Elementals of Nordica was supposed to be grimdark fantasy

The original Elementals of Nordica concept still explored fantasy, sci-fi, and military concepts, but it was a dark fight for survival and nothing more.

Morbid. That’s the best way to describe the original Elementals of Nordica concept. Take a completely politically-incorrect novel and inject grimdark fantasy into its elements. That’s what I was gunning for.

Name the offensive language (like group slurs), and it was in there. And I spilled so much blood that even the most avid grimdark fantasy reader would have cringed. I like comparing it to the extreme haunted house enthusiast visiting something like McKamey Manor, and that may even be an understatement for how twisted the work really was.

Some may scoff at this article and say I “sold out” and delivered the “lite” version known as Wind Wielder, Book I in the series. But you also need to remember that my storytelling in those days was weak, with far more telling than showing. So much, that even the earliest books in the Renegades Epic shared universe would have seemed like they were exclusively showing.

Similar, but different premises

In Wind Wielder, I begin the story with Rajae “Raj” Worthy interrogating and killing Sion Zona’s relatives as they search for him. Sion was framed for starting a violent riot during a military conscription lottery that everyone in his age group was forced to attend.

But in the original, Sion (originally named Cain) fired the first shot. And he did it against the wishes of his love interest. That said, the protagonist, the so-called good guy, had violent tendencies and he loved “playing with his food before he ate it.”

Meanwhile, in Wind Wielder, Sion does just enough damage to put an opponent down and nothing more. For him, it’s defense first, while looking out for those close to him.

If there is any similarity between Sion and Cain, it’s that they both have cocky, arrogant personalities. In Wind Wielder, Sion’s antics mirror Cain’s, including his excessive taunting during the sporty subplot. Sion is also self-righteous, full of himself, and overconfident in his abilities.

Why not stick with the original concept for Elementals of Nordica?

At the time, I wasn’t comfortable writing pure grimdark when I ultimately wanted to cater to libertarians. I felt that, ultimately, libertarians would find a flawed but restrained protagonist in Sion better than they would the hothead in Cain. Especially when Cain had absolutely no character arc.

With Cain, if someone he didn’t like even looked at him the wrong way, he was going to hurt them, and that doesn’t align well with libertarian principles. Further, a libertarian would be more likely to try and avoid a draft lottery and use aggression only in self-defense if confronted, as Sion does, to escape that lottery.

For Cain, the draft lottery with soldiers patrolling the area and even abusing citizens gave him a reason to use violent elemental magic. He kept up his violent rhetoric against anyone he deemed an adversary. Libertarians would condemn that time and again.

So, I rolled with a softer, but edgy protagonist in Sion. You can meet him when you download Wind Wielder and introduce yourself not only to Elementals of Nordica, but my entire shared universe, the Renegades Epic. Check out Wind Wielder now at my Payhip store, The Rebel Lore Vault.