The Authors

The Authors
Me, Prayag Ray on the left, Ronojoy Mukerji on the right. The joy of creation on our faces.

Preface: What is 'The Ruby Of The Fallen'?

Ahem ahem! Attention please! ..'THIS TALE GREW IN THE TELLING, UNTIL'.. until I realized I was sounding stupid, and that I was aping Tolkien again.. Apologies..apologies.. Can I start over?? A few years ago, while I was in school (St. Xaviers, by the way... Greatest place on earth), my fellow fantasy-fiction fan and best friend (The accusations of us being.. ahem.. gay, as many an ex- Xaverian has come to believe, are completely false, I assure you) Ronojoy Mukerji, and I, Prayag Ray, began on a highly ambitious project, humbly titled: 'The Ruby of the Fallen' .. Yes yes, immediately you see the telltale signs of crummy fantasy fiction- a) the inanimate object in the title (eg. 'The Lord of the Rings' or 'The Wheel of Time' or 'The Sword of Shannara') b) The pompousness of the title c) The ---- of the ---- format.. etc. (You realize I've read considerable quantities of 'crummy fantasy fiction') And yes, your conclusion is entirely correct: it is (or was intended to be) another adolescant tale of big guys in shiny armour, dark lords in spiky black gothic armour, and hot elf chicks wearing litte or no armour (only chainmail bikinis allowed) .. In any case it never got written. Just as Samuel Taylor Coleridge awoke from an opium trance, and never finished 'Kubla Khan' (there I go again, droping names.. I swear English Honours will make a complete prig {with a 'g' not a 'ck'} of me) my friend and I awoke from the idyllic dream of childhood and entered the 'big bad world'.. Consequentially the dream of 'The Ruby of the Fallen' vanished like drops of water in the Sahara. Fortunately, I managed to write down a summary of the plot and stored it, for a later day, when I shall (hopefully) sit in the corner of a big study in Oxford (laugh if you want to) and type away on a laptop, churning out pages and pages of chainmail-bikini clad fight sequences. The next few posts on this my humble blog page, will give the reader a synopsis of the tale, so that the reader may spend several happy minutes laughing at the teenage immaturity of two dreamy eyed school boys - Prayag Ray and Ronojoy Mukerji, who shall soon enough be washed away by time and tides, and their 'novel' shall go down in the history of the cyber world as yet another inconsequential blog in the wall. God Bless Pink Floyd. Amen.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Palazin's Rescue

This is a random chapter, about a random character. I haven't quite decided what to do with him yet.


"When Palazin awoke, he found that he was lying still, while evening grew heavy upon the Forest of Zanthion. The woods bore the scars of the battle just concluded. Embers and burning leaves, glowing fiercely red, fell from the trees above, drifting lazily through the air like snow. All around him, they drifted and fell. Burnt and burning leaves, scars of a battle of flame and fire. In the growing dark between the dense trees, fireflies burned peacefully with a soft green light, as though no battle had taken place, in that very spot, a few hours ago. As though no screams of dying men had echoed amidst those very trees, as though no blood had dampened the warm earth above which they danced, spreading thier soft green glow. The hum of forest life, the chatter of unkown creatures, slowly filled the air again, but the nauseating odour of death still hung ponderously over the woods. "The Lord of Wyrd", Palazin recollected from his readings of Zanthian lore, "cares not for the fate of man, looks not upon his doings as would a doting father, but with the gaze of the one who only sees and knows, but cannot change."

The smell of burnt wood, of burnt clothes and flesh, seemed more sharp then ever, as Palazin lay upon the damp grass, in the earthy, living heart of the forest. He was lost in slow thought. He pondered on how Life goes on. Though cities fall, though empires crumble to the dust and memories of granduer fade to nothingness, the fabric upon which the rulers trace their will, outlasts them. There he lay, unable to move, unable to do more than think, and watch as his life faded away, with the blue glow of twilight in the east. Blood drained from his body, flowed away from a hundred small wounds, strokes of swords against his skin. His head felt heavy and numb. He had fallen to a blow on his skull, his helm lay shattered by his side. He closed his eyes, and whispered to himself in his native tongue, words of peace and solace. Visions of home and hearth swam before his eyes. The warm fireside in the cold and damp court of Acousticon, where he made his home, where he had lived as a boy before recruitment to the Iron Wolves. The tales his father told him as a boy, remembered clearly still, as though they were painted in myriad hues beneath his eyelids. Tales of the days of yore, when war was a distant whisper on the lips of aged warriors, when peace was the way of the world, and the spires of Zanthia stretched endlessly to the heavens above, in a glorious procalaimation of the collective strength of the races. He saw men and women, clad in fashions now unknown, pacing streets lined with stone and courts inlaid richly with gold. The visions of the Golden Age swam before him, and in the warm glow of dreams, he fell slowly into a deep trance-like sleep.

He did not know how long it was, before something stirred him again. Indeed he knew not, if that gentle tinkling noise was part of his utopian dream, or some reminder of reality intruding upon his final slumber. Slowly it grew louder. A gentle noise like that on a rivulet flowing in green summer wood, echoing gently in the eaves of the forest. Palazin opened his eyes. It was dark now. He felt weak. Weaker than he had ever felt in his life. A light came from where the sound issued. He turned his eyes and saw a robed figure, slight and sure of foot, carrying a dimly burning lamp, walking amongst the dead on the battlefield. From her feet, burdened with ornaments of silver, came the gentle tinkling sound. It was like music to the weary ears of Palazin. With a shudder, he realized that the girl, for girl it was, must surely be a priestess from the nearby camp of Zanthians, the village of Shadoweve. Shadoweve was the very same rebel camp his band of Iron Wolves had endeavoured to destroy. They were trading in stones with King Calashan's foe, Ascronos. Stones mined from land that was now under Calashan's annex.

Had he been able to move, Palazin would have killed her. Driven his blade through her and found a way to escape into neutral territory. But as he was, he could not do any such thing. He knew that the Clan of the Leaf, the priests of Zanthia, did not distinguish between friend and foe, when offering healing. It was their custom to send aid to the battlefield, to help whoever they could. If Palazin did not recieve healing soon, he would not live. He called out to her, as loudly as he could in his weakened state. He knew not the language of the mountain folk, but she would know the cry of a dying man. With a start, the woman turned towards him, and came running to his side, bells tinkling in agitation as she ran. She knelt by his side and gazed into his face.

She was young, he realized. Not yet out of her growing years. Youthful caprice played with the serious studied look of a learned, if young, priestess, upon the features of her face. In the shadows, Palazin saw that she was beautiful, and regal, and that her eyes burnt fierce and green, like the fireflies that danced all around them. She looked worriedly at his careworn face, with the disdain inherant in the eyes of all peaceful folk when they look upon those they consider responsible for all the havoc and bloodshed in the world. She spoke gently in words he did not understand, though he felt more at ease when he heard them. The language of Zanthia is musical and soothing to the ear. She laid slender fingers upon his forehead and spoke something to herself under her breath. Palazin saw that her fingertips were glowing gently and were growing warm upon his forehead. Then, gradually, he felt a deep peace draw heavily around his mind, like a curtain being slowly lowered. He drifted into heavy sleep once more.."

The Ruby of the Fallen: Book I: The Council of Necros

*NOTE: THIS IS A SYNOPSIS ONLY. Excuse the horribly colloquial language, it was written in a hurry.

Intro to the Races: The story is set in a world inhabited by three races- the Zanthians, the Porthas and a humanoid race. For convenience lets call them the Humans. Also there are 2 elusive races- The Elders and The Rhylle, of which no one knows. OK. So there's two big continents- Zarabusa and Krakarn, seperated by an ocean. The continent of Zarabusa is inhabited by the Zanthians and the Porthas, who co-exist peaceably. The continent of Krakarn is inhabited by the Humanoids. Unknown to the three races, on the fringes of Krakarn, there exists a fourth race of 'Elders', wize and ancient as the hills. Deep deep underground, also unknown, live the creatures called 'The Rhylle'. The Zanthians are a war loving race. They are physically well endowed, with strong bodies, but are not as intelligent as the Porthas. Zanthians make great warriors and look sort of like the character "Asgaroth" in the video game "Soul Calibur"...The porthas are acutely intelligent and are scheming and wily by nature. No simmilarity to elves btw, they aren't effeminite and rather than having long blonde hair, they are usually bald. The humans are well..like humans. As for the Elders and Rhylle, i'll come to that later.

BOOK 1:- So this is the situation in the year 1200, the Zanthians and the Porthas decide to unite their nations under one unified government, ruled by a council called "The Council of Necros". It's composed of both Porthas and Zanthians, and i headed by the mysterious and powerfull Ascronos. For a while, the council functions smoothly.... Soon, however, the council members grow hungry for absolute power. Under the scheming military genius of Ascronos, they devise a brilliant plan. The council starts to follow a divide and rule policy. They start sowing the seeds of war between the erstwhile peaceful Porthas and Zanthians. They whisper lies in the years of nobles and leaders. Eventually, Zanthians and Porthas are brought to the brink of war by mutual distrust. The allies fall apart. (Sort of like the USA and Russia after WW2). The war is begun when the council fakes it's own collapse.(1230) Each nation believes the other is guilty for causing the collapse. (It is to be noted though, that all this while, the Council has been planning this. The council is actually united. They fake their own collapse so that a war begins. When both Nations are sufficiently weakened by the war, the Council plans to take control and establish a dictatorship.) This plan works for some time. Eventually though, the people of the two nations realize the duplicity of the council. The council is found to be the cause of the war. The Council flee across the ocean to the other continent of Krakarn. To escape justice, they spend many years in hiding in the human country on Krakarn. These were years of metamorphosis for Ascronos. He learns much and gains evil (excuse the cliche) powers. He adopts the name Ascronos Hell. Eventually the Council spread their lies amongst the humans and convinced them to wage war against against the Zanthians and the Porthas. A new war begins.(1300 approx) Humans under the Council VS Zanthians and Porthas. The might of the Zanthians and the Porthas is too much for the humans, who, though superior in numbers, are no match for the combined might of the Zarabusan nations. It seems likely the Council will lose. Ascronos Hell realizes something must be done fast.....

END BOOK 1

The Ruby of the Fallen: Book 2: The War of the Rhylle

*SYNOPSIS ONLY

BOOK 2:- By sheer fortune Ascronos discovers a fourth race- dubbed 'The Elders'- on the fringes of Krakarn. The Elders are a strange race. They are peaceful by rule. They do not believe in violence and detach themselves from all things war-related. The Elders as the name suggests, are an ancient race. They have a close connection with nature and posess strange magical powers over the earth and it's creatures. Ascronos decides to exploit them. He captures and tortures Lapidarus- the mysterious sorcerer-king of the Elders. Ascronos learns of a strange relationship the Elders have with a 5th race called 'The Rhylle'. The Elders have access to the deep underground caverns of the Rhylle. The rhylle are really just creatures- with sub-human intelligence who dwell underground. The Elders can summon Rhllye to their aid and can go to them when they need aid, by opening up portals within their realm. Ascronos searches Lapidarus' mind and learns how to control the Rhylle and use them for war and violence. The rhylle when used correctly can be almost unstoppable in battle. By and by, Acronos taints and twists a portion of the Rhylle to his aid. He rears an army, of evil, tainted Rhylle creatures, called 'The Fallen Army' and wages renewed war against the races. (1320) By now the humans have learned of the evil of the council. The humans, the Zanthians and the Porthas now join forces in an effort to defeat the Army of the Fallen. The army though, is almost unstoppable. The thing is, the Rhylle are unique creatures. They are tied to the earth itself, and as long as the earth (the source of their power) is pure, they cannot be killed. When on Rhylle creature is 'killed' it's 'soul' (not exactly soul- i'll give details later) joins the earth and is reborn. So it never dies as such. Like a phoenix, they rise from the earth in new forms, after they are killed. So the races (Zanthians, Porthas and Humans) seem doomed. At this point, something remarkable happens. One of the members of the Council of Necros- one Chriton Gespo- is overcome by guilt. This is the story described in my poem "Redemption" (see my Poetry Corner thread called "The Lay of Aureus and Brassica"). Anyway, Chriton Gespo is filled with remorse after a particular battle when he sees the thousands he's killed.(1325) So he redeems himself and joins the good side. He becomes one of the most powerful allies of the united races. Eventually he becomes their king....(1350)

END BOOK 2

The Ruby of the Fallen: Book 3: The Age of Chaos

*SYNOPSIS ONLY

BOOK 3:- So the war against the Fallen Army continues for years. Powerful as Chriton Gespo is, he cannot stop the Army. They are relentless. The forces of the Humans, Zanthians and Porthas are depleted over the years. Gespo realizes something has to be done to stop the Army and ther Council once and for all. The army could not be stopped by mortal means. With the reamining few Elders, Gespo called upon powerfull forces, and created a 'void', a hollow space in the fabric of reality, in which to trap the Army and The Council forever. As a physical manifestation of the void, he chose a Ruby, embedded in his sword. The Ruby was like the point of access, of entry from the physical realm, to the void. This is the Legendary "Ruby of the Fallen". He (Gespo) took his sword to battle against the Army and the Council. In the legendary BAttle of The Rift, (1355) Chriton unleashed th magic in the Ruby, and trapped the Army and The Council Of Necros in the Ruby. He was successful, and the Army and Coucil were trapped in the Ruby, but the forces required to complete the task were so powerful that they upset the balance of forces between the Physical plane and the Void. The energy released in The Void caused a corresponding ripple in the physical world, that released a tremendous amount of energy on the real world. As Gespo plunged his (Ruby encrusted) sword into the earth, energy flared out all around him, unchecked. With the sword as the epicentre, a tremendous explosion wracked the world. The petrified earth was hewn and churned like water, causing chaos and destruction of calamitous proportion. Of course, Chriton himself perished because of the drain of energy. In a few seconds, the face of the planet changed. Like a wound from an axe, a tremendous rift was formed on the earth, scarring the face of the planet. It became known as "The teeth of Chaos".. What could possibly describe the destruction of that fateful day? The energy released sent the planet spinnig off course, changing seasons and weather drastically. They were the years of chaos, days of infamy, when the races struggled to survive on a world changing faster than they could. As i explained earlier, the Rhylle were not evil. They were being controlled by The Council. The remaining Rhylle (the non-tainted ones), who were not trapped in the Ruby, were now plagued by death and disease. The Rhylle as i have explained had sources of power deep beneath the surface. In the trauma to the earth that followed the capture of the Army in the Ruby, the Rhylle were devastated. They were perishing and fast. The now-almost-extinct Elders came to their aid as in the days past. Using their benevolent constructive magic, the Elders saved the Rhylle from extinction. Finally, after many years of change, of struggle against extinction, things began to settle. The Rhylle adapted to their changed underground world, and the ancient alliance with the Elders was re-forged. (1550) Owing a debt to the Elders, the Rhylle promised subserviance and aid in need. However, the problem was, that though the Rhylle adapted, the Elders could not. By now they were a truly Ancient race. Their time had come. Extinction was a certaintly. The Elders felt the great gift of communing with the Rhylle should not be lost with their death. They also owed the humans much, due to their endless help to the Elders. So they gave a great gift to the Humans- "The Bones of Acousticon"- Acousticon was a city in the newly estaqblished world order. It was in the human domain. The name has significance. There are tunnels under the Palace of Acousticon, that have strange acoustic properties (details later).. Basically.The Elders formed an multi-dimentional link between the underground realm of the Rhylle and the surface world, which was opened by sound. The details are complicated, but when a Human of rank and worth comes of age, he must enter the Rhylle realm through the tunnels under Acousticon. Here he must prove himself in a series of tests. On succeeding, the human is granted a set of bones. The bones are the bones of the extinct Elders. Each bone has unique acoustic properties, which opens a door to the Rhylle realm and summons a Rhylle to aid the human in need. Each set of Bones is unique, and is suited to the personality of the owner. In battle, the Bones are used like musical instruments (sort of) and can summon Rhylle warriors..(details later) So this is the situation at the end of 1600. The Elders are extinct. The humans, the Zanthians( diminished in number) and the Porthas (Considerably diminished) rule seperate kindoms and co-exist peacefully.....

END BOOK 3

The Ruby of the Fallen: Book 4: The Legions of Hell

* SYNOPSIS ONLY

BOOK 4:- PS: (This is the MAIN book. This is the REAL story. Everything before this is ancient history- sort of a LOTR-Silmarillion relationship. The Characters are all here. This is where my story really takes flight) The year is 1750. The Days of Chaos and The Ruby of the Fallen have become things of Legend. The Ruby itself is presumed to be lost forever. The descendant of Chriton Gespo, King Calashan McRoy rules over the Court of Acousticon (Human territory). Zanthians have, of late been foraging around in human borders. The political situation between humans and Zanthians is sticky. War is brewing. Calashan wants the rich mineral deposits in the Mountains of Zarabusa. The Mountains of Zarabusa is shared territory between the Humans and the Zanthians. Calashan McRoy has 2 sons- Anonemo McRoy (the main hero of the book- sort of the Aragorn of my book) and Brother (Ha ha. I haven't yet come up with a name for him, so for the time being, let's just say Anonemo's brother is called 'Brother'. Ha!). Ok - 'Brother' is sort of the steriotypical scheming evil elder brother. I'll come back to him later. Also important is Korundum. Korundum is a wizened and powerful sorcerer-ally of the humans. (sort of like Gandalf). Bye the way- The humans still can use "Elder Bones" to summon Rhylle warriors in battle. Korundum has a unique Elder Bone. He implanted his Elder Bone (a small piece of Vertebra) in his throat. He can sing to summon warriors. (Cool huh?). Other main characters- 'Zekos' and 'Vulcan'. Zekos and Vulcan are old friends. (There's a long history about how they became friends). They are retired warriors. Now Zekos works as a fletcher and Vulcan works as a blacksmith in a village. They live together in a small village. Bye the way Zekos is supposed to be me, and Vulcan is my friend and co-author Ronojoy. My method is to use people i know in the real world as characters. Zekos' personality is modelled after me. Zekos is thin, very tall and lithe. He's a fletcher and a master of light swords. He's arrogant and Narcissitic. He he. Vulcan is broad and very strong. He's a master blacksmith and very adept at using axes and hammers. He's shy but quick witted and supercillious. All my other charachters are also real-world people. Ok. Back to the story. One day (1751) King Calashan sends Korundum and a small party on a scouting mission in the Mountains of Zarabusa. Here Korundum is ambushed by a party of Zanthians. He falls of the edge of a cliff in mid-battle and falls into a gorge. He hits a river down below and is washed away. When he wakes up, he finds a cave. Here he discovers the Ruby of the Fallen, long thought lost. He probes the Ruby with his mind. Ascronos Hell's mind and soul (along with the rest of the council and the Army) is still preserved in the Ruby. He feels Korundum's mental probe and takes over Korundum's mind. So basically, Korundum becomes Ascronos Hell. Ha Ha. Acronos HEll is back! The reader of the book however is unaware of this. It is the secret plot twist revealed at the end. Korundum is always seen in a Gandalf way. Right at the end he's revealed to be Ascronos Hell. OK. Korundum hatches a master plan. He pretends not to be Ascronos, but just his normal self. He gets behind enemy lines and surveys this new world. He hatches a plan to come back to power. Korundum/Ascronos starts to influence 'Brother'. He takes control of Brother's mind and guides him to the Ruby of the Fallen. Ascronos/Korundum makes the minds of the Council of Necros (12 of them), all this while trapped in the Ruby, enter into Brother. Brother now becomes a rather interesting character. Under Korundum's instructions, he pretends to be Acronos Hell returned, but really he is the combined minds of the 12, and Korundum is Ascronos. Brother raises the Army of the Fallen from the Ruby and wages war against the humans, Zanthians and Porthas. In the year 1755, the second battle against Ascronos/Brother begins. Main meat of the story is here:- There is a long war.(Humans+Porthas+Zanthians VS Brother+Council) Lots of details. Lots of events. PLot twists&turns. Changes of scenes....etc..details later... Time to wrap up the epic- Finally Anonemo, thinking like the rest of the world that Brother is Ascronos, reaches his inner sanctum and kills him. He smashes the fake ruby which Korundum gave him. (real Ruby of the Fallen is with Korundum-on his sword). On smashing the fake Ruby, Anonemo sees the Army of the Fallen is still around. He's amazed. Meanwhile, Korundum enters the human stronghold (Acousticon) and destroys it while the humans are away fighting Brother. Anonemo realizes his mistake. He guesses that Korundum is behind it all. He comes back to Acousticon. Epic final showdown ensues. The story ends with the defeat of Korundum/Ascronos and the smashing of the real Ruby.
* I'll probably leave room for a sequel ** There'll probably be a love-plot or a romantic angle somewhere.

END BOOK 4 (And Story)