Hello everyone,
I've seen a couple of people comment that they will probably drop the story after the events in the latest chapter, and in my experience, for every person who comments, there are many others thinking the same, even if they don’t voice it.
This post is intended for those people, or for readers in lower tiers who might be worried about the direction the story will take in the future. So, if you are enjoying the story, I forbid you from reading further! Or I shall curse you with spoilerism, a most deadly of diseases!
I do not enjoy revealing parts of my book, even when readers might misinterpret certain things and drop the novel because of it. The clearest example that comes to mind is the Zeno storyline, where - especially on RoyalRoad - not many people enjoyed it or the buildup, because they felt Zeno turned out to be anything but what was advertised, and that the side plot had nothing to do with the main storyline.
Suddenly, a smart, cunning character was being used and discarded on a whim, and appeared to have no clear agency. I kept my nerve and didn't say anything at the time because I didn't want to ruin the surprise, but I also didn't feel it was as severe as it was this time.
I can definitely understand the surprise and frustration of many of you since the latest development threatens to derail the entire premise of Fallen Eagle - what can a knowledgeable person do to change History? Could they even turn such a dysmal situation around?
Suddenly, there are transmigrators running around, and everyone is in a race to get guns, ally together, or try to escape back to their timeline. And that is not what anyone signed up for when they subscribed to an alternate history Patreon.
So, I will reveal some key points. Firstly, Fallen Eagle will never become a novel more focused on these supernatural events or forces at play than on historical kingdom-building or averting the Ottoman crisis. That is what I want to explore with this novel: to share my passion for history, especially since I’ve seen plenty of other kingdom-building novels gloss over important issues and focus on wild, extremely advanced solutions that automatically solve everything.
There are plenty of industrial, logistical, and societal issues that would need to be resolved before anyone could invent something like a steam engine, for example, and it always irked me when reading about a character who does it with the snap of his fingers.
Secondly, the supernatural focus of the story will not overtly change. There is no magic, for those wondering, and while certain things will influence Theodorus’s motivations and worldview, they will not change the core of the story, nor are they meant to be a particularly important plot point. It is meant to remain a background mystery that will gradually be peeled away over the course of multiple volumes - an intriguing side plot. I felt it fit the theme of the story, given Nikos’s original transmigration and the powerful vows he feels weighing him down.
Finally, and this is the big spoiler, Aniballe isn’t a transmigrator like Nikos. I definitely wrote the scene to lead my readers down the wrong impression, because I enjoy plot twists and wanted to play on people's expectations that he would be. I won't say more, and you'll probably guess it now that you have this information. I had plenty of readers guess Zeno's eventual reveal despite not saying anything, and my big Genoese sieging the capital twist fell flat on its face because I hinted at it too much.
Anyway, if your reason for dropping the novel is the slow pace, the drift away from Theodorus, or any number of other reasons, you are more than justified in doing so. But if you’re worried about a complete 180 where Theo is suddenly recruiting Transmigrators to fight by his side against the evil Gods, I would ask you to wait a bit.
As always, thank you for your support,
Cheers