“Lady Raven”

The Lady Raven was actually an old woman that traveled to Exile in hopes of starting a new life even in her old age on the frontier of Compass. After the mass exodus of Exile because of the vlux, Lady Raven had disappeared somewhere along the road in their travels. Many believed her to have been eaten by wild animals or she just went off to die in her old age. Maurie Kalax adopted the name and the persona making many people believe that she was the original Lady Raven.

Maurie Kalax is a woman that reflects the hardships, trials, and tribulations of the women in my life. Wether it be one of my sisters that inspired wisdom when sometimes they weren’t even trying to in the first place, or just a female friend having a hard time, each experience added to the character. Maurie goes through some hard times with her father that ends up scarring Maurie for the rest of her life; until Dexioni gifts Maurie with new skin and reverts her aging so that she and her love Fox Ulton could be together again. Maurie’s character is later replaced by Valronia.

“John Kalax”

John Kalax is the ulitmate evil for my books. Not only does he manipulate the world of darkness in my stories, but is actually responsible for much of the corruption in the lighter side of the tale. John Kalax is the mad scientist side of me that expresses evil and evil intent to new degrees. I always like to tease about other villains I read about and joke with statements like “He would be crushed by Kalax”.

John Kalax was a world reknown anthropologist that started to study some ancient ruins off the coast of Madagascar. Little was he aware that he found a doorway to other worlds, not just Compass. When he activated the portal he was transported to a planet named Valronia, but in the very distant past. Kalax quickly lost his way to power, and as soon as he discovered how to overcome death he became a tyrant. Though Kalax seems to get stronger with each attempt to cheat death, I try to use the fact that he is trying to cheat death against him in the storyline. Though he has come close to meeting his demise many times, Kalax always seems to come back for revenge, or at least to cause enough havok to start a war.

John Kalax represents the evils in our world, in our lives, or sometimes just the things that make life harder. I like to put him in this position in hopes to inspire others to overcome their challenges in life, no matter how dark and dismal it may seem. John Kalax is defeated multiple times through out my stories, as should anything holding you back in the story of your life. Keep moving forward, hopefully it will be better soon.

“The Vlux”

Take every scary animal you ever encountered in your life and then throw it into a sand swimming canine and you have the vlux. When I was younger I used to have very bad nightmares about a wolf chasing me down a path in the woods. For years I struggled with trying to goto sleep because I was frightened by this wolf. When I think of the vlux I think of that wolf and the terror it caused me as a child.

The vlux were created by an evil wizard long ago before the kingdoms were even founded. The idea behind them was to be his loyal army of attack dogs, but when they turned on him instead his plans never took. The vlux hunt in large packs, normally hundreds to a pack, and are violent carnivorous beast. Any who have seen a vlux in the wild and lived to tell about it are normally scared for life. Vlux also have a very thick layer of armor that is naturally designed to help them swim through sand as efficient as a fish in water.

Fox Ulton stops a large number of the vlux in book one, but these creatures can be found all over Compass now although they prefer sandy dry climates. One vlux is as strong as any two men, fast as cheatas, but they do have a few weaknesses. Swimming underground so much has taken its toll on their eyes, even with the evil wizard altering their genetic make up their eyes poorly adapted to seeing above ground. The armor of the vlux limits the movement of the creature, and though they are very deadly creatures they have a hard time turning around to attack someone behind them. Lastly the violent nature of a vlux can be its own undoing as it thinks in rash, hasty, burst of thoughts instead of being calm enough to assess their situation. It is rumored that some wizards can tap into the minds of vlux and control entire packs, but normally a shredded wizard body is found some time after spotting the wizard controlling them.

“Foreman”

Foreman was designed after an old boss named “The Little General”; that wasn’t his real name, it just was what everyone called him. He was a great guy though, he really cared about his team even if they didn’t believe that, and he always was safety concious and never asked us to do anything he wasn’t ready to do himself.

Foreman tries to reason with Fox Ulton early in the book to help his people leave Exile and flee the Vlux. Many support Foreman in his decision to leave town, but many are disappointed that they did not put up a better fight to stay. Foreman is not magical or mystical by any means and shows the hardship that the people had to endure because of mystical beings. Foreman also seems a little cowardice, but in the end shows he is a hero much like the rest.

“Xeos”

Xeos is a character that I built up and had to change. At first Xeos was pretty cut and dry the guardian of the gateways between the world of Compass and other worlds. He obtained this status after realizing that he was in fact two different people that could join into one person, I called him a “split soul”. The concept was that instead of being two entities that joined into one, he was one entity that splint into two. Xeos was designed after the human psychi; always tearing us into two halves of any decision. I do plan to give Xeos more light in up and coming stories as his back story of how he became a split soul is very “sci-fi” as it started with a freak storm at sea.

 

“Eclypse”…

“Eclypse”

Eclypse, or Tristan Moonkeep, is a character built with a friend named Chris Gilpatrick. Chris and I discussed many things about the book, and he would often give me ideas when making the first book. The story has since taken a life of its own and Chris and I dont get to see each other as often as we would like to, but that is the circumstances of life sometimes. Chris is a great person, and I tried to reflect that in the character of Eclypse. Chris is the type of person who would catch you if you were falling backwards, and not out of trust but his nature. With that in mind I tried to make Eclypse have the same persona, a person who would do the right thing just because it was the right thing to do. Chris is also responsible for the creation of other characters in book one, and I owe a lot to him for his help.

Eclypse lived much of his life as an elf, but secretly hid his true identity for many years. He knew, since the day he was born, all of the knowledge of the universe; this aquistion of knowledge came with a price, he was to be the guardian of Odra, or order. Eclypse tended to his duties as a cosmic enitity in secret, and while out helping Fox chase of the Vlux, he lost the love of his life. After that Eclypse lived the rest of his days as the cosmic entity he was, mostly alone in the dark solitude he had made for himself. It wasn’t until the nearing end of his days as Guardian of Odra did he realize the good he could of done to help, and with that he bestowed his powers upon a new guardian, Zeya, and she also took with her his revelation. I do plan to incorporate Eclypse into future storylines.

“Utonis”

“Greed is for those who only think of this life.” – Utonis

As a child I grew up hearing the wisdom of my grandfather on the few times we did get to sit and chat. I say few because to me he wasn’t around for a part of my life, and then regretably he passed away. Utonis is a character that I wanted to represent what I saw in my grandfather for the many years we did have together. This blog is dedicated to my readers and fans as an inside scoop of my Compass Volumes. I hope you enjoy the read, and don’t hesitate to let me know what you might like to see in the volumes to come.