This is the start of what will likely be, or perhaps what I should say, hope will be, an epic fantasy tale set in the Lellis universe. There are quite a few things I should say first about this piece so that readers will have some context.

The first is that this story is going to be more of a literary interpretation of a Role-Play that is taking place between ~Durendal5150 and myself, and RP is always fun. I say "going to be" and "is" because the RP is still ongoing, and likely will be for some time. He first suggested that it would be nice to see a more written up version of it, which I thought might be fun to do as well. The RP, though, really has several purposes aside from just the fun of it. For one, it gives a less rigid medium through which to explore different concepts of his budding Lellis setting. It also gives him a means to develop a character of his that may well be featured in other stories he does. Further, it delves into turmoils on other parts of the planet Lellis, which is quite large, aside from just the areas featured and will be featured in his "Chosen" series.

Now, this written up version of the RP is not going to be a copy/paste of the transcripts. Rather, I very much consider this to be a co-authored story. As such, when it's finished, we'll have to go over many different aspects of it, what to keep, what to toss out, and so forth, and I'll revise it down to read as a coherent tale, rather than a series of alternating posts. For example, nothing in this prologue is in the RP, and the first chapter (whenever that comes) will start about where the RP does with his main character.

In some respects this is a bit strange, in that even though the setting is his, he's running his character, while I'm running the overall plot and other characters. The RP setting itself was something I first started with ~shazzlnet earlier last year, with the goal being to create an RP campaign for Lellis that anyone could play in. However, in realization that likely not more than a few would play in it at most, and considering the amount of effort ~Durendal5150 and I put into it, turning it into a literary project was something that seemed in the long run more rewarding. Besides, it's not like I can't come up with another RP campaign in Lellis.

For those unfamiliar with Lellis, it's beginnings can be found here: [link] with the redone first chapters here [link] [link] [link] since it is undergoing heavy revision. I find the setting very enjoyable to work with, as it has a lot of openness and many different types of fantasy species to work with.

The main character is his Storm Giantess, Seyal Illisht, and in terms of the Lellis time line, this particular tale is set some years before the events that will take place in his "Chosen" series. For those interested in the different giant types in the setting, *Blazbaros was kind enough to do a comparison piece, which can be found here: [link] There are, however, a range of different species, including dwarves, wood elves, high elves, goblins, orcs, fey, elementals, aberrations, and, yes, humans, to name a few.

I don't want to say too much about the story, as unveiling the mystery and intrigue driving the plot are much of the fun. As for why I'm putting out the prologue when the rest of the story isn't even close to done, well, two main reasons. The first is that the prologue for this story has been on my mind for some time, and it's been distracting me from other writings, and so I figured that I'd just get it down and posted to approach other things with a more clear head. The other is to give some more visible evidence that I am indeed serious about turning the RP into a more grand feature for the Lellis setting at large.

A few last notes about this work. The most difficult part about this section for me was getting the dwarven dialect right, and quite frankly, I still don't think I have it right. So, no, those aren't spelling mistakes (trust me, it takes more work than you think to spell words that wrong). Also, for the time being, I have it marked as mature for some strong language and graphic violence. Whether or not it becomes marked mature for, ahem, "other reasons," well, he and I haven't yet decided. Just a heads up for those interested or disinterested in those things.

Lastly, no details about this prologue or the story at large should be taken as finished canon information about the setting. It is in continual development, and indeed, I may have to revise even this prologue substantially by the time the tale is done.

As always, I thank those taking the time to read this, and I hope you enjoyed. And if you did, be sure to stick around for more.


The Lellis universe is made by , with notable help so far by and , and likely others as it develops.