Author's Notes
I seem to remember that back in 2015 when I first conceived the idea for this story, I envisaged it being about ten thousand words. Maybe a maximum of twenty thousand. Casavir was going to be cast into Ferelden in a state of mental/physical disarray, be cured by Flemeth and/or Morrigan, then get back to Neverwinter to reunite with Elanee at some point after the present-day sections of my Sand story Paper Cuts.
This plan went wrong last year when I decided that Elanee needed to have a lead role in the story. Although the final Peedie-filtered chapter presents her as the classic hero's reward, this isn't the nineteen fifties. I already knew from writing No Strange Land that I could give her more layers than we see her display in the Original Campaign, and I wanted to explore that.
Finally, there was the political element – the city that Casavir leaves and eventually returns to. Peedie bookends the story, introducing the politics and providing an ironic voice on the conclusion. I admit that writing about people being straightforwardly happy isn't my strong point, and having Peedie to hide behind was a bit of a relief. It was also quite nice to get away from Elanee and Casavir's moral seriousness, which I find quite hard to maintain, even if it's an important part of their characters.
Influences
The original inspiration for this story was a brand-new traditional ballad written by Archie Fisher and performed (in the form I know) by Stan Rogers. The ballad is called The Witch of the Westmorland, and can be found in various places on the internet.
Ballads are in fact the major influence on Casavir's side of the story. Thomas the Rhymer gave me the Marcher's Way, and Flemeth's appearance. Dowie Dens of Yarrow provided elements of the big fight scene, though things go much better for Casavir than they do for the hero of the song.
"If I see you all, you are nine men,
That's an unfair marrow.
But I will fecht while last my brand,
On the dowie dens o' Yarrow."
There was three he slew and three withdrew,
And three he wounded sairely,
Till her brother John stepped in behind
And pierced his body through."
I drew on the folk tradition again in the final chapter for the description of the rose and briar twining around each other. A floating verse appended to the end of songs of tragic love offers the thin comfort that a briar and rose grow out of the (separate) graves of the lovers, meeting and twining round each other. Even if my stories could be accused of being a bit on the gloomy side, I can defend myself on the grounds that they're nowhere near as depressing as the average British folk ballad.
References
Obviously, the key cross-over is Dragon Age, and Jaheira shows up from the Baldur's Gate series. (I still haven't played the Extended Edition, so she's Original Flavour Jaheira, or I hope she is).
Casavir's journey home on the Marcher's Way is full of shout-outs because you can do that in fanfiction without lawyers coming after you. Here's all the ones I remember:
The Magician's Nephew – CS Lewis
Drowned Ammet – Diana Wynne Jones
Rivers of London – Ben Aaronovitch
Pillars of Eternity – Obsidian Entertainment
The Eagle of the Ninth – Rosemary Sutcliff
The Tiffany Aching series – Terry Pratchett
Most of the scenes Casavir sees are related to the creation of gods. There's also one RL reference – the two boys running away from the miller are intended to be Tolkien and his brother fleeing the original of Ted Sandyman at Sarehole Mill. It doesn't fit the trend as clearly, but I liked it too much to cut it. If you find yourself in the area, Sarehole Mill still exists and is well worth visiting.
Peedie's name means 'small' in Orkney dialect. She also refers to something called clapshot, which is an Orcadian dish of mashed potato and turnip.
I try to keep my NWN2 stories fairly separate, though to be honest there are elements that are developed throughout the series. The Crossroad Keep chapters in No Strange Land set up Gentleman Ranker. A scene in Gentleman Ranker ties into the story of Paper Cuts. Katriona appears as, basically, a psychopomp in Of Gods and Scorpion Grass, and her appearance there is related to No Strange Land, though I don't think it's necessary to read that story to understand why she's come for Casavir. Remembering her from the Original Campaign is all you need.
Writing
This story went on hiatus for several months last winter. My father had been seriously ill for a number of years, then caught Covid and died. Back as far as Paper Cuts, my NWN2 fanfiction has been preoccupied with the subject of guilt. It shows up again in a big way in Gentleman Ranker, and again, in Elanee's chapters in particular, in Of Gods and Scorpion Grass. I know that creative writing is supposed to be a form of therapy, but, for the record, having written many thousands of words, I think I'd recommend going for a walk in the sun, eating a tub of Ben-and-Jerry's, and spending time with fluffy animals in preference to sitting in a small room filling ten plus notebooks with handwritten fanfiction.
I'm definitely going to take my own advice…after I've uploaded edited versions of my stories, naturally. I think typos are basically like dust. I swear my chapters are immaculate when I upload them, but the longer I leave them up, the more typos appear in the text.
I'm done with writing fanfiction on a big scale, but if anyone wants to request an epilogue or a NWN2 snippet, go for it. I'd be happy to provide.
And while I'm talking NWN2…seriously, we need to petition for an Enhanced Edition. Anyone want to start one? : )
