Tearna’s Journal and The Sapphire Verdict

Welcome back to another weekly blog! Now with 50% more spelling mistakes 25% of the time every other week but only on Tuesdays! Last week marked a major milestone in the Sapphire Verdict’s development lifecycle. The final cut pass from me is basically finished, and the final tally for the size of the Sapphire Verdict is now sitting at a whopping 380,000. For someone without any frame of reference, when it was first finished, it was around 1.2 million words in length, and no, that isn’t an exaggeration. With this cutting process behind me for the time being, I figured now was a good time to do a breakdown on the Sapphire Verdict as well as it’s connection to Tearna’s Journal! Let’s hop into it!

The Sapphire Verdict

The Sapphire Verdict is a Science Fiction/Fantasy story that follows the tale of Sapphiria, the Empress of the Sapphire Eye. In the present, she has lost everything. Her world was burned away in the fires of a force she barely understood and almost everyone she loves is gone. Instead of giving into despair, however, she has hung on the parting words of her mentor and done everything she can to protect the innocent from the same destruction that befell her species, leading her to make a decision that goes against her very being. To protect those who cannot protect themselves, and to stop the tide of destruction that befell her planet, she has poised her empire to wipe out every single trace of the United Earth Confederacy. By wiping out the human race, she will protect the innocent and stop other worlds from falling to their destructive influence, but as the hours tick down to the beginning of her war, she finds herself lingering on the past, leading us on the journey through her life and the winding path that led to this cataclysmic moment.

In the past, Sapphiria was a freak to her people because of her blue fur, seven tails, and massive ears. No one wanted anything to do with her, not even her parents, so she turned to engineering to make the friend she always wanted, Atom, a small automaton shaped like a bird. With Atom by her side, they endure all that life can think to throw at such an odd pair, all the while Sapphiria continues to grow her engineering skills in hopes of ones day convincing her people to accept her as one of them. One day, however, fate throws her a curveball when an Archon, one of the venerated protectors of her people, announces his intent to search for an apprentice. Seeing a chance to finally save herself from her lonely, miserable life, she sets out to finally prove who she really is, unknowingly placing herself on the path to becoming the empress of an empire of machines…

What is the Story Supposed to be?

At its essence, the Sapphire Verdict is a sort of zero to hero story until book 3. This initial story is all about Sapphiria going on an adventure and finding her place in the world. The entirety of this story takes place on Kryshendar, her homeworld, and feeatures a wide cast of grounded characters that aren’t exactly very high up in the world. As the story progresses, however, Sapphiria finds herself moving higher and higher up in society as she interacts more with the Archon and further grows herself as both a candidate and an engineer, all the while trying her hardest to find the missing piece of herself that all the rest of her people take for granted.

The scope of the story is contained largely to two major locations with a few vistas and landmarks thrown in. Primarily, it starts off on the Aqua Farms Sapphiria was raised around, one of the few places where she feels she belongs. Very early into the story, however, we shift to the final location, the Archon’s Sanctum. The Sanctum is effectively an advanced school of sorts with this one designed to put its attendees through rigorous training to determine who actually has what it takes to be an Archon, and who doesn’t. While this structure is quite grand and a sight to behold, the story is more about Sapphiria’s journey here.

There are two main problems that Sapphiria will work to solve throughout the story. The first is finding her missing powers, the thing that her people take for granted. These powers allow her people to wield mystical energies, and without them, she is just a useless freak. The second problem that she will ultimately tackle is finding a solution through engineering to fill in the void left by her powers. This largely takes its place as a side adventure all the way up until it becomes the main focus, with quite explosive results. I won’t say anything more for the sake of trying to avoid spoilers!

What to Expect

For those reading the Sapphire Verdict, you should expect a heartwarming tale centered around a lonely girl finding her way in life and proving to everyone, and herself, that she really does deserve to be a part of her people. You will enjoy breathtaking vistas, a long journey across half a continent, and a climactic, world shattering finale at the top of the world. No part of this first story will be truly dour, and the ending will be quite joyous, but the lingering shadow of the future will continue to linger in the minds of those that read it. After all, you know from the beginning how this will all end. The real question is ‘How does it all happen?’

Release Window?

TBD! I’m still in the process of finding an editor, and this last cutting pass was meant to help facilitate that process and make it so I can actually acquire a developmental editor to get the book into a more… digestible, state. With the cutting out of the way, my focus will turn to editing Tearna’s Journal and finding a developmental editor. Hopefully that won’t be a problem in this economy…

Tearna’s Journal

Now, onto the story actively available for reading! Tearna’s Journal is a fun dossier style adventure across the entirety of Kryshendar! This story follows Tearna, intrepid explorer, as she goes about documenting their world after much of it was devastated after a fierce war. Her people’s knowledge of the land and its creatures was mostly lost in the Crisis, and to help enlighten them once again, the emperor has commissioned an expedition to go about the lengthy process of rediscovering everything there is on their world! Hearing of the chance of adventure, Tearna eagerly signed up to be the expedition’s primary expert on floara and fauna with the ultimate goal being the creature of a journal for her people to read and learn from! Setting off from the heart of the main continent, Thericia, Tearna’s expediiton heads north into the Karasi desert, kicking off the jounrey around the world!

Goal of the Journal

The ultimate goal of this journal is to fully explore all the wonders I won’t be able to explore in the main book series. Many of these impressive locations will eventually be seen, but the creatures that inhabit them won’t be. I am a creature fanatic after the upbringing I had, so I can’t help but want to document ALL the critters that live on this planet, and that’s precisely what this journal does! Each story has around five or six different creatures covered in dossier style entries written by Tearna herself, and while I’m not exactly skilled enough to draw these critters, I was at least able to fully describe them!

Connection to the Sapphire Verdict

Obviously, Tearna’s Journal takes place on the same planet Sapphiria is from, but almost eight hundred years in the past! While that sounds immense, it’s worth mentioning that Sapphiria’s people live for a long, long time, around four hundred and fifty years on average. Basically, in human terms, imagine this story being based around the generation your great, great grandma is from!

Directly tying into the Sapphire Verdict, Tearna’s Journal is one of the many works that entracned and inspired a young Sapphiria. Without anyone to play with, she turned her focus to reading as much as she could, and she adored reading journal’s like Tearna’s because of her obsession with wildlife, particularly those in the ocean. Through journals like this, Sapphiria was able to see so much of the world she was denied and ultimately helped fuel her desire to be a part of it. There is, of course, a little more to this… but that would be a MASSIVE spoiler. All I’ll say is the last part of Tearna’s Journal will reveal a pretty big piece of lore tied to Sapphiria and Tearna both.

Ignoring that tie, Tearna’s Journal is a fantastic way to learn more about the world that was built for the Sapphire Verdict! Experience all that Tearna experienced on her journey and see all the wonderful landmarks that cover this world! And, for those who want a little more, feel free to follow along using the world map as well as some of the images in the gallery! More will be added over time, so keep your eyes peeled if you want to see more!

Conclusion

That is all I have for this week! I hope it was an interesting read, and I hope you now understand a little bit more why I actually went about the process of creating Tearna’s Journal. Feel free to browse the other short stories available in the short stories section as they tie into the Sapphire Verdict Universe as well! Next week, we will have another short story release, so, until then… CHEERS!

The Flying Fennec