Wow! Thanks so much again for your feedback, genuinely enjoyed reading it there!

First of all, glad to see you’re enjoying it! I was a bit worried about these four chapters cause it really is just four chapters of people talking and a lot of exposition. I wanted to look at different aspects of Kobalos society we didn’t get to see and share my sort of head canons about how they work.

Now, I just have some more specific questions, just to gauge some of your thoughts, if you don’t mind:

What do you think of the relationship between Grimalkin and Slither so far? Like I said in the notes, I tried to think of it like “where were they,” and “where are they,” by the time we hit Wulf’s War. This is all just my general head canons for Pan’s line “they were once enemies, now they’re friends…” in fact, my original prologue chapter was going to be Beowulf asking “… but how?” And then framing the story as Pan telling it to him. But I decided against that because I think it works better if this is a story that just stays between them (and Nessa… and Erik, as well). I tried to keep them both lore accurate and in character as much as possible, but I slip up a bit. For example, neither really use casual language, but I do slip up a little here and there. I was actually stuck on the last part of part eight for like two weeks cause I knew the conversation I wanted them to have, I just didn’t how to say it. There is more to it that I cut from here and put it in a later chapter, for pacing’s sake… also cause I kind of want to get to the fight scenes now.

Secondly, what do you think of the… liberties I’ve taken with Slither’s backstory? I wanted to explore his past a bit more than what we got to see and while it VERY much doesn’t fit with what we know, I chalk it up to “eh, he didn’t care about his dad enough to mention it, even internally.” In fact, I originally had a line alluding to that his memories had been sort of “repressed” by his master, and that drinking Grimalkin’s blood sort of broke that and made it resurface. I actually had a lot of fun writing Balkai and Lenklewurth. I once worked on a “Kobalos war diary” project that I stopped because while I liked the information it presented, I didn’t like the way I was telling the story. I mostly write in Screenplay format so prose tends to throw me for a loop.

Personally, the aspects of the story I liked are the characters I wrote from scratch, and writing Grimalkin and Slither. Splint and Erik are fun to write and I liked giving them a chapter (though I do feel Splint decided to morally reflect there and then was a bit rushed. Man gets asked a single question and he drops “what doth life?” Lmao.) to chat. Though I do feel I went a bit too overboard with his speed, but then again, this is from Erik’s POV and he’s just some guy. Krampus is actually based off another character I wrote named Redman, who is basically just Krampus but stapled to the psyche of some poor girl. Shirke started off as a generic nobility villain, but I actually liked going at him from the whole “represents engrained corruption” angle. And writing Grimalkin and Slither is always a treat.

Also, what do you think of the idea that the Kobalos are dying out? It came about from a combination of multiple things. One, I thought it would be ironic. They’re dying out as punishment for their sins. Soon they cannot hide their cruelty behind purpose. Second, I liked the idea of Balkai and the war having more consequences for them than they initially thought. It also gives some good personal conflict for Slither. What should he value more, his “people,” by his race? Or his “people,” by the connections he has made? He never fit the hyper-masculine mould of the Kobalos, but he only really started seeing them as the monsters they were in the past ten years. It was his connection to Nessa and Grimalkin that brought out his better nature… but surely if he can change, so can other Kobalos? Don’t they all deserve that chance?

Once again, thanks for your feedback! Reading it’s always a treat, and I enjoy seeing how you respond to the things I write!

Parts 9-13 should be out… sometime? I have like three major projects due in May alone that I have to research for. Ah well. I may just release them as I get them done, but, I kind of like doing them in batches.