How many Kings have existed?

How many Kings of Noches has existed in the past?

Well that is something to consider based on various factors: how long has it been since this continent was visited by the Hispanians? As by the first story of this legacy cycle, the first King emerged following the corruption of the first Followers recorded in history.

A few centuries have passed and the typical 'cycle' for a reign has varied from 5 years to 25. So you can make many assumptions on the exactly number~

Submitted story to Roosterteeth~

Well I feel confident enough that I wanted to possibly spark the interest of fabled Roosterteeth~

I am hoping that my story can provide something of a wild card to their current line up and open up new possibilities for the company...I am hoping maybe a comic or animation like RWBY if I am lucky...

LOL nah, realistically I would just be grateful they got back to me...thus the waiting time shall begin!


>( O3O)>

Setting of Noches~

So coming up with the world of Noches from my story Rey de Noches, I wanted to go the extra mile and try to make it as epic fantasy as possible.

I got the idea when I was watching the Avatar series and the Lord of the Rings series. Obviously, Avatar and LOTR gain inspiration from Asian and European cultures respectively. After giving it some thought, it hit me: why is there nothing that is focused on the latin american cultures?

Time

Obviously the world that exists without a sun is often questioned: how does time work where no sun exists? Well there are two version of night known as 'Night' and 'True Night'.

A passage from the Prologue of the story itself:

Ruiz thought about the correct order that was needed for him to properly explain. “There are sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour, thirteen hours for Night and thirteen hours for True Night. Thus making a total of twenty-six hours in a ‘whole night’. Every hour, natural water in the world changes color in a certain order. Thus, we tend to keep water in glass containers reflecting ‘real time’. We’re able to tell minutes by sensing the cycle in water with basic magic. How we view it varies from living being to living being.

“For an entire moon cycle, The Moon carries a colored ‘shadow hue’, which lasts for twenty-five Nights, and will convert into a different color afterwards. There is a total of fourteen cycles that make up a ‘blue cycle’. Thus, a complete blue moon is considered as the mark for an entire year. The Moon becomes completely blue in this process instead of just its hue, and this will not occur again until fourteen cycles later.” Ruiz sighed heavily after finishing the long explanation.


Countries

Noches, spanish for 'Night', is a world that is comprised of six nations inspired by real world historical nations and empires:

Hispania - Obviously the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula which was a respective province of theirs. Unlike in the real world where Spain/Portugal did not get to keep these territories, Hispania managed to keep a huge chunk of land that is next to Esmeraldsia. Their origins from their old world (basically whatever version of 'Europe') is vague many and for good reason...

Gran Esmeraldsia - The name inspired by Emerald, it a nod to the riches and valued 'treasures' that the territory holds. Inspired by the historical union known as Gran Colombia, it has an influence of modern Colombia, Venezuela, Educador, and Panama; the nations which were known to make up the confederation. Costa Rican culture is shown which bridges Esmeraldsia to the Anahuac Union.

Anahuac Union - Anahuac Union is inspired from the 'Valley of Mexico' and 'Anahuac' is the ancient (Aztec) name of the Valley of Mexico itself. I felt that this was a good name considering that the 'land' itself is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, and was a centre for several pre-Columbian civilizations, including Teotihuacan, the Toltec, and the Aztec. The ancient Aztec term Anahuac (Land Between the Waters) and the phrase Basin of Mexico are both used at times to refer to the Valley of Mexico today. The Basin of Mexico became a well known site that epitomized the scene of early Classic Mesoamerican cultural development as well. Hence another reason to choose this name. It has a influence of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica which the latter as I mentioned before, has an ethic culture that bridges the Union with Esmeraldsia.

Inca Union - If you're savvy with pre-Columbian history, this is from a great empire known as the Incan Empire (and the Inka Empire), known as the largest empire in pre-Columbian America, and argued as the largest empire in the world in the early 16th century. Historically, it had reached as far as Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, although Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Ecuador have the closest post-Spanish intervention heritage ties to this nation. As you would expect, this connects to Esmeraldsia and the country listed below.

Republic of Argentum - Argentum from the latin word 'silver', this nation has a strong tie to Hispania; like the modern Argentina and Uruguay who have a very close cultural history together. In fact, it's commonly joked that they get confused quite often for the other. With a strong European heritage, they are often confused for Hispanians despite having an Indigenous population as well.

Republic of Caribilia - Basically consisting of today's latin american countries in the Caribbean, it has a vague history; there are many mysteries due to the legend that the collection of islands was relocated via magic. A feat that is naturally argued and questioned even to this day- NIGHT. So you can expect certain cultural references from latin american countries in the Caribbean like Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Hati, etc. I am purposely being vague about this region for the sake of story telling~



Now there are certain cultures/countries like Brazil and Paraguay not referenced but there's a reason for that as they ARE within the world of Noches but in a different way. You'll have to read to learn more~



Races

All living things use magic. This is natural because magic is what this world uses commonly as a natural resource; be for powering up technology, or using it within their bodies where they have both a circulatory system for blood and a similar system but for magic. Thus, where a normal human heart would be on the left chest, they also carry a magical heart on the right chest. And of course, this applies to other races or creatures with their own system. The main usage of magic in their bodies is for controlling body temperature; no sun = freezing your ass off...

Humans - Do I really need to explain? Aside from the magic system that we all carry, it's not uncommon for eye color and hair color to be influence by magic; one could have dark green hair and orange eyes just because...

Scales - Once known to be giant underground reptiles, this intelligent species were well-respect in ancient times to that of dragons in mythology; although wingless. That being said, at one point in their history, Scales realized that their large bodies made it difficult to maintain magic which forced them to stay as deep underground as possible where raw sources of magic existed. Thus, they eventually learned to adapt their body structure to that of a human and are quite social. A running gag is while they are naturally cold blooded, they enjoy alcoholic drinks to 'warm' themselves despite that being a common real-world myth. Yet it works for them somehow... That being said, they're generally common like humans.

Lunarians - One who comes from the moon itself, Lunarians look exactly human, save for their white hair and white colored eyes. While rare, they are seemingly kind and social despite their influence on making others uncomfortable. Due to the fact that every non-Lunarian holds extreme sensitivity to their own magic. They are often seen as the children of Luna herself.

Brazuka - Unique, their hair is fire itself but does not burn. Sharp teeth and non-human skin color, they are barely different from humans and are found everywhere across Noches.

Imperdonables - I don't want to spoil much but basically these are the race that does NOT benefit from magic as a necessary; when they breathe, they release something that unbalances magic itself to the point where it can destroy it. However, they are considerate enough that they invented masks that naturally filters out this toxic to magic. Often discriminated, they hold a strong belief that all living things have become too reliant on magic itself. Ironically, they are commonly the strongest users of magic itself.

Importance of Magic

Magic itself is an important aspect in this world. Because of way how life is, Magic has always been there like oxygen. It influenced many possibilities with science and religion. Its raw properties is hot and dangerous; think of lava in a way. Because it comes in different forms, magic can either help or harm you depending on how it's presented before you. Hell it's a natural light source where plant life 'glows'. Hell using magic as various possibilities, giving it many forms via various mediums.

Magic is used via the language which is commonly Spanish. Although the main character begins to learn that the parent language Latin has other languages (French, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian, etc.) that is used in Noches. But for the sake of keeping things simple, Spanish in this world is reference as 'magic' and the main language used for magic.

I thought at first this would be 'cheap' to always use magic as the explanation, but it's more than that; it brings an argument of how much life can be different if you add something that is a game changer. In fact, the main character does begin to question if magic is really a benefit or even a weakness.





This series of the 'Legacy Cycle' has many things already written/planned. And I hope that you'll get into this~

Download links~

For those of who don't want to download from any digital website, feel free to download from any of these links~


Rey de Noches (Mobi)

Re de Noches (PDF)

Strange new lands~

Some people have asked me if other continents aside from Noches itself would appear. And to get straight to the point: YES, other continents will appear.

There's lots of potential with this world setting and exploring new lands is in the works. However, whether a North American-based continent or an European-based, I cannot decide. There are many aspects in the Legacy Cycle that can lead to either land. Such as the heritage of the Hispanians that remain back in 'Europe', and to the other option of North American-based continent, where it can be completely random or caused by a particular set of events.

The Legacy Cycle however will take its time with what goes on in Noches, and we will eventually see other worlds. However, not anytime soon for obvious reasons~

Ciao for now~

Back~

Sorry for those who are ACTUALLY following my blog, but I was pretty busy with work and studying. Now that I got those out of the way, I am going to talk about more lore regarding the world of 'Noches'.

Colombian, Ecuadorian, Venezuelan, or Panamanian?

As many of you have been wondering, is Ruiz closer to Colombian, Ecuadorian, Venezuelan, or Panamanian background based on the reference culture? Well considering that his nation is based on the historical "Gran Colombia", its fair to say that he would be a mix mutt of them all.

Now while I am Colombian from my father's side, my readers believe that its biased towards Colombians which isn't entirely true. Its all a mix of those different/similar cultures all together which I promised to value equally if I was somewhat related to them as well by my heritage.

SORRY ABOUT THAT

Hey hey, to those who actually follow my blog, you're likely wondering where the HELL I've been. Well...



My family lost their home and was forced to sell it in early November. This led to a bad chain of events where I have to now live with my cousins in order to finish college while my parents are moving to Atlanta GA. Well as you can guess, these last 3 months have bee terrible and to make matters worst, I lost my job (internship over in TERRIBLE timing), I had some social issues with my friends that were serve, AND,  I find out that my story that I re-uploaded due to errors by the first upload, had been my BAD copy. In fact, I had to recently re-edit the story almost entirely to fix the story because I meant to throw away my bad version of the story and deleted the good clean error free version. Hopefully the file itself is updated in time so that new buyers will get the better copy of my story....


>...<

Finding 'True' Joy~

It's hard to be happy if you're not pleased with the way how your life is running. But truth be told, our lives aren't perfect and no matter how successful we become in it, it still won't be satisfying enough. In the world of Noches, 'one' must invest a good portion of their lives in finding their true purpose and joy. Kinda like how you would see that stereotypical 'hero' in a old novel leaving his village to 'discover' himself.


For Ruiz however, he 'decided' what his purpose in life was: becoming King of Noches. But was that what he really wanted? Ruiz struggled with the possibility, (LIKELY possibility) that his faith wasn't to become King of Noches. But over time, he accepted the possibilities against his dreams while finding true happiness at the same time~ 

The thing I hate in stories that I did in Rey de Noches

Now I am the type of writer (aspiring) who prefers to make every character, minor or major, unique each way. I never tend to give one a unfair advantage over another unless for specific reasons for the story's plot or overall character. For obvious reasons, this makes the favorable character more based on a reader's preference rather than who is 'stronger', 'wiser', etc. 


But there's the one stupid trait that at least one or more (or 'being(s)' if you will) have in common; they're corrupted cheeky bastards.

That's right, I didn't misspell (yet), most characters as you notice think of themselves higher than another in various ways. Whether a 'good' guy or a 'bad guy', they're pretty much what you would consider to be a Anikin Skywalker from Starwars that many fans and neutral fans alike have no love towards,. Because let's face it: no one likes a spoiled brat who whines a lot and gets his way, and I for one HATE their kind.

So you're likely asking, "WHY then did you create such immature characters if you hate them? Hypocrite much?".

Well the true reason why I made some characters like that was to make their character development more noticeable. When it comes to it, those immature/cheeky pricks they give more credibility when working within a story's blue prints. For example, Ruiz's and Tadeo's 'parole officer' was as corrupted as they come not giving a moment's thought for their well-being. Taking them lightly may have costed him his life as he got his ass handled to him by a bad ass raging magic bull. Karma's a bitch no?

Now it's not to say that he's dead (clearly by the story) and there is still much that I can do with that jackass.

So is there more? Of course there is. Ruiz isn't entirely a humble person as you notice but I promise that there will be a character that you would love and/or hate at the same time.

The idea behind Rey de Noches

I thought that I would get this out of the way considering that I always spend like a good 10 minutes telling others the story how and why I came up with the series Rey de Noches.


Now mind you, I am a very open-minded person. Thus growing up as a otaku, video game, book, and movie freak, there have been MANY inspirations for my passion in writing. But perhaps the reason why I wanted to be a writer, was credited to the Harry Potter book series created by J.K. Rowling herself. A true inspiration for fantasy lovers and children who like me, at the time, fell in love with fantasy. Yes I was naturally wishing that one day, my piece of work would be out there for people to enjoy. My first attempts in becoming a writer didn't succeed; I had taken interest in comics- particular manga- and failed to meet with a committed artist partner. I did try to learn how to draw and create my writing in picture form but I had to accept the fact that I wasn't meant for such work.

Thus my dreams for writing hit a brick wall. However I didn't give up at that point. I continued to write out stories in various genres hoping that it would attract potential comic/manga artists. After some time, I came up with the idea of Rey de Noches sometime during 2008...


During 2008, I continued to seek out potential partners as I laid out my ideas openly to them. Now Rey de Noches was NOT my main interest; it was simply a idea that occurred in my mind to do a world where it's always night time which to me, was 'mystical' and 'fantasy' like in a way. 

Over the course of the next 2 years, Rey de Noches continued to be a side project where I slowly added ideas to it. My first thought was: "Why is EVERY fantasy setting set in either Europe or Asia?". This was the deciding factor in what type of setting I wanted to create. I wanted to be different from most main stream and given that Latin European cultures were rarely done or even acknowledged in fantasy settings, I thought that it would be interesting if a corresponding world existed giving reference to the Latin culture of the real world. Thus Latin America was the next thought that came to mind. 

We all know of the Spanish/Portuguese/French  conquest during the aftermath discovery of the New World. It bridged between two different worlds in a hostile relationship between the natives and their culture. What we see today in Latin American cultures is greatly influenced by the culture exchange between the Latin nations and the native tribes that lived there.

There's actually a lot of mythologies in Native American cultures as well as Latin American cultures. The potential with material such as that was endless in my view. By the time I realized this in 2010, I had decided to mainstream Rey de Noches into my writing career where I spent endless days and nights researching whatever I could learn from the history behind all Latin cultures that exist to today. As well as politics and historical figures. Non-Latin empires during the conquests such as the African slave brought by the conquerors played a important role as well. I decided to explore and web out the culture and historical connections as far as I possibly could. 

Finally, by 2011, I had gather all the material I needed to start off with. Only a few problems: How would this world work without a sun? What 'cultures' would exists and how would they differ yet remind the reader of the real life cultures that are referenced? Should I just write this in a novel format?


For the 3rd question, I decided that I couldn't wait to find a artist after spending a few years without finding people to commit. Thus I chose to do everything in a novel format. 

For the 2nd question, I actually had less trouble in 'changing' and merging/keeping, new and old order ideas. Such as 'keeping' the union between Mexico and all of central america. Where in real life, their Pre-Spanish cultures were very similar and related in tribal cultures but are currently separated by different political views. This made the settings/countries easier to come up with and their neighboring relationship. Honestly, history itself became more interesting once I was able to exploit use all the references that I learned from research. This also helped when choosing character names for what type of character I wanted in the story. Name references towards certain figures would match no? Like "Emeraldsia" is a reference to the real historical union between Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama known as 'Gran Colombia'. A reference to Colombia's rich quality of Emeralds. All of this was possible for the story background/setting that I needed.

Finally, the 1st question was the big one for the future of Rey de Noches. I mean, how can a world exist without a sun? How can you see anything? Why would the moon shine if there's no sun?
Let me tell you: this was NOT easy to work on.

The whole idea was what kept me at bay from really working on this story until the idea sparked in my mind. I found out some interesting science research relating to the possibility of worlds (well planets in this case) surviving without a sun. My research paid off as I found something unique.

Basically, it IS possible for a planet to give life without a sun. So long as there's a heated natural source in or on the planet itself. So this gave a perfect slot opening for involving magic. In all forms of fantasy, magic has always been portrayed as a 'plus' and 'advantage' in certain settings but never as a need. So I thought that making magic essential for the survival of a living thing, would connect all of the dots in the importance. It also played the role of a most valuable natural resource. It heats, it powers, it does it all. It also became a plot factor in the first book and the series itself leading to what you see on sale now~


So that's basically the origins on how and why I came up with the story. If you have any questions that I haven't clearly answered, feel free to ask~

Are you serious Barnes and Noble, iTunes, and Amazon???

I just learned that some of the formats that are downloaded from different sites are causing errors in my work!

Basically for example, in the Nook download, there's a chapter name that has 'name' written 'naem' which was chapter 36 from what I am told. Yet when I ask one with a apple product from iTunes, it doesn't have that issue. Yet in Amazon Kindle, some parts aren't spaced!


UGhh....I hope that this didn't occur in EVERY download...

Cooking with Magic part 1.

Sounds lazy no? But in truth, they do use magic for everything.


When it comes to cooking, magic is involved for various reasons/purposes. Such as 'flavoring'. Wondering what it tastes like? So do I. ;)


Because magic can exist in most things (generally), 'extracting' the properties from said object would be the origin of certain flavors. Now they don't rely on that approach entirely due to the fact that it's difficult and very tedious in many ways. But the taste makes it worth it no? Like making the most complex of foods such as sushi. Hard and annoying to make but is worth it for the taste itself.



More on this in another part~

Stretches of the 2 characters we love/hate~

Here we have 2 very important characters stretched-drawn from the story of Rey de Noches.


First, we have the main protagonist of the series known as Ruiz~

His full name? Well that would spoil it if you don't read the story~

Orange eyes are naturally this #1 trait that stands him out. Respect to a guy who tries so hard to make those that are prejudice, to never judge on one's appearance. Dark green hair that can trick you towards a black color, and orange eyes that stare at you makes him not so appealing to most people.


Next, we have the man known as Eleuterio de Benedicto. Or "Tadeo" as many call him.

Not much of a clean looker is he? Well his rugged look and ideals are inspired by real historical figure Ernestro "Che" Guevara. I thought that it would be very interesting to add characters based on real life historical figures or mythologies. Sure it's been done but not much with Che himself. Who I have great respect for mutually in the sense of his will to fight for his beliefs. Am I a cult follower? Not really but hey, every rebellious individual needs a shirt of the guy~

Sleeping so much in Noches isn't good~

You know the feeling when you're 'cold' that you may fall asleep? They say that at times it's not a good idea (especially if you're lost in the wild and are open to the environment) with the condition of your body in the world of Noches. 

As you know, all living things in this world must have a healthy/stabled magic system in their respective bodies. For the need to stay 'warm' and yet we all feel recharged and renewed when resting our mind and body via sleeping. Funny enough, it not only recharges the body/brain in this world but it makes it easier to adsorb magic in this state. Thus why not sleep as much as you can? Well as showed by the character Sofia, the factor in taking advantage of this state (basically sleeping) makes your body 'lazy' in taking magic. 

Like if  you use sanitizer very often, your immune system weakens and becomes lazy. That concept is easy to understand but why must our bodies be 'forced' to fall asleep for the need of survival of magic? Seems like a lost-lost for the one with such a condition. Luckly, Ruiz helps her out~

Does magic really have 'color'?

Interesting thing about 'magic' itself in the world of Noches. Based on lore and descriptions, the color appearance of 'everything in general' is because of the effect caused by magic. Yet there is no 'neutral' color for the magic itself. Perhaps it's clear or white like the Moon, magic doesn't seem to colored at all.

Thus there are theories surrounding that 'magic', is 'everything' respectively if it is responsible for the appearance of most things. Even with the smallest of contact with said magic. PERSONALLY I find that to be bullshit. And I wrote the story.  =P

Lunarian or Lunaurian?

A funny thought for  a 'accent' with the term 'Lunarian'. Various characters from different parts of Noches could pronounce the term very differently:




From the Southwest 'Lunaurian'. But then again, the 'u' makes it sounds strange and a tongue twister not only for saying it but perhaps writing it. It could be fun if there were arguments on accents and pronunciation.




In another part (thinking of the North), perhaps they would use 'Lunarain'? Switching the 'i' lettering in place with a 'a' lettering, could either be worst or even better. Depending on the accent and the usage of said word. Personally, I had this same conflict in my mind when thinking of certain words and lettering. What 'sounded better' and what 'sounded right' seemed to be bothersome for my small brain to handle. So why not just make up whatever I could work with?






When making up terms and words, I try to make it sound likable like any good fiction writer would, regardless of the level of fiction. 

A new job for me is newer possibles~

Interesting news that had occurred during the recent release of this blog, I got a new job relating towards my education studies which is a GOOD THING for me and my finical issues. 


Hopefully this will lead me into a even better future as my education is nearly completed and thus I can focus more on Rey de Noches' future. 




Also, I am considering entering the Miami Book Fair that is to occur within the next few months. A bit pricey at the moment for me but with my new job, I should be able to invest a good amount of money into marketing Rey de Noches. Wish me luck~

Magic a bitch? Possiblity~

Most of the interesting things about the world of Noches is how much of a annoyance magic can be in general;


For example, you have the choice to use magic to make your life easier but at the same time, shorten it. Confused? The book tells more but to save you the trouble:


Like all living things carry a system for magic, the reason is naturally because their bodies need it. For obvious reasons in a world without a sun and thus require magic's raw resource as a heated resource. Thus, if a guy is about to shoot you with a magic firearm, then you have to decide: You going to use your magic to destroy the firearm, or freeze to death?

Yup, magic's a bitch ain't it? But one would only have to worry if they're lacking excess amount of magic. Like lacking even one poud of excess fat.

Rey de Noches sequel~

The sequel to Rey de Noches is becoming a bit more 'complex' than I planned; most of the things that I've done over the years with the series was plan ahead. Yet, when it comes to the details, it changes everything. I personally want to create more 'issues' for Ruiz (as if he didn't have enough already) and share all of the suffering that he's to experience to the reader's eyes.



But rest assure, I give it all my best and all of you know this. After all, you did take interest in getting a copy of the first book~