The Soothsayer - Post Mortem

This entry is dedicated to fellows who stayed since 1848, witnessed a time line of wheelchairs, wondered about the irony of a cigarette and sat through a funeral with a pretty redhead and the 'porn people'.

Thank you for your patience and consistency.

Had planned to write an afterword halfway into the series. After several editing, I decided to cut short the entry into FAQ formating.


The Origins.
I hadn't plan on writing a long one. Probably a two to three parters about supernatural elements, critically an anti-hero in an already familiar background. My favorite fairy tales were Pied Piper, Mermaid and the Matchstick Girl. The latter struck my core the most because the notion of death in dreams than living like a dog allured me deeply. Seeing that I often turned to fantasies, it's not very hard to understand why.

Before Soothsayer, I was actually comptemplating on a story about a suicide bomber. The terrorist at the brink of his vengeance to the world was desperately trying to fight his blood lust psychosis, had decided that this world needed saving than a wholesale destruction and there were too many beautiful things left to thrive. He had detonated himself in an abandoned beach, figuring that he was beyond salvation.

That notion was reflected as Eilert became the terrible Danish Fire Monster.


Other Influences.
The influences became obvious as the series formed shape. Gaiman's storytelling through multiple characters angle, The Swamp Thing, Lucifer and my life long fascination with fallen angels.

And Evangelion. With all the stories about super-beings and mechas trying to defend the world from apocalypse and destruction, they always succeed in the end, thus ending the episodes as gay as can be, happily ever all. Evangelion opened my eyes with the world actually lost and it ended in blood and smokes. I was awed by its highly interpretable ending of Shinji and Asuka by the sea of red amniotic fluid alone in the entirety of the post apocalyptic world.

I had always tried to incorporate real issues that I'm had been immersed: Sacrifice, Afterlife, Faith, Euthanasia and Fatalism. Euthanasia, one of the topic that I spent weeks researching in school years for a group debate. (I then made Sarah Qwek stumbled upon Vvael's book whilst researching for a debate in Intermission.)


My Stance On Literary Violence.
In Altered, tridents were employed. I loved tridents and written a story medieval war story where lots of tridents tore and pierced the bloody skies. People just don't write enough arms in stories. My weapon of choices would be throwing knives, tridents and revolvers.


North.
In the episode North, though it was never mentioned, Eilert did put down the leprosy patients.


Testament.
Testament was the change. I abandoned the Eilert angle and went for the publicized version of the Danish Fire Monster in the eager eyes of Madeleine Mattiassons. It was a refreshing change. I liked it a lot. I rarely write character's background into the story, only to give away bits through conversation and their course of actions, in Testament, I gave a swift tour of Madeleine's past and I enjoyed writing it so much that I knew I had to write Eilert's too (Monster). There were many background stories I was interested in writing, but never gotten around to it. One of them was Oriaries. It would be fascinating to depict her in her nursing scrubs trying to save London from Cholera.

I began to weave actual historical facts into their time line which I had decided was 1849. Myth had it the matchstick girl had first circulated in 1848 in Denmark. By 1849, I gathered that Eilert should have accomplished a reputation as the local bogeyman.

In Testament, we came to learn that Eilert was just getting well adjusted with his powers and even expanding his ability to burn folks without contact. He was getting too powerful for his own good. This story would go nowhere! He can't be killed, he got tons of power, he could kill people from a distance, his notion of burning people into dreams is simply too romantic to write him off. All there were left was the struggle for his humanity. I had to find out more about the human core in him so I could end this story rightly. Two endings opened up at this moment:

Eilert would perish. But then what's the moral of the story if a kind hearted man should die?

Eilert would thrive. He can't. He would be the King of the world. Here by jabbing real historical facts posed the problem that the whole whole cannot know about his existence, except that he was a myth. With his armor of flames, I couldn't hide Eilert from the world any longer.

I cornered myself with another problem. Madeleine survived till present times. It had wiped out any chance of me plotting apocalypse in the future series, for apparently, Eilert remained nothing more than a legend. He have to go somewhere.

Thus the descent and the suspension.

Testament was the only single person view point writing for Soothsayer. I have decided not to get into my character's head again. It was very exhaustive as I find that minds can be very distracting, emotional and shifting altogether. (I tried to reference this experience in Phantasmagoria.)


Why I Plough On?
I had realised that it would take longer to end the series and no one seemed to be interested enough. I cannot just cancel it, my pride would never allow me to pleasure people that much. I would write on until it is really conclusive and in accordance to the earlier story line. My motivation to complete Soothsayer was pretty much based on defiance and spite.

Then the responses picked up a bit. Though I will still write on regardless of readership, but having people who read it helps in pushing me to write faster.


Aad.
Tribute to Cujo.


Servants.
I was dragging the series. It was then I had decided to blow up the joint and bring forth the war to Hell.

Servants revealed Vvael's mortal name: Uncle Bou. Later which Sarah Qwek came upon Bou Blanc's 'To Hell With Heaven' book, for those who had never read Servants would probably get confused.

Kepharel was a goth boy.


Cigarette.
My favorite episode. I rarely explain in details about the characters or the environment's features, but with Cigarette, I decorated Hell.


Candlelights
I enjoyed writing the rainbow scout so much. He was like that parrot on the shoulder of the pirate.

My favorite character in the entire series was Asmodai.

The time line in both Heaven and Hell was fashioned after Vertigo's Lucifer in which the devil and God went into exile, leaving mankind to their devices.


Genders.
In the original roles for Sarah Qwek and Jane Masaki were male intended. It was then I realised the gender ratio in the series wasn't equally distributed with the storytelling heavily relied on Vvael, Eilert, Suicides and Kepharel. Though the celestinal leaders were Balthial and Oriares, I had to write more female leads into the story.

The location was selectively Australia as I had often heard about racial discrimination tales of the Chinese over there. Sarah Qwek was a Singaporean student, sharing an apartment with Jane Masaki. I got the Japanese name from Amu Masaki, a skillful Japanese pornstar who had now retired. She is my age.

Jeniong had raised quite a few loopholes in this episode which I truly thank her for. I decided to leave the mistakes as they were to present my growth in the series.


Malignancy.
This episode always conjured a variety of emotions within me each time I read it. I like it that the good cop and the bad racist cop had a role reversal in the end, sort of like the movie Crash. And how Sarah was shot instead of Jane.


Exodus.
The plan was to have a two parter describing the fall of both realms and then the finale. Saul was a typical two dimensional hero type. Marianne was named after a bubbly temp clerk in my hospital who went on to medical school this year.

The two options of exit from Heaven at this point was the Ascension Stairs which only the angels could pass, thus mortalized and the Limbo Of Infants.


Conscription.
Conscription was yet another extra addition to the series. I was having a terrible time tying up all the loose ends for Exodus (II). I wrote and rewrote seven times over a span of an entire month's time and it was frustrating. Conscription allowed me to get away from the vehicle of the plot. I wanted to write something senseless and nonchalant to the series. Of all the angels, Degaliel was the exact embodiment.


Exodus (II).
I killed off Kepharel in a Shakespearean way. Enter stage, gave speech, short battle, killed by a mortal stab, exit stage.

Suicides was supposed to seek out Asmodai, but somehow that slipped through my fingers.


Epilogue.
Epilogue was written under thirty minutes. It was the one I kept returning from time to time. It was the only proper ending I ever wrote for anything longer than two pages. It revealed more about the friendship bonded by the angel Vvael, the demon Suicides and the human agent Eilert.

The Nursing Home was named after deciphering's real name.

The football game that Suicides was watching was referring to American Football, not soccer.

Suicides never reigned in Hell thereafter. In his travels among the stars, he unwillingly helped Marianne in defending a siege in the Limbo Of Infants.

Higelot died from a stroke and his daughter inherited the care of Balthial.

Balthial lived to two hundred. A year before her natural death, she had recovered well enough to perform simple chores around the house and had routinely rise to watch the brilliant sunrises every morning.

Abandoning her nursing degree, Sarah Qwek returned to reside in Singapore.

This experience had been valuable. I was somewhat proud that I was able to see it to a proper end.

laters.
raknax.