Dwarves,
Dwarves, and more Dwarves!
Recollections
of the Author.
Growing up, I
had always been drawn to fantasy literature
and fantasy
art. When I was young, a lot of what we now call fantasy
was science fiction, and all of it I consumed with an
insatiable appetite. Part of this consumption was in
RPGs--the old dice, paper and pencil kind. It was through
these games that much of the roots to my ideas and characters
evolved, and many of these can be found in this saga.
The seeds for Krae first took root long ago in RPGs,
and like a mythos, it stirs in the unconscious backwaters
of my imagination, waiting for the bard to sing it to
life.
Traditional fantasy
and high fantasy is what strikes my fancy. This is the
stuff I feel I need to write about, at least where Krae
is concerned. Sure I like the ground breaking stuff
brimming with opulent newness that breaks from the mold,
but that's not really what I am trying to accomplish
with Krae. Krae is based on mythological ideals and
what we've come to see as tradi
tional fantasy worlds--a
tale that speaks of a legend before our time, something
that feels of the "myth." In a way, Krae is
a retelling of those hallmark mythos and legends that
every child with an imagination dreams about, and every
adult who dreamt the fantasy remembers with nostalgic
delight. It is a new tale of these myths set in a not
so unfamiliar world. It is a story about people confronted
with the greatest of perils. And it is about the race
of Dwarves who so commonly light the fire in fantasy
literature only to be quickly extinguished in a blaze
of glory. Their tale needs to be told, a tale much more
than Alberich's theft of the Rhiengold, much more than
Gim's sacrifice, or Thorin's retaking of Lonely Mountain;
it is an epic that this honorable and ancient race require.
And here is where
I jump out and step on some feet. I am unsatisfied with
most of the fantasy available on the market, whether
it be literature, anime, or comics. For the most part,
it all reads the same. Traditional fantasy can be
good and not just the same stagnant idea taken
again for granted--new ideas can flourish in the medium.
It is another reason why the idea for Krae has endured
for so long in me; I want to tell the fantasy tale that
I personally have been longing for!
These are the
Dwarves and Elves of legend, the heroes of myth. It
is a tale that might find its home on the bookshelf
next to the poetic edda or Wagners Ring
cycle and other folklore.
-Kevin P. Croall
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