game.
Honestly I reached a point where I had no intention of playing the character in any fashion again. It was just a sad let down.
With the talk of re-launching the game in some form or another, I sort of gave an ultimatum that Gabriella had to be more like "my Gabby". After several ideas, the only real solution was a complete and total rewrite of the character from her appearance at Corunglain in post #61. She was no longer the King's advisor. She would not be a member of the Council. She would be Lady Gabriella Allonica. And I had a crap ton of work ahead of me!
I started to rewrite the parts of the story where she appeared taking each post of each issue and trying to weave the changes into the posts. That would prove to be a gargantuan effort to adjust every post and every reference and quote of each post. Ken suggested write it as a continuing story, with references to what was happening in the posts. That way she could be deleted and altered in the posts but all the new parts of their story would be in one place. Otherwise no one would ever likely see it and notice the change. Granted as it is I am mostly writing this for myself. But it is important to what was probably my favorite and most important character I ever tried to bring to life and so it was also important to me that the story be accurate.
If you are reading, I hope you enjoy the idea I had about a young couple, falling in love, while the world rages around them.
Conquer or Die!