Bahamut first introduced himself to me as a character in a draft of a Runne chapter back in 2015. I was just writing along, minding my own business when the story took and abrupt turn.
This was okay, at first. Until 1 chapter became 5 or 6. Then, I knew I was in trouble.
I ended that writing session during Camp NaNoWriMo that year, but still haven’t publicly posted those chapters. They gave me a lot to think about. The two characters introduced there felt like they were a part of Runne, but also demanded a story of their own.
At first, I tried to ignore it — I already had a story about a girl and a Dragon, after all. So it went on the backburner for a while.
As fate would have it, Bahamut eventually got dragged into our Wayrift RP sessions. This is all Syn’s fault, by the way. What this did was force me to think more about his character, write in his voice, and start mulling about his backstory.
I knew it wasn’t a pleasant story. My Bahamut isn’t a pure-hearted noble dragon by any means. I knew he did a lot of bad things, but it was somewhat a by-product of the world he lived in. I tossed around various ideas for many months, and pondered what I’d name the story for quite a while.
So, along comes NaNoWriMo of 2017. I mention to Syn that I might try to write Bahamut’s story. But I really didn’t have a whole lot of solid information on what form that’d take.
I knew that I wanted to write from a first-person perspective. I’ve never done this for a long-term piece, but it fit for the voice and tone of this particular story. Bahamut is too important in his own eyes to share the main character slot with anyone else.
I kinda threw around the idea of writing something for a while, but when Novemeber rolled around, I didn’t start NaNoWriMo. In fact, I didn’t think I was going to write at all.
Suddenly, on day 14, I just started putting words on the screen. By day 15, I’d joined NaNoWriMo. It was crazy to try to tackle a huge 50K word goal in half a month… though I’ve done it before, and it’s very possible to do.
I was really getting that backstory down (what is posted here as the chapters of Part 1 – Bedlam), but I knew that the story needed a lot more, especially once it transitioned from backstory to actual story. Namely, I needed a foil character who could play off of Bahamut.
I first thought maybe I’d make a new character — a Dragon who refused to give into Bahamut’s demands and denied the Flames of Bedlam. This sounded good, so I started brainstorming about who this character should be.
They’d have to be strong enough for Bahamut to respect and see as a near-equal. They’d also need to be good-natured enough to put up with Bahamut’s crap. But also someone who could help guide him back into balance with himself.
I thought about this for quite a while until it dawned on me exactly who would fit the bill. The only problem was, this character didn’t belong to me. He belongs to Syn.
Many years back, Syn introduced Leviathan to our Wayrift RPs as the super chill Master of the Seas and King of the Summons. I know he hasn’t come into the comic’s story yet, but trust me, he’s a fun guy. I remember Levi’s personality taking me by surprise when she first brought him to Wayrift.
I don’t know why I thought of him while pondering possibilities for this story. I got so excited when I did, because not only would he be the perfect foil for Bahamut, but it got me to thinking about theories on the development and origins of the Summoned creatures of my world.
I quickly texted Syn to ask her permission to borrow Levi’s personality. She generously agreed without hesitation, and so I got to work trying to do him justice in my story.
I could go on and on about all the brainstorming and world building I’ve done, but I’ll save you that trouble. Instead, I’ll say that I’m glad to finally get this story out of my head and on the screen, and I hope you enjoy reading about my busted up old Dragon as much as I enjoy writing for him.
Thanks for stopping by!
~Aywren Sojourner
November 20, 2017