Nothing is True. Everything is Connected.
Author: <span>Nicolaus Meridius</span>

Sylum Canon Updates

Everyone Look Here

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Now that I’ve got your attention.

If you’ve read through Demons & Angels along with Roads Untravelled – you know that there have been some canon changes.  Most of the changes were already announced – basically the main one being the introduction of John as Meridia.

Now if you haven’t read the updated Demons & Angels or Roads Untravelled – stop now or you will get spoiled.

Go finish it and then come back and read this! Go on.

Okay now for the rest of you ….

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Yes the Caine twins are no more.

*holds up hand* before the whys, buts, and questions …

This was not an easy decision.

This went around and around and around for weeks.

Hashed out, talked out, and flailed at.

We discussed it from every point of view, every character view, storyline view, basically gave it a 360 degree look over.

We started off looking at the space between Clan War and Family, and the ‘bullshit’ storyline that was CSI: Miami … nothing was working.

Marisol should never had been added, let alone the very idea that Speed would allow his Mate to marry someone else … yeah no.  Horatio wouldn’t be pushing for kids because hello he’s still adjusting to being a Vampire.

And they just came off a Clan War!

Adding to it – the Delkos are Catholic.  It would’ve gone against Maria’s, Marisol’s sister, faith to be a surrogate.

So starting off just the ‘how the babies even got here’ storyline was starting to fall apart.

We worked, plotted, argued going around and around to try to get it to work but nothing was falling into place, without some major handwaving and ‘don’t look at the person behind the curtain’.

Yes, we will always have some elements of ‘you didn’t see anything’ but most of the time we strive to make the story threads tie together natural, and the characters have proper motivation.

Plus we started to realize – Speed and Horatio were being removed from storyline!  Why? Because they were taking care of babies.

They could’ve just leave them with someone?

…. really?  Then what is the point of the kids in the storyline anyway?

But what about DEAN!?

Face it this is probably what most of you were concerned about.

And in all honestly – this was our biggest question.

But think about it – the very fact the ‘twins’ were being kept not for their parents but for another character, indicated something wasn’t working.

In the end we were able to give Dean the motivation and character he needed, to help him with his Turning.   (The Winchester stories are being updated at this moment, and will be reposted soon … indicating this change)

Who the hell is Bradley?

Ahhh good question!  We already established that Ellis had a child … we had planned that it was going to be Dino’s son, and he would’ve appeared in storyline down the road. With the ‘twins’ being removed … we adjusted this to make the kid Horatio’s and bring Bradley in early.

Still giving Horatio the ability to be dad w/out sidelining two of our major characters – as Bradley is six years old and being raised by the Herriots as they adopted him when he was a baby (Yes we will be showcasing that conversation between Speed & Horatio in upcoming story).  And as we have already established Cassie – y’all remember her right – she’s the same age as Bradley, and as they are both are being raised at the manor by the Clan, they have someone their own age to grow up with.

Remember, most of these changes have come because of the rework through Clan War – As we update the old storyline we’ve found major plot holes, dangling threads, and what the fuck was that … and when these get fixed it impacts story (already written and some that weren’t) down the road.

The challenge has been fixing the old, setting up for the new, while continuing working on stories showcasing where we’re going – hence canon adjustments and sometimes ‘mix/matched’ storylines.

We’ve added notes to Family and Evolution that there are canon changes that some storyline will not mesh with the most recent stories – we will not go in the either series and adjust – we’ll be doing an edit job once we get to that section of the timeline.

So yes you’ll see stories with wrong info, but we’re working on it!

Now how are you going to know when old story is updated?  I will always post a Throwback Thursday or make special posts to showcase updated stories.

But Elizabeth is Ellis returned and it ties to the Jack the Ripper story and Dean!

Jack the Ripper storyline with Dean is not related to Elizabeth or Ellis.  Ripper has his own motivations with Dean, that goes far beyond Elizabeth and/or Ellis.

But Ellis returned in Elizabeth!

The only reason we had Elizabeth was because Ellis died …

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The Matrix has been reset!

Nicholas J. Finch: Conversations in Real Time

It’s almost been a year since I published my first book!!  It’s hard to believe it’s been practically a year!  At the moment I am working on the next one but like everything else is taking time, due to RL.

Why am I bringing this up?  Well besides I’m my own Marketing Campaign … I would like to hit 100 sales by the time I hit the 1 Year Anniversary of Publishing Conversations in Real Time.

I have 79 sales.

I need 21 more.

So help an author out.

If you haven’t bought, why not? *shifty look* there are over 600 of you on this blog, which I’m guessing means you like what I write … *pokes*.

If you have bought it spread the love to friends, family, strangers on the street.

Format: Epub, Mobi, PDF, Ibook … etc
Price: .99 cents
Where:

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

iTunes/iBooks

Smashwords (Note: For those who have Kindle – you can find Mobi Format at Smashwords.)

Please leave a review after reading the book!  It helps pull attention to the story and to other readers.

Bj Jones … aka Nicholas J. Finch

PS: To those who I owe timestamps for helping me on my book project.  After Seven Days I’m going to work on this particular stories so they’ll be coming soon.  If you still want to help out on the book project (basically read the book, leave a review, get a timestamp of any sylum character written for you – Go Here)

 

 

Sylum Inspiration: Kirill

Vampire Council: Hunter

 

Kirill grew up under Mongolian control, though he rarely saw or felt the oppression. His parents worked hard, owned land and made sure he would have a better life. When he would ask about his family heritage, as his coloring was darker than most, they assured him he came from a long line of good Prussians.

Not one for farming, Kirill set out for the coast, where he ended up meeting Marco Ramius. He thought him an old man who knew nothing but fishing. In time he learned Marco was more than what he seemed.

Neither man was shocked when he requested to be Turned.

Blog Maintenance

Blog Updates!!

 

WordPress and all the plugins were updated yesterday, which means something has likely broken or will!

Today’s post was posted on the blog, but wasn’t sent via email or onto the social media accounts, not I’m not sure if this is because of mix up in settings (via also the Coffee House Friday got posted late) or if the ‘share’ plug in isn’t work.

So this post is a test to see if email gets sent out, along with social media posts.

*waits patiently*

In the meantime if this works – make sure to check out Sylum Vault: Last Chance for Ernesto Olivetti Collection

Now to see if this works

*sends prayers to St. Isidore of Seville*

Sylum Vault: Last Chance – Ernesto Olivetti Collection

Last Chance!

For Sylum Vault we created a series of Jewelry Pieces for Ernesto Olivetti Week.

Each piece is designed with Ernesto and Roads Untraveled in mind.  These are all unique items, and will not be duplicated.

For Sylum Members, we’re giving away a Free Pair of Meridius Tree Earrings when you purchase from our Ernesto Olivetti Collection.

Meridius Tree Earrings

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Go to Ernesto Olivetti Collection and take a look, get these unique pieces and Free Earrings, while you still have a chance.  A few items have already sold out!

Sylum Inspiration: Maximus Decimus Meridius

Vampire Council: Lead Hunter

 

Maximus was raised on a small farm outside Trujillo, Spain.  His father taught him the love of Earth and Horses.  When he was a young man he saw another having trouble with too large of a horse, and he moves into help without thought.  With his training and love for horses, he is able to calm the animal down and comes to the attention of  Emperor Marcus Aurelius.  Commodus offers Maximus a position in his army.

Maximus takes the opportunity  and joins the Roman Army.

His own skills and the favors from Marcus Aurelius has him moving up the ranks to General of Felix Legions and Commander of the Armies of the North.

On one of his trips home to Trujillo, his father found him a wife, a local woman named Elena.  Maximus courted her properly, soon falling in love with her easily.  The two married, and before he returned back to his army, he discovered she was carrying his child.   Eight months later he celebrated with his men, the fact he had a son, Alejandro.

In 180 AD, General Maximus Decimus Meridius leads the Roman army to a decisive victory against the Germanic tribes on the frontier, ending a long war on the Roman frontier and winning the favor of elderly Emperor Marcus Aurelius. The emperor is already old and dying, and although he has a son, Commodus, he asks Maximus to succeed him as a regent and turn Rome back into a republic. The emperor speaks with Commodus afterwards and explains his decision, but Commodus reacts by killing him and claiming the throne.

Still in Germania, Maximus is confronted by Commodus, but suspects foul play and refuses to pledge loyalty. General Quintus, captain of the Praetorian Guard and a friend to Maximus, chooses to follow Commodus. He obeys Commodus’s orders and reluctantly sends men to Spain to kill Maximus’s wife and son. Maximus manages to escape his own execution by Praetorians and races back to his home in Spain, but he finds his wife and son already dead. He buries them and collapses. A slave caravan passes by and captures Maximus, assuming that he is a deserter. Maximus is taken to Zucchabar in Roman Africa and sold to a man named Proximo, who uses him as a gladiator.

Proximo, not wanting to lose his most valuable asset, Turns Maximus after one fight where he was injured.

Ernesto Olivetti Week: Wrap Up

Ernesto Olivetti Week has comes to a close!

*collapse onto couch*

Please no one mention the name Ernesto for a while ….

This became bigger than we anticipated, but have to say it turned out extremely well.

Thank you to Timothy Quinn for all the hard work dealing with this Italian Bastard.

Thank you to taibhrigh for the updated images for the wiki.

Interesting facts and numbers:

20 posts … 13 more than we anticipated.

11 pieces of Jewelry (don’t forget to stop by and get your Ernesto Inspired Jewelry and Free Gift before time runs out!  We’ll keep ‘Ernesto Olivetti Collection for another week – On June 13th it will be gone!)

3 Sylum Aesthetics

6 Past Live Posts

1 New Fanmix

3.5 Hour Interview

and

100 New Pages to Roads Untravelled

I admit this was a fun and creative endeavor, and likely we’ll do something similar in the future.  As a matter of fact we’re already planning ‘Pirate Day’.

Though at the moment I’m recuperating with a bottle of wine on my couch!  So if you don’t see the normal amount of posts next week blame Ernesto.

I hope everyone has enjoyed Ernesto Olivetti Week.  Let us know what your thoughts, feelings, OMG WTF!! on this post … and please let us also know where you are in the world – we’re kinda curious to see how far spread Ernesto’s influence has gone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sylum Fic: Roads Untravelled by Bj Jones

The moment y’all have been waiting for.

The new and improved Roads Untravelled.

We started working on this particular story, mainly because of the changes made with Sam Winchester who is now Theo, and the introduction of John Rhys as Meridia.

As Meridia played an important part in Roads it needed to be updated.

Once we got into it … the bobs got involved.

This story has an additional 100 pgs, than the original – a total of 580 pgs.

 Yes, you read that right 580 pgs.

Read it.

Read it again.

Read it a 3rd time.

There is a lot of new information that will be vital for upcoming storyline.

The new story has been uploaded to the Archive … did I mention the 580 pgs?

It was a bit large to put on the blog.

*hands out coffee & tea, treats & snacks*

With no further ado … if you even waited this long before clicking!

Roads Untravelled by Bj Jones

Warning: Possible moments that could lead to dropping tablets, phones and laptops …