Hey there! It’s Cobalt again, back with another afterword for an arc. This is a lot longer than the previous one, but I think it should be interesting. Road To Corith certainly was something, and it’s something I’m pretty happy with. I think I’ve gotten better with my writing by a good margin. If you’ve gotten this far, thank you. In all honesty, the story of EoF was basically supposed to end after the first arc, but I saw the potential to go much further with the idea. What idea, you may ask? Let me explain, because EoF has a backstory.

So a note about Cobalt- I read a lot of light novels. So many in fact, I have a ranking of all of the light novels I have read (linked below). I also read a fair amount of web novels. But there’s one thing that bugs me in a lot of series, and it has bugged me for a while- The way that series deal with the topic of slavery. It infuriates me how flippantly a lot of light novels and web novels treat it in fantasy settings. From my experience, there are 4 types of it when used as a part of the world.

1. It is a system that is part of the world, and the main character is okay with it and maybe even participates in the system to their own benefit to get a new member of their party. This one pisses me off the most.

2. It is a system that is part of the world, and the main character reluctantly participates in it. They needed one for survival and are doing it because it is the way of the world. These character’s often get depicted as “one of the good slave masters”, which doesn’t help. It also pisses me off, especially because the suggestion that it makes is that the only problem in slavery is the fact that most of the slave masters are dicks, not the actual system itself.

3. It is a system that is part of the world, and the main character is either apathetic to it or unwilling to participate in it. They see it as a problem and don’t think that it is good, but merely surrender and say that the system is unable to be destroyed. This one I can deal with, because the main character maintains some moral foundations and a willingness to say that “slavery is bad”. A low bar, but a bar I can accept as long as it portrays the system of slavery as fucked up.

4. The main character actively takes a stance against slavery and tries to remove the system or at least have an effect on it. This one, I like. I know that not every story needs to do this nor is interested in doing this, but I don’t mind the characters saying slavery is bad and then taking some action against it.

I am not going to name names, but there are a few english web novels I have read which fall into type 1 and a good number which are type 2. Some of these web novels are genuinely good, and I enjoy reading them, but the trope bugs me nonetheless. Why am I emphasizing English? You know why. Culture matters, and a cultural background and awareness of slavery and its history should, in my opinion, deter most writers from approaching the subject in a positive angle. You can maybe use this to show your characters are morally gray, but if you’re using a slave system to introduce a member of a harem, you’re probably not going to put too much complex thought into it. Some authors use the excuse of penal labor to allow for the system to exist and give it some moral validity, saying that all of the people who are enslaved are criminals, but even that is just fucked. Do any research into it, especially the penal labor system in America and how it was used as a form of Neo-Slavery up until the early 1900s. That isn’t even talking about the way that prison labor is exploited in the modern day as a form of modern day slavery. That’s why I don’t like the Penal Laborer excuse either. Enslaving people and using them for their labor, no matter who they are, is not necessary to uphold a society.

So why are we talking about this? Simply put, one day I got in a rather heated discord conversation about the problems with the trope and said “fuck it. Let me do a story from the perspective of a slave and show just how fucked up a system like that would actually be.” Thus, I came up with the concept of Edge of Freedom and wrote a test chapter. The test chapter sucked, but it showed there was potential for the idea. Later on I came back to the concept and decided to flesh it out and see what was possible. That was when I came up with the first arc of the story, the Revolt. I wanted to tell a prison break style story of a bunch of slaves fighting back against a horrible system and the terrible effects it has on people that didn’t utilize pure power fantasy. Of course with the inclusion of magic and fantasy stuff along with the substance of magore. In short, EoF was created to make an argument that a story from a slave perspective could not only be interesting, but could go against the precedent that had been set up. So yeah, I wrote over 140,000 words (as of this afterword) out of spite. I want to note that I could have gone much darker, and thought to at several points, but I chose to not do that instead. Slavery and systems of Penal Labor are horrific throughout all of history. Mining slaves and penal laborers have a horrifying history the second you start to research into the Prison Leasing programs or even the Gulags from Russia. I think if I went that far, I’d probably push away more people.

I haven’t dealt with that type of slavery too much in the story. The one that is used to add to the arbitrary harem? Sex Slavery is just as fucked up and horrid, and the fact that authors excuse it in their stories is just infuriating to me. I think that authors should be allowed to do what they want, but I feel like having characters be ok with being slaves or even enjoying it is not ok.

I hope that “slavery being bad” isn’t too political for people, but if it is, god help us. There are other political perspectives that EoF has to offer, and this is where I can talk about our main villain- Arlin. I’ll get to David later, but the main idea of Arlin was that it was a magic steampunk empire just before the big revolution where the material became commonplace in society. However, if I were to say what a major inspiration for Arlin is, I like to imagine it as a combination of America, Britain and Rome. This goes for their culture of colonialism, treatment of natives and love of extracting resources from foreign lands. Arlin is a nation which is outwardly wealthy and the strongest empire on the continent, but inside of it there is festering corruption waiting in the background and deteriorating its systems in an attempt to hold onto a glorious past that never existed in the first place. The parallels are not subtle, nor do they need to be.

The paradox is that the people of Arlin still love it? It’s a better life than other nations, but that’s because the capital nations of Central Arlin, Morath and Peroa are all absorbing the wealth of the new territories. Those in the territories would not agree with that view and don’t love being controlled by a foreign power who saps power from them and overwrites their culture. Oh, and don’t forget the fun enslavement shit where they do literal raids of villages to find those they can shove people in the mines. And I haven’t even gotten to all of the other slavery they experience.

You’ve only really seen Arlinian Penal laborers so far, but that doesn’t mean that people from territories don’t end up in the same system. It’s just that Boralis is a tad bit of a new territory and we haven’t had the same amount of interaction with normal citizens.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Arlin is a bad nation. But that doesn’t mean the leadership is necessarily pure evil. At least in the case of David.

My chapters focusing on David are my best writing. He is the character who I have put the most work into. He has the strongest characterization, an understandable motivation, defined relationships and a genuine presence. In fact, I’m slightly worried I made him too likable? He’s a pragmatist but also genuinely cares for his people. But that love of his people is vague and unfocused. He doesn’t see individuals, but a collective which requires his leadership. It’s better than the other people in government in Arlin, but he’s still got problems. In another story, he would be a morally gray protagonist trying to lead his empire into the future for the good of his people while spreading his power across the continent. He’s a good looking, well defined and extremely affable leader who wants to help his people… and he’s the antagonist. Because he still supports and allows for the monstrous system of slavery that Arlin profits from. Instead, my protagonist is a tiny slave who looks and smells like shit. He is a foil for North in a very obvious way, and I hope that people could tell. He is what my protagonist is fighting, but he’s not there just yet. He’s not reached the point where he’s a genuine threat to David. Will he get there? Who’s to say?

Me. I’m to say.

I think it’s good to talk next about Keagan? I loved the idea of having a detective type character in the story who is trying to figure out the next steps of my protagonist. Theodore was also a lot of fun to write, and I really enjoyed their dynamic. Keagan will get explored in the next arc more thoroughly as he goes from just a minor threat to…

You’ll see. If you haven’t noticed, a trick I found is a great way to expand and make a character interesting is to make them part of a duo. Erin and Theodore act as the counterparts for the two Arlinian men, and both of them offer a unique look into their personality. Erin allows for David to show some of his more human side and open him up beyond just the image of a pragmatic emperor. They have a really fun dynamic for me, and I loved the idea of this childhood friend advisor who has a really strong emotional dynamic with the emperor. She’s the person he can open up to and understands the person behind the crown. I kind of wish I could have expanded the dynamic between David, Erin and Roland, but the emperor needs his own plotline. Theo also plays an important part in getting Keagan to reveal information, but also to show the issues of his job and the toll it has on him.

Finally, I can actually discuss the main cast. I’m going to build up to talking about North by talking about everyone else. First, Ruby and Mell. I think they’re good as a duo since they have the most duo energy out of the new additions. Mell is definitely the simpler of the two, but I love him nonetheless. I love Himbos, and Mell is just a super polite himbo with a strong sense of “Asarn Hospitality”. I did debate writing him with more of a southern accent, but I thought that might be irritating after a while and make him grating. Ruby is a character who I really enjoy. I love the idea of this ego driven cartographer with a paper addiction who likes to draw. The interaction in Bir is one of my favorite character moments of growth for both her and North. North was able to not only help another person, but actually able to push for his ideals of protecting the memory of the lost. He helped another person carry a memory when nobody else would.

Then there’s Silva and Wanderer. Two new additions that are interesting and a tad more complex in lore. Wanderer has a fun backstory for me and I loved the idea of expanding on Irebor culture. Having a character introduction be the first real major conflict between North and another member was a fun chapter for me to write. Then there’s Silva, the Nacilian mage. Alex is a character I feel didn’t get the development he really deserved in the first part, so having Silva gives him a moment to really go back to his past and understand his psyche. He’s holding up the veneer of being stable, but he’s actually just a scared boy. Silva is the person he comes running to when he is scared, and that’s probably not good for North.

Now, we can talk a bit about the returning cast. I already mentioned Alex, so let’s talk a bit about Elina. Elina is a character who I’m proud of the direction I went with. She’s an interesting character and a person who has her own goals that simply align with North. She wants to have fun battle and live out her cultural dream. It was inevitable they would hit some road bumps (heh), and the second arc is where that happens. Nicole got some interesting development at the beginning, and she will return in the future.

Sera and Elm. The two main side characters. Well… Sera isn’t as central a character yet. She’ll get her time soon. But Elm is always a character I put emphasis on. For the first part of the story he was my favorite character to write and still is to some degree (David has taken that spot of favorite to write), but he’s definitely not getting the same amount of focus as the first arc. His backstory is revealed already and North has to deal with new people and situations. I’m happy where he is and I have good plans for him in the future. Sera is a character I want to develop more and feel like I’ve struggled in terms of development. I really want to make them better for the third arc, so prepare for that.

And finally, we can talk about North. North is the protagonist, and therefore he gets the most focus. I enjoy the second arc giving him some more maturity and making him really think about his actions and how they affect others. He’s dealing with the real world, something he didn’t get to see for most of his life. His storyline is one of growth and learning to understand others around him and their lives, a strong parallel to the Emperor’s very impersonal goals for the Empire. I do wish that I could have gone slower or at a different pace with his power progression, but I feel like his learning of healing is currently well timed. Healing also has limits, and I’m happy with that. I’ve spent a lot of work making North an unusual main character in a web novel series like this in that he’s a weak protagonist. Not mentally weak, but physically weak and lacking in direct combat skills. He’s reliant on magore weapons because his attunement is more built around support rather than direct combat. It forces him to rely on others, but also to put his own safety and body on the line whenever he needs to go all out. EoF was a series where I never really wanted to indulge in power fantasy. There’s no shortcut for my protagonist, and even though he’s got some universal bias (in more ways than one), he has to work for his wins. I don’t exactly hate overpowered protagonists as a writer, but I think I would feel straight up dead inside if I tried. North is going to get stronger in the future, but I wouldn’t set your expectations of strength too high.

So… what to expect in the future? The next arc is going to be the longest so far from what I expect for a lot of reasons. We have 3 main perspectives of North, David and Keagan. And now we even have a second plotline back in the capital with David and his vengeance for Roland. One thing about EoF that I want to do is to have consistent shifts in status quo. Each arc is supposed to be different from the last in some measurable way. Just know that what is to come in the future might not be what you would expect.

I would like to say that I’m going to be taking a bit of a break from publishing EoF to work on personal stuff and also plan for the future. The story won’t be stopping, but I do need to take some time to flesh it out and make it as best as possible for your enjoyment. Afterall, North’s journey has only just begun. Oh and I have a small poll for the people reading, because I'm wondering if I should do it.

I welcome you as we enter…

ARC 3: FOREST OF THE DAMNED