How Gaming Inspired the ‘Carving Legacies’ Series

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By: Lauren N Sefchik

Three mages need her.

A warlock is using her.

The goddess of death is hiding her.

And Siroun’s story is only the beginning.

Follow the story of Siroun, a bookish pariah who was born in a small rural village where, because she does not ‘pass’ as a full-blooded Dragomyr, she leads a semi-isolated life with her father and brother. The only comforts she has, besides her family, are a friend by the name of Nikostraz, and a job as a clerical scribe at the local library. But when a warlock steals a map and murders her colleagues, Siroun is branded as an accomplice, and banished from her home. With nowhere to go, she embarks on a journey with three guild mages to hunt down this nefarious individual, and her life is changed forever.

Key of Arcandus is not the first book inspired by geek culture, and it won’t be the last. But it certainly felt like a lone voyage when I started constructing the series over a decade ago.

When I first created the world of Clayne for the Carving Legacies series, I did not have plans to write novels yet. I still wanted to pursue a career in game design with Tabletop RPGs and figured I could use my Immortals project as a resume to any of the publishers looking to fill an entry level position. I designed Clayne’s world map, constructed kingdoms, envisioned different races based on environmental parameters, and then delved into the class systems and deities which were, hands down, my favorite parts. 

By the time I completed a functioning rule set for the game, I was doing other things for the world that involved *porting in my *Play-by-post RPG characters as Non-Player Characters from which to build campaigns for my future players. Then I reached a design point where the player handbook I wrote required me to add all the nitty gritty number parameters to the skills, items, monsters, and equipment that needed to be tested to ensure everything remained balanced during gameplay. 

I am not a math person. I immediately lost interest with this last portion and dropped the project. But I still wanted to write stories for this world and decided, “What if I just take the campaigns and turned them into novels?”

*porting (a video game designed to use in one platform is converted to use in another platform) in my

*-Play-by-post RPG ( a method of playing games whereby each player submits their actions remotely)

* Non-Player Characters ( characters which populate the fictional world of gaming but cannot be controlled by the player and play by-standers etc but never main characters )

*campaigns ( a continuing story line or a set of adventures involving the same characters in role playing games) for my future players.

That was when I went on a journey (in my head, during excessive work commutes) and mapped out the five-book series of Carving Legacies, with class-based schools of magic inspired by popular franchises like World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy, and Dungeons & Dragons. I wanted to present a story where the world’s deities are undergoing a secret power struggle behind the scenes, and a faction of them are making a series of dangerous gambits to come out on top. In the middle of this chaos are three protagonists, each with different origins, who will make or break this entire endeavor. Since this is an original fantasy world, readers would need a proper vessel with which to navigate this strange new place. Enter Siroun as protagonist number one in Key of Arcandus.

Siroun’s journey to self-discovery is the first path of the three protagonists where her sheltered upbringing has built a preconceived set of biases about herself and the world outside of her village life. When she is forced to flee her home, and take a journey across multiple continents to hunt down the warlock that started this mess, Siroun comes to realize that things she’s been told about ‘outsiders’ is not reality. This makes her the perfect starting protagonist for the series since both she and the reader are exploring this world for the first time together. It is a coming-of-age tale for twenty-somethings where everything you thought you knew about being an adult turns out to be wrong, and there is no instruction manual in the game of life. The world is crazy and scary, but it can also be beautiful and full of wonder depending on where you look and who is walking alongside you during your adventure.

This is one of many tales I wish to bring to new adult fantasy readers, and I hope Key of Arcandus becomes the start of many journeys for these individuals who follow my written works.

To find out how you can purchase a copy of Key of Arcandus, go to my website www.sefchik.com and go to the WORKS section where the most active purchase links will be listed. As of the publication of this article, Key of Arcandus can be found at any major online retail bookstore. However, that may change in the future, and my website is the most accurate resource to stay on top of those adjustments.

Published by loganivy

FIRST THINGS FIRST Simply put I am here because I love books... I am extremely passionate about stories especially those steeped in mythical folklore, ancient myths, and legends and suffused with the magic of unique realms and supernatural worlds. I believe there is an alternate universe where magic, mysticism, and wonder still exist, a world where no reality is impossible. Discovering ourselves is an ongoing journey. From reading the next logical step was writing. I am the author of ‘The Breach’, an upcoming supernatural fantasy.For when I write about these worlds I become a part of them and learn more about myself each day. A PEEK INTO MY SOUL I am a realist but at the same time also a dreamer. To me, reading is a window into the hearts of others . Writing is the window to my imagination drawing from my glimpses of the world around me. The beauty of writing lies in the mind’s eye – what we see, the way we interpret it and finally how we translate it to paper. HOW I VIEW MY CHARACTERS To me, every character is multi-dimensional. There is no mere black or white perspective to a character. If a person is strong, we have to delve into what contributed to making them that way? Similarly, what are the fears, likes and loves of a character. That is what makes each one of them unique. It makes them what they are. No character should be just a filler in a story. If a character is evil, why is he or she that way? If a male character is not the central focus of a story, if he is okay with the girl in his life taking center stage I don’t see him as weak. I think he is a great guy and the kind that any girl would be lucky to have in their lives. Looking for the prince who rescues you from the dragon or the lecherous villain should be passé. Real men may not have muscles but they have good hearts. I write about such princes, the guys who are also okay with the girl playing hero in their life, being rescued by them too. I love reading and writing about girls and women with flaws because all real women are that way. Not the most beautiful, not the bravest, not the thinnest nor the richest. They find strength in their family, in their love. My girls do not compete against men; only circumstances and the challenges they throw up. The men who support them, stand by them are the ones I like to read and write about. Through this blog I hope to share more about inspirational characters and the beauty and richness a book contains. MY INSPIRATION Is it possible to cherish and to love something all your life without really analyzing it or understanding why? ‘Stories’ fired my imagination since I was a child….it started with my father, who would spend thirty minutes each night weaving supernatural tales of troubled ghosts in a bid to awe, shock and above all bond with his daughters. He never realized and neither did I that he was also weaving those little quirks into my personality that later on in life would go ahead and set me apart. During class breaks in school, I would share the same tales with the class, now adding my own embellishments, peaks, and lows so as to hold their attention and leave them shouting for more. As my dad got busier and we got a little older the stories seemed to have trickled off but not before transferring that hook for the beginning, the narration, the mystery and the spectacular end. Books and Movies became my magical time machines capable of drawing, pulling, and holding me. Friends and colleagues would decide to read books or watch movies after I brought to life with words what I read or saw on screen. Even love came to me through books when the first time I met my husband we fell in love over a discussion on ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’. One day I realized what I should have known all along – Stories; they lived in my soul. I had worlds to create, people waiting to be brought to life and stories to share. So I share what I love.

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