Marie asked Graeme Rodaughan:

In 2016 you wrote a blog post that you had been thinking of having eight or more organizations in the beginning of the books, but you decided on just three. Are we now seeing some of those eight make their appearance in the rest of the series?

Graeme Rodaughan Great question. My original vision was of a number of groups vying to collect the three artifacts of the Metaframe, and hence the power to access it. Lots of mutually opposed factions allows for a tournament structure where the strongest knock out the weakest until the winner is left standing.

Such a structure lends itself to lots of battles with ever increasing difficulty and stakes. This is a concept exploited by the movie Highlander and the GoT series, as well as a whole lot of real world sports. (Tennis comes to mind).

I settled on three (the Order of Thoth, the Red Empire, and the Vampire Dominion) as a matter of economy and 'doability.' There is only so much complexity my poor brain can handle.

That being said, new factions have erupted into the story with book #4, The Day Guard. So, now we have 6 (counting Louise Wesson, who continues to grow as a force to be reckoned with).

The tournament is still alive, with many skilled and powerful players. Who will win? It remains to be seen.

flag