Questions & Answers (Volume #2)

11. What are our main cast's favorite Skills?

Rob - Tie between Not A Scratch and Lifesurge

Keira - Danger Sense

Zamira - Mercy's Whisper

Orn'tol - Tie between Temporal Trap and Temporal Freeze

Vul'to - Shield Proficiency

Malika - Mana Burst, Mana Efficiency, Mana Surge, basically anything with Mana in front

Meyneth - Shadow Walk

Faelynn - Doesn't really have one

12. It seems that Fast Learner is the counterpoint to Leveling High, but all other races get at least something without a trade-off. Is that by design?

Yes. Elatran Humans are, by design, created to be candles that burn bright and fade fast. Their lifespans are shorter than the other races, but they grow significantly faster, but they go crazy because of it. They were ideal for spicing up Elatran's international conflicts, which had become rote by then.

13. Are Humans and Elves able to reproduce with one another?

This was touched upon in Book 1, but yes, although the rates of pregnancy are much lower. Tarric (Vul'to's friend who died) had a decent amount of Human blood in him, which is why his hair wasn't pure white/silver like the other Elves.

14. Rob's Not-A-Scratch upgraded after it negated 1 million damage from Titan's Fist. Wouldn't negating another million damage on top of that also be a milestone that would upgrade the Skill further? Titan's Fist did over 10 million damage in total.

The progression of Skill Prerequisites aren't always linear, especially when it comes to a Skill straight-up evolving like Not A Scratch changing to Dauntless Reprisal. I'll also note that Dauntless Reprisal is a...special case sort of Skill, for various reasons.

15. It was mentioned that Fiends don't have access to any Classes except Thrasher and the Mage Classes. Elatran Humans are also descended from monsters, just like Fiends are. But there was a mention of Human Vanguards, which is a class that Vul'to had as an Elf. So, the question is: did Elatran Humans have access to a few more Classes than Fiends despite being monster descendants? Did they have access to all the available Classes, or just a few more?

Humans had access to all the normal Classes that the other non-Fiend races do. Out of the two 'monster' races, they were designed to 'fit in', while the Fiends specifically were not. Fiends only being able to use Thrasher as a melee Class pigeonholed them into fighting solely with their scary claws (unless they chose to be a mage). They've also got the pitch-black eyes, intimidating physique, inherent language barrier, and the whole soul eating thing, so they were doomed to be outcasts from the get-go.

16. Does Elatra have spooky season?

I'm going to interpret this question as 'does Elatra have holidays'. The answer would be yes, although they'd vary significantly from region to region, and there would be less overall holidays than on Earth. People in Elatra simply don't have as much mental energy available to dedicate to festivities. Too busy trying to survive, and all that.

17. How far in advance is the story planned? Do you know what the plot is going to be up to the end, or does it go from chapter to chapter?

I had a general concept of where I wanted the story to go from the beginning, including themes and lore, but I still left a fair amount of room to change my mind early on. The big story beats started being solidified behind-the-scenes around...I'll say halfway through Book 1. This early improvisation led to some unexpected developments, such as...

18. Was Diplomacy always going to be a main character in the story?

Honestly? No, they weren't - at least not at the very start. There are several characters that grew much larger in importance than originally intended, but out of all of them, Diplomacy takes the cake. After a few early jokes about Rob's own Skill laughing at his social ineptitude, I realized I had something going there, and took off running full speed with it.

19. Is Rob’s character (or any of the story’s characters) based on real people?

While I'm sure I've subconsciously incorporated lots of elements from the people I've met (all writers do), no one in Outcast is consciously based off of anyone I know. When imagining how X character would react to Y event, I just try to logically figure out what would happen based on who X is as a person. If anything, I've used events that have transpired in real-world history as a reference way more often than people I personally know.

20. Who's your favorite character, and why?

The easy answer is Rob, because it's the truth. He's the character who I've put the most thought into, and I think he turned out very well, being relatable while still having his own unique characterization that sets him apart. Plus his internal narration is super fun to write.

I do also have a fondness for writing Seneschal Sylpeiros, though, because I originally wasn't sure if I was going to be able to write him at all. It's generally not good form to make your readers sit through numerous perspectives of a character they despise. Thankfully I think I've managed to hit the sweet spot of him being an asshole that's interesting/understandable enough that people still like to check in on him every now and then.