Afterword

Hello Wonderful Readers!

First things first, I want to give big, huge thanks to each and every one of you who read Ravens of Eternity. Whether you read just a handful of chapters or every single one - I appreciate your support greatly. Extra thanks and shoutouts and hugs to those who directly support me as patrons. Without you all, I might have stopped halfway through the novel itself.

Been working on this novel for just about two years straight with a few breaks here and there. Writing the novel energized me greatly, mainly because I’ve had a ton of humanist themes I’ve wanted to explore through writing. You know, like most good science fiction and space opera stories. =)

Ravens of Eternity in particular has so many themes about power, corruption, identity, purpose, and togetherness. I tried my best to weave all of these into the narrative through a myriad of characters, and I hope I was able to accomplish it well.

I’m sure many of you saw the numerous references to all kinds of western and eastern sci fi stories and shows. But plenty weren’t just superficial or offhand references - many were re-examinations of certain themes in those shows and novels. Each arc has its own set of influences, and I hope much of it came through in the writing.

For example, Arc 6 (chapters 161 - 230) was thick with Star Trek influences. The biggest of which being Wrath of Khan (imo the best Star Trek story to ever exist), and its thematic exploration of toxic patriarchy. Khan was a wholly controlling male father figure who never cared about his people, or even his wife - all he cared about was his legacy and his image and him “winning”. I hope you saw similar parallels between Khan and ‘Father’ Grenn.

One of the big things I wanted to highlight all throughout the novel was this idea of Good vs Evil.

In my opinion, this is a narrative tool that waters down human experiences and does us all a disservice. What I mean is that boiling things down to just Good or just Evil isn’t an objectively good way to look at reality. Or at stories in general. Our lives are far more complex and nuanced than just those two aspects, and to paint people or characters as either/or is both lazy and misleading.

Yes, some people are wholly positive, while others are wholly negative (for example, Mister Rogers is considered purely “good”, while Hitler is considered purely “evil”). But for the most part, people aren’t easily divisible in this way. Most people are a little bit “good”, and also a little bit “evil”.

You cannot really have one without the other. Think about some of the greatest and most revered people who have ever lived - few were actually pure or saintly.

Consider Albert Einstein as an example. This person has been instrumental in our fundamental understanding of gravity and energy, and of our place in the greater galaxy. But he was also a racist who held incredibly disparaging views about Chinese and Japanese people. He was also unfaithful to his wife, and cheated on her with his cousin. Who he eventually married.

Do these facts negate his contribution to society? Not really. Do they make him an objectively terrible person? Probably. But seeing him in this light paints him as a fundamentally flawed person who used his knowledge and abilities to further humanity. To say he was “good” or “evil” is to water down the person that he was.

Ignoring Einstein’s negative traits while admiring only his positive traits is a massive disservice to him, and to you. Not saying you should hate Einstein or stop revering his efforts, but just want to illustrate that people are multidimensional. It’s best to see people as more than a cardboard cutout, for good or evil.

To some degree, we’re all like this: fundamentally flawed, but doing our best to make life better.

Instead of painting the characters in the novel with these simplistic brushes, I tried my best to instead show them as varying degrees of Selfless and Selfish. It’s out of these two traits that we can determine all sorts of ideologies. Add on top of that each characters’ dreams and desires, and we get a much better sense of who they are.

Do they lean left or right on the political spectrum? Are they about helping others or profiting off them? When they kill, do they do it to protect, or out of greed? Are they making other peoples’ lives better, or only making their own life better?

IMO, when we see characters with this kind of nuance, far beyond some cookie-cutter “good” and “evil” narrative, we can more easily see people in our actual lives with similar empathy. We can more easily see each other eye-to-eye. We might not agree, but we can humanize each other.

Not saying that we all ought to start loving and accepting authoritarian fascists and objectivist libertarians and self-important narcissists. But we can see what it is they want and why they do the things they do. From there, we can choose more wisely what to do with them. Try to heal, or convert, or fight, or avoid, and so on.

We as a society have a lot to do when it comes to understanding and empathizing with each other. And I hope this book has helped further this sentiment within you. It certainly helped me, even as I wrote it.

That said, I want to talk briefly about the future of Ravens of Eternity. Although the web novel itself is done, it doesn’t mean that the story itself is over. Far from it. I will be spending some time editing and refining what I’ve written here, and will do my best to package it up as a series of light novels.

I plan on making a five-volume set and selling them online. Probably on Kindle or wherever it can go. Maybe Yen Press? I dunno. Send me your recommendations.

While I perform my edits (which should take a few weeks, though I’ll try to be fast), I’ll be brushing up on my drawing and painting skills and creating art around the characters of the novel itself. If you want to check out my progress in this regard, follow me on TikTok and/or Twitch - I’ll be showcasing digital artwork through there. Just look me up via my name - CeritusOrbis. Give me a follow and all that.

But what about afterwards, you might ask…

Well, if light novel sales go well, and if I can find an awesome artist, I want to develop a manga version of Ravens of Eternity. I believe wholeheartedly in this story, and I think people would want to read it in this form most.

If you’re one of those people, definitely come support me on my journey. And if this story has affected your life positively, help me reach others who could use this kind of positivity in their lives. I’ll do my best to make it happen, but I can only do so with your help. I’m personally excited to get to that stage.

Whether or not I’m able to shop the story as a manga or webtoon, I’ll be writing another novel, though it won’t be a direct continuation of Ravens of Eternity. Instead, it will be a spiritual sequel, also starring a different form of ‘Godeater’.

It will be a reverse isekai, where the Earth gets overtaken by another planet. The two planets merge and cause everything to turn upside down. Not only that, but the setting will be post-apocalyptic, where the survivors have varying degrees of psychic powers.

Most people will have low-level abilities, such as telepathy and empathy. Some will have incredible powers able to manipulate the physical world with their minds, such as telekinesis and precognition. A handful will be able to literally warp what’s real with a thought (sometimes carelessly).

The novel will explore similar themes of power and corruption, but mostly fresh ones regarding reality and perception. Specifically, the differences between natural reality vs manufactured reality, and truth vs disinformation. Kinda like what we’re seeing politically across the globe.

Thing is that truth is extremely malleable, and people will believe what they want with absolute certainty and veracity. It doesn’t matter if that truth clashes with someone else’s truth.

The problem is that some people have come to understand this difference, and pit people against each other based on their personal truths. Most of the time, these people stoke these differences for their own profit. That’s what I want to explore in the next novel.

I think it’ll be really exciting to read, and I think you will really enjoy it.

Last but not least, I don’t think I’ll be publishing any future novels behind any paywalls going forward. I’ve learned my lesson regarding the severe cost of reading on some sites, and I want to avoid that wherever possible. That’s not to say all of these sites are objectively bad, just that some are a bit predatory as to how they pull that money out of readers. *coughwebnovelcough*

I don’t want to support business models that do this any longer.

Instead, I’ll be putting it up publicly on Royal Road, Scribblehub, Tapas, Moonquill, and so on. I’ll probably still put it up on WN, but it’ll be completely open and free. If you have any more suggestions where to publish, let me know.

In any case, that’s pretty much a wrap on this novel. I hope you all enjoyed reading it, and I’ll see you all soon in the next iteration and the next novel!

Peace!