Sempervians Archives - Page 37 of 37

Cover Reveal: An Immortal’s Guide to Tarth #SciFi #ASMSG #IAN1

Kayelle Allen 09/08/2015 Science Fiction Books

An Immortal’s Guide to Tarth is a tongue-in-cheek look at what relocating would be like for the immortals in my books if they moved to the Tarthian Empire. A bit of non-fiction, written in a fictional way. The voice is that of Joss Avaton, one of the immortals. The rules of the immortal gamers role-playing game Peril are spelled out, and a who’s who among the gamers provided. A must-have for fans of the Tarthian Empire series. This handy guide will inform, entertain, and provide never before seen peeks behind the curtain.

This excerpt is taken from the opening of the book.

Greetings, Fellow Immortals

Welcome to the Tarthian Empire. This book is a guide to the people, places, and possibilities you’ll find here. A list of immortals and their roles in Peril is also included. All Sempervians are welcome here. This will be your home away from home. To those immortals who have joined us in our glorious exile — please know you are our honored guests. We are pleased to share the bounty of the Empire with you.

I’m Joss Avaton, your guide. A little about me. I’m telepathic (which most of us experience and understand), and a scripter, which means by touching you I can discern your abilities and gifts. Contrary to popular belief, scripters cannot tell your past or your future. We can only tell about your present: what gifts you possess now.

So that neither of us has any illusions, I will tell you up front that I am serving Penance. For those of you new to the game of Peril, that means I lost a game and must pay for it. In my case, it was a technicality, and the gamers in my session had nothing to do with my loss. I lost by my own mistakes, and take full responsibility. The gamer opposite me (Nanchonta) I would trust with my life, and have, many times. However, I would carefully watch the lead player in my support team (Akaghe) and never turn my back on him. Not for one moment. He is not based in the Tarthian Empire, for which I’m thankful. But enough about the past. I’m here to help you in your future with us.

While we are more than glad to welcome a fellow immortal into the Empire, you should be aware that the relationship between Mundanes (mortals) and ourselves is not an open one. To that end, let’s dive straight into the ironclad rules.

Rule Number One: This Book is for Immortals Only

By order of Pietas ap Lorectic, Lord of the Immortals, the Impaler, Hammer of God, Marauder, Soul Ripper, Destroyer of Worlds, Slayer of Innocents, Hound of Hell, you are ordered to set aside this book if you not immortal. Put down this book, walk away, and no one will get hurt. Should you decide to disobey this directive, that assurance is void.

With that warning in mind, you may proceed at your own risk.

Rule Number Two: Immortals Don’t Exist

Of course, immortals do exist. The fact that you are reading this book proves that. We are referring to what the non-immortal Mundane population thinks. They (other than the Chosen) are never to know of our existence. The rule regarding how much to reveal is simple: nothing.

We do not discuss immortality.

We avoid any mention of immortality.

If asked directly if we are immortal, we lie.

There are no exceptions to this rule.

The answer to “Why can’t we tell them?” is also simple: BPSS (Because Pietas said so). If you don’t know who Pietas is, we refer you to Rule Number One.

You will no doubt find yourself exasperated by the sheer number of Mundanes present in the Tarthian Empire, especially humans. They have overrun it and multiplied like rats in a pestilence. Which brings us to Rule Number Three.

Rule Number Three: Live and Let Live

By order of Pietas, humans and other people groups may not be killed for sport. That does not mean you can’t annoy, manipulate, and use them for your own purposes. However, the rule about killing is strictly enforced. You can be banned from the Empire for killing even one Mundane. Justifiable homicide must be proven in Mundane courts as well as before the throne of Pietas.

It has nothing to do with their inherent worthiness. Mundanes have none. However, we must coexist here and the worlds in the Tarthian Empire are filled with these creatures. They farm, raise fish, cattle, sheep, and other animals used for food, create cities, technology, transport, and other items which we find useful and helpful. Since we take full advantage of these things, it behooves us to let them exist. Therefore, the golden rule is “Live and let live.”

We cannot stress strongly enough the need to remember the golden rule when it comes to Mundanes, and especially humans. They tend to bring out the worst in us, so guard yourself against rash behavior in their presence. Pietas does not permit a “temporary insanity” defense. I know this chafes. You must learn to deal with it.
—
And there you have it. The new cover, in all its glorious riot of color.

How to Create an Immortal Hero: The Writing Process Tour #amwriting

Kayelle Allen 03/24/2014 Fallen Empires 1 Comment

pietas-beta-courtroom — Pietas Before the Tribunal (Beta)

This blog tour is different from most. A writer is tagged for the position, and she or he then tags three others to take part as well. Each shares some aspect of the writing process. . I don’t often write about writing on this blog. I reserve it for story-oriented posts. But this was a chance to show a “behind the scenes” look at what I do, and I couldn’t resist it. My post will be on creating an immortal hero.

My sponsor for this leg of the tour was Denys? Bridger. You can find her at this spot. http://fantasy-pages.blogspot.com

We’re supposed to answer these four questions about our writing processes.

1) What am I working on?

I’m creating a science fiction book about the king of my immortals, the Sempervians. The full title is Bringer of Chaos: the Origin of Pietas. The character is known as the “bad boy king” and he is an anti-hero. While he is the protagonist of this story, he is not a good guy at all. I wanted the book to give background into his character, because in an upcoming book, Surrender Trust, I want readers to understand his motives. He will definitely be the villain in that story, but he is not all bad. I have a soft spot for him, much as I hate to admit it. No one is all bad, including Pietas.

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?

It will be illustrated. This is not a comic book or manga, but a book with an image for each chapter. I’ve included a sample for you. The art is by my son, Jamin Allen. You can find his work at Nimajination Studios. What you see here is a beta version – a rough draft for me to approve placement of characters and design. It has a great deal more work to be done, but I am excited to share this much.

3) Why do I write what I do?

I’ve loved science fiction since I was a little girl. My parents always had these types of books and I would pick them up and read them. I remember the cover of one in particular. It showed people looking up at the sky, which had been peeled back to reveal the world was nothing more than a cage. The concept fascinated me. My books all have a hint that the world as we know it is not what we assume it to be. The Sempervians have molded human society to fit their needs. Because they never die, they manage to sway political power in the direction they want to go by using influence over long periods of time. They have made alliances with humans (the Chosen) who assist them, in return for protection, power, and wealth. In my Tales of the Chosen series, one Chosen — Wulf — discovers what it is that he is being protected from. The discovery shocks him — and he will have to decide in future books whether he wants to continue assisting the Sempervians, or whether he will take a stand against them. How do you stand against immortals who secretly run the government? That’s what Wulf will have to find out.

4) How does your writing process work?

I can get an idea for a scene or a book from anything. My imagination has never been lacking. I carry a notepad and pen with me everywhere. My computer has an ideas file that’s chock full of things. Once I have an idea, I work on jotting down notes and making it coherent. It must have a beginning, middle, and end. I don’t start writing until I have a synopsis. Otherwise, for me, it’s just writing, not producing. I prefer to write when I know where I’m going. I will jot down enough to understand what I wanted to say when I look at it later, but I learned long ago not to start writing as if it were a real book. Ideas are ideas. They are not books. It saved me a lot of time once I realized the difference. I keep extensive notes for my scifi series, so an idea for that goes in my system. Currently, I use a mixture of MS Word and Excel. However, I pin images to boards on Pinterest too.

Whatever I write, I try to keep my readers in mind. I want them to understand the aspects of the story, and to enjoy the characters.

For another take on this tour, check out Mona Karel.

Character Insights: Meet Pietas | the immortal bad guy you love to hate #scifi

Kayelle Allen 03/20/2014 Character Insights

For Women Only

For Women Only is Erotic Science Fiction Romance, and Multicultural. Khyff is a master of pleasure with a tortured soul. Mehfawni falls for Khyff, and wants to redeem the man her people destroyed. The problem is, his fragile trust could be a response of love and a healing heart — or a ruse for revenge.

The antagonist of the book is Empress Rheyn Destoiya, who manipulates Khyff to gain power. Destoiya’s brother, Pietas, plays a small but crucial part in the story. These two are immortal, and manipulating humans is part of a role playing game they created called Peril. Let’s take a look.

Warning: this book contains smokin’ hot sex, humor, and angst. This combination has been proven addictive. Author assumes no responsibility for the reader’s battery consumption in adult toys while reading this book.

Palace District, Conqueror’s Palace

When her brother bowed and insisted she go first, Empress Destoiya smiled. Good. Pietas should be worried. She entered the empty foyer and took the door leading to the elevator for her private rooms. Inside it, she leaned her back against the corner, feet out, arms folded, blocking him from coming anywhere near her.

Pietas draped the black velvet cape around his shoulders and raised the hood. “I suppose you’ll be glad to see me go.”

“You still have a flare for understatement, I see.”

He faced the doors. “You have no more than fifteen years left on your current role in Peril. Most of the players outside the empire are through their games already and want reassignment. If you like, I could summon them here. It would help you, and keep them out from under my feet.”

Pietas had used the role-playing game Peril to end the boredom of immortality. They’d played tor thousands of years, each game forty years in length, scattered all across the galaxy. Unlike a human role-playing game, the Sempervians lived their roles in real time, always in character except around each other. Luck had awarded her two turns as a Ruler, and she’d ended her forty-year reign as Destoiya the Great by faking her death, and then in a coup, reclaimed it as Destoiya the Conqueror, the unacknowledged daughter of the Great. No one had suspected the twenty year old upstart of being the eighty year old deceased monarch.

Destoiya touched his shoulder. “There haven’t been more than twenty of us together anywhere in a thousand years. Why now?”

He turned toward her, but the darkness of the hood hid his face. “Don’t tell me you couldn’t use the support.”

“Oh, I could.” She brushed at lint on her black uniform. “It would nearly guarantee a win.”

“Then you want them?”

The doors opened, and Destoiya brushed past him. “Follow me.” They went through several doors, all opening with the touch of her palm on a panel. The next door scanned her retina. A long hallway led to a red door.

They reached the chamber. Destoiya turned back to Pietas. “Will accepting extra players change any of my rules, goals, or assignments?”

He made a simple, negating gesture. “No.”

“Will penalities be added?”

“No.” He pushed back his hood.

“How will their powers be decided? Will they have to roll for them, or can they use their natural abilities?”

Pietas unhooked a bag of dice and jingled it before her. “Pick one and roll it.”

She ignored the bag and withdrew a coin from her pocket. “I prefer a yes or no answer.”

He rolled his eyes, and with a sigh, returned the bag to his belt. “Call it.”

“Heads they use natural. Tails they roll.” She flipped the coin into the air.

Pietas caught it. “I feel generous. Tell me what you want and you may have it.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“I told you, Sister. I feel generous.”

Destoiya folded her arms. “The last time you said that, we lost a war. What are you up to?”

“Do you want them to roll for abilities?”

“No. Natural.”

Pietas extended his hand, and she held out hers. He placed the coin on her palm. “They’re yours.”

—
For Women Only goes out of print in June 2014, so grab it now. It won’t be re-released until the fall, in a new format. Bringer of Chaos will be released later this year.

July 4th, Magic Mike, and Paladin

Kayelle Allen 07/04/2012 Holiday Stories

Best 4th of July Ever!

It’s the Fourth of July and that calls for some good old American BBQ, hot dogs, hamburgers, ice cold watermelon, a parade, some fireworks, and of course, a great movie in the afternoon. How about we all go see Magic Mike?

You can learn more about the movie on Facebook, or its official site.

I’m not here to review it — haven’t seen it yet, but it’s on my list of “to see on the big screen.” I’m a Matt Bomer fan, and think Alex Pettyfer is adorable. Also starring Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey, Joe Manganiello, Olivia Munn, Riley Keough, Cody Horn, and the always hot Adam Rodriguez. Couldn’t ask for more entertainment than this group!

Lake water is refreshing

While we’re waiting for the movie to start, want to meet one of the Pool Boys from my Yahoo group Romance Lives Forever?

A swim in the lake is always refreshing, so I thought I’d share an image of one of the guys coming up from a brief dip. This photo is by Andrei Vishnyakov. The link is to his Facebook page, but you can find his work on many stock photo sites.

Original

Since I have your attention and I’m talking about a favorite photographer, now might be a good time for me to share a new wallpaper with you. One of my immortals, a winged Sempervian named Paladin was inspired by one of Andrei’s photos. The original is to the left, followed by my interpretation of the character. I created this for my wallpaper page. It will go up sometime on the Fourth. It features images of the characters in my books, maps, and other goodies. There is also a free reads page.

Work was done by me in Photoshop using images purchased on Photoxpress.com

Paladin – click to see full sized (1920×1080)

Have a hot, happy, and safe Fourth of July!

Kayelle Allen is an award-winning, multi-published author. Her heroes and heroines include badass immortals, warriors who purr, and agents who find the unfindable–or hide it forever. She is known for unstoppable heroes, uncompromising love, and unforgettable passion.

PayPal, Immortals, Teenagers, and the Election

Kayelle Allen 03/09/2012 Kayelle Allen 8 Comments

No Sex.

What do PayPal, immortals, teenagers, and the election have in common? Followed the PayPal censorship controversy much? PayPal is a company that acts as a go-between to protect your identity online. You give this supposedly highly secure financial company your credit card and bank information, and they provide you with a means to purchase safely online. The merchant never has access to your credit card info. This means an entrepreneur who has an idea or product to sell can install some code on his or her website, hook up to PayPal, and sell internationally within minutes. You can take credit cards without having to invest in ultra-secure servers. PayPal takes the risk for you.

They, however, have decided that certain material is now too “high-risk.” The internet commerce giant has decreed it will no longer permit its services to be used to purchase certain types of erotic material. Among the list are books containing BDSM, incest, “pseudo-incest,” “barely legal,” bestiality, and rape.

The definitions of these has been given many times, but for clarity, and in case you’re new to the conflict, “pseudo-incest” covers people who are not related by blood but by marriage (step brothers/sisters of a blended family, stepson/stepmother, etc.), and “barely legal” is someone of legal age to have sex, meaning eighteen and nineteen year-olds. None of this material is new to the world. Oedipus wrote about incest thousands of years ago. The Marquis de Sade wrote about BDSM (bondage, discipline, and sado-masochism — the term actually comes from his name) but PayPal has decreed it will no longer pay for this material. It claims it’s being pressured by credit card companies. The credit card companies have, so far, been mute on the subject.

The “barely legal” material includes May-December love stories. PayPal doesn’t want to pay for these because… well, I have no idea why. Maybe they think people aged eighteen and nineteen aren’t capable of making solid decisions. Odd, that they are old enough to vote and go to war, but we can’t write about them falling in love unless it’s with someone their own age. At what point is the December lover supposedly too old for the May lover? Ten years? Twenty? Fifty? I’m not sure there’s a scale, but imagine how out-of-kilter it might be if the December lover were immortal.

Bestiality – sexual activity between a person and an animal – includes stories (according to PayPal) with were-characters. Shape shifters, werewolves, werebears, were-anything. No petting of the lover’s head while in shifted form; no sex while in animal form, no playful biting or nibbling. Nothing that might cause arousal while referring to the beast within. Pretty much the entire reason to write erotic were-type books and characters is taboo.

The internet giant has not only said it won’t permit you to buy books with these topics, it will also confiscate funds of the booksellers and publishers who provide them. This means even if you don’t write these books, but your publisher provides them, or you sell your books through a bookseller who does, PayPal can confiscate their funds, depriving you of your livelihood. Your recourse? Moving to another publisher or bookseller is about your only choice, because fighting with PayPal over lost revenue could take months, or even years. They are not covered by the FDIC and are not required even to respond to your complaint. Their terms of service say they will reply within 180 days (six months), and at that point, their decision is final. You do not get a phone number to call. You get an email. There is little you can do. If you can’t survive for six months to a year without income, and you depend on getting paid by companies that provide this material, you are out of luck if PayPal follows through on its threat.

Which brings me to the crux of this article. I write about the Sempervians, immortals who manipulate current events to steer humanity towards various outcomes they desire. For example, a Sempervian might cause a fire in a seed warehouse, or cripple a shipping company with bad gas, making it impossible to ship seed on time. A failed corn crop pushes a farmer into buying his next year’s seed on credit instead of with profits. A few years of “bad luck” and failed crops, and he defaults on the loan, losing his farm. A big farming company owned by the Sempervian buys his land on the cheap, makes it part of a conglomerate, and sells corn for less, making a huge profit, and over time, changing the face of agriculture. What does this have to do with censorship and PayPal?

Just Plain No.

Imagine you want to influence an election during a year when ultra-conservatives are on the ticket, up against a liberal. What kinds of things might swing the vote toward the liberals? What do Americans cherish and fear losing? Crops? Books? No. It’s freedom. If a financial institution can decide for us what kinds of books we’re allowed to write, read, and buy, then we are handing over our freedom in exchange for convenient purchases online. At what point does our freedom mean more than convenience and safety? What would make a person get out and vote for someone who is likely to stand up for your freedom? Someone who speaks well and looks good in a suit? Or a controversy that sparks outrage and determination to fight for what you have a legal write to read, write, and buy?

My Sempervians are not unlike the Illuminati. They move in the background, changing small things in the Tarthian Empire, influencing the populace to act in ways that benefit them and achieve their long-term goals. They’re immortal. They have all the time in the world. In America, who is in the background, moving the small things that change our freedoms? Whose goals are achieved by PayPal suddenly taking a stand against specific details in erotic literature that it has (up to now) turned a blind eye to? Where is America headed, and to what end? PayPal, immortals, teenagers, and the election — they may have more in common than meets the eye.

What do you think will happen next in this controversy? Who is the enemy, and who is on your side?

Pietas, Lord of the Immortals

Kayelle Allen 02/13/2012 Character Insights

Pietas ap Lorectic was introduced in the book For Women Only. He’s a physically beautiful immortal male who appears young, despite being over twelve thousand years old. He and his twin sister were the only naturally conceived and born Ultras.

The name Pietas comes from the word “pieta“, meaning “representation.” A famous statue by Michelangelo called “The Pieta” represents a dramatic event in Christendom. Another word for “pieta” is “creation.” Pietas was considered (at his birth to two supposedly infertile immortals) to be the highest creation, the epitome of success. His mother, Helia hid her pregnancy from all but a close circle of others, fearful of what might happen if humans discovered she was fertile.

Unknown to Helia, she carried twins. A female child was delivered only minutes after Pietas, and she was considered a delight, and a good omen. She was named Dessy from the root word decet (dess-say) meaning good or proper. We know her today as Empress Rheyn Destoiya, or the Conqueror. She detests being called Dessy. Pietas makes a point of calling her that to irritate her.

Pietas and Dessy’s father is Mahikos. Those who’ve read Surrender Love had an opportunity to meet him. Helia will appear in an upcoming book.

Other names for Pietas in human history are Marauder, Impaler, Hammer of God, Soul Ripper, Destroyer of Worlds, Slayer of Innocents, and Hound of Hell. He is mentioned in the Tales of the Chosen series, and Surrender Love. There is a love-hate relationship between Pietas and Luc Saint-Cyr, whom Pietas insists on calling by his Sempervian name, Cyken.

Tag: Sempervians