Design Diary, Part I · 3:29am Dec 3rd, 2016
"The author who speaks about his own books is almost as bad as a mother who talks about her own children." –Benjamin Disraeli
Despite the wisdom of the above quote, I wanted to write about the events that led to my writing this story in general, and the conception and evolution of its main character, Lex Legis, in particular. It's my hope that this will serve as an interesting peek behind the metaphorical curtain for fans of this story.
What follows is a general timeline regarding the genesis of Lateral Movement, along with some insights into various influences on how the story and its main character were developed:
c. 1991 – c. 1993: At a holiday celebration, I noticed some other kids receiving an introductory set to a tabletop role-playing game. Intrigued, I started to look into this newfound pastime. The result was my developing a profound interest in tabletop RPGs in general, and Dungeons & Dragons in particular, which I remain passionate about to this day.
November 30th, 2007: Distant Horizons Games releases Eclipse: The Codex Persona. A companion book to The Practical Enchanter (released the day before), Eclipse is a point-buy character-generator supplement for Dungeons & Dragons Third Edition Revised (aka D&D v.3.5), as well as other games based on the d20 System (the mechanical engine that D&D v.3.5 is based on). Despite its extremely innovative design, Eclipse remains a niche product, which I still consider to be criminal.
Despite being active in the gaming community at the time, I wouldn't hear about Eclipse for almost a year due to its release during a transition period between editions of Dungeons & Dragons (the announcement of D&D Fourth Edition having happened just three months earlier). When I did finally hear about it, I picked up a copy, but found the book to be extremely difficult to grasp. It was only when I sat down with an example character (specifically that of the Dark Lord Sauron, written up as an "identity" – essentially a template – on the blog of one of Eclipse's co-authors) and looked up each individual part of the character's powers as I read through it that I finally understood how Eclipse worked.
October 10th, 2010: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic premieres. The fourth generation of My Little Pony shows, Friendship is Magic breaks from the traditions of previous incarnations thanks to the creative vision of Lauren Faust. Under her guidance, the characters, setting, and stories are designed to have a general appeal beyond that of the show's intended audience. The result is a global phenomenon, as the show's popularity spreads far beyond its target demographic and receives widespread acclaim.
Circa 2011: While visiting the home of a friend of mine, his younger siblings tell me how great MLP:FiM is. I express skepticism, remembering the snatches of the franchise (mostly TV commercials) that I witnessed years before. Insisting that the new show was good, they sit me down and show me the very first episode, "Friendship is Magic, part 1." To my surprise, I not only don't dislike the show, but actually find it somewhat appealing. However, as I have neither cable TV nor a streaming service, there's no further opportunity for me to keep watching the show, and after leaving I quickly put it out of my mind. The favorable impression of the show that I'd gained would stay with me, however.
February 16th, 2014: David Silver of Silver Games LLC releases his debut product, the Ponyfinder Campaign Setting for the Pathfinder Role-Playing Game, an evolution of D&D v.3.5. Having heard of some pushes to develop a My Little Pony-based RPG using the d20 System, I was nevertheless caught by surprise when this book came out. Having been reviewing RPG books as a hobby for a number of years, and always interested in outré products, I considered picking up this book immediately, but initially held back out of concern that I wouldn't be able to review it holistically due to not being familiar with the show that it was based on.
End of March-beginning of April, 2014: What I thought was a cold turned out to be an allergy attack that turned into a serious sinus infection, leaving me unable to work for a week. While recuperating, I decide to watch (having since gotten a Netflix subscription) a few episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic so as to develop at least a basic familiarity with the background material that inspired Ponyfinder.
The result of this is my becoming a brony.
At this point, Netflix has the first three seasons, and the first (and at this point only) Equestria Girls movie. I watch the entire first season and a handful of episodes from the second season before acquiring and reviewing Ponyfinder, giving it high marks. I then proceed to devour the remaining materials on Netflix. The day I finish the third season and the EQG movie, May 10th, is the same day that the fourth season finale airs. Using the internet, I quickly catch up on the fourth season as well, and settle in along with all of the other fans of the show for the long wait until the fifth season arrives.
June 28th, 2014: Following the conventions of fandom, I create my own original pony character, Lex Legis. Here, as with my original reasons for becoming a brony, my gamer background plays a central role. I'm not content to utilize a purely-narrative approach to character building. Rather, I instead use RPG mechanics – specifically the mechanics introduced in my favorite D&D v.3.5/d20 System/Pathfinder-compatible supplement Eclipse: The Codex Persona – and define Lex's powers and abilities that way, as this helps to firmly establish what he can and cannot do, allowing for a more concrete conception of his character. I set him as being 4th level, which I consider to be stronger than your average pony by a considerable amount, while still far below the likes of Princess Celestia.
From a narrative standpoint, Lex's original presentation is largely finished, compared to how he appears in Lateral Movement, though several salient details of his circumstances are quite different. In this incarnation, Lex has nothing to do with Ponyfinder or its setting, Everglow. Rather, he is a brilliant unicorn malcontent who finds Equestria stagnant after being released from the Crystal Empire's imprisonment. He possesses King Sombra's horn, but has not attached it to himself (as I wouldn't hit on that idea until later).
More notably, Lex's core thematic idea – presenting good ideas, but with a demeanor that was extremely off-putting – is fully fleshed-out, and remains central to the character to this day. However, the trajectory for Lex's story that I'm dreaming up in my head (with no serious plans to ever write it down, save as an outline in a future blog post) is wildly different. In this idea, Lex eventually conquers Equestria via open rebellion, overcoming the princesses via tactical maneuvering and guile. The end result is his acquiring enough leverage to force Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Twilight to marry him against their will (with Cadance's previous marriage to Shining Armor being annulled), with Chrysalis worming her way into the arrangement via intrigue shortly thereafter.
The idea with that particular development was to take the usual harem convention and turn it on its head: specifically, that Lex would have several wives, but none of them would actually love him, viewing him with emotions ranging from austere disdain to pity to open spite to confusion to contempt. I actually still have my notes summarizing how each princess (and Chrysalis) views him under this arrangement. Needless to say, it's probably for the best that this particular arc never came to fruition (though I suppose anything remains possible for the future; I don't plan on using anything like this, but quite a few times during the writing of Lateral Movement I found myself surprised by how things progressed).
November 28th, 2014: An artist on the forums hosted by Paizo Publishing (creators of the aforementioned Pathfinder RPG) offers to draw anyone's character, free of charge. Acting quickly, I submit a description of Lex, and receive a finished picture shortly thereafter, which I post on my blog.
By this time, I've hit upon the idea that Lex has grafted King Sombra's horn onto himself, and his picture reflects it. However, the circumstances aren't fully determined yet; I end up writing on that blog post that Lex's horn was "torn off" during a grueling fight (against Tirek, though I deliberately didn't make that clear), and that he grafted King Sombra's horn onto himself in desperation, winning the fight and saving several other ponies as a result.
I'd later use a close-up of this picture as my avatar on this website.
December 30th, 2014: David Silver, creator of Ponyfinder, starts writing his MLP:FiM/Ponyfinder crossover story A Dangerous Sparkle.
February 1st, 2015: Monty Oum passes away. News of this affects me deeply. I later heard that his family stated that anyone who wanted to make a donation or gesture in his memory should instead do something creative, as that is the best way to honor his life. Having no ability to draw, animate, or compose, I decide to make use of my sole creative talent, writing, and swear to take and complete the next NaNoWriMo challenge, despite never having written anything longer than two or three chapters (all of which were fanfiction about various anime and manga).
March 2nd, 2015: Lex Legis makes his story-debut in chapter 100 of A Dangerous Sparkle, after I negotiate with David for his appearance. While I initially expected David to write the character with my input, I quickly realize that it works far better if I write his dialogue, actions, and scenes in conjunction with David writing everything else that happens. Lex's role in the story lasts for exactly one month, concluding with the story's end on April 2nd in chapter 132 (though he doesn't appear in the epilogue that was posted on April 15th).
In anticipation of Lex's appearance, I update his game stats, making him 8th level (the same as Twilight, the story's main character), both using the Eclipse format and in the more general Pathfinder format (though since the Pathfinder write-up is a translation of his Eclipse presentation, it looks rather awkward, since Lex isn't built using Pathfinder's class-level rules). David, very kindly, humors me in this regard. These stats don't end up being posted publicly, though I still have a copy of them on my hard drive.
Writing in collaboration with David shapes Lex's arc in ways I hadn't anticipated, much to my surprise and delight. The single largest result of this is his insistence on matching Lex with Sonata, romantically. I had initially planned on pairing Lex together with Twilight, as I saw their areas of similarity (e.g. high intelligence, bookishness, and enthusiasm for magic) as being points that they could build a relationship on. However, I later came to appreciate David's push for instead having opposites attract, finding that to be both more compelling and avoiding some of the pitfalls that would come with Lex's significant other already having so many preexisting narrative ties to navigate. (Fun fact: you can see the tail end of this struggle in Lex's push to go on a date with Twilight late in the story, even as Sonata tries to keep Lex's attention focused on her.)
April 10th, 2015: David Silver begins writing The Apple Falls Far from the Tree, the direct sequel to A Dangerous Sparkle.
May 19th, 2015: Lex reappears in chapter 42 of The Apple Falls Far from the Tree, following my lobbying David for including him again. I've advanced him to 9th level, though again I don't post this publicly. His appearance is foreshadowed by Sonata having appeared in the chapter immediately preceding this one, posted on the previous day. He and Sonata exit the story on June 5th in chapter 57. Three chapters later, the story concludes on June 8th.
November 1st, 2015: I begin writing Lateral Movement, registering it as my NaNoWriMo project. By the end of the month, to my own amazement, I've written twenty-three chapters and surpassed the 50,000+ word goal, though the story isn't finished.
At this point, without the structure of NaNoWriMo to act as motivation, and having fulfilled my vow to complete the challenge, I quickly lose motivation to keep making updates. After a brief illness, combined with a minor bout of writer's block about how to advance the story, I only write one more chapter, posted on December 6th, before I stop making updates altogether.
It would be almost a year before I begin writing chapters again. During this time, however, I continue to think about the story, still refining and expanding on the outline in my head. Continuing to eagerly watch new episodes of MLP:FiM and read many of David's other fics (particularly those about Everglow) help to keep ideas regarding Lex fresh in my mind.
March 11, 2016: Unable to contain my urge to write, but equally unable to bring myself to continue Lateral Movement again, I instead post a new blog entry for Lex. Set slightly after the planned ending of Lateral Movement (or at least, after most of its planned major developments), this has him being 9th level with a template that's worth another two levels, effectively making him level 11.
(As a note, just because this is how I think Lex will end up doesn't mean that this is where the story will go. Several elements – particularly his monstrous servitors outlined here – might end up being different from what is eventually written.)
October 16th, 2016: I again have the urge to write about Lex, despite having decided to begin making regular updates to Lateral Movement again in November. As such, I decide to make a new blog entry. This time it's an overview of Lex's country, using the kingdom rules from the award-winning D&D v.3.5 d20 supplement A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe, which has just released a third edition. This forces me to come up with a name for his kingdom, as well as begin fleshing out details about the realm.
November 1st-30th, 2016: I start to update Lateral Movement after nearly eleven months of letting it sit fallow. Despite not officially registering with NaNoWriMo this year, I hold to the same conventions (e.g. 50,000+ words by the end of the month). To my relief, adhering to this goal feels even easier than last year, and I overshoot it by several thousand words over the course of twenty-five chapters, though once again this isn't enough to finish the story.
December 2nd, 2016: The current date. Other than this blog post, I haven't written any new chapters since November ended. However, this time I'm determined to keep making semi-regular updates, ideally a few every week. Whether or not I can live up to that goal remains to be seen...
Good job, and quite a journey you've taken. It's a pleasure to have taken part in it and to have trotted alongside you.
4326971 The pleasure has been mine.
In truth, I'm very grateful to you. It was because of you that I discovered MLP:FiM. Moreover, seeing you write so much so consistently inspired me to try and keep up a similar pace. And of course, I enjoy what you create.
For all of that, thank you.